Hey there everyone! I meant to post this last night, but my 3 year old had a bad dream and it was my turn to watch him so his mommy could sleep. Anyhow, wow! All your likes and comments have been amazing! Thank you all! Now, here is the chapter 10! I don't own Marvel, it's intellectual properties or any of it's characters. I do this for fun.
Chapter Ten
Pepper, Sam and Morgan had groaned all at once at Doctor Strange's reply, when suddenly the control console started beeping and it's lights started blinking, indicating that someone was attempting to return to their time. Professor Hulk worked the controls as he said, "Alright here we go, we got one returning." Pepper's head snapped a look over to Bruce as she said in a worried tone, "Just one? Who is it? What happened?" Bruce's face was one of pure concentration as he did his best to answer and keep working. "I have no idea what happened, I just know it's Natasha. She isn't controlling her speed or direction in the quantum realm and she isn't answering her comms."
Pepper's hand shot up to her mouth as Sam asked then, "What does that mean? " Morgan pipped in from her spot against her mother's leg. "It means that if Aunt Tasha doesn't slow down she could miss her re entry point, or if she doesn't change direction if a tachyon or other quantum particles is in her way she'll get sucked into one." Sam looked shocked, both from the information and that it came from such a small voice. Pepper could only smile as she said, "Are you honestly surprised? She is Tony's daughter." Now they all understood what Bruce's concerns were for as Pepper looked to him and asked, "Can you get her out?" Bruce nodded but his brow furrowed deeper a moment as he said.
"Yes, it won't be easy. The slightest miscalculation and the results are disastrous." He feverishly worked the controls, all the while trying to raise Natasha on the comms. Once he was sure he had everything set he called out to Pepper. "Get ready, Sam, Pepper, she's not going to be coming back to real space on the platform." Sam made sure his wings were ready, Pepper had Morgan stand by Doctor Strange. As she slipped on the necklace, one final gift and invention from Tony. He had out it into production before he and the Avengers had gone back into time. The necklace contained the same nanites that could create the Iron Man armor for Tony, only this time they were calibrated to form Pepper's armor, Rescue.
She activated it now and was soon clad in the Rescue armor, as Bruce started counting down, "Ok in 5..4..3..2..1!" The Black Widow returned to real space, over a hundred feet in the air a short distance from the platform and was now flying away, tumbling head over heels as nothing stopped her forward motion. Rescue shot into the air, Pepper talking with the A.I. Friday. "Talk to me, Friday! Vitals?" Instantly a display of Natasha's vitals appeared on the HUD as Friday replied, "She's physically fine, but unconscious." Suddenly a view screen popped up of a helicopter flying by. "You've got to get in front of her, or that chopper is gonna make Ms. Romanoff a lot shorter." At a mear thought, Pepper increased her speed to it's maximum, streaking past Natasha like a human sized missile.
Rescue turned around quickly and caught Natasha in her arms, with collision alarms sounding and Friday voicing loudly, "Impact alert!" With that Pepper knew that the helicopter must be really close, throwing more power to the thrusters to get out of the aircraft's path. They missed each other by centimeters. Holding Natasha close Rescue rocketed back to the others. Once they landed Pepper had the helmet retract as she called for Bruce and Strange to help. The two of them ran over to help, with Strange pressing the helmet release button and Bruce looking at an oversized screen, scanning Black Widow for any injury.
Once the helmet was free from her face and she was breathing fresh air again, Natasha woke up, flailing wildly and suddenly screaming, "BUCKY!" Pepper laid a hand on her friend's shoulder and gently forced her to lay back while they checked her over. The super spy caught a look of where she was and who was with her and breathed deeply fo a moment, till Sam asked, "What happened Nat? Why were you whipping through that place like there was no tomorrow? Where's Bucky?" Bruce put a large hand on Falcon's chest and pushed slightly, moving the man back some as he said. "Hey, give her some time, bud. We all want answers but you're not helping her." Natasha brought a hand to her head for a moment, shaking it once and wincing from the action as she said.
