More Than a Mortal

Answering the Distress Beacon

"Why do you think he took a quinjet out here?" Sam Wilson asked as he looked through the window of the quinjet at the frozen tundra below.

Natasha Romanoff glared at the snow and ice as the quinjet flew lower to the ground. When the distress beacon had been intercepted, she'd originally believed it to be Bruce. When Dean was found to be missing, she faced what she knew in her heart- Bruce wouldn't be making any contact with them again. "I have no idea," she finally said when Sam gave her a concerned look. She smiled. "I'm sorry. A lot on my mind."

"Well, if you need to talk you know I'm good for it," Sam gently assured her. When he'd first been introduced to Natasha he'd seen her as maybe a little morally bankrupt. But he soon realized that he was mistaking her detachment for a deeper need for privacy. She wasn't the type to open up easily. The concept of secrecy was something Sam couldn't fathom, but the details he knew of Natasha made him understand why she lived this way.

"There," Natasha said as she leaned forward and pointed at a flat expanse of ice where a quinjet was gradually being covered in show.

"Get us down there, Vision," Steve ordered. His voice was taut with concern. He shook his head. "What are you doing out here, Dean?" he whispered.

Vision quietly complied and initiated landing protocols. The android had fallen in with the Avengers perhaps the easiest out of the new recruits. Having started life as Tony Stark's artificial intelligence, Jarvis, he was very familiar with the majority of the team. When Ultron had initiated his attack on the Avengers, concocting a plan to overthrow humanity in the process, he had built a humanoid body for himself. It was composed of vibranium- one of the strongest metals in the world. To thwart Ultron and gain an advantage, Tony had uploaded Jarvis's consciousness into the body, thus creating Vision.

"Is being out here with all this ice bringing back any memories?" Natasha asked as she gave Steve a wry grin.

Steve chuckled. "If I never see a place like this again I'll be the happiest Super Soldier that ever walked."

The quinjet landed next to the one Dean had taken and the three of them, clad in cold weather gear, stepped out into the cold. As they walked across the snow and ice, a woman emerged from the other quinjet and waved her arms overhead. Natasha, Sam and Steve exchanged amused looks as she ran toward them.

"Oh my goodness! It's really you! I mean, I knew Dean wasn't lying. But I thought you'd never show up. My name is Marla-"

Steve held up a hand, cutting her off. "Are you injured?

"I was, but I'm okay. It's Dean I'm worried about."

Natasha spoke up next. "Where is Dean?"

"He went back into the cave," Marla uttered in a haunted voice.

The three Avengers looked at her quizzically and she beckoned them to follow her back onto the quinjet. They surrounded her as she set down and elevated her ankle before explaining everything to them. Steve and Natasha were familiar with the vision Dean had been given by Wanda, though they were unaware of the other details.

"Marla," Steve said as he folded his arms over his chest. "Where in the cave did he go?"

"He left markers," Marla explained. "Oh, you have to get in there and stop him. If he exposes himself to the mist it...it could already be too late. And whatever you do, don't let the mist touch you."

"When we get into the cave I want you to take point, Vision," Steve explained.

Vision nodded. "Of course. My form will not be susceptible to whatever substance this crystal emits."