"J'ai vu une femme chante à son bébé mort une fois,", Power Girl began, her eyes misting over in memory. "à Marseille." She looked back at Tony and smiled softly, leaning into Tony's hand on her cheek. "J'ai dû apprends les paroles."
Even as the minutes ticked by, she felt herself getting stronger by degrees. Obviously, the r- (and she shied away from that thought)- the thing hurting her was impairing her healing factor. It could be hours, even days before she was healthy. Concentrating briefly, Kara tried to float off the bed and found that she couldn't- her body had lost its powers during its shut-down. Most likely, they wouldn't start to return until she was healed.
She turned her attention back to the man next to her, still hovering over her, and found her gaze softening. Tony clearly hadn't slept- how long had he been there, watching her breathe unevenly? Kara still had no idea how long she had been out, but the time for those questions was later. Now, she had something to tell him. The terror of honesty, once again.
Kara took a small, abnormally necessary breath in and wished she had the Kryptonite ring to fiddle with. Presumably, it had been removed with the rest of her costume.
"Tony, je m'appelle... Kara. Kara Zor-L." She switched to English abruptly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."
Well. A lot of things made a lot more sense -- he'd suspected, but pushed the whole so she can fly around, has weird laser eye-powers and x-ray vision, like that's in large supply -- into the back of his mind, figuring that trivial information could be overlooked while innocent lives required saving. Everyone kept secrets for different reasons. He wasn't going to begrudge Kara her identity.
"Kara." He tested the name on his tongue. He liked it better than Elle, simpler, fit her better. "Huh. Sounds Kryptonian. Like Kal-El." He shot her a look.
Kara let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding and relaxed. He took it well- thank god. Thank god. Her lips twitched into a slightly sheepish smile. "He's my cousin, sort of." At Tony's look, she continued. "I came through Lex's portal. I was his cousin back home."
"Oh, well that explains everything," Tony said dryly. He remembered that time, fuzzy as it was in memories and in actuality, but the concept didn't seem to him as far-fetched as some of the things he'd heard. Or seen.
In fact he was rather willing to accept anything so long as it was less of a shock than seeing a man's head go missing and a little girl burn in on herself. His perception of his surroundings had returned to a dreamlike quality now that he was sure that Kara was safe from any immediate harm or long-term damage. His sense of touch was somewhat grounding. Her hand was still warm in his.
"Do you want--" he motioned with a nod of his head to the washcloth, "You comfortable? Anything you need?"
Clearly, Tony wasn't in the mood for long conversations about the past. Kara shook herself mentally and moved on, dragging her mind forward every inch, struggling to make thoughts move through her still-pervasive fatigue. The blessing of it all was that there was no room in her mind for an endless sea of death and loss. No room for horror and blood on her hands.
There was blood under her fingernails, still. Pepper and Tony hadn't washed her hands enough to erase it. Kara's stomach lurched horribly, a feeling she detachedly recognized as nausea, entirely foreign to her.
Kara inched over on the queen-sized bed so there was room. "Lie down with me," she said, pulling on Tony's hand. "I need to not be alone."
Tony felt a familiar pull of reality; in any other case he would be taking the bed with a woman willing to let him have her, or several women, as it were. He could just as easily reach out and hold Kara to him and pretend. And if he were entirely in his right mind he would have likely taken advantage of her -- shattered this notion of comfort and shared pain.
But he wasn't feeling himself and he didn't think he wanted to be normal just quite yet, and things were still a little fuzzy and things hurt in places they shouldn't -- he felt thin, and stretched. And he very much wanted to slip into bed with Kara.
He remained on top of the covers, sitting up against the headboard, unwilling to lie down facing her just yet. He needed some time to relax. Come down. Just relax.
He shot a small smile to her nonetheless. "Trust me, even if I left, you wouldn't really be alone. This house is practically sentient."
Kara's smile faded, and she pulled herself into half-sitting, leaning heavily on Tony, and tightening her grip on him. He looked stressed, almost gaunt, and she felt a stab of guilt and worry. She looked up at him, her head resting against his stomach.
"Tony," she said softly, "Have you talked to anyone yet? I mean really talked."
"I've talked to..." Jarvis, mostly, but even as he thought it that sounded pathetic. Pepper was a close second, and Rhodey, though he almost never voluntarily discussed personal matters with them. Least of all ones that affected him emotionally.
