Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You have got to be kidding me.” Yelena’s voice was the first to break the thick tension in the air, but even that could not break the attention that he held on the files splayed in front of him.

“Are we… We’re sure? About this?” Ava asked, hesitant. He could feel her gaze on him, and by the silence that ensured, he was sure that hers was not the only one.

“Look, it could be a ruse. It could be a trap. I wouldn’t put anything past Valentina, but…” Bucky trailed off, eyeing each of them in turn from where he stood behind a chair at their mission table. Bob dared a quick glance at Bucky, and saw shining blue eyes and sharp jaw steeled with an expression of determination. Bob knew this look. It was one that Bucky often got when he was preparing himself to convince them that they needed to do something. “Mel stole this intel because she knew that there is a woman out there who needs our help.”

“A woman who might be just as, uh…” John said from where he sat a few seats down from Bob, the end of his sentence hanging in the air, but they all knew what he was implying. Bob looked up again from the documents in front of him then, catching Walker’s gaze.

“As dangerous as me, you mean…” Bob finished for him, and John shook his head.

“I was going to say, just as in need of our assistance as you were.” He placated with a smirk, and Bob huffed out a ghost of a laugh. The jabs felt more like banter now. It felt… Nice. Strange, still a little unfamiliar, but nice.

“But not as powerful as you!” Alexi boomed, entering the briefing room from behind Bob. “No man or woman could be as powerful as our Bob!” He stated proudly, clapping a hand on the back of his shoulder with enough force to rattle his entire body halfway out of his seat.

“Thanks Alexi,” Bob murmured, glancing up at him with a small, sheepish smile. Yelena stood now, pacing between her seat and Bucky, one arm across her chest, the fingers of her other hand tapping her chin in agitation.

“It was not enough that Valentina hurt Bob, but there is another out there who has suffered because of her? Please, enough already. Can we just kill her?” Yelena asked. Ava and John nodded fervently, and Alexi cheered as he sat down next to Bob and deposited an armful of snacks in front of him.

“Yelena, we can’t kill her just as much as she can’t kill us. We have been over this about sixty-thousand times,” Bucky stated with an air of bone-deep exhaustion that only a parent with a toddler could exhibit.

“And you will need to tell me again another sixty-thousand times. Just to make sure I got it.” Yelena quipped back with a sweet smile that didn’t meet her eyes, and Bucky ran his vibranium hand through his freshly chopped hair, exhaling deeply.

“Look, let’s just focus on finding this girl. Mel has finally regained Valentina’s trust and is back in the inner circle of her deranged operations. After the vault, they picked through whatever scraps of information they had left to make sure no one else survived their experimentation in Malaysia, Thailand and Laos. There was a security breech in the Laos lab, some deaths and a missing patient. It’s taken six months to track her down to Cambodia, and Val is assembling strike teams to capture her.”

“What kind of time frame are we looking at?” John asked from where he was now sat bolt upright in his seat.

“Val already has scouts in Siem Reap. They’ve been ordered not to get close until the strike teams arrive in twelve hours. There is… Look at the last page of the medical report.”

Bob moved his fingers to the medical files more hesitantly than the others on their team. He was afraid of what he would find, and based on the sharp inhale of Ava, and the way John cursed, he knew he was right to be.

Subject elicits neurological, emotional and hormonal responses in other species within the Kingdom Animalia. The response elicited across each of these domains are almost identical to the states of euphoria or bliss observed in research into impacts of illicit substances on physiological and emotional wellbeing.

Individuals affecting a response by the test subject devolve into psychosis within two hours without immediate proximity of subject.

Individuals affecting a response by the test subject suffer brain aneurisms and cardiac arrest within a further two hours without immediate proximity of the subject.

Subject is extremely dangerous.

Thoalai protocol recommended.

Bob felt the burning, uncomfortable sensation of all gazes landing on him, and he reluctantly lifted his own. His eyes met Yelena’s first, her concern for him radiating through the room like a furnace.

It was John who spoke first.

“As much as we want to help this woman, to get to her before Valentina does… God knows what that sociopath wants to do with her… But this girl’s powers…” He cast his attention to Bucky, his eyes reflecting exactly what Bob saw in Yelena’s. “What if she doesn’t have control of her abilities? Look, Bob has spent the past six months working his ass off to get to where he is now. Why should we risk that for someone we don’t even know? Why should Bob have to put his peace and his progress at risk?” Bob stared at John, taking in his words, taking in the fear… They weren’t worried about him or scared of him… They were worried for him.

Six months of living with this team, with this… Family… It hadn’t fixed him, but he knew that none of them could ever be made anew. There were too many shattered pieces, too many splintered parts…All they could do was help each other glue the pieces back together and patch up the parts that he thought once before were beyond repair. He didn’t realise then, either, that it wasn’t something that he could do alone. He needed others. He wanted others. He didn’t think that he would ever be without his troubles, but now, he had more good days than bad, and on the bad days, he wasn’t alone. He was never alone.

And that’s why, when his attention drew back to the files in front of him, of pictures of a woman who could not be much older than he was, sprawled amongst pictures of vaguely familiar laboratories and medical charts, he shuddered involuntarily.

She was alone.

Just like he had been, before they found each other and forged a family. Before Yelena, Bucky, Ava, Alexi and John pulled him back from the brink. He had been alone, and now he wasn’t because of them.

And now he was in the position where he could help. Now he was in the position where he could make sure someone else didn’t feel as alone as he had. If that wasn’t enough, the fact that she had been a part of the trials that he had?

“I think we should find her. Even if she isn’t found by Valentina, she shouldn’t be alone.”

Bucky nodded, and then Yelena. Ava and John shared a long look, before sighing and nodding their heads too. All eyes fell to Alexi, and Ava’s shoulders tensed just a fraction of a second before the Red Guardian jumped from his seat and yelled loudly, throwing a fist into the air.

“Yes! New Avengers on mission once more!”

Chapter Text

“It’s fine,” Bob murmured as he stood with a t-shirt and a long-sleeved sweater in either hand. He hadn’t been in South-East Asia in a while, but he remembered the humidity distinctly, the uncomfortable perspiration that lingered at the back of his neck underneath his wild hair. After a few moments, he decided to throw both in the overnight bag he had started to pack and walked past Yelena as he moved to his bathroom. She sat atop his dishevelled bed, her legs crossed and eyes fixed on him as he gathered what he might need for the mission.

His first mission.

