Eleanor stormed through the halls to reach the storage room that she needed to reach as quickly as possible. She had never been so determined about something in her entire life, her wife's life was on the line and there was no way that she was going to allow herself or any of the others to slack and ruin their chances at getting Natasha back. 

Wanda and Pietro were hot on her tail as she practically threw herself down a set of stairs in her mad journey to the storage room. After a minute of pure mayhem, they reached the storage room and spotted Clint on the other side of it getting his arrows set up. They nodded at each other in brief acknowledgement before Eleanor held the door open and ushered the twins in. 

Sheepishly, they walked through and stood idly waiting to see what Eleanor was going to get for them. It was high-tech for a storage room, but being in the Avengers Tower it was expected. Metal panels lined the walls and could only be opened by authorised personnel with their fingerprints, so it wasn't as though the twins could even browse. 

Eleanor looked them up and down each to see what they might need. There was no way that she was going to hand them a gun considering they probably weren't trained with them if they relied on their enhancements, something that Eleanor would change if they ended up staying, it's always best to be prepared in all aspects of the fight.

She clapped her hands together once and loudly exhaled, "Okay, up first Sonic the Hedgehog let's go", she pointed to Pietro who looked less than amused as he took a few steps over to the woman now opening one of the panels. Wanda didn't react much but Eleanor could see her stifling a laugh for a few seconds. 

The panel that she had opened was just general athletics gear which she thought would be good for the speedster. She gave the contents a once over before picking up some running shoes as Pietro's pair looked quite worn out. He looked at them appreciatively, seeing that they were brand new, but his eyes sparkled ever so slightly more when she handed him a long-sleeved, grey and blue, sweat-proof gym shirt. Eleanor chuckled slightly at his amusement, before looking over to Wanda who looked over with her eyes narrowed to check for any funny business.

Eleanor wasn't phased by her intimidation techniques and instead waved her over as she moved to unlock her panel. Wanda hesitantly moved over and kept some distance between her and the other woman, and instead, she was the one who felt intimidated under Eleanor's curious gaze. "You just have to use your hands right?", Eleanor started mimicking the flowy hand movements that Wanda did when using her powers. 

Again Wanda held back a small laugh at her carefree energy and instead nodded. "Yes". 

"Cool, you're easy to supply for then", Eleanor grinned, "But you are in just a shirt and it's gonna be pretty cold out there...", she tapped her chin a few times whilst looking around at a few panels before having a visible lightbulb moment. Nat always had jackets in her unit, so she opened it and picked up the first one that she saw, a red leather one, and handed it over to Wanda. Nat wouldn't mind. Hopefully.

The brunette tilted her head, confused at why Eleanor was concerned about something as simple as her 'feeling the cold' considering they were the enemy a day ago, but threw it over her shoulders and thanked her anyway. Eleanor then worked on trying to get herself ready faster than the speed of light, they were given three minutes to get themselves ready. 

That time was most certainly up considering she had to get three people ready not just herself. There was no time to get into a spare suit like she had wanted to, so she was having to stick with the one that she had used in South Africa and South Korea. It was covered in ash, dirt, and blood. Not to mention that the inside was feeling quite uncomfortable now. Though she tried not to complain too much because Natasha was in the exact same situation with her suit. 

After closing Nat's storage panel, she turned back to hers whilst Wanda and Pietro began having a hushed conversation after Clint left to go to the rest of the team. Eleanor attached some guns to her thigh holsters and replaced some of her belt knives as some had been lost during the recent fights. Her hair was also looking worse for wear so she let it down and ran her hands through it a few times before throwing it up into a messy ponytail. 

Patting herself down, she nodded knowing that she had everything and coughed to get the twin's attention. Their heads snapped towards her and she began marching over to the door, ready for another sprint around the place to get from A to B. 

They followed and managed to keep up again despite Eleanor going even fast than before if that was possible. Though it wasn't hard for Pietro considering his super speed. Eleanor still just had one thing in mind. Getting Natasha back, and nothing would be able to stop her. 

Their arrival in the jet turned a few heads whilst everyone mostly everyone else were still wary of the twins. Eleanor knew that they weren't going to pull any tricks though so just directed them forward even with the cautious looks that they were receiving. Steve was the other person who knew that the Maximoffs would be alright with them, though he did wear the same look as everyone else but directed to Eleanor. He didn't want to accidentally set her off again and earn another wallop to the gut. Apparently, Eleanor packed a punch despite her small stature. 

