Enjoy the chapter! I absolutely ADORED writing it.

PS, if you listen to these songs, it will make it so much more intersting. 

~Songs~

The Chase- National Treasure soundtrack

Footchase- National Treasure soundtrack

Edit: lokidottir

Chapter Twenty-Five

~Thea's POV~

When I wake up the next morning, I know for sure that something fishy is going on. For one thing, Natasha won't let me go with her and Sam to get breakfast. 

"Jack's not going either," she points out. "He's sleeping." 

Hah. Jack's not sleeping. 

Natasha drops me off at Jack's room (sure enough, he's snoring way too loudly to be totally convincible), and heads off with an airy wave. Max and Kyle aren't here; they're in the other room with Stark, but Clint's in here. 

"Hi Clint," I say in what I hope is a bored voice, fidgeting with my backpack slightly nervously. 

"Hey Thea," he says, glancing up from his charts that he's been fiddling with, "How'd you sleep."

"Not too well," I say, which is not a lie, "I might just lie down on one of the beds, if that's okay." 

He waves me off unconcernedly, "Yeah, sure, go for it." 

I sneak into Jack's bedroom, which, as it turns out, is the one closest to the suite's door (I find out that Jack planned it this way on purpose, the clever monkey). As soon as he hears the lock turn, he leaps out of bed, fully clothed, sending the covers onto the floor with his enthusiasm. "You have your backpack? The cloak?" When I nod, he grins, "Excellent."

"Jack," I say as I watch him run around the room, gathering various supplies including what I recognize as Clint's stun gun. Good heavens, this boy is enthusiastic, "Why can't we just wait until the last minute to head out? We have the papers." 

"Because Thea," says Jack as-a-matter-of-factly, "They're going to know we have the papers within the next half hour, if sooner. It won't be good to be holed up in a hotel room when they discover that. Oh, and Nat and Sam are gone, which gives us two less people off our trail already. Most of that lot's in Stark's room, planning. This is the opportunity of a lifetime."

I wouldn't say a lifetime, but I get his point. 

"Okay," says Jack five minutes later, after he hands me one of the tranquilizer guns, and a couple of fancy-looking spy equipment. "You ready?" 

I take a deep breath. "Yeah." 

Jack looks more excited than he has been the entire time I've been with him the past month. He must get his danger-loving side from his uncle. 

*

~Nobody's POV~

Clint Barton looks up curiously as Jack opens the door. "Oh hey Jack," he says mildly, "I thought you were sleeping."

Jack shrugs. "I got up when I heard Thea."

"And Thea is..."

Jack nods back towards the room. "She's sleeping. Or trying to. I don't think she had a good night."

"Ah," says Clint, watching Jack as his nephew heads towards the door. "And what are you doing?" 

"Going down to that little gift shop I went to last night. I'm starving."

"Nat's getting food," points out Clint.

Jack gives his uncle an annoyed look, "And I'm starving. I'll be back in five." 

Clint rolls his eyes, "You better be." 

"Or not," mutters Jack as he leaves the room, closing the door behind him. "You with me?" he says uber quietly. 

"Mhm," says a very soft, invisible voice from right beside him. 

The two of them hurry into the elevator and then, impatiently, Jack slams the Lobby button. They're on the third floor, so in no time at all, they're walking out of the lobby and into the streets of Washington DC. 

"Hold on," says Jack, skittering around the back, near the garages around the side of the street, "I think I see Nat and Sam." 

"They just left," says Thea, still invisible. 

"Yeah, false alarm," says Jack, "Follow me." 

It's complicated walking down a relatively crowded street when one is invisible. Thea has to be careful not to bump anyone. 

"This is bizarre," says Jack as he walks towards a large, park-like stone plaza across the street, "I can't even tell if you're there." 

"I'm here," she assures him. 

Then, she squeals. 

Standing against a tree is Peter Parker, looking no more different than a month ago, albeit a little worn and tired-looking. "Peter!" 

"Hey...Thea?" says Peter, glancing around to try to find the source of the noise. When Jack nods (glancing around the park slightly warily), Thea takes off her cloak and throws her arms around Peter. He offers her a tiny smile and squeezes her back. 

