𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐒,

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐀 𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒

ELEANOR

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The lab I was led into was a white haven past the grey area behind. It was the pristine kind that was untouched by anything and devoid of any sort of motes. In the conventional dome-roofed compartment, there was a systematic installation that was interconnected with a frozen slither of metal wires. The ones that were the thickest, as dense as a python, were fixed midair—awaiting another connection. The massive system was connected to databases—large, silver and still without command. A long line of computers rested aimlessly along with the unfolded examination table. The wires that were fixed overhead the table resembled arms as if they would slither and connect if the request were entered autonetically. 

Adam trotted ahead of me to start up the system with an expert tap of his fingers. I felt Tony's hand leave mine ominously.

'So,' I drawled out, looking to the pristine dome-ceiling above as if expecting more tech-savvy to reveal itself. 'What is it?'

Adam looked at me dubiously, rising from his bowed posture. 'They're repulsor-powered terminal stations. We have to connect them to Stark's evolved, hard-drive head and erase the files by implanting a virus.'

'That doesn't sound... too natural.'

'It isn't,' Tony quipped, walking forward and spreading his arms to show that he was proud of what he had built. 'It's a genetic-ersatz curiosity,' he explained, 'my dataspine can take in a virus and that's a bar. I can wipe the data before anything gives me artificial sniffles.'

I scoffed in disbelief. 'Tony, this concerns the mortal brain—'

'Except it isn't.'

'—and you're talking about it like it's some iPod on the fritz,' I exclaimed, ignoring his pique. 'Wipe the data—what the hell is that in it for you?'

When Tony turned to send Adam a cursory glance, he raised his arms in surrender. As if to say I-am-not-telling-her. Tony sighed, turning back to me with a resigned expression and pressing a finger into the region between his eyes. My heart pounded faster with anxiety, my face easily giving everything away. 

'Elle,' he began. 'It's not exactly a win-win situation. I'm going to upload a program into my head which will erase the entirety of my head as long as I'm hooked to the stations. It's like zeroing out brain cells but.'

'But?' I managed to croak out. 

'Everything will be gone—state secret, the sole copy, and files—it'll be obliterated,' he said, nodding righteously. Just when I thought I could be relieved, he spoke up again. 'Bad news is I will be too. Uh, brain death? Yeah, got that going for me. Which is a-okay.'

The erudition rocked my world like an unforeseen earthquake, sending me stumbling me back like I was hit. My brain was on an on-and-off static; offering me resolutions to the problem or nothing at all. My face creased with an onslaught of aversive emotions, my hand kneading into my midsection upon feeling a sharp thrust. 

'No.'

'Honey, you're going to be fine.'

'Define fine.'

'...alive?'

I scoffed. 'You're so... god, you're so!'

'Baby. Elle.'

'This can't be it, Tony,' I rasped out, trying to swallow down the sob that built in my chest. 'Must you insist on hurting yourself?' I looked over his shoulder to send the doctor a pleading gaze. 'Is this truly the only alternative?'

Adam looked like he was ready to jump ship. 'I don't have a say in this. I just do what he says but better.'

I glanced back at Tony desperately, putting some space between us. It hurt to be away and it hurt to be too close. 'Listen to yourself. Please, I understand Osborn's rotten. But this is catastrophic and i—it's self-slaughter!'

Adam took my outburst as a sign to give us some space, nodding once at Tony and grazing my arm with his hand as if imparting me strength. The door swished to a lock, the only sound in the room was the intense hammering of my heart in my ears. I could feel the oncoming swell of tears, my hands going to my eyes to block the view from him.

'I'm so sorry, Elle. I can't sit idle,' he refused with a shake of his shoulders, locking it down in denial. My mind rolled the gears, trying to place any other option the brilliant twosome couldn't bring about. I shook my head as I scanned through resolutions, a bulb igniting in my head when I landed on one.

'Psychics?' I asked, granting him an expectant gaze. The red-cloaked sorcerer supreme was bound to have some trick up his sleeve other than just time-travel. 'Um, Doctor Strange? Maybe, something he could use to remove, urgh—Stephen's wonderful friend and just—'

'It's synthetic memory, honey, spells won't work—'

'It will! Something will! Anything but this stupid, dumb plan!' I cried out. 

