Hanna sat as still as she could, trying not to shift her position.

She was perched on the branches of a tree, her bow at hand and a clear view of the ground beneath her, including the entrance to Steve and Tessa's hideout, where all the others were discussing plans.

Hanna had decided not to join the conversation, because she figured there needed to be someone on guard. Besides, she wasn't even sure whether she was going to join their little group long-term. She was tagging along for now — it was better than lying in bed useless.

Her shoulder began to cramp, and she stretched it slowly.

She froze as she heard a twig snagging on the floor below her. A soft whispered curse followed, too low in volume to place. Hanna's eyes scanned the forest floor expertly, her ears alert for the crunching sound that anyone walking through the leaves would make.

She glanced up at the trees around her just in case — no-one. But just before she lowered her gaze, a blur of blue sent a wave of leaves into the air as it dashed from one tree to another.

"What was that?" she muttered to herself, changing her position so that her right leg, which had started to fall asleep, could wake up again.

She focused on the tree where the burst of speed had ended, but then caught a movement in her peripheral vision and turned her head just in time to see the end of another blue spurt.

"Steve," she muttered under her breath, "I think we have a visitor."

-

Meanwhile, in the hideout...

"We need a plan," Steve decided, rolling out a map of the Forbidden Forest and the city bordering it, Bygone Aivokos, (usually shortened to BA). 

"There's our house!" Lilian pointed with a grin.

"Not really important right now Lili," Bruno muttered.

"What exactly are you trying to accomplish?" Lilian asked, and Tessa took a rectangular piece of paper out of her pocket.

"Here," she smoothed it out, "we have this."

It was the note that they'd found in the first piece of Iron Man armour*, and Lilian read it excitedly.

*If you need to read it again, it's at the end of chapter 7

"That's so cool!"

"Yeah sure, but how does that help?"

"Well there's got to be a clue somewhere as to where the next piece of Iron Man armour is," Tessa stated, "but we have no idea where."

"First letter of each word?" Bruno guessed.

"Tried that," Steve sighed, "unless you can make sense of 'Titb. Titepot8tf. IywtftrofIMs...' etcetera, that's not it."

"Last letters?" Lilian guessed.

"ssegssettfe8odf..." Steve started reading, and Bruno shook his head.

"No, that can't be it either. Okay, what if it's not a code, but some sort of invisible ink?"

Tessa's eyes lit up.

"Of course! Maybe it's the kind that only shows when you squirt it with lemons!"

"That seems a bit primitive for Tony Stark," Bruno protested, "I'd have gone for something that only shows up in UV light."

"That's worth a shot too," Tessa shrugged, "but I don't have a one of the ultraviolet torch-thingies."

Bruno rolled his eyes, taking his backpack off his back.

"It's called a black light," he corrected, taking a small torch out of his backpack and handing it to Tessa, "don't break it."

Tess accepted the small torch, and tried to switch it on.

"How does this work?"

Bruno sighed, taking the torch from Tessa, switching it on and shining it on the paper.

Lilian gasped as a message showed up in deep purple.

Well hello Banner. Nice to see my descendant has built up a team. They'll need it later. The next piece of Iron Man armour is located on Hyperdrive Avenue; the street number is written in the kind of invisible ink that only shows with lemon, as you may or may not have noticed.

Good luck (again)

Tony Stark

PS Bruce gave me the idea for this one, only a Banner would think of using a ultraviolet torch-thingy.

"Hah, I was right!" Tessa grinned, "we need to use lemons as well!"

"How could he possibly have been so sure that a Banner would've thought to use a black light?" Bruno frowned, "I mean... technically—"

"We don't have time for technically," Lilian interrupted.

"It was probably a bluff," Steve shrugged, "Starks are like that. Do you have any lemons in there?" he gestured to Bruno's backpack.

"Why would I have lemons in my backpack?" Bruno frowned, putting the tiny torch back.

"I don't know, why would you have a torch that doesn't emit visible light?" Tessa countered.

"Well I don't have any fruits except oranges, and maybe a plum, sorry," Bruno retorted.

"Won't the oranges work?" Lilian suggested.

Bruno shook his head.

"I don't think they're acidic enough, and I we probably shouldn't risk it."

"Well then we'll go buy lemons," Steve shrugged, "I think the markets should be opening around now. Come on, let's go tell Hanna what we've found."

-

Hanna nocked an arrow to her bow, slowly scanning all of the forest for a sign of life.

Nothing moved.

Despite the early morning cold, her fingers started sweating. Hanna could feel the bowstring slipping around in her grip, and her arm was starting to become stiff again. Her condition wasn't as good as it needed to be just yet.

A loud crack from behind her startled her enough to let the arrow fly, but before it hit the ground it was intercepted by a blue blur.

The next moment a figure had come to a halt at the foot of her tree.

"Did you lose this?" he asked cheekily, holding up her arrow.

"Um... yeah," Hanna answered, her cheeks heating up, "could you throw it up here?"

A mischievous look sparked in his blue eyes.

"Come and get it!"

He disappeared in a blue streak dashing off towards the nearest tree.

"Steve, we have an enhanced on the field," Hanna muttered to the imaginary communication device, "what are you expecting me to do, shoot 'm?"

She dropped out of the tree, the leaves crunching loudly underneath her feet.

