Chapter Text
Just a heads up-there's gonna be description during the airport battle that might be too much. Skip reading it if you need to
"Hi!"
Corinne looked down. A little girl, probably not more than ten years old, was smiling brightly up at her. Not exactly who Corinne expected to open the door, but there she is. She smiled back. "Hi."
The girl tilted her head and regarded her curiously. "I think you were on TV."
"I've been on a couple times." Corinne bent down so she was eye level with her. "I'm Corinne."
"I'm Cassie! I'm seven." She said proudly.
"Wow, seven? That's pretty awesome." Corinne's eyes widened. "I'm only five."
Cassie giggled adorably. "No way!"
"You got me. I'm over one thousand years old." Technically, that might be true.
"Peanut?" A voice called from within the house. "You shouldn't answer the door on your own, it's-"
A frazzled looking brunet man froze at the sight of her. A light went off in Corinne's head as she saw his face. It was the shrinking guy Sam and her had fought! No wonder the name had sounded familiar. Only now, he was wrapped up in a hot pink feathered boa and a plastic tiara was perched on top of his head.
"Daddy, this is Corinne!" Cassie bounced on her toes excitedly. She stage whispered conspiratorially. "She's been on TV!"
"Hey Scott." She waved. "Mind if I come in?"
Scott blanched and reached for the doorknob. "Is this about that time-uh, maybe some other-"
"Can Corinne join us? Please?" Cassie went back to Corinne, took her hand, and tugged her inside. "She's so cool!"
"Cassie, I don't think-"
"Thanks, Daddy!"
Scott sighed and shut the door while Cassie led Corinne into the living room. A tiny table littered with tiny plastic cups and plates was in the center. Corinne was seated beside a...unique looking stuffed bunny. Cassie busied herself with the teapot while Scott reluctantly joined them.
"Here you go!" Cassie chirped as she handed Corinne a cup.
Corinne accepted it and pretended to take a sip. "Thank you. It's very good."
Cassie puffed with pride, then jumped up. "Oh, I forgot something! I'll be right back."
Scott stared at Corinne. Corinne stared at Scott.
The man finally sighed. "If you want to take me in, okay. But not in front of Cassie, please."
Corinne blinked. "You already know why I'm here?"
"Why else would you be here? I knew you guys would be coming after me eventually. So, do the Avengers have their own jail? Or am I going back to San Quentin?"
"Jail?" Corinne suddenly laughed, much to Scott's confusion. "I'm not arresting you, Scott. I'm here to ask for your help."
Scott's eyebrows went up. "Oh…"
She gave him a brief rundown on what was happening. "It's going to be dangerous and slightly illegal so I understand if you can't."
"I'm in." Scott said.
That was quicker than she expected. She breathed out relievedly. "Thank you, then."
"Hey, that means I'm an Avenger now! Sorta." Scott looked sheepishly down at his getup courtesy of his daughter. "Would have liked it if I was cooler while getting recruited, though."
Cassie came bounding back with something small and glittery in her hands. A tiara matching Scott's. She went over to Corinne, reached up, and placed the tiara on her head. "There! Now you're a princess too."
After picking up Scott, she had to wait for Clint to fly them back to Germany. They spotted Clint and the twins at the rendezvous point before they spotted them.
"Retirement's treated you well." Corinne popped up behind Clint.
He jumped, face just done as he turned around. Clint grinned, shaking his head. "Do that again and I'm going to have to go back to it."
"Corinne!" Two sets of arms enveloped her into a hug.
She laughed and hugged the twins back. "Hey." With everything that has occurred, it was good to see them again.
"We were worried when we saw the news." Pietro said as they pulled away from each other.
"You're not hurt, are you?" Wanda scanned her form. Her eyes lingered on Corinne's neck where the marks were partly obscured.
"Not bad enough to stop." Corinne shrugged, tugging her scarf up higher. She looked over her shoulder at Scott and waved him over. "This is Scott."
The man was starstruck, regarding the people in front of him with his mouth agape. He blinked, not believing his own eyes. "H-hi. Wow. Uh, I'm Scott."
Corinne bit her lip to prevent herself from breaking into a smile. The others chorused greetings and their own names, as unnecessary as it was.