In spite of his wariness, Steve walked over to the trio who were seated in the middle of the jet in order to give them their communications pieces. He was pleasantly surprised when Eleanor took it with a small, hesitant smile. It wasn't the same grin she usually directed towards the Captain but it was a hell of a lot better than being attacked so he took it. 

Once he was sure that everyone had an earpiece, he moved back towards the front to make one of his classic speeches whilst the jet took off. Eleanor listened with her head slumped practically on her shoulder whilst her fingers absentmindedly tapped against her thigh. Sure, these speeches were motivational, but for someone with the attention span of a gnat, it felt like more of a lecture.

"Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire. And that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't". Eleanor saw Pietro tense up in front of her and could hear Wanda have the same reaction from beside her when her breath hitched. She couldn't imagine how they felt about the upcoming war. She knew that if she went home back to England and saw the place being hit by a robot army she would feel great sorrow for her country's losses. It was going to be hard on the twins.

"So, our priority is getting them out. All they want is to live their lives in peace. And that's not gonna happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done. We find out what Ultron's been building, we find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters. That we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him, it's about whether he's right", Steve finished before going over the plan. 

Pietro and Wanda would be the true forces in civilian evacuation. Pietro would be able to use his speed in order to get as many people out as possible in a short space of time, and Wanda could use mind control to get people to leave. Not the most ethical approach but there was quite literally no time to waste and the lives of all seven billion people on Earth were at risk. 

Thor was to go to the HYDRA base and find out what Ultron had been building. Eleanor and Banner were also to make their way over to the HYDRA base to retrieve Nat. Though she would rather face Ultron herself than be stuck on a walk with him, she still hadn't forgotten the way he had tried to ruin her marriage. So, her face quite obviously scrunched up in disdain. "Is there a problem, Hughes?", Steve used his most Captainy voice when he heard her sigh heavily. Her back was to him so luckily he couldn't see the eye roll of the century that she had just given him.

"No, Rogers, that's fine", she said through gritted teeth, not wanting to cause too much of a situation within the team. It made sense why he wanted Banner to follow her, he wasn't aware of the rift between them, and wanted to prevent a code-green for as long as possible until all of the civilians were evacuated. In the middle of a forest was the perfect place to send him. 

The others would aid in the evacuation and also try to track Ultron and fend themselves and the civilians from any robot attacks.

Easy enough.

---

Eleanor and Bruce trudged through the entrance to the forest in a very awkward silence. He didn't want to be there either, but also didn't want to 'Hulk-out' and kill Sokovia so this was the next best thing. Thor had abandoned them and flown over to the HYDRA base on his own, he had said that if there was only one of them going then he could give them a ride, but there was in fact two of them. So, abandonment was the way.

The walk continued for a minute before she stopped as the slow, angry walking was getting them nowhere, she wanted to reach Natasha quickly but the stubborn movements of Banner were slowing her down. "Right, we're gonna have to run if we want to reach Nat in time and get back to the fight, can you run old man?", she teased with a grin, "I'm pretty sure there's a Zimmer frame in the jet I can go over there and grab it for you?".

"I can run", he spat and took off before Eleanor could to prove a point. She shook her head and ran her hand over the top of her head to smooth out her flyaways before bolting towards Bruce. It didn't take long at all to overtake him, but she did have to slow herself down slightly so that Steve didn't throw her into the sun for not being a 'team player'.

Her lungs burned slightly as the cold air hit them like a tonne of bricks, but she was so close to Natasha's location that there was no way she would be slowed down now. Aside from Banner slowing her down. But that was out of her control.

When the HYDRA base came into view a weight lifted off of her shoulders, she didn't think that she would ever be so excited to see an evil organisation's base, but when you're an Avenger you have to expect the unexpected. She let out a sound of victory as they neared the path to reach the entry point. Banner also began smiling, even though there was a giant divide between the two women and himself now, he would still rather Natasha not die at the hands of Ultron. Common courtesy.

Eleanor thought that the base was eerily silent, though that might have just been because the last time she was there there was a small battle occurring. Her back twinged at the memory of being launched into the sandbag wall. The only sounds that could be heard were their feet padding across the cobbled flooring as they tried to work out which direction Natasha was in whilst occasionally yelling her name.

They decided it would be best to stick together just in case the base wasn't as abandoned as it was thought to be. People in horror movies always made the mistake of splitting up, and then they would all die. They didn't want to be those people who lacked brain cells.

