Artemis : The Seventh Avenger ➳ Steve Rogers [1]

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☆ ☆ ☆

I've managed to quickly grab my weapons as I passed by my room.

I haven't had the chance to patch my leg. The bleeding was slowing down, so I figured it wouldn't be much of a problem.

"Cap, where are you?" I press down on my Comms and wait for an answer.

Steve answers almost immediately, "Engine three."

"Copy that, I'm on my way," I reply, fighting through the pain as I ran down the hallway.

I get there just in time to catch two men advancing on Steve on the ledge above me.

I nock two arrows into my bow, aiming right over Steve's shoulder. It was a tight shot, but I managed to make it.

The two men go down as soon as I let the arrows fly and Steve finishes off with the man his fight.

Steve whirls around in surprise, staring at the two fallen intruders with his mouth agape as he turns and finally notices me.

"Thanks." He says, breathless.

"Anytime, Cap." I smile.

I swing my bow in an upward arc as I turned, swiftly knocking out an armed intruder behind me, before moving on to the next.

With a click of a button, my bow flattens out to form a makeshift staff. I transition into a forward roll, ducking under as the man fires at me.

I sweep my staff low, aiming for the man's legs as soon as I'm close enough, knocking his legs out from under him. He lands on the ground, hard and I finish him off with a punch to the face.

The Captain leaps off the ledge, landing right beside me, taking out the last intruder as he does.

"Looks like we're even now." I joke.

He manages a smile between breaths, "Looks like we are."

"Damn. They messed up your hair." I take the opportunity to tease him, reaching over to sweep his now unkempt hair out of his face, surprised at how it managed to be softer than it already looked.

He laughs, watching me as I moved past him. His eyes were filled with an emotion I couldn't quite decipher, something between amusement and affection.

I begin to climb the ladder off to the side and onto the ledge right by the panel.

"So, you're supposed to pull the red lever when he tells you to, right?" I ask.

He joins me on the ledge, "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Well it's simple," I start, "It's a stator control unit, so it can reverse the polarity long enough to disengage maglev and that gives Stark enough time to..." I drift off glancing at Steve who now has a confused look on his face.

"You have no idea what I'm saying, do you?" I ask.

"I don't think any normal person would." He says with a grin.

I gasp, taking mock offence in that sentence. "Are you calling me weird, Captain?"

"Well," He shrugs, "Weird is good. I like weird." He says.

I couldn't help but chuckle, "Why, thank you. I like you, too." I quickly realise what I just said.

The Captain raises his brows at me, an unreadable expression on his face.

My mouth falls agape. Mortified at myself, I fumble for words.

"W-well, you know not in that sense." I blabbed, "Just casually as friends-or rather teammates. It's fine if you don't see me as a friend-"

I'm quickly cut off by shots being fired at us. For once in my life, I'm actually thankful that I'm being shot at.

Steve is immediately in action, picking up a gun that was left behind by one of the previous attackers and firing back.

I fix my arrows in place, letting them soar as soon as I took aim. Two of them go down, leaving one who manages to take cover behind a wall, staying out of sight.

The last intruder peeks out from his hiding spot, firing a few more shots. We retreat back as bullets rained down on us. Still, I managed to nock one last arrow in and let it loose.

It lands in the man's chest, but not before he takes one last shot. The shot lands too close to Rogers' head for comfort, causing him to stumble back and step on a loose metal grid. It slides off the exposed edge, taking him down with it.

"Captain!" I yelled, diving for his hand and catching it just in time.

I struggle to pull him up, seeing as to how much bigger he is as compared to me.

"I need help!" I desperately yell into my Comms, but for the second time today, I don't get a reply.

I cursed under my breath as Steve's fingers start to slip. Just hold on until help arrives. I tell myself, trying to readjust my grip. If they do arrive at all.

Just as I think I've secured the grip, a pair of hands grab my feet from behind, prying me away from the edge.

"No!" I yell, trying to free myself from their grip while holding on to the Captain.

"Let go of me!" I kick out wildly at their face, hoping that they'll let go by some kind of miracle.

One more hard yank from the hostile and Steve's hand slips out completely from mine. My heart sinks as I watch him fall, not getting a chance to see where he lands, my attacker pulls me back further into the ledge.

I roll onto my back, getting ready to defend myself but freeze in shock at the sight of my attacker's face.

"Clint," I muttered between heavy breaths.

He looked pale. Sickly, almost. His eyes stood out the most. They were an icy blue as supposed to their usual green.

"Cap, hit the lever!" Stark yells through the Comms.

"I need a minute here!" He gets a response almost instantly.

Relief fills my chest at the sound of Cap's voice, but it's gone in a flash as another problem arises. Stark's going to get crushed if we don't get to the lever soon.

"Lever! Now!" Stark voice grows urgent.

The line goes silent for a moment before stark speaks again, "Uh oh. Help!"

My eyes flicker to the lever that was just an arm's length away.

Clint takes full advantage of my distraction and was on me in an instant, pinning me down as he plunges a knife right down at me.