The Quinjet's ramp lowered to a roar of wind. The salty scent of the wrathful waves below bellowed into us, crashing against the large circular facility below.
The Raft floated amidst the ocean, half-submerged in abyssal depths that sent a shiver down my spine.
"I never liked the ocean. It's wet and deep and unknown and filled with all manner of terrors." I muttered, looking down.
Johnson gave me a dumb look. "You sure have a keen eye for the obvious." He said with a sharp exhale. He wasn't coming with us, so it was easy for him to say, last thing I wanted was to drown to death.
"Are we jumping?" Yelena asked, staring down at the Raft.
Nat shook her head and turned to me. I met her eyes for a moment, before rolling my eyes and swiping my fingers through the air.
Cap's eyes went wide as my Space Door ripped the fabric of reality before us in two.
"See something new everyday…" He muttered.
"Sooo convenient!" Yelena exclaimed, with a badly hidden smirk.
I threw my hands up. "That's me, Mr. Convenient, useful and easily tossed under the bus." Nat tried getting a word out but I ignored her, petty as fuck, and stepped into the portal.
I appeared atop the Raft, carefully hidden in a deadzone, the roar of the ocean replacing the hum of the Quinjet's thrusters.
The Yelena, Nat and Cap joined me and for a short second I wondered where Bucky was, though he was probably off doing his own thing, therapy or something…
Huh, since T'Chaka never appeared for revenge… how is he going to get rehabilitated?
I shoved the thought to the side, focusing on the task at hand. My hands flickered through a number of gestures, an intangible wave of Force energy pulsing out around me.
Within the blink of an eye all four of us vanished, covered in a cloaking spell, bending the light away from our forms, and only allowing us to see one another's outline.
I heard Steve's voice in my ear-piece, "Thanks, how long will this last?" He asked.
"As long as I live." I said with a shrug. I glanced over and saw Yelena busy examining her hands, or the lack thereof.
"This is so cool…" She muttered, voice coming through our comm-link.
"Admire later, let's get moving." Steve said sternly, fully switching into Captain America mode.
Our quartet skillfully skulked across the roof of the Raft, passing by cameras and automated defenses without a sound.
Within minutes we navigated to an access hatch, guarded by two very bored looking men in white & black camouflaged combat gear.
"Why are they even wearing camo? Aren't we in the ocean?" Yelena couldn't help but mutter.
Nat just sighed, shooting forwards under the cloaking spell and flipping over the guards, sending out two steel-cables and coiling their necks together. The guards eyes popped out in surprise, hands instinctively reaching for the sudden suffocating steel, only for a shock of electricity to flush through, jolting the two into unconsciousness.
Steve shot forwards, grabbing the two before they slumped onto the hard-metal floor, snatching up their comms.
"We have about fives minutes until the next shift. Thorne can you make it look like they're still out here?"
I nodded, my hands conjuring up an illusion that hid the guards and replaced them with lookalikes.
Nat unceremoniously slapped one of the unconscious guards hands on a scanner, causing the door behind them to hiss open with a metallic grind.
"We're in." Cap relayed to Johnson above.
Our group entered the Raft, the ocean drowning away, muffled by layers upon layers of reinforced steel as we descended into the metal coffin.
We passed by guard after guard, skillfully slipping between the gaps under my cloaking spell.
For a maximum security prison, the place was wildly easy to break into.
Which made sense, considering that Cap and Nat were able to do it, and now they have the power of a Sorcerer on their side.
It was truly a testament to how unprepared and behind the U.S government was, where they stood in the grand scheme of things.
We arrived outside of the control room, finding the door sealed shut. "Can you hack it?" Cap whispered to Nat and she scoffed, "Nobody says hack anymore Steve—" But before she got to business I stepped forwards, extending a hand out and swiping it across space.
The door slid open without warning, the three guards within whipped their heads towards me, eyes laced with confusion as there was nothing to see.
