Tony
Tony Stark could be a difficult man to deal with. Everybody knew this. There were plenty of times his own teammates grew tired of his antics, but at the end of the day they respected and admired him.
He was a very sought after man, for his money, his looks, his charm and wit....and yes his brain. He was a genius after all. It was debatable which of these qualities got him into the most trouble, each of them had given him some sort of issue in the past. Though ever since becoming Iron Man, and commiting to Pepper he liked to think his life had calmed down in some of those aspects.
Well, he was wrong.
Though he no longer ran the company, he was still the face of Stark Industries and as such he played his role as needed. Tonight was a charity event the company was sponsoring, and although he was a bit sore about it he donned his best tuxedo, combed his hair and headed towards the door. His teammates would usually be lounging in the communal living room at this time, but tonight it was just Natasha on the long sofa. She was curled up in the corner of the couch reading a book.
“Hey Red, if I knew you were going to be alone tonight I would have asked you to come.”
She raised her eyes from the book and looked over Stark, she nodded. “That’s alright Stark, I don’t mind the peace and quiet.” She went back to her book, “Besides, Bruce is in the lab so I won’t be totally alone. I promise I’ll behave.”
He raised a finger and pointed at her, “You better be. Don’t burn anything down.”
“Yes dad.”
He couldn’t stop the grin that crossed his face.
“Sir,” JARVIS said over the speaker, “Your driver has arrived.”
Tony clapped his hands and rubbed them, “Alright I’m off. Kissing babies, building bridges—I’m not even sure what the hell I’m supposed to be doing but I’m sure Pepper will let me know. See ya Red! Don’t forget what I said!”
Tony took the elevator down to his private garage. He tapped his watch and spoke, “Alright JARVIS, you know the drill. Security protocols and all that. Also, what do we do if I say “Hucklberry?””
“I shall direct a call to your phone for you to make an escape from your peers, although Miss Potts has asked me to disengage this protocol.”
Tony’s arms flew up “How did she find out?!”
“I’m afraid I don’t know sir.”
The elevator reached the bottom and Tony went out to the car. He got in and glanced ahead for a moment “Heya Happy! Let’s go kiss some ass shall we?” Happy didn’t say anything. Stark immediately knew something was off. The doors in the car locked. He could hear something else engage in the vents, “JARVIS!” There was no answer. He banged on the windows, a gas cane out of the vents and he felt himself getting drowsy.
Pepper was going to be pissed.
“JARVIS...”. His vision was getting fuzzy, he was slumping over. “Hu...huckle....”
Then blackness.
——
Natasha has been dozing off when the elevator went off and she heard heels stomping into the vicinity.
“Where is he?!”
It was Pepper, and it was clear she wasn’t happy. Pepper saw Natasha and walked over, “Where’s Tony?”
Natasha could’ve sworn her heart skipped a beat, “He left for the fundraiser over an hour ago.” She stood up quickly, the color had drained from Pepper’s face. “JARVIS?” There was no response.
“Oh my god...” Pepper looked as though she was going to faint.
“Can you get JARVIS back online?” Natasha asked. Pepper didn’t answer, Natasha snapped her fingers in front of the woman’s face and she flinched. “Can you get JARVIS back up and running?”
“Yes... yes I can.”
“Go do it, I’m going after Tony.” She grabbed a gun from underneath the coffee table, then ran down the hall to the small armory. She grabbed another piece and her spare Widow Bites, running back to the lounge and going to the elevator getting inside, “Tell Bruce what’s happening after you do. Stay with him, do not leave the tower. Engage lockdown protocol when I’m gone. Go!”
Pepper ran as Natasha headed down to the garage. She grabbed her helmet and put it on, and revved up her motorbike speeding out onto the streets. “JARVIS, you with me?”
Garbled at first she heard the AI, “System rebooting.”
“I need to know where I’m going JARVIS, now.”
“Tracking.”
She zoomed in and out of the busy Manhattan traffic, “C’mon JARVIS!”
“Generalized area is New Jersey.”
She could work with that, it gave her a direction to go. “Are they still moving?” She asked.
“Yes, further south.” The AI replied.
“Guide me JARVIS.”
She made it to the border in record time, soon after crossing it she heard “They’ve stopped, 20 miles from your location.”
“Get me there.”
——
It was an abandoned warehouse at the docks, because of course it was. Why wouldn’t it be? She scouted the perimeter, and found a small cluster of cars around the back. Faint voices could be heard inside, and the unmistakable sound of flesh meeting flesh followed by a painful grunt. She climbed the side of the warehouse and looked down on the scene.