"Thanks so much for doing this," gushes Thea, who is nervous herself, but still hugging Peter as if afraid he's going to disappear. "I mean really, without you-"

"All righty," says Jack loudly, taking out three small cylindrical tubes with a strap attached to them, "Here are the documents, divided up. We're each taking one, and running for it. Peter is our element of surprise. Even if they catch us, then they won't figure out about Peter until it's too late. Hopefully."

"Okay," says Thea, "What about our phones? The location transmitter might be 'optional'," she uses air-quotes, "But I'm not sure what 'optional'", again, air-quotes, "Actually means." 

"Not a problem," says Peter, taking Jack's and Thea's phones. He fiddles with the phones, before attaching some microphone-like object to it, "And these are for you," he hands Jack and Thea what look to be headphones with a thin microphone attached. "See, I got 'em too," he gestures to his ear, which has the earpiece attached. "We can talk like this."

"I've never been to DC," says Thea, "How am I supposed to know where to go?"

"Doesn't matter," says Jack gaily, "Just run like hell."

"Thanks," says Thea sarcastically as she slings the tube over her chest, "I'll keep that in mind." 

*

Jack's slight mistake is that he doesn't consider the fact that they will be looking for him and Thea as soon as Natasha and Sam come back with breakfast. However, Jack is correct that not everyone is at the hotel; Tony, Max and Bruce are on their way to the airport already. 

That does, of course, leave Nat, Sam, Steve, Clint, Loki, Thor, and Kyle. 

It's Clint, naturally, who discovers something's slightly amiss first. For one thing, Jack wasn't picking up his phone. That's unusual in itself, seeing as Jack is a big fan of answering the phone by screaming into it. 

But he doesn't think anything of it until Nat comes inside the room, laden with groceries. "Sam and Steve are on their way to the airport. Should be a matter of time. Where are the kids?" 

"Jack's downstairs," says Clint, "He went to that little gift shop, although he's not picking up his phone." 

Natasha freezes from where she's been chomping into an apple. "What?"

"I know," says Clint, "But Thea's in that room," he nods towards the closed bedroom door, "And I haven't seen her leave, so I'm not worried." 

"You let Jack out by himself?!" 

Clint shrugs, "He went down yesterday, and he didn't pull anything. Chill Natasha, they have no idea what's going on."

"This is Thea and Jack we're talking about!" 

"Nat, Thea's still in that room. Jack wouldn't have done anything without her." 

Instead of answering, Natasha crosses the room in two or three strides, then flings the bedroom door open. She clenches her fists and whirls around to exclaim, "How do you want to explain this then?!" 

Clint gets off the couch where he's been nonchalantly going through various files on his computer and peers in the bedroom. 

The empty bedroom. 

"Damn." he says. "Not again."  

*

Peter and Thea leave Jack at the park, where the boy heads around towards a large columned building at the edge of the square. 

"You gonna be okay?" asks Peter as he stops at the end of the street, next to a bricked alley-way. Cars are zooming around and the streets are crowded. 

She shrugs carelessly and smiles, "I'm a native New Yorker, I'm used to this."

"Right," Peter grins at her slightly, and she's relieved to see the old Peter, at least for a little bit, "Good luck, then." 

With that, he scales the wall next to them, the cylinder bouncing on his back as he does so. With a short wave, he vanishes over the roof.

As she sees him go, Thea's smile vanishes too.

*

"You let her get out?" Kyle practically yells at Clint as they, Natasha, Thor, and Loki gather around the empty bedroom. 

Clint puts his hands up, "Look, I didn't see her leave. What'd she do, dissapperate?" 

"Guys, the point is they're gone," says Nat. "But what I'm confused about is why. Unless they're planning on running to the airport, they're not catching-"

She's cut off as her phone begins to ring fiercely, "Hello?"

The others watch her intently as she listens to Stark. Her frown gets more and more pronounced. Then, she says sharply, "We'll get those back. I know you have to leave by twelve. We're working on it."

She snaps the phone shut and throws it at the couch. 

"What is it Nat?" asks Clint, worried. 

"They took the flight papers."

Kyle slams his head on the wall.

"Don't worry about it," says Clint, opening his laptop, "We've got the phones, we can track them down in five seconds."

