I knocked on Wanda's door, I didn't know why but I never felt comfortable walking right in like I did with Bucky and Peter.
I was always worried she was projecting and I hated thinking I'd be barging in on her if she was with Tommy and Billy or Vision.
She already barely got to see them, I hated interrupting her.
She answered straight away through, her beautiful hair bouncing as she swung the door out of her way.
"Hey sweetie, are you okay?" She asked me, her Sokovian accent making me feel safe and comforted already.
"Can I come in and talk to you?" I wondered if she'd believe me, if she'd read my thoughts as I spoke them and take them in.
I didn't know how much Peter had actually believed, unconsciously or not. Maybe he'd always have doubts I wouldn't ever be able to belay.
"Of course." She moved back from the doorway to let me walk in, gently closing the door behind us.
"I didn't interrupt you did I?" I worried as I sat myself down in her desk chair, pulling my knees to my chest.
"A visit from you is never an interruption." She smiled at me as she sat on the end of her bed to face me.
I beamed back at her.
"What are you all determined about?" She'd clearly got a soft feel of what I was thinking but hadn't directly read my mind. She never did unless she got permission.
I didn't know where to start or what to say to her.
She started to look worried, probably picking up on my slight panic that was setting in.
"I'm not leaving." I told her, her worry changed to confusion.
She tilted her head at me.
"Last night Peter started freaking out about me running away, and Bucky said it's just a running theme here. I just wanted you to know, no matter what you're picking up in here." I pointed to my head, "I'm not going anywhere, even when I get thrown through windows. As long as you guys let me stay, I'm staying." I told her, struggling to keep looking directly at her. It had been a lot of feeling sharing the last twenty four hours for me.
She sighed sadly. "I don't want to think about you leaving, I don't like having doubts but it's hard Camila."
"I know, I get it. I'm not saying you're wrong for thinking it, my track record of dealing with traumatic shit isn't the best I know that. And I don't know if I can ever convince you all properly that I don't want to leave anymore but I realised I might just have to keep reassuring you. So I just wanted to reassure you. Do I like that I ended up on the news? Not really it creeps me out, was getting thrown through a window a good time? Definitely not I'd like to never repeat it. But it's not enough to make me run." I finished with a shrug, finally looking back up at her.
She was smiling at me with genuine warmth. "You're growing." She said.
"What?" I snorted.
"You're communicating, you're not actively avoiding dealing with things. Months ago I was scared to ask how you were feeling, every time I did you had the urge to run from the room, run from the building. Now you're letting yourself feel things, talk about things. It's beautiful to see." She said calmly, making me blush.
"Don't get used to it." I muttered. Twenty plus years of avoiding everything I was feeling, avoiding talking and being in the same room as someone was hard to just forget about, hard to rewire my brain to do things a different way.
"I won't." She smiled at me. "Thank you, for talking to me though." She stood up from the bed and moved to pull me from her chair.
I groaned as she did but let her pull me into a hug, she squeezed me with her little frame until I could feel my spine snapping. "Did you forget about the whole thrown through a window thing?" I squeaked.
"Oh my god!" She pulled back, her eyes huge. "I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine! I'm fine, I just couldn't breathe." I laughed, trying to stop her panic.
She breathed a sigh of relief and shook her head, "I'm going to start breakfast, are you coming?" She swung her door open.
"I'm going to shower and I'll be down." I smiled at her, leaving her bedroom with her.
"You know making out with Peter isn't showering, right?" Nat said from behind us coming out of her room.
"Oh my god." I groaned, quickly ducking into my room and closing the door on her laugh.
I leant against it and stared at the ceiling for a second, jumping when Peter groaned "What time is it?"
"I don't know, early." I shrugged but he couldn't see.
I knew I'd woken up at six and hadn't been able to get back to sleep, it had taken me a few minutes to decide to go and bug Bucky.
He leaned over to his phone on my bedside table and checked the time, "Seven thirty, why are you awake?" He closed his eyes again, pushing his head under the pillow.
"I couldn't get back to sleep." I muttered, moving for the bathroom, I didn't think he'd heard me as when I looked back he was already asleep again.
An hour later I was showered and ready and sitting at the table nibbling on pancakes Wanda had made me (despite the fact I told her repeatedly I'd make my won toast), while Sam and Bucky argued about something I'd missed, Wanda and Natt were talking softly about going to the supermarket and I zoned out staring at my glass of orange Juice.
Peter hadn't woken up by the time I'd finished getting dressed and trying to fix my hair into something that didn't look like a haystack, so I'd just left him to sleep.
I started to regret letting him sleep as Sam turned his focus to me, noticing my vacant expression.
