╔═━━━━━▒ ۞ ▒━━━━━═╗
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
family feud
╚═━━━━━▒ ۞ ▒━━━━━═╝

━━━━━━▒ ۞ ▒━━━━━━

IF IT WASN'T for the stabilizing gauntlets in her suit, Diana could have sworn that she would've fried her burner phone. Her shaky hands struggled to navigate the buttons on the flip phone but she eventually made it to the one contact saved in it. This conversation was going to be hard.

The phone barely rang once before it was picked up.

"Oh my god, I thought he killed you at this point!" Tonya almost yelled into the phone, "are you okay? What's going on, they're saying on TV that Diana 'Firefly' Renfrey is a fugitive! I watched the footage of you running from the police, did you really jump on the back of that motorcycle?"

"I'm not dead," Diana couldn't help but chuckle even though she just received that piece of terrible news, "and no, Bucky didn't kill me, I'm actually trying to help clear his name, he didn't bomb the UN, it was some psychopath trying to get to him, I don't know how this is going to turn out after but I just wanted to talk to you one last time, are my Charlie's there?"

"Yeah, Charles was showing Junior something his mom left for him," Tonya had effectively calmed her tone, but hearing the somber voice killed Diana. She called for the two from what Diana could hear and after some rustling, her favorite voice was in her head.

"Auntie Diana?" Charlie asked, "is that you?"

"Yes! Hi Charlie!" Diana smiled, leaning against the car as she adjusted a strap on her boot.

"What's going on? I saw the news," Charlie spoke up, his voice was now slightly deeper, it's scary what a year does apparently.

"I just wanted to hear your voice," Diana had to blink away tears with her words, "as you get older you're going to hear things about me, some of it will be true, some of it won't be, but I just want you to know that I did it all to keep you safe along with the rest of the world, now, if there is ever an emergency I don't want you to hesitate on calling me from the phone you're holding, do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand," Charlie replied, she could tell that he seemed to be crying, it's what had her shedding tears now as well.

"Okay good, I love you, now put your father on the phone," Diana choked out, she couldn't bear this.

"Diana, why's he crying? Wait, why is Tonya crying too?" It was the first thing Diana heard.

"I uh, I won't be able to come back to America anytime soon, as you've seen from the news, I wanted to say goodbye to you guys, and though this isn't the proper way to say goodbye, right now it's the safest," Diana explained.

"I see," Charles spoke. Diana could see the look on his face from just knowing him for so long, "I uh, don't know what to say, we're all going to miss you."

"You're the brother I never had, and I can't thank you enough for the family you've given me," Diana sniffled, "could you do me a favor and explain to Beth that I won't be able to come in for next week's schedule?"

Charles had a light laugh, in the background, Diana could hear the distinct sound of a pen on paper.

"I'll let her know, and Diana," Charles paused, "be-"

It cut off, making Diana's eyebrows furrow, she looked at her phone to see the logo of the phone company before the screen went black.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Diana screeched, the echo of her words rolled down the parking garage, "now you decide to die?"

Diana groaned, shoving her phone in the most padded pocket her suit had to offer before punching the side of the beetle she leaned against. The rest of the team was somewhere else in the concrete structure, they had stepped away to give her the space to make the phone call.

Her shaking fists were coated in yellow energy as she took deep breaths, trying to calm down. It wasn't helping. None of it was. Diana slid down the side of the car, her knees pressed to her chest as she looked around, she couldn't help the tears that escaped her eyes. Her breaths became short, her throat was closing up from the intense sobs.

"Hey hey," Scott's voice was ringing in her ears as he startled her from her thoughts, "What's going on with you?"

"Oh this is fucking embarrassing," Diana replied as she wiped at her eyes, her yellow energy was up to her arms now and it seemed to make Scott nervous, "I guess I'm just not used to being a war criminal, I can't go see my family."

"Oh it's not so bad, plus I'm sure the sentence will be reduced when they see what we're trying to prevent," Scott was so nonchalant about it, Diana almost forgot what Sam had told him about Scott's past. Sam was thorough with knowing about who he recruited.

