Stand As Heroes » Quicksilver

chapter four

04 x i try to follow cap's lead and become a popsicle

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When the quinjet had landed and Bucky had opened the ramp, there was only blinding white for as far as the eye could see, and a gust of frozen air blew through the cabin in a way brought me quick relief. I got to my feet slowly, unbothered by the blazing white of the tundra. Fighting the urge to sprint off the jet came easier than I'd thought it would; something about the debilitating fear of exploding kept me from wanting too move too quickly.

That same fear was also what kept me from asking either Bucky or Sam to just carry me out into the snow. The thought sent a pang to my chest, reminding me of Pietro, and how he would've done so, no questions asked, no hesitation.

Missing him after being separated for only a few hours likewise made me feel childish, so I didn't complain out loud.

Instead I all but flung myself from the jet, stumbling off the ramp and into the ice and snow. What should've been instant and enduring cold against my skin fizzled out into something lukewarm with the first few steps I took. I cast a glance over my shoulder to see both of the former soldiers watching me from the interior cabin. 

I forced a flimsy smile and tried to ignore the concern that was shining in their eyes.

Maybe I should've addressed the situation. Maybe I should've said something -- anything. But I at that given moment, all I felt was pain, and pain suppressed, and I just--

I couldn't take it.

So I didn't say anything. I stopped focusing so intently on not exploding, internally relaxed, and then full-on sprinted.

I don't really know how far I made it before my internal clock hit zero, but the moment it did . . . everything that was me burned. I thought I heard a scream -- no doubt mine -- but soon enough my eyes were closed and it was just . . . release. I probably would've cried, if I could have. From my fingers, my toes, what felt like the ends of my hair, there was relief. Everything was white, then light, burning, burning--

Somewhere along the way, I stopped screaming. Somewhere along the way, I realized I was hovering what should've been a foot in the air, and what was once a plain of white so far as the eye could see had now cratered and was a deep, glossy blue beneath me. I was almost five feet off the 'ground', and for that one moment, I thought maybe I'd regained my flight. 

Then reality hit me like a boulder to the chest and I collapsed into the crater I'd made, and all I could feel was the cold ice slick against my skin, sizzling at the contact. 

I don't really know how long passed. It could've been minutes, it could've been hours. I doubted it was days, mostly because I didn't think Sam and Bucky would leave me outside that long. But eventually I could hear the crunch of snow under boots. It was enough to cause me to roll onto my back, arms spread out, still trying to absorb as much of the cold as I could manage. Soon enough I could see both former soldiers standing over me, each of them highlighted by the sun behind them.

I couldn't read their faces as well from this angle. I found I preferred it that way. 

"How's it going, hot shot?" Sam asked, leaning over the crater a little more than Bucky. 

My response was an incomprehensible grumble. I tried to form words, I really did. My mouth just didn't want to cooperate.

"Seems about right," Bucky mused. "You made a nice crater, here. Still too hot?"

"Yes," I managed, only upsetting myself further with how miserable I sounded.

"Team radioed in a few minutes ago," Sam informed me. "They wanted to see how you were doing." 

"I live here now," I declared, my voice straining from the exhaustion that was creeping back up on me.

Bucky managed a laugh. "'Fraid that one's a no-can-do, punk," he said. "They weren't just checking up on you."

I lifted my head at that, brows furrowing as I regarded them with more focus than before. "Did something happen?"

They both nodded slowly. "Thor said something's up with the realms," Sam began.

"Something bad," Bucky added. "Not really sure what, 'cause when he and Stark try talking simultaneously, it's difficult to make out what's being said. But it's bad enough that Steve said we need to get you back, ASAP."

I groaned at that, and a pulse of light escaped me, causing my crater to sink a few inches deeper. "Five more minutes," I mumbled, turning to lay back on my front again. 

"See, now she sounds like a teenage girl," Sam remarked. 

"I'm almost twenty, y'know," I muttered, though my words were lost to the ice.

"You get ten," Bucky said, evidently choosing to ignore Sam. "Then we gotta go." There was a lengthier pause. "Meg . . . do you feel any better?" His tone changed at that last question, and that combined with the use of my actual name were just enough for me to know he was being completely serious in asking. 

I couldn't help but sigh. I was grateful that was a sound lost to the ice, too. "I don't feel like I'm going to go supernova any more," I said, lifting my head enough to speak audibly. "My eyes also aren't burning any more." That was a definite plus. "I don't feel fantastic, but I feel . . . a little better, yeah."

"Okay," I could practically hear him nodding. "Good. Ten minutes, then."

"Ten," I agreed before pressing my cheek back into the ice.