Chapter 13 Back in Time
I had just completed Clint's fourth treatment. Natasha had to return to New York after the third treatment but, like Steve, made sure that we would give daily updates.
Whenever the team had missions or fights to go do, I would stay behind for two reasons: one, to make sure Clint didn't go after them and get hurt more (it wasn't until after Natasha left that he started to be more insistent to join them) and two, the treatments sapped my energy, so me going out in the field would be a serious risk to myself and the team.
I had gone off my normal sleeping schedule and gotten rest every night, partly because Vision had insisted that I needed to make sure I had as much energy as possible when I was going to heal Clint, and partly because I wanted to make sure I was as alert as possible for when I did the treatments, for Clint's sake.
The others were out fighting the Enchantress, and it had taken all my willpower to not go out with them, since I had the best defense of the whole team against her due to me being able to use magic, as well.
Clint and I watched in the conference room, and despite being a bit tired before her appearance, I was now completely awake, alert to every single thing she did.
We both were on our feet when the others were thrown back from a spell.
"We could use some backup!" Bobbi exclaimed as they got up again.
"Let's move," Clint said, already going to get his bow and arrow.
I nodded, knowing that I couldn't stop him this time, and went to get my weapons, as well.
With Clint in my arms, we flew to where the battle was, Clint shooting an arrow as a distraction as we landed.
"Good, I've gotten the whole team here," the Enchantress said, a smile touching her lips. "Now the plan will be put into place."
"What plan!?" I demanded, getting ready to cast a defensive spell.
Without replying, the Enchantress summoned a portal behind us that began to suck us in. When she saw that we were trying to move away, she hit us with a spell that caused us to fall in. "Have fun in the past!" she said with a wicked chuckle before disappearing.
I landed in a town and looked around, dazed, my vision swimming.
Faintly, I saw the outlines of the others before I passed out.
XXX
When I came to, I realized that I was in a bed in an unfamiliar place. Immediately, I sat up and looked around.
There were white walls and wide windows. There were other beds, as well, and the other Avengers were there, slowly waking up, as well. They all wore different clothes than before, the women, including myself, wearing dresses, and the men wearing a kind of tunic. Also, War Machine was nowhere to be seen.
"Man, what happened?" Tigra asked, rubbing her head with a hand.
"We aren't in LA anymore, are we?" Bobbi said, looking around.
"Wherever this is, my scanners are showing low hostility threats," Vision said. "But they are very watchful people."
We took note that he now looked like a human, like what he did when he went undercover at the college.
"And where's War Machine?" Rhodey said, looking around the room.
The door opened and we were immediately on our feet, facing the door.
"Oh, you're awake!" a woman exclaimed. "Good! Good! And you're on your feet, as well! Even better!"
"Um, not to be rude or anything, but who are you?" Clint said.
"Oh, pardon my neglect," the woman said, doing a curtsy to us. "My name is Elesmira. But my friends call me Mira for short."
"And where are we, Mira?" Simon said.
"You are in the king's castle," Mira said. "We found you outside at the training grounds, passed out. After having our wizard, Pallon, examine you to make sure you weren't any threat, we brought you here for recovery." She looked at me and added, "King Delanor wanted to see you when you awoke."
"What does he want with my sister?" Clint demanded, he and Vision both taking a step to me.
"I do not know," Mira admitted. "He just said that he wanted to see her and her alone."
"I'll be fine," I said as I looked at the two. "I'll be back, I promise." I turned and walked to Mira. "Lead the way."
Mira led me down a few hallways and then up some stairs. She stopped in front of a couple large doors and knocked on them.
There was a pause and then we were given access inside.
Mira took me inside and stayed at the back of the room, motioning me to go forward.
I glanced back at her and then walked forward. My footsteps echoed in hall as I approached an empty throne. I heard my heart beating faster as I got closer.
Then a voice said, "Stop."
I stopped in front of the steps leading up to the throne and waited for something to happen.
I didn't know why, but I was scared.
