Runaway
I turn back up to class an 3 hours and 1 stab wound later, civilians saved and order somewhat restored. I open the door to the class room dead silent and creep down the passage in the centre of the tables, how no one saw me I have no idea, but I thank Thor for the lessons Nat has given me. The class finally notice my arrival when I unceremoniously dump my school bag loudly on the floor-it thuds like a ton of bricks, at once every eye swivels to me and questions start to erupt-they obviously have seen the news
‘quiet’ the teacher tries to regain control ‘QUIET’ she yells and everyone finally shuts up
‘Hi’ I say shortly, waving awkwardly
‘Why…Why is there blood on your shirt?’ my teacher asks, looking pale. I look down and see a large patch of red blooming just above the waistband of my school skirt
‘Ah yes’ I prod it gently ‘I got stabbed’
‘Stabbed?!’ Izzie yells
‘Lightly’ I reassure my class awkwardly ‘I’ll be totally healed in, like, 2 days’
‘I’m sorry Iris, but you have to go to the nurse’ Mrs West looks extremally unaplologetic at this though
‘but why?’ I question back
‘you are stabbed, go home or to the nurse’ she instructs ‘I’ll email you the homework but you can not be in school in your current situation’
I resist the urge to roll my eyes, if I hadn’t been out to the public all I would have done is fly by the hospital supply cupboard or Boots and grab some sort of bandage plaster and it wouldn’t matter.
‘fine’ I groan and slouch out the door, Alex giving me a sarcastic thumbs up as I pass my desk
***
The next day is a Saturday so I head on home, feeling elated to finally see my parents after so long away from home. I choose to fly there, landing on the drive in a glow of Red, feeling my clothes grow back from my suit as I start to walk towards the front door
‘Mum! Dad! Im home’ I yell walking into the hall and grabbing an apple off the sideboard and taking a juicy bite, I stop short however, seeing a single suitcase in the doorway
‘Mum, Dad’ I yell again and they appear, my mum looks tired, like she’s been crying and my dad looks almost apologetic, but angry
‘Whats the matter, whose leaving?’ I ask quickly, scanning their faces
‘You are’ my dad says finally and my heart leaps into my throat
‘w…what…what do you mean?’ stammering I try to walk further into the house but they block my path
‘you aren’t our Iris anymore, we don’t know you’ my mum says harshly, words stinging like a slap in the face
‘but-‘ I start and my dad cuts me off
‘If you want to go around shooting fireballs from your fists and kissing girls that’s up to you, but we don’t want to be a part of it’ his voice grows, getting louder and louder until he starts shouting
‘YOU AREN’T YOU ANYMORE. THIS HAS CHANGED YOU TOO MUCH. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY REPORTERS CAME BANGING ON OUR DOORS 2 WEEKS AGO’
‘Dad I-‘ but again I am inturrputed
‘So you have to pick’ my mum says quietly ‘your family or the broken thing you are now’
I cant believe it. I cant. This is my family, my mum, my dad who have been there for the last 16 years, always there for me.
‘I…I cant choose’ I stammer out, noting the drop in my mum’s face ‘I cant. This is who I am now. I cant change it, I cant stop’ slowly reach out my hand. I blink and there, about the size of a golfball, just hovering off my hands is a ball of Dawn. My parents shrink back and I blink again, letting a tear run down my face
‘I was broken before you know that. I did stuff that showed I was broken. Now I’m happy IM HAPPY is that too much to ask?’ I sniff and walk backwards gently out of my family’s lives
‘I have a purpose now I have a reason to live. I might be different but Ive found somewhere I belong. And don’t you even dare’ I begin, my anger taking over sadness
‘Don’t you even dare bring Val or ‘kissing girls’ into this. I don’t give a shit what you think about my sexuality or my girlfriend but this’ I gesture to the ball of Dawn, still pulsing in my hand, never staying in the same shape, always moving
‘This is who I am, I cant take it away’
‘You aren’t our Iris’ My dad growls
‘You aren’t our daughter anymore’ My mum adds, a tear also streaking down her face
‘but..but’ I try to voice my feelings, but all I can do is run away, run away from my problems, like I always do.
I turn and sprint out the door, grabbing the case as I go, their words spinning around and around in my head
You aren’t our daughter. If you want to go around shooting fireballs from your fists and kissing girls that’s up to you. You aren’t our daughter. If you want to go around shooting fireballs from your fists and kissing girls that’s up to you. You aren’t our daughter. If you want to go around shooting fireballs from your fists and kissing girls that’s up to you.
As soon as im out the door my emotion comes out in power, I light up, going full binary, seeing the reflection of myself in the glass of the doors, my parents (or ex-parents) watching shocked as I light up from inside out, arms and legs swirling with Dawn, eyes lighting up and hair glowing.
With a single wave I shoot up, up, away from everything, everyone that could hurt me
***
Meanwhile:
The OG 6 are lounging in the sitting room, Nat is reading a book, Clints head on her shoulder, the archer napping peacefully. Steve is painting while Bruce and Tony are looking at documents for the new labs, also searching though and reading the final Intern applicatios when FRIDAY’s voice rings out, she sounds worried
‘Sirs and Ma’am. INES has contacted me, it appears Red has gone binary and it currently flying at a dangerously full altitude and speed. Her suit and oxygen mask will not take much longer and the physical strain on her body might be to much.’
