To The Moon And Back (Fanfic)

Chapter 18

The hospital transformed into what could only be compared to as a busy highway overwhelmed with traffic. Patients and their families were scrambling here and there as the doctors and nurses desperately tried to guide them, tripping over each other to get to the exits as chaos broke out.

A sea of men dressed in black gear, Ross' men, had crashed through the glass double doors moments before and stomped into the heavily crowded waiting room with their minds locked on finding Steve Rogers and his team of fugitives.

The bystanders heard the clicking of their weapons signifying that they were fully loaded and didn't waste a second before bolting towards safety – and no bullets had even been fired yet nor were they planned to be. Ross needed them alive.

By that point, the team was alert and up on their feet. Most of the hospital's occupants had already fled the room and punches were being thrown about one another while Wanda used her powers to her advantage, fighting off any scumbag who came at her as best as she could.

In a few rooms down, Natasha had managed to get Steve to his feet as quickly as she could. She was strong, but she had tried to lift him by herself many times before and couldn't. He was heavy. Most of that weight he carried was muscle, of course, as his body fat percentage was very slim. Natasha was built that way too – years as an agent had been quite kind to her in terms of body size, however, a hundred-twenty-five pound body standing at five feet and four inches wasn't too good for lifting someone twice that size.

They limped towards the door, both struggling to stay up for different reasons, and tossed it open to reveal a crowd of people rushing past to what Natasha guessed were the exits around the corner. They pushed their way through the crowd. Natasha turned her head to catch a glimpse of her teammates hand to hand with Ross' men, and made eye contact with one of the men in black.

The man did a double take and his eyes widened. A sly smile formed across his face as he announced to the others, "There's Romanoff!"

A swarm of faces turned to look at her as she stumbled back with Steve still on her arm. Another one of Ross' men spoke, "She's got Roger's with her!"

They raised their weapons to the two of them, and for a moment Natasha doubted they would shoot, but it wasn't until a bullet fired and instead of hitting either one of them – it collided into what looked like red tinted glass from both sides.

Wanda, quick to think, had focused her powers onto generating another protective barrier between Steve and Natasha and all of Ross' men on the other side only a split second after their guns were pointed in their direction. The two men looked helplessly around the room, caught off guard by barrier.

"Cover me!" Wanda yelled to the rest of her team as she concentrated hard on keeping the barrier up long enough for Natasha to escape with Steve. The team didn't hesitate at her command. They rushed over to her side and formed a half-circle around her to prevent her from getting hurt. Wanda would be everyone's target if they wanted any chance at capturing Steve and Natasha – the only thing standing between the two of them and Ross' men was Wanda and her abilities.

Meanwhile, as the fighting continued in attempts to destroy the barrier, Steve and Natasha had escaped down the hall and gotten lost in the crowd and were now a decent length out of the enemy's eyesight. So long as Wanda could keep the barrier up, they could escape. They could only hope that she wouldn't get herself or any other member of the team killed in the process.

As they limped down the hall with the crowd, which was now fairly small compared to the rush before, Natasha caught a sight of a door to a closet labeled 'Storage' to her right. She quickly made her way towards it, dragging Steve behind her, and vigorously twisted the knob – hoping it was unlocked. The door popped open to a crescent and Natasha gasped with relief.