Gone
Harley woke to loud footsteps racing down the hall. The clock said it was 4am. He made sure his sister was still asleep before sliding on his slippers to see what the commotion was about.
He walked down the hall to Tony’s room, which had the door wide open. Harley’s eyes widened at the sight.
Rhodey and Sam woke to Friday alerting them Tony needed assistance. They met each other in the hall and dashed to Tony’s room, throwing the door open and rushing inside. They found Tony in the midst of a violent seizure.
Tony was tangled in the sheets, his limbs flailing and head jerking back. Rhodey and Sam quickly fought to free him from the covers. “It’s okay Tones, ride it out, you’re okay,” Rhodey chanted as Tony grunted and hummed. His body shook and his fists clenched and unclenched.
Harley watched with wide eyes from the doorway before he couldn’t take it anymore. “What’s happening to him? Hold him down!” He screamed.
The men glanced over at Harley in surprise. But they turned back to the bed when Tony started choking.
Rhodey grabbed a tissue and started wiping the white foam from his friend’s mouth. “It’s okay, Tones, almost done,” he said softly.
“Is he dying?!” Harley shouted running over to the bed when he was ignored.
Rhodey huffed in annoyance. “No, he is not dying. Now go back to your room Harley, we’ll talk to you in a second.” Rhodey noticed a wet spot on Tony’s pants from where his bladder let itself go.
“No, hold him down!” Harley screeched. “Wake up Mechanic!” Harley started shaking Tony’s clenched arm.
Rhodey pulled him away, “Sam!”
Sam took the hint and dragged Harley back to the doorway. “I get you want to help kid, but let us take care of him,” he said softly before returning to Tony’s body which was slowly calming down.
Tony whimpered as drool ran down his face. “It’s okay, Tones. I’m right here, you’re okay,” Rhodey said, wiping away the drool. Tony’s body clenched and unclenched in slow patterns as the man fought for consciousness.
It took another few seconds for Tony’s body to completely calm, though his foot continued to twitch. “You with me, Tones?” Rhodey asked. He helped Sam roll Tony over to his side. Immediately, bile spilled from the genius’ mouth onto the sheets. Tony’s whimpering picked up.
“It’s okay, Tones, you’re okay,” Rhodey soothed, wiping his mouth.
“Rho’ey?” Tony slurred, eyes still closed.
“It’s me Tones, I'm right here,” Rhodey said, running his fingers through Tony’s hair. Tony’s eyes opened to small slits and rolled around before focusing on Rhodey.
“I ‘ont feel so good,” Tony slurred, dragging a weak hand up to his forehead.
“Okay, well let’s get you changed, okay? I’ll get you some medicine and-”
“Mechanic?” Harley said, tears in his eyes.
Tony’s eyes widened and he focused them on the approaching boy. “Hey kid,” he said, his mouth moving a bit odd as he fought for control of his muscles.
“Are you okay, Mechanic? What just happened? Does it have to do with New York? Or your panic attacks? Should we call an ambulance? Should we-”
“Harley, ‘m okay,” Tony interrupted, his brows creasing as his headache throbbed harder. “How ‘bout you check on your sister a-and get to bed? I’m f-fine and i’ll talk to you in the morning, okay kid?”
Harley nodded, worry clear on his face, but made his way out of the room.
Tony groaned as Sam and Rhodey rolled him onto his back. Sam went into the bathroom and Rhodey worked on removing his clothes. Tony felt the wetness of his pajama pants as Rhodey slid them down his limp legs. “I promise I don’t need a diaper,” he snarked.
“Already ordered a pack from Amazon,” Rhodey smirked playfully. He took off the rest of Tony’s clothes, leaving on his underwear. Then he pulled his best friend into his arms bridal style. “You need to eat more. I’m pretty sure Harley can bench-press you,” Rhodey said.
“Oh shove off,” Tony huffed, leaning his throbbing head onto Rhodey’s chest. His head vibrated as the man laughed. He closed his eyes as his best friend brought him into the bathroom. He could hear Sam testing the bath water and it wasn’t long before he felt himself being lowered into it. His body, still trembling slightly from the seizure, sloshed around in the water.
When it was obvious Tony didn’t have the strength to hold himself up, Rhodey pulled off his own shirt and slid in the tub behind Tony. Sam helped the billionaire lay back against his friend.
“We have to find them, Tony,” Rhodey said into the quiet of the bathroom. He ran a soapy washcloth over Tony’s chest.
“What have been the public reactions?” Tony asked, yawning.
“Fear. No one knows where the Rogues are and frankly, I think people are too scared to search for them,” Sam said solemnly. He picked up Tony’s slightly swollen feet to wash them.
Tony sighed. “I’ve been so preoccupied. Rhodey if I give you my code can you have Friday start a round-the-clock search for them? Seems the government is going to be useless as always.”
