It took a lot for him to watch. The images printed themselves onto his pupils but he found it difficult to comprehend them. He tried to grasp at his slipping rationality by its steady, comfortable threads, he got a hold of himself with simple words. He began explaining the situation to himself: This is May, dying. Dead. This is Elle picking up the slack, saving people. Jarvis is telling me to pay attention; I should, shouldn't I?
Somehow he managed to pull it together. It was clinical, his reaction, he could tell that much, but the sharp smell of horror lingered with the scattered pieces of rosy, burnt flesh around them. Things moved slowly. Elle asked him a question. He should answer. What was it?
No -- he couldn't say it. Not now. Maybe later. Later. "Later," he said roughly, the word heavy and fat in his mouth like his jaw had only just figured out how to move again.
He knelt. Elle looked like death warmed up, skin flaxen. He couldn't imagine what it felt to be her at the moment -- he avoided her eyes, the body of May. "There's nothing we can -- Elle, we need to leave."
Power Girl, or maybe she was Kara, or maybe Karen- this weak creature whose hands were clenching in pain on the ground- struggled to her feet and swayed slightly. Burns were visible on her chest and running down her legs, none of them too severe but still out-of-place on her invulnerable skin.
She met Tony's eyes unsteadily and took a step towards him. "Elle," she started. "That's not my name." Her knees abruptly gave out under her.
He lurched forward and caught her before her knees managed to crack against the ground, wondering vaguely how it felt to be held by arms of cold metal. He stared blankly at her. He wanted to flip up the visor and speak with her face-to-face -- this was impartial, he felt shielded, but there was still too much radiation in the air.
"You can explain later," he said. There was later, again. He was pushing it to the side, like always. "Can you fly?"
She put a hand on Tony's metal chest and wondered slightly when her skin sizzled. Kara's eyes were disoriented, unfocused, and she looked up at the impassive gold face in front of her. She could see through the mask to his strained face underneath, but the x-ray vision flickered in and out like a bad satellite signal.
"No," she answered. "I can't, I'm sorry." Before she could stop herself, Kara bowed her head and grimaced in pain a stab of heat that spiked through her head.
"Yeah," he said, and tried to make it sound like it was a good thing. He held her steady with a hand as Jarvis went ahead and dutifully scanned her, picking up heavy traces of radiation that appeared as little blue blips at the corners of his eyes. It didn't take a quasi-MRI to notice how badly she was burnt, second to third-degrees over her thighs and shins, red and shiny and irritated. He fought the urge to run metallic fingers across them, curious at the pain he knew she was so unused to.
She was in bad shape, for a meta. "Hey," he cupped her cheek gently, thinking sluggishly though his options as the sirens blared louder, closer, maybe even around the corner. "We need to hurry. I can get us out of here. Think you can hold on to me up in the air? You strong enough to do that?"
"Yeah," she slurred. "Maybe." Kara knew, in some distant corner of her mind, that her voice sounded weak and unconvincing, but she had to at least try to be strong. Right? So she inched around his back, clinging to him piggy-back even as her grip weakened.
Dimly, she felt Tony reaching behind him to untie the rope and clasp holding her cape to her left shoulder and use the whole setup to bind her to his back. Kara tried to help, passing the cape and rope along behind her, and soon she was tied to him so that she couldn't fall off if she tried.
Were they flying, or was she passing out? She couldn't even tell.
It took maybe an hour, maybe more, flying as fast as he dared with an injured woman on his back with fluctuating powers of durability. She affected many flying factors by just being there, but Tony forced himself to be considerate of her current state rather than rushing to fix her back to her normal self. The urge to go breakneck back to someplace with other people like her to help was overwhelming -- he was just a guy, just a human, and it was so damn odd to be responsible for someone who could kick his ass any other time of day.
The wind was probably something horrible and it was cold as ice during the night, flying fast. He cranked up the internal thermostat and opened a few flaps in the hopes that she was warmed by the heating metal; it seemed all he could do, for now.
By Kara's estimation, they flew for just this side of forever. Sometimes she was awake, sometimes not, and sometimes she even talked to Tony a little. She still had her JLA wristband that she used to talk to him over the roar of the wind, and though she spent half the flight slightly delirious from fever, she did have enough lucidity to tell Tony near the end of the flight to let her sleep it off.
Sleep sounded perfect right now. And there was no medicine in this universe that could cure her faster than her body would go. At the worst, it would probably take her seven, maybe eight hours to heal. The mental calculations took most of the trip to think of between her half-dreams and half-nightmares, endless loops of ray guns and portals, stars swallowing planets and exploding eyeballs.
The last thing she remembered was seeing the sunrise reflect off of a house over a cliff, then she was gone.
Somehow he managed to pull it together. It was clinical, his reaction, he could tell that much, but the sharp smell of horror lingered with the scattered pieces of rosy, burnt flesh around them. Things moved slowly. Elle asked him a question. He should answer. What was it?
No -- he couldn't say it. Not now. Maybe later. Later. "Later," he said roughly, the word heavy and fat in his mouth like his jaw had only just figured out how to move again.
He knelt. Elle looked like death warmed up, skin flaxen. He couldn't imagine what it felt to be her at the moment -- he avoided her eyes, the body of May. "There's nothing we can -- Elle, we need to leave."
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She met Tony's eyes unsteadily and took a step towards him. "Elle," she started. "That's not my name." Her knees abruptly gave out under her.
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"You can explain later," he said. There was later, again. He was pushing it to the side, like always. "Can you fly?"
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"No," she answered. "I can't, I'm sorry." Before she could stop herself, Kara bowed her head and grimaced in pain a stab of heat that spiked through her head.
"Tony," she asked uncertainly, "Did I save them?"
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She was in bad shape, for a meta. "Hey," he cupped her cheek gently, thinking sluggishly though his options as the sirens blared louder, closer, maybe even around the corner. "We need to hurry. I can get us out of here. Think you can hold on to me up in the air? You strong enough to do that?"
Reply
Dimly, she felt Tony reaching behind him to untie the rope and clasp holding her cape to her left shoulder and use the whole setup to bind her to his back. Kara tried to help, passing the cape and rope along behind her, and soon she was tied to him so that she couldn't fall off if she tried.
Were they flying, or was she passing out? She couldn't even tell.
Reply
The wind was probably something horrible and it was cold as ice during the night, flying fast. He cranked up the internal thermostat and opened a few flaps in the hopes that she was warmed by the heating metal; it seemed all he could do, for now.
Reply
Sleep sounded perfect right now. And there was no medicine in this universe that could cure her faster than her body would go. At the worst, it would probably take her seven, maybe eight hours to heal. The mental calculations took most of the trip to think of between her half-dreams and half-nightmares, endless loops of ray guns and portals, stars swallowing planets and exploding eyeballs.
The last thing she remembered was seeing the sunrise reflect off of a house over a cliff, then she was gone.
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