Frostbite

Six

I weaved through various pipes and sprinted down a random catwalk. My head was still pounding, making me slightly unbalanced. Once I was halfway across, I slowed to a stop and leaned on the glass, catching my breath. Hopefully, everyone else was alright.

Standing upright, I continued making my way down the strip. There was a sudden roar from behind me, breaking the silence. I looked back over my shoulder to see Natasha racing onto the catwalk, followed by the Hulk. I pushed myself to move faster, panic coursing through me.

I jumped down the stairs and dove to the right, rolling and propping myself up on one knee, waiting. We had hit a dead end; the only way out was to subdue him. Just the thought terrified me.

The hulk smashed through all of the glass and slid into the alcove, swatting Natasha into the wall. She crumpled to the floor, staring at him in terror. I had never seen her show fear, it was almost unnerving. He turned around, breathing heavily and went after her once more.

I quickly shrugged my jacket off and unlatched my pistol from its holster. I aimed at his back and burned through my clip. He swiveled around and stormed toward me. The bullets had only pissed him off. Lovely. There wasn't anywhere to run; I'd have to rely on my powers.

I dove under his legs when he approached, sliding behind him, barely missing his grasp. Before he could react, I jumped onto his back, climbing until I was hanging onto his shoulders with my bare hands. I made a small, dagger like icicle and plunged it into his back. It shattered instantly. He roared in annoyance and tried to fling me off.

He attempted reaching over his shoulder to grab me but was having trouble. I began to slide down, so I could try something else, but before I could fully remove myself, we were hit from another direction. We smashed through the wall and into the aircraft hangar. I lost my hold and landed flat on my face a few feet away from him.

I scrambled to my feet and slowly backed away, not wanting to attract his attention. He sensed me and turned, glaring at me. He took a step after me, but Thor jumped in from behind and punched him in the jaw, sending him flying.

"I believe we are even, Lady Stark!" Thor called over his shoulder.

"Yeah, I believe so," I replied, rolling my eyes with a grateful smile. Thor seemed to have it under control, so I went to help elsewhere.

There was a flurry of voices on the earpiece by this point. The bridge was under attack and apparently Barton was somewhere on board. I headed in the direction of the bridge. I jogged around a corner and took the stairs two at a time. There were gunshots coming from the hall where the carrier had been blasted open. Tony was out there fixing the engine.

Three men came out of a door a few yards ahead of me. They had assault rifles and were heading for where Tony was. None of them had noticed me flat against the wall.

The first two crept through the hole and began firing immediately. I ran up behind the last one and grabbed onto his shoulders and shoved him into the wall before he could follow.

He quickly recovered and aimed his gun. I threw my hands in front of me, creating a thick pillar of ice between us. He was knocked off his feet and the bullets embedded themselves in it. He rolled to his feet and tried to shoot again. Before he could, I grabbed onto the barrel of the rifle, pushing it up and away from me and used the other hand to grab his neck and back him against the wall.

This caused his hold to slacken, and I was able to yank the gun out of his hands. I smashed the butt of the rifle into his head, and he crashed to the floor, unconscious. I jogged to the opening, dropping the weapon. There was still shooting outside.