Chapter 55
A Bold Rescue
Spiderman dropped down into the hole he'd just created and landed gently on the concrete landing; it was small, barely big enough for the three of them to stand.
"Her first, be careful of her arm." Tony said, watching as the masked hero nodded. "If SHIELD tries to go near her, stop them."
"Cool."
She let the suited hero get her off the floor, and let him web the edge of the hole he'd opened up, so he could carry her up without jumping. It was slow but eventually he let her down on the roof and watched Tony climb out of the hole. The man frowned at the darkness he'd climbed out into.
"It's not even daytime?!"
"Nope, sorry. We considered delaying rescue but weren't sure if you'd appreciate it. We'll do better next time."
"You, you shut the fuck up. I can picture your smug grin, shut up."
"Tony!" Steve shouted from behind Spiderman and Tony could swear he was ready to cry at the sight of the two super soldiers walking towards them. "We've got SHIELD landing!"
Tony noticed the helicopter now; just in the distance, slowly lowering itself to the ground so that armed agents could climb out. Another helicopter began to repeat what the first one had done, this one had some medical staff as well. Tony looked around, to see that there was another helicopter at the opposite end of the roof, as well as the quinjet.
Oh sweet lord the quinjet.
"That little cock." The Doctor said. Tony had almost forgotten how nasty she could sound. "The fuck is he doing here?"
Tony saw him now, at the front of the group; or almost, there were three agents walking in front of him, as if they were personal bodyguards. Tony wasn't sure if Agent Robertson was important enough to have bodyguards. He didn't really care, if he was totally honest.
"Stark!" The man called out, grinning. "Have you gone for a new paint job?"
Tony must've looked confused because Agent Robertson pointed ahead at something behind Tony. He turned to see a pale pink suit, with the head plate up to conceal whoever might be inside.
"Oh, yeah, she said you might need this." Steve said, holding a small black gun out to the woman who had come out of the hole with Spiderman. He knew who the Doctor was, they all did now and yet, it seemed right for her to have the little gun back.
"Captain Rogers, don't tell me you're arming a criminal!"
"I won't then." Steve said, turning to face the man he knew to be Agent Robertson.
"Does he know we know what he said to Nat?" Bucky asked, which caught her attention.
"What'd he say about our favourite spider hero?" The Doctor asked.
"Aww, really?" Spiderman asked, sounding upset.
"Called her a whore." Tony said as bluntly as he could.
She didn't say anything but Tony noticed how her mouth seemed to thin out, pressed tightly together while she was thinking. She didn't move, besides her good hand fiddling with the gun she'd been given. He glanced back and saw that the pink suit was in the same place; maybe no one was in it?
"We're finished." Bruce's came came over their earpieces.
"Finished what?" Tony asked, looking around Bruce but he couldn't see his team mate anywhere on the roof.
"Get them on the jet." Steve ordered; Clint, Natasha and Bucky moved, ushering Tony and The Doctor, moving them towards the jet's open ramp. "Get us some cloud cover." Steve ordered over his earpiece as Tony stepped up the ramp into the jet.
"Captain Rogers, this is an order; stand down! You are here for Stark, no one else! Give us the criminal!" Steve could hear Robertson shouting, moving closer to the jet. He heard thunder overhead, which was almost loud enough to block out the Agent's voice.
"Captain?" Clint asked, looking as Steve as the team leader readjusted his shield on his back and nodded. "Let her do her thing!" Clint shouted out, and gave three loud bangs on the door to the pilot's quarters.
"Hand her here." Someone said to Bucky, taking the weight of the Doctor so that Bucky could go keep watch from the ramp.
"Rudolf?" Tony asked outloud when he saw Loki helping the Doctor over to Bruce, who had set up a small first aid station on the floor of the quinjet. "Good to see you up and about." The door Clint had knocked on opened suddenly and Thor stepped out, ignoring the others as he walked off the ramp, and down to the pink suit.
"Friends of Coulson!" Thor shouted, holding an arm up, showing his palm to the Agents in a sort of wave. A number of the agents seemed to be listening to someone over their earpieces; they began to file back onto the helicopters, which were already starting their engines. Robertson looked around in fury at the agents who were leaving their posts. "We are ready to depart now. It was good to see you all! The good Captain asked me to tell you that if you tried to follow, you would be stopped."
