Chapter 5
Someone clearly had too much spare time on their hands.
Barely a second after Walker had dialled the final digit a cool English-accented voice answered the phone causing Walker to blink. The phone hadn’t even made a ringing sound…?
Far too much time on their hands if they could answer the phone that quickly.
“Good evening, Officer Walker. My records certify that you ought not to have access to this number. Please indicate immediately how you acquired it before I am forced to proceed with further measures.”
Walker blinked again, his sharp concern momentarily derailed by the unexpectedness of the situation. This shift was fast becoming more and more…surreal. How on Earth…? This was his work phone. It shouldn’t have Caller ID. Walker resisted the urge to shake his head in confusion, and admittedly, some alarm, as he quickly dragged his flaking attention back. Now was not the time to lose focus, no matter how heavy the exhaustion was beginning to settle into his bones. He wasn’t going home until this situation was at least somewhat sorted, no matter how late it made him.
“The threats are unnecessary, son. I have Almo- Mr. Stark here with me. You apparently have his daughter, Alicia? Mr. Stark is concerned that she is suffering from an over-extended bond. If someone could get her here to St Luke’s Hospital, Amsterdam Ave this side of straight away…The entrance is right by that giant glass walkway in the middle of the street.” Alright, so he could partially do the formal talk. Damn stuffy Brits.
Walker allowed his words to trail away, unwilling to voice the potential risks aloud. Almost-23, Tony, Mr. Stark. The Omega. Him was obviously well aware his daughter would be in pain, but hadn’t seemed to clock onto the fact that she would quite easily die. At this age? Kids were rarely two feet away from either one of their parents. They were still growing used to their bodies, scents, senses. Bonds didn’t usually form until they were about three as it gave their bodies time to develop, but if Tony was already feeling the effects of a stretched Bond, then… it could easily be very not good.
Walker was determined to not lead Tony straight to that knowledge if he hadn’t thought if it himself. The kid was under far too much stress as was. If the babe did die? Then they’d cross that hurdle then.
The English Pompous Voice replied, worry clear in his tone despite the order, “Put Mr. Stark on the line. Agents Romanoff and Barton were on their way the minute I identified your location. They will be with you in approximately nine minutes with Alicia.”
Walker chose not to argue. It was unlikely they’d make that time in the New York City traffic, even at this time of night, but the alpha had long ago given up on remonstrating concerned relatives or friends about either their lack of manners or common sense. Instead Giles just held up the phone against Tony’s ear.
“It’s for you,” he said needlessly with a tired smile at the lad. Hopefully this conversation would distract Mr. Stark slightly, Walker had no doubt that the man at the end of the phone was anything other than deeply concerned about the omega before him.
“J? Is…Is that you? Alicia! Is she- Where…?”
Well, Walker hadn’t had that much hope that the famously focused engineer would be distracted.
The words that began to stream from the omega’s lips caused another wrench to run through Walker. He’d seen the man before him perform speeches on television whilst obviously three sheets to the wind or concussed and barely upright from some battle or other, or even just dead on his feet from exhaustion that make-up couldn’t quite conceal. Never before had he his voice held anything other than brash confidence. That note of uncertainty it currently held… it just sounded wrong. Nothing like the image of the man that the media portrayed.
Now. Walker wasn’t anything like naïve enough to presume that the media displayed an accurate representation of the man. Or that the man didn’t have some form of ‘media-face.’ All celebrities did. It was their only defence against the vultures that journalists could be. Yet still… it was unsettling to see The Iron Man brought this low. He was a super hero! An idol to millions. He’d helped save New York City countless times, even though he was an omega.
Heroes shouldn’t be brought this low. Even if they were people too.
Not that Walker blamed Mr. Stark. Or thought less of him for it. He knew himself well enough though to know that he was unsettled. Heroes couldn’t lose. A stupidly naïve thought, but one that Walker just couldn’t shake.
Giles did do his best to not eavesdrop on the obviously private conversation between the omega and this ‘J’. It was hard. He could hear the rumbling vibrations, echoes of words, emit from the cellular device, and the young man’s responses in a voice high-pitched from tension. In an effort to not listen to the actual words being spoken, Walker instead focused on Stark’s body language. It was interesting watching him. Desperate worry was still obvious in every iota of his body, from the clenched fists to the light trembling that was horribly obvious. Yet despite that desperation, he was still looking more relaxed than previously. His face, although still shrouded by dirt and scrapes that only made it harder to read his expression just didn’t have the same level of tension. This ‘J’ was obviously someone he cared for a great deal.
