A/N: I know I've been updating this a weird amount and not probably what i should be updating, but I'm in a little bit of a rut right now and when i get like this sometimes the only thing that i enjoy writing is some obscure thing and right now this is the obscure thing. Haetae will still be updated Monday (I'm ahead for the first time with that) and tbh I havent started the next chapter of Lil'Bit yet. I just don't like writing for Lil'Bit when I'm not in the mood? B/c I don't wanna half ass it just to get an update out. I wanna deliver my best.
So y'all are stuck with me obsessing over this until i get out of the hole I've dug myself into.
Chapter #04:
Talk, Fight, Scream, Snark
"I'll see you when the road decides it's time for our paths to cross again." -Ben Maxfield
It was hard to explain what it felt like to wake up in pain. For me, it wasn't always an immediate thing. The fact that I had multiple instances to compare was a little sad, but I knew how bad I was hurt by the way I felt when I woke up. Immediate, shooting pain meant I fucked up bad, pain when I moved meant I overdid it, but this pain was different. My eyes opened and the pain came to me slowly. As if I was sinking in quicksand but the quicksand was fire. It was like my poor, sad brain couldn't even comprehend what was going on.
That probably wasn't a good sign.
Still, despite the headache my concussion felt the same. That was definitely a small victory. I'd take what I could.
I turned my head slightly and my eyes landed on an unfamiliar face. He looked sad. That was my first thought. He looked really, really sad and I wondered why he was so sad. Like he had some deep hurt in him. I could understand that. My second thought was that he was good-looking, like 'holy hell man why are you in a bunker instead of a runway' good-looking. His dark hair was long and hung around his face, his features were strong, a jawline that could cut glass, and his blue eyes were mesmerizing. For a minute, I just stared into them and let the pain wash over me.
"You're not screaming this time." He said. His voice was deep and ragged, the way a voice sounds when someone hasn't spoken in a while. Wait, wait— Focus on the words, not the hunky stranger.
"I screamed before?" I asked and my voice sounded even worse.
"You've been out for about two days. I'd help you up sometimes to help you use the bathroom." Oh, dear God. This is why I couldn't have a handsome boyfriend. My first impressions were shit. There was also the lack good social skills and my 'punch first, talk later' attitude, but whatever. He continued. "Then sometimes you would wake up randomly. Sometimes you'd talk, sometimes you'd try to fight, and sometimes you would just scream."
"Those are my three go-to moods." I said and the corner of his lip twitched. "The fourth is snark." There was a long pause before I filled the silence myself, "Did I say anything interesting?"
"A couple times you told me you didn't want to die." He said slowly. Despite his sad demeanor, he offered me a small, soft smile. "One time you told me I had pretty eyes."
"You're lucky. Usually, I only sweet talk like that when I'm 7 or 8 drinks in." I shifted slightly and winced, but it was doable. My eyes darted to the arm that was resting on the bed beside me. Most of it was covered by his olive-green sleeve, but I still saw the silver of metal. He moved his arm down, the smile disappearing. I looked back to him, "Between the stripper 'Captain America' outfit, watching me bleed, and helping me pee… I don't know how you resisted me, dude. Talk about a catch."
He chuckled, "You're funny."
"Thanks. Usually the word people use is annoying." I replied then tried to sit up. He held his right arm out, the not metal one, in an attempt to pull me up. I took his wrist and used it to shift so I was leaning against the wall and face him directly. "How am I not dead?"
"It was touch and go for a little while." He reached beside him and lifted something toward me. A water bottle. It wasn't until I saw it that I realized how dry my throat was. I took it from him quickly and began to guzzle it down. "Hey, slow down, doll."
I stopped drinking and raised an eyebrow at him, "Doll?" He glanced away and I wondered if I had imagined the pink tint to his cheeks. I chuckled, "I like that. Knew my charm had worked at least a little."
"What's your name?" He questioned. "I can't keep referring to you as Korshka in my head."
"What does that word mean?"
"Little one."
I scrunched my nose then flinched at the pain it caused. I knew it, I just knew it. First, Small Fry and now Little One. I wasn't even that small, I was average size for crying out loud. I huffed and stuck my hand out, "I'm Aj. Nice to meet you." My eyes landed on my hand and that's when I realized I had tape around my fingers. "Oh shit, did I break my hand?"
