THINKING OUT LOUD || Avengers

-)Fifteen: Iron Man Down(-

They didn't find Tony Stark.

Not after Steve's initial yell, or any of the following hours. Not when Clint shot volley after volley of arrows across the pit, creating a rig from which Natasha attempted to abseil down. Not when Sam sent Red Wing into the darkness, only to reach the drone's maximum distance limit, not when the man took the plunge himself, only to reach too narrow a pass for his wings to manage. Not when Vision attempted to get an virtual image of the hole- it was too deep. Not even when Wanda tried to levitate herself down and she came up empty.

Eventually, even the scans for life signs came back with nothing, and the team was forced to conclude that if Iron Man was down there, he wasn't breathing. 

Steve looked around at his team- battered, exhausted, resilient and in flat out states of denial, every one of them. If it were just him, if he were just a private, he would have stayed out there all night if that's what it took to bring Stark's body home. But it wasn't just him, and Steve Rogers was a captain. And captains had responsibility.

"Back to base." He ordered reluctantly.

Sam looked at him as if he were mad, "Are you kidding me? We can't go-"

"We're vulnerable out here," Steve argued, "Exhausted. We're no use to anyone like this. And what about if the mini-army comes back? I can't guarantee I could get you all out."

"So what?" Nat asked, "We're just going to leave him?"

Steve set his jaw, "We come back tomorrow. Now, we regroup at the tower."

He turned and strode away, leaving the others to follow.

"Vision couldn't pick up lifesigns in the pit." Clint muttered as he fell into pace with him, "And you know what that means."

His stride extended itself, the only show of emotion Steve let himself commit, "We don't know anything until there's a body."

"Rogers-"

"Tony Stark is an impossible man." Steve cut in tightly, "And impossible people are something I've learnt never to bet against."

({(+)})

Dani Atteberry was curled up on the sofa, about halfway through Prisoner of Azkaban when the Avengers trudged out of the lift as one decimated unit. She perked up immediately when she saw them. 

"I got this one." Clint muttered to Steve, who shot him a thankful expression and went to find Colonel James Rhodes. 

"Hey, I did an ice cream!" Dani bounced off the sofa, displaying the pint tub in her hand to the archer proudly, "Well, I asked Kate to go the shop and get ice cream. But it's really freaking good. You want in? I don't believe in the ethics of freezers and it's going to melt otherwise so I highly advise..." She trailed off at his expression, "Oh, bad words. What's wrong?"

Clint cleared his throat, suddenly finding his gaze resting anywhere but the wide eyes of Daniella Atteberry, "There was an accident."

"So you saw what happened to the kitchen, you got me." Dan practically bounced up and down on the conclusion, "I do believe in freezers really, but there was this tiny little explosive, really miniscule, and-"

"Tony's dead." Nat chipped in unhelpfully from behind Clint's shoulder. He gave her a thanks look.

Dani laughed, a little nervously, "Well, yeah, I know he's gonna be mad about it, but that's why I need you to help me-"

"No." Clint attempted a gentler tact, "He's dead, Dan. The roof collapsed in on him, and there was this pit... He's gone."

Watching Dani's smile die was the second most heart-wrenching thing that Clint had dealt with that day, "This joke isn't funny."