CHAPTER TWO
the mysterious biker
　

IT HADN'T TAKEN THE AVENGERS very long to arrive in Paris. One of the perks of having a quinjet at their disposal was that it cut travel time down considerably. They had gone over the plan twice during the trip, and another time once they had arrived, before they all went to their assigned posts.

Clint Barton and Bruce Banner remained on the cloaked quinjet that hovered above the city for comms and visuals. The feed from the infra-red technology that had been developed by Whalen Enterprises was being sent directly to the computer screen for Banner to oversee.

Natasha Romanoff was on the ground, posing as a businesswoman getting coffee at a little cafe. She had weapons hidden under her trench coat and a motorcycle parked along the street. The spy was ready. All she needed was the signal from Steve Rogers so that she could jump into action.

Thor Odinson and Maeve Whalen were stationed to the west. They each stood on top of buildings diagonal from each other as they overlooked the busy streets of Paris, patiently waiting for Banner to tell them that he had located the HYDRA vehicles.

To the east, also posted on top of two buildings diagonal from one another, were Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. The former swept his eyes across the roads below, looking for any signs of suspicious activity while the latter was completely lost in his thoughts.

Tony was thinking about her again. About his Ophelia Southerns. She had been by his side the last time he was in Paris. They had walked hand-in-hand all day with lovesick smiles plastered across their faces as they talked about the future and what it held for them. Things were so much simpler then.

"Tony, come in," Steve's voice flooded his ears, snapping the man from his thoughts.

"I copy," Tony replied.

For a moment, the team had thought they lost Tony to his own thoughts. Because no matter how hard Tony tried to hide it, they had seen the look on his face when they first arrived in Paris. They knew what was on his mind. So to hear his voice flood through the comms was a relief.

"You good?" Steve asked, wanting to make sure that the entire team was ready, Tony Stark most of all. They only had one chance to get Karlov and everything needed to go as planned. Distractions couldn't happen or else everything would fall apart.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Just peachy."

"Banner has them in sight," Steve informed.

"Where?" Tony asked, perking up. His Iron Man helmet fell over his face and the operating systems came online, allowing him to zone in on the semi-busy traffic below.

This time it was Banner's voice. "They're on Cours-la-Reine right now, heading toward the Obelisk. Looks like they're staying along the bus lines. I'm counting at least three vehicles. All SUVs."

"Can you tell which vehicle is carrying Karlov?"

Bruce gave an immediate response to Maeve's question. "Negative. Each vehicle has the same number of men and they are all equally heavily armed. Oh, wait . . ." he paused, leaning closer to the computer screen and analyzing the cargo in one of the vehicles.

"What is it?"

"Did you find Karlov?"

"Out with it, Banner," Tony said impatiently when the scientist failed to answer their questions right away.

"One of the vehicles has something in the trunk."

"Loki's scepter?" assumed Thor.

"Maybe," Tony said.

Natasha sipped her cappuccino at the café as she voiced her thoughts. "HYDRA wouldn't transport both Karlov and the scepter at the same time. That's too risky, even for them. It's gotta be something else."

"Agreed," said Maeve.

"Banner, can you tell what it is from there?" Steve asked.

There was a short pause before Banner gave a response. "The signature readings don't match Loki's scepter. I think it might be some sort of equipment that Karlov will use to study the scepter. That, or a weapon of some kind."

"Well, whatever it is," Maeve said, "we can't let them get it to their base."

"No," Steve agreed. "We can't."

Tony could see the vehicles getting closer. He got into position on the edge of the roof, ready to take flight. "Alright, what's the new plan, Cap?"

"Thor and Whalen will secure the cargo," Steve said. "Take it back to the jet once you have it and keep whatever it is out of their hands. We don't want these guys to take it back to their base."

"Copy that," Maeve responded. "Care to give me a lift down, Thunder?"

Thor gave an immediate response, and from where Tony stood, he could see the Godly man flying off his roof to gather the platinum-haired woman in his arms, before taking off in the direction of the vehicle that carried the unknown cargo.

Steve continued voicing the new plan to the entire team. "Barton, Banner, keep your eyes open. Let us know if anything changes from up there. The rest of us will get Karlov. Once we have him, we'll meet at the rendezvous point. Be ready to pick us up."

"Copy that," Barton replied, shifting course, as Banner kept his eyes glued to the screen for any changes.

"Move in," Steve said, before climbing down the fire escape on the outside of the building and throwing his leg over the side of his motorcycle parked in the alley.

Everyone leapt into action all at once.

Natasha put down her coffee and jumped on her motorcycle, meeting up with Steve on the street. They split up, coming up on either side of a HYDRA vehicle. She began shooting through the windows while Steve used his shield to slash at one of the tires, which caused the vehicle to swerve.

Behind them, Thor and Maeve landed gracefully on the roof of another vehicle. The Asgardian removed his arm from around her waist and lifted his hammer, but before he could bring it down, gunfire rang out, coming up through the roof from the two soldiers sitting in the backseat.

Thor was forced to fly away so he wouldn't get shot, but Maeve stayed put, lifting her manufactured wings to repel the bullets. The Asgardian returned a moment later, landing in front of the vehicle and causing the driver to swerve onto the sidewalk, narrowly hitting multiple pedestrians, who all screamed and just barely jumped out of the way in time.

Maeve almost fell off the roof, having lost her footing when the driver swerved to the right. But she managed to keep herself up by tapping into her inner ballerina to keep her balance. Something which she had inherited from her mother, who had been a well-known ballet dancer in Arklay City.

