Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Juliet and Tony sat opposite Maya in the living room. Anticipation and no small amount of worry welled inside of the nurse as she waited for the answers to questions that had kept her awake at night in the past weeks. The woman sucked in a breath, eyes trained on her hands in her lap.
"He plans to release the virus on the world," she began slowly. "The virus requires a very specific gene code, one that a very small percentage of people on this planet have. If you're exposed to it and you don't have the code, you'll die. If you do, well, you'll become immortal. Extremis will open doors to major organ and tissue regeneration, immunity to all known diseases, increased metabolic rates."
Tony leaned forward. "What's the strategy? How can he release a virus on the whole planet?"
"There's a missile. Once it gets high enough in the atmosphere, the virus is released. The virus is made of complex biotech, so it's release can be programmed."
Juliet felt the cold shock of fear in running through her veins. A programmable virus. It was something she'd never imagined, but now that she was faced with it she was forced to confront the horror.
"And your boss. Who is he? Where is he?" Tony was on his feet now, pacing behind the couch he and Juliet had been sharing. His arms were crossed over his chest, hiding his fiddling fingers from view.
"They call him the Mandarin. I don't know his real name and frankly I was never brave enough to ask. He's rich, rich enough to staff this whole project and keep it under wraps for this long. He runs the operation from his private estate. It's outside of Malibu, far enough to stay out of the public eye."
Chancing a glance over her shoulder at Tony, Juliet found that his mouth was drawn into a thin line and his eyes were trained on some distant point.
"Why come here? The military has already had their hand in this case, why not take it to them?" Juliet asked, breaking the silence that had begun to stretch on.
"The Mandarin faked my death when he brought me onto the project. That and the fact that I co-created the virus in the first place makes for more red tape than I have time to cut through with the government." Maya stood from her chair, lips pursed. "I don't have any excuses for why I helped him, I know that it wasn't the decent thing to do but I did and I get to live with that for the rest of my life. I don't know when he plans on firing the missile, but I know it's coming. I guess this is just my feeble attempt at making it right in some small way." The woman's eyes lingered on Tony for a moment before she averted her eyes and left through the front door.
"Why would the Mandarin be sloppy enough to let her get here to warn you?" Juliet wondered aloud, twisting to face Tony.
"Because he's confident in his plan and if his plan goes through, she'll probably be dead along with the rest of the world soon."
They fell quiet. An understanding passed between them despite the absence of words.
Juliet stood and rounded the couch to face him. "You're going to try and stop him, aren't you?"
He only nodded, eyes drifting up to meet hers. "I have to."
"I know," she whispered, pushing down the emotions threatening to boil over inside her. "I wish you didn't."
"I know it seems like my suits are just a distraction, something I use like a shield from the real world. But they're how I fight the real, dark world we live in. I can't stand by and watch it happen, Jules. I can't do it."
She knew it was true. Being Iron Man wasn't a problem for Tony, it was a solution. He carried the weight of the world on his shoulders by choice and there was something unimaginably brave and heartbreaking about it to her. He couldn't stand back and watch it happen and she understood that. Tony Stark simply wasn't born to sit idly by.
She only wished that she could know that he would be alright. No matter how many times she told herself that he would be, repeating her mantra of false hope like it was a lifeline, it wouldn't make it true.
"I don't know what to say," she said, feeling a lump forming in her throat."
"Then don't say anything," he said, the smallest smile at the corner of his lips as he pulled her into his arms. "Just...enjoy the moment."
"I don't know how to enjoy the moment. I'm always too terrified of what will happen in the next one."
"Might I suggest a live in nurse? They're very helpful."
"You've got some brown on your nose, honey."
They laughed, a spot of light amid the looming darkness. Juliet could feel all of the unknowns of her situation swirling around her like a storm cloud. There were too many possibilities. She'd finally found a man she truly cared about, a man she could see herself falling in love with, and his job description included running headfirst into the lairs of missile-building psychopaths. As she stood in his embrace, she felt like he as holding her together. If he let go she feared she would shatter.
"Come back to me," she whispered, face buried in his shoulder.
"I care about you, Jules and I think we have something real here. I want to laugh with you, I want to listen to you ramble about biology at two in the morning, I want to watch the sun go down with you. I want to be with you." He kissed the top of her head and she could feel his breath stir her hair as he said, "I'll come back to you every time."
Tony took her hands in his and raised them to kiss both of her palms. His eyes stopped at her fingertips and his eyebrows creased.
"What's this?" He asked, running his thumb over the top of her fingers. The tips were discolored in shades of blue and purple. Juliet felt brought them closer to her to examine them. It was just as much of a surprise to her as it was to him, but bruised fingertips were the least of her problems.
"I don't know, probably nothing." She said with a smile.
He looked like he wanted to press the topic, but relented and turned to make his way to the lab.
Ten minutes later she as watching him fly away. She felt the weight of fear on her shoulders, threatening to drag her under.
Instead of letting it, she went back inside with the intent of finding some shred of courage within herself.
▼
credit for making the adorable gif goes to maxrussos