"By who? A team of fake heroes?!" Robertson shouted, taking a weapon from one of his bodyguards. "You are going against active orders of a SHIELD Agent!"
"Captain Rogers is in fact an Agent of your group! He said it was most convenient, as he overrides you, whatever that means." Thor said, placing a hand on a shoulder of the pink suit. "It shall not be us who stops you."
The sky gave a crash as it seemed to open up; a huge bolt of lightning cracked, spreading out over the sky which had become full of dark storm clouds. Sparks lit up around Thor's hand, which spread onto the suit and covered it, then died down. Thor let go of the suit as it's eyes lit up, opening wide then narrowing down, staring at Robertson.
"Apparently you already know each other!" Thor said with a grin, waving at Robertson before joining the others on the jet. The ramp closed as they began to leave the ground. Steve began take off procedures, then set the jet to autopilot so he could join the others in watching the rooftop. The suit had begun to move; slowly, with forced steps. Robotic, clunky and heavy.
"That suit is fully upgraded! What the hell is wrong with it?" Tony asked, staring out of the very back window, annoyed at the suit because what the hell was wrong? It was so slow!
"Nothing." Bucky said, watching from where he was standing beside Steve. He was smiling, which confused Tony even more. Bucky reached up and hit a switch so they could hear the audio from the suit.
There was static and heavy breathing, then "Hello, Robertson."
"That's-" Tony was cut off when he was shoved aside by someone. He looked back at where he had been standing, after catching himself, to see The Doctor standing in his place, looking out of the window, frowning.
"That fucking bitch, what the hell is she up to?!" She demanded, smashing her good hand against the glass in a fist. "She's going to get herself killed."
"Who is this?" Robertson asked, aiming his weapon – a small handgun – at the suit, grinning. "You will not be safe, not after going against SHIELD, not after going against me."
"Will I die again?"
"Again?" Robertson asked, confused; the suit hissed as the faceplate lowered itself, and the mechanic looked out at him, grinning. "You're meant to be dead."
"Yes. Blown into little pieces." She said, raising an arm to run a suited hand over her face and through her ponytail, before lowering it again.
"You weren't blown small enough then. How's the leg?" He asked, smirking. "Last I heard about it, you got denied every time you applied for other roles. You were lucky to have been chosen at all!"
"It's good, I fixed it." She said. The faceplate snapped shut and there was a very soft hiss from within the suit. "I'm a mechanic Robertson, and so-"
"So what?!"
"And so is Tony Stark."
The suit hissed again and the plates began to move; they moved inwards, snapping into place closer to her body, becoming more form figure, tighter and more maneuverable.
"That's…that can't be her suit." The Doctor said, letting out a breath as she watched the suit race towards Robertson and the few guards who had remained. The jet was getting further away, making the figures on the roof smaller, harder to watch. The guards were firing but moving backwards, apparently becoming nervous when the suit showed no signs of stopping. The suit's faceplate was back up, protecting the mechanic.
Finally, they were too far to see much except blurs of black suited SHIELD Agents, backing close to the remaining helicopter; they could still hear the audio feed, through the jet's speakers.
"So what, then? You're a hero now?!" Robertson was shouting.
"Suit feed, Friday!" Tony shouted, hoping the cameras were active.; they were. A screen flickered to life to show a first person point of view, from the chest of the suit as it walked towards the helicopter. "You think you're the next Tony fucking Stark?! You failed before and you will fail this time! You're a fucking failure! We knew it and the army knew it!"
The suit ran then leapt, landing on the front windshield of the helicopter and pushing up, so that it was standing near the rotor. The suit's hands reached out and grabbed a hold of the rotor, which had begun to spin, not quite having gained any real speed yet. The rotor tried to move, screeching as motors began to overheat. Finally, the suit's arms pulled and the rotor began to warp, pulling to the side, losing the fight against the robotic suit.
"Tony Stark wishes he was me!" She shouted and let out a grunt when she pulled even harder. The helicopter gave a final wheeze as a motor died, then the metal snapped away with a deafening crunch of metal collapsing in on itself as the suit pulled the rotor free from it's holding and threw it aside, letting it crash on the rooftop the helicopter was now stranded on. She jumped down, grabbing the side of the helicopter's open doorway and swinging into the helicopter where she landed with a loud thud.
