Avengers x Reader // Just Different

Chapter 39

Clint's favoritism of the vents had made sense - until now. Being in a confined space while under pressure was not the most fun. But you were trained in this, so you had to stay calm.

Unfortunately, the only way to get out of here and save your ship, and only ride home, was to get out of the vent while HYDRA troops were on the lookout. And there was no main exit nearby. 

The only way you knew it would maybe be possible was if you let the bombs off. Now wouldn't be a bad time to, considering that you could take out a large number of HYDRA agents.

You closed your eyes and pulled out the button. As soon as you would hit it, the entire base would explode. The impact of it all would be enough to kill you. 

You scrunched your body into a ball, one rebellious tear sliding out of your glassy eyes. Before you could hesitate any longer, you pushed the button. 

The noise came first. You could hear shouts right as the loud booming rang through the vents. Then came the heat and the impact. The flames rolled closer and closer.

Man, would this be a heck of a way to die. 

Yet right as the flames were about to hit you, your suit let off a bright burst of blue energy, creating a small forcefield. Still, your head whipped back as you were thrown through the concrete wall into the shockingly cold air. 

Your suit had the same forcefield mechanism as Shuri's brother's, but even that sort of impact hurt. You couldn't stop hacking. The air was knocked out of you and you had inhaled too much smoke. 

But you had made it too far to quit.

You forced yourself back onto your feet, stumbling the first few steps. But as HYDRA fired deadly bullets at you, you forced your legs to move. The first few steps felt like 3 miles, but you had to keep going. 

One bullet went through your arm, and your arm stung as the skin near it darkened. You had to get to your ship - if it hadn't been blown up already. 

You finally found cover in the trees, where the bullets stopped flying. You couldn't help but give a small grin. You had set an entire HYDRA base on fire. That felt pretty cool.

You noticed a group of people about to set fire to your ship, but you whipped out your gun and shot them all, immediately dropping it when you felt your body go weak. 

They must have really upgraded their ammunition.

You crawled into the ship.

"JARVIS, get back to the Avengers Tower NOW!"

The engine started rumbling and the door was shut quickly. You didn't bother to take a seat as you searched the shelves for a first aid kit.

"Are you alright?" JARVIS asked.

Your hands started to shake with panic. "Does it look like I'm alright?" you said, flipping out with a higher voice than usual.

"Sorry. There is a first aid kit right underneath the pilot seat."

"That would have been helpful to know earlier," you grumbled, fumbling with the first aid kit.

You grabbed some tweezers, hoping to get the shrapnel out of your arm. However, as soon as the metal hit your arm, it dissolved.

"You have GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" you yelled. Forgetting the tweezers, you used some hand sanitizer and use your fingers to pick out the pieces. Bruce was definitely going to have to do a better job on this later. You used some gauze to wrap up your arm, the blood immediately soaking through.

It was going to have to work.

"JARVIS, how much longer?" you asked, probably sounding like an annoying 5-year-old. 

"About 30 minutes."

All you had to do was wait 30 minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~

"What the hell were you thinking!?" Natasha screamed.

As soon as the Quinjet had touched the ground, all the Avengers were running out of the tower. You felt kind of woozy, and you weren't up for the fight. 

"I thought it was a good idea," you mumbled, stumbling out of the ship, exhausted. Your arms had a couple of burns and you had that one bullet wound. You just wished that one darn time you would come out of a battle without any wounds like the rest of the Avengers (usually) did.

"It was a terrible idea!"  Tony cried out.  

"I thought I did okay!" you argued. 

"Oh, yeah? Next time don't end up with a bullet wound in your arm," Tony scolded. 

"You weren't going to do anything about it, so I did."

"(Y/N), you didn't even tell us anything about this whole plan of yours," Steve admitted.

"Fine. Do you want to know what happened? I blew up an entire HYDRA base and took out a bunch of agents. Yes, I nearly got blown up--"

"You what?!" Wanda interrupted.

"BUT," you continued, "I still did it. And I feel pretty good about myself right now, not gonna lie."

"I think she's in shock," Bruce said.

You glared at him. "I'm mostly fine?"

"Mostly?" 

Tony rolled his eyes. "We can talk about this later. However, that was very irresponsible.

"You're the one who's talking?" you snapped. Natasha and Steve shrugged, finding your point valid.

"Listen," Tony said, placing his hand on your shoulder. Only you two could hear the conversation. "All of us have things we wish we could get revenge on or wish to accomplish. But we have to keep the people close to us in mind. And personally, kid, I don't want to lose you. I know we had a pretty rough start, but I'm not overprotective of you and Peter for a reason. I know you can take care of yourself, but last night, you scared the crap out of me."

Any anger or contempt ran out of you. "I'm sorry."

Now, all you felt was the exhaustion of the battle weigh down on you. 

He wrapped his arms around you. "I'm glad you understand. I am proud of you though. You have grown a lot."

Wow. You hadn't been hugged like this since your parents died.

Still, your arm felt as if it were on fire, so you backed out of the hug, changing the subject.

"Um, Bruce? Could we get my arm checked out? I wasn't able to fix it with the tools I had on board... they kind of dissolved."