"Cracked a knuckle." He hummed and reached out to take my hand. Instead of shaking it, he carefully twisted it around so he could look at it from every angle. "You need a real splint."
I flexed the fingers that weren't taped and sighed. Hand breaks were the worst breaks just because of how annoying they were to deal with. They always got in the way. I set my hand down and focused back on him, "What's your name? I need to know what to get tattooed on my back as a thank you for not letting me die."
He let out a small laugh and the look on his face said he really hadn't been expecting to laugh. Jokes on him, I was fucking hilarious. He glanced at me and shook his head, "It's…complicated."
"That's fine." In the world I lived in I could understand not handing out names. "I understand, Korshka."
He chuckled again and shook his head, "Call me Toska."
"Well, Toska, I'm gonna warn you now. You are about to get very, very sick and tired of my voice." I gave him a finger gun and tried to smile, but my face felt stiff and I knew it had to have looked like an absolute fucking mess. Oh, well. At least, for now, I wasn't dead.
The quinjet had been in the air for about an hour and a half now. Luckily, it wouldn't take them the normal 11 hours to fly to Moscow from New York since the ship was so fast. Unfortunately, they still had to be in the small aircraft for 7 hours.
Clint leaned back best he could in the stiff metal seat against the wall of the plane. His belt was off and was rocking his foot against the floor. Natasha caught his gaze from across the small space and raised an eyebrow. He stilled his foot and sucked in a quick breath. He made a stupid mistake. A stupid mistake and now Aj was going to have to pay for it with her life. It was one thing when he fucked up and it ended with him bruised and bleeding or in a dumpster. It was another when it ruined someone else's life.
He glanced to the cockpit when Tony rose from the seat and stretched his arms over his head. Steve, who was sitting a few seats down from Clint, nodded in his direction, "You know, you didn't have to come, Tony."
"Trying to get rid of me already, Cap?" Tony replied back without missing a beat. He crossed the small space and glanced over his shoulder, "And of course I have to come. I don't let my dates get kidnapped by gangster Russians."
Clint's jaw clenched while Tony moved to tinker with his suit. He deserved the jab. Clint glanced down the seats at Steve who looked puzzled. They made eye contact and Clint just shook his head. Steve nodded once and went back to the small notebook in his hand.
They had technically found Aj. Sort of. They found the Russians and tracked them back to an area of Moscow that was known for underground dealings. From there they just had to hit the ground and start looking. Clint was well aware that a lot of time had passed though. Nearly three days now. They could've gotten rid of her within the first few hours.
Clint's fist tightened against his leg and he tried not to radiate what he was feeling. Natasha would pick up on it, she always did, but he didn't want Steve or Tony to know how absolutely shitty he felt.
He shouldn't have let Aj walk away. Clint had been so sure that they were gonna take their time and make a slow move. The way they grabbed her though… they knew she was working with them. Clint didn't know how they found out, but they did, and he knew they would take all of that out on her.
Natasha rose from her seat on the floor and drifted across the space to sit beside him casually. She pulled out her phone and continued to look through what she had been digging through. Moscow news, reports and recent arrest records, rumors on the street. She was narrowing down their small window even further.
"She's a fighter. I'm sure she's fine." Natasha mumbled softly and under her breath without even looking up.
Clint sunk in his seat, "Being a fighter doesn't mean much when you have a gun to your head."
"They wanted her to fight. I'm sure they still made her."
"Yeah, maybe after beating the shit out of her first."
There was a lull of silence between them while she continued to work. Fifteen minutes passed before Natasha leaned into him and held out her phone for him to look. He glanced down at the message. It must have been from one of her contacts in Moscow. Clint didn't understand the message itself, he wasn't that good at Russian he really only knew the curse words, but the picture was plain as day. The Winter Solider. He was dressed as a civilian, but it was hard to hide that large, intimidating form.
"Two birds with one stone?" Natasha questioned.
Clint glanced to his right where Steve was either writing or sketching something in his notebook then he looked back at Natasha. He lifted his hands and began to quickly sign to her, 'She is my priority. She comes first.'
Bucky found himself laughing again and that wasn't something he expected from saving the girl. From saving Aj. Despite her face being various shades of yellow and purple, she felt like a breath of fresh air. He couldn't help but wonder if that was just her or maybe he had been so torn from society for so long that anything felt nice.
