LAURA

The tunnels under the mill's basement stunk of degradable waste and rot. The low drips of a leaking pipe sounded far away and the only loud noises being our own footsteps. My boots stuck to the greasy floor with every step forward, making my footfalls the loudest. The darkness was put out instantly when M'lanz braced her spear forward in defense position, the circular sphere fitted between the axel bathing the tubes in a light blue warmth. Eddie led the way, picking out leads via his seventh sense aka, Venom. Tony and his suit followed close behind, the armor apparently in sentry mode. I was at the end of the track but M'lanz frowned at that.

'Center way, Laura. You're the only mortal among us and we can't compromise.'

I was interrupted before I could even argue. I wasn't a weakling - I'd taken two-month self-defense classes back at home. I had even bagged a prize for that.

'Pascal's right, Sharp. Get over here.'

I internally laughed at his nickname derived from the sweet green reptile from a Disney movie. Recently, most of his nicknames had been procured from the children's franchise. In the end, I'd ended up behind Eddie and in front of the suit. Tony flanked my side, making Eddie throw cautious glances behind him every now and then.

'I'm not the one for small-talk,' the genius started suavely, pocketing his fists. 'But this silence is mentally shredding me.'

'Me? Talk with you?' I scoffed. 'Tony, you wouldn't talk to me even if I were the last person alive.'

'I don't do animosities, sweetcheeks. But you profoundly intrigue me.'

'I have that effect on people,' I smirked. 'The entire aura of curiosity and inscrutability seems to get people talking.'

'Now you sound like me,' he said with his tongue in cheek. 'See? We can relate on so many levels. You and I are the same complexes.'

'Oh, mhmm. I too was close to flatlining nine years ago,' I said with dry humor, nudging my shoulder with his. 'How the heck do you live with it?'

'The honor, ultimate power? Or the quality save every single time?'

I laughed. 'Good and bad, Mr. Stark. Not just the pros.'

'I've elected to ignore the cons,' he shrugged. 'Last year, I tried to get God's most righteous man to abide by the by-laws. Did me wrong. Lost a whole bunch of colleagues.'

There was shrouded sadness in his voice when he spoke about the loss. It must've meant a lot to him - Steve Rogers, I mean. This dude was almost everyone's role-model. To be as law-abiding and perfect as the super-soldier all of USA looked up to.

'And so - '

' - so I've sought out to seek penance for my crimes. By ending the fight and taking up hot yoga.'

I chuckled again, looking at his crinkle-eyed smile sideways. I could feel Eddie's glare burning holes through my cheeks but I opted to ignore it. Not time. 'What about Miss Preece? Too mainstream, I'm assuming.' 

'Elle uh, well,' he breathed and rubbed the back of his neck as if hiding something. 'During this time, she went through some stuff.'

'Oh,' I chose to stick to no other comments.

'She fell into catalepsy,' he sighed, pain evident in his voice. 'Tough few months for me. And later, I decided she needed to be by herself to figure everything out. We're still friends and all but, we're taking our time off. A little bit of this and that. But hey, I'm back on the board if you want me.'

My eyes locked on his for the longest period of time. Indeed, Tony Stark was the biggest playboy on the planet. 

'Shocker but, no thank you.'

He pushed the matter at hand and I kept throwing Eddie awkward glances. 'I could run with anything you've got. We could work out our top-secret deal over some cheese and wine. At the tower. Say about a week - '

Eddie lost his cool at this point, taking a threatening step at Tony's direction and clamping his hand over his shoulder while pushing him into the suety wall with a thud. Instantly, the Iron Man armour pressed a repulsor straight at Eddie's semi-mutated face, his teeth bared at Tony.

'Quit hitting on our female!'

I acted quick. I stepped into the path of the bright repulsor hand that was aimed at Eddie with fearful eyes. M'lanz had her spear pointed at the neck of the armour, ready to blow the brains out of the metal head. 

'Uh, Tony? Call off your . . . suit.'

Tony was smug as he spoke out to his AI. 'Disengage hostile mode, JARVIS.'

The suit followed his command instantaneously, backing into sentinel mode with his rectangular-shaped eyes glowing the light into the ground. I took a large heave of air, turning to Eddie and grabbing his shoulders in hysteria.

'Eddie. Lay off, c'mon.'

After what seemed like minutes later, Eddie took a short step back and looked at me with nothing but monotony in his eyes. I gulped and took his hand slowly, letting out a long-held breath when he squeezed it back. He tugged me forward, making me fall in step with him as he took off towards the gated pathway ahead.

'I sense high-levels of testosterone in the air,' M'lanz said in her mechanical voice. Tony huffed in embarrassment, rolling his shoulders to ease the tension.