"When you were returning the money to all those clients, was it worth it?" Diana asked. Her tears had stopped since she found that even her body didn't want to cry in front of a man she had just met.

Scott looked like he was carefully contemplating his answer, he looked off at the opening in the garage that led to a higher level, the sky peering through at them. "Well, I just know that there were clients who were struggling to take care of their families that were able to do that after I did what I did, the car in the pool was because I was pissed."

"I wish I could drive the secretary's car into a pool right now," Diana muttered angrily.

"Look, you're an Avenger, even if this is illegal, you wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't right, no matter the repercussions, you're doing the right thing," Scott's light tone assured her.

He was right. Murderous super soldiers that happen to be Nazis weren't something that Diana wanted in the world. Not a world that her family lived in. She wiped the rest of her face, finding her powers under her control again, she stood up with Scott who was sitting in his suit with her.

"Could you not tell the others you found me like that?" Diana asked as they made their way to the group, they were about to get into position, but Diana wasn't ready. But she had to be.

"Found you like what?" Scott gave her a knowing smile and a wink.

Diana returned the smile. She watched as Scott activated his helmet, giving the blonde a nod. With a press of the button on his hand, Scott shrunk. Diana's jaw dropped in awe. She leaned over, holding out her hand to pick the man up. He jumped on, allowing Diana to put him on the shield.

People were getting into position, Diana was to accompany Steve to the helicopter and help him get it set up despite not having any light training since it was mainly ever Clint or Nat that flew. Wanda and Clint were going to hide at a separate parking deck. And Sam and Bucky were going to be in the terminal. Steve had a hunch that somehow, Tony was going to get his shield taken away.

Diana was clad in the suit she wore to get Bucky. It wasn't as bulky as the one she wore in Sokovia. Even then, that wasn't as bulky. The point of the suit was to not be seen. Tony still couldn't help but incorporate the yellow in the suit though, the details even more subtle than before. Her bright yellow boots were loud as she took long strides to keep up with Steve.

They were so close, that Diana was ready to remove the wires and all of a sudden Steve stopped her with a hand wrapped around her elbow. She saw the device that got stuck to the helicopter, she watched the electricity wrap around it and she knew it was decommissioned. Fucking Tony. She looked higher up to see him and Rhodey in their suits and watched as they flew closer and landed in their path to the chopper.

"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport" Tony spoke nonchalantly as he looked over at Rhodey deactivating his helmet to show off a black eye that he no doubt got from Bucky hours before when he was still the Soldier, Bucky recalled it to her in shame, Diana wished she could've helped him more, "Don't you think that's weird?"

"Definitely weird," Rhodey added on. Diana rolled her eyes at their sarcastic quips.

"Hear me out, Tony." Steve spoke, his tone showed that this conversation was a warning, Diana could get behind that, "That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this."

T'Challa made his presence known when he leaped over what looked like the bridge to climb into a plane, when he straightened up his stance he nodded at the pair, "Captain, Agent."

There was slight disgust in his tone when he regarded Diana, she wasn't an agent anymore, but she figured he didn't want to use her name, especially after he watched her flirt with Bucky. The alleged murderer of King T'Chaka.

"Your highness." Steve nodded to him. Diana just gave him a small wave with a halfhearted smile.

"Anyway, Ross gave me thirty-six hours to bring you in." Tony brought everyone's attention back to him, "That was twenty-four hours ago. Can you help a brother out?"

"You're after the wrong guy." Steve tried again. Diana hoped that Tony would magically agree. How nice that would have been.

Oh, you mean that footage was deepfaked and the shady doctor that magically disappeared after the power went out was the real bomber? Oh sure, go right on ahead to Siberia to stop him before he wakes up those very dangerous sleeper agents that could end the world in a more quieter way than Ultron.

"Your judgment is askew." Tony seethed, ruining Diana's hopes and dreams of a nonviolent fight, she knew that this was going to escalate, "Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday."

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

"Okay, also not to mention that Bucky didn't set off that bomb," Diana chimed in, glaring at Tony after such an accusation. Tony looked like he was going to say something from the way that he narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth, Diana was sure it was going to be a retort on her taste in men.

