130 FOLLOWERS! Guys you ROCK!
And I still don't own anything.
Toni's Point of View
Toni stood stiffly in the jet – coincidently, in the exact same place she had been before Thor had taken it upon himself to hijack their prisoner – trying to breathe deeply and steadily through the pain in her ribs as she fiddled with the inner panelling of her helmet. That final blast had done a number on her communications system and she really needed to get through to Phil before they reached the base.
After the rather awkward face-off they had experienced, surrounded by demolished forest, something had seemed to dawn on each of them at the same time. If they were there glaring holes in each other then who was looking after Loki?
Thor had swung his hammer like a lasso and flown off without a word or a backwards glance. Toni hadn't been able to prevent the flinch as Thor began to move the damn hammer but she quickly recovered and took off after him, leaving Icicle Pants to his own devices – if he hadn't been able to find them she would have went back for him…eventually.
She followed Thor to the same place where she had first bashed into him – that despite everything wasn't all that far away – expecting to find it clear of any demonic god…
Toni had been pleasantly surprised to see one re-cuffed Loki being lead back to the jet. The jet that was sitting in a place that she thought would have been physically impossible for it to be landed.
While Thor stomped towards his brother – obviously deciding against the smash and grab approach this time around – Toni carefully removed her helmet, a section of panelling scraping against her cheek. She felt the sting and winced, her eyes watering. To anyone watching her she knew it would look like her eyes were tearing up for no reason, the holograph hiding any injuries. She had studied the damages, recognising the cause of the damage. It looked like the lightning quick-charge from Thor had caused a problem after all. Wires were burned and melted into a section of panelling. How she avoided burning her face she couldn't tell.
Rogers had shown up just as Romanoff had yelled from the jet for them to 'get a move on'.
So now she was standing in pain, in a jet filled with awkward silence, fiddling around with the wiring of her helmet. And to think Pip had thought she was being anal when she had designed a tool kit into the leg of her suit. It wasn't anything huge, just a laser pen and a screw driver, but it was keeping her occupied during the tense flight.
She was trying to rewire the helmet, taking away from the navigation systems to temporally get the communications system working again until she could do a more permanent fix.
She carefully used the laser pen to tease away wires from each other and refuse them with others. Romanoff had complained about the smell but she pointedly ignored her after telling the spy to 'crack a window'.
She needed to get through to Phil without anyone hearing the conversation and find out where her things had been taken too. She would have to remove the suit away from any prying eyes and deactivate the cuffs to patch herself up before seeing anyone. As it was her right hand was beginning to tingle and she had no idea what kind of damage she would find. She could probably survive a nuclear blast in the suit but one angry Asgardian had managed to nearly crush her in it single handed – literally.
She slipped the helmet onto her head and nearly started to hop p and down as the HUD lit up with the communications screen and then began to flicker off and on. She sighed.
Nearly there though.
She removed it and began to fiddle again. At least she knew where the problem was. Not enough power.
She ignored the look Rogers was throwing her.
He probably thinks I am being rude or something, she snorted to herself. But she knew that the man was too busy keeping an eye on Thor and Loki to be really bothered with her.
She fused the last two wires together and slid the helmet back on. Again the HUD came to life with the communications screen and she held her breath, breathing out in pained relief as the screen remained steady.
She brought up Phil's information and smiled when she heard his voice.
"Phil?" her voice sounded strained to her own ears.
"Mr Stark, how can I help you," obviously the agent was surrounded by the minions of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Please tell me my stuff has arrived?" she begged him, "and where I can find it,"
She saw Capsicle look at her funny, no doubt wondering why she was wearing her helmet for so long.
Well it was none of his business.
He didn't answer her immediately but she heard him walking.
"Toni? Are you still there?" minion-less now it would seem.
"Yeah Phil, I'm here,"
"Yes, your things have arrived, they are in one of the storage bays, why?" poor Phil, he sounded so concerned, one of the few people who actually gave a damn if something happened to her.
"I need to get out of the suit as soon as I can Phil and I need to have privacy to do it," she told him calmly.
"Toni, are you hurt?" damn, now he sounded really worried – he knew how the hologram worked. She could be bleeding to death and there would be no sign of injury on her 'body' only a pool of blood at her feet. Guilt swamped her immediately. She didn't want him to be worried about her.
"Nothing I can't handle," she couldn't be sure if she was lying to him until she got the suit of but until then she would let him think she was fine.
