The Widow's Daughter ✔︎

Chapter Thirty-Three

I'm not sure how we managed it, but after about half an hour of nonstop fighting, me and the others had Maria Hill, Agent Coulson and Nick Fury tied up in chairs below us.

My breathing was coming out in short, sharp bursts. "OK," I panted. "Kidnapping time."

"Excuse me?" Nick Fury looked skeptical, a look I would never forget. "Why have five teenagers stormed into my office and tied us up, one being Spiderman? Mr Parker, would you like to explain this?"

"Uh." Peter blushed and rubbed his hand through his hair awkwardly. Gods, I loved it when he did that. "Well. It's a long story."

"I'm sure it is," said Fury dryly. "But please, do explain. We have all the time in the world."

Agent Coulson narrowed his eyes at me, Evie and Holly. "You three appear almost identical," he mused. "Triplets?"

"Yes," said Evie, at the same time Holly said "no," and I said "maybe."

"They are," Ben said proudly. "The Red Triplets."

Evie kicked him in the shin but the damage was done. All three of our captives let out a sign of shock, but nobody looked more shocked than Fury. "You're supposed to be dead," he snarled. "All of you. How are you not dead?"

"You three have had more enemies coming after you than the entire Avengers collective," Maria Hill said slowly. "This is impossible."

"Well, here we are," I quipped. "Maybe all of our enemies just suck at killing."

Ben snorted. Fury looked at him. "Who are you? Why is there a literal five-year-old here?"

Ben looked insulted. "I'm actually eleven, Mr Fury," he pouted. "And three eighths."

Agent Coulson wriggled in his bonds. "So are you five going to tell us why you've tied us up here?"

"Eh, no," Holly said, inspecting her nails for any chips before buffing them on her suit. "We only need Fury. You two just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. So, if you don't mind, we'll just grab Fury, make you guys forget this ever happened, then leave, OK? It's as simple as that."

I grabbed her arm before she could pull out the set of tranquilliser darts she kept in her belt. "Holly, why are we doing this? We got this far. Surely we don't have to prove ourselves any more?"

Holly laughed. "Oh my god, Kira. For a genius, you can be super dumb sometimes. This was never ABOUT proving yourself. How have you not worked it out?"

I looked around the room nervously. I had to admit: something didn't feel right, but that might just be me. Apparently it wasn't, because I could see Peter looking freaked-out, and he only looked like that when his spider-sense was going off. Ben looked uncomfortable - Evie looked confused. Agent Coulson looked bored, Fury skeptical, Maria Hill irritated.

Suddenly it hit me. "Holly... you're..." I couldn't believe it - clearly everybody else couldn't or didn't know what I was talking about, because they all looked super confused. "You... I can't... no..."

"Cat got your tongue?" Holly teased, pulling her gun of tranquillisers out of her belt and hooking it around one of her fingers, spinning it.

"You used us." It wasn't me who spoke, it was Peter. "You and the Salvatores. You used us to get to Fury."

Holly laughed. "Oh no. The Salvatores aren't a part of this: I got them out of the way because after running around Ireland with them, I've grown quite fond of my little gang. No, this was purely me. And now it's all perfect: I've got the Salvatores out of the way, Fury tied up, and you four locked in a room. And I have the upper hand here."