Warning: Rated M for explicit language, violence, and Tony Stark. This is a Transformers and Marvel crossover story, so if you don't like either of those things, scrat. This ain't for you.

Enjoy ~

- M


As it is Written

Part one

Transform


Chapter one

Blackout


Qatar - The Middle East
May 3rd, 2007

"What about you, Mama?"

Lex jerked slightly as the sound of her nickname jerked her out of her thoughts. She'd been bent over, roughly shaking the sand out of her curls, letting the tiny pebbles fall onto the floor of the carrier. Her fingers stilled on her scalp. She hadn't been paying attention to the conversation going on around her - something about Spanish and grilled alligator? - and she looked up to meet the eyes of her unit. She noted that it was Epps that spoke and directed her question at him.

"What about me?"

It was Fig who answered. "Do you have something special to go home to? A kid, a boyfriend?"

"A girlfriend?" Donnelly added, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Everyone seemed a bit more interested then, their ears perking up.

Lex rolled her eyes. Men.

"No, no and no," she answered before returning to the task of ridding her hair of sand. The men groaned in defeat. Foiled again, she joked mentally. They'd been trying for months to get her to open up about her personal life. Lex didn't see what the big deal was; in order to talk about her personal life, there'd have to be one to talk about in the first place.

Thoughts of hazel eyes and tousled brown hair crossed her mind and she sighed. Once upon a time, she did have something to go home to. Though she tried her best not to, she missed her brother. She hadn't seen him in nearly five years; not since she ran away on her eighteenth birthday to join the army. She missed him more than she ever thought she would, more than she thought she could. He was the last living relative she had; of course she missed him. No matter what, he was still her brother. Lex sighed. She really needed a cigarette.

Her unit went back to chatting amongst themselves, but Captain Lennox nudged her shoulder with his own. His face was dirty due to four weeks without a shower, but there was kindness in his brown eyes, the type of kindness that she hadn't seen in anyone but these few men that made up her unit. "Hey kid, I know it's not much, and I know it won't replace whatever family you once had, but Sarah and I would love to have you over at the farm any time."

Lex felt a familiar warmth in her chest. She'd only known these men for a few years, but they were already nestled quite close to her heart. They treated her like she was their own kin; like she was their sister or neice or daughter, and they always looked out for her in a way that was almost foreign to the twenty-two year old. Her smile was soft as she looked up.

"Thanks, Lennox. That really means a lot."

He grinned. "Let it be known that I always take care of my men," he said in a teasing voice. Lex punched his shoulder.

"I'm not a man," she grumbled playfully. Lennox winced and rubbed the spot where she hit him.

"You sure punch like one," he complained.

The men laughed, and Lex smiled, and all was well.


As the carrier touched down, Lex breathed in a sigh of relief. The last month had been brutal, their mission tough and the conditions tougher. Every one of them had to be on high alert every moment; it was nice to finally be able to relax, to breathe. They threw their gear onto the trucks waiting for them and sped off through the dry Qatari desert and to their base.

"That shower looks so good," Lex nearly purred as they jumped off the trucks and took in their home for the past eight months. Epps made a noise of agreement, and after a look shared between them they moved towards the makeshift shower stalls, dropping the outer layer of their uniforms along the way.

"Out of the way peasants," Epps said, pulling a naked man out of one of the stalls and pushing Lex into it. She laughed and the man walked away, grumbling. Thanking Epps, she stripped down to nothing and let the spray run over her.

She could feel every man's eyes rove over her bare skin. It didn't bother her; it was just skin. Lex wasn't shy, and even if she didn't trust these men with her life, she could take care of herself. The day they did more than just look would be the day they regretted ever being born.

Lathering the soap in her curls, she watched the dirt and grime rinse off of her tan skin and onto the wet sand below. As her hair stuck to her back, the ends tickling her waist, she wondered for the nth time whether she should just chop it all off; the dark curls were barely manageable, wild and free-spirited - kind of like Lex herself, which was why she could never bring herself to cut them. They were her one freedom, her one reminder of where she came from - of her true self. Besides, she inherited them from her mother - Maria's hair was wild, with dark, silky curls going in every direction. She wanted to have at least this to remember her by.

"Mind passing the soap, Mama?" Epps asked from the stall next to her. As he reached his hand out absently to grab the bar from her, she saw a deep gash running along the entire length of his forearm, the blood coagulated to naturally staunch the flow. Her stomach dropped at seeing one of her important people hurt. While it could easily be bandaged and wrapped up by the medics, the risk of infection out here was so much worse than the risk back in the States, and that wasn't a risk she was willing to take with her friends.