Sam scoffed in agreement. “I don’t mean to doubt anyone’s abilities or anything,” Sam said quietly, sitting back on his heels from where he was kneeling in front of the tub. “But even if we do find them, how are we going to contain them?”
The two men in the tub went quiet.
“We’ll find a way,” Rhodey said finally. “But we will catch them. And they will pay.”
________________________
Bucky pulled Scott by the backpack with his one good arm. He covered the man’s mouth before he could shout.
They were walking in the woods in the middle of nowhere. Steve had given up on searching for a place to settle down and now Wanda was leading the way. There was doubt whether she knew a place either.
“What do you want?” Scott whispered when the hand was removed from his mouth. Bucky shoved him to continue walking.
He waited until the group was further ahead of them before whispering. “If we did leave...where would we go?” Bucky asked.
“I don’t know? The white house? Where do you go to turn yourself in?” Scott said, his eyebrows scrunched in thought.
Bucky looked at him as if he was the dumbest creature on Earth. “Really? The White House?” Scott shrugged and Bucky rolled his eyes. He sighed. “Could we go to Tony?”
Scott’s eyes almost bursted out of his head. “Stark? You want to go see Tony Stark?” He said loudly. Bucky shushed him, shoving him in the stomach. “Ow! But really? You think Stark will help us? After what Wanda did to him?”
Bucky sighed. “Okay, but you’re right, we should leave.”
Scott turned to look at the group ahead of them. “Only question is when and how.”
__________________
Rhodey pulled Tony’s arm through his pajama shirt as Sam fixed the fresh sheets. “You still got over three hours before you gotta be up, go back to sleep okay, Tones?”
“Course, honeybear,” Tony said, feigning a yawn.
Sam adjusted Tony’s legs under the sheets and pulled them up to his waist. Rhodey plugged in the loud CPAP and placed the mask over his face. “Night, Tones,” Rhodey said, a bit anxiously. Tony knew he wanted to stay, but wouldn’t after Tony had blown up on him earlier about being a ‘big boy who didn’t need mommy to hold his hand at night’.
“Night, platypus,” Tony said. “Thanks, Sam.”
“It’s no problem,” Sam smiled, following Rhodey out of the door.
Tony closed his eyes, feeling Rhodey look back before closing the door. As soon as he heard the footsteps fade into their respective rooms, Toyn pulled the mask off his face and sat up, breathing heavily. Even with his eyes closed he could feel Wanda’ magic brewing between his lids, ready to possess him in his sleep.
He hadn’t told anyone, but ever since the attack, he has had vicious nightmares that are full of his worst memories soaked in red magic. Ever so often, his nightmares are often mixed with weird visions. Like a dark sky at night and walking through the woods. He could have swore he saw Rogers too, but that might have been his own nightmare.
Tony stayed up until morning, not allowing his tired eyes to give into sleep. He didn’t turn the lights on in his room until he heard movement from the others. Tony sat up with shaking arms, taking off the CPAP mask and untwisting his body from the covers.
He was trying to drag his useless legs to the edge of the bed when he heard a knock. “Come in,” he said, voice rough.
Harley shuffled in, curled in on himself. Tony wiped the sweat by his brow after finishing moving his legs and patted the area next to him on the bed. “I’m sorry about yesterday,” Tony said after they sat in silence for several moments. “You shouldn’t have had to see that-”
“Are you going to die like my mom did?” Harley said suddenly, sounding like the young boy he had met all those years ago.
Tony noticed the tears trying hard not to fall.
“No, Harley. I am not going to die,” Tony said firmly.
“You promise?” Harley asked.
“I promise.”
Harley looked into his eyes for several long seconds before nodding. “What happened to you? I haven’t- I haven’t been keeping up with the news since mom…”
Tony sighed. “You probably wouldn’t have seen it. I um- There was a fight with the other Avengers and I fell in the suit.” Tony ignored Harley’s shocked look, trying to fight the memories from his accident. “I’m not going to lie to you Harley, I’m….sick. But I’m not going to die. I’m going to be here with you and fight for you even if i’m in a wheelchair for the rest of my life, okay?”
Harley nodded. There was a beat before his arm shot out, pulling Tony into a hug. Tony let out a laugh as they almost tumbled to the ground. “Woah! You’re big and strong now.” Tony laughed, though knowing his unsteadiness was more due to the fact he could just barely hold himself up. “Let’s go check on the others.”
Harley stood up, watching Tony move his body to the edge of the bed. “Can I help?”
Tony looked up abruptly. “Uh, yeah. Can you…” Tony gestured to the wheelchair a few feet away and Harley brought it over. “Thanks.” Tony hesitated transferring over seeing Halrey watch him attentively. He had lost an incredible amount of muscle mass and transferring was not as graceful as it was a few months ago.
