Chapter 4: Where They Fight
"It's not about how hard you can hit; it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward"
-Rocky Balboa

The whole team was in position, Bucky with Sam at the terminal, Wanda with Clint at the parking deck, and Ember with Scott hidden at a corner, watching closely from behind as Steve jogged towards the open. Everyone was waiting for a signal. Just as Steve was about to reach the chopper an electro disabler was shot towards it by two figures landing.

"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird?" said Tony Stark. From where she was standing Ember noticed the bags under his eyes as well as the purple bruise covering one.

"Definitely weird." answered War Machine.

"Hear me out, Tony. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this." Steve tried to explain only to be interrupted by a figure landing next him.

"Captain." greeted the new comer, the blonde didn't know who he was but he wore a panther suit and spoke with a thick accent.

"Your highness." Steve nodded in respect.

"Anyways, Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?" continued Tony.

"You're after the wrong guy."

"Your judgment is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday." Tony said, annoyed at his friend's stubbornness.

"And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't."

"Steve," called Black Widow as she made her way to stand behind the super soldier "you know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?" she asked giving her friend one last chance to back out, not knowing that Steve had a whole team ready to fight them if it came to that.

"All right, I've run out of patience. Underoos!" shouted Tony. At his call a red figure flipped over their heads, stealing Steve's shield and binding his hands with a web "Nice job, kid"

"You've got to be kidding me" muttered Ember from her spot once she recognized the figure landing on top of the vehicle, fortunately no one heard her except for Scott who gave her a questioning glance.

"Thanks. Well, I could've stuck the landing a little better. It's just the new suit. Well, it's nothing, Mr. Stark. It's-It's perfect. Thank you." rambled the boy known as Spider-Man.

"Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation." interrupted Stark.

"Okay" The boy nervously nodded, instead of listening he turned to look at the owner of the stolen shield "Cap, Captain. Big fan, I'm Spider-Man."

"Yeah, we'll talk about it later. Just..." Stark tried again only for the boy to cut in and greet the rest of the heroes.
"Hey, everyone"

"You've been busy" said Steve looking at Tony's young recruit.

"And you've been a complete idiot. Dragging in Clint. Rescuing Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep, I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart." Stark retorted trying to keep his anger under control.

"You did that when you signed."

"Alright, We're done. You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us. NOW! Because it's us! Or a squad of J-SOC guys, with no compunction about being impolite. Come on." threatened the billionaire not realizing that Steve was looking at Ember's direction signaling them to get ready.

Ember nods at the soldier before flicking her wrist, making cold smoke emit from it and causing her transformation to take place. At her newly glowing eyes and snow freckled face Scott nearly screamed but was interrupted by Sam speaking through their intercoms. "We found it. Their Quinjet's in hanger five, north runway" that was their cue.

Steve held his hands up allowing Clint to shoot the web off. Ember raised her hands and fired blizzard at Peter, knocking him off his feet making him drop the shield, where a miniature Lang caught it.

"Whoa. What-What the hell was that?" said Rhodey, looking at the kid.

"I believe this is yours, Captain America." said Scott, now back to his normal size handing the shield to its owner as the young blonde made her way to stand next to the two.

"Oh, great. Alright, there's two on the parking deck. One of them's Maximoff, I'm gonna grab her. Rhodey, you want to take Cap?" announced Stark before flying off.

Ember shot an icicle at War Machine's head as a distraction before noticing Spider-Man swinging for the terminal. "I got him" she announced, running after the boy.

❅

Peter is swinging through the rafters in the terminal, chasing Sam who was flying backwards while firing shots at the teenager. The young hero stopped at a high beam noticing something being thrown at him.

"Oh god" he managed to grab the object and threw it back at the Winter Soldier hiding behind a wall "Hey buddy, I think you lost this!" At his distraction, Sam kicked him off the beam, until Peter fired a web at his wings, sending his opponent to the ground, where he webbed him to the railing. "Those wings carbon fiber?" asked Peter in awe.

"Is this stuff coming out of you?" replied Sam, confused about the unknown boy who could potentially beat him, not that Sam was ever going to admit that.

"That would explain the rigidity-flexibility ratio, which, gotta say, that's awesome, man." continued the boy ignoring Falcon's question.

