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“We need to get into the reactor room and shut that thing off,” Bucky said, looking around at his team. They were all bruised and exhausted, but still standing. A fact which wouldn’t be true for much longer. The radiation in the reactor room was enough to kill any of them in under a minute. He was talking about a suicide mission, and they all knew it.
“I’ll go,” said Bob immediately, his expression nervous but resigned. There were bullet holes in his clothing but he was otherwise unscathed, as could be expected. “The radiation won’t hurt me.”
“You don’t know that,” Ava said, shaking her head. “Remember what we saw on the scanners? The signature it’s putting out is similar to the kind used in the experimental drugs they gave you in Project Sentry. There’s definitely a chance it could kill you.”
“I’ve still got a better shot than any of you,” Bob retorted. “It’s worth the risk.” He made to move towards the door of the reactor room, but Walker grabbed his arm.
“Even if it doesn’t kill you, we don’t know what the radiation will do to your body,” Walker said. “It could trigger any kind of reaction, it could bring out the Void.” He looked at Bob apologetically. “If that happens, we’re all in more danger than we are with the reactor. I’m sorry Bobby, but it’s not worth chancing it.” Walker took a deep breath. “I’ll go.”
“How does that make any sense?” Yelena asked. “Do you even know how the reactor is wired? What if you can’t shut it off?”
“I can figure it out!” Walker said, irritated. “There’s an emergency shut off switch on the central control panel, right? Easy enough.”
Yelena rolled her eyes. “And what if the control panel wiring is damaged? Do you know how to manually initiate the shut down? No. That’s why I should be the one to go. I’m the one who understands the technical details, I can–“
“Break down the concrete wall to the mechanical room before your eyes start bleeding? I don’t think so,” Ava interrupted. “If the control panel is damaged, the fastest way to initiate a manual shut down is by rewiring the system in the mechanical room, on the other side of a blast-proof wall. I need to be the one to go. I can phase through the wall and take care of the shutdown. It’s the only way.”
“The radiation could interfere with your powers too,” Bucky pointed out.
“Radiation means no powers,” said Alexei loudly. “No powers means strength. Strength to knock down walls.” He stood tall, thumping his chest with his fist. “I will take care of shutdown. Red Guardian does not let others die for him like this.”
“Like you understand the wiring, you’ll get us all killed!” Yelena shouted in reply.
“It’ll take minutes to break down the wall, you’ll be dead before—“ Ava tried.
“I can get through the wall with my shield, it makes most sense—“ Walker said.
“Really, guys, I think I should—“ Bob interjected.
“Enough!” Bucky shouted over all of them. “We’re wasting time. I’m the team leader, so I’ll be the one shutting down the reactor. Yelena, give me your grenades. There’s a door from the control room to the mechanical room, it’s a weak point. I’ll use those to get through it quickly if the control panel is fried.”
“Being the leader is exactly why you shouldn’t go, idiot!” Ava yelled. “You need to be here to lead the team, that’s what leading means. I need to be the one in there. Even if my powers don’t work I can use a grenade just as well as you.”
“And if you get yourself killed how do you think the team works then, huh?” Walker replied sarcastically. “We need your phasing abilities, you’re a critical asset to the squad. I should be the one to go. Yelena can show me the manual override procedure.”
“You leave your son, then?” Alexei replied angrily. “He grow up with no father? No. No good man abandon his child. I will go.”
Yelena scoffed. “It’s okay for you to abandon your child though? Good to know what you think of me.”
“Yelena, you are so strong,” Alexei said, his tone gentle now. “You are strong, independent girl. You are woman now. I am old man. Listen to me. Let me do this.”
