The Syndicates || "MARVEL: Avengers" || COMPLETED

S E V E N | ' on your tail '

For nearly an hour we had been tailing Loki, from his avid performance at the Stuttgart gala to his imprisonment in the Avengers' Quinjet. Currently, we were nearing Birkenkopf and the mountainous terrain forced us to close in, the sleek black paint of our craft keeping us camouflaged in the night sky. But despite that and the thunder outside overpowering the whir of our helicopter's blades, doubt still gnawed at my chest.

Silver had only spoken to point out directions so far and while she had been acting like this for over a week since the incident I decided to give her some space. Talking didn't always help. Silver would recover, in her own time. As soon as HYDRA had received Intel on Loki's position, Rumlow had sent us to recover the Tesseract from his grasp before SHIELD could intervene. While we'd evidently already failed the second half of that mission, we still had time to fix things, though I couldn't help feeling reluctant about it. The part of me that had always wanted to run away from these assignments had grown stronger since Winter's wiping and was begging me to come up with an excuse to turn around but how could I? On one hand, the Avengers were the only people who could help us in the future but on the other, HYDRA would destroy us body and soul if we failed. But HYDRA would do that anyway, and if we went through with this assignment and they turned on us, would the Avengers still help? By going through with this was I just setting my fate in stone?

"M!"

My head jerked up and I swung the wheel forcefully to the right, narrowly avoiding a collision and almost causing another one. A close call summoned by my idiocy; I could have gotten us killed.

"You okay?"

I nodded, reaching beside me with one hand and bringing a cup of cold coffee to my lips. 

"Fine."

My voice came out sounding rough and scratchy and very much not fine. 

Thunder boomed from above, stalked by flashes of lightening that lit up the night sky. The Quinjet shook vigorously and wondered whether they'd been struck.

"Is that a person?"

I frowned. Silver was right. A shadowed figure clung to the edge of the jet, his attire shining brightly in the moonlight.

"Back up, it's another one of them."

"Another Asgardian..." I stated more than asked, veering off course and lowering our speed.

"Looks like it- Damn, he's got Loki. I'll take this, you go."

She grabbed hold of the wheel, snatching my coffee out of the cup holder with a wink. I rolled my eyes as she tipped the cup right back, stealing the last few drops,

"Back to normal then?"

"We'll see. Hey," She reached out and grabbed my arm, "Track them, don't intervene."

I nodded, grabbing a parachute off a close-by metal rack. Swinging it onto my back I opened the escape hatch and jumped out, grinning at the feeling of air hurtling past me. Once I got to the ground, I threw the shoot into some bushes and activated my earpiece. Dozens of trees towered above me and I turned in a circle, hoping for a sign.

 A crash sounded nearby and I took off towards it, holding my pistol out in front of me. And, there it was. A second sickening thud echoed through the trees as I reached the Avengers' location, finding the Asgardian and Iron Man standing off. Loki was nowhere in sight. I cursed into my mic,

"Silver? Target's missing."

I peered around the clearing their battle had created, taking a second look as clangs of metal against metal flooded the air.

"Holy..."

The Asgardian man stood with his hammer above his head, effortlessly summoning spears of lightning which he hurled towards Stark. I was completely out of my league, and not just in the muscle department. Surprisingly, Stark seemed to take it well, firing off blasts of energy right back at him. The Asgardian was cast into a few trees which he promptly blew out of existence, and Stark took the opportunity to lift him into the air. Then they were gone, soaring into the sky at impossible speeds.

"I see them."

Came Silver's voice in my ear,

"You're not equipped for this, get out of there."

I swore and ducked as the pair ricocheted back towards the clearing, smashing through the trees to my left. 

"M, get out." Silver pressed.

"Relax, mother."

"M!" 

She was yelling through grit teeth, quite a skill.

"Look, just let me wait this one out, the Asgardian will lead me to Loki."

I promised, sliding my gun into its holder and sneaking closer.

"Don't you dare-" 

I muted the earpiece and tucked it into my back pocket, whispering an apology.

While the two small handguns I'd brought with me would be useless among these soldiers, I figured they'd make a good distraction if need be so I took them both out. Both fighters rolled to a stop then began hurling fists at each other, all WWE style. I guessed the Asgardian man was Thor; Loki's brother if I remembered correctly. It made sense, but was he with him or against him? Thor threw Stark into the tree I was hiding behind and I dropped to the ground, drawing myself into a ball. Thankfully, this one didn't collapse. He pushed off the tree with a bang and the pair continued to fight it off. 

Two metallic booms rang through the air and I looked up as the scene lulled to an unexpected silence.

"Hey! That's enough!"

It was Rogers' voice. Loud and clear. He jumped off the tree he'd been perched on and approached the pair. His words were directed at Thor but it was obvious he didn't have much love for Stark either.

"Now I don't know what you plan on doing here-"

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!" Thor bellowed, cutting him off.

"Then prove it. Put that hammer down." 

"Uh, yeah! No! Bad call, he loves his hammer-"

Tony quipped and Thor drew his hammer back, slamming it into him and sending him flying into the trees above my head. Maybe I should get out of here.

"You want me to put the hammer down!" Thor started. Then again, it looked like the show was just getting started.

I braced myself as he flew into the air, his hammer gliding towards Rogers who raised his shield protectively above his head. A blinding flash of light erupted from the collision, followed by a deafening boom and a gust of air that sent all four of us flying backwards. My head struck a tree trunk. Black dots danced like stars before my eyes, instilling a sense of deep panic that overpowered the voice in my mind that told me to get up and run. Before I could move, a piercing pain erupted from my stomach as if it had been doused in fire and as my hand flew to the source a wetness crawled onto my palms. Blood. And a lot of it. My earpiece buzzed to life with the familiar chime of Silver's voice but I couldn't hear her through the ringing. The ringing? Was that in my head? I groaned.

Footfalls thudded in my direction and I made out another voice. A hand drew my hair back and I just made out the blue outfit of what must be Captain America. The fear resting in my veins surged and I held back a scream, trying to heal myself in time to get away. If he didn't kill me, HYDRA would. I slipped in and out of consciousness as something clamped down on my wound. I thrashed my legs out at the sudden pressure but someone held me down and an unexpected stabbing sensation cut through my neck. A needle?

"What did you do that for?" Stark's voice?

"She's HYDRA." Rogers...

The tension in my body slackened and with a moan, I fell into a deep drugged slumber.