Chapter 6
His feet felt heavy. It was a heaviness he had not known since before the experiments, when time was still so slow although he had not known it at the time. It was difficult to move, but not impossible. Granted, the darkness was still entirely overwhelming to the point where he may as well have just been standing still. There was no way to see where he was going, no landmarks for him to touch or imperfections in the ground for him to judge the distance by. But there was a growing sense of closeness, of something just inherently there as he moved. It was closer. It felt like it was right at the edge of his fingertips. It was right there.
So, Pietro did his best to take a breath – whether he actually did or not, he did not know – and yell. Wanda had always made fun of him for being loud and not thinking of possible dangers before he acted. He imagined she would have then, as he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled over and over, "Hello! Is anyone there? Hello?" He shouted for what must have been at least five minutes, if not ten or more even. There was no response. Of course there was not. He may feel close, but it was possible they were nowhere near him. Or this other person was a mere figment of his imagination.
It was also very possible that he was just going crazy. He had survived the experiments without going crazy, but had lost his mind stuck in a little never-ending darkness. He made it through one prison with his sanity, just to lose it in another.
There was a soft voice, somewhere to his right – or perhaps his left. He could barely hear it, but it was there. Soft and frightened. Surely he was not insane, if the voice really was answering his calls. There was someone there, someone real. Someone trapped like him. Possibly dead. But he was not alone. And he would gladly never be alone again, even if this other poor soul had to suffer the same fate as he.
"Hello? Tony?"
He made a face, not that this other person – a woman, by the sound of her voice – could see it. "Tony? No, my name is Pietro, much cooler. Where are you?" He stayed impossibly still, more still than he had been in years. He listened as well as he could, waiting for that voice. Waiting to go to her, whoever she is.
"A… I'm in a hospital room. I can't open my eyes, but I can hear the monitors. I can't move, but I feel those stupid paper sheets under my fingers." Her voice was timid, unsure. There was an underlying sense of fear, like this woman was worried for what may happen to her. She should be worried, he thought. Soon enough, she would likely join him there in the dark. Permanently. He knew this, and he imagined that deep down, so did she.
"You are better off than me, friend. I am dead. I am nowhere. Surrounded by the dark." Pietro did his best not to sound bitter. "I have a sister, a twin. She still lives. Wanda." He said to the stranger, starting to ramble on and on about his life and his sister's. This person listened, occasionally stopping him to input a story similar to one of his from her own childhood, or to ask a question.
She did not really stop him until he started talking about the day his parents died. "It said, clear as day, Stark Industries." He said, tone turning sour and dark. "For two days, my sister and I waited for Tony Stark to kill us. Thankfully, he never did."
"I'm so sorry," She mumbled, sounding so genuine it hurt.
He snorted, "Do not be. I met the man, eventually. He… He was not so bad. A bit misguided at times, but I understood it. When you care for someone, or a group of someones, so deeply… You do what you must. No matter the costs." He wanted to choke back a sob, barely doing that. "We are not so different, Stark and I."
"I'm sure you and Tony got along great." The voice sounded teary. He was tempted to ask why the voice was crying. There was no reason for her to be so sad, but she spoke before he could ask. "How did you die, Pietro?"
"I saved a man who I was fighting with. We got off to a rocky start, but he was kind to my sister and I; a father figure, almost. He was trying to save a boy, but…" He took a deep breath. "But Ultron had taken one of the jets, firing it for him. So, I saved him. I put myself and this car in the way, so he and the boy could live."
"What was his name?"
. . .
"Clint."
He snapped his head up, looking at their "fearless leader" from where he had fallen back on the plush couch when they entered the living room of Tony's Island Mansion. He propped his feet up on the arm of the couch, his arms crossed behind his head on the other. "Yes, Cap?" He asked, smiling lazily.
"There isn't time to laze around. We need to get Bruce packed and back to the Quinjet so we can get him to Pepper." Clint heard it, though. Clint heard the doubt. They both knew the odds of Pepper surviving this unscathed were about zero to none. They were just going through the motions at this point, really, to try and keep Tony sane. No one just told their friend to give up when they were in a situation like this. Especially not when they were Tony Stark, king of PTSD.
Clint swung his legs, moving so he was sitting up. He ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "Y'know I hate to be the barer of bad news, Steve, but… She ain't gonna make it. Let's face it, okay? We're just giving Tony false hope." Steve opened his mouth to speak and Cling held up his hand to silence the American Righteousness that was about to leave his mouth. "Don't. You know I'm right. If she lives, she's miserable and so is he. If she doesn't… Well, if she doesn't, we'll have to keep an eye on him for a while. But… Doing this? Telling him it will all work out? That's just gonna make it all worse. You know that, Steve. You know it."
