I know, I know, I'm late. To be truthful, this was meant to go up last night, but my internet was being mean and wouldn't let me do this. That and it took so long to actually write this one because Hawkeye is a perfectionist (when it concerns himself, that is) and demanded that I do it the right way. See how that turns out, huh?
Gamma World, Part 2
I was dreaming. I had to be.
I was in my bed, back at Avengers Mansion, curled up on my side as I let my body sink into the sheets and comforter. I could feel the afternoon sun's rays on my back, warming my body nicely. I could hear Voltaire on the end of my bed, snoring as he slept peacefully and without care, further telling me that I was just having a bad dream.
There were no gamma villains, no monsters, and my friends weren't in danger of any sort.
"Just a dream." I sighed to myself, curling my arms around my head and burying my face into the pillow beneath it. Before I fell completely asleep, there was movement behind me as someone curled into my back, a warm, firm and solid arm wrapping around my waist. I couldn't help the small smile pushing at my lips.
"I'm sorry if I worried you, T'Challa." I murmured sleepily, "It was a bad dream." I could feel his chuckle before I heard it, his breath tickling my ear as he rested his chin on my shoulder.
"My little Rose; you are so brave." He whispered in his gentle tone. He said nothing more for a few seconds, and when he did it was in a tone that was sad.
"You have to wake up now, Rose." He told me as he began pulling away from me, "You are in great danger. Wake up." With a sudden jolt, I did as he asked. When my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I saw not my warm, safe room but a desert underneath a starry sky. For a moment I was very confused as the why I was in the desert, in the middle of the night, surrounded by pieces of broken-beyond-help jetpack, and dressed in a tattered protective suit...
:Just curiously, you've haven't been drinking, have you?: my inner voice asked, and seeing as I have a monster of a headache, it was quite reasonable that I was drunk. So then why am I in the desert?
Pushing my hands against the dirt, I struggled into a sitting position, when my eyes caught sight of a giant green dome.
...Great, now I remember: I wasn't suffering from a hangover. After seeing my brother, friends and the man I was crushing on turn into monsters—thanks to gamma radiation—my panic and adrenaline kicked into overdrive and I ran from the all, leaving Thor and Samson( the only two not to be affected) behind to deal with the problem, meaning they were probably dead by now. Not to mention Voltaire was trapped in the Quinjet, and probably scared out of his poor mind.
And I was possibly the only Avenger left that could be of any use.
"Right." I murmured softly. Well, if I'm going to somehow save the Avengers, SHIELD and quite possibly the world—sitting isn't going to help, no matter how much I wanted to sit and cry and give up.
:That smack to the head really rattled you brain, hasn't it: Probably.
Getting to my knees took effort, mostly because crashing into the ground left a whole lot of bruising and a nasty gravel rash on my left shoulder, and my head felt like it was going to explode in pain, but I got to my knees in the end.
Speaking of crashing...how did I crash?
That question was quickly answered when I spotted to people in a Mexican stand-off nearby. Crawling over for a closer look (and the rest of the large rocks before I threw up), I recognised them immediately: Hawkeye, and SHIELD's top spy/agent Black Widow.
Now, I have to be honest here; while I didn't have a problem with most of Fury's people, I had a serious dislike of her. Whether it was me being jealous of her flowing red hair, Venus-like body clad in tight, eye-catching purple leather; or the fact that she had an air of smug superiority that made other women feel weak and pathetic—I don't know. I just never liked her.
So why was Hawkeye (the man who had major flames for her) in a stand-off with her?
His signature vehicle—the Skycycle—lay nearby (probably the thing I flew into that resulted in the crash and headache) when its communication link opened up and the holographic head of a man with green skin and elongated head appeared: this man was Samuel Sterns. The Leader.
"Attention, humanity." He addressed, and going by his choice of words, it was safe to say that the three of us weren't the only ones watching this.
"That's...that's a restricted SHIELD frequency." Widow pointed out, her shocked tone matching the look on her face even as she aimed her weapon at her old partner.
