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[Meant to follow this piece on Natasha's journal. Keep an eye on these and Thor's journal for updates!]
It's Okoye who notices it first.
Two weeks after The Snap the worst of the emergency broadcasts have stopped. Hospitals are still short staffed dealing with those who were injured in the chaos Thanos' cruel wish unleashed upon those who were left, especially in urban areas. For much of the United States, roads have only been cleared one lane each way and usually by those trying to make the journey less than any official order. Far too many places still have debris clogging the streets that will linger for so much longer than anyone thinks normal. Waiting for someone to have the time to clear it away.
All of this infrastructure work, as well as advising on what's left of the government and law enforcement has kept Natasha busy. Anyone who volunteers, who needs something to do with their hands for a short while, will be sent out. Rhodey goes more than the rest of them. Thor has left the complex entirely and while Steve worries after him he also hasn't quite worked up the nerve to get out and do much just yet.
"You have a signal along your southeastern coast sending an unknown transmission into space, Agent."
What would have once been accusation in the Wakandan warrior's voice has softened since she's come to know Natasha. Considering all of the trouble that befell their world (their universe) came from elsewhere in space it's not the sort of thing that they should really leave. Rocket climbs onto Steve's back with a full pack of dangerous weapons when Steve takes a bike to make the hours long drive down to the capital. Rocket's pretty sure Steve took the bike so he wouldn't have to talk but that suits him just fine. He didn't see any of them lose their goddamn kid to Thanos.
(And he knows, they've all lost so much but the wound is so raw yet. It's easier to say he's lost more. Keeps people from arguing with him. But he is trying, as much as the rest of them, to make what's left feel like a team. No word from Quill or any of the others, yet. Then again, no way for them to contact Rocket, either. Maybe this space doohickey is his ticket out of this place and back to the sky where the world makes a bit more sense.)
There's no enemy to face when they arrive in yet another crumbling urban locale and have to swap from the bike to walking the rest of the way. Natasha's in their ears the whole way via comms guiding them closer to the signal. On a holoscreen across from her desk Okoye watches with lips thinned. She too wants to know what they will find. No trace of Thanos or his minions. No downed alien spacecraft.
"Just a bunch of crashed SUVs." Steve lifts one off the body of an unlucky pedestrian and grimaces. Wishes he wasn't so numb that he barely processes the death more than this. He's close, right on top of it so far as Natasha can see. Rocket's climbing through busted windows carefully amid shattered glass, rooting around through anything he can get his paws on.
"Oi! Rogers! You Terrans usually carry armor piercing rounds in yer cars? I thought Road Warrior was just Quill bein' full of shit as per frickin' usual."
"Nat--"
"Fury. Steve please tell me there's people there." Natasha knows there won't be. And Steve doesn't reply. Not right away. There are no bodies they recognize here. Just more ash stuck in the nooks and crevasses where it hasn't been blown away.
"I'm sorry, Natasha. He's not here." They suspected Nick Fury was gone, of course. It won't take Steve long to confirm this is his ride with Natasha over the comm. She knows his gear better than almost anyone. And next to the SUV, laying in the street... "I think I found the device. It's. Nat I'm not sure what this is." Pagers weren't a thing in 2014 when he was brought back and they sure as hell didn't exist in 1941. "I thought it might have been a phone, but it looks...more like a beacon."
"Bring it back, and both of you be safe. Don't go trying to take it apart until we can get Bruce to look at it."
"...Yeah. Take whatever you can carry, Rocket. We're heading back."
It's Okoye who notices it first.
Two weeks after The Snap the worst of the emergency broadcasts have stopped. Hospitals are still short staffed dealing with those who were injured in the chaos Thanos' cruel wish unleashed upon those who were left, especially in urban areas. For much of the United States, roads have only been cleared one lane each way and usually by those trying to make the journey less than any official order. Far too many places still have debris clogging the streets that will linger for so much longer than anyone thinks normal. Waiting for someone to have the time to clear it away.
All of this infrastructure work, as well as advising on what's left of the government and law enforcement has kept Natasha busy. Anyone who volunteers, who needs something to do with their hands for a short while, will be sent out. Rhodey goes more than the rest of them. Thor has left the complex entirely and while Steve worries after him he also hasn't quite worked up the nerve to get out and do much just yet.
"You have a signal along your southeastern coast sending an unknown transmission into space, Agent."
What would have once been accusation in the Wakandan warrior's voice has softened since she's come to know Natasha. Considering all of the trouble that befell their world (their universe) came from elsewhere in space it's not the sort of thing that they should really leave. Rocket climbs onto Steve's back with a full pack of dangerous weapons when Steve takes a bike to make the hours long drive down to the capital. Rocket's pretty sure Steve took the bike so he wouldn't have to talk but that suits him just fine. He didn't see any of them lose their goddamn kid to Thanos.
(And he knows, they've all lost so much but the wound is so raw yet. It's easier to say he's lost more. Keeps people from arguing with him. But he is trying, as much as the rest of them, to make what's left feel like a team. No word from Quill or any of the others, yet. Then again, no way for them to contact Rocket, either. Maybe this space doohickey is his ticket out of this place and back to the sky where the world makes a bit more sense.)
There's no enemy to face when they arrive in yet another crumbling urban locale and have to swap from the bike to walking the rest of the way. Natasha's in their ears the whole way via comms guiding them closer to the signal. On a holoscreen across from her desk Okoye watches with lips thinned. She too wants to know what they will find. No trace of Thanos or his minions. No downed alien spacecraft.
"Just a bunch of crashed SUVs." Steve lifts one off the body of an unlucky pedestrian and grimaces. Wishes he wasn't so numb that he barely processes the death more than this. He's close, right on top of it so far as Natasha can see. Rocket's climbing through busted windows carefully amid shattered glass, rooting around through anything he can get his paws on.
"Oi! Rogers! You Terrans usually carry armor piercing rounds in yer cars? I thought Road Warrior was just Quill bein' full of shit as per frickin' usual."
"Nat--"
"Fury. Steve please tell me there's people there." Natasha knows there won't be. And Steve doesn't reply. Not right away. There are no bodies they recognize here. Just more ash stuck in the nooks and crevasses where it hasn't been blown away.
"I'm sorry, Natasha. He's not here." They suspected Nick Fury was gone, of course. It won't take Steve long to confirm this is his ride with Natasha over the comm. She knows his gear better than almost anyone. And next to the SUV, laying in the street... "I think I found the device. It's. Nat I'm not sure what this is." Pagers weren't a thing in 2014 when he was brought back and they sure as hell didn't exist in 1941. "I thought it might have been a phone, but it looks...more like a beacon."
"Bring it back, and both of you be safe. Don't go trying to take it apart until we can get Bruce to look at it."
"...Yeah. Take whatever you can carry, Rocket. We're heading back."