Barnes is screaming. Howling, like a wounded animal.
That's the first thing Sam registers beyond the feeling of having just been sucker punched by a Mack truck.
That purple motherfucker hits like a sonofabitch.
He sucks just enough air into his lungs to manage a groan before digging his elbows into the soft earth beneath him and forcing himself up, up, up to his knees.
Get up. Get up, Wilson! If Barnes is screaming it can't be good.
Sam taps his goggles to refresh the display and tries his comms.
"Cap? Widow? Wanda? Anybody got eyes on Barnes?"
His adrenaline spikes when all he gets in response is static and feedback; he uses the chemical rush to get his feet under him, orient himself, and trot off through the jungle as fast as he can push his battered body.
"Barnes! What's your location?"
He doesn't really expect an answer, and he doesn't get one.
"Steve! Oh god, oh god..."
It's the first coherent thing Barnes has said; Sam puts on an impossible burst of speed and blazes into the clearing seconds later, guns drawn and ready for just about anything... except the sight of Barnes, wide-eyed and frantic, scrambling backwards through the dirt away from Sam and looking for all the world like he's trying to rip off that shiny new vibranium arm. Cap is nowhere in sight; neither is anyone else. The hair on the back of Sam's neck prickles; something's off.
"Barnes! Bucky," Sam tries, holstering one gun in order to reach out in what he hopes will be perceived as a friendly gesture.
"Stay back!" Barnes cries, flinching back violently, the whites of his eyes fully visible.
Sam hasn't seen him like this since the helicarrier.
That's not a good thing to be remembering right now, Wilson. Focus. Where the hell is everybody?
"Bucky. Bucky, look, it's Sam. It's me, Sam. See? Where is Steve?"
The soldier's eyes dart around crazily for a moment before zeroing in on Sam.
"What did I do?"
Barnes' voice is soft and rough from all the shouting, and utterly certain of his fault in... something. Sam wracks his brain.
"Nothing, man. At least, I don't think so. I blacked out for a second after the giant alien dude threw me at a tree. You okay?"
Barnes is quiet for a minute, breathing raggedly and digging the nails of his flesh hand into the juncture of his metal arm and shoulder.
"I don't know," he manages finally, agonizingly. "Thanos... disappeared and I felt... strange. I saw Steve, and I had my gun, and I... I don't remember."
In the near distance, Sam is suddenly able to pick out the sound of other voices. He resists the urge to pivot on the spot, choosing instead to crouch in front of Barnes, his mind racing.
"Hey, man, stop it. That looks like it hurts," he says, prying Barnes' flesh hand away from his metal shoulder and deciding to ignore his bleeding fingertips for the time being. "We gotta find the others; where did you last see them? Which direction did they go?"
"Sergeant Barnes!"
T'Challa's dulcet tones are like music to Sam's ears; he and his sister have had a lot more experience dealing with Barnes' mindfuckery than he has. The king of Wakanda's entrance into the clearing is considerably more graceful and less dramatic than Sam's own, though his claws are still out. The cowl recedes when he spots Sam.
"Falcon; they are gone. They are all gone," he says, and he looks nearly as terrified as Sam feels.
"What? Did... did Thanos get to Vision, then? Did he... did he do it?"
T'Challa's face goes grim and grey, but he retracts his claws and goes to Barnes with purpose, laying a gloved hand on either side of the soldier's face and forcing him to look at him.
"Sergeant Barnes, it was not you. It was not. You did not lapse."
Barnes shudders, his body goes slack and his eyes glaze over; T'Challa sighs.
"We should not have asked you to fight."
"Brother!"
Shuri's voice comes sharp and crystal clear through the comms. Sam breathes a sigh of relief.
Oh, thank fuck.
"Shuri!" The relief in T'Challa's own voice is palpable; Sam can almost feel the lump the king is speaking around in his own throat.
"Brother! Praise Bast, you're alive! There is a man here; he says that he was sent by the Sorcerer Supreme, and that he can tell us what is happening. Okoye is with us; we are coming to you. Do not attack."
Sam only has a moment to wonder hysterically whether a Sorcerer Supreme comes with sour cream before a plaintive wail splits the air; his head swivels towards the sound, recognizing Wanda's voice. He starts moving before he can stop himself, as though the sound of it it is pulling him forward of its own accord. He has to force himself to stop for a second; to think.
"Your Highness," he starts, gesturing at the still-catatonic Barnes a bit desperately, "Do you mind? I gotta..."
"I will stay with him; I will wait for Shuri and Okoye. Go."
Sam springs forward as though shot from a cannon, running full tilt in the direction of Wanda's cries. It's not far. Tears are streaming down Wanda's face when he finds her, and her eyes and hands pulsing with a soft, red glow. She flings one arm out in Sam's direction as he crashes toward her through the undergrowth, and he finds his forward progress abruptly arrested.
"Hey kid, relax! It's Sam!"
She releases him so abruptly that he nearly falls over; he staggers a few steps to catch his balance, and a good thing, too, because Wanda just about collapses into his arms herself.
