Characters: Natasha & Steve
Summary: Sometimes a manual reset is the only option.
Ahh, my apologies for dropping off the radar! My week has been rather eventful with all the midterms I've had (the theme for this is quite fitting for the last week). I have the next couple after this written, so expect me to resume my daily updates.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, and faved in my absence. You guys are the best!
Part VI: No Time
0:31
"Get out of here!" Steve orders roughly, hesitating over the device. It's obvious Steve doesn't know where to begin, and Natasha can't blame him at all. If she wasn't aware of the seconds ticking away, she'd have asked Stark what he thought of the technology.
0:29
Natasha moves closer to him as Clint continues to evacuate civilians, words sounding rushed even to her own ears. "Get out of my way," she tells the man, her own voice just as rough as his. She has no time for pleasantries or casual conversation, not now with the seconds ticking away.
"What?"
0:25
"I've done this before. Get out of my way – no time to argue," if Natasha's voice is more clipped than normal, there's no time to comment on it.
Steve moves out of her way at the second command and Natasha examines the device carefully. It's smooth – no cracks or seams on its surface, no obvious weaknesses betrayed. She would have felt better if Stark was here with his fondness for taking technology apart, but the two of them
0:19
She picks it up carefully in one hand, weighing it mentally as she considers. Her hands gently run over the surface, looking for a latch. Nothing. It's smooth all the way around, its black obsidian reflecting the winking sun into her eyes.
0:14
Her knife comes out easily, testing the area surrounding the clock. The tip scrapes along the side, leaving no marks behind. Once again, nothing provides any hint of how to disarm it.
She loathes magic. More than she loathes most things, in fact. It was right up there beside Stark's drinking problem and Hydra agents.
0:10
"Agent Romanov?"
0:09
Natasha ignores Steve pointedly as she sets her knife down and hefts the small orb in her hand. She has a feeling they're both overly complicating things. Occam's Razor tends to work well in her line of work, after all.
0:08
This has to work. Natasha eyes a likely looking spot on the brick wall they'd found the device next to. One shot, that's all she has. Seven seconds left, now.
0:06
She's going to kill the next magic user she sees, she decides with utter calm. The realization relaxes her slightly, lets her focus her mind.
0:05
Natasha begins to move, arm blurring slightly with the rapidity of her motion –
0:04
-Steve yelps, moving forward as the device skitters harmlessly to the side against the brick-
0:03
Natasha throws her whole body into it this time, bringing the force of years into training into the blow as she moves.
0:02
The orb hits.
It cracks, just slightly.
0:01
Steve moves in the space between one second and the next, faster than Natasha would have thought possible. The device simply shatters in his hands, breaking apart as he puts force on the crack Natasha had created.
0:00
Natasha lets out a minute exhale, the only sign of worry she will allow herself to show. Steve gives her a shaky grin as the device doesn't blow.
"That was your solution?" he asks wryly.
Natasha smirks at him as he drops the mangled remains of the device to the ground, "A manual reset seemed like the best option at the time."
Seeing as I have the next few written, I'll leave the choice for tomorrow's fic for you guys. I can either put up the follow-up to "Drowning" or put up a piece with Clint, Natasha, and Sam.
Cheers!
- V