Tony couldn't sleep. This bad feeling in his gut kept him awake. He wanted to be ready. It was 5am so he decided he should at least get some coffee if he was gonna be awake at such an ungodly hour.
He walked down to the kitchen, going about filling the coffee maker when a voice startled him. "Are you ok? You seem distressed." He nearly jumped, seeing Michael the arc angel, standing at the entrance in his blonde hair and blue eyed glory. "Oh. Hey. Your still around." Micheal smiled, walking closer. "Yes and I will be until I am not needed. Is that a problem?" Tony shook his head. "No. Just got startled. So what brings you to the kitchen? Hungry? Wait, do angels even get hungry? Coffee?" Micheal chucked. "A coffee would be fine"
Tony nodded, getting a second mug out. "So what brings you to the kitchen?" "You. I felt your distress." Tony made small huff. "More like a bad feeling. I want to make sure I'm ready for whatever it is that hits us." He showed his Iron bracelets that called the suit. Michael nodded. "It's good to be prepared. How is Loki handling all if this?" Tony handing him his coffee.
"Honestly? I'm not sure. TJ takes him out for dates when things get tense, I know that. It must be hard to filter through all the emotions without his magic." "From what I hear. A lot of beings with magic tense to use it to block or filter emotion more efficiently. Now that he does not have it, it must be terribly difficult. It's good he has your son, he helps him. I've never felt such peace from Loki before." Tony smiled. "Yeah, TJ's a good kid. " Michael nodded. "I've heard that Odin has been considering giving Loki his magic back. Seeing how good he is being and how much he's changed, he believes he will use his magic for good instead of evil." Tony gave a look. "Yeah, it helps being away from an abusive dick of a father." Micheal gave him a look but didn't comment. He merely sipped his coffee.
A half hour later Gage walked into the kitchen, patrolling, looking surprised to see Tony and Michael in there as well. "Oh. Hey, strange seeing you up this early Tony." Tony shrugged. "Couldn't sleep." Gage nodded, getting a mug of coffee for himself. Gage continued. "So? Michael? You know what's gonna happen?" Micheal tensed a moment. "I do but I am not allowed to say. It could change the time line." Gage gave him a look. "So you know what's going to happen, whose gonna die, if any one and you can't tell us?" Micheal sighed. "I do not like it either but I have no choice. If I am to remain an arc angel I have to follow a few rules. That includes information that could alter the time line and end the world." Tony frowned. "So you know what's gonna happen and you can't do anything? Shit. That's awful. "
Michael let out a breath, turning to walk out of the room before stopping and looking at Gage with such a heartbroken look. "For what's about to happen and will happen in the future. I am sorry." He walked out.
Gage looked at the table, wondering what the hell was gonna happen. Was Quinn gonna die? Micheal was very intent to apologize to him. He took his coffee, going to the lab. If Quinn was gonna die then he was gonna spend as much time as possible with her. Tony looked scared now. Following Michael who was going up the stairs."Is Quinn..is she gonna die?"" Micheal sighed. "I am not allowed to say. Now if you'll excuse me I must check on Kim."
Gage went down to the lab. Quinn had exhausted herself by working on her shit and doing calibrations or whatever else. She was asleep leaned over the lab computer desk, still in her seat. He went over, gently picking her up like a bride and carrying her to the couch. He sat with her, curled into him. He held her closer, never wanting to let her go. He really hoped the angel was wrong. He wasn't even sure if she was going to die but by Michael's tone, it seemed so.
His eyes watered, thinking of a life without Quinn Stark. He'd never have to go to the lab to check on her, he'd never have to run to her aid when she had a nightmare, never hear a sassy or smart-ass remark, never have to make sure she's eating right or getting enough sleep. He'd never have to take her to school and back. He'd never get to see her become his wife or even have the chance to start a family, if she wanted to.
He didn't realize when he whimpered, like a lost child, just holding her closer, praying that the world was wrong and they could live happily ever after.
The knight and his princess.
He tried to keep his crying to a quiet level, not wanting to disturb her. So many memories flashing in his head of her. Her smile, her smell, her devil-may-care attitude and endless amounts of Sas.
