LOST
Pieces of the support structure began to crumble as a helicopter launched one more missile at the house, finally taking out the last pillar at the bottom. With a loud and horrifying snapping noise, the house cracked into two and began tittering close to the edge, only a breath away from crumbling into the ocean below.
The helicopters halted their fire as dust and smoke billowed out of every orifice of the house, shrouding what was going on inside. They hovered in the air for some time, staring intensely at the smoke when a large figure suddenly burst out. The dust and smoke gave way to a grand piano hurtling through the air. One of the helicopters didn't have time to get out of the way and was struck head-on. The engine faltered and began to spin out of control, crashing into the cliff and falling into the ocean.
Two of the last helicopters steadied themselves in the air, and the dust and smoke surrounding the house faded a bit, revealing Abel standing just at the edge. Her eyes glared at the helicopters as she backed further into the house.
"One down…" she grunted while using a steel beam to press her back against. She could hear everything that was going on around her. The crumbling of stone, the cries of metal being bent, and the rushing waves of the ocean below. If she had to make an estimated time for how long the house will hold, then she guessed it would be five minutes.
"F…five minutes," she gasped out. "I can do five minutes…. I think."
Abel suddenly shrieked when the sound of gunfire rang in her ears. Bullets shattered the glass and penetrated the floor around her feet. Some struck her legs and arms as she tried to make herself as small as possible. Blood oozed out of her wounds, quickly staining her clothes in bright shades of crimson.
"Abel!" Tony's shrill voice pierced the sound of intense gunfire. Abel looked up and saw the glowing eyes of Tony in his Ironman suit slowly approaching her, taking all the hits like it was nothing. "I thought you said you could handle this!"
"Please don't be smart with me right now!" she shouted over the roar of endless fire.
Tony grabbed Abel by her arm and pulled her behind him, taking the fire so she could have the chance to escape further inside the crumbling house.
"Is your suit combat ready?!" Abel cried out, shielding her eyes from the falling debris.
"Uh, kinda no!" Tony stuttered as red messages appeared over his vision, telling him in various ways that the suit hardly had any power, much less flight.
"Give me your arm!" Abel whirled around and grabbed Tony's arm. She forcefully ripped off the protective layer of armor and took a small missile out that couldn't be deployed. "You know what to do!"
Abel took a step to the side and came into view of one of the broken windows. She reared her arm all the way back and launched it with a speed that a pro baseball player would be jealous of. The missile was nearly upon the other helicopter when Tony raised his arm and blasted it. The helicopter last power immediately and began to make a dead spiral right toward the house.
"Look out!" Abel screamed and pushed Tony hard as the helicopter crashed against the window.
Flares of red and orange blinded Tony as he was thrown against the ground. He lifted his heavy head and saw Abel kneeling against the floor that was starting to slope at a dangerous angle. Looking around, he saw couches, tables, and the cars in the basement level sliding backwards and falling into the murky depths below.
This was it!
The house could no longer support itself. It was going down!
Tony knew Abel was trying to call him. He could see her mouth moving and her face growing pale, but he could hear no words coming out. The only thing he could hear was a loud ringing noise as explosions continued to go off inside the house. He realized with an aching heart that it was his other ironman suits that were bursting into flames of frayed metal.
"Tony! Tony!" Abel's shrill voice pierced the air at long last.
Tony caught sight of her blazing brown eyes for only a moment when they were suddenly swiped from him. A large piece of concrete broke off from the ceiling and smacked Abel against the head. She lost her balance instantly and began to tumble backward.
"Nononono!" Tony shouted as Abel's body fell off the edge and plummeted straight into the ocean.
Abel didn't even get the chance to hold her breath when her back smacked hard against the water. Upon impact, she felt her bones break and pierce her from the inside. Hitting the water at this height was like hitting concrete. It knocked all the air from her ruptured lungs as she took in mouthfuls of water. Her vision hazed into shades of dark blue and red as electrical wires wrapped around her body, pulling her deeper into the ocean.
Drowning and bleeding internally, it didn't take long for things to start going dark. While Abel still could, she grabbed the cables and used the last of her strength to rip them off. She could still see some light from the surface, but it was only fractures because of how much debris was in the water with her. The last few things Abel could make out were the dying headlights of the cars, the dummy robot, and the remains of the old ironman suits floating past her.
"Sir, flight power has been restored. And I've located Mrs. Bamlett."
"Tony! Tony!" came a shrill voice. "Tony, wake up! Please!"
Through blurry eyes and throbbing pains in his head, Tony cracked open his eyes. He felt Abel still locked in his arms as the suit of armor flew on autopilot through the air. It wasn't just Abel's voice that woke him, though. It was the endless ringing of alarms flashing across his screen.
"All right. Kill the alarm," Tony said groggily.
"That's the emergency alert triggered by the power dropping below 5%," Jarvis answered calmly.
The alarms became more urgent as the blurriness disappeared from his eyes. He could see that it was dark outside, but the ground was approaching fast. There was no stopping the flight on time either. Tony and Abel had no choice and screamed loudly as they slammed against the ground. Still in flight mode, their bodies ricocheted off trees, bounced off the floor, and finally came to a screeching halt against the snow.
