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𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐒 𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐘, 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐄
TONY
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Tony had seen light before. He had underestimated the sheer intensity of the lustre he was witnessing, eddying off a source with harsh breezes. The rays were violet rather than the gold of the sun, flashing like an elixir after the dark hours of the night. Already the greyness was gone and evaporated as fast as desert rain. The heat of the day was no more from the sun.
It was Elle.
Sepia hue bled out of her, screams leaving her with her body's stop valves busting open. This was what Tony had warned Whitney about and she wasn't the only hurting. With every shriek of pain that left her lips, it felt like someone had reached through Tony's chest and squeezed his heart like a tension ball. He winced, holding an arm to his eyes to shield himself from the glow, peeking from the edge to catch a glance.
The nanites in the armour were burning out, falling to perishable dust onto the grass and smoke billowing out of her. He hated waiting, hearing the cries of her pain but they had to wait for the nanites to weather out.
'Nanite concentrations at eight per cent.'
That was the beauty of the nanotech armour. It was the wrong moment to feel the pride of his work but since the armour utilized the nanites as its energy source, it was no longer battery-operated.
'Tony!' He heard Victor call out who was working his force-fields to hold back the force that Elle was expelling. 'Keep the armour from draining until I say so!'
'Wha—'
'Just do as I say!'
Around him, Rhodey and Margo had fled the scene due to their very mortal stances of the situation. Riri stubbornly stayed behind Tony as his back up, refusing his appeal for her to follow Rhodey out. Stephen was a few yards beside Victor, his amber shields held up in an upright, hollow hemisphere to keep the energy surges off him. Tony stood the farthest away from the source of the voltages, Riri's hologram-induced shield serving as a guard for both himself and Riri.
'Nanite concentrations at five per cent.'
Victor then did the unimaginable. His force-fields came down, tossing Tony a meaningful look before descending onto the globular formation that strung out amethyst strikes of potential currents. The air was flaccid and the stench of burning plastic hung around, every now and then, a deserted whimper of Elle's leaving the annular structure.