"Toni are you-"
"Phil, I'm fine, all I need is some privacy and directions,"
Phil sighed heavily but told her how to get to the storage facility and ensured her that he would make sure that it was kept clear of personnel and medical supplies would be waiting.
"Thank you," she sighed in relief ending the call after a quick goodbye before Phil could ask more questions.
She took off the helmet to find Capsicle and Thor looking into the cockpit and Loki looking at her.
Creepy.
"Report straight to the briefing station," Fury's voice drifted through the jet from the speakers.
"Yes sir," Romanoff answered.
Great, now I am going to seem like a right brat!
Half an hour later
The first thing that Toni did once they reached the hellicarrier – well, after she had let herself have the teeny-tiniest drool over the floating Nirvana, the technological floating Eden – was to unceremoniously ditch the other passengers and prisoner and make a beeline for the entrance.
She was the one wearing the freaking metal armour all over her and yet she seemed to be the only one injured! How was that right on any level?
When no one protested against the plan to immediately attend a de-briefing with Fury she knew that she was going to be the only one who would be throwing the apparent man fit. But there was no way that she would be making it through a meeting that could last who knew how long without collapsing in a heap.
So she had tried to not make a big deal out of her need to remove the suit. Just saying she would be along as soon as she could.
But had Romanoff and Rogers been happy to accept what she said and leave it at that. No. She had fumed as the all but spelled out that it was an order.
Well Fury sure as hell isn't my boss, she had stewed struggling to keep a rein on her rapidly freying temper.
I should have just stayed in bed and have JARVIS lock out the agents.
But she managed to count to ten and stop herself from saying something she would regret and instead tried to make light of it.
"Uh, seriously, the heat rashes this thing causes are unbelievable, and I won't embarrass your blushing ears with some of the places they end up," she raised an eyebrow at the blushing Captain America as she let his imagination fill in on all the details. She had a feeling that if he was truly aware of her gender he would be passing out from heat stroke thanks to his blush. But unfortunately all she got was some slightly uncomfortable glances and pink tinged ears.
The Captain had shaken his embarrassment off with impressive speed and had quickly set about trying to guilt her into attending the debriefing before changing – something very dramatic about time being of the essence. She had even seen Natasha role her eyes at the request to remove the suit as soon as she could.
Toni had felt the uncharacteristic need to burst into tears at their reactions. So they thought that she was some rich and spoiled man-child, was it really that big of a request?
Maybe I should have told them about my injuries... she mused clomping through the corridors as she followed Phil's instructions on how to get to her things. Her arm was throbbing now and she needed to take something for her ribs.
No!
She had seen the looks on their faces as they exchanges glances. The fact that she was sporting dents in her suit hadn't even caused any concern. And what if they had wanted to see them? She couldn't do that without dropping the holograph.
Did she really act like such an unlikable git that they didn't even care that Thor had been bashing her around like a punching bag? In fact the God of Thunder looked so guilty over his attack on her that she felt kind of sorry for him. And when she tried her best to avoid looking at Capsicle and Romanoff when she no longer needed to fuss with her helmet she found Loki's eyes fixed on her constantly, a look of deep concentration on his face. It had made her edgy and she had been glad for more than one reason when the jet landed and she bolted for it.
She walked with purpose through the corridors, ignoring the looks from the S.H.I.E.L.D staff – after all Iron Man in full suit strolling the corridors was probably some sight so she couldn't blame them really – but she was happy that the bustling bodies became less and less the nearer to storage she got. Finally she reached a section of door lined corridor that was deserted entirely – it seemed like Phil had kept his promise - and scanned the numbers above the doors.
Finally.
She punched the entry button to the storage bay Coulson had told her of and felt nearly giddy with relief as her eyes landed on the travel capsule.
"There's my baby," she mumbled, stepping through the door and locking it from the inside – so one was coming in while she was sorting herself out.
She ran an armour plated hand along the base of the capsule, feeling the little groove that marked the manual unlocking and pressed down hard. She stood painfully slow and stepped back as the capsule opened into a horseshoe shape, the inner lighting shedding a glow over her as she deactivated the cuffs. She caught her reflection in one of the inner panels and saw the head of Anthony Stark shimmer away, leaving her own.
Beep, beep, trilled the door behind her as it hissed open.
Panicked she scrambled for her helmet, not daring to turn around and reveal her face to the intruder.
"It's just me,"
"Phil?"
She spun around, forgetting about her helmet, and faced the agent. Her vision danced for a second and she staggered to lean against the capsule.
Several Phil's dashed towards her.
