Across the Universe 09
Title: Across the Universe
Chapter: 09 Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
Author: Me
Disclaimer: Iron Man and the movie-verse including all of its characters do NOT belong to me, but to Marvel and all its glory. Though, Scarlett Damien does belong to me.
Universe: Pre-Avengers Post Iron Man 2
Pairing/Characters: Tony Stark/Scarlett Damien, Pepper, Rhodey, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Steve Rogers
Rating: M
Summary: Throughout the tri-state area pieces of buildings, parks, monuments have been disappearing in a haze of glowing light, creating chaos. Follow the continued adventures of Tony and Scarlett, along with the rest of the Avengers as they unravel this riddle! And yes, my chapters are still long! This story is a sequel to my stories Glass Heart and Hollow Scars but is stand alone.
Natasha raced up the stairs to the third floor of the crumbling apartment building as quickly as she could. She had to stop short when she reached a hole in the side of the building that left her mouth hanging open in awe. The Black Widow had seen many strange things throughout her colorful history but this was climbing to the top of the list. What could’ve possibly destroyed only parts of a building so randomly? Catching her balance she surveyed the broken building above and below. The apartment across the alleyway wasn’t damaged at all, it was amazing how whatever tragedy had occurred seemed singular to that apartment building.
She didn’t stand around dumbstruck for long, there was no time to take in the catastrophic event. Natasha turned around and searched for the remainder of the stairs above her. They were too far away, even if she managed to climb up to the third floor she’d never be able to get survivors to make their way down safely. It was easy to forget that not everyone was as skilled as she was. She’d have to rely on Tony and Scarlett to get anyone trapped above that point to safety.
“Agent Pierce, do you copy me?” Natasha took in the sight of the ruined stairwell one more time before starting back to the second floor.
“Yes, Widow, is everything alright in there?” Mickey sounded out of breath on the other end of the radio. She’d been rushing to and fro in order to clear a path from the window to the street and had done so in record time. Sometimes in situations where her adrenaline spiked she was sure she could move mountains and had seemingly completed impossible tasks. Still, somewhere in the back of her mind she obsessed over what she’d learned from Scarlett about passing all her tests and still not receiving her promotion. It ate away at her even though she knew there were much more important things at hand.
“The second floor is the last accessible level from the ground up unless you can find a more creative route that civilians can also travel.” Natasha raced back down the stairs, kicking open doors and double checking to make sure any survivors inside had already been recovered. “Let Tony and Scarlett know that they’re on their own up there.”
“Jinx did you get that?” Mickey frowned, stopping her frantic rebuilding of the pathway in front of the apartment complex in an attempt to focus.
“Yeah, I got it. The building is nearly empty from what I can tell but there are still a handful of people trapped inside. I’ll have Stark use the suit to transmit a message loud and clear to anyone left inside to make their way as high up as possible if they’re out of reach.” Jinx was typing away at the computer in front of her, trying to change the frequencies of the radios so that they were all on one call. Before she could transmit the message to Tony a terribly loud alarm went off on her computer and deafened those on the other end of her radio.
“Damnit, what was that Agent Bennett? Are you trying to destroy my ears?” Natasha shook her head and winced with one eye closed as she made attempts to regain the hearing in her ear after the shrill ringing.
“Uh oh.” Jinx muttered beneath her breath and leaned away from her keyboard. She muted the alert on the computer but focused instead on what had set it off.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Mickey had slipped her earpiece out temporarily, rubbed her ear and then put it back in after she’d recovered.
“I’m getting nasty readings from the first floor and basement.” Jinx muttered as she continued to read the alert on her screen. She’d earlier made her way into the S.H.I.E.L.D. parking garage and had hijacked one of the vans parked there. Usually the vans were used for under cover missions where agents could set up a base when surveillance was being done. Not having the time to rush inside and find keys, Jinx had ripped apart the console beneath the steering wheel and rigged the engine into running.
After that it had only taken her a brief few minutes to get the computers turned on and to obtain scans of the damage and download blueprints of the building that was going down. She’d made sure the neighboring buildings were structurally sound and then gave the okay for S.H.I.E.L.D. teams, directed to her by Phil Coulson, to go in and evacuate those in case the building in question came down and did damage to the ones nearby. They wanted to avoid any further casualties.
Now she had every bit of technology she could find aimed toward the deteriorating apartment complex, collecting data that could be processed later when they had the chance. With any luck it would offer some insight into what had caused the phenomenon. For now, the scans would help her guide the team on the ground through the building and alert them when it was time to get out. When she’d hooked up her radio to the computers in the back of the van she had forgotten to turn off the alert sounds that would transmit into her headset and had accidentally deafened those she was aiding.
“What kind of nasty readings?” Natasha continued to race hurriedly down the stairwell, but stopped as the building shook and groaned unnaturally. Every move she made seemed to throw the building further off balance. Were they doing more damage just by standing around inside of it? Dust fell from the floor above and Natasha waited for it the support beams to settle again before continuing further downward and this time far more daintily.
“Oh damn,” Jinx muttered, pulling up an image of the crumbled first floor and the basement below it that she’d pieced together from thermal scans. “There’s a huge gas leak downstairs in the basement. The whole place is volatile now. One small little spark could send everything up in flames. In that confined space below the gas is building and it spells disaster. If it catches fire it will blow a hole through to the top floor and it’s going to eat up that oxygen and compound the explosion. It could be the last thing this building needs before it falls to its knees. With the wind the way it is, the nearby buildings could even catch. This is very bad.”
“How do I stop it before that happens?” Natasha was on her way down to the basement the moment it had been mentioned.
“We have to air out the basement and then find the emergency switches that stop the flow of gas into the building. Given the current state of the stairs this isn’t going to be an easy task. That gap that’s keeping you from going to the third floor…” Jinx brought up an image of the stairs but couldn’t find a way to get through it, not without causing more damage to the building.
“The stairs are blocked.” Natasha answered before Jinx could make her aware of the collapse.
“There’s only one other way down and you’re not going to like it. The windows on the outside for the basement aren’t big enough anyone to get through, not even someone of your stature, Widow.” Jinx grimaced.
“That doesn’t seem promising.” Natasha sighed, searching through the halls in hopes of finding some other way further down that Jinx had overlooked.
“You’ll have to go straight through the floor. There’s an apartment there that seems to have weaker structural support than the rest of them. You can probably break through the tile with something strong. Nothing that’s going to cause a spark so no explosives, got it? No guns, no tasers, nothing like that,” instructed Jinx while she tapped on her keyboard in search of a better way through. “Apartment 1F, okay? It’s far from your current position but it’ll have to do.”
“And how do you propose I get through an entire floor without explosives?”
“Get creative.” Jinx chewed her bottom lip nervously and searched the building for something that could help Natasha but it was no use. There was only so much her satellite scans could do to help her. She knew today was unlucky, she’d known it since the moment she had woken up. She’d had no idea just how unlucky it would be.