"It's good to see you again, Robertson." She said, standing over the agents. The Doctor could imagine the grin that was on her Mechanic's face. She loved that smile. "We were just talking about you earlier, actually. A little birdy told me that you said some things about Natasha that weren't very nice."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Robertson growled, pulling one of the Agent's in front of him.
"How dare you call Natasha Romanoff a whore." She snarled, letting the suit open up around her so she could step out into the helicopter.
"What? You want me to apologize to her? It's obvious why Barton brought her back! What did she do to thank him? She goes and becomes a toy for anyone in SHIELD who fucking wants her, don't tell me I'm wro-" Robertson yelped when she darted forward and grabbed his collar, knocking the other agent to the side and dragged the squirming man from the helicopter.
"End audio feed." She said and the speakers died, letting the jet fall into silence for the first time since they boarded it that day.
"I thought you were meant to be keeping her still?" Bruce asked, looking at Loki who just shrugged.
"She seemed to want to go to the window, she will not die from her shoulder injury. I saw no reason to stop her."
"I'm more worried about possible starvation, actually." Bruce said and sighed, rubbing his eyes with his palms. "Alright, can we just…look at your shoulder?"
"If you have to." She said as she waked over to Bruce and sat on the ground, keeping her eyes on Tony.
"Why is Loki here, by the way?" Tony asked, sitting on one of the benches in the back of the jet. "Not that I mind, of course."
"I was asked to accompany your…team, in case urgent medical care was required."
"You a doctor too?" She asked, letting out a weak scoff.
"I can heal with magic, so I am a magical doctor, I suppose."
"You gonna magic my shoulder back together?"
Loki raised an eyebrow at the unexpected question.
"If you'd like me to. It would be best if we used the room to the side, as it can be quite…painful, and is much easier if your skin is exposed."
"Alright." She let Loki help her up and the two went to the pilot's quarters, closing the door behind them so Loki could work in private.
"…Are we missing someone?" Tony asked, looking around for Peter, or Spiderman.
"He's asleep…somewhere, on the jet." Clint said, handing a glass of something cold to Tony who took it without thinking. "Probably wedged himself into a vent somewhere. Kid's been a mess since he realized you were gone."
"Good at hiding it though." Bucky added and Clint nodded.
"Right." Tony said, frowning. "…Wait, how does she know the jerk-off SHIELD guy?"
"Not sure, we weren't expecting that." Steve said from the pilot's seat. He didn't have to fly the plane but he needed something to keep himself busy. Tony moved to the seat beside Steve's and settled in, letting Bruce throw a blanket over him before leaving to check on Loki and the Doctor.
"Lucky you were able to cause that explosion. Were either of you injured in it?" Steve asked.
"No, she shoved me into a pool and held me underwater til the…explosion, I guess, was over." Tony explained, pulling the blanket tighter around him. He didn't realize how cold he was until now. He had forgotten how soaked with water he was from the pool. "I didn't really cause it anyway, I just built the…machine."
"What kind of machine was it?"
"Some kind of…vaporizer, I think would be the best term. It was meant to heat up some chemical they had her make and store it as some kind of gas until they wanted to use it."
"I'm guessing she made the chemical a little differently to what they wanted."
"I guess? She never really explained what they wanted her to make and I had no real desire to know. I wonder how Loki is doing, I can't hear anything so maybe it's not as bad as he expected?"
"She is unconscious." Loki said, joining them. "Her injury was quite severe so it was painful, she did not…enjoy the healing, so I made sure she was not conscious. The magic will wear off after some time and she will wake up, in far better shape than she was when we began."
"She's going to need to start on increasing her caloric intake when we're back." Bruce said. "Do you think she'll be okay at the tower or should we go somewhere else?"
"Wherever you think would be good." Tony said.
"The medical floor at your tower would be best I think, as we can completely control the environment and who is in it. Especially if SHIELD has plans to come after her." Loki said, lowering himself into a chair.
"Sounds good, we can move her somewhere else when she's conscious if she wants." Steve said and they agreed, then fell into an easy if nervous silence. The rest of the flight was easy with smooth sailing back to the tower. They unloaded all their gear while Bruce walked Tony to the medbay for a check up. Once everything was unpacked, Steve went back to the jet to collect the Doctor. He ran into Peter in the hangar, while the teen was heading towards the jet.
