ADORE ↠ b. barnes [III]

nine

       NADENKA WAS NOT AT ALL surprised when she felt wind surround her, before strong arms did. Recognizing his touch anywhere, she leaned into his arms, before pulling back and analyzing his wounds.

       "I did wait fifteen minutes."

       "I know you did, draga mea." He smiled, holding her cheek with his hand before he held her to his chest and headed to the battlefield, where they stopped in front of James Barnes; who look distraught as he looked for Allura.

       "Nadenka." He whispered when he saw her dusty state and the blood on her hair. He immediately rushed to his little girl, hugging her briefly. "Where's Allura?" He asked, Nadenka pointing to where they had just come from.

       "She's safe, dad. She's alright." She reassured him, the man sighing in relief as the thoughts that clouded his mind vanished; but not completely.

       They had been apart from one another for a while, and even though he knew she could take care of herself, he found himself worrying for the strawberry blonde.

       This was bigger than anything he ever faced, he was sure. And he would be lying if he said he wasn't terrified of what would come next, when the dust cleared and everything truly hit.

       "Mr.Barnes, we need to help Vision." Pietro spoke respectfully, his tone urgent but still hesitant.

       This was Nadenka's father, after all.

       "We do. We saw him fall right-" But James was stopped by a pained groan coming from Nadenka as she held her stomach, her eyes and her veins glowing slightly as she fell to her knees. "-Nadenka!"

       She was held by her father and she looked at him and Pietro, the two not knowing what was going on.

       "What's wrong? Are you alright?" James spoke softly, removing the hair from her face as he held her still, a concerned look in his ocean blue eyes as he stared at the identical ones Nadenka possessed.

       But it wasn't how she looked that caused them to freeze, it was the words that came out from her mouth.

       "He's here." She whispered, trying to stand up and failing before trying again an succeeding with Pietro's help.

       "Everyone on my position. We have incoming." Steve spoke through the earpiece. Pietro held Nadenka's hand and James' wrist and sped them to the scene, where Allura, Okoye, Natasha, Ezekyel, Steve, Sam, Bruce and T'Chall already were.

       Allura and James quickly found each other, holding hands as they sighed in relief— of course, the anger at seeing Allura's face bleeding was noticeable in his gaze, just like the concern in hers when she saw he was covered in dirt and blood.

       Then, a blue mist appeared, like a black hole opening right before their eyes.

       And there he was.

       Standing as if he owned the universe, as if they owed him their lives. His expression was determined and his stance was firm, four stones covering the golden gauntlet covering his fist.

       He wasn't what Allura expected. She didn't imagine him to look like that at all. But she had to admit, the power he radiated was overwhelming. She had read about the Infinity Stones back home, endless amount of stories and explanations regarding their creation and existence.

       And even though the information wasn't specific about a lot of things, and was vague in most aspects, one thing she knew for sure was that no being should hold the six of them within their grasp.