“While I’m busy getting creative can you do a thermal scan of the first and second floor and see if there’s anyone left that’s trapped? We might as well clear the area as much as we can.” Natasha searched the halls in hopes of finding something that could get her through the building’s first floor but didn’t immediately find anything much to her frustration. “Mickey, I need you to escort any remaining civilians out of harm’s way while I’m handling this, got it?”
“Can do,” Mickey responded, climbing in through the window that she’d been guarding after having finished clearing out a path.
“Pierce, Romanoff, there aren’t many civilians left in the building as a whole from what I can tell. Two more on the second floor, far corner from the stairs. It looks like they’re trapped in there so it might not be the easiest thing to accomplish. Something’s going on with the door. Apartment 2H, Mickey. Be prepared to take the door off of its hinges if you need to.” Jinx furrowed her brow while she continued typing. Mickey nodded her head but stopped as she saw Natasha in the hallway.
“Widow, you sure you got this?”
“Yeah.” Natasha looked around and stopped when she saw a fire extinguisher and next to it the only thing that looked like it might actually manage to get through the floor below. “I got this.” Using her elbow she broke through the emergency glass protecting her new weapon. She then pulled the fire axe free of the bonds that held it to the wall. “Before you got up there do me one favor.”
“Anything.” Mickey nodded resolutely, glad to get her hands dirty for a change.
“Open those windows outside that lead into the basement. I know it’s out of the way but it could buy us some time. The electrical lines are shot up here. It’s only a matter of minutes before something bursts into flames down there and leaves us screwed.” Axe in hand Natasha ran past Mickey in the hallway without confirmation and toward the apartment that Jinx had instructed her was the easiest access to the floor below.
“Got it.” Mickey was flustered and stared up ahead at the floor above before starting back toward the front window that was now the only available access to the first floor of the building. It was out of her way to do but she trusted Natasha’s judgment on the matter.
Natasha found apartment 1F where Jinx had instructed the weak point to the floor below would be. She kicked the door down after feeling for where it was bolted. It took a few tries but eventually the wood splintered around the lock and she made her way through. She hurried inside and glanced around, grateful that no one seemed to be home. It was the middle of a work day and for that they were lucky. Most people who lived in this area didn’t have many children and those who did had sent them off to school and then gone on their way to work. The sirens in the distance were haunting but didn’t make their way any closer. S.H.I.E.L.D. had likely set up a road block, preventing civilian police forces from getting to the scene and putting themselves in harm’s way.
They wouldn’t even be able to try and put out the fires above, the water pressure would cause too much structural damage and given the way the building was already swaying they couldn’t afford to take on anymore.
“Where’s this weak point?” Natasha paced the floor in the kitchen as though by doing so she could feel where she was supposed to break through to the basement. She was more skilled than most but couldn’t see through walls.
“In the kitchen. About three paces away from the window looking east.” Jinx rattled out information from her computer. “Below you are the furnaces so it’s ground zero for the gas lines. Be careful. The switches should be down there somewhere nearby, at least logically speaking. It’s not on the blueprints so I can’t give you a hint either.”
“Yeah, because this has all been so extremely logical.” Natasha ignored what happened next on her radio and swung the axe at the tile which shattered beneath the blade. She used the blade then to push the tile up and out of her way in a three foot radius, kicking it into a pile near the refrigerator. Then she slammed the blade into the ground again, over and over until finally she made progress to the floor boards below.
Mickey ran around the building in search of the windows to the basement below. They were small and thin as Jinx had described. Using the back of her gun, Mickey smashed the glass in. There was no time for her to fight with the locks on the other side, this would have to do for now. Even just by breaking the windows she could smell the gas leaking through from inside and it was overwhelming. Gagging and covering her mouth, she did so for each side of the apartment until she came full circle to the front.
“Windows are opened, I hope this helps if anything goes wrong!” Mickey said, out of breath, into the radio before climbing back into the building through the front window. No one responded but she figured they were all too busy anyway. Besides, she had more important things on her mind now. There were people to save. Making her way back to the stairs at the far end of the building, Mickey took them two at a time.
She was about to ask Jinx which apartment she’d seen the heat signature in but didn’t need to. As she made her way through the second floor she could hear someone banging on a door to be let out. The frame of the door had partially collapsed, making it impossible to open the door without dismantling it. Mickey paced in front of it as she tried to figure out what to do. If she broke down the door then the floor above it could come with it but if she didn’t those people would remain trapped inside. It seemed like a no win situation unless she could find another point of escape for them.
“I’m here to help!” She finally decided to yell through the door. There was no way for her to get inside, not like this. It wasn’t worth the risk what with how hard Natasha was working down below in order to prevent collapse. She needed to do the same. “I need you to go to the window in your kitchen and open it up and kick out the screen. I’m going to find another way for you to get out! Okay?”
“Yes, okay! Okay! Thank you!” She heard a man’s voice respond from the other side of the door and then scrambling noises to let her know that they were indeed following her directions. Mickey ran back through the hall and down the stairs, trying to figure out where the hell she was going to find a ladder that tall. She’d need a fire truck to manage it or to run back into S.H.I.E.L.D. Either way she didn’t the kind of time required to get either of those things. The last she checked they didn’t have a cushion that could handle that kind of landing on hand.
“Jinx, do you have a ladder on that van of yours? Is it one of those maintenance ones?” Mickey made it through the window and stopped for a second to hold a stitch in her side. It was odd that sometimes she felt completely invincible and other times she felt incredibly weak and exhausted. Maybe she had to train a bit harder or had to rethink her training regimen altogether. There was obviously something she was doing wrong.
“Um, let me check.” Jinx leapt out of her chair which spun around without her in it and then shoved the back doors of the van open. On the roof of the van there was a ladder since the van was disguised to look like a repair vehicle for a phone company. Not all of the vans were disguised as such, she’d happened to get lucky. Hurrying back to her chair she nodded her head but then realized Mickey couldn’t see her. “Yes! Yes there is one! Do you need it?”
“Yes!” Mickey peeked in the back of the van, out of breath and leaning against the floor since the doors had been left open. She climbed into the van and then leaned outside of it and grabbed onto the ladder. With ease she yanked it off of the roof and watched it clatter to the ground. Then she picked up, found it surprisingly light, and started away from the van. “Thank you!”
“Jeez, Mickey!” Jinx laughed with her mouth hanging open and watched her friend run off in awe before turning her attention back to the screen in front of her. “Sometimes I wonder.” She could hear Tony announcing through his suit for all remaining civilians to make their way through the building and up as far as they could and then to open a window and wave a bed sheet or a towel out of it so that they could be found easily within it. It was as good a plan as any, but even the towels and sheets might eventually be obstructed by smoke.
