Artemis : The Seventh Avenger ➳ Steve Rogers [1]

04 [ 09 ]

☆ ☆ ☆

NATASHA

I arrive just in time to watch Clint disappear into the quantum tunnel.

"How long till we pull him out of there?" I ask, joining the rest of the team who looked on nervously.

"Nine seconds." Bruce replies, "Eight, Seven..." He starts to count down.

Before I knew it he flips the switch and Clint pops back out.

He groans, doubling over on the platform, breathing heavily.

I immediately rush forward to check on him, kneeling down beside him.

"Hey, look at me." I cup his face, eyes searching him or any visible injuries.

He gets to his feet as he takes in his surroundings, a look of pleasant surprise replacing the confusion on his face.

"It worked." He says, holding up a baseball glove and tossing it to Tony, who catches it.

He chuckles in disbelief, his eyes lighting up with hope and crinkling as his lips stretched into a smile.

"We're going to get them back." He laughs.

I couldn't help but smile back at him, "What'd I tell you?"

I look back at the team who all looked relief and had wide smiles on their faces. I spot Steve in the corner, smiling down at a picture in his hand; the picture of Camille that he keeps in his pocket.

I move forward, putting a hand on his shoulder. "She's coming home." I say to him, "We're going to see her again."

He looks up at me, smiles and nods, "We are." He mutters.

The team scatters out of the room, after arranging for a group discussion in the conference room the next morning.

I hardly got any sleep that night. Thoughts of what's to come had me too anxious and therefore, restless.

Finally, morning came and we all gathered in the room.

We sat around the room, looking at the holograms which displayed the different stones.

"Okay, so the 'how' works. Now, we figure out the when and where." Steve says, pacing around the front of the room. "Almost all of us has had an encounter with at least one of the infinity stones."

"Well, I'd substitute the word 'encounter' for damn well near been killed by one of the six infinity stones." Tony comments.

"I haven't." Scott says, "I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about."

"Regardless, we only have enough Pym particles for one round trip each." Bruce swiftly brings the conversation back on track, "And these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history."

"Our history." Tony points out, "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in."

"Which means we have to pick our targets." Clint adds.