Tony’s tuxedo jacket and shirt had been tossed aside and were crumpled on the floor. All he had left on was his undershirt, she could see it was stained with flecks of blood, and his pants. His hands were secured tightly to a chair, as were his legs. She couldn’t hear what they were talking about and frankly she didn’t care. Her mission was to get him out alive. It looked like there were 10 men surrounding him. One was directly behind him, holding him down, another directly in front of him. The man in front swung his arm back, about to strike—
She didn’t hesitate, she dropped from the height and rolled with the impact ignoring the pain. Her gun was up and ready, first she took out the one who had been swinging. He went down with a grunt clutching his shoulder. She shot the one behind Tony next.
“Red?” A quick look at Tony told her he was a bit punch drunk, he wouldn’t be able to free himself.
“Hang on!” She yelled to him.
She swung around on the next advancing goon. He carried a baton and had pulled back for a strike. She didn’t waste a bullet on him, roundhousing and striking him in the face. He hit the floor already out cold. Another goon grabbed her from behind in what could only be described as a bear hug. She reared her legs up and swung them down throwing him over herself as he lost his grip on her. Two more shots, two more goons. That was five, that left five more. She moved mercilessly, and the end was in sight until she heard a rough voice yell “HALT!”
Something about the tone made her look around. The first goon she had taken out in the shoulder was dragging Tony in the chair towards the docks out back, a gun to his head. “Move and he dies.”
She didn’t have the shot, and her hesitation cost her. A strike to the back of her head had her buckling, dropping her gun. Her arms were wrenched behind her back and they took away her other weapons, except for the Widow’s Bites. They held on tightly to her arms and someone kicked her twice in the abdomen leaving her gasping for breath. She glared at the man who had Tony, who smiled wickedly. “Bring her.”
She fought the instinct to struggle, as they took them both outside. The air smelled of water and fish and though she knew it was there the water was pitch black and couldn’t be seen. The man with Tony had moved dangerously close to the edge of the dock. And Tony didn’t look well at all. Natasha was waiting for the right moment, subtly she powered up her Bites.
“Let him go.” She snarled. He laughed, almost as though he were trying to be a textbook villain. It was pathetic really. She engaged the bites, the men holding her seized with electricity and fell to the ground. She reached for a weapon and grabbed the gun on the man behind her. She didn’t expect to be body slammed from behind though, and the gun went off. Then there was a splash. She shot the remaining men and looked up at the dock’s edge.
Tony was gone. His tormentor lay dead, the shot had gone wide and hit him. But that meant.... she ran to the edge, Tony had still been bound to the chair. She searched the body of the tormentor next to her and found a pocket knife and cell phone. She dialed to JARVIS’ line “I need light in my location NOW.”
The docks filled with bright light, the lamps overhead maxing out to their brightest capacity. Natasha dived into the water. Tony was maybe five feet below, instinctually struggling against the bonds that held him to the chair. She swam to him fast, and sliced through his bonds as fast as she could. He was growing weaker, and he needed air soon. Finally free, she grabbed him under his arms and hauled them both up to the surface.
They broke the surface gasping for air. Her adrenaline helped as she hauled him with her to a nearby ladder, she climbed up never letting go of him. Finally they were both back on the dock, laying flat soaking wet and breathing hard.
She sat up and looked him over. He was still bleeding, her hand went to cradle his face “Tony?”
His eyes fluttered open. “Oh... hey Red.” His breath still coming fast and short, he cleared his throat “Did you finish the book?”
She grinned and shook her head, “Didn’t get the chance, someone skipped out on their responsibilities and I had to do damage control.”
He chuckled, shivering now. “Yep... sounds like me.”
——
JARVIS had sounded the alarm and Steve had arrived ten minutes after they came out of the water. Pepper had been hysterical in the med wing and cried as she hugged a very worn Natasha who didn’t know quite what to do. Steve had clapped her on the shoulder and nodded. She nodded back. Bruce had declared her free to go but Tony was to stay where he was. Natasha took her leave.
It was a week after the incident and Natasha and Tony hadn’t really talked since the rescue. She knew it was inevitable, and it wasn’t that she was avoiding him because she wasn’t. Really. She was nursing a glass of vodka when he sidled up next to her. Neither of them spoke for a while, he poured himself a glass of bourbon. He took a swig and placed it down.
“Thank-you.”
He had said it sincerely, truly sincere. She turned to look at him, and nodded not saying anything. He nodded back. The drank together in silence for the rest of the night.