Tony slid his bottom off the bed covers and landed harshly into the seat of the chair. Harley steadied it as it rocked. Tony lifted his legs up onto the footrest and shifted his bottom so he was sitting steadier. He was shocked when Harley suddenly unlocked the chair and started pushing it. “Thanks,” Tony said softly.
Harley smiled and continued to push Tony to the common room. When they arrived, no one but Sarah, who was playing a game on her iPad on the couch, was present. Tony figured Rhodey and Sam were sleeping after such a long night. “Okay kids, time to make breakfast. Who likes pancakes?”
Sarah jumped up from where her eyes were glued to the tablet and ran over. “Me! I like pancakes! I used to help mom make them all the time.”
Tony smiled and pulled the young girl onto his lap. “Well I bet they were fantastic. Let’s see if we could cook some for Rhodey and Sam before they wake up.” When they reached the kitchen, Friday immediately lowered the island so that Tony would be able to utilize it at wheelchair height. The cabinets still remained insanely high so Tony pointed out to Harley where the ingredients were and the now tall teenager retrieved them.
“Can you tell me more about Peter?” Harley asked suddenly as they were mixing the batter in a bowl. Sarah was covered in flour and so was Tony. Harley had managed to stay clear of the mess, though his hands were a bit sticky.
“Peter? That’s a cool name. I had a Peter in my class in kindergarten!” Sarah mused from where she sat on the island.
Tony hesitated for a second. “What do you want to know about him?”
Harley rolled his eyes, smacking the spoon onto the side of the bowl harsher than necessary. “Literally anything. You haven’t told me more than his first name and that he used to be your intern before you started ignoring him.”
“I haven’t-”
“Mechanic.”
“Fine. His name is Peter Parker. He lives with his aunt in Queens. He’s about your age. Um...he’s intelligent, just like you. Likes tech and science and stuff...uh...he likes Star Wars….” Tony rambles.
“Star Wars?”
“Yes. Oh, and he has a best friend named Ned.”
“Okay…”
“That’s all my knowledge kid,” Tony huffed, bringing the mixing bowl over to the pan on the stove.
Harley nodded thoughtfully and helped pour the pancakes onto the stove.
________________
It was morning, and James’ heart was beating wildly.
He and Scott had been running away from the camp for hours, only stopping to pee and catch their breath. They had left in the dead of night when everyone was sleeping. It was their turn to be on watch and that was when they decided to make a run for it. They had taken everything they needed and just ran.
But now it was morning.
Now the team would wake up and find two of their gang missing.
And despite the hard soldier James once was, he was scared.
He knew Steve would be mad, he knew Wanda would be mad, but he hoped they continued on their journey without them. But deep down, James knew they wouldn’t.
He was too valuable. He knew too much.
They would find him, they would find Scott. And...he didn’t know what they’d do…
But he and Scott were all alone.
And he was scared.
_____________________
Rhodey and Sam had joined the group right as they had finished making the stack of pancakes. The kitchen was a mess and everyone had some type of ingredient in their hair, but that was a later problem.
Rhodey was shoving three more pancakes onto Tony’s empty plate after complaining how little he ate. But Tony wasn’t hungry. He forced a piece into his mouth anyway to make his honeybear happy.
It was in the middle of a debate about chocolate pancakes vs. blueberry pancakes that Tony felt it.
Anger. Frustration. Betrayal. Red.
Tony hadn’t realized he was falling off the bar stool until Rhodey’s strong hands were guiding him to the floor.
Something was squeezing his brain through iron-clad fists. Pounding and twisting and hurting. It was red and it was mad.
“-happened?”
“Tones, what’s ha-”
“Nghhh,” Tony mumbled, his head pounding. He felt hands moving his fists away from where they were pulling at his hair. He clenched his fists and pulled at his skin, trying to find some way to lessen the pain.
He didn’t even realize he was holding his breath until a blurry Rhodey tapped his chest over and over, drawing his attention to the lack of movement. Tony released the air he was holding and the fog over his vision became a bit clearer.
Shouting, crying, words, tears. “Hunugghh,” he tried to speak again. His brain was too overwhelmed to comprehend or produce anything tangible.
He vaguely felt his body be placed on something soft and something cool be placed on his forehead. It still didn’t stop the burning inside his skull.
Blurry visions of a forest and woods and grass and people filled his head, but he was in too much pain to make anything out.
Just when he couldn’t take anymore, the edges of his vision grew dark. He welcomed the dark abyss that followed and let the pain and shouting voices disappear into it.
__________________
Far away, red wisps of magic flurried around bendy fingers. A pair of eyes turned from dark brown to match the color of fresh blood.
Everyone surrounding her shivered as the magic licked their skin, threatening, but looking for certain someones.
“They’re gone,” Wanda whispered. “We must find them.”