"I don't know if you've been in a fight before but there's usually not this much talking." Sam replied sarcastically.

"Alright, sorry, my bad." Peter chuckled, swinging down to throw him off, until Bucky jumps in the way, causing the two adults to crash onto the next floor, where the teenager traps them. Peter is so focused in the two men that he doesn't notice a familiar blonde arriving at the scene "Guys, look. I'd love to keep this up but I've only got one job here today and I gotta impress Mr. Stark, so, I'm really sorry" Just as he was about to shoot, a blast of white snow sent him flying to the ground. Ice Sorceress made her presence known, standing between Peter and her teammates with her hands raised, ready to attack. The boy in the red suit stood up with a groan shaking his head trying to make the dizziness from the fall go away. Once he looked at the ethereal girl standing threateningly in front of him, he tried to brush off his embarrassment, attempting to appear relaxed in front of his partner. "Elsa! Long time no see, what do you think about the new suit" Peter chuckled nervously while posing next to the pillar, all he wanted was for the girl to realize what he was capable of.

Ember rolled her eyes at his antics, focusing her attention on him, pretending to study him intensely "To me you still look like a gigantic spider"

Then, the blonde began firing shots at him, the boy barley managing to block every single one of them. "Would you look at that, the kid is improving" taunted Ember, still trying to get him.

"Oh, thanks" answered Peter, puffing his chest proudly.

"Let's try something else" Ember chuckled.

As Peter was about to ask what she meant, the blonde caught him off guard and kicked him in the stomach. "Woah" He flipped himself up, and went to fight her hand to hand. He tried punching her in the stomach but she managed to catch his fist in her cold hand, making him wince which brought a smug smirk to her face. Peter broke free from her grasp, dodged the blow at his face, he used her lost of balance to kick his leg out sending the girl to the ground. Peter laughed gleefully at his own achievement, until he noticed Ember wincing at the impact making him feel guilty. "Sorry! Let me help you" he extended his arm to help her stand, not realizing he was doing exactly what Ember wanted. Once she took his hand, the blonde yanked his arm, twisting it behind his back. Peter groaned at the sudden pain, shivering when her cold breath hit his neck.

"Can't believe you fell for that" she whispered onto his ear, goosebumps appearing on his skin.

"Yeah, me neither" Peter knew she was smirking, even if he couldn't see it. At that moment he wanted nothing more but to burst her bubble of confidence. The young heroine never seemed to look at him as a threat, she looked at him as an inferior not as her equal, at least that's what Peter thought and he was tired of it. In less than a second, the boy crashed his free elbow onto her nose, sending her head flying back and disorienting her. Blood started pouring from Ember's nose, the bright scarlet color stood out compared to her ice pale skin, yet she didn't seem to mind, all she wanted was to defeat the boy. Then, the fight continued, from below, Sam and Bucky were still trapped, they could only see ice and webs flying around, it looked as if the teenagers were playing, just teasing each other not fighting, maybe that's all it was to them.

"You know, this reminds me of the first time we met" Peter said as he flew through the beams trying to trap the girl with his webs, while avoiding the icicles she was throwing back, until he outran her and hid at the ceiling.

Ember chuckled, keeping her hands ready, looking around trying to find the boy "Come on, Spidey, we were having fun" She turned around, unknowingly, giving Peter a chance to swing from behind, kicking her to the ground, where he webbed her hands above her head as his legs kept her body still. He caught her by surprise and Ember was quite impressed, contrary to what he believed, she saw real potential in him, she liked how caring he was, how he was adamant on protecting those who couldn't, she believed he was a true hero. That's why she felt a bit threatened by him, but that's something she would never show, the blonde preferred to appear cold instead of threatened, which was why even in these situations where he held the upper hand she tried to appear unbothered. It was in that moment when Sam, finally decided to use Redwing to help the blonde, she saw the drone flying over Peter's head. "I think you don't remember our meeting very well"

"Why's that?" During his confusion he failed to notice the sudden drop of temperature at the girl's hands.

"Cause there's one thing missing" Peter opened his mouth to ask what, but he was cut off by the sound of the now iced webs securing her hands snapping, allowing Ember to throw him aside during his distraction , freeing her from his grasp. "I win" Ember chuckled. She stood up quickly and fired a blast of blizzard, sending the boy flying backwards in the air, where Redwing caught him and dragged him out the window.

