TECHNICALLY, it hasn't been a year since my last update.
This story isn't dead. Not while the earth still turns. So, brb gonna go knock on some wood.
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The earth shook, as if in response to Sutton's suggestion. The concrete walls grumbled and dirt fell from the ceiling. Nat, Loki, and Steve stared at her.
"Are you joking?" Asked Steve after the shaking stopped. "Khan?"
His flat tone cut Sutton straight to her core, despite knowing they wouldn't approve. He didn't look in the mood for jokes anymore than she did, and even less humoring.
"What other choice do we have? We- we need someone who can hold their own at least long enough to buy us time."
To be honest she didn't know why she was even suggesting this. Even ready to push for it. There was a pressure at her knee, a shiver up her arm and a brush over her knuckles. It just felt like something she had to say.
Nat shook her head and her jaw shifted to the side as she briefly tensed in thought.
"It won't work," she said. "Besides, Thor is stronger."
Sutton stiffened at the reminder of Thor and the friends they'd left behind in the city. At the reminder of that explosion and the uncertainty it forced on them. Loki stilled as well at the mention of his brother. He didn't look eager to volunteer Thor as a distraction for Thanos, and it made Sutton briefly wonder how much of the familial hatred was a show.
"He is." Sutton allotted. "He's definitely stronger. But-" She hesitated. "But we don't know where they are now."
"And finding Khan would be easier?"
Sutton tensed her jaw, feeling more and more that her resolve and conviction were crumbling. They thought her plan was stupid. And they were right, but it hurt to have so much doubt cast on her regardless. Even if she'd earned it.
The team. The rest of them. She didn't know- she didn't know if- Well, she couldn't think about it. She didn't want to go looking.
Khan was a safer bet. Khan was disposable.
No! That was a horrible thing to think; how could she think that?
The pressure on her knee grew.
"If he's alive, he'll still be looking for me," she finally said.
Her voice was small and rough and the dust from the tunnel made her words taste dirty. Everything was wrong and awful and messed up.
Nat crossed her arms over her knees. She looked exhausted.
"He won't help regardless; it'd be a waste of time."
"Unless he thought he was going to get something out of it?"
It came out more like a question than she'd intended. Her plan lost steam the more they talked and she felt more tired and more idiotic the longer they discussed it.
"We could lie if we had to."
Her voice was nearly a whisper and pathetically uncertain, and Steve lowered himself next to her. He searched her face, as if checking her over for signs of insanity or a concussion. Sutton frowned, unappreciative. She couldn't think about how much she just wanted to sit with him. Let him hold her.
If she did that she might not want to get back up, not want to push for her stupid split second plan, and they couldn't afford to lose momentum.
She had to keep moving. Keep trying plans no matter how crazy they seemed. Without movement there was no hope and without hope she'd be a sniveling mess in the corner and the world was doomed.
"We shouldn't stay in one spot too long," Steve said.
Sutton wondered if he didn't mean they could be tracked more than he meant she started thinking stupid things when sitting for more than ten minutes.
Loki still sat away from their tiny group, and he pinched the bridge of his nose so hard Sutton wondered if he might break it.
"Do you realize how frustrating it is," he asked, "listening to you speak?"
He stood and paced as he picked at the skin on his palm, a crease between his eyes and a pent up frustration that only grew as he wore a path in the room. Sutton didn't know what he expected of them. She was never a strategist, and if he hadn't figured that out from the moment he appeared in front of her car, that was his fault. Nat was a spy in the middle of a battlefield, and Steve. Well, Steve was the most capable of all of them at the moment. But war was a bit different when dealing with aliens and magic and crumbling planets.
"And what would you have me do?" Sutton snapped.
She was tired of his patronizing. Tired of his uselessness. Tired.
"I would have you not make the same mistakes you've made now."
That earned him glares from the room. Sutton felt the sting of the accusation despite it. What little self confidence she still possessed continued to dissolve.
"Well." She bit out. "It's a little late for that, isn't it?"
Steve shifted his position as if to block Loki from her view and adjusted her against his side.
"This isn't her fault."
He sounded testy and outraged on her behalf and Sutton was distracted enough by it to determine that she liked it. Distracted enough to understand that this was the worst time to start realizing that she never didn't want Steve in her life. Never wanted him to not want her.
How much of a screw up was she for it to take this for her to be bold enough to face her feelings?
Guilt raced over her for even taking the time to think about this in the middle of a war, in the midst of casualties and loss. She shouldn't be clinging to Steve like a lifeline while simultaneously being the catalyst for universal destruction.