"You look tired Cam." He said, puling my eyes to his smirk.
"I'm always tired." I shrugged, taking another bite of my pancake.
"Sam." Wanda glared at him, shaking her head.
"I wasn't going to say anything." He laughed.
"Oh," I caught on to what he was actually saying, implying it was Peter's fault I was so tired, I'd been too zoned out to catch onto his thought process. "For christ sake Sam are you fifteen?" I moaned at him, throwing a chunk of my pancake at him.
"Hey now, I'm not the one throwing food around." He chuckled, as he batted the piece of pancake away from hitting him in the face.
He picked a strawberry off his plate and aimed it back at me, I dodged it with a laugh. "Wanda, Sam's bullying me!" I fake whined, pouting at her.
She just rolled her eyes at me, shaking her head.
Peter eventually came down looking tired and rumpled, he frowned at the mess Sam and I had made on the table, throwing foods back and forth, and shrugged at himself, sitting in the seat I'd left and biting into what was left of my pancakes.
Steve came down and only drank coffee, saying he wasn't hungry, I'd moaned from my new place perched on the counter that nobody force him to eat but everyone ignored me.
Peter had a paper to write, an actual real paper not just an excuse to not sit listening to Sam and Bucky tease us.
I spent most of the day reading the book I'd tried to concentrate on the night before, actually managing it and it was really interesting.
I hadn't realised how fast time had gone until there was a knock at my door and I checked the time, it was seven already and I had a feeling it was Wanda making me go down for dinner.
Bucky appeared at the door "Oh so it's your turn to make sure I eat today?" I asked, smiling at him.
He rolled his eyes at me, "No, something important, we need your help." He said as he walked in, he looked serious. I noticed he wasn't wearing his t-shirt and jeans from that morning, he was now wearing his leather jacket and cargos that he usually fought in, his guns strapped to him.
"Who's we? And with what?" I asked, curious, sitting up and dropping my book to the bed.
"We'll explain on the way, just grab Karen." He nodded to my Karen glasses sitting on my dresser.
"Okay but now you're freaking me out." I jumped up to grab my glasses, swapping my regular ones out and siding comms in at the same time.
"It's not a bad thing. Well for you anyway. Come on." I slipped my feet into my combat boots and followed him out.
"Is this a thing that requires my suit? Because Tony isn't finished with it?" I asked, glancing down at my outfit, I'd worn a long sleeved crop with my denim coveralls.
"It would have been convenient but no you don't need it." He shook his head, leading me through the lobby and down to the garage.
Steve and Nat were waiting, also suited up, Steve had his shield ready on his back.
"Now I'm a little more worried." I mumbled, looking between them.
"We'll explain on the way, we have to be quick." Nat said, jumping into a black jeep that normally sat in the back of the garage.
I jumped in the back with Bucky.
Nat raced through the city at speeds I'd love to be able to do without getting pulled over.
They explained to me what was happening and why I was with them.
The police had intercepted a terrorist threat in a building in the middle of the city. It was owned by a company that made antidotes for viruses, the building was full of chemicals and biologicals that could wipe out thousands if released into the air, for example like the building exploding causing debris, the chemicals, dust and smoke to be dispersed for miles around the building, being carried with the wind, from person to person, it would be a catastrophic downfall.
"And you thought I would be handy for such an important, potentially city destroying, mission?" I asked, shocked after they'd explained why we were driving a hundred miles an hour through the city.
"Yes, because you can sense the bomb like nobody else will be able to. You'll also then be able to disable the bomb without having to lift a finger. We can get in, take the terrorists down and disable the bomb within an hour. The police and national guard and bomb squad, it could take them hours and it's not guaranteed to work. You'll be able to sense how the bomb is triggered, where it is exactly and how best to disable it. You're perfect." Nat explain, weaving around a few cars that had stopped for a light.
"So I'm essentially you bomb detention dog?" I asked, a nervous laugh escaping.
"If that makes you feel better, then yes." She nodded at me, looking at me in the rear view mirror.
"If you're not ready that's fine, we can go in and take them down and the bomb squad can go in and do it." Bucky said quietly to me.
I turned to look at him and he had so much concern on his face. Even if I hadn't felt ready I'd have been compelled to say I was.
But I knew I could do it, it would be easy for me. Electricity was my thing, I knew I'd have no problems disabling the bombs. That wasn't really my concern, it was the attention it was bound to bring.
"No I can disable the bombs." I nodded at him.
I wondered if anyone else at the compound knew where I was.
I thought Peter and Wanda would have defiantly had something to say about them bringing me along. Especially without my suit.