Mickey hurried back across the street toward the building. She searched for the window on the second floor and found it easily where two men were waiting for her, waving frantically. They were both pale and frightened but seemed hopeful that someone was there to help them out of their precarious situation. Laying the ladder down, Mickey opened it to its full extension and then picked it back up and leaned it against the side of the building. It was going to have to do even if it was a foot or two short of her target.
“You’ll be okay I promise! Take it one step at a time and carefully lean over the edge and descend onto the ladder! I promise you’ll be okay if you stay calm! It’s not as scary as it may seem.” Mickey held the ladder in place so that it wouldn’t wobble when the men climbed onto it. They looked skeptical but as the building shook again threateningly they made up their minds. It was better to risk falling off of a ladder than it was to be crushed by a building. At least one of those things offered a chance of survival.
Finally the first of the two men managed to make his way onto the ladder, crying out loudly a few times when he hung over the side of the window until his feet at last found the top rung. The ladder shook despite how she held it as hard as she could. It was nerve racking to watch from below since Mickey couldn’t do much of anything if they fell but it was a successful feat. In the end she wouldn’t have to worry about trying to catch anyone. Once he was at the bottom, Mickey waved to the older of the two men who remained at the window but he hesitated and then shook his head no.
“You can do it! Your friend made it just fine!” Mickey urged but he shook his head a second time.
“It’s okay! It wasn’t as scary as it looked, okay? You can do it!” The man who had already made it down waved to him hopefully and offered a smile. Then he turned to Mickey and spoke through a false smile. “He’s afraid of heights. You should’ve seen me trying to convince him we had to live on the second floor in the first place. It was not easy.”
“Well, I doubt this is going to make this any easier.” Mickey winced and then waved to him again. “It will only take a few seconds and then you’ll be led to safety! Look I know it seems really high up, but it’s either that or get crushed!” Her convincing seemed to work. The second man at the window was apprehensive but at the urging of his companion started his descent onto the ladder successfully. “Jinx, I need the all clear for the second floor.”
“I got it. You’re all clear, Mickey. Get those people out of the potential blast zone as soon as you can. Coulson’s moved them inside and downstairs just in case.” Jinx turned in her chair and checked the gas levels inside the building before switching to her thermal scans. “Natasha, how’s it going in there? Gas levels have dropped significantly but it’s still a danger as long as the line is leaking. I contacted the gas company but they can’t stop the line without getting into the building which obviously they can’t do. You’re our best bet right now.”
“Almost through.” Natasha gritted her teeth as she swung the axe at the wood beneath the tile. It had become tedious work but she only needed another foot or two before she would break through the floor and could get to the gas line. Her only worry was that the axe might give out before she’d broken through.
“Time is running out. Even with the efforts we’ve made not to disturb it this thing is coming down.” Jinx warned her. “We’re going to have to start finding ways to brace the foundation. How much time do you need to get out as a warning?”
“Talk to Stark about bracing the foundation, not me. I’ll need about two minutes to get out of this mess, I’d prefer three if you can spare the extra one.” Natasha swung the axe again hard and it broke through to the floor below at long last. Unfortunately the blade of the axe struck against one of the pipes running beneath the kitchen that she had managed to avoid up until that point. The spark created by metal crashing against metal was small but still enough to ignite the gas that had built up in the room below. The resulting flame was small at first but as the gas combined with oxygen the flame compounded and spread with a massive bang.
Natasha dropped the axe the moment she saw the spark and dove out of the way but she wasn’t fast enough. The blast sent her flying through the air and slammed her against the wall in the kitchen. She collapsed on the ground and nearly fell unconscious. Flames engulfed the first floor apartment and spread out of the windows in the basement. The foundation shook and the building swayed dangerously and began to teeter unnaturally.
“Stark, I’ve called in some back up to help with the evacuation and they’re en route.” Coulson radioed to Tony after he’d given out the warning for people inside the building. With the way things were progressing Coulson was hopeful they would successfully avoid any further casualties.
“Are they hurrying? Because this building doesn’t have much…” The explosion inside the building drowned out Tony’s next words and he stopped mid-flight. The woman in his arms that was being carried to safety screamed but he turned her away from the explosion before descending quickly toward the roof where Coulson was waiting. He could feel the heat of the flames even through his suit “Scarlett!”
“I’m fine, don’t panic!” Scarlett responded instantly into the radio from the top floor of the apartment building. When she’d heard the explosion she’d started thinking of her exit strategy and somehow knew Tony would panic. Considering he’d barely let her go inside the building, it wouldn’t have surprised her. “What the hell happened?”
“Gas explosion.” Natasha’s strained voice responded over the radio. Slowly she picked herself up and patted down the flames that were spreading over her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform. “Tried to air out the basement because the gas line ruptured. Didn’t work out so great. I didn’t even get to turn off the line.” Natasha stumbled out of the apartment and through the hallway. “I’ve got to bail, I need a medic.”
“Natasha, are you okay?” Scarlett started toward the stairwell and raced down them two at a time. If she could get to the bottom floor, she could help her friend.
“Burned but I’ll be alright. Nothing serious. Instincts are still killer after all this time.” Natasha coughed, covering her mouth to avoid breathing in the smoke. “Coulson, do you hear that?”
“Mickey, make sure she gets the medical attention she needs.” Coulson radioed in response to confirm. Maybe they weren’t having such good luck after all.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Jinx chimed in over the same radio frequency. “But we have a much bigger problem.”
“What’s that, Bennett?” Coulson shouted over the sound of the helicopter he’d called before the explosion to aid Tony and Scarlett with their evacuation of the upper levels.
“Structural failure of the major kind. We need to do something now or this building is going down. I mean it’s going down anyway but it’s going down in, like, three minutes if we don’t put in some kind of support. That explosion was the last straw.” Jinx muttered, racking away at the computer. She stared to the steering wheel of the van and wondered if she was far enough away to remain safe. It didn’t seem to matter at this point. Whatever would be, would be.
“Stark?” Coulson had no other ideas other than Iron Man.
“Got it. Bennett, whatever your name is, give me coordinates of the best place to put me.” Tony raced away from the roof of the S.H.I.E.L.D. building after setting down his payload and flew toward the first floor of the building.
“Even that’s not going to work for very long. This building is coming down regardless, it’s just a matter of how soon.” Jinx sent coordinates to Tony through the Jarvis interface that had jumped onto her screen to allow temporary access. It’d scared her at first; she’d never worked with Tony Stark before.
“We don’t need it to last forever, just long enough for Scarlett to get remaining civilians out.” Tony held up his repulsors and blasted his way through the wall of the first floor of the building after targeting an area that wouldn’t affect the already crumbling structure. Quickly he made his way through the building that was already teetering dangerously. “Brace yourself, Jarvis!”
“I do believe that you are the one doing the bracing.”