“Bob,” Yelena drawled pointedly, tilting her head. He stopped halfway back across the room with his toothbrush and toothpaste in hand, casting his gaze up to his friend. Yelena sitting on his bed was not an uncommon sight. Especially in the first few months after the Vault, Yelena, Ava and John spent many nights sleeping in his king size bed with him, there to help protect against the nightmares, against the void. Other nights, he would watch movies with Alexi on the big screen in their team living room, or head to the gym with Bucky to get a dopamine hit that helped him sleep.

“Yelena,” he said in the same tone, his lips twitching into a small smile. She smirked at him for a moment before narrowing her eyes at him.

“I know what you are doing, Bob. And I thought we were past saying we are fine when we are not.” Bob sighed and sat down on the bed next to her, his toothbrush and toothpaste still within his fingers. “I know you want to help. You have. You do not need to come with us to find her. You do not have anything to prove. Not to me. Not to anyone on this team.” Bob fidgeted with the lid of the toothpaste, clicking it open and then closed.

“But maybe I need to prove it to myself?” He murmured, casting his gaze briefly up to Yelena. She opened her mouth to speak, but Bob continued, stammering a little. “I-I… I know it’s my first mission… I know that you’re all worried about me…”

“This is not just any mission, Bob…” Yelena interrupted, shaking her head. “It’s personal… And her powers… What if she does not have control? We are all at risk, but… It is different for you and me… We… We found our escape in substance… It will be more difficult for us.” He glanced up at her again, watching the little crease in between her brows, and the slight downwards lilt of her lips as she stared into the space ahead.

“Then why are you going?” He asked defiantly, and her gaze flickered back to him, the emerald suddenly shinning with something bright and strong and fierce.

“Bob. You know I would burn entire world down to protect you, yes?” Bob nodded, knowing this truth yet still not understanding quite why Yelena and the others felt this way about him. “Please let us do this mission. I want to keep you safe.”

“But what if I want to keep you safe too?” He whispered, and Yelena sighed, leaning into his side and resting her head on his shoulder as she took his hand in hers. Yelena was silent for a while, rubbing a circle into his hand with her thumb.

“Is this… Really want you want to do?” She finally asked, so quiet that if she wasn’t leaned into him, he wouldn’t have heard her.

Bob thought back to where he was six months ago, alone and without any direction in life. He didn’t know if it was chance or choice that brought them together, but what he did know was that he had a choice now.

“Yes… I… I don’t want to imagine where I would be without each of you… And I don’t want to do nothing when someone else is out there, just like I was… You didn’t sit by and do nothing when it was me…”

“And there is nothing I can do to convince you to stay here?” She asked against him.

“Not really…” He answered, a little sheepishly.

“Okay, Bob. Here is the deal. We go on this mission, but we keep our distance from this woman, until we know exactly how her powers have changed in the past six months. We do not know yet what kind of control she has.” He bobbed his head up and down as she spoke.

“Deal.” He said as soon as Yelena finished her sentence.

“And-“ she continued, taking her hand back from his so that she could point her finger at him. “I will kill you if you ever tell Walker I said this, but he was right. Your peace and progress are what is important to me. I will respect your wish to go with us, and we stick together, okay? But you promise me, if it gets dangerous and I tell you to run, you will run.”

“But I-“

“Bob,” Yelena whispered, her voice suddenly thick. “When we watched you mowed down by the gunfire at the vault, I… I was devastated. And I had barely known you yet. You are my best friend. My best friend. And I will not lose you. We do not know what kind of things Valentina might have developed to capture this woman. We do not know if they will work on you... So, if I tell you to run, will you run?” She watched him intently, her eyes fierce again. He wanted to say no, to say that he would not leave her if she was in trouble, but the expression on her face left no room for argument.

“Okay,” he huffed out, and she caught onto his frustration, his willingness to abandon all sense of personal safety for her and the team.

“You promise?” She pushed, and Yelena knew she had him there. He would not break a promise. Not since the great Mac and Cheese Debacle of three months ago. He narrowed his eyes at her, and she smirked knowingly.

“Okay, I promise.”

Chapter Text

“Alexi, we are not wearing matching sunglasses,” John complained as he walked towards the front of the jet. Despite his objections, he took a pair from Alexi’s hand and slipped it into a pocket of his suit as he took one of the pilot’s seats. They had only just gotten the aircraft from Valentina a few weeks ago, though Bucky made quick work of disarming the bugs and rewiring the GPS to make it look like they were going to the West Coast, rather than an abandoned airfield in southern Thailand, a few hours north of Siem Reap.

“Why not!” Alexi called back as he stood next to the passenger seat Bob was sat cross-legged in, hand outstretched to him with another pair of flashy sunglasses dangling from his fingers. In the fading sunlight that streamed through the expansive windshield, he could see the reflective shine of an A for Avengers along the side.

Bob took the sunglasses and put them on immediately, looking up to Alexi- who was adorned in his own pair- with a grateful grin.

“Yes, Bob!” He cried, pulling out his phone and taking a photo like a proud, boomer dad. Bob gave a hesitant thumbs up, and Alexi handed him another pair of sunglasses.

“You make sure this goes to our new team member!”

“Lexi, stop this. We are going on our first mission as a full team-“ Yelena begun, but Alexi interrupted.

“Exactly! Which is why we need to commemorate with pair of new-“

“And we are not anointing every new stranger as member of our team!”

“But Lena,” Alexi drawled a little as he moved to stand in front of her and placed a pair of sunglasses carefully on his daughter’s face. “I had set of seven made already. She will be part of team. I can feel it in here!”

“Is that what you were doing when we were supposed to be preparing?” John called from up front.

“This was preparation!” Alexi countered, but his voice was light and brimming with excitement, something he had in excess and more than enough for the whole team.

“Well, if she is as bad as the medical charts say, that’s not the only thing you’ll be feeling in your chest once she’s through with us,” Ava snarked, throwing him a feigned impression of nonchalance, eyebrow hitched dramatically. Alexi moved towards her, and Ava looked regretful that she had drawn attention to herself as he placed the sunglasses atop her head.

“No, no. This mission will be success.”

“Like the last mission?” Bucky asked from the other pilot seat, next to John. He threw Buck a dark look as he continued flicking switches and pressing buttons on the control panel, the jet humming underneath them as it prepared to ascend above the cityscape.

“I still think that mission was success. We got many new followers on Instagram and TikTok that day!” Alexi said happily as he sat down in the passenger seat next to Bob.

“Only because John’s suit ripped across his ass cheek,” Ava laughed, flipping the glasses down over her eyes and casting her gaze out the window beside her as Bucky and John set the jet into the air from their flight deck at Avengers Tower.

“Guys, can we please stop bringing that up! I have to deal with enough comments about it as it is. I’m sick of all the cat calls.”