Natasha sits bolt upright
‘Where is she FRIDAY’ she asks quickly as general murmmers go around the room
‘She seems to be asking INES how long it would take her to fly to New Zealand at her current speed’ the AI responds and Tony’s eyes widen
‘How long would it take?’ he says, getting a tiny device from his pocket
’20 minutes at her current speed however she would pass out or get seriously injured in 15, before she makes it’ FRIDAY states, showing a 3d hologram of the globe. A pink dot is racing across, blinking every few seconds, eating up the miles to New Zealand
‘Who here can fly?’ Steve asks, quickly standing up. No one moves except Tony
‘I can, but I wont be able to stop her, it has to be you Nat’ he tosses the device to Nat, she looks down at it.
It’s a tiny little red hourglass.
‘Its nano-tech, but it onto your belt, double tap it when you need to and you'll get the Iron Widow suit, I designed it for your birthday but desperate measures I suppose’ she looks at him full of admiration.
‘thank you Tony’ she voice is soft and full of feeling. In a second she runs out.
‘Am…am I missing something?’ Bruce looks confused at all the worried faces ‘whats gone binary?’
‘Well, you know when Carol goes full power, when her hair glows and her eyes light up and it takes her over’ Steve explains and Bruce nods mutly
‘Well, because Red’s powers are similar she can do the same thing, but because she has the power of more than one infinity stone in her she…she’ he trails off
‘It could take her over too much, eat her alive’ Tony says softly ‘Carol’s body is used to the strain she’s been doing this a while, but Red, Red is in danger’
***
Nat runs straight to her room, easily putting on her catsuit and slipping the hourglass onto the belt, as soon as she is outside she double taps it. For a second nothing happens, then the suit starts to grow.
It’s a personalized version of Tony’s own suit, the colors are changed, her signature red and black, the hourglass coming undone from the belt and fixing it’s self in the same position as Stark’s ark reactor. Its also lighter and more flexible, more like an armored fabric than a metal suit. She moves easily in it and jumps almost out of her skin at a voice in her ear
‘Hello Ms Romanoff’
‘INES’ she breathes out quickly ‘get me to Red’
‘Right away Ms Romanoff’ and suddenly shes off.
Now Nat’s been through a lot, shes happy to big bullets out of her own skin, dose it in vodka and tie herself up with zip ties, but seeing the grounf rush away under her at an alarming rate almost terrifies her. Almost
‘urm INES, could you call Red for me’ she asks, blinking a few times and taking over the flying, easily getting the hang on of the thusters
‘Of course’ after a minute of ringing a crackling comes thorough on the line.
‘Not now Nat’ a broken voice comes through, husky and tried sounding
‘Yes, now Red’ Natasha tried to sound soothing and calm ‘You need to relax a bit’
‘Relax?’ Red’s voice is strangled and the crackling increases, Nat speeds up and spots a red blur on the horizon, high above her
‘Iris, honey I don’t know whats happened but please try to tell me, you’re going to really hurt yourself’
‘I’ there is the sound of a sigh from the other end and nat gains on her again, almost catching up
‘They said Im not their daughter anymore’ she sniffs and natasha can practically hear the tears running down her face
‘who did?’ she prompts gently
‘my parents, or not my parents anymore’ she sniffs again and Nat sighs softly, she knows Iris has lost a lot in her life and adding her parents to the list is not a good idea
‘What do you mean, tell me what happened? She asks and listens as Iris tells her the story
‘Im so sorry Iris’ she murmmers, catching up and flying horizontal to the girl, as close as she dared with the mass of power surrounding her
‘’snot your fault’
‘Iris, please’
‘I cant stop, I need to run away from my problems, like I always do’
‘Why?’
‘because they’ll eat me alive, the world will spin so fast and ill be stuck in it’
‘Iris, you need to stop, you might die’
‘Die?’
‘your body cant handle the power like Carol’s can, you need to slow down, take a deep breath’
‘I…I cant’
‘Iris’
‘It’s Red now, Red Dawn. I don’t have a family, I don’t have anyone’
‘What about us? What about the huge amount of people waiting at the compound with baited breath watching you kill yourself in a GPS going across the globe’
‘They aren’t… they arnet my family’
‘Maybe not in blood’
‘I cant face them though, I cant look at a gang of superheros, whose names the entire world know. I cant look at them and think they’re my family’
‘Why not’
‘Its too good. All good things come to an end’
‘THEY ARE YOUR FAMILY’ Nat yells, finally loosing patience, seeng the countdown clock in the corner of her view flishing 4:56
‘I THOUGHT I WAS YOUR FAMILY’
‘You are Nat-’
‘But?’
‘But I don’t want to hurt you. Everyone who gets close to me seems to die’
‘I’ve escaped death enough enough times Iris, I can assure you’
‘I just… what will you think of me’
‘we think that every hero goes through more than their fare share of shit. But its how you shove your chin in the air and walk out of it that matters even if you have to step over bodies on the way out’
‘wow, inspiring’
‘You need to stop Iris’ a pause ‘Think of the things you love. Think of Val and of ballet with me, and science with Shuri, pranking with Peter and family dinners, where everyone comes together and you can hardly hear yourself think over all the noise of reunions’
‘family dinners’ the light around her seems to dim slightly and she slows down almost
‘exactly, family, in blood or not’
‘family’ and the power stops. In a millisecond the red has blinked out. And all that is left is a small, broken person, dropping from the sky in a mask and an almost burnt though suit
‘shit’ Nat yells and dives after the tumbling figure, catching her in her metal arms quickly and securely
‘Red!’ she spins around and heads for home, trusting INES to fly and turning her attention to Red
‘INES vitals?’
‘Heartbeat strong, she’s just unconcious’ the AI repsonds
‘Get Cho to set up the lab for when we come back’ Nat orders
‘Come on Iris, wake up, wake up’