Tony made sure to keep the little girl's startlingly red head above the water. He made swung her around, moving her to straddle his back like he was some sort of surfboard. Her little hands gripped tightly at his hair, tightly, and he winced but forced himself to focus instead on moving as fast as he could. He pumped his arms and legs furiously towards the closest patch of land, surprised that he had managed to get so far away from the little grotto beneath his house.
He reached the shore, huffing and puffing like a freight train and he swung the little girl into his arms. He was not surprised to see the various beachgoers gaping at him as he clutched the small girl to his chest. When he gently laid the girl on a towel offered by a concerned redheaded woman that had nothing on the girl's literally scarlet locks, he stepped back to allow the girl some space. He was very surprised to notice then that she was butt naked. He took a beach skirt from the tall redhead woman, tying it around the slight girl firmly, taking in her large blue eyes that stared around her with both a curious blankness and sort of horror.
"Is she alright?" asked the other redhead, hovering slightly and look at him with wide gray eyes.
"I think so. Just a little shell-shocked," he said carefully, still slightly out of breath and what he thinks is a lot of adrenaline. His hands are shaking and Tony feels his heart is trying to leap out of his chest.
The girl was just staring at them, eyes wide and blinking rapidly, her little chest heaving as she gripped the skirt's cotton material tightly to her. The young woman firmly, but gently moved him aside, and kneeled in front of the little girl.
"Honey are you okay? Where are your parents?" asked the woman calmly, gently, her slender hands reaching for the girl.
The girl stared at her, tilting her head to the side. Her red brows furrowed, and her little nose wrinkled.
"Excuse me?*" said the girl and her voice while slightly hoarse, was incredibly soft and pretty... And speaking in a language that Tony had no idea what it was.
The young woman stared, and so did he.
"Well, shit," said Tony, helpfully, he thought.
He had a lot of foreign languages under his belt, from Swiz to Japanese, but whatever the hell the girl was speaking wasn't one of them. He turned to the tall, very leggy redhead with a frown.
"You speak gibberish?"
The younger woman simply looked over with a deadpanned stare, lifting a finely arched brow and turned back to the little girl.
Tony himself only sighed.
AN: I do not own either The Little Mermaid or the Avengers characters. All rights go to their respected publishers, producers, and film companies.
*Gasp, she's speaking Atlantican instead of being mute!
Edit: 14 May, 2018