"Bucky...he appeared while I was returning the Tesseract. Then we whent to Vormir together. I was saying goodbye to Steve, telling him everything I wanted to say. I was wishing I could have seen Steve in person for all of it, when I heard Bucky say that I will. Then everything whent dark, and I woke up here." She looked around before she aksed, "Where is Bucky?" Confused looks and shruggs were the only responses given. Natasha looked at Doctor Strange then as she asked in a tone that demanded answers, "What is going on? You sent Bucky there, didn't you? You told him something, something you haven't told anyone else. What is it? The truth this time, or I swear concussion or not I will gut you from navel to nose!"
"I'm going to let that one slide, as you are clearly concussed and not speaking with clarity." Strange began with the tone of a doctor with vast patience talking with an irritated patient. "As to what you're asking, yes. I told him he was going to save Steve Rogers." Silence followed, until the Sorcerer Supreme said, "What? You wanted an honest answer." Sam moved from frustrated to down right pissed off as he said, "What happened to all that mystical if I say it it won't happen bullshit?" Strange shrugged as he stood up and walked a short distance away and said, "It has happened, so talking about now won't change it. Before though would have been a different story. Now, if you'll hold on for just a moment."
Focusing his incredible mental powers on Captain America's thought patterns, he found his location. Using the sling ring, Doctor Strange opened a portal to Vormir. Steve Rogers had climbed back to the top of the cliff, and turned around to face the Red Skull. The Guardian of the Soul Stone had a gleam in his eye, and he couldn't help but contain his joy at seeing his former nemesis's suffering. "I see that Sergeant Barnes was successful in releasing you." Cap could only nod his head, too emotionally spent to reply. Red Skull continued to taunt him. "Well too bad it was all for naught. Your friends can't detect you can they? Or you would have vanished like the Frauline did."
Steve soon found himself wishing he could hurt the deranged spector, but was soon shocked as a portal opened next to him. Doctor Strange stepped through saying. "Alright that's enough out of you." Looking right at Red Skull, with one hand gesture, the Sorcerer Supreme's powerful magic sent Captain America's enemey away. "Come on, we don't have much time, as I know you don't want to hear any more of his mouth he'll be back in a few minutes. I can't banish him forever." Doctor Strange stepped back through the portal, with Steve following close behind him, asking. "Well why not? He deserves far..." The Sorcerer replied, "If I did banish him for good, then the one to replace him wouldn't be able to. Red Skull can only be banished for good byvthe one to take his place as Guardian of the Soul Stone."
Steve began to say, "You mean to tell me that Bucky..." He never got to answer as a soft voice called out to him. "...Steve?" Captain America turned round, seeing Black Widow, getting up from the ground surrounded by Falcon and Rescue. Steve was at a loss for words, so overcome with sheer joy at the sight of Natasha. She stumbled a moment before catching her balance and ran towards him, needing to make sure that what she was seeing was real. Steve met Natasha halfway and the two crashed into each other and throwing their arms around each other. They shared rears of joy and just held one another for a long time before Nat could look up into Steve's eyes.
Not wanting to waist the moment and afraid it would end, Natasha opened her heart as she said, "I love you, Steve Rogers. I love you so much." Steve smiled at the sound of her voice and wiped a tear from her cheek as he said. "I love you too, Natasha Romanoff. I'm sorry I hurt you, I only did it because..." He was cut off as Nat pulled him into a kiss, full of passion and unsaid feelings. "I don't care about that. You did what you had to do. You're back, that's all that matters." She said after they came back for air. Natasha looked around and when she didn't see him she asked, "Bucky?" Cap looked away, and she knew the answer then. "I'm so sorry, Steve." They held each other close once more before the others came over.
Sam reached out for Steve and the two shared a brotherly hug, followed by Pepper as Steve said, "Pep, I'm sorry about Tony." Pepper shook her head as said, "Thank you Steve. I want you to know, Tony wanted to fix things between you two. He really wanted your friendship." Steve smiled as he said, "I know, I wanted that too. I know he has forgiven me now, and I'm sure he is thrilled we are all together now, wherever he is" Bruce came over and wrapped them all in a crushing hug, with Strange nodding his head in satisfaction, deciding to leave them to their reunion and look in on Vormir. He was interested in seeing if the new Guardian had taken his place yet.
And that is chapter 10 everyone! Hope you all like it! Tried not to leave it on a huge cliffhanger this time. Anyhow, I'm still posting this on so look for it there too. Again, sorry for the delay! Enjoy!