Taking a quick glance around and making sure no one was paying too much attention, she turned in the stall to make sure that her body was blocking anyone's view of Epps' arm. You better not regret this later, she told herself.

"Sure, Epps." Lex brushed her fingers against his as she passed him the bar of soap. Faint golden strands of light danced merrily around his fingers, twisting up his wrist and sinking into his forearm, glowing brighter at his wound before disappearing completely.

Heart pounding from adrenaline and breathing heavily, Lex put a hand on the wall of the stall to keep from stumbling. She quickly rinsed off and turned off the shower, drying herself with a towel before slipping on a tank top and some clean fatigues and running another towel through her hair.

"Whoa - I guess this wasn't as deep as I first thought. I won't even have to see the medics now. Sweet!"

Walking away, Lex smiled softly to herself.


She ran her fingers through her damp hair nervously as his face filled the screen, familiar and comforting and reminding her of times she'd tried over and over to forget. He flashed her a brilliant smile at seeing her alive and well, his eyes roving over every detail.

"Hey Curly." His greeting was warm and held none of the accusation or bitterness she'd thought it would.

Lex raised an eyebrow. "I don't think you've called me Curly since I was, what, thirteen?"

He ran a hand over his head, chuckling. "Yeah." His eyes became serious as he studied her, like he was calculating every difference he could see since the last time he saw her.

"It's... you have no idea how good it is to see you, Tyrannosaurus Lex."

Her face softened and she smiled at the ridiculous nickname that he and her brother had given her when she was a toddler. "I know. It's great to see you too, Rhodey." He'd gotten in contact with her a few years ago, and she made sure to send him updates every now and again - the usual "hey, I'm alive, don't worry" - but this was the first time they'd talked face-to-face in nearly five years.

It was quiet then for a moment, and she knew that he was reminiscing over old times, just like she was. It was hard, remembering things she'd kept under lock and key inside her mind for years and years, but it also felt good - like a weight was slowly being lifted off her shoulders.

"Tony misses you," Rhodey said quietly.

Lex looked up, snapped out of her memories. Once he knew he had her attention, Rhodey continued.

"It's like he on autopilot. He parties for days on end, he charms the pants off the most beautiful women on the planet, and he drinks himself to sleep nearly every night."

Something bitter and familiar twisted inside of Lex at her friend's words. "He did that before I left," she said, unable to keep her disdain out of her voice.

"But before you left I was never worried he would kill himself doing it," Rhodey snapped. "He couldn't do that before because he had you. I know he treated you like shit, and he blamed you for a lot of crap that in no way was your fault, but you kept him tethered to Earth, Lex, and once you left he felt that everything important he had left in the world left too."

A small bubble of guilt welled in her gut. "What was I supposed to do, Rhodey?" she asked quietly, not even attempting to keep her voice steady anymore. "Howard may not have been my biological father, but he was still my dad. Even though Maria cheated on him and had me as the result, he still cared for me as if I were his own. Tony wasn't the only one who lost his parents that night, but he acted as if he was and that everything was my fault. He -" She cut herself off by taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. When she opened them again, the screen that showed her lifelong friend's face was misty and blurred. "I miss him too, more than anything in the world," she whispered.

Rhodey sighed. "All he wants is the chance to make it up to you, Lex. Once your parents died and he found out the truth about you, he didn't know how to handle it. I know it doesn't excuse his behavior, and so does he, but he regrets everything."

She smiled, feeling hope flutter in her chest for the first time in years. "You really think so?"

"I know how much you two adored each other before the accident," he said with a fond smile. "It was sickening, really, how much he doted on you and the hero-worship thing you had going on. I know you two could be that close again if you give him the chance."

The small flutter in her chest grew into a wave, hope and relief crashing inside of her over and over. "Thank you, Rhodey."

His smile softened. "Anytime." They were silent for a moment before he got a mischievous glint in his eye. "So, Tyrannosaurus Lex, how's the job?" He chuckled. "You were such a rebellious little shit, you know that? I don't know what made you decide to join the military with how much disdain you have for any type of authority."

Lex mock glared at him, folding her arms. "It's a right pain in the ass, Rhodey, you have no idea. I haven't had a cigarette in eight God-damned months."

