And here we go! Things are exploding, and Diana is caught in the blast.

Disclaimer: I don't own Iron Man or any related characters. Marvel owns them, and Disney owns Marvel.


Chapter Five

The Artist

Sound. What was that? It rushed, then receded, then rushed again.

Cold. Why was she cold? It soaked into her skin, and down to the bone.

Finally, she managed to crack her eyes open. Light was filtering through her dark hair, which lay in a tangled mass over her face. She lifted a hand to push it away, then sat up. She was on a beach. Off to her left, a plume of smoke rose into the air.

Everything rushed back to her. Diana tried to stand, but her shoes wouldn't support her. She looked down and saw that the rockets built into the sides of the boots had been smashed. Unfortunately, not before melting her shoes into lumps. She kicked them off, and then yanked her scorched socks off before standing up. The sand was cold and damp, but at least it wasn't burning.

Diana reached for her phone, yanking it out of her pocket and checking that it still worked. It did. Whatever she thought about Tony, she had to admit, he made some resilient, and amazing tech. She pressed the button to call him, but it went straight to voicemail. She left a quick message, begging him to call her ASAP, then called Pepper. This time, she got an answer.

"Diana?!"

"Pepper, it's me!"

"Oh, thank God! I can't get ahold of Tony, and I was so worried about you. I was just about to try calling."

"Good thing I called first. Hey, listen, can you come pick me up? Or send someone? My boots melted, and I don't fancy walking all the way back in bare feet."

"Of course. I'll be right there."

Diana could still hear the worry in Pepper's voice, and she hurried to reassure her. "He's gonna be okay, Pepper."

"I hope you're right."

Once the two of them had been reunited, Pepper drove her back to the house. Or, more specifically, where the house used to be. The structure was now gone. It looked like the only thing that had survived, was the underground section where Tony kept the multiple versions of the armor. However, even that was blocked by debris. Diana picked her way carefully through, to stand with Pepper on the edge of the cliff, looking out over the ocean.

Diana still had no idea how she'd survived. Maybe her boots had just fired her off out of the debris, and she'd managed to wash up on shore. But how had she not drowned? That wasn't important, right now. What was important, was finding Tony.

Crews had already started working on clearing the debris, but all Diana could think was, 'What now?' Pepper had found a scarred Iron Man helmet in the debris, and was now holding it, in her hands.

Diana couldn't take it any more, having managed to find a pair of shoes in the debris, she stormed away. She just couldn't take it anymore. She had to get out of there. Her car had been far enough away, that it was still okay, and she jumped in without a backward glance and started to drive away. She was stopped by a police officer who insisted that she return to the sight. For once, Diana tapped into the legendary Stark attitude and informed him that her brother was missing, and her home was in ruins. There was no way she was sticking around any longer than she needed to.

Reluctantly, the officer let her go, and she drove into the city.

One of Diana's favorite things to do, when she wasn't hiding from the press or helping Tony with his projects, was go to the Getty art museum. She liked to look at the paintings, even the completely arbitrary ones that could've been done by anyone, and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Today, she took a moment to clean herself up in the bathroom before beginning her slow, not-really-looking-at-the-art stroll through the exhibits. She was so out of it, that she accidentally ran right into a guy. Thankfully, that managed to snap her out of the fog she'd been in since she left the house.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention," she apologized.

"It's alright," he replied in a soft, British accent. "Neither was I."

For one extremely odd moment when she heard his voice, Diana's thoughts snapped to Loki, but she finally managed to get a good look at him and shake that image out of her head. This guy had dark hair that fell into his eyes a bit. He had dark brown eyes, and a kind smile. "Are you alright? You seem a bit..."

Diana shook her head. "I'm fine. Just have a lot on my mind."

"Perhaps it would be better that you sit down then, rather than run the risk of running into someone who won't be as nice as me about it."

That brought a small smile to Diana's face and she nodded. "You're probably right."

"There's a nice little cafe not far from here. Allow me to get you something."

"That's not necessary," she assured him.

"Please. I'd feel better knowing you were somewhere you could relax and not get hurt."

Diana looked up at him and nodded. "Alright."

He smiled, "Good! I'm Aaron."

"Diana."

The cafe was nice and quiet. It seemed everyone had decided to stay home today because of the bombings. After getting her settled in a booth and asking her what she wanted, Aaron got a coffee for himself and a hot chocolate for Diana.

For a moment after he sat down, Diana simply stared out the window, barely noticing the few people who were out. Then her phone rang, Pepper's picture popping up on the screen. Diana pressed the ignore button and laid the device down on the table.

"I thought you looked familiar," Aaron said quietly.

Diana looked at him quickly. "What?"

He gestured to the Stark Phone now sitting on the table. "You're Diana Stark."

She nodded. "Is that a problem?"

"No. I just find it interesting that you don't advertise it. Your brother doesn't seem to have that problem."

Diana chuckled darkly. "Tony has never had a problem with the spotlight. Even when we were little. That's why it's so hard right now. He's missing and I don't know what to do. It's like when he was captured. That same feeling of fear." Her phone rang again and she hit ignore again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be dumping this on you." She wrapped her hands around her mug and tried to hold back the tears.

Aaron reached forward and took one of her hands in his. "It's alright. If I didn't care, I wouldn't have brought you here."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"Let's just say I've used that facial expression before. The one you had at the museum. I just had to help."

Diana looked down at were their hands were connected and shifted her hand so she was holding his. "Thank you, Aaron. I don't really know you, but you've helped me more than I can say."

He smiled gently. "I'm just glad I listened when I felt the urge to help. Iant certainly works in mysterious ways."

Diana smiled, a thrill of joy shooting through her as the realization that he'd mentioned Iant settled in. "He certainly does." She lifted one hand to wipe her eyes, and Aaron produced a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. She thanked him and patted the tears from her eyes.

Her phone rang yet again. This time, she tapped 'Accept,' "Hello?"

Pepper's voice came through the speaker. "Diana! I just got a message from him! Can you come back?"

Diana's face lit up with a smile. "I'll be right over." She ended the call and shoved her phone in her pocket. She turned to Aaron, "Listen, thanks for everything. I gotta go."

"Of course," he replied standing and holding out his hand for her to take. Once she was standing, he handed her his card. "This has my number on it. If you ever need someone to talk to..."

She smiled at him. "I will, thanks again." She then turned and hurried out to her car.


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