Steve Realizes Something Important
On the screen T’Challa was standing and talking on the phone while everyone was minding their own business. Natasha typed in some codes and T’Challa’s voice became much stronger than the others. Then she typed in ‘TRANSLATE’ and rewinded it to the beginning. A text appeared on the bottom of the screen and the four of them felt their blood freeze.
“Yes I know what to do. I’ll have to make sure none of them notices when I get away. No there is no chance on that. He really wasn’t the one that contacted them. But we’ll need to be careful. If he kept the shield it could get dangerous. We’ll have to make sure neither he or his friend can get to the suits. And when they are all dead we’ll be able to get both him and the soldier back. What? Yes I know that he is useless without his powers but with a little brainwashing he should be tamed to be our mechanic. Or maybe even fly around in the suit for us. I’ll see what can be done. Yes. Yes of course. No. Damn, I really need to get this done today. This hologram mask is making me crazy. What? Yes. I understand. Hail… Oh right.”
The call ended then and T’Challa, or rather the person who was impersonating him, went over to sit next to Steve. The screen went black and Natasha slammed her hand onto the table.
“They have him somewhere. A Hydra base. The Raft if they are working with Ross. We need Tony on this one. Damn it! Why couldn’t you just stop for a few seconds and listen to what Tony had to say Rogers?! We wouldn’t be in this situation right now! With the Tower under attack and Tony in coma!”
Clint stopped her before she could attack Steve.
“Nat. Natasha. Calm down. This is what they hope for. That we will all go against each other again. That we won’t be able to work together to save the tower and Tony. Do you want to prove them right?”
It actually looked as if she didn’t care about the fact that she would prove them right. Natasha had had enough of people destroying her family all the time. Then Clint moved in front of her.
“Listen Natasha. They want to split us up. We need to regroup. Wanda, Rhodey and Sam are fighting downstairs. Who knows how long they can keep it up. If something happens in Tony’s room and Bruce Hulks out Vision won’t be able to keep him away from Tony and Pepper long enough. And I know Bruce has incredible self control but the Hulk could hurt Tony or Pepper by accident. We need to get back there.”
Natasha closed her eyes. She knew Clint was right. She needed to pull herself together. She had gotten too emotional ever since Tony fell into that coma. She needed to let go of Natasha Romanoff for a while longer. When she opened her eyes there was a cold look in them. Clint let her go. The Black Widow was back. She grabbed the gun she had put away and headed towards the door. The three men followed her.
“Friday?”
“Yes Natasha?”
“Inform Bruce that he will be needed on the common floor. Tell him that the Hulk may be needed. Leave only Vision with Tony and Pepper. In worst case Dummy can get in a few hits with the extinguisher before we get there. And Pepper knows how to shoot. How is it looking for the ones on the ground floor?”
“They are retreating into the elevator since there are too many enemies.”
Natasha nodded as they stepped into the elevator.
“Take them and us to the common area. Lock every other floor. Make sure that those bastards that attacked us have no other choice but to head to us.”
“Sure thing.”
A few seconds later they stepped out of their elevator at the same time that Bruce stepped out of his. He went over to them and they all noticed that his eyes were fully green.
“What’s going on?”
But Natasha simply shook her head. A minute later the third elevator opened and Wanda stepped out with glowing hands. Behind her went Sam. His clothes were wrinkled and the wings were dragging behind him but otherwise he looked okey. Just as Clint was going to ask about Rhodey the window opened and the War Machine flew in. His visor was up as soon as he landed.
“What’s going on?”
Bruce nodded.
“My question exactly.”
Natasha looked around one more time before she explained.
“The T’Challa that arrived today is not real. It is a Hydra agent with a hologram mask on. Just like the one I wore once. They are more or less impossible to see through. Maybe Tony’s armour could but I’m not sure. Either way. T’Challa is most probably kept imprisoned somewhere. These agents are here for two people. Tony and Winter. We need to make sure they understand that we are not to be messed with. We may not be a team anymore but I believe we should be able to pull it together one more time.”
Everyone nodded. And then Wanda spoke up.
“We are not a team. You are right Natasha. We are not. But we are something bigger than that. Something that can never be changed. We are all a family. A dysfunctional family of people who no one else would accept into their home. You, Tony, Steve, Clint and doctor Banner created this family when you created the Avengers. Then you accepted me and Pietro. You all mourned Pietro together with me. Then you took in Rhodes, Viz and Sam. We might have fought before. Some of us have said hurtful things. But I think it’s all part of how a family works. Right?”
Sam felt thankful that the girl had said it. He saw how some of the people’s faces lit up a bit. He took a deep breath and said:
“Kid’s right. Tony would want us to stick together. When he talked to me on the Raft he asked me to take everyone with me later. I didn’t quite get it back then. But now I do. He wanted us to take Nat, Viz and Rhodey with us when we left. Because he didn’t want the family to split up even more.”
They all nodded again. And suddenly Steve understood. Tony had never tried to capture Bucky or force them to sign the Accords. Tony had simply tried to keep his family together. And Steve had destroyed it. Rhodey had said that Tony has trust issues. Well, Steve figured that he had blown every chance of Tony ever trusting him. An every little ounce of trust that had been between them was most probably gone. Steve wanted to apologize but he realized that this was a really bad time. So he simply nodded again. At that second Bruce couldn’t hold it anymore. One second he was standing next to Clint and the next Hulk was roaring angrily. Sam and Bucky who had never seen the Hulk face to face were shocked. He was so much bigger than they thought he was. But somehow, and they figured out it was all thanks to Tony, he could stand upright in the room. And then all three elevator doors opened. There were around 15 people in each and Natasha suddenly got a quick flashback from when Tony had redesigned the elevators to fit 20 persons in each. Which was needed after some missions when they all simply collapsed onto the floor with Thor and Steve taking up entirely too much place and Tony always complaining about whatever it was they were facing before. But she quickly pushed those memories away. She had to concentrate. The T’Challa impersonator was among the men. He walked slowly out of the elevator and pulled the mask off. He was a black guy and had a stature very similar to T’Challa.
“So the Avengers pulled back together. For how long? Who will mess it up this time? The witch? Or the freak?”
Three things happened at the same time. Bucky and Natasha shot the man. His bullet hit the throat, her bullet hit the heart. At the same moment Hulk threw himself towards the agents. The battle was short. The Hulk took out most of them. Bucky, Natasha and Sam got in a few shots. Wanda concentrated on keeping the bullets away from Clint who was in his turn keeping an eye on whether anyone tried to escape. Steve threw his shield in once when one of the agents had pointed at Natasha. Rhodey simply turned on the thrusters and flew right through the agents. When they were all down everyone looked at each other. Bruce slowly begun to shrink back to his normal form. To everyone’s surprise his pants shrunk with him. He noticed their glances and said with a smile:
“Tony’s design.”
At the same second Vision phased through the floor.
“Mr. Stark is getting worse. If you are sure about wanting to do this Wanda we’ll need to do it now. It might be the only thing that can save him.”
Everyone turned towards Wanda.
“What…?”
But Wanda didn’t let Clint finish.
“They took the power from Tony through a syringe and injected me with it. Maybe we could take some of the power I have and inject Tony with it. As Bruce said it doesn’t have to be much. But Bruce. If you have to take it all don’t hesitate. He deserves it more than I.”
Bruce nodded slowly. Natasha nodded too.
“We’ll find out what happened to T’Challa later. Let’s go save Tony now.”