Hello lovelies! I'm putting the Author's note here because I threw out most of the cannon and want you all to understand what I did.
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Basically SHIELD fell, for reasons I will explain. The five Avengers, Peter (because he's too great to leave out), Bucky (because THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO WITH HIM), and Maria Hill (that's why SHIELD fell. I want her around because she's cool) all live in the tower. Most of the rest of Marvel cannon is scrapped in my world. Yup. It's nothing crazy, I'm just ignoring most of the MCU...
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Be warned, our heroes are not happy in this. Nothing graphic, but rated T because I wouldn't want my 11 year old sister reading this.
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Betaed by the lovely Eldestoffivesisters15. Any mistakes are mine.
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Need I say I don't own anything? Marvel owns all.
It's 3:42 in the afternoon. This is the side of the Avengers you don't see.
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The Avengers file slowly into the Quinjet and take their respective spots. Tony Stark sits in the cockpit with Maria Hill, and they silently start it up. They've worked together for long enough that they don't actually need to talk to know what to do. The Quinjet fires up, and they are off. Tony sets it on autopilot and closes his eyes. Maria stares straight ahead.
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Bruce Banner makes straight for the bathroom. It's all he can do to stop himself from puking all over the Quinjet floor. Still, he makes it, and as soon as his stomach is empty, he pops three pills in his mouth and swallows them dry (One, he made to help his torn muscles heal faster. Hulk might be unstoppable, but Bruce Banner isn't. Two are pain killers.) He shakes uncontrollably as he puts lotion on his hands, arms, and anywhere really, that he can reach without taking off his clothes. His skin is red and itchy. He looks at himself in the mirror. He looks worse than usual.
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Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes stand side by side in the back, both staring emotionlessly at the wall across from them. Their shoulders touch, and if they occasionally grab hands and squeeze, well, who could blame them. Bucky's metal hand convulses ever so slightly. He's twitchy, and every time the Quinjet shifts, he does too. He remembers the first time he flew back from a mission. This ride is smoother, but he feels the same inside. Steve still breathes hard, even after almost thirty minutes on the Quinjet. He watches the spot where a bullet grazed him slowly heal. It'll be gone in an hour. Sometimes he wishes that it wouldn't go away like that. He takes a deep breath and tries to calm his heart down. It doesn't work.
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Natasha Romanoff stands quietly while Clint Barton gives her a full body check up. Two years ago, Natasha hid a gun wound from Clint until it got infected and he accidentally touched it and caused her to pull a knife on him. She is now forced to stand through a full check up after every mission. She only agreed if she can do the same. Natasha holds her arms out, and she instinctively moves her feet into first position. Her ballet training has never left her. Once she's given Clint a full lookover too, she sits curled up in her chair, typing rapidly on her phone. Clint takes both hearing aids out, wincing as he tears the scabs off with them. He sticks tissue in his ears and leans back, his hand on Natasha's knee. This is one of the few places that he allows him to let himself take a second to relax, when there's a guarantee that almost nothing can go wrong. Most nights, he sleeps with is hearing aids in, because what if someone needs him? His ears bleed almost every day.
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Thor sits, head in hands, cross legged on the floor. He mumbles to himself about wars long gone by, where he fought alongside warriors of renown. He traces the carvings on Mjölnir and tries to remember the stories they represent. He can only remember the faces of those he just battled. He smells like the smell of rain just finished and smoking hair. When Bruce slips past him to get to his seat, Bruce gets shocked by static electricity. He looks alien, Thor does, sitting in a cape surrounded by the sleek silver of the Quinjet, which is perhaps fitting, seeing as he is one.
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Peter Parker sits in one of the chairs, strapped in as tightly as he can get. He rubs his hands together and closes his eyes. With the quiet humming and smooth flying of the jet, he falls half asleep, fiddling with his mask the whole time. He's exhausted- he still does rounds around the city at night, plus he is a student, so he doesn't get much sleep at any time. It's worse than usual right now, with finals coming up. He sees faces of people he should have saved, and when Tony comes over and places a hand on his shoulder, Peter can't help the tears that leak out of his still closed eyes.
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Once they get back to the tower, Tony stumbles upstairs to Pepper, who stands waiting with a glass of water and a medical kit. He sits on a stool and drinks the water Pepper gave him. She cleans the back of his head, where a permanent bald spot resides after one too many times of hitting the back of his helmet. It's bleeding again, and she puts antiseptic cream on it. She takes care of some spots on his hands and arms then hands him two Advil and sends him to bed. His chest aches and there's a slight rattle when he breathes. He rubs his hip, where there is a callus forming from how his suit rubs. He leans back against the headboard and tries to relax. His eyes can't close.
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Maria goes straight for her rooms, walking fast and thinking even faster. It takes forever for her brain to slow down, and this time is no exception. She thinks about how this is only one HYDRA cell, and how there are so many others that still need to be taken out. She sits at her computer without even taking her shoes off and starts to type a mission report. She suddenly stops and her breath hitches. She looks down and sees her hands, blood still under her nails. She starts to sob.
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The Avengers are far from perfect.
I lied. I have more A/N here. My view of the MCU was greatly inspired by Aggie2011's amazing Vantage Point Universe, which was really what got me fully into both the MCU and Clintasha, which ispossibly the best thing to happen to the MCU and the reason I have to throw out the MCU cannon. My love for Bucky and Steve was started by owlet's "This, You Protect" on Archive of Our Own. I read that story in like two nights. It's very good. Read it.
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Also, if you're confused about what the mission is (sorry Eldest, I confused her at first) read on! Chapter 2 and a continuation of this story is posted too!