"Miriam... Miriam..."

"MIRIAM!"

Specks of dust and falling debris clouded his vision, a thunderous pounding in his head. Tony Stark pushed with a groan, pulling away from Steve Rogers who's body had practically fell on top of him. Despite his body's protests of trauma he attempted to stand, running towards the area of explosion where he had just watched Miriam Morales fall off. Her head had banged loudly against one of the walls just before she'd tipped off the helicarrier.

Tony scrambled forward amongst the chaos, hoping she was caught somewhere in the collision, holding onto dear life by one of the many entangled wires, anything to signify she was alive but no... there was nothing. He couldn't see her falling body, just the endless clouds they were hidden in.

"Tony!" Steve called out, pushing the man back before the plane was hit again and tony tipped over. He to took a moment to look over the side, finding it empty, there was no time though, they needed to save the rest of the people on the jet. "Put on the suit!"

Tony nodded, turning in the other direction as much as he wanted to protest. "Jarvis, hack into SHIELD and open a communications link with Miriam's earpiece."

"Sir, that may take awhile." The compute automated machine answered after a brief second.

"Work fast, she's falling at a thousand miles." He hissed back, running at full speed to the storage space his suit was being held in. "Fury!"

"Miriam has fallen out of the sky before, she will be fine!" Fury answered after a moment too long.

Steve scoffed, going in his own direction, "you can't be serious! She's unconscious!"

"If there's anyone capable of surviving it's her, I have to worry about what's going on up here. She'll be back." He answers back.

"Not good enough," Tony responded although it was more to himself then anyone else because no one else seemed to answer. Just as he pressed the small device to open the Iron Man suit's container he called up Jarvis once more. "Update."

"Open," Jarvis responded within a second. "Her earpiece appears slightly damaged but other then that I've got her."

"Miriam! Miriam!" Tony practically yelled into his earpiece as the suit began to take form around his body and he flew out.

"Turbine looks mostly intact but it's impossible to get out there to make repairs while we're in the air."

"If we lose one more engine, we won't be. Somebody's got to get outside and patch that engine."

"Stark, you copy that?" Fury questioned after a moment

After another second of bitterly cursing the director under his breath Tony finally answered. "I'm on it."

|•|•|•|•|

"Miriam! Miriam!"

The cold air around her startled her more then the voice as the wind was much louder and encompassing all around her. With a huge gasp her eyes widened and she finally was able to sense everything that was going on around her, her flailing arms and the tendrils of hair that kept moving across her face in rapid motions.

Miriam's head pounded, senses slowly putting the pieces together as the last few moments before she'd blacked out came back.

She had dropped off the plane in the explosion, banged her head which explained why she had blacked out and was now free falling into a incoming field. With a kick to her heels her body stopped mid air, and she caught her breath. How had she not heard the explosion before? She hadn't been paying attention enough, too consumed in her rage to even notice what was going on and now an entire Helicarrier full of people could fall because she hadn't been doing her job. Her eyes watched as around her piece of the aircraft fell, fires burning all around as most missed her.

"Miriam!" The loud yelling once more brought her out of her own head, she scrunched her eyes shut, thankful that her immune system meant the headache would be gone soon. It was Tony Stark she soon realized and by his frantic voice she knew things were going horrible.

"I'm back." She answered, analyzing the situation the longer she just flew in the air.

Tony sucked in an air of relief, heart slowing as finally he'd gotten a response. It was difficult to admit but he hadn't been able to think straight since he'd seen her drop and although he knew she would have been alright regardless if she had woken up or not he couldn't get out of his own head.

"Miriam, we really need your help up here." Steve was the first to speak, Tony silently thanking him for intervening. "Loki's men found us and they're here for him, think you can gethere soon?"

Miriam squinted her eyes, seeing the helicarrier now just a tiny speck in her vision, it was miles away now which meant that she was going to need to fly through the air like a bullet.

