Shadowfax (An Avengers fanfic)

Shot

         Shadowfax tucked and rolled as a the mobster unleashed another round of bullets, disappearing and reappearing behind him to judo-flip him over her shoulder. He coughed once on the ground, but was soon  shut up with a hard kick in the face. She took considerably much too much satisfaction in her actions, considering it was rather unnecessary to kick him with such vehemence. She turned at a noise from behind her (other than the whimpering hostages on the floor.)

         The mobster's two friends emerged from the bank's safe, one holding a bulging sack of money. The both leveled their own heavy ammunition at her, eyes narrowing with determination.

         Attempting to deter them from their current course of action, Shadowfax stalked towards them slowly, twiddling the dagger in her fingers with nimble dexterity. Like a flame creeping along the edge of a burning newspaper, a red haze licked the dagger's edge as her eyes blazed.

          "Listen mates, I'm having a particularly rotten day. So if you would do me a wee favor and drop the guns it would be appreciated." She told them, rolling her eyes as the guns began shaking. One of their fingers slipped on the trigger, and Shadowfax shadowed across the room to avoid the speeding projectiles.

           "Watch it!" she hissed, crossing the room with surprising speed. She neatly slid through his legs, coming up behind the two and bashing their heads together. "You might hurt yourself," she finished. Clapping her hands together, Shadowfax turned for the door. "That's that. You lot have a nice day, now. And would one of you please call the cops for me?"

            But as people began to get to their feet, they all froze at the clicking sound of a gun. Snapping around, Shadowfax saw that her first opponent wasn't as K.O.'ed as she had originally thought.

           Mentally kicking herself for not securing him, she drew her daggers and prepared for round two. Unfortunately, the man was smarter than before and instead fired on a little girl this time.

            Screeching, "No!" Shadowfax shadowed in front of the girl, catching the bullets in her own chest instead of the child.

            As if in slow motion, she fell back, gasping. As her vision started to cloud, her hand drifted to her chest, and came back into view painted with red.

"Ye gotta be kidding me," she whispered, fighting the blackness as it washed over her.

                                                             ...

            Natasha didn't usually respond to mission alerts, normally being at the Avengers' training facility, or on recon missions. So she was more than a little surprised to find herself entering a hostage Bank of America in Manhattan.

            But no more startled than she was to find Shadowfax bleeding out on the floor with a trigger-happy mobster standing over her. Now, the infamous Black Widow wasn't exactly renowned for her motherly instincts, but something definitely kicked in.

           Issuing a battle cry that would curdle the Hulk's blood, Natasha launched herself at the man, flipping to land neatly on his shoulders before following through with a back-bend, bringing him over her head and slamming him into the ground. Firing a few stingers into him for good measure, she ran to Shadowfax's side, relieved as she found a faint pulse.

          She reached for the comm in her ear, talking quickly. "Vision, I need you to meet me at my coordinates ASAP. It's life or death." She heaved the girl up, dragging her through the crowd of dazed hostages and onto the sidewalk. Before the door swung shut though, she spied a tearful mother clutching her child to her chest, and sparing a concerned, thankful glance at Shadowfax.

           Glancing down at the unconscious girl, Natasha had a sinking feeling she knew what had happened. "You stupid, brave girl." She told her. As she knelt down to examine the girl more closely, she inhaled sharply upon seeing three bullet wounds clustered around her abdomen.

Cradling her, the spy rocked Shadowfax gently, muttering to her soothingly.

           She looked up in relief upon the sudden appearance of Vision.

           Vision touched down lightly on the ground, tilting his head as he saw Shadowfax. "Who-"

           "No time to explain. Head for the tower and alert Bruce. I'll be right behind you, GO!" Natasha rambled, sprinting for her bike. Nodding, Vision took the girl in his arms and took off, the Black Widow right on his tail.

                                                            ...

           Shadowfax's eyes cracked open to see three oddly dressed figures rushing her through the hall on a gurney through blurry vision. Her fingers twitched, and were seized by a slender, feminine hand. Her head rolled, and she became concious of a burning sensation that steadily increased.

           She screamed with pain, welcoming the soothing voice of a woman in the corner of her mind. Then the blissful darkness took her again.

                                                          ...

          Bruce rushed around the medical lab, reaching for anesthesia as he prepared to take out the second bullet. A long, steady beep sounded as the monitor flatlined, and he yelled for Natasha to get the defibrillators.

          The assassin was there in an instant, primed to shock the girl back to life.

"On my count!" Bruce ordered. "One, two, three!" 'buzz.' "One, two, three!" 'buzz.'

          At first nothing happened, then the girl shuddered and the monitor resumed a long, steady beeping. "I'll say this," Bruce told Natasha. "She's a fighter."

                                                            ...

           Jade shook her head as it climbed out of its fuzzy, dark place. Blinking slowly, she cleared the sleep from her eyes and sat up. She fell back onto the pillow when the headache hit her.

           "Ugh, hit me?" She moaned. "This is a special kind of hangover, this is."

            "Take it easy, you were hurt pretty bad," ordered the person at her bedside.

"You should see the other bloke," Jade grunted rolling over to face the speaker. She groaned again as she saw Natasha. "Bloody- What are you doing here? And where the hell am I?" She demanded.

             "You got shot, so I had to take you to the Tower to get you fixed up. You almost died." Natasha replied calmly. "Actually, you were dead for a few minutes."

              "Well, thanks,but I'll be leaving right now." Jade swung her legs over the side of the bed, fighting back the urge to vomit.

"Hey-" Natasha began.

Jade ignored her. "It was bloody lovely of you to help me and all, and I wish you every blessing." She gave a mock salute and disappeared from the room.

              She reappeared about three floors down, and was creeping down a fourth before she ran into Vision. Her eyes going wide as she was blinded by a flash of light, she collapsed into the confused hero's arms, unconscious for the third time that day.

A/N So...How was it? I know the chapter was a little fast. Reviews, reviews, reviews please!!! :)