The Other Stark

Chapter 25

One more week had passed by, and things were the same. The whole team had gone back to training, after a week of doing nothing. Steve thought it was the best for everyone, going back to work, mind in different things. He got everybody working on the reports about the last mission, after debriefing about everything that happened.

Nat was currently laying on her bed, after a rough section of training with Steve. He was taking his "go back to work" too serious, she thought.

She had just taken a shower, her mind rushing to the past years she had spent with the team. The years she could spend been herself, not undercover, not the liar she used to be, just her. The team, the Tower, was the first place people had accepted her, trusted her.

Nat looked back on the day she first met the Starks, walking in the two sparing together, asking both of them for their fingerprints that were needed for something in the company, Pepper introducing the Stark siblings short after. The way things ended that year, with almost all the Stark Expo going through the airs, it wasn't the best way, but just two years later they had come together again, on the Battle of New York, that time where Tory had saved her life from the Hulk.

The redhead stood up from her bed in a rush, the sudden need to see her friend impossible to contain. She started heading to the elevators, the thought of never visiting her made her body heavy. If it was the other way around, Tory would have been there on the first day.

"I wonder how it is to be there, laying, everyone talking to you, but you can't answer. People say you can hear us, but, well, I'm not sure," Natasha said, sitting on the end of the hospital bed. The room was dark, the sound of constant beeping from the machines the only sound that could be heard.

"Sorry for not being here earlier, but you know how I feel about hospitals. You're the only person I've ever talked about what I've been through inside the Red Room. You, and probably Buck, are the only ones that know how it was, the way they broke all those girls to perfection because anything less was unacceptable. So many times I was in a hospital bed, wishing someone would end that excruciating pain, but all I could do was be alone until I could walk again, 'cause if I could walk, I could fight."

"The first person that knew everything I have ever done in my life, all the murders, the betrayals, and still trusted me without looking back is you, and now here we are. The team relies on both you and Stark for a lot of things, but Tony doesn't really do things when you're not around, so it's been quiet this past couple of weeks. You're the part of the team that keeps everyone from living only for work. So, just wake up soon okay? We miss you, I miss you been a pain in the ass all the time, I miss you bickering at Tony cause of his stupidity sometimes, God I miss you shamelessly flirting with all of us, especially with Steve. Just... Just, wake up okay? The Tower is strange without you."

The redhead just walked out after that, feeling strange for been so emotional. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and walked to the elevators, going to search for Bucky.

...

Some hours later, Tony sat at Tory's room, after being told to get away from his lab for at least 48 hours, Pepper obligating him to take a shower and spend time with the team, but he went to the hospital floor instead after a quick shower.

"How you've been today?" he asked, walking slowly to the bed, taking her hands in his, sitting on the large, comfortable chair that was put beside the bed.

"I've been busy these days, hasn't left the lab much. You would have lectured me, pulling me out of the workshop by my hair. I miss that, you always forcing me out of the lab, to spend time with the team. Pepper asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to lock down the lab for two days, so I have nothing to do but talk to you."

Tony looked at his sister on the bed, sighing. Tory had a hand print on her neck with yellowish, greenish colors. Bruises and bandages all over her body. Right leg with a cast. IV on her arm, feeding tube on her mouth, a mask of oxygen to help her breath. She looked better than the first time he was there, her skin had more colors, wasn't grey anymore. But still, his little sister, who took care of him, more then he did of her, was in a coma.

"I was in your lab last week, much more organized than mine by the way, but you've always been better than me when it comes to organization. I saw you had a new prototype of an Iron Man suit, that you didn't tell me you were even building. Tried to continue your work, but I couldn't. You're the only one who understands those robots of yours, and the damn suit is built entirely with them. All of it. What are you even trying to do?"

"Everything I tried building this past week, failed. All of them. I can't get my mind to focus for enough time to do something, thinking about the possibilities I'll ever see you awake again. What am I'm going to do? Who's going to say I'm fucking wrong, put sense in my head when I'm doing stupid decisions?"

Some tears rolled down his cheek, forehead supported on the bed, saying everything that only these situations made you reflect. Distracted for a moment, he didn't notice the slight movement on his sister's hand, but he felt something, his head jerking up quickly.

"Did you... Did you just...?" Before Tony could ask, he saw it, her index finger moving. He jolted out of the room, looking for a nurse, who was just walking past the door.

"Hey, I think she's waking up."

The nurse rushed into the hospital room, taking a small flashlight from the pocket of her coat and walking to the bed, to check Tory's eyes reflection towards the light.

"She's getting conscious slowly. She'll be awake in some hours. I'm calling a doctor."

As the woman stepped out, Tony had a massive grin on his face. This was the news he was looking forward to hearing about.

"Should I tell the others, Sir?" the AI questioned.

"Don't tell them just yet. Ask the team to meet me on the penthouse, and tell them it's important."