“Oh, nice one Jarvis.” Tony gritted his teeth as he waited for the weight of the building to fall on his hands. The suit creaked around him and lights flickered inside of his helmet. “I can handle this right, Jarvis? Was this a mistake?”
“I very rarely recommend most of the things you end up doing, sir.”
“You’re joking with me so I’m guessing the answer is yes, I can handle it.” Tony ignored the response that followed and shouted. “Coulson, this isn’t going to last very long, Bennett’s right. I hope your backup gets here soon! Scarlett, you’re going to have to find your own way out. I’ve got my hands full.”
“I’ve got a helicopter out here for quick evacuation. Scarlett, bring any survivors up to the roof and we’ll get them out of harm’s way. Backup should arrive at any moment.” Coulson responded over the radio.
“Got it.” Scarlett looked to the three elderly people she’d located on one of the upper floors once she’d been sure Natasha was safe and sound. The ground was tilted dramatically beneath her and each step they took was more dangerous than the last. “It’s starting to look pretty empty up here. Jinx, can you tell me how many people are left by any chance? Give me a clue on where to go from here!” Scarlett covered her ears as she led the survivors up to the roof of the building. A helicopter was at the top waiting and a rope ladder was hung over the side. “Seriously?” She looked to the three elderly people that were waiting behind her and winced apologetically.
“Don’t you worry, little miss, we’ll be just fine.” One of the men walked over to where she stood holding the rope ladder. “You go on downstairs and keep helping people to safety.” Scarlett was surprised and handed off the rope ladder to him.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, don’t you worry about us.” He turned to the women that he had behind him and they nodded to agree.
“Coulson, do you have this under control?” Scarlett turned away from the group of elderly people and hurried back through the door. She didn’t have the time to coddle anyone according to Jinx.
“We’ve got this covered. I’m sending backup as soon as I can Miss Damien.” Coulson’s voice echoed in her ear.
“You keep saying that and it’s still just us. Jinx, how are those numbers coming along?” Scarlett hurried down the stairs and did a sweep of the top two floors as quickly as she could. If anyone else was up there they were well hidden and would have to rely on their own wits to escape.
“I’m sorry Scarlett but I can’t get you those numbers.” Jinx pulled up the thermal scans and shook her head in dismay. “Unless you see any signs of life from the outside after Tony’s earlier transmission I can’t tell you how many people are left inside, if there are any at all. The heat from the fires in the building is making my thermal scans act all crazy… I can’t even find you up there.” Jinx grumbled in frustration and leaned back in her seat. The screen was glowing red and yellow for most of the upper half of the building, there was no possible way to discern body heat from the warmth built up within the building.
“Well, that’s just peachy.” Scarlett hurried down the stairs and through the halls of the floor below.
“Scarlett, I don’t see any indication outside of the building of anyone listening to Stark’s advice. You’ve done well, make your way to the roof. It’s not worth the risk you’re taking.” Coulson instructed.
“Wait!” Scarlett thought she heard something at the end of the hall from a floor further down so she ignored Coulson. Technically she didn’t work for them yet, so she didn’t have to follow anyone’s orders. She’d stopped counting how many staircases she’d descended and sat to listen.
“What is it, Scarlett?”
“Will you shush?” She shouted and waved her arms even though no one could see her. The floor tilted beneath her and swayed so she grabbed the nearby door handle to keep from losing her balance. All was quiet and still inside of the apartment complex other than the creaking and the occasional collapse somewhere on a floor below.
“I have a really bad feeling.” Jinx’s voice interrupted the silence in Scarlett’s mind and broke her focus completely. Working with Jinx was definitely going to take some getting used to. It seemed like she always had a bad feeling.
“I need you to be quiet, I thought I heard something.” Scarlett continued through the hallway slowly, trying to avoid making too much noise.
“I can’t hold this up for much longer. My suit isn’t built for this.” Tony responded quietly, through gritted teeth. The others could hear the strain in his voice. “It’s not going to matter if I’m holding it up, I should say. There’s too much damage. It’s going to collapse and soon.” He whispered. “Sorry, Scarlett. Get out of there now, hurry.”
“No.” Scarlett heard the sound at the end of the hall again, something that sounded like a whimper. “There’s someone in here. I hear crying.” Scarlett let go of the doorknob and slid across the floor, crawling across it the best she could despite the strange angle of the building. It wasn’t severe enough to completely knock her off of her feet but it was enough to throw off her balance.
“I’m trying to get readings on that part of the building by tracking the GPS in your phone, Scarlett.” Coulson responded as he sent the coordinates to Jinx on the ground floor. Fire burst out of one of the middle floor windows and sent the building swaying more dangerously. There was a distinct cry from an apartment across the hall. Scarlett braced herself at the odd angle inside the shaking building and then kicked the door in. It fell with a crack and slid across the floor until it propped itself up against the wall. There was no point in being careful now, one way or another the building was coming down no matter what she did.
Scrambling through the helter-skelter apartment, Scarlett made her way to a back bedroom, following her instincts. She heard the crying loud and clear now coming from one of the closets in a smaller bedroom. Someone was too scared to get out on their own.
“Hello? Is anybody in there? I’m here to help!” Scarlett hurried over to the closet as the building creaked beneath her feet. The crying grew louder but no one responded directly to her. She opened the closet door and found three small children huddled together. The oldest, who couldn’t have been older than ten, was soothing the younger two but there were silent tears streaming down her face. “Hey, do you guys speak English?” The oldest girl nodded while holding her younger brother and sister closer to her protectively.
“Mom told us not to answer the door while she was gone.” She whispered obviously not understanding what was happening to them or their home. At that age, it must have seemed like a good idea to hide from monsters in the closet.
“Well, I think this could be considered an emergency. I’m going to help get you out of here, okay? I’m with the police, okay?” Scarlett saw the nerves in the children’s eyes but they nodded to confirm that they were with her. She felt bad lying about being with the police, but it was the quickest way she could think of to get the kids to trust her. “Coulson?” The building trembled violently after she spoke and she ended up grabbing onto the kids and holding them close in case the building fell as though that would protect any of them. At least they’d be with someone who was trying to save them.
“What is it, Scarlett? What did you find?”
“I’m going to need you to bring that helicopter a little closer to me. These kids aren’t going to be able to climb that ladder so easily.” Scarlett looked down at the three children and once the shaking lessened beneath their feet she whispered soothingly. “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to get you out of here but we have to go on a little adventure first. Are you guys alright with that?” The children nodded in response but none of them looked like they were feeling particularly adventurous. “Everyone hold hands. You can’t go on an adventure without friends.” She held out her hand to the youngest of the children, the little boy, and he took it though his tiny hand was shaking. “Coulson, do you copy that?”
“We’re on our way but you’re going to have to make it to the other side of this building. This place is on its way down and I can’t risk flying this thing beneath the building.”
