Inconsiderate and ungently, Sutton was dragged through the space between spaces. There were stars, there were colors, there was pain.
There wasn't exactly a transition when she became aware of herself. One moment she was nothing and nowhere and being ripped apart at the seams, and the next moment she was whole and tangible. It wasn't dark anymore. She felt sick.
She tried to lean over to vomit, but couldn't stop twisting. Her eyes opened and widened in realization as the wind whipped through her hair and her sickness was swallowed back down as she screamed.
She was falling!
All Sutton could see was a whirl of blue sky and white clouds. Her arms flailed and legs splayed as she tumbled over and over in the air.
Blue. That was all she could see. Blue above, blue below. She was falling, but it was still hard to tell which way was really down. Was she falling into the sky or out of it?
Her lungs hurt and ribs felt like they were cracking anew as her cries were cruelly silenced by the rushing force of gravity pulling on her.
As she continued to fall and scream Sutton could now make out a gray blobby shape during every rotation. It continued to get bigger, quickly, and Sutton felt her fear spike again. Her chest burned; she couldn't breathe. Her mane of hair was blocking her vision of it now, but she knew how she was going to die in a moment. As if hitting the ground or her heart giving out wouldn't have been good enough; she was going to hit a plane. Land on top of a plane, to be precise, but at these speeds a fact like that was irrelevant.
Sutton let out a terrified sob, her tears beaten back by the wind before they could ever form.
Maybe she deserved this. After what she'd done, maybe this was fair.
[][][][][][][][][]
Tony's face was white like paper as the machine confirmed that both codes had been successfully transferred over. He was moving before he'd fully realized he was still in control of his legs.
"Jarvis! Give me the coordinates for where those two were sent!"
[Latitude:N 39° 1.66313', Longitude:W 57° 49.921875', sir.]
Throwing a hand forward, various sections of Tony's Iron Man suit came flying towards him to snap on to his body.
[Sir,] Jarvis continued. The AI's tone was actually cautious. [That location is out over the Atlantic Ocean. Even your suit is not capable of speeds-]
But Tony wasn't listening. He'd donned his suit and shot out of the tower so fast that the others hardly had a chance to react.
A map was projected at the end of the lab. Two dots blinked on the screen and Jane covered her mouth with her hand, shaking.
"He's not going to make it."
[][][][][][][][][][]
Tyrese awoke to a thundering crashing that reverberated around the walls of his room. He shot up in his bed as he shouted in surprise. The wall across from his bed looked like someone had thrown all his pictures and notes onto the floor.
The shield was gone.
His bedroom door burst open and his parents stood in the doorway in their pajamas, looking haggard and frightened.
"What's going on," his mother asked. "What was that?"
His father eyed the mess on the floor and then looked at his son.
"Are you ok?"
Tyrese still couldn't fully grasp that he'd just lost the one connection he had left to his sister.
"It's gone," he said. "Captain America's shield is gone."
[][][][][][][][][][]
The plane was almost under her now, and Sutton didn't know if it was her body dysfunctioning further, but she thought she saw a shadow of something flash near her. And then something hit her. It was hard, cool from the wind, and incredibly solid.
It was right next to her, flipping wildly and flashing in the light. She could hardly see. But perhaps her cries had been heard, because in one fleeting moment, she did notice that the object had a hand strap. Sutton reached out, fingertips stretching for a hold. The plane was under her now. She'd hit it in a moment. With one last push Sutton managed a grip on the object and curled herself into it.
She hit the plane with a tremendous bang!, but the object beneath her seemed to absorb most of the blow. For a moment longer, she was alive.
The object beneath her clutches blocked out a bit of wind and she built up enough breath to speak.
"Help me!"
There was a terrible metallic scraping noise as she slid down the top of the plane, only to fall off the back. All she could think was that she was grateful she at least wouldn't be chopped up by the jet engines.
