Search for the Soul Gem

Chapter Fifty-Two

(Tony Stark's Point of View)

"Stark, don't you ever do that again," Nat said, stumbling out of her seat.

"No promises," I said jumping up from the seat and making for the back of the jet. I was out of the jet before the rest of them had even managed to get out of the seat. I stalked through the flight deck to the elevators in the back, "Where was she last J," I demanded.

"92, in Banner's lab," he piped up from my phone. I found the closest computer and began logging in.

"If I get you back into the system, can you hack in and find the problem?" I asked.

"I should sir," JARVIS said. I pulled another sensor from my pocket and attached it to the computer.

"Get in," I said, striding back to the elevator. I slammed my fist against the button. As the button lights up, I could feel the pressure of someone behind me.

"Can I help you," I shot, as the elevator doors opened. I stepped inside followed by Steve, Clint, Thor, and Natasha. I pressed the button for 96.

"I thought we needed to go to 92," Steve said.

"We will, but the panic button is on 96 so I want to make sure that I get to her," I said, watching the numbers tick up.

"What is wrong?" Thor asked.

"Not sure yet. JARVIS is working on getting back into the system and getting it back up and running so that I can see what happened but that's the only thing that I know," I said, trying not to let my mind race through the options that could be wrong. It felt like the elevator was taking longer than ever to go up to the lab. The elevator was incredibly silent, almost like the whole Tower was holding its breath. Finally, the door opened and I practically ran down the narrow hallway to the glass doors of my lab. My stomach sank when I realized that the lab was empty.

"Tony...?" Steve started. I walked further into the lab and spun in circles to find any sign of where she might be. My eyes were drawn down to the floor. I knelt down to get a better look at it.

"Is that-"

"Blood," I cut her off by confirming. The drops of blood were almost in perfect circles but were leading around the counter.

"It's pretty dark, it's not fresh," Clint commented but I ignored him. I was too busy following the trail of blood around the counter. When I rounded the corner, shattered glass littered the ground and my heart sunk. At the corner of the cabinet, the streaking print of fingers appeared on the cabinet. I knelt down and reached out to pull the cabinet open. My fingers trembled slightly as I opened it. I already knew what was inside would be missing before I even opened the doors. Inside, the glass box where the Stone had been was gone. In its place was a small puddle of blood and streaks of fingers up on the panic button. I reached up and ran my fingers across the blood and the red button. I closed my eyes for a moment and I could almost see her here. Crouched behind the counter, reaching up to press the button that was supposed to protect her. Were the box and Stone already missing or did she take them? What had happened? Where was she? What happened to her? and was she okay? All these raced through my head but all I could see was her here in this spot, knowing in her head that if she pressed this button I would come home but never showing up.