"Me and Nat will head up and work our way down from the roof, you two, ground level, up. We'll meet on the twenty eight floor, the commissioner said the building should be secure they've evacuated the staff." Steve told us as we walked towards the chaos of crowds, lights flashed everywhere and the noise was deafening. The surge of electrical energy almost made me dizzy.
I was hyperaware of the cameras and news crews circulating us, I ducked my head slightly, letting my hair fall in front of my face.
I felt Bucky's hand hover above the base of my back, like he felt I was about to stop and turn to make a run for it. I wan't going to, it was too important, but he could sense the tension winding through my body.
Steve and Nat cut off from us and circled around the barriers, heading for the back of the building.
I felt so nervous as we approached the police barricade, I felt like I was going to get stopped for being a fraud.
Like they knew I didn't belong there, I had no right to it.
But Bucky and his serious face nodded as we passed two guards stationed at the barrier "Sargent Barnes, Miss Hall." One of them nodded back to him as we weaved through, no issues.
"Awww." I mumbled to myself.
"What?" Bucky asked, frowning down at me.
"He called you Sargent Barnes, that's so cute." I shrugged.
He rolled his eyes at me and I looked back at the guards. They weren't even paying us attention anymore, like it was perfectly fine for me to be walking into a building with a bomb in it and terrorists.
Super official.
"Wait, how'd they know my name?" I asked Bucky, turning back to him as we entered the building.
"Shield told the government your name, so you know, you didn't get arrested for running around buildings with bombs inside them." He told me, walking around the outside of the metal detectors at the entrance to the building.
He watched me walk right through them, then frowned when they didn't go off.
"They're disabled." I laughed, I'd felt that they weren't on when we'd walked in, I didn't know he'd avoid walking through them or I'd have told him.
"Habit." He said, waving his vibranium arm at me.
We walked through the first three floors almost in complete silence, we'd not found anything out of place. The police had evacuated the building, we were just double checking. Things were left a little disorganised, computers still on, machines in labs still running, papers strewn about, coffee still warm left sitting. But nothing and nobody that shouldn't have been there.
"For a terrorist threat this is kind of boring." I told Bucky as I closed a door to a janitors closet.
"Well sometimes this job is pretty boring." He walked back out of a room he'd been searching.
"Someone should have told me that before you guys arrested me, I'd have ran faster." I laughed at the appalled expression on his face.
As we finally hit the twenty seventh floor Bucky stopped me before I opened the last door in the hallway to the stairwell.
"Steve we've hit twenty seven."
"I'm on thirty, Nat found a hostage on thirty two, she told us they'd left her half an hour ago, he panicked when he heard the cops had called us in and ran. Nat's taken her to the roof for the police, it's just us three." Steve replied.
Bucky looked back at me, "Can you feel the bomb?" He asked.
I closed my eyes and felt out, a few seconds later I felt the bomb, it's electrical energy was strong, definitely huge.
As I pushed my sense a little further I realised it wasn't one big bomb, it was three smaller ones.
"It's three." I told Bucky.
"Shit. Steve did you hear that?"
"Got it. The plan is still the same, get Cam as close as possible, we'll go in, Cam start disabling as soon as you can, when the floor is clear that's your queue." I nodded even though he couldn't see.
His deep authoritarian voice made me want to salute him as well.
Bucky pushed the door out of our way, slowly and quietly moving to the stairs, he leant over the railing to look up, we couldn't see anyone in the stairwell.
He motioned for me to stay where I was and he pushed further up the stairs.
I watch his calculated movements as he assessed the stairs, eyes focused and attentive as he watched his surroundings.
When he reached the door that lead to the twenty eighth floor he motioned for me to follow him. I couldn't resist leaning over the railing to glance up the the remaining floors and then down where we'd just come from. Empty.
"Do what you can from here, we'll let you know when we've cleared the floor. If anyone gets through this way, don't hesitate with your gun. And don't try and handle things alone!" He threw me a stern look.
I rolled my eyes "I'm serious Kid! Even a little movement out here you tell us or I will personally kick your ass."
"I'll call for help, jeez." I held my hands up in defence.
He seemed to decide I was serious and nodded, pulling the door quietly and slipping inside.
I looked around me again at the empty stairwell and sat down on the bottom step.
It only took a few seconds before I heard fighting through comms, and another few seconds before I could hear it through the door as well.
I wanted to help but I knew I'd be more help out here disabling the bombs than trying to fight and most likely ending up getting shot or something that made the situation so much worse.
I sighed and closed my eyes, reaching out onto the floor, I quickly discovered it was no use, there was too much movement, too many energy sources moving around the bombs for me to get a hold on what was what, Bucky's arm stood out to me the most having grown so used to it's energy field over the last few months.
