∆ {3¹⁶} {HABIT} ∆

THE FLIGHT TO Seoul was shorter than Roxi had expected. Then again, Tony had had control of the Quinjet for just over a year, and had free reign over adaptions and renovations on the vehicle. Natasha had taken care of the bullet wound, sewing it shut carefully after cleaning it in their room. They'd left that afternoon, much to the distaste of Cooper and Lila, who'd run out to wave goodbye as the Quinjet took off. Roxi had watched them with a small smile on her face. She was glad they'd grown up in such a stable, quiet environment, and that they didn't have to worry about what she did growing up.

"You need to come and visit more," Clint suggested, following her eyeline to his kids waving happily in the field. He knew she enjoyed the calm environment, away from the business of their lives, and she was gentler, more open around his kids, and it was nice to see a different side of her. Though of course, that attitude could also be due to the increased amount of time she got to spend with Natasha, who also seemed happier than normal.

"You'd probably run out of coffee." Roxi was joking around a little, but her nerves were beginning to rise. She was normally fine with managing any panic, any anxiety she might feel, but with Fury's words still effectively echoing in her ears and mind, she was on edge, and had more of a weight resting on her shoulders that she usually would. Behind her, Natasha was checking her guns, and every time she clipped one of her magazines into place, Roxi would flinch slightly, even though she knew exactly what was happening. 

She turned from the quinjet, planning to do the same as Natasha, when Clint held out her quarterstaff, in its retracted form. Roxi hadn't even noticed she didn't have it, which was unusual for her as well. But, she guessed, when your mind gets virtually scrambled by a teenager with telepathy, not much stays normal. 

"We had to take it off of you," He explained, noticing her slightly confused look. She nodded slightly, and took the weapon, tossing it up in the air a few times, getting used to the feel of it again after a day and a half without it. The last time it fell into her hand, Roxi turned her wrist over and extended the weapon, only realising that Tony had been standing to her side when he let out a slight yelp and stepped away from her swiftly. A grin grew on Clint's face, just as a smile slid onto Roxi's, both of them looking at Tony, who cleared his throat awkwardly and walked away towards where his suit was resting, in 'sentry' mode. They weren't far from landing when Roxi actually got around to checking her weapons, sitting down next to Natasha, drawing her gun, and begun her inspection. For a short while, the two of them sat in silence, the rumble of the quinjet engine and the others' voices barely penetrating their small bubble of calm. It was simply the clinking of bullet shells and clang of metal on metal as they worked, ensuring that they'd have everything they needed to try and fend off a horde of evil robots. It sounded crazy if you were new to the concept of the Avengers, but no-one in the jet was. Their situation was  very much serious, and they had to treat it as such.

Tony, who'd decided to accompany them for some of the journey before going back to the Avengers Tower where he'd work with Bruce, stepped into his suit, bid them 'adieu' and flew out of the lowering ramp, which Roxi had to close again, since she was the closest, with a grumble of discontent at being disturbed from her fleeting moments of peace. The plan was for Clint and Roxi to stay in the Quinjet for backup, based on the theory that her powers would work over a distance, and Steve would keep Ultron busy while Natasha got the cradle out safely.

Roxi was slightly worried about Natasha being alone, and had privately disagreed with the plan in her mind. There was no point in raising an argument, and she could take care of herself. So, Roxi had resigned to the plan, quietly protesting in the corner of her mind that was still relatively rational when they were about to go into a battle. 

"I hope you don't need to use that," Natasha said in a low voice, gesturing slightly at the quarterstaff that'd found its way back into Roxi's hands while she checked it over.

"You and me both," Roxi muttered back. If the legionnaires were close enough that she had to use her quarterstaff to fend them off, there was a much higher likelihood off something going wrong, and Roxi or Clint, possibly even both, getting injured, or worse. Roxi paused while she thought the possibilities over.

"Do me a favour, don't get shot." She spoke after a short amount of consideration about what to say, simply opting for an easy one.

"Yeah, well, only if you don't die in a plane crash," Natasha teased back, both of them looking to Clint, who was definitely listening, and was pretending to ignore the implications that he couldn't fly a Quinjet.

"We're two minutes out," was his only response, and Roxi saw Steve grin out of the corner of her eye before she turned to Natasha, where Roxi matched her gently smile with one of her own, barely big enough to see.

"See you in a minute." The phrase was almost whispered, but it was firm, and made Roxi's smile widen.

"Don't be late." Her voice was equally as quiet, but if anything, was filled with more emotion, as well as a sort of challenging tone. The two of them smirked at each other, before Roxi headed to the cockpit where Clint was already buckled into the pilot's seat, and strapped herself into the co-pilot seat comfortably. She chose to look at the panels and information in front of her instead of his face, which almost undoubtedly held a knowing smirk.

"You ready to go, Cap?" Steve replied with a short 'yeah' as Clint landed the Quinjet, the engine still fully running and ready to go as soon as he got off. All four of them exchanged a series of nods out of mutual respect, letting each other know that they had their backs, and then they became three as they finally had a person on the ground. 