Eleanor huffed when they reached another dead end through the halls, the place was like a maze. The tenth area that they walked into was a weapons storage room full of all kinds of crap that looked familiar from when the team had studied HYDRA developments. So this room was most likely where they stored prototypes or finalisations of their homemade weapons. There were rows upon rows of blasters, even in her rush Eleanor moved forward to examine a few.

Bruce went to walk out again after seeing that this room was obviously not where they were storing Natasha but halted abruptly at seeing Eleanor walking further in. "What are you doing? We need to go", he half-shouted at her, which she didn't appreciate.

"Do you think we are going to randomly find the key to her room or cell? These blasters could get us into whatever kind of cell she's in", she reasoned back whilst picking up a medium-range blaster, not wanting a flimsy one that would do nothing but also not one where she would accidentally blow up her wife. She attached it to her back and turned back around to the door. 

Bruce sighed impatiently as he waited at the door for Eleanor to take the lead again, knowing that she would end up taking the lead anyway. "Let's try the basement, she's not upstairs". Bruce nodded as they made their way all the way back down after having reached the top. Eleanor felt like they were running around like headless chickens. 

After once again practically flying down the stairs, they reached the lower level. Eleanor gingerly pushed the door open, having no clue what was waiting for them on the other side. Once the door was opened she froze, which once again annoyed Banner who pushed past her and also got stuck on the spot.

She had no idea what she was expecting but she was not expecting that. One of the leviathans from the Battle of New York was dangling from the ceiling. "What the fuck", she whispered, not trusting her voice at all.

Banner gulped, "Agreed". They looked around further and found all sorts of machines that Ultron had been building, including some Legionnaire parts. He had been very busy. "Didn't Thor come down here, surely he would have noticed Natasha?".

Eleanor continued looking as she pondered Banner's question, "No, I don't think so, he probably would have took one look and left. That thing...", she pointed to the leviathan, "Was all the information he needed, she could be down there", she then gestured to the bottom of the large room. Banner slowly nodded in agreement and the two carefully made their way down the steps. There was no railing or support system so it would be quite easy to plummet, and the concrete waiting at the bottom did not look welcoming. 

After having held her breath for most of the staircase down, she let out a sigh of relief when they reached the bottom and she could shake off the nerves that had built from the sheer height of the steps. "Natasha!", she yelled again, this time a lot more was riding on this being the place where she was being held. There wasn't a lot of base left to search. 

"El?", she heard a yell back. Natasha was here, and alive. A dry chuckle escaped Eleanor's lips as she started running forward to a source of orange light, and she smiled at seeing Natasha standing behind the bars as she looked at her with shock and relief evident on her features. Confusion was then the main emotion that etched onto her face when Bruce made his appearance a few seconds later, "And Bruce?", she tilted her head, that was not the rescue team duo that she was expecting.

"Yeah, don't question it, are you okay?", Eleanor rushed forward and placed her hand on top of Natasha's that was resting on one of the bars.

"Yeah", she replied with a soft smile. Eleanor rested her chin on one of the bars in an attempt to get closer to Nat, who reciprocated by placing her forehead against hers, the square gaps of the bars were just big enough for their heads. The two took the time to absorb the warmth from each other after both had been assuming the worst since Seoul. They were back together.

The moment couldn't last forever though, they still had to save the world. "The others are in the city trying to evacuate as many people as possible before Ultron stomps on the place", she mumbled whilst still pressed against her wife. 

"Right", Nat pulled away and looked around, "I don't suppose you found a key lying around somewhere?".

Eleanor smirked which made Nat's face drop, that kind of Eleanor-smirk was never a good one, pairing that with Banner taking a few steps back, she could clearly deduct something was about to happen. "Not a key exactly", Eleanor drew out the 'y' whilst taking the blaster off of her back and holding it out in front of her, 

"I'm gonna blow this shit up", she grinned whilst Natasha's eyes bulged.

"You're gonna what?".

A/n - Hello! Since the beginning of the book, I have managed to keep up with daily uploads due to having a backlog of chapters I made before publishing, and then having time to write lots when the summer holidays started. But now I'm going to be starting up at my hospitality job again for the summer plus starting an online employability course for my Uni (ew), so the daily uploads are just not viable for me anymore. But I still want to upload regularly as I love writing for this book, so it's just probably going to go to one chapter every 2-3 days (hopefully 2 for the most part) :)

Whilst I'm writing a note I would just like to say how much I appreciate all the votes and comments that have been coming through recently, puts a smile on my face every time I read them <3