Care to Prove Me Wrong?

Chapter Three-New Guy?

Chapter Three

New Guy?

Nat and I sprint through the halls and into Tony's lab to retrieve whatever new version of our suits he's made, but when we reach the door we can't even see through the glass. Black smoke covers every inch of the lab. Nat and I burst in anyway and pull our shirts up over our noses and mouths as we move throughout the room. Suddenly, a piece of the tiled floor starts to crumble under my feet. Hands wrap around my waist and tug me back as where I was standing falls apart. I spin to find Natasha holding me.

"Tony?" I ask, although my voice is muffled by my shirt. She shakes her head, but we both turn towards a crashing noise when we hear it. We don't have to discuss anything. We both sprint in that direction. Smoke stings my eyes as I run, but eventually I can just barely make out a hanging shape from the slowly crumbling floor.

"Um, help?" A hanging Tony coughs. I meet Natasha's eyes for a moment before she runs ahead and grabs an exposed pipe in the ceiling, then I jump into the chasm created by the disappearing floor and grab her ankle as my anchor. From this point, grabbing Tony is easy. I wrap an arm around his waist and he releases the wreckage of the floor to hang onto me. Natasha slowly pulls up, then starts to swing. Once she's gained enough velocity, I release her ankle and use myself as a cushion for Tony to land on. The smoke already got to him and he's unconscious. I stand as soon as I can and make sure Natasha lands safely. She does and walks over to me to help Tony. We both wrap his arms around us and start walking out, careful on which tiles we step on. Luckily, Tony is prone to accidents and there's a doctor on call. As soon as Nat and I get Tony to his room she makes the call. After a thank you kiss on her cheek, I'm in my room and changing into my dark violet catsuit. Next, I'm out to do threat assessment and to brief Steve and Bucky. Apparently, I'm late to the party.

"Looking good, Captain." I can't help but tease when I see Steve in his suit. He turns towards me and has relief in his eyes.

"Andy. What happened?" He asks as he marches over to me. We embrace and I pat his pretty face before we start really talking.

"I have no clue. Natasha and I came up and found Tony's lab obliterated. We're not sure if it was a bomb or an experiment gone wrong. You know Tony." I report all I know.

"It was just...an experiment..." I spin around when I hear Tony wheezing. I glance back at Natasha and wave my hands around in irritation. She shrugs.

"I'm at least making sure he isn't falling over." She excuses and gets an eye roll for it from me. I duck under Tony's arm to keep him upright as he continues trying to talk.

"It was an addition to...to one of my suits. Malfunctioned." He ends and I look over at Steve, noting Bucky's silhouette making its way towards us.

"Well, that's a relief." Steve says, but his eyes are concerned on Tony's smoke smudged face.

"Do you think you can handle the press alone or should I come with you?" I ask instantly, knowing Steve isn't the biggest fan of the paparazzi after the way they treated Bucky. He hesitates and that makes up my mind. "Bucky, you take Tony back to his room and make sure he stays there. Tasha, will you handle the workers here? I'm sure they're rushing in and it would be good to have someone to give them directions." Bucky nods and takes Tony off my hands. Luckily, Tony is too full of smoke to protest. Natasha is quick to move back into the rubble and I grin when I hear her authoritative yelling.

"Ready?" Steve asks and holds out a hand. I take it and nod.

"As I'll ever be." We walk to the stairs and make our way down, all the while planning out what to say. Steve and I have been close friends for a long time. He's the one who believed in me enough to get to this point and that isn't something I take lightly. We've gotten each other out of plenty sticky situations before, including helping him with Bucky. After he came home, we pretended to date for a while to keep the press busy for a couple news cycles. Now, we're America's favorite couple of ex's. "We're clear on the plan?" I ask as we pause in front of the doors to the swarm of paparazzi. There's always a couple outside and now it seems we've attracted a frenzy. This won't be fun.