Chapter Fifty

The priest didn't look like much of a threat right now, but Natasha knew better than to make her assessment too quickly. He was also under Wanda's spell, which made him placid and quiet. It was handy that Wanda had powers like this, but it still sent an uneasy feeling down Natasha's spine to witness it. It was her natural cautiousness that didn't allow her to be comfortable with it.

She watched Wanda hop down from the room inside the cave wall, but then Strange sucked in a harsh breath, making everyone turn to look at him.

'Doctor, are you all right?' Thor asked him.

'Something...' Strange said, his hand tightly clenched around the medallion around his neck.

Wanda made a noise, so Natasha turned to look at her as she landed softly next to them. Her eyes were a little too wide.

'Wanda?' Pietro called her name right away.

'What was that?' she asked, staring at Strange.

'A presence just swept over us,' Leah said with a dark frown. 'What has it done?'

'Does anyone feel any different?' Natasha asked. They all looked at one another in silence, waiting for someone to speak up. Natasha took stock of her body and her mind as best as she could. She felt the same, both physically and mentally, as far as she could tell, but that didn't reassure her just yet.

'James,' Loki said then, turning back around to stare up at the room's entrance. 'What are you still doing up there?'

There was a beat of silence... and no answer.

'Bucky,' Steve called this time. 'Can you hear me?'

Wanda turned to look back up too. 'He was right behind me,' she said.

Steve and Loki looked at one another, then both marched towards the cave wall. Tony lifted back into the air and flew closer to the room, getting there faster than the two of them on foot.

'No sign of him,' he reported. His words made Loki stop, and Steve went still as well after a few more steps.

'So we know what the presence was,' Wanda concluded.

'Why him?' Vision asked. 'And how?'

'He's Gaea's chosen,' Strange said. 'He's important.'

'I thought all that magic in his arm protected him,' Pietro mused.

'It wasn't Chthon,' Leah told them. 'Maybe one of the Darkholders... maybe a demon ally.'

Natasha stared at Steve's back, waiting for his reaction. This was bad, he could never keep his head cool when Barnes was at stake. And this was the last thing they needed right now. Natasha was already trying to come up with the best way to do some damage control.

Steve turned back around and looked at Loki. Natasha couldn't see Loki's expression, but Steve's face looked hard and ice cold. She wasn't sure she ever saw an expression like this on his face. Anger and determination, or righteous fury, yes, but this looked different. Maybe Loki said something, maybe they just exchanged a look, but then Steve started marching back towards them.

'Remove that spell from him,' he ordered, staring down at Isaiah Curwen. Wanda shot a quick glance around, but then moved her hand to comply. The red mist vanished from Curwen's gaze within a second. He blinked a few times, his mind clearing, then slowly looked up. He noticed Steve first, since he was standing right in front of the priest.

'What happened here?' Steve asked. 'Who were you fighting?'

'He might not be lucid yet,' Doctor Strange pointed out.

Curwen's one good eye narrowed as he looked at Steve, then he blinked a few times again, his eyelid heavy.

'The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid-'

'Shut up!' Steve cut him off. 'This is not just DeGuzman, Grahl, and Hubris... who did they summon?'

Curwen was silent, he just kept staring at Steve.

'Maybe he doesn't know,' Pietro offered.

'He knows more than what he's telling us,' Steve said in return, his blue eyes sharp and dangerous.

Curwen still just stared for another moment, then he moved his hand, too quickly for it to be an innocent movement. Steve was much faster than him and stepped on his forearm, pushing the kneeling man down to the ground. Curwen didn't fight him, he dropped the thing he went for. Natasha couldn't see what it was exactly, but she was certain she would have the chance to take a closer look at it in a moment. Curwen laid back on the ground, all fight going out of him as Steve kept him trapped with a foot on his arm.

'Start talking,' Cap said.

Natasha was familiar with Steve's quiet fury, but the threat in his voice seemed even sharper than usual. She really hoped Barnes was alive.

'Is this all what humanity has left?' Curwen asked, basically spitting words at them through his bloody lips. 'Monsters, harlots, false idols...'

Oh, back to name-calling then. They were not getting anywhere with this guy.