'Thankew, Captain Obvious. Put a lid on it.'

'It is physically impossible for me to find a lid and - '

'Jesus, just walk.'

- ♣ -

'Radiation levels increased around this perimeter.'

Dull sparks from a short-circuiting wire crinkled nearby, the pavement underneath starting to roll into bricked floors. The smell of acrid oil and diesel was overwhelming as the quiet whirring of an engine sounded at a distance. A man - Tel-Kar - was murmuring mutely amidst the buzzing noise. That's when we knew we'd reached.

'The dude's surveillance is pretty shit,' Eddie commented looking to the ceiling for security cameras but not finding any.

I answered back softly. 'This place was built in the sixties. Can't really expect much.'

'I'm running IR checks to see if I can locate - ' Tony started but was soon interrupted by M'lanz.

' - bioweapon located. Three hundred meters into the ship.'

Tony's look was precious. Like someone had stolen his thunder, he looked solemnly at the ground. I reached out I patted his shoulder comfortingly.

'Maybe next time.'

Tony's lip curved graciously and he directed his conversation at the two superheroes upstairs, clearing the comms. 'Pete, everything good up here?'

'Um, we've got company,' Peter said into the comms system with a grunt after every word. 'Mr. Lang's helping me take some of the SHIELD agents out. And some others.'

'Others?' All of us said in unison.

'Specify, kid,' Tony said, exasperated.

'The first batch of incoming were SHIELD,' Scott explained, grunting as he spoke. 'Hnnng, the other oof, weren't.'

'Well, who is it?' Eddie said with confusion.

'Sending in visual now,' Tony said as the mask came back into existence. He huffed and looked to the side, cursing softly when he spotted out who it was.

'It's Strucker's minions. They must've gotten intel on the bioweapon.'

Strucker? Who the heck was Strucker and why was he all up on our ass?

'What?!' Peter and Scott screeched into the earpieces, and I flinched. 'Mr. Stark, I thought he was arrested by SHIELD.'

'I thought so too, kid. Let me see - '

'What now?!' Peter said hurriedly, grunting harder against impact.

Tony sighed. 'Reinforcements?'

'We could use some,' Scott replied immediately. 'There are too many to keep out, even with my ant-army. They just keep coming in. Any plans?'

I was immediate to volunteer in helping the duo out. Eddie held my hand before it shot up and pushed it down with a scowl. 'You're not going up there.'

Tony elucidated after the longest time. He let out a sullen sigh, knowing how to go about this but not too sure about it being right. 'I'm calling in backup.'

I caught his eyes before he could slip away. I raised my eyebrows. 'Backup?'

Tony shrugged. 'Just a female assassin and a certain flying soldier. Hopefully, they come.'

A warmth bubbled in my chest as my inner fangirl resurfaced. Without any descriptions, I already figured out who was coming to our rescue. The Black Widow and Falcon. An oblivious smile lit my face, as I imagined the situation up there. The redhead kicking ass and the handsome dark man flying over us -

'Uh-oh. Did I just spur a super-fan?'

I dropped my expression. Eddie sent Tony a questioning look as he stepped in front of his armor and waiting for the metal to build the armor once again around his. The mask didn't come on as he nodded at Eddie.

'I've upstairs under control. Have a plan of attack, big guy?'

'We need to someone pose as bait while the other grabs it,' M'lanz explained for Eddie, to which he nodded in acceptance. 'Agreed. While someone takes the bioweapon and brings it to safety, we take out Tel-Kar. Meanwhile, they should be done with upstairs.'

'I can do it.' I said, wanting to help out in some way. 'I can sneak into the ship and get the plasma.'

Tony and M'lanz seemed to be okay with it, their expressions convinced. Eddie blew out. 'No, absolutely not! You don't what booby traps could be in there. It's best if she stays out of it, Stark.'

'Look around you, Brock,' Tony said. 'We're outnumbered against that chap if either of us goes in. She has to do it.'

'I can, Ed. Trust me,' I said and smiled tightly. Even though I was a bundle of nerves of the inside, I hid it. I wanted to help out in some small way and not just be bait. This was my only chance to prove to myself and everyone that I was worth it without another creature controlling my every action.

His hands went around my face, pushing my hair out of the way. Eddie's dark eyes were stern and relentless with the fear as he spoke clearly.

'You come back to me. You're coming back.'

My heart started to beat faster with panic when his lips caught mine for a short peck. My god, such a huge burden laid over our shoulder. I breathed out through my mouth and curved a side of my lips.

'I always do.'

