Chapter 4
Time was drunk.
That made about as much sense as anything else this evening had, and had the bonus points of explaining how it felt like they’d arrived at the hospital in approximately two seconds as opposed to the ten or so minutes it ought to have been.
A thrill of longing for JARVIS sped through Tony’s veins.
He’d have been able to tell Tony precisely how long it had been, right down to the millisecond, if Tony had so required.
After the …discussion over his clothes, the other omega EMT had pulled over, concerned that violence was about to erupt in the back of the ambulance and it would be unsafe for his passengers if he continued to drive.
It had taken Walker and Paula a shamefully short amount of time to slap further (soft) restraints on him. On the plus side? They had, at least, allowed him to keep all his coverings on.
Paula had stated somewhat dryly that if he was able to flail about that easily then it was unlikely he had any seriously major injuries, though he’d still need to be examined, particularly as she didn’t like the sound of the cough he was uttering every now and again. Walker, Giles, Whatever… The Officer had chosen that time to theatrically begin rubbing at his own scrapes and bruises and mock whine.
It had almost seemed as though he were purposefully drawing Paula’s own ire. As though he’d recognised how anxious Tony was at the idea of having to take his clothes off. After all, once his shirt was removed there wasn’t a hope in hell of him keeping his identity hidden.
Tony had winced at the other man’s theatrics all the same.
Even if the Officer had only been joking, there was no doubt that both the alphas who had prevented his attempted swan-dive would be sporting a multitude of contusions and sprains. Tony truly hadn’t wanted anyone else to get hurt in his attempts.
Paula’s reaction had been less sympathetic.
One bottle of disinfectant and roll of bandages had been swiftly dispatched in the general of direction of Walker’s head. Great velocity and force had been exerted in their rapid ‘gifting’.
Tony had smirked. It had been kind of amusing, even as Paula threatened Walker with a sling for a fortnight which would cause him to signed off work if he didn’t quit his whinging.
The way the pair bantered really did forcibly bring memories of Team and how they interacted before Tony had screwed up.
In order to distract himself from such maudlin thoughts, Tony didn’t try to bite back the snicker. After all, he didn’t feel that guilty.
After that?
Tony had withdrawn into his thoughts, and nothing Paula or Walker did could draw him back out?
What was going to happen to him from here? Where would he go?
He wasn’t stupid enough to believe that he could keep his identity secret. One glance at the arc reactor would have most people knowing who he was. That topless photograph shoot that Carl had had him do had certainly made people quite aware that the arc reactor was imbedded into his chest.
It would be evident who he was pretty much from the moment he was inspected for ‘further injuries’. Doubtlessly he wouldn’t be let off from said inspections due to the determination he’d shown in trying to kill himself. They wouldn’t believe that he wasn’t concealing injuries (which of course he was. Nothing major, but there were a few).
He did have a synthesised layer of skin covering the reactor, but it really wouldn’t stand up to a thorough inspection. It was really only intended to block the light from sight.
Then what would happen? The hospital would call his old Team? They certainly wouldn’t want anything to do with him. Particularly not after they found the ‘parcel’ he’d left under J’s care that afternoon. It was all he could cope that they’d look after her.
There was a worse, yet more likely, solution.
They’d call Him.
Or, you know, send him to the looney bin. That was always a possibility too.
Whichever way he looked? His options were shit.
Unless he escaped?
That idea was clearly working so well. Tony’s shoulders chose that moment to throb fiercely as if to remind him of precisely how well the idea of escape was going for him.
The exhausted omega allowed his eyes to slip closed for a moment in a vague attempt to shut out the world. Forget it existed. At least the ache in his shoulders gave him a momentary distraction from the Giant Ball of Ache that the rest of his body was post that night’s activities. Hells, if he were being honest with himself, a habit he had taken to avoiding, some of the aches were due to months, years even, worth of actions.
That Ache didn’t even begin to disguise the pain positively screaming at him that was his now two overstretched, and swiftly ripping, Bonds.
What would the hospital say if they recognised those?
A thrill of complete and utter self-loathing shot through him with such strength and suddenness that it made his breath catch.