"I just can't believe I almost died dressed like this." Aj huffed, she still leaned against the wall taking occasional sips from their shared water bottle. A henchman was due to come in and deliver more food and water soon.
Bucky was supposed to leave two days ago, but he couldn't bring himself to leave her here. She looked too small and broken on that bed to abandon and now that she started talking, he knew he couldn't run out of here without making sure she had somewhere to go.
"I saved Captain America once, you know." Bucky's head snapped to her in shock. Aj just nodded slowly. "Yeah. The world was ending. Aliens blowing shit up in Manhattan. I never even go to Manhattan, but of course the one day I do—Anyways, I was running because well, duh aliens, and I saw them." She lifted her hands and shook them slightly, "The Avengers." Aj began to cough again, a hacking cough that he worried was turning into something worse and took a small sip of water again. "Obviously, I turned and got the hell out of there. They were alien magnets. But, I didn't get far. Maybe down the road when I had to take shelter. Thor and Captain America showed up, and I'll tell you now Thor is as dreamy as people say, like damn."
Bucky chuckled, "You're making me jealous, doll."
"You know I only got eyes for you, Toska." Aj winked at him with a tired smirk. In that brief moment Bucky felt like Bucky. Like the kid running around Brooklyn flirting with any girl that gave him eyes. He didn't want to let that moment go. She coughed again, "They were fighting and shit and I was gearing up to run but then I saw one of those creepy things aiming their weapon at good ol' Mr. America."
"Are you telling me you fist fought an alien?" Bucky questioned. From what he's learned he wouldn't put it past her.
Aj laughed and even with junk in her lungs and the pain on her face it made him smile. It was nice that he could make someone happy still. Maybe there was hope for him yet. Aj waved her good hand at him, "I'm dumb, but I'm not that dumb." She chuckled. "I saw a sign kinda wobbling above him, structural damage, and I knocked down the last thing holding it up. Sign squished the alien and I became the unnamed hero that saved America's pride and joy."
She took one fake bow then flinched at the movement before sitting back again.
"Granted, he's like a super solider from the 40's or whatever so he probably would've been fine, but it still feels nice to pretend like I made a difference." Aj shrugged. "He glanced over at the sound of the sign falling but I don't think he saw me."
Bucky leaned against the bed again, his arm resting on the bar. She didn't seem to mind that he had a metal arm or at least she didn't mention it. He motioned to her slightly, "So, you're friends with the Avengers?"
"Hardly." She scoffed. "I mooched a jacket off Tony Stark and fucked up some mission for the two agents I met. They probably wrote me off as a Government loss or something, I don't know."
Aj took in a steadying breath only to go into another round of coughs. Bucky sat up and moved his arm toward her, but she just waved him off. The coughing alone would be a concern, but he knew every single cough was just making her entire body ache.
"You ok?"
"Fine. That doesn't count as your question by the way, Toska. Go. It's your turn."
He leaned back again. She had talked him into throwing questions back and forth. It had worried him at first, he didn't plan on sharing, but all she did was ask him things like 'His favorite color' and 'Boxers or Briefs'. Bucky smiled, "Where're you from, doll?"
"Ah, you hear the twang, don't ya?" Aj pointed to her lips and chuckled. "Usually it only comes out when I'm drunk. I'm from Alabama. Live in Jersey City now, but…" Bucky couldn't help but make a face, and she caught onto it quick. "Ah, calm down, Brooklyn boy. It's not like I like it. It's just where the ring is."
Bucky shook his head, "You're out of the ring now though. You can move somewhere better."
"First of all, I have no money. Literally zero." Aj chuckled, but it was sadder than what her tone had been before. The fire in her eyes dimmed slightly, "Besides, we're gonna die here, Toska. Hate to be the bearer of bad news."
"No, we aren't. You will not die here." Bucky said firmly.
"Is someone coming for you, Toska? Because nobody is coming for me." Aj replied softly. "No one. No family, no friends… I'm out here on my own. We could always try to escape but I'll be useless and yeah you got a badass metal arm, but we're fucking surrounded."
