Walking in the Wind // Avengers

The Calm Before The Storm

•••

They were back in the helicarrier, flying home.

Tony was piloting, Clint was on the table being attended to by Steve with Thor watching, Natasha had moved to squeeze Clints shoulder, Bruce was listening to opera music in an attempt to calm down and distract himself, and Lexie was lounging near Tony, going between texting Erin to let her know she was okay and to calm the other girls nerves, and sneaking glances at Tony. 

He'd been off since he returned with the scepter. The second he got back, after putting the scepter down, he had put a hand on the back of Lexies head and pressed a small kiss to her hairline, an unusual display of affection around their teammates. After living with Tony for almost a year now, she'd like to say she knew him fairly well, and she could tell when something was bothering him and he kind of disappeared into his own mind, shutting out everything else. Which was what he was currently doing.

Her eyes left the back of Tonys head when Natasha spoke up. "Thor, report on the Hulk?"

"The gates of Hel are filled with the screams of his victims," he said proudly with no hesitation. When he saw the look Natasha gave him, heard Bruce groan softly and Lexie say 'that's not really helpful', he quickly tried to save the situation. "But not the screams of the dead, of course. No, no, wounded screams. Mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and gout."

"Hey, Banner, Dr. Cho is on her way in from Seoul," Tony looked back at them. "Is it okay if she sets up in her lab?"

"Uh, yeah, she knows her way around," Bruce responded.

"Thanks," he turned back and spoke to Jarvis. "Tell her to prepare everything. Barton's gonna need a full treatment."

"Very good, sir," the AI responded.

"Jarvis, take the wheel."

"Yes, sir." Tony moved the chair back. "Approach vector is locked."

•••

Tony approached Lexie after having spoken to Thor and Steve, his mind making plans for the scepter and how to stop his vision from becoming a reality. He sat down next to her and asked: "You're bringing Erin to the party, right?"

"Yup," she nodded, setting her phone down. "It'll be her first time meeting everyone else, she's freaking out," she chuckled and he smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "You okay?" she casually looked at him from the corner of her eye, studying him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he shrugged casually and smirked. "Why? You worried? Going soft on me? I thought the Widow trained you better than that."

She laughed. "Shut up," she smiled. "It was just a question and like Pepper said: 'there are no stupid questions, just stupid answers'."

"Yeah, that's not true at all," he sighed, a genuine smile pulling at his lips, mind finally drifting from the sight of Lexie dead in front of him.

"It's really not," she chuckled and looked out at the horizon, having a rare moment of peace where she had nothing to worry about and felt comfortable and safe.

Things would only start to go downhill from there.

•••

Sorry this chapter is out so late, it completely slipped my mind that it was Friday. This was a really short chapter and I'm sorry about that, but there was some Lexie and Tony bonding time so I hope that makes up for it.

I got the second dose of the vaccine two days ago and haven't felt too great, but I'm fine now. Really glad I'm done and fully vaccinated.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend, and that whatever it is you're doing, whether it's school or work or if you're still on break, is going great and that you're taking care of yourselves.

Vote and comment xx