A/N: The language spoken by the terrorists is Slovak. I got the translations from a website I found. Any grammar errors or spelling mistakes can either be blamed by me or the website...depending on how you look at it. -But seriously, blame the website. ;)
**WARNING: This chapter contains images (and few words) that may be disturbing. Read at your own discretion please. (I didn't rate this M for just the sexual scenes to come.)**
My eyesight started to come back. Everything was all fuzzy, grainy, and my eyes stung from the smoke that was still hanging in the air. My entire body was sore and my head hurt like hell. I winced as I placed my hand on the side of my temple, a sharp pain developed accompanied by the steady dripping of blood. There was a loud ringing in my ears that didn't seem to fade, and as I tried to stand, I nearly fell down from lack of unequal balance distribution. What the hell happened? I thought to myself. The conference room that I was in was littered with debris, from shards of glass to huge chunks of concrete from the walls. Several of the columns were badly damaged and I knew, deep in my gut, that it was only a matter of time before they collapsed. Around me I heard moans of my colleagues as they, too, were coming back into consciousness. I heard a woman scream in agony. Turning in her direction, I saw the woman, a nurse practitioner, kneeling beside the bloodied body of Dr. Kryameshii. Multiple shards of glass were sticking out form his chest and there was a large, gory gash on the side of his head. I walked over to her, putting my hand gently on her shaking shoulder. "Come on, we have to get out of here." I said to her softly. "We can't waste any more time." She nodded, still sobbing softly. It was then I noticed the dark red speckles of blood that were splattered on her side all the way to her face.
I surveyed the rest of the room, seeing my colleagues slowly getting up. Some of the seemed to be okay, with only a few gashes and possibly some bruises. The others . . . I couldn't look any longer. That wasn't important right now. Instinct kicked in immediately; right now, we had to get to safety. "Everyone! We have to leave this place now! Head for the main floor!" I commanded to the remainder of our group. Quickly, all those that were still alive went straight out into the hallway. I stayed behind, making sure that everyone got out harmlessly. Once the last person was out the door, I took one long, last glance at the carnage left behind. Seeing that the room was clear, I headed back into the hallway, meaning to follow the others. Right as I was reaching a joining hallway, I heard loud, aggressive male voices mixed with the screams of terrified people followed by a barrage of bullets from what sounded like automatic weapons. I stifled a scream, pressing my back to the wall.
"Môže byť viac. Nedovoľte, aby sa z nich prežiť. Skontrolujte zvyšok podlahy!" I heard a gruff voice bark out in a language I didn't understand. Their footsteps were echoing loud in the quiet hallway, and I knew they were headed in my direction. Looking around, I tried to find something that would either help defend me or help me attack. All around me were just broken glass, crumbles of concrete and destroyed furniture. Thinking quickly, I picked up some shards of glass that were laying nearby. Pressing my back to the wall again, I waited. My heart was racing, my hands slightly shaking with adrenaline and fear. However, I kept my mind focused. I had to take these men down. And I wasn't going to go down without a fight.
I had my hand ready, my breathing slow and steady as I anticipated for them to come around the corner. As soon as I saw the rifle barrels peek past the wall, I counted to five and just as I saw their faces, I threw the shards of glass right toward them. The glass penetrated their necks; my aim precise. "Čo sa do riti je toto?!" one of the men yelled angrily before choking on his own blood. Each of the four men threw up a hand to their necks, feeling the glass dig deeper and deeper. These men, kneeling to the ground in pain, were wearing basic body armor, combat boots, and red scarves across their waists.
Not wasting any time, I went up to the closest man and delivered a sharp, hard blow to the nose, feeling the bone shatter and then jabbed his arm. The foreigner gasped in discomfort as he dropped his rifle. The others, despite their inflictions, tried to raise and level their weapons at me. I picked up the dropped M16, 4th generation I noticed, and sprayed bullets at them. They made a sickening gurgling sound as they fell, their eyes glazing over like a sheet of glass. I overlooked the damage I had caused; the bullets tore straight through their body. I saw their blood pooling from their mouths caused by the fragment of glass.
This is worse than I thought. I need to get out of here. After grabbing the terrorists' magazines from their rifles and placing them in my pockets as best as I could, I headed for the end of the first hallway that lead to the stairwell. I opened the stairwell door quietly as I could. Right when I was about to descend the stairs, I could hear the sound of more voices coming up. They were all yelling at one another in what sounded like four different languages. At the stairwell balcony, I positioned my rifle downwards and fired. Hopefully that would scare them off. Their shouts increased and an angry voice boomed, "Prejdite tam hore a snímajte pes! Máme na zaistenie oblasti pred sme toto miesto. Ich nájsť! Nájsť ich ešte dnes!" The stairs rattled angrily as the group of men ran up the stairs getting closer. I ran back out the door and into the first pair of double doors that I saw, nearly tripping over the dead body that lay right behind it. The room was larger than the last and at the front was a wide podium. Dashing towards it, carefully avoiding the multiple carcasses across the floor, I hid behind the podium, slumping to the ground. I sighed heavily, my mind racing with questions as I replaced the nearly empty magazine with one of the ones I took eariler.
