Steve found Bruce outside and followed him to the emergency bunker. They stayed just long enough for Steve to confirm Tony was alive and to grab weapons, then Steve led Bruce back to the dining room as fast as he could.
It took all of his willpower not to run ahead and leave Bruce behind in his haste to confirm Clint and Natasha had escaped the Velociraptors.
Steve breathed a sigh of relief when they walked through the doors and saw Clint and Natasha running toward them.
"There's still one in the kitchen," Natasha said, pointing.
"Control room," Bruce said, backing away. He grabbed Natasha's hand and started to run. "We've got to reboot the system."
Steve took one look at Clint panting and picked him up again, chasing after the other two.
The control room's door was already open when they reached it. Steve set Clint down, and before Bruce could make a move toward the computer, Steve called him over.
"Natasha, Clint, boot up the door locks. Bruce, that raptor's going to be here any second. I need you to help me hold this door closed."
As if waiting for its cue, the Velociraptor appeared in the window of the door. Its breath fogged up the glass. The handle started to move. With a lurch, it popped open the door, unbalancing Steve. Steve's weapon flew from his grip, falling to the floor as he struggled to push the door closed.
"Bruce, I can't hold it by myself!"
Bruce snapped into action and helped Steve hold the door as the dinosaur forced it open several inches and tried to push its way inside.
Steve felt the gun knock against his foot where Clint or Natasha had slid it over, but he didn't want to risk letting go of the door handle to grab it. Even with two people holding the door, the dinosaur was incredibly strong and sweat trickled down Steve's neck from the exertion.
He vaguely heard Clint say, "It's a UNIX system," and Natasha's reply of, "I don't care," as she sat down and started to comb through files, before the Velociraptor's claws snaked around the edge of the door next to his own hand.
The claws forcefully retracted when Bruce pushed hard against the door, but the victory was short-lived, and they returned seconds later. Steve threw his shoulder against the door with all his might, and the Velociraptor shrieked. It retreated, the door slamming shut, and moments later, the door locks slid into place.
"Did it work?" Steve asked.
"Phones, computer systems… you name it, we've got it." Natasha said.
Steve immediately picked up the phone and dialed the emergency bunker.
"Rogers?" Hammond asked fervently.
"Mr. Hammond, the phones are working," Steve said.
"Are the children alright?" Hammond said quickly.
Steve smiled at the worried tone.
"They're fine. Call the mainland and have them send in the helicopters."
A large bang interrupted them. Steve dropped the phone receiver and turned toward the large glass window on one side of the control center. He raised the gun as the Velociraptor on the other side lined up and slammed against the glass again.
Steve pulled the trigger, three loud shots ringing out, cracks radiating out from the bullet holes in the glass. The Velociraptor darted away at the noise, but Steve had no doubts it would be back any second.
His gaze swept the room, zeroing in on a ladder propped against the far wall. Steve ran to it, and opened it. He yelled for the others to join him and ushered them up the ladder. Clint was the first up, and he pushed aside the metal grating of a ceiling vent, crawled inside, and helped the others to safety.
The Velociraptor crashed through the glass the second Steve made it into the vent. The sound of glass hitting the floor had hardly settled before Steve kicked the ladder down and they all started crawling toward what appeared to be a ventilation shaft. The metal tiles bent under their weight, but held.
Steve kept a close eye on Natasha, and it seemed Clint had the same idea. When the Velociraptor pushed its head up against the grating under Natasha, Steve was ready with a kick to the dinosaur's head. Clint hastily grabbed Natasha's arm to prevent her from falling.
The Velociraptor slipped and fell after the second kick, and for a terrifying moment, Natasha looked like she would crash through the hole with it. Clint's muscles trembled, trying to hold her weight, his feet sliding forward despite his best efforts. Bruce caught Natasha's other hand, helping to pull her up, and he yanked her leg out of reach as the Velociraptor jumped, its teeth gnashing through air only inches away from where her leg was.
They scrambled through the ventilation system and emerged in the main lobby next to several scaffolds overlooking the suspended bones of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Steve helped them climb from one landing to the next. They reached the bones, a shrill cry to their right alerting them to yet another Velociraptor approaching from the top of the main staircase.
The dinosaur snarled, crouching to jump.
Natasha climbed onto the tail of the skeleton; Bruce clambered onto the neck. Steve hauled Clint onto the back hanging onto one side of the fossil's ribs as the Velociraptor launched itself at them and clung to the opposite side. The wires holding the skeleton together broke with a snap, and the pieces started to spin wildly.
Steve lowered Clint as close to the ground as he could and dropped him. The bones holding Bruce and Natasha snapped and they tumbled to the ground. Steve held on for a second longer, the entire skeleton giving out around him as he fell on his back.
