The Rogue Mage

Chapter 8

   Part of a building still hadn't collapsed, it was here that the Team congregated. The smell of ash was thick in the air, and it felt like the temperature had increased 10 degrees since they'd arrived. Steve had no idea how Kai was managing in her uniform- which consisted of cloth and leather armor that covered her from head to toe. She even had her hood pulled down over her eyes, the only part of her that was visible was  the lower half of her face. There was blood matted at the right corner of her lip. Steve had the insane urge to try and brush back her hood, make sure it wasn't concealing worse injuries. He quelled it of course, Kai would probably slap him if he touched her again. 

   "Guys? Do you hear that?" Natasha said suddenly. 

 The chatter between the team ceased at once, and everyone stood silently. Sure enough, Steve could hear a slight hissing sound. The sound a teapot made right before it started screeching. 

This was followed by a loud POP!

   It sounded like a gunshot, except it was louder and bounced around the small room. It startled Steve enough that he dropped to one knee, crouching behind his shield. Kai swore so violently that Steve was positive that the Devil himself cringed. 

    "What just happened?" Clint asked, shaking his head.

 Steve stood up, now that it was apparent they weren't being attacked.

  Tony gestured at a small can in the corner of the room, "The heat increased the pressure until it exploded."

    Natasha snorted, then turned on Kai. "Care to explain this?"

 "The can? Sorry but I'm not gonna explain how pressure builds in a soda can to you."

  Tony flipped back the face plate of his armor, "What Widow's pointing out is that these are no soldiers of Thanos. Some of the ones we took down had abilities similar to yours."

 "They were dressed in a similar manner to you as well," Vision added.

 Steve could see Kai's whole body tense, her fists clenching at her sides. If he too hadn't wanted to know the answer to Natasha's question so badly, he would have defended her.

  "They're from the Mages Association," Kai said finally, her voice shaking slightly.

"The what now?" Tony asked.

 "The Mages Association. They are probably soldiers sent by my peoples leaders."

"There's an associaton of your guys?"

 "Of course, someone has to run things. Make sure we don't kill too many of you humans."

"That's comforting."

 "It should be."

 "So what now?" Steve interrupted before Kai could light Tony on fire. 

 "We need to stop the Volcano from going off and killing everyone," Natasha said dryly. "I was thinking our resident elemental mage could do something. Kai?" 

 "No, there's nothing I can do."

  Kai was lying, Steve knew it. He had a deep gut feeling about it. The way her shoulders were squared, her hands shaking slightly. Something was wrong, she was scared.  

 "Kai," Steve said softly. "If that volcano goes off, a lot of people will die. They won't all be evacuated in time. Not just people, animals will die as well."

 He added that last bit because Kai seemed like the kind of person who cared more about animals than other people. Not that there was necessarily anything wrong with that, so long as she stopped the volcano.

   "Fine," Kai said, practically snarling. "I'll go die trying to calm this freaking volcano, while the lot of you deal with the citizens."

   She spun on her heel, her cloak swirling angrily as she stalked out of the building.