A/N This is something I wrote several months ago and promptly forgot about. I'm still not real sure where this one came from, but I just had to write it. Hope you guys like it! :)
This Is the Way It Ends
It only takes seconds for everything to change. In the blink of an eye, things can go horribly wrong and leave you wondering just how you ended up where you are.
Bruce was wondering that very thing as he sat in a hospital waiting room, unsure if he was going to be celebrating or grieving by the end of the night.
)()()(
A rare set of occurrences had left Tony, Bruce, and Clint home at the tower alone for a day.
Steve and Thor, at the request of SHIELD, were taking care of some kind of something going on in Canada. In all honesty, Tony had no idea what because he hadn't been listening. But he did know it was minor and shouldn't take very long.
Pepper had flown to the west coast for one day for some kind of Stark Industries problem or business, once again he hadn't really been listening. And rather than be stuck in the tower with the three guys, Natasha had decided to go with her.
Tony, Clint, and Bruce didn't mind, though, as they were looking forward to "hanging out with the guys" (Tony's words, not theirs).
All of that had been the day before. Since then, Pepper's business had been concluded and Steve's and Thor's mission had been completed so everyone was due back the following day. Tony, Bruce, and Clint decided to take advantage of the last night before everyone was back, to hang out. So the three of them piled into the car and drove to a restaurant a few minutes from the tower.
The restaurant wasn't a high class, expensive place, but it had good food and the three of them could relax and talk and enjoy each others company.
Once they arrived at the restaurant, they found a table and gave the waitress their drink orders. Bruce opted for water as usual (alcohol and the Hulk usually didn't mix very well). And Tony made sure to only have one beer since they had taken his car and there was no way he was letting someone else drive one of his precious cars and Pepper (and the rest if the team, but he wasn't nearly as worried about them) wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he drove buzzed, drunk, or anything even close to those two.
Clint decided to follow his teammates' lead and ended up only refilling his beer once and only drank about half of the second one. The three friends were more interested in hanging out and talking than getting drunk anyway.
After they finished eating, they just sat and talked, enjoying being out of the tower for something other than a battle or natural disaster.
About an hour later, they decided to call it a night. Tony paid the bill, and the three of them left the restaurant.
They were in the car on the way back to the tower. Tony was driving, Clint was in the passenger seat, and Bruce was sitting in the back. Tony and Clint were arguing good-naturedly about some silly, meaningless topic that had come up at the restaurant and were still trying to get Bruce involved in the discussion. The scientist wasn't about to let himself be dragged into it, but he was more than happy to laugh at their antics.
It was as they were going through a green traffic light that everything seemed to move in slow motion. Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, Bruce glanced to the left to see nothing but a pair of headlights headed straight for them.
"TONY!" he screamed, just before everything went black.
)()()(
Bruce came back to consciousness to the sound of a horn blaring. He blinked and took careful stock of his injuries before moving.
He didn't have anything broken or any major pain. His head hurt a bit but it was mostly a dull throbbing ache. There weren't any cuts or bleeding on his head and he was coherent. He determined that he might have a mild concussion if that. Thanks to The Other Guy, his body was a bit more sturdy than a typical human. That was one of the few silver linings to having The Other Guy. Although, ever since Bruce had become part of the Avengers, he had started finding more things to add to that list.
Bruce's self assessment took only a few seconds, and as soon as he deemed himself as being okay, he turned his attention to his friends. He looked into the front of the vehicle to see Tony, unconscious (he hoped), with his head and upper body laying on the steering wheel, and Clint was... nowhere to be found.
The archer was no longer in the car and Bruce quickly saw the reason why. A shard of glass had imbedded itself into the fabric of the seat belt, snapping it in two and leaving the archer unprotected and at the mercy of the momentum of the car as it had spun and skidded, more than likely sending Clint flying through the now shattered windshield. Bruce prayed that wherever he was, he was still alive.
He wanted to go find Clint, but first he needed to check on Tony. Bruce unbuckled his seat belt and leaned into the front of the car. He pressed his fingers to Tony's neck in search of a pulse, careful not to move the billionaire in case he had any spinal injuries.
Bruce breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the strong, steady beat of Tony's heart against his fingers. Bruce visually looked Tony over and didn't see any blood or other signs of injury other than a swollen, possibly sprained or broken, wrist, and a cut on his forehead that was bleeding freely. He had probably either hit it on the window or the steering wheel and Bruce would bet that he had a concussion, at least he hoped that's all the billionaire had.
Other than that, Bruce didn't see any injuries, but he didn't dare move Tony for fear of back or internal injuries that he could worsen by moving his friend. Bruce was loathe to leave Tony but he needed to find Clint and with his limited knowledge and lack of equipment, there wasn't anything he could do for Tony besides stemming the bloodflow coming from his head wound.
So Bruce tore a strip of cloth from his jacket and used it to successfully stop the bleeding. For all Bruce knew, Tony could have internal injuries in which case he would need all the blood he could keep.
Once finished, Bruce turned his attention to getting out of the car. One look at the rear driver's side door told him he wouldn't be getting out that way. The whole left side of the car had been caved in and aside from the door handle and the hole where the window used to be, it was impossible to tell where the door stopped and the rest of the car began.