“Oh wow, welcome to every single day as a woman.” Yelena sniped, her deadpan voice echoed by Ava’s sound of agreement.

“I’ve never seen you be cat called!” John tried, glancing over his shoulder at Yelena. There was a split second of silence, before Ava and Bucky snapped back at him.

“Oh, you just had to open up your big mouth, didn’t you John?” Ava said at the same time Bucky groaned.

“Seriously John. I’m a century old and even I know that you’ve stepped in it.” The team continued squabbling, with John eventually relenting and apologising, something that Bob thought was only a recent development, because he wasn’t very good at it. His mind had already wandered ahead, and a question slipped from his lips before he could wait for an appropriate time to ask.

“Do you think that we will find her before Valentina’s strike team does?” Bob asked quietly, but he was heard with all the super serum running through the veins of their team.

“We’ve got the same information as Val, but hopefully the jet will give us a slight head start.” Bucky answered as the others quietened down. “We’ll need to neutralise the scouts that are watching but not engaging. We can talk game plan in a little while. Might be best to sleep while you can.” Bucky sent him a reassuring smile over his shoulder as the city fell away below them, and the jet propelled forward at a moderate speed out of New York.

It took less than three minutes for Alexi to fall asleep in the seat he had reclined, his snores resonating through the cabin. Ava was next, moving from her chair to a cot in the back and curling up under some weighted blankets. Yelena followed suit, and as she moved towards the back of the jet, she squeezed his shoulder on the way past, giving him a warm though tight smile. She found a spot near Ava, leaning out across a row of seats that ran parallel to the sides of the aircraft, flipping the sunglasses back over her eyes to rest.

Bob watched the world below, knowing that sleep would be impossible with the adrenaline currently coursing through his system. He was excited, and nervous all at once. He was going on his first mission, and he was eager to be finally helping the team, rather than just being a hindrance.

Not a hindrance, a voice in his head told him, one that may have been Yelena’s, or John’s, or Bucky’s. He wasn’t always good at picking up his self-talk in the moment, but Bucky had been helping him, teaching him strategies to combat it when he did.

The sky was shifting into the deep lilacs and navies of a sunset that was nearly obsolete, only a few hours after their mission briefing in the meeting room. It swept over the city of New York and across the Atlantic as they left what had become home the past six months.

The first place he had truly felt like home.

He listened to the familiar snores of Alexi in the seat across from him, and tried to settle the nerves and excitement that ran through him. The hardest side of him to coax into some kind of stasis was the one that had taken over New York within minutes.

The Void.

He felt the Sentry there, too, feeling for his moment to shine, to be the god he felt he was. But in equal measure, he felt the Void, just a slight tremor, a small sensation underneath the bone of his ribcage, feeling for the moment to convince him that he wasn’t worth being there, that he was going to make a mistake, that he was going to get someone hurt…

He had found clarity in the past six months, and strategies and a family to help, but he was still working on the balance of it all.

On his good days, it just was a felt like a clash, waves against rock, but something normal. Natural. Familiar. Managable. One the bad days though… On the bad days, it felt like he was drowning, sinking further down, down, down into the primordial depths of the churning, thrashing ocean.

On those days though, he had a hand there to pull him back to the surface. It wasn’t just oxygen they gave him as he breached the water, dislodging him from what was insistent on dragging him under. No, on those days, they gave him something he had gone long without.

They gave him hope.

And for the first time in a long time, he had some hope that tomorrow would be a good day.

Chapter Text

The humid air of southern Thailand felt like impacting with a wall as they walked down the rear hanger door of the jet. Bob had decided to wear light coloured slacks and a navy, long sleeved shirt, though he was beginning to feel like the choice was a mistake the moment perspiration began to form at his temples.

He watched as Bucky and Yelena walked to a point in the distance where two vehicles were parked, while the hanger door closed behind him and Ava. Bob glanced to his friend as John and Alexi shuttled the jet into the barely recognisable remnants of an airplane hanger that was mostly reclaimed by the dense thickets of the jungle.

Ava wiped her hand across her forehead, and Bob winced as he considered the suit she needed to wear to keep her safe, but must feel like a cocoon especially in this weather.

“You okay?” He asked softly, offering her a smile, but he wasn’t sure if it reached his eyes.

“I’m fi-“ she started somewhat flippantly, but then met his gaze fully and took a deep breath. “I’m just… Uncomfortable. You’d think being in a suit worse than this for most my life would have made this one a walk in the park…”

“You’re allowed to be uncomfortable,” Bob murmured, pulling at the sleeves of his shirt as he glanced about them. The sky was lightening as the sun peered over the horizon, and he didn't want to think about how they would feel in a few hours when the sun was beating down on them all.

“Yeah, I’m just not used to complaining about it.” She said, sighing a little.

“You’re allowed to complain.” He offered in response, but she shook her head a little, her dark mahogany eyes taking on a far away look.

“I don’t want to. It makes me feel weak.” She whispered in response, still looking away from him. He wondered if she had ever admitted this aloud, but guessed that she hadn’t. Ava’s life had been much harder than his. Not that it was a competition; all of them had it pretty rough, but she had spent her entire childhood in labs, in constant, chronic pain. He wondered how young she must have been when she stopped vocalising her fears, her discomfort to others?

“Do you think I’m weak when I complain?” He asked quietly, and she turned on him quickly, furious and protective.

“What? Of course not, why would you-“ she started, but her eyes glanced to the way his lips were tilted into a small, victorious smirk. “You’re a bloody shit sometimes, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know.” Bob admitted, shifting himself a little to bump into her shoulder. She smiled back at him warmly, her eyes crinkling a little as she studied him.

“Thank you, Bob. I’m glad you’re here, by the way. We missed you on our other missions.”

“You did?” He asked, perplexed.

“Of course we did. You’re part of our family. Our weird, dysfunctional and definitely not normal family.” She laughed, wrapping her arms briefly over his shoulders and pulling him into a half hug.

“Are you okay?” She asked as she let him go to narrow her eyes at him, scrutinising.

“I’m… Excited… And nervous… I’m afraid to stuff something up.” He admitted.

“What do you think will happen if you make a mistake?”

“Well… I don’t want to be kicked off the team on my first mission.” Ava laughed a little, not in jest of him, but in some kind of fond adoration.

“Bob, there is nothing you could do that will make us abandon you in any way, alright? I meant what I said about us being family. And we all make mistakes. Some, more than others.” She tilted her chin up at John, who walked back with Alexi from hiding the jet nearby. “We learn. We grow. Some, quicker than others. But we all deserve second chances.”

“You really believe that?” He asked, and Ava let out a sardonic snort.