But she was too selfish to let go of him.
"Rogers." Loki sneered. "You of all people should know that something doesn't have to be your fault for you to be responsible for fixing it."
And that was really the bottom line. Loki still expected her to fix everything, Thanos, which probably shouldn't have surprised her, but it did anchor that weight of her responsibility more heavily on her shoulders.
And worse was that he wasn't entirely wrong.
Sutton took another deep breath and looked to Steve.
"Could you help me up?"
Once again he didn't look thrilled with the idea. But Sutton wasn't going to give up this time. Even though her back screamed as the suit pulled at her melted skin and her legs threatened to buckle beneath her; it was still a small sacrifice for the sake of the world. The universe. All universes. The one with her family in it.
When she reminded herself of it like that, it brought back her focus and drive. She was in a high stakes game and the winner took all.
She needed to win. If only she knew how.
Carefully, they made their way through the underground of wherever they were. Loki took lead so Sutton assumed he had a better idea of where they were than anyone else. Given that he had the Tesseract, she supposed it made sense.
The tunnels were all concrete, dim and dusty. There were a few bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling, but only a few flickered with light and it gave the space an even more unsettling feel. Traveling underground, despite its uneasy vibe and musty smell, at least kept them out of view.
Sutton wondered if the ground helped block whatever signals the stone and she gave off, because neither Thanos nor his henchmen burst through the ground to attack them.
A hand on her side almost made her jump as they rounded a tunnel corner and Sutton turned to see Nat's concerned face evaluating her.
"My scarf sucks and you know it." Sutton said, her tone bland.
Nat's expression only furrowed a brief moment.
"I was going to ask how badly your back was hurting."
"Oh, ok."
Sutton rolled her lips and her foot scraped the concrete floor when she failed to lift it fully with her next step. Steve made sure to keep his arm carefully threaded around hers to support her.
"Well," Sutton continued, "it still kinda feels like it might be melting, so jot that down."
"Please." Steve interjected. "Now is not the time for memes."
Pain swept along her legs and back yet again as they approached a ladder up the wall, leading to an obvious hatch above them. Sutton grimaced and leaned against Steve as the pain bit at her.
"Fine," she said. "It's ouch."
Steve sighed in exasperation.
The sun outside was blinding compared to the dim light of the tunnels. Loki climbed out first, followed by Nat, and Sutton found herself being lifted up and carted by Steve as he managed the ladder one-handed. The movements jostled aching ribs, bruised legs, and a splitting back and the pain ran all the way up her spine into her skull. But she clenched her teeth behind closed lips and tightened her grip on his suit to keep herself from flinching.
Steve grunted as he pulled himself up onto the ground and Sutton couldn't stop a whimper as his arm flexed against the back of her suit.
"Are you ok?"
He was still supporting most of her weight as they stood on pavement once again. But Sutton didn't want him to have to worry. She didn't like the pitying stares from both her friends and the reminder that it was her own fault for the state she was in.
"I'm fine." She said. She tried to give him a reassuring, cheeky smile, but it lost its impact when she was hunched over in pain.
"Guess I'm just paying for never doing track in high school."
"Or not listening."
Steve's voice held a challenging tone. Sutton tried to widen her grin.
"If I had more training, I'm sure I could have gotten away with it."
"Perhaps you should start believing you're in a quirky romantic comedy instead of an action drama," said Nat. "I'd make an amazing, advice giving best friend who get's her own spin off due to audience popularity."
Loki cut his eyes.
"Are you really still bothered about not having your own movie?"
They'd come out in an alleyway somewhere, the brick walls dirty and crumbling and the pavement uneven from multiple pothole fillings. It smelled like oil and old garbage which did nothing to endear the space to her. But it at least seemed like they were still in America. Sutton could see a sign out on the street in english. Something stagnant hung in the air; a sort of feeling of unease, and it took her a moment to realize it was because there was no one around.
It was unnaturally quiet.
"How dare you."
Sutton's voice was hushed and splintered. A dizzying rush swept through her body and pins stabbed through her limbs.
"How dare you bring us back here."
Beyond the alleyway, the architecture wasn't recognizable, but that's exactly why she knew where they were. The buildings were broken, shattered. There was only rubble on the ground and the pavement buckled like something had tried to press up from underneath.
They were back in D.C.
They were back in D.C. and Sutton felt like she wanted to vomit.
