America lands another punch on my ribcage, and I grin. "Damn, kid! You got good!" I swing myself around her and pull her to the ground, pinning her until she taps out. "But, not too good." I jump up and offer her a hand, which she takes.
"If I used my powers, I'd take you out," she threatens, laughing.
"Oh, I'm sure." I walk over to get a drink when Johnny walks in. "America! ¿Quieres hablar en español?" I nod toward Johnny, and she laughs. He's frowning.
"Pero, Johnny está triste! Él no nos entiende."
"Here she goes again. Leaving me out," he mutters, but of course, I can hear him.
"El quiere aprender," I tell America, and she lights up.
"Johnny! Can I teach you Spanish?" She calls over to him, and he looks up excitedly.
"I'm not a great student," he admits sheepishly, and America dismisses that quickly.
"So? It'll be fun!" She bounces over to him and I slip out to the elevator to go upstairs. When the doors open, Quint is there, frantic. He sprints past me, shouting to ask me to hold the door. I do, and he comes back with the other two hightailing it behind him. He orders us to get suited up and meet in the briefing room. As I don't have a suit, I just hit the button for the next floor and make my way there. Cassie, Yelena, and Kate are already there, looking concerned. I take a seat, and we wait in silence for the rest of the team.
"It's time for us to go on the offensive," Kate says when they arrive."I've received credible intel that now is the time to strike. There's irrefutable proof condemning Val that's going to be public in a few hours. I want her in our custody before then." We dive into the plan, and within twenty minutes, we're heading out in a quinjet. We get to Val's hideout, and I scan the surroundings. She has an absurdly large security team. She's on the second floor, alone in a room. There are probably fifty men between our entry point and her location. I relay what I'm seeing to the team, and we're on the move. Kate leads the way, and with remarkable efficiency, we make it to the second floor without alerting outside agents. I scan again, and find that she's at the other end of the floor. Kate signals for the kids to stay back and keep us covered as she, Yelena, and I climb up into the ceiling. The drop ceiling is easy to get into, but we have to stick to the supports, or we'll fall. We're as silent as possible, Kate in front, me behind her, and Yelena behind me. As we get closer, I can feel maliciousness coming from the room I tracked Val to. I tap Kate's foot in front of me and focus on Val. I find her alone, but the amount of danger I feel doesn't make sense for one person. I shake my head and we keep moving, but when Kate drops down, I don't let Yelena follow. There's a commotion, and I fall through the ceiling, but Yelena's still in the room next to us, and she stays safe. I land on the floor in a crouch, surrounded by the barrels of automatic rifles. There's a whole team of agents in the room with Val. It was a trap.
"Hey Katie? Who exactly was your source? An imbecile?" I ask loudly, standing straight, putting my hands in the air, and hoping Yelena takes the hint. Kate, standing next to me with her hands up, rolls her eyes.
"Who taught you to count? Because this is clearly more than one person." At that, Val starts slow clapping.
"So, our new helmets work then? You thought I was alone?" She asks excitedly. I don't dignify her with a response. I focus on Yelena and feel her moving further away, thank fuck. I look at Kate and try to convey to her that she's okay, but I don't know if she understands me. Val motions to the agent closest to me, who points his gun directly at my temple. "Did you think I was alone?" She repeats the question.
"I'm fairly certain that's evident." I roll my eyes, and the agent shoves his gun into my head roughly. I see Kate barely flinch in my peripheral vision. "I answered the question, no need to ruin my hair," I say to the agent as I run a hand through my mussed locks. I feel a trickle of blood running from my hairline. I wipe my hand on my leg so Kate doesn't see it. I assess the situation. Ten heavily armed agents and Val against myself and Kate. I honestly think we could take them, but the look in Kate's eyes tells me she'd rather we didn't risk it. She would rather stall to make sure the rest of the team gets out of the facility safely. I know that implicitly. I also know, through my powers, that the rest of the team is almost back at the quinjet. They're too far for me to understand what they're saying to each other, but if I know Yelena, they're regrouping to help us. Val is starting to monologue, and I am absolutely not listening to her at all. "Is there any way we could wrap this bit up faster? I'm bored," I interrupt.
"Y/n," Kate warns me, cutting me a glance.
"What? She has us." I look at Val. "I don't care about why you want us, or how you think you're going to use us to get to Yelena. I care about getting to whatever cell you've prepared, and then I'll care about getting out. The whys don't matter. They don't change the end result."
"And what is that?" Val entertains me.
"That you'll lose." I keep track of the team as they fly low, close to the window, and make sure to clear a space wide enough to throw Kate through it. "Because, you see, I'm not worth near as much as you want me to be." I back up a little bit, preparing to fight. "And Kate, well, you don't get to keep her." Kate's watching Val, so I know I need to say something to get her to look at me, and fast. "Isn't that right, Katie-Kat?" That does it. She whips her head to look at me, and I grab both of her arms and spin as hard as I can, launching her out the window. Glass shatters everywhere, and I watch as America makes a portal under Kate so she lands in the jet. "GO!" I scream up at them as I fend off two agents who came at me as soon as they saw Kate fly through the glass. A third agent hits me in the head with the butt of their rifle, and I'm out cold.
