Here's another chapter guys! Hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. Please review!
"Avengers. Time to work for a living." Stark told us, calling for everyone to head to the church. Pietro ran up next me when I made a move to take a truck that was abandoned on the road.
"Need a lift?" He asked. I raised an eyebrow at this.
"Oh, you're asking this time?" I sassed, referring to his habit of manhandle others. The silver haired man smirked.
"Is that a no, because you can always walk?" My face scrunched up at the idea of walking all the way there, I didn't think I could walk to the end of the street my feet felt so heavy.
"Or I could just take this truck instead."
"Eh, that is much too slow." I wanted to argue more because I didn't particularly like being picked up by what most would consider a stranger. But he was right, the faster we got there the better.
"Alright, let's go." I conceded, awkwardly letting him scoop me up, he hooked an arm under my knees and the other around my shoulders, pressing my head down on his shoulder so I wouldn't get whiplash. I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch the world spin and in a couple seconds he set me down on the concrete. I stumbled some so I rested a hand on his arm to regain my balance as my body caught up. I waited for the vertigo to make another appearance but it stayed back for the moment.
"You good?" He asked. I nodded and looked over towards Thor, Stark, and Vision who were already battling it out with some stray robots inside the broken down church. They weren't having any problems getting rid of them, easily breaking through them likes they were made of tin foil. Steve then flew out of nowhere and smashed the remaining robot into a useless pile of scraps.
Quickly I looked over my team members for injury, sighing in relief when I saw nothing life threatening. I wouldn't say we looked perfect, more like a rag tag team of misfits who've been roughing it in the wild for weeks, fighting off the local animals for survival. But again, we were alive.
Wanda ran and met up with Pietro her brown hair flying behind her wildly. Pietro rested a hand on his sister worriedly once he took in her haggard appearance. She looked ok, there was a new resolve in her eyes that reassured me that her previous hesitance was gone.
"Are you good?" The concern evident on his face, she nodded and place a hand briefly on his arm, checking his bullet wound which had stopped bleeding for the time being.
"Yeah." She replied, slightly out of breath. With a moment of peace I unlatched my inhaler from my belt and pulled my mask down my chin so I could get a good breath in. I closed my eyes at the relieving feeling that came with my medicine. My lungs sill felt strained from all the activity and of course getting the wind knocked out of me. But I was doing ok.
"Romanoff, you and Banner better not be playing hide the zucchini." Stark joked crudely when the pair didn't immediately arrive at the church.
"Relax, shell-head. Not all of us can fly." Came Nat's unimpressed response. It was difficult to gage how Tony was doing, his suit was a little banged up but nothing looked serious. Same with the Hulk, no missing limbs so I guess he was just fine.
Ultron didn't make us wait too long before he flew into view, just outside of the stone pavilion/church we were standing in. To my dismay he looked completely unharmed while the rest of us appeared to have wallowed in the dirt with the pigs. That's fine, it's completely comforting when the bad guy doesn't have a scratch on him after hours of fighting.
"Is that the best you can do?" Thor roared at the metal man. I wanted to smack myself in the head, who asks those kinds of things at a time like this? And where had he and Vision been this whole time? Seriously, it felt like he had just been completely absent most of the day. Sure I had heard him occasionally on the radio but it felt like our paths hadn't crossed once since we got here. Yes, I know they had been fighting Ultron but it was just odd to not see them once.
Ultron raised a hand, signaling for the rest of his awaiting army to spring forward. A sea of silver raged towards us, appearing out of the woodwork. Well, that's just great. Quickly, I stored my inhaler away and pulled my mask back up. The robots stopped a few paces away from us, waiting for Ultron's command to move forward.
"You had to ask." Steve said tiredly dropping into a fighting stance.
"I'll take that candy now Pietro." I said eyes wide with fear as I took in the sheer enormity of Ultron's army. Without taking his gaze off the army of robots he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of hard candy that he had stolen back in South Africa, wordlessly passing it to me.
"This, is the best I can do." Ultron commented smugly. "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me." His metal voice said, gesturing vaguely in our direction, "How can you possibly hope to stop me?" And with that the metal army surged forward.