Aj was wrong, but he couldn't exactly tell her that without showing all his cards. Hours ago though, he had already started to make mental plans. Vladimir had come to see him, tried to take Aj from him the morning after her fight, but Bucky didn't let him. Bucky promised him a favor if Vladimir let Bucky look over her. Vladimir made his crude comments but agreed. He had no intentions of holding his end of the bargain though. As soon as Aj was strong enough to walk, even limp, he was breaking them out of here. Bucky wasn't sure where they would go or how he would get her back to New York, but that was an issue for a later day.
The door began to unlock, and Bucky was on his feet quick. He saw Aj stiffen and moved to stand in front of her. While he expected a henchman with food, instead he got Vladimir with a gun. The brutish man chuckled in his deep voice and motioned to the bed with the gun.
"Ah, so she does live." Vladimir chirped out in English. "How are you feeling, Kroshka?"
"Peachy." Aj replied, her voice didn't waver. "I do have a few complaints about accommodations though so if there's a manager I could talk to or…?"
Vladimir chuckled again but his gaze grew dark. His eyes drifted back to Bucky as he began to speak in Russian, "If you're going to keep her, you'll have to teach her to shut her mouth. Nobody likes a bitch who talks that much."
"What do you want?" Bucky replied coolly. Vladimir thought he had the upper hand here. The man felt brave holding the gun in his hand with no idea that Bucky was hardly threatened by it at all.
"My favor." Vladimir snapped. "You've kept the girl alive now it's time to pay your debt."
Bucky shook his head, "She still needs rest. Another three days."
Vladimir's face turned red with anger as he brought the gun up to his face. Aj sucked in a sharp breath behind him, but Bucky didn't flinch. The Russian held it there for a moment before lowering it again, "You have three hours. I'll be back."
Without another word, he stormed out and the metal door slammed behind him. Bucky turned to Aj who sat up strong, her chin held up bravely, but he could see the tremor in her fingers. He knelt back down so he was eye level with her.
"Don't worry about him. I got it handled, doll."
Aj pressed her lips together tightly before shaking her head once, "Why, Toska?" Bucky raised an eyebrow at her question, curious but not understanding. She lifted her good hand to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear. It was still matted with blood and Bucky wondered what'd it would look like clean. "Why did you save me? Why are you helping me?"
"What do you mean?"
"I've been alone for a while, nobody in New York is really in my corner…" Aj chuckled without humor. "And the people I've surrounded myself with—They don't help, it's not their thing, but when they do it's because they want to use me or make money off me or some third awful thing… The people I meet at rings aren't good. I'm not good." She motioned to herself and Bucky found himself disagreeing. He knew what evil looked like, and Aj was a white spot in this dark, cold bunker, "But you saved me. You're helping me, and—I don't get why. What's in it for you?"
Bucky thought for a moment. It was a fair question from someone he knew had to have some trust issues. She was an outsider. Aj didn't know the Winter Soldier and she didn't know Bucky Barnes. All she knew was 'Toska' and the way she looked him in the eyes while they talked or cracked small jokes made him feel normal.
It made him feel like he wasn't a broken shell of who he used to be. Beyond that, he knew what a world like this could do to a person. Vladimir was not Hydra in any way, shape, or form, but he knew what it felt like to be broken down and built back up into something you hated. Bucky couldn't let this world do that to her. She still had a fire, a light, in her eyes and Bucky wasn't going to let Vladimir extinguish it.
"I've done terrible things. Things I can't undo." Bucky replied slowly. "It just feels nice to do the right thing. It doesn't forgive me of my sins, but it staves off the guilt…for now."
Aj nodded tightly. She swallowed a lump in her throat. "I get that."
Bucky moved toward her and started to shift her back onto the bed. He was surprised Aj didn't argue or fight him off. He nodded, "Get some more sleep. You'll need it."
"Ok." Aj replied softly. He sat back down against the wall, on guard, and he jumped when he felt a hand on top of his metal one. Aj had already closed her eyes, but she left her hand where it was. Bucky's metal arm wasn't as sensitive as real skin, but he could feel things like pressure, heat, and cold. His stiff body relaxed into the wall and he closed his own eyes for a moment of rest.
"I got a tip. Gives us a smaller radius to work with." Natasha said. They were close now. Maybe thirty minutes out from where they thought the underground fighting ring would be holed up. Tony twisted his arm and used the screwdriver in his free hand to try and tweak the repulsor. It was still working, but it was glitchy.
He didn't like glitchy.
JARVIS spoke up through the quinjet's speakers, "Sir, Miss Potts in on the line for you."