"But that's no SHIELD agents." Hawkeye pointed out. She cast a quick glance at the image, but that split second was all the time Hawkeye needed to shoot his arrow at her chest, sending an electrical current through her body till she passed out and hit the ground with a heavy thud.
"Nice shot." I commented from my perch on the rocks. Hawkeye turned to me with a look of utter surprise but our reunion was cut short due to the Leader.
"I come to you with a message. And that message is: do not be scared." He announced to anyone listening to his broadcast, "The gamma dome in the American South-West is no threat-"I couldn't help but snort in disbelief "—it is a promise; it is going to change the world for the better.
"You are weak: suffering with your small minds and fragile bodies, and you have plunged the world into darkness with your faults. But I am here to save you. I will remake the world in my image; I will remake you in my image. You will be perfect, like me, and I will think your thoughts for you.
"The gamma energy will grow to envelope you and you will be transformed. Your power will be my power. Accept your future, for I am your leader. Welcome to Gamma World." The transmission ended, leaving us in silence once more.
"What a swell guy." I commented sarcastically, pulling off the last of my damaged protective suit and turned to Hawkeye. During the transmission, he was busy tying the Black Widow up for reasons only known to him. Now that the Leader was done talking, he turned to his prisoner.
"You're part of this, are you?"He accused her, raising her own ire.
"Don't be stupid." She sneered, "HYDRA has as much to lose as anyone if that maniac takes over the world."
"Good to know." I quipped before turning to my pseudo brother, "Hawk, the Avengers were inside the dome. They're gone." I don't think anybody missed the hitch in my voice when I admitted that part, and I partially berated myself for appearing weak. But I couldn't help it, or the tears prickling at the corner of my eyes.
I felt a hand on my shoulder as its pair curled under my chin, making me look up at Hawkeye. "Not all the Avengers were inside." He replied in a reminding tone. Really? As far as I knew, I was the only one to get out in one piece and not turn into a monster, and Ant Man was still in Wakanda, so who did that...
...oh.
"We have to find the Hulk." Hawkeye nodded, confirming my thoughts. That was all fine and dandy, but there was one teeny tiny flaw: Hulk quit and left the team nearly a month ago, so we don't have any idea where he is!
"Where do you think you're going?" Widow asked as Hawkeye went over his Skycycle for any damage.
"Bruce Banner is the foremost expert on gamma energy; he and the Hulk have had run-ins with the Leader before. He'll know how to stop this."
"Then we don't have much time." She commented, "The Hulk was spotted in northern Canada this morning; there's a Hulk Buster operation about to commence. We can—"
"What do you mean 'we', traitor?"
Hawkeye snarled at her, leaving her stunned and surprised as he escorted me over to his vehicle, clearly showing that she wasn't getting any love from him anymore. And she definitely wasn't going to get any from me either.
"Come back here!" She demanded, managing to stand up in her bounds, "You can't leave me like this!"
"Look on the bright side, Widow: your new green skin with match your eyes." He commented sarcastically as we mounted up; him piloting and me sitting behind him. She never got a chance to protest before the Skycycle was up and flying away from her and the approaching gamma dome.
"Fancy seeing you here." Hawkeye commented over the wind rushing in our faces.
"Yeah, I get about." I commented warily and tightened my grip around his waist—I really had a bad fear of falling off this thing—"So, wanna tell me what's going on in your world?"
######
Thanks to going through so many different time zones and not getting any proper sleep, my body clock was completely screwed up, thus I had no idea how long we had been flying for. At least Hawkeye's story kept me from boredom, or hysteria. Either way, my butt was officially numb.
"Explains why you hate her all of a sudden." I reasoned, pausing to sip the water from my cupped hands. "And why I haven't seen you around. You do know that I have to give you a lecture afterwards, right?"
"Yeah, I figured." He replied as he mimicked my actions. We had arrived in the area where Widow said the Hulk was, but so far things were pretty quiet. At least enough for us to set down somewhere, get a drink from the lake, and for Hawkeye to wash the gravel rash on my shoulder.