Vicious butterflies tore through her insides again and her vision blackened as she toppled over the edge of the plane and dropped. Sutton fell lower, wind cutting at her skin and a hole being torn in her chest. A jarring vibration shot through her as she hit solid metal again. The thing she was on instantly went screeching and sliding downwards. Sutton's eyes were clamped shut as she maintained her white-knuckle grip on the hand strap. Her vision had been practically black. She could hear nothing but the roaring wind.
She did not want to see how she died or hear the screams anyway.
Her body tilted as if ready to fall again when something clamped around her ankle.
It was warm.
Her body halted and Sutton's eyes snapped open. All she could see she assumed was sky because it was a hazy blue. The edge of her vision was a bit gray. Her hair lashed out around her face, but she could still see a bit of metal beneath her.
Gray? Metal?
The grip on her ankle was pulling her backwards and she gasped painfully.
She hadn't gotten away. He had her again. He was pulling her back into his ship and he was going to kill her or torture her again or use her to hurt more people. Sutton shrieked loudly, but the noise cost her. It felt like her throat had ripped open and fingers were digging into her chest to tear out her heart. The leg not being held kicked back, but the move was sluggish after being curled against the cool curve of whatever she still lay on. She didn't feel it connect with anything, but she managed to hear a murmuring sound that wasn't wind.
She was pulled further in and the blue was suddenly blocked out by gray. The wind
disappeared but her ears were still ringing in the silence.
"No, no, no!"
She couldn't think. She couldn't move. Sutton kicked, spasmed, and refused to release her hold on the hand strap.
The pain in her chest stretched out farther into her limbs and bit down. Her lungs seized and she couldn't feel the grip around her ankle anymore.
[][][][][][][][][][]
Tony was rocketing so quickly through the air that his thrusters were in danger of actually giving out. He set his course for the fastest path to intersect Sutton. If he missed her, if he messed this up, he'd never forgive himself. All of the months of work, all of the struggle, to know that she could have survived up to this point only to die from his negligence would cripple him.
The ocean stretched out below him, glittering blue that bled into the sky. At speeds like she was traveling, after falling from thousands of feet, the water was no longer beautiful, but deadly.
[Sir, trajectory predictions do not look hopeful.]
"Not now, Jarvis," he grit out.
He had to make it. He hadn't been able to save her before, he couldn't fail her now.
The dots on the map in his helmet abruptly disappeared.
[][][][][][][][][]
"....heart stopped...?"
"....losing!..."
"...You!... -r alive..."
"... no time...."
"-ospital! ....Flat! No pul-"
[][][][][][][][][]
There was light all around her and a pungent flowery smell so strong that it could be considered an assault on the senses. The overpowering smell, so much like her grandmother's old perfume, was what really had her struggling for consciousness. It was hard to open her eyes, like they were being held closed by superglue as she tried to peel her eyelids apart. The brightness seared across her vision when she finally managed to crack them open and she let out a little hiss, which she instantly regretted. A dulled pain shot across the left side of her chest and she gasped another breath. She didn't want to jump again! The pain was a bit different this time, sharper and a bit more biting, like a healing paper cut, but for all she knew it meant the same thing.
This time she wouldn't live through it.
A beeping in the background grew louder and faster as she gained focus, her eyes finally adjusting and able to take in the room. Color exploded in her vision. White walls were overshadowed by countless vases filled to overflowing with flowers and several bunches of multicolored balloons. There were so many different types of flowers that she couldn't even identify them all, didn't have the mind for it right now anyway. There was a tightness in her chest as she sucked in a few more panicked breaths and tried to sit up higher. Her limbs were too weak to hold any weight and she ended up just arching uselessly against the mattress and causing herself more discomfort.
She noted, due to the movement, that she wasn't strapped to the bed or restrained in anyway and took that as a good sign.
Medical equipment lined the room and there was a tube going from her arm up to a plastic bag hanging above her. Hospital; she was in a hospital. But where? Where was she? There was a small pulse of relief as she noted the lack of holoscreens and glowing blues and silvers. But she still wasn't safe. How had she gotten here?
She'd been falling. Falling from the sky and... and hitting a plane? She should be dead. How was she not dead?
