𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬

There was no getting away from it now — there was no turning back. Everything had gone too far, too fast, too much to deal with. How was Ava meant to deal with fighting people she considers family?

You aren't meant to fight family.

As Ava had learned from her favourite Disney movie, family means nobody gets left behind... or forgotten. So, why was this happening? Why were they fighting each other?

There should have been an easy solution to this — a talk... face to face, in a calm atmosphere with no violence.

But no! Of course not, these were the Avengers after all, so why did she expect any different?

By the time that Pietro had gotten himself and Ava over to the others, the fight was about to begin. Tony's team had their orders — their targets, and they were ready to strike.

The first thing Ava heard was, "Barnes is mine!" Which only served to fuel her anger and growing powers.

It came from a man, dressed in a smooth black suit which resembled a cat. Her blue eyes immediately focused in on him, narrowing slightly at the tone of his voice.

She glared at him as he took off running, her hand shooting forward to make a small white lump form in front of his foot, causing him to stumble slightly.

The boy in the spider suit gazed around, looking slightly overwhelmed as he questioned, "Hey, Mr. Stark, what should I do?"

Tony's eyes flickered in his suit, "What we discussed. Keep your distance, web 'em up!" He commanded, before focusing on his task of getting Wanda.

A new voice perked up, "And me, Tony?"

"You," Tony paused slightly, sucking in a deep breath. "Try not to hurt them too much... but remember what this is about. This is justice."

"You got it!"

Steve ran after Prince — soon to be king — T'Challa, knowing that he was the least likely to hesitate in killing Bucky. Clutching his shield, Steve pushed himself to go faster before launching the shield at the royalty's back.

T'Challa effectively stumbled, allowing Steve to catch up and wrap his arms tightly around the man. With his shield now back in his grip, Steve clutched onto the prince as tight as he could — T'Challa was strong.

Breaking Steve's hold, the Black Panther launched himself backwards, rolling around before gaining his footing. Down on one knee, the man said, "Move, Captain. I won't ask a second time."

On the other side of the battlefield, Jackson Rhodes stepped out of the building he had been stationed in whilst waiting. After all, he was meant to be a last resort.

Clipped across his chest was the device that would give him the powers he needed to try and stop these criminals.

The man's eyes trailed across the airport, before narrowing on the duo that was Pietro and Ava Maximoff. He'd heard the story before — of the speedster who had died and was saved by a little girl, who soon came to be like a daughter to him.

Activating his powers was easy.

It was like flicking a switch to turn a light on— it was like shutting a door... it just gave him more of a rush! It wasn't every day that you gained new abilities, knowing that you had created this — you were in control.

He easily flew over, dropping to the ground in front of the little ginger girl.

Jackson took a deep breath before he said, "You're a little girl. I don't want to hurt you— just stand down."

Ava's lip curled as she looked at the newcomer before her. She doubted he'd ever seen a real battle in his life. He was naive — and it was easy for the little girl to see.
"Never." She told him, eyes hardening.

"Look—" Scott Lang said as he stood before the great Black Widow. "I really don't want to hurt you."

Natasha just about refrains from rolling her eyes.
"I wouldn't worry about it." She said, before lifting her leg and planting a strong kick to his groin.

It doesn't last long, however, as the Ant-Man miniaturises and throws her head over heels. But it's never that easy to defeat Natasha Romanoff — which Scott finds out as she zaps him off of her wrist and he flies back into a truck, a dent being left behind where his tiny body had landed harshly.

Meanwhile, in the terminal, Bucky was stressing as he ran as quick as he could. "What the hell is that?" He asked, referring to Peter Parker in his
Spider-Man suit.

"Everyone's got a gimmick now." Sam replied, running beside Bucky — he was still annoyed about the steering wheel.

Spider-Man swings through the glass wall, kicking Sam backwards as he does so. He turned to Bucky as the man threw a punch, catching Bucky's metal fist in his gloved hand.

The super soldier's eyes widened considerably — as nobody had managed to stop his metal arm so easily before. Everything about this situation was new and uncertain to him.

"You have a metal arm?" Peter said in astonishment, commenting, "That's awesome, dude!"

Sam launches himself towards Peter, his mechanical wings spreading out as he pushes the boy away from Bucky.

"You have the right to remain silent!" Peter exclaimed, fending Sam off as the man carried him through the air. Peter pushes himself away from the man, before he caught himself using his webs. Before Sam could escape, Peter began chasing him, using his webs to swing after the man.