He didn't realize when she started to wake, his breath hitching with held in sobs. She started to move. "Babe, what's wrong? You ok?" He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Can I hold you? For a little while? I'm sorry I woke you." She started to sit up, frowning. Holding his face and wiping away tears. "What's wrong? Please don't shut me out again." He held her face, kissing her, deeply, softly. "No. Never again. I just...I have a really bad feeling about today and I want to hold you and be with you until we can't." She nodded. "Of corse. I love you." He wrapped his arms around her, breathing in her smell of metal and coffee. "I love you to. I love you so much."
Quinn wasn't sure how long she and Gage just held each other on the couch but suddenly all the monitors in the lab lit up with the face of Aiden Killian. "Little miss stark." She stood quickly, looking at the monitors. "How did you hack in here?"
He shrugged. "Little secret of mine. As you can see, I can easily hack into your house, I could easily hack one of our suits. This is your last chance. Work for me and I won't be forced to kill your entire family." She glared at the screen. "Fuck you." "Such fighting words when the fight is already over."
Gage moved to Quinn, not wanting to say anything. Quinn glared at the monitor. "You can try your worst because no matter what you do we'l always come back and we'l be mad and we will kill you. So no, I am not going to work for you. I'd rather die then work for you." Gage tensed, hearing her say that. Aiden spoke. "I do apologize for what I am about to do but you leave me no choice. Goodbye to you and your family Miss. Stark." Then the monitors went dark. Suddenly there was an alert going throughout the house.
Quinn saw on a monitor a few helicopters a mile out and gaining. "Jay!" "There are currently three military helicopters, two miles and gaining mam." Quinn cursed before running out of the lab, Gage following. Upstairs was a chaos. Loki was looking out the window at the incoming helicopters, TJ was talking about having to get out of here. Her mom looked terrified and her dad trying to calm her, Happy was trying to keep Loki away from the window when he saw it. A missal, heading straight at the base of the cliff that held the mansion. Happy shouted. "Duck and cover!"
But it was too late. The missal hit rock, exploding, breaking the structure that held the. Mansion, weakening it, making it crumble and go lopsided. Tony had called his suit, having it come to him. Quinn looked around,taking in what was happening. Loki got knocked unconscious by some part of the ceiling, TJ was holding him close, her mother as well. Quite shouted. "Happy! Help get them out of here!"
Happy went to TJ, seeing Tony helping Kim. Micheal had quickly gone to Kim's aid, putting Tony and Kim in a protective bubble. Quinn outstretched her arms, calling her suit when there was another hit, this time separating her and Gage. She had fallen on a flat surface, the other half of the house was going toward a 90 degree angle with Gage hanging on for dear life on rubble and steal cables.
She shouted. "Gage! Hang on!" He yelled back. "What do you think I'm doing?!" She rolled her eyes as the suit went around her. With the suit on, she could hold on better to the floor, grabbing a part of the steel skeleton. She grabbed his hand, speaking to him. "Now is not the time for sarcasm dear." She got him to a flat surface when the floor cracked again. This time there was another missal. She saw almost everyone was at a safe distance. She saw Gage wanted to jump over and help her while the helicopters threaten to shoot again, hovering. She saw happy. She yelled, the suit projecting her voice. "Happy! Get him out of here!" She charged a repluser, shooting at the helicopters. She managed to get one.
She saw Gage struggling. Happy held in to him, trying to drag him. "No! She'l die! Let me help!" "Your no use to her dead! Con'on!" She saw outside her dad had gotten shot down, the suit in ruins but him intact, holding her mom while she remained unconscious. Micheal doing the best he can against the attack.
She managed to get the other two helicopters while Gage and happy made it out but before she could rejoice that they were safe the floor crumbled beneath her. She tried in vain to hold on to anything. "Jay! Now would be a really good time to fly!" "I am trying mam but flight isn't enabled yet in this unit." Before she could say anything else she saw water coming up to her so quickly. It was faster then she could speak, before she could think. She was under ocean water. Her fathers cars sinking around her in the depths along with parts of the house. She was tangled in the steal cables and so damn heavy. The iron man suit wasn't meant for swimming. She was going down further and further and Felt her suit filling up, threatening to end her. She gasped for air as her suit slowly filled up, water hitting her face. She thought for a second she died, blacking out but not before hearing Jarvis speak. "Take a deep breath mam. Flight enabled."
