Well, i was going to update something else, but guess what? I had a total change of mind when i felt guilty for leaving such a horrible cliffhanger, and almost deciding to leave it be for a while, so i thought since the story was still fresh in my mind, i might as well update it.
And another thing...I feel really bad about this, but I actually forgot about Martin...:( But, I've just figured out an awesome explanation...or plan to bring him back in...sorry! Again, I lost my OC list, so trying to figure out some details on another OC, i found Martin...so YAY! I hope you're not mad!
Disclaimer: IMAA is NOT mine, end of discussion.
In virtually an instant, the whole hut was set aflame with blazing fire. Tony who was closest to the door, recoiled away from the door and went next to Rhodey who was looking around as frantically as himself. Lee seemed surprised, but not all too phased.
The flames cackled as they itched closer and grew larger. Shaking her head, Lee thought up a way to get out, without too many injuries. Tony was doing much the same, but could hardly focus with his raging headache, and constant worry for Rhodey and Lee.
Smoke started to collect in the room and the trio covered their mouths with the collars of their shirts. Coughing, Lee was surprised at the rate the flames were growing.
"We have no choice!" Lee shouted. "Jump out the window!"
"What?" Rhodey and Tony said coughing.
Parts of the ceiling crashed down next to Rhodey and Tony, causing them to jump closer to the flames, the shoulder of Rhodey's shirt actually caught aflame, but he quickly patted the flames out. They looked back to a flustered Lee as she waved smoke out of her face.
Lee crouched down and moved away from the flames that reached her. "Or the door, but JUST JUMP!"
Almost shoulder to shoulder, almost, Tony and Rhodey readied themselves in front of the heated with flames, door. Lee, noticing that the boys were ready, she lined herself up with the window, the only spot in the hut that wasn't completely covered with flames, other than the floor and ceiling.
Coughing, she shouted to the other two. "Jump!"
…
Whitney flinched away from the hanging body, of none other than, Nina, falling to the ground in the process. She fought the urge to hurl as she scrambled away, dragging leaves with herself. Her hand grazed the end of an average sized stick, and instinctively, she gripped it between her fingers.
She forced herself into a standing position and whispered to herself to breathe calmly. She looked around to see if anyone was there, because she was most certainly sure that Nina wasn't there the last time she was looking that way. Someone had to be there. The culprit had to be close, most likely ready to strike down her next victim. But Whitney wasn't a victim. She was a fighter, and a darn good one. She wasn't about to let some little girl beat her when she could pretty much beat iron man, in a near heartbeat…if she really wanted to.
"Mel, I know you're there!" She shouted, forcing her voice to be level. "You can't scare me away!"
There was a laugh.
"I'm serious!" Whitney said turning around to where the voice was. "Come out and fight me!"
Behind herself, where the camp was, there was footsteps and Whitney spun around, her stick ready to hurt whoever it was.
"Whitney?" Dave said, his arms raised in surrender.
"Dave?" Whitney said lowering her stick, but only slightly.
"I came looking for you. Tessa and Pepper are worried about you." Dave said walking closer.
"Potts?" Whitney asked.
"Yeah, she doesn't want you to get hurt," Dave responded. He was about to continue, but his gaze shifted just behind Whitney…
He froze. "…Whitney…did you…?"
Whitney blinked, surprised that he was even suggesting it. "What!? No!"
"Then who…?"
"I think it was Mel. I heard her laugh." Whitney said, before her eyes widened. "Darn it, I forgot about her!"
"She's here?" Dave questioned, looking around. "Did she run off?"
"I don't know…" Whitney said turning to face Nina. Then with a slight waver in her voice, "We should probably…bring her down…"
"Right…" Dave responded.
They started working to untie the rope from around Nina's neck. When that failed, Whitney climbed up in the tree and carefully crawled out on the branch the rope was tied in. Again, when that failed, she called down to Dave who looked up at her. Moments later he was running back to the village to get a knife. With the warning, not to tell the others as not to cause more panic.
Then Whitney was along again. She waited up in the tree for Dave to return, but in the meanwhile, it was all too quiet for Whitney. Footsteps coming from the other direction of the camp, made Whitney's head snap to where she heard it. Only to find nothing. Well, if you don't count even more smoke in the distance, there was nothing.
Before she could investigate it any longer, Dave came running back, knife in hand. If this wasn't a bad time, she probably would have found a way to joke about not running with knives, but of course it was inappropriate to do so at a time like this. So, she just reached out to grab the knife from Dave's own reach.
Once the knife was firmly in her hands, she set to work on cutting the rope, while Dave waited at the bottom as the rope started to give, lowering Nina's body at intervals. Careful with the last cut, Whitney finished cutting the rope causing Dave to stumble under the falling weight of Nina. Disturbed, Dave yelped and quickly rolled Nina away.
Whitney was about to hop down from the low set branch, but froze when almost in a flash, a knife was stabbed into the side of Dave's lower back. Impulsively, Whitney let out a scream.
…
The instant the two boys heard Lee's shout, they crossed their arms in front of their faces for protection, they rammed into the door, before jumping over the collapsed stairs. When they landed, they rolled on the ground to lessen the impact, also helping with putting out the flames that had stuck to them.
Lee did much the same, but with a little rougher landing. Though, she was glad to say that she hadn't broken or twisted anything. She groaned, standing up as she walked around the burning hut to meet the other two.
"Any of you two hurt?" She asked already heading out towards where they came from.
"Aside from a few burns, bruises, and cuts, we're fine." Tony responded.
Rhodey nodded in agreement. "We'll live."