"Protect the key!" Steve yelled springing into action. If the robots got the key in the middle of the church, then we'd be toast. Or rubble, either way we would hurdling back towards the ground. Immediately I created a dome around the key and prepared to defend it with my life. I didn't have time to watch in awe as the team pulled together as if we were a fluid machine, but in the back of my mind I made note of how incredible this all seemed. A few years ago, I never would have dreamed about a team of superheroes fighting together to save the world. That was the stuff of fantasy and movies. But now that was my life.
Anytime robot broke through our defense line I released a damaging pulse of energy that destroyed them before they got too close. And if they got past me, they weren't able to break through my shield. I smirked when one robot rammed itself so roughly into my barrier that it crumbled into scraps showering little pieces of metal in my direction. They were like hell bent kamikazes.
One bot came up from behind, blindsiding me. It knocked me off my feet and before I got the chance to stand back up another robot snatched me up and knocked me against a pillar jostling my still sore abdomen and head. I let out a pained cry as the grip around my throat threatened to fracture my trachea as the robot held me up against the pillar.
Thankfully, Vision flew by and hauled the robot away before it could do any real damage. Good thing too, I was starting to see little black dots. I landed on my feet, but the fall was higher than I was used to and I felt my ankle give. It didn't break, but it would probably be black and blue in the morning….assuming I made it to then. With a grunt, I rolled to the side and dodged a free flying piece of metal bashed a robot that came a little too close for comfort.
I lunged forward to avoid a falling robot and released a stream of energy to relieve Tony from the hoard of robots that had surrounded him. Then Wanda knocked out one that had flown right towards my head. Without waiting for a thank you, the Sokovian witch moved on to assist Clint fight off a couple bot crawling their way up the pavilion walls.
I shot up and raced to help Natasha get rid of one bot that was particularly persistent. The red head jumped on top of its shoulders and strangled it with her electrified wire, and when I came close I sent a jolt of energy through it to fry its systems. Nat gracefully pulled herself from the robot and then whipped out a pistol to shoot some unseen enemy behind me. I nodded to her in appreciation and then jumped in a fight with Cap.
All the while I was maintaining the shield around key.
The battle continued on much of the same. One of us would get knocked down, then another team member would come to the rescue and someone else would cover them. Time seemed irrelevant because it felt like we had been fighting for days but in reality that wasn't the case. I wanted to take a breather for a second, the air was getting thinner, my legs and arms burned from all the strain. But that wasn't an option.
I could barely make out the blurred form of Pietro as he weaved through the sea of robots, he was almost impossible to keep track of. The only way I knew he was there was if he paused long enough to be seen or if a robot randomly dropped dead in front of me.
And Thor was impressive as ever, wielding his hammer so easily and effortlessly striking down opponents with bolts of lightning. The power that emanated off of him was intense but it was reassuring instead of oppressive.
It was a godsend when Vision was able to blast Ultron out of the crumbling pavilion and he, Stark, and Thor rushed outside after him. The three of them ganged up on Ultron and simultaneously blasted them with everything they had. The trio bared down on the metal man, melting some of the vibranium off of his skull in a very Indiana Jones fashion, bringing him to his knees. When they finally relented Ultron staggered into a standing position and said,
"You know with the benefit of hindsight…" There was a monstrous roar and Hulk cut off Ultron and hit him so hard that he sailed out sight like the bad guys in cartoons. I cringed, brushing a hand over my stomach, remembering just how hard of a swing Hulk had.
Vision followed Ultron in a hot pursuit, most likely to make sure that he gone for good. This left the rest of us to mill around the church uselessly. Tiredly, I flicked my wrist in the general direction of the key and dropped the barrier around it, watching as my energy flickered out of sight. With a huge sigh, I slumped down onto one of the steps and stretched my sore ankle out in front of me.
Things were quiet for a couple minutes as we caught our breaths. It was eerily silent with only our heavy breathing and some feet shuffling to break it up. Wanda leaned against a wall for support and closed her eyes letting the weary expression fall from her face. The others fared pretty similar; Clint and Nat hung onto each other for support, and even Thor's chest was moving up and down quickly to compensate for the loss of oxygen. To put it simply, we looked rough.
"We gotta move out. Even I can tell the airs getting thin." Steve said to us, still puffing from exertion. His skin seemed three shades darker with all the dirt and dust stuck to it.