Again, the voice, "State your name."
"Rosalina Barton," I replied.
I hear footsteps and a man came into view and walked to his throne.
"Mira," he said, "wait outside."
The door opened and closed and I was left alone with the king.
"Our wizard, Pallon, said that you were a magic user," Delanor said. "Care to elaborate?"
I was caught off guard, and I wasn't sure how to respond. "What do you mean, Sire?" I asked slowly.
"What I mean," Delanor said in a low, dangerous voice that made me wince internally, "is how you use your magic, and if you will be a threat to my kingdom."
"No! I definitely don't want to harm your kingdom in any way!" I replied.
"I'll be the judge of that," Delanor retorted. "I don't like the aura around you and your 'friends'. If you use anything that will make me think that you are planning something, I'll have you burned at the stake for witchcraft and the rest of your party executed! Now leave my presence!"
I quickly left the room, definitely feeling hostility in the air, and the sword gleaming at his side didn't make me feel any more comforted.
Mira was waiting outside when I came out. "Lady Rosalina," she said, concerned. "You look pale. Are you alright?"
"Yea, yea, fine," I lied. "I just want to talk to my brother and the others."
"Of course," Mira said.
She led me back to the others and left us alone, promising to return soon with food.
"Rose, what happened?" Vision asked as he came to me and brought me to my bed, sitting me down as the others came around me.
I told the others my brief encounter with Delanor.
"I'll teach him for threatening my sister," Clint growled.
"Don't do anything to harm him, Clint," I warned. "He's watching us. Closely. You do anything, we're all dead."
"Then what am I supposed to do?" Clint demanded.
"For one, I need to finish healing your wounds," I said. "That shouldn't do anything to set him off."
"But what if he thinks that you're doing that to get us stronger to fight him?" Tigra put in.
"Then I'll do it in secret," I said. "But I need to finish healing Clint. Right now, that is my top priority."
"And the rest of us is trying to get back to our time," Clint said. "We don't even know what year this is. But it's obvious this isn't 2018 anymore."
The others nodded.
"First we need to get discharged from here," Bobbi said. "When Mira gets back, we should ask her if we can leave."
"Maybe it would be wise to have Rose on the down-low," Rhodey suggested.
"That'll make Delanor suspicious, and then we're all done," Bonita pointed out.
"I'm not going to hide for his satisfaction," I said coldly. "As long as I don't do anything to draw his attention, then I'll be fine. I should talk to Pallon to see if he has any spells about going forward in time. That may be our only hope."
"But the use of magic-" Vision pointed out.
"There might not be another way," I replied.
"He could report to Delanor," added Simon.
"Then he does," I said. "I can make myself be hidden if I wanted to. And I would wait until I know I would be ready to send us back. But I won't ask him until after I finished with Clint."
Mira returned before the others could say anything, having food with her, stopping all other conversation on the subject for now.
"You must be hungry, so I brought you food," she said, setting the two trays she was balancing on a table. "Go ahead and eat."
"Lady Mira," Bobbi said before Mira left the room.
"Yes?" Mira asked.
"Are we allowed to leave the infirmary yet?" Bobbi replied. "We are, by no means, the kind to sit idly for too long."
"Tomorrow morning the head healer will examine you to see if you are ready to leave or not," Mira said. "Until then, there is not much I am able to do for you." Then she was gone.
"I'm gonna eat first and then do the sixth treatment, Clint," I said as we all got food.
Clint nodded and we began to eat.
After we finished eating, the others blocked the view of the door in case someone came in while I was doing the treatment while I worked on healing Clint. I definitely was drained afterwards, but Clint had definitely improved since the last one, almost at his normal par.
"Hopefully that'll be enough to allow you to pass inspection tomorrow with the healer," I said as I sat down in a chair. "Two more and you'll be completely done."
"It should," Clint said. "My injuries are almost nothing now thanks to you."
"I've located War Machine's whereabouts," Vision said.
"Where is it?" Rhodey asked.