His face crinkled with sentiment when my the furrow between my eyes deepened with worry, angsty arms wrapping me in an embrace. I accepted it graciously, sinking into the warmth and feeling like it might be the last time I might get to hug him. An uncontrolled sob broke out of me when I drew in a breath and Tony said nothing.

'We can't lose you,' I murmured brokenly. My voice was too hushed for Tony to hear, his arms tightening when he felt my lips move against his neck. We couldn't.

'Norman gets me, he could strip-mine the data out of it,' he said in repentance. I could almost feel his aspect—drawn with regret and brown eyes dulled. 'And by it, I mean life as we know it. My very life is a liability.'

Anger ignited in my head as soon as the denial died out. I felt my arms tackle him away from me, a sneer pulling up just as fast. He stood unfazed by my outrage, knowing me too well to react. My temper peaked the charts when he rolled his eyes and my fingers exhibiting an electric sizzle I couldn't observe. 

'You false, stubborn son of a bitch.'

'Preece, that kind of language—'

I ignored his childish admonishing. 'You get in that machine then you can forget about me.'

'Technically, I will but that is above spec—'

'Stand the fuck down and listen to me, Anthony Stark,' I grabbed his collar out of pure spite. 'I'm not going to let you kill yourself because imaginary bogeymen are coming to steal your dreams. I understand Rhodey might have had a long history enabling you so he can go right ahead. Not me.'

He scoffed at my optimism, irritating me further. 'What are you going to do? Kill Osborn?'

'If that's what I have to do,' I said in all normalcy. 'He can burn in hell for all I care.'

'Elle,' he breathed out, 'look, there's something you should—'

'I don't want to hear it.'

'This is very important,' he grumbled, trying to grapple my shoulders to hold me back from doing something brash. 'Not about me. But you.'

'I do not care anymore, Tony.'

'But—'

'I am very serious right now. The situation is that grave.'

He clucked his tongue in annoyance. 'C'mon!'

'You come on,' I pushed him away as he neared me with a marginal puppy-like expression. The audacity he had to play around at a moment like this. 'Just fuck off, Tony. I'm fixing this my way.'

'The engine is ready, hon. A few more hours—'

'I said what I said,' I stressed on. 'You do as you wish, get hooked to the death machine and lose me. We're done.'

'Done?'

'Over. Finished. Broken up, see what I mean?'

With that, I turned in my heels with a sneer still etched on my face as I hit the button to crank open the door. I couldn't toss him another glance, ambling back into the hallway with a shake of my head. I had to get out of here. Fast.

'What's with the plural—wait, hold on a sec—Eleanor? Wa-wa-wa-wait! You can't break up with me!'

'Implications,' I said simply. 'A mega-sized if you kill yourself.'

'I can't die a single man that's—that's not appropriate.'

'Kiss my arse.'

In blind madness, my feet had led me to the hangar where Rhodey's War Machine armour and the Iron Man stood fixed frozen in the middle of the scene. I was hot on my heels, my heart racing with the stress and tension. I forgot that in my condition, being immersed in such strenuous circumstances could cause me harm. I had to head back to Cali, I jotted down mentally, run a scan, get this figured out. A hand latched over my wrist to stop my advances, wrenching my back into Tony's chest. I stomped back with a glare at him, trying to snap my wrist out of his grasp in vain. His light eyes were hard and hot, his teeth gritting audibly. 

'I can't lose you, Elle.'

I cracked a bit at his desolate eyes, almost falling for the ruse. 'And I can't watch you do this to yourself.'

'Don't go,' he insisted. 'Please.'

And I was just as persistent as he was, setting my lips into a grim line. 'I have to find something. Anything.'

'There is no other way.'

'There is and we're going to be okay,' I whispered, leaning forward to press a delicate kiss over his lips. It was soft, innocent and full of hope as I tried to make it last for as long as I could, my eyelashes leaving wet imprints over his temple. Tony's breath hitched when he saw the red-rimmed eyes of mine, his hand coiling tighter around mine and not willing to let go. 

I had to extract his fingers off gently, trying to force a smile through the tears in faith. If I was going to support Tony on this, I had to think. I had to leave. I had to meet Osborn and other personages to gather the help I needed. If this superhero was ready to put his life in line, I knew some people who would wrench him out of the perfect nightmare he had crafted.

'I'm going to fix this. I promise.'

∞

[ foreshadowing? will Elle really mend her amour—psh, yeah, we'll see. ]

[ update (21.02.2020): edited! ]