While the others watch him, Clint types quickly on the keyboard. He frowns, then clicks some more. Frowns, then does the same thing. Then, he clenches his fists. 

Looking up, he says grimly, "The location is set for the hotel room." 

Loki looks irate.

"They didn't take their phones?" asks Natasha. 

Clint laughs humorlessly, "Oh, they took 'em all right. But they switched the coordinates around." 

"Jack and Thea don't know how to do that!" exclaims Natasha, "Besides, they'd have to run a bug through the server in Stark tower, and they haven't been there recen-"

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

"What is it?" asks Thor. 

"Peter." 

*

~Thea's POV~

I first spot Kyle around the corner of a large hi-tech building across from the square. I'm already nervous as it is, seeing as I'm pretty sure I hadn't imagined Videl roaming the streets of Washington DC, but the sight of Kyle in sunglasses looking around the square makes me even more so.  

Cautiously, I walk across the crosswalk, but a car honks at me as I cut the street. 

Kyle looks my way and spots me. 

I take off on the opposite side of the street. 

I'm easily the slowest member of the team, but I force myself to pump my legs and move as fast as I can. "I've got...Kyle...on my trail!" I exclaim into the little microphone device. 

Whatever Jack says, I can't hear it, because I'm too busy concentrating on getting away from Kyle. 

"Get out of the way!!" I shout at a horde of people on the sidewalk. I'm small, which makes me easy to fit through people, and as I run, I look behind me. 

He's getting much closer. 

I know this is going to get a lot messier than I had expected it to, but I should be grateful that it's not Loki. I might, just might be able to get away from Kyle if I plan it out right. 

I take a sharp left into a small alleyway behind a laundromat. Leaping up on the garbage can, I grab onto the fire escape pole, swing around, and catch Kyle in the chest. He goes tumbling, cursing loudly. 

"Thea, get your ass over here!" he roars as he lunges at me, but misses as I jump onto an old box leaning against the wall. 

"Stop treating me like a child!" I yell, but then misjudge Kyle. He grabs my shoulders and yanks me down with him, causing me to squeal. 

I flip around, willing all my jiu=jitsu skills to come in handy. Kyle, as he's grappling with me, is beginning shouting our location in his own earpiece. I know I have to do it.

"I'm sorry, Kyle!" I say, then take out the tranquilizer gun and pierce his arm with the dart. Kicking me one last time, he slumps onto the ground. 

I run as fast as I can to get out of the alley-way. I know I need to put as much distance behind me as possible. 

Then again, I have a few tricks up my sleeve. 

*

~Nobody's POV~

Peter is actually a lot closer to Thea than he had originally planned, and knows that he has to get out of the area, or risk being caught. 

As he jumps down a fire escape into a small alley, he grunts in pain as someone runs into him, throwing him to the ground. 

"Peter...give...me...the papers!" exclaims Natasha. 

"Nope, sorry," says Peter, flipping up, landing sideways on the wall. Spider-like, he climbs up the bricks, leaving Natasha on the ground, helpless. As Peter runs across the roof, he glances down and sees a figure running below him. Natasha is tracking him by foot. 

Peter can't swing very much because he doesn't have his suit with him, and because he swore he would never again be Spider-Man. Instead, he climbs down the back of the building so that Natasha has an entire alleyway to chase him down. He turns and sprints across the street, nearly knocking over a couple people as he does so. "Sorry!" he yells over his shoulder. 

*

Loki gets to Kyle exactly five minutes later, just as Kyle is getting to his feet groggily. 

"Where is she?" he hisses. He's wearing human clothing, but Kyle knows that his scepter is on hand. 

"She took me out," groans Kyle, yanking the dart out of his shoulder and looking furious, "That kid's got it coming for- THERE!" 

He points up, at the fire escape ladder, where Thea is just vanishing over the edge of the roof. Loki, not stopping to think (later, he wish he would've), grabs the iron handles and begins to climb; Kyle is right beside him. 

When he gets on the roof, Loki catches up to Thea in no time, "You're done for, Thea. Done-"

He stops, shocked, as his hand goes right though Thea's shoulder. Before his eyes, Thea dissolves into nothingness. 

Kyle curses. So does Loki. 