"It it being held in the wizard's tower," Vision said. "Along with that, I was able to get a time frame of where we are. 1360."
"658 years back," I calculated. "We're definitely not in LA anymore."
"Not true, actually," Vision stated. "This area is still LA, just it hasn't been formed yet. The environment is the same as how it is in the city and the layout beyond the kingdom is the same as LA."
"Ok, so we're in pre-LA," I corrected. "And we need to get War Machine or else Tony's going to be mad. I can see what I can do when I go talk to Pallon. If anything, I can at least get the exact location where it is being held."
"Hopefully they just think it's some seriously upgraded armor," Rhodey said. "But with those shoulder missiles, it might be hard to convince."
"It could be an upgraded crossbow," Tigra suggested. "Just instead of arrows, it's metal instead."
"Hopefully that'll work as an explanation," Rhodey said. "I'll go with you, Rose, and try to explain my way to the suit. If that doesn't work, then we'll come up with something."
"But for now, we just rest," Clint said. "We have nothing we can do currently. Tomorrow, at least you guys will get clearance. And if I don't get clearance, then I'll stay here for another day."
"Hopefully not," I said. "Tomorrow morning, I'll be up early and do the next treatment, before the healer comes in to examine us."
The others nodded and for the rest of the day, we relaxed.
The next morning, we woke up early in the morning.
As soon as I was awake enough to focus, I started to do the sixth treatment on Clint, the others keeping in front of me, like usual.
In the middle of the treatment, I heard the door open. "Move in front of me so it looks like I'm redoing your bandage," I mumbled to Clint without stopping my work. "I'm almost done."
Clint did a small nod and moved in front of me as the others looked to the door.
"Good morning," a man said as he walked inside. "It is nice to know that you all are awake. My name is Healer Hendron, and I will be examining you today. How are you all feeling?"
The others said that they were fine, trying to buy me time, knowing that I couldn't stop mid-way through the treatment or else Clint could have more harm than good done.
"That is definitely good to hear," Hendron said. "Who would like to be examined first to see if you have clearance?"
"I'll go first," Bonita immediately volunteered, the others moments after her.
"Alright, then please come with me," Hendron said, beginning to walk to the back of the room where Clint and I were.
Acting quickly, Bonita bumped into a nearby table that had a couple vials on it, causing them to fall to the ground and break. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed as Hendron turned back. "I'm extremely clumsy! I've had it since I was born."
"Oh, don't worry about that," Hendron said with a light-hearted chuckle. "There was nothing in those anyways. I'll clean that up after I finish all of your examines. Come on."
Bonita passed a glance at the others and did a small gesture to do something as she followed Hendron.
"How close are you to done?" Clint asked in a very soft voice.
"I still need at least ten minutes," I murmured. "I can't stop at this point: the wounds will open back up and cause you to have an even longer recovery time than before."
"I don't care," Clint said. "Stop it. You're going to get caught."
I was about to reply when something suddenly grabbed me from behind, causing me to let out a startled scream.
"Pallon! Whatever are you doing here?!" Hendron demanded. "And why do you have her?!"
"I sensed magic being used from my tower two days in a row," Pallon, the man who had me, replied. "Yesterday, I thought it was just something wrong with my charms and by the time I checked them and found them fine, it was gone. I won't make the same mistake twice."
"She wasn't doing anything to hurt me!" Clint exclaimed, getting to his feet. I could see that his wounds were opening again.
"Clint, stop moving," I said as calmly as I could, even though my heart was racing. "You're only going to hurt yourself more."
"What are you going to do with her?!" Vision said, stepping in front of Pallon's path as he went to pull me out of the room.
"She is going to have a talk with the king, and then we'll see," Pallon growled darkly. "Now out of my way."
"Vision, please, move," I pleaded. "I don't want you hurt, as well."
"Better than you getting hurt, Rosalina," Vision replied, still glaring at Pallon.
"I'll just do this the quick way," Pallon said, teleporting out of the room.
"Rose," whispered Clint.