I blurred forwards, elbows finding purchase non their temple's taking extra care as to not shatter their skulls.
In only a handful of blinks the three guards slumped to the ground, drooling in unconscious stupor.
"Show off." I heard Nat mutter as the team walked in.
I scoffed, ignoring her remark and taking in the myriad of security cameras before me.
I caught sight of our friends, Clint, Scott, Sam, and Wanda—who was separated in her own isolation chamber, looking incredibly worse for wear compared to the rest of the group.
My eyes glanced over a number of the other criminals, seeing a mix of dangerous looking individuals, none of which peaked my interests, though I faintly recognized one of them, a man by the name of Stryker.
Is that, um? Luke Cage or something? Damn, I never watched that show when it aired.
Not that it mattered, I was here for the ex-avengers squad. I placed my hand over the control panels, channeling the Force into the machine using Mechu-Deru. Within moments I had full control of the camera systems in the facility, and with stupid ease I looped the footage, giving us plenty of room to breathe and operate.
"Footage is looped, targets identified."
"Alright, lets go get our—"
"--I got you, and let me get Wanda, I'm sure her collar has some fucked up remote detonation or something." I interrupted, turning and swiping a hand through the air.
Through the cameras I could see my Space Door open before Sam, Clint and Scott, the three men jolting up in surprise at the sudden space-bending magic.
Cap gave me a curt nod and stepped through with Nat.
I opened another portal, directly into Wanda's cell, stepping into the bright florescent room with casual swagger.
To her credit, or I guess, to my dismay—the chaos sorceress hardly reacted. Her deaden eyes glanced up at me, the collar around her neck blinking a threatening red, arms bound in a deep blue straight jacket.
She… hasn't had time to process what happened pre-civil war huh, the lives of the people she killed, the accords she ended up kick-starting.
I could feel it through the Force, a revolting self-loathing that smelled of decay and rotting innards.
Yelena stepped in behind me, her face freezing as she saw the state of the ex-avenger.
I crouched down slowly, her eyes tracking me as I knelt. "Miss Maximoff? Me & Cap have come to free you…" I said softly.
She stared at me, eyes barely reacting to my words. "Why bother? I'll just end up accidentally snuffing another innocent soul."
Yelena was about to butt-in, but held her tongue from a soft raise of my hand.
"You don't understand your powers do you?" I asked.
She scoffed, "My powers? More like my curse--"
"Dimensional energies." I interrupted.
Her eyes furrowed. "What?"
"I believe you're tapping, unintentionally into dimensional energies, much like I do, it's how I opened that portal behind me." I said, thumbing to the Space Door behind me.
"I… don't know what that means." She muttered, eyes glancing over my shoulder to the space door. "What are you trying to say?"
"Well, nothing really, just trying to help you understand your powers—although, I'm just operating off what I've seen and experienced first hand."
"First hand? Who're you?"
"Huh? You don't remember throwing me like a hundred feet into the air, oh right—I was wearing a mask."
Wanda's eyes narrowed at me. "Oh, it's you, the telekinetic guy."
"In the flesh—now, what I'm trying to say is that I believe your powers are quite like mine, extra-dimensional in nature."
Wanda thought for a moment, her green eyes staring into my own. "Teach me." She demanded.
I quirked a brow at her. "Teach you?" I parroted with a hum, "Mmm… that could be arranged I guess, but you'd have to become my disciple, and you're like—fifth in-line just saying."
Yelena suddenly spoke up, "You have disciples? What are you, a cult leader or something?"
I shook my head with a chuckle, "No, I'm a space wizard!" I say with a little flare, only to receive two deadpan looks in return.
"Ahem, anyways, yes Ms. Maximoff, I can teach you, but you'll have to join my little group I can't really just give you my secrets, and don't worry, you'll get normal working hours and all that. Pretty much a normal gig, just, way cooler if I do say so myself."