"Toni?"
"I'm fine, just give me a minute," she took several deep, painful breaths.
"What are you doing here?" she asked slowly as she straightened from her support when only one Phil was standing in front of her.
He glanced down and she followed his eyes.
He was carrying a box filled with the promised medical supplies.
She smiled at him.
"Phil, you are an angel in disguise, you know that?"
Phil just smiled that 'Awe shucks' smile of his and put down the box as she turned to the line of drawers inside the capsule - taking out what she needed to manually remove the crushed right arm and dented breast plate of the suit.
"You bag is here too," Phil informed her stepping to the side and picking up her bag, moving it closer to her.
"Thanks,"
She stepped into the capsule and re-programmed the de-suiting order. She raised out her left arm as electronic limbs unfolded from the back 'wall' of the capsule, making quick and easy work of removing the arm piece and storing it away for her to check over later.
She flexed her arm and wiggled her fingers, stepping away from her machine and picking up her tools.
She began the painful process of removing the suit from her damaged right arm. The tingling was getting worse in her fingers.
"How did this happen?" Phil asked her, coming to stand by her side and watch.
"Thunder Butt," she grumbled, struggling to get the screwdriver into the small gap at the joint. She just needed to press down on that point and then –
Got it!
A panel from shoulder to elbow fell away.
"Thor did this to you?" Phil sounded agitated.
She looked away from her arm and up at him.
Yip, he looked it too.
"Yeah, he didn't take too kindly to us having Loki," she held the screwdriver between her teeth using her forefinger and thumb to press simultaneously down on points either side of her wrist.
"He felt sorry about it," she spoke around the screwdriver until Phil reached for it, taking it from her mouth.
"Thank. You should have seen his face, poor guy was giving himself a massive guilt trip," she scrunched her face up with the effort to get the pressure exactly the same on each side of her wrist.
She felt the joint give and the remaining pieces attached to her arm dropped to the floor with a clang.
She hissed in a breath as something scraped across her skin and the feeling rushed back into her now uncovered fingers.
An ugly gash twisted from just below her elbow around to not quit the middle of her arm, and her skin was beginning to bruise. She could clearly make out a Thor sized hand print. She looked closer at the cut, it wasn't too deep - it had just been a bit of a bleeder.
Deciding it could do a bit longer she began work on her breast plate, taking the screwdriver back from the dumbstruck Phil.
"It's not that bad," she told him, trying to be reassuring, as she unscrewed what needed to be loosened down her side.
"Can you stand begin me, I need you to catch the back plate, it'll fall as soon as I have it loosened,"
And also, I only have a sports bra on under here and I don't want to embarrass you.
"Sure,"
She made quick work of the rest of the joint, taking off some of the supporting plates and strips and then held the breast plate firmly to her chest as she did the final thing.
She immediately dropped the screwdriver and gripped the breast plate with both hands lowering it carefully to the ground.
She winced, the pain even worse in her ribs now there was no support.
She looked down and groaned. A deep purple bruise spread from the middle of her stomach around her side.
She would have to wrap it and deal with it properly after all this was over.
She heard a clank behind her and turned to see Phil blushing from the neckline of his shirt to the tips his ears and then his eyes widened as he caught sight of the bruising. She fought down her own embarrassment.
"Phil, I need you to turn off the automatic blushing and bashful thing you have going on and give me a hand with this, please," she hissed as she felt along the ribs.
She hated putting him in what was a hugely uncomfortable situation for him and his blush stayed where it was but he did step forward.
"I need you to help me wrap it up,"
"Toni, maybe you should go to the infirmary for this?"
"I can't be treated with the cuffs on Phil, you know that," she reminded him, "besides all they could do is send me away with painkillers and tell me to rest. I can do the painkiller thing myself and I can't afford to rest right now," she met his eyes now, "please Phil,"
He sighed heavily, obviously not happy with what he was about to do but headed over to the box he brought.
"Thank you, Phil,"
Hi guys
So I know I said that Toni would meet the rest of the team in this chapter but it kind of took on a life of its own…Next time, I promise.
You all continue to be amazing! And I hope you liked this chapter – even though I did go on for quite a bit.
I don't know the workings of the suit etc so I was using artistic licence there :)
About Broken/Cracked Ribs – according to every place I have checked you aren't supposed to wrap them up – Toni knows this but like she said, she doesn't have time to do things by the book right now. :)
Happy weekend everyone.
I am coming down with something nasty so there might be a a few more days until the next update :( Sorry :(
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