"So," Clint started, the smirk audible in his voice as he lifted the Quinjet off the ground, "what's going on between you two?"

"Not the time, Clint," came Natasha's response from behind them. They could hear her moving around, probably preparing for her own drop. Clint muttered something under his breath, before swapping out one of his hearing aids for the comms link, Roxi following his lead, just in time to hear Steve say,

"2 minutes, stay close." The seriousness in his voice helped the teasing atmosphere in the Quinjet evaporate, and Roxi leaned forwards so that she could access the controls, trying to ignore the crushing feeling of doubt that was weighing on her shoulders, face wiped of any trace of the smile that'd been there only mere moments ago.

"Dr. Cho!" Steve's yell came through the comms a short while later. He'd found her in her lab, looking for the regeneration cradle that she'd talked about while treating Clint.

"He's uploading himself into the body." Her voice was slightly hard to hear through both she and Steve's breathlessness, but if you listened closely enough, you could make out her words, and they only added more weight to the one Roxi carried, that knowledge that if they failed, they would probably dead, if they were lucky. If they weren't, they'd end up in that cold world, that one with no gravestones, where they would be surrounded by death wherever they went. And they were getting closer to failing, far closer than they ever should be. 

"Where?" Steve's voice was as urgent as it had been the moment he stepped out of the jet, no trace of the joking, friendly version of him that he was just a short time ago. It was forcing Roxi to 'sober up' as well, knowing they couldn't focus on what might happen if they failed, but rather what could happen if they succeeded. They'd save thousands of lives, maybe even millions, and Ultron would be gone. Maybe they'd actually be able to properly relax for the first time in just over a year.

"The real power is inside the cradle. The gem; its power.. It's uncontainable. You can't just.. blow it up. You have to get the cradle to Stark." Cho's instructions were barely understandable, but once Roxi did figure out what she'd said, she grimaced slightly at the idea of giving Tony complete control over what to do with such a powerful thing

"First I have to find it."

"Go," Dr. Cho insisted, her voice pain-filled, and sounding even weaker than her last sentence. Roxi would've flinched if she hadn't heard people speak with that amount of pain before.

"Did you guys copy that?" Clint had kept them hovering just outside the woman's lab, just above ground level while Steve looked for her.

"We did," Clint confirmed, looking across at Roxi, who began flipping a few switches on the flight panel.

"We got a private jet taking off across town, no manifest. That could be him," Natasha informed them from the back. Roxi almost chuckled as she realised that the two of them had wished each other luck far too early, and that they were either going to have to do it again, or pretty much ignore each other until Natasha's part of the mission came into play.

"There," Clint corrected, looking down past the flight controls onto the road, "It's a truck from the lab. Right above you, Cap. On the loop by the bridge. It's them. We've got three with the cradle, one in the cab. I could take out the driver." His eyes were focused on the Quinjet's control panel, just as Roxi finished flipping all the necessary switches (she'd made a few mistakes) for combatted flight.

"Ready," she told Clint, glancing over at him to make sure that he was too.

"Negative. That truck crashes and the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron," Steve's words were followed by various clangs and grunts, as well as the rasping metallic voice of Ultron.

"Well, he's definitely unhappy, I'm gonna try and keep him that way," he carried on, a high pitched screech filtering in and out through the comms.

"You're not a catch for him, Captain," Clint stated blankly, his eyes focused on his flight path before he glanced at Roxi, as if suggesting something.

"Thanks Barton." Roxi sighed slightly, guessing what Clint's look had meant.

"You need any help, Steve?" Her voice was slightly tired, but her face was as perfectly blank as it normally was on missions, even if this one was a little different from just taking down HYDRA bases.

"If it's not too much bother." His response was polite, as normal for Steve, due to him being raised in the 1920s. It was a habit he'd never lost, just like Roxi's habit of spitting out words in Spanish whenever she was particularly annoyed, and still fiddled with the wold keyring when she had it on her. She sighed out a mixture of mumbled words, and unbuckled herself, heading back to where Natasha stood, and secured her weapons on her hips. Natasha smirked at her a she opened the box that sat in the middle of the quinjet to reveal a motorbike, carefully packed.

"We've got a window," Clint called back to them as Roxi mirrored Natasha's smirk, knowing almost exactly how this was going to go. If she could shake off the idea of their possible impending doom, she'd might even enjoy it.

 "4,3.. Give 'em Hell."

{A/N:} Ayy so this chapter's shite, but I managed to get it done at least. I've written about 8 or 9 chapters in the last 3 or 4 days, and this is the last of my catch-up chapters. I thought I was gonna finish these in a few days time, but I finished them today. I hope you enjoyed these. This one's shorter as well, but yeah, oh well.

Please vote and comment, let me know what you think.

2150 Words

Written: 05 / 01 / 2021

Published: 05 / 01 / 2021