Kate's breath fogs in front of her, but still she feels warm; she never gets cold anymore, which certainly saves her the trouble of buying a winter coat.

The wind whips through her ponytail, pushes the stray hairs around her forehead back, and her arms extend in front of her, periodically blasting when she has a clear shot that won't accidentally hit a nearby tree. That almost never happens though, because Nat is tearing through the forest in this retired SHIELD jeep like a NASCAR driver. Clint stands next to Kate, firing arrows with precision. Behind them, laser-like blasts come from the HYDRA truck, so Kate turns to fire at the driver and/or gunman. Whichever she hits first.

It turns out to be the driver, and, after the car crashes into a tree, Tony flies through and blasts both the driver and gunman for good measure. A guy in a weird suit flies up to the back of the truck, so Kate punches him away with a flaming fist, and Clint sends him off with an arrow. Thor flies overhead, heading for a watchtower. In the distance, Steve's motorcycle hums underneath the screams of HYDRA minion pain. Kate smiles to herself.

The past year of dismantling the remains of HYDRA and searching for Loki's scepter with the other Avengers has been fun for her, especially since these missions have been interspersed with time in the lab and Bucky hunting. They're getting no where on the latter, but the searching is still fun, putting her right back into her favorite pastime as a kid. This time, though, she has much more technology and information at her fingertips.

The new digs are nice, too, and it's been interesting with most of them living in Stark Tower, either for the foreseeable future or temporarily. Friday night game night is never calm when they're able to partake in it.

Up ahead, Thor lands in a streak on a tank of sorts, flipping it over. Hulk appears —though Bruce said he wasn't going to go green — and tosses it to the side as Nat speeds past him. "Get ready to jump!" she shouts as they approach the border of the base. It's a sinister looking fence, metal x's and barbed wire.

Kate jumps forward as Nat jerks the wheel to the side, making the jeep parallel to the barrier while she herself goes airborne. On her left, Clint is preparing to shoot, while Steve jumps the fence on his motorcycle to her right. She's almost tempted to ask him for a lift when she lands, but most of the minions are right here anyway.

She blasts, then gets close enough to roundhouse kick one in the face, her lightweight shoes still packing a punch. It doesn't take long to take him down. She turns, heading for another target, but a stray bullet glances off the metal plating on her shoulders.

It was Tony's idea; he thought it would look cool, and Kate has to admit that it does, particularly with the matching, mostly decorative belt. It's especially awesome when they start to glow red from heat, breaking up the light and dark gray of the rest of the suit, along with the protective mesh sleeves on her forearms. Stark really is a genius.

"Would you be careful?!" Nat chides, taking out a guy next to her.

Kate shrugs, blasting the guy coming at her. "To be fair, I don't think that was meant for me."

"Just be glad they have bad aim."

"Just be glad I don't," Clint jokes, shooting down the last of the minions in the area as Kate takes her guy out.

She rolls her eyes, then asks, "Spread out?"

"As long as you promise not to get yourself killed," Nat replies, but she walks on anyways, going towards the left. Kate heads towards the middle, while Clint takes the right. Overhead, Tony flies towards the building, but evidently something goes wrong because he swears into the comms.

"Language!" Steve chides. "JARVIS, what's the view from upstairs?"

"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield," JARVIS replies as a few minions run out from behind the trees at Kate. "Strucker's technology is well beyond any other HYDRA base we've taken." She blasts them, catching one's clothes on fire, taking care of the other two with hand-to-hand and their own weapons while the other panics and puts himself out.

"Loki's scepter must be here. Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it," Thor says. "At long last." The other guy starts running at her, so Kate deals with him, too.

"At long last is lasting a little long, boys," Nat replies.

Clint agrees. "Yeah, I think we lost the element of surprise."

"Wait a second. No one else is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?" Tony asks.

"I know." Steve sighs. "It just slipped out."

"It was very 'my dad' of him," Kate says. "And, anyway, this is what happens when you decide to set your comm to 'conversation' mode."

She can practically hear Tony rolling his eyes. "I can't exactly press a button in my ear every time I wanna talk, Pippi Longstocking."

