Maya Hansen walked carefully through the entryway of the Stark household in Miami, her eyes trailing around the walls as she looked at the different pictures hanging in the entryway, a slight smile crossing her lips at the sight of some pictures of little Aurora Motter in the frames.
"Right there's fine," the woman whipped around as Tony Stark stood before her, clad in his Iron Man suit. He tilted his head at her before the suit opened up, allowing him to step out of it. "You're not the Mandarin, are you? Are you?"
"You don't remember," Maya let out a small laugh, shaking her head. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Don't take it personally, I don't remember what I had for breakfast-"
"Gluten-free waffles, sir. Ms. Motter picked them up before you went to the hospital,"
"That's right," Tony mumbled at the AI's answer, looking over at Maya. "Something you need?"
"I need to be alone with you. Someplace not here, it's urgent,"
Tony let out a short laugh, walking away from the woman and toward the living room as she followed behind him.
"You know, months ago I probably would've still gone for that type of thing but I'm sorta trying to get with the love of my life," an entire suitcase fell from the upstairs walkway onto the floor before Tony, stopping him in his tracks. "That would be her right now."
Audelia descended the stairs, tossing a backpack next to the suitcase as she strode toward Tony, crossing her arms.
"When I said we were getting out of Malibu, I meant it..." her words trailed off as her eyes locked on the woman behind him. "Maya Hansen, the MIT botanist from Switzerland. Been awhile."
"Well, at least you remembered me," she shot back at the woman with an uncomfortable smile as Deli raised an eyebrow.
"Tony didn't remember you? Don't be too upset, there were probably four other woman that night to keep track of," the billionaire cringed slightly at her comment as she grabbed the bags, moving them across the room. "You've saved yourself a world of pain, don't worry too much."
After Audelia placed her bags down near the wall, she turned back to face Tony, who was now almost on top of her, his hands finding her arms.
"Dell, we talked about this-"
"Yeah, and you refused to listen," she shot back. "We're going out of town. It's the safest thing for us and for Aurora right now."
"It's a terrible idea and we are going nowhere,"
"I'm sorry, I don't think the man who challenged a terrorist gets a say in this," Deli shoved a finger into her chest before reaching into her pockets, slipping on the bracelets for her suit as she looked back at Tony. "This is how normal people are supposed to act, Tony."
"I can't protect you out there, and that's my main-"
"I'm sorry, is this normal?"
The pair looked over to Maya, who was pointing up at the giant, stuffed rabbit that had finally been moved inside of the house. Tony and Deli proceeded to speak at the same time as they pointed at her.
"Yes, this is normal!"
"Sadly it's normal,"
"It's a big bunny! Relax about it!"
Audelia grabbed onto Tony's arm, glaring at him as she dragged him a few steps away from the brunette guest in their house, speaking lowly to him as he spoke right back to her.
Maya took the moment to look around the fancy living room before her, her hands slightly shaking from nerves as her eyes landed on the TV across the room. She took a few steps closer, cocking her head as she watched the cameras on the news helicopters focus on the ocean instead of the house. Her eyes widened when she saw what they were pointing to.
"Um, guys?"
Audelia and Tony continued to bicker back and forth behind the woman, right up in one another's faces as they went back and forth, further stressing the woman out.
"GUYS!" the pair turned to the frantic looking Maya before them as she pointed at the screen behind her. "Do we need to worry about that?"
Tony and Audelia's eyes trailed to the screen, just in time to see the smoke trail of a missile heading straight for the living room windows of the Malibu home they currently stood in.
All three in the living room turned to face the windows, the head of the missile right on them as it crashed through the glass, running into the fireplace wall as it detonated, debris flying through the air and sending them flying across the room.
The world felt as if it was moving in slow motion for Tony Stark as he flew backwards, his eyes finding the flailing body of Audelia Motter flying through the air. He jerked his arms out toward her as quickly as possible, the pieces of his Iron Man armor flying toward her as he caught a glimpse of them encasing her fragile body just as his back hit the bar wall across the room.