"Steve..." Diana was glad that Natasha cut Tony off from saying something that would've earned him a yellow blast to the face, "you know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?"

There was something about how Natasha asked her question. She was never one to be close-minded about an argument different than hers. Diana hoped that she wouldn't have to fight her friend in an airport in Germany.

"All right, I've run out of patience." Tony cuffed his hands to his mouth, "Underoos!" It seemed that Steve wasn't the only one recruiting, someone in a red and blue suit which looked detailed with a spiderweb flew overhead.

Diana felt her hands become stuck at her side. She looked down to see that they were covered in a sticky web but until normal webs, she couldn't pull herself loose. She summoned her energy and the webs melted away. She looked up, taking a step toward the mysterious person when a series of blasts at her feet stopped her. She looked over to see a girl in a mask similar to Bucky's Winter Soldier mask land down in a great arc, rolling to spread the impact and pop back to her feet at Tony's side.

Her blonde hair was up in a ponytail and she could see through the girl's fingerless gloves that she had a slight glow to her, not like the way the Extremis people glowed as Tony had once described, but she glowed as if someone had shined a light through her fingers. The guy, Diana assumed, had landed on a cart that drives people's luggage from the plane, Steve's shield on his arm.

"Nice job, kids." Tony congratulated them. Diana narrowed her eyes at the word.

"Kids?" She asked, hoping that she heard Tony wrong.

"Thanks!" The boy in the red and blue suit chirped, "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."

Diana couldn't believe her ears, now that she looked closer at the girl, she could see how young she was despite the mask. Tony really recruited high school kids. The girl was looking at the boy, a look in her eye told Diana that the fellow blonde wanted the boy to stop talking.

"Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation." Tony went on. Diana was ready to punch the man.

"Okay. Cap- Captain, Firefly," The boy waved to them, Diana looked over at Steve incredulously. Who were these kids? "Big fan, I'm Spider-Man." Oh.

"Yeah, we'll talk about it later. Just-"

"Hey, everyone." Spider-man greeted. Diana snorted at how ridiculous it was. The blonde girl with Tony brought her attention back to Diana. There was still a slight glow to her hands and Diana could see now that she was charging the gauntlets on her wrists, they looked similar to Dianas but where Dianas had a ripple effect-look on her gauntlets, the girls were smooth save for the circles in the side that slowly got brighter and brighter.

"Good job," Tony spoke, slightly defeated probably from the fact that Spider-Man just seemed a little too excited to be there.

"You've been busy," Steve noted as he observed the kids. The blonde girl narrowed her eyes on Steve as if she was analyzing him. Diana was curious as to who this girl was but it was for the best that she didn't know.

Despite Tony being an ass and bringing in kids to this fight, she knew that he wouldn't let them get hurt. She also knew that Tony wouldn't bring them in if they couldn't take a punch. Diana wasn't sure if she would be ready to punch a kid.

"And you've been a complete idiot." Tony snapped, his attention was fully focused on Steve again, "Dragging in Clint. Rescuing Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep-" He paused, taking a moment for himself because Diana could tell that he was trying to not cry, she could tell that he cared, he just didn't know how to properly express that, "I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."

"You did that when you signed." Steve frowned. Diana looked at Natasha, the look on the redhead's face matched her own. There was no way that no one was getting out of this without a fight now.

"Alright, We're done. You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us. Now! Because it's us!" Tony was shaking in his suit, Diana could see it in the way his hairs moved on his head and how his skin looked, he was tired, "Or a squad of J-SOC guys with no compunction about being impolite." Steve looked over at Diana, there was a disappointed look on his face, she understood why, "Come on."

"We found it." Sam radioed in, "Their Quinjet's in hanger five, north runway."

Diana couldn't help her smirk as she watched Steve lift his hands in the air. An arrow whizzed by, breaking the web bindings and freeing Steve's hands. Diana looked back at Spider-man with a knowing smirk on her face as she watched.

"Alright, Lang." Steve gave his signal. Diana watched with curiosity as she noticed the Spider-man kid sense something. as he looked down at the shield.