"You're Tony Stark. Figure it out."

"I'll take care of it, sir," JARVIS says.

"Thank you, J," Kate replies. More minions emerge from the trees, so she runs at them, dodging bullets, hitting them with their own guns, taking out their legs. The fire makes them hesitant, cautious, and it works to her advantage. She has four guys out in less than five minutes with barely a scratch.

"Well, I can tell where Kate's been," Clint suddenly comments. "The snow is melted."

"Do me a favor, try not to start a forest fire," Tony says.

"You all were the ones who wanted me out here," Kate accuses, trying to spin a gun she knabbed on her fingers. It falls and she leaves it there in the melting snow with a frown.

Steve replies, "Well, you're a valuable asset to the team."

"Thanks, Steve." She searches for him, Clint, Nat, or Hulk in the trees, but finds no one. There are no more minions here, either, so she moves on, asking, "Anybody need help out here?"

"What, you've been relaxing all this time?" Nat asks.

"Yeah, sure, I wish. I've cleared where I'm at."

"You've gotten off too far. I can't see you."

Kate scoffs, walking back in the direction she came from. "Okay, Mom."

"Well, I can still see Clint."

"I'm heading back to you now."

A few moments of walking later, and Steve's over comms again. "We have an enhanced in the field."

Kate flips a hand at her side, on high alert now. "Enhanced how?"

"Very fast."

"Clint's hit," Nat says, though she doesn't sound as though he's on the very brink of death. "Somebody want to deal with that bunker?" In the distance, Hulk roars. "Thank you."

Kate starts jogging, but then a blue streak runs past her, and she pauses. Who is that? How did they get like that, able to run faster than anyone Kate's ever seen or heard about, even in the secure SHIELD files she actually had access to? What could give a person that sort of ability?

The blue streak comes back, knocking Kate off her feet. Her back hits the ground, and a boy with white hair — brown at the roots to match his light beard and mustache — stands over her, though he isn't all that threatening. She leans on one elbow. "What, did you miss me the first time?"

He chuckles, though it's a bit closer to a scoff. "Fire doesn't agree with most people, you know." He has an accent she can't quite place, but she's sure he didn't travel far to get here.

Kate scoffs. "Yeah, well, it didn't agree with me either, kid. Glad you have a healthy sense of fear, though."

"Clearly you don't. You should've left us alone."

Kate gets to her feet, brows furrowing. "Us? As in HYDRA? You actually want to be here?" It's a huge letdown. She has a lot of questions she could ask him.

"And you don't. That is telling." With that, he takes off again.

"Telling how?!" she shouts after him, but, of course, he's too far away to hear her. She sighs, moving on and pressing her comm. "I've made contact with the enhanced. He's a kid, and he's annoying."

"You got that right," Clint comments.

"A kid?" Steve asks.

"He's maybe late teens, early twenties at most. I'm thirty three, Steve, so, yes, a kid. Honestly, you're like a hundred years old-"

"Stark, we're really need to get inside," Thor says.

"I'm closing in," Tony replies. A few moments later, he says, "Drawbridge is down, people."

"Clint's hit pretty bad, guys. We're gonna need evac," Nat pipes up.

Kate continues, following the now closer sounds of fighting as her heart seizes a bit. "Nice going, Barton."

"Oh, what, you wanna come and cauterize the wound?" he replies, relieving her.

"Can't say my hand won't slip and burn your face."

As Kate gets closer, she first spies Nat kneeling on the ground next to Clint, then Hulk in the distance, and then Thor touching down in the further distance. Not long after, a loud burst sounds, and the trees shake in a line where Thor landed, accompanied by many minions flipping in the air. She recognizes it instantly.

"Thor, did you and Steve seriously just do that stupid thing that almost leveled part of a forest in New York?" she asks, blasting a minion running for her.

"Well, it works, doesn't it?" Steve replies.

Thor ignores this. "Find the scepter."

"And for gosh sake, watch your language!" Tony adds.

Steve sighs again. "That's not going away anytime soon."

After taking out a few more minions, there seem to be none left outside. Kate smiles a bit, though she keeps her hands lit just in case. Thor flies in and grabs Clint, so Nat stands. "We're locked down out here."

