Chapter 19
After a night of tossing and turning, you finally gave up on the idea of sleeping sometime around sunrise and went into the bathroom to get dressed. The shower helped wash away some of your exhaustion, but you were still ready to go home and put all of this behind you. Once you were back with Steve, Sam, Wanda, and now Natasha, you knew you would be too preoccupied to spend time worrying about anything else.
When you came out the bathroom, you found that Everett was now up.
“How long until you’re ready?” You asked.
“About twenty minutes. I need to swing by and handle this situation, and then I’ll take you wherever you need to go.”
You sighed deeply at the thought of having to wait around for several more hours before you could head home, but you decided not to argue with him about it. When you pulled up in front of headquarters, you made no move to get out of the car.
“I’ll wait here,” you said.
“Really? This could take awhile.”
“I took enough of a risk hanging out with your CIA boys and girls last night. I think it’s best if I stay here.”
Once he was gone, you pulled a book out of your bag and started reading. Right about the time you began chapter four, the car shook slightly and the sound of an explosion met your ears. You threw the book into the floorboard, pulled a piece out of your bag, hopped out the car, and rushed inside the building. Pushing your way through the door, you saw several agents jump up from where they had taken cover, their guns pointed towards you, and one of them shouted for you to drop your weapon. You did it without thinking, but not because they ordered you to.
“Everett!” you screamed, rushing forward to where he was lying on the floor. You dropped down beside him and tried to cradle his head, checking for signs of life.
“It hit his spine,” the Wakandan woman beside you said. “He won’t make it if we don’t take him.”
“We can’t,” the other one said.
“He was protecting me!”
“That was his choice.”
“T’Challa,” you choked out through your tears while looking the young king in the eyes. In that moment, you didn’t concern yourself with titles or propriety; you were simply one human being pleading with another.
“He—“ you paused, not knowing how to sum up that he held half a lifetime of friendship and love in the palm of his hands. “He deserves better than this,” You finally managed. “Please?”
“We will take him with us,” he said at last. Looking at the woman who served as his general, he added, “That is my final word.”
“Thank you,” you whispered, dropping your head down to Everett’s while you continued to sob. After they had loaded him up to transport him to Wakanda, T’Challa stayed behind with you for a moment.
“We will take care of him. I promise. Go back to Captain Rogers. You are vulnerable here without Agent Ross’s authority to protect you.”
You nodded slightly and thanked him again. He took a few steps forward, but stopped and said, “A woman who is a fugitive from the entire world came all this way, alone, to help a man who could put her in prison. I hope he realizes how fortunate he is to have gained such a fierce devotion.”
Then he gave you a reassuring smile and walked away. Not knowing what to do, and still in a state of shock, you grabbed your bag before the CIA could confiscate it and wandered back to the hotel room, hoping none of them would look for you there. When you arrived, you flopped down on the bed and cried until you fell asleep from pure exhaustion.
—————————————-
The next few days were a bit of a blur. Your time was spent in the hotel room, alternating between drinking, crying, and sleeping. You were vaguely aware of your phone ringing several times, but you simply chose to ignore it. Deep down, you felt very guilty about that. Your friends were probably terribly worried about you, but you couldn’t bring yourself to deal with it. No matter how much you fought it, your thoughts kept drifting to Everett. What if he died? You couldn’t stand the thought of it. You didn’t want to lose him, especially like this, with him hating you.
On what must have been the third (or was it the fourth?) day, you awoke to the sun peeking through the window. As you blinked your eyes and tried to ignore your massive headache, you became aware of the feeling of someone’s hand resting on the bare skin of your arm. Startled, you rolled over and swung your arm in an attempt to neutralize your intruder, but he caught it and managed to subdue you.
“I didn’t survive getting shot just so you could beat me to death,” Everett said as he smiled down at you.
“Ev?” You whispered in disbelief. You pulled your arms out from his grip and started running your hands over his face, neck, and shoulders in an attempt to prove to yourself that he was real. “I saw you get shot in the spine. You can’t be here. It’s like you didn’t even get hit.”
“Well, you don’t have to sound so disappointed about it,” he said, still smiling. Once your initial shock passed, you grabbed him and started peppering kisses all over his cheek while tears of joy streamed down your face. You muttered over and over how worried you had been and how happy you were that he was alright.
When you had finally calmed down, you lay still and watched as his face took on a serious expression.
“You know, I almost believed you,” he said at last.
“What?”
“In Germany…when you told me to give up on you. Then I saw you, and listened to you, when I got shot. You ran towards an explosion, into a building full of agents, and straight to me. I don’t care what you tell me from now on. I’m never giving up on you again.”
Before you could respond, the door to the room was kicked in and the two of you jumped up in surprise. You watched as a tall, muscular, blonde man cautiously entered the room.
“Steve!”
“Y/n!”
“What are you doing here?” You asked.
“You’re three days overdue and you haven’t been picking up your phone. We were afraid something might have happened to you, so we traced your cell here—“
“And you came to check on me,” you said with a smile.
“Not just me,” he replied before saying into his communicator, “It’s all clear. I’ve got her. You can come in.”
A few seconds later, Wanda came running into the room and almost pounced you down onto the bed.