Tony could only watch in horror as his house, his cars, his lab was gone. Along with his daughter. He felt his eyes water quickly, holding Kim closer. Gage ran to the edge, looking for her, any sign she was alive, willing her to fly out of the water and give him that smirk and joke that he was worried over nothing.
Nothing. Just the water slowly going back to normal save for a few bubbles from the cars that were now sunk. He sucked in a breath, wanting to scream and yell for her. For her to come back. Terrified of what her last thoughts could be. Drowning and sinking deeper and deeper, further and further away. He cried out, punching the ground, sobbing. He didn't care that the entire family we there, possibly watching his break down. He just lost his best friend, his light in the dark. Now there was only darkness.
Loki had started to wake, holding his head, seeing TJ who was still holding him. "TJ?" TJ smiled down at him. They were all covered and dust and grime. Loki had a bad gash in his head but he was alert. TJ kissed his head."thank god your alright." Loki just held him closer, looking around. Seeing the despair. Feeling it. The he saw who was missing. "Quinn?" TJ frowned, his eyes watery. "I don't think she made it."
About this time Kim was waking up. "Mm?" Tony kissed her head. "Your safe. I got you." Kim held him close, feeling his tears hit her neck, she looked around, seeing Gage sobbing by the edge. She swallowed the growing lump in her throat. "Oh god...my baby..she's gone?" Tony didn't say anything, just held her closer. Kim started crying, deeply, turning her face into Tony's neck, holding him closer. Tony let his tears fall, holding her tightly. Happy went off a small distance, calling a taxi.
Micheal went over to Gage, seeing he needed the most help, sensing the man was near ready to jump off the cliff. "Gage.." "Shut up." Gage gritted out of his teeth. He stood, facing the Angel. He glared, tears staining his face. "You knew this was gonna happen. You could have saved her. She would be alive right now if it wasn't for your bullshit system you have up there! Quinn was right. Your system, your "heaven" is nothing but bullshit and lies so you can watch us suffer!" Tony went up to Gage, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Gage! Enough! I know your hurting but it's not his fault. Yelling at him isn't gonna bring her back." Gage was seething. He glared at Michael. His eyes red and watery. "No. It won't." He walked away to inspect the rubble of what was once home.
"Miss. Stark? Miss. Stark! Miss. Stark!" Quinn came to, hearing error beeping going off and the world flying by and coming very close. She yelled, collapsing with the ground, causing a decent sized sent in the grass. She groaned. "I'm alive?" "Yes mam." She saw trees above her, looking around, weakly. "Ok..where the hell am I?" "Just inside the Tennessee border." She was quiet a moment before letting it sink in. "Why?!" "This was furthest I could get to with the power we had. I overrode the unit with your fathers protocols to get you as far away from danger as possible when your incapacitated. He put it in shortly after Lokis recent attack." "Of corse he did. It needs work, couldn't take me to a SHIELD facility? Jay, open me up, I want to see where the hell we are." The suit opened up, she sat up, breathing in the Chill air. She looked around seeing a small town, it was night and there were trees everywhere. Jarvis suddenly spoke. "I'm sorry, I think I need to rest..." Quinn looked at the suit. "Jay? Stay with me." She was met with silence. She sucked in a breath, realizing she was well and truly alone.
She didn't have her wallet, her cell phone is probably water damaged beyond repair and her family most likely thought she was dead. She sucked in a few more breaths, trying to keep an anxiety attack from taking over. Once she felt ready she got up, looking around. There was no way in hell she could drag the dead-weight of the suit. She'd have to abandon it for now. She shivered as she waked, rubbing her arms. She got to a bar, seeing a payphone outside of it.
She got to the payphone, typing in the number to override the phone. She sent an extension to her dads suit, praying he would get the message and she won't have to pull a Coulson. The voice on the other side spoke. "You have reached the stark secure server, please leave your message."
