Allie

III

Passing cars, bright headlights, the vaguest of a connection to Gabie, and a silent woman next to me are the things my next hour consists of.

"Why were you at the house tonight? What was so important that you had to speak to Tony?" I ask, abruptly breaking the silence.

"I think that my boss is working for the Mandarin. So if you still want to talk about it, I suggest that we get ourselves someplace safe," Maya replies flatly and I gawk.

"Your boss works for the Mandarin, you think? But Tony says you're a botanist, so-"

"That figures. What I actually am is a biological DNA coder running a team of forty out of a privately-funded think tank, but sure you can call me a botanist," Maya deadpans and I splutter.

"This boss of yours, does he have a name?" I ask.

"Yeah, Aldrich Killian."

My eyes widen and a million conclusions fire off in my mind.

Killian pitched Extremis to Tony.

In Gabie's mind I saw the briefest of glimpses of a man exploding at the theater, not a bomb.

Extremis must be what's blowing up people; there has to be some fault in the serum.

Oh I wish I could just speak to Gabie.

III

Gabie

III

"The sandwich was fair, the spring was a little rusty, the rest of the materials, I'll make do," Tony fires off as we stroll into the small town.

Harley is leading us to the crime scene where the explosion happened.

"By the way, when you said your sister had a watch, I was kind of hoping for something a little more than that," Tony grumbles and pulls up his sleeve to reveal a Hello Kitty watch.

"She's six!" Harley laughs out.

"I think it's cute," I add in and Tony frowns.

"Anyway, it's limited edition. When can we talk about New York?" Harley questions persistently. He's been curious about the wormhole.

"Maybe never, relax about it," Tony responds snappishly.

"What about The Avengers, can you talk about them?" Harley persists and I chuckle.

"I don't know, later," Tony snaps before I can say anything positive. "Hey kid, give me a little space." Harley backs away from Tony immediately with disappointment all over his face.

"Well Harley I can say a little. Captain America is very kind and talks like a great grandpa, Black Widow is coy and mysterious, Thor is really odd but in a way he's like a teddy bear, Siren is empathetic and determined, and Hawkeye-" I stop short, I don't know what to say about him. "Hawkeye is hilarious, open-minded, and not to mention his aim is perfect."

"So cool!" Harley exclaims and smiles widely. My response seems to have satisfied him.

Harley turns suddenly and gestures to the explosion site.

"There used to be a building here," he informs.

There is almost nothing left of the building, only two crumbling walls. These are the only remains.

In the center there's a deep crater and painted on the walls are dark shadows of people. Candles, photos, and flowers cover the area.

"What's the official story here? What happened?" Tony queries and kneels down to examine the crater.

"I guess this guy named Chad Davis, used to live roundabouts, won a bunch of medals in the army. One day, folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb. Then he blew himself up right here," Harley explains and sits on the edge of the crater. Tony stands up and moves towards the walls.

There are only five shadows.

"Six people died, right?"

"Yeah."

"Including Chad Davis?"

"Yeah," Harley repeats.

"It doesn't add up Stark," I say and he nods in agreement.

"Yeah. That doesn't make sense." Tony sits down next to Harley but I stay standing, it's hard to bend down. "Think about it. Six dead, only five shadows."

In the back of my mind there's an alarm bell going off, there is something I should be remembering.

"Yeah, people said these shadows are like the mark of souls gone to Heaven. Except the bomb guy, he went to Hell on account of he didn't get a shadow. That's why there's only five," Harley elaborates somberly as sniffles.

"Do you buy that?" Tony asks and Harley shrugs.

"That's what everyone says."

"Sometimes what everyone says isn't right," I point out. "It's a good life lesson to have Harley." Harley nods but stays quiet.

"You know what this crater reminds me of?" Harley prompts breaking the quiet.

"No idea. I'm not...I don't care," Tony replies somewhat brokenly.

"That giant wormhole, in um...in New York. Does it remind you?"

I should have told her, I didn't tell her, and now I'm going to die. I'm leaving her without a piece of her soul, how is that fair?

Darkness, lights fading, heart stopping.

Falling, shouting, crying.

I recoils violently at the sudden rush of feelings and images in Tony's head.

"That's manipulative. I don't want to talk about it," Tony spits out.

"Are they coming back? The aliens?"

"Harley!" I snap in a warning tone.

"Maybe. Can you stop? Remember when I told you, that I have an anxiety issue?" Tony manages to say.

"Does this subject make you...make you edgy?" Harley asks quickly, too quickly.

"Yeah, a little bit. Can I just catch my breath for a second?" Tony begs and I rush over to check on him.

I may hate Stark but I hate having panic attacks more.

"Are there bad guys in Rose Hills? Do you...do you need a plastic bag to breathe into? Do you have medication?" Harley fires off only making the stress worse.

"Nope."

"Do you need to be on it?"

"Probably," Tony and I say in unison.

"Just breathe Tony," I advise in a soothing voice.

"Do you have PTSD?" Harley presses.

"I don't think so."

"I know it's a bad time but I think you do," I murmur and rub his shoulders.

"Are you...are you going completely mental? I can stop, do you want me to stop? Do you want me to stop?" Harley questions hastily and Tony lurches backwards.

"Remember when I said to stop doing that? I swear to God, you're going to freak me out!" Tony shouts, agitation is all over his face. His thoughts are going too fast, he's having a panic attack.

Tony suddenly rises and stumbles away pushing my hands away as he goes.

"Ah man, you did it, didn't you? You happy now?" he hisses as he stumbles.

"What did I say?" Harley asks and begins running after Tony who has begun dashing away.

"Tony!" I call and follow as well.

"Hey, wait up! Wait, wait!"

Tony stops running abruptly and falls to his knees in a snow bank allowing us to catch up. Tony picks up a handful of snow and presses his face into it.

"Breathe Tony," I say calmly. After a moment Tony brushes away the snow and inhales deeply. His thoughts are evening out now.

My worry quickly fades away

"What the hell was that?" Harley demands in confusion. In response Tony hurls a snowball at him.

"Your fault, you spazzed me out. Okay, back to business. Where were we? The guy who died...relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?" Tony asks, he is intent to get back to work. He wants to forget that happened, that it keeps happening.

"Where she always is."

"See, now you're being helpful."

"Tony again don't be rude!"