[ closed ] stop me if you've heard this one ... two avengers walk onto a ship ...

[america]

WHO • STEVE ROGERS (starspangle) & NATASHA ROMANOFF (breakables)
WHERE • random corridor on deck 2
WHEN • june 4
WHAT • new ex-avenger arrivals show up and things get a little scary
WARNINGS • none yet


[ The first thing he notices is the cold.

His eyes shoot open at around the same time that he gasps for air, like he'd been drowning up until this point. He has no idea why his skin feels cold, why his body is taut and tense with the chill of the air, why there's a crick in his neck like he'd landed on it funny.

When he straightens, it's with a sudden movement, and then he's scanning his surroundings with the strategic care (and a little panic) of a soldier stuck in an unknown location, groaning when he rubs the back of his head and then his neck. ]

Where the hell -

[ Where the hell, indeed.

Steve Rogers sits up and when he looks to his left, he's relieved at least, to find his friend and partner, Natasha Romanoff, beside him. She looks to be unconscious but the rise and fall of her chest is a blessed indication that she's alive. That's the important part. The rest can follow after.

He gets to his feet with careful motions, feeling the slow ache in his muscles as they begin to wake up, reminding him that whatever happened probably didn't happen gently. When he rolls his shoulders, they crack with the tension. It's dark in here and they're standing (or lying, in Natasha's case) on a grill that echoes with every step he takes, his boots suddenly the loudest instruments in the world. There's a row of dim, flickering lights from this end of the corridor to the other end but no activity otherwise. This looks like a ship, and an abandoned one at that, but he doesn't remember getting on board any ship before this. He doesn't remember being kidnapped either.

Satisfied that they seem to be alone for the moment, Steve bends down to gently shake Nat's shoulder. ]

Natasha.

[ His voice is soft but he can still hear the echo of it bouncing against the metal walls. He can see his breath coming out in a cloud of fog. They'll freeze if they stay here for long. ]

Natasha, wake up.

Comments

[breakables]

[ Natasha doesn't remember many of her dreams, possibly because she's trained herself to forget them. Because they're fantasy and she's a prime realist. Getting stuck with fuzzy dreams in her head has always been a waste of time, or at least, she'd been formulated since her days of higher pitched voices and puberty.

Except she's dreaming now, though the scenery is pitched black aside from her own arms held out in front of her. Her body feels like it's floating, feet feeling the weight of nothing beneath her, just a feather-light body in the midst of a black void. She tries to call out, but nothing — her voice makes no sound, even as she tries to speak louder and louder. Her throat comes up empty of noise.

Nothing from her own voice, nothing from beyond. Just black.

It feels like it lasts for weeks, months. Just an endless cycle of nothing, stuck in an eternal loop. For someone who pretends to never be scared, she's frightened in her own head right now. I gotta get out. I need to get out.

And then there's the voice, familiarity, hope bundled in a sound, calling out her name. Her eyes dart open —



Immediately, there's surprise in seeing Steve with her. As soon as her eyes flash open, she's on the defensive, arms rising up to her chest as if ready to attack in case the hand that shakes her belong to someone who isn't friendly. Yet, it's the opposite, immediately capturing sight of familiar eyes. ]

Steve?

[ She glances around, rubbing at her thighs to get the strength back into them as she rises onto her feet. Hand steadying herself on the wall, she studies the metal of it, continuing on into a corridor where little detail reveals itself in the unsteady lighting.

When she takes in a breath, she realizes the temperature isn't quite at a comfortable level either. ] Could have been worse. Could have woken up on a warm beach off Fiji. Would have been atrocious.

[america]

Now that's a nightmare.

[ Steve delivers the line with his usual sense of deadpan humour, the sarcasm light and easy. He's relieved that Nat's okay and that she's got enough of her wits about her to joke around too.

He keeps his hands out in case she needs the help, but when she's on her feet he feels assured she'll be able to handle herself. Whatever happens next, they're going to have to be on the alert. Steve suddenly realizes he doesn't have his shield and after all this time, he'd gotten pretty used to having it around. It was more than just a shield, it was a source of comfort and place. A familiar thing. But he hasn't had it since he'd given it back to Tony all the way back in Siberia.

