Man Out of Time - A Captain America / Avengers Fanfiction

Chapter 52

Chapter 52

The explosion came as expected, but for some reason, his ears were still attached enough to his head to hear a horrific shriek.

"Why?"

"The woman I loved died the day you bored a hole into her skull."

A second explosion.

A third.

Then there was no sound at all. Nothing except for the rumble of the volcano. Arms grabbed him, pulling his head up from the sand. Pain tore his belly. Steve screamed as movement caused his scrambled innards to threaten to tumble outwards.

"I'm sorry!" The tears were audible in Clint's voice as the archer openly wept. "I'm so sorry. If I'd known ... she ... I knew something was wrong with her! I just ... I couldn't believe it."

Steve gasped, his pain matching Clint's emotional agony at having just killed the woman he loved. He tried to form words and could think of none, each labored breath causing his scrambled internal organs to grind together. It felt as though something still clawed at him. As though even in death, Natasha still wished to tear him apart. Something hit him in the head. Larger rocks began to fall all around them.

"Steve, you've got to get up!" Clint tugged at him, ignoring Steve's whimpers of pain. "We got to get out of here! This entire place is about to blow!"

Steve knew he should order Clint to leave him behind and save himself. That's what the old Captain America would have done. But he wanted to live. He one last chance to feel Bernice in his arms.

"I ... can't ... move," Steve choked out as Clint got him sitting upright. "Help ... me?"

"I can't move two of us on the glider," Clint said. "It's a one-man model. We're going to have to get you into your Harrier jet."

"Can't ... fly."

"We'll sort that out later," Clint said.

Yasur regurgitated pumice the size of Cadillacs into the air. Magma shot above the level of the caldera, angry red streaks of fire against the black cone and even blacker sky as magma began to overflow the giant which had been too long asleep, it's excess energies siphoned off to power the alien mother ship.

"Up we go," Clint said. He yanked Steve to his feet and wedged his shoulder under his armpit.

Steve shrieked in agony. It felt as though there were a knife twisting in his gut. The sound of the volcano grew faint and far away. All of a sudden he was laying on the wing of his plane with no memory of how he had gotten this far. Had Clint carried him? Or dragged him?

"I've never flown a jump jet before," Clint said. "Once we get it airborne, I know what to do. But you're going to have to help me get it up and down. Do you think you can do that?"

"I'll ... try."

Clint heaved him upright to stand on the wing. Oh god! It hurt! Dying had been a lot easier when it had been ice which had taken him. Perhaps he really had died this time and this was hell? Lord only knew it was fiery enough here, complete with hellfire and magma. The volcano spewed yellowish black smoke thick with sulfur as chunks of pumice hit the jet. It was a good thing he'd left the engine running. If they didn't get it out of here quick, they were toast. Sparks burned his cheek.

Clint shoved him into the seat and buckled the harness. Steve nearly blacked out. He realized Clint had been talking to him the entire time. How long had he drifted? This was more talking than he'd heard Clint do the entire time he'd known him. Trying to anchor him here. Give him something to focus on besides the pain. Clint shoved gauze from the medic supply bag he kept in the rear seat of the jet into the rips in his gut.