『 two. WE AGREE TO HELP THE TIN MAN DEFEAT THE WICKED WITCH 』
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐘 heard when he woke up was the sound of screaming. Which is not a pleasant thing to wake up to. Especially when you had previously gotten hit directly in the head and landed smack on your face. It was a wonder his nose wasn't broken (at least he didn't think it was). It was like he had a hang over, and then everyone decided to scream to wake him up.
His eyesight was slightly fuzzy but when everything came into focus, he felt his head pounding, and he groaned, his head turning to lie against the cool cement instead of his face. As everything becomes clearer and less dark, he could make out two pairs of feet staring near him, one that wore winter boots and another with white converse. The one with winter boots also wore jeans, while despite the cold air, the other person wasn't.
He groaned again, louder this time and it got the two to shut up, and he turned his head into the cement, even when he heard a pair of heavy shoes rush over to him, and carefully a hand set on his back.
"It's okay, Tony." A voice he recognized somehow said, and rubbed soothing circles on his back, "My sister thought you were an intruder."
"He is!"
"Not the point Hal!"
There was an exasperated groan that came from Hallie, who had gone and gotten her brother how had been in the process of making a tuna sandwich (disgusting, but her brother's favorite), and asked him why the underworld there was a supposedly dead man in their garage, and after explaining to him she had knocked him out, he had gone running, tuna sandwich in hand to see what the damage was.
Hallie was frustrated by now, wondering what was going through her brother's mind when he let the man stay, because despite him being a hero there would be people looking for him. She wanted to help, but she could've been working at the diner and something bad could've happened and she wouldn't know.
So as her brother comforted the billionaire, Hallie frustratedly pull at her brown locks of hair, beginning to pace. Between the stuff going on with the Mandarin, and the fact she had a supposed to be dead superhero in her house, things were not looking good, and she could bet that the metal clad superhero would soon bring friends.
Hallie began muttering to herself, trying to find a solution to their current situation and despite the fact a part of her wanted to help, she knew she would have to do what was best for Harley so he wouldn't get hurt. Half of her wanted to get the mechanic out, but she knew that Harley wouldn't let that happen. She'd half to fight hard if she wanted the superhero out of her house, and then deal with the aftermath, something that she already could foresee not going well.
Scenarios ran through her head as she pulled on her hair nervously, pacing back and forth as Tony fully regained consciousness, groaning on the ground and flipping over to look up, the blue eyes of Harley Keener coming into view, and his mouth is moving, but he sounds like he is underwater and trying to talk.
But then, slowly, "...ony. Tony. Are you okay? Tony?"
As he recovered, he once again grunted of the sight of a face so close to his and quickly shoved the kid off, and sat up, looking around in a daze. His eyes landed on what caused his abrupt loss of consciousness, a metal baseball bat, lying a few feet away from him.
He narrows his eyes at it first, before once again Harley Keener moves in the way of his sight, and the kid is looking worriedly at him, as he kneels next to him.
He moves his gaze away, finally looking to see what looked like a waitress from the sixties pacing back and forth.
He was dead, wasn't he?
"Look Hals! You didn't kill him!" Harley excitedly says, looking to his older sister, still in her turquoise diner uniform as she paces back and forth, biting her thumb. At his words she turns around to see Tony Stark looking around, dazed and confused lay looking up at her.
"Of course I didn't kill him," Hallie argued, giving Harley a small glare and he shrugs looking away, while mumbling, "seemed like you did for a second though." Just barely loud enough for Hallie to hear and her glare turned fiercer causing her younger brother to shrink down.
Hallie shook her head, kneeling down in front of the mechanic and waving her hand in his face, before snapping her fingers in front of it to get him out of his daze. "Hey buddy, I need you to wake the underworld up. Come on," she said not being all to careful (but in her defense the guy broke into her house!).
"Hey!" Harley said, reaching out and slapping her hands away from him, glaring at his older sister and Hallie glared back. "You've got to be gentle, for all we know you gave him a concussion!" He turned back to the mechanic, and Hallie groaned running her hands across her face, while muttering a mantra of 'this cannot be happening', before she went back to attending to the billionaire, this time more careful earning an approving look from Harley.
"You've got a mean swing, Batty." He reaches up to feel the back of his head, feeling a forming bump on it. "Oh god, I think you've squashed my ability to come up with good nicknames."
From where she stood, Hallie glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest and finally stopping her pacing, deciding to question the billionaire herself first. There might not be much to question him on, but if he still wanted to stay after she might've accidentally given him a concussion, then he'd need to answer her questions first. It was only fair for breaking in.
"Why the hell are you in Tennessee?" She asked him, earning another glare from Harley who was trying to gently rub soothing circles into the superhero's back to calm him down, only for his hands to be slapped away by said man.
"Why the hell did you hit me with a bat?"
"You broke in to our garage!"
"Your brother gave me permission to stay."
"He's twelve!"
"Hallie!"
