The Three Elements #3 (The Avengers)

Chapter 7: I Kissed Him

It was empowering to not be the only kid on the team now. We were our own team now. And I must say the leather was doing us favours. We looked like a gang who should not be messed with. We zipped up and buckled on as many guns as we could manage. If you could believe it I found an old prototype of one of the Fantastic Four’s suites in here. I zipped that up since my others clothes were practically ash. And that wasn’t the only thing locked up in here. Hawkeye’s old bow, the star from the Caps old uniform, an old spring from Professor X’s wheelchair and even an arm and a leg from the Mark 20.

We walked out into the corridor into the face of battle and this time we were ready. It was easier for me to do it because I had fought armies from outer space, but the others they were new to it all and were shocked to find that I would shoot a man point blank in the head. After another wave of soldiers we had managed to get a personalised map, however the technology was very up to date and I was suspicious of where we were and how X-Men had managed to get hold of this stuff. Infact to bring that subject up, where was Magneto? I had seen no sign of him whatsoever. It was then that I began to get worried. It didn’t matter how long we searched through this place, there was only one way, and that was up.

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We were stuck behind adjacent walls and there were soldiers coming at us from both sides. It seemed that we were trapped.

‘This place never ends, how in the world are we supposed to get out of here’ Armadillo shouted over the blaring sirens and the shouts of firing weapons

‘it would be great if we knew where exactly in the world we were!’ Monsoon responded as he conjured a sheet of ice into a small wave of soldiers.

‘We can’t go on fighting forever in here’ I told them, ‘we need to go up’

‘If you can hold them off I can break through the roof’ Armadillo volunteered. I nodded my understanding and stood out in the wall of fire. I engulfed myself with flames and began to throw fireballs as I saw at the corner of my eye Monsoon back me up and the crumbling sheetrock and concrete as Armadillo drilled through the roof. The soldiers were retreating and calling for back up. Finally we were gaining ground.

There was a cascade of rubble and dust was kicked up by the avalanche of concrete.

‘I got something!’ Armadillo shouted from somewhere in the mess of earth and wreckage. Monsoon and I clambered over the cinder blocks and Trudy was already inside the wall cavity that she had boared out. It could fit all of us in comfortably side by side. She let down vines for us to climb on before she brought us up.

‘Naveen?’

I turned around and standing there was Steve, his shield at his side and a concerned expression on his face. My heart leapt into my mouth and I was about to race over to him and hug him. But then my head overruled my heart for a second. I lifted my loaded gun and pointed it at his head.

‘What are you doing here?’ I said carefully.

‘I’ve come to take you back to Stark Tower, I love you Naveen, come on I know the way out’ he said. I felt tears rise in my eyes.

‘No you haven’t’ I mumbled and squeezed the trigger. The bullet landed in the shoulder of the blue girl. She tumbled down and screamed out in pain as ruby red blood gushed out on the floor beside her arm.

‘Naveen! Hurry!’ Trudy yelled to me. I turned away and clambered up into the dim ceiling cavity. I lit my hand up and the place filled with a hazy purple light. There was no use going across we had to keep pushing through. The fireball shot through the rest of the concrete and we were met with holy white light.

I heard screams and a startled shuffle above us. I was the first to reach up and grab onto the sides of our excavated hole. My hand touched a clean, white surface. I struggled up and I was staring down the hallway of a hospital. Patients and nurses stared at the three people crawling out from the ground.

‘A prison for the criminally insane and now this’ I muttered to myself as I hauled up Armadillo and Monsoon. ‘Theory suggests it’ll be a circus next’

The patients were looking at us with astonishment and fear more than anything. Well it’s not every day a band of mutants break through the floor of a hospital. I bet we looked weird with dust and mud on our face, armed with guns, covered in vegetation and me with a flaming hand.

‘What never seen a super hero team before?’ I said to a nurse.

‘Where are we?’ Trudy asked nicely to the frightened nurse.

‘Um, Manhattan ER’ she stuttered. Beside me Harley swore and Trudy’s jaw dropped.

‘So wait we’re in New York?’ I asked her. The nurse just nodded quickly,

‘Don’t hurt me’ she trembled. I rolled my eyes and started to walk to the front office when I saw the most beautiful thing in my life.

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So when people ask what is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen? Some say deserts and others rainforests or a new born baby. Nope mine was an argument. A doctor was flanked by two men who looked very much alike and an older man were all talking the doctor’s ear off and were trying to get him to agree to something.

The Human Torch, Captain America and Ironman were talking over each other about why they had to drill under the hospital. None of this mattered though. When all three sets of eyes set on us there was nothing but sheer happiness. I said nothing but just ran as fast as my legs could take me and into the arms of my dad.

Tony encircled me in a hug and I breathed it all in as I cried on his Black Sabbath tee shirt.

‘You seem to be making it a habit of getting kidnapped’ was the first thing he said.

‘It amazing to see you too’ I said. I knew this is what he really meant, but for Tony sentiment was never his department. I let the tears flow and even though it was embarrassing to cry infront of Johnny Storm and Steve, but at the moment I did not care. I was just glad that I was not locked away in that cell anymore.

As I finally pulled away I saw that Harley and Johnny were meeting up like brothers and I was glad Harley had some sort of family.

‘How did you find me?’ I asked mostly to Tony than anyone else.

‘Don’t ask me, flame boy figured out where you were’ Tony said, it was unlike him to not take the credit. I turned to Johnny and was amazed.

‘Really?’ I said.

‘Don’t sound so surprised violet’

‘So I guessed Reed had something lying around’ I muttered even more embarrassed now.

‘No her names not violet its Ecto, we have to call her that now’ Trudy interrupted.

‘Ecto? What happened to Priestess?’ Tony asked a little bit sceptical.

'She was overruled' I smiled sadly.

‘I’m Armadillo and he’s Monsoon’ she pointed out.

‘So you’re your own team now?’ Steve asked from the sidelines. I looked at him and then adverted my gaze as not to cause any awkwardness.

‘So what are you called then?’ Tony asked.

‘The Three Elements’ we said in unison.

‘You know threes a crowd’ Johnny interjected.

‘And yet here you three end up, that’s cute’ I raised my eyebrow.

‘Well it would have been one, but Johnny knew that we would want to find you too’ Steve remarked.

‘He brought you here? Wow, that’s unusually thoughtful of you’ I told him straight.

‘Well I knew they would be worried’ he said with a serious kindness. My jaw dropped.

‘That’s so nice’ I walked up to him and wasn’t sure what I was going to do until I did it. Even though I hated Johnny Storm’s guts and he was egotistical and vain, I kissed him.