"My Lord Schmidt!" Alexander called and rode his horse next to Skull's.
"We are approaching the canyon sir. The Iron is not far," he reported.
"Wonderful… I do hope Stane is ready. This one will be for the history books," Red Skull smirked as they entered the canyon, not even bothered by the many rocks and river.
"We're here," Wanda whispered and slowed the horse down.
"You sure they're alright?" Sharon asked as they got off the steed.
"…I have lost contact. We simply must believe they are," Maximoff gave a small smile before the two snuck to the wall.
Making sure there weren't many guards, Scarlet focused as a red light surrounded her and Carter, teleporting them inside.
"Hey, easy…" Sharon caught the witch, who was feeling dizzy.
"It was… my first try."
"Well it worked. Now, to get to work…"
"Ugh…" Nat groaned, her whole body hurt and her head was burning up. She couldn't even really open her eyes, but felt she was moving.
"James… Where… we going…?" she asked weakly, leaning her head on the man's back.
Clint sighed relieved. "Oh. Hey. Good, you're awake. I'm sorry, I'm not James - he's searching the Red. You got poisoned, and we're currently looking for Doc banner. But i guess it's a good sign that you're awake." He moved as fast and careful as possible through the forest, every now and then controlling if he still was on the right path. "Try to stay awake."
Roughly an hour after they started to search for the Doc, they got close to the next town, and Clint took a deep breath. Running around for an hour while carrying a person was a bit exhausting, even when the person wasn't heavy at all. "Now...if i were Doc Banner, where would i stay..." he mumbled more to himself, when he heard someone cough in the house a few meters from their position. Clint was glad that it was mostly dark, and walked over to said house to knock. When someone opened it, he had already put his hood on and covered Natasha's hair. Who knew if they were already searching for them here?
"Is Doctor Banner here?"
The woman who had opened the door, nodded and let them in. "He is in room three" she announced. Obviously he was in a hostel. Clint thanked and walked upstairs, knocking on door three. "Doc Banner? We need your help. My friend got poisoned." The door got opened and a hand waved them in. Banner was sitting over some documents and dried herbs and turned around when Clint closed the door.
"Lay your friend on that bed there. I will see what i can do. Symptoms?"
"Fever, getting unconscious. Doc-"
"Don't worry. Nothing happening in this room will leave it."
Steve gulped, knowing exactly where the place was. Then he took a deep breath. "Well, just don't fall again..." he mumbled to Bucky, "because this time i would follow you." He meant what he had said. "Well, i believe we have a canyon to observe." Steve then said and walked into the direction where he knew said canyon to be.
James let out a small chuckle as the trio started heading towards the canyon. He sensed Sam's awkwardness and discomfort and smiled.
"C'mon Wilson, scared?"
"Me? No. It's you two who have history with this place," the Falcon rolled his eyes but smiled.
"Besides… I'm thinking about my last wish."
"And why's that?"
"Well, I'm following you two – legends – to search for Reds who are probably in large numbers. I'm pretty sure one of you will do something and we'll have to fight. And 3 against hundred isn't really nice…" he explained and sighed.
"You worry too much!"
"Don't make a last wish. It would jinx you. Besides, it only makes sense to make your last wish in your last moment" Steve added. "Also, have some more faith in us, please. We can play stealthy and observe. Even I am not dumb enough to head into a fight against a whole army without a plan or backup."
"…Somehow I'm not convinced," Sam scratched his cheek.
"I mean, I've heard stories about what you did back in your day… And I saw him doing his stuff for a few years… Reckless is your middle name," Wilson grinned, and gave a semi-apologetic look.
"Hey! I always had a plan. But he'd charge into a heavily guarded fortress without an actual strategy," James grinned while Sam kept himself from laughing.
"Hard to believe we'd even live this long… Wish I could have said 'goodbye' to the others…" Barnes said more quietly, cursing the magic which gave him and Steve their long lives.
"...that actually could work. I will ask Jane if she can take over this" Thor gestured to the wounded soldiers "and go into the town in disguise, listen for rumors, start some." the mage was finished with patching Rhodes up.
"Great! I'll see if I can find any more information in the castle!" Tony waved goodbye before rushing out of the med-bay.
"We're so going to get caught won't we…" Rhodes sighed.
"You know how it is. Tony's ideas are always more harmful to others," Pepper shook her head.
"I have noticed that too" Thor mumbled, before standing up. "I will go now. Jane is alerted to take care of the wounded soldiers, she will arrive soon." And with that Thor left them to go and start the...sort of plan.
"Mhmmm…" Nat didn't really hear the part about 'not James' so she kept thinking it was him.
"Poisoned?" she asked weakly, swallowing hard. That'd explain why everything was so numb…
"Sure… as long as you… keep watch Barnes…" she smiled and made herself more comfortable and before she knew it, she fell asleep.
The next thing she felt was being moved somewhere else and slowly opened her eyes. There was hardly any light and she saw two figures.
"James…? Wilson?" her throat was dry as she tried to move, but everything hurt.
"Where… are we…?" she knew they weren't at the camp. There was no fire, no noise and she was somewhere soft.