Now that we had a quiet moment, I could feel my mind start to go numb from too much adrenaline and not enough sleep or food, but I couldn't answer its request now; not when we had to find the Hulk, defeat the Leader and save the world.
...Ugh, having just realized how much we had to do and how little time we have, I got the sudden urge to cry again.
I turned to Hawkeye to ask about our next move when a loud roar, followed by an explosion, filled the air. And lucky for us, it was a familiar roar.
"Save the Hulk?"
"Saving the Hulk." With that said, we got back onto the Skycycle and took off in the direction of the Hulk's roar, and hoping that it wasn't too bad a situation. As we got closer to the commotion, Hawkeye decided that I should probably not get involved, but that got dismissed when I pulled out my magi-staff, and when we were close enough to the ground, I leapt off.
Now that I didn't have the wind in my face, I could see what we were up against: two Hulk Buster tanks and one air support attack-chopper...you know, if I were the Hulk? I'd be insulted that they'd only send that much firepower after me. Oh, well, at least I have ample opportunity to test out my staff's moon-based powers.
While Hawkeye kept the attack-chopper busy, I hurried over to the Hulk, snapping my staff into eskrima sticks and set to work on stopping two tanks. Though how I was going to accomplish that was beyond me.
:May I suggest defence?: My inner voice queried, which was a very sensible suggestion. My only question was what sort of defense?"
:In that case, how about you stay out of this? Those two look like they have things covered, anyway.: In the absence of my usual rational sanity, I will defer to the subconscious and stay well out of this particular fight. Plus, it'll give me the chance to get a grip on myself.
The battle was short-lived, and once Hawkeye set the Skycycle down I came out of hiding and came over. In the back of my mind I was still a tad worried about the Hulk's temperament, but the first and foremost thought in my mind was 'Thank God we can save T'Challa, Tony and everyone else now!' And I wasn't even going to question why I had T'Challa at the top of my list.
"Leave Hulk alone." The 'jolly' green behemoth groused at both Hawkeye and I.
"'Leave you alone'?" Hawkeye retorted in a cocky manner, "I just saved your green hide! And now you get to return the favour; we need some help." Hulk spared me a glance before huffing.
"Call the Avengers." He grumbled, turning around and walking away from us. And my desperation of never seeing T'Challa (and the others, thank you brain) again kicked in at long last.
"The Avengers are who we're trying to save." I told him, jogging after him and managing to get in front of him to stop moving. "Hulk, please: we really need your help."
"There's a big green energy dome, turning everyone into monsters." Hawkeye explained to our only hope of saving everyone both inside the dome and outside of it.
"You want someone to fight monsters, you should ask them." Hulk threw back, jutting his chin in the direction of the retreating Hulk Buster soldiers. I didn't need to point out that a handful of arrows took out an attack-chopper and two tanks, clearly a sign that taking them to fight the Leader and his forces was the last thing we should be doing. And the fact that the Hulk was refusing to help us was not helping to keep my desperation and fear down.
"Why should it? In a few more hours—and without help—everyone will be permanent gamma monsters, and the irrational, hysterical side of me wanted to grab the Hulk and shake him till he agreed to help.
"We don't need them, smart guy." Hawkeye threw back, "and we don't need you. We need Banner." Apparently that wasn't what the Hulk wanted to hear, at all. If him turning around and towering over us in barely contained anger, making me duck behind Hawkeye in fear was any indication.
"Banner's not home." Hulk snarled viciously, "Now leave me alone!" I tried to get word out to try and keep the peace, but Hawkeye—in his typical fashion—clearly wasn't having that.
"Listen, Big Foot!" He snapped back, standing on his toes to even try getting into the Hulk's face in an intimidation act. "If you don't give me Bruce Banner in the next three seconds, bottom line: I will take you down."
The area just went silent. No crickets, no water dripping, no nothing. And Hawkeye was completely serious.