"Hey, guys, something-" the kid was interrupted by Scott kicking him back as he grew back to his normal size. Diana watched in shock, he just kicked the kid. He was still recovering on the ground next to the transport cart when Scott made his way over to them with the shield.

"Whoa." Rhodey spoke with a dumbfounded note in his voice, she could only imagine what his face looked like since his helmet was still on, "What-what the hell was that?"

"I believe this is yours, Captain America." The tone that Scott used to Steve made Diana give the man a confused smile.

"Oh, great." Tony deadpanned as he flew up, "Alright, there's two on the parking deck. One of them's Maximoff, I'm gonna grab her. Rhodey, you want to take Cap?"

"Got two in the terminal, Wilson, and Barnes," Rhodey announced. Diana looked up with slight horror at how quickly everyone was found. She hoped that Sam and Bucky would at least be able to get away.

"Barnes is mine!" T'Challa yelled out before running off. Diana immediately sent a blast off in his direction; he may have overpowered her in strength, but she was now better prepared to fight him.

"Hey, Mr. Stark, what should I do?" Spider-man asked his finger to his ear, obviously speaking to his earpiece.

Diana stopped listening after that, she had to deal with a man in a catsuit. She charged after him, using her powers when she lunged after him to give her a boost. She tackled his using his momentum against him but it didn't last long. He had managed to counter it by grabbing her arms and tossing her against a pillar. A groan left her body and she thought that he would get away but Steve stopped him.

"Move, Captain. I won't ask a second time."

"You didn't even ask me for a first," Diana wheezed as she got to her hands and knees, "holy shit you can throw, has Wakanda ever thought about joining the Olympics? Holy fuck."

Diana coughed as she got to her feet, giving Steve a nod before looking up at Rhodey.

"Somehow I think I have a better chance against you than him," Diana struggled to get her breath back but she still turned a rock into a brick and chucked it at Rhodey, sending a blast after it to give it a boost, "It's only a fifteen percent chance though."

Diana once again didn't stand a chance. But Rhodey didn't do anything. One minute, she's standing by the entrance to the terminal, the next she's flying and her sides burn. She finally registers that the teenage girl with the familiar mask is holding her and burning her sides through her suit.

'Oh, hell," Diana yelled watching as she helplessly flailed into a pile of boxes, grateful for the fact that they were empty. She had no idea why there was a cluster of stacks of empty boxes, but if they kept her from being a skidmark on the asphalt, why question it? She rolled and rolled to a stop when she finally touched land, and she only had a few seconds to dodge the blasts of light that came after her.

This girl was not holding back.

"I really don't want to hit a high schooler, shouldn't you be doing homework? Where the hell did Tony find you?" Diana asked, it was only the tip of the iceberg of questions she had for the girl, so far, she hasn't said a word to anyone. It probably made her the smartest one there.

Diana received her answer in the form of a blinding blast of light to her face. The heat washed over her making her cry out in pain, involuntarily cursing the girl. Diana discovered the words coming out of her mouth just as she said them. Some of them horrified her.

"Fuck this!" Diana yelled out as soon as she got her vision back. She could still see stars but at least the girl was in her vision, and her target was getting larger as she got closer.

Diana grabbed her spear from her back and aimed, blasting the girl square in the chest, making her fly back. Diana slowly stepped forward as she sent blast after blast, no longer feeling any inner turmoil about hitting this kid. She seemed to heavily rely on her powers, which Diana figured was probably easy, if she was a crime-doer, she wouldn't want to get near the demon-girl that glows. She would take her beating in the form of a blinding blast and be grateful that she didn't die afterward. But she wasn't like any other crime-doer, she was still an Avenger, and a high school kid isn't going to be the one to arrest her in Germany. Her pride won't allow that.

She prayed to every god out that she wasn't making a mistake and charged at the girl. Diana copied the girl's earlier move and sent a blast at her face, using her powers to boost her lunge at the girl. She used her calves to lock around the girl's neck and her body weight to pull them to the ground. Though this time she rolled before scrambling to her feet and running back to the others, hoping the girl was too disoriented to follow her.