His daughter.
His eighteen-month-and-three-week-old daughter.
They’d somehow already formed a Bond. If… If he was feeling pain from a second over-stretched Bond… then she’d no doubt be feeling the same.
How was that possible? Bonds were typically formed until a child was at least two years old. He’d been so careful, not wanting to cause her any pain when he died.
They had to go and get her! Now!
Walker had spent the journey with all his focus placed sharply on the young man, the newly-named ‘Almost-23’. He’d thought they were going to have further troubles early on when the lad kicked up a fuss about having his clothes removed. But that’d soon be sorted without bloodshed.
And if he’d distracted Paula from continuing with her tender ministrations? Well, that was between him and his conscience. She’d said that she didn’t think he had any serious injuries… and if he had any major illnesses? Then there was little she’d be able to do. It was worth the delay just for the kid to lose that edge of panic that had been keeping his body language so stiff. If Paula got in trouble back at home base? Well, then Walker would step up and take the blame.
He was always told he used unorthodox methods and was a pain in the proverbial posterior. May as well live up to his reputation, hey?
After that bit of banter though, it seemed that Almost-23 had slipped away into himself. Both he and Paula had tried to regain his attention – Paula had even tried to grab his attention by laying her hand on his gently. It hadn’t worked. The kid had withdrawn completely into his own head. If he hadn’t smelt the calmest that he’d been so far, then Walker would have been exceedingly worried.
It was only as they pulled up at the hospital that the kid began showing signs of life once more.
And not in a good way.
His face grew dramatically paler causing out the scrapes and odd bruise to stand out even further on the youthful face. He must have started emitting some form of pheromones too as Paula’s nose had begun twitching in synch with his face draining to an eerie shade of bone-white.
“Almost-23, hun. What’s wrong?”
Worry had clouded the EMTs expression as she instinctively reached out one hand to cover the boys’ in an attempt to comfort him.
The kid’s sudden burst of movement after so much stillness made Walker startle.
With a speed that caused the alpha’s neck to ache in sympathy, Almost-23 flung his head around to stare at the omega-EMT. His eyes were flared in panic as his chest began to heave in an attempt to inhale air; Walker knew his biology well enough to know that adrenaline must be flooding the kid’s circuitry, causing him to try to provide more oxygen to his muscles to enable him to flee.
Fight or flight mode had been activated.
“ta’go. Go. Go. Go. Have to go. Alicia! Alicia! Alicia! Help her!”
Word after word flew from the distressed omega’s mouth at a steadily increasing volume until he was fair bellowing the name ‘Alicia’ over and over again. The man began sawing his wrists back and forth, desperate to escape the clutches of the restrains that were chaining him down.
Walker blinked for a millisecond, trying to link this man to the one of mere seconds prior, before bounding to his feet and covering the kid’s other hand. With his thumb he began to rub slow circles above the youth’s hammering pulse-point in an attempt to soothe the omega. At the same time, he wrapped his other arm around the man’s shoulders and began to retract it slightly, forcing the omega to lean into his chest in an enforced hug.
Restraint.
Hug.
Same difference, really.
“Whoa. Cool it Tiger. Come on, come back to me kiddo. Almost-23. Calm down, kiddo. You have to slow down, alright? Slow down and let me know the problem, who do I need to help? Who’s Alicia?”
A cry was tugged from the omega’s throat as his eyes took on a suspiciously shiny sheen. One bound hand struggled to lift to cover his mouth and shove those horrendously wounded sounds back into their place or origin.
The omega’s whole form continued to vibrate from the tension running through the muscles taut beneath the skin. Walker didn’t try to prevent his free hand from running up to cradle the lad’s head in a further attempt of an embrace, the motion not obscuring the kid’s face. A harrowing picture to behold indeed, causing Walker’s gut to clench at the sheer agony visible.
A single tear that had been gathering at the corner of Almost-23’s eye slowly grew in size until it spilt over the edge of the lid, swiftly followed by a second, and a third, despite the man’s attempts to blink them away. A growl came from his throat on the edge of another horrible sob as his hands clenched into fists once more.