“Got it.”
Chapter: 09 Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
Author: Me
Disclaimer: Iron Man and the movie-verse including all of its characters do NOT belong to me, but to Marvel and all its glory. Though, Scarlett Damien does belong to me.
Universe: Pre-Avengers Post Iron Man 2
Pairing/Characters: Tony Stark/Scarlett Damien, Pepper, Rhodey, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Steve Rogers
Rating: M
Summary: Throughout the tri-state area pieces of buildings, parks, monuments have been disappearing in a haze of glowing light, creating chaos. Follow the continued adventures of Tony and Scarlett, along with the rest of the Avengers as they unravel this riddle! And yes, my chapters are still long! This story is a sequel to my stories Glass Heart and Hollow Scars but is stand alone.
Natasha raced up the stairs to the third floor of the crumbling apartment building as quickly as she could. She had to stop short when she reached a hole in the side of the building that left her mouth hanging open in awe. The Black Widow had seen many strange things throughout her colorful history but this was climbing to the top of the list. What could’ve possibly destroyed only parts of a building so randomly? Catching her balance she surveyed the broken building above and below. The apartment across the alleyway wasn’t damaged at all, it was amazing how whatever tragedy had occurred seemed singular to that apartment building.
She didn’t stand around dumbstruck for long, there was no time to take in the catastrophic event. Natasha turned around and searched for the remainder of the stairs above her. They were too far away, even if she managed to climb up to the third floor she’d never be able to get survivors to make their way down safely. It was easy to forget that not everyone was as skilled as she was. She’d have to rely on Tony and Scarlett to get anyone trapped above that point to safety.
“Agent Pierce, do you copy me?” Natasha took in the sight of the ruined stairwell one more time before starting back to the second floor.
“Yes, Widow, is everything alright in there?” Mickey sounded out of breath on the other end of the radio. She’d been rushing to and fro in order to clear a path from the window to the street and had done so in record time. Sometimes in situations where her adrenaline spiked she was sure she could move mountains and had seemingly completed impossible tasks. Still, somewhere in the back of her mind she obsessed over what she’d learned from Scarlett about passing all her tests and still not receiving her promotion. It ate away at her even though she knew there were much more important things at hand.
“The second floor is the last accessible level from the ground up unless you can find a more creative route that civilians can also travel.” Natasha raced back down the stairs, kicking open doors and double checking to make sure any survivors inside had already been recovered. “Let Tony and Scarlett know that they’re on their own up there.”
“Jinx did you get that?” Mickey frowned, stopping her frantic rebuilding of the pathway in front of the apartment complex in an attempt to focus.
“Yeah, I got it. The building is nearly empty from what I can tell but there are still a handful of people trapped inside. I’ll have Stark use the suit to transmit a message loud and clear to anyone left inside to make their way as high up as possible if they’re out of reach.” Jinx was typing away at the computer in front of her, trying to change the frequencies of the radios so that they were all on one call. Before she could transmit the message to Tony a terribly loud alarm went off on her computer and deafened those on the other end of her radio.
“Damnit, what was that Agent Bennett? Are you trying to destroy my ears?” Natasha shook her head and winced with one eye closed as she made attempts to regain the hearing in her ear after the shrill ringing.
“Uh oh.” Jinx muttered beneath her breath and leaned away from her keyboard. She muted the alert on the computer but focused instead on what had set it off.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Mickey had slipped her earpiece out temporarily, rubbed her ear and then put it back in after she’d recovered.
“I’m getting nasty readings from the first floor and basement.” Jinx muttered as she continued to read the alert on her screen. She’d earlier made her way into the S.H.I.E.L.D. parking garage and had hijacked one of the vans parked there. Usually the vans were used for under cover missions where agents could set up a base when surveillance was being done. Not having the time to rush inside and find keys, Jinx had ripped apart the console beneath the steering wheel and rigged the engine into running.
After that it had only taken her a brief few minutes to get the computers turned on and to obtain scans of the damage and download blueprints of the building that was going down. She’d made sure the neighboring buildings were structurally sound and then gave the okay for S.H.I.E.L.D. teams, directed to her by Phil Coulson, to go in and evacuate those in case the building in question came down and did damage to the ones nearby. They wanted to avoid any further casualties.
Now she had every bit of technology she could find aimed toward the deteriorating apartment complex, collecting data that could be processed later when they had the chance. With any luck it would offer some insight into what had caused the phenomenon. For now, the scans would help her guide the team on the ground through the building and alert them when it was time to get out. When she’d hooked up her radio to the computers in the back of the van she had forgotten to turn off the alert sounds that would transmit into her headset and had accidentally deafened those she was aiding.
“What kind of nasty readings?” Natasha continued to race hurriedly down the stairwell, but stopped as the building shook and groaned unnaturally. Every move she made seemed to throw the building further off balance. Were they doing more damage just by standing around inside of it? Dust fell from the floor above and Natasha waited for it the support beams to settle again before continuing further downward and this time far more daintily.
“Oh damn,” Jinx muttered, pulling up an image of the crumbled first floor and the basement below it that she’d pieced together from thermal scans. “There’s a huge gas leak downstairs in the basement. The whole place is volatile now. One small little spark could send everything up in flames. In that confined space below the gas is building and it spells disaster. If it catches fire it will blow a hole through to the top floor and it’s going to eat up that oxygen and compound the explosion. It could be the last thing this building needs before it falls to its knees. With the wind the way it is, the nearby buildings could even catch. This is very bad.”
“How do I stop it before that happens?” Natasha was on her way down to the basement the moment it had been mentioned.
“We have to air out the basement and then find the emergency switches that stop the flow of gas into the building. Given the current state of the stairs this isn’t going to be an easy task. That gap that’s keeping you from going to the third floor…” Jinx brought up an image of the stairs but couldn’t find a way to get through it, not without causing more damage to the building.
“The stairs are blocked.” Natasha answered before Jinx could make her aware of the collapse.
“There’s only one other way down and you’re not going to like it. The windows on the outside for the basement aren’t big enough anyone to get through, not even someone of your stature, Widow.” Jinx grimaced.
“That doesn’t seem promising.” Natasha sighed, searching through the halls in hopes of finding some other way further down that Jinx had overlooked.
“You’ll have to go straight through the floor. There’s an apartment there that seems to have weaker structural support than the rest of them. You can probably break through the tile with something strong. Nothing that’s going to cause a spark so no explosives, got it? No guns, no tasers, nothing like that,” instructed Jinx while she tapped on her keyboard in search of a better way through. “Apartment 1F, okay? It’s far from your current position but it’ll have to do.”
“And how do you propose I get through an entire floor without explosives?”
“Get creative.” Jinx chewed her bottom lip nervously and searched the building for something that could help Natasha but it was no use. There was only so much her satellite scans could do to help her. She knew today was unlucky, she’d known it since the moment she had woken up. She’d had no idea just how unlucky it would be.