Bruce then turned his attention to the rear passenger side door. He pulled the handle and pushed and even kicked against the door but to no avail. So he was forced to climb out the back window, which had been shattered in the crash. It was a bit of a squeeze but he made it and slid off the back of the car and onto the pavement.
He had to steady himself against the car for a moment, feeling a bit unsteady. However he attributed that to being knocked out, slung around the car, and then having to crawl out the back of it. Once his balance was restored, he made his way around the car toward the driver's side to check on Tony from a better angle.
Just as he reached the driver's window, he heard a moan come from the unconscious billionaire.
"Tony! Tony, don't move!" he commanded. "I need you to stay very still. Can you hear me?"
"Bruce?" Tony slurred.
"Yes, it's me. Don't move. Okay?"
"Okay," Tony replied.
"Tony I need you to tell me what hurts," Bruce said trying to keep his tone firm but soothing so as not to alarm the billionaire.
"Head," Tony replied.
"Anything else? Your neck or back?"
"Not really. Just my head. Hurts a lot," Tony mumbled.
Bruce was almost positive that Tony had a concussion but the fact that he was coherent and responsive allayed his fears a bit.
"All right, Tony, very carefully, can you move your arms?" Bruce asked, watching the billionaire's hands and arms, which were lying in his lap, for any movement.
Carefully, Tony raised his hands up off of his lap, his hands shaking a bit but Bruce was confident that it was due to pain, adrenalin, and maybe even some shock. It was only a second later that all five fingers on his left hand began moving and bending just as they should while the fingers on his right hand simply twitched before Tony let out a pained hiss.
"My wrist," he said.
"Oh sorry," Bruce said with a wince of sympathy. "I think it's either sprained or broken. But the fact that you can move your fingers gives me hope that it may just be a bad sprain. Now, can you feel your legs?" Bruce asked.
"Yeah," Tong answered.
"Then I need you to move them."
Tony obliged and both legs moved and flexed without any sign of problems. Bruce breathed another sigh of relief at the absence of any kind of paralysis.
"Okay, Tony, very slowly I want you to sit back. I'm going to help you. If anything, especially your neck or back starts hurting I want you to stop moving okay?" Bruce said.
He really didn't want to move Tony but his concern for Clint kept growing by the minute and the scientist knew that unless he stayed right there and forced Tony to remain where he was then the billionaire was going to move on his own and Bruce would much rather help him than let him do it by himself. Bruce just prayed that this decision didn't cause the billionaire any harm.
"Okay, you ready?" Bruce asked, placing one hand on Tony's chest and the other on the back of Tony's neck in the hope that he could maybe at least somewhat stabilize Tony's neck in case it was injured.
"Yeah," Tony answered.
"All right. Slowly," Bruce said, once again hoping that he wasn't making a horrible mistake.
Slowly, Tony brought up his left hand and braced it against the steering wheel, using it to push himself back. With the aid of Bruce's hand pushing on his chest, Tony was able to sit up and lean back against the seat.
"Okay, anything hurt?" Bruce asked, carefully pulling his hands back.
"Not besides my head and wrist," Tony answered.
"Good. Now, Tony, I need you to look at me." Once the billionaire's eyes found his face, Bruce continued. "Is your vision blurry or off in any way?"
"A little blurry, but not bad," Tony said.
"Do you see my hand?" Bruce asked, holding up one finger in front of the billionaire's face.
"One," Tony said.
"What?" Bruce asked confused.
"Weren't you going to ask me how many fingers?" he asked with a slight smirk.
"Not funny," Bruce said, but he couldn't help but smirk a bit himself. If Tony could joke then he was probably going to be okay. Or he could just be loopy from the concussion. "Follow my finger," Bruce commanded.
"Where's it going?" Tony quipped.
Definitely loopy.
"Tony be serious for a second," Bruce said gently.
Tony complied, and his eyes followed Bruce's finger without a problem. His pupils were slightly different sizes but he was mostly coherent and responsive so Bruce wasn't too worried. He was, however, almost on the verge of panic concerning Clint.
Time had been moving so fast and yet so slow. Everything that had happened since Bruce had regained consciousness had only taken about five minutes but that was still too long in Bruce's book.
"Tony. Look, I need you to stay here and don't move, okay?" Bruce said slowly to be sure that Tony understood him.
"You going somewhere?" Tony asked.
"Yes. I have to try to find Clint."
At this, Tony's eyes widened a bit as his concussed brain finally remembered the third member of their party. Tony slowly turned his head toward the passenger seat to see it empty.
"Where is he?" Tony asked, a bit of fear leaking into his voice.
"I don't know. I think he was thrown through the windshield. Now I need you to stay here," Bruce stressed.
"I'm coming with you," Tony said.
"No, Tony. There is no way you are getting out on this side and you don't need to be moving anyway. The rescue teams may have to cut you out when they get here but until then, just stay here." He couldn't wait any longer and just hoped that Tony would do as he said.
A/N Let me know what you think! :)