Day 25

I Think I'll Just Collapse Right Here, Thanks

Disorientation | Blurred Vision | Ringing Ears

"Incoming!" Steve shouted, raw panic cracking his tone at the sight of the missile that was arcing toward the Avengers who had converged on one spot in the forest in an attempt to regroup.

They weren't given that chance.

Thor grabbed Natasha and took off, followed a second later by Tony. Steve turned to run… but where was Clint? Had Clint gotten away? Did Tony have him? There was no time, he needed to get out of here, before…

BOOM!

The world around Steve was violently torn apart. He was thrown off his feet as fire bit at his skin, debris exploding out with him. He hit something solid and collapsed to the ground. It took a lot to knock Captain American on his ass. And a missile hitting the ground five feet away was well within that capacity.

Steve coughed on the ash in the air as he blinked, desperately trying to make sense of his surroundings. Everything was drifting in and out of focus as pain radiated throughout his body. He slowly pushed himself up to his feet, using the tree he had smashed into for support.

"Can anyone…" Steve had to pause and cough. "...anyone hear me?"

He strained to hear anything from his comm. but all he could hear was a strange, high pitched tone. Was that coming over the comm. line? He looked around and stumbled as the world tilted under his feet. Wait, that wasn't right…

The sound of yelling drew Steve's wavering focus. He squinted, trying to make out what was going on. The blast had cleared out most of the trees in front of him, leaving a wide open space in the middle of the forest. So, Steve had a perfect view of the army of thugs as they emerged from the treeline on the other side of the blast zone, barrelling right toward him.

Steve blinked hard, trying desperately to focus, but the world seemed to keep shifting around him, throwing him off balance. He put up his fists, standing his ground even as bullets began to fly, ready to face down the impending surge even though the odds were stacked woefully against him. Because Captain America didn't run from a fight.

But as the army reached about halfway across the clearing, a bolt over pure energy shot down from the sky, slicing through the ground in front of the advancing army and causing them to scramble to a stop, looking up for the new threat. A blur of red followed almost immediately by another blur of red dropped from the sky, landing in between Steve and the hostiles.

Steve was so focused on what was going on in front of him, that he just about jumped out of his skin when there was suddenly a figure beside him. He stared down, Natasha's features slowly drifting in and out of focus. Her lips were moving, but he was keenly aware of that high pitched tone filling his ears and he couldn't make out what she was saying. He stared at her in confusion until she seemed to get that he couldn't hear her, and put up a flat palm and gave him a look that clearly demanded, Stay here. Her gaze shifted passed him, her lips moving, and then she was turning and hurrying out to where Tony and Thor were deeply entrenched in battle… and was followed by another figure.

Clint.

Clint hung back about halfway between Steve and the battle, firing arrows into the fray with deadly accuracy. It took Steve a long moment to realize he was hanging back in order to protect him.

For once, it was Captain America who was the liability.

Steve let out a labored breath as he leaned heavily against the tree behind him.

"Steve?" Steve jerked back up, glancing around in surprise. He must have lost time, because the enemy lay dead in the clearing while the rest of the Avengers were gathered around him. Natasha put a hand on Steve's arm. "Are you okay?"

Her words were still a little muffled to his ears, but he was relieved to be able to hear her at all at this point.

"Yeah, I… think so," Steve said, putting a hand to his head. "Guess I got my bell rung by that missile."

"What the hell happened?" Tony demanded. "You were the one who saw the thing coming, how did you get caught in it?"

"I…" Steve's eyes wandered, snagging on Clint - whole and unharmed - standing with the group, looking at him with concern. "I didn't see Clint get away. I wanted to make sure he had gotten clear."

"Cap, I'm an undercover agent, assassin and a spy… of course you didn't see me get the hell out of there," Clint said with exasperation. "I tread lightly on instinct."

"Yeah, I know, I just…"

"You can't only protect everyone else, Steve," Clint went on, giving him a sympathetic look. "Sometimes you gotta protect yourself."

Steve gave a small smirk. "Guess your right."

"Alright, Mr. Super Soldier," Natasha said briskly. "How about we get you back to the jet and to Bruce so he can check that hard head of yours."

Steve snorted a laugh. "Yeah. Sounds good."