"Then, Kate, get to Banner, time for a lullaby," Steve instructs. "I still don't understand why it works with you; you aren't exactly a calming presence."

"He just likes me more than the rest of you," Kate replies.

"I'll go with you, make sure we don't have another incident," Nat says.

"That only happened the first time; I've developed the technique."

"Yeah, well, it doesn't need to happen again." Nat shakes her head, following Kate to the sounds of roaring. He didn't go far from where Kate had last seen him, though he's run out of people to fight. Nat moves off to the side, hidden.

"Hey, Green Giant," Kate says, extinguishing her hands. "The sun's getting real low." She crouches to appear less threatening, and he turns to her, walking closer, almost as if he's curious. Kate holds out her now-warm hand as if in surrender, waiting for him to reach out. He's hesitant, but he touches her hand, so she turns it over, her palm facing down, lightly touching his. She runs her hand down toward his fingers, gradually heating up, then pulls it away quickly. For some reason, that always seems to do the trick, and he backs away, slowly shrinking back into Bruce. Discovering this little hack was definitely something, but she's just glad that it works.

Steve's voice comes over comms. "We have a second enhanced. Female. Do not engage."

Kate looks at Nat. "Enhanced how?"

"Honestly, I'm not quite sure. And I got Strucker."

"Yeah, I got... something bigger," Tony replies. A moment later, he says, "Thor, I got eyes on the prize."

"Then get the prize back here so we can go," Kate complains. "I'm starving." Nat laughs, and the sound of Bruce chuckling tells them that he's good to go, if exhausted. They trek back to the Quinjet, which is unfortunately a bit of a walk. "I'd pay good money for Steve's motorcycle right about now."

Nat snorts. "I'd rather the jeep. You can fit more comfortably in that."

"Maybe you should've waited until we got to the jet to calm Hulk down," Bruce comments.

Kate shrugs. "Too late now. Unless we call Thor to come get us."

"As strong as he is, he couldn't carry us all," Nat argues.

"Yeah, well, he could at least get me."

"Why just you?"

"I'm exhausted."

"But I'm the youngest."

"But I'm the scariest," Bruce offers, his heart totally not in the argument.

Kate pats him on the shoulder. "No, you're not."

"You think you're scarier than the Hulk?"

"I think she is," Nat replies, almost smirking. "For all the right reasons."

Kate rolls her eyes playfully, shaking her head. "I was referring to you, actually."

"Aw, thanks."

The Quinjet comes into view after a minute or so of easy silence, and Kate groans, as it still seems impossibly far away.

"You're such a crybaby," Nat says, nudging her.

"Am not! That annoying enhanced kid knocked me down, not mention I just fought, like, thirty HYDRA thugs. I need a nap."

"No kidding," Bruce pipes up. There are dark circles forming under his eyes, and Kate has to admit he looks even more exhausted that she feels. The guilt shows through, too, though she can't quite understand what for. He crosses his arms, obviously cold, so Kate lights a small fire near him. "Thanks," he says, his breath clouding in front of him.

"You really need to invest in a super stretchy shirt," Kate comments.

"Well, you've worked with clothing before. Maybe you can help me develop it."

"Maybe."

"You'll have the time now," Nat adds. "What with HYDRA gone."

Kate only hums in response, extinguishing her hand as they enter the jet. Thor is leaning against the wall, waiting, while Clint is laying down on the sick bed. He cranes his neck to look at them. "Finally, some doctors. How much does it take to get some service in this joint?"

Bruce shakes his head with a chuckle, going over to treat his wound. Kate follows to help him, actually considering cauterizing the wound even though they were joking earlier, but thankfully they have the supplies on board to make it unnecessary.

"Until next time, Arrowhead," Kate says, lighting a flame on the tip of her finger.

"Yeah, yeah," he mutters, fiddling with his new IV.

Steve arrives next, asking, "What did I miss?"

"Clint is an annoying patient," Kate replies, causing Nat to laugh. Tony joins them not long after, Loki's scepter in hand. Everyone quickly settles in, and the jet takes off.