We Will Rise |2| The Ascension

Chapter Twenty One: Only One Place To Go

Clint staggered as the TARDIS rocked violently, him just managing to keep McKenzie from hitting her head on the railings. "Doc, we've got to get her someplace safe! This blindness thing is gonna get her hurt!"

"I'm working on it," the Time Lord replied over the TARDIS' engines, glancing over at the redhead worriedly. Not being able to see was proving to be more of a problem than they'd anticipated, especially when having a bumpy ride in a time machine. Clint and Martha were working together to try and avoid McKenzie sustaining further injury, but it was hard. She was already so weak from the radiation she'd been exposed to in the first six months; she was having trouble even holding on to the railings in this turbulence. The Doctor turned to Jack. "We're going to New York," he decided.

"New York?" Jack questioned, raising his eyebrows. He'd thought McKenzie was from England, not America.

"There are some people there who can help. They're probably about the only people on the planet who'd believe what they're going to see, so there's that too." The Doctor swung the monitor round to face him, typing in co-ordinates. "Stark Tower," he muttered under his breath. "December 28th." He nodded at Jack, who then flipped the lever for materialisation, while the Time Lord himself worked on making Clint and Martha's jobs a little easier by trying to stabilise the landing.

Finally, the time machine went still, and McKenzie relaxed her grip on the railings shakily. "We've landed," she noted, tilting her head. "Where?"

Martha took her arm, guiding her to the doors as the Doctor spoke up. "Stark Tower. I figured Tony could lend a hand."

Jack pushed open the doors and Martha and McKenzie followed him out into the building. Clint glanced behind and frowned when he saw the Doctor hadn't moved. "You coming or what?" he asked.

The Doctor shook his head guiltily. "I have to go back. I can't leave the authorities to find the Master's body. They could rewrite their own futures with that kind of science. And..."

"You have to say goodbye," Clint finished, nodding.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," the Time Lord promised.

Clint nodded, sighing. "Go. But you better get back here within the day. Kenzie's been through enough, y'know? She needs you here." He back out of the TARDIS, joining the others. "Hurry."

Jack, Clint, and Martha watched as the blue box dematerialised, then winced as McKenzie spoke up. "I hope he's okay," she muttered, then tilted her head, listening. "Uh, someone's coming from the left."

Sure enough, the others heard footsteps after a few moments, and soon, they were faced with a surprised Natasha Romanoff, who quickly holstered her gun. "Clint? McKenzie? What's going on? Who are these people?" She frowned. "Where's the Doc?"

Clint rolled his eyes, putting an arm around McKenzie to guide her along. "Hi. This is Jack and Martha. They're friends. Now, where's Stark? We have a situation."

Natasha eyed McKenzie, seeing how she wasn't actually looking at anyone, but was clearly listening, then nodded. "Follow me."

***

Natasha led them to a large sitting room area, where a ginger woman was working on a tablet, and gestured for the quartet to sit down. "Pepper, this is Clint, McKenzie, Jack, and Martha," the agent introduced quickly, before looking up to the ceiling, where she could see two men deliberating over some files on a table, and another two working on some robot project. "JARVIS, could you alert Stark that he has special guests. Get Banner, Rogers, and Wilson too." She eyed the quartet again as they made small talk with Pepper. "Something tells me this could be serious."