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PEACE AND QUIET WERE HARD TO COME BY IN THE SHIELD HELICARRIER.
I wastrying (emphasis on trying) to read the obnoxiously complicated book Dad had magically summoned to understand what theheck a Quantum Tunneling Effect was when the entire helicarrier seemingly decided that loudly arguing in the lab was a great idea!
I managed to ignore most of it. Growing up with Tony Stark meant that bickering practically became white noise but the other party usually didn't have the vocal range of Captain fucking America. "Put on the suit and let's find out!" roared Steve.
America's golden boy looked more red than golden as he stood so close to my father that he could either kiss or kill.
There was a beat of relative silence with the only sound present being of me shuffling towards my Dad to make sure he didn't get into a fight with Captain America and die. I managed to take 3 steps when I spotted one of the screens monitoring the outside of the helicarrier.
"Uh, guys?" I tried, hoping to get someone's attention.
No one paid any attention. Maybe my voice was so high pitched it couldn't be heard by human ears or maybe I just wasn't important enough to give any attention to.
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man," spat Dad, holding the attention of the entire room.
And then boom.
Everything was moving too fast to decipher. I was flung out of the lab and into the lower equipment room, my face meeting the floor and drawing a small gash on my cheekbone. I could hear my name being called in the distant by multiple voices, one closer than the other. Both were unsettlingly familiar but I just couldn't quite figure out who the voices belonged to. Still, I let out a strangled "I'm here!" which caused a mop of red hair —Tal — to bound towards me and hurry to help me up.
"Tony, I got him!" she said, tapping her earpiece and pressing her thumb to my bloodied cheek in an effort to stop the bleeding. She was fussing over me like Pepper usually did and looking back, I didn't appreciate either of them enough.
"Keep him safe, Romanoff!" came a muted voice from her earpiece which I could only hear because I was so close to her. The voice belonged to Dad and I don't know why I hadn't identified it the second it had graced my ears.
She was so busy fussing over my tiny cut and I was so busy telling her that I was fine that neither of us noticed Bruce Banner falling down to the same room a couple of feet away from us.
I knew that the Hulk appeared when Banner was angry but I also knew that it appeared when Banner was hurt too. And from my place a few feet away from him, he certainly looked hurt, which meant that Tal and I were in a lot of trouble.
