Chapter Text
An old, rusty facility. Somewhere and nowhere at the same time. Another questionable mission they got through Val's shady intel, another one with minimal information on who and what they were even supposed to be fighting.
Just coordinates, a deadline, and a half-hearted promise the team would probably maybe make it out alive. Hopefully.
Heavy rain slammed against shattered windows and pooled on the concrete floor underneath them. It was the kind of storm that washed secrets to the surface. And tonight, the New Avengers were drowning in them.
Yelena was already bleeding, crouched behind a rusty beam with a nasty head injury and a half-loaded pistol in each hand. “Ugh, this sucks so bad,” she murmured and shut her eyes tightly.
Meanwhile, two floors up, Ghost had also taken a bad hit while phasing through various control rooms in search of the central power unit. Her mistake was dragging Walker's ass out of the direct path of a faulty tech rig, threatening to turn the annoying man into chicken wings in the blink of an eye.
Now she was slumped against the wall, flickering in and out. To his credit, Walker was desperately trying to keep Ava conscious, as he tried and failed to pick her up and get her to safety. “Ava, c’mon. Stay with me, alright? Don’t phase out on me now... shit, okay, okay.”
“Anybody copy?” Two floors down, Bucky Barnes moved like a shadow through the smoke. Calm. Calculating. Detached - but only just. After all, he hadn't worked properly in a team in ages and it showed. He couldn't keep them together to save his life, because they kept running off in different directions. “Guys?”
Yelena opened her eyes again.
There was a weird noise.
It was getting louder and louder.
“LENAAAAA.”
Yelena shut her eyes again. “Oh God, please kill me now.”
Bucky turned around, just in time to see a huge man with red spandex rush past him down the hallway. At least he had found Alexei.
The Red Guardian stormed into the room where Yelena was pinned down, slipping slightly on the bloody floor but catching himself at the last second. “No, no, no... You're leaking from the head. This is bad. Very bad. We need to get you out. Get a helicopter. Put you in surgery. Get you some stitches. Maybe some ice cream?”
She tilted her head sideways. “How about you help me up here first, deal?”
He grinned. “Deal.”
While they stumbled their way back towards Bucky, he had managed to get a partial signal on the other team members in the building. He could hear Walker's frantic yelling in between static breaks. Impatiently he reconnected his earpiece again.
“Walker, do you copy? Status?”
“Guards are all out, but there is a fire on the top level. We have to kill the electrics, or they are going to fry us as soon as we step into the rain.”
Bucky sighed.
“We need to call him,” Yelena urged when they got closer. “We need his help.”
“He's unstable," Bucky said firmly, shaking his head, “It's too risky.”
“There is no way we will reach them in time, all the stairways are already burning. I got knocked out trying to get up.”
Alexei pulled his brows together. “We're sitting frogs in here. She is right, Winter Soldier.”
“Sitting ducks.” Bucky and Yelena corrected at the same time, while entering a staring contest.
She raised her brows defiantly. “Call Bob.”
He hesitated. Just long enough for Yelena to step closer.
“We don’t need Sentry or the Void,” she said, voice low. “Just Bob. There’s a difference.”
His jaw twitched. He hated that she was right. Hated even more that he’d already moved to open the secure channel in his comm.
“Bob,” Bucky called, voice steady but tight, “if you’re listening: stand by. We need intervention. Minimal force. There should be an open route from the south side of the building. You need to get in and get Walker and Ava out from the top, copy?”
Silence.
Then, faintly, over the line: “Copy.”
Alexei exhaled and muttered, “Thank God.”
“No.” Slowly Yelena looked from him to Bucky, who had already understood and shared the same horror in his eyes. “That wasn't his voice. That was someone else.”
-----
Upstairs, the fire had reached the broken windows. Smoke bled out into the storm, threatening to suffocate them inside with every passing second.
Ghost blinked blearily at the shape stepping through the busted corridor door, the fading light catching gold under soaked fabric. Walker lifted his head at the sound of footsteps, ready to fight again.
The figure was moving fast, black boots crunching glass and tech debris as they got closer.
You raised your hands without slowing your movements down. “Don't shoot, Walker. I'm on your side. More or less.”
He blinked. “Who the hell are you?!”
“Val's Plan B,” you said, crouching beside Ava. Your eyes flicked to the rig overhead, then to the leaking conduit a few feet away. In fluid, self-assured movements, you checked her pulse and then tapped your comms. “Sergeant Barnes, I've got them secure. Ghost is stable but vitals are fading." You pulled out a small black disc from the back of your pants and threw it at the nearest control unit. Sparks went flying, turning the darkness alight for a second. "I put out the electricity with an EMP, you're free to move out. Meet you all at the Quinjet."
Before you could hear the confusion on the other end, you pulled out your earpiece, threw it on the ground and smashed it with your boot.
“Wait, where’s Bob?” Walker asked again, eyes wide.
You looked up, face unreadable. “Not coming. Val switched out comms and sent me as backup.”
“Why the hell would she...”
You cut him off with a sharp look. “Because as far as she told me, the Sentry is unstable and I’m disposable.”
Walker hesitated. “She said he was allowed to help.”
“She lied.” You hoisted Ava up over your shoulder with a grunt. “Let’s move.”
-----
“Try not to die for five more seconds,” you said coolly to Ava as you two approached the Quinjet's open ramp. “Congrats, you made it.”
She groaned faintly and you squeezed her unharmed shoulder once. Gently, you put her down in one of the seats and sent Walker to get the first aid kit from the front of the jet.
While he was gone, you allowed yourself a look around and immediately locked eyes with the rest of the team.
Yelena. Bucky. Alexei.
And behind them, almost entirely engulfed by the dark-
Bob.
You swallowed a lump in your throat. The New Avengers really did look a tiny bit more menacing in real life than they did on those cheap cereal packages.