Innocent Bystander | T. Stark ✔️

nine ▼ a valiant attempt

Completely and utterly lost in thought, Juliet stared at the tiny pieces of technology resting in her palm.

Tony called them subcutaneous implants. They were very small computer chips that, when implanted beneath his skin, would communicate with one of his suits through his nervous system. It was no doubt risky, yet she couldn't help but succumb to fascination.

"Ready?"

Juliet straightened at Tony's voice, looking to where he sat on a stool in the center of the lab shaking out his arms at his sides.

"Bring them over and we'll get this shindig started."

"Alright," Juliet slowly approached him. "But I want to implant them."

He narrowed his eyes. "Fine. But if you're mean about it Dummy will spray you." He pivoted on his stool to face the robot, pointing a stern finger at it. "Pay attention. Either you start making yourself useful or Happy gets a new coat rack."

Taking the implanting tool in her hand, feeling the cool metal of the handle against her palm, Juliet loaded the three chips in. Tony held out his arm with the underside facing the ceiling. Pausing in a moment of recollection, she ran her index finger along where she knew his median nerve ran and let out a breath.

She pressed the tip of the gun to his skin and pulled the trigger. With a hiss and a pop the chip shot out, lodging itself beneath Tony's skin.

He let out a shout of pain and doubled over, gripping his arm. Without a second thought she reached out and flicked his nose. His hand immediately came to cover his nose and he shot her a surprised look.

"If you're going to act like a child, I'm going to treat you like one," she said, not bothering to try and withhold her amused smile.

Holding out his arm again, he allowed her to implant the last two chips in a neat line up his arm. Three pools of blood began to form at the sights. While Juliet looked for something to clean the spots with, Tony began shaking out his sore arm.

"Is there nothing sterile in this lab?" Her eyes found specks of crimson on her previously spotless white shirt. "You got blood on my shirt, Tony!"

"Seeing as you're the one who made me bleed, I can't say I'm sorry."

The engineer moved his stool out of the way and wiped his still bleeding arm across a rag laying on the table. Juliet resisted the urge to comment on the cleanliness of the cloth.

"Jarvis, how we looking?"

"Everything is in order, sir."

Tony clapped his hands together. "Jules, I have full confidence in my technology, but you still may want to take a step back."

Juliet moved around the lab table, putting it between her and the grinning man. He held out his newly enhanced arm. The lab was expectantly quiet.

From where it rested on the bench in front of Tony, one of the red and gold gauntlets began to shudder and shake. It remained in its place for only a short time longer before lifting off and flying towards him, wrapping around his hand and locking into place with a series of whirs and clicks.

With a triumphant smile he admired the glove. He extended his other hand, waiting a shorter time before the second gauntlet flew towards him.

The glove came faster. It shot over his shoulder before lodging itself in the wall just above Juliet's head. An alarmed and muffled squeak slid past her fingers as they clamped over her mouth and she dropped behind the safety of the table.

"Time out, Jarvis," Tony said, glancing over his shoulder at her before looking back to the bench scattered with pieces of armor. He looked just in time to jump out of the way of a speeding chest plate. Another plate flew towards his shin and, before he could react, knocked his legs out from under him.

What armor had managed to find him fell away as he slammed into the ground with an echoing crash. Juliet hurried out from her hiding place to his side. He rolled onto his back with a groan.

"Tony, are you alright?" She knelt beside him.

He pushed himself into a sitting position. A pained sigh passed his lips as he leaned his back against the lab table. "I'll be honest, I've been better."

"Oh, look. You've gone and cut yourself." Her eyes found a bleeding laceration above his eyebrow. A line of red had began trailing down the side of his eye. Juliet hurried to the first aid kit that was discarded on the floor by the opposite wall.

"No, it's fine-"

She cut him off with a sharp look before she went to fishing in the bag for the things she needed. It was a mess of random items, some not even first aid supplies. There was a number of tiny pieces that resembled things she had seen on the suits and a small gold canister topped with a black button.

Holding up the canister with a questioning look, Juliet jolted as Tony quickly snatched it from her hands.

"Were you going to press the button?" His face was a mask of terror. "Never press the button."

"I wasn't-"

"Insurance does not cover explosions blowing your mansion into the ocean, Jules."

With a roll of her eyes Juliet went to work cleaning Tony's cut. The bleeding stopped easily enough, and she found a single steri strip at the bottom of the bag to help the wound heal. She put the adhesive strip perpendicular to his cut before rocking back on her heals.

Tony's eyes were trained on hers. They were steady and unwavering with a content light in them. The nurse found herself staring back into his.

The slight upturn in his lips broke her from her trance.

She quickly stood to her feet, a wave of lightheadedness sweeping through her at the fast movement, and fought to ignore the burning in her cheeks. An u comfortable silence grew, though Tony didn't seem affected by it.

"Mr. Stark," the voice of Jarvis filled the lab. "You have a call from Mr. Rhodes."

As Tony moved to find a phone, Juliet hurried from the lab and up the stairs with fast and light steps, wondering if it was possible for Jarvis to have felt just as awkward as she had. Then again there was no doubt that he had witnessed worse things.

Slowing her pace at the top of the steps, Juliet allowed herself to reimagine the grin on Tony's face as he'd looked in her eyes. The feeling of a flock of birds taking off filled her stomach.

With a shake of her head she pushed the thought away. Those thoughts represented something she wasn't willing to face yet.