The growling surrounded them. The Velociraptor from before emerged from behind clear tarps on the other side of the lobby.
They were trapped.
Steve got to his feet and pulled Natasha and Clint behind him while keeping his eyes on one of the Velociraptors. He felt Bruce's hands on the back of his shirt, forcing the younger two to stay in the center of the circle where they were protected.
Steve's heart pounded in his chest as he stared at the predator in front of him. It crouched down with its tail held high in the air behind it for balance. Its eyes narrowed on its prey, snarling as it opened its mouth to display a full mouth of sharp, serrated teeth.
Steve couldn't help flinching away when it pounced.
But he shouldn't have worried; the T-Rex appeared out of nowhere, its jaws clamping around the Velociraptor's body mid-strike. They could hear bones cracking as it whipped its head back and forth. The Velociraptor dropped from its jaws, dead.
The other Velociraptor gave a shrill, furious cry then launched itself at the T-Rex's side, clamping onto the T-Rex's neck with powerful teeth.
"Steve, let's go!"
Natasha's shout brought him out of the moment, and Steve grabbed her hand, sprinting for the door. He held it open as Natasha flew past him, Bruce close behind dragging Clint.
The jeep carrying Hammond and Tony pulled up as soon as they were outside, and they wasted no time jumping into it and driving away.
Very little was said as they drove toward the helicopter, everyone breathing a sigh of relief when it came into view.
Bruce led Natasha over to the helicopter, and much to Clint's chagrin, Hammond insisted on carrying him over while Steve helped Tony. Clint and Natasha were exhausted, leaning into Steve and asleep before the helicopter had even taken off.
Tony stared out the window with a dumbfounded look, for once seeming like he didn't know what to say. Bruce shared a look with Steve and smiled, before his gaze was drawn back to Natasha and Clint. Steve glanced at them too, and he felt a swell of pride in his chest. He looked out at the water and found his own eyes closing shut.
It felt like Steve was being forcibly pulled from a deep sleep. There was an insistent tug of awareness forcing his mind to slog through the thick fog of exhaustion. The first thing he noticed was how heavy his body felt, like he had been weighed down, and his muscles didn't quite remember how to work. As they slowly clicked back online, his brain decided to catch up, and he became aware of the monotonous tick of several monitoring machines droning on in the background.
Steve's eyelids fluttered open, and he realized he was in one of SHIELD's hospital rooms, the curtains drawn tight around his bed. Several other monitors which weren't his own, beeped their own rhythm in the room also, and it was incentive enough for Steve to sit up and rub sleepily at his eyes. He blinked at the bright light, letting it chase away the beckoning darkness of sleep, and managed to swing his feet to one side of the bed.
The curtain abruptly swung open, and Steve smiled at what he saw.
Clint…adult Clint…was standing in front of him. He wore a pair of SHIELD issued sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt, a cowlick sticking straight up in the back of his hair. He bounced on his toes with nervous excitement.
"Oh good, you're up," Clint said. One hand came up to rub at the back of his neck, his fingers briefly pausing over his hearing aid. "This is gonna sound weird, but were we really all just in Jurassic Park? Or did I take one too many hits to the head?"
Steve was fully awake now and he jumped to his feet, ignoring Clint's protest as he grabbed Clint's hands and flipped them over to look for burn marks. He breathed a sigh when he didn't see any, and collapsed back onto the bed, all of a sudden feeling weak at the knees.
Everybody was going to be fine.
"Yeah, it was real," Steve said. He fell backward and stared at the ceiling. "I can't believe we made it out."
"That was awesome!" Clint said. He leaned into Steve's eyeline, his eyes shining and a bright grin on his face. "We got to see dinosaurs, Steve! Real dinosaurs in Jurassic Park!"
"You almost died."
Clint's smile dropped a little, and he sat on the edge of Steve's bed. "I almost die a lot. More than I think Natasha likes, but this was the first time I've gotten to touch a dinosaur. Imagine Fury's face when I tell him I touched a Brachiosaurus. He's gonna be so jealous."
Steve turned to give Clint a dubious look and caught the mischievous look in his eye.
"It was pretty cool, wasn't it?" Steve acquiesced.
"It was amazing!" Clint said. "We always said we wished we could see real dinosaurs, didn't we?"
He stood up and patted Steve on the shoulder as he moved on to bother someone else.
"Amazing," Steve repeated to himself.
As the shock started to wear off, and Steve heard Bruce, Tony, and Natasha's voices sounding off throughout the room, Steve allowed himself to smile.
Clint was right.
It was amazing.