The Escape
Iris’ POV
As Bucky brought her to the empty bedroom Iris felt herself dozing off. He had a musky scent that she couldn’t quite place her finger on. The maroon shirt he was wearing was a soft material than felt good against her cheek. His metal arm felt cold against her body but in a strange way she enjoyed it. It still felt as smooth as his warm, flesh one.
Iris felt herself fall asleep in his arms once more only to wake up in an empty bed. The sheets had been pulled messily around her but she still felt empty without Bucky’s arms. She heard some movement coming from the other side of the room. Iris turned on her side to see Bucky leaving the room.
As the door shut the room was almost completely engulfed in darkness. A feint glow radiated from the window as the city light burned underneath.
Iris felt exhausted and her body was aching all over. There was only one way she knew how to fix it and she knew she couldn’t wait long.
Iris pulled the cream colored blankets off of her body and slid off the bed. She moved as quietly as she could to the end of the room where a familiar pair of boots sat. Thank God for leaving these.
Iris pulled one over each foot, relishing in their familiar comfort. Yes, they were almost falling apart but she had had these for years and she couldn’t image wearing anything else. She laced up the pair which reached halfway up her calves.
She moved towards the window to see how far up they had come. Shit. Out of the window was a solid plunge of at least 30 stories to the hard concrete ground. Well there goes that plan.
Iris looked around and saw two wooden doors. The first didn’t seem to lead anywhere but the second had a little light pouring out from the crack underneath so she assumed that was the exit.
Iris quietly made her way to the door and twisted the handle. She pulled and pushed but the door wouldn’t budge.
“Mr. Stark gave me instructions to not let you leave.” Iris jumped as the AI’s voice filled the room.
“Not a prisoner my ass.” Iris muttered to herself.
“So, FRIDAY, if I were to say, leave this room, how would I do it. I promise I won’t.” Iris mentally crossed her fingers, hoping the AI would follow instructions.
“Well there is a key card scanner on the out side of the door but there is a panel to access it on the inside.”
“Now where would that panel be? Just asking, no reason behind this question what so ever.”
“It is behind the wall next to the door handle.”
“Thanks, FRIDAY.” Iris began to feel the wall next to the door handle.
“Might I ask what you are doing?”
“Nothing.” Iris felt a slight indentation in the wall. Bingo. She pushed her fingers straight through the thin layer of paint and plastic. She tore away the excess to reveal a little panel screwed shut with tiny screws.
“I would highly advise against that.” FRIDAY announced.
“Well, I would highly recommend it.” Iris reached down to her boot and prayed what she had left there would still be there. A small extra piece of leather had been sewn into the inside of the left boot. It reached just below the top of the boot.
Iris flipped the top off of the secret pouch and much to her relief her Swiss army knife still sat in it snuggly. She pulled it out and flicked out the screwdriver. She began to unscrew the plate from the wall.
“Miss, I will have to notify Mr. Stark if you continue.”
“Just one second. By the way, are you connected to this door in any way?” Iris asked as she pulled the plate away from the wall.
“Yes, the red wire holds my data throughout this part of the building.”
“Nice to know.” Iris flipped out a pair of miniature scissors from her army knife and peered into the now open box.
“Miss, stop this imedi…” FRIDAY was cut short, quite literally, as Iris snipped the red wire in the electrical box. Thank God for insulation. Iris thought as a little spark spewed out from the now cut wire.
Iris then began to twist, turn and cut certain wires. She was familiar with simple wiring like this as she had broken into many homes and hotel rooms with similar security. This is the shittiest security I have ever seen a billionaire have, but I guess this is my first billionaire. Who knows, maybe they are even dumber.
Iris clipped one final wire as the door dinged and popped open. Fuck yeah Iris did a little fist pump into the air before picking herself off the ground and peering through the now open door. There was no one there and it didn’t look as though there were any security cameras. Even if there were cameras, I disabled all of them for this floor. Iris rolled her eyes for Tony’s incompetence.
She decided to look for stairs as she knew the elevator was controlled by a probably pissed off FRIDAY.
Iris padded down the carpeted hallway until she got to a turn. She peeked around the edge to see that the coast was clear. Much to her delight, the door at the far end of the hallway had an illuminated exit sign above it. Nice.
She continued her weary path down the hall, worried any one of the identical doors could swing open at any second. None of them did.
Once she reached the door she pushed it open with ease. There were what seemed to be an infinite set of dimly lit stairs. The temperature was also significantly colder.
Iris shivered as she let the door close slowly behind her before making her way down the steps.
---
It took Iris a solid few minutes to reach the bottom of the stair case. How huge is this fucking tower?
She had to take a few breaks on the way down as her breathing speed up and nausea rose to her throat. Her head continued to spin the entire way down, the rest of her body aching in protest as well.
Each floor she passed made her heart skip a beat, hoping no one would enter one as she passed it. No one did.
Iris pushed open the heavy door which was now made of metal instead of the normal, dark brown wood she was used to seeing.
Bright lights filled her eyes and she took a second to adjust before continuing into the room.
It seemed to be some sort of garage lined with expensive looking cars. Well, some expensive looking cars and some parts that looked like they belonged to expensive looking cars. Iris knew a few of those parts could make her a good buck on the black market but she decided against it. Tony and the rest of them had shown her so much kindness she couldn’t bare to steal from him. Even so, she knew she needed a getaway vehicle as she wasn’t going to make it far on foot.
Iris looked around for something inconspicuous she could drive through town in. Her eyes drifted until they latched onto a large, powerful looking motorbike.
It was much bigger than her old but loyal Harley but she knew she could drive it. Iris was pretty sure Tony was not the type to ride bikes so she felt less regret taking it.
Iris was about to pull apart some wires to hot wire it in a similar fashion that she did for her motorcycle when she stole it but she noticed a set of keys on a counter top not too far away. A single American flag hung off the side of the keys. I bet fifty bucks this is the Captains Iris felt her heart jump again, was she really going to steal Captain America’s motorbike?
She knew she had no other option as she couldn’t go riding around the ghettos in a freaking Ferrari.
She let out a sigh before picking up the keys and walking back towards the bike. She pushed the keys into the ignition and turned. The bike roared to life beneath her, it was much more powerful than hers.
Iris was about to take off when she realized the garage door was still closed. She looked down at the keys and saw a tiny remote control hanging off the side.
“Here goes nothing.” Iris muttered to herself knowing that if these really were the Captain’s keys there was a fifty percent chance one of these buttons set off some secret bomb.
Iris pressed the top right button. Nothing happened. Well that was uneventful. She then pressed the button directly underneath it. The garage door began to slide up slowly.
It was quiet, but not quiet enough. A few rattling sounds set Iris on edge. She revved up the bike. Thankfully the garage lead straight out onto an empty road.
As the door had opened wide enough for her to fit through, Iris zoomed underneath it onto the vacant road. After making her way to the end were it merged onto a busier street she turned around for one last look. Now she wished she hadn’t. Bucky stood directly outside of the garage, his metal arm reflecting the streetlights. Before she could think twice, Iris merged with the traffic and sped into the city.