𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋
( chapter one )

★

𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐀 had just woken up from a nightmare when she heard knocking on her apartment door.

"What the-?" She mumbled. She looked at her clock, it read 5:31 am. "Oh my god." Her feet hit the carpet and she walked into the hallway.

More knocking. "I'm coming! Stop knocking."

Behind the door was Steve Rogers, one of her fellow Avengers. But instead of his usual Captain America uniform or casual clothes he was in exercise gear. "Wanna come for a run with me?" He asked.

She blinked at him. "No, I don't want to go on a run with you at 5:30 in the morning." Steve looked at his phone, "it's 5:33," his face fell at her glare.

"Do I look like I need to exercise anyway? I did enough exercise when we fought Loki and his weird alien army for the next three months, Steven." She leant on the door frame.

"I'll just go by myself then." Steve said, putting his phone back into his pocket.

She closed the door on his face.

★

Her phone started playing Black Widow by Iggy Azalea which meant Natasha was calling. She brought the phone up to her ear and Natasha started the call by saying, "Please don't tell me you still have that song as my ringtone."

"Where are you?" Elaila asked, walking out of her apartment.

"In front of that weird shawarma place that Tony likes." Nat's voice said.

"Yep." Elaila hung up just as she caught site of her.

"Come on, we're picking up Steve." Nat said, opening her door and sitting in the driver's seat.

"The fossil." She corrected as she opened the door to the black Corvette Stingray. "New car?"

"Nice, right?" Nat grinned.

"I love it." Elaila said.

"Hey, can you text Steve," Nat handed Elaila her phone. "Say; mission alert, extraction imminent, meet at curb. And add a smiley face or something."

"Professional."

The car pulled up to the curb and Elaila saw Steve talking to a dark skinned man. Natasha rolled down the window, "Hey, fellas. Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? We're here to pick up a fossil." The girl's hands met in a high-five.

"Hilarious." Steve rolled his eyes at them and opened the door to the passenger seat.

"No, old man. I'm not moving, get in the back."
(I know the car doesn't have a back seat, just pretend it does.)

He groaned and shut the door as the other man leant down to look at the girls. "How you doing?"

"Hey." Natasha greeted and Elaila surveyed him carefully.

"Can't run everywhere." Steve said from the back seat.

"No, you can't." The man nodded as the car revved and drove away.

★

"I can't believe I've been dragged into this." Elaila whispered to Natasha. "Nobody else had to do this, why me and you?"

"I don't know, shut up." Nat whispered back and Elaila nudged her in the arm.

"Target is a mobile satellite launch platform, the Lemurian Star," Rumlow started. "They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them, 93 minutes ago."

"Any demands?" Steve asked.

"Billion and a half." He answered.

"Why so steep?"

"Because it's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s." Rumlow said.

Steve sighed. "So it's not off course, it's trespassing." He looked to Natasha.

"I'm sure they have a good reason." She excused.

"You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor."

Elaila snorted. "Just relax. It's not that complicated."

"How many pirates?" Steve asked Rumlow.

"25. Top mercs led by this guy." He pulled up a photo of a man. "Georges Batroc. Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's Red Notice. Before the French demobilised him, he had 36 kill missions. He's got a rep for maximum casualties."

"Hostages?" Questioned Steve.

"Mostly techs. One officer. Jasper Sitwell." He pulled up a picture of a bald man with glasses. "They're in the galley."

"What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship?" He said to himself as he put on his gloves. Natasha and Elaila exchanged a glance. "All right, I'm gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you and Elaila kill the engines and wait for instructions." Elaila rolled her eyes but nodded. "Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, then get them out. Let's move."

"S.T.R.I.K.E, you heard the Cap, gear up." Rumlow ordered.

"Secure channel seven." Steve tested the ear pieces.

"Seven secure." Nat confirmed. "Any of you doing anything fun Saturday night?"

"Well, all the guys at my barbershop quartet are dead, so.. no, not really." He smiled.

Elaila huffed a laugh as the pilot said through the radio, "Coming up on the drop zone, Cap."

Steve hit the button to open the back of the aircraft.

"You know, if you ask Kristen out, from Statistics,  she'd probably say yes." Nat said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"That's why I don't ask." Steve buckled up his helmet and attached his shield to his back.

"Too shy, or too scared?" Elaila challenged.

"Too busy!" Steve jumped out of the aircraft.

"Was he wearing a parachute?" One of the other agents asked.

"No. No, he wasn't." Rumlow smirked as Nat jumped out, wearing a parachute.

Elaila clipped on the parachute and jumped as well, more agents following. They all landed on the ship and unclipped their parachutes, discarding them to the side.

"What about that one nurse that lives across the hall from you?" Elaila asked Steve as they walked.

"Yeah, she seems kinda nice." Natasha backed her up.

"Secure the engine, you two, then you can find me a date." Steve said.

"It's called multi-tasking!" Nat jumped over the railing, Elaila doing the same before they split up.

The woman snuck down into a room, down a ladder and quietly jumped onto the floor just as a man turned around.

The man reached for his gun but she swept his feet out from under him and he hit the floor with a groan. Elaila stamped on his nose and he got knocked out cold. She smirked and unlocked the door.

"Natasha, what's your status?" Elaila heard Steve ask through the ear pieces.

"Hang on!" Nat yelled and she heard some fighting happening which she drowned out with the sound of her own fight.

Elaila ran forward and took out the guy by kneeing him in the guts and he cluched his stomach. She slammed his head on the ground, hearing a sickening crunch and he hit the floor, unconscious.

She knocked the gun out of the other man's hands, then kicked him forward and he fell over the side of the boat.

"Engine room's secure." Nat confirmed.

"Nice." Elaila nodded to her and went to meet up the the red-head.

★

The door to the room Elaila and Natasha were in broke down as Steve and another man fell through. Steve got up, panting. He didn't seem to notice the girls so Nat spoke up, "Well, this is awkward."

"What're you doing?" He demanded.

"Backing up the hard drive." Nat replied. He looked at Elaila who was sitting in a seat, her feet on the table. "A great habit to get into."

"Rumlow needed your help. What the hell are you doing here?" Steve walked over to see what they were doing.

Neither girls answered him. "You're saving S.H.I.E.L.D intel." Steve observed.

"Whatever I can get my hands on." Nat said.

"Our mission is to rescue hostages." Steve frowned.

"No, that's your mission." Natasha took out the hard drive and handed it to Elaila. "And you've down beautifully." She started to walk away but Steve stopped her. Elaila frowned and stood up.

"You just jeopardised this whole operation." He said to her.

"I think that's overstating things." Nat answered, a bit of humour in her voice.

The man Steve has supposedly knocked out, jumped up and ran for the door, not before throwing a grenade at them. Steve deflected it with his shield and they all jumped through the window Nat had shot at, just as the explosion went off. They three of them backed against the wall, groaning.

"Okay," Nat started. "That one's on me." Elaila leaned her head back on the wall, panting.

"Damn right." Steve left them.

Nat frowned after him and sighed. "You good?" She asked, looking to Elaila.

"Yeah, you?" She nodded.

Natasha hummed and nodded in reply.

★

This chapter: ew