verb.
To fall back under pressure. To shrink back physically or emotionally.
noun.
The kickback of a gun upon firing.
•
It takes a stubborn mind to cling to their humanity when the world seeks to strip it away.
It takes a desperate soul to reach f...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Kat had never been in an airport.
It was strange to think, after all she had experienced, that she hadn't come across this in her long and varied life. She'd never even flown in a plane - all the travelling she had done when she was younger had been via train. The Trans-Siberian Railway had carried her from childhood to university, and then on to her career with HYDRA. It had even unknowingly carried her back to Moscow, and then St Petersburg so many years later, when she had been freed from her cryostasis.
Now she was left hoping that she had seen enough movies to help her muddle her way through this new experience. Somehow, she felt that making their way through Leipzig Airport wouldn't quite be the most average of ventures though - she couldn't imagine they had any chance of smuggling Bucky through a metal detector.
Still, she was doing her best to figure this out, sat on her parked bike on level B6 of the multi-storey carpark that served the airport, bent over the screen of her phone as she examined the satellite view of the building offered by Google Maps. She was just beginning to plot a possible route from her position to the runway when she heard the now-familiar creak of the Volkswagen's suspension climbing the levels of the near-empty car park. They had been so lucky not to meet any resistance so far, something she had very much appreciated as they reached this now-critical point of their plan.
She had been careful to pick a quiet corner of the car park, regardless. A safe distance away from the silver van parked up on the other side of the level, along with a few other inconsequential cars, but now she could see Steve pulling up the Beetle alongside that van, prompting her to dismount from her bike with a small frown. It was as Steve hauled himself out of the tiny, creaking vehicle that she saw another man climb out of the van, walking around to meet him with his hand extended in greeting.
"Cap."
Perhaps their allies had beat them to it, she mused as she warily approached the navy car, watching as Steve enveloped the man's hand with his own in a firm shake. There was something about his face that Kat couldn't place, almost as if she had seen him before - his dark hair and stubbled features didn't pull a name to mind immediately, but Sam seemed relaxed enough as he stepped out of the car and tipped his seat forward so Bucky could emerge. That was enough for her to know she could trust him.
"You know I wouldn't have called if I had any other choice." Steve almost sounded regretful as a young woman climbed out of the passenger seat of the van, her auburn hair and faintly familiar features suddenly fitting into place in Kat's mind, making her realise where she had seen these people before. Clint Barton and Wanda Maximoff - she had seen those names scroll across news headlines often enough in recent years. They were part of the Avengers. Evidently the part that weren't hell-bent on hunting them down, so at least that was something.
"Hey, man, you're doing me a favour. Besides, I owe a debt." Clint reassured Steve with an easy smile, the lines of which creased his features in a pleasant, warm way as he inclined his head towards Wanda's stonier demeanour and then back to nod a small greeting to the meagre party stood behind Steve, his grey eyes momentarily flicking towards Kat as she approached.
