Tied

Two

It didn't take long for Dahlia to dust off her old suit. Having not worn it in a while, the suit clung to her like a second skin accentuating every curve, yet it wasn't uncomfortable. 

Breathable and bulletproof, two of her favorite things in her suit. The darker shade of purple stood out nicely against the black and gray of the suit.

She left her prized bow and quiver filled with arrows in the hands of the woman she still considered a friend, all while using her burner phone to leave a message on her older neighbors answering machine, asking her to take care of Morticia while she was gone. 

Once the message was left, Dahlia cuddled Morticia until she had to walk out the door, promising that she would come home in one piece. 

“Come on!” Natasha called out into the night. 

Dahlia closed the door and sprinted to the open ramp of the quinjet that was just barely hidden behind the half mile cluster of trees that separated properties. 

When she got on, she thought it was only going to be the three of them. . . Instead there was eight of them. 

She recognized most of the faces from her brief time as an Avenger, a few she only noticed from the news. 

“Holy shit, this is awkward. . . Uh, hi, everyone. . . Fancy seeing you here.” She chuckled nervously. 

Everyone stared except Natasha and Steve. 

“You look like you've seen a ghost, Bruce.” Dahlia said, approaching the remaining empty seat. 
“I'm not so sure I haven't after the last two days I've had.” He admitted. “How are you alive?” 

“I never died, I escaped.” Dahlia sighed, a feeling of dread taking up residence in her stomach. 

“Not very brave of you, if you ask me.” Steve muttered, looking anywhere but the fiery brunette. 

“Lucky for you, nobody asked for your fucking opinion, bomb pop.” Dahlia snorted as they took off. 
“Can you two not bicker for a little while? We've been reunited for all of thirty seconds and you've done nothing but insult each other.” Natasha's voice sounded thoroughly fed up. 

“Tell him to get his patriotic panties out of a twist and I'll stop.” Dahlia buckled up and crossed her arms.

Natasha glared at Steve before he could open his mouth to say anything to Dahlia. 

“Can someone give me the rundown? I don't know how long this trip is gonna take, but I should know what's going on before we land.” Dahlia said, looking around at all the faces. 

The seriousness in her voice shocked everyone who had witnessed her previous exchange, it was clear by their expressions.

Dahlia recognized the Maximoff twins and Vision from the National News Network; they were the new additions to the team, at least before the Sokovia Accords went into effect. 

She of course knew Bruce, Steve, Natasha, Sam, and Colonel James Rhodes. . . It was almost weird for her to see them all in one place. 

They clearly felt the same, having thought she was dead for the past four years. 

Dahlia couldn't blame them. 

Bruce wasted no time explaining to her what he had already explained to everyone else. 

Thanos. 
Gauntlet. 
Infinity Stones.
The possibility of half of earth's living beings being eradicated. 

Yep, it seemed like an average hero outing. 

Dahlia chewed on the inside of her lip, hoping that her years of S.H.I.E.L.D. evaluation training hadn't completely flown out the window. 

“So, which face is that?” An accented male voice asked. 
She briefly looked up at the source — the silver haired Maximoff, Pietro — before going back to her process. 

Natasha looked back and cocked her head to the side. “That's her thinking face. . . It's similar to her ‘you're about to die’ face, which is reserved strictly for enemies. . . And Steve.”

“Because he's a pain in my ass. . . I might have an idea, okay? We can distribute exact tasks later, but from how it sounds, we have to kill this purple bastard, alright? With a large enough army, we could kill the fucker and everyone could go home.” Dahlia said. 

She unbuckled herself and stood so that she could pace. It helped with her thinking, but something told her it wouldn't be that easy.

“How would we kill him?” Bruce asked. “He already has a couple stones, which means he's already stronger than us.”

“Heart, head, throat. I've never seen anyone survive an arrow through any of those parts.” Dahlia replied, sighing. “Without Thor, Tony, and Clint, we're halfway to being fucked. . . We can't plan the inevitable battle, but we can prepare for it.”

“You can't waltz in here and expect to take over everything, you've been gone for years.” Steve said. 

Dahlia scoffed, turning to face him.

“I'm sorry, I didn't see anyone else sharing their thoughts! We have no plan, Rogers! Yes, I was gone, but if we go in there with no plans and guns blazing, we put everyone in the universe at risk. . . You of all people should know how serious this is. . . This purple motherfucker is at the top of my list right now, so help me or stay out of my fucking way.”

Silence momentarily filled the quinjet. 

“She's right, you know?” Sam cut in from the pilot seat. “Our plan of attack can't be to attack.” 

Dahlia held her hands up towards Sam's back, making a face that so clearly said ‘see!’, much to Steve's annoyance.

Alas, Steve cracked and a plan was made. Despite knowing it could change on a whim, everyone believed it could work. 

Dahlia could tell from the expressions everyone on the quinjet had, nothing good was to come. 

Even as she met eyes with Natasha, something deep within told her that everything was about to change. 

Everything. 

And there was nothing they could do.