'We're wasting our time, or he's stalling us,' she spoke up. 'We need to keep looking for an entrance.'

'This is the entrance,' Curwen said. 'You fools... it's a trap. You will all die here, just like we all died.'

'You survived,' Wanda told him. 'How? What happened?'

'I didn't survive... they let me live,' he said. His voice trembled now, whatever prevented him from feeling all the pain he must've been in was obviously gone. His body started shaking, his breathing picked up.

'He's going to go into shock,' Strange told them, taking a step closer.

'They let me live to give you a welcome,' Curwen added. Then he reached up and tore open his black coat and shirt with a bloody hand. Natasha saw swirling symbols on Curwen's chest and a sickly yellow light, similar to the barrier above them. It was pulsing like there was something moving underneath his skin. All of her alarm bells started ringing.

'Go forth, O Christian soul, from this world,' Curwen started to recite. His voice coming in short gasps. 'In the name of God the Father Almighty who created thee...'

'Run!' Steve shouted suddenly and nobody questioned it, they ran, as far away from Curwen as they could, as quickly as they could.

Natasha still heard Curwen's voice for another few moments as she ran, Clint right beside her. She knew this prayer, she heard it before, voices wet with tears murmuring it over dead loved ones, their corpses not even cold. It was a prayer for a departing soul... she wondered if Steve recognised it too, and that's why he knew what was about to happen.

She expected light or even heat, but it was more an explosion of harsh sound that silenced Curwen's prayer. An unpleasant wind swept past them, like a hand touching her bones through her flesh. She saw all the greens in the cave wither away and turn to dust, all signs of life snuffed out from existence. Then they were falling.

She didn't see how the ground vanished from underneath them, because one second she was running, the next she was plummeting down into unknown darkness. She turned and twisted in the air to catch sight of something to grab and hold onto, but the cave wall was too far away. She wouldn't survive a fall like this, she knew. There were twelve of them, and only five of them could fly... she didn't know if everyone could be caught in time. If Tony was quick enough...

Someone grabbed her around her middle the next moment and she abruptly stopped falling.

'Are you all right?' Strange asked.

Natasha turned to grab him around the shoulders, putting herself in a more comfortable position. Strange had a red cape, which made her frown, because she wasn't sure if he was wearing it before... it was an odd feeling. A red cape would be something easy to remember. Magic had to be at play.

'So you can fly,' she said instead. 'Where did the cape come from?' She was more and more certain that the cape was not on Strange before, she still had a weird feeling looking at it.

'Levitate,' Strange said. 'And it's not a very reliable skill at the moment.'

Natasha looked down at the darkness below, then lifted an eyebrow at Strange.

'The cloak and I are still getting used to one another. Mostly it's only willing to obey me when I'm in lethal danger. And it's always been here... it would take some time to explain how that works.'

'You're joking,' Natasha said, looking at the cape... cloak with the high collar.

'Magical objects as old as this often start to have a mind of their own,' Strange told her.

This was not the time to ask more questions about it, so Natasha just looked around instead. Along with Strange that made six of them that could fly. They should be all fine.

Tony flew down to them first, he had Clint, who already climbed over to his back, holding on. He gave Natasha an "ok" sign and Natasha gave him a thumbs-up in return. Thor went for Loki, unsurprisingly, holding onto his brother with one arm, while the hammer spun around in the other, keeping them in the air. Sam caught the Leah girl and he was still holding her in his arms, circling a little above them. Vision caught Steve, while Wanda and Pietro were holding onto one another, her magic keeping them both from falling. Okay, they were okay... floating above some endless dark pit.

'Is everyone unharmed?' asked Vision.

'Looks like it,' Wanda answered, then she exchanged some quiet words with her brother in Sokovian. Pietro just nodded tensely, his lips thin. He must've felt a little powerless, not having anyone to fight.

'So, where to?' Tony asked.

'How does it look like up there?' Natasha asked.

'The only place we could actually stand on our feet would be that security room,' Vision said as he flew further down to be closer to them.

'So the only way to go is down?' Clint asked them, eyeing the darkness dubiously.

