The Mimic

112

The whole team turned around at the sound of y/n's voice. The relief and happiness on their faces faded into ones of concern and worry at the sight of her.

Y/n stumbled blindly toward the team, one hand reached out to stop herself from crashing into anything or anyone. She couldn't even walk in a straight line. Her steps were slow and unstable, almost seeming as if she was only walking to stop herself from falling to the ground. The blood from her nose and the gash on her head had almost merged into one, creating a pretty disturbing sight. The whole right-half of her face was covered in blood. It looked like something straight out of a horror movie, like she'd just been attacked by an axe murderer. But, the most unsettling part was the fact that this was the first time they'd seen y/n on the mission without mimicking any powers. So to them it looked like somebody had seriously hurt her, even though nothing had happened - well, something had happened, but y/n didn't know what it was.

As much as she looked straight out of a horror movie, her appearance wasn't really y/n's main focus. Almost all of her senses had been knocked out except for touch. Everything was blurry and spinning around her at high speeds, too fast to make out anything but certain silhouettes. She was just lucky that Sam had his wings out or she would've walked past the team. Her hearing was just as bad. The ringing in her ears was loud enough to make everything sound as if it were underwater, even her own voice. Y/n had resorted to breathing out of her mouth instead of even attempting to breathe out of her bloody nose. It wasn't even worth it. But, her priority was the pain. Whatever was going on in her head was excruciating. Almost as if a bomb had exploded in her brain, and it just kept getting worse and worse. It hurt to move, to breathe, to keep her eyes open, to do anything. Yet she was determined to get to the team. "I'm not-" She started, blinking hard in attempt to find some kind of focus in her eyes, but it wasn't working. "I'm not feeling too hot..." She repeated, unsure if she was even talking. 

Nat's eyes widened at the sight of y/n. She didn't look good. She didn't look good at all. Natasha took in a sharp breath, her eyes full of worry. This wasn't like anything she'd seen before with y/n. She glanced around at the horrified looks of the crowd before turning back to y/n, her protectiveness seeming to kick in. Natasha couldn't let y/n suffer any longer, they had to get her back to the quinjet and back to Bruce. She didn't like how everyone was just staring at her and not helping. "Hold on, y/n. I'm coming." Nat hummed, needing to raise her voice a little to make sure that y/n heard her. But, as she took a step forward, both Sam and Steve grabbed her arms. She frowned, turning to face the pair with a confused look in her eyes. "What?"

Steve and Sam both seemed to have a serious look in their eyes, refusing to let go of Natasha. "Look at her hands, Nat." Sam said, nodding toward y/n. Tiny flames and energy orbs were appearing and disappearing in y/n's hands at an uncontrollable rate, almost as if she was losing control. "And her nose." Steve added with a sigh, a deep frown on his face. "Her nose hasn't bled like that since Wakanda. She's overworking herself and losing control. It's not safe for you to go anywhere near her." 

Natasha seemed to just stare at the pair with pure confusion and annoyance in her eyes. "I don't care." She snapped, yanking her arms out of their grip. "Y/n is a member of our team. She's family. I'm not just going to stand and watch whilst she suffers." Natasha said seriously, turning back to face y/n. Nat wasn't going to stand by whilst she struggled. Y/n needed urgent help, and she was going to get that for her. But, as she turned around, she was met with the sight of y/n beginning to pass out. She could see as she struggled to keep walking, every step getting more and more disoriented. Nat cursed under her breath at the sight, beginning to race toward y/n in attempt to catch her before she fell to the ground.

But she was too late. 

Y/n finally ran out of energy, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as she crashed to the ground face-first. But, as she did, her body let out an energy blast, launching Natasha into the crowd of civilians. She begun to convulse uncontrollably on the ground, a bubble of fire and energy beginning to grow around her, almost as if it was ready to explode at any second and destroy the whole marketplace.

Sam and Steve were right. Y/n had lost control.

Her body had completely given up on her. It was a mixture of several things, but it was all enough for her body to completely shut down and let go of everything. Y/n hadn't slept in two days. She had been running purely off of caffeine and sugar to keep her going, it wasn't enough. The pent up anger and frustration also played a big part in it all. She had gotten herself so worked up over Rumlow, and he'd resurfaced so many memories that she'd been working so hard to push away. The whole reason why y/n disappeared to the city for two days was to escape from her bad thoughts and nightmares, and Rumlow had dragged them straight back into the front of her mind. However, the main reason was the fact that y/n was overworked. It had happened before in Wakanda, but her body had never been pushed to this extent. The crash had seriously hurt her, but she'd pushed it all down by mimicking super soldier strength. All of her energy was used to push away the pain and some obviously broken bones, and she didn't give herself a break. It was all too much for her to handle. So her body shut down. It had shut down to protect her, but in doing so it had caused her to completely let go of all of her powers. Y/n was basically the equivalent of a bomb.

Wanda was the first to jump into action, the rest of the team helping the crowd escape the marketplace. She reached out her hands, creating a forcefield around y/n. She cried out at the amount of energy needed to contain y/n, digging her heels into the ground in attempt to stop herself from being blasted away. "I can't contain her for long enough!" She yelled, using all of the power she could. Wanda couldn't even see y/n amongst all of the chaos inside the forcefield. There wasn't enough time for everyone to escape the market. She had to think of something else. But, Wanda didn't have enough time to properly think through a plan. She had to work with the first instinct that came to mind, and she did exactly that.

Wanda launched y/n up into the air without a second thought, blasting her up as high as she could in attempt to prevent any destruction. But, as Wanda looked up to figure out exactly where she'd blasted y/n, her hand shot over her mouth in shock.

She'd just blasted y/n straight into a building.

Y/n's powers practically exploded out of her, her unconscious body laying in the centre of it all. Energy, ice, fire, random clones of her, people frozen and unable to escape due to her mind control, and so much more. The destruction was immense. The whole building had been destroyed, ravaged by y/n's powers. Screams and explosions echoed across the whole city, letting everyone know of the horror occurring. 

So many innocent people. People that were expecting a normal day. People that had families to go home to. People that expected the Avengers to protect them. 

Dead.