If I started trying to disable the bombs and Bucky kept moving around them I was just as likely to take his arm out.
I opened my eyes and waited.
"Guys, I can't disable the bombs while you're fighting, it's too much movement I can't focus on the elements I need." I told them, my body slumped when I realised it wasn't even much help outside the fight either.
"Don't worry about it-oh shit-right now." Bucky answered in a strained voice.
"They seem to be manual detonations, timers rather than remote." Steve told me.
That was good at least, as long as they got them away from the bombs before they could set timer off we didn't have to worry about where the remotes were, if the people supposed to detonate the bombs were even inside the building or not.
"Nat where are you?" I asked her, I'd been sat for ten minutes after I'd realised I couldn't disable the bomb from the other side of the door. Steve had said she was helping the hostage they'd found out but I thought she'd reappear before then.
"I'm ok Cam, don't worry. I'm waiting for the cops to get to us." She told me.
As long as she was ok.
"Cam we're ready." Steve finally told me.
I jumped up from the step and pulled the door out of my way, I held it while it closed behind me so it didn't bang but I knew there was no point, they wouldn't have told me it was clear if there were still the terrorists able to do anything about the door closing loudly.
I let my sense lead me, feeling my way down the trashed hallway to a large conference room at the end of it.
One wall was made completely out of glass windows, three of which were broken, the room was a mess, broken chairs everywhere, paper and debris littered all over the floor, the conference table, which I assumed had at one time been in the middle of the room, was in pieces all over. Three large bombs sat in the middle of the room on the floor.
They looked like complicated messes of wires and plastic and metal.
Steve and Bucky appeared behind me suddenly "Jesus where did you come from?" I jumped.
Bucky pushed his thumb over his shoulder, "We've got them all in the offices down the hallway." He said, distractedly looking at the bombs on the floor.
"Can you disable them in here?" He asked me.
I nodded and moved myself into the room.
I crouched down next to the first one, putting my hand over the top.
"I don't like that." I heard Bucky mumble to Steve.
"I know what you mean." Steve muttered back.
"What are you guys muttering about?" I asked, breaking my focus to look at them.
"Do you really need to touch the explosive device to disable it?' Bucky's frowned, nodding at my hand.
I laughed, "It's fine." I shook my head and went back to what I was doing.
"Should we have made her wear one of them bomb squad suits?" Bucky whispered.
"I think if they went off this close to us the suits wouldn't help much."
"That's super comforting, thanks guys." I ground out.
They went silent.
I tried not to blush at their concern, it was sweet.
It was easier if I touched it, I could focus more on the one device instead of just reaching out blinding and picking the other two up at the same time.
I closed my eyes and saw the wires in my head, saw the connectors and the sensors. I worked my way through it until I found what I needed, unlike the movies and the TV shows I'd seen of people choosing what wire to cut, music swelling as they decided what colour would ignite the charge or which would stop the timer, I could clearly feel what wires had the currents running through them and where they were going.
I couldn't see the colours, just the charges and energy.
I disabled the first bomb, stopping all it's energy with one drop of the sensors.
Without someone completely dismantling the whole thing and resetting it, it wouldn't turn back on.
I'd have found it easier throwing out one big surge, like when I blacked out the compound but I also couldn't risk tripping one of the charges or missing something, we'd be in pieces before I even realised what I'd missed.
I pulled my hand back and stood up, moving to the next bomb.
"It's done?" Steve asked, pointing to the first.
"Mmhmm." I nodded.
"Could you not give a running commentary or something like you do everything else? It's unnerving watching you man handle a bomb with your eyes closed." Bucky asked as he and Steve moved to grab the bomb.
"If you'd like me to lose concentration and potentially blow us all up I could talk you through it if that makes you feel better?" I asked him, overly sweet.
"Point taken." He groaned.
I knelt down at the second bomb, running through the same motions as the one before, they were basically identical, the same person had made this one, and logically, the third.
It was easier the second time, knowing what I was looking for, where I was pushing my powers.
It took less time and then I was moving onto the third.
As I closed my eyes I heard a shout of pain, my eyes snapped open, scanning the room.
Bucky and Steve weren't anywhere to be seen and the noises of fighting were getting louder.
Shit.
I made to stand up, my foot hit debris making me pause.
I looked back down at the bomb.
Don't panic I told myself, pushing myself back to my knees.
They were Avengers, they'd been doing this for years before I'd appeared out of nowhere, they'd be fine.
I had to do the only thing I was able to do, disable the bomb.
I scrunched my eyes shut, throwing my sense at the bomb, trying my hardest to block out Bucky's shout.
They'd be fine.