*

When Jack sees Clint coming around the corner, he darts into the other street, but his uncle has already seen him. 

"Oh crap," mutters Jack as he sprints up the street, pushing past the crowds of people as he does so. Jack is faster than Clint, but not as strong. He knows this means that if Clint catches up to him, he's probably done for. 

He runs right into Thea at the intersection of 17th and High Street- she shrieks, he shouts. 

"Okay, let's go!" yells Jack, grabbing her hand and pulling her back into the crowds. 

"Who's behind us?" Thea shouts over the din of the traffic. 

"Clint!"

"Oh damn," she mutters as the two fly up the street. 

"We're going to separate," says Jack, "Trust me!"
"Who's he going to go after?" 

"Doesn't matter, just... go!" he yells as he lets go of her hand and makes a sharp left. Thea heads right into the street, nearly being run over by a minivan as she does so. Crossing four lanes of traffic, she arrives at a park, near the Center for Reproductive Rights. 

She glances behind her; Clint has gone after Jack, so she keeps high-tailing down the street.
She checks her watch. 

Only ten forty-five. 

*

Peter spots Thor from across the street and knows there is not a big chance of powering over the Norse god. Instead, he lies low, waiting for Thor to pass the street, looking slightly confused. And that's Peter's advantage; he knows city life, while Thor does not. 

Peter grins. 

*

The first of the three to get caught is Jack. Clint catches ahold of his ankle just as Jack is trying to climb up the fire escape, and although Jack tries to shake him off, Clint yanks him down to the ground, hard. 

"Bloody...hell..." moans Jack as he rolls around on the ground. "What was that for?"

"Give me the damn papers," says Clint, exasperated, as he grabs the cylindrical tube from Jack's shoulders, "What are you kids playing at?"

"We're just insulted that you don't want us along," says Jack innocently. 

Clint rolls his eyes, "Most of us aren't going anyway! We don't need an entire battalion in India, for goodness sake!" 

As Jack speaks, he surreptitiously disconnects himself from the microphone so that Peter and Thea are free to communicate with each other, "Well we're still insulted." 

Clint rolls his eyes. "Where's Thea?" 

"Not a clue."

"Where's Peter?"
"Peter's here?" Jack asks in mock-surprise.

"Don't give me that bullcrap."

"Don't know where he is either." 

Clint shakes his head, knowing that the only helpful thing that he's gotten out of catching Jack is the flight papers. 

*

Peter scales a wall, looking over the roof at Thor, thoroughly enjoying watching him from afar. But then, he sees a small figure darting across the street. He gulps. It's Thea.

Knowing that it's invaluable that Thor not see Thea, he yells down, "Hey Thor, looking for something?" 

Flipping to the ground about fifteen feet in front of Thor, he points to the cylinder around his shoulders. 

"Peter, give those to me!" exclaims Thor, taking off in Peter's direction. 

As Peter flees around the corner, a Norse god on his heels, he glances back; Thor is a much faster runner than an average person of his bulk. 

So Peter improvises. Jumping up on the cafe wall, he swings around, turning around ninety degrees, knocking Thor aside, and running up the other end of the street. Now, he has a good head start, and is pretty sure he can out-strip Thor, even if it means having to climb a few walls. 

In the meanwhile, he glances back.

Thea has gotten away.

For now.

*

When Thea spots Loki from across the street, leaning lazily against the lamp post, her heart stops. Quickly, she whirls around the wall, an ATM machine to be more specific, leaning against it, panting. 

When she glances back, she suppresses a scream; Loki is walking across the street towards her. If she runs now, he'll see her. But if she doesn't run, he'll catch her when he turns the corner. 

Closing her eyes tightly, she takes a deep breath. Then, she takes off down the street, her heart hammering in her throat. 

Footsteps sound behind her and she knows that he's behind her. Glancing back, she sees Loki no more than a hundred yards from her, and gaining on her quickly. Terror makes her feet go faster, and she tears around the corner, nearly running into the street as she does so, but manages to adjust her course and fly down the sidewalk, nearly running people over as she does so. 

Thea is terrified; Loki is furious, and she knows that if he catches her, she's more than dead. Another glance behind her tells her that he's getting closer, which does not help her nerves. 