“Shouldn’t we go meet them somewhere?”
Paula voiced her opinion quietly after the phone conversation had been going on for barely a minute, “Every second really could count in this situation.” She was obviously as sharply familiar with the knowledge that Walker himself was that the babe could quite easily die.
Walker was about to reply when Stark himself interrupted them both wish a shake of his head. Apparently he hadn’t been as singularly engrossed in his conversation as both Walker and Paula had believed.
“Th-They’ll be here in about six minutes – J said they’re taking the quinjet.”
Walker fixed the his gaze on the omega, trying to understand the emotions flying from him. He didn’t like that stutter that had returned when talking about Romanoff and Barton. They were two of the Avengers, weren’t they? Walker didn’t know the ins and outs of the interpersonal relationships between the team, but they’d always appeared to work together well…
Yet going from Tony’s oh-so expressive face… Nerves. Desperation. Terror, even. Terror that blotted out just about all the other emotions. Why would he be feeling these now? Walker was definitely not going to allow these two to be alone with Tony until he knew more about the situation.
“Let’s get you read to head inside then,” Paula announced, evidently feeling more confident now that she was back on familiar grounds rather than the more murky waters of unexpected superheroes with stretched Bonds who had apparently been ready to kill themselves post living on the streets. All in a day’s work…right?
Both she and the other paramedic who came round from the front of the ambulance both retained their cautiousness around Tony. They barely let him out of his restraints for the second it took to transfer him to the wheelchair, and replaced them straight away. An action Walker really didn’t see the need for. He doubted that even the Hulk would be able to shift Tony now. Not when his daughter needed him and her arrival was so imminent. This was not a young man who was going to run. Not now.
But still. He held his peace. They were the medical professionals, and Tony was half under their jurisdiction now even if he hadn’t been officially signed over yet.
Minutes later the three of them were waiting by the glass doors of the entrance, sheltered from the light rain that had begun as they watched the Bus drive off. Tony’s ‘condition’ had progressed; his entire body was trembling violently from the force of the anxiety thrumming through his veins, the movement visible despite the fact he was in a wheelchair and covered by several blankets. His distress was so strong that even Walker was able to smell it, despite his scent-blocking drugs.
Paula was riveted to Tony’s side, crouched down so as to put herself at an even height with him. One hand was resting gently on his hand as she a soft trilling noise emitted from her throat in an effort to soothe him.
Walker was purposefully allowing the comforting sound, resembling that o a female canine soothing her pups, to comfort his own jangled nerves. The distressed scents wafting his way weren’t affecting him as strongly as they could have been, but it was still going to his head. He didn’t want to even think about what must be running through the young omega’s head. From the pain of the overstretched bond to the concern for his daughter. Let alone whatever else had driven a man with supposedly the world at his feet to want to kill himself. Didn’t he have a Bonded as well? What happened to him?
Walker’s ponderings, an effort to distract himself from the decidedly alpha urge to pace, were interrupted by the quiet thrumming noise of a powerful engine. As the sound drew closer, Tony froze in his seat, the tremors drawing to an instant halt as every muscle must have locked up. Walker could even see how every muscle was held tight as the kid threw himself as far forward in the chair as his medical-grade cuffs allowed.
Paula silenced herself as she pushed herself to her feet, her hand trailing upwards until it was resting comfortably on Tony’s shoulder, stroking the limb softly in a motion that was somehow both comforting and protective in nature.
Giles glanced downwards at his watch as the plane that he had never seen anywhere besides a television screen slowly set down, easily avoiding the glass walkway that connected the departments together. A tendril of amusement curled through him. Nine minutes exactly. The plane, a quinjet as Tony had called it, landed neatly in the street, bereft of all the vehicles that were usually packed in like sardines due to the late hour.
Mere seconds after that? The engine powered down, a low humming sound that truly did sound like something from a science fiction film, and a ramp lowered allowing the wailing cries of a baby in pain to reach the ears of those waiting. Echoing whimpers began to emit from Tony’s own throat as he began to violently rock himself back and forth, desperate to break the restraints so that he could reach his daughter. His pup.
Walker, throwing caution and protocol to the wind, immediately released the wrist cuff closest to him, pleased to see that Paula echoed his movement without argument. He was just about to remove the chest-band when the figure carrying the baby was at their side. She was a tall woman, evidently an alpha, with a shock of bright red hair Walker knew just had to have come from a bottle. Not that there was any way he’d ever voice such a thought… he easily recognised her as The Black Widow.