My emotional barricades burst open, and I doubled over in a hysterical fit of laughter, a sentiment echoed by the Hulk, whose laughter boomed loud and clear. But it did what Hawkeye hoped, and the Hulk relinquished control back to the scientist in him. Before our eyes, the green giant began to shrink into a human male, only a few inches taller than myself, wearing nothing but a pair of almost tattered jeans, laughing his head off.
"Ok, Ok. You'll have to give me a minutes: he hasn't let me out in weeks." Bruce sighed after his fit of laughter, adjusting his pants before facing us with a completely serious face. "Now, Agent Barton, Briar; tell me everything you know."
"Short story? It's a giant dome of pure gamma radiation, and it's expanding." I spoke up, stepping around Hawkeye to see the former nuclear expert properly. "There was a first dome generated at the Cube, and clearly a trap. We were able to shut it down, defeat a few bad guys and those turned by the radiation regressed to normal."
"And the second dome?"
"Not sure where the epicentre is; I..."Pausing to give them both a shame look, I heaved a sigh, "I ran away, when everyone at the Cube turning to monsters. The only ones that weren't affected were Thor the Asgardian and Leonard Samson."
"Leonard's there?" Bruce questioned, sounding a little surprised and a bit upset.
"He was trying to set things right." I informed him, "not to mention he's freaking big now!"
"And how did you get out Scott-free?" Hawkeye asked me, "I remember you crashing into us, but I didn't see you turn back to normal."
"I was still in a protective suit, plus jet pack." I explained, rubbing a tired hand over my face. When my fingers brushed over my cheeks, I felt a wetness upon them. Pulling my hands away, I realized that I was crying. Great; just what we needed now.
"There's still time." Bruce informed us both, resting his hand on my non-grazed shoulder and gave it a firm yet gentle squeeze, "We can still save the people caught in the dome."
"So, where to next?" Hawkeye asked. The answer? A little shack in the woods, not that far from where we just found the Hulk, and inside was a whole array of laboratory machinery. If I wasn't so emotionally and physically exhausted, I'd be very impressed with it all.
Hawkeye, however...
"Wow. You did all this while you were on the run?" He asked, closely examining the instruments while Banner sat in front of a computer, looking over data of some kind. I just leaned against the door, letting the electronic hum wash over me whilst trying to keep the feeling of guilt down.
Why should I be guilty? Wasn't it obvious: when everyone started to turn into gamma monsters, and when they needed me the most, I ran away. I let my fear take over, and I turned my back on Leonard and Thor, and everyone else.
And I just had to remember T'Challa.
I could still see the panic in his eyes as he looked at me, and the horror in his voice as he said my name. He needed my help...and I ran away from him.
"Stop it, Briar." I looked up from the floor to the back of Banner's head. "I can hear you guilt-tripping yourself back there." Hawkeye turned his head to give me a look that said 'stop blaming yourself', but I couldn't take their words to heart. Not until everything as normal again and I could apologize to everyone.
"Your Skycycle collected quite a bit of data about the gamma energy the dome was putting out." Bruce spoke to Hawkeye, drawing the archer's attention away from me.
"SHIELD likes to be thorough—ow!" When Hawkeye had hovered close enough to Banner, said scientist nailed him in the aim with some type of gun. "Hey! What did you do that for?!"
"I just inoculated you." Banner calmly replied, moving away from the computer, "That will temporarily protect you from the Leader's gamma energy."
"Yay." I remarked dryly, wincing when he got me in the upper arm, "Could be worse."
"We're gonna have to do some of this en route; there's not much time." Banner informed us both as he quickly went around the room, collecting a few things and stuffing them into a duffel bag before passing it to Hawkeye. "The longer people are exposed to the energy, the more likely the changes will become permanent. I've located the epicentre of the dome: that's where the Leader will be with the gamma energy generator, that's what we have to destroy."
