Chapter 3. Simple scenerios of Tony Stark.
"You should build a hologram for Mr. Jarvis" Ellie quipped as she saw Tony stumble in with the butt of his hand pressed against his forehead, "and stop drinking past eleven".
"How old are you?" Tony shot back sitting on the stool across from her and beckoning to her coffee cup. When her brown eyes just stared at him in unnerving boredom he snatched it for himself only to spit it out when he tasted bitter tea, "why would you ruin a coffee cup by placing tea in it?" he sputtered.
"I think it gives it character" Ellie chirped taking a grab for the offended cup only for it to be snatched away. Retreating a bit, Tony quickly took the bait and placed the cup back down, smirking. Mirroring his muscle movements, she sweetly murmured, "Thank you for the tea, Mr. Stark".
Scrunching his eyebrows together he looked down at his empty hand, his fingers twitching out of the imaginary hold they now formed. Groaning, he seemed to remember his pounding headache and pressed fingers to his eyes, "too early for this".
Taking the final sips out of the cup she washed it in the sink before leaning a hip against the sink, "are we ready for an opening for our guest?" She barely got any sleep after giving Bruce and Tony the condensed version of her presence and background- everything S.H.I.E.L.D put in storage and not much more.
"You homeboys with him?" Tony asked leaning back, effectively cracking his back and cracking an eye open when he heard another set of feet enter the room.
Ellie gave Bruce a small greeting, eyeing him curiously, while he poured himself the remaining green tea in a new mug, and after receiving a similar, albeit sleepier, reply she turned back to answer the question, "I babysat his little boy after-" frowning a bit, she backtracked, "I babysat his kid"
"Where's baby-momma?" Tony pushed hearing her falter but after some silence he continued as if he didn't ask anything, "Brucie, you up to tag teaming against Super Spandex Man? What'd yeah say? Tech and hulk against superhuman?"
"If he came out of the comic books I've read, no" Bruce smiled a bit, his eyes crinkling kindly as he shared an amused look at Ellie, "are they?"
She grinned as she thought of the first time she spotted those comics of her family and friends, one could say she hoarded them, and they were all neatly organized in her room, "oh, yes, Dr. Banner, and much more".
"You're ruining more than my coffee cup now" Tony warned, and turning to the good doctor he shook his finger at him, "and I'm sure our friendly Green Giant wouldn't have a second thought about joining me, true friendship there"
"Don't put too much faith in him, Tony" Bruce frowned at the mention of the Other Guy.
"Don't you?" Ellie butted in, tilting her head, "I mean, isn't he apart of you? Shouldn't you put faith in him in turn to have faith in yourself?" frowning to herself she wrung her fingers in thought, "that didn't sound right- you have to have trust in him to trust yourself, there".
"Even the new girl understands!" Tony piped up, turning to the twin colored hair girl, "don't let him full yeah, green and bulky grows on yeah real fast".
Frowning at the pair, Bruce adjusted his glasses, remembering the strange dream he had last night that involved the Other Guy… come to think of it, he remembered Ellie being there too.
Odd.
"Are we going?" Ellie changed the subject, feeling a bit guilty for raining on Bruce's good mood, "the sooner the less I'll be yelled at by the Director"
"To the Batmobile!" Tony shouted, grabbing a stray apple and strided to the elevator, looking behind when he didn't here faithful followers, "What? I said it right, didn't I?"
Ellie gave him a blank look and Bruce gently placed his cup in the sink, sparing him a look.
"Okay, sore subject, I got it" he shrugged, "but you got the gist of it, now follow your leader!"
Shaking her head she followed Bruce's lead as he entered the elevator, looking around warily at the piece of contraption, not one for this, opting for stairs over it any day. As it started going up she grasped Bruce's large hand in her own and swung it, letting the motions sooth her though not daring to meeting a surprised gaze in fear of reddening in embarrassment.
Bruce almost jolted out of his skin at the contact, about to hastily pull it back when he saw her stiff stance and pale face. Taking a breath he calmed his heart down as well as soothed the presence at the back of his mind who surprisingly was more curious than defensive.
"Here we are" Tony announced stepping out and through the newly rebuilt lounge room, directly out to the docking bridge for his suit, "where all the action takes place".
Walking up to the ledge, Ellie cautiously looked down, knowing she wouldn't be able to land on her own two feet without hurting something. Looking around, she was satisfied she could see over buildings- looking up she realized it wouldn't be too hard to overlook this particular one even if it wasn't the tallest.