As Diana was running by, she watched as Redwing carried Spider-Man out of a terminal window, a shocked, and probably pained yell was escaping the kid's throat. Diana shot a blast at the kid's web, freeing Redwing to go back to Sam where the man probably needed him.

Spider-Man plummeted to the ground and she sent another blast at his chest, knocking him back a few feet so he was landing on the ledge behind him instead of potentially breaking something. Diana hated that she worried about the well-being of these kids. It made her getting away from them that much harder. She eventually reunited with Steve and Scott, the latter held up a small truck,

"Hey, Cap, heads up!" Scott chirped, "Throw it at this." -He held up a disk- "Now!"

With Steve's precise aim, the three of them watched as the truck enlarged, flying straight for Rhodey and Natasha who dived out of the way.

"Oh, come on!" She could hear Rhodey yell before the truck erupted into an explosion. Diana's jaw dropped. If the truck wasn't just thrown at one of her good friends, she would be in awe of the device, but she felt a sense of guilt creep up as she watched Rhodey also dive out of the way as best as he could.

"Oh, man. I thought it was a water truck." Scott was definitely regretting his actions, but it at least gave them time to get away, "Uh... sorry."

The three of them ran off, Clint and Wanda trailed behind them. Off to their right, Sam and Bucky were running at them from one of the terminal entrances that they clearly used as an exit.

"Come on!" Steve yelled and waved his arm at them for them to fall in line. Diana fell back slightly as she ran with Wanda.

"Are you good?" Diana's voice was choppy, it was hard to run and talk, but she had to ask her friend.

"I'll be better when we get out of here," Wanda admitted.

Though that didn't seem likely as a beam of yellow light trailed along the ground, burning into the asphalt. If Diana could make anything beyond a blast, she imagine that's what it would look like. She didn't have to see the beam to know that Vision was there. Seconds before the beam, she sensed the Mind Stones' presence. This was going to make this a lot harder. Especially since Vision wasn't too fond of lawbreaking, even if Wanda was on Steve's side of this.

"Captain Rogers." Vision addressed, he wasn't focused on Diana, she used that opportunity to step up to the line, finding herself on Bucky's left side, his fist was clenched as he looked at the wall of enhanced people in front of them, Diana hated that she had to fight her way out of this, "I know you believe what you're doing is right. But for the collective good, you must surrender now."

"Collective good, my ass," Diana huffed to herself, "We'll see how well he likes those Nazis tearing down countries for the fun of it."

"What do we do, Cap?" Sam asked, he was clear on the other side of the lines of allies.

There was a pause, Steve was weighing all his options, it was like she knew what he was going to say before he said it, maybe it's because of how well she knows him, or because she was weighing the same options, "We fight."

Diana watched Natasha's lips move. To even think of fighting the redhead made Diana's heart ache in a way that she hadn't felt in a lifetime. Her team next to her began to stride forward, towards the team that seemed to mimic their actions. They were really doing this.

Diana huffed as she curled her fists, feeling her energy climb up her arms, the glow of her powers was nothing compared to the mysterious blonde girl Tony recruited, but she didn't miss Bucky's side-eye glance towards her. After the truck Steve and Scott threw at Rhodey, Diana just knew that they weren't going to pull punches anymore, she had to be ready.

She doesn't know when everyone decided to break into a sprint but if Diana knew that getting to a quinjet was going to require this much cardio, she would've drank more water. When Rhodey, Tony, and the Blonde girl began to fly, Diana used her powers, her energy to plunge into the greatest arc she's ever seen, her hands found her spear and she aimed at Tony's back. A web to her hands got her off guard when another blast hit her in the chest. It was like karma was quick to get back at you when you hit high school kids.

The webs melted easily, her energy made them dissolve. Her hands shot out, sending blasts to the ground to soften her landing. This girl had it out for her it seems as she got close to Diana, she sent a loosely formed punch that Diana could see from a mile away, allowing her to doge it with ease. It was clear this girl had never fought without relying on her abilities.

Diana didn't have time to deal with the girl, quickly maneuvering to body slam the girl as best as she could. She could tell that she knocked the air out of the young girls lungs, giving her enough time to run away while the girl recuperates.