Bruce looked questioningly towards Clint, who rubbed the back of his head. "Listen, Natasha. Barnes and Sam are searching the Red army, together with Steve. You got poisoned and Doc Banner will heal you." He looked at the Doc, as if asking 'You will, right?' After Banner nodded, Clint continued to talk. "We currently are in Makengord, a town like village, an hour long run away from the position where we left Rumlow." As Clint was talking, Bruce started his treatment. After a while, he sat up and looked over to the person more conscious. "She will get through. Just needs some sleep now, the herbs, balm, and medicine will do the rest."
"When can we leave?"
"Now. Just let her sleep. I don't know if she wants to sleep in a saddle or on your back, though."
"Natasha?" Clint re-directed the last sentence of the Doc to the red-haired woman.
Natasha was only half listening, as her head was pounding. She bit her lip to try and keep the pain under wraps, but it hardly helped. The events in her head were all mixed up and she couldn't even properly remember what happened to Brock.
She soon felt someone putting water on her and apparently helping with the pain. As Romanoff became more self-aware, she could see the two faces.
"Banner? Barton?" she asked as if not believing her eyes.
But before she could do anything, all of what was left of her energy was used up and she collapsed onto the bed, eyes closed and chest slowly rising and falling.
"...great..." Clint sighed and Banner chuckled. "Here. Take this and apply it to her neck and temples. Should ease the headache she's going to have later on when she wakes up."
"Thanks Doc...How can i repay you?"
"You? Not we?"
"Well, the other parts of the 'we' are either sleeping or doing something else, but aren't here."
"Ah, understood. You owe me a favor. I will find you and ask for the favor when i need it, but until then our paths depart here."
"Thanks again, Doc."
"Yeah, yeah. Take care of her. And don't get caught stealing a horse."
"Me? Never." And with that Clint had Natasha on his back and carried her out of the house. He hid her behind a tree and got to steal a horse - which was easier said than done, but he managed. Having a horse now he hurried back to where he had left the Black Widow and sat her on the horse's back, before mounting it himself. Then he took off to...well, he didn't knew exactly where, but back to the direction they came from. They would find the others eventually...
"Alright Wanda, how do we do this?" Sharon asked, the two making their way across the yard.
"Find some people who would believe and be believed, while at the same time not caring who actually said it," Maximoff explained before she stopped dead in her tracks.
"Wanda?" Carter put a hand on her shoulder in worry.
"I sense a great power… Magic power…" the witch was shaking slightly.
Thor, on the other side of the town, had just spoken (in disguise, complete with illusion and all) to a bar owner, froze as soon as he had left the building. This great power...it wasn't foreign. He knew it from some days ago when the rebels where in the castle...The mage narrowed his eyes. He had to go and find out what their plan was. The rebels were still known for hating the Iron Kingdom, so it could be possible that they were here to kill Prince Antony - which he had sworn to protect at his father's grave. It was one of Howard Stark's last wishes. So, he made his way to the source of the magic power.
"I had a strategy. It was called attack at that time, and Dugan was on my side" Steve defended himself. "We dubbed it 'Knocking on the door', and that's what we did." He got more serious and sad though when Buck spoke about their friends, who all had already passed on.
"It's a curse, yeah. But they would have our asses if we would give up, so better carry on." Steve said, before standing still. "Do you hear that? Sounds like...a whole army...can be an illusion thanks to the acoustic of the dungeon, but it sounds like thousands of feet marching..."
Sam and James stopped as Steve spoke. The assassin got on one knee and put his ear on the ground, while the Falcon climbed a tree.
"I can't see much… but smoke is rising around the canyon…" Wilson called down.
"There are a lot of them… 8.000 at least…" Barnes muttered, standing up and casting his eyes towards the canyon.
"We should check it out. Just on the edge. See what we're really up against," Sam said as he was back on the ground.
"Agreed," the Winter Soldier nodded before the trio headed closer to the canyon.
And when they arrived, they could hardly believe what they were seeing.
"This…" Wilson felt chills up his spine as he couldn't properly speak.
"It's insane…" Barnes finished for him.
"The Iron can't handle this. Not with Stane keeping all the knights out of the city," Bucky got to his feet and sensed something just in time to pull Wilson out of harm's way when an axe was slammed down.
"Of curse… sentries," the assassins frowned, seeing the 15 armed men.
"Surrender!" the enemy ordered, weapons at the ready.
"Sam… get to the others… Tell them what's coming," Bucky whispered eyes steady and his sword and dagger already in hand.
"What are you saying?" Wilson looked wide eyed.
"They need to know. They need to be ready. We'll buy you time. GO!" horns could already be heard from the canyon as the armada knew someone was here.
"We should not be here," Wanda swallowed and quickly took Sharon by the arm, pulling her away and out of the main yard.
"Wanda, hey, what's wrong?" Carter asked, barely keeping up with the witch.
"I have felt this magic before. It belongs to the Kingdoms court wizard – Thor. If he sees and finds us, we have small chances of survival," Maximoff whispered and made her way to the graveyard. She always felt safer, stronger there.
Nat was still asleep, but slowly coming back. In that time, she kept mumbling in her sleep, as the past few days came rushing back.
"Idiot…" she whispered, hugging Barton tighter.
"Don't… die…" her voice was breaking a bit.
"…thank you…"
"Just for the record" Steve said, readying his sword and shield, "It's not me this time who runs head first into them. They came to us."
Then the sentries charged at them.