"You couldn't have done that earlier?" Ember heard Bucky scolding Sam. She neared the border to look at the two grown man, lying on the ground unable to move because of the spider webs wrapped around their bodies, the scene making her giggle a little.

"I hate you" That made the blonde break into laughter, they were like toddlers. Both men turned to look at the girl, who found their situation so amusing "If you're done laughing, we could really use a hand!"

❅

After freeing Bucky and Sam, the three heroes made their way outside to catch up with the rest of the team. While they were inside she'd heard some  explosions, but now, she was able to see the damage the fight had caused, there were planes on fire, cars destroyed and a truck on fire, it was a lot for a few minutes of fighting.

"Come on!" Steve called out, snapping the blonde out of her thoughts. Steve's team ran towards the Quinjet, they're way out, only to be stopped by a stream of energy slicing the ground in front of them.

"Captain Rogers. I know you believe what you're doing is right. But for the collective good you must surrender now" said Vision s the rest of Tony's team arrived to stand ahead of them.

"What do we do, Cap?" questioned Sam, the whole team waiting for him to give the order.

"We fight" And just like the whole team began walking towards the others, determination on everyone's faces, this was it, this was the real fight and no one was about to back out.

The two teams met in the middle, Steve blocking a punch as Iron Man landed, Clint firing arrows at Vision, War Machine going after Falcon, Bucky trading blows with T'Challa, while Ember and Wanda shot at a struggling Perter. The two teenagers were fighting again, using their powers and their fists, yet you could see neither of them wanted to really hurt the other. Sure, earlier they both ended with a couple bruises but in the end, they respected each other and in their eyes they were sort of a team, even if Ember never wanted them to be. The fight ended when Ember noticed Bucky loosing to Black Panther, she ran after them as fast as her legs allowed her ignoring Peter's confused stare at her retreating figure.

T'Challa grew out his claws aiming for Bucky's neck, but Ember froze his hand mid air, then waved her hand allowing her blizzard to send him flying backwards. "You alright?" she asked the Winter Soldier once she reached his side. He looked quite impressed by her actions, Bucky didn't understand the respect she felt for him, he could only assume it was something Ana told her about him, and that gave him hope. Maybe the girl he loved never saw him as a monster, maybe she saw him as the guy he once was and not as the one she saw last. Realizing the girl was still looking worryingly at him, he gave her a great full nod as an answer, allowing her to leave his side to continue her fight.

Ember started making her way towards the Quinjet, checking if any of her teammates needed a hand, but more specifically she was looking for a boy in a red suit, if anyone asked ahe wanted to fight him but in reality she wanted to make sure he was still alive.

"Elsa, little help here?" Ember turned around at the familiar nickname, only one person called her that and it was the boy she was looking for. The blonde found the boy struggling to hold a gangway above his head.

"I think you can handle it, Itsy-Bitsy" She answered, prepared to leave him there. Yes, she wanted to make sure he was alive, but she never intended to help him, after all they were on opposite teams and they weren't exactly friends, it was kind of a love-hate relationship. Ember was only able to move a couple steps before the boy's grunts off effort got to her. "Damn it" She silently scolded herself as she started going back for the boy. Her hands started glowing as she waved them around. At her command a leg of solid ice started building, replacing the one missing. Peter was so focused on holding the gangway up, he didn't notice the girl's action until he felt the weight being lifted up, he sighed and stole one look at the fading figure of the blonde, then he dropped to the floor trying to catch his breath.

The girl was nearing the Quinjet when she heard Steve's voice through her intercom "We gotta draw out the flyers. I'll take Vision. You get to the jet."

"No, you get to the jet! Both of you!The rest of us aren't getting out of here" Sam was right, even if Ember was near their escape, she knew the rest were busy and if Bucky and Steve were ever going to get out, then the rest of the team needed to keep fighting.

"As much as I hate to admit it, if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it" she heard Clint, the whole team were heroes, willing to give up their freedom, their friends and family just for the greater good. And Ember would too, she was willing to leave her father and Angela if that meant saving the world and possibly give them more time.

"This isn't the real fight, Steve" You could tell Steve didn't want to leave them, they were there for him but he knew his friends were right.