He wasn't willing to afford Kara this opportunity either; he wasn't a heart-to-heart kind of guy, but he found her willingness to help him so endearing that he risked a soft grin and placed his other hand along her jaw, so that his thumb played with the hair at her temples as his fingers rested a scant inch from her mouth. It was an intimate gesture, and simple.
"You don't need to play the therapist, Kara. I'll be fine. I just need some time to get it together."
"You should still... I mean, when I rescue someone from something really traumatic, the EMTs always make them talk to someone," Kara said, fully aware that she was rambling. "You should, too. I just-"
She cut herself off by gripping Tony's shoulders and hauling herself up high enough to give Tony a gentle kiss.
He leaned down a little to prolong contact, then withdrew, and stroked a smooth line back and forth over her cheek with his thumb as she curled into his side. He slid down a little, to afford her more comfort, and to allow her head to rest on his chest rather than his stomach. The arc reactor thrummed next to her ear, a quiet giveaway.
"I promise." He smirked, feeling a bit of his old self come back again. "We could pinky promise if you want, but it'll probably turn into a thumb war. And if I win, I'll probably make you do all kinds of embarrassing family unfriendly things." He looked away briefly. "Seriously. I'll be okay. Just need some time to recuperate, sweetheart. A little time. All right?"
"All right," she replied softly, still smiling at Tony's smirk and his old humor. It was good to hear, almost as good as hearing him say her actual name- as if he was talking to her for the first time.
Her eyes slid closed at the quiet thrum of the arc reactor, a perfect contrast to the comforting beat of his heart. Kara felt safe, strength coiling in her shattered body, giving her the confidence to finally speak.
Kara pushed up onto one elbow, still leaning most of her weight on him. "Tony," she pleaded, hiding a wince as her burned skin scraped over fabric as she moved. "Please. I have to know."
Even though their faces were less than a foot apart, he was miles away from her, orbiting a dead planet in a distant galaxy. Kara reached a tired hand out to touch him, caressing his face lightly. Her Kryptonian fingers radiated heat, tiny suns against Tony's cheek, but in her fatigue his skin felt so warm to her, like life and humanity.
"I was there too, I heard her too. I have to know. To know what she wanted me to know, to know how to avenge her."
Tony grappled with himself for a moment, gnawed on the inside of his cheek and pressed his eyes shut, hard, and blinked them open tiredly. He swept a piece of her hair back behind one delicate ear and looked her squarely in the eye, and tried to smile.
"It's not fair to you," he muttered at last. "And I can't let you run to your revenge in this state. You're going to want to do more than that."
He looked away and set his jaw. The smile dropped off. "But -- she, uh, said that they promised to make her normal. And that -- " he paused for a second. Jesus. "That she missed her mom."
The words rolled through her slowly, and Kara's eyes slid shut. She reached up for Tony's hand, still near her face, and laced his fingers between hers. Contact. Warmth, anchoring her to reality against the tide of hazy purple pain and garish blood soaking her costume, fuck, it was everywhere, should-have-been-cold liquid burning her, glowing sinisterly purple with radiation, and the screaming. Kara could still hear May's last words, foreign and shaky as they had been, echoing in her ears.
A small sound shook her, and she realized she was crushing Tony's fingers slightly. She was vaguely aware of him prying her fingers from his, and her empty hand snapped into a fist, fingernails digging into her palm hard enough to hurt.
"I." Her voice was brittle. "She was a kid." Kara unclenched her fist, and pulled Tony closer.
"Shh," Tony said. It was all he could think of to say. Any other words would be inadequate. He settled Kara's head below his chin and held her gently -- gently, he didn't know why, she could crush him in an instant -- and let his breath out, cradling a careful hand at the small of her back, unsure of the state of her burns.
"It probably be best to forget it," he said, blinking away the memories, unsure if he was talking to Kara or himself. "Thinking about it isn't going to make it better."
Even as the minutes ticked by, she felt herself getting stronger by degrees. Obviously, the r- (and she shied away from that thought)- the thing hurting her was impairing her healing factor. It could be hours, even days before she was healthy. Concentrating briefly, Kara tried to float off the bed and found that she couldn't- her body had lost its powers during its shut-down. Most likely, they wouldn't start to return until she was healed.
