ADORE ↠ b. barnes [III]

twenty five

ALLURA COULDN'T BELIEVE HER EYES AS SHE dropped the piece of machinery from her hands. She stopped, a small smile growing on her face as she observed the circular space in front of her, made mostly by Tony, Rocket, Scott, Nebula and herself.

She had participated on its structure and functionality, but she never really imagined the result would be so shocking and oh-so thankfully-real.

It was real.

It could work.

Clint stood on the middle of the project, wearing a suit that she could clearly tell had small details made by Nadenka; particular designs that only she would add— maybe unnecessary, but they did make the entire thing seem more badass.

She walked forward, taking a deep breath and placing her glasses on the v neck of her shirt, crossing her arms and standing next to Banner.

"Alright Clint. We're going in three, two, one-" and Clint disappeared. Everyone was quiet, observing, hoping and praying—to whatever God or belief they had— that the machine would work. That it would give them the result they had been longing for during these last five years.

"It has to work." She heard Nadenka murmuring behind her, her steel blue eyes observing as her foot bounced in anticipation.

Allura inhaled and approached the machine, breathing deeply.

"Bringing him back in three, two, one." She counted. And the moment she completed the procedure, Clint was kneeling right where he had been previously standing, his gaze fixed on the ground and groans leaving his lips.

Everyone froze, before they ran towards him, Natasha helping him stand immediately.

"Hey, hey, look at me." She spoke, meeting his eyes. "You okay?" But Clint was looking at all of them before he turned to her.

"Yeah. Yeah. It worked." He said between breaths. "It worked."

The relief Allura felt could not even be described. She felt her stomach settle, her heart beat faster than a drum in a parade, her breath escape her mouth like perfume and her eyes soften like she had just seen one the things she loved most in this world — one of the people she loved most in this world— who she now could possibly see again.

Her shoulders relaxed, and an excited laugh left her lips, her green eyes filling with tears as she lost control of her body and threw her arms the closest person— who happened to be Tony. He laughed as well and returned the hug.

Clint hugged Natasha, Steve hugged Nadenka, Pietro placed his arm around Rhodes, Banner clapped, Rocket and Nebula shared a look and Scott's attempt to hug the latter was merely acknowledged with a look of disgust from her. All while Thor took a big gulp from his drink.

It had worked!

"SO THE HOW WORKS. NOW WE gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six infinity stones." Steve spoke, the stones being shown through screens.

"Or substitute the word encounter for being made or completed by one of the six infinity stones." Nadenka snorted, thinking about her, Wanda (maybe Pietro) and Vision. Everyone chuckled.

"Or substitute all of those options for damn near being killed by one of the six infinity stones." Tony interrupted. Allura smirked at the three, before Scott spoke.

"Well, I haven't. But I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about."

"Regardless, we only have enough Pym particles for one round-trip each. And these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history." Bruce explained, Tony nodding in agreement.