Yelena shook her head. She looked exasperated. “No, listen to me. You are right. I am strong. I will go. All of you need to get out of here, you need to focus on what’s right for the team. I can do more for you with this than if leave with you. You know I’m bad press for the team: shady, child-murdering assassin lady, right? The team needs—“
“—needs you in it,” said Bob. “Yelena, you’ve talked me down so many times, you’re the heart of this group. You can’t just thrown yourself away for this.” He looked around the circle at the rest of the team. “Let me go, please. We don’t know the effects of the radiation on my powers, it’s all just a guess! I could walk out of there without a scratch. And if I don’t…” he paused, glancing down at his shoes. “Well, you know. I always thought I’d end up face down in a gutter somewhere. This is more than I ever thought I’d get, you know. Having my death mean something.”
“You’re not going to die,” Walker said, gritting his teeth. “You’ve barely started living. C’mon guys.” He looked over at Alexei with an expression of pain. “My son’s already got a parent worth three of me, if I do this at least he’ll grow up knowing his dad was a decent guy. I’m not abandoning him, I’m doing this for him, okay? Now we’re running out of time, tell me how the manual override works.”
“I’m not letting you do this out of some sort of idiotic martyr complex,” said Ava. “Your son needs a dad more than he needs an overdramatic gesture.” She looked around. “All of you have people who are relying on you, okay? Alexei, Yelena, you’ve got each other. Bucky, you’re the leader. Walker’s got his kid. Bob’s the reason the team exists in the first place, he’s tried sacrificing himself for us before and it made everything worse. You need to stop being selfish and focus on the people who are counting on you. I’m the only one with no living family, no connections, no important position in the team. If anyone's dying, it should be me. I’m going, and that’s the end of the story.” She turned to walk towards the reactor room, but suddenly found her way blocked by Bob.
“No one’s relying on me.” Bob gave her a half smile. “You guys are my only friends. And that’s why I’m doing this.” With a light shove, Bob knocked Ava backwards, sending her flying ten feet through the air. She landed on her back and slid across the ground, the wind knocked out of her. Bob ran for the reactor, but in a few steps he jerked back, Yelena’s grappling line wrapped around his wrist. As he hesitated, Yelena tried to sprint past to get to the door, but Alexei went after her. He tackled her and they both sprawled on the floor, scrambling. Bucky saw his opening. He was almost to the door when Walker’s shield knocked him down. He pitched forward and caught himself in a roll, instinct saving him from landing face first. Walker dashed past him, but Bucky grabbed his ankle and yanked him to the ground. Bob broke the tether holding him with a flick of his wrist and walked past all of them, his hand reaching for the door to the reactor room. Everyone started shouting at once.
“Don’t do this, Bob. You know—“
“I can do it, there’s—“
“What are you thinking—“
“I’ll go, don’t—“
“Wait, let’s—“
Suddenly, the lights in the room flickered and everyone fell silent, looking around. A sound followed, like something powering down.
“What’s going on?” asked Walker.
Bucky looked at the monitoring screen at his wrist. “The reactor energy is decreasing. It’s been shut down.”
“How?” said Ava, getting to her feet.
“Maybe, because while you were all arguing over who gets to die, someone else finding a way around.”
The team turned towards the new voice that had come from the end of the hall, squinting to see who had joined them.
“Sam?” said Bucky, recognizing him first.
“Yeah, you’re welcome,” said Sam, walking closer. He pulled off his goggles as his wings folded away behind him.
“How’d you shut it down?” asked Bucky.
“There’s a remote override in the secondary control room,” he replied. “Something you might have thought of if you weren’t all so busy trying to sacrifice yourself.”
The Thunderbolts looked at each other silently. Walker and Bucky were still sprawled on the floor. Yelena had her father in a headlock, which she quickly released.
Sam shook his head. “You guys are unbelievable, you know that?”
“We still got here first,” said Walker defensively.
“Yeah, you could have helped us out earlier, asshole,” said Yelena.
“New Avengers, always first,” added Alexei.
Sam turned to the wall and blasted a hole through it, leaving a gap into the open air. He unfolded his wings, ready to take off, before turning back to them. “You still can’t call yourselves that!”