She tilted her head at me, "You're not with the Avengers or, what is Fury calling it now—Sword?"
I chuckled, "I'm definitely not an Avenger, and yes I am with S.W.O.R.D right now, but um, this is actually my last mission with them." I said, scratching the back of my head.
Wanda gave me a dumb look, but then took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll join—if you can help me control my powers then I'll be happy to help as long as you're not some crazy villain trying to take over the world or something."
I scoffed, "Me? Take over the world? Thats like, too much work, not to mention not my cup of tea."
I reached over to her, my fingers brushing her collar before it suddenly vanished without a trace.
Wanda's eyes widened, feeling her connection to her magic return, a flash of red filled her eyes, color returning slightly to her skin.
"Thanks."
I smiled, "You're welcome, now, it's nice to meet you Ms. Maximoff, my name is Riven, Riven Thorne."
—
We didn't even need to use the Quinjet to escape, as I just portal'd the entire group back to Ling's Legendary Laundromat the moment we were all together. Receiving another chorus of disbelief and comments on convenience. It seemed every time I showed how useful I was, Nat's mood soured.
How sweet.
In a surprising twist of fate, Clint and Scott actually decide to remain on the Raft. Steve instantly understood, as the two men had families, and becoming on-the-run doubly wanted criminals was no in their best interests if they wanted a peaceful life with their families.
Nat on the other hand spent the entire time cursing out Barton, calling him a moron among many other rude things.
Steve told the two that they could use the information of who broke out the others in a plea deal to see if they can't get house arrest or something.
I guess some things don't change—love is… too overpowered.
When we arrived back, the group spent a good hour taking showers and shooting the shit about what has been going on since the incident at Leipzig.
"You're telling me that you found your sister, who was a brainwashed assassin, broke your dad out of prison, tracked down your mom, who was also a brainwashed assassin—snuck into a sky fortress, which Fury didn't even know existed, freed a bunch of other brainwashed assassins—and blew the place to smithereens?" Sam couldn't help but recount.
Nat just gave him a smirk and a nod. "Yeah."
"Well shit, all I did was pushups." He admitted with a chuckle, he turned to Yelena extending a hand. "Nice to meet you, nice to see Romanov around family again."
Yelena smiled, "Oh yeah, it's been great, we even went shopping recently—you should see this vest she bought—totally copied my style and everything!"
Nat just groaned, then looked over to me lolled back on a couch, Steven and Wanda sitting across from me.
"Are you sure about this?" Steve asked her.
Wanda nodded, "If what Riven says is true, then it's the smartest thing to do."
Steve sighed, "You don't even know the guy—" He said, before turning to me, "No offense."
I waved a hand, not even raising my head. "None taken." I lazily replied, feeling like I was forgetting something.
Yet this time the Force wasn't screaming at me, just the human sensation that I was forgetting something.
What the hell am I forgetting?
Steven sighed again, "Can we trust you?" He asked me, clearly worried about his fellow Avenger leaving with me.
I lifted my head, but before I could reply Nat spoke for me.
"You can, I vouch for him."
I gave her a side-long glance, seeing the wry smile on her lips and shook my head.
"Well, what she said, it's not like you're going to up and disappear—you can visit whoever you want as long as you don't throw me under the bus or something." I said, only for Nat to sigh again.
Steve gave Nat a look, the two silently communicating until they exchanged a nod.
"Fine, just remember that you'll always have a place with us." Wanda smiled at him, placing a soft hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks Steve, I'll be sure to visit, and obviously call me if you need a heavy hitter, don't forget I can move things with my mind."
Yelena scoffed, "So can Riven? Hello?" She said with a little hint of hostility.
Almost everyone in the room gave her a curious brow, until she realized her circumstance, her face turning beet red.
I chuckled, about to tease her further until I finally remembered what I was forgetting.
"Oh," I muttered, drawing the room to me. "I almost forgot, it's my birthday…"
The entire room gasped, ""What?!""