A shadow moved out of the corner of her eye and there was the sound of a doorknob jiggling and a creak. Sutton turned her head to look as swiftly as her sluggish body would allow her and gasped. Emotion bubbled and climbed like shaken carbonation up her throat only to catch there and make her feel as though she were about to burst. Her eyes were instantly hot and burning and she couldn't stop her raspy voice from cracking as she croaked.
"Tony?"
He looked up from his act of quietly closing the door he'd come through with a smile already half formed on his face. Sutton burst into wet, heaving sobs as he put down the Styrofoam coffee cup in his hand and moved over to her.
It was him! She was back!
He got close and she threw herself forward and clung to him with all the ferocity of a repentant prodigal son. He was solid and warm and she was back.
He reciprocated her hug with arms gently and carefully placed around her shoulders and Sutton couldn't stop herself from crying into his shoulder. Tony was silent for a few moments and just let her cling to him and it felt so good.
How long had it been since she'd last been held? Since she'd last hugged a loved one?
Far too long.
She felt his hand combing through her hair as he began to hum reassurances.
"You're alright, Small Fry. You're back now. You're safe."
Tony's voice was low and soothing and Sutton began to slow the flow of tears that she was too exhausted to be embarrassed by. She gave him one last squeeze before pulling away and the pressure shot a sharp pain across her chest that made her gasp lightly. Her thoughts began to jumble in panic as her fingers dug into the flesh of his arms. She could hardly get the words out.
"No, no, no, Tony-Tony there's a watch, there has to be a watch! I can't go again, you have to get the watch and-"
"Hey, hey, hey."
Both his hands cupped the sides of her face and he directed her line of sight to be focused on him.
"It's alright, you're fine. I got it taken care of, ok? You're not going anywhere."
She gripped his wrists and tried to make him understand. If she left again, she wouldn't make it. She shouldn't have made it this time. Even if she lived, she couldn't handle being lost and alone again.
"I felt it, Tony. It hurts, it always hurts-"
She took another deep, gasping breath and the pain shot through again. The beeping in the background picked up speed. She lifted a hand to grasp at the skin under her collarbone, but Tony caught her wrist before she managed to do so.
"The pain in your chest, right? That's what you're talking about? Sutton, listen to me, I already found the watch. You're not going anywhere, understand?"
Sutton didn't quite calm, but she gave Tony more attention as his words worked to break through her panic.
"What you're feeling now, that's something else. I can explain, but you have to calm down."
"You found the watch," she asked.
Tony smiled thinly and nodded.
"I found the watch." He smirked cheekily in what was probably an attempt to calm her down further. "Pretty nifty device, if you ask me. The tech on that thing was almost too ridiculous though."
Sutton took a few more breaths, not quite as deep, and kept her hold on Tony's arms as the beeping slowed and her blood stopped rushing in her ears. Tony was smart; she could trust Tony. He hadn't lied to her when she'd first left Marvel earth in a terrified panic, so he wouldn't lie to her now.
Eventually she let him go and dropped her arms back to the mattress while she eyed him through her damp lashes. She stared at him silently as the quiet of the room grew and her panic lessened.
"It smells like my grandma in here," she said.
Tony's eyes flashed and he cracked half a smile as he sat down in a seat next to her bed.
"Yeah, well, no one knew what kind of flowers you liked, so we just got all of them."
She nodded shallowly and her eyes glanced quickly around the room so full of color; she wet her lips and they were dry and chapped.
"I shouldn't have made it," she said quietly. Tony tensed next to her, though she only saw it out of her peripheral vision. "I know I shouldn't have."
"In your world, you wouldn't have."
Sutton frowned and finally realized that there was something wrapped around her upper chest. She could feel the airy cotton of gauze rubbing against the underside of her arm. It hadn't even registered before, but now it was obvious and distracting. Her frown deepened as she carefully ghosted her fingertips over the thick wrapping.