"Wow, you're just got all the answers, don't you?" Hawkeye commented sarcastically as he swung the bag onto his shoulder, "So how are we gonna get to the leader?" When Banner turned around, I went pale.
"The direct route." He answered, his eyes turning acid green.
Though five minutes later, it was worth travelling by Hulk, if only to hear Hawkeye let out a loud almost girlish scream.
######
You know, I was really kinda hoping for a remote way of shutting the dome down. Maybe it was my fear talking; an army of gamma monsters, plus gamma'd Avengers, was waiting on the inside, none all that friendly looking...and plain nasty too.
Or it could be that the fact of said army outnumbered us greatly, and the only people who had a chance of stopping this whole mess were an ex-SHIELD agent, a nuclear scientist with breathtaking anger management issues, and a girl with no extraordinary skill aside from being the damsel in distress. Peachy.
Either one, it took a bit of cajoling from Hawkeye (and a shove from the Hulk) to get me to enter the dome, and then we had to sneak past all the monsters before we even got close to the epicentre: a giant tower in the centre of Vegas.
"So how exactly do we get inside, without getting spotted?" I asked them both as we watched the entrance of the building. Quite a few monsters were gathered around there, making things a little bit difficult.
"Well, we'll need a distraction, of course." Hawkeye replied, and something told me that I wasn't going to like it at all. I opened my mouth to protest on being bait, but when a wet something pressed against the back of my neck, all that came out was a whimper.
"What is that breathing on me?" I asked softly, drawing their attention. Hawkeye immediately whipped around, an arrow ready to fire, but when he saw whatever it was behind me, he lowered his weapon with a laugh.
"Well, look who it is?" He chuckled, and an all too familiar whine greeted my ears. I nearly hurt myself in turning around, only to be tackle by a familiar white bundle of bouncy fu known as Voltaire! He was alright!...and not a monster. Why wasn't he a monster? Eh, never mind.
I almost wept in relief as he thrust his nose into my neck and began licking my face in happiness. My canine friend, not turned into a monster, was here safe and sound.
"Who's this?" Hulk questioned, drawing Voltaire's attention.
"Hulk, this is my dog Voltaire." I introduced as my dog stepped over to the green giant and sniffed his knees inquisitively. "Voltaire, meet the Hulk." Once finished sniffing his kneecaps, Voltaire merely sat at the Hulk's feet while said giant looked down at him.
"Hmm. Big dog." He commented after a few minutes.
"Nah, that's just his normal size." Hawkeye commented, "and now, I have a plan."
Oh, crap.
######
Thankfully Hawkeye's plan didn't involve us getting separated: he just fired an explosive arrow and the monsters followed the noise, leaving the entrance clear. Once inside, Hulk cleared the way, mostly by picking all of us up and jumping through the ceilings.
Right to the top floor, where the Leader was.
"You, with the head!" Hawkeye yelled as he leapt up through the hole, his bow prepped with an arrow aimed at the Leader. "Freeze." The rest of us soon followed, each ready to fight.
"I knew you would come eventually, my old enemy." The Leader remarked, speaking to the Hulk from his perch atop of a tall metal pillar-like control tower. "But you, of all people, must realize that this is for the best. In Gamma World, no one will hurt you, no one will try and cure you; you'd be a king! Everyone who hated you, who attacked you: they will be you! Are you really going to try and stop me?"
There was a short pause, and I briefly wondered if the Hulk would really buy into this. Then again, if I were him...no, not even the Hulk would sink to that level...would he?
"No. Not stop you." Hulk growled softly, making Hawkeye and I exchange a worried glance, "SMASH YOU!"
:Oh, ok. No problem here, then.: I almost sagged in relief, but managed to stay up-right; we couldn't afford to relax until the generator was down, and everyone back to normal. Till then, feel the burn.
"How disappointing." The Leader sighed as he folded his arms across his chest, "but not unexpected. Abomination." At his command an even bigger green giant, covered in scales, leapt from behind the Leader and his tower, heading straight for the Hulk. Barely in the nick of time, I dropped to the floor as the pair of them sailed over my head and slammed into the ground behind us.
