Chapter 29:
"Tony…"
Working late into the night, Tony was not used to his name being called out loud. Especially from someone who should be half a world away. Looking up from his newest suit of armor that he was tinkering with, Tony glanced around his lab for the source of the voice that had called his name. He quickly found it starring right at him from the large computer monitor in front of him.
There in full color was an image of Emma.
"Jarvis," Tony said. "What is this?"
"A preprogramed recording, sir," the AI responded. "If your sister did not deactivate by a certain time, then it was to begin playing. Shall I allow it to continue?"
Curious, Tony set down his wrench that he was holding in his hand. "Yeah, go ahead and play it."
Abiding by what Tony had said, Jarvis allowed the recording that Emma had done to continue. He knew that Emma and Clint were on some super secret mission for Fury off in Asia somewhere. So while they were gone, he and Pepper were helping their nanny Kaleigh take care of Audrey. He did not mind, in fact, his niece was actually growing on him.
"…if Jarvis is playing this recording for you, its because neither Clint nor myself made it out of our latest mission alive. For the last few months, I've been doing this right before we've gone on any mission for Fury. Yet with all the recent events, this mission just feels different…"
She paused before continuing. "Take care of Audrey and make sure that she knows that her mommy and daddy both loved her dearly. I'm sorry that we also did not get more time to spend with each other. Life is funny that way, isn't it? Also make sure that Fury gets the hard drive that is in your wall safe. Sorry I broke into it – but I needed some place that I knew would be protected. I love you," she said with a small smile. "And goodbye…"
The video ended and Tony Stark sat motionless. A million thoughts were running through his head. Where was his sister? What had happened to her? What was so important about this hard drive? Was she really gone? How was he supposed to raise a 5 year old?
"Sir? Shall I replay the video?" Jarvis asked.
"No…no…that's fine Jarvis." Tony said as he stood up and moved towards his computer. He began to frantically type away at his keyboard – pulling up all sorts of various files. He had to find out where his sister had been sent. And he had to do it fast. Thankfully he had slipped a tracking device into her new cellphone that he had gotten her. Perhaps she had it on her. Or at least it was near by.
Within seconds, he had the device schematics pulled up and had remotely powered the phone on. A faint signal was resonating from her cell phone.
He quickly powered up the Mach 43, his newest Ironman suit, which opened up for him and allowed him to step into it. As he did, it sealed around him and the HUD came into view. "Jarvis, send me those coordinates," he commanded as he walked towards the balcony outside of his lab.
"Yes sir," the AI replied, as the coordinates appeared in the HUD and pinpointed a region on a map for him – the Gilgit-Baltistan region in Pakistan.
"Let's just see how fast this new puppy can go," he replied as he blasted off from the balcony into the night sky.
"Sir it's over 6,700 miles to where the transmission is coming from." Jarvis echoed.
"Then I will just call in a favor. Dial Rhodey."
Thankfully, Tony had been quick to remember that Rhodey was currently on assignment with the Air Force in Afghanistan as War Machine. After the incident a few months ago with the vice president of the United States trying to assassinate the President, Rhodey felt that he needed to get rid of the Iron Patriot suit and tony couldn't agree more.
So War Machine had been reborn.
Yet right now, Tony's only concern was whether or not Rhodey had been able to locate Emma and Clint. Halfway across Europe, Tony got his answer via a call from Rhodey.
"I found Emma, but not Clint. But tony…"
Rhodey's voice dropped.
"What? What is it?"
"Our medics removed two bullets from her and suppressed her bleeding. But it doesn't look good. There was no telling how long she had been lying in the snow, bleeding out. And whatever pain meds they give her are simply disappearing in her blood. Is there something they need to know about her?"
Tony let Rhodey's words sink in for a moment. Pain medicine was disappearing in her blood? That was when it clicked – the meds weren't disappearing, they were being burnt up.
"Rhodey, is she stable enough for transport?"
"I believe so. Why?"
"Someone is coming to pick her up and transport her to a S.H.E.I.L.D. facility."
"Who?"
Nick Fury had no idea how Tony Stark had figured out that his sister was in trouble before S.H.E.I.L.D. had. Right now that didn't bother him as he piloted the Quinjet towards his destination in Afghanistan.