"By the time we got to you," Tony's voice dipped here, and Sutton looked back up at him in concern, "well, by then your heart had stopped. They, uh, they couldn't get it to start back up normally again. Too much wear and tear. Obviously a transplant wasn't an option, so-" he shrugged and tried to smirk, but there wasn't any sincerity behind it.
"We're twinsies now."
Her fingers pressed more firmly on the gauze as her eyes widened; Tony's smile was grim and unamused. Her mouth was filled with cotton and she could hardly believe what he said could be true.
Her?
"I have- my heart doesn't work anymore?"
"Not on its own, no."
Sutton nodded absentmindedly, still struggling to process all the incoming information.
"And the watch?"
Tony grimaced in what looked like guilt or pity.
"That's where yours differs," he said. "I had to incorporate the tech from the watch into the reactor. It's a bit more... extensive. But don't worry about it right now, kid, you have the rest of your life to fret over it."
Sutton let her hand fall away from the gauze as she looked back up to Tony. He had dark bags under his bloodshot eyes and his skin looked a bit more sallow than she remembered it being. He'd picked at his nails while speaking of her new medical enhancement and seemed altogether unsure about her response. She tried to give him a tired, teasing smile.
"I know you always thought you were my favorite, but Tony, come on. This- this is pretty egotistical even for you."
He laughed lightly, shaking his head as he closed his eyes and scrunched his nose. She could see the muscles in his shoulders loosen and she let herself lay back against the bed limply.
Her body was feeling heavy with exhaustion again, but she didn't want to sleep. She'd only just opened her eyes. To close them again so soon, she just didn't trust herself to stay. And she didn't want to risk dreaming right now. Instead she reached her hand out over the bed and Tony complied and grasped her hand in his own. His fingers were so calloused. Her eyes started watering again and she sucked in a shallow breath while blinking rapidly.
"I, uh, I think I hit a plane," she said.
There were a few emotions that flashed across Tony's face, and she was confused to realize guilt was one of them.
"You did," he said wearily. With his free hand he rubbed at his eyes. "There was an error. You shouldn't-shouldn't've... Anyway; there was a SHIELD team investigating the signal you put out. It was, well, as close to a miracle as you can get." He coughed as if to rid himself of the emotion that had crept up in his voice. "And you're lucky Cap is such a forgetful old man."
She didn't quite get the reference. Her memory of falling was muddled and she didn't remember Steve having anything to do with her brief skydiving experience.
"What?"
Tony nodded towards the wall opposite her and she shifted to look in the direction he was indicating. There, leaning against the wall, rested Captain America's shield. There were two lines where paint had been stripped from the metal. She remembered a loud screeching wail and a hand strap.
"It was left in your dimension," Tony explained. "We had to pull it back through first in order to get you. Lucky we did."
She didn't know what to say. Her hand remained securely in Tony's and it felt like maybe that was holding her in this dimension more than anything else.
"I knew you'd look for me. If anyone could do it, you could. It might've- just, thank you. Thank you for not giving up on me." Her voice was breaking again and she bit harshly on her already dry lower lip. Tony's eyes were actually rimmed red and she wasn't quite sure how to process that.
"I wasn't going to just leave you, kid," he said. "And I had a good team. It was always just a matter of time. I'm just glad we made it."
He shifted in his seat and twisted to glance out the window into the hospital hall.
"I should get a nurse and let you get some rest. You've been out of surgery for a few days, but you've got a ways to go in recovering."
Sutton's fingers curled tighter around Tony's.
"I don't want to go to sleep," she blurted. Panic managed to seep into her voice despite her attempts to keep her tone even and Tony frowned.
"I promise you aren't going to be zipping off, Sutton." He paused to study her more closely and Sutton looked away back towards the shield. "What happened to you, Small Fry? Where've you been?"
She let go of his hand and pressed herself further into the hospital bed. Her tongue felt suddenly thick in her mouth.
"Lots of places," she finally managed to say. "I, uh, you trip a lot travelling the way I did."
Tony's frown didn't go away but he didn't say anything else about it. He stood before the silence simmered for too long and told her he had to find a nurse. They still had to monitor her heart and make sure the area healing stayed clean and dry. She watched him leave the room, his coffee cup still sitting untouched and steaming on the table next to her.