"As if I had much of a choice." Loki responded. "Not that you were aware, but I didn't exactly have long to mull over somewhere safe to run to."
"You could have tried somewhere a little- a little-" Sutton swallowed back the wave of emotion and terror. "A little further away." She settled on.
"And you could try not to waste any more of this time," said Loki.
He was right. He was right and she hated it. Sutton closed her eyes as she took another shuddering breath and attempted to stamp down the rising panic.
Steve's hand on her side held her more firmly and Sutton became aware of the ground under her feet, the air in her lungs and the grit under her eyelids. Steve looked at her with concern, his own expression tight and eyes heavy. Like the weight of the world was weighing on his shoulders just as much as it was hers. He was gritty and bruised and cracking, but the underlying stubbornness, that dogged determination, shone through despite it. Sutton thought then that she'd do nearly anything to lift this from him. Even though the seriousness and the despair of their situation was an unbearable weight, she'd accept it all if it meant he didn't have to suffer it.
Suffer another horrid war.
"Fine then," she said. "Let's move."
They walked through eviscerated streets and she still wasn't sure if they were trying out her plan or not. Adding to the unease was the desolate quiet. The sound of the crunching of their shoes on broken glass and torn up concrete set a certain sort of tone. One Sutton didn't appreciate.
It was easy to stick to the shadows when the destruction provided so many. A few shadows would flash around them now and then, other people searching for a way out, but they didn't stop to talk or call out. Even then, they were few and far between. Sutton told herself that everyone else had evacuated.
The ruins grew worse the longer they traveled. Buildings darkened and soot covered the roads. She could see bits of a wide horizon through gaps in the structures. Something she'd never noticed before on her trips to DC. It looked like one huge explosion had gone off.
"Where are we?"
Natasha turned and looked at her, her face sullen and ashen. The blow hit her nearly as hard as the one she'd survived.
Nat was trying to find the team and she led them to their last known location. The area looked the way Sutton was terrified it would. Like it wouldn't have allowed survivors.
Except! Some desperate voice in her head screamed. Except they hadn't seen what happened. There was no proof of anything one way or another.
There could still be hope.
"Do you see any signs," Steve asked. "Look for footprints or possibly a marker of some kind. You and Clint have means of communication, don't you?"
Nat's lips twisted down.
"I'm looking."
But there was a wide area they could be searching. They knew the approximate location of the explosion, but it'd covered several blocks, and there were no comm connections or eyes to know where everyone had been when it happened.
If they hoped to find anything at all, they would possibly have to sweep every street in a set perimeter.
There were no shadows beyond their own here. Sutton didn't think anyone would dare set foot here on their own; there was nothing to loot and nothing to see besides charred ground.
Several hours passed as they searched. None of them were feeling bold enough to call out names, and it wasn't clear if that would be much help anyway. Sutton finally had to sit down a moment as everyone else continued. She panted, short on breath as fire continued to race up her spine and into the backs of her legs. She wanted to rip the suit off and never look at it again.
Eventually they regrouped. Loki looked less invested than Nat and Steve, but his face was still pressed in concern or confusion as they circled up.
"Anything?" Asked Steve.
Nat shook her head.
"I thought I found one sign, but it was a dead end."
Steve put his hands on his hips and let out a breath.
"Loki? You don't have something?"
"I have many things, but nothing that will help us at the moment."
Sutton shifted where she sat as the dread reared up once again.
"Maybe the fight moved." She said. "Or they went to a SHIELD safehouse. Clint seems to know where those are."
Nat hummed in the back of her throat, but no one else responded. The air stilled and something like a vibration ghosted under Sutton's skin. Sweat beaded on her brow and a distant adrenaline washed over her.
"Does anyone else feel weird?"
A shot rang out like the crack of a whip. Steve grabbed her and shoved her to the ground, heedless of her injuries, and she tasted gravel as she threw her arms over her head.
"Sniper!" Steve called. The word was filled with alarm and a grunt of pain.
Sutton gasped and she tried to bite back a cry of pain as Steve pressed his body down over hers.
"Get to cover." Natasha snapped. "There's a building 50 feet north."
Something dripped onto Sutton's head and into her hair. She turned to look enough to see a flash of red as it dropped onto her hand. Red. Red, red.
"Steve."
The panic welled up again. She tried to scramble up despite Steve still shielding her from whoever was out there.
"Stay down," he said, voice edgy. "It's ok. It's just a graze."
"It won't be for long if we don't move," said Loki.
