Anyway the Wind Blows (Avengers Fanfiction)

அ Chapter Five அ

When the dark clouds roll.

For their escape to work Nikolas had to keep it together.

At first, he believed that would not be difficult, but just how he had gotten excited seeing his weapons in action days ago, seeing his suit on his dad made him grin unbearably large. this wasn't inherently an issue, but every movement that the suit made drew his attention back.

"Say it again Einstein." It was his dad who caught his attention, the younger Stark looked up his eyes bouncing from eye contact to Yinsen's forehead as he formed exactly what he was suppose to be replying.

"Forty-one steps ahead, then sixteen from the door and fork right." Nikolas paused a deep throaty hum passing through his lips as he rocked back and forth from the waist. "Thirty-three steps, turn right."

It was not his first time telling his dad how to leave and at this point in his repetition he assumed that it was more for the benefit of keeping his mind on something specific rather than the loose feelings associated with leaving the cave.

"Yinsen! Stark! Stark!" Voices shouted from the door out of the cave and Nikolas reacted almost immediately, throwing his hands up and covering his ears.

A sharp whine passed through Nikolas' lips as he struggled with the overstimulation of everything going on around him. More than anything Tony wished he could provide his son comfort in this moment but rather than that he spoke firmly but not harshly, "Einstein you need to reply to them." When his son made no movements to speak, Tony glanced at Yinsen before speaking once again, "Nikolas, now."

The younger doctor looked up suddenly, speaking Hungarian without issue. "Dolgozunk! Dolgozunk!" The men pounding at the door stopped at his words.

"Hol van Stark?"

Nikolas paused, making a few throat noises as he attempted to form a reply that never came. His dad attempted to react to replicate the word that his son had just replied but the doors slammed open and his son turned.

It was as if a switch was flipped in Nikolas, he stood taller, throwing up a hand and sending the approaching men through the air. He shouted as he did it and moments later fell to the ground in front of Yinsen and Stark. His dad attempted to have Yinsen check on him but a hand was pressed into the metal of his leg and it started to react around him.

"It will be ready in a few minutes." Nikolas' voice was clear and precise, albeit quiet. "We need more time."

And suddenly Yinsen was moving before either Stark got the chance to speak. "I will buy you time." He sprinted from the room, pausing briefly to grab a gun from one of the dead men at the door and shouting as he ran through the caves.

Tony shouted after him, but Nikolas couldn't seem to focus on the words and it wasn't until his dad started to call his name did he finally move.

"Nikolas, Nikolas." The younger Stark looked up from the floor, trying to hold back the tears that he felt coming from the combination of sheer exhaustion and pain that he was in. "I know it hurts buddy, I know, but you've got to focus."

It was a tone that Nikolas rarely heard, the soft one that meant he was trying to get him to focus on the work at hand. The last time Nikolas had heard it, he was standing on the other end of a gun, a threat to both his and his dad's life hung in the balance of his concentration. Nikolas had not walked away from the interaction unharmed and Tony had learned to work around the moments when Nikolas' concentration had been lost.

"I need you to get to the computer, press Function 11, then press control 'I', and enter."

Nikolas rolled, looking up at the ceiling briefly before pressing his hands into the dirt and moving as quickly as he could to stand. It was a difficult and drawn out process but in the end, he mustered up enough strength to pull himself onto his uninjured leg.

"You're doing great Einstein." More than anything the older Stark wanted to help his son to stand but he was currently preoccupied in his position. "Function 11, control 'I', enter." 

He repeated the instructions, straining his eyes to be sure that his son was pressing the correct keys. "Function 11, control 'I', enter."

"There." Nikolas had not expected to be capable of a verbal reply, but the moment he turned to face his dad, he smiled. Nikolas took a deep breath, pressing a hand into the table top as he struggled to pull off his coat in a one handed way.

"What are you doing?" Tony squinted as he watched his son work, noticing how specific he was in his movements.

When Nikolas' coat fell to the floor, the slight muscle just under the skin rippled as his tattoos were on full display.

Tony had always been proud of his son, in every aspect of his life and the easy display of the tattoo's that his son had amplified this feeling. As the tattoos were an intimate part of him, solely in the way that they connected to a specific talent of his and narrowed its abilities.

Seeing Raza touch his son's tattoos had made him angry, but seeing how comfortable his son was in removing his coat now let Tony know that he had not let the touch bother him for long.

The newest additions to his son's left arm had not, however, been expected.

The tattoo was an intricate spiral of what appeared to be a collection of shapes, wrapping and crossing over each other the entire way up his left arm. The beginning of it started on his palm, a two inch thick rectangle interlaced with the shapes until the middle of his forearm.

"That's new." It felt strange for Tony to speak in this moment, as if it would ruin the seriousness of the situation.

Nikolas glances at it, clenching his fist as he nods. "It is a weapon."

The computer beeped, and suddenly both Stark's were emerged in darkness the missing reply to the weapon had fallen silent.

Nikolas tensed at the lack of light, listening closely as his dad started to move, his voice full of determination as Tony stood tall.

"It's showtime."