His eyes narrowed as he glared at her. "Alexandra, smoking is a filthy habit."

She opened her mouth to retort when suddenly the screen started to flicker. Lex frowned, tapping the camera. "Rhodey? What's going on?"

His face was coming and going. "I don't - interference - your end -"

And then the screen went blank. "Rhodey!" she exclaimed, but all she could see was her own reflection staring back at her in the blank computer screen: long, wildly curly dark hair, a smattering of freckles across a sun-tanned nose and dark, tired, almond-shaped eyes. She cursed softly before running a shaky hand through her still-drying curls.

She'd gone through a lot of emotions in such a short period of time, and she felt drained, but also relieved - like the massive weight settled inside her chest was easing up, and she could breathe better.

Lex had a plan. She was too much of a chicken to call Tony now, but when she got back to the states after a month of mental and emotion preparation, she'd contact him. She was tired of running from her past - she wanted to be the strong, capable person her friends thought she was, and the only way to do that was to buck up and face her problems head on.

Standing and exiting the tent, Lex caught Lennox's eyes from the neighboring tent and jogged over to him. "Lennox, did your webcam -"

"Yeah," he said. "I don't know what's going on, but Sarah and Annabelle say hi."

A warmth filled her. She adored her captain's wife, and their daughter was so, so precious. She smiled and was about to reply when she heard a familiar and terrifying sound in the distance. Her widened eyes met Lennox's. "Is that gunfire?" she asked fearfully.

Before he could answer, a deafening boom rocked the ground under their feet and they toppled over, catching themselves on some crates stacked outside the tents. What - what could have made such a huge impact? As they recovered, a screaming Epps raced by.

"We are under attack!"

Lex and her captain barely shared a glance before they were running to the weapons tent. There were people running everywhere, shouting orders at each other and scrambling to try and defend themselves. Explosives rocked the world around her, everything a blur of color and light and sound. It numbed her, erasing any previous thoughts of Tony and Rhodey and home.

"Stark, let's go!" Lennox shouted, grabbing her by the elbow and pulling her along. She shook herself and grabbed a rifle on the way out, pulling her arm out of Lennox's grip.

As they ran, the ground shook underneath them, and it took all she had to keep one foot in front of the other and not stumble and fall. The noise was deafening; the sound of metal crunching and men screaming filled her ears and reverberated in her mind, sending her further and further into a primal mode of survival.

They were soon joined by the other members of their team as they ran, Epps falling into place on Lennox's other side. A completely crushed tank rolled by them, narrowly missing their group by feet. Lex felt the heat of the flames licking at its metal skin as it passed by and she shuddered.

Without even thinking about it, she scooped up Mahfouz as they passed the terrified young Qatari boy and swung him onto her back, holding the back of his knees. His arms immediately went around her neck, holding tight enough that it was hard to breathe. Tanks rained down around them, and Lex wondered just what the hell could be throwing fucking tanks at them.

Her question was answered as they stopped to load up in one of the tanks, and she heard Epps' yell a few feet away. Looking up, everything inside of her went cold as she saw an impossibly large metal death machine standing over her friend.

"Epps!" she screamed desperately. Only the weight of Mahfouz's arms around her kept her from sprinting to help her friend. He wasn't moving, oh God, why wasn't he moving?

But then he was, he was running, and Fig shot a grenade at the thing to distract it. As Epps slid in the dirt and landed next to her, she let out a strangled breath of relief.

"Don't scare me like that again!" she half-screamed as she ran for the tank. She helped Mahfouz climb inside before doing so herself, Epps and finally Lennox following closely behind. As soon as everyone was sealed tightly into the tank and it was rumbling quickly away from the mass murder sight they'd just come from, Lex reached out blindly and grabbed the first thing she could on Epps. She needed to make sure he was still here, still alive. She couldn't afford to lose more precious people. He gripped her forearm just as she gripped his, and she distantly noticed it was the one she'd healed earlier, the dark skin flawless and unbroken under the dirt that covered it.

"Sorry for scaring you earlier, Mama," he said in between heavy pants. Lex nodded, not trusting her voice.

She felt something heavy settle inside her chest as Lennox did a head count and determined that everyone on their team made it. Her important people were safe. Mahfouz buried his face into her side and she pressed her forehead into his hair, holding him tightly to her and trying to erase the images of glowing red eyes and the crushed bodies of her brothers, her fellow soldiers from her mind.


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