Walker’s dual grips tightened, and that grip seemed to break the iron-strong barriers and shove the kid over the edge. Sobs began to tear from the belaboured omega, great, heaving sobs that shook his from almost as much as the shaking.
It wasn’t as pretty a sight as the movies made out. No delicate reddened rims with tears drooping prettily from crystal-clear, large eyes. No graceful little huffs and sighs.
No. This was pain. Half-strangled sounds torn from an unwilling throat. Tremours strong enough to send convulsions wracking through an entire film. Nose leaking almost as much as the eyes themselves.
Walker just knew that if the omega was left to his own resources then those clenched fists would be covering his mouth, his eyes, doing his utmost best to shove those sounds back deep within the throat they came from. Remove all traces of this lack of control.
How he knew that? He didn’t know.
While that option wasn’t open to the omega, Walker did the best he could. He rubbed the kid’s pulse points soothingly, and kept on arm embracing him as best he could, making little ‘hush’ing noises. He very purposefully didn’t tell the kid useless platitudes such as ‘everything’ll be fine’. Far too many cases like this didn’t have happy endings, so he wasn’t going to waste the kids energy by promising so.
Barely a minute later, the kid’s body crashed, his frame not having enough substance to it to sustain the high levels of adrenaline that were f lowing through his veins. A bone-rattling vibration instead took over from his attempts to escape and Walker was left suddenly holding up the panting, trembling omega rather than holding him still.
The kid’s eyes flew upwards in an attempt to meet the alpha’s as his tongue poked out, trying to moisten his terror-dried out lips enough to allow him to speak.
“Al-“
He began once, before his voice gave out on him refusing to support the sound that was trying to emit.
Annoyance flitted over his expression momentarily before he tried again. “Alicia. Please. My Bond to her. It’s hurting. She’ll be hurting. Please.”
Walker had never felt more grateful to the pills he had access to being on the Force. The sense of pleading that was pouring from that kid’s eyes suggested that if he’d been able to scent the near torrential levels of desperation this omega had to have been near radiating, then he’d barely have been able to withstand it.
He figured the kid had been pretty desperate to kill himself. That was absolutely nothing compared to these new levels of despair.
“Alright, alright. Where is she? You have to calm down, think rationally, and tell me where she is and I’ll get her here.”
The kid’s face paled even further somehow as his fingers flexed in an attempt to grip onto something. Anything. Walker readily provided his hand hoping to steady the youth.
“She’s my daughter. Alicia González. She’s a baby. Not even two years old. She’s too young to have formed a bond. I’d never have tried… She won’t know why she’s in pain! She’ll be crying for me. She’ll-“
“Shhh. Alright, calm down.” Walker felt a thread of fear run through him, just a baby? If she was going into any form of pain from an over-stretched bond at this age? That could kill her. Cause her heart to just to stop beating. “You’re a good lad, Almost-23. You’re a good Mother to her, I know you would never have knowingly done this.” The shock the kid was in for infinite proof of that! “Just tell me where she is.”
“Stark Tower. Ask JARVIS. The Avengers, hopefully. please”
Walker blinked.
Stark Tower? Was Almost-23 having some form of break from reality?
Tony felt his gut clench as he saw the disbelief cross over Walker’s face.
“Please. You must believe me. I’m not crazy. I’m Tony Stark, look at me! Imagine me with a goatee and in a million-dollar suit. Please. You have to help Alicia! Let me go to her. Please!”
Walker’s frown deepened. Mentally, he did as the omega suggested. There was a resemblance…
His concentration was broken by a gasp of recognition from Paula.
“Walker, he’s right. I remember from a magazine that Stark called his daughter Alicia. Mr. Stark, how…?”
”Please!” Stark, and Paula was right, the man before him was a dead ringer for Tony Stark. Stark swallowed, visibly trying to regain some form of self control. “Please. Just… just ring the Tower, get my daughter. I’ll...I’ll do anything.”
That was enough to get Walker moving.
“Can you give me the number?” he asked as he swiftly removed his cell from his pocket, and stabbed in the number that Stark quickly rattled off.