Tony lifted himself up from the floor, his body feeling weak, and the nausea of his first experience with connection barely beginning to subside. He immediately felt empathy for you now, but also a glimmer of hope that it wouldn't happen every time; you seemed to become more tolerant with each episode that he had been there to witness. Beyond the physical recovery, his mind was nowhere near as readily coming back together.
No one had answered him when he asked for the name of his sudden soulmate, and the only face he ever saw was yours. He had heard other voices but they were muffled and unclear; he was left in a mystery that he had no way to know how to solve. His first instinct was to call you, but you were clearly busy and he couldn't risk your being caught on the Raft during a breakout. He didn't agree with it, but he deliberately had to look away to protect you.
That didn't mean that he would give you a pass on this, however. You would have explaining to do when you got home, for both your actions, and who it was that you were talking to when his world got twisted upside down. But even with his jumbled mind, Tony was fully aware that you were likely talking to the one person he knew you were there with. The one person that he couldn't accept as being tied to him this way, not after everything that had just happened to tear his team apart.
"FRIDAY," he sighed, dropping into his chair, "cancel what I said. I'm not in the mood for company anymore."
~~~
"Hey, whoa, are you okay?"
"Yeah...I just got really dizzy and I...I couldn't see for a second, but I think it's stopping."
"Steve," you called out to him in an urgent whisper, "hold back a minute. Something's going on with Nat."
Steve jogged back towards the two of you, his own concern now taking over his determination to keep moving once he saw her face and the loss of color in it. "Nat, if you need to sit this out, it's okay. (Y/N) and I can get the team out on our own if we have to."
"No," she argued, taking a long, deep breath to steady herself, "I think I'm okay. It was the weirdest thing. It just hit me out of nowhere, and then it was gone. I swore I heard someone talking to me, but it was all muffled." She gave her head a little shake, and sat straighter to square her shoulders in determination to keep moving. Natasha wasn't one to ever give up on a mission, and no matter what it was that had just happened, it wasn't enough to be the first time. It would just have to wait.
~~~
Tony couldn't wait any longer. He had tried to play your mission out in his head; how long it would take you to disable the Raft's surveillance, how long you usually took to knock a man out, then he stopped to smile at the fact that he knew that so well, and it only made him miss you again. The clock ticked the minutes by as he imagined Steve charging through the facility, tearing the doors of his team's cells open, and ushering them to the getaway jet or chopper or boat, or floating the ocean on his back, for all he knew.
When he convinced himself that enough time had passed, he pulled out his phone, took a breath, and hoped for the best. You had told him that you weren't allowed to communicate with him, but this was important enough to try anyway. His fingers danced across the screen, a little frantically, but he got it right on the first try. He held the phone to his ear and closed his eyes, begging the universe around him for just one small favor.
Of course, there was no answer.
"Hey, sweetheart, it's me," he spoke into your voicemail, when he had no other options. "I just wanted to say...that um...I'm thinking about you. I miss you. I hope that you're safe and that you're getting the answers you need. Speaking of answers, I have a really big question that I need to ask you, so call me as soon as you're allowed to, okay? Yeah...okay...so, um...love you. Stay safe."
Tony dropped the device onto his desk and pushed back in his chair with a loud hiss of disgust in how that went. He pressed his hands to his eyes and cursed himself under his breath at his ineptitude, knowing that the minute you heard that, you'd be worried for him and that was definitely not what he was going for by calling. Yeah, he wanted to know that you were doing okay, but he couldn't help but feel selfish in his purpose; he wasn't even going to ask about why you were breaking into a maximum-security prison to free the people you had just helped to put there.
The one thing that he needed to know was if fate was a big enough asshole to make Steve Rogers his goddamn soulmate or not.
~~~
"So, do we have any idea how long he'll have to be under?" Nat asked, standing next to Bucky's cryo tube with you and Steve at her side. She had arrived in Wakanda barely an hour after you had agreed to help breach the Raft, so the two of you were getting her caught up on what had happened since she left the compound back in New York.
"We don't know for sure," you answered, "but Shuri hopes that it won't be long. She's researching the programming that Hydra put into his mind to find the safest way to remove it for good. From what I've seen of how fast she works, I can't imagine that this will take long at all."
Nat simply nodded and turned to look around the room, her eyes wide with wonder at what she was seeing, much of it beyond what she understood. It didn't bother her, however, to not know her environment; strangely enough, she felt as if she was in the safest place she could be, where the world might never find her again. "This place is incredible. When T'Challa called and offered me to stay here with you, I didn't believe it. Especially after our last encounter together."
"He's not holding a grudge," Steve smiled, but it was dashed when his memory was suddenly jolted. "Oh, wait...here," he paused, reaching into his pocket to get your phone. "Shuri modified it so that it's untraceable, even to any of FRIDAY's scanners. I figured that you'd probably want to check in on Tony, and it looks like he's feeling the same. There's a message."
"Thank you. Excuse me." You quickly took your leave and found a secluded corner of the room, where you could still keep an eye on Steve and Nat as you spoke. You listened to the message that Tony had left, leaving you hurrying to call him back as quickly as you could. He didn't sound right, and the options of what might have happened ran endlessly through your mind as each ring passed in your ear until he finally answered.
"Hey, honey."
"Tony, are you alright? What's going on? You didn't sound like yourself in your message."
"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry about that. I just wasn't feeling well and thought that hearing your voice would help. And see, I was right. I feel better already."
"That's really sweet, Tony, and I miss you, too. But now I'm gonna need you to tell me what's really going on."
There was at least a 30-second pause of complete silence, not even the sound of his breathing to let you know that he was still there. He was formulating how to ask the question; he didn't even have a great idea of what the question was, and if he really wanted the answer. He wanted it, but he also didn't because the prospect was utterly terrifying to him. "Did everything go to plan on the Raft?"
"W-what?" you stammered nervously, your eyes darting towards Steve. "I...I don't know what you mean?"
"When you went back for the rest of the team. I assume that you got them out, right? It's not like you to fail at something so important.
"Tony-"
"Was Steve with you?"
Now it was your turn to pause; you had promised him that you wouldn't lie, and you had told Steve that if asked, you would tell him the truth and that you refused to hurt him with secrets. But when you had left him in New York, he already knew that Steve would be waiting for you, so his question now was confusing. "The plan was solid, and yes, he was there."
"Was anyone else?"
"Tony, why are you asking me about this? I'm sure that by now there's a full report, and that they're all on the most wanted list. I'm sure you can read all about it."
"(Y/N)," he sighed heavily, and his voice began to fail, "your name is nowhere in the reports. I saw it. I saw you. That's how I know that you were there."
"How could you have-"
"Because I was seeing you through someone else's eyes. That's why I have to know if anyone else was there with you other than Steve. I have to know who I connected to."
"Oh, my god," you gasped aloud, so much so that both Steve and Nat must have heard you. Your hand slapped over your mouth but you were trying to catch your breath as the shock forced it from your chest. It all fell into place, and you felt like an idiot for not recognizing it as it happened. You spun around on your heel towards your friends, locking your gaze with Natasha; she cocked her head as she looked back and tried to read you, but she was an incredibly smart woman and it took seconds for her to know that the entire world was about to change.
"Tony..." you answered again, as calmly as you could, "it's Nat."