Chapter 8: First Steps

Two weeks later, the Avengers were no closer to uncovering any more information about the Tea Party or its allies. Hollie had suggested trying to track the sources of their supplies. Someone, somewhere, had to be acting as a go-between to get them what they needed to wreak chaos. So far, they'd come up with nothing, which was irritating the living shit out of one Tony Stark and a certain Russian super spy.

Natasha and Tony were both at the end of their patience and having a good rant about the futility of their current approach in the solitude of Tony's workshop (which was now a mess of his attempts to track the Tea Party's imports), when Doctor Stephen Strange interrupted them over the intercom.

"Doctor Banner and I have concluded all testing, and we're ready to move forward. We just need you to build the neurotransmitters to our specifications, Mr. Stark." He told them.

"Send me the specs, Doc." Tony said simply, and had it all ready to go by the following afternoon when Hollie was moved back to the tower's private (and state of the art) medical suite.

The surgery itself wasn't particularly invasive, and only took about an hour to complete. All the wiring for the arc reactor was also hooked up while Hollie was still unconscious. When she finally came awake a good five hours later with Natasha and Bruce at her side, Hollie honestly thought she had been run over by a loaded dump truck. Or something, because she ached all over. And then she gasped in surprise when she realized that yes, she could actually feel it. Not only the pain, but the texture of the blankets she was wrapped in.

"How are we feeling?" Natasha asked.

"Like I tried to leap across the rooftops in Venice, lost my footing and landed in a gondola full of iron spikes...not that I have ever seen a gondola with a cargo quite like that." She said with a lopsided smile.

"Shit, who are you? Ezio Auditore?" So Tony was there too, she turned her head in the direction of his voice to see him leaning against a wall. She ignored his comment, even if it was a reference she actually knew. Hollie would never admit it, but when she had the rare luxury of some downtime, she spent it playing video games as an escape from reality.

"Can you feel your hands, and your legs?" Bruce asked.

"Yes." Hollie said and smiled. "I can. But I... can't move, Doctor Banner."

"Well, it's going to be a little like when you first learned to walk as a child. Your body isn't used to this, so it's going to take time and practice. You're also still under the effects of the anesthetic so your movements will be sluggish." Bruce explained and pulled her left hand from under the blanket. "Try to wiggle your fingers. You may need to actually think about what you're doing."

Hollie did, but it was less of a wiggle and more of a twitch. She tried again and managed a little better. She heaved an exasperated sigh and glared angrily at the ceiling.

"I suppose this will take some time. But some hope is better than none. Thank you for what you have done for me, Doctor Banner. Please extend my thanks to Doctor Strange as well." Hollie said quietly and managed to curl her fingers into a loose fist. "I have overcome many obstacles in my life, this is just one more. Though arguably it is the largest."

"What about me? I bankrolled this. Don't I get any thanks?" Tony said with a snort. Hollie glared at him, but her expression softened.

"You are still alive, yes? That's thanks enough, isn't it?" Hollie said, raising her eyebrows. Natasha chuckled under her breath. Tony rolled his eyes but smiled, knowing that was probably as close to an actual compliment he'd ever get from Hollie.

Another week later, Natasha and Clint were hot on the trail of a suspicious shipment headed to Texas. Well, the shipment itself wasn't suspicious, but the items could be used to make bombs on the cheap and were being moved in bulk. Not very good bombs, mind you, but more than enough to cause a scene and at least severely injure a few people. However, they still had no concrete intel about the Tea Party's plans, or even their real motives. The attacks had decreased, but it felt more like the calm before the storm than an actual cease-fire. Something big was brewing; they were sure of it.

Hollie's condition was improving steadily. She couldn't walk yet, but she could at least feed herself and sit up in bed without any help. She was usually left with Steve or Tony to look after her, while whoever wasn't left at the tower tried their best at scouting the streets for information about the insurrection. At the current moment, Hollie was in bed watching a documentary about the religious beliefs of Native Americans which she found very interesting.

Well, she was anyway.

"Hey there, Scarface. You look bored." She was stuck with Stark for the day, as Steve had some kind of stupid patriotic publicity event to attend. Hollie sighed and glowered at Tony who was dressed in a pair of beaten to death jeans and a Black Sabbath t-shirt. He'd been in his workshop, obviously. He even smelled faintly of solder and motor oil. It didn't bother her, though. Hollie preferred men to smell like men rather than expensive cologne and cigar smoke.