"You ready, animal?" Abomination sneered as he pinned the Hulk to the floor. "With the Leader's tech I'm stronger than you; I'm smarter than you, and I'm gonna beat you to a—" Clearly the Hulk got fed up with him just talking and slammed both feet into the Abomination's face, sending him hurtling through the ceiling to the roof, with the Hulk not that far behind. Leaving the Leader to me, Hawkeye and Voltaire.
:I hate to jinx this, but where are the other Avengers?: my inner voice suddenly asked, and sent a terrifying chill down my spine. I turned to ask Hawkeye just as he let loose his arrow at the Leader's head—
-only for a familiar feline gamma'd Avenger to catch the arrow mid fly in his mouth.
"Uh, crap." I gulped as Gamma Panther spun round, snarling at the three of us while the other Avengers began to come forward to defend their 'leader'.
:Well, now we know where they are.: I pointed to myself meekly, swallowing the urge to throw up in fear. An act that was very difficult, seeing as we were facing down my brother, a super soldier, Wasp and a warrior king that I'm madly crushing on.
"You're either very brave or very stupid, archer." The leader commented over the soft snarls of his creations, "You are vastly outnumbered."To demonstrate his point, he wordlessly sent Wasp and Cap to fight us.
"That's ok." Hawkeye commented as the three of us leapt out of the way, "I've got an arrow for each of you." And true to his word, he fired an arrow into the both of them.
"What do you think you're accomplishing?" The Leader asked in exasperation, " you 'toys' cannot hurt my creations!" Please, Banner; let these things work!
"Yeah, I'm not a genius like you, or Starky here." Hawkeye replied, "so I found one, and he made me some new arrows." Wasp began to fly towards us, but then the arrow attached to her chest began to work. It started to glow a green hue as the gamma was sucked from Wasp's body into the arrow. The same happening to Captain America.
See, we realized that while the Avengers were monster, we had a very slim chance to none of reaching the Leader and/or shutting down the generator, so they had to be taken out of the equation. Hence, the new arrows. True, they would be unconscious afterwards, but that was a small price to pay.
"His name is Bruce Banner. Maybe you've heard of him?" Hawkeye further explained, almost gloating about the fact that we now had the upper hand on the bad guys.
"Indeed, I have." The Leader groused as he pressed a button in front of him, and whatever I was expecting to happen, this wasn't it! A glass dome appeared over his head as the tower lowered into the floor, revealing a very big battle suit.
"Great." I heard Clint mutter under his breath. As if Gamma Avengers weren't going to be enough of a problem.
"You take the Leader, we'll take the Avengers?" I offered quietly.
"Deal." Clint agreed and immediately fired two 'sucker' arrows into the air. The second Clint had the bow strong pulled back, Voltaire lunged forward with a snarl to spook the Devil, sinking his teeth into Panther's arm while I ran straight towards my brother.
"Sorry, Tony." I apologized before leaping onto his shoulders, plucking an arrow from the air at the zenith of my jump, just as Tony grabbed my ankle and yanked down hard. As I was pulled over his shoulder, I rammed the arrow head between the metal plates of his shoulders, the head catching on his skin immediately. At the sharp and unexpected pain in his shoulder, Tony let go of my ankle but I had picked up enough speed to still hit the ground and slid backwards on my stomach.
I barely had time to get to my knees before I was bawled over and pinned to the ground by T'Challa. I instinctively raised my hands, somehow managing to find a purchase on his shoulders in order to stop him from biting my face off. Throwing my head around, I caught sight of an arrow just within my reach, but that would mean pulling a hand away from the snapping Panther to grab it.
"You never make things easy, do you?!" I half spat in exasperation, my gaze flying back to the heavy beast above me, "Come on, T'Challa! It's me, Rose!" There was no chance in anything that T'Challa could regain his sense enough for me to catch a break, but that desperate hope of mine made me try.
