Gabie
III
"Sir! Sir! Ms Trent! Ms Trent!"
The repetitive calling, beeping, and rushing wind forces my eyes open. I regret it the second they do.
I'm locked in the Iron Man suit's arms and it is flying dangerously low.
"Alright, kill the alarm. I got it," I hear Tony grumble, he must have just woken then too.
"Stark what the hell is going on!" I shout angrily and cling to the metal for dear life.
"That's the emergency alert triggered by the power dropping below five percent," Jarvis reports making my heartbeat pick up.
"What?!" Tony and I exclaim.
"Air, air, air, or earth Gabie!" Tony yells as the suit suddenly takes a dip.
The falling and the aching of my injuries makes it impossible to focus.
The suit falls and crashes through tree after tree making my head spin at the repetitive impacts.
The suit's lock hold on me releases, sending me falling without a safety net.
Screams pour from my throat and I frantically grasp at the air. I'm terrified, is this how I die?
No, I can't die now, I have to get to Allie.
Scattered focus and splitting pain makes it almost impossible to concentrate, so I fall.
But at the very last minute my fall is somewhat cushioned by air allowing me to survive it.
Cold snow surrounds me and flakes fall over me.
It's dark and I'm in a forest.
"Tony?" I rasp and roll to my side. My bones and injuries ache, but the cold soothes them. Panting and gasping I crawl to a tree and push myself up against it.
Nearby I can hear clattering and then a loud thump. The Iron Man suit must have fallen, with Tony in it.
Determined I get to my feet and stumble towards where I heard the sound.
The suit lays flat in the snow, spread like an eagle.
"Stark?" I call.
Not a second later Tony rips the face plate off and begins catching his breath.
"You survived thank god," he gasps.
"Barely," I grumble.
"It's snowing, right? Where are we, upstate?" he wonders out loud.
"We're five miles outside of Rose Hills, Tennessee," Jarvis reports and my eyes bug.
"WHAT?!" I screech. "FUCK!"
We are too far away, Allie must be panicking.
"Why are we here Stark?!" I snarl and weakly kick the leg of the suit.
"Why?! Jarvis! Not my idea! What are we doing here? This is thousands of miles away, I gotta get Allie, I gotta-"
"I prepared a flight plan. This was the location," Jarvis replies innocently and I roll my eyes.
"Fly us back Stark," I order.
"The suit no longer has flight power," Jarvis informs and I let out a strangled scream.
I am injured and I need a hospital not some hick town!
"Who asked you?" Tony mutters and I lock at the suits leg again. "Open the suit."
"I...I think I may be malfunctioning, sir," Jarvis says in a broken voice.
"Open eject!" Tony exclaims.
The suit peels off Tony and he sits up abruptly.
"That's brisk!" he hisses and I nod. I've been in this cold longer than him.
"Yeah it's cold as shit! This is all your fault! And I swear if we weren't stranded here I would strangle you!" I growl. Tony looks at me with fear and his body shakes in the cold.
"Maybe I'll just cozy back up for a bit," Tony utters.
"I actually think I need to sleep now, sir," Jarvis responds and the lights on the suit promptly flicked out.
"Jarvis. Jarvis? Don't leave me, buddy," Tony begs but there is no response.
Jarvis is powered down, it's just Tony and I, alone in the woods.
"Get out of the suit Stark," I demand. Tony nods and gets to his feet after hitting the manual close on the suit so it doesn't stay open. "Now we need some warmth and we need to call home for help."
"Right," he agrees and kneels down to tie the remnants of his vest to the suit.
"What the hell are you doing?" I question.
"We're taking the suit," he answers as if there is no question at all. I watch I'm disappointment as Tony stands and begins dragging the suit with the makeshift rope.
"This is well and truly pathetic Stark."
III
Luckily we found a petrol station nearby, so we didn't freeze to death.
III
"Stark got any cash?" I inquire as Tony pulls a blanket from a wooden Native American statue.
"Hit the left hip on the suit, there's a compartment with my credit card," he replies and wraps me in the blanket. I stare at him with a raised eyebrow. "Hey I can be selfless, Allie has rubbed off on me."
"Whatever," I grumble and shuffle into the building, after snatching the card from the compartment.
