Captain's Hart

Chapter 9 There is no I in Team

Arianna and Steve fought through grit teeth. Arianna'd run out of knives at this point and they were both exhausted. She wasn't even sure how many hours it might have been since the fight started, but she did know that every muscle in her body screamed when she moved and then throbbed tiredly when she paused.

She glanced up at one point and froze. The roof where Clint had been was destroyed. "Clint?!" She called into her comms urgently, but there was no response. She spotted a small hole in the building a few floors down where the glass had shattered and wondered if that was where he'd gone.

"Ria? What's happened to Clint?" Nat called and Arianna began: "He's gone, he-" She was cut off as she heard a whistling coming towards her and she barely managed to duck in time as a Chitauri swung its spear at her. But it simply whacked the butt of the spear at her head, knocking her to the ground.

Arianna groaned and then twisted away as it fired its gun from the spearhead, before she kicked at it. It dodged and made to hit her again when Steve's shield whacked it aside, knocking it out. She looked up as he ran over, asking urgently: "Ria, you okay?"

She nodded, saying gratefully: "Thanks, Steve." "You need to stay focused. Barton's strong, he'll have found a way to survive." Steve told her sternly and Arianna nodded, hanging her head. "I know. I'm sorry." She murmured, and Steve paused.

He glanced around to make sure they weren't in danger at the moment before he clamped a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye. Her hazel eyes met his blue ones as he said gently: "I promise you, we'll look for him as soon as we can. But for now, I need you here."

She stared into his eyes and Steve's pounding heart suddenly had nothing to do with the battle-induced adrenaline as her sharp hazel eyes bore into his. Arianna nodded slowly and then once more firmly.

"Roger, that. Captain." She said softly, almost teasing but there was a deep respect in her voice. Steve swallowed, suddenly feeling disoriented, but her eyes became sharp and she called warningly: "Steve!" He whipped around as more Chitauri appeared and he quickly returned to the battle at hand.

The pair started fighting again, and Arianna managed to pull a Black Widow and steal a spear from one using it to fire at the others. Thor joined them as Steve threw his shield to cover Arianna, hitting away a Chitauri that was about to attack Steve as Arianna used her opponent's distraction caused by the shield to take him out. She threw the shield back to Steve with a nod of thanks, before turning back to the fight.

She'd just sent one of the Chitauri flying with a blast from her spear, when Steve suddenly grunted painfully and she whipped around to see him thrown to the ground after a blast hit him right in the stomach. "Steve!" Arianna called worriedly.

She quickly fired at the Chitauri, distracting them as Thor smashed a car at them. He kept them at bay as Arianna skid over to Steve as the super soldier slowly crawled back to his knees. He was breathing heavily, and seemed to be having trouble getting to his feet.

She touched his shoulder worriedly, asking softly: "Steve?" He grimaced at her, and they both looked up as a hand appeared before Steve's face. Thor waited, and Steve took the offered hand gratefully. Thor helped him to his feet as Arianna supported Steve, gripping his elbow.

She frowned worriedly at Steve's heavily bleeding side, and Thor asked, though he was eyeing the Captain concernedly: "You ready for another bout?" "What? You gettin' sleepy?" Steve joked, but his face was furrowed in pain and his breathing still heavy.

Thor smiled grimly before grabbing his Mjolnir and Arianna muttered: "Men." But even her jibe was half-hearted and Steve gripped her shoulder as they turned back to the advancing Chitauri.