"You're telling me." I grumbled, struggling to not draw attention to how short of breath I was. Steve sent me an apologetic look and continued.
"You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers. Be right behind you." He informed us, nobly taking the position to stay behind.
"What about the core?" Clint asked gesturing towards the key, I noticed he was subtly favoring his leg. I looked over at the key, it was still a danger to us if we couldn't get out of the city on time.
"I'll stay." I suggested, standing up and hobbling towards the core on my stiff ankle. It made sense, I could easily keep it safe and with no one else around I could focus solely on this.
"Sarah no, the air's getting too thin. I can tell you're having problems." Cap said firmly causing me to frown. I hated when they mentioned my asthma like I didn't know how to handle it. And I was doing fine thank you very much!
"I'll be fine." I defended, even though I knew he had a point. But it just didn't feel right about leaving anyone else here when I could easily do it myself.
"I'll protect it." Wanda offered, she was already standing directly next to the core. "It's my job." I saw Hawkeye nod approvingly and he walked over to me and grabbed my upper arm gently.
"Come on kiddo. Quit trying to be a martyr." He said leading me out of the crumbling space.
"I'm not trying to be a martyr! That would suggest that I plan on dying." I complained, scowling at Clint's word choice.
"Sure, sure." He replied dismissively, "Nat?" Clint called out gesturing for her to come with. The three of us trudged to an abandoned car that still worked and Nat helped Clint and me into the car.
It was eerie driving through a deserted city, there were fallen buildings, mangled robots and sadly dead citizens. Oddly enough, I didn't have the usual pit in my heart that tugged at my tears when I saw dead people. I guess I was so physically and mentally exhausted that I couldn't work up much a response as I had before.
I leaned back and rested my head on the seat. It didn't feel like it was over yet, maybe this was just a lull before Ultron's back up army came in and he appeared in a new body ready to go. Clint and Nat seemed pretty relaxed at the moment, so maybe we were in the clear. Then again, they were spies so they could be faking it.
Clint brought the car to an abrupt halt, throwing it in park. There were Sokovians filling to the rescue ships but it looked like they were the last of them. The other boats had already pulled away, this was probably the only one left.
"We don't have a lot of time." Clint pointed out.
"So get your ass on a boat." Nat told him as it were obvious, which it was. The red head hopped out of the vehicle, and helped me limp my way over to Clint who grabbed hold of my arm again. "I'll be back, I'm gunna find Bruce." She informed us before sprinting off. Where did she get the energy to do that? It made me tired just watching her.
"Alright, let's get you on a boat." He placed my arm over his shoulder and supported most of my weight to take the pressure off of my ankle. We made an awkward pair, both had our walking in paired by some injury or another so getting to the boat took a painful amount of time. When all of this was said and done I'm gunna look like how a punching bag feels…well I feel that way too. I should have taken more meds earlier.
We were the last ones to load up, SHIELD agents and local policemen helped us aboard and I couldn't wait to plop down in one of those cushy looking chairs and sleep for days.
"Costel!" A young women screeched in fear. Clint and I whipped around towards the noise, ready to jump into action yet again. I saw a little boy around ten, maybe younger huddled on the ground on the other side of the street. Barton huffed and hesitated for a moment before he let go of me and took off to retrieve the boy. He was probably thinking about his own son. Alright just this one last hurdle and then we could go home.
It was then that a rogue jet appeared in the sky, that's odd I thought that SHIELD had already pulled back its forces to the helicarrier. Then it began shooting a stream of bullets down getting closer and closer to Clint and the boy with each second. Ultron, I realized fearfully as my heart dropped to my stomach. No. no, no, no, no, no, no this couldn't be happening! We were so close!
"Clint!" I screamed as I tried to warn him, but it was too late he had nowhere to go. The archer turned his back on the heavy fire in an attempt to shield the boy. My heart stopped as I saw a grey streak heading towards the pair and I remembered that Pietro isn't always fast enough to dodge bullets. No more accidents, I thought as I rushed forward on my damaged ankle, hoping I would be quick enough. The policemen tried to hold me back from leaving the boat, but I harshly pushed them aside with a wall of energy, they could forgive me later.
There was another scream from behind me, no doubt the girl who had originally cried out for the boy, and thrust my arms out in front of me, feeling as the energy in body flew away from me faster than it ever had before. It was disorienting to say the least.