A slight push at her shoulder made her shout out in panic before muscle memory kicked in and she flew herself backwards, only seen as a red and yellow blur before she stood stationary at the opened glass door not a half-second later. Looking up she spared a grinning Tony Stark a brief glare before walking forward, though she stood closer to Bruce this time who himself was giving Tony a warning look, his hand rubbing at his chest over his heart. A strange beeping sound caught her attention, though by the time she recognized it, it had slowed down until silence replaced it.
Patting his shoulder in reassurance Ellie looked around before turning to both men, "no funny business, and we wait until we see the Director to explain extensively about-" she flapped her hand helplessly in the air, "-this"
"Don't mind us" Tony remarked sliding two sun chairs a bit behind her, gesturing to Bruce to take a seat, "we're just going to enjoy the view".
Rolling her eyes she took a breath, suddenly a bit nervous. Looking back towards Bruce and Tony, she received an encouraging smile and thumbs up. Looking over the buildings she shook out her hands, jumping in spot to shake out the nerves before opening her mouth, "Clark?"
It came out in a whisper, a small calling that if the man was paying attention, he would here clear as day. Seeing nothing coming towards the tower or hear flapping fabric she tried a bit louder, "Clark? Kent?"
"How 'bout dancing? Do that strange cheerleading thing- you know, jump, shout, flip, that oughta catch his attention" Tony offered, lounging back and producing sunglasses from a compartment on the ground and perching them on his nose.
"He'd probably think I'm throwing a show for the both of you"
Bruce choked on her air supply for a moment, blood rushing to his face and the Other Guy quizzically brushing against his boundaries, looking for a way to the surface. Forcing the feeling away he covered his face for a moment before glancing at Tony who was waggling his eyebrows at him. Shaking his head he looked back to Ellie who was still calling out to thin air.
After a while Tony suddenly sat up, muttering about 'time ticking at his pounding head' and opened something near the compartment where his sunglasses had been stored. A big red button glinted back at him, and Bruce was reminded of the saying "never press the big red button" and before he could question its function, it was pressed and an ear ringing screech had him swinging around to see the spot where Ellie once stood to be no more. The girl was gone, and in that split second of shock gave the wondering presence in his head to break through.
"Hey, watch it!" Tony shouted as he dove out of the way of a swinging green fist as Bruce groan turned to more of a grunt. No matter how many times he saw the transformation on screen, it still fascinated him to see the gamma revamp the doctor into- well this.
~BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK~
No matter how fast she could run, Ellie still felt that falling wasn't fast enough, she hated to feeling of fear that rose in her throat and the anxiety that made her stomach cramp.
"CLARK!" the strangely high pitch that came out of her mouth surprised her as well as the buzzing sound ringing in her ears. It was always her standing in the sidelines watching people get saved, not in reverse and it scared the living daylights out of her just as much as the time she appeared in this world.
A force suddenly slammed into her, knocking the remaining breath out of her and her hands numbly grab onto anything for leverage.
"You're a hard woman to find, Ellie" a deep voice chuckled above her, sending goose bumps rise on her skin at the baritone. Looking up she was choked with tears at a very familiar face, happiness overcoming the sudden fear.
"You're a harder person to get a hold of" was her late reply as she leaned forward in his grasp and hugged his neck, his cape tickling her nose, and was about to let the tears flow when a terrifying roar had her arms contract tighter around the heroes neck. "uhm, Clark?" she murmured, lightly tugging on his raven hair.
"Yes?" he had already craned his neck backwards to see where the ear ringing yell had come from, though it seemed to be struggling with somebody that was reassuring it-he was stuck between helping the individual out or letting him talk down the other one.
"You know that big building with the big A on it?"
"The building that you fell from?"
Ellie was tempted to correct him, she didn't fall, she was dropped, but decided better of it and replied, "We need to go back there, my-err" oh, why not? They were better company than Clint, "my friends are back there, they can help us"
"I'm not sure you want to go back there, Ellie, there seems to be a dispute going on as we speak"
"Yeah" she replied lamely, honestly not knowing how to handle the situation now that she was in it, "they're-unique".
"Your call" Ellie felt him shrug as he arched upwards to bring them towards the direction of Tony's tower. Savoring the wind in her hair she briefly closed her eyes.
