#439: Ask a stupid question // 387 words
Set sometime during this, so this includes events from The Avengers (therefore: SPOILERS).
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Are you okay?
The text is written and sent before Rhodey can realize what a ridiculously stupid question that truly is. He along with the rest of the military had gotten the alert of New York being under attack, but while they all scrambled to prepare for a country-wide attack and even if James Rhodes had always prided himself in being as professional as possible whenever he was working, in the back of his mind he couldn't stop thinking about Cecilia, who was in New York. About Pepper - was she in New York as well? About Happy. About Tony.
Tony, who the news reported was the first to arrive to the scene. Tony, who was a dot of red flying across the monitors and news reports. Tony, who went up to the enormous lizard-looking things as if he could take them all on himself, and who ended up disappearing in a hole in the sky.
Tony, who the cameras caught free-falling down onto the ground before the Hulk caught him.
Rhodey has been in the military long enough to know that a crisis doesn't end just because the enemy is down and out, but he slips away from the control room long enough to pull out his phone and dial for his best friend. Dial for Cecilia. Neither call goes through, and his guess it's that the rest of the world is trying to do the same thing that he is doing and calling his loved ones, so he just sends a text instead.
Please call me when you get this, he asks Cecilia. I love you.
"Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes," someone says behind him. "Can you--"
"Give me a minute, soldier," Rhodey instructs the young man as he looks over to him, and he goes back to his phone.
Let me know if you need anything, he finally texts Tony as a follow-up to the 'are you okay?' text, but even that sounds stupid in his own ears.
Then again, he figures as he walks back to the control room and catches glimpse of the aftermath on the screens and hears the preliminary count of possible deaths and injuries, maybe there's just never going to be a good question for this kind of situation.
-----
Are you okay?
The text is written and sent before Rhodey can realize what a ridiculously stupid question that truly is. He along with the rest of the military had gotten the alert of New York being under attack, but while they all scrambled to prepare for a country-wide attack and even if James Rhodes had always prided himself in being as professional as possible whenever he was working, in the back of his mind he couldn't stop thinking about Cecilia, who was in New York. About Pepper - was she in New York as well? About Happy. About Tony.
Tony, who the news reported was the first to arrive to the scene. Tony, who was a dot of red flying across the monitors and news reports. Tony, who went up to the enormous lizard-looking things as if he could take them all on himself, and who ended up disappearing in a hole in the sky.
Tony, who the cameras caught free-falling down onto the ground before the Hulk caught him.
Rhodey has been in the military long enough to know that a crisis doesn't end just because the enemy is down and out, but he slips away from the control room long enough to pull out his phone and dial for his best friend. Dial for Cecilia. Neither call goes through, and his guess it's that the rest of the world is trying to do the same thing that he is doing and calling his loved ones, so he just sends a text instead.
Please call me when you get this, he asks Cecilia. I love you.
"Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes," someone says behind him. "Can you--"
"Give me a minute, soldier," Rhodey instructs the young man as he looks over to him, and he goes back to his phone.
Let me know if you need anything, he finally texts Tony as a follow-up to the 'are you okay?' text, but even that sounds stupid in his own ears.
Then again, he figures as he walks back to the control room and catches glimpse of the aftermath on the screens and hears the preliminary count of possible deaths and injuries, maybe there's just never going to be a good question for this kind of situation.