I looked on in bated horror as I waiting for the dust to clear. I had felt the bullets hit my shield but was it enough? Was my barrier even enough to withstand a high powered assault weapon right now? My abdomen felt as if it were tearing from the strain I was putting it through because of my outstretched position, and even though I wasn't balanced directly on my ankle, with my current weakness I felt myself faltering. My breathing was rough and haggard and the thin air finally began to catch up with me. But it was all worth it when I saw the boys safely wrapped in a translucent bubble of energy.
Ultron didn't attempt to attack us again, instead using our stunned selves as an opportunity to high tail it out of there. I waited until he was far enough away to drop the protective covering around the boys when I felt it was safe. But the recoil of energy slapped me so hard I collapsed, not into unconsciousness, just onto the ground.
Or at least I would have, but Pietro had zipped over and caught me. Gingerly he scooped me up like before and peered down at me, the concern plastered on his face.
"You were supposed to get on the boat." He scolded, I could tell though he was only worried. He was one to talk! He should have been on the boat already too!
"No, my job was to protect the Sokovians," I wheezed out, "you're from Sokovia aren't you?" I explained practically. Pietro laughed and I could feel it shaking though my body, it hurt a little.
"Yes, well you are going on the boat now. I have to go back and get Wanda."
"No need." Clint commented as he walked up beside us carrying the boy like a fireman. "Vision picked her up, she's on a separate life boat." Pietro nodded, relief emanating off of him and eagerly moved onto the boat.
"I leave you guys for ten minutes…" Steve said coming up behind us, disbelief etched on his features. I gave him a weak smile that he couldn't see and Clint just shrugged nonchalantly. The archer set the boy down when we got closer and the kid ran to a crying blonde woman.
"You can put me down now, it's making your arm bleed again." I told Pietro as he walked us on board but he shook his head.
"My arm is fine, you are not and…" He started, "we are here. See no harm done." He finished setting me down onto a chair across from Clint. I sighed as I relaxed down in to the seat, not bothering to argue that actually there was harm done because his arm was bleeding again. Pietro slumped down next to me and stretched out his long legs in front of him. They were vibrating slightly and twitching every now and then, I guess it was a side effect from overuse.
He was sitting so close our arms were touching, my lithe one against his boulder of an arm. I pulled out my inhaler and quickly sucked in a couple puffs for good measure, absentmindedly I took note that I would have to get a refill soon. I didn't bother to put the filter mask back on and tossed it on the seat next to me.
"It's been a long day." Clint muttered as he laid down across the bench, he looked like he could pass out any second now. A 'long day' was putting it mildly. Was it possible for today to be worse than the attack on New York?
Steve was talking quietly with some of the officers, about what I didn't know. Whatever it was, it ended with a couple laughs and pats on the back before Steve moved into a seat and settled down.
I could hear the curious murmurs of the Sokovian refugees but they respectfully didn't approach us, instead keeping to themselves and chatting quietly. It's not like I would have been able to understand them anyway, I should probably learn Sokovian. I'll put that on my to-do list for later, I thought sleepily. I closed my eyes and allowed myself a moments' rest.
"Wake me up if something happens." I muttered to Pietro. When he didn't respond immediately, I peeked an eye open and found that he was slumped in his seat fast asleep. A small smirk worked its way on my face and leaning back I fell asleep too.
"Hey, wake up." There was poking sensation on my cheek and I made an agitated noise before shifting closer to the wall I was leaning against. I didn't want to get up yet, I think I was too tired to even open my eyes at this point.
"No, no more sleep. Wake up." The poking continued and I sleepily smacking the hand away.
"Sarah, if you want to snuggle up to the Maximoff boy you can do it when we get to the debriefing room." I recognize the voice as belonging to Clint and slowly cracked an eye open. Barton was standing in front of me, his arms crossed as he waited for me to get up.
"What?" I asked groggily rubbing my abused cheek. I glimpsed to my left and saw Pietro grinning down at me.
"Comfortable?" He snickered.
"Shut up." I mumbled as I lifted my head off his shoulder. "What's going on?"
"We dropped off the civilians on the ground at the refugee camp SHIELD's setting up and we just landed on the helicarrier deck." Clint explained.
"Oh, ok." I replied fatigued.