"Ellie, I would like you to meet an acquaintance of mine"
Looking up from her perch next to the sink, watching Alfred wash the dishes, Ellie was met with a new face. Dark hair like Bruce's with more of a blue tent to it, nearly as tall, if not taller statute and just as kind eyes that were a pretty blue. He was wearing a suit as well, making her conscious of her informal, paint spattered, yellow overalls and red shirt underneath.
Looking briefly down to judge the distance she pushed herself off the clean counter, teetering a bit but stuck the landing on her own two feet. She walked up beside Bruce, grasping his hand lightly to swing, and looked up at the new face.
"I'm Ellie" she broke the silence offering her free small hand to the man, looking briefly back at Alfred to make sure she was doing it right. Her hand being enveloped in a warm one brought her gaze back to see the blue eyed man now crouching in front of her, smiling.
"I've heard so much of you, Miss Ellie, My name is Clark, Clark Kent"
"I don't suppose we're too welcome at this moment , Ellie"
Opening her eyes she looked back to see a giant mass of green try to side step a fully armored Tony Stark who looked like he was banged around once or twice in the span she had been dropped. He had his hands raised in a defensive gesture, mechanical voice muttering out half-hearted jokes to keep the beasts attention on him, failing as green eyes raged at Clark and her…
Or maybe just at Clark.
With a roar he flung Tony away from him and leaped into the air, his form ramming into the hovering pair. And that was when Tony's idea became reality, and how Ellie figured out that though Clark may be impossibly strong, The Hulk was impossibly stubborn and gave him a run for his money.
Ellie squealed when a green hand suddenly grabbed onto Clark's face, jerking it back making his form jerk sideways. Trying to break away, Clark released one arm from Ellie to fling the green hulk away, and it would have worked if Hulk hadn't had a solid grip on his face. Suddenly Clark spun his form wildly and Ellie forced her tea down, a mix between red and green morphing into a swirling blur in her vision.
"Tony!" if this was his partywish, he may as well be involved in it, "Get him off-"
There was another jerk, this time, it was away from her and she was once again free falling. Eyes widening in renewed fear she helplessly flapped her arms, swearing under her breath in quick gasps of killing Tony if she lived through this. Clenching her eyes closed, she prayed.
~BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK~
Curled up in a fetal position, Ellie was momentarily disoriented, not knowing where she was or how she got where she was. Blinking the spinning away from her sight, she came face to face with vibrant green that seemed to be alive, twitching that moved her along with it.
A snort brought her to full attention. Raising her head she had to stop when it bumped into something tough.
"Ellie?" a muffled shout came from beyond her line of sight, beyond the moving cocoon she seemed to be in. Pushing against it she was push on her bum when it jerked against her. "Ellie, are you hurt?"
A load roar came too close for comfort for her, her body moving with the rocking motion of her temporary sitting arrangements. Huffing a bit she pushed harder, startle when she was blinded by light for a moment before some part of her cocoon disentangled and pushed her back.
Blinking, she forced her eyes to adjust, using the bit of light she had to reflect it to her benefit. It was then she realized her cocoon was actually two giant hands cupped together to keep her in.
"Ellie!?"
It kind of sounded like Clark…
"Uhm" Ellie murmured awkwardly, not sure how to resolve the problem at hand, "Bruce?" receiving an aggravated huff in response she quickly corrected her mistake, "Hulk? Hey, buddy- err, you remember me, yes? From last night, with the mirrors? You, Bruce and me had a nice chit-chat"
A rumbling tone that oddly resembled a cat's purr on steroids met her before light started filtering into her vision before she saw a slightly comical view that she wouldn't let Tony live down.
Him on his knees next to a standing Superman who hand his hand threateningly around the back of his neck to keep him there, while Clark himself barely paid him mind, eyes anxiously traveling over her uninjured body before meeting the eyes of Hulk, though his question was aimed at her.
"He your friend too, Ellie?"
Assuming he heard her talking just moments before through Hulk's hands, she gave him what she hoped to be a confident smile, though she was still a bit shaken, "yeah" looking up at a disgruntled Hulk, she lamely grabbed his attention by waving her hand in his face, "and he's my friend too" at this she pointed to Clark.
"What about me?" Tony snapped flailing his arms uselessly, "chop liver?"
Real work on the backburner for now. Questions, question away. BTW, thanks for those few who actually are following this. Much appreciated.