Tony had released Abel at some point and landed a couple feet behind him. She lay still in the snow for a moment as her wounds healed, but once she was fit enough to move, Abel whipped her head out of the ground and sucked in a deep breath. She winced as she felt the cold air on her throat, like a thousand little needle pricks against her skin.
Abel looked around and saw that they were in a dark forest, surrounded by thick blankets of snow. She wasn't sure where they were since she was unconscious through most of the flight, and Tony had passed out too sometime after escaping. There was one thing Abel was sure of, though, and it was that they were no longer in the state. They had crash-landed somewhere up north.
"Tony?" Abel called out, surprised by how weak and hoarse her voice was. Forcefully popping some of her joints back into place, Abel stood to her legs very slowly and crept over to Tony. "Tony, are you alright?"
Tony forced himself onto his back and started up at Abel that knelled beside him. She reached for his face plate and pulled it off so he could breathe properly. Abel could see his eyes darting all over the place. Going to the forest, the road that was not far, and back to Abel. He looked just as confused as she was.
"It's snowing, right?" he asked.
"Sure feels that way," Abel agreed, breathing out a mist of cold breath. "Where are we? Upstate?
"We are five miles outside of Rosehill, Tennessee," Jarvis answered in an etched voice.
Tony's eyes widened as Abel nodded in agreement, appearing satisfied with the answer.
"Ah, so it seems," Abel said with a dreamy voice, looking around.
"Why?!" Tony blurted out. "Jarvis, not my idea! What are we doing here?"
"I've prepared a flight plan for the location," Jarvis said.
"Who asked you?"
"You did," Abel reminded. "Jarvis, open the suit."
On command, the suit formed a crack down the middle and slowly began to open up. Once free, Tony shot out from the suit and breathed deeply, startling himself by how cold it was right now.
"That's brisk," Tony breathed out. He rubbed his hands together and breathed on them to try and warm himself up. He then took Abel's hands, which were steely cold, and tried to warm them up too. "Abel, you're literally a popsicle right now." He said, noticing how stiff her hair and clothes were. They must've froze during the flight.
"I'll be alright. Please don't worry about me," Abel said softly, taking her hands and rubbing them up and down Tony's arms. "Jarvis?"
Directing their attention back to the sparking suit, they heard Jarvis's voice cracking. "I think…I need to sleep now, sir…" he said as the suit powered down entirely.
"Jarvis," Tony called out but heard nothing. "Jarvis? Don't leave me buddy."
Abel swallowed hard and stood up. She blinked her eyes a couple times as they adjusted to the lack of light. Now, she could see miles ahead. A town in the distance with active signs of life. The only problem was that getting there would be quite the hike.
"Looks like we're on our own," Abel said, taking off her light jacket. She pulled Tony to his feet and draped it around his shoulder.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Tony exclaimed, grabbing her arms to stop her. "I can't take this."
"This is not something I'm going to argue with you about, Tony," Abel said, her voice suddenly firm and unyielding. Tony looked taken aback when he saw the look in her eyes, different than how they had been a couple seconds ago. They looked focused and serious now. "Right now… we're going to have to play a hard game of survival. So I'm going to need you to listen to everything I say. Can you do that?"
"I…I…" Tony stumbled, staring at her wide, disbelieving eyes.
"Can you do that? For me?" Abel lifted her hands to the sides of his face and felt him flinch at how freezing cold they were. "I need you to pull yourself together for me. Ok? Tony?"
It took a second longer, but the reality of their situation slowly began to sink in. It was cold and dark, and they were alone in an unknown place with no way of communicating back to anyone. He had no gadgets, gizmos, and an ironman suit they couldn't use.
Tony couldn't have been more out of his element, but he still had his mind, and most importantly…he still had Abel.
Tony reached up and grasped her hands. "I got this." He breathed in a shuddering breath. "I got this…" he repeated. He kissed both her hands before turning around and looking down at his suit. "So…uh, a town is nearby, right?"
Abel looked nervous and reached for his shoulder, holding him tightly. "There is, but it's going to be quite the walk. I'll carry the suit," she said as Tony reached down to grab the ironman suit.
"But-"
"What did I just say?" she reminded with a weary smile. "Please don't argue and just listen to me."
Tony nodded his head sharply and awkwardly stepped out of the way. He watched Abel as she quickly grabbed the suit and slung the useless hunk of metal over her shoulder. She gestured with her head and took the lead toward the town.
With little effort, Abel hiked her leg up and slammed it against the shed doors. The lock broke off, and the doors swung wide open, letting the street headlights flood the dark room. Tony walked in first and looked around, spotting an old-looking couch not far.
"Set him down over there," Tony said, pointing the way out for Abel.
Still carrying the ironman suit over her shoulders, Abel strutted into the shed and let Tony close the door behind her. She walked over to the couch and bent her body down, laying the suit into a sitting position on the couch. Once it was in place, she adjusted its arms to make it look like it was just resting.
Tony groaned and sat on the couch, soon joined by Abel. He looked over to his right and saw the ironman's head looking right at him. He swiveled it over until it was looking straight ahead.
"You happy now?" Tony scoffed at the suit.
Abel chuckled. "Well... it's a start."