Diana saw when T'Challa pulled Bucky's hand off his neck, then spun him and fly-kicked him backward. He sprouted claws and aimed for Bucky's neck, But it was like natural instinct at this point for Diana to stop T'Challa from killing this man. A series of blasts to distract him and all of Diana's body weight had the two tumbling to the ground.

"Sorry your highness," Diana wheezed as she scrambled to her feet, this was a vibranium suit, even the full force of her blasts didn't do anything to Steve's shield, so Diana had no qualms about using the full force of her blast on T'Challa, where it may have ripped through a robot, it only sent T'Challa flying back.

It gave her the chance to run after Bucky, hoping that someone else didn't try to take a shot at arresting him, especially that glowing girl. They managed to hide behind a series of carts holding people's luggage, Diana felt bad for the people who got their flight delayed. But she couldn't dwell on it too much as she turned a rock into a mirror to assess the damage done to her face. She had no idea when she got a gash on her cheek, whether it was from the glowing girl to T'Challa or even from Rhodey somehow, it was bleeding profusely. Diana would have to worry about it on the jet.

She doesn't know when Steve found them, just that he was there when she turned the mirror back into a rock. The three of them were out of breath, Diana could feel her pulse all over her body, her head was pounding, she considered energizing a bunch of bricks and throwing them at Tony and everyone who sided with him.

"We gotta go." Bucky huffed out, his eyes scanning over Diana's exhausted state, "That guy's probably in Siberia by now."

"We gotta draw out the flyers. I'll take Vision." Steve looked up, "You two get to the jet."

Diana shared a concerned glance with Bucky, she opened her mouth to protest but Sam beat her to it.

"No, you get to the jet! The three of you!" Sam asserted, that Diana was about to protest again but it seemed that she didn't have a say in the matter, "The rest of us aren't getting out of here."

"As much as I hate to admit it, if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it." Clint chimed in.

Diana slumped in her position, she couldn't argue with him, not without the disappointed stares of everyone around her. Wanda wasn't near them and Diana could imagine that her disappointed look would be powerful enough to transcend distance.

"This isn't the real fight, Steve," Sam added on, which seemed to convince Steve as he relented control to Sam, letting the man who was being chased by Rhodey assume command.

"Alright, Sam, what's the play?" Steve asked.

"We need a diversion, something big."

"I got something kind of big, but I can't hold it very long." Diana cringed at Scott's use of words, "On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half... don't come back for me."

"He's gonna tear himself in half?" Bucky asked Steve.

"You're sure about this, Scott?" Steve asked, looking at Diana but she knew he was really just looking right through her.

"I do it all the time. I mean once... in a lab. Then I passed out. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the BOSS!"

A rumbling of the ground had the trio standing up, the sight before them made Diana's heart stop. Scott was looming over them, his height was immeasurable but she could imagine this is how bugs feel about humans.

That was one hundred percent their cue, Diana used her hands, one on each super-soldier, and pushed them in the direction of the quinjet. Her exhausted body mustered up more energy, putting it to her legs to keep up with their speed.

"Way to go, Tic Tac!" Sam cheered, a sense of pride swelled in Diana's chest as she looked over her shoulder. Scott seemed alive and he was being an absolute menace to Tony and his team. The glowing girl even seemed to be stuttering in her movements.

Scott was taunting the team, if she couldn't hear him in her comm, she definitely could hear through his booming voice. She couldn't look back anymore. They were almost there, but still so far. Tears pricked her eyes as she pushed herself, pushed her limits. She hoped that Tony packed extra water on that jet because she was going to be chugging it.

"Something just flew in me!" Scott yelled.

Diana couldn't look back, she could sense the beam of light before she watched it tear into the control tower towards the entrance of the hangar. Before it destroyed their way in, red mist held up the debris and rubble, a motivator to get under and in the jet. Diana was shocked at how quickly she was able to keep up. They were almost all the way out from under it when it crashed. Diana jumped forward.

She wasn't fast enough, because she was screaming before she realized it. Her disoriented state cleared up enough to realize she was on the ground on her stomach, she looked over her shoulder to see her left leg bent at the knee, clear of the rubble. Her right leg was twisted in the opposite direction, her foot was crushed under the rubble, and the searing pain from the ankle down confirmed her worst fear about her state. Her foot was smashed.