Tony leaned over and grabbed his earpiece before popping it in and motioning to it with his hand. JARVIS, always on the same page as him, transferred the call to it. He tightened a line on his arm, "To what do I owe the pleasure—"
"Where are you?"
Tony paused, "Is that a trick question?"
"Because I am standing outside the conference room for the board meeting, the board meeting I told you that you needed to come for, and I do not see you here." Pepper snapped and he winced. Tony had said he would show up to that. There were a lot of meetings he would blow off and Pepper was very good at wrestling him into the ones that he actually did need to be there for. Usually.
"Pep—"
"Don't you Pep me."
Natasha, Clint, and Steve shot him a curious glance and he waved them away. Tony cleared his throat, "Pepper. I was going to go, I promise, but a thing came up. An Avengers thing."
"Is everything alright?" Pepper's voice flipped to worried immediately.
"Yeah, everything is great. I'm in Russia, sort of. Over Russia."
Pepper's worries weren't mollified, "Is it an all hands-on deck mission?"
"Nah", Tony reassured her, "It's just me, Old man Jenkins, Legolas, and Natashalie." The entire group turned to look at him again but in tired resolve this time. Tony ignored them entirely and continued to talk, "We're gonna go save a damsel in distress."
Pepper let out a tired sigh, "Well, for the first time in history, you actually have a good excuse." Tony opened his mouth to argue that point, but she didn't let him. "Just please be careful."
"Always am. Re-schedule the board meeting, Pep, and go get yourself something nice."
JARVIS ended the call and Tony rose from where he was sitting. The three others were still standing around the table that had risen from the quinjet's floor. The tabletop had a holographic map open of the area they would be going into.
"Everything ok?" Steve questioned.
"It's fine. What's the plan, Cap?" Tony replied quickly. Steve went back to motioning to the topography and Tony tried to focus. Pepper and him were good. Pepper and him were fine. Tony accidentally got their Malibu home blasted off a cliff when he gave their address out on national television, but he had apologized for that. More than that. He finally had the surgery to take the arc reactor and the metal shards out of his chest, and now him and Pepper were thriving.
Everything was going great.
Except he was out on a mission and she didn't like that. She worried and she had every right to worry. Tony had promised to take a step back, he just didn't realize how difficult that was actually going to be.
"This is the point of entry." Steve said firmly. "The mission itself is low risk and they aren't expecting us but still, stay safe and keep and an eye out for our target. Ok?"
Tony clapped his hand on Clint's shoulder with a tight squeeze. The archer was tense, and he knew how much the guy was kicking himself. Tony probably shouldn't have dug at him earlier like he had. Clint glanced at him and nodded once. Tony slid his hand off and then activated his suit. It was an older version, but it was the best he had on stand-by. Something newer was in the works for now.
Steve waited until Clint and Natasha grabbed something then hit the button beside him. The back hatch began to lower and cold wind whipped around them. Tony walked to edge and gave them a small salute with his fingers, "I'll go knock on the front door."
Tony leaned back and let the weight of the suit take him out of the quinjet. He fell for only a moment before activating the repulsors and taking off.
I felt safe and that almost didn't feel right. Here I was lying on a shitty mattress in a shitty Russian bunker, bruised and broken, and yet I felt safer here than I ever had in New York. My body didn't even know what to do with the feeling. Then again it was probably just still too busy trying to deal with the pain. I was a quick healer. Always had been, but boy was I testing my limits now.
The swelling in my face had mostly done down. Enough that I could blink normally and talk without feeling like I had cotton stuffed in my cheeks, but my entire face still ached something fierce. Then of course the wound on the side of my head had seen better days. The skin didn't hurt as much anymore, but the headache hadn't gone away since I first woke up in this room.
Hell, it hadn't gone away since I first got hit in New York.
Plus, I now had this gross feeling in my lungs. Every breath had a little wheeze with it and anytime I coughed I was coughing up phlegm. There was also the slight chance that I was now running a fever. I could feel it. My face felt hot, but despite that my entire body shook. Even with Toska's jacket on.
Toska.
