AUGUST

The following night, August observed her target...or assignment from the roof of the old mall. Josephine and her girlfriend were seemingly being held captive alongside former Avenger, Clint Barton.

This was certainly one of her more interesting jobs and not just because it involved stepping outside of her expertise.

August was a highly trained individual it was very rare that anyone would actually catch her off guard.

In fact, she was hyperaware of the fact that she was not alone on the roof. She could hear the lightly treading footsteps approaching from behind her.

It was probable that the individual approaching her was a man.

A man that had received some form of injury to his leg, as he had a definitive limp.

August had one of two options in this situation. She could fight the man and ultimately win by exploiting his weakness in his leg or she could let him win and hopefully get an easy ticket into the abandoned mall.

An arm wrapped around her neck, lightly pressing a blade against her throat. August's heart rate picked up ever so slightly.

"I got you now, bro."

She took a breath reaching up and grabbing onto the arm holding the blade against her throat while simultaneously targeting the man's bad leg with her own.

Her foot came down heavily on his own causing the grip on his knife to loosen. The second she had enough space she spun out away from him.

"Do you though, bro?" She taunted, waiting for him to make the next move.

For a few seconds neither of them moved. The man was clearly weighing his options.

The wind whistled, blowing sharply through August's jacket. Her patience ran thin, so she punched the man, catching him entirely off guard and then swung herself around his neck flipping him onto his back.

The sound of crackling glass made her eyes grow wide. The man who was groaning in pain on his back didn't even notice.

There wasn't enough time for August to move before the large skylight shattered sending them both falling.

The wind was knocked out of August upon impact with the ground.

Everyone in the room turned, facing the loud sound.

"She gots me good, bro." The man on the floor groaned.

August forced herself into a seated position finally  meeting the eyes of the people looking at her.

Josephine, Kate, and Clint were being bound to a couple of old mall rides and the other members of the Tracksuit Mafia were seemingly sitting around.

"You know her?" The man who was nearest to Clint questioned.

A hint of recognition flickered in Clint's eyes, "I know of her."

August masked her expression but was very curious as to how Clint Barton knew of her. Two of the Tracksuits approached her on grabbing each of her arms.

They hoisted her to her feet and practically drug her to a chair, binding her wrists with duct tape. August let out a huff of air, slightly annoyed by the situation she ended up in.

Sunlight flooded the dusty room and August still had yet to gather any new information. Mechanical music hummed from the old mall rides as they swayed back and forth.

August was slowly being driven crazy by the repetitive tune but was thankful that she wasn't also bound to one of the rides.

Finally the annoying tune came to a halt and two of the men declared boredom and started to play cards.

"Seems like you're mad at me." Kate spoke up, and Josephine turned her head in Kate's direction, "Look I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but you'd be lost without me, you realize that?"

Clint continued to seemingly ignore the brunette, "For the record, I warned Kate that this was a bad idea." Josephine pipped up.

"I was about to clear your name from the suit, until you decided to crash through the skylight." Clint informed the two of them.

"Oh." Kate murmured.

"Yeah."

Josephine leaned over a bit, "So what's that girl's deal?" She whispered.

For being a highly trained assassin the woman wasn't very slick, August could hear her clear as day.

"Do we have to talk about this right now?" Clint questioned and Josephine shrugged.

August glanced over at the three of them but didn't say anything.

One of the Tracksuit's was on the phone and kicked one of the chairs in frustration, he was clearly angry but August's Polish was very rusty so she couldn't quite get a grasp on his words.

"Bro!" One of the other men held his arms up, "Calmente, bro, Calmente!"

He slammed his phone and exhaled sharply, Kate turned to him, "You good?"

"I buy Imagine Dragons tickets, for my girlfriend, you know like an early Christmas gift, right?"

"Yeah, that's so sweet." Kate nodded.

"Good, sweet. But then we had fight. You know and she said that tickets were gift and she wants to bring her sister." He continued.

"I mean look on the bright side, you don't have to go see Imagine Dragons." Kate noted.

"I love Imagine Dragons," he quipped, "She did this on purpose, you know? She did this on purpose to hurt me."

"Look, I think you both owe apologies. Tell her she hurt your feelings but apologize for pretending it was a gift for her." Kate advised.

Clint's head dropped on to the mall ride, completely out done that Kate was making normal conversation with this guy and Josephine was looking at her with wide eyes.

"Ok wait, wait, I need a pen." He held out his hands clearly really needing the twenty-two year old's advice.

"Hm, see?" Kate looked at Clint, "A little trust, a little communicating, a little listening..."

"What?" Clint finally lifted his head.

"Basic human stuff—"

"Kate you can not be serious." Josephine interrupted, "These guys are criminals."

Josephine leaned closer to Kate whispering, "And they're idiots."

"You know what I think." One of the men interrupted, rising to his feet, "I think you talk too much. Blah, blah, blah."

He turned to Clint, "Is she always like this?"

Clint half-heartedly agreed, and the man continued, "Maybe I rip out your throat, hm?"