His hands never left mine until I followed M'lanz and Tony to the broken down gates, his arms stretching as far as they could go and letting my fingertips brush his before I left. I winked at him and he let out a short chuckle as the wall rose between us.

'Alright, lover Brock will be fine. You focus on getting the tube safely out of here,' Tony said. 'This place is gonna blow and you better be ready at any time.'

I upped myself, loosening my shoulders and M'lanz shot me a weirded out gaze. Ignoring it blatantly, she blocked my path with her long arm holding out her weapon. Sliding it to the end, she tugged the end of the halberd to retrieve a sharp, silvery dagger with a metal slink. I widened my eyes at the tip that shone brilliantly in the lights.

'Titanium and platinum daggers wielded by Xorrians at Skrullos,' M'lanz said with a proud grin as she ran a finger down the face. A tin line of frosted glass had inscriptions scribbled over it in a language I couldn't decipher. 'It can pierce any skin or metal known to all living creatures. It was one of my Xorrian sisters' and I...want you to have it. As a token of my honor.'

I was overwhelmed by her act of kindness to help me build my valor. I shook my head, unable to acquire the prize. Patting her hand, I said. 'I can't accept this.'

'You brought out of the cage they called a prison to help me savor revenge on that scheming rat,' she said rigorously. 'Please, you must.'

Before I could cast an argument, she had taken my hand into her palms and placed the intricate pommel over my palms, folding my fingers into a fist. Both her hands delivered a soft chillness as she squeezed them tightly.

'Thank you.'

She smiled for the first time since I'd met her. 'Godspeed, brave one.'

I chuckled at the words I'd only heard in films. But I didn't let the chance slide. 'Godspeed, M'lanz.'

'Well, that's done and dusted. Cap was never good at pep-talks so,' Tony sighed with his hands over his suited hips, looking at Eddie behind me with a certain glorious smirk. 'Let's go kick Smurfville's ass.' He murmurs with a grunt. 'Wait, where'd Sharp go?'

I was already out of our little circle, slipping past the fringes of the heavily fenced gates and heading for the ship. I couldn't bear staying there for following any more commands by Sir-Tincan-Man.

I knew one of these days my headstrong nature would be the death of me. Being unyielding could go to a certain extent but I laid out a completely different road after the normalcy. Forbidding was never a word in books - which is why I needed to act quick and get the plasma before it left the atmosphere. Moreover, help M'lanz board the ship so that she could return home.

Ahead of me was a sight to behold. To the novice individual, the spaceship would appear with organic steel composition and behemoth as the suspended cruiser was apparently changing its occurrences. The craft looked like it had been constructed at a bio-molecular level so as to contain the plasma device inside the ship without allowing any sort of leaks. It was iridescent on the outside, the trail of lights lit up the hatch which was the only way in. But, I couldn't.

Tel-Kar had a workplace set right at the entrance of the ship where the hatch had been sprawled out into a bridge with pillars supporting it up. His blue skin was no longer in sight. His pale skinned back muscles rolled with effort as he typed a few numbers on his old-fashioned keyboard most probably to initiate launch after booting his systems.

I thanked the lord for the old crates that lined the peripheries of the large basement, allowing me to sneak nearer to the aircraft without being caught by the terse alien in the room.

'You are more compliant than the old symbiote,' I heard Tel-Kar say to what was initially mine. 'I see these humans have done something right.'

As I drew closer to the hatch, the range of crates thinned in figures. I had to duck past his line of sight to jump behind one box to another, my clasp on the dagger tightening with every movement.

Tel-Kar took a long sniff. 'That scent . . . my friend, do you feel it?'

I stopped crawling. I craned my neck to see if I were caught red-handed, only to see the alien's gaze wandering from side to side. He caught a whiff, whipping his neck to my direction. I dipped swiftly with a hand over my mouth.

'Hmm . . . ' His voice drew closer with the long drawl. I tried to find a way to sneak out, crawling to another nearby crate that seemed large enough to shroud my stance.

'Oh, I wasn't expecting a female to be here.'

I lost the fight in me when I caught a hand lay over the box I was crouched behind. That didn't mean I was going down without a fight. I grasped the thick handle of the dagger to my chest, ready to strike at the alien spawn with a loud war-cry.

'Well you should, blondie. This was the duplicitous Megamind you guys were pissing in your pants for?'

Tony.

I shot up from my position to look across the room. From another entrance amongst the four, the Iron Man armor floated in mid-air with his widespread repulsors aimed at Tel-Kar. 'Mr. Stark. Lovely of you to join us.'

'Oh, y'know. Late but the latest.'

'You and your little troop can give up - '

'I'm just gonna' stop you there because usually us, earthlings, don't really talk when it comes to action.'

'So be it.'