[2020 Watty Award Winner!]
[BOOK 1 OF THE HAVOC SERIES]
❝you may be the best web-slinger
around, but you're terrible
at keeping secrets.❞
in which even though peter has a new,
high-tech suit, it doesn't stop a girl with
common sense from discove...
┌────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────┐ chapter five WHATEVER IT TAKES └────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────┘
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───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
THE WORLD IS DARK. It's different from the gentle shade of a tree or what one sees a few seconds after turning the lights off in a small room. This darkness is whole, unyielding in its utter blackness. Nothing is visible because nothing exists.
Seconds pass, or minutes, or years. Lena isn't sure how long she stays floating in this world of darkness before it begins to warm again. The space behind her eyelids turns orange from the sunlight shining above her. She becomes distantly aware of the feeling of grass beneath her fingertips, which is strange because she doesn't remember lying down. The last thing she recalls is Bruce's face before—
She blinks her eyes open to reveal treetops above her. The leaves rustle gently in the slight breeze, the epitome of serenity, just as she remembers it being. Sunlight peeks through the canopy above her. It's warm on her face, which she realizes with a start doesn't hurt anymore. There's no burning scratch down her cheek and no ache deep in her bones. Her hand travels upward to graze her fingers over her neck, which had been gripped in the hand of Thanos himself. It doesn't hurt anymore, though she swears she remembers it swelling.
Lena sits up and examines the peaceful forest in Wakanda. It's quiet— silent, even, which is strange.
"Never mind," she says, voice not as strangled-sounding as it had been before. "I guess nothing's wrong. Guys?"
The sound of grass crunching underfoot causes her to turn toward the noise. To her surprise, a very much stable and tangible Bucky Barnes is walking toward her, eyebrows drawn in. He looks just as perplexed as she does as he holds out his metal hand to help her up. Lena takes it, allowing him to pull her up with ease and feel the biting cold of the metal as his fingers clasp around hers.
The sensation brings her into reality. She turns around, searching the small clearing for any sign of Thor, Steve, or Bruce, but it's like they've vanished.
"Hello?" Bucky calls out to the seemingly empty forest. "Guys?"
Only the breeze that rifles their hair answers. Lena's eyes scan the tree trunks for any sign of movement, but the utter stillness of the woods has her heart pounding in her ears within seconds.
"Barnes?"
T'Challa's voice calls out from behind them. Lena's knees go weak at the sound of it, a large chunk of worry washing away. If he's here, something must have gone right— she's sure of it.
Lena realizes she's clenching onto Bucky's metal arm with an iron grip and sheepishly releases him even though she knows he can't feel the pressure. She simultaneously turns around to find the King of Wakanda walking toward them, Black Panther suit still on but without the mask, revealing the unease pinching his handsome features. Although his confusion should make her feel worse, it only makes her relieved to see that she and Bucky aren't the only ones who seem completely lost.
