Innocent Bystander | T. Stark ✔️

four ▼ a field trip

One week passed, and with it came more reports of overly agitated people in the Malibu area. The reports escalated when one woman turned into what news articles termed 'a rock like cocoon'. No explanation for what was happening came forward, and people thought the worst with the battle on New York still fresh in their minds.

Juliet twisted where she sat as Tony entered the living room. She'd been scribbling away in her notepad, making a list of things she needed to do that day.

"Good morning," she greeted with a bright smile. "Where are you off to?" She asked, taking notice of the keys dangling from his finger.

"I got a call about the angry cocoon that showed up yesterday. It's being held at the army base and I'm going to take a look at it."

Juliet scrambled off the couch and to her feet. "You're going to see it? Can I come?"

Tony's eyes widened at her excitement, amusement dancing in his eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Of course, I love looking at bodies." Juliet felt herself cringe at her own words. "Not in a weird way, I just-" she huffed, her shoulders slumping as she gave up trying to recover.

"You should've put that on your résumé. I might not have hired you if I knew you were a freak." Tony smirked as he pulled his jacket on.

"I am not a freak and you weren't the one who hired me. Also, shut up." The nurse led the way out the front door, still mentally chastising herself for not thinking before speaking.

The base was a half an hour drive from Tony's house. They drove in one of his many sleek cars, this time a yellow convertible. The salty ocean air tore at Juliet's hair as Tony sped along the asphalt, never once slowing until they arrived at the gates of the base.

Once they had been waved through, two men in uniform escorted them inside one of the many bunkers.

Their destination was a small and brightly lit room deep inside the bunker. Multiple uniformed soldiers stood in the narrow hallway leading to it and by the heavy iron door. They stood with their backs as straight as arrows; their eyes were trained foreword yet Juliet got the impression that very little was escaping their attention.

In the center of the room, laid out on a table, was the cocoon. As Juliet raked  her eyes over the alien object, she couldn't help but think that the term 'chrysalis' was more fitting.

It was translucent, like a gem with a fog beneath its rugged surface. The light caught and refracted on every imperfection. When she was close enough, she could just make out the eerie form of the woman trapped beneath the shell. The woman's eyes were opened wide, face contorted in pain and anger. Juliet suppressed a shudder as Tony moved closer, walking past the two soldiers flanking the door.

"Can you tell me anything, Mr. Stark?" A man standing at the other side of the table asked. He was also in uniform with a clean haircut and a neatly combed mustache. "I've got a whole lot of people demanding to know what's going on with a whole lot of nothing to tell them."

Tony circled the table, examining the chrysalis from all angles. A grave expression marked his face, causing a nervous pang in Juliet's stomach.

"I hate to say it, General, but I may know what this is," Tony said, stopping beside the man. "But I need to be sure before I point any fingers."

"I understand. As long as you know that time is a luxury we may not have here."

"I am fully aware of that. Have a little faith, will you?"

The smirk disappeared from Tony's face as the room fell silent. A single, glowing rift split down the chrysalis. A crack branched from it and another and another until the whole surface was a spiderweb of canyons in the crystal.

Juliet watched, frozen in fear. Suddenly Tony was there, part of his body and an outstretched arm between her and the rapidly shattering chrysalis.

The cocoon trembled and quaked before the jagged red pieces tumbled to the ground to reveal the woman. She pushed herself into a sitting position, parts of the crumbled shell shifting beneath her. She held her hands up and examined them with a look of awe. Her ragged breathing could be heard throughout the small room. The soldiers standing around the perimeter of the room aimed their guns at her with eerie synchrony.

The woman's bloodshot eyes scanned the room. Something in them made Juliet's skin crawl. The woman looked comfortable and triumphant, two emotions that felt anything but natural in her situation.

She rolled her shoulders and flexed her fingers as she slid off the table. Her gaze slid lazily to Tony and then the General, the ghost of an unsettling smile at her lips. One slow step took her closer to the General.

"Stand down," he said, voice unwavering. "You try to pull anything and there'll be five bullets with your name on them."

A laugh pushed past her lips. It started softly before it grew into an unbridled fit.

"It doesn't matter if I fall. Hundreds more like me are coming and when they do, it won't matter how many guns you have." As she spoke she began to faintly glow, as if a bright red light was just below her skin. "I am the first of many, proof that a magnificent experiment has finally succeeded. There's no stopping it now."

The woman's voice grew louder, angrier, with each word. When she was fell quiet a silence stretched out before the General gave the slightest nod of his head. Juliet squeezed her eyes shut just as the deafening crack of five gunshots split the air. When she opened them, Tony's frame blocked all but an unmoving hand on the ground, skin speckled with crimson, from her view.

A tremor passed through her and she let her eyes close again, desperately wishing the sick feeling in her stomach would leave.

▼

Double update because I have a solid stash of prewritten chapters

And, just saying, if you want to read a fantastic Clint Barton fic, Ultimatum by Mrs_BuckyBarnes is amazing and it will slay you in all the best ways possible

Thank you for reading!!