A Twist Of Marvel || Infinity War

50. Standoff

The gun was level with Bruce's head, the scrapper poised to fire.

From the Stark pack, Naomi felt herself draw out an object, familiar in her hand. With one hand still gripped onto the open pack, the other slowly raised in the air, weighted with a weapon. Her mind was disconnected from her body as her own battered gun lifted in the air, drawing level with the scrapper. For a moment, everything was still.

Bruce was huddled against the wall, helpless to do anything as he stared down the barrel of a gun. His lips still moved with unheard prayers, and his trembling head shook side to side, a plea to the unmoving scrapper. Even with her own weapon ready, Naomi's finger was frozen on the trigger, her mind disconnected from her body as it acted on instinct. 

The scrapper cocked it's gun, and from the corner of her eye Naomi saw its finger begin to press down on the trigger. Still, her hand refused to move. Naomi's heart was quiet in her chest, and she was barely aware of the pain as her lungs began to constrict from lack of oxygen.

Shifting away from the scrappers gun, Bruce's eyes met Naomi's. In the second that they met, Naomi felt as though she saw straight into the mans soul. His raw emotions laid out to her like a book- Bruce Banner was about to die, and he was in anguish. His eyes were wide with terror, and  unending devastation welled up in them. Naomi saw his expression shift as the realization settled on him that he could do nothing to prevent the scrapper from firing.

But Naomi could.

All it took was one second, one look at her beloved scientist, and Naomi's mind and body reconnected. She could feel the flow of the adrenaline as it rushed through her, spreading from her heart into her fingertips, where she finally pulled the trigger.

The blast from her gun knocked the scrapper back, sending it sailing into the wall of the jet, dropping its gun as it flew. However the fight was not over. It was a crumpled heap against the wall, but its gun was dangerously close, and Naomi could see its head stirring, meaning it had retained consciousness. Re-adjusting her grip on her gun, she considered her options for a moment. Her gaze never left the figure, her concentration on it unbroken as her only objective became to keep Bruce, and everyone else on board safe. She was the only non-superhero on the jet, but that thought didn't cross her mind as Naomi kept her gun carefully trained on the scrapper.

"Bruce, get to the front." Naomi's voice was steady, and she could hear the mans footsteps as he used the walls to drag himself toward the front. The scrapper remained still, and she could feel its eyes boring back into hers from behind its cowl. It was waiting for her to falter, for an opportunity for it to grab the gun that lay prone on the floor of the ship. But Naomi did not falter, she watched the figure unceasingly, debate raging in her mind. She knew that the logical choice would be to shoot the scrapper now, so it would no longer pose a threat to her and her friends safety. However Naomi was not a warrior, she was an ex-assistant at a regional paper supply company. Shooting someone, even if she only held a stun gun, was not a normal reality for her. She shot the scrapper the first time out of necessity, but now that it was only standing before her, unarmed, it posed an ethical question. Naomi knew that onscreen, any one of the heroes wouldn't hesitate to shoot the scrapper, especially since chances of killing him were low, but Naomi Swanson wasn't a superhero and she knew it. She would do what she had to to protect her loved ones, but going further was something she hadn't had time to consider, and didn't want to.

But she would be forced to fire again when the scrapper suddenly, and without warning, lunged forward for its weapon. Sucking in a breath through her teeth, Naomi fired at the figure- but her shot was too high, and she barely grazed it, hitting the wall behind. In the time that she had fired, the scrapper had its gun back in its hands, this time pointing up at her.