A/N: I am so sorry for not posting anything this month! I have no excuse. Shame on me. Anyway, please enjoy this (hopefully good) family bonding fanfic!
"No... no... Dad..." Nikki murmured in her sleep. She tossed and turned, covered in sweat. Had Jarvis not been damaged the day before by an attack on Avengers' Tower, he'd have woken her or someone else up by now. As it was, she was left alone with her nightmares. Another oddity was that the door was closed. You didn't normally see that in the Tower, since almost everyone there had PTSD and usually needed someone else to break them free of their nightmares.
She came to with a muffled scream. Clamping one hand over her mouth in shock, sorrow, and crippling fear, the other went to her left wrist, hastily pawing at a scar that served as a reminder to never get cocky. Upon feeling there was no blood seeping from the wound that had once been there, she looked around the room.
Though she knew it was hers, the darkness made everything ten times more sinister. The slightly open closet door appeared to be hiding dozens of evil doctors, ready to stab her with needles and cut her to pieces. The desk, with all the pencils, scattered paper, laptop, Stark Pads, and lamp looked more like a laboratory table than a work desk. Other various parts, pieces, furniture, and the small pile of clothes in the corner took on the appearance of a hospital room.
Still in a scared daze, Nikki sat, then stood up. The covers came off of her easily, something she was immensely grateful for. She walked out into the bright hallway, the light temporarily blinding her. Through the haze of her foggy mind, she got the idea to wander to the balcony in the kitchen/living room a couple floors up. She would head up there for a snack after her brooding session anyway; this would just save time.
The moment she got up there, she saw she wasn't alone. Standing on the balcony was a familiar figure of a man who was up, presumably for the same reason she was. Tony Stark, leader - okay, co-leader - of the team. She let the door close behind her, which should've alerted him to her presence. He neither moved nor spoke. He should've turned around almost immediately, with some witty comment about Nikki being up past her bedtime.
As Nikki walked over, though, she could see something was wrong. His posture was rigid, his shoulders were hunched, and he had a white-knuckle grip on the balcony railing. The only time she ever saw anyone look like that was when she had a vision. Even then, she was only assuming that was what she looked like.
"Tony?" she ventured carefully. No response. She came to a stop next to him, and couldn't tell if he debating whether to jump or if he was trying to keep from doing it. But it was the eyes that really scared her. They were glazed over, and all the life had left them. It was as if it wasn't the charismatic billionaire standing in front of her, but a lifeless robot.
She quickly pulled his right hand off of the railing - which was no small feat, because he had a grip that lived up to his superhero alias - and checked his pulse. It felt like a hummingbird was trapped under his skin. She put her hand on his forehead to feel his temperature. In any other instance, she'd have been embarrassed, but this might be his life in the balance. Not warm, but he was sweating.
It was only then that she saw his other hand relax its death grip. She stepped back, still keeping one hand on his arm to let him know she was here. It was another full minute before he turned to her, his previously empty gaze now full of thankfulness and fear. "Hey," she greeted softly, "you okay?"
He took a deep, shuddering breath. "Meh." It was probably the best response she could hope for. "Thanks."
"What for?" Nikki asked, completely confused. "Wait, this is gonna be a long explanation, isn't it?"
"Probably, why?" he answered, now as confused as she'd been a moment later.
"Why don't you take a seat on the couch, and I'll make some coffee," she replied, already walking over to the kitchen.
"Coffee?" he repeated, still confused. "At 2 in the morning?"
"Well, neither of us are planning on going back to sleep anytime soon, right?" was her counter argument. He just shrugged and moved to the couch. She came back with two coffees, both black, and she sat down, handing one to him. He took a sip, and began to talk.
"You know how I have PTSD, right? Everyone on the team has it." An exaggeration, but she overlooked it. "Well...mine is usually confined to my nightmares, but every so often, it'll be a...panic attack. That's what you just saw. You broke me out of it, so that's why I thanked you. I can guess why you're awake." Nikki simply nodded, still thinking.
"Tony...if anything like that starts to happen again...do I have permission to intervene?" she asked, meeting his gaze. He nodded and she smiled. "I'll try to have some witty comment ready for when it happens so you don't look like a complete moron."
