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It is a matter of wonder, that half of the earth’s mightiest heroes were just humans. a genius, a spy, and an archer, each skilled enough to be on par with a god, a super soldier, and well, a hulk. their lack of ‘superpower’s usually wasn’t a problem , but somedays they did wish they had super strength or a magic hammer or even a green alter ego – days like today .
Fighting robots over the sea left most of the avengers immobilized. though the hellicarrier was anchored nearby, it was practically impossible to shoot the bots from its deck. there was no structure for Steve’s shield to bounce back from, and most of NaTasha’s bullets pinged back harmlessly. Only clints exploding arrows were having some luck. Iron man and thorn soared over head, talking out bots, which dropped like rocks into the depth of the sea. The sky was grey, with raindrops falling endlessly on the churning sea below. wind whipped through the avenger’s soaking clothes and goosebumps formed on their exposed skin.
After an hour and half, the battle began to wear down. most of the bots had been taken care of and even the remaining ones were seemingly tired, or maybe the fate of their friends had demotivated them. whatever the case was, when the battle ceased to a danger big enough for the avengers to be concerned, Steve clicked opened his cowl, sighted a breath of relief and ordered into his comms,” avengers! fall back. agents will handle this now.” Everyone visibly relaxed, eager to finally get into the warm interior of the hellicarrier. of course, that was when all hell broke loose.
Robots launched into a surprisingly fast and planned attack, catching the avengers off-guard. four of them surrounded cap while thorn went wrestling with the ‘leader’ big bot. tony outmaneuvered his opponents and blasted two of them in quick succession. he threw his hands up in victory –only then did he notice. On his right, Hawkeye had run out of arrows and was fighting a losing battle with a broken bow. tony could see that he was moments from getting overpowered. below him, Natasha struggled with foes of her own, but her sharp eyes had picked up her partner’s distress. she took something out of her pocket lightning quick and threw it high up.” clint, catch!”
Those moments faltering caused her dearly. one of the robots stepped in for kill in the blink of an eye when Natasha was distracted. it bought up its weapon – a massive gun with a massive barrel, and shot. she deflected, but barely. Natasha sidestepped, right into another bot who promptly brought up its metal hands and delivered a blow to her head. she fell into the water and didn’t resurface. at the same time, clint was pushed out of the open ramp of the hovering quintet where he was positioned over the deck of the hellicarrier. that drop was practically a death sentence.
Tony looked around. Steve was still fighting tooth and nail , thor was nowhere in sight , and the big green was rapidly shrinking into Bruce .
“protocol ‘up up and away , J.” tony ordered . “Take Barton away to safety , will ya? And eject me while you are at it .”
Jarvis did what he was instructed and he was ejected, freefalling into icy cold water. Tony inhaled a mouthful of air and dove, scanning the dark water desperately, praying, looking for a certain black spider. he found her after what felt like an eternity, NaTasha’s still body sinking, sinking into the endless abyss. he tugged and pulled her waterlogged body up, towards the surface. Natasha weighted him down, his lungs were almost bursting, and just when he had thought he would never see the sky again, their heads burst through the surface.
he slapped Natasha’s face. water flowed out of her mouth, but she didn’t breathe again. tony clamped his mouth against her bowed air into her lungs. only then was he aware of the yelling.
“Tony! over here – swim over here!” Bruce was barely able to stand up, still recovering from the hulk out but he crawled onwards the edge of the hellicarrier.
Tony heaved Natasha’s still body and started desperately wading. the freezing cold water didn’t help matters. His whole world dissolved into a single mantra – swim, keep NaTasha’s face out of water, swim, keep Natasha’s face out of water, swim……… Atlast he managed to reach the hellicarrier. Bruce was waiting for him, and together, they pushed and pulled Natasha’s heavy waterlogged body up. after securing her, tony was just about to climb up the ladder himself, but he ……. couldn’t? yeah, something was definitely preventing him for moving upwards, firmly holding his cold legs.
That turned into a deadly grip, pulling him down until his hands slipped and he fell down once again into the water.
“Tony!”
Tony saw what was holding him as soon as his eyes cleared underwater – it was one of the bots , not dead , albeit injured , but not very dead , clutching his legs and going down , down , down …………..
Tony bent forward and tried to wrench his legs free, but he couldn’t. the robot had him in a vice grip. he jabbed his hands into its damaged circuit and got a very unpleasant zap, but managed to tear open wires and destroy circuits. The light went out from its eyes, but its hands stayed locked around his legs, and tony had no more strength left to pull against the deadweight dragging him down. his lungs screamed at him. with his last bit of air, tony thought if cap had felt like this all those years ago. Steve slammed his shield into the last bot and turned only to see tony disappear under the waves. he took in the panicking Bruce, and the unconscious Natasha. he saw iron man land in front of him with Barton inside it, and he understood what had happened. he sprinted past Natasha, pausing just enough to make sure she was breathing and then willingly dove into the sea for the second time in eighty years.
Steve could hold his breath for more than five minutes, and he had much better vision under water than most people. He spotted tony right away. Steve’s stomach churned as he saw the man was completely still, sinking with a robot still attached to his legs. Steve lunged forward, grabbed his hand, and pulled. He swam towards the hellicarrier, painfully aware that tony was limp in his hands, not moving, not breathing. Bruce and clint helps him lay tony down on his back, and the entire universe screams at Steve that he was too late.
Tony was white, water gathering in a puddle around his still body, and his slack lips were blue.
Steve panicked. this whole thing was continuously reminding him of a day like this from seventy years ago, the memory of the crash and ice filling his lungs luring in the back of his mind. now, they finally took over his rational part, and he panicked. Bruce, shivering, rushed forward to tony. he turned him to his side and hit his stomach. a trickle of water fell out of his mouth, but nothing more. he hit his back again. and again. and again.
“Come on, tony! do yourself a favor and make this easy for us. breath, goddammit!”
Bruce started compressions. this time, water came gushing out of his mouth. tony choked and took a rugged inhale, and damn if it wasn’t the best sound, they had ever heard. Bruce turned tony on his side and helped him cough all the water out. as soon as he was done, tony fell limp again, and his eyes rolled back. nevertheless, Bruce smiled, because his friend was going to be okay. they both were. because Natasha had opened her eyes on his left and was looking at them. he smiled back reassuring two days later, tony stark and Natasha Romanoff lay side by side in two beds, swaddled in blankets. tony had a cast in his leg where the bot had gripped it, and Natasha sported a purple bruise on her forehead.
neither of them had wanted to stay in the med bay after they had woken up, and the team had resorted to threatening in order to keep them in the bedrest they so obviously needed. Tony was recovering from hypothermia and mild pneumonia, and Tasha from a concussion.
“Nice save, stark.” Natasha finally admitted, and it warmed Tony’s heart; he knew this was the closest to thank you Natasha ever said. “Next time just don’t drown yourself too.” she added in an afterthought.
“Sure thing. in the meantime, try not to play the damsel in distress, yeah?”
A perfectly aimed pillow landed on his face.