“While I’m busy getting creative can you do a thermal scan of the first and second floor and see if there’s anyone left that’s trapped? We might as well clear the area as much as we can.” Natasha searched the halls in hopes of finding something that could get her through the building’s first floor but didn’t immediately find anything much to her frustration. “Mickey, I need you to escort any remaining civilians out of harm’s way while I’m handling this, got it?”
“Can do,” Mickey responded, climbing in through the window that she’d been guarding after having finished clearing out a path.
“Pierce, Romanoff, there aren’t many civilians left in the building as a whole from what I can tell. Two more on the second floor, far corner from the stairs. It looks like they’re trapped in there so it might not be the easiest thing to accomplish. Something’s going on with the door. Apartment 2H, Mickey. Be prepared to take the door off of its hinges if you need to.” Jinx furrowed her brow while she continued typing. Mickey nodded her head but stopped as she saw Natasha in the hallway.
“Widow, you sure you got this?”
“Yeah.” Natasha looked around and stopped when she saw a fire extinguisher and next to it the only thing that looked like it might actually manage to get through the floor below. “I got this.” Using her elbow she broke through the emergency glass protecting her new weapon. She then pulled the fire axe free of the bonds that held it to the wall. “Before you got up there do me one favor.”
“Anything.” Mickey nodded resolutely, glad to get her hands dirty for a change.
“Open those windows outside that lead into the basement. I know it’s out of the way but it could buy us some time. The electrical lines are shot up here. It’s only a matter of minutes before something bursts into flames down there and leaves us screwed.” Axe in hand Natasha ran past Mickey in the hallway without confirmation and toward the apartment that Jinx had instructed her was the easiest access to the floor below.
“Got it.” Mickey was flustered and stared up ahead at the floor above before starting back toward the front window that was now the only available access to the first floor of the building. It was out of her way to do but she trusted Natasha’s judgment on the matter.
Natasha found apartment 1F where Jinx had instructed the weak point to the floor below would be. She kicked the door down after feeling for where it was bolted. It took a few tries but eventually the wood splintered around the lock and she made her way through. She hurried inside and glanced around, grateful that no one seemed to be home. It was the middle of a work day and for that they were lucky. Most people who lived in this area didn’t have many children and those who did had sent them off to school and then gone on their way to work. The sirens in the distance were haunting but didn’t make their way any closer. S.H.I.E.L.D. had likely set up a road block, preventing civilian police forces from getting to the scene and putting themselves in harm’s way.
They wouldn’t even be able to try and put out the fires above, the water pressure would cause too much structural damage and given the way the building was already swaying they couldn’t afford to take on anymore.
“Where’s this weak point?” Natasha paced the floor in the kitchen as though by doing so she could feel where she was supposed to break through to the basement. She was more skilled than most but couldn’t see through walls.
“In the kitchen. About three paces away from the window looking east.” Jinx rattled out information from her computer. “Below you are the furnaces so it’s ground zero for the gas lines. Be careful. The switches should be down there somewhere nearby, at least logically speaking. It’s not on the blueprints so I can’t give you a hint either.”
“Yeah, because this has all been so extremely logical.” Natasha ignored what happened next on her radio and swung the axe at the tile which shattered beneath the blade. She used the blade then to push the tile up and out of her way in a three foot radius, kicking it into a pile near the refrigerator. Then she slammed the blade into the ground again, over and over until finally she made progress to the floor boards below.
Mickey ran around the building in search of the windows to the basement below. They were small and thin as Jinx had described. Using the back of her gun, Mickey smashed the glass in. There was no time for her to fight with the locks on the other side, this would have to do for now. Even just by breaking the windows she could smell the gas leaking through from inside and it was overwhelming. Gagging and covering her mouth, she did so for each side of the apartment until she came full circle to the front.
“Windows are opened, I hope this helps if anything goes wrong!” Mickey said, out of breath, into the radio before climbing back into the building through the front window. No one responded but she figured they were all too busy anyway. Besides, she had more important things on her mind now. There were people to save. Making her way back to the stairs at the far end of the building, Mickey took them two at a time.
She was about to ask Jinx which apartment she’d seen the heat signature in but didn’t need to. As she made her way through the second floor she could hear someone banging on a door to be let out. The frame of the door had partially collapsed, making it impossible to open the door without dismantling it. Mickey paced in front of it as she tried to figure out what to do. If she broke down the door then the floor above it could come with it but if she didn’t those people would remain trapped inside. It seemed like a no win situation unless she could find another point of escape for them.
“I’m here to help!” She finally decided to yell through the door. There was no way for her to get inside, not like this. It wasn’t worth the risk what with how hard Natasha was working down below in order to prevent collapse. She needed to do the same. “I need you to go to the window in your kitchen and open it up and kick out the screen. I’m going to find another way for you to get out! Okay?”
“Yes, okay! Okay! Thank you!” She heard a man’s voice respond from the other side of the door and then scrambling noises to let her know that they were indeed following her directions. Mickey ran back through the hall and down the stairs, trying to figure out where the hell she was going to find a ladder that tall. She’d need a fire truck to manage it or to run back into S.H.I.E.L.D. Either way she didn’t the kind of time required to get either of those things. The last she checked they didn’t have a cushion that could handle that kind of landing on hand.
“Jinx, do you have a ladder on that van of yours? Is it one of those maintenance ones?” Mickey made it through the window and stopped for a second to hold a stitch in her side. It was odd that sometimes she felt completely invincible and other times she felt incredibly weak and exhausted. Maybe she had to train a bit harder or had to rethink her training regimen altogether. There was obviously something she was doing wrong.
“Um, let me check.” Jinx leapt out of her chair which spun around without her in it and then shoved the back doors of the van open. On the roof of the van there was a ladder since the van was disguised to look like a repair vehicle for a phone company. Not all of the vans were disguised as such, she’d happened to get lucky. Hurrying back to her chair she nodded her head but then realized Mickey couldn’t see her. “Yes! Yes there is one! Do you need it?”
“Yes!” Mickey peeked in the back of the van, out of breath and leaning against the floor since the doors had been left open. She climbed into the van and then leaned outside of it and grabbed onto the ladder. With ease she yanked it off of the roof and watched it clatter to the ground. Then she picked up, found it surprisingly light, and started away from the van. “Thank you!”
“Jeez, Mickey!” Jinx laughed with her mouth hanging open and watched her friend run off in awe before turning her attention back to the screen in front of her. “Sometimes I wonder.” She could hear Tony announcing through his suit for all remaining civilians to make their way through the building and up as far as they could and then to open a window and wave a bed sheet or a towel out of it so that they could be found easily within it. It was as good a plan as any, but even the towels and sheets might eventually be obstructed by smoke.
