A Heart Break In Time

See You In A Minute.

"Clint!" I jumped up and ran to him. "What are you doing here?" I questioned, pressing my face against his chest as I wrapped my arms around him. He felt... safe. Memories of him saving Natasha, then coming back for me floated in my mind. This felt exactly like that. Clint had come to save me, again.

He wrapped his arms around me, rubbing my back. "Rhodey called. Said you needed your family. So here I am. Laura says hi." I didn't answer, just stayed in the safety of his arms and sighed. "So uh, did you drink the whole bar? 'Cause damn kid, you smell."

I let out a loud laugh, the ugly kind, and pulled away. "I should probably shower... might help to sober up."

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Clint brushed the tears off my face. "I'm gonna go meet up with the rest of them. I'll see you after, kid."

I smiled at him before walking to the showers. The room was empty and I was grateful. The warmth of the water felt better than I expected, warming me and helping me focus my blurry thoughts. It seemed like everything was just piling up higher and higher, how much more could I handle?

"Pardon the interruption, Miss Aimilios." FRIDAY spoke as I rinsed out my hair. "I have been instructed to inform you that Princess Shuri is currently accessing Mr. Barnes vitals and we have confirmation that he is alive and well."

I quickly shut off the shower. "Oh thank goodness... Thank you, FRIDAY. Can you tell them that I'll be right there?"

"Yes, Miss Aimilios."

He's alive. He's alive. He's alive.

We just need to go find him. And T'Challa and Shuri seemed confident in their ability to track him.

He's alive. He's alive. He's alive.

I couldn't stop the thought from repeating in my head with every step I took back to my room. I walked inside and closed the door. I held the towel around me as I pulled out clothes to quickly put on so I could meet them at the lab.

"Talia."

I turned around quickly, startled. Wanda was sitting on my bed. I didn't even see her when I came in. "Holy shit, Wanda. I didn't even see you."

"Get dressed and come here." She showed no emotion as she spoke, she stared ahead.

I put on the first pair of sweat pants I could find along with a baggy tank top and walked to my bed. I sat on the end of it. "Okay, what's up, Wanda? Are you okay?"

Wanda turned to look at me and didn't speak. She brought her hands to her chest and placed them facing opposite directions, palms inward. She touched her palms with her middle fingers, and slowly slid her hands apart. She was doing a spell? But I wasn't sure what.

Until a dark red sphere surrounded us. I looked around, panicked. I couldn't see any part of my room anymore. Was I in my room? This was my bed, my nightstand was right there. What was happening?

"Wanda?" I looked at her worried.

"We're in your room. I just needed to be sure we were secure... there's something I need to tell you." Wanda reached out and grabbed my hand. "I don't know what... But there's something wrong with the newbies."

I blinked, confused. Eva? Angel? Kai? "What are you talking about?" I shook my head. "Why are you saying this now?"

She sighed. "When I first met them... I could tell their minds were being protected. It's not an easy thing to do. Someone, I'm assuming Angel, is blocking something in their minds... from me, from us. It's getting more obvious as I'm around them. I can feel the block when I get close to it."

"What are you getting close to?" This made no sense. We're supposed to be helping them.

"If I think about before they came here, it's a wall." Wanda explained. "I can't even get to them first arriving. It's just a wall until they're officially talking to you."

"Ooookay, so whatever is before that is blocked?" I started thinking. They all came from different places, different ages, they didn't even have similar upbringings. What connected them? What possibly could they be blocking? And why would they be here? And then it sunk in. "Fury."

Wanda tilted her head. "Fury?"

"Director Fury brought them to us himself. He was there. He's the one thing connecting them. It has to be Fury."

Wanda nodded. "That makes sense. But why?"

I didn't have time to think any further, because my phone vibrated on my night stand. Wanda reached over and handed it to me. It was Peggy.

"Hey, Peggy."

Silence.

I looked and Wanda and put the phone on speaker. "Peggy?"

I heard muffled noises. "I'm sorry, I believe you have the wrong person. I'm not involved with anything."

"Peggy? Is someone there?" I asked but it didn't seem like she could hear me.

"I know you have Aimilios on the phone." The muffled voice spoke.

I looked at Wanda and mouthed That's Fury.

"Director, is something the matter?" I questioned.

"Nothing that concerns you." He stated and the line disconnected.

Shit. I looked up at Wanda and she quickly moved her hands and the field around us dropped. "We gotta go."

She nodded and we rushed out the room to the garage.