She considers tossing the papers into the street, but knows this isn't going to help. Instead, she reaches into her pockets and takes out a small, tube-like device that she's seen Natasha use. Throwing it backwards, she crosses the street, nearly hitting a car once again. 

Loki shouts behind her, and looking back, she sees his feet getting twisted up as the tube sends electrodes up his spine. He is not a normal human, however, and is up in about ten seconds. But ten seconds is enough time for him to nearly lose sight of Thea. 

But he doesnt, and she knows it. 

Flying down the street, she yells into her microphone, "Guys, Loki's behind me!" 

"Keep going!" shouts Peter, nearly bursting her eardrum, "I've got his brother!" 

Jack isn't responding, but Thea doesn't have time to worry. Loki is quickly catching up, even with her lead. 

She flees into an alleyway, hoping to make it up the fire escape. As she twists around, she looks back; Loki's getting even closer, and he looks enraged. Her feet move faster; she's never ran quite like this. The fear is making her faster. 

She trips over some lose garbage at her feet, nearly twisting her ankle in the process, but continues to run, spurred on by her instinct to get away from Loki, no matter what the cost. 

"Get...away...from...me!" she exclaims as her third attempt to shake Loki off at a tight corner fails. She doubts he hears her, but she doesn't care. Frustration is making her blood boil.

And when Thea's blood boils, she gets angry, and even faster. 

The alley-way gets tighter, but she doesn't care. Loki is getting even closer, but that's not the biggest problem. 

The problem is that she's running into a dead end. 

"NO!" she screams as the brick wall looms in front of her. She strikes the wall with her fist, hard, willing it to move out of the way. "NO!" 

She tries to leap up on the fire escape, but she's too late. Loki grabs her around her waist and throws her to the ground. 

"LOKI LET GO!" she shrieks, twisting around, but Loki doesn't let go, holding her tightly as she squirms to get away. 

"This again!" he snarls, slamming her against the wall so hard, she has the wind knocked out of her. "What am I going to have to do to teach you, Thea!" 

"Maybe let me in on you guys's dirty little secrets!" she exclaims, tears running down her face, not from sadness, but from fear and frustration. "And stop treating us like we're children!"

"YOU ARE CHILDREN!" he roars, and she winces. "Now let's go, Thea!"

"NO!" she shrieks as he grabs her arm, "Loki, I HAVE to go, I just HAVE to!" 

His eyes are livid. "No, you don't, and you're not going to!" 

"I do!" she sobs, "I do, you don't understand!"

Loki looks like he's seconds away from slapping her; his body is quivering in rage, "Stop fighting me, Thea! Now stop this!"

"You have to let me go!" she exclaims, falling to the ground, "Please, Loki!"

"No, Thea," he hisses, "I have to do nothing. Now get up before I drag you down this alleyway!" 

"LOKI!"

"I'm not listening-"

"I saw Videl."

He pauses in trying to yank her up on her feet, "What?"

"I...saw Videl," she gasps, her eyes in anguish. "He's here, Loki! And he's after me, I need to get away, you don't understand, he's stalking me!" 

His green eyes bore into her terrified ones, "If you are lying to-"

"I'm not, I'm not!" she squeaks, "I swear, I'm not Loki, you have to believe me!" she breaks down into fresh sobs. 

There's silence. Then, Loki growls, "Fine."

"Wh..what?" This is not what Thea had expected him to say.

"Get up," he snarls, yanking her up so hard, she's surprised he didn't yank her arm from its socket, "Now." 

"I'm...we're going to India?"

"Obviously," he hisses, "Now get up off the ground, Thea!" 

"You threw me there!" she pouts, staggering to her feet. 

"And stop whining!" 

She makes a face at him, and when he turns his back on her, she grabs onto the fire escape and begins to climb rapidly. 

But Loki catches her, and slaps her across the face, reducing her finally to tears.

Thea is sobbing when Loki drags her and finally carries her out of the alleyway and back towards the hotel, where Clint and Jack are already waiting. 

Well....There's that.

Btw, I actually used Washington DC maps and street views to help me write this... it's why it took so long.

Wish me luck at tennis tryouts! 

Love, Sierra