Who were these people? Why choose this convention as their place of attack? Why this convention exactly? I didn't understand it, and if . . . When! Not if, when, Autumn. . . when I get out of here, I will do what I can to find out. But where would I start? Leaning my back against the pedestal, I sighed, observing the weapon in my hands. I wondered to myself how did these men get such U.S. military grade rifles. That is, until I noticed the familiar logo on the butt of the automatic weapon: Stark Industries. Stark Industries? I thought in worry. I thought Tony completely shut down the weapons division in his company?
My thoughts were once again interrupted as that same intimidating voice barked out more orders. "Vyhľadávanie každej miestnosti! Nič hodné Amhizan na výskum. Fotografujte čokoľvek, čo sa pohybuje." Getting on my knees, I shouldered my stolen rifle, carefully inching the barrel past the podium, facing directly at the double doors. I saw three men walk in. My breath hitched, for I was afraid that they had seen me. One second . . . two seconds . . . I pulled the trigger and held it, bullets flying through the air. The men ducked and began shooting in my direction. I whipped back behind the podium and shot from the other side. I got two straight in the head, the other in the arm. The two men fell, their gory discharge plastered on the wall behind them, leaving it red and wet. The last guy, gripped his arm, loudly cursing in his language.
I kept firing at him, but he was too well-trained and began rolling out of the way. I heard more men cry out as they headed in the direction of the room that I was hiding in. Looking to my right, I caught a glimpse of the man's rifle pointed at me. Reflexively, I rolled out of the way just as soon as he fired. I cried out in pain as a bullet had clipped my arm. I glanced briefly at it, seeing a large oozing gash chipping my arm. Fucking bastard! I thought. Twisting my body where I came up on one knee, I aimed and discharged multiple rounds simultaneously, shooting my attacker in the chest. Immediately, I faced the doors again, crouching low.
Just as I began to take a clean shot at the door to anyone who barged in, a loud rumbling was heard and a high whine was closely followed. The men outside shouted at one another, rifles firing like crazy. I listened as the high whines continued on and on; audible thuds sounded against the walls until all was quiet. I stayed where I was, crouched to the floor, finger on the trigger. One of the doors was forcefully kicked open and just before I could pull the trigger, I let my grip falter as I stared at the man in the doorway.
Tony couldn't believe what he was seeing. It wasn't the amount of damage that had been done to the room caused by the explosions. It wasn't the fact that there were multiple dead bodies lying across the room, three of them belonging to the terrorists. In fact, it wasn't anything like the sight before him. Not even ten feet away from him was Autumn. She was crouched on knee, aiming a rifle at him. Autumn, who before looked so perfect and innocent and was now feral-looking, streaked with blood, hair a mess and clothes slightly singed was pointing a rifle, one of his own, right at Tony Stark. "Tony!" she exclaimed, loosening her grip on the trigger and ran towards him.
"Are you okay?" he asked, lifting the faceplate of his helmet, placing a hand on her shoulder, noticing her arm was gashed and bloody. "Autumn, you're hit!" he said frantically.
"I'm fine," she quickly said, placing her hand on the wound, applying pressure.
"We need to get you out of here. This place is going to collapse." Tony urged, taking her hand and pulled her out the door and towards the stairwell. But as soon as they got there, more armed men came through the door. "Stay behind me!" Tony ordered, faceplate closing down and began firing repulsor beams at the enemy force. From behind him, he heard the automatic weapon discharge held by Autumn, who ran to the other side of the hallways, taking cover behind a large mass of debris. His heart dropped instantly in concern. "Fuck! Autumn! I told you to stay behind me!" Tony yelled.
"You're not the only one who can fight here Stark!" she yelled back, firing more and more rounds. What is she thinking? She can't obviously handle any of this! he thought to himself. Autumn had somehow kept calm, not once under any amount of psychological trauma like most civilians would. Tony was used to combat situations like these, she wasn't. He saw her brow furrow in concentration as she took aim and fired. Her sudden rigid and cool composure worried him.
Rolling his eyes, Tony focused back on the hostile group in front of him. "JARVIS, lock target screens. Use short range hollow points." Immediately, Tony's HUD pinpointed on each of the remaining terrorists and released the shoulder-mounted hollow point slugs. With a sickening groan, each of the terrorists fell.
Behind him, he heard Autumn sigh heavily, "You definitely know how to make someone jealous with that suit of yours. Makes me wish I had one of my own."