Hallie looked towards her younger brother at the sound of her name, finding him giving her the fiercest glare she had ever seen him give but she wasn't about to back down. He was going to answer her questions, even if he didn't like him. It was for Harley's own good.
"Calm down, you just hit him with a baseball bat, at least ask if he is okay." The puppy dog look that he gave her made her cave instantly, washing away the anxiety that had been building in her chest from the moment that she had seen a figure working in her garage. She said, before kneeling next to Harley and looking at the mechanic.
Sucking in a deep breath along with all her pride she said through gritted teeth, "Are you okay? Do you have a headache, any nausea or ringing in the ears? Do you feel dizzy?" Harley was giving her a look she could only describe as pride.
"Well, I think I'm hallucinating because I swear I'm seeing waitress from the fifties who seems to know a lot about a concussion." This time Hallie rolled her eyes at the mechanic's words, wondering where the bat she had been holding a minute ago went, only to find Harley slowly putting the bar out of her reach and she could tell he was hoping she wouldn't notice.
"I'm allowed to know about first aid, even if I'm a waitress." She snapped at the mechanic. "And I work at a fifties themed diner for boomers like you."
The man looked at her, playful hurt shining in his eyes as he said, "Hey, I'm not that old."
"Are you sure, you are basically a mummy at this point."
"For the record, I know someone a thousand years old who looks like he is barely even thirty."
"I don't care about the record."
"Hallie!"
Hallie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and squeezing her eyes shut listening as her younger brother apologized to the so called legend that Hallie just wanted out of their house. She didn't really want to listen to the youngest's apologies until she heard her name, as he said, "I'm sorry, Tony! Hallie just isn't a people person. Don't blame her."
"Hey!" Hallie snapped, offended. It was her turn to glare at her younger brother who gave her puppy dog eyes, pouting while he shrugged and Hallie groaned, standing up again after getting tired of kneeling for so long, not showing that much concern form the billionaire who could possibly have a concussion. All she wanted to do was scream into a pillow to let out all her frustration. But there were no pillow around.
"At least one of you is civil." Tony muttered under his breath.
"Yeah, whatever. It's been nice knowing you but now you need to go." Hallie said, and leaned down to grab him by the arm and pull him into a standing position causing Harley to start shouting at her which she silenced with a look. That's right. She could give looks too. "Nice knowing you, boomer but you've got to go now, so take you're... costume, and you can leave." ("Hal—!").
"Okay, hold on." Tony said, reaching out an arm to interrupt her and she crossed her own, glaring at him as Harley looked between the two. "You're kicking me out... because I broke into your garage?"
"Look, you're finally catching up." For once Harley didn't interrupt her.
"Funny. But l need a little help, and so I need to actually stay here for a little longer."
"I'm sorry, really, I am. But if you haven't noticed," she grabbed the paper resting on the work table that displayed the man's face and held it up in front of her, pointing a finger at the headline. "You are supposed to be dead! Because someone was trying to assassinate you which means they'll be looking for you and I can't risk them coming here and hurting Harley because of you!" She pretty much yelled at him, and he rolled his eyes, deep down knowing that she had a point.
Hallie slammed the newspaper back onto the table, with a sigh as for once ever since she knocked the billionaire out with a baseball bat, things got quiet, and Tony looked down, trying his best not to feel guilty. Hallie stood there, stresses and running a hand through her messy hair with a sigh as she took the time to calm down, breathing deeply.
Finally, Tony spoke up. "Your brother won't get hurt, I'll be here to protect him and you."
"Like you protected your bodyguard?" It was harsh, but in that moment, Hallie didn't care.
Tony instantly straightened up, getting himself back together as he glared at her after her harsh words, and Harley finally seemed to go quiet between the two, "Oh, and like you are doing such a good job of protecting your brother, you are no better than I am." He snapped, as Hallie glared, "I mean what kind of person leaves a ten year old alone at home at nine o'clock at night?"
"The kind that has to work, you twat!"
"Hallie! Mr. Tony... sir!" Harley finally spoke up causing both of their glared to turn on him instead and he felt like backing out for a second before he continued, "You two are never going to get anything done if you keep acting like this!" Both knee he was right but neither were willing to back down. "Hallie," Harley turned to face his older sister, "You've always told me that the right thing to do is help people who need help, and we can help fix Tony's suit." Hallie felt herself want to give up at his words. "I know that it puts us in danger but Hallie, we've got to help." With that he stuck out his bottom lip, pouting, "Please."
Hallie sighed angrily, "Fine. But the second — and I mean the second — you are put in danger my priority is you."
"Yes ma'am," Harley nodded seriously, as he saluted her and she rolled her eyes.
She turned back to Tony and glared, still angry from before and she could see him smirking, "As soon as we help you with your suit you get out of here and we never see you again, got it?"
"Deal. Now where is my tuna sandwich?"
( w / c ) : 2151
( a / n ) : hallie is a stubborn little baby
who can be completely mean but only when
she is angry. I still love her though.
what did you think?
#blacklivesmatter
votes and comments appreciated, have
a good day / night.