"Sam! Sam, I can't find him. I can't feel him. I couldn't... I couldn't feel anyone," she sobs, her accent thick in her grief, fisting double handfuls of Sam's uniform to hold herself up.
"Wanda. Wanda, hey," He takes her by the shoulders and bends down to look her in the eye. "What happened? Where is everybody? Where is Vision?"
The red glow recedes from Wanda's eyes, leaving them startling blue and sparkling with tears as yet unshed. She draws a deep, shaky breath and points towards a bare patch of ground near a fallen tree.
"He's dead. Thanos killed him, right there. Just threw him away, like he was nothing... and then..." she pauses, her brow furrowing. "... He had all the stones; he fought with Thor but I... I don't know..."
Her gaze flicks back up to Sam's face sharply.
"He snapped his fingers. He must have. Is everyone... gone?"
Sam's own lack of understanding is beginning to grate on him; he is spared the burden of answering by a sudden commotion coming from the direction of the clearing.
"Come on," he says, taking Wanda by the elbow. "Let's get back to the others; there are at least a few of us left."
Sam blinks, bewildered, at the precipitous appearance of so many people in the clearing he'd only just left. He recognizes a number of the Dora Milaje by their uniforms; Barnes is currently shrugging off their attempts to check him over and snarling that he's fine.
Well, that's promising.
Shuri is there, and she seems to have taken the time to change into battle dress and arm herself. She and T'Challa have their heads together and appear to be arguing. With her is an unfamiliar man, portly and Asian, wearing an impatient expression and what appear to be monk's robes. A number of the frighteningly large Jibari and the frighteningly competent Border Tribe warriors are also milling about on high alert.
"What is going on?" Wanda murmurs, sounding a bit dazed.
"I have no fucking idea," Sam mutters, finally admitting defeat.
"I AM GROOT!"
Shit! I forgot all about the talking tree.
"Enough!" It is Okoye's voice that rises above the cacophany and demands order. "Thanos and his army have attacked the Avengers' facility in the United States. I have been in regular contact with Agent Romanoff, and I cannot raise her now. We must muster our forces and go at once; Wong says that he can transport us all without delay. We can argue over the particulars later, my king!"
Sam's not sure he would have dared to speak to a king like that, but he's not a badass warrior bitch with a spear, so there's that. Still, he has questions.
"So... Thanos just jumped continents? Why, if he came here and got what he wanted?"
"It's been five years, Sam." It is Barnes who answers, and he sounds so, so tired. "The time I lost... those few seconds you thought you blacked out... we were the ones who were gone. For five years."
Sam blinks at the man; he understands every word but their meaning is eluding him. If Barnes pressing the heel of his metal hand into his left eye is any indication, the idea is giving him a headache too.
"... and now... we're back? Somehow?" Sam looks at the Asian man now identified as Wong, hoping for answers.
"Stephen was a little sparse on the details; he simply requested that I gather as many reinforcements as possible and open portals to allow them to assist in the battle," Wong says, shrugging.
"Steve—the Avengers—did something, and it worked, and now he—they—need us," Barnes snaps. "What are we waiting for? Would you get off!? I am fine!" This last is hissed at another spear-wielding woman in red, who does not appear the least bit intimidated by his venomous tone.
T'Challa glances back and forth between Barnes and Okoye and seems to arrive at a decision.
"We will regroup on the battlefield in front of the barrier, and Wong will open a portal to transport us. We must move quickly."
Okoye seems to take these orders in stride, and begins to bark orders of her own, turning the milling crowd into a well-marshalled force who trot off in groups of two to collect others. Wanda looks to Sam for guidance, but all he can do is shrug and fall into step behind T'Challa and Shuri with Wong, the only person who seems even remotely calm about this whole shitshow.
"We've really been gone for five years?" Wanda directs this question at Barnes.
"Apparently; ask him," the soldier nods in Wong's direction. "He knows. I'm going to find a fucking gun."
He stalks off alone through the jungle, or at least as alone as he can be with two Dora Milaje trailing him at a polite distance. Sam doesn't blame them.
"Yes," Wong begins, anticipating their questions. "You, as well as half the population of the universe, turned to dust, and the rest of us have grieved you these past five years and tried to move on. Well," he stops and smirks, "Some of us tried to move on, anyway."
Sam digests this information for a moment, knowing that his super soldier buddy has never tried to move on from anything in his life.
"So you're really just going to teleport an entire army to upstate New York?" Sam asks skeptically.
"No," Wong answers patiently. "I'm going to open a portal. The army will be able to march through it into upstate New York, directly onto the battlefield."
"Oh; well okay then," Sam can't think of anything else to say to that.
Aliens. Androids. Wizards. Fuck my life.
"Hey Wong?" He asks when he has finally managed to compartmentalize his utter confusion and start psyching himself up for another big fight.
The sorcerer turns to him, quirking a querying eyebrow.
"Do you think you can open up that portal on the left side of the battlefield?"
"... yes. Why?"
"No reason."