"And here we…are," Brie notes warily. Her and Tony had just arrived at the bomb-site. Ruins of a building, walls decorated with memoirs to those who had passed,
but,
most distinctly,
shadows,
printed against the walls that still stood.
The shadows of those who had passed.
Tony and Brie grimace at the sight, eyeing around intently.
"What's the official story here?...What happed?" Tony asks. Brie inhales uncomfortably.
"Well, folks say Davis went crazy and made, you know, a bomb. Then he blew himself up, right here," she says coldly, brushing her hand against one of the shadows.
"Six people died, right? Including Chad," Tony asks, coming to stand beside her. She nods. "That doesn't make any sense," Tony whispers to himself. Brie nods again.
"It's the shadows, right? There's only five," she states.
"Yeah."
Brie chuckles slightly. He observes her curiously. She locks eyes with his. "People say the shadows are like marks of the souls, going to heaven," she says, shaking her head at the thought. "Except Chad. He went to hell. That's why he didn't get a shadow…But you and I know better…"
Tony's eyes falter around. He feels his chest clench at the sight of the crater. It distinctly reminded him of one thing…
…the wormhole…
His heart rate increases all too quickly, and eyes tear up in excruciating pain.
Brie hears his loud, heavy breathing, and warily turns to him. "Tony?" she calls, lightly touching his upper-arm. He flinches from her, putting a hand out, refusing to make eye-contact.
"Just-" he exhales painfully, rushing away and removing his hat.
Shocked and fairly concerned, Brie follows after him. Tony heads far enough from the site, tumbling onto the nearest curb, the cap falling beside him. She hurries to his side as he buries his face in his palms, attempting to calm himself, or at least breathe straight.
Brie panics. She doesn't know what to do. But her thoughts collect themselves, and she tries to get his attention, now well aware what was happening to him.
"Hey! Tony. Look at me. Look at me!" she tells, trying to pull his arms free. They fall, and he eyes around frantically as if for escape.
But how would he escape?
How would he escape his mind?
He feels Brie's arms wrap around his form, rubbing up and down his back and resting his head on her chest.
"It's okay. It's over. They're gone, Tony. You closed it. They're not coming back. It's over. It's over," she says, worrying out of her mind.
She was so worried, it hurt, and she couldn't understand why.
Slowly, Tony eases down, thoughts invaded by the Smith's pointed words, and the warmth she radiated onto his cold self, and fearful heart.
He squeezes his eyes shut, a single tear rolling down his cheek.
For so long, he'd been trying to hide it. To push past the pain.
To fight it.
But his battles were in vain.
In that very moment though, his guard fell. He let the pain in.
He let it in,
and it passed.
In that moment, it seemed,
it felt safe to let it in.
Feeling him still in her hold, Brie pulls back, taking his face between her palms.
And the minute their teary eyes locked,
something happened.
Their minds could not comprehend what it was,
but their hearts could.
It was so strong, and heavy.
This feeling.
Towards one another.
As if they'd found something…
…As if they'd found each other…
Brie wiped away his tear softly with her thumb, swallowing the lump in her throat.
Their heads leaned closer, and foreheads touched, resting against one another so naturally.
And because so, it pinched them each with a sense of wariness, and uncertainty.
"…We should…" Tony starts, somewhat reluctantly.
"Yeah," Brie smirks, looking away.
He removes his hand that was resting on her knee, and she pulled her arms back.
Brie's eyes catch sight of the cap. She takes it and he watches her intently, softly smiling as she ruffled it from snow, then placed it on his head.
Tony rose to his feet, and offered her his hand. She took it, the feel of his touch unnervingly warm.
"So where to?" Tony asks, hand lingering on hers before she ran it up his arm and held it instead. He cocks an amused eyebrow at her as she acted casual. Tony plays along and bends his arm up to hold hers, walking side by side like a couple.
"Mm, this way," she muses.
Brie leads them to a small, lively pub. Arriving at the door, Brie notes a woman passing by. The wind blew her short, brown hair aside, revealing the side of her face that seemed burnt.
Brie furrows her eyebrows as the lady smirks at her, walking past them.
"After you," Tony speaks. She turns to see him holding the door open for her. She smirks.
"Such a gentleman." He smirks too.
Brie enters, and Tony follows. They stop short, eyeing around the crowded room till their eyes landed on a blonde woman, seated alone on a table, a broken look in her eyes as her fragile hands fiddled with an army tag, most likely her son's.