While that hoped waited for a miracle, I managed to slid my forearm under his neck which now left the tricky part of actually pulling my hand away to grab the arrow. But there was no chance I could reach it with T'Challa snarling and drooling all over me (and I wasn't kidding about the drool!) and trying to eat my face.
"Dammit, T'Challa! Think!" I gasped, moving my head aside just before those very sharp teeth chomped my nose off, "Think!" Someone had to be watching over me tonight, because before he tried again, Panther's head flew back with a roar of pain. Taking the moment I snatched up the arrow and slammed it into his ribcage before quickly scurrying from underneath him.
As I looked back, I nearly burst out laughing when I saw the reason for my lucky break: Voltaire had bitten T'Challa right on his back side. Well, that'll be an interesting story when he wakes up later.
The humour was short-lived when a green laser blast shot past me. :Right, almost forgot about him.: I reminded myself as I got to my feet and ran to avoid getting hit by the Leader.
"My genius cannot be defeated!" The Leader declared as he continued to shoot at Hawkeye, "I've planned for every contingency!"
"Too bad you're such a lousy, Cucumber Head." Hawkeye insulted as he ran towards the Leader, "Starky, up and out!" Immediately I launched up onto the arm of the battle suit at the same time as Hawkeye, and the both of us leapt onto the glass dome and into the air, Hawkeye firing a rappel line onto the roof as I grabbed his leg, the both of us being pulled up and away.
We barely had out feet touch the ground before Hawkeye fired another sucker arrow at Abomination's forehead, draining the gamma radiation out of him, and allowing Hulk to get up and land a huge punch to his face that had him flying far away.
"Bye-bye, Blonsky." I couldn't help but say, getting a small smirk from Hawkeye before the sound of approaching rockets filled the air from behind is. Ugh, come on!
"We've got incoming!" Hawkeye warned as we ran to the Hulk's side just as the Leader 'graced' us with his presence. And he did not look at that happy about us taking out the Avengers and his heavy hitter.
"The three of you think you can defeat me?" He demanded angrily, "I have already calculated a thousand ways to destroy you all!" The heavens decided otherwise and dropped a stone-cased Absorbing Man right onto the Leader's head, knocking the suit over with the glass dome shattering.
A crash of thunder and lightning boomed across the sky as Thor floated above our heads, and sending a wave of relief over my body. Now all the Avengers were accounted for, and the best part was we had two powerhouses wide awake and ready to party.
"Somehow, I don't think he had a plan for that one." I whispered to Hawkeye, who chuckled under his breath before we returned to be serious.
"Destroy?" Thor questioned in fury, "You do not know the meaning of the word, Leader." Something about Thor's sentence made the Hulk huff in aggravation, or annoyance.
"You really wanna hurt the Leader? This is how." He then stomped over to the giant radiation generator, wrapping his arms as far around the base he could and started lifting. In the background, we heard the Leader scream in rage and pain, but the Hulk kept lifting till the generator broke and the gamma dome was gone, and finally pulled the entire thing free of the building and hurled it into space, never to be seen again.
As well all watched its path, the sky began to turn pink as the sun began to rise.
"You know something?" I asked out loud, "When I think of Vegas, this isn't what I pictured. Even when drunk." Hawkeye burst out laughing, if only because he knew that I don't drink alcohol all that often, or at all even.
We watched the sunrise a bit longer, till the sky turned a bright and welcoming shade of blue, before getting back to work. Speaking of which...
"It would have been glorious." The Leader spoke, thinking fondly of his waylaid plans as we hovered around his grotesquely huge head, "I was creating the perfect world, all in my image."
"That's the problem: you're ugly." Hulk threw back at him, the rest of us nodding in agreement. With the sun now up, I was able to create a solar sphere around our fallen enemies till reinforcements arrived to take them away.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat." I heaved out in a sigh, "I can't feel my brain anymore, I'm that tired."
"No kidding." Hawkeye spoke around a yawn as he stretched his arms out, "I could sleep for a month, after breakfast and a shower." OH, now that sounded like en idle plan!