Another ringing crack split the air and the clink of something hitting the ground nearby followed shortly after.
"We could all use that shield." Nat said.
Sutton couldn't see what was going on from her spot on the ground, and it frustrated her. Steve gripped her under her arms and pulled her up with him as he switched to a crouch.
"Given the circumstances, it's best not to use all my energy unnecessarily. Keep up."
A green figure rushed passed with Nat hot on his heels. Steve hefted Sutton the rest of the way up and didn't give her the option of running herself.
Another crack sounded, and another.
The air on the right side Loki and Steve's heads rippled followed by more clinking on the concrete. Sutton's stomach tightened.
"Who is it?"
Nat looked back a moment, worry pinched her face.
"Didn't see them. Someone with skill, clearly."
Loki and Nat dove into the protection of the building. There was one more crack and Steve jumped. Dust erupted under his feet.
Sutton yelped as Steve caught his footing inside the protection of the building's walls. Her grip on his neck tightened and she used the excuse of hiding her face in his shoulder to hide her anguished grimace. Her entire body was on fire. But she didn't want him to know.
For a minute the world went still and the only sound was the ringing of silence. They all kept low, out of sight of the windows, and held their breath as they waited. No new shots rang out and Nat rolled herself into a low crouch on the balls of her feet.
"They'll be waiting. Or repositioning." She said.
"Given the size of this building, I'm guessing the latter." Steve responded.
Sutton peeked out from Steve's shoulder. She felt a bit clammy.
"At least we know it's not one of his henchmen, right? A person with a gun should be easier to deal with."
Nat tilted her head in concession, but not agreement.
"A bullet can still kill you."
Loki shifted backwards, hardly making any sound over the shattered glass sprinkled across the room.
"There's an exit down this hall," he said. "Though if this assailant is going to move, that would be the best position for them."
"Then we ought to move fast," Nat said.
She shot off the floor and darted down the hall with both men following closely after. Sutton still wasn't being offered the option of running, and she was at least sensible enough at the moment not to insist on it.
Nat paused at the exit door and focused on the street and surrounding buildings. It was still desolate. A layer of dust and ash coated the streets and crumbled brick and broken glass filled the sidewalks.
Sutton hated the silence most of all.
Not one car passed. There was no sound of humming engines or roar of conversing crowds. No horns, bells, or music.
The only thing hanging in the air was anticipation.
"Clear." Nat said, voice low. "For now."
Without another word she shoved open the door and zipped out, her movements sure and purposeful. They followed after her, and Sutton turned in Steve's hold so she'd be able to watch their backs for a possible attack. Any bit of sun that glinted off glass still in windows, any rustle of wind through the alleyways, felt like a possible threat.
"How long would it take someone to get from a building across the street to here?" Sutton asked through gritted teeth.
"Depends." Steve mused dryly. "Are they a normal human or not?"
Sutton frowned and tightened her grip.
A dark shape flashed around the corner of a building a block away, and she only saw it because she was looking so intently for anything at all.
"Behind us!"
Steve cursed. Nat twisted with a pistol in hand and fired off a couple shots in quick succession, but none of them seemed to hit their mark. The person trying to kill them had a much larger gun, meant for shooting at a distance.
Though she couldn't see specific details, Sutton could still tell that their assailant was aiming the weapon. She ripped her eyes away from the threat in a desperate bid to find some way to help. Most likely the sniper would be able to get off a shot before they were able to duck into the next side street.
Steve's shield was in its harness on his back, right below her fingers. Once more, she gripped the hand strap without thinking and yanked the shield from where it sat.
A piercing, metallic ting! rang out the moment she raised it to cover their heads. The force of it knocked Sutton's hands back a few inches, and she only just managed to keep it from hitting the back of Steve's head.
Steve looked back, his eyes cutting to see his shield in her hands, and he let out a short, startled puff of air.
"I knew you were a keeper."
Her face warmed and she took a moment to peek around the shield to gauge the danger before replying.
"Well, I really want to get that coffee."
Steve's grip on her tightened and he dove around the corner of another brick building, passing Loki as he ran.
There was no second crack. But that meant a bullet not wasted.
Nat had already moved around the other side of the building and looked like she planned to circle back around their assailant.
"Did you get a look at them?" She tossed over her shoulder.
"It looked like a man wearing black," Sutton said. "But he was too far away for me to see very well."
"Maybe we got lucky." Nat cut a look at her and Steve. She flashed them a sharp, unamused smile. "Maybe he really was already looking for us."