"You know how to make holding a rifle nearly twice your size look . . . well . . . easy." Tony replied carefully, his heart pumping just a little bit faster, seeing how attractive Autumn was even at this moment. Yet he still didn't understand; how was she able to do this?
Leaving her space, Autumn walked up to him, holding the rifle expertly in her hands. "You make being Iron Man look easy." She patted his shoulder, failing to hide the blush on her cheeks. "We have to get moving. There's probably more colleagues trapped inside this building and these terrorists aren't going to stop until everyone is dead." She walked past him but Tony grabbed her arm firmly, pulling her back to him.
"Where do you think you are going?" he asked forcefully.
Autumn glared at him. "I'm not leaving any survivors left to die. We need to get them out of here." She had to be kidding . . .
"I'm not going to let you do that." Tony said, his voice hardening not with anger, but with an emotion he hardly ever felt. Damn. "Fighting off those bastards is my job. Not yours!"
"The hell it is! What's my job Mr. Stark? Be a damsel?"
"Your job is to get to safety and let me handle this. You're already hurt Autumn and I'm not taking a chance! I'm not sticking my neck out any further because if something else happens to you, Pepper will have my head." Tony saw shock register on Autumn's face, rendering her speechless. She kept staring at him with her mouth open. He pulled her closer to him, her chest up against his hard armor. "And that's just the least of my problems." And he meant it.
"It won't be your problem at all. I can take care of myself. I didn't shoot seven men just to leave here without a fight. My job right now is to help you. You can take it or leave it." She pulled away from him, a movement that actually caused ache to his heart. With her gun raised to prepare fire, she headed to the stairs. He couldn't believe her! The one time he actually cares about someone's safety other than his, this woman just blows him off! This isn't how normal women act. Then again, Tony knew that she wasn't any average woman. He grunted, finally settling of the idea that he would just have to put up with her for the time being. There wasn't enough time to argue. Tony followed behind her, eventually coming up in front to lead the way downwards.
After going down several flights, Tony's HUD lit up red as more hostiles were detected on his radar. "We got more of those bastards on this floor." Motioning for Autumn to stay where she was, Tony kicked open the stairwell door and surveyed the surrounding area with his palms raised in case of an attack. "Clear," he announced. As Autumn stood next to him, he heard yelling in the distance off to the left and terrified screams of civilians followed. Turning his head in that direction, he thought of a plan. "Autumn, I'm going to need you to get those people of there. I'll be the distraction."
"Distraction my ass, Tony." she responded sarcastically. "You are going to blast those idiots without any discretion."
"Fair enough, but just lead the people out of there and I want you to leave with them."
"Not a chance, Iron Man." Autumn challenged.
"Are you always this stubborn?"
She shrugged at him. "Only when I'm not being innocent to most people." Damn, the woman was definitely similar to him in that respect, minus the innocent part. He was just as stubborn but he was also an asshole, something that he knew very well. This young woman sure had some fire in her spirit, and for some reason, that made his heart skip three beats. Get it together Stark! You can focus on this woman after you kick some ass. Together, he and Autumn headed towards the end of the hall, standing before two large wooden doors where one was cracked open ever so slightly. Nearly thirty or so civilians were held hostage as fifteen men, armed to the teeth, guarded them while shouting violently.
"What's going on in there?" Autumn whispered, pressed up against the wall.
"About thirty civilians are on the ground, fifteen guardsmen surrounding them. Heavily armed too." He looked at her. "I want you to wait ten seconds after I go. Lead them out and quickly."
Autumn nodded, her face still brave. "Be careful, Tony."
Before he could register that thought completely, Tony charged through the door, instantly firing repulsor beams in the direction of the terrorists. The hostiles responded back with multiple round of gunfire, barking out orders.
"Viesť paľbu! Sa stop, kým Iron Man patrí! " one yelled out.
"Kontakt Amhizan! Povedzte mu sme pod útokom! Povedzte mu na -ACK!" another yelled right as soon as a flurry of rounds penetrated his neck and torso. From his peripheral vision, Tony saw Autumn firing rounds at the terrorists, quickly urging the hostages to head out the door. Walking up to one of the gunmen, Tony grabbed his rifle and snapped it over his metal clad thigh. Before the gunman could get a hold of another weapon on his body, Iron Man himself punched him in the jaw and side kicked him so hard that the terrorist landed six feet away. Quickly turning around, Tony had just enough time to move out of the way as another guard was about to leap on him. With his palm raised, Tony delivered a painful energy beam at his attacker.
A female cry snapped Tony's head in Autumn's direction. She was crouched low in pain but still managed to keep firing her rifle. Her shoulder was now bleeding along with her upper arm. The men who shot her got closer but not before she delivered precise head shots to the both of them. "Autumn!"
"I'm fine Tony, just a clip. Watch your six!"