Nearby, Tony swept down, hovering above the vehicles, and his eyes suddenly widened when he saw a woman walking with her toddler up ahead. Knowing that they were in a direct path for the swerving HYDRA vehicle, he quickly informed his operating system to put more power into the thrusters.

"JARVIS," Tony said urgently.

"Already on it, sir," JARVIS replied, and suddenly the suit began to fly faster.

He sped down the strip of road, swooping down and scooping the woman and child into his arms just as they were seconds away from being hit by the swerving HYDRA vehicle. He flew the woman and her child some ways away, placing them on a sidewalk where he knew they would both be safe.

The woman fought to catch her breath as she picked up her crying son and held him close to her chest. Tears even welled up in her dark eyes, and no matter how scared she was right now, she managed to look at Iron Man with a grateful expression. "Thank you," she said, her voice shaking.

Tony simply nodded, before stepping away and taking flight again. He had lost sight of the HYDRA vehicles and his team by now, but then he heard a loud crash and the sound of screaming and knew that had to be them. He flew in said direction and swiftly landed on the ground when he came to the scene.

The HYDRA vehicles had caused a five car pile up in the middle of the road, and as Tony's eyes swept across the area, he noticed that one of the cars was carrying an innocent family and that a mother was desperately trying to remove her seatbelt so that she could make sure her children sitting in the backseat were okay.

Tony went to take a step forward so he could help the family get to safety, but stopped short when the HYDRA soldiers suddenly emerged from their vehicles and started firing at them with assault rifles. Bullets bounced off his suit, startling him, and he quickly moved out of the way.

"Everyone get back!" Steve shouted, lifting his shield to repel some of the gunfire from hitting a group of nearby pedestrians that were all screaming.

Tony used his thrusters to propel himself forward behind the family's vehicle and he popped open the trunk once he was there. As he gestured for the family to start climbing out the back of the vehicle, Maeve came to his side to help.

While the pair continued to work on getting all of the innocent bystanders out of harm's way, Steve, Natasha and Thor fought their way through the gunfire so they could secure both Karlov and the unknown cargo they had been transporting.

Once everyone was out of the way and the street was mostly cleared, Tony turned around to see what kind of progress the Avengers had made. Steve and Natasha were now in the middle of fighting off a small group of HYDRA soldiers that were protecting Karlov while Thor grabbed a titanium case from the back of a vehicle.

"I have the case," Thor said.

"Get it out of here!" Steve shouted.

Without another word, Thor nodded, twirling his hammer and then taking flight with the titanium case hooked beneath his arm.

One down, one to go, Tony thought.

Suddenly, a motorcycle pulled up, wheels screeching against the pavement as it came to a stop near the HYDRA vehicles. The driver was obviously a woman and she wore a black suit and helmet and had an assault rifle strapped across her back. She pulled the weapon out and started shooting at them, one bullet grazing Steve's arm and another colliding with Maeve's shoulder.

"Whalen's been hit!" Natasha shouted over the gunfire. She quickly ducked out of the way and made her way over to the platinum blonde's side, guiding her to safety.

"Get her out of here," Steve said to Natasha.

The covering gunfire lasted long enough for Karlov to jump onto the back of the mystery woman's motorcycle, and once he was on, she quickly lowered her weapon and drove away with him, tires screeching against the pavement once more as they headed in the direction of the Obelisk.

"Karlov is getting away!" Natasha shouted from where she was kneeling on the ground. She had removed her trench coat by now and was using it to apply pressure to Maeve's bullet wound.

"On it!" Tony shouted back, quickly taking flight in pursuit of the motorcycle.

He followed the motorcycle, watching as the woman swerved through lanes and in-between vehicles, until they arrived at the Obelisk outside the Louvre Gardens. He swept down once the road had widened up and shot at the back tire, causing the motorcycle to lose its edge. Both the woman and Karlov were thrown off and started rolling over the pavement as the motorcycle slid across the street. Tony landed on the ground nearby and lifted his arm, prepared to fire at them.

"Don't move," he said.

But the woman didn't listen.

She pushed herself off the ground and stood over Karlov, lifting the broken mask of her biker helmet and staring straight at Tony.

And that is when the entire world seemed to fade away.

He could only see her eyes, but Tony recognized them so easily. They were the same eyes that have haunted him for over a decade. Whether she was alive or just a figment of his imagination, there was one thing he knew for sure, and that was Ophelia Southerns was standing in front of him.

Tony opened up his helmet, wanting to look at her without the mask, and then he called out her name softly. "Ophelia?"

She tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at him, seeming not to recognize both the name or his face at all. Then, in one swift movement, she lifted her weapon and got a bullet off. If Tony hadn't reacted, it surely would have killed him. But because he did, the bullet only grazed his ear.

Tony stumbled backwards out of shock before looking at her again. Her face didn't change, though. It was still Ophelia. And that is when he realized he wasn't imagining things. She was really here. She was alive. But why didn't she recognize him? And why the fuck was she with HYDRA?

She kept firing at him over and over again, each bullet that bounced off his Iron Man suit breaking his heart even more than it already was. And when she noticed that Tony was hesitating to fight back against her, she quickly passed the weapon off to Karlov so she could retrieve the motorcycle.

Once she got the motorcycle started up again, she hollered for Karlov and the man quickly turned, jumping onto the motorcycle after strapping the assault rifle across his back. She took off down the road, but Tony didn't follow after them this time, still in shock about what just happened.

a/n: ahhhhh they've finally reunited!! my heart honestly hurts for these two, like they've just been through so much and their lives are just pain 🥺 anyways, hope you all liked this chapter and are excited to see what is next!