I wasn't one to trust easy, or at all, but I did hear that bonds made in a Russian bunker-prison were the strongest bonds that could be made. Or something of that nature. He said he had done terrible things, but my gut told me he was good. It was something in his eyes, I think. Regardless, if my gut gave him the ok then I had been willing to give it a shot. Little did I know that my small olive branch was actually going to turn into a friendship. Toska was the kind of guy I think I would've been good friends with if I had met under normal circumstances.
Then when he answered my last question…
I understood him. The desire, deep down, to do good was ever present in my life. The hope that maybe, just maybe, if you did this one good thing, you'd feel a little better about yourself. You wouldn't feel like a monster every time you looked in the mirror. I had no idea about Toska's past or how he came to have an actual metal arm, but the basic principle of it all matched up with me.
We were just two people desperately trying to prove to the world, and ourselves, that we were worth something.
I opened my eyes slowly. Honestly, I had no guess to how long I had been asleep this time. The one tiny bulb on the ceiling felt too bright to my eyes. It hadn't bothered me before, but now it felt blinding. Toska was sitting in the same spot, his head leaning against the wall, and I opened my mouth to call out to him. Instead, another round of coughs shook my entire body and Toska sat up straight to lightly pat my back.
"Hey, you ok?"
"I'm fine." I tried to slow down my coughs or at least muffle them. Despite having slept, I felt more tired than when I first laid down. That was probably another not so good sign. "Toska?"
I felt his hand move to lightly touch my face and he mumbled a curse under his breath before switching the hand to his metal one. The cold metal felt heavenly against my skin. Toska finally spoke, "You have a fever."
"That's what I thought." I mumbled. "Probably pneumonia."
Toska sighed, "I have to get you out of here now. You need a hospital."
"Toska?" I said firmly and he nodded at me. "Let's say you get us out of here…" His lips twitched up into an amused smirk briefly before morphing back into worry. I focused back on my question, "Where are you gonna go?"
"I'm taking you to the nearest hospital, doll."
"No, no, I mean after." I said. Never one for tact, even when I wasn't dying of sepsis or some shit, I blurted out the next part shamelessly. "I wanna go with you."
Toska shook his head, "That isn't a good idea. I'm—I told you, I'm no good."
"You can say that all you want, but you're my new favorite person in the world." I tried to make my voice sound light, but it didn't sound like I wanted it to. "I'm gonna get your name tattooed on my forehead instead of my back now and—and I'm gonna start a fanclub—"
Toska chuckled, "Let's just get you healthy first."
He moved to stand, but I grabbed the hand closest to me, the metal one. His eyes widened slightly. Maybe he didn't like people touching that arm. I swallowed the lump in my throat and, despite feeling like death warmed over, I tried not to look overly pathetic, "Toska, I don't want to be alone again. Please."
"Hey, you won't be alone." He knelt down and spoke softly. There was commotion in the hall. I could hear gunfire and my heart started to race. Toska's jaw clenched but he pulled my attention back to him. "You won't be alone. I'm going to get us out of here. I promise. You trust me, doll?"
And surprisingly, I did.
I trusted him.
The door to the room swung open and the gunfire only got louder. It was Vladimir, he was red faced and screaming, waving a gun the entire time. He barked out something in Russian to Toska who stood firmly in front of me. I slowly forced myself to sit up and began to cough again. Toska spoke back in Russian, his voice firm and steady. Vladimir lifted the gun again, but he didn't make a move beyond that. Toska grabbed his arm, ripped the gun from it, then slammed his metal fist into his gut sending him flying out the doorway.
Toska looked back at me in worry and I lifted a hand to give him a thumbs up, "Badass." He chuckled and came over to try and scoop me up, but I brushed him aside and forced myself to stand. Toska looked like he was going to argue, but I shook my head, "You can't shoot a gun and hold me. I can walk." My knees were shaking, but I stayed upright. "I can walk."
Without another word, he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. His pace was quick, and I struggled to keep my feet moving but I also refused to slow him down. As we moved down the hall, he'd lift the gun and shoot the security cameras before we moved past them. I had no idea what that was about, who he was hiding us from, but I wasn't going to start questioning the guy now.
As we came to a corner, two men ran into our view. They lifted their guns and Toska pushed us into an open room. He grabbed my shoulders, "Stay here." I nodded numbly before watching him. Toska stood by the entry, waiting, and as soon as the men stopped firing he rushed into the hall. I glanced around the room to see if there was anything that could help us, but all I saw was a mirror, a couch, and a chair with a very familiar jacket on it.
