INFERNO │ Marvel

7.1 mission failure

Wanda Maximoff and Amelia Stark sat at an outdoor coffee shop table in the beautiful city of Lagos. The former stirred sugar into a cup of tea and brought it to her lips, while the latter held a fake cigarette in between her own. The older woman had grown to appreciate these kinds of Avengers missions: the ones where her powers didn't need to be used to their full extent and neither did Wanda's unless absolutely necessary.

"All right, what do you see?" Steve asked through their comms. Amelia gave Wanda an encouraging nod.

"Standard beat cops," the Sokovian replied as she observed her surroundings. "Small station. Quiet street. It's a good target."

"There's an ATM on the south corner, which means?" Steve inquired. This was a learning experience for the younger woman, being only her third mission with the team.

"Cameras," she answered.

"Both cross streets are one-way."

"So, compromised escape routes," she followed up. Both she and Amelia looked down at the paper sat on the table in front of them, an attack on police by a man in a helmet decorated with a skull making front-page news. On another, Brock Rumlow selling weapons to terrorists. It was the same guy they were after, the man now going by 'Crossbones'.

"Means our guy doesn't care about being seen," Amelia added while pretending to take a puff of her cigarette. "He isn't afraid to make a mess on the way out."

"You see that Range Rover halfway up the block?" Steve asked. Wanda turned her head slightly, but Amelia kept her place. It was well out of her line of sight.

"Yeah, the red one? It's cute."

"It's also bulletproof, which means private security," Natasha cut in. She sat a few tables away from the other woman sipping on a coffee of her own. "Which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody. Probably us."

"You guys know I can move things with my mind, right?" Wanda reminded them while smiling at Amelia who smiled back just as smugly. The two had a kind of mother-daughter relationship. It was something the Stark was grateful for as she didn't ever expect to have kids of her own, nor was she worried about it. Being able to fret over Wanda every now and again, though, kept her busy.

"Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature," the redhead remarked. On a nearby rooftop, Sam was watching over the streets.

"Anybody ever tell you, you're a little paranoid?" he questioned. Amelia almost laughed.

"Not to my face. Why? Did you hear something?"

"Eyes on target, folks," Steve reminded. He was in Captain America mode. "This is the best lead we've had on Rumlow in six months. I don't want to lose him."

"If he sees us coming, that won't be a problem," Sam scoffed. "He kind of hates us."

It was true. After Amelia had already burned the guy with her bare hands, Sam had blown him up and made those burns even worse. The Stark would have happily added more if the HYDRA scum hadn't have gotten away.

"Sam, see that garbage truck?" Steve asked. "Tag it."

Amelia tilted her head up ever so slightly to see Redwing flying overhead. It was something she had designed for Sam when he joined the Avengers, with his input on what features and design to have of course. He loved the thing and treated it like his best friend.

"Give me X-ray," he called out to his small metal bird. "That truck's loaded for max weight. And the driver's armed."

"It's a battering ram," Amelia pointed out. She subtly scooted out her chair in preparation for taking flight at a moment's notice.