Power

Rescue

"Need a hand, kid?" I hear a voice next to me. 

I look up, my vision blurred by tears.  

It was Iron Man himself. Kind of cool, being rescued by an Avenger. (although I had other things to worry about right now)

I quickly wipe my tears, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Yeah, I-um... I'm stuck here." I smile softly.

I feel like he smiled behind his mask.

"Well, don't worry, I'll get you out of here. I'm Iron Man, by the way."

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock." I say sarcastically.

He laughs. His laugh is so warm and gentle, like a loving dad's, but also has a hint of sarcasm and...well, ego.

"How old are you, kid?"

"You know, that's somewhat of a creepy question to ask." I say.

"Hm." he replies. "Your name, then?"

"What did I just say about the creepiness?" I ask.

"I'm Tony Stark."

Wow. Did he just share a private information or was I just not familiar with his real identity?

I sighed.

"Hannah."

"Hannah...?" he asked, waiting for me to tell him my full name.

"Don't push it."

"Good enough. So, shall we knock this thing down?" he asked, suddenly energetic, gesturing with his metal arm towards the door.

I nodded. He flew a few inches above the roof and crashed into the door. With a loud "BANG!", the door slammed open, hitting the wall.

"Wow! Thank you so much!" I said, amazed, watching the scene, and then throwing my backpack on my shoulder. "I probably would've died here if you didn't see me".

"I've heard that before."

I laughed and hurried away.

"Wait a sec, kid." he said, his face getting serious. He looked deeply into my eyes. I felt like he could guess what I was thinking.

"Where'd you get all the bruises?"

I froze. I started thinking of a good lie.

"I-um...fell. And bumped into stuff. I'm really clumsy." I said, laughing nervously. 

I knew it was a really lame excuse. I had a black eye, to start with. I don't see any way I could've injured myself that way. Also, my hair was basically chopped up, missing a lot of strands and my bottom lip was swollen and I had a dry stain of blood on my chin. 

Suddenly, I felt very self-conscious, sitting in front of this man, AN AVENGER, looking like I just got beaten up. Not too far away from the truth, though. But I should've covered up my face better. It looked okay in the morning, good enough so that my friends didn't ask me a lot of questions, but my makeup probably smudged during the day.

He frowned, giving me a concerned look. Gosh, nobody gave me that look in a really long while.

"I don't buy it." he said.

I lifted my shoulders. 

"That's not my problem" I said, walking away.

"I'm definitely gonna come up on this roof again. I just have to make sure to put a pipe down to hold the door next time" I thought.