//------------------------------// // Chapter 164 – Cats and Mice // Story: Infinity Era // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// 164 Upstate New York Beneath the Ruins 5:51 p.m. The water was rising and the walls separated their screams. Beneath several floors of the New Avengers Facility, the lower levels had no choice but to bear the weight not only of the facility itself, but the burning remains of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. With various floors supported by numerous support beams and steel flooring, the ceiling held remarkably well for the time being. Some of it had caved in, and understandably so. The Avengers unlucky enough to have been trapped within the heart of the bombardment had fallen into the dark crevice, and only then did they begin to come to. Derpy Hooves was one of them, the Pegasus flailing against the weight of the concrete resting on her hind leg. The concrete was part of the shattered wall she had fallen next to, the opposite side holding the screams of Bruce Banner, as well as the agonized cries of the various other Avengers who were trapped with him. Derpy, on the other hoof, was utterly alone in the room she was trapped in. The rising water from the various cracks against the ceiling only further spelled her doom. If the horrific pain in her hind leg didn’t kill her, then drowning definitely would. Her wings flapped rapidly in a desperate attempt to escape, yet the concrete kept her pinned to the floor. She tried pushing and pulling it off, but it was latched down by the weight of the collapsed wall. Cringing and shedding a painful tear or two at that, Derpy looked about and noticed the water having reached her and covering her hooves. Slowly rising. Desperation and panic began to set in, Derpy crying, “S-somepony, anypony! Please, help! I-I’m trapped here! The concrete… won’t… budge!” She gave another go at the concrete and rubble on her hind leg, beating her wings in tandem to pushing the rock. Nothing. Soon enough, her screams joined the likes of Banner and those who were trapped with him, just a joint chorus of echoing cries that couldn’t escape the lower levels of the collapsed complex. Her comms link was a static mess while so deep underground, so that didn’t offer her any leeway. Turning back to her Domino Gun, the vest was close to the water and Derpy desperately tried to keep it dry. The gun on her shoulder was wilted and sparking. Just as the water began to seep over her lower body, Derpy had just about run out of options. Her whimpers were starting to rise into terrified gasps just gazing to the freezing water rising higher. Her salvation came when the wall behind her burst forth, a shower of rock and concrete pebbles raining over Derpy’s back and causing her to face it. A breath of relief escaped the Pegasus when she saw none other than the glowing gloves joining the likes of the familiar, deadpan face. Maud Pie hopped through the hole she had created and stood next to Derpy, using her Asteroid Glove to raise the concrete from the mare’s hind leg like it was filled with air. Derpy cried as she yanked her hind leg free, rubbing it gingerly with her hooves and acknowledging the ugly scrape left behind. Regardless, she lifted her eyes to the Earth pony and smiled gratefully. “Thanks,” she murmured, voice stricken with the throbbing in her leg. The cries from the opposite room grew stronger, both mares turning to it and their ears perking at the familiar voice of none other than Bruce Banner. “Heeelp! We’re trapped! Water’s rising fast and we can barely move! Got a lot of people in here!” the Hulk bellowed, the facility groaning and his agonized cries increasing in volume. With splashes of water and streams of dust falling on top of them, both Maud and Derpy turned to one another. Maud nodded, stating, “We need to help them.” “Maud, you need to lift these rocks,” Derpy declared, seeing the mare in the corner of her vision begin to do just that. The Pegasus planted her hooves against the cracking wall, screaming out, “Don’t worry! We’ll get you out of there!” Her strained and worrisome cry shot out throughout the remains of the lower levels, carrying with it several leagues of turmoil and strife. Those echoes just so managed to hit a certain Hawkeye laying prone against a pile of rubble. Clint Barton stirred from his darkened fever dream of nothingness, a wave of pain flushing over him the second he heard her cry and his eyes opened. Red emergency lights blared over his head. “Ow!” he groaned, feeling the subtle nudge against his forearm bring him back fully. Lifting his dust-covered head, Clint could see none other than Tempest Shadow greeting him. The unicorn stood with a visible limp, though she tried to hide it and gave Clint a once-over. “Good… you’re alive… was beginning to think otherwise.” Pressing his palms against the rubble he lay against, Clint groaned and rose up to his hands and knees. “Nice to see you, too, Fizzlecherry,” he sarcastically grumbled. Tempest opened her mouth and prepared a flame-covered retort, but stopped. Though she would have definitely informed Clint not to call her that—and that he didn’t even say her real name right—something instead caught her glance beneath her. A slight shimmer from the stream of light cascading upon Clint Barton. Shifting her gaze downwards, her jaw fell fully open and refused to close. Not even a breath left her. Following her gaze, Clint turned his eyes to the floor and spotted the shimmer, as well. All six of them. “The Stones…” There it was, the Nano Gauntlet trapped beneath him and the mound of concrete, dirt, and rebar that he lay upon. Call it luck or just a coincidence, Clint and Tempest didn’t argue about it and just pulled. Clint removed the rubble and Tempest yanked the glove free with her magic. She spun and analyzed the gauntlet, finally resting her eyes on the six Infinity Stones. It was perfectly intact. Maybe a little scuffed up, but the Stones were secure. That was all that mattered. “Come on, we’re not out of this fight yet,” Tempest acknowledge, levitating the gauntlet to her side and facing Barton. She flinched when she heard more cries echoing off the tunnel walls. “We need to find the others. Natasha, Elektra, Derp—” Clint held out his gloved-hand to her, silently shushing her. Though never keen on being cut off and then silenced, Tempest allowed a second or two just to take in their surroundings. Maybe she could even find out where the cries of help were coming from in the growing silence between them. Yet in that silence, there were no more cries. Instead, her ear flicked when she caught the same sound that Clint must have heard. The soft, subtle sound of movement. She watched him slowly spin around, cautiously reaching for an arrow in his quiver and loading it into his bow. He faced the darkness behind him, where the screams had emanated and vanished through a winding tunnel of pitch blackness. It was in the black where Clint had caught wind of the movement, of the following growls and hisses that covered the tunnel walls. Both he and Tempest stared down the shadows. Clint released the arrow, the flare-tip speeding down the tunnel and lightning up the darkness for just a second. That second was all that was needed to see the tunnel walls infested with crawling Outriders. “Run…” Clint whispered, then pulled back his bow, then shouted, “Run!” He leaped off the mound of rubble, dodging Tempest and stumbling slightly on his landing. He twisted back to see Tempest twisting just as rapidly as he, galloping as fast as her hooves could carry her through the tunnels up ahead. Beyond her, he saw the wave of Outriders screech and charge them. And what they held.