'The barrier is still up there, we can't go up,' Wanda said.

'Curwen?' Natasha asked, just to make sure.

'In pieces,' Loki said, sounding a little mad about it. He probably wanted more information out of the priest.

'Was he like... magically rigged to blow or something?' Tony asked, and although Natasha couldn't see his face, she could picture the horrified tilt of his lips and the shock in his brown eyes.

'It's the Darkholders,' Steve said. 'We can expect even worse.'

'Aye, I'm afraid that's probably true,' Thor nodded. 'There's only one way to go, so we need to go. Even if they are leading us.'

It was a trap, they all knew it, even Curwen told them as much, but there was no other way to go. She wished Barnes didn't destroy the computer up there, she really wanted to know what information he got out of it, but again, there was no point being angry about things they couldn't change.

'Ready, Doctor?' she asked Strange.

'I need you to hold on,' Strange said in return. 'I will need both of my hands if we are attacked.'

'Not a problem,' Natasha said. She could easily wrap her legs around his waist and it even freed up one of her arms. It was not the most dignified position, but she didn't think climbing over to Strange's back was an option, since the cloak kept them in the air. At least Strange didn't seem to have the urge to make jokes or awkward comments about it as he started descending. Natasha could get used to working with him.

It got darker as they went further down, but Tony turned on some lights on his suit and Wanda's magic was bright enough too, so they could at least see a little. An unpleasant feeling curled up in her stomach the further down they went. She had the very distinct feeling that somebody was watching them, and considering they were walking into a trap, she was most likely right. This was not the first time they did something reckless like this, but for some reason this felt wrong on a whole new level.

She heard a scratch, and another.

'Something's on the wall,' she said quietly, pulling a gun and only leaving one of her arms around Strange's neck. It was too dark to see any movement, but she heard the noise again, something scratching on the wall… climbing?

The tense silence stretched out for a long moment.

'Oh, please don't be N'Garai,' she found herself saying quietly. Then a screech came from their right. Natasha aimed and shot automatically, while Strange lifted a hand, a golden disk appearing in front of his hand, spinning slowly. The thing that screeched at them was much smaller than a N'Garai and it bounced off the mandala-thing Strange put up as protection. It's skin sizzled from the impact. Natasha shot at it again while it was dazed and the thing snarled and screeched at her, black blood spurting everywhere. Then it dropped down like a rock. It was definitely not bulletproof.

'What was that?' Sam shouted down.

'It had wings,' Natasha said.

'Oh, shit,' Tony cursed, his helmet and sensors probably picking up a lot more in the darkness than their eyes, and a moment later Natasha could hear the flapping of wings as the creatures let go of the cave walls below them and launched into the air.

'They're coming!' Strange yelled out a final warning before the swarm reached them.

Some of the flying things – demons – were dog-sized, some bigger, and there were too many to count. Natasha just aimed and shot at whatever she could, while trying to avoid claws and teeth. Strange's magic was burning brightly around him, he threw up a few more of those spinning mandalas as protection, then his hands lit up with magic again. The colour reminded Natasha of fire, but the energy crackled and sizzled like lightning.

Everyone else was fighting around them. Thor's lightning flashed as the wind picked around them, the energy bright and loud as it burnt the demons, Natasha could almost taste electricity on her tongue. The sound of Tony's repulsors echoed all around them, just like the screeches of the demons he hit. Clint's arrows sizzled through the air, never missing their target despite the darkness, and Wilson managed to pull out one of his guns, shooting at the things as they got too close to him. Vision's beam flared up in golden bursts as he took demons down, and when Wanda's hexes went flying, they painted everything else bright crimson. It was chaos in the most literal sense of the word.

The demons were fast and half of the team couldn't even aim or attack them properly. They simply couldn't continue this fight in the air, they were at a serious disadvantage. She was sure everyone realised that within minutes.

'We need to reach the ground!' Wilson shouted as he sped by them, diving deep down into the darkness, half a dozen demons on his heels. Tony followed immediately, then Thor.

'I can't move that quickly in the air' Strange told her. 'We need to fall, then stop before we reach the ground.'

Natasha reloaded quickly, letting the empty clip fall down into the darkness.