Mickey hurried back across the street toward the building. She searched for the window on the second floor and found it easily where two men were waiting for her, waving frantically. They were both pale and frightened but seemed hopeful that someone was there to help them out of their precarious situation. Laying the ladder down, Mickey opened it to its full extension and then picked it back up and leaned it against the side of the building. It was going to have to do even if it was a foot or two short of her target.
“You’ll be okay I promise! Take it one step at a time and carefully lean over the edge and descend onto the ladder! I promise you’ll be okay if you stay calm! It’s not as scary as it may seem.” Mickey held the ladder in place so that it wouldn’t wobble when the men climbed onto it. They looked skeptical but as the building shook again threateningly they made up their minds. It was better to risk falling off of a ladder than it was to be crushed by a building. At least one of those things offered a chance of survival.
Finally the first of the two men managed to make his way onto the ladder, crying out loudly a few times when he hung over the side of the window until his feet at last found the top rung. The ladder shook despite how she held it as hard as she could. It was nerve racking to watch from below since Mickey couldn’t do much of anything if they fell but it was a successful feat. In the end she wouldn’t have to worry about trying to catch anyone. Once he was at the bottom, Mickey waved to the older of the two men who remained at the window but he hesitated and then shook his head no.
“You can do it! Your friend made it just fine!” Mickey urged but he shook his head a second time.
“It’s okay! It wasn’t as scary as it looked, okay? You can do it!” The man who had already made it down waved to him hopefully and offered a smile. Then he turned to Mickey and spoke through a false smile. “He’s afraid of heights. You should’ve seen me trying to convince him we had to live on the second floor in the first place. It was not easy.”
“Well, I doubt this is going to make this any easier.” Mickey winced and then waved to him again. “It will only take a few seconds and then you’ll be led to safety! Look I know it seems really high up, but it’s either that or get crushed!” Her convincing seemed to work. The second man at the window was apprehensive but at the urging of his companion started his descent onto the ladder successfully. “Jinx, I need the all clear for the second floor.”
“I got it. You’re all clear, Mickey. Get those people out of the potential blast zone as soon as you can. Coulson’s moved them inside and downstairs just in case.” Jinx turned in her chair and checked the gas levels inside the building before switching to her thermal scans. “Natasha, how’s it going in there? Gas levels have dropped significantly but it’s still a danger as long as the line is leaking. I contacted the gas company but they can’t stop the line without getting into the building which obviously they can’t do. You’re our best bet right now.”
“Almost through.” Natasha gritted her teeth as she swung the axe at the wood beneath the tile. It had become tedious work but she only needed another foot or two before she would break through the floor and could get to the gas line. Her only worry was that the axe might give out before she’d broken through.
“Time is running out. Even with the efforts we’ve made not to disturb it this thing is coming down.” Jinx warned her. “We’re going to have to start finding ways to brace the foundation. How much time do you need to get out as a warning?”
“Talk to Stark about bracing the foundation, not me. I’ll need about two minutes to get out of this mess, I’d prefer three if you can spare the extra one.” Natasha swung the axe again hard and it broke through to the floor below at long last. Unfortunately the blade of the axe struck against one of the pipes running beneath the kitchen that she had managed to avoid up until that point. The spark created by metal crashing against metal was small but still enough to ignite the gas that had built up in the room below. The resulting flame was small at first but as the gas combined with oxygen the flame compounded and spread with a massive bang.
Natasha dropped the axe the moment she saw the spark and dove out of the way but she wasn’t fast enough. The blast sent her flying through the air and slammed her against the wall in the kitchen. She collapsed on the ground and nearly fell unconscious. Flames engulfed the first floor apartment and spread out of the windows in the basement. The foundation shook and the building swayed dangerously and began to teeter unnaturally.
“Stark, I’ve called in some back up to help with the evacuation and they’re en route.” Coulson radioed to Tony after he’d given out the warning for people inside the building. With the way things were progressing Coulson was hopeful they would successfully avoid any further casualties.
“Are they hurrying? Because this building doesn’t have much…” The explosion inside the building drowned out Tony’s next words and he stopped mid-flight. The woman in his arms that was being carried to safety screamed but he turned her away from the explosion before descending quickly toward the roof where Coulson was waiting. He could feel the heat of the flames even through his suit “Scarlett!”
“I’m fine, don’t panic!” Scarlett responded instantly into the radio from the top floor of the apartment building. When she’d heard the explosion she’d started thinking of her exit strategy and somehow knew Tony would panic. Considering he’d barely let her go inside the building, it wouldn’t have surprised her. “What the hell happened?”
“Gas explosion.” Natasha’s strained voice responded over the radio. Slowly she picked herself up and patted down the flames that were spreading over her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform. “Tried to air out the basement because the gas line ruptured. Didn’t work out so great. I didn’t even get to turn off the line.” Natasha stumbled out of the apartment and through the hallway. “I’ve got to bail, I need a medic.”
“Natasha, are you okay?” Scarlett started toward the stairwell and raced down them two at a time. If she could get to the bottom floor, she could help her friend.
“Burned but I’ll be alright. Nothing serious. Instincts are still killer after all this time.” Natasha coughed, covering her mouth to avoid breathing in the smoke. “Coulson, do you hear that?”
“Mickey, make sure she gets the medical attention she needs.” Coulson radioed in response to confirm. Maybe they weren’t having such good luck after all.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Jinx chimed in over the same radio frequency. “But we have a much bigger problem.”
“What’s that, Bennett?” Coulson shouted over the sound of the helicopter he’d called before the explosion to aid Tony and Scarlett with their evacuation of the upper levels.
“Structural failure of the major kind. We need to do something now or this building is going down. I mean it’s going down anyway but it’s going down in, like, three minutes if we don’t put in some kind of support. That explosion was the last straw.” Jinx muttered, racking away at the computer. She stared to the steering wheel of the van and wondered if she was far enough away to remain safe. It didn’t seem to matter at this point. Whatever would be, would be.
“Stark?” Coulson had no other ideas other than Iron Man.
“Got it. Bennett, whatever your name is, give me coordinates of the best place to put me.” Tony raced away from the roof of the S.H.I.E.L.D. building after setting down his payload and flew toward the first floor of the building.
“Even that’s not going to work for very long. This building is coming down regardless, it’s just a matter of how soon.” Jinx sent coordinates to Tony through the Jarvis interface that had jumped onto her screen to allow temporary access. It’d scared her at first; she’d never worked with Tony Stark before.
“We don’t need it to last forever, just long enough for Scarlett to get remaining civilians out.” Tony held up his repulsors and blasted his way through the wall of the first floor of the building after targeting an area that wouldn’t affect the already crumbling structure. Quickly he made his way through the building that was already teetering dangerously. “Brace yourself, Jarvis!”
“I do believe that you are the one doing the bracing.”