"If it's Khan, he doesn't seem to be in a negotiative mood," Loki said.
Even though it was her idea to go looking for Khan, and even though she was surrounded by people capable of taking him down together, Sutton still couldn't stop the instinct to tense and go still at the mention of his presence.
"If it's him, he can't be in good shape." Steve rebutted. "If I'm tired, he's tired."
"Also," said Sutton from between her teeth. "Thor blasted him with lightning."
"Also that." Steve nodded.
"Then I'll be surprised if he's alive." Loki said. "Being a mortal."
Nat rounded the building and Steve continued straight on across the street. Whatever communication or plan they'd exchanged in the last few seconds, Sutton missed.
A spray of bullets exploded at their backs and Sutton was able to see the blue ripple of Loki's magic shield as the bullets were stopped short.
"This." Loki grunted. "Is getting tiresome."
"Welcome to war."
Steve shot him a scathing look and darted behind the cover of another half-standing building. Sutton dug her fingers into the back of his hair and buried her face in his shoulder.
The air went still and quiet again. Then gunfire erupted from a different direction. It was clear there was an exchange, some shots sounding distinctly larger than others. But just as abruptly as they started, they stopped.
Sutton tightened her grip on Steve.
"She should meet us up ahead." He reassured her.
Sutton decided to believe him. Because they worked together all the time, and if anyone
knew how the plan went, it'd be Steve.
Pounding footsteps joined theirs, and Sutton dared to look up. Relief flooded her as she first noticed a head of red hair.
"Ran out of bullets," Nat said simply. "This guy is good."
"Did you see his face?"
"If you can see their face, they can see yours."
They needed to get out of this section of the city. They needed to get back underground or find some elevation to get a better idea of who they were dealing with. But it was difficult, even for Steve, to make heads or tails of where they were with blocked roads and nonexistent street signs for reference.
Nat let out a pained grunt as she went pinwheeling into the street. Sutton turned just in time to see a boot drop to the ground.
Khan stood in front of them.
He looked horrible. So unhinged and so vulnerable that it almost frightened Sutton more. He looked crazed. A horrible gleam shone in his eye that promised he was capable of doing anything, lashing out in any way. His chest heaved and blood dripped down his face. Some skin looked raw, like it was singed and possibly trying to heal, but couldn't quite. He was a dying animal trapped in a corner with nothing to lose.
"Well," said Loki, voice bland. "Consider me surprised."
Sutton felt another shock of terror shoot through her at the sight of the weapon in his hands. It was something clearly scavenged from whatever the military had lost. A large caliber rifle that would be able to blast a hole through a couple of them at once. Her injured leg ached.
"I'm starting to think-" Khan panted. "That you're more trouble than you're worth. What happens to your aggravating beliefs when you die, hm?"
"Like hell." Steve snarled.
He pushed her behind him and Sutton grabbed at him, frantically trying to pull him away from the direct line of the gun.
"Steve!"
Khan raised his weapon; he was so close he didn't even need to carefully aim. Sutton looked behind her, ready to beg. Nat's face was pale, her eyes wide and mouth pulled tight. Loki stood, feet apart and gaze evaluating.
"Loki, please!"
"You'd die for her?" Khan asked.
Steve held her at bay, even as she scrambled to rush in front of him.
"Without hesitation."
"So be it."
A shot rang out and Sutton screamed. Steve's fingers still wrapped around her arm, his grip firm.
One breath. Another. He was still standing.
Khan dropped to his knees.
Sutton looked to his face and wished she hadn't. His eyes were already empty, and he dropped completely in a limp pile at their feet.
Steve took two steps back, forcing her back as well, and he looked briefly to Nat before back at the buildings in front of them.
"That came from across the street." He said.
They scattered in different directions, but no new shots rang out. For a moment they bunkered down, waited. Steve's arms had to be killing him by now, but he still held onto Sutton, ready to run at the first sign.
The silence lingered one minute, two, and then the sound of a door creaking open rang through the space. Such an unusual, mundane sound given all the silence and all the gunfire they'd been through.
There was a flash of light, and Steve craned his head to see who it was.
"You've got to be kidding me."
A metallic clatter sounded next, and whatever it was gave Steve the confidence to stand. Sutton's eyes widened.
"I know you." Said Bucky Barnes. His eye grease was smeared and fading, and his clothing torn in some places, but he was standing firm. His eyes trained directly on Steve.
"I know who you are."
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That rascal.