Through her tears, she blasted at the debris and forced herself up to her good leg. She reached into her pocket, ready to turn it into a staff or a crutch. But it remained a rock in the palm of her hand. Her frustration grew with her pain as her other leg became wobbly at the knee.

"Turn into a fucking staff goddammit," She yelled out, she tried to will her hand to conjure up some energy but she could barely get a wisp to grace her fingertips. What the fuck was wrong with her? Was it the fact that she was beginning to lose feeling in her foot from the ankle down?

Before she could fall, Bucky had her arm over his shoulder, taking her weight. Diana pulled out another rock, desperate for anything, a fucking pencil even.

"You're not gonna stop." Natasha's voice cut through Diana's muddled brain and she looked up, there was regret and guilt written all over the redhead's face, her eyes were locked on Diana's foot for a moment before she looked up at Steve.

"You know I can't," Steve responded, a wildly concerned look on his face as he answered Natasha but eyed Diana's state.

"I'm gonna regret this." Natasha had her fist up the whole time but instead of having it aimed at any of them, she aimed it as something passed them. Diana looked over her shoulder as a "Widows bite" latched onto T'Challa, the electrical current bringing the man to his hands and knees. "Go."

That was all they needed before Diana was hobbling onto the jet with the help of Bucky. Steve was only a few feet ahead of them. She forced her tears to stop, she didn't need this. Steve went to the cockpit and got started on getting the jet fired up and the door closed. Diana was fighting Bucky on getting to the cockpit with Steve.

"Sit down." The man pleaded, the door was shut now as the jet lurched forward, Diana instinctively put her other foot down to stabilize herself and saw black for a moment. Her hands were now on Bucky's forearms for support as she held herself up.

"No, I have to get your asses to Siberia," Diana twisted her torso to look over her shoulder at the cockpit.

"The earth will still spin if Diana Renfrey takes a damn break," Bucky seethed. His stern voice had her looking back at him with wide eyes, her stomach flipped and her fingers were all of a sudden tingling where they made contact with Bucky.

"Can you talk to me like that some more?" Diana instinctively asked, "That awakened something in me." Maybe it was the pain that loosened her tongue, maybe it was her lack of self-control. But her face and neck burned almost as intensely as her foot as Bucky stared her down with an unreadable expression.

With one quick maneuver, Diana was sitting in a seat against the wall, her head was spinning as Bucky had strapped her to the seat with the buckles.

"Don't move because I won't stop you from falling again," he warned, walking off to the cockpit.

Diana watched his butt as he walked away, averting her gaze when she sensed him looking over his shoulder to check on her one last time before sitting down. She groaned as she threw her head back against the headrest of her seat. She lifted her leg with the injured foot, white-hot pain flashed through her senses, she could feel it in her bones and everything in her right leg throbbed. She could tell that her ankle was shattered because her foot hung at an odd angle and she couldn't force it to sit right. She let it rest and shut her eyes, ignoring the pain until eventually, exhaustion took over, making her pass out to ignore the pain.

━━━━━━▒ ۞ ▒━━━━━━

6.1k words

OH MY GOD

i just did that... I really just destroyed her foot. You'll se why I made this decision in the next chapter but that's not the focus I wanted to use on this authors note lol.

some of you might recognize the glowing girl I introduced, her name is Salene. I didn't use her name or her superhero name in this book because in "Monster" my Peter fic that you can check out, she was dead silent the whole time she went to Germany except the one (1) time she turned off her comm to ask Natasha if she was okay.

(She said nothing because she didn't want Peter to recognize her over the comms) if you're interested in seeing more of Salene's powers, again, go check out "Monster" in my works (I have so many, I'm sorry)

I'm so excited for y'all to see how I'm ending this book because the ending is coming up in the next few chapters before we get into the third!! it's been a long journey for Diana and I and her third book will be making this the first series I've ever written which is exciting for me!!

thank you all so much for your support and I'll see you at the next update!!

-greta