The man paused, "Or maybe she will."

August had been following the conversation very closely but it wasn't until that very moment that she cared that much.

When August's eyes followed the man to their leader she felt her heart sink. Tears immediately built behind her eyes.

It was Maya.

Suddenly August was regretting every decision she had made that day. She wished that she was invisible especially when Maya's eyes fell on her.

The woman seemed to freeze very momentarily, barely long enough for anyone to notice. There was a man next to her that August knew as Kazi.

She had met him a couple of times and was certainly not a fan.

Maya turned to Kazi, "What is she doing here?" She signed.

"One of the guys found her lurking outside." Kazi replied and Maya nodded but didn't dare to look in August's direction again.

She inhaled sharply, a sense of dread ripping away at her insides. August needed out. She couldn't let herself get dragged back in.

The wind whistled just outside the windows as August began to free her wrists. The woman was attempting to be as silent as possible. Making sure the attention of the group stayed on Clint Barton.

August was no longer closely following the conversation, her job no longer being the top priority in her mind.

As she struggled to reach the small retractable blade concealed in the lining of her jacket, Maya was having Clint's hands rebound as he clearly was not very familiar with sign.

"She asked what you're doing here, Clint Barton." Kazi informed him.

"Riding a unicorn—" he spoke dryly as Kate interrupted him, "Learning about trust."

"You rely too much on technology." Maya signed, and Kazi continued to interpret.

"Well my go to weapon is two sticks and a string so—" Clint spoke.

"No she means your hearing aid," Kazi corrected, "You might find you're better off without it."

"Sometimes I think the very same thing." Clint mused.

August's jaw clenched in frustration as she still struggled against the duct tape. If only she had moved the blade further down in the jacket's lining.

"Now the suit." Clint started, "She put it on by accident. She didn't know what it means. She's not Ronin. Look at her, she's nine. And spoiled rotten."

August's eyes widened slightly, tuning back into the conversation. It would not be good for Kate if Maya thought she was Ronin. In fact, August could say in full confidence that the twenty-two year old was not Ronin.

"She beat up a few of my guys and then came running when you were in trouble." Maya signed, "And what about her? She's one of the top in her field."

August paused, returning her attention to Josephine. She could almost see the panic that rose to the surface on Josephine's delicate features.

"I'm not sure what sure what you're talking about..." Clint trailed off.

Maya rolled her eyes, clearly not believing the man, "And even if neither of them are Ronin, doesn't mean Ronin isn't back."

"That's just a rumor." Clint shook his head.

"How do you know that?" Maya raised an eyebrow at him.

"Because he's dead." Clint stated.

"So, who got him then?" Maya interrogated

"Natasha Romanoff, The Black Widow." Clint explained.

Maya's eyes narrowed, "So Ronin's dead, and the person who killed him is dead. That's convenient. How do you know this?"

"Because I was there."

"You're lying." Maya glared.

Kazi stepped back from Clint, "Ok, clearly this isn't working, um," he stood in front of Kate, "If you had nothing to do with this then why did you put the suit on in the first place."

Josephine sighed from beside her, "because she never grew up, she still likes to live in childish fantasies. Which I love about her, but she's really gotten us into a mess in this one."

Anger consumed Maya, so much so that she couldn't even pay attention to the interpretations of the words leaving the woman's mouth. She moved forward her hands wrapping around Kate's throat out of pure anger.

"Maya, No!"

Within seconds Kazi tore Maya's hands off of the woman, "What are you doing?"

That's when August saw it. Hanging off of a single silver chain was a ring that she automatically recognized.

It was the ring that August was going to propose with.

That's when her own, compartmentalized anger broke to the surface. Maya had some nerve wearing that ring after how their relationship had ended.

The wind roared outside of the building as Kazi and Maya argued. August silently stood up from her chair and took off into the shelves, so she could stay hidden until she could come up with a plan.

Unfortunately, Clint Barton had a similar idea to the brunette and brought the attention onto both of them.

Maya and the Tracksuits took off in all directions. Kazi remained where he was eyes on Kate and Josephine.

"Bring them back alive!" He shouted, whilst Kate was still begging Clint to tell her how he got free from the duct tape.

August stood with her back pressed against the cold, dusty metal shelf. Listening for the footsteps of the Tracksuits.

The first one that rounded the corner she knocked on the back of his head with a heavy metal object from the shelf. Which would momentarily knock him out.

August swept his gun away, checking the chamber to see how many bullets she had left. There was enough to hopefully get her out of the building.

She rounded the corner with the gun out in front of her. What August wasn't prepared for was to come face to face with Maya.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Happy Birthday to my favorite person ever!! Thank you for being my best friend. This chapter may not have gotten to the major Maya and August reunion scene but trust me it's coming soon!

I hope the few people reading this book in the year of 2024 enjoyed this chapter! ALSO NOT PROOFREAD SO PLEASE IGNORE ANY MISTAKES.

- Via <3