"Could you just give my arrow back?" she suggested to the trees, "please?"

She heard a rustle of leaves behind her, and turned around, nocking an arrow in under a second.

She lowered her bow when she saw Tessa's surprised face.

"Oh, it's you," she stated evenly.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked worriedly.

"Yeah, there's just this random kid—"

Hanna stopped as a blue blur sped from one tree to the next, raising her bow and firing an arrow under a second.

She missed.

"—this kid with superspeed that stole one of my arrows."

"Superspeed?" Lilian gasped, "That's so cool!"

The next second a figure came to a halt in front of Lilian.

"Yeah, it is," he agreed, ruffling his pale hair which was faded to a dark brown at the roots.

Hanna saw two arrows sticking out of his pockets and snatched them quickly.

"Not so fast now, eh?" she smirked, and he rolled his eyes.

"I let you do that," he claimed with a clear Sokovian accent.

"What's your name?" Tessa asked curiously.

"Co— um, I mean Cave."

"Doesn't it bother any of you that Steve and Tessa are supposed to be in hiding and yet we're talking to total stranger with superpowers?" Bruno enquired.

"Nope," Lilian shook her head, "this is exactly the kind of adventure I was looking for."

Bruno stared at her.

"Okay, when you say exactly..."

"Stop interrogating Bruno."

Cave smirked.

"Let me guess — twins?"

Bruno looked up in surprise.

"How did you know?"

Cave shrugged.

"Let's just say I have experience. What are you all doing here, wearing stolen parts of Iron Man armour and talking about being in hiding when you're standing in plain sight?"

"Okay first of all," Steve corrected, "we only have one part of Iron Man armour, not multiple. Second, it's none of your business."

Cave laughed.

"Of course it's my business. I didn't escape the orphanage to be rejected from the only team of superheroes my age."

"If I may interject—" Hanna began.

"No!" Steve snapped, and Hanna rolled her eyes.

"Fine, see how long you manage without me."

She turned around, gesturing for Cave to follow her.

"Ummm... okay?" Cave frowned, turning around.

"No, wait—" Steve sighed.

Hanna turned back to face them, one eyebrow raised.

"That was fast."

"Sorry, I'm just a bit of a mess. I mean, first it was just me, and then Tessa, and now there's six of us."

Cave perked up.

"So I'm in?"

Steve glared at him.

"Only if you promise to listen."

Cave shrugged.

"Sure, I'll listen. Obeying is another thing entirely, though."

"Tone down the sass, soldier," Hanna ordered.

"Sure thing Captain Hawkeye ma'am."

Lilian and Tessa grinned, and Bruno took a slow deep breath.

"It seriously doesn't bother any of you that he could literally be a spy from the AWSOMR and we wouldn't even know?!?"

"It doesn't bother me," Tessa shrugged, "I don't think the AWSOMR would resort to teenagers though."

"What on earth have we gotten ourselves into?" Bruno muttered.

"So, have you found anything useful yet?" Hanna enquired, and Tessa showed her the note.

"We were thinking we'd go to the markets to buy a lemon," Steve suggested, "they should be opening about now."

Hanna glanced at her watch. It was nine AM. The sun was slowly making its way into the sky, the first beams landing on the forest floor in speckles of gold. Yes, the markets would be setting up around now.

There was a gust of wind as Cave sped off in a blue wisp, returning mere seconds later with a lemon in his hand.

"The markets were open," he explained, "I bet they didn't even see me."

"I said buy, not steal," Steve pointed out, and Tessa handed Cave a $10 bill.

He sped off again, returning moments later with a multiple coins.

"I let them keep some of the change," he explained, handing the coins to Tessa.

"Do we have a knife?" Steve asked, and before Cave could race off again Lilian took a dagger out of her belt.

"Where did you get that?" Bruno frowned.

"My secret," Lilian grinned, flipping the knife into the air and dropping it when she almost grabbed it at the sharp end.

"Unless you were planning on cutting leaves, I suggest you stick the knife into the lemon," Cave suggested teasingly.

"Oh shut up," Lilian grumbled, picking up the dagger and slicing the lemon in half.

Tessa and Lilian each took half of the lemon, systematically rubbing it over the small piece of paper so that two digits appeared.

4 2

"Right, Hyperdrive Avenue 42 it is," Steve stated, "does anyone know where that is?"

"My aunt lived on the Lightspeed Lane, do you think that's anywhere close?" Tessa enquired.

"No idea," Hanna shrugged.

Bruno rolled his eyes.

"Steve, where did you leave that map of yours?"

"You have a map?" Hanna enquired innocently, "why don't you just use that?"

Bruno gave her a cold glare, and Hanna grinned.

"It's inside," Steve clarified, "I'll go get it."

He crawled back into the wet tunnel, and reappeared soon afterwards with his shield and the map.

"Here," he pointed out Hyperdrive Avenue on the map, "it's that way."

Cave nodded, grabbing one of the lemon halves and taking a bite out of it.

"Sour," he mumbled, "but kinda nice."

Hanna gave him a strange look, and Cave laughed.

"Come on, let's go find that street."

"Avenue," Bruno corrected under his breath.

"Avenue, whatever."

-

Thoughts on Cave?

Don't forget to vote & comment if you liked it. :D

~Evanlyn