"Jet's ready to go just ten minutes from here." Clint reminded them.
As Scott was introduced to Steve, she hopped out of the white van. Corinne went over to the Beetle where Bucky was. She watched Scott interact with Steve, amused. Being so used to her life now, sometimes she forgot how they appeared to the public.
"Hey." She acknowledged him quietly.
This time, he didn't ignore her. "Hi."
They watched all of them talk in comfortable silence. It was the calm before the storm. There was no telling what was going to happen next.
"We should get moving." Bucky finally piped up after some time.
Clint nodded. "Got a chopper lined up."
Someone spoke in German over the speakers.
Bucky listened attentively and translated. "They're evacuating the airport."
"Stark." Sam said.
"Stark?" Scott repeated.
Any ease in Steve disappeared, the captain commanding them now. "Suit up."
Once everyone got into their tactical gear, the captain told them the plan.
He would talk to Tony while they looked for the Quinjet. Everyone else was split into separate groups that were spread out. They would fight back, distract, and then unite at the Quinjet again. Then it was off to Siberia.
"Maybe I can talk to Tony, he'll understand. I know he wants the best for all of us, it's just the way things happened so quickly…" Corinne suggested to Steve.
He got a contemplative look on his face. "Alright. You and Lang are with me then."
And with that, everyone took off to their positions.
Steve made his way out to the helicopter. As planned, Tony, Rhodey, Natasha, and T'Challa intervened. Corinne watched from behind a concrete pillar as they spoke. It filled her with a staggering rush of sadness to see them divided like this. Their occasionally petty arguments were one thing, but this...this was another thing entirely.
"Anyway. Ross gave me thirty-six hours to bring you in. That was twenty-four hours ago. Can you help a brother out?"
At this point Corinne decided to teleport herself to Steve's side. "Look, we can go to Ross, talk it out, whatever needs to be done-after this. The therapist was the one who triggered Bucky's escape and he's planning to release a whole team of far more uncontrollable enhanced assassins on the world. You can bring me in after, I don't care. But we need to stop him."
Tony and Rhodey glanced at each other. Rhodey eyed her skeptically. "How do we know you're not lying?"
"I wouldn't lie about this." Corinne said, earnest.
Tony looked conflicted, but nodded. "Bring out Barnes, then we can all go fight this assassin team."
Steve immediately interjected. "We can't do that. We need him."
"No, you need him." Frustration was in Tony's eyes again. "He's a volatile HYDRA assassin himself, Steve. Whether you like it or not, he could turn on us the moment we find this therapist."
"Tony…" Corinne pleaded.
"Okay, I've run out of patience. Underoos!"
Something flew overhead out of nowhere, taking Steve's shield and tying his hands together with some kind of white fiber.
"Nice job, kid." Tony said to the new red and blue costumed super. He was crouched on top of a car, vibranium shield strapped to his arm.
"Thanks!" Corinne blanched from how young this person sounded. He couldn't be more than a teenager. "Well, I could have stuck the landing a bit better, but it's just the new suit-wait, it's nothing, Mr. Stark, it's perfect, thank you-"
"Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation." Tony replied.
The surprise was still settling in as the kid introduced himself. But that ended quickly, and her friends devolved into heated tones again.
"-I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart!"
"You did that when you signed."
"Alright. We're done. You're going to turn Barnes over, you're going to come with us-" Tony looked over at Corinne, eyeing where she was standing. "And you? Not so much in the middle now are you?"
Corinne shook her head and walked to the middle, right between Tony and Steve. "I am. Just-these assassins will take down countries, and destroy thousands of lives."
"So that's it, then." Tony's voice wavered slightly towards the end. "You too."
Corinne breathed deeply. "I'm keeping my promise. But if you're not coming with or letting us get them..."
"Found it. The Quinjet's in hangar five, north runway." Falcon's voice came through their comms.
Hawkeye shot an arrow at Steve's restraints, and they sprung into action.
Tony went for Wanda, Pietro, and Clint. Natasha went for Scott. Rhodey went for Steve. Spider-man went for Bucky and Sam.
Her worst fears were coming to life.
You can do this. Just keep them from hurting each other too badly. Get everyone to the Quinjet.
