The Mimic (HE/HIM VERSION)

178

It all happened so fast.

One moment y/n had been racing through the compound to call Bucky, and the next moment the whole building crumbled under the constant explosions and airstrikes from Thanos.

The entire building had been destroyed. Walls, furniture, doors, and lights all mashed together. Plumbing pipes had been punctured, exposed wires stuck out between cracks, and shattered glass littered almost every surface. The foundations of the building had completely crumbled, leading everything to collapse in and down - almost like a sinkhole, which of course was made even worse by the fact that the compound had a pretty deep basement.

Y/n had been knocked out by the sudden blast, meaning that he had no time to protect himself or teleport away from the wreckage. He had simply been a ragdoll in the entire explosion. Knocked around by debris and forced further and further down into the 'sinkhole' of where the compound had once been.

Once y/n's body was finally able to catch up and come around to the chaos, the first thing that caught his attention was the horrible ringing in his ears. It was a mixture of the ear-splittingly loud blast, the blaring alarm system that was somehow still working, and the barely-functioning earpiece that had been jammed into his ear. The familiar sensation of blood trickling down the back of his neck caused him to grimace, but he wasn't shocked. Hell, he was actually surprised that he wasn't even more injured. A blast like that would usually mean some sort of broken bone, or even a fatal injury.

"Can anyone hear me? Is everyone okay?" Y/n asked through his earpiece, praying that it was still working. His voice was hoarse and shaky, the smoke and soot from the explosion plaguing his lungs. "Can anyone hear me?" Y/n repeated, lifting his hand up to his ear to press on his earpiece a few times. However, just as he did that, a high-pitched, robotic sound screeched into his ear, causing him to flinch and almost yank the whole earpiece out. He cursed under his breath, rubbing his ear as if it would make the sound any better. "I think I'll take that as a no..."

The next plan of action was figuring out where he was. He obviously wasn't out in the open air, so he could only assume that he was buried deep underground in the wreckage. Y/n had to find a way to get out, and a way to find the others. It was a very hard task, especially because he couldn't see a thing. Luckily he hadn't been blinded again, but being in the dark was a dangerous thing when it came to a wreckage. All it took was one wrong move, and he could end up with concrete falling on top of him.

Y/n took a sharp breath as he leant back on one of his forearms, trying to pull himself up and onto his feet. Glass and debris pierced the already-bruised skin, just causing y/n to let out a nice string of curse words under his breath. His eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness, so he decided to do the next best thing. Y/n held his spare arm up in the air, forming an orb of fire in his palm.

The orb of fire lit up the area in seconds. It was a small pocket, almost like a tiny cave underground, but instead of rocks, the pocket had been formed by chunks of the wreckage. Concrete, furniture, glass, dirt, anything and everything was there, all packed tightly together. Tight enough to form the pocket, but one wrong move could send the whole structure crumbling. There didn't seem to be any form of exit, but that wasn't the only thing keeping y/n trapped.

From the knee all the way down to the foot, his right leg had been completely trapped by debris and parts of the marble kitchen counter. It wasn't broken, thank god, but it was definitely stuck.

Y/n's first plan of action was to yank his leg out, ignoring all the glass that dug into his forearms as he pulled and pulled. But, just as y/n was finally able to gain some movement, the debris on the ceiling begun to crumble, causing him to completely freeze. He couldn't yank his leg out. He couldn't move anything. The pocket he was in was extremely unstable. Y/n was trapped. Completely trapped.

Heavy panic begun to spread throughout his body like a wildfire, tears beginning to form in his eyes. He was stuck. There was nobody nearby, his earpiece wasn't working, and if he even moved a muscle the whole thing could collapse on him. Y/n's breathing begun to pick up as his claustrophobia settled in, his mind begging for him to scream out for help. But he didn't. He didn't say a word. He couldn't, he was far too scared.

Y/n was going to be stuck there. Stuck in that tiny pocket until the air ran out. Completely stuck whilst the rest of the team were oblivious to him even being alive. One tiny move could send concrete tumbling down and crushing him in a slow, painful death. It was horrifying.

But, in that moment of terror, there was one final idea that appeared in y/n's mind.

Teleporting.

It was extremely risky, especially because y/n had no clear idea of where to teleport. He didn't know where the surface was, he didn't know where anything was. He could end up teleporting himself into an even worse situation if he wasn't careful, but it was a risk that y/n was willing to take - well, that and the fact that he had no other choice.

*****

"Come on, buddy. Wake up."

Steve suddenly jolted awake, loudly gasping for air. He glanced around at the wreckage in confusion and shock, taking Tony's hand as he hoisted himself up and onto his feet. "What-" He paused, grimacing in pain as his body caught up with him. That explosion was heavy, and nobody had been expecting it. "What happened?" Steve asked, taking his shield back from Tony.

However, before Tony could respond, y/n suddenly appeared right in front of them.

He was soaking wet. Water dripped from his hair and suit onto the debris-covered ground, the droplets on his face just seeming to accentuate all the soot that caked his skin. It was obvious that y/n had teleported far more than once before he ended up stood in front of the pair.

Steve's eyes widened at the sight of y/n, allowing Tony to walk off to find Thor. "What happened to you?" He asked in surprise, but quickly shut his mouth when he realised that what he said sounded rude. He didn't mean to come off as rude, he was just so, so overwhelmed. So much was happening all at once, he didn't know how to process it all. "I'm sorry, y/n. Are you okay?" He asked in a concerned tone.

Y/n nodded with a shaky breath. His eyes were wide and full of adrenaline as he scanned his surroundings, trying his hardest to get his bearings back. Teleporting several times in a row was never fun, and the fact that he'd been dunked into ice-cold water several times during the teleporting was just the icing on the cake. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." He hummed, wiping his face with the back of his hand. "What even happened?"

"Come see for yourself." Tony sighed, standing next to Thor as they stared off at something in the distance.