Chapter Text
“Cap! On your left!”
The resulting explosion, and lack of yelling from Steve, reassured Tony that he had warned him in time. He leaned to the right in his armor, circling back over the destroyed section of city. As he got higher up his helmet display helpfully pinpointed his teammates, scattered across the scene. All of them fighting valiantly.
The villain of the month(Tony hadn’t bothered to remember her name) had decided that a robot army was the way to go, which would have been kind of cool if the robots weren’t crappily programmed. Only a few minutes into the villains admittedly boring monologue, the robots had broken formation, apparently deciding to go rogue and destroy everything in their path.
This had led to the villain disappearing into the rubble and the Avengers left to prevent the robots from destroying New York.
“Any idea how to shut them down, Stark?” Steve called across coms, his voice in Captain mode.
“No time to find the guy's base and these robots aren’t using internet, so no. We’ve gotta blast our way outta this one.”
“What? Your fancy tricks not working today?” Clint mocked.
“Don’t forget who made you those compact arrows, Katniss.”
“Ugh, save the love for the tower. Head in the game.” Natasha remarked drily, Tony could hear the eye roll and practically see her smirk.
“Sorry, Nat.” Clint said before the cops were switched off.
The distant echo of thunder alerted Tony to an impending attack from Thor’s lightning. Sure enough a blinding blast caught the corner of Tonys eye and he heard Hulks roar of satisfaction. He grinned. The team was all here. Just another Thursday.
“Beware the bot’s arms, they have blades that could cut quite deep.” Thor warned.
“Noted.” Steve muttered tightly.
The fight went on for hours. Tony had stopped paying attention to the time displayed on his helmet display, only glancing up once in a while to notice the sun had moved. His limbs ached and he knew there would be bruises tomorrow from where he had slammed into the interior of his armor too hard.
Honestly, Tony would have killed for shawarma, but he figured right now wasn’t the best time to mention that, seeing how they were on the final battle before the robots were gone. Clint was shooting from a nearby rooftop, slowing the bots down enough for Tony to grab. Thor and Steve were taking them down by the tens with the hammer and shield. Hulk was simply smashing and eating, which Bruce would not be happy about later. Natasha, was working her way through the streets they had cleared, making sure they hadn’t missed any.
“Honestly, where’d she find the materials to make this many robots?” Tony grunted with the effort as he took another robot down.
“Probably just too much time on her hands.” Clint replied.
“Definitely a hermit, I mean, who spends their time making a literal army of machines?”
“Guys, please. Focus up.” Steve asked, sounding exasperated, but Tony caught a glance of his smile.
“You know you love us, Cap.” Clint said.
With a final push of effort, the last of the robots laid scattered at their feet. Hulk snorted at the lumps of metal, Thor nodded as if he was agreeing. They grouped up, panting heavily and grins of victory on their faces.
“Well that was fun, are we all clear Natasha?” Tony asked, ready to get home.
Nothing. There was no response on comms.
“Natasha? The partys over.” Tony tried again.
Thor shifted anxiously, Steve had a little furrow in his brow that Tony knew well by now. Clint frowned. They waited a half a minute. It was quiet.
“Nat? Come in.” Clint called.
A beat went by, Tony shifted anxiously and he exchanged uneasy looks with the rest of their team.
“JARVIS? Where’s Natasha’s location?”
“Miss Romanoff is currently two blocks to your left.”
“Thanks buddy.”
“Damaged comms?” Steve suggested.
“Maybe.” Tony allowed, starting to walk briskly in that direction, following Clint, who had started moving first. He shedded the armor, which would have just slowed him down, keeping his com in.
It was unlikely, those comms were Stark-tech, but he didn’t want to think about the other reason that Nat wasn’t responding. Without even realising it, he had started jogging, Clint doing the same and the thuds from behind him told Tony that Steve, Thor and Hulk were following quickly as well.
He turned the last corner at the same time as Clint. The archer had only paused for a second before running again, but Tony stopped for the tiniest bit longer.
Natalia was huddled against a building, her position defensive even though it was obvious that she was too wounded to actually fight. There was a dark puddle growing around her and she was hugging her side tightly, a gun gripped in her other hand. The body of a robot was lying in the street in front of her, obviously having been shot to death. Blood covered the robots left arm, which had turned into a blade. Thor’s earlier warning echoed in his mind.
Even from a distance Tony could see the rips in her uniform, the scrapes and streaks of dark blood against the pavement and what little pale skin she had exposed. Bile rose in his throat, Tony swallowed it down.
The bright sunshine was deceptive. Tony had the irrational thought of the sun mocking them with such a perfect day when something had gone so horribly wrong.
“Natalia..” He whispered, running forward.
Clint had already reached her, shaking her gently and taking control of the situation. Pressing against the wound and checking her pulse. Tony couldn’t reach them fast enough. His heart rate was picking up which wasn’t good and needed to stop because Natalia needed him and-
“Call a Med Vac!” He yelled back to Steve, “Call medical. Right. Now!”