"A sound idea." Thor agreed, though he still looked troubled, "but the other Avengers?" Before Hawkeye and could speak, someone began calling my name, and it was a voice I was very grateful to hear again.
"Rose?" I Panther's voice rang from the hole in the roof, "Rose?" Despite my tiredness and screaming limbs, I ran over and knelt by the hole in the roof. Sure enough T'Challa was awake and leaning against Voltaire.
"Hey!" I called down, catching his attention as I started climbing down the abandoned rappel line I wasn't even two feet off the ground before I dropped down and all but flew into his awaiting arms. Neither of us said anything as we held each other, my ear pressed against his chest and listening to his heart beat.
"Thank heavens, you are safe." He finally whispered into my hair then pulled back a little to see into my eyes, "When the gamma energy entered my mind, I prayed that I would not hurt you." I gave a weak little laugh when I remembered that I still had to tell him about Voltaire biting him...but that could wait till later. Instead I slid my arms around his shoulders and buried my face into his neck, as he arms encircled my waist and drew me even closer to his body, his nose burying into my hair and inhaling.
:Finally, everything is normal again.: My inner voice sighed, :Or till the next time we get attacked.: Either way, I was going to savour this moment for all it's worth...
"So, Starky, I guess this is Mr. Mysterious-who-visits-me-at-night you mentioned the other day?"
...until Hawkeye ruins it, the bugger.
######
Once word of the Leader being defeated and the dome gone was out, it didn't take long till the area was swarming with SHIELD agents. The Leader and the Absorbing Man were placed into containment tanks and carted away, and everyone that was turned into a gamma monsters was checked out by the medics and received a clean bill of health, lifting one worry from my shoulders.
"Feeling better?" I asked T'Challa as I sat beside him on the make shift exam bench.
"Much." He nodded. The corners of his mouth then began to twitch upwards as he fought back a smile, "Even the area where I received that unpleasant surprise from Voltaire." Said dog lowered his head and whined in apology, even though T'Challa was quick to forgive him with a affectionate pat to the head.
"It could've been worse." I said quietly, "A lot worse." I didn't say how, not that I needed too. The thought alone was terrifying enough. T'Challa understood that as well, and slipped his arm over my shoulders to pull me close against his side, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead in his usual silent way of comfort. I merely hummed softly in reply as I lay my head in the crook of his shoulder, breathing in his scent. And finally allowing myself the chance to relax.
Not that far away I could hear Quatermaine, Tony and Hawkeye talking. Something about the Black Widow and HYRDA, but I wasn't willing to pull myself out of my T'Challa-induced mind goop for something like that. I also heard Thor asking if he wanted to come back to the team.
"Err, I'll if Cupid stays." He replied, nearly making me choke on my tongue. Of all the nicknames Hawkeye despised the most, Cupid was right at the top on his list.
"You wanna go, Jade Jaws?!" Hawkeye snarled, once again getting into the Hulk's face, "Right here and now?! Let's do this!"
"And that's my cue." I sighed as I reluctantly pulled away from T'Challa and walked over to Hawkeye. Now that everything was over and done with, I remember that I have a bone to pick with the purple archer.
Quietly sidling up to him, I waited till he was in mid rant before pinching his ear in a painful grip and pulled his head down, eliciting a sharp yelp that had any male in listening range cringing.
"Clinton Barton, you slime ball of a butt-smear!" I stormed angrily, "You've got some nerve about lying to me!" Tony and Quatermaine winced: they both knew that not only was this going to end painfully, but they were also on the receiving end of my wrath, too.
They could be grateful for something, I guess, since I'm going to go easy on them.
And that they were all safe and sound...for the moment.
A girlish scream? Really Hawkeye? *ducks the arrow flying at head* Missed! Anyway, I'll try to have more chapters uploaded before New Years, but that may be a stretch, so stick with me here. Anyways, must dash if I'm to keep my promise! Bye-bye-bye!