"That doesn't mean shit," The word left his mouth with such venom and absolutely no hesitance and it startled Clint. There was a fire in those usually calm blue eyes, a firm set to his shoulders Clint only knew from going into battle with him. Steve shook his head, pacing a few steps and sticking his hands in his pockets. "This means everything to Tony. And, unless I missed something, he means a lot to us. He was part of our team, and always will be as far as I'm concerned. He's our friend, Clint. Do you want to go there and tell him to just give up and pull the plug on the woman he loves? Would you want us to tell you that, if Laura goes comatose?"
Clint's face contorted in anger at that, "It's not the same. That's my fucking wife. The mother of my kids. I love-"
"Love her, right?" Steve cut him off, circling around the room before movie towards him. "Tony may go about it weird, but you know he loves her. They've been through a lot." And Steve was right. They both knew he was. Tony was impossibly dedicated to that woman; she kept him grounded when they had all been gone. She pieced him together time and time again, and asked for nothing in return because she had felt it was her job.
But then it wasn't. Then she was the CEO, and he was just Iron Man. And she had stayed, continued to hold him together. Tony had become grossly dependent on her, and later on them. He played the lone wolf, but they all knew he was not. He needed people, them, but he especially needed Pepper. Which is why they were here. Because Tony needed Pepper, and he needed them to try and help piece her back together – literally.
Steve spoke a lot softer this time. "Whenever any of us have needed anything, Tony was there in an instant. He never hesitated." And of course he was right. Steve was always right. "This is the least we could do for him."
Clint sighed, "I know."
"Then get up. We need to get going as soon as possible." Steve said, jerking his thumb to the main room before moving there himself. "Got a lot of flying to do in a bit."
Clint waited for the man to leave the room before standing from his place on the couch. The place really was nice. Maybe he could talk Tony into a group vacation there. Then again, maybe hell would also freeze over.
. . .
"So, let me get this straight." Sam started, making a face as he kept his gun trained on the Winter Soldier. Wanda had the man bound by whatever freaky magic-energy stuff she pulled, for which he was thankful. He would hate being thrown around by that damn arm again. No, thank you. "You hid yourself from Steve, who is supposed to be your best friend, because you were worried he would make you remember?" God, it sounded even stupider to Sam when he said it out loud. The soldier just gave him a jerky nod, eyes darting from Vision to Wanda and back to Sam. "Do you know how dumb that is? Steve can't make you remember shit, asshole. He's strong, but he's not miss mind freak over there." He jerked his thumb at Wanda, adding a quick, "No offense."
"You don't get it," Barnes snapped, jerking as if to lash out at Sam. Thank god for Wanda's freaky powers.
Vision spoke up just as Sam was about to say something else (which was a good thing, because he probably would have said something that would have gotten him in trouble with Steve). "You're afraid." His tone sounded curious as he stated that. "You worry your friend will not want you around, although you don't even remember your time as his friend. You worry he'll reverse everything HYDRA did. That he'll make you remember your crimes.
"It is a stupid fear."
Barnes spat in Vision's direction and the android just gave him a wry look. "You don't get it. None of you get it."
Which went on for another five minutes, Sam just sort of standing there and letting the assassin rant about how they did not get it. He kept saying over and over again that he needed to talk to Steve. Over and over again, it came back to Steve. Which made sense, really. Steve was the root of it all, but it was starting to annoy Sam how one moment the guy was like, "I can't let him see me", and then was like, "I need to see him immediately where is Steve." He rolled his eyes, holster the gun and crossing his arms over his chest. "You can't see him. Steve's not here."
That cut the rambling short. The soldier looked at him with wide eyes. "What do you mean he isn't here? He has to be."
"He went with Stark and Barton to try and find Dr. Banner." Wanda answered, still holding Barnes in place. "Stark's woman has fallen ill, and they were hoping that Dr. Banner could save her."
Sam nodded, "What she said." He shoved his hands in the pockets of his cargo pants, trying to find something to do with them. He was glad to have found the guy, but it was too weird for him. Something was off about how he just appeared here. He wanted more than anything to just punch the guy in his dirty face for nearly killing Sam's best friend, but he did not. He had better impulse control than to let that happen. Hence, why he had his hands shoved in his pockets. "You're gonna have to wait until Steve makes it back here to talk to him. There isn't shit we can do about it. And, if you haven't realized, there is no way in hell you can get away or sneak around." Sam pointed at his teammates. "You might be able to take me down, but not these two. So, you can either cooperate until Steve arrives, or we can take care of you like we would any other international fugitive. No matter how much Steve might care for you."
"I can't wait." Barnes started to complain, but Sam just leveled him with a look.
"Tough shit."
