One Vial

The world around me erupts into light and flame, and I scream. My blood feels like it’s trying to leap out of my skin. It’s excruciating.

The next thing I know, I’m lying on the ground, my clothes have burned off me, the warehouse is ablaze, Kylie’s gone and Iron Man is sprawled on the ground, not moving.

“Tony,” I call and try to push myself up, but my arms give out.

“Tony!” I scream as the flames creep closer to him.

God, why does my head hurt so much? What did Kylie do to us?

I can’t just let Tony lie there for the flames to get him. So I try dragging myself along the concrete. It scrapes my skin, and I probably look like a slug, but I have to do this.

I place my hand on the front of his suit when I get to him and his helmet flies open. He coughs and I could almost cry I’m so happy.

“Tony, we have to get out of here,” I tell him, the smile of relief evident in my voice.

“Yeah, you really did a number on this place. Wait,” he sits up and looks me over.

My eyes widen and I immediately try to cover myself.

“Shit!” I squeal.

“Well this is a nice change,” he tells me. “You aren’t nearly as uptight as you first seemed.”

“Just get me out of here!” I hiss at him. “I can’t move. And you know, things are kind of urgent.”

He clears his throat and nods. The suit then whirrs back into life and he’s back on his feet, scooping me up in his arms. Fire’s blocked the door, but Tony just blasts a hole in the roof and then we’re flying out.

“Holy crap,” I murmur as we fly over Brooklyn. “We’re flying.”

I can feel the wind around me, but I don’t feel the cold anymore and I’m pretty grateful for that at the moment. I’ll process all the shit Kylie’s done to me when I’m clothed and standing again.

“At least you noticed that.”

“Did you see what Kylie did? How she knocked us out?”

Tony then starts laughing.

“No, that was you.”

“What?!” I yell and Tony’s laughter grows louder.

“Yeah, she’d just dropped you and then your body kind of lit up like the fourth of July and BOOM!”

I don’t even know how to respond. I just let my mouth hang open, which is stupid because I end up with bugs in my mouth. Tony laughs as I sputter and I want to hit him because he’s never had that problem.

“I would’ve thought your nipples would be hard at this altitude,” he then remarks and I glare at him, rearranging my arms so he can no longer see me.

This is really not how I’d like to get naked with Tony Stark.

You know if that were ever to happen.

“You’re such an asshole,” I tell him.

“And I’ve come up with a name for you,” he responds.

I frown and ask, “A name?”

“Your superhero name.”

I turn my gaze back to the city zooming along under us.

“Oh, right. What have you got?”

“Something to match your personality of course; Spitfire.”

I can’t help but grin. I like that. I really do. I’m not going to tell him that though.

*

Tony sighs when I re-enter the living room in his New York penthouse.

“I liked you so much better without the clothes,” he says mournfully. “Though you’re right, it would’ve been a bit distracting when trying to take down your psycho sister.”

I’m finally able to stand on my own again, and I just want to throttle him. I know he’s seeing Kylie as just another monster, but this is my sister, and she’s not acting like herself. Tony doesn’t want to take any chances on that though. He wants to go in for the kill, and I just want to run home and hide in my bed for the next few months or so, without anyone dying. I understand his reasoning, but I can’t approach this with the same venom.

“Shouldn’t you be working on contacting the Director?” I ask him with an unimpressed raised eyebrow.

“Well because of your excellent taste,” he nods to the shirt I’m wearing, “I will do that.”

I’m wearing an AC/DC t-shirt and a pair of Tony’s jeans which look ridiculous on me even with the belt. I just take a seat by his side on the sofa as Fury’s face once again appears. But he’s not alone, and he’s not conscious.

“We’ve been expecting your call, Stark,” a familiar voice says, and I stiffen as Agent Hendricks, my stupidly attractive boss, comes onto screen. Kylie is in the background, pacing, by the looks of things. She only paces when she’s stressed.

“Huh, I thought it’d just be the nutty sister to deal with,” Tony comments, earning a glare from Kylie.

Agent Hendricks just laughs before saying, “Of course not. This was my plan. Kylie is just my beautiful assistant.”

Tony turns to me and points out, “Even super villains need sidekicks. We should’ve seen this coming.”

Hendricks turns his attention to me and grins. It makes my skin crawl.

“Nicole, how nice to see you still around and kicking. I was under the impression that you were dead.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” I say calmly. The effort it’s taking to not scream is more than I imagined.

“Oh on the contrary, I am very, very pleased that you have been spared. We can’t lose any more of our kind.”

I ignore this and demand, “What do you want with Fury?”

“He’s just a bargaining chip. Why don’t you come fetch him? I’m sure you remember where your doctor’s office is.”

The screen goes black.