Trust | 3 |

Chapter Sixty

"Well look what the cat dragged in." Nat's words had me looking up from my defeated sitting position.

Seeing Tony walk in the room wasn't what I expected, but I was thankful for it. He and Steve were walking together, the latter holding his shield from years ago. Tony was carrying a red case with some sort of something in it.

That, however, was not important to me. I stood up and walked over to him. Once the case in his hands was set down, I pulled him into a hug.

"Thank you," I whispered. It was obvious what he was here for. I couldn't be more thankful that he decided to come, even though he knew he didn't have to.

I could feel him pat my back. "Of course, kid. Of course." But then again, it was Tony. He always felt obligated in some way to do something.

We parted and the plan was given. Tony figured out time travel, which was insane on its own, but he had every last detail planned out. Down to the suits. The 'how' had been figured out. So, we got to building.

Well, not all of us. Nat went to find Clint to bring him in. I sort of knew he had been going all around the world, doing some sort of 'cleansing' after the Snap. Nat had mentioned it a couple times, and had been very worried.

Rocket and Bruce went to see if they could get Thor here. Part of the reason Bruce went was because of his friendship with Thor, but also because Tony didn't want him near the equipment until it was ready. He didn't exactly think the first run through went all that well.

So we built. Tony mostly told us what to build and how to do it since we (especially me) had no idea what to do. He also had me lifting things and tightening other things. I was pretty cool with my arm and powers being useful.

At some point, I ran into Clint. "Hey," I said, offering a small smile. We were friends, once. A long time ago. It felt like decades since I had seen him last.

He smiled back. "Hey. Cool haircut."

My hand automatically went to my hair, and I realized he hadn't seen my hair since I changed it to go on the run. "Right, yeah. Thanks. Yours too. And the sleeve. Pretty badass if I do say so myself," I said.

His smile grew and he nodded. We leaned against a wall that was a couple feet away. "It's been an interesting few years. Been a while since we last talked."

"Yeah, pretty sure it was, uh... the airport in Germany."

Clint shook his head. "No, when Cap sprung us from the Rift. I guess you wouldn't remember that, being pretty out of it and all. After that I took my house arrest deal. If you can't tell, that went great."

It was a joke, but we both knew better than to laugh at it. It wasn't that kind of joke. "Yeah. It's been a rough few years."

We didn't talk for a second, not really knowing what to say. "We were friends once," I whispered. "Has that changed?"

A beat. "No. Never has. Doubt it ever will. We've just been... doing our own thing for a bit," he answered.

A corner of my mouth quirked up. "I can deal with that."

"Hey, kid! I need you're help lifting something!" Tony's voice echoed a bit where I was.

I chuckled and pushed myself up from the wall. "He bellows. See you in a bit."

And I did. When it came time to do the test run, it was supposed to be Scott, but Clint stepped up and did it instead. He was up on the giant platform, all of us by the control panel. Tony decided Bruce could handle the controls well enough.

"All right Clint, we're going in three... two... one..." And then he was gone.

We sat and waited as Bruce counted down quietly, ready to press the necessary buttons to bring Clint back to us. When he did, Clint came crashing into the platform, different from the calm stance he was in to leave.

"Holy shit, Clint!" We all hurried over to him and made sure he was okay. Nat made it to him first, trying to help calm him down. Scott was carrying orange slices, and I couldn't stop from giving him a weird look.

"It's a thing," he answered.

Clint stood and held up a baseball mitt. "It worked," he said. We all shared looks with each other and couldn't help the hope that swelled up. There was an actual chance of this working. I almost couldn't believe it.

"Now we have to plan the rest of it," Tony said with a nod.