widows_kiss | Appointments Post

It upgrades human DNA. [Pepper had given her a basic explanation of it and the news hadn't surprised her. It wasn't the first time a person or corporation - or even their own government - had flirted with the theory, with the possibilities it could provide. Her voice is calm as she recites back what she'd gotten from Pepper.]

It can heal, but it's also extremely weaponizable. She indicated that it had an unstable and unpredictable reaction with test subjects. That's why they wanted Tony.

They wanted Tony so bad they put Extremis in her.

[Her next blow's harder than she intended, a momentary flare of fury before she purposefully stills herself, her gaze narrowed and fixed on his face, her posture tense, coiled. There's something dangerous in the careful way she holds herself.]

What?

[He twists to the left, deflects - feels it down to his bones - steps forward into her space. If there was a knife in his hand it would be buried in her stomach. Neither of them move.]

She got a scratch and her skin started to burn. [That was what it looked like, what it felt like.] That bastard.

[She pales, remembering what else Pepper had told her about Extremis. The unstable element of it. The end result. Her hand latches onto Bucky's wrist, his hand still pressed against her stomach. It was a good strike, impressive, but her attention wasn't as much on the fight at the moment as what he was telling her.]

What do you mean, she started to burn? It stopped?

[Pepper had stopped it? Or was this something else? She was going to have to talk to the other woman. And soon.]

It stopped. Her skin got so hot she started glowing. Looked like the veins in her arm were in fire. It didn't hurt her - I guess it was healing her, but I didn't know at the time. I grabbed her - stupid.

[He shakes his head. His other hand closes high on Natasha's arm, finding the pressure point above her elbow. He doesn't squeeze. It's a stalemate. She has his burnt hand at her disposal.]

When she calmed down, she cooled down. Got her checked out, doctors cleared her, so I took her back to the apartment, let her sleep.

She needs to learn to control it, at least 'till we can find a way to fix it, but she's nowhere near ready to think about it. And I'm not the person who can help her.

Edited 2013-06-11 16:41 (UTC)

Shit.

[She releases him. Steps away. Starts to pace, because that's more information to digest than she'd anticipated.

Where had SHIELD been in all of this? Where had they been? Why had Tony gone in on this alone and this was as big a showdown as Tony tended to make things, then where the hell had the team been? Was something worse happening?]

Extremis was originally meant to heal. That's what Pepper said. But it was dangerous. Unstable. Could be easily turned to other uses. She didn't mention.... She left out the part that they'd used it on her.

[But that explained other things, didn't it? Things Pepper didn't want to talk about, that Natasha could only guess at with a growing sense of dread. She turned, slammed her fist into the punching bag Bucky had been using earlier, a forceful outlet to frustrated rage.]

[He steps back, watches her. He doesn't flinch when her punch sends the bang swinging.]

Of course she did. She didn't even want to admit it to herself.

Edited 2013-06-11 17:03 (UTC)

[She stills the bag, rested her head against it for a moment, taking a deep breath to drag herself back under control. She turns then, coming back to him, holding her hand out for his.]

How badly are you hurt?

[Because he's an easier person to focus on for the moment. Not that her mind was relenting in mulling over the Pepper problem.]

[He puts his hand in hers, palm-up. His fingers took the worst of it, bandaged except the joints, and there's reddened skin peeking through where those bandages have started to come undone around his palm.]

It'll heal up in a couple of weeks, nothing permanent.

Good.

[She takes the time to look herself all the same, because it gives her something to do, something to focus on while her brain puzzled over other matters, worked on this problem with Pepper. She holds his injured hand lightly, careful not to cause any extra discomfort, but her gaze isn't seeing at the moment, focused somewhere in the middle of his chest. She had so many questions. So many uncertainties. Knowledge of things Pepper should have never experienced. Her mind churned with thoughts, a frown on her lips, her gaze shadowed.]

I'll talk with her. [She finally speaks, her voice soft, reluctant.] She'll have to learn to control it. If she keeps hurting people... she won't take that well. It's not her nature. And there's the risk of her hurting herself, if she becomes too unstable.

[He lets her check him over, his own thoughts shifting focus to her. He doesn't expect this to be easy on Natasha. It's worse for her to hear it, because she's been through something not unlike it, and she's close to Pepper in a slightly different way. She's someone to think about that isn't Killian (isn't helplessness and rage). Someone in reach. Someone he cares about far more than he can hate anything.

He nods at her words. He's been thinking along the same lines - or had been, when he asked Pepper for permission to tell her. He wants to say thank you, but she's doing this for Pepper, so he'll leave that to the two of them to sort out. He does, however, reach for her. His fingers brush her neck, gently this time, closing firmly at the nape. The touch is meant as reassurance, as comfort.] Are you alright?

[Her eyes fly up from his hand to his face, startled for a moment by the question, drawn abruptly out of her thoughts by his focus on her. There's still shadows there, but she gives him a crooked smile anyway.]

I'm fine. I'm just... in the unique position of being able to understand a little of what she went through. She... She shouldn't have had to go through that. I don't understand... [She trailed off a moment, looking frustrated, looking guilty.] We were a team, when everything went down in New York. I'd like to think, if Tony and Pepper were in trouble, we would have been there to help. Should have been. Is it because we were all here? Were they wrong about time passing differently at home for all of us?

[No one should have had to go through that. He doesn't say it, but there's a flicker of something in his eyes before he presses on.]

Stop it, Natasha. [He tries to catch her eye. Misplaced guilt is something he never really stops seeing and he gets it, he does.]

Listen to yourself. You'd have been there in a heartbeat if you could. You've gotta stop beating yourself up about things you've got no control over. [He gives her a wry smile.] You know, follow example.

[She huffs out an irritated breath at that, but stops. Or at least does her best to, because she's just as human as any of them, has her doubts and fears and guilt. She doesn't often give voice to them - almost never maybe, outside of a few times with Clint when her own composure was too badly shaken - but the knowledge that Pepper was probably tortured and...]

[Her voice is soft. Strained.] I would have. But I wasn't. And she's gone home and come back and I can see so much changed in her. And Tony's still missing, could be missing for good and while maybe that's a good thing...

I don't know how to help her. I don't know if what I can do will be enough.

It's enough that you try. Some things even you can't control, sweetheart.

A lot of this - the really hard stuff - it's gonna be Pepper's fight. The only thing we can do for her is let her know we're always in her corner.

Sometimes I really hate being the one to watch.

[She confesses it softly, lips quirking faintly as she huffs out a soft laugh that doesn't hold a lot of humor. Her thumb brushes lightly over his bandage, almost apologetically.]

So. Do you need to punch things some more or should we get out of here?

Just sometimes?

[He puts his undamaged hand over hers. He thinks about staying. The anger is still there, but he isn't going to get at it this way, and underneath it is helplessness that this doesn't change.]

I think the bag got the message. Let's get outta here. Your place or mine?

[She doesn't answer that, lets her gaze flick over his face instead for a moment, gauging his mood, then nods.]

Let's make it my place. I'd like to check in on Pepper anyway, if she's home yet. She's using my spare room.

[There's a brief flicker of surprise, but he's glad Pepper is willing to stay with someone. Natasha will take care of her.

He nods, and then untangles their hands so he can slip an arm around Natasha's waist as they leave the gym behind and head back home.]

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