“Oh, nice one Jarvis.” Tony gritted his teeth as he waited for the weight of the building to fall on his hands. The suit creaked around him and lights flickered inside of his helmet. “I can handle this right, Jarvis? Was this a mistake?”
“I very rarely recommend most of the things you end up doing, sir.”
“You’re joking with me so I’m guessing the answer is yes, I can handle it.” Tony ignored the response that followed and shouted. “Coulson, this isn’t going to last very long, Bennett’s right. I hope your backup gets here soon! Scarlett, you’re going to have to find your own way out. I’ve got my hands full.”
“I’ve got a helicopter out here for quick evacuation. Scarlett, bring any survivors up to the roof and we’ll get them out of harm’s way. Backup should arrive at any moment.” Coulson responded over the radio.
“Got it.” Scarlett looked to the three elderly people she’d located on one of the upper floors once she’d been sure Natasha was safe and sound. The ground was tilted dramatically beneath her and each step they took was more dangerous than the last. “It’s starting to look pretty empty up here. Jinx, can you tell me how many people are left by any chance? Give me a clue on where to go from here!” Scarlett covered her ears as she led the survivors up to the roof of the building. A helicopter was at the top waiting and a rope ladder was hung over the side. “Seriously?” She looked to the three elderly people that were waiting behind her and winced apologetically.
“Don’t you worry, little miss, we’ll be just fine.” One of the men walked over to where she stood holding the rope ladder. “You go on downstairs and keep helping people to safety.” Scarlett was surprised and handed off the rope ladder to him.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, don’t you worry about us.” He turned to the women that he had behind him and they nodded to agree.
“Coulson, do you have this under control?” Scarlett turned away from the group of elderly people and hurried back through the door. She didn’t have the time to coddle anyone according to Jinx.
“We’ve got this covered. I’m sending backup as soon as I can Miss Damien.” Coulson’s voice echoed in her ear.
“You keep saying that and it’s still just us. Jinx, how are those numbers coming along?” Scarlett hurried down the stairs and did a sweep of the top two floors as quickly as she could. If anyone else was up there they were well hidden and would have to rely on their own wits to escape.
“I’m sorry Scarlett but I can’t get you those numbers.” Jinx pulled up the thermal scans and shook her head in dismay. “Unless you see any signs of life from the outside after Tony’s earlier transmission I can’t tell you how many people are left inside, if there are any at all. The heat from the fires in the building is making my thermal scans act all crazy… I can’t even find you up there.” Jinx grumbled in frustration and leaned back in her seat. The screen was glowing red and yellow for most of the upper half of the building, there was no possible way to discern body heat from the warmth built up within the building.
“Well, that’s just peachy.” Scarlett hurried down the stairs and through the halls of the floor below.
“Scarlett, I don’t see any indication outside of the building of anyone listening to Stark’s advice. You’ve done well, make your way to the roof. It’s not worth the risk you’re taking.” Coulson instructed.
“Wait!” Scarlett thought she heard something at the end of the hall from a floor further down so she ignored Coulson. Technically she didn’t work for them yet, so she didn’t have to follow anyone’s orders. She’d stopped counting how many staircases she’d descended and sat to listen.
“What is it, Scarlett?”
“Will you shush?” She shouted and waved her arms even though no one could see her. The floor tilted beneath her and swayed so she grabbed the nearby door handle to keep from losing her balance. All was quiet and still inside of the apartment complex other than the creaking and the occasional collapse somewhere on a floor below.
“I have a really bad feeling.” Jinx’s voice interrupted the silence in Scarlett’s mind and broke her focus completely. Working with Jinx was definitely going to take some getting used to. It seemed like she always had a bad feeling.
“I need you to be quiet, I thought I heard something.” Scarlett continued through the hallway slowly, trying to avoid making too much noise.
“I can’t hold this up for much longer. My suit isn’t built for this.” Tony responded quietly, through gritted teeth. The others could hear the strain in his voice. “It’s not going to matter if I’m holding it up, I should say. There’s too much damage. It’s going to collapse and soon.” He whispered. “Sorry, Scarlett. Get out of there now, hurry.”
“No.” Scarlett heard the sound at the end of the hall again, something that sounded like a whimper. “There’s someone in here. I hear crying.” Scarlett let go of the doorknob and slid across the floor, crawling across it the best she could despite the strange angle of the building. It wasn’t severe enough to completely knock her off of her feet but it was enough to throw off her balance.
“I’m trying to get readings on that part of the building by tracking the GPS in your phone, Scarlett.” Coulson responded as he sent the coordinates to Jinx on the ground floor. Fire burst out of one of the middle floor windows and sent the building swaying more dangerously. There was a distinct cry from an apartment across the hall. Scarlett braced herself at the odd angle inside the shaking building and then kicked the door in. It fell with a crack and slid across the floor until it propped itself up against the wall. There was no point in being careful now, one way or another the building was coming down no matter what she did.
Scrambling through the helter-skelter apartment, Scarlett made her way to a back bedroom, following her instincts. She heard the crying loud and clear now coming from one of the closets in a smaller bedroom. Someone was too scared to get out on their own.
“Hello? Is anybody in there? I’m here to help!” Scarlett hurried over to the closet as the building creaked beneath her feet. The crying grew louder but no one responded directly to her. She opened the closet door and found three small children huddled together. The oldest, who couldn’t have been older than ten, was soothing the younger two but there were silent tears streaming down her face. “Hey, do you guys speak English?” The oldest girl nodded while holding her younger brother and sister closer to her protectively.
“Mom told us not to answer the door while she was gone.” She whispered obviously not understanding what was happening to them or their home. At that age, it must have seemed like a good idea to hide from monsters in the closet.
“Well, I think this could be considered an emergency. I’m going to help get you out of here, okay? I’m with the police, okay?” Scarlett saw the nerves in the children’s eyes but they nodded to confirm that they were with her. She felt bad lying about being with the police, but it was the quickest way she could think of to get the kids to trust her. “Coulson?” The building trembled violently after she spoke and she ended up grabbing onto the kids and holding them close in case the building fell as though that would protect any of them. At least they’d be with someone who was trying to save them.
“What is it, Scarlett? What did you find?”
“I’m going to need you to bring that helicopter a little closer to me. These kids aren’t going to be able to climb that ladder so easily.” Scarlett looked down at the three children and once the shaking lessened beneath their feet she whispered soothingly. “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to get you out of here but we have to go on a little adventure first. Are you guys alright with that?” The children nodded in response but none of them looked like they were feeling particularly adventurous. “Everyone hold hands. You can’t go on an adventure without friends.” She held out her hand to the youngest of the children, the little boy, and he took it though his tiny hand was shaking. “Coulson, do you copy that?”
“We’re on our way but you’re going to have to make it to the other side of this building. This place is on its way down and I can’t risk flying this thing beneath the building.”
“Got it.”