"Alright, but Ember you're leaving too" Rogers said, earning a nod from Bucky.

"But-"

"No buts, Ana would kill me if I got you in trouble" said Bucky from Steve's radio and the res of the team agreed. She was just a girl with a whole life ahead of her, there was no point on her wasting it for being dragged into something she didn't understand completely. "This isn't your fight, Ember"

"He is right, kid" said Clint, after all he was the one who brought her "Go home, we'll handle it" The teenager knew there was no point in arguing the whole team agreed that it was best if she left.

"Sam, what's the play?" Once he knew the blonde wasn't going to be at more risk.

"We need a diversion, something big"

"I got something kind of big, but I can't hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half... don't come back for me" Scott joined the conversation, confusing everyone at his words, they didn't know what he was about to do but it was all they had.

"You're sure about this, Scott?" asked Steve, worried, a plan with no one dying would be better.

"I do it all the time. I mean once... in a lab. Then I passed out." That didn't reassure anyone, in fact it made them more nervous, specially when the guy started mumbling words of encouragement to himself  I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the BOSS!"  Suddenly, Scott grew into a towering Behemoth and grabbed War Machine's leg.

Ember took that as her que to leave,  she placed her palms facing the ground, then created a blizzard allowing her to use her  hands as rockets and started flying away, getting rid of her intercom, trying to ignore the fight happening as she unwillingly left. But she couldn't just leave, that wasn't who she was, she wasn't able to go away and let the rest do all the job, which was why lingered in the air, debating whether she should stay and fight or listen to the rest of the team. Her line of thought was broken when she heard Wanda screaming in pain, she saw War Machine behind the girl, firing a sonic disruptor and she saw how the tower nearly fell on top of Steve and Bucky, but it didn't. Just mere second before it hit the ground a barrier of ice caught it allowing  the two friends to slide below it into the hangar before the barrier broke.

Realizing only one girl could've created the barrier, Team Iron Man tried to find her but the girl remained hidden at he top of a building, only one person noticed her but he said nothing. Instead Peter just diverted everyone's attention onto the Giant Ant-Man and "Hey, guys, you ever see that really old movie, Empire Strikes Back?" Peter said through his intercom.

"Jesus, Tony, how old is this guy?"

"I don't know, I didn't carbon-date him. He's on the young side."

Peter swinged towards Ant-Man "You know that part... where they're on the snow planet... with the walking thingies?" He said as he wrapped webs around Scott's legs.

"Maybe the kid's on to something."

"High now, Tony. Go high."

Spider-Man kept swinging around and around Ant-Man's legs as Iron Man and War Machine powered towards his head "Yes! That was awesome!" However his celebration was cut short as a flailing limb caugh Peter and sends him to the ground.

Ember, who saw everything, immediately went flying after the boy, even if she was about to leave. The blonde arrived at the scene a few seconds after Tony, who managed to pull down the boy's mask before she saw who he was "Are you alright" she asked worryingly as she kneeled and held his head on her lap, completely ignoring Stark. "That was a nasty fall"

"Nothing, I couldn't handle" answered Peter, a little dazed from the fall and quite surprised by her actions.

"Whatever you say, Spider-Man" Ember chuckled, using his hero name for the first time.

"Hey, Frozen! Get him out of here" said Tony, ending their little moment.

"Do I look like his babysitter, Tin Man?" The girl's voice turned from caring to annoyed just by looking at the adult, even her eyes glowed brighter from anger, but he didn't seem faced at all, unlike Peter who nearly jumped away from the scare.

"Just go home" Tony said, rolling his eyes at the girl, then flying away to finish his fight.

"You heard your boss, move it" sighed Ember, abruptly getting up and startling the boy that previously laid on her lap, making him grown in pain "Aww the poor baby got hurt"

"Kiss it better" His own comment shocked Peter, the mask really did bring his confidence out, never in a million years would he have thought he could talk to a girl let alone one that could end him with a hand movement.

But Ember seemed to remain unfaced by his words, she only looked at him with a frown "How hard did you hit your head" She grabbed his arm and helped him stand "You definitely owe me one"

❅

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Sorry for the delay, I was having trouble with the fight scene but I hope it's not that cringy! Also, thank you so much for 1k reads, I never thought could get past 10, I really appreciate it!

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