Desperately, Mockingbird leapt towards it…
And slashed out with her remaining baton as she went head first over the railing, tumbling and spinning to land on the hard floor below. One knee flexed till it touched the ground. Super hero landing, she cheered to herself.
She felt the baton make contact with the grenade, sending it flying hard and fast through the air over Punisher’s head.
In the depths of the warehouse there was a whump of ignition and fire blossomed like a flower.
Mockingbird stared, appalled. It was way on the other side of the space but even in the seconds she watched it grew and grew, fed by something highly flammable in the debris piled high.
The bad guys. She had to get them out.
She turned and ran straight into Punisher, who’d jumped down behind her. He was bleeding from the face and he stared down at her as they stood chest to chest.
The sound of the fire rose and the wild orange leaping of the flames turned Frank Castle’s stern square-jawed face into something nearly demonic. They were close enough that if he grabbed her she’d have to do something really dramatic to get him to let go.
Mockingbird readied herself to cripple him.
His lips skinned back from his teeth.
“How many of those assholes can you get out to the dock before the fire gets to us?”
“As many as I need to,” she snapped.
“I was never here, okay? Deal?”
“As long as no one accidentally falls on a bullet on the way outside — or gets left behind to burn. And I don’t hide stuff from the team; Cap’ll know.”
He glared at her.
“Fire’s no way to die. I’ll clean them up another time, when you’re not around to annoy me,” he said.
“Stay away from my op, Frank,” Mockingbird snapped, but without heat. They sprinted side by side for the bad guys, arguing about which door to get everyone too as the fire roared behind them.
They would dance again, soon enough. Right now they both had other problems.
End result: Draw
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