The Younger Agent - Natasha Romanoff x OC

Chapter 32 - Waddling Into Victory

"Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down", Nat's voice rang through their earpieces. Eleanor could have popped open a bottle of champagne right then and there, she thought that they would never be able to shut that thing down but now her girlfriend had come to the rescue. 

"Do it!", Steve shouted back to her via his own earpiece, but Tony seemed to have other ideas.
"No, wait". 

Everyone thought he had gone crazy, their first opportunity to shut off the portal and he was turning it down? Eleanor scrunched her eyebrows together tightly as she looked at Steve whose expression was just as confused as he replied to Tony. "Stark, these things are still coming!".

"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute". A nuke? Eleanor's knees wanted to buckle from the sudden anxiety spike she got from receiving news that a nuclear missile was headed directly toward them. "And I know just where to put it".

Their eyes widened in realisation, the portal. That was a risky move, there was no guarantee that he would survive going through and releasing a nuclear device that would blow up any second.

"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip", the Captain spoke in a softer tone. They didn't get a response but it wasn't long before they saw the Iron Man himself flying over their heads, nuke in arms. It was a sight that Eleanor wasn't expecting to see, and wished that she didn't have to see. tony was an ass but he had grown on her, she was praying to a God that she didn't believe in that he would survive this.

He continued his flight, ascending the side of Stark Tower, and consequently directly into the portal. Everyone was now collectively holding their breaths. He had breached the barrier of the portal, and continued into it, disappearing out of view. 

"Come back", Eleanor mumbled when he hadn't made a reappearance yet, but her thoughts were cut off by the Chitauri around them collapsing, almost as if they were powering down. It was weird. Relief was initially felt, but that quickly turned to dread as that meant that the nuke had gone off, and with Tony still being up there the situation was looking less and less hopeful.

"Close it", Steve spoke. Eleanor's heart plummeted at hearing these words. Nat must have listened because the gaping hole in the sky was getting smaller and smaller. It was over.

Eleanor looked at the floor and was about to make her way over to the Tower when she heard Steve mumble, "Son of a gun", so she whipped her head around back to him and Thor, seeing that they were looking at where the portal would have been.

What she saw was unexpected but most certainly welcome, Tony had gotten back through the portal just in time. She grinned up at the sky, but as he got closer to the ground it was clear that he was in fact crash landing, so that grin quickly disappeared.

Thor started swinging his hammer in circles, preparing to catch him, "He's not slowing down!", but before he got a chance to be airborne, Hulk came flying through the sky, grabbing Tony before hitting the side of a building and scraping down the wall to try and slow their fall. But then they barrelled onto the bridge that they were currently standing on.

Eleanor's eyes widened and she stumbled back slightly at what she had just seen. This was an emotional rollercoaster. 

Steve, Thor, and Eleanor ran towards the other two, Thor flipped Tony onto his back and tore the face of his helmet off. "Is he breathing?", she asked. He wasn't moving, and she was scared to hear the answer.

He still hadn't moved, they all silently accepted the horrible truth that Tony Stark had died getting that nuke away from Earth. Eleanor took a few steps forward and crouched next to him, silently saying goodbye.