He did prefer his balls remained attached to him, after all.
The Black Widow, without preamble or word of greeting, near shoved the screaming child into her mother’s arms which closed around them and drew them into a chest that was heaving with sobs once more. It was as though the sobs transferred bodies. As soon as she was enclosed in the safe cage Alicia’s wails softened to mere whimpers as silent tears poured down Tony’s face while he gently stroked the back of her head and peppered her face with kisses.
“Sorry, my love, sorry. Sorry. Sorry.” The whispered word poured over and over again from Tony’s mouth, making Walker wince. The kid would never forgive himself for this. The smells still pouring out of him forced the urge to interpose himself in between the other alpha and pair in the chair. An urge he didn’t suppress. He still didn’t know what the situation was between Tony and his team.
Natasha raised one perfect eyebrow as the officer, JARVIS had identified him as a ‘Giles Walker’, near shoved himself in between her and Tony. She didn’t growl. Such traditionally alpha displays were beneath her. Instead she allowed her steady scrutiny to express her annoyance for her. She boldly fixed her gaze onto the alpha’s eyes, staring at him directly in a fashion that none would mistake as being anything other than challenging. She couldn’t decide if this man was extremely stupid, or extremely brave; both character traits were really far too similar to distinguish the difference sometimes. Either way, the end result would be the same.
This pup would not separate her from Tony.
She took one step towards the omega who was cradling his pup so tenderly yet was halted by an unexpected hand to her chest, preventing her ongoing movement.
“Excuse me m’am,” came the unexpected words. She’d expected some form of growl, or other expression, “If you would please be so kind as to wait there until I’ve further assessed the situation? I understand you’re worried about Mr. Stark here, but he’s been scenting mighty anxious since you turned up, and I want to make sure that he’s happy before I allow you any closer.”
Natasha’s expression deepened into a scowl, only partially put on, the man was courageous rather than stupid, it appeared. And it was true; the stench of Tony’s fear was obvious to her sensitive nose. Yet… why was he so afraid? They hadn’t parted on the best of terms, it was true. Tony had been becoming more and more unreliable until it had reached the stage where it was hit and miss as to whether he would turn up on missions or not. Steve had had to drop him from the team. So, yes. Tony hadn’t been pleased – as evidenced by the swift removal of himself and his Bonded, Carl, to Malibu. But there was no reason to be this afraid, was there? What had happened to her previously prickly omega team-mate?
This man before her was nothing like the proud omega she recalled.
Although his frame was obscured somewhat by the blankets and wheelchair, Natasha’s keen gaze could easily pick out how much weight the man had lost. He was rake thin, and he’d never been large to begin with. He was filthy, and under-dressed. Dried blood was easily visible in the harsh lighting of the hospital entrance, and it was hopefully that harsh lighting that was making Tony look so wan and death-like. His skin was waxy and dead looking, where it wasn’t broken up by scrapes, instead of the vibrant golden tan colouring it had previously held.
None of that was as bad as the terror that she could still smell.
What the hell had happened to him?
She felt, rather than heard, Clint’s sudden appearance by her side, felt him stiffen as he too registered the poor condition Tony was in, smelt the anger that began to waft off the beta man as it stung at her nose.
At least anger was better than the worry that had been consuming the whole team since JARVIS had reported Alicia’s presence in the tower. The others were still out looking for Tony, although it was more likely that they were currently on their way to the hospital. Clint and Natasha had just swapped out with Bruce and Steve on child-care when JARVIS reported that he was receiving a call.
She returned her gaze to the alpha officer, a hint of the deep fury she was feeling now visible. “We did not do this,” though whether they were partially responsible? That was another question.
Her gaze then flitted down to the omega who had yet to look at them fully, instead staring down at his daughter, now fast asleep. Was he avoiding them? Or was this some form of new submissive behaviour? Before the man had left he had begun displaying slightly more submissive traits. Natasha would have been concerned if this was not usual for some omegas on dating a new alpha.
It had been a surprise that Tony would alter himself, but many did. That and the other Avengers had been getting so annoyed by his unreliability it wasn’t odd that he’d been using more submissive body language around them.
“Antoshka…” her voice was a hundred times softer than when she’d been speaking to the officer. Surprise at the use of the familiar old nickname caused Tony to flick his eyes in her direction; it had been some time since she’d used it.
“Antoshka, may I approach?”