Answering To Eternity [DISCONT.]

17 | the hunt

Bruce fell to the ground instantaneously and Tony desperately grabbed ahold of lab equipment to steady himself - the syringe containing Diana's blood dropping to the floor, rolling amongst the sharp shards of smashed glass. 

"FRIDAY, what the hell just happened?" Tony's head snapped up, narrowing his eyes as the monitors positioned around him relayed security footage from the lobby, depicting the destruction. What once had been a lavishly furnished open-plan area was now in ruins, pieces of furniture strewn around the lobby, debris blown out of the compound and onto the lawn outside. 

Bruce groaned, quickly pulling himself up and looking to Diana. "What's-"

Diana moved over to Bruce, her eyes carefully scanning the room. "I'm willing to bet it's one of your friends, Stark." 

"You think they'd be a bit nicer, wouldn't you?" He grumbled, plunging his hand into yet another cupboard and emerging with his hand encased in a red and gold gauntlet, the plates sliding easily over his hand, ending just centimetres after his wrist, forming a gauntlet. 

"Nothing's going to happen to you," Bruce whispered to Diana, a fist clenched at his side and his body completely rigid. This is Stark's home terf, and all he has to defend himself is a metal glove - Bruce doesn't have any weaponry, and even if he did, he couldn't use it, lest he risk exposure.

"It's you that you should be worried about." Diana's lips twitched upwards into a saccharine smile as she brushes pieces of glass from her torso. There's still a burning anger in her eyes that Bruce worries won't fade until she's had some sort of sick revenge on him.

"FRIDAY, where's Pepper?" Tony asked urgently, storming towards the stairs to the left of the elevator, Steve following behind him. 

"Miss Potts is currently on the bottom floor with Agent Romanoff." It answered monotonously. 

Steve pulls himself up, having been knocked to the floor. His eyes instantly go to Diana - the only potential non-fighter in the room, and he looks away once he's certain she's unharmed. His next concern is then the staff - and his teammates. "We need to get down there now - in fact, have everybody evacuate the building." 

"FRIDAY, start evacuation and survivorship programmes one through four. This is not a drill. Use the cameras - I want facial recognition done on everybody in the building. Are there any hostiles?" Tony asks solemnly. 

"Four potential hostiles are located at the east edge of the property, and two on the bottom floor." 

"Pepper," Tony breathes, frantically dashing to the elevator. 

"Systems offline."  FRIDAY announces. 

Diana's face turns steely, the smile dropping off her face. "The stairs," She says quickly, grasping Bruce by the hand and dragging him behind her, the two breaking into a sprint down the stairs, followed by Tony and Steve. 

"Diana, this isn't a good idea," Bruce hisses quietly into her ear, all the while his eyes quickly darting back to gage Steve and Tony's reactions, though the former seemed to be in some kind of trance and the latter utterly frantic, too worried to pay attention to sharp whispers, his chest heaving with exertion. 

The four of them are dashing at break-neck speed, Steve quickly catching up to Diana and Bruce beginning to lag behind at Tony's pace. The group of them reach the bottom of the stairs quickly, gazing cautiously around the lobby. It was completely blown apart, the damage far more palpable, far more real, now that they were seeing it up close. The expensive leather sofas had been blasted apart, some overturned and ripped to shreds, their innards scattered around the room, mingling with the shattered glass and debris. There is a thin layer of grime and dust over everything, coating to the floor and sticking to Diana's heels. The doors are blown off their hinges, reduced to crumpled pieces of metal, and jet black scorch marks marr the surface of the floor. 

"Pepper," Tony calls out, "Pep - where are you?" 

"Didn't FRIDAY say she was with Nat?" Steve asks, surveying the destroyed lobby like a hawk, his eyes darting between pieces of debris. 

"I don't see either of them." Tony snaps, his jaw clenched. 

Bruce takes in a deep breath, "There's other rooms down here, right? Let's check those."

"There's hostiles about," Tony warns, silently trusting Bruce to keep their potential civilian, Diana, safe. With or without the bat costume, he was still an undeniably strong fighter. 

Bruce nods to Diana, the two creeping forwards to silently investigate the bathrooms. Diana pulls open the door to the first one - they survey the stalls closely - the room's completely empty, barren of all life. He lets out a deep sigh. "Not here." 

Diana gestures vaguely to the next bathroom, allowing Bruce to open the door this time as she steps in. The bathroom stalls are crumbling, one of the sinks has completely shattered, and there's water spreading everywhere, leaking into a steadily growing puddle. It's here that she finds the two ginger women, both smeared with blood, their fists raised, stood over the limp body of a man in black, his blood streaking against the floor and mingling with the water, dying it a dull pink. 

"They're here," Diana calls out. "Are you two alright?" 

"Just fine, it's not our blood," Natasha answers quickly, scrutinising Diana. "What about you?" 

Diana nods, "I'm fine - we're all okay." 

Pepper rushes out of the bathroom, soon colliding with Tony, both looking utterly relieved, melting into one another and whispering assurances. 

"I couldn't find any of the others," Steve hurries over, his jaw set and his fists clenched. "Not here and not outside. Is that one -" 

"Dead." Natasha confirms coldly, prompting Pepper to release a sob into Tony's chest. "I killed him." 

"Ah, what's one more." Tony shrugs it off. "How about I take Pep home, let Brucey and Miss Prince go, and we call the morgue together? It'll be just like old times." 

Steve shakes his head firmly. "No, Tony. There's no way it's a coincidence that the very day an alleged 'super-soldier' turns up here the entire building blows up." 

It only takes a moment for Natasha to state her agreement. "I think we all know this is one of your rich little friends coming to try to make themselves even richer." 

"It's a hobby." Tony remarks. "But you're probably right. Miss Prince - Diana, may I call you Diana? We should send somebody with Diana to keep her safe." 

"I'll go." Bruce immediately volunteers, and then does his best not to flinch from the myriad of cold looks being sent his way. Thankfully, Diana's glacial gaze isn't amongst them. 

Tony looks at him challengingly. "What're you going to do? You're just a regular guy, aren't you, Brucey?"

Bruce promptly withers, his facade collapsing in on itself and he sighs deeply. "I mean, I'd say my house is pretty safe." It's a weak defense, at best, and Natasha immediately spots it, her ruthless cold eyes cutting through it like a knife. 

"The Avengers compound just got blown up, Wayne." She says cooly. "I doubt your house would withstand what this place couldn't."

Bruce crumples further, deciding instead to remain silent. 

"I'll stay with her," Steve says calmly. His blue eyes meet Diana's dark ones - maybe he's convinced himself of it - that they're the same. Or perhaps he's offering for the complete opposite reason, because he's purely good and refuses to see an innocent civilian be put in danger. Diana can't bring herself to be mad, instead conceding. Now is neither the time nor the place to resist - her only hope is to be kept in the loop to discover who is, presumably, after her. It seems too much to hope that some enemy of the Avengers decided to attack the compound and randomly chose the day she was there. 

"Thank you, I appreciate it," She says softly, catching Bruce's gaze and giving him a tired nod. It spoke volumes between the two.