Heartlines | Steve Rogers

XXIII

TWENTY THREE
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They hurried onto the Quinjet and shut it as Natasha continued to hold off T'Challa. Meredith stepped out of her suit and went straight to the controls. She sat down in the seat and flipped several switches before flying the jet up. She got rid of the debris in the way and began to fly out. T'Challa gave Natasha a surprised look. "I said I'd help you find him, not catch him. There's a difference."

Meredith attempted to fly them out of there quickly, but spotted Rhodey out of the corner of her eye. Tony began to follow, too, and then Sam. "Vision, I got a bandit on my six. Vision, do you copy! Target his thrusters, turn him into a glider."

Vision aimed, but Sam dodged. It ended up taking out Rhodey's Arc Reactor. Tony looked down to see him free falling. He had to stop him, or he was going to get badly hurt. "Rhodey?"

"Tony, I'm flying dead stick." He groaned out. Both Tony and Sam raced after him as fast as they could.

"Rhodes!" He screamed. Neither of them were quick enough, and a loud bang sounded when he plummeted into the ground. Tony landed and took off his helmet as he raced over to him. He pulled his off, too. His nose was bleeding. He placed his finger to the suit. "Read vitals."

"Heartbeat detected. Emergency medical is on its way." Friday replied. Sam landed in front of him as Tony's eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. Tony just fired his repulsor at him, knocking him back. Vision approached, then. He'd done this, and he felt terrible.

Back on the Quinjet, Meredith had been flying for a couple of hours. "You want me to take it?"

"If you don't care." Meredith replied to Steve.

"Of course I don't." He grabbed her waist as they shimmied past each other.

"I'm going to get some shut eye." She kissed him on the cheek. She knew he was stressed, and she was too, but she felt like she needed to continue being strong for him. She went to the back and laid down in one of the provided bunks.

"What's going to happen to your friends?" Bucky asked as he sat behind him. Steve paused.

"Whatever it is, I'll deal with it." He answered, being vague. He didn't want Bucky to feel bad, but he was going to anyways. Once he realized who Meredith was, his guilt intensified.

"I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve." Bucky shook his head. It devastated Steve knowing he thought about himself that way. Especially when it came to him.

"What you did all those years, it wasn't you. You didn't have a choice." Steve replied, a certain incident on his mind.

"I know. But I did it." He gave him a look. Steve just shook his head. Bucky decided to change the subject. He knew how much was piled onto Steve's shoulders right now, and he didn't want to make it worse with the damage he was carrying. "So, she's the one?"

"What?"

"It's easy to tell. It's nothing like the way you and Peggy were. This is something totally different. I mean, hell, she went against everything for you. For me. She's intelligent, can handle her own. She seems great." Bucky told him as he moved up to the seat next to him. Steve chuckled and smiled.

"I knew you'd like her. I told her that." He glanced over at him. Bucky nodded with a smile, happy to see his friend finally get what he deserved after everything he'd been through.

"She seems like she understands you. That's something you need." He commented.

"I'm in love with her, Buck." Steve grinned like an idiot just thinking about her.