She bubbled Rhodey as he flew towards Steve. Spotting T'Challa making a run for Barnes, she bubbled him too. The two fought against the shield, and sweat beaded on her forehead from the effort. She saw Natasha coming towards her, and bubbled her too. Her raised arms were trembling now. Bubbles always take more energy.
"Sentinel, don't overexert yourself!" Captain America ordered. As effective as it was, it wasn't sustainable. "Drop them."
She grit her teeth, but flung and dropped them far away. Scott sidled up beside her and Steve. He tossed Steve a miniature truck. "Cap, heads up!"
"Throw it at this." He held up a tiny metal circle. "Now!"
Corinne's jaw dropped a bit as the truck grew to its full size, and promptly exploded. Well, that should distract the others for a while.
"Heading for the Quinjet now." The super soldier relayed into his comm.
Scott, Steve, and her ran. The rest of their team joined them. They all went at a full sprint, only stopping when a ray of gold cut the ground in front of them.
"Captain Rogers." Vision floated overhead. "I know you believe what you're doing is right, but for the collective good, you must surrender now."
Tony landed in front of them with Natasha. Gradually, the rest of his side faced them on the other side of the line. The literal line dividing them.
She connected gazes with Natasha and had to look away. To be opposite who she considered family, knowing that they were about to fight each other...She'd never felt so terrified and full of dread.
"What do we do, Cap?" Sam asked.
Steve's voice was solemn. "We fight."
The knot of dread form at the pit of her stomach got worse as they started advancing. What was about to happen next will make what happened before a mere skirmish. What they just did was a warm up. She knew it.
But she still wasn't prepared for it.
When they clashed, it was pure mayhem. There was no time to think, no time to know who was fighting who.
She did what she usually did. Corinne sheltered everyone from blasts and shots when she could, not daring to do anything more. She diverted a beam from Vision. Stopped a swipe from T'Challa from reaching Bucky. Thwarted Rhodey's shots from reaching Sam's wings. She didn't just do it for 'Steve's' side either. If there was a shot that could have seriously injured the other side, she prevented it too. She redirected some of Hawkeye's arrows, sidetracked some of the things Wanda sent flying, and such. Nobody noticed in the heat of the fight.
She felt helpless all the same. No one was aiming to kill one another but as the fighting went on, it intensified. How long until someone misfires, until someone gets hit and she can't shield them? She felt a cold chill go down her spine as an image of lifeless Pietro appeared in her mind.
"Hi there!" Corinne felt her hand being forced back from directing a shield and stuck to a crate behind her. Spider-man swung into view, poised to trap her other hand.
She spun to avoid the webbing, cutting her other hand free with a small shield. Looking back up, she spun a shield just in time to deter the white gossamer. She sent some disks his way. He flipped and leaped away as if he could see them coming.
She was struck again by how young this Spider-man was. What was he doing here? What if he got hurt? "Don't you have a math test to study for or something?"
Spider-man stilled for a moment. "Actually, uh, yeah."
"You should probably go home." She ducked a surge of webbing. Then finally made him stumble backwards with a shield.
"I'm-" He launched himself from a truck to attack at a new angle. "Procrastinating!"
A shield, not her own, sliced the line he was swinging on. Spider-man sailed through the air, letting out a surprised yelp.
Corinne looked over to see Steve give her a small salute before getting webbed.
The lapse in fighting was brief, however, as Corinne had a split second to lean back to avoid a baton.
"Come on, Corinne." Natasha feinted a punch, then swept her off her feet with a swing of her leg. Corinne landed on her back with a grunt. "I taught you better than this, didn't I?"
She couldn't help the wry grin from tugging at her lips. "You did."
Using her position as an advantage, she locked her legs around Natasha's shoulders and swung around. Natasha hit the ground. The spy rolled away from a barrage of disks, but not before Corinne caught a hint of a proud smile on her face.
"Any chance you can convince Cap to stop?" Natasha let some shields ricochet off her batons.
Corinne dropped low to elude a blow to the head via baton. "You know him as well as I do. What do you think?"
"-I'll take Vision. You get to the jet." Steve's voice echoed in her ear.
"No, you get to the jet. Both of you. The rest of us aren't getting out of here." Sam replied.