“Six months ago? Absolutely not. But now… Now, I have to believe it. Otherwise, what’s the point in anything I’m doing?” They smiled knowingly at each other as though both their thoughts strayed back to six months ago in the Vault where they first met. That was the collision course that had changed the trajectory of their lives, and for the better.

“Alright. Buck and Yelena are meeting the contact for the vehicle. We should be on the road soon.” John stated, carrying their six overnight bags within his hands, while Alexi took photos of the jungle surrounding the dilapidated and abandoned airfield.

“Alexi, if you continue to take photos of our location, Valentina will know where we are.” Ava said, her words chiding, but her tone was fond.

“No, no, my Ghost friend!” Alexi boomed, taking a picture of Ava and Bob where they stood in front of him. “Yelena secured me untraceable phone so that I can take pictures. I will post to our official accounts after we have completed mission!”

Ava and John just shook their heads at him, but Bob smiled wide. Alexi’s excitement was contagious and he couldn’t help but feel at ease with him around.

“Alright, let’s go over the plan once more while we wait.” John said, refocusing them.

And so they did. The intel that Mel had pulled for them within the last two hours was that Valentina’s strike team were enroute to an airfield in Siem Reap. If all went well in their crossing of the border between Thailand and Cambodia, they would have one hour at best to locate the scouts watching the woman, take them out, and then safely extract her.

“Have we finally agreed on how we are going to get her out of there?” Ava asked, looking at schematics of the palliative care that she had found refuge at. This was the singular contentious point in their plan. John wanted to storm the facility and take her unawares, knock her out before she has a chance to do any damage. Everyone else, well… Everyone else thought that was an awful idea.

“I still think my plan is the best,” John asserted. “If we can’t convince her, what if she fries everyone inside?”

“And what if you can’t knock her out? What if she is as strong as Sentry? Then she will definitely fry everyone.” Ava retorted. Alexi’s attention was on Bob, and he felt a prickling at the back of his neck that had nothing to do with the humidity.

“I think Bob should go in.” Alexi said, still watching him.

“What?” All three of them responded in unison.

“You can’t be serious.” John deadpanned, looking between Bob and Alexi. “Not, look. Not that I don’t think you can handle it, Bob. I stand by what I said in the briefing room yesterday. We shouldn’t be putting you at risk!”

“But Sentry is indestructible. If he talks to this woman and she is not in control, Sentry will be okay.” Alexi stated.

“But Bob is still working on his control with Sentry and Void. What if you’re wrong and she uses her powers on him?” Ava asked, and John nodded, gesturing to her.

“Exactly!” John interjected, and Ava narrowed her eyes at him, obviously still not in agreement with his idea.

“Then we have two hours to get her so that he does not go…” Alexi began, and he gestured a finger to the side of his head, twirling it in a circle.

“That is not a risk we should be willing to take!” John snapped with a tone that said this conclusion should be obvious.

Bob was silent as they argued, his mind whirling through his feelings, his memories, his promises to Yelena, and what was the right thing to do.

“I want to do it.” He murmured, and they stopped to stare at him, waiting to hear an explanation for the words that spilled from his tongue. “I just… She might be scared like I was…”

“Bob, Yelena is going to kill you for wanting to do this.” Ava tried, and John looked pained.

“Well, she wanted to stick together… Maybe she could go with me?”

John and Ava glanced at one another, then turned their gazes to Alexi. It wasn’t that Yelena needed permission to do anything, but the care and protectiveness that the older super soldier held for his daughter was stronger than the strength the serum had given him.

“There are no better people to take care of one another.” He stated seriously, and nodded. “We propose new plan to Myshka.”

The sound of an engine slowly increasing in volume filled the air, and their attention was pulled towards Buck and Yelena as they drove an old, tattered troopie towards them.

“Well, good luck telling Yelena this plan. I’m sure it’s going to go down super well.” John observed sarcastically.

It did not go down well.

They argued almost the entirety of the way to the Cambodian border, and only zipped their arguments when they needed to pay off some officials to get into the country without paperwork. After a few minutes of silence as they continued down the sealed, yet bumpy road towards Siem Reap, it started again.

“I am not letting Bob go in there!” Yelena yelled into the tense air of the troopie.

“I won’t be alone!” Bob chimed in, and she glared at him over her shoulder in the front seat.

“Do you remember our promise? That we made only yesterday? I said, ‘no getting close, and we stick together.’”

“But if you go with me-“ he started, but she interrupted him.

“We are still getting close to her! I vote we chose Walker’s plan.”

“Thank you!” John called out from next to Bob.

“We are not picking Walker’s plan,” Bucky groused from the driver’s seat. “There are too many risks and too many unknowns. We don’t know what kind of control she has when she is unconscious, we don’t know if there are different facets of her abilities like Bob. The risk of casualties is already high.”

“I mean, it’s already a palliative care facility, so…” John muttered, and Ava and Bucky rounded on him quickly.

“So, because they are about to die, they deserve to die?” Bucky asked, disbelief dripping from each word.

“John, this is very on brand for you so at least you’re consistent.” Ava sniped.

“Okay, okay! God, I just don’t see how she is going to trust what we say. She has been hiding from Valentina for six months. We still don’t even know what Thoalai Protocol means!”

“Do you think she will trust us more after we knock her out with sleeping gas, maybe kill some of the people she has been helping, and kidnap her?” Ava asked, and John just shook his head in frustration.

“It’s the only w-“ Bob started, but Yelena interrupted again.

“It is not, Bob.”

“She will be scared. We can’t just force this on her. We need to tell her what is happening, and what will happen if she stays where she is.” He pleaded, well aware of the desperate edge his voice took.

Silence again, as they mulled it over.

“I think we take vote,” Alexi stated, and John groaned. “All in favour for US Agent plan?”

John and Yelena raised their hands.

“All in favour for the Sentry plan?”

Bucky, Ava, Alexi and Bob raised their hands.

“Seriously can we stop using the vote system, I hate it.” John grumbled.

“Only because you’re still salty we voted on Chinese instead of kebabs for dinner the other night,” Ava snarked.

“And because we unanimously voted to upload the video where you ripped your suit to Tiktok,” Bucky added.

“And also when we voted-“ Alexi began, but John cut him off.

“Yeah, okay, okay! Fine! We do Bob’s plan, but when it goes to shit, I’m going to have the sleep cannisters ready.”

Yelena stared at Bob through the rearview mirror, an indecipherable expression on her features.

“Trust me,” he whispered softly, and the muscle along her jaw ticked for a moment, before she conceded, nodding her head and casting her vision back to the road ahead.

He was sure that the sudden sinking sensation within his chest had nothing to do with anxiety or excitement of what was before them.