Then it beeped. She swallowed. "Hey...God what do I even say? I'm not dead, obviously. I'm stuck somewhere in Tennessee, thanks to a protocol to get me away from danger and seriously, it needs work. I couldn't go to shield? Ok, getting off track. I'm alive, I'm in Tennessee and I'm gonna come home. Just not yet. My suit is kinda crashed and damaged which being hundreds of feet in the ocean will do that, I didn't make it waterproof. I'l try to keep in touch and update you. Just keep an eye on Gage, I know he handles emotions like shit. I love you all. I'm sorry I got you all mixed up in this." She hung up, breathing out, her eyes watering over. She let a whimper escape, not caring if she was in public. She felt like she was five years old and lost. She just wanted to be home.
"hey, you ok there?" She jumped, seeing a young man about her age. Brown, shaggy hair, puffy coat on and a messenger bag. She wiped her tears away, exiting the phone booth. "I'm sorry, you can use it." She started to walk away when he stopped her, following her. "Hey, maybe i can help you." She sighed. "How could my night get worse? Fine. Follow me, bring some rope." "Already ahead of you." He tapped his bag. She started walking as he followed.
She got to the suit that was still out in the field. He laughed. "whoa man! Wow. Wait..are you..are you Iron Man?" she shrugged. "technically my dad is." He got a paper out, handing it to her. "technically, your dead." She saw the headline. She had to be out for at least a day. Headline read. "STARK DAUGHTER PRESUMED DEAD IN HOUSE ATTACK" She let out a breath, handing it to him. "Just help me get somewhere to charge this and I can tell you the whole story." "Over dinner?" She rolled her eyes, not even giving one fuck that he was hitting on her. "Fine. I'm starved anyway."
He wrapped the rope around the suit, both of them help drag it to his garage/workshop. As she and he started to get the suit on a table she asked. "Whats your name?" "Harley." She was about to say hers when she let out a weak chuckle. "You already know mine." "The world kinda knows your name." She nodded, going to his computer. "You got some pretty cool stuff here, you work science to?" "In my free time, I might major in engineering." She got some wires and started hooking them up to parts of the suit, checking the screen, saying it was charging. Within a few moments the eye sockets lit up with JARVIS speaking. "system reboot in progress, damage done-" She smiled. "Jarvis! Your back." "It is good to be back strawberry." she raised an eyebrow. "Ok. Guess your system is a little whacked. Just stay here and charge and rest,I'l be back."
Back at the mansion, workers and the family alike were going through the rubble getting what belongings survived. Kim picked up a framed photo of TJ and Quinn when they were children. The glass cracked and dirt caked in but still salvageable. She sniffled, holding the picture to her chest, crying. She feels as thou she wont ever stop crying. She lost her baby girl. Her princess. Her daughter. TJ walked next to her, eyes red and watery. "Mom?" She turned, hugging him. She sniffled. He couldn't help crying into her shoulder. He lost his home, his sister. Now he felt so lost. Where would they go?
Loki and Michel sat looking on the horizon, talking quietly. Tony wasn't sure what to do. What could he do? They lost there home, they lost there daughter. How much worse could it get? The taxi that would take them to a hotel would be here in an hour. He lived fairly far off the coast.
Well, not anymore.
He walked past his damaged suit, seeing a red light, blinking. He kneeled down, getting the helmet, seeing it come from there. He nearly gasped. There was only one person he could think of that would be clever enough to call the secret number in the helmet. He placed it on, it had enough power to scan him. Then he heard Quinns voice, speaking to him. He wanted to cry with relief. He closed his eyes, letting a few tears fall as he listened to her voice. Once the message was over, he ran to Gage, TJ and Kim. "Shes alive!" They all turned. He continued. "She called the secret number that was in the helmet, shes alive! Shes in Tennessee but shes alive!" Kim went to Tony, hugging him, laughing and crying. "oh God...our baby is alive." Gage wasn't sure how to take the news. Her "death" made him so numb in only an hour and now shes alive and well and in Tennessee of all places. He sat on the rubble, letting it sink in, holding his head in his hands and crying with relief.