SUPREMACY / P. MAXIMOFF

london times

The clouds rolled back and the late morning sun brought the whole city, shining, into view. There was Battersea Power Station, standing proud with it's four great chimneys still intact, even though much of it's roof had long ago been eaten away. Behind it, Battersea Park appeared as a square of dense green bushes and trees that were making a last stand, fighting back the urban spread. In the far distance the Millennium Wheel perched like a fabulous silver coin, balancing effortlessly on it's rim. And all around it London crouched; gas towers and apartment blocks, endless rows of shops and houses, roads, railways, and bridges stretching away on both sides, separated only by the bright sliver crack in the landscape that was the River Thames.

Anastazya, Natasha and Wanda were only halfway through their London vacation, and they weren't 100% sure they even wanted to go back to the states. For Ana especially, it was glorious. She was a respected adult in London, people knew who she was and left her alone. She could drink herself silly, and no one batted an eye or tried to refer her to a therapist for alcoholism. She could do whatever she wanted.

They shopped like crazy during the afternoon, doing some sight seeing. The nights were always spent at the pub, and the mornings after were spent with water and Tylenol, nursing their pounding headaches and their sour stomachs.

Ana knew she promised Pietro she would think about what his affections meant to her, but she couldn't force herself too, especially when she was wasted. Ana wasn't the typical emotional drunk, she was the type of drunk that didn't realize they were drunk until they are nearly drowning in their own vomit. The numb drunk. She found herself doing that too much lately. But it didn't matter. Ana had been through her fair share of trauma lately, and the alcohol helped shut up the incessant whining of the Mind Stone, and her own thoughts from taking over.

She did find herself thinking about him from time to time, and she thought about being with him, how nice it would be. How simple. He liked her, she loved him. It would be easy with Pietro, as easy as breathing.

But usually once she got down that road, she took another shot and completely forgot about the whole notion. She was drunk for 75% of the trip.

It didn't help that she was also hammered when they got ambushed for the first time.

The Hubermann hotel was on old building that had somehow managed to elbow its way between a converted warehouse and a block of apartments. The hotel had just five bedrooms, stacked on top of one another like a house of cards, each one with a view of the River Thames. The flower market was a short walk away and even at night the air smelled sweet. Tony and Natasha had chosen it because it was small and out of the way. They didn't want to spend an ample amount of money on some flamboyant, luxurious hotel. Though Tony didn't care, Natasha wanted to devote most of the trip's funds to outings. They didn't plan to spend much time in the hotel, but that day they did. 

Natasha rarely got sick. The woman held her alcohol very well, the most she could ever suffer was a migraine. She was perfect at biding time, being patient. Stress didn't make her sick either. She was careful.

What did make her sick, however, was the food the girls has eaten the day before. Great Yelp reviews don't mean a thing if your meat gives customers food poisoning. Natasha could hold her alcohol well, but unfortunately, not her vomit. It had her incapacitated the whole day.

The first intruder came in through the window.

It happened too quickly.

Anastazya sobered up quickly and let out a strangled shriek of terror, grabbing Wanda by the hoodie of her jacket and dragging her out of the way of the flying glass, rolling off of the bed. Natasha came running out of the bathroom, where she had been perched in front of the toilet for the past two hours, dry heaving, due to the lack of food she had eaten in the last day.

She lunged forward, grabbing the intruder by his wrist, twisting his arm and prying the gun from his hands, disabling him. The next two intruders came through the front door, and Ana and Wanda scrambled to their feet. Wanda's hands shot out, a red aura emanating from from her fingertips. The energy absorbed the bookcase next to the door, and she tilted it over and crushed the first man with it.

Don't let them get us! The Mind Stone panicked, making Ana's already intoxicated brain fuzzy.

Ana reached for the half empty water bottle on the nightstand uncapping it and shooting out a stream of water at the second man, heart dropping when the stream fell and hit the floor with a splat before it could even get close.

Your powers, I told you they were weak!  The Mind Stone told shouted in their head, making her ears ring.

The man aimed the large gun in his hand at Ana. He pulled the trigger, and a net, pulsing with energy, shot out towards her, trapping her underneath, burning her body with its electricity.

It was more than just a slight tingle that ran underneath her skin. No, it was as though someone had attached a live wire to each of her nerves, and her body convulsed as the violent electrical current pulsed through her. Ana let out a scream of pain as the electricity creeped into her system, a sound that was tuned to the perfect frequency to set Natasha in action.

She rushed at the man, unarmed, while Wanda struggled to untangle the net from Anastazya's unconscious body. The man was quicker than Natasha's sluggish strikes, dodging them easily. She gasped in pain when the main struck her in the chest before kicking her backward on her butt.

A sudden gush of pain jolted throughout Nat's body. Her stomach ached, her arms quickly lost tension and her legs began to weaken. The drugs had weakened her senses, made her drowsy and languid. Her tongue was soaked in the taste of blood. Bruised and winded, with her stomach in agony, Natasha grabbed the foot of the intruder and pulled him to the ground. Her head pounding, she brought a fist to the mans face, snapping his nose into a grotesquerie. She wrenched him up from his writhing position.

"Who are you working for?" She demanded, gripping his shirt tight. "Why did you come here?!"

"I-I was hired by some organization. M-my men and I are m-m-mercenaries! Fuck! We just came to get some stupid Mind Stone, that's all!"

"We don't have the Mind Stone!" Natasha spat.

"These fucking glasses tell me otherwise," The man retaliated, wiping blood from his nose. Natasha snatched the glasses from off of his face, putting them on herself. Her gaze swiveled around the room, stopping when she came across Ana's limp, twitching body, lighting up in a million colors. Radioactive. The glasses' targeting mechanism focused in, small words showing up next to her figure.

Target confirmed. Mind Stone Disabled.

Nat's eyes widened and she shook her head in disbelief.

"No way."