"Come on kiddo, let's get moving." Clint held out his hand and hauled me up. I hissed in pain when I put pressure on my bad ankle forgetting that it was injured.
"Why does nobody else seemed to be hurt?" I grumbled gingerly tapping my foot on the ground to test its limits. I don't know why I said that, obviously the other members had sustained injuries, I was just a baby that couldn't handle a little pain and had to complain.
"I got shot remember." Pietro piped up pointing to his arm. I hummed a response glaring at the offending appendage. It had stopped bleeding, and with his enhanced metabolism the wound was probably close to being healed.
"Yeah, yeah let's get a move on, the faster we do this the faster I can grab a sandwich and go to sleep." Clint interjected placing his hand on the small of his back, popping the spine into place. "Will you be good to walk?" He asks eyeing my ankle.
"Depends how far we have to go." I shrugged, I could feel it starting to swell. We should hurry up so I can get some ice and elevate it.
"I can carry you." Pietro offered looking like he was trying to stifle another smile.
"Ah, ah, ah." Clint interjected stepping between the two of us and moving Pietro a couple feet away. "No touchy, touchy Maximoff." The Sokovian smirked but held his hands up in mock surrender. I rolled my eyes at Barton's antics.
We shuffled along the deck, trudging slowly with Clint once again helping me. He wasn't limping too much anymore so maybe he had just rolled it a little bit. Pietro hadn't dashed ahead yet so even all his energy had a limit then, I noticed smugly.
There were agents hustling around, some glancing at us curiously but like on the boat no one approached just yet. Well all except for the med team. They brought out a wheelchair and I immediately protested.
"Barton if you make me get in that thing-"
"You'll what?" He teased back cutting off my empty threat before I could think of something good enough to say.
"I already feel like an invalid as is." I pouted hoping he would take pity on me. Clint smirked and shoved me down into the chair, taking it from the agent.
"Welcome to my world." He grumbled. I gave a short laugh even though I wasn't happy about been carted around. Not that I would admit it, but I was kinda relieved that I could relax a little.
"So what happens now?" Pietro asked, warily watching the agents walking beside us.
"Fury has ordered for us to bring you straight to the briefing room, no stops." One of them answered.
"Not even to go to the bathroom? I've been holding in for hours." I groaned. Clint grinned tiredly and patted my shoulder.
"Well dear, I told you to go before we left." Clint tutted. Pietro was being oddly silent, he had a frown on his face but it looked more like he was masking nervousness. It reminded me of my first time walking onto a SHIELD base where everything was big and new and intimidating.
"Where's Steve?" I asked finally realizing that he hadn't gotten off the boat with us. I became a lot less observant the more exhausted I was.
"He left as soon as we landed on the carrier, wanted to talk to Fury about something before we all met back up."
"Oh." Didn't that guy ever take a break?
The agents led us down the twists and turns of the vaguely familiar halls. I hadn't been on one of these since 2012, but everything looked relatively the same. They took us up to one of the upper decks and led us into a room that I knew all too well. It was the debriefing room we had used during the Battle of New York.
Clint waved off the agents and pushed us through the door. I leapt from the wheelchair ignoring my aching body when I saw Thor standing in one piece.
"You're safe!" I exclaimed scrambling over to the man before throwing my arms around his necks hugging him close to me. He hunched downwards awkwardly to compensate for the height difference between us so I didn't have to stand on my tip toes.
"Yes, Lady Sarah I am alive and well." Thor proclaimed happily. "You saw me only half an hour ago, were you truly that worried for my wellbeing?"
"I'm always worried about y'alls wellbeing." The Asgardian patted my head affectionately and I squeezed him tighter. I didn't realize just how worried I was until I saw him here, in this room. It just brought everything home because everything just screamed New York.
"I'm just glad you're ok." I confessed. I pulled back a little just so I was able to pepper his cheeks with kisses not caring that they were covered in sweat, dirt and blood. Thor gave me a huge smile and he beamed at the attention.
"Hey, I'm fine too. Where are my kisses?" Stark asked as he sauntered/limped into the room void of his Iron Man suit. I laughed and wiped the tears away from my eyes as I detached myself from Thor.
"Sorry, Stark none for you." I teased. Tony pouted a little, I laughed lightly and made my way over to give him a peck on the cheek. He looked tired and he had raccoon eyes, and his wrinkles were more pronounced.
