The fire

The Tunnel

8:25

I was sat on a broken tree branch carving my index finger through the bark. My fire sizzled through the solid wood etching patterns through the dry moss.

8:32

She had died, 8:32 in this spot had I sat as the sun disappeared past the horizon and watched my mother be taken away forever. Or so I thought. Dusk falls as I fall. This was it, in 7 minutes I was going to see her again; hopefully. Despite my hope a tiny part of me was preparing for the worst. But I couldn't think about that, I had to be positive.

8:29

Three minutes. I started to feel nervous. The slightest movement in the bushes made me jumpy- I would find myself frantically searching for the source of the noise.

-

"It feels odd doesn't it?" She said her feet crunching down on the bits of wood.

"What do you mean?" Clint Barton asked flashing his torch into a dense bit of thicket. A part of him still hoping the blonde would simply jump out at them laughing, announcing how it was one big practical joke.

"Couple of months ago we were recruiting her not even knowing who she was. Now we're half way across the world searching through a wood  on some mountains to check if she's alright." Natasha Romanoffs tone was a mixture between amusement and sadness.

Clint grunted in response, he wasn't in the mood to talk. They were on the main tourist path in Chamonix woods. After a tip off from a group of lads who had helped Emilia refill her fuel they knew where she was heading. She was going to meet her Mother who had supposedly died. They'd figured out for some reason Emilia thought she was still alive, she had come all the way to France back to where Cally Evans had lay bleeding out until her eyes stopped blinking to try and find her.

"It wasn't your fault Clint." Natasha said quietly, her partner hadn't talked much since she'd gone missing. She guessed he was still blaming himself for not stopping her.

"I wish people would stop saying that, It was my fault I should have just shot her, at least then we wouldn't be scooping through some massive French forrest!" Nat shut up, she knew when Barton was annoyed you needed to just drop it. They continued in silence. Only the sounds of the woods were audible.

-

8:40

I couldn't help feeling broken. Nothing had happened. The sun had set and I was left sat on a cold rock with the growing darkness eating me up. I was so stupid to have even of presumed anybody would turn up. To have presumed she was alive. The birthday card was probably just The Mort's idea of a sick birthday joke, a delightful little 18th birthday present. Anger surged inside me, I lurched up setting fire to the floor, Flames leapt up from the ground eating up the leaves, sticks, moss; anything that got in my fury filled path.

I stopped. The orange disappeared in a split second.

There was a rustic glinting in the moonlight. Freshly scorched from my stream of heat, lay a perfectly round metal plaque. It was tiny. I knelt down brushing the ashes away, lighting my hand as a torch. The words imprinted on the hard steel stopped my heart.

-

The two assassins were now climbing down a steep bank, still in silence. Silence which was broken by a huge bang and piercing scream which they both recognised. The agents didn't hesitate to follow the noise which had sent bats fleeing from their tree homes.

"She's been here." Was all he said as Natasha caught up with him. He had lowered his bow and was inspecting the scorched Forrest floor. Romanoff however still had her flashlight raised with her gun. "Shine here." Barton commanded tracing his fingers over the cold hard feeling of a metal plate. "Mourir ici?" Clint turned to the redhead, he didn't speak French too well.

"To die here." The words fell out her mouth in an uncomfortable wince, this wasn't going to end well.

"Hey Stark you there?" Nat called through her comms device. It had been twenty minutes since her and Clint had discovered the engraved stone lid. They had inspected the area through and through. The search had resulted in finding a clad of blonde hair clasped under the stone slab. They'd pulled up the slab and watched the hair dislodge by a gist of wind and float down the empty black hole.

"Yo spidey what up." Stark replied he was set up in a local B&B with the Cap. Laptops and technology littered their room.

Natasha rolled her eyes at Starks nickname- Emilia had nicknames for everyone. "We found something, a kind of like drainpipe thing. We think it belongs to The Mort."

"Okay searching local databases for any clues to where it might lead. Someone must have made them. What about firework, any sign of her?" He asked typing quickly into his machine, his eyes never wavering from the screen.

"I found some hair attached to the to the hole. There's also fresh scorch marks all over the area." She replied watching as Barton threw stones down the empty space.

"So she either got into a struggle with someone or decided to do some pruning." He joked, but his facial expression remained serious.

"Your guess is as good as mine." She replied staring around, maybe there was another clue somewhere? In the background she heard a beeping of a computer, then a shout.

"Tony why is your suit in the bathroom? It almost gave me a heart attack!" Cap was shouting at Stark obviously annoyed. Those two together were a nightmare, like an old married couple constantly bickering.

"The great Captain America terrified by a tin suit. Did you shit yourself?" He chuckled, she could hear the tapping of laptop keys. "Okay Tash I have a match to the tunnel. It was built about 80 years ago by some French guy. Can't tell you where it leads but this French dude has a tattoo on the back of his hand and guess what that tattoo looks like."

Natasha felt her stomach sink. "Knife through a skull by any chance?" She questioned knowing the answer.

"You reckon The Mort used Em's mother as a trap to lure her here so they could kidnap her." Cap asked from the background, concern laced through his tone. The idea of his girlfriend in peril causing the ironman-suit scare to be but a distant memory.

"Yup spangles that's exactly what I think." Tony said popping the p sound on the yup.