Inside there's one half asleep attendant and a running television screen.
Absentminded I grab an ugly sweater for Stark, a rope, and some snacks.
"Just this?" the attendant inquires sleepily as I plop the goods in the counter.
"Yes." He starts scanning them and I let my eyes wander to the television.
"It has been twelve hours since the disappearance of Gabrielle Trent and Tony Stark. Search and rescue have been unable to find their bodies in the ocean and they are now presumed dead."
Grainy footage of the house going down plays across the screen and I wince.
"Allison Hollden, an employee of Stark, and an unknown woman were seen after the crash but have since disappeared."
More footage of Allie and Maya standing in the destruction before Maya pulls Allie away.
I sigh in relief, Allie is alive, she made it out.
"Police are attempting to find her for questioning."
Anxiety fills me, Allie. I haven't checked in on her.
"Allie?"
There is no answer and in her mind it's hazy. It's like she's sleeping or something.
"Hey wait, you're the girl from the tv," he says with wrinkled eyebrows. "You're not dead. How'd you survive that?"
"I was with Iron Man, who is also not dead by the way," I reply and snatch up my purchases hastily. Turning on my heel I march towards the door but stop a moment before leaving. "Be sure to tell your friends we're not dead!"
Outside it's still snowing.
"Stark I got a-" I stop short upon seeing Tony hunched over in a phone booth. He hasn't noticed me so I silently move forward to eavesdrop. He must be on a Stark Secure Server.
"Allie, it's me. I've got a lot of apologies to make and not a lot of time. So first off, I'm so sorry I put you in harm's way. That was selfish and stupid and it won't happen again. Also, it's Christmas time, and I should be more honest with you as well as try harder to get along with Natasha and Steve. Done. Sorry. And I'm sorry in advance because...I can't come home yet. I need to find this guy. You gotta stay safe. That's all I know."
His words are heartfelt, genuine, and emotional. He's on the verge of tears just thinking of Allie possibly being hurt or being scared of anything. This is the first time I've seen how much he cares.
"Gabie is safe and she's with me, so don't worry."
He pauses before smirking.
"I just stole a poncho from a wooden Indian."
The final sentence breaks me from my empathetic trance and returns time to my normal annoyed state when it comes to Stark.
"That's enough Stark lets go," I call and knock on the phone booth. Tony groans and steps out with a frown. I toss the sweater and rope into Starks face. "Put that on and tie up your friend, we have to get into the town."
Tony nods and fixes the rope around the suit's arms so it's easier to drag.
"We're not going back." Tony looks up and shakes his head.
"We have to finish this."
We do, we have to figure this out, and we have to end it.
Together we hike through the snow towards Rose Hills.
III
After an hour of trudging through snow with aching injuries we come upon an abandoned looking farmhouse.
Next to the house sits a rickety shed with a padlocked door.
Tony stops and stares at the lock before glancing at me.
"Could you magic it?" he asks while waving his hand. I roll my eyes again but nod.
Stepping forward I take the lock in hand and summon a white hot fire.
It isn't long before the lock melts in my palm.
"Thanks," Tony says and shoves the door open.
I step inside and look around, it's somewhat furnished. The farmhouse isn't abandoned, just worn down.
Tony pays no mind to this while he lugs the suit inside and places it on a couch by a lone desk. Tony groans and plops down next to the suit heavily.
"Let's get you comfy," he murmurs and adjusts the suit's arms so that they sit in its lap nearly. "You happy now?"
"You're so weird," I huff and sit down in a dusty armchair by the door. Tony ignores me and begins shuffling through the items on the desk and the tools laying around.
Carefully I rip up the blanket and wipe the blood from my cuts and gashes. There's nothing too deep but my chest hurts like hell. I must have bruised a rib or two.
Tony suddenly sits at the desk and pulls over a table lamp. He flicks it on and shines it on his bruised arm.
"Allie told me about the implants in your arm," I say, unsure of what else can be said. "Do they hurt?"
"Yes but I'm worried they got busted," he replies and begins to pick at them with rusty pliers.
"Do you want a blood infection Stark?" I gasp and hold my hand out. Before I can lash the pliers with air a small voice makes us both freeze.
"Freeze! Don't move."