'You just told me the cloak is not reliable,' she said.

'That's the only way I can get down that quickly, but if you want to catch a ride with someone else…'

Natasha eyed the swarm above them, the demons turning back around, fighting their way through Wanda's barrier, while Vision kept shooting them down with his energy beam. They needed to get further down, and quickly.

'Do it,' Natasha instructed, moving her arms to shoot at the incoming demons over Strange's shoulder. Natasha was almost impressed that Strange didn't flinch at loud gunshots almost right next to his ear.

He also didn't ask if she was sure. There was a gush of soft air as the cloak stopped moving, then it was free fall. Since she could no longer shoot at anything she just grabbed hold of Strange firmly. The sound of the demons quickly became distant as they plunged down into the nothingness. They were falling for a ridiculously long time. She almost started to worry when she felt that same warm displacement of air, a crackle of something intangible in the air, as magic wrapped around them again, stopping their fall. Stopping was a little unpleasant on her stomach, but she was fine.

Strange exhaled slowly, his shoulders dropping a little. Natasha looked around, she could actually see some light in the distance down here. Clint, Sam, Leah, Thor and Loki all stood slightly below them. Stark was still up in the air.

'That looked risky,' Tony commented.

'It wasn't so bad,' Natasha said as she unwrapped her legs from around Strange, she even patted him on the shoulder before dropping down to the ground below.

'We're not done yet,' Thor reminded them as Wanda's red magic came closer and closer, the swarm of demons following her and Vision closely. Loki had his sword in his hand too, the orange glow a lot dimmer than it was when he first held it in his hand. Natasha filed away that observation, and focused her attention back on the situation at hand.

'I'd rather not risk running from them,' she said. 'We don't know what's down here.'

'I hate not having options,' Clint answered, a new arrow already aimed and ready to fly.

'We can take them,' Tony said confidently, and he was probably right. They were both skilled and very well armed, nobody could seriously think that these things would stop them. As she pulled the trigger again, she thought of Barnes and wondered, were they being stalled?

It seemed more and more likely.

Steve and Pietro dropped down as soon as Wanda and Vision were close enough to the ground, but they couldn't do much for now, so they just waited for the demons to descend upon them. Wanda and Vision did a good job of turning most of them to crisps. They were frighteningly effective together. They moved in synch and watched each other's back, while they unleashed an incredible amount of power on their enemies.

Wanda always seemed more unrestrained when Vision was by her side, maybe because it was almost impossible to harm him accidentally, and that gave her the freedom to use as much force as she never allowed herself otherwise. Wanda's been growing stronger and stronger, but Natasha had a feeling that she had yet to reach her full potential. It was hard to comprehend how much power was still hiding under the surface.

Strange turned and levitated closer to Wanda and Vision, his glowing mandalas appearing around him like shields, while light burnt in his hands. It was not the flame-coloured lightning from before, but a bright burning yellow Natasha couldn't keep hey eyes on for long. Soon it was bright as daylight in the cave.

'Out of the way!' Strange shouted, a clear warning for Wanda and Vision. Then the energy grew stronger. Natasha had to shield her eyes as heat touched her face, like bright summer light. The demons screeched and the smell of burnt flesh filled the cave. There was a lingering scent before, but now the heavy stench filled the air completely as small bodies dropped to the ground all around them. It was mostly just ash that rained down on their heads, so she didn't have to worry about getting out of the way. She kept her breathing even as the smell filled her nose, her head even, bringing memories to the surface. She pushed them all aside, this was not the time.

She opened her eyes as the burning light subdued. Wanda, Vision and Strange were still up in the air as the light slowly dimmed. Natasha caught the sight of seven glowing orbs before they vanished.

'Okay... wow,' Clint commented. Clearly they should've asked more questions about how powerful Strange actually was. That "Sorcerer Supreme" thing also started to sound a lot less like a cheesy exaggeration. No wonder Loki and Barnes wanted him here, on their side, to fight the Darkholders. It seemed odd before, why they went out of their way to help Sara Wolfe just for Strange's benefit, but it made sense now.