I hurried to the chair and shrugged out of Toska's much larger canvas jacket before sliding into the leather one. My body ached at the extra movement, and the chill of leaving his warm jacket made me shiver, but it had to be cold outside. Toska needed his own jacket to stay warm. I grabbed his coat and took a step toward the door. The hall was silent and the familiar, comforting face I had grown used to stepped into view.
"Here, your jacket. It's cold." I held the jacket up and ignored how the simple weight of the coat made my hand shake.
Toska grabbed it and immediately wrapped it around me again. He helped slide my arms into the sleeves while I argued then grabbed my hand again, "You need it more. Come on."
We hurried down another hall that looked like the other three halls we had run down. My head was spinning, the fever getting the best of me I was sure, and it was getting harder to suck in a full breath. I squeezed his hand once and he slowed down a hair, "What happened? Who are they fighting?" He paused to peek around the corner then cursed under his breath. "Toska?"
He shoved the gun into my hands suddenly and my eyes widened. I may have grown up in Alabama, but I had never shot a gun before. Hell, this was the first time I was even holding one. Toska set his hands on my shoulders and he slowly pushed me lower until I was sitting on the ground. I shook my head at him, what was he doing?
"The Avengers are here. I guess you do have some friends, doll." He chuckled. "More of Vladimir's men are around the corner, but I can hear the others down the hall we just came through. They're coming for you." Toska held my gaze firmly. "I'm going to lead Vladimir's men away and you shoot anyone who isn't an Avenger. Do you understand?"
"No." I shook my head and tried to hand him the gun back, but he didn't relent. "I'll go with you."
"I'm sorry."
"No." I snapped, my head was swimming now, but I was clear enough to know what he was doing. "You promised. You promised you wouldn't leave me alone. Toska—"
"The Avengers are going to get you. You're going to be ok."
I shook my head again and tried to stop my bottom lip from quivering. Toska was my friend. It took me two countries and nearly dying to finally find one, but he was my actual friend. I grabbed his hand again, "I wanna go with you. Please, Toska. Please."
Toska stared at me for a moment. I was sure it was only seconds, but it felt a lot longer than that. The sound of fighting was getting closer along with the sound of men yelling and barking out orders in Russian. I almost convinced myself that he was about to change his mind, to pull me up and get us moving, but instead he leaned forward and pressed a light kiss to my hairline.
"Tell Steve I said to take care of you for me. Ok, doll?" He gave me tight smile, tapped his fingers under my chin once, then ran around the corner.
I yelled after him which probably wasn't the greatest idea since I was sort of in a war zone, but I was also kind of desperate. The yelling ended in a round of coughs that left me gasping for a breath. The sound around me grew muffled and I tried to figure out why. I hadn't hit my head again, had I? The world was blurry, and I wondered if I was about to pass out. Toska did all that hard work to keep my ass alive and I was just gonna black out in a hallway with a gun in my hands.
Muffled footsteps landed beside me and someone slid into view. Red and gold. A robot. A familiar robot. It knelt in front of me and the helmet's mask flipped up to reveal a face. I focused on his features. Focus, focus, focus. My mind cleared up marginally. He spoke aloud but not to me, "Shit, I found her. Barton, east hall. It's not pretty."
"You…" I mumbled.
"Hey, honey." He replied softly, holding his metal hands up cautiously. That wasn't the metal hand I wanted. He took the gun from me and set it aside, "Aj? Aj, can you hear me? Can you stand?"
I blinked, "You're Tony Stark."
"I am." Tony nodded with a reassuring smile. "I am Tony Stark and I'm going to pick you up, ok? We're getting the hell out of here."
"I wasn't supposed to see you again." I mumbled as he scooped me off the ground bridal style. "I got a gift after the first date. I decided that meant you were gone."
Tony shook his head, "I changed my mind. Wanted to take you on a second date. A better one. One with a lot less Clint Barton." He said. We were moving. "But you gotta stay awake for me, ok? Can you do that?"
"I'm keeping the jacket." I said and Tony chuckled. He said something else. I watched his lips move, but there was no more sound. Iron Man and the Avengers were rescuing me, but that wasn't right. I was missing something. My brain refused to stop spinning long enough for me to grab the information though.
I grasped at straws and finally one clicked.
"Toska. Save Toska."