She turned her attention back to the man next to her, still hovering over her, and found her gaze softening. Tony clearly hadn't slept- how long had he been there, watching her breathe unevenly? Kara still had no idea how long she had been out, but the time for those questions was later. Now, she had something to tell him. The terror of honesty, once again.
Kara took a small, abnormally necessary breath in and wished she had the Kryptonite ring to fiddle with. Presumably, it had been removed with the rest of her costume.
"Tony, je m'appelle... Kara. Kara Zor-L." She switched to English abruptly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."
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"Kara." He tested the name on his tongue. He liked it better than Elle, simpler, fit her better. "Huh. Sounds Kryptonian. Like Kal-El." He shot her a look.
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In fact he was rather willing to accept anything so long as it was less of a shock than seeing a man's head go missing and a little girl burn in on herself. His perception of his surroundings had returned to a dreamlike quality now that he was sure that Kara was safe from any immediate harm or long-term damage. His sense of touch was somewhat grounding. Her hand was still warm in his.
"Do you want--" he motioned with a nod of his head to the washcloth, "You comfortable? Anything you need?"
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There was blood under her fingernails, still. Pepper and Tony hadn't washed her hands enough to erase it. Kara's stomach lurched horribly, a feeling she detachedly recognized as nausea, entirely foreign to her.
Kara inched over on the queen-sized bed so there was room. "Lie down with me," she said, pulling on Tony's hand. "I need to not be alone."
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But he wasn't feeling himself and he didn't think he wanted to be normal just quite yet, and things were still a little fuzzy and things hurt in places they shouldn't -- he felt thin, and stretched. And he very much wanted to slip into bed with Kara.
He remained on top of the covers, sitting up against the headboard, unwilling to lie down facing her just yet. He needed some time to relax. Come down. Just relax.
He shot a small smile to her nonetheless. "Trust me, even if I left, you wouldn't really be alone. This house is practically sentient."
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"Tony," she said softly, "Have you talked to anyone yet? I mean really talked."
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He wasn't willing to afford Kara this opportunity either; he wasn't a heart-to-heart kind of guy, but he found her willingness to help him so endearing that he risked a soft grin and placed his other hand along her jaw, so that his thumb played with the hair at her temples as his fingers rested a scant inch from her mouth. It was an intimate gesture, and simple.
"You don't need to play the therapist, Kara. I'll be fine. I just need some time to get it together."
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She cut herself off by gripping Tony's shoulders and hauling herself up high enough to give Tony a gentle kiss.
"Just be okay, will you?"
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"I promise." He smirked, feeling a bit of his old self come back again. "We could pinky promise if you want, but it'll probably turn into a thumb war. And if I win, I'll probably make you do all kinds of embarrassing family unfriendly things." He looked away briefly. "Seriously. I'll be okay. Just need some time to recuperate, sweetheart. A little time. All right?"
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Her eyes slid closed at the quiet thrum of the arc reactor, a perfect contrast to the comforting beat of his heart. Kara felt safe, strength coiling in her shattered body, giving her the confidence to finally speak.
"Tony, I need to know what she said."
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Even though their faces were less than a foot apart, he was miles away from her, orbiting a dead planet in a distant galaxy. Kara reached a tired hand out to touch him, caressing his face lightly. Her Kryptonian fingers radiated heat, tiny suns against Tony's cheek, but in her fatigue his skin felt so warm to her, like life and humanity.
"I was there too, I heard her too. I have to know. To know what she wanted me to know, to know how to avenge her."
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"It's not fair to you," he muttered at last. "And I can't let you run to your revenge in this state. You're going to want to do more than that."
He looked away and set his jaw. The smile dropped off. "But -- she, uh, said that they promised to make her normal. And that -- " he paused for a second. Jesus. "That she missed her mom."
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A small sound shook her, and she realized she was crushing Tony's fingers slightly. She was vaguely aware of him prying her fingers from his, and her empty hand snapped into a fist, fingernails digging into her palm hard enough to hurt.
"I." Her voice was brittle. "She was a kid." Kara unclenched her fist, and pulled Tony closer.
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"It probably be best to forget it," he said, blinking away the memories, unsure if he was talking to Kara or himself. "Thinking about it isn't going to make it better."
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