Chapter 2
"Tones?" Steve's voice calls from behind where the engineer is soldering some piece of intricate circuitry. "Y'know, we should probably consider telling the others about our relationship."
Toni turns away from her work to stare at Steve, eyebrow quirked.
"Well," she starts. "I'm not particularly against the idea, but seeing the way that they've been finding out, all of them will know soon. Besides, the only one who doesn't know still is Thor. I mean, Bruce found out in the Helicarrier lab, Loki found out in the QuinJet hangar, Nat found out during the Chitauri battle and Clint found out just a couple weeks ago, when he decided to go all superspy on us."
“All the more reason we should tell Thor,” Steve counters. “if I were him, knowing that I was the last to find out about something that all of my teammates already know, I’d be more than annoyed.”
Toni tilts her head, raising both eyebrows as she considers Steve’s point of view.
She shrugs. “I guess you’re right. How should we tell him, though?”
“Well, we coul-”
That’s when the Assemble alarm sounds.
The Avengers assemble just outside the QuinJet landing pad, where the first thing out of Steve’s mouth is, “JARVIS, what’s the problem?”
“There appears to be a massive gelatinous creature rampaging through Lower Manhattan. There also appear to be group of Advanced Idea Mechanics scientists shooting random objects with ray guns.”
Toni groans. “AIM. Again. God dammit, they’re worse than cockroaches. They’re even worse than Doom!”
The other Avengers simply roll their eyes at Toni, Steve grinning indulgently.
By the time Toni stops ranting, the others have already boarded the QuinJet and are preparing for takeoff.
Clint's voice echoes over the comms of the jet. "Last one to the giant jello monster is a rotten egg! Eat my exhaust, Stark!"
"Oh, you'll regret that, Hawkass! You really wanna see how fast the suit can go?"
Of course, Toni’d pretty much designed the QuinJets, and she knows they can only hit a maximum speed of about Mach 3, while the suit, on the other hand, has supersonic capabilities.
She could outstrip all of them and reach the battlesite in seconds, at the suit’s full speed of Mach 5, but then again, that might actually result in her overshooting the site and ending up last to arrive.
She's the first to arrive, even with her having to slow down to speeds that Steve, who's hitching a ride and is just vulnerable human flesh.
When the QuinJet touches down, minutes after them, she grins.
"'Last one to the giant jello monster is a rotten egg,' he says. What's that smell? Ladies and gents, the amazing Hawkass."
"Oh, shut up, Stark," Clint grumbles.
Steve stifles a chuckle, exchanging amused glances with Natasha.
“Alright,” Steve starts when the Toni and Clint finally stop bickering. “Avengers, listen up. Thor, Iron Woman, I want you two on aerial support. Any Avenger gets into a rough spot, you get them out. Other than that, you hit the enemy as hard as you can. Hawkeye, you stay up top and keep us informed, keep the enemy distracted. Widow, I want you trying to find the guy behind all this. I’ll cover you. Dr. Banner, see if it’s possible to de-engineer whatever the heck this thing is. As of now, the Hulk is not needed. Alright, let’s go.”
It’s a while later that Steve is following Natasha into an abandoned shophouse, shield at the ready while Natasha fingers her guns.
They've just gotten the mad scientist under control and under Natasha's watch when Clint's voice comes filtering through the comms, staticky and panicked. "Iron Woman is down, I repeat Iron Woman is down!"
Steve blanches, tossing Natasha a desperate look. The assassin nods curtly, eyes telling him she's fine alone.
Steve runs out of the abandoned shophouse like the hounds of Hades are chasing him.
When Steve reaches Iron Woman, the jello monster is already down and the AIM scientists have either fled or are being rounded up by SHIELD agents, and Steve rushes to the suit, and with a sigh of relief he notices that the Reactor is still glowing.
Alright. The suit's still online, then, and Toni's still alive.
"Hawkeye," Steve calls as the archer drops down beside him, Thor just behind. "Report. Did you see what happened?"
Clint nods once, tersely. "Yeah. Energy beam, got her right in the Reactor, crashed the suit faster than I've ever seen before."
Steve frowns and reaches for the release catches that Toni has built into the suit, but even after applying supersoldier strength to the catches doesn't work, he's got to admit that the suit's locked up. He has no way of telling how injured Toni is in the suit, if she's bleeding out or injured or dying, if she's even conscious at all. He doesn't want to entertain the notion, but there's a small voice in his head that's yelling about how Toni's probably bleeding out from some horrible (or possibly multiple horrible) wound(s). After all, it wouldn't be the first time.
Steve rips his cowl off his head, raking his fingers through his hair roughly, relishing the slight sting before rocking back on his heels, eyebrows furrowed.
“Oh, to hell with it all,” he mutters under his breath.“JARVIS, disengage the suit: code sierra-romeo-eight-seven.”
The suit disengages immediately, pieces folding together jerkily to reveal Toni, eyes half-squinted shut and long lashes shadowing them. She’s fine but for a bad bruise forming on her jaw and a slight bump on her head, staring blankly at the Avengers, mumbling a little under her breath as Steve gently raises her chin slightly so that he can inspect her unfocused eyes. Toni starts a little at the contact, eyes still barely registering her surroundings before they narrow somewhat on Steve. “Oh, hi, Stevie, sweetheart,” she mumbles, still out of it to an extent.
Steve scrutinises her a little longer before shaking his head and leaning back on his palms. “Mild concussion,” he determines. “Nothing much to worry about.”
Toni simply stares blankly at him before shaking her head violently as her eyes clear and open fully to register the scene before her, head turning briefly to note the suitcase beside her before wincing. Her eyes narrow as she processes the suitcase.
“Steven Grant Rogers!” Toni suddenly says in a voice that conveys all the strictness of shouting but none of the volume. “Did you just use your codes -your private, not-to-be-known, emergency codes, may I add- to disengage the suit just because of a mild concussion and slight bruising? For God’s sake, they’re emergency codes for a reason, Steve!”
Steve simply smiles, relieved, and hoists Toni up before pulling her into a crushing hug and mashing their lips together. "Oh, thank God."
After Toni gets back from Medical, which Steve basically forced her to visit, they're abruptly cornered by Thor, who grins broadly and claps them on the shoulders.
"My friends," he bellows heartily. "Many congratulations on your union! May your union be blessed by the Lord Freyr and the Lady Freyja, to last forevermore!"
After Thor leaves, Toni turns to Steve, bemused, and goes, "Well, I guess there's no need to tell Thor any longer."