His body rolled to the floor, his back hitting hard against the concrete, his vision slightly blurred from the impact as he looked up to the ceiling above him, his ears ringing from the blast. Tony pulled himself up onto his hip, propping himself up as he caught sight of Maya across the room, lying unconscious on the ground covered in dust.
The cracking of concrete sounded out from above him as Tony's eyes trailed back to the ceiling, a large chunk of it preparing to crack and fall on top of his body until a flash of red and gold landed in front of him, taking the brunt of the hit before the face mask popped open, Audelia's face flashing in front of his own as she gave him the smallest of smiles.
"I got your back,"
"No time for cheesy lines," he grabbed onto the outstretched hand of armor, taking hold as Deli pulled him to his feet. "You know you've got your own suit, right? I could've used this one."
"You're the idiot that put it on me instead of yourself,"
Another missile flew through the windows, the blast sending Tony flying back from Audelia's arms and over the back of the couch as more missiles hit around the surrounding area of the house.
"TONY!"
"I'm fine!" he called out, crawling over the back of the couch as he waved his hands frantically. "MOVE! I'm right behind you!"
Audelia, in the Iron Man suit, tried to engage flight systems but nothing was working. Almost all normal functionalities of the suit weren't working because it was only a prototype.
She launched herself over a large piece of debris until she heard a crack behind her, seeing the floor had fallen apart and driven a valley between her and Tony. Her eyes were full of fear as they looked up as locked with his brown ones.
"Get her," Tony commanded, pointing to Maya's body on the ground as the woman was slowly coming to. "I'm going to find a way around this."
"Tony, I am not leaving you-"
"Stop stopping, get outside-"
"Not without you!" Audelia shouted back as debris crumbled more around them, her eyes wide with panic and tears pooling in them. "I'm not leaving you here! I'm not losing you!"
"I'm right behind you Dell, now GO!"
Then woman took one last look into his eyes before the face mask in front of her closed, concealing her tears as she turned her back on the love of her life, running toward Maya Hansen instead.
Grabbing hold of her arm, Deli threw it around the shoulders of the suit as she tugged her to her feet, supporting most of her body weight as she clamored around the debris, unfamiliar with the mechanics of the suit as it wasn't her own and feeling almost powerless without most of the normal systems.
Rounding the corner back into the entryway, Deli held up the repulsor as she tried to blast through the front windows to get them to safety. The repulsor never fired, though, and she repeatedly tried to get it working.
"JARVIS, run a scan on all systems in this suit and get me power for normal systems-"
Her own sentence was cut off by her scream and Maya's as the repulsor finally generated enough power to fire, launching the pair through the air and shattering the windows, their bodies landing on the concrete of the front driveway to the home.
Audelia sputtered out a cough as she pulled herself to her feet, the mask of the suit coming up once again as she looked back to the house as it slowly got destroyed before her eyes.
"TONY!"
Inside the collapsing house, Tony Stark was thrown back once more, his body hitting the back of one of the walls as JARVIS's voice rang out through the earpiece in his ear.
"Sir, Ms. Motter is now clear of the building,"
Tony's face grew into one of determination. She was safe, now all he had to do was make it back to her. He held out his hands, calling for his suit to come back to him.
Piece by piece, the prototype Iron Man armor flew off of Audelia's body, spinning her around as it made it's way back inside of the collapsing house, fastening itself to Tony's body until he was fully covered, finally giving him a layer of protection against the three helicopters firing at him from outside.
"Jarvis, where's my flight power?!"
"Working on it, sir. This is a prototype. Ms. Motter has already informed me to draw and convert all power to normal suit functions,"
"That's my girl," he muttered as he slid across the ground, firing at his piano and sending it flying out the window, the impact taking down on of the helicopters before him. "That's one."