It was a promise Nikki lived up to. She got really good at telling when he was about to go over to the land of horrors, and she snapped him out of it by snapping her fingers in front of his face, giving his arm a light shake, or whistling. He'd turn to her, and she'd give him a witty comment like "You planning on doing something today?" or "You gonna help or are you just gonna watch in wonder?" He'd respond with a smile that served as a secret thanks.
No-one figured it out until it happened in the middle of a fight.
The Avengers against one of HYDRA's robot squads. The Avengers had powers and skill, but the robots had numbers. Wanda let loose a huge energy wave, not knowing Tony was in the middle of the path. At first, it didn't do much. 'At first' lasted 50 seconds.
He went down, dropping to one knee and trying to peel off the mask. He got it halfway off before collapsing on the ground in a limp pile of armor, singed skin, and shaky breaths. Cap and Wanda were by his side in moments.
"Tony?" Cap asked, trying to shake his friend back to the waking world. He couldn't explain why Tony seemed completely out of it, yet his eyes were open. "Hey, Tony? Wake up, soldier. C'mon. Don't make me tell Pepper you clocked out on her before your date."
"I didn't know he was in the wave path. If I had, I'd never have sent it out. I don't think it would've killed him, but, oh, God. What did I just do? I don't even know what it would do to him. Did I just kill him?" Wanda was speaking a mile a minute, and was only silenced by Cap putting his hand up.
"You didn't kill him. I'm not even sure what happened here. Wish we had Banner..." he muttered as he took off the rest of the Iron Man suit helmet. He took Tony's pulse, which was alarmingly high.
Today was their lucky day. Banner had de-Hulked already and found some clothes. He, along with Pietro, Clint, and Nat, came over. He moved Rogers to the side and took Tony's pulse himself. "Given the symptoms, I'd say he's having a full-blown panic attack," Banner stated.
Clint turned around, cupped his hands, and shouted, "Nikki! Get over here! Tony's having a panic attack!" The others looked at him as if he were insane. "What? She's been staving them off for a while now. Weren't you paying attention?"
Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, Nikki was trying to dig herself out from under a pile of robots. Bruised and battered, she struggled against the weight stacked on top of her. Once she heard the shout, she worked even harder. Somehow slipping out from underneath the large junkyard formed over her, she ran over.
She slowed down when she got to him. The other teammates looked at her with evident either worry or panic. She simply calmly kneeled down to him and got in his field of vision. "Hey, Tony," she greeted. "I'll bet you're having lots of fun in your own little nightmare world, but I think you should come back before Wanda faints or Steve has a panic attack of his own. Or do I have them backwards?"
It was strange. Usually, she would be the first one to start getting angry or worried. Never panicked, but definitely worried. Instead, she was the calmest one here. Not only that, but she was joking and lightly teasing him.
Slowly, the life come back to Tony's dead eyes. He unsteadily sat up, a couple of the others placing a hand on his back to support him. He looked at the team and smiled. A genuine, heart-warming smile that coaxed one out of everyone else.
"Welcome back to the party, you big diva," Nikki greeted. "Next time, can you not almost die from a panic attack?"
"No promises," he retorted, slowly coming back to his usual self.
Two days after the incident, everyone's nerves were starting to normalize. Nikki could sometimes be found wandering around the Tower at 4 in the morning, holding a cup of lukewarm hot chocolate. One morning, she was joined by Wanda, who was still a bit on edge.
"Morning. What time is it in Sokovia and are you still synced to that time?" Nikki joked.
"That's not it," Wanda answered, not even turning to look. After another few minutes of watching the busy city below, she then looked at Nikki. "How long did you know?"
"About three months before Thursday. You know, it wasn't your fault. He'd be the first to say it." She looked at her cup of not-so-hot chocolate.
"I know," Wanda replied. More silence. "So... how'd that trick work again?"
A/N: Clint's not a background character! Yay! (Well, mostly-sorta. He did figure it out before anyone else, though.) Also, Wanda and Nikki bonding. I hope I got her character right... Lemme know if you guys liked it and want more!