"Oh Peter, were you getting her?" Steve asked in surprise. He didn't think Tony would have wanted Peter to collect the woman, though Tony did have a knack for surprising him.
"Getting who, soldier?" A nasty voice asked from the ramp leading up to the jet. Steve and Peter glanced over to the the Doctor walk down the ramp and step onto the hangar floor.
"Bruce wanted you to go to medi-" Peter was cut off by a voice from behind him, as someone entered the hangar floor.
"I'll take her down, you two go rest." The woman, Clockwork, said with a blank face.
"But I'm fin-" She shot Peter a glance as she walked past him.
"Kid, I know what work you put into keeping everyone in some kind of sane working order during this. Go see your…mentor, whatever the hell he is. I'll take care of her."
"I hate when you take care of me." The Doctor whined. Clockwork just shook her head and grabbed the woman's arm, leading her out of the hangar and down to medical.
"-fine! I just had a fucked up shoulder, I'm fine. The weird guy fixed it with magic. Which, I never expected to say, if I'm honest. I want to go home."
"Your home is in Italy. I am not letting you sit on an almost ten hour flight after having been missing for a week!" Clockwork hissed back, as they stepped into the medical room, forgetting that Bruce and Tony were already there.
"I told you already, I'm fine!" The Doctor spat, folding her arms over her chest, standing away from Clockwork. "I want to go the fuck home."
"Well, once I've done a check over on you both, I don't see a reason why you can't go home. I'll have to arrange some protein drinks for you to take, to avoid refeeding syndrome from kicking in." Bruce said, finishing up on the wounds on Tony he was cleaning; a small gash, short but deep. He'd finished cleaning it and was ready to begin stitching when he looked up at Tony, and saw the man looking at the women with an eyebrow raised.
"Doctor." Clockwork said, voice flat.
"What?" The Doctor asked, rolling her eyes.
"I know what refeeding syndrome is."
"Oh for fucks sake, why?!"
"How long did you eat before you went missing?"
"Look Clock-"
"Don't."
"…Like, three days I guess, I don't know! I was busy with work."
"You're staying here." Clockwork said, and stepped back into the elevator, pinching the bridge of her nose, eyes closed, when the doors slid shut.
"Did you not mention the whole being starved thing?" Tony asked, wincing as Bruce finished off the stitches.
"I also didn't mention the waterboarding." She said, dropping into a seat nearby.
"We can talk about that later." Clockwork's voice came over the speakers.
"…Oh now that's just annoying." The Doctor whined, resting her head on a table nearby, folding her arms on the table above her head.
Bruce was happy enough with Tony's condition that he felt comfortable letting the man head back upstairs, while he stayed with the woman in the medical bay, to check over her. Tony found peter in the penthouse, fiddling with Tony's phone; he was checking Tony's message bank for some reason.
"You have five voicemails recorded." The phone's voice said outloud.
"Hi Mister Stark! I'll be late tonight sorry, going shopping with May for some stuff for the apartment! See you later!"
"Hey Mister Stark, are you going to be home tonight? Clint said you didn't come back the other night, hope you're okay! See you soon!"
"I'm not sure what to do, Mister Stark. Where are you? Do we have to come look for you? You haven't answered any calls…"
"Bucky found your car. Steve went and looked at it as well, with Natasha. He said she would be the best one to look, to find clues about…what happened to you. I'm going to go with Clint and try to help him look. I have to do something."
"We found something. We're on our way. You have to be okay, okay? You have to be."
The phone gave a loud beep when Peter deleted the voicemails.
"Pete." Tony said, startling Peter. The teen turned to stare at Tony, knocking the phone onto the ground. Tony took four large steps towards Peter and grabbed the teen, pulling him into a tight hug. Peter hesitated, shocked, then returned the hug; he was careful not to hurt Tony by accident. They held each other tight, not wanting to let go of each other. It had been…hard for Peter, thinking he'd lost someone else, and Tony seemed to know that.
"I'm okay." Tony whispered, and Peter nodded without saying anything.
Clockwork and The Doctor do have an ending! I've written it all out, don't worry! You won't be stuck with them forever!