That said, he can't help it when he turns to her and asks: ]

You okay?

[breakables]

[ It'd been a while since she and Steve were at this, having been on opposite sides when they'd last met. That had also been the last she was an Avenger, leaving behind Tony and the rest when she'd been deemed a traitor. What had happened since she'd walked out on him and went on to follow her own agenda? How'd she end up here with Steve?

She feels the discomfort in her neck, probably from the previous awkward position on the floor, rolling it in a circular motion. ] I've been in worse. [ Usually, she has a better idea of where she is in those cases, though.

The chill runs through her even stronger as she becomes more mentally aware of it, taking glances back and forth through the dark corridor, back tight against the wall. ]

Gonna take a shot in the dark and say this isn't some sort of hazing, is it? Any clues about our current predicament?

[america]

I'm afraid not.

[ Steve shakes his head, expression serious and grim. He's been in worse situations, of course - they all have - but there's something strange about this one. Something he can't quite figure out. ]

I just woke up too, so your guess is as good as mine.

[ It's clear they're on some kind of ship, though the reasons why or how or when allude him. They won't know more until they investigate and they won't know anything else until they come across someone - whether they be a friend or foe.

For their sakes, Steve is hoping for the former. ]

[breakables]

[ This shouldn't be anything she can't handle, even if the environment isn't a familiar one. But she's been in cases like this before, falling unconscious, ending up in some unknown territory and making the most of it. This shouldn't be any different. ]

Exploration time.

[ She doesn't have any weapons on her, but that won't be a problem. Even in her freshly woken state, she can be quick on the defensive when she has to be. There's no weapons on Steve either, no shield at his side, but she knows he can hold his own even without it.

Glancing down the hall to flickering lights, she begins to step cautiously towards it. ] Can't be too bad. [ No guarantee, but she isn't too worried. Maybe. ]

[america]

Famous last words.

[ Steve offers her the barest of smiles, so slight it's almost grim. The moment someone says something like that, it's pretty easy to bet that something worse is about to happen.

Of course, between Steve and Natasha, they'll probably be able to handle it. ]

Are you as foggy as I am about the details before waking up here?

[breakables]

[ She hasn't shared a smile with him in quite some time. The last few days she remembers with him were a parade of disappointments, namely her own. It's hard to forget the look he'd given her when she first sided with Tony. Like he'd believed her to be someone other than who she was, someone she couldn't even figure out herself.

But her lips give a little uprising twitch, helpless when it comes to exchanging words with Steve Rogers.

Pressing a hand to her ribcage, she feels a slight bruising but she straightens her body nonetheless, giving a slight vocal groan. ] I think it's safe to say that we didn't come here in a box labeled "fragile". [ Shaking her head, she takes a breath. ] Last I remember, I was back at the base. Had a warm, comforting conversation with Tony, as we do, and was making my way out. Blank slate after that.

[america]

Blank slate.

[ Steve repeats, nodding. He gets that; he can definitely relate. There are things he remembers, right up until the moment where everything - yeah, blanks out.

He rubs the spot between his eyes, taking a moment to consider their circumstances.

He's glad, anyway, to see Natasha - that much he can be sure of. He had no real way of tracking her location without seeking some external help, and it'd been some time. He didn't, of course, because she deserved her own time away from the mess that followed his and Tony's fight, Bucky's escape, and the not-quite-legal rescue mission to Triskelion. But he wondered about her. Worried a little, even.

He didn't want her to be alone. ]

Well, now we're here and I've got a sneaking feeling we were brought here by someone or something we've never dealt with back home. Finding answers might pose to be a challenge.

[breakables]

[ Steve's not wrong. Something did bring them here, something that wasn't an accident. Hard for it to be a coincidence when both she and Steve are here. Two Avengers brought here together couldn't just be — well, ex-Avengers. There were no more Avengers, whether Tony wanted to believe he could keep them together or not.

And as determined as Steve and his group had been, she'd been the reason they couldn't stay together in the end. Even if she'd let him and Bucky go, the rest didn't have the same luck.

And where was Bucky, if he wasn't with Steve?

She raises a brow, a helpless huff slipping in response. ] Challenge, Rogers? I hope you're not worried. [ Challenges were her thing. ]