Tony was whacked on the side of his hard. Son of a bitch! Did he just fucking dent my helmet? Facing his attacker, who was hold his rifle backwards from the attempt to knock Tony unconscious, he summoned his hollow point magazine and fired at it the terrorist's neck. Immediately, the man fell, gurgling and choking on his own blood, rasping for air. He looked back at Autumn, who was rolling on the ground, dodging fire. For a split second, Tony narrowed his eyes, watching her move. Noticing how fluid she was and how easily she handled the weapon in her hands. Her face was crunched tight in concentration, her hair falling out of place, and sensually so. He had to admit, this was the most sexiest thing he had ever seen.
"Has anyone ever mentioned how appealing you are with a gun in your hands?" Tony inquired.
"None," Autumn responded, not taking her eyes off target. "But then again, I don't go on terrorist massacres with men."
"I think you should, but without the terrorist part."
"Go on a massacre as a date? That's too far fetched."
"Not when you're Tony Stark." Tony fired a few more hollow point rounds, knowing that it would incapacitate the enemy more. "Unless you prefer a nice dinner compared to a shooting range."
"Are you asking me out?"
"Are you going to say yes?"
"We are in the middle of a firefight against the clock and you are asking me out? On a date?!" Tony chuckled to himself, amused by her response to his invitation.
"I'll take that as a yes." He twisted and jumped out of the way as more bullets were shot in his direction.
"You have terrible timing, Tony." she announced, quickly getting up and running from pile of debris to another, managing to take cover.
"Great! After this is over, get all prettied up by 8pm." Tony was sure he saw her roll her eyes at him, complete with a large grin on her face. Yep, she likes me.
Suddenly from above, Tony heard a low, terrifying rumble and loud cracks from the columns in the room. Everyone stopped and stood as they listened.
"Tony?"
The remaining three men had shocked looks on their faces before turning to run for the door.
"JARVIS?!"
SIR, THE BUILDING IS BEGINNING TO COLLAPSE. YOU NEED TO GET MISS STONE OUT OF HERE IMMEDIATELY.
"Tony?!" The rumbling got louder and louder. Running as fast as he could, Tony scooped Autumn up in his arms as he commanded, "JARVIS, send all power to the jet packs! Now!"
ALREADY HAVE, SIR.
Tony felt his boots fire up as he held Autumn close to him as best as he could. He began to fly out of the room and back into the hallway, seeing the large window openings on the west side. Autumn screamed as she looked behind Tony, watching in horror as the ceiling crumbled to the ground. Using as much power as he could, Tony raced to the blown out windows, nearly becoming crushed by the slabs of concrete that were falling. Within moments, he and Autumn were above Los Angeles, watching as the convention center collapsed to the ground. Tony looked at the young woman he carried in his arm. She looked a little worse for wear, shaken, and scared. Autumn clung to his neck tightly, laying her head on his shoulder. Her chest was heaving as she tried to calm herself down. "Thank you Tony," she said, loud enough for him to hear her over the raging winds.
"It's okay Autumn, I've got you." he said back. "I won't let you get hurt." And he meant it. She just nodded silently, still shaken up about the entire ordeal. They both said nothing as Tony flew back to his home, hoping to recover and get ready for the date he set up tonight.
He was given as much information as he could find. There were lots of paper, notepads, files, and even flash drives that were collected from the abandoned rooms left by the people in attendance of this event. This would hopefully be enough to set his entire plan into action. One of his scouts called his name, waving something in his hand. Walking up to the scout, an object was placed in his palm. A smartphone. Turning it on, he saw notes on the research of nano-biotic enzymes and other forms of nanotechnology. He looked for the name of the person who had written this report. Whoever had constructed this piece surely could provide more useful information in crafting a "better" version of their work. It didn't take long before he found the name of the author: Dr. Stone.
Môže byť viac. Nedovoľte, aby sa z nich prežiť. Skontrolujte zvyšok podlahy!- There may be more of them. Do not let any of them survive. Check the rest of the floor!
Čo sa do riti je toto?!-What the fuck is this?!
Prejdite tam hore a snímajte pes! Máme na zaistenie oblasti pred sme toto miesto. Ich nájsť! Nájsť ich ešte dnes!- Go up there and shoot the dog! We have to secure the area before we blow this place. Find them! Find them now!
Vyhľadávanie každej miestnosti! Nič hodné Amhizan na výskum. Fotografujte čokoľvek, čo sa pohybuje.- Search every room! Take anything worthy of Amizhan's research. Shoot anything that moves.
Viesť paľbu! Sa stop, kým Iron Man patrí! -Keep firing! Do not stop until Iron Man falls!
Kontakt Amhizan! Povedzte mu sme pod útokom! Povedzte mu na -ACK!- Contact Amhizan! Tell him we are under attack! Tell him to-ACK!