"I do not look like Al Pacino, Mr. Stark. But, I am not below admitting that, yes, I am extremely bored." Hollie said offhandedly, and tilted her head to the side so she could see the TV around Tony who was standing in front of it.

"Okay, good, because I've got plans for you." Tony said, acting like a kid with a new toy. Hollie wasn't sure if she should be worried by that or not. "A while back the government tried to take the Iron Man suit from me. Me being me, made a dick comment about it being a high-tech prosthesis. In a way, that's kind of true for you – considering all of it came from this." He explained and touched his fingers to his arc reactor, the glow from it faintly visible beneath the fabric of his shirt.

"I am not flying around in one of your toys, Stark." Hollie said resolutely.

"Yeah, not like this you're not. You'll crash into the Empire State Building or something. And then I'll somehow be the one stuck paying for it." Tony agreed. "So how about it? You're sick of lying there, right? Let's go for a walk." Hollie's eyes widened and she shook her head.

"Doctor Banner said not to try it yet." Hollie said, but a faint smile tugged at her lips. "Though, I've never really liked doing what I'm told."

"Good, because sometimes you've gotta run before you can walk." Tony said and held out his hand. "As long you swear not to murder me for being an ass, I promise I won't let you fall." Hollie nodded and took his hand. With some effort, Tony managed to get Hollie to her feet with her clinging to him for balance. Somehow, she found that a good ten times more shameful than the time she got caught giving the Italian prime minister a blowjob under his desk in exchange for intel for the Mafia.

"I don't think I can do this." Hollie said flatly.

"You don't seem like the type to just give up." Tony retorted. "One foot in front of the other. Careful, now."

"Oh, what 'type' do I seem to be, then? Enlighten me." Hollie muttered, struggling to conquer the fear of falling if she shifted her weight off one of her feet.

"Well, I could be wrong, but I think there's a sad, hurt little girl under all those thorns somewhere who just wants to be loved." Tony said with a wink. "Granted, I know next to jack shit about love, but just saying..."

"Maybe. But where the bad guys hid her away, no one can hear her crying. No one will ever find her, because she's already been shot in the heart and left to bleed out years ago." Hollie said defiantly and didn't even notice she'd taken a step until her toes snagged on the carpet, which made her stagger and fall against Tony's chest with a thump. It took all of her self-control not to pout and throw a childish little hissy fit over how goddamn frustrating the whole situation was. What idiotic notion had made her think this was a good idea? Maybe if it was Steve or Banner it would be fine. Stark obviously had ulterior motives.

"Nah, her heart's bulletproof." Tony said and tapped his fingers against the class casing of Hollie's arc reactor as he pushed her back onto her feet. "Literally, that glass is bulletproof and then some."

"Are you trying to get into my pants?" Hollie asked, raising her eyebrows. "It's not working. Si dovrà fare di meglio. (You will have to do better than that.)"

"Nope, just trying to remind you that there's more to living than just surviving." Tony said and winked.

"You are a pathetic liar. You just want someone, meaning anyone, to talk to because you're falling apart over your little break-up, and none of your friends give a rat's ass because they're too busy tracking down terrorists. I just happen to be the only one who can't physically evade you." Hollie said, but there was no hint of the usual venom in the words.

"Guilty as charged, Ms. Holmes." Tony said with a shrug. The truth really was that he didn't want to be alone. There was an epic meltdown coming and if he didn't distract himself he was going to lose his shit – and it wouldn't be pretty. He couldn't keep forcing the thoughts of Pepper out of his mind forever.

"It was almost a month ago. Man up, Stark." Hollie snapped and carefully plopped down on the edge of the bed. "I don't do sympathy."

"If I wanted sympathy I'd go to a bar, get drunk, and whine about it while a bunch of gold-digging sluts hang off my arms and lie about how bad they feel for me." He replied and sat on the bed next to her. It was good to see Hollie sitting up straight, it was a major improvement from a week ago and Bruce was amazed at how quickly she was regaining movement.

"What do you want, exactly?"

"Distraction, but I'm out of shit to blow up."

"Stark, is your right hand injured?" Hollie asked, looking at him perfectly innocently.

"No, why?"

"Molto buona. (Very good). Distract yourself, preferably in your own room." Hollie muttered.

"That may have been the single most creative way to tell someone to go fuck themselves that I've ever heard." Tony said, and laughed in spite of himself. "You're a bitch, you know that?"

"I am aware, yes." Hollie said and gave him a light shove. "Out. I've had all I can stand of you for one day."