'So... how many flashlights do we have?' Sam asked after a moment of silence as Wanda, Vision, and Strange finally landed. Tony dropped down to the ground next to them too, his suit emitting a fair amount of light.

A glowing red light appeared in Wanda's hand, making a bit more light, while Vision let the gem in his forehead glow a little too.

'Wonderful idea,' Strange said, making a few gestures with his hands and fingers that looked both very specific and well-practised, lights flew up from his fingertips, flickering blue flames that spread out above them.

'I bet you're a blast on parties,' Clint commented.

'This way,' Steve said, pointing towards a large tunnel of sorts not that far away from them, barely visible even still. His voice was still grim, his face hard as stone.

Loki and Leah were the first to move, but the rest of them followed after too. There was nowhere to go but forward and Natasha understood Steve's drive, his need to keep moving, keep searching. She knew him well enough, knew his story well enough, to be certain that nothing could stop him from going after Barnes. And if they were too late, for any reason, this place would burn. There were very few certainties in life, especially in this life they all had, but this, Steve's boundless, ruthless devotion, it might as well had been the north pole.

Steve took a few slower steps, and the small change in his pace meant that Loki caught up to him. After a moment Steve glanced at him, which made Loki close the distance between them. Steve said something, way too quietly to be heard, and he was looking straight ahead, so there was no way to read his lips. Loki gave a nod, then slowed his steps down just a bit, moving further to the side, putting some distance between them. Natasha still didn't know how she felt about this... understanding between them, but she put it back into the back of her mind. They were marching towards a threat none of them really knew how to fight, so these were desperate times, in a way. If this – whatever this was – helped prevent Loki from stabbing them in the back, it was good enough for now. Steve did have a certain effect on people, maybe that was the simple explanation.

The tunnel was relatively well lit with Strange's blue flames flying above them and the extra light they got from Tony and Wanda, but getting rid of some of the darkness didn't put her at ease. They were still walking into a trap… or more like a series to traps.

'Wait,' Tony called out. 'The ground is changing up ahead, there's something under it.'

'How close?' Steve asked.

'Exactly 9.3 feet in front of you.'

Steve started walking again.

'Maybe Loki or I should take a closer look first,' Strange said immediately. 'It might be magical in nature.'

'We'll see,' Steve said, taking another steps forward, pulling the shield from his back. Loki walked after him after another second, probably agreeing with Strange.

Steve stopped, staring down at the ground in front of him, but the stone probably didn't look any different. He crouched down as Loki stopped next to him.

'Careful,' Sam warned. 'Maybe one of us could fly above the ground.'

'Not everything needs to be touched to be triggered,' Loki said.

'Okay, so what now?' Pietro asked. 'Can we throw a rock or something… would that help?'

That sounded like a very simple and straightforward solution. It could actually work. But Steve ignored the suggestion and put his shield down on the ground on front of him, slowly sliding it forward.

'You sure you know what you're doing there, Cap?' Tony asked warily.

'Considering what this shield is made out of... yes,' Steve answered, he slid the shield a little to the side, like he was search for something, or just testing out the ground whether it was safe to step on it.

There was a flash of blue right under the shield then, and Steve had to lean forward to keep the shield pinned to the ground. The blue light shimmered under the metal for a moment, like it was trying to break free, then it slid back into the ground... there was a beat of silence, then blue lights flared to life and died out at the same time in the stone in front of them. Like a series of light bulbs flashing up only to explode into sparks.

Steve gave Loki a look.

'Yes, that should do it,' Loki decided.

Natasha was confused, and she was not alone.

'How on Earth...' Sam started to say with a voice full of disbelief, but some dust fell on his head and it silenced him abruptly. They all turned to stare up as one, just as the stones started shifting above them.

'We need to move,' Natasha said.

'Which way?' Pietro shouted. It was a valid question, but they didn't have time to discuss it. The stone ceiling started to move... there was a hydraulic hiss that told Natasha it was not an accident, someone was dropping this down on them, and then she had to leap to get out of the way. She hoped she would be able to get far enough. The stone that dropped down was like a giant cube, blocking the entire passage. She looked around in the blue light as the dust settled.