Tony shot rockets from his suit, effectively trapping cutting off any exit that Wanda and Clint could've attempted to make.

Wanda stumbled slightly as she avoided rubble and quite large mushroom clouds from where the ground had exploded. She could feel the heat of the fire against her skin, and nearly tripped as Clint grabbed her outstretched hand.

He pulled Wanda down, shielding her head from any debris flying around the area. Clint has felt a slightly paternal instinct towards Wanda and Pietro since the day he met them — not to mention Ava herself. And he couldn't help but feel like he owed the Scarlet Witch, as he had almost cost her Pietro's life.

Ava ducked below a wave of fire that Jackson had sent towards her, feeling the heat singe her hair slightly. Ava grimaced at the thought — she had liked her long hair, but she would probably have to cut it after this.

She quickly recovered, jumping up as Jackson paused to let the fire disperse. She conjured a dagger in her small hand, throwing it up in the air slightly before catching it. Soon enough, she launched the dagger through the air, watching as it just narrowly missed the man's left shoulder.

"Kid, I really don't wanna hurt you!" Jackson shouted angrily as she snuck out of his line of sight.

Ava rolled her eyes slightly at him.

"Hey!" Pietro snapped, beyond furious that this— this boy was trying to hurt his Ava. "You are trying to hurt her? No! She is—" he paused as he ran forward at a speed so quick that Jackson couldn't see. He pushed the boy to the ground, grabbing a nearby wire and wrapping it around both of his arms.
"She is... how you say? Off-limits!"

Jackson gaped up at the man, eyes wide and confused.

"Piet," Ava groaned at the man, "I had him! On— on the ropes!" She stuttered slightly, thinking of her words carefully. Pietro heaved a sigh and nodded his head.

Jackson looked between the two with a confused expression— the way they acted was like family, but he knew that they were not related. Then again, perhaps he knew what non-blood family was... he did have Tony.

Steve and T'Challa were in close battle, with the Black Panther swiping his razor-sharp claws at the star-spangled man with a plan. Rhodey, however, was not in battle, as of yet. He was watching from a slight distance Jackson, Ava and Pietro.

But when he turned, he saw T'Challa scrape his claws down Cap's shield, creating a horrid grating sound that made him grimace.

Without wasting much time, Rhodey locks on his target.
"Sorry, Cap. This won't kill you, but it ain't gonna tickle either!" War Machine exclaimed, before slamming a mace down upon Steve's shield.

Tony paused above the ground, hovering there as he looked down at Wanda and Clint, the duo surveying the damage around them.
"Wanda, I think you hurt Vision's feelings." Tony said, sounding a bit like an overprotective dad.

"You locked me in my room." Wanda replied, anger bubbling in her stomach. She gazed up at the billionaire, remembering when she used to hate him for killing her parents.

Things were different now.

"Okay— First, that's an exaggeration. Second, I did it to protect you!" Tony defended himself, revealing that though his actions may have been misplaced... his heart was in the right place.
"Hey, Clint." Tony added, looking over at his friend.

"Hey, man." Clint said, acting neutral.

"Clearly retirement doesn't suit you. You got tired of shooting golf?" Iron Man asked, his eyebrows raising slightly.

"Well, I played 18, I shot 18. Just can't seem to miss." He claimed, before gripping an arrow and firing it straight towards Tony. Tony, however, easily deflects the rather flimsy weapon — it wouldn't have done much damage to his suit, anyway.

"First time for everything." Tony said, being overly confident in himself — as always. Clint smirked up at the man.

"Made you look."

Before Tony could react, a car slams down beside him. Glancing upwards, his eyes widened slightly as he saw the multitude of cars falling towards him at a rapid pace.

Wanda waved her glowing crimson hands through the air, continuing to do the motion until Iron Man was buried beneath the cars she had brought upon him.

"Multiple contusions detected." FRIDAY spoke in Tony's ear, making the philanthropist groan slightly as he shifted under the cars.

"Yeah," Tony said, wincing in his suit, "I detected that, too."

FRIDAY didn't reply, and Tony had to fight through the vehicles trapping him.

author's note!—

1700 words in this chapter!!
so... i just decided to write && see what came out! here's the result. i hope you all enjoyed this chapter && you'll see more of Ava's abilities in the next chapter. and let's not forget her hesitation when fighting her family.
from the fantastic world of lilo && stitch, i have one word to say: ohana.