"As much as I hate to admit it, if we're going to win this one, some of us might have to lose it." Clint.
"We need to focus on Broussard." Corinne shielded herself from a Widow's Bite. "I'd rather it be some of us than none."
"Alright Sam, what's the play?"
"We need a diversion. Something big."
The rest of it faded out as Corinne directed her attention to fighting Natasha. The redhead raised a brow when they came to an impasse, shield against baton. "Your team planning something?"
"Holy shit!" Spider-man suddenly exclaimed.
Corinne glanced towards his direction and did a double take. She fully swiveled around to see a giant Scott holding onto Rhodey's leg. Emphasis on giant. Scott was now so huge they were all toy dolls in comparison.
She turned back around only to face empty air. Natasha had slipped away without a trace.
Okay. New goal. Get Steve and Bucky to the jet, stop anyone else from interfering. Observing Scott, it was clear that Tony, Rhodey, and Spider-man were going to be busy for a while. Her eyes narrowed when she caught sight of T'Challa making a run for the hangar.
"Your Highness." Corinne pushed him back with a kick, whipping a disk at him for good measure.
He cocked his head just enough for it to whiz past his head. "Your Highness."
T'Challa swiped and kicked at her at a speed she barely kept up with. Those sharp, vibranium claws came at her as a blur. Every dodge was on instinct. Now and again, she had to parry an attack with a shield because she couldn't get away in time. But she had to slow him down. Steve and Bucky needed to get to Siberia.
A beam of golden light shot past her, and she turned to see it cutting a tower of the hangar. The mass of metal slid rapidly down, surely going to block Steve and Bucky from the jet.
Get them to the jet. Get them to the jet.
Her hands shot out and a large shield caught most of the debris like a net. Scarlet magic joined her in lifting it up.
Her moment of relief was short lived, however, as her neglected opponent attacked with renewed ferocity. She saw the glint of silver near her, too close for her to avoid in time, but she could still shield-
A high pitched squeal agonized her ears.
Her concentration broke.
She felt a searing slash.
She gasped for air, then gurgled. Why wasn't there any air? She tried again, but it only made the pain worse. Something warm was gushing down her front.
The sounds of her surroundings came rushing back to her ears. People were shouting in alarm. Someone was pressing their hands against her throat while she convulsed.
"What happened?" A tinny voice said in her ear. "Who-"
"-doctor, now!" She heard distantly.
Her head felt light.
T'Challa halted in shock. He thought she would have…
"No!" Wanda screamed. A silver blur zipped over almost instantly.
Pietro caught the swaying Corinne and applied pressure to the grisly gash. The steady flow didn't seem to slow. "She needs a doctor!" Pietro yelled.
Rhodey swore as he lowered the sonic cannon. He had only wanted to make her drop the shield.
"Ambulance…" Tony's faceplate went back as he gulped. Corinne's gaze was unfocused, and she didn't look aware of her situation at all. "Ambulance is on its way."
The cold reality of everything hit him, and likely everybody else, hard. The Avengers were fighting each other. And this was a result of it. What were they even fighting for? Was it even worth this?
"Corinne's down." Sam said into his comm. "No. No. You can't turn back now. Broussard needs to be stopped. Is she?-Steve, go. She'll...she'll be okay. She would want you to go."
The Quinjet zoomed ahead. Steve and Barnes. Rhodey took off towards the plane. Sam followed. Tony's visor clinked in place as he prepared to go after it.
Corinne let out a sickening choking noise.
Wanda shushed her. "D-don't speak. Don't, please."
Tony hesitated and made the mistake of looking at her. Corinne had seemed to come to her senses, and was looking straight at him. She was shaking her head, even though it was visibly hurting her more, as she looked at the jet and him.
Even without words, he knew. He knew what she was asking of him. He clenched his eyes shut, gritting his teeth. Was Ross more important than one of his closest friends, his fellow lab partner and Avenger?
He saw golden energy from Vision streak towards the sky.
And just like that, another one of his friends was hurt.
I spent way too much time trying to make it perfect, but at some point I just wanted to done and posted. So here it is! Hope it was good! If not feel free to tell me! This chapter's definitely got its flaws. Might add to it later.
09.03.16.