Clint was right next to her, staring at giant rock that almost crushed them. Strange was on the ground too, he probably had to throw himself to the side to get out of the way. Pietro was standing at the stone, looking at it nervously, calling Wanda's name and shouting furiously in Sokovian. Natasha caught a few words from his angry rant, it seemed like Wanda might've pushed him out of the way with her magic. He was not really happy about it, which was understandable, since with his speed he was the least likely to get crushed by falling objects. Vision had the Leah girl in his arms, but she shoved at him as soon as she could, hurrying back to the stone that was now blocking the way.

Then she caught Wanda's voice, a little muffled, but still audible. She was yelling back at Pietro in Sokovian. Their comms sizzled for a moment, then Tony's voice came through.

'Is everyone all right on the other side?' he asked. Wanda and Pietro both fell silent.

'We're all in one piece, you?' Natasha asked in return.

'Nobody's dead,' Tony said with an annoyed tone. 'Although, I'm tempted to change that.'

'You're welcome,' Loki said dryly, sounding more exasperated than anything. Natasha was not used to hearing him talk like this.

'So, can we blow this wall up?' Sam asked.

Natasha got up to walk back to the stone blocking the way. There was a moment of silence as everyone waited for Tony's reply. He was the best equipped and qualified to judge how likely that was to work.

'If I could tell what's above us,' he said finally, and Natasha already knew the answer was no.

'Strange?' she asked, turning to the sorcerer. He was already staring at the obstacle in their way.

'I'll have to think about it,' he said.

There was another beat of silence before Loki spoke again.

'We need to keep moving,' he said.

Natasha wanted to be annoyed that not everyone dodged in the same direction, but maybe only some of them being stuck on this side was better than all of them.

'Vision, you should get over to the other side,' she said.

'What if you are ambushed?' he asked in return.

'We'll be fine,' Natasha said without hesitation. They had Strange, and he already showed them that he had a lot of power at his fingertips.

'I'm not really comfortable with all of this,' Tony said.

'We don't know how long it will take to get through here, Tony' Clint said. 'If we can even get through.'

'I should stick around, see what we can come up with,' Tony said.

Natasha thought about it for one second, then imagined what would happen if they were attacked and Tony was stuck on the other side, listening to what was happening without any chance to actually help them.

'No, keep going forward,' she said firmly. 'We'll find a way through.'

Tony was not happy, but nobody was. Vision didn't argue though, he slid through the stone wall with ease. Damn, Natasha liked this ability, but unfortunately Vision couldn't change the density of others, so there was no way to utilise it in any other way. After a moment his voice came through the comm.

'It's solid stone,' he said. 'In case you wondered.'

'That is certainly good to know,' Strange said. 'We'll catch up as soon as we can.'

Natasha liked the certainty in his voice.

'Loki,' Leah called.

'Stay with Strange, we'll meet up again later,' Loki answered.

'I'll know what to do, if things turn bad,' Leah said then. 'I hope you do too.'

The way she said that made Natasha slightly nervous. And Loki was silent for a moment too.

'It won't come to that,' he said vaguely. Leah chuckled in response.

'How strangely optimistic of you,' she said. Then her voice slipped back to calm and serious almost right away. 'Now go, you wasted enough time.'

'Pietro, don't-' Wanda spoke.

'I'm gonna be fine, don't worry,' Pietro cut her off, he was forcing his voice to remain calm, it was obvious to everyone.

'I know you will,' Wanda responded.

'You all better stay in one piece, Romanoff,' Tony warned.

'No problem, now get lost,' she told him, just to hear his little huff of a laugh. Normally, Steve gave her a smirk too when she said something like this, but she had a feeling there was no smile on his face right now. He was probably already marching down on that dark tunnel, not even listening to them.

'Stay safe, my friends,' Thor said as a goodbye.

'Wilson, I hope you know you're the voice of reason over there,' Clint commented. Natasha gave a very inelegant snort.

'Don't remind me,' Sam sighed. 'Catch you guys later.'

She switched off her comm as she turned to Strange, because there was no point waiting for the signal to die as the others went on without them.

'So let's figure this out,' she said.

x-x-x

To be continued...