They approach her. "Mrs. Davis?" Tony calls. The lady looks up at them, confirming her name. "Mind if we join you?"
She eyes them with little interest, nodding. "Free country," she says. Brie smiles.
"Sure is," she utters, taking her seat and Tony following suit.
"Alright," the lady calls. "Where would you like to start?" she asks.
"We just wanna say we're sorry about your loss," Tony notes. Brie nods, eyeing the woman sympathetically.
"Yeah…We wanna know what you think happened," she says.
The lady falls back in her chair, pain flashing across her face. She then pushes a bundle of papers in front of them. "Look, I brought your damn file. You take it. Go," she says.
Brie and Tony share a confused look.
"Whatever was in here, he wanted no part of it," she continues.
Tony reaches and opens the file, ensuring that Brie could also see its contents as he flipped through the pages.
"Clearly, you're waiting for someone else," Tony notes. He turns to the woman as Brie studies the file closely. "Huh? Supposed to meet someone here?" he asks.
"Yeah," the lady notes warily.
As the two took in the file's contents,
Brie's assumption was confirmed.
A suitability file, with names of many former soldiers. They were being estimated, by MIA, aka, AIM. Nothing good.
She was right.
Brie feels horror strike her heart. Tony turns to the lady. "Mrs. Davis, your son didn't kill himself. I guarantee you, he didn't kill anyone…Someone used him," he tells, utterly serious. Brie is too concentrated on the file, and what its existence meant.
"What?" the lady asks, voice soar and eyes tearing up at Tony's opposing-to-all-else words.
"As a weapon."
Tony hears Brie inhale sharply beside him. He turns to her, furrowing his eyebrows in concern at her pained expression.
"You're not the person that called me after all, are you?" the lady calls, but neither hear her.
"Hey," Tony calls to Brie, touching her arm. She doesn't meet his eyes as her own unwillingly tear up.
"Actually, I am," a voice calls, a woman.
She slaps a badge onto the table, snatching their full attention. Without warning, she grabs Tony by the arm, pulls him up and onto the table with his arm pinned behind his back.
"Hey!" Brie rises to her feet, snatching the lady's hand forcefully. Turning to her, Brie notes it was the same woman she'd seen earlier outside.
The lady pulls her arm away angrily and turns her full attention to Brie daringly as Tony straightens back up.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! What's all this about?! What the hell is going on here?" a man asks from behind.
The woman, Ellen Brandt, glares at him as Brie shoots daggers at her. "It's called an arrest," she pushes past Brie. "Sheriff, is it?" she asks.
Tony pulls Brie to his side cautiously, pointing a look at the blonde beside him, who nods knowingly and slides the folder across the other side of the floor.
"Yes, ma'am, it is. And you are?" the sheriff demands. She pulls out her badge.
"Homeland security. We good here?" The man eyes her suspiciously.
"No, we're not 'good'. I need a little more information than that."
"I think it's a little above your paygrade, sheriff," she retorts.
Tony starts to pull Brie back slowly, needing to slip out.
"Yeah? Why don't you get on the horn to Nashville, and upgrade me?" the sheriff dares irritably.
"Alright, you know what? I was hoping to do this the smart way," Ellen says, a cold threat in her tone as she started approaching the sheriff, causing Tony and Brie to halt their steps worriedly.
"…But the fun way's always good."
The two note a sudden glow in her hand behind her back, around the badge. Their eyes widen.
Glowing?!
Brandt lurches her arm forward. Brie hurriedly grabs it before colliding with the sheriff's face. Brandt turns to her wrathfully, and before anyone could comprehend the situation, she pushes Brie right into Tony with an immense force, sending them both flying across the room.
Brandt snaps to the now armed sheriff and the deputy beside him. She charges at them too quickly, her hands ablaze and eyes afire. Unable to dodge her melting hands, the officers helplessly succumb, far too fast.
Brie and Tony witness the sight in horror. Tony pulls out the gun in haste.
He shoots Brandt once. She takes the hit, wincing slightly. Then she smirks, turning back to them. Tony shoots again, but her hasty steps threatened a bad end.
With the file in hand, Brie pulls Tony up, rushing out the back door with Ellen hot on their heels.
Once outside, Brie turns. "Hey, hot wings! You wanna party?" she asks, shoving her hands into the coat's pockets, coming out armored with glove-blasters.
