The Mimic

184

"Hey, Cap? What do you want me to do with this thing?" Clint's voice called out over the earpiece, dragging y/n and Bucky's focus back to the fight at hand.

Clint had the gauntlet. He'd managed to find it after the explosion, and had been running with it ever since. It was a shock that it hadn't been stolen from him, but he was determined to not let that thing go. The gauntlet was the only thing that Thanos wanted, he didn't care about the heavy losses of his army, he just wanted the stones.

"Get them as far away from here as possible!" Steve shouted through his earpiece, but it was obvious that he was more focused on dealing with the screeching aliens around him.

"No! The stones need to go back to where they came from!" Bruce interrupted in a desperate voice. The Sorcerer Supreme had warned him of what would happen if they didn't give every single stone back. The multiverse could be ripped open, and they'd have nothing to defend themselves. Now, the multiverse was an extremely exciting topic to Bruce, but not when it could put the whole world in danger.

*****

Y/n took in a sharp breath at the idea of taking all the stones back. She didn't want to see that Hydra facility ever again. Hell, it hadn't even been twenty-four hours since it all happened. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since she braided Thor's hair, since she was told what stone she was getting, since she beat the life out of the man in the suit, since she lost Natasha.

Just the realisation of the fact that it hadn't even been a day caused her focus to falter. Y/n and Bucky were stood back-to-back, fighting off any aliens that tried to get close to them, but that realisation caused her to gasp in a deep breath. "Buck, can you-" She paused, looking down at her knuckles as if to double-check that it was all real, and it was. Her knuckles were still raw from her attack on the man in the suit. Jesus. So much had happened that she'd completely lost the concept of time. Her head had been occupied with anger and grief, she didn't really have the impulse to check a watch or a clock. "Buck-"

Bucky's eyebrows furrowed in deep concern as he listened to y/n gasp and struggle to finish her sentences. He immediately turned around to face her, expecting there to be some sort of injury - well, a new injury. It sounded like it was something fatal, and that was something that caused pure fear in Bucky's heart.

"What? What happened? Are you okay?" He rushed out, resting his hands on y/n's shoulders. The super soldier scanned y/n all over, searching for some sort of fatal injury, but there didn't seem to be anything physical to worry about. Bucky let out a slight breath of relief, but that didn't mean he was relaxed. Something was wrong, and he had to figure it out. "What? What-" He cut himself off as soon as he met y/n's gaze, his wide-eyed act quickly disappearing. Bucky knew that look. Of course he knew that look. Y/n was overwhelmed.

Bucky's shoulders fell, his whole demeanour softening as y/n continued to stumble over her words. He knew that feeling, but he also knew how to deal with it. There had been many times where either he or y/n had fallen into severe panic attacks, especially during their first few months of being saved. It was horrible, but at least they had each other.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." Y/n repeated, but it was obvious she was lying. Her mind was running at a thousand miles a minute. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours, yet she'd been through so much. It didn't feel real. Nothing felt real, and that was terrifying. It felt as if her windpipe was slowly closing up. "Can you just-" She paused, tears beginning to pool in her eyes. But, before she could even carry on with her sentence, Bucky pulled her into his arms.

It was exactly what she was going to ask for, and the fact that Bucky knew without her even needing to ask was something that she'd missed so, so much.

He held her close to his chest, a protective hand on the back of her head, the other had a firm grip on his gun. It wasn't ideal to still be shooting at aliens whilst y/n was in the midst of having a panic attack in his arms, but Bucky didn't have a choice. They were in the middle of a battlefield. There weren't any safe places for them to go, so Bucky had to defend himself and y/n until she calmed down.

The super soldier kissed the top of y/n's head, making sure to protect her from any sort of harm as he continued to shoot. "Focus on listening to the team, okay? Breathe." He murmured, hunching his shoulders in a little to keep her protected. Bucky's main priority was getting y/n back into the fight and back down on earth. There was nothing worse than having a panic attack in the middle of a battlefield, and he knew that from experience. Back then, he didn't have anyone like y/n to keep him grounded, so it was even more important for him to be there for her. "Do you want me to ask Sam or Peter to start talking?" Bucky asked in a gentle tone, but was only met with a quick 'no' from y/n.

*****

"How're we going to do that, Bruce? We're probably standing on what remains of the Quantum Tunnel. Hell, we're standing on what remains of the compound!" Clint questioned, a hint of annoyance in his tone of voice. He had every right to be annoyed, he'd been running with the glove for so, so long. He wasn't really in the mood to run with it any longer, especially if Bruce was planning on somehow creating another Quantum Tunnel.

"Clint's right, Bruce. How're we getting those stones back with no Quantum Tunnel?" Steve asked with a sigh. The fact that the gauntlet was remotely close to Thanos was stressing him out. He wanted it as far away from Thanos as possible. "Clint, start running as far-"

"We still have a Quantum Tunnel!" Scott suddenly interrupted in an excited tone. He laughed through the earpiece as the chime of his van unlocking echoed throughout the battlefield. "It's definitely not as cool as the one we used earlier, but it works!"

Steve couldn't help but smile at the sound of the happy tune of the van unlocking. "That's great, Scott. How long do you need to set it up?" He asked, scanning around for the brown van. He was shocked that it had survived the explosion, but he wasn't going to question it. They just had to get the stones away as soon as possible.

Scott hummed in thought, glancing between the van and Hope, who was stood right beside him. "Ten minutes at most?" He asked, smiling as Hope nodded to confirm his assumption. "It's not in a great place, though. It's surrounded by Thanos' army." He said nervously.

"That's fine, Scott. Work on getting everything set up, and we'll work on getting the gauntlet to you." Steve said seriously, seeming to be much more confident in the plan of putting the stones back. They actually had a viable chance, it was just a matter of getting the gauntlet to Scott and Hope. "That's a call for everyone. Get the gauntlet to Scott and Hope. Protect whoever has the gauntlet, this is our only chance."

"On it." Several members of the team said at the same time.