It felt something more sinister, something that made the Void flex victoriously within him.

It felt like dread.

Chapter Text

By the time they entered the outskirts of Siem Reap, Bob was an anxious mess. He was fidgeting far more than normal, pulling at the skin of his nail beds and tapping his toes against metal floor of the troopie. Several times, Ava pressed her hand into his, without a word or a glance at him. A reminder that she was there. A reminder of the words from their earlier conversation.

The very action of a hand within his felt surreal, something of a dream, even now. Just a few months ago, the slightest brush of his skin against another would send them spiralling into their own shame room. He had recoiled from gestures of touch, no matter how much he longed for them, out of fear of hurting his friends. But not one of them had second guessed those actions, even in the first few months where he had very little control. They didn't recoil or hesitate from offering him their touch; bear hugs from Alexi, cuddles to help against the nightmares from Ava, John and Yelena, training with Buck... He had sent them into their shame rooms by accident more times than he could count, but they never held that against him.

And it had gotten better, over time. He had more of a handle on his abilities, but with the tumultuous ocean within him now, he had to concentrate to stop that inky darkness running down the nerves and muscles of his arm towards Ava.

Both the Void and the Sentry were strong within their own right, but when Bob was this anxious, it was difficult to mediate a balance between them. The Void reminded him that he was bound to fail and that his friends would leave him. The Sentry was ready, anticipating his time to show just how powerful he was, to flex his strength and prowess.

But Ava’s hand within his reminded him that they would not leave him, no matter what happened next, and the anxiety within him proved just how he still worried about failure despite the Sentry’s assuredness.

They weaved their way through vehicles of all shapes and sizes; tuk-tuks and trucks with precariously stacked cargo and motorbikes with half a dozen passengers balancing bags across lengths of bamboo that sat between them. The smell of petrol, dust, chargrilled meat and raw seafood was thick in the air, and the familiar smells of markets and bustling rural towns of this corner of the world made him feel more at ease than he had in the past few hours.

Bucky slowed the car off a shoulder in the bitumen after some conversation with Yelena, following a dirt road that led past jungle to their right, and crop paddies to their left. Their current track moved them away from the busy centre of the Cambodian city, a place with high tourist frequency due to the ancient temples that sat stoic through the jungles and countryside. Meandering on the outskirts, they passed cattle and famers, children travelling to school, and the occasional tourist stopped and trying to recalibrate their position. It was quieter, and Bob was sure that was the point.

Any person who could identify them here could inadvertently tip off Valentina to their real location.

Bucky slowed the vehicle after another fifteen minutes, taking it onto something that was more of a track and less of a road, one that led them into the jungle on their right. It was bumpier here; as Bob leaned from his seat to see the vehicle trapse over plants that were doing a half decent job of reclaiming this path, he knocked his head on the roof of the troopie, gaining a fond sigh from Ava. Yelena pointed to a spot and Buck reversed the vehicle into a dense thicket of the trees and underbrush and turned off the ignition.

They all exited without a word, though Bob stumbled immediately as he hopped down from the back, though John was there to steady him.

“You alright, Bob?” John asked, dusting off his shoulder, though he was sure he didn’t have anything there to dust. The others moved efficiently to place foliage over the top of the vehicle, camouflaging it from peering eyes, as John watched him intently.

“Yeah.” Bob laughed, gesturing a little to the plant he had tripped over. “Just didn’t see where I was going.” John skewered him with narrowed eyes, catching his half-hearted deflection.

“I’m okay. Just a bit jittery.” Bob answered honestly, wiping his palms across his slacks.

“It’s gonna be alright. Quick and easy extraction.” John affirmed in that confident way of his, and Bob smiled a little, grateful for him. How different things were now, between them. He often wondered if it was because of what John saw in his memories that peeled away the prickly disposition held towards him.

“Alright. We are half a kilometre north of the facility. Everyone clear on the plan?” Bucky asked as he assessed the now concealed vehicle. There were various responses of assent- Alexi was literally rubbing his hands together in excitement- and Buck nodded, tilting his chin to their path ahead.

They tracked their way through a section of thick forest- inhaling insects and traipsing their way over thick roots below them and the hanging vines around them- for about fifteen minutes, before it opened up to a clearing. They stayed concealed within the shadowy edges of the jungle and assessed. Before them lay some small ponds, half hidden in the shadows as they were. The main road from the south led to four buildings that rose from the canopies as per the schematics of the facility; the two in the centre sat parallel to one another, two stories high. The other two ran adjacent on either side, one story in height. The buildings looked fairly modern, with fresh paint coating the outside. Bob knew from their recon that the facility took in international volunteers, those trying to make a positive difference, or just trying to make themselves feel better.

Bob wondered why she was there. Was she trying to find some kind of restitution? Or was she trying to do something good with the abilities she now had?

If she was anything like him, it might be both. He had spent his years running, searching, looking, escaping. From the pain, for something better than what he had, from what he was.

He wondered if she had found what she was looking for?

Bucky passed out their communicators and they each fastened them in their ears. Ava, Alexi and John drew weapons, while Buck pulled out two devices, around the size of tablets, and passed one to Yelena. Bob watched over their shoulders, trying to figure out what they were doing.

“There are two heat signatures on the edge of the jungle on the eastern edge of the facility." Yelena said after a few moments. "No other buildings on the schematics, or visible vehicles in that place. I would say those are the scouts.”

“Alright, you ready Ava?” Bucky asked, turning to her.

“Sure. Will let you know when they’re neutralised.” Ava pressed the button on the chest of her suit, and phased into the air before them. She disappeared and reappeared, like ripples on the surface of water as she made her way through the quantum space before them.

Bob fidgeted while they waited, and he was hyper aware he was the only one doing so. All of the others were still, statue-like as they waited. He wondered how many years they had between them of waiting like this; in the trenches, on war fields, during missions and assignments. They were used to it, and it made him feel especially misplaced amongst them.

“Bob?” He hadn’t seen Yelena move in front of him, and his focus drew to her. She looked concerned, her hand lingering at his forearm. “You are sure you want to do this?”

“Yeah, I am.” He murmured back, trying for a smile. By the frown that formed on her features, it must have looked more like a grimace.

“It is not too late to back out, let someone else do it. Or change the plan.”

“No, I… I want to do it.” He said, a little firmer this time. She sighed a little, concern and frustration laced within the small sound.

“Okay. We go together. We stay together. And if anything happens, you run, just like you promised.” She said, scrutinising his expression.

“Okay.” He nodded, and Yelena unzipped the top half of her suit, passing it to Alexi as she readjusted the singlet that was underneath. She still wore the slacks and her combat boots, but she looked much more like a civilian now, even with the faint outline of the gun she placed under the belt at the small of her back.