Barton had found his way to a chair and had his head buried in his arms as he attempted to block out the lights. Pietro was anxiously pacing at a typically normal speed, but it was so slow for him it was obvious he was exhausted.
"I'm glad you're safe too Tony." Stark grinned and leaned back in his chair happily.
"Sarah, you should sit down." Clint instructed kicking out a seat for me. "You look awful." He added with a small grin. I snorted and slowly lowered myself down.
"It's a wonder why you have a wife, Barton." I tossed at him even though I followed his suggestion.
"Where are the others?" I inquired looking around the rest of the room and noticing absent team members.
"Present." Nat claimed as she trudged into the room, followed closely by Vision and Wanda. I smiled happily at the sight of my relatively unharmed teammate.
"Wanda!" Pietro breathed in relief as he sped to his sister's side. He cupped her cheek and kissed her forehead tenderly, I looked away from the intimate scene giving the twins their privacy. I watched Nat take a seat next to Clint, he gave her a once over but she waved away his concerns with a quick, "I'm fine."
Vision glided around the room sticking to the outskirts instead of directly interacting with the team. He kept his face cleared of emotion but I could feel the nervous energy coming off of him. It was the same energy that the Maximoffs were exerting now. They had chosen to sit at the other side of the table as far away as they could be without leaving the vicinity and were speaking softly to one another in Sokovian. Wanda looked exhausted, her dark eye makeup was smudged into rings around her eyes and she was littered with little cuts and bruises that matched the rest of the team.
The space was filled with a quiet hum as we all had the chance to finally relax, whatever it was that Fury had to tell he better hurry before we all pass out. I really needed to go to the bathroom, and get some water, and some food. And a shower. That'd be nice.
The after battle feeling was one of the most peaceful yet chaotic sensations that I've ever felt. You feel relieved that everything turned out ok, that you survived, and that your friends were still alive. Then there's the feeling of elation that you won and that you saved all these people. Which then brings a huge feeling of accomplishment.
But the comfort you feel gets muddied and tarnished by the incredible sadness and loss and guilt you feel for all of the people who you couldn't protect, those you couldn't save. I think there's a name for that…survivor's guilt. You see the happy faces of the civilians you were able to reunite with their families but you also hear the screams of agony of the dying.
On top of that, the withdrawal from adrenaline beats down on your already exhausted and weary body. It's a miracle that I was able to even to drum up enough energy to stay awake. Not to mention the strain that fighting puts on my respiratory system. I couldn't count the number of times I had to duck behind a building for a few minutes to pull it together. I was trying to not to think too much at the moment, if I got too overwhelmed it could trigger an attack and in my current pathetic state I couldn't begin to fathom how detrimental that would be.
"So I'm thinking we skip the shawarma this time." Natasha said casually.
"As long as we eat, I don't really care." Clint replied, not moving his head from its placement on his arms.
"I was rather looking forward to feasting upon the shawarma from New York." Thor commented, looking glum at the change of plans.
"What is shawarma?" Pietro asked appearing mildly interested.
"It's a sandwich, you can get it as a wrap too, but it's a Middle Eastern food. It's good." Clint informed him.
"I thought it was Mediterranean?" Tasha asked conversationally. Clint shrugged.
"I looked it up and it said Middle Eastern."
"You looked it up?" Nat said in amusement.
"Hey I was bored, sue me."
"Why do you need to have this shawarma?" Wanda asked curiously.
"It's kinda tradition now, Tony usually orders it to the tower after we have missions." I answered. "I think Bruce said something about getting sushi next time though."
A thought occurred to me suddenly, not everyone was all accounted for. My head whipped up from where I as laying on my arms on the table and my eyes darted around the room frantically.
"Where's Bruce?" The others blearily looked up at me but I focused on Natasha whose face was too passive for it to be a good thing. The last she said before we separated was that she as going to go get him, but the awkward doc wasn't here.
"Nat?" I prompted my blood pumping hard in my vein anxiously. She said she was going to get him before we got on the boat. So where was he? "You said you were going to get him right before we left."
The Russian met my eyes briefly before settling on the table. I swallowed nervously. There was an easy answer for this, something simple.