What bothered him was the fact that two of his best agents had been attacked – one was now teetering between life and death, while the other one was M.I.A. – yet for all intensive purposes, Fury knew better. He and S.H.E.I.L.D. had lost a good solider. But more importantly, he worried about how Emma was going to react to the news of Clint's death.
That was if she pulled out of this.
He had considered sending Cap and his Strike team members to retrieve Emma from the military base in Afghanistan and to bring her to the S.H.E.I.L.D. trauma center in Switzerland. Then he reconsidered. He needed to do this. He had been the one to send her and Clint on this mission to see if they could locate any thing odd in the region. He was the one who had gotten her into this mess.
Besides who else was going to make sure that everything that could be done was done for her - even if that meant giving her the infinity formula. He did have the vital piece of the formula, the Super Solider Serum. Shortly after Rogers had been found and revived, Fury managed to obtain a vial of his blood for testing with the formula. All the lab tests had been positive and Fury had been waiting for the right moment to test it on a human subject. His first three choices had been Emma, Clint or Natasha – all of which had agreed to subject themselves to the test if it became necessary.
And now was that time.
He only hoped that it worked because he really did not want to subject anyone else to the T.A.H.I.T.I. program.
Tony nervously ran his fingers through his hair as he stood by in the observation area and watched as the doctors worked frantically to stabilize Emma once she had arrived in Zurich, Switzerland. She had sustained two gunshot wounds – one to her shoulder and one to her abdomen. She had also lost a lot of blood. Whoever had shot her had left her for dead on that mountainside. Along with her gunshot wounds and loss of blood, she also had sustained head trauma. From what he had been told from Fury, that was what was concerning the doctors the most at the moment, given her past brain injuries.
Standing there, unable to do anything to help his little sister, Tony allowed his mind to wander. Memories of when he had to say goodbye to her when she was 7 years old came flooding back to him. It had practically killed him then – only to find out that she had actually survived. The last year or so of his life had been the best ever. He finally felt complete. He had his little sister back. But if he had to say goodbye to her again and so soon after he had finally had her back, then there was no telling what might happen.
Perhaps his demon in the bottle ways would return.
He placed a hand against the observation glass. "Come on, Em. You gotta pull through…" he whispered as a tear slipped down his cheek. He quickly wiped it away.
That was when he felt a hand squeeze his shoulder. Tony turned to see Bruce move to stand next to him. Behind Bruce, Steve and Natasha stood as well. "What are you doing here?" he asked a bit confused.
"Natasha found out what had happened. She picked us up and we arrived only moments ago," Steve answered as his eyes moved to watch what was taking place in the operating room in front of them. "Any improvement yet?"
Tony shrugged his shoulders. "She hasn't flat lined at least."
"That is always a good sign." Bruce said.
The group of assembled Avengers watched as one of their own fought for her life. It wasn't much longer before the surgeons finished and turned to give Tony the thumbs up.
Emma was stable for now.
Nick Fury was furious. He was not mad at anyone but himself. During Emma's surgery, a secure call from Hill came through for him. Leaving Tony to take the call in private, Fury learned from his second in command that a video message from Emma had been received.
He had Hill transfer the message to him.
While he wasn't surprised about receiving a message from Emma, it was the content that did. She revealed to him that over the last 10 months, she had been working on a secret mission that he had assigned her before he had asked that Dr. Stephen Strange alter all of the memories of those who were involved with something known as Winter Solider. And since then she had been monitoring activities where whispers of him were there. Once she had finished explaining all of what she knew to him, she said goodbye and asked from him to make sure that Tony raises Audrey in the right way, just incase Clint didn't make it home either. Then the message ended.
So all of this was his fault.
That was why he was furious.
Thankfully the surgeons had been able to sustain Emma.
Now it was time to make amends.
Waiting until the nurses had chased Tony and the others out of Emma's recovery room, Fury slipped in and stood over Emma's bed for a moment.
"This is my fault," he whispered. "I'm sorry. Hopefully this helps you recover…" he said as he took a syringe out of his inner jacket pocket and injected the contents into her IV. He silently hoped that this helped.
There were far too many people depending on her survival.
AN: And this is where I am going to end this story. I'm starting the sequel titled "New Beginnings" in a day or two. I will be sure to let everyone know when the sequel is posted! Thanks for all the love =)