[][][]
Doctors and nurses were in and out of her room for the next couple of days. Tony was a welcome anchor through it all.
They told her that besides the heart failure, she'd had three cracked ribs and one actually broken, a hairline fracture in her right orbital bone, three healing dislocated fingers which had been continuously strained, a severely sprained knee, had lost a few pounds too many, and had only nearly avoided any organ rupture from her blow with the plane. The staff commented mildly that most of her injuries were more than a few days old, and Sutton only smiled falsely and told them she got into a lot of accidents on her way back home. They chose not to comment on that further for the time being.
Home.
This was her home now. For real. For good. She'd known it in her head and accepted it, embraced it even, up to a certain point. But it was different and weird now that it was real. She was so sure she'd wake up and find it was all a dream. Maybe none of it had happened or she'd never really made it back or maybe she'd never actually escaped.
Perhaps she didn't want to truly accept the fact that she was safe and alive. It felt wrong having the opportunity to finally rest. She'd almost brought worlds crashing down on each other. She still might've ruined one altogether.
Thinking about it made it difficult to eat, which meant she picked at most of the meals the hospital gave her. And that meant the nurses noticed. Their responses ranged from concerned to irritated, and it wasn't that she was trying to be difficult. She really did like food. But every time she took a few bites her stomach would fill up and she'd feel queasy and couldn't force any more down.
On the fourth day she was told that she could be released the following morning. There didn't seem to be any complications with the arc reactor and all other wounds didn't require a hospital stay. That, at least, was a relief. Tony was absolutely insisting that she return to the tower and not her own apartment, and for once she didn't argue. She hadn't paid her rent in months anyway.
She was only half reading a book when the door to her private room opened and Tony walked in. He was alone this time. The previous day Pepper had come by to see how she was doing and after she'd come and gone Tony had introduced her to Jane Foster and Reed Richards. Sutton had been surprised at how young Reed actually was, but she thanked them sincerely for all their work in helping get her back home.
"Hey," Tony said, eyeing her as if to gage for himself how she was doing. "You up for any more visitors? Hope so, because they're right outside."
Sutton put the book down and eyed the door curiously. Perhaps it was Avery and Maggie come to see if their fellow Stark Industries employee had survived. Although, she didn't feel like she knew them well enough to warrant a hospital visit.
"Uh, yeah, sure," she said when it was obvious he was waiting for an answer.
"Ok, cool."
He reopened the door and leaned part way out. Sutton still couldn't see who was waiting beyond the threshold.
"She's awake," he said. "Come on."
The door opened and Sutton sat up straighter, though she flinched a little at the discomfort, as Natasha, Clint, and Steve filed in. Her hands flew up to her hair and she tried to comb the strands into some order as she pulled her hair over her shoulder to try and hide the bruising by her right eye.
"Could 'a given me a heads up," she griped under her breath.
But really she was delighted to see them. Even if she didn't know them as well as she could have, Natasha and Clint less so, she really did care for them.
"Hey guys," she said with a small wave. "Long time no see."
They all lined up at the side of her bed, and Natasha leaned down for a quick hug. She had a bag of what looks like various sweets and what looked like yarn and knitting needles topped with a bow. Sutton welcomed the physical contact, though she tried not to make it so obvious.
"These are for you," she said. "It's good to see you back and alright. You missed all the weird space drama."
"I think I found enough to make up for it."
Clint was watching with legs apart and arms akimbo. While he looked friendly and happy enough to see her, there was still a wariness in his eyes as he scanned over her injuries.
"I'm glad you're ok, kid, cause you look like-"
"You really needed the rest," Steve cut in. He shot Clint a look which the archer just shrugged at.
Natasha leaned forward again, stage whispering with a small mocking smile on her face.
"They'll try and act cool, but a couple of these guys were really worried about you."
"See anything interesting while you were gone?" Clint finally smirked a bit as he shifted his stance to something more casual. Sutton winced reflexively before smoothing the expression out into a grin. She pulled the fingers on her right hand closer to her body and out of direct view.