"He's just in the bathroom or something right?" I didn't know what was so bad that she couldn't give me an answer. My heart dropped as I came to the realization that Bruce didn't make. But that wasn't possible! My breathing headed towards the hyperventilation side as my mind began to whirl with depressed emotion.
"Is he dead?" I cried placing a hand at the base of my neck, as tears blurred my vision. And the easy going feeling from earlier whittled out. The rest of my team stared at Natasha, all beginning to fear the worst.
"Tasha." Clint prodded gently.
"He left, ok." The spy said harshly. "And he isn't coming back."
"What? What do you mean he just left? Left to where?" I asked heartbrokenly. We were supposed to stick together, thick and thin, no matter what! I always felt that Bruce and I were kindred spirits, both of us nervous about using our abilities, he more so than I but still! He and I weren't fighters like the rest, he was the one who understood what I was going through. He knew what it was like to be scared of yourself.
"He hijacked a plane, put it on stealth mode, and rode off into the sunset." Nat said sardonically with a shrug. She had a casually tone but she was closer to Bruce than I was, I knew she was in pain.
"He wasn't handling South Africa well." Steve stated solemnly. When did he get here?
"He didn't have to leave." I quavered rubbing the tear tracks from my cheeks. God, I was a blubbering mess lately! Can't even keep it together for longer than a few minutes.
"He's always been a loner, nothing new about that." Tony reminded seemingly completely unfazed. I gawked at him with wide eyes.
"But we're family." I stressed sadly.
"Bruce knows that. He's probably just taking time to collect himself." Clint reasoned rationally.
"Yes, our green friend will be back in no time!" Thor added optimistically, but even his ever present confidence seemed to be waning. Shakily I ran a hand through my tangled hair. Every battle we lost someone, I don't know why I'm so surprised anymore.
"But we can track him down right? He can't just be off the grid!"
"That's kind of what stealth mode in tales Sarah." Natasha said scathingly.
"Tasha." Clint warned.
"Bruce will be fine, he's been off on his own before. Don't worry about it." Steve told me with a small smile. It looked like it was painful for the expression to be on his face.
"Yeah but he-"
"I'm glad to see you're all settled in." Fury commented as he made his appearance ending our conversation on Bruce for the time being. Maria was right on his heels, striding into the room with her electronic pad in hand.
"I know you're all too tired for chit chat this time folks so I'll make it short." Getting right to the point I see, no witty banter or anything. I guess we weren't the only exhausted ones in the room. For now, I put away my distressed thoughts about Bruce and decided to focus on it later. I wiped the rest of my tears away in frustration and steeled myself for this conversation. I wasn't ready to let this go, but I could put a pin in it for now.
Fury stood at the table between Thor and Steve, we had taken up the entire table so the former director had to stand. He had a couple small scratches on his cheeks, but other than that he was fine. Same went for Maria, it looked like they were able to avoid any major fighting thankfully.
"We're moving you to a SHIELD training facility in upstate New York for the time being. Once again the world is in fear of what the Avengers are capable of, so we're taking you out of the public eye for a while." Fury explained. It made sense, I mean why wouldn't everyone be afraid of us? We just created a psychopathic murderous sentient robot that lifted a city into the sky in hopes of demolishing the earth. Turning to the twins Fury asked,
"Are you two staying in Sokovia, or are you with us?" A silent conversation passed between the Maximoffs as the two stared at each other. They were having a quick telepathic discussion which on the outside was just a myriad of facial expressions.
"We will go with you to New York." Pietro stated finally placing his arm around Wanda. Fury nodded and if he was pleased with their decision he didn't show it.
"When do we leave?" Steve asked crossing his arms over his chest.
"Immediately, Maria will take you to where you can grab some rest and medical attention. We'll be in New York in a few hours. Now, I have to go persuade the UN away from arresting you all. Try not to make any more stupid ass decisions alright?" That last part was directed mores so at Tony than the rest of us it seemed.
"What about clean up? And the refugees?" Steve asked.
"SHIELD will deal with it, for now your priority is to go off the grid." Maria told us. Right "off the grid", code for go hide and save your asses while we try to fix the huge mess you just made.
"You mean go into hiding." Clint muttered. Fury didn't respond, but we all knew that's what was going on. Save the world yet again and you're still on everyone's shit list.
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