"Sir, this suit is not combat ready,"
Without his normal flight systems, Tony ran throughout the crumbling house in his armor, sliding in front of one of the broke windows as he tore a section of his suit open, tearing a missile out and launching it at one of the helicopters, firing at it with his repulsor as it blew the machine to dust.
"That's two!"
Audelia Motter rose to her feet outside the front entrance of the house, her eyes wide as she watched the helicopter spin out of control and crash down toward the house. She could faintly hear the sound of police and fire trucks rolling up her driveway as she ran toward the broken doors at the front of the house, a surge of heat rolling out. She reached into her pocket, slipping on one of the earpieces she always kept with her as she activated her bracelets.
"JARVIS, I'm going to need my suit, buddy,"
"Ms. Motter, might I remind you that your suit is also a prototype as well-"
"Tony needs me, JARVIS, give me the suit!"
With her hands held out toward the house, Audelia stood her ground and waited, even as sections of the house fell into the ocean below the rocks. Within a second, flashes of purple and gold flew through the panes of glass that remained standing.
The suit rolled over her body in pieces, encompassing her until the face mask finally landed in it's place, the earpiece in her ear becoming one with the suit. The display screen activated, the information sides blurred and glitching as she hit the side of her helmet as more of the house fell away before her.
"JARVIS?" there was no response from the AI as she repeatedly hit her helmet. Some of the systems had to have been damaged during the destruction, leaving her defenseless. She tried her repulsors, flight systems, anything, but nothing was online. It was just a suit of armor. "No, no, no, no, NO!"
The back section of the house fell into the water, taking Tony in his armor down into the water with it. he frantically looked around, trying to get a grasp on anything until a stray cable wrapped itself around the neck of the suit, rooting him to a large piece of debris and pulling him further into the water.
He looked up through the water at the last pieces of his home that fell toward him. The cars, the walls, the furniture, all to ruin. Memories down the drain.
The day that Audelia had taken him to the house, showing him around and screaming to him that this was his house and that he had to buy it. Gone.
The first time he held a party at the house and she came, dressed to the nines in a red dress that outshone every other woman in the room. Gone.
When he first built his Iron Man suit, the sound of her laughter ringing through the lab at his many failed attempts. Gone.
When Audelia made him dinner on the anniversary of his parents' deaths, forgoing a dinner date with Nathan to spend the time with Tony, telling him that he would always come first. Gone.
The first time she ever walked through the doors with Aurora in her arms and he knew, in that instant, that he wanted to marry his best friend. Gone.
All memories of her, of the woman he loved more than anything in the world. All memories of Audelia Motter, gone.
"I love you, Dell," Tony Stark whispered to himself as the last portion of his- their home came crashing through the water, landing on top of him and pushing him further down into the ocean.
Audelia Motter went running through the scattered remains of her home, ignoring the calls of the police behind her to stay back. She ripped the useless helmet off her head, her body coming to a halt in the spot where the living room used to stand, where that damn bunny stood. Now, there was just a burning cliff, looking down into the rocky waters below as smoke clouded her vision.
She had no way of finding him. No way to ask JARVIS, no way of knowing if he was down there, if he had flown away or gone after the last helicopter. She had no way of knowing if he was alive. For all she knew, Tony Stark was dead.
An ear-splitting scream ripped through Audelia's Motter's throat as she stared down at the water below, the tears that had been building up just now reaching the surface and pouring over like a waterfall, her screams mixed with sobs as her knees hit the concrete, the armor clanging off of them as the noise echoed around the broken house.
For all she knew, Tony Stark was dead, and she never got to tell him she loved him.
"TONY!"
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Did I just rip your hearts out? Cause I ripped out my own too, don't worry.
Also, my roommate reads my books and is currently catching up on this one. She's was reading the Avengers battle chapter right as I finished this so HELLO IN THE FUTURE TO YOU DON'T KILL ME IN MY SLEEP WHEN YOU READ THIS!