Brie waits for Brandt to head out the pub, away from the people, as beside her, Tony's attention is diverted to another foe. Eric Savin, exiting a car.
He brushes his shoulder past Brie's, she turns to see Savin pull out a gun, and immediately shoots her blaster. It misses as Tony pulls her away just as Savin let a shot loose.
Hiding behind a car, the two pant warily. "There's two of them?!" Brie exclaims, looking from the side at both approaching!
"Come on!" Tony pulls her by the shoulder, getting her to her feet. She follows suit as he smashes a window into an empty diner.
Tony turns, sees Brandt wielding a shotgun. His eyes go wide and he hurriedly throws himself onto Brie, causing them both to tumble to the floor just as a shot rips through.
They turn on their backs to see Brandt abandon the weapon and peel off her jacket, storming towards them.
They rush to their feet just as Brandt waltzed in, swinging a punch.
Brie catches it with her armored hand. Brandt's attempts to melt. Tony punches her across the face. She turns to him unfazed, shoving him hard in the chest.
Brie let Brandt's fist slip and stepped aside, causing Ellen to stumble forward.
Just as Brie was to attempt a shot, Brandt uses her leg to kick her in the stomach, sending her falling across the room.
As Tony gets to his feet, and attempts another punch, Brandt dodges it with ease and grabs his arm, twisting him onto the floor harshly, earning a furious punch to the back from Brie.
Brandt turns to her once more, but Tony kicks her in the leg, causing her to fall to one knee.
At crunching glass, they turn to see Savin had joined the party, aiming his gun at them.
Tony hurries behind the counter, as he was already on the floor, and Brie swings over it, landing beside him with a thud.
She rises to shoot a blast at Savin. He misses by just an inch, but the light blinds him, allowing the two enough time to run into the kitchen, Tony kicking an oil jerry-can onto the floor across.
Brie lights it ablaze with a blast. A fire starts at the door, and the two hurry behind some shelves. Tony's eyes catch sight of a microwave. He grabs Chad's tags he'd caught from the table back in the pub, and shoves them into the microwave, turning it on.
Brie notes his action and hurries to pull the gas pipe. He slips a hand around her waist and rushes to the back door with her.
Brie heads out, and Tony turns one last time to see the look on Brandt's face upon realizing what they had done.
The two stumbles in each other's arms as the explosion goes off. A moment later, they see Brandt's body hanging from one of the electric towers.
They turn to one another, still holding each other up, and start laughing, quite hysterically.
At the sharp sound of metal screeching, they turn to see none-other than Savin, stood by an enormous water tank, melting off its end.
"Well, that's not good," Tony utters.
"You think?" Brie says, pulling him to move.
But it seemed collision was inevitable.
A minute later, the two awake in extreme pain. Brie is on top of Tony, surrounded by debris, both drenched and spluttering water.
"Well, well," a voice calls. They turn to see Savin stood some ways across them, gun pointed threateningly. "That looked painful," he smirks.
Brie and Tony panic, unsure what to do.
Tony feels Brie's hand on his, the metal colliding with his fingers. She feels him fiddling with her glove as Savin spoke.
"The file, or I blow a hole in both your faces," he tells strictly.
"Okay! We'll give it to you," Tony proclaims. Savin grins. Brie widens her eyes at the Stark. "There's just one thing," Tony notes seriously. He then smirks. "You didn't say 'please'."
And before Savin could react, Tony blasted Brie's glove direct into his face, sending him flying back harshly onto one of the debris.
A moment passes. He doesn't rise.
Brie falls onto Tony's chest, both breathing heavily in relief, and exhaustion.
They stay like that for a full minute before Brie speaks. "You know," she breathes, "that was kinda fun," she grins. He laughs out.
"Your definition of fun is terribly off," he says, she laughs as well, attempting to rise to her feet and accidently putting pressure on his chest. "Ow!"
"Sorry!" she tells.
She notes his leg is stuck, grabs a log, pushes it between the metal, and he pulls it out, getting to his feet and stumbling, snatching her hand that was held out to balance himself.
The two walk past Savin's body, face burnt from the blast. Brie kneels beside him and pockets his car keys. Then she stands.
"Looks like we got ourselves a ride," she smirks.
"That's a relief," Tony smirks as well, cocking a brow at her tendency to take things.
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