"Harry Potter," she said. "I met him and went to Hogwarts."
Steve tilted his head in an adorable, puppy-like confusion, but Clint's face lit up.
"No way. They're all real?"
"As real as you or me."
"Did you find out your house? Like officially?"
Sutton's face went flat and Clint's face only lit up more.
"I bet you're Hufflepuff. You are, aren't you! You're a Puff!"
Finally, her expression turned to a glower and she looked away in annoyance while muttering a confirmation.
"I don't- I don't get it," Steve said. Clint clapped his hands together.
"Oh, that's perfect. I always knew it. It makes so much sense."
Natasha rolled her eyes.
"Says the Gryffindor."
"I really don't get it."
Tony clapped a hand on Steve's shoulder.
"Chill, Old Timer. You'll get caught up on all the cool kid stuff someday."
"Anywhere else," Natasha asked.
Sutton shifted slightly. Even Tony seemed interested. She hadn't really gotten around to talking about this part yet. Being back was still so new.
"Um, a few universes. Star Wars, Doctor Who, St-uh." Her stutter over her next answer was all too obvious. "Twilight. But that one was weird." Her choice to skip one location was doubly so. She cleared her throat uncomfortably and shrugged to signify her list was complete.
"Well," said Natasha, "it sounds like it was quite the adventure."
"Hopefully this boring old universe will be enough to satisfy you now," Clint added cheekily. Sutton twisted a curl around the fingers on her left hand.
"I think I'll be able to make it work."
Tony's phone chirped, and he looked down before readdressing the group.
"Pepper," he said as explanation. "I need to take this."
Sutton watched as he left the room and then noticed that Natasha and Clint were moving as well.
"We better get going too," Natasha said. "We had to come see you were ok, but there's a few debriefings that need to get done. At least Agent Ladino will be out of Tony's hair now."
Sutton frowned.
"Ladino? Isn't that- Axel? That-Oh, of course," she snapped. "Obviously. Did Fury seriously plant someone at my work and then force him to try to befriend me? That's just- seriously?"
"Don't take it personally, kid."
"Thanks, Clint. That really helped."
Natasha rolled her eyes and Clint snapped a sassy wave as he was ushered through the door.
"See ya later!"
"Try not to wring Tony's neck. Knitting always helps me. He's gonna be a total mother hen after all this."
The room quieted as the door closed. Sutton sighed. Perhaps it was the constant drip of painkillers she was on, but she belatedly realized that Steve hadn't left with the rest of the group. Was it possible for him to look even bigger than the last time she'd seen him? It seemed like he'd started doing his hair differently too. It actually looked nice.
What could he possibly want to stay for when everyone else was gone?
Oh! Of course!
"Your shield is right there," she said while detangling her fingers from her hair and pointing. "I guess I should thank you for forgetting it. It really did save my life."
Steve sat in the chair next to her bed. Sutton furrowed her brow and tried not to look flustered.
"I'm glad I did forget it. And I'm glad you're ok," he said. He paused and looked at her still only half eaten tray from breakfast. "Tony says you haven't been eating much since you got back."
"Oh, well, yeah. I guess. I mean, it's just, uh, getting used to it. Eating so much, I mean. I mean, I ate, sure, of course, but sometimes-"
"Sutton," he gently interrupted. "He thinks you need to talk to someone. And for once, I think I agree with him."
Her mouth opened and closed a few times as her mind processed what he was saying. They had been talking about her behind her back? Tony was worried about her? She'd been acting so chill!
"I'm fine," she said. "Really. It's only been a few days since I got back and I'm sure I'll be fine in a bit."
Steve's lips pressed together in clear disagreement.
"I fought in a war, remember? There are certain looks people get," he said. The heart monitor next to Sutton started to beep faster. Her left hand curled into a fist. Steve leaned forward and make eye contact with her, though his gaze was soft. She bit down on the inside of her cheek.
"Sutton, what happened to you?"