The Seventh Avenger: Playing With Fire

Chapter 17: Rose Hill, Tennessee

          There's only one thought running on repeat inside of Lydia's head as she stumbles her way back up towards the main floor of the Stark Mansion, with her wrist throbbing and the thick smoke burning the back of her throat;

She might actually kill Tony.

There's a part of her that feels sorry for him, of course – it is his mansion that is currently being blown to smithereens, after all. But her constant, little bitter ball of anger is quick to remind her that none of this would be happening right now if Tony had actually stopped to think about the consequences of his actions. The two of them would be working on a way to find the Mandarin in a more discreet manner that wouldn't make them think twice about the possible danger they were getting themselves into. Instead, their lives once again hang in the balance with a painful and bullet-ridden death potentially lurking around the corner for them, and there are fresh targets painted on their backs all thanks to that stupid threat that Tony had recklessly declared.

So, yeah. She's more than a little pissed. Livid might be a more appropriate word to use in this instance.

She's still a tearful and coughing mess by the time she manages to slowly make her way back up the very stairs that she had just tumbled down, and she isn't surprised to find that the main floor resembles nothing like it had just been moments prior before the onslaught of missiles and gunfire. The once trendy and clean furniture has either been blown to pieces or is covered with debris and dust which scatters across the floor and through the air, multiple chunks of the roof cracking and falling in more than one place. The pieces are big enough for Lydia to know that if one of them hits her, then she will be out as quick as a light.

The floor shakes violently beneath her feet, causing her to fling her hands out to balance herself. The glass of the windows are smashed and cracked in dozens of places, and to her alarm, there is a large and wide gap separating the front of the house and the living room – when she leans forward to peer through it, she can see Tony's workshop beneath which has also sustained damage.

Another deafening boom sounds throughout the house, and she instinctively flings her arms up to cover her ears with her hands. Crying out, she feels the house strain beneath her feet and a powerful and sickening groaning noise fills the air. Blinking her eyes open, she almost screams with disbelief as she sees that the west side of the house – the living room – is slowly tilting and heading towards the blue ocean beyond.

And in the midst of all the chaos, sliding down with the rest of his house is defenceless and armour less Tony.

Spurring into action, she drops her arms to her side and snaps her palm open behind her, creating a gust of wind that is strong enough to send her flying through the air and over the large gap in the floor onto the other side of the house where he is. She immediately drops down to the side of her body and allows gravity to take over, and it isn't long before she's trailing along after the flailing billionaire. She flings an arm out and creates yet another wind current to help her along as her friend nears the windows, not slowing down any time soon –

With a determined cry, she adds more strength to the current and reaches out to grab a hold of Tony with her good hand just as his foot smashes through the damaged glass. With the other, she catches herself on a beam, taking care to wrap her arm around it rather than grasp at it with her sprained wrist.

Tony looks up at her in surprise, but it is quick to turn into one of both relief and gratitude. There's blood streaked across his face from a nasty cut on the bridge of his nose and he's covered in dust and grime, but otherwise appears to be unharmed. Using all the strength she can muster, she pulls him up towards the beam with the billionaire helping as much as he can. She lets out an exhausted grunt and moves over to grant him enough room, the beam enough to cover them from the onslaught of bullets from the four helicopters hovering in the air outside.