#submercd

            “ tyler, “ the captain tossed his shield down the line in the hopes of clearing a path towards the helicarrier’s evacuation pods.  yet , with each downed pile of metal several more crawled out from the wood works.  constant, intense fighting was starting to exhaust the soldier.  as far as he could tell, it was starting to exhaust all of them except for vision.  “ we need to make sure those evacuation pods get off this rock safely.  go.  i’ll find the others and make sure we got everyone. “  he wasn’t going to lose anyone else to his own incompetence.  the other soldier was too important and steve knew he wouldn’t be able to handle another major loss.

“  what —  the list of names you put out before me?  did i kill ‘em all? ”  he doesn’t expect any judgement, not really.  they are both men broken by battles, never ending with the fight against an ongoing war.  internal, external, whatever it may be.  it’s a long list of names  ( for the both of them ).  seemingly unending, almost.  he works quick and he works well.  “ i could say no.  but i don’t think that’s the answer you’d be looking for. ”

you come to with a gasp.  it’s bright, and goddamnit, you need to stop finding yourself in situations like this.  you last remember a fight ....  you can’t quite remember who it was you’d been fighting.  head throbs and with a grimace, you push yourself to sit up, only to realize you’re not in your suit.  shit.  oh fuck.  oh no.  you look down at your hands, and ——  this isn’t good.  you always have your suit on.  no one knows.  no one aside from ———  aunt may, and the avengers.  the panic sets in then, head turning in every direction possible to assess your location.  “ where am i? ”  you murmur under your breath, brows furrowing together.  as you lift your legs to swing off the couch you’re on, you grimace and wince.  much of your body is sore.  he sees the red and black of his suit slung over a chair nearby.  clearing his throat, he’s quick to grab his suit back, relieved for it to be in his hands again.  “ uh... hello?  is uh ———  is anyone there? ”

there is some comfort to know that whenever he looks up to see any stars, they’re looking at the same stars. they’re looking at the same sky. soon enough, he knows he’ll get the chance to see tyler again. and maybe, just maybe, they can celebrate a birthday together.

“ cut the shit-talkin’, rake. ”  he inhales a deep breath before he huffs and grimaces, glancing down at where he’d just taken a slash. it’s nothing deep, so he’ll survive, and it doesn’t hurt too much in the moment  ( adrenaline always does that to him ). he’d been gettin’ overpowered by a couple of goons. one against six isn’t exactly ideal, and they’d just shown up out of no where when they thought they’d cleared the hallway ahead.  “ if y’want gratitude, y’sure as hell aren’t gettin’ it when y’brag and make it sound like i’m a hassle to save. ”  a shake of his head and then he’s pushing himself back up, ordering his team to start looking through the rooms down the hallway.  ‘ have each other’s backs. ’  it isn’t said aloud, but they know the drill, it’s somethin’ he’s told them since meeting ‘em all since day one.  “ let’s get goin’ before more of ‘em show up and i have t’save your ass. ”