“I was so worried about you,” she said.
Over her shoulder, you saw Vision float into the room. As if reading your mind, she said, “He came to find me.”
Behind him, Sam and Natasha walked in and joined the rest of the group. You stood up and hurried over to greet your old friend.
“Almost didn’t recognize you with the blonde hair,” you joked while giving her a quick squeeze.
“Guess it is a pretty good disguise then,” she said. You noticed she kept staring at Everett with an uneasy expression.
“It’s alright,” you said. “He’s cool.”
“That’s not what I’m thinking about. Wanda got a little overanxious and—“
When she stopped talking, you followed her eyes to where they now rested on the doorway to find Clint standing there. You weren’t conscious of the exact moment you started running to him, but the next thing you knew, you were wrapped up in his arms.
“You bastard, I’ve been worried sick about you,” you said.
“I could say the same thing about you. At least I picked up the phone when they called, unlike somebody.”
“Talk about your mid-life crisis,” you heard Everett say behind you.
You pulled back and noticed that Clint had shaved off part of his hair, and what was left could best be described as some kind of mohawk.
“I should have known you’d be behind all this trouble,” Clint said, stepping around you until he was facing off with Everett. “Couldn’t just leave well enough alone, could you?”
“If you mean am I going to be intimidated by a man who looks like a forty-five year old skater punk, then the answer is ‘no.’”
“Hilarious,” Clint said. “I didn’t remember you having a sense of humor. But about what you were saying, you should be intimidated. Now, what the hell has been going on these past few days that y/n wasn’t even able to check in with us? What did you drag her into?”
“I really don’t see how that’s any of your business, Barton.”
Clint started closing the distance between them and, sensing an escalation, you hurried to get in the middle.
“Ev needed help with a mission, so I came. We ran into T’Challa in the process. Everett got shot. T’Challa took him to Wakanda and fixed him up good as new.”
“Too bad,” Clint muttered under his breath.
“I should have called, but I didn’t. That’s on me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to drag everybody out of hiding.”
“It’s okay,” Steve said. “We’re just glad you’re alright. Now, let’s forget about it and get out of here.”
As if on cue, his cell phone started ringing, causing everyone to look at him in confusion as he pulled it out of his pocket to answer it.
“Hello.”
While he listened to whoever was on the other end, you glanced back and forth nervously between Clint and Everett. They were still engaged in their staring contest, and you had the nagging suspicion that each of them would love nothing more than an opportunity to beat the shit out of the other.
“That was Tony,” Steve said after he hung up, getting the attention of every person in the room. “Banner just fell through the roof of some building in New York that Stark called the Sanctum.”
At the mention of Bruce’s name, your eyes flickered to Natasha.
“The New York Sanctum…that’s Doctor Strange’s place,” Everett said.
“Who is he?” Wanda asked.
“He used to be a neurosurgeon prior to his car accident. Since then, he’s become…a sorcerer…for lack of a better word.”
“Of course he has,” Sam said.
“According to Banner,” Steve continued, “some guy from space is coming to earth with an army.”
“Great, another alien invasion,” Clint said with a loud sigh. “What does he want?"
“That,” Steve said, pointing at the stone in Vision’s forehead, “and, with our luck, probably to destroy the planet while he’s at it.”
“So, what’s the plan, Cap?” You asked.
“Call in everybody. Anybody who can and will help. Ross, you’ve seen T’Challa since I have, do you think we can count him in?”
“Yes, but I think the request would mean more coming from you than me…less official, more personal.”
“I’ll take care of it then.”
“Bucky,” you said. “I got the impression that they almost had him sorted out. He’d help us.”
“I’ll look into it while I’m down there,” Steve said. “Scott said if we ever needed him…We need to find him and pick him up.”
“I’ll handle that,” Everett volunteered.
“Yeah, because he won’t run with a cop chasing him,” Clint said.
“I’ve got more resources available to search for a fugitive than you have.”
“You’re not worried your precious reputation is going to get ruined by teaming up with us? Arresting yourself sounds like it would be a real pain in the ass.”
“It’d be better than standing around waiting for some son of a bitch from space to blow up my planet.”
“That’s enough you two,” Steve interjected. “Ross has got the resources, and Scott will trust Clint. You can look for him together.”
“That ought to go wonderfully,” Natasha whispered as she moved up alongside you.
“The rest of you go back to the house and get prepped. After I go to Wakanda, I’ll call you with further orders.”
As everyone started filing out the door, you looked at Clint and Everett and asked them both, “Can you get along long enough to get this done?”
They stared at each other and Clint said, “I’ll get the job done. I always do.”
Everett rolled his eyes and added, “I can find him, with or without this guy’s help.”
“I guess I’ll take that as two ‘yes’s.’” Letting your expression soften, you continued, “Just take care of yourselves and hurry back, okay?”
As you headed out into the hall, you felt someone grab you by the arm. You turned around to find Clint standing very close to you.
“I know there isn’t time for this now, but when I get back, there’s something you and I need to talk about. It’s something we should have discussed a long time ago,” he said.
Unsure of how to respond, you simply nodded your head, gave his hand a squeeze, and left without saying a word.