Lee nodded as the boys started to follow her. As they walked back, Lee kept glancing behind them at the smoke and the now barely visible flames. Tony and Rhodey did much the same, worriedly.
"If that fire spreads, we could have a massive forest fire in our hands." Lee finally commented. "I'm just hoping that fire goes out when it finds nothing else to burn instead of it finding a while forest on fire."
Tony and Rhodey could only nod in silent agreement.
Finally after sometime, they broke through the trees and back in the camp site that was surrounded by trees. If anybody was watching them, well they couldn't expect anything pretty. Soot from the smoke and ashes was smudged all over their faces or any other exposed skin. Their hair showing signs of being singed, but it didn't help that their hair was anything but freshly combed. The small cuts and burns stood out against the dark color of soot.
If there had to be a phrase to say what happened to them, it'd probably be that they went to hell and back. If anything.
They only took a small moment to brush ash out of their hair, or whatever else got in there, and that includes twigs, leaves, and dirt. Taking one last quick moment, they brushed off their clothes. This was mainly to try and look a little less crazy when they walked into that Cabin again.
Walking with a quick pace and a purpose, they now were heading directly for the cabin. Hopes high that nothing had happened while they were out. And even higher hopes that Nina and Jessy found themselves back safely without the need for another separation.
They walked into a very loud cabin. Pepper, Tessa, and Macy were on the Tony's bunk loudly discussing their worry for someone, and Happy and Leone were playing ball as they both bared worried, yet angry scowls on their face, loudly sharing their opinion on someone, who was yet to be named. Gene seemed to be the only one quiet in the cabin, but that was only because he was now completely passed out on his bunk.
Though, there was no signs of Whitney or Dave. And their hopes of Jessy and Nina returning on their own, safely and unharmed, were seriously dropped low.
"Where's Dave and Whitney?" Rhodey asked, beating a now fuming Lee to the question.
"Whitney stormed off," Leone said catching the ball and turning to the returning trio. "Claimed she couldn't take the silence and boredom anymore."
Before anyone could reply, Leone threw the ball to Happy, who continued. "Tessa and Macy tried to stop her, but she stormed out anyways. Pepper's been worried sick, surprisingly."
Tossing the ball back to Leone, the ball's holder spoke. "Dave didn't like that she was alone, so he went out after her. Haven't seen or heard of them yet."
The two boys stopped talking and returned back to tossing the ball back and forth, with their worried scowls again.
"No, we heard someone scream, but Gene was being very strict about following Lee's rule of NO separating." Pepper grumbled.
Again, apparently not sleeping, Gene sat up. "I'm sorry I said anything. Please go get yourselves kills, be my guest."
Pepper glared at Gene before sighing and laying against her pillow. "I know, I'm just worried."
"About Stane?" Gene retorted.
"As much as we may seem like enemies, we can be good friends. She just doesn't like to admit it." Pepper responded defensively. "Plus, I really don't think we can handle any more deaths. Especially with someone we know so well."
Before anything else was said, the other campers seemed to just notice the appearance of the trio. Pepper was down from her bed in what seemed like impossible speed. She was up in Tony's face eying his appearance for any major wound, before she went on to Rhodey.
Turning back to Tony, Pepper narrowed her eyes. "What happened?"
"Fire…?" Tony offered.
"Fire!?" Pepper and the other campers gasped.
So, that was when story time started.
…
Dave gasped in surprise as he dropped back down to the ground next to Nina. Unbelievable pain was already spreading through his body and he held in a scream, but only managed to groan loudly instead. Though, he passed out soon afterwards, much to Whitney's relief. At least he wouldn't feel the pain anymore.
The person standing just behind Dave's fallen form, was someone with blue eyes and blond hair. Whitney, couldn't stop herself from gasping. "Jessy!?"
...
After the story was told, everyone was jumping (figuratively) with questions. With the lack of knowledge of what really happened, the three weren't able to answer all of them, but they tried their best.
"This is going to far." Rhodey said taking a seat on the nearest bunk.
"No kidding." Tony said agreeing.
"Well, I'm going to pull out my health pack to heal us up, and Pepper while you're up, I want to look at you again." Lee said walking through the cabin to look for her medical kit she brought for Pepper.
"Wait," Pepper started. "Where's Martin?"
Well, I think that was great! Again, sorry for all the cliffhangers, but at least this time, it isn't so bad...right? ;)
*GASP* There's TWO? What is happening!? Well, stay tuned for the next chapter! -.- Which hopefully will come up soon.
Fun Fact: I have so much clothes that not even TWO dressers fit my clothes...AND I never really go shopping for clothes...(I hate doing that) Most of them are hand-me-downs from my cousin or neighbor...
Well, I'm planning on working more on Baby Phase, and sort of focus on that one, but this time, I'm going to take healthy breaks for my other stories. And, it helps (or doesn't help) that i think theirs bat's in my closet (in the attic like room) and a squirrel or bird in the other closet that cannot be opened... so i'm up a bit later than usual from all the noise they make... -.-
I'm going to be a bit slowed down...(not quite sure really) with posting things because i now have to babysit my little brother now that my mom got a job. Only for an hour after school, but on the weekends i'll have to watch him more often...which stinks because he can't find something to do alone so i can write, but it really shouldn't have any affect on how much i post, I just thought I'd say something.
ONE more thing. One my profile, I've got a new poll It's just a bunch of oneshot ideas i got for Pepperony stories...AND i thought, you'd guys help me pick which one's i should work on first. Some of them, I've already started, but that's only because they were easy, and I wrote some of the story at school on paper.
Well, that ends my chapter...Hope to see (write) you guys soon, with another story!