Red Thorn

Chapter 13

May 2015

Cap threw his shield, lodging it in the chest of one of the Drones as it flew towards Red. "You know," he pulled it from the now incapacitated robot, "When I told you not to die without me yesterday, that wasn't an invitation for you to get kidnapped."

Red smirked at him under her mask, he could tell from the way her left eye crinkled ever so slightly.

"How are you?" he asked and she shrugged. "You can talk to me about it once all this is over, if that's what you need."

She cocked her head to the side slightly, and he knew she was telling him that he could talk to her too, about his own visions.

"I might just take you up on that offer."

Another wave hit and the two of them continued without saying anything else to one another, killing, if that was even the right word, wave after wave of Drones. Out of nowhere one flew into the Captain, knocking him onto the bonnet of a nearby car.

"Cap, you've got incoming!" Stark's voice rang through the comms all too late.

"Incoming already came in," he replied, steadying himself back on his feet. "Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job, tear these things apart." He kicked one towards Red who drove an electric blade into it, severing its wiring. "You get hurt, hurt them back. You get killed... walk it off."

Red cocked an eyebrow at him, silently asking him how one was supposed to just walk off death.

"Don't look at me like that," he told her and she raised her hands in surrender. "Good, now get back to work."

Rolling her eyes, Red span around, cutting one of the robots in two as she used her other blade to fry its partner's circuits.

Thor flew past them and over the edge of the bridge, after a car that had just toppled over the edge. Steve ran after him, catching the woman the Asgardian threw upwards. She thanked Steve after he pulled her up before running to safety as Red cleared the way for her to go.

"You can't save them all," Ultron said through one of his drones. "You'll never—"

He was cut off by Red slicing off its head and kicking it over the edge.

"You'll never what?" Cap asked, amused by Red's actions. "You didn't finish!"

She rolled out of the way just as Thor dropped the car he'd been chasing next to the Captain. "What, were you napping?" the super soldier teased.

Thor was about to retaliate when Red launched one of her throwing stars into the core of a Drone that was ready to attack them. "Lady Thorn!" he boomed. "I am glad you're okay. When I came back from my trip I was informed that you had been taken. I told them not to fret because you were a survivor, the Valkyrie of this realm."

"Don't listen to a word he says." Cap punched an incoming drone. "He was worried sick. Just like he was on the way to Barton's farm."

Red raised one hand to her heart, making sure not to cut herself on her blade.

"How is she supposed to respect me when you say such things?" Thor used his hammer to destroy three Drones at once, killing them upon impact. "She is going to think I am weak."

Cap shook his head as he retrieved his shield from a robot corpse. "Despite what people will try to make you believe, love isn't weakness."

"I said nothing of love," Thor defended.

"All friendship leads to love," Cap told him, shooting Red a knowing glace; she'd once said those exact same words to him. "Be it romantic or not."

"Rogers, quit having a bromance talk with Thor, we have more important things to be doing!" Natasha scolded over the comms.