They heard some grunts through their comms, and within ten seconds, Ava’s low voice crackled through.

“Neutralised. These ones are definitely Valentina’s.” There was a string of curses from her end, and Yelena and Alexi flashed a glance towards each other in concern.

“Ava, what is it?” Alexi asked, his voice taking on a tone of panic that Bob didn’t hear from him often.

“They have a check-in protocol. The strike team are inbound, thirty minutes, but they will know in fifteen minutes that their men aren’t responding. They will come in hot.”

“Fuck,” Bucky swore under his breath. “Yelena, Bob, go.” Yelena took off in a jog towards the facility, sticking to the jungle as Bob trailed close behind. “Ava, where is she?” Bucky continued, his low voice now in their ear through the comms.

“They have visuals on the northern-most building. Main wing. There are dozens of people inside.”

“This way,” Yelena whispered, taking a sharp course correction towards a building on to the north. They pressed themselves along the side of the central building, their movements still quick, until they turned the corner and found themselves along a path, with nurses and staff walking by at slow paces.

They slowed their movements too, sliding their gazes past each person they passed, nodding as they went. There weren't just staff here, there were family and volunteers, too. The atmosphere of the place was calm, at odds with the ticking clock they found themselves in, but it was calm in a sombre type of way. Morose. If she was here, whatever her powers had evolved into, she wasn't using them now.

"Twenty-five minutes," Ava said into their ears.

Reaching the main door of the northern building, they entered slowly, finding themselves in a large, expansive hall lined with several dozen beds. Not all of them were filled, maybe sixty percent. There were nurses slowly moving between patients and family members at bedsides looking weary eyed. They walked through slowly, analysing each face meticulously.

As they scanned, a movement from ahead caught Bob’s eye. Someone with a scarf across their face stood from a bedside where they had been holding the hand of an old woman who slept with a small smile on her face. The smile faltered a little as the scarved person ducked their head and moved away from the patient and towards a door on the opposite side of the building.

“Bob…” Yelena murmured, and he nodded, seeing the way the movements were way too rapid to be anything but calm. No one moved with speed here. Not except for them.

Her.

Yelena and Bob continued walking down the hall, following where the scarved figure disappeared and exited the door just moments after her. They saw her moving hastily away from the hall and back towards the central buildings.

“Wait!” Bob called out, and her movements faltered. “Please, wait.”

Her shoulders were tense as she turned around, staring at them from underneath the fabric. Her eyes darted about her and before she raised her hands suddenly upwards, her hands shaking. She held them like a weapon between them, but from the way she shook, a weapon she didn’t want to use. Yelena reached for the gun at the small of her back, but the woman took a step forward, shaking her head.

“Don’t move!” She snapped out through hushed tones, her eyes focused on Yelena. Bob and Yelena raised their hands slowly, palms upwards.

“Who else knows I’m here?” She said resolutely. She was wearing a dress that extended down to her wrists and to the grass below, obscuring her shoes. The scarf covered her hair and the lower half of her face, with only her eyes visible. He had seen pictures of her from the medical files, but the woman before them seemed harder. Distrustful.

“Please, just listen. My name is B-Bob, and… I know that you’re scared-”

“You know nothing about me,” she grit out, her eyes focused on Yelena as her right hand still hovered a little too closely to her gun.

“You’re right, I don’t know much about you, but I know that you’re scared, because I was too, after Ox’s experiments.” Her eyes widened and flickered to Bob’s, meeting them for the first time, and Bob felt his stomach somersault.

“What…” she murmured, the walls that she had built splitting suddenly, a crevice right through the centre.

“I… I was in the Malaysian lab… And…” Bob began, though Ava’s voice sounded in his ear, cutting him off momentarily.

“Fifteen minutes- they know something is wrong now, Yelena and Bob you need to hurry.”

“And, I know that we are strangers. I know that you don’t trust anyone, because I didn’t either, at first… But we’re here because Valentina, the head of Ox, has been looking for you and they’ve found you. Her strike teams are on their way right now, and we… She wanted to use me for my powers. She… Manipulated me… And we are here to make sure she doesn’t do that to you.”

“You expect me to just believe that?” She hissed, and Bob could see she was trying desperately to rebuild her defensive walls, but her voice didn’t hold the same venom.

“If we had more time, we could explain everything right now, but they are on their way here. We need… We need to get you out of here before they find you.”

“Why?”

“Why…?” Bob echoed, unsure what she meant.

“Why are you trying to help me?” She asked, the anger in her voice clinging on by its fingernails.

“Because you don’t deserve to be alone.” He whispered. She stared at him, her hands shaking in front of her as he watched something shift in her eyes, as though the wall cracked wide momentarily, allowing the light in to show the vulnerable interior.

“You don’t know anything about what I deserve.” She said after a few moments, her voice small, but firm. “I can’t leave. Mekrah doesn’t have long, and I’m not leaving her side before she passes.”

Yelena finally broke her silence from next to Bob, shaking her head and finally dropping her hand from where it was still hovering.

“If you are still here in ten minutes, you will not be anyway. Valentina’s strike team are close and they will not give you any choice, any peace. They want you as a weapon.”

“And that’s not why you want me?” Something of a challenge in her voice again, but it wavered.

“We want you to make the choice for yourself, but this is your choice right now. You come with us and find the freedom to do what you want to do, or you wait here for Valentina’s team to haul you away and lock you in god knows what facility she has hidden somewhere.”

The woman was silent, her hands still outstretched but lowering slightly as her eyes flitted between Bob and Yelena.

“Can you… Can you just give me a minute to say goodbye to Mekrah?” She asked, her voice quiet, but steady. Resolved.

“Y-yeah, of course,” Bob said at the same time Yelena said, “only one minute.”

She moved back to the door that they had all come from, giving both Yelena and Bob a wide berth. Her eyes slid briefly to his as she slipped through the door, and in that split-second, that tiny moment, her eyes seem to glint with something more than the moisture that seemed to form there.

Something that seemed haunted.

Something that seemed… Regretful.

“Five minutes!” Ava called through their comms, and Yelena started pacing tightly along the side of the building. Bob tore at his finger nails, his eyes glancing between Yelena and the building. The time was moving too quickly, too rapidly before them. He imagined the vehicles of the strike team rushing down the road leading into the facility, and the fear that built within his chest made the Void feel vindicated.

“Four minutes,” Ava advised.

“Ava, come back to us. Yelena?” Bucky said, and Yelena inhaled deeply and stormed towards the door.

“Yelena, just give her a minute-“

“We are out of time, we need to go-“

Yelena pushed back through the doors to find the hall moving as it had been before their intrusion. The elderly lady, Mekrah, was still laying upon her bed, and the woman…

The woman was nowhere to be seen.

Chapter Text

“Ava!”

“Give me a second!”

“Alexi, get ready. John?”

“Let's go!”

“Yelena, she’s run north into the jungle!”

“Follow her, we’ll cover you!”

It was complete chaos. Bob ran behind Yelena, attempting to keep himself upright amongst the thick roots that seemed to strangle the earth below, and the trees that were increasingly closing in around them. Memories of a Malaysian bender, surrounded by forest sprung into his mind, but he pushed them away and forced himself to focus.

He could hear the commotion behind him and through the piece in his ear, his heart torn between following Yelena and running back to help the rest of his family. Yelena must have realised, because she slowed momentarily and whispered to him through the comms.

“Do not think about it, Bob. They have it covered. We stick together.”

And so they continued to run. The frantic beat of his heart in his ears drowned out the commotion through the comms despite his best attempts to discern what was happening to the others. Sweat ran down his temples and uncomfortably down the length of his spine as his long-sleeved shirt clung to his back. Yelena traipsed over the undergrowth with an ease that came from a life of doing just this, and Bob knew he was only keeping up because of the strength that came from the experiments. Bob from a year ago would have been left behind within the first minute.

Yelena slowed suddenly, and Bob only just managed to stop before tumbling over her, catching himself by bracing his hands against her shoulders. She was staring before her, and he glanced up to follow her gaze, a small sound of wonder spilling past his lips.

"Whoa..."

The jungle had fallen away before them and in the space left behind stood the sprawling relic of a temple long forgotten. The onyx and alabaster stonework stood taller than the palliative care unit in places, but for the many windows that rose into the sky, just as many were crumbling into the earth below. It looked as though stone avalanches had felled complete sections. Of what stood, roots of nearby trees continued their stranglehold here, too, reclaiming walls, windows and the looming statues of snakes and dancing women above them.

“There,” Yelena said suddenly, pointing to a place halfway up the temple, where shadows shifted briefly within a stone window.

“Come,” she whispered, and broke into a slight jog towards the ancient behemoth. Yelena traversed over one of the stone avalanches, turning to lend an outstretched hand to him. He took it gratefully, still stumbling as he tried to find footing, but she steadied him. They climbed through a window to find the base of a stone stairway, and followed it upwards. Bob made an effort to follow Yelena's footsteps exactly, avoiding the crumbling stone beneath his shoes.

“What’s the plan?” Bob murmured nervously.

“Let us see what her plan is. Somehow, I do not think her escape included us finding her or a few dozen mercenaries on her tail.”

They reached the stop of the stairs and Yelena moved carefully through a precarious archway, peering around the corner. She rose her hand, gesturing to Bob before slowing a little, seeing or hearing something that he hadn't picked up on yet.

He moved underneath the archway after her, glancing around. The space seemed to be the beginning of a large corridor, of which he couldn't see the end of. To his right was the window they had seen the shadows move through, a large space in the architecture not sullied by a pane of glass. He heared, then, what Yelena had.

The sound of shallow, panicked breathing.

She tilted her head to a place where a wall had collapsed, rubble deposited into a large section of the floor, but as they moved slowly around it, they saw that much of the corner of this room, before the limitless corridor, was hidden from view beneath shadow and stone.

“Hey,” Yelena said softly at the same time Bob saw a pair of wide eyes staring at them from that place of darkness, like a wild animal cornered. “We don’t want to hurt you. We need to get you out of here.”

“I- I can’t. I’ll wait until they’ve left.” She whispered, her voice lacking the intonations of authority and strength from what must have been half an hour ago, now. Her eyes flashed quickly between hers and Bob’s, and he felt such kinship with her then. Trapped. Hunted. This had been him only six months ago.

“They will not leave without you. It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but Valentina will have you.” Yelena murmured back, squatting a little to be at her eye level, though with a careful chasm of distance between them. They still did not know enough about her powers, but by the way she had been holding Mekrah's hand, it might be something she could still only access through touch.

“Yelena! They’ve brought reinforcements!” Ava's voice blared through the comms at the same moment the sound of rotor blades drew near, the noise growing louder and louder by the second.

Yelena swore in Russian, and the woman slunk a little further into the shadows, her eyes wide again as her eyes darted to the stone above them.

“They are coming now. I’m not asking you to trust us. I’m just asking you to let us get you out of here, to keep you safe.” There were a few tense moments of silence, eyes fixed on one another, but finally her head bobbed up and down in time with the frantic rising and falling of her shoulders, of her breathing.

The sound of the helicopter was so close now, Bob wondered if they were attempting to land on top of the already falling temple. Gunfire echoed, distant, as though from the rest of the team and their combat. Her eyes glanced back towards the window, and Bob, too, glanced in that direction, desperate to hear that his friends were okay through his communicator. He thought he heard a victorious laugh from Alexi, but he wasn't sure if he had just hoped for it.

Yelena moved to the shadows of the window, the air around them now disturbed as though a gale rushed through the forest, and she took her gun from the small of her back. Bob stayed where he was, though crouched and fell into the shadows too, a little further away from the woman than Yelena had been.

"There are at least a dozen of Valentina's men incoming. How?" She swore again, searching the floor beneath them as though the secrets would reveal themselves there. "This must be contingency, if the first teams failed." Yelena glanced back to the woman, and Bob did too, finding her eyes flashing away from him and at Yelena. There was something in those eyes, something vulnerable, something searching. What was she looking for? What was she trying to figure out?

Tension radiated from her, and from Yelena. Bob was more than anxious now, the Void within him garnering strength in his anticipated vindication. He increased the already substantial distance between himself and the woman, taking several crouched movements away from her, worried that if he had a split-second lapse of control, that the Void would terrify her into running. He glanced back to her, and her eyes seemed bright in the shadows from where she was concealed, as though there was moisture welling there.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Bob whispered, his eyes moving between her and glancing over Yelena’s head, where she stood perched in the shadows of the window.

“Why you bothering?” She asked, her voice barely audible in the helicopter's hellish noise.

“What do you mean?” He whispered. He felt his brows furrow as he tried to discern her words.

“With this?” She gestured her hands a little, and away from the shadows he could see them shaking visibly, before bringing a finger back to point at her chest. “With me?” Her voice quivered, and there was anger there, but it seemed as though the panic still took reign through her.

“I wasn’t lying, before. You shouldn’t have to be alone.” He murmured earnestly, hoping she could see that in his face.

“And why do you think that I am?” She bit back. He noticed her eyes flicker around her, another quick dart of her gaze, and his description of a trapped animal was not too far off the mark.

“What?” He balked again, not quite sure what she was asking.

“Lonely?” She hissed, but the sound came out a little choked.

“No one went into those experiments because they were happy…” He answered honestly, and the vulnerable inside of her shone through, something in her eyes showing that what he had said had hit a nerve.

“Incoming,” Yelena said, and they quietened as Yelena moved from the window to crouch next to him.

“Bob, do you remember our promise?” She asked quickly.

“Yeah, of course-”

“If I tell you both to run, you run.” Yelena had his face cupped within her hands, imploring him with something closer to fear than he had seen in her.

“Wait, but I’m not leaving you!” He argued, and she shook her head, still holding him.

“You promised.” She enunciated as she let him go.

“But-“ He tried again, but she gave him a pointed stare and a finger against her lips. Holding her gun, she moved her position to the top of the barely functioning stairs they had climbed. She indicated for them to hide, and the woman complied, moving further into the shadows.

“Bob,” Yelena reprimanded with a hiss as he ran to stand opposite her.

“We stick together.” He mouthed and she shook her head incredulously.

They heard movement at the same time, the heavy footfalls that only kitted mercenaries would emit. Yelena and Bob watched each other, and then the end of a rifle appeared between them.

Yelena was fast, moving so suddenly that the person underneath the mask didn’t know what hit them; her fist connected with the side of their head, sending them spinning towards Bob. Yelena used their momentum to her advantage, hiding behind the still spinning mercenary and gripping the semi-automatic from under their arm. Yelena pulled the trigger without hesitation, aiming the weapon down the stairs as something electrified shot from the end.

Cries and returning fire ricochetted in the air around them as Yelena dislodged the weapon and kicked them down the stairs to the continuing shouts below.

“Here!” She yelled as she passed Bob her handgun. “Let’s go!”

They turned to run, realising that the target of their mission, their only objective, had disappeared once again.

“Fuck!” Yelena swore, and she broke into a sprint down the long stone corridor on the opposite side of the oncoming strike team. Bob ran behind her, taking glances over his shoulder and realising on the second turn that mercenaries had appeared at the top of the stairs and had started firing. He realised then that what they were shooting weren’t bullets at all, but some kind of electrified metal as it hit the stone around them and expanded around pillars and statues. He pulled the trigger on the gun, grateful that the entire team had given him shooting training, though his aim was wild in his panic.

They kept running, the sound of their footfalls barely audible above the now ringing in his ears. He turned a corner, finding the woman with her hands in the air, and four men in front of her with their weapons drawn, shouting commands. Bob could see her hands still trembling as she stood frozen, like a deer in front of an oncoming truck, but it was Yelena’s words that cut through.

“Get down!” She cried, and the woman did exactly that, dropping heavily to the stone below with the backpack slung over her shoulders as Yelena opened fire, sending electrified rounds in a halo of bullets at the offenders. Their bodies went rigid as the metal hit their chests and expanded, wrapping around their torsos and sending their electrified forms falling to the ground.

“Come on!” Yelena yelled, moments away from grabbing her before realising her error, and instead trying to herd her upwards.

She complied, pulling herself from the stones and following as Yelena broke into another sprint down the corridor. There was fire behind them, rounds hitting overhead, and Yelena whirled around a corner, pulling Bob behind as the woman pressed herself against the opposite wall.

Fire still rained down on them and Yelena peeked a glance as fire came from another place, from a courtyard below them. They ducked instinctively, electricity and warped metal hitting rocks as they dislodged from all around them. Yelena grabbed him suddenly, holding his forearm tight as he pulled him closer to her side.

“Bob, I need you to listen to me. I need you to keep our promise.”

“No-“

“You need to get her out of here! She needs to be protected!” She pushed him away then, and focused on the soldiers in the courtyard, taking one down, but two more appeared in their stead.

“Run!” Yelena shouted, and the woman sprinted from them. Bob glanced between them both, but he had promised.

He had promised.

He took off after her, Yelena's gun firm in his right palm and his body alight with panic and adrenaline. He was gaining on her, his long legs and stamina giving him an advantage, but he glanced back to check on Yelena's safety, ensuring she was alright, that he didn't see the moment the woman he was chasing had almost fallen, the end of the corridor suddenly disappearing into a metres long drop to the stone and jungle floor below.

He turned around and cried out as he braked to a sudden stop at the edge of the stone, attempting wildly to restore his balance, his eyes wide as he took in the drop below. He inhaled a shaky breath and turned around to find her pressed against the corridor wall, his own panic reflected in her expression.

It lasted but a moment, because the stone gave way under the sudden, unexpected weight of him, and he was falling backwards.

He had a fleeting moment of wonder, if he would survive this fall, when he heard a strangled cry from before him. Her arm shot out as though on instinct, decimating the careful distance they had put between themselves, and clutched his hand without hesitation in an attempt to pull him back to safety.

There was no time for the realisation of what she had done, of what she had sentenced him to, because more of the stone fell away and they were both the victims of gravity. A singular instinct of his own was screaming through his mind and every cell within his body, and that was the instinct to pull her to him and wrap his arms around her in some attempt to protect her from the impact of the earth below.

His head spun as his body collided with the ground and stone below with a thundering crack, and it took a few moments to understand that the only pain he felt was a phantom memory, an expectation of suffering. He wasn't hurt.

But...

"Bob?" A small, disorientated voice whispered close to his ear, and he opened his eyes to find her laying on top of him, his arms still wrapped around her protectively. There was a terror in her eyes, more than when they had found her. More than when the helicopter blades whirred overhead.

He let her go suddenly, realising his mistake.

He wasn't focused. He had lapsed in his concentration, and the Void...

"I'm sorry," he whispered, and she looked completely devastated, absolutely shattered. She untangled herself from him, and in a movement so sudden he could barely track her movements, she took off into a sprint away from him and into the depths of the Cambodian forest.

He took in a shaky breath, barely able to stem back to victory that the Void was so ready to claim. His failure. He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes to clear the stinging he felt.

The shame he felt.

Wait...

He shouldn't be able to feel shame. His mind fell back to the moment she reached for him, the moment their fingers touched. She wasn't in control in that moment, just like he was not. If she had been in control, she would not have reached for him. She would have kept that careful distance between them, just like at the care centre, and as she hid in the shadows.

So why could he not feel the euphoria that came from contact with her skin?

The Sentry pressed against his mind in that moment, arrogant annoyance in his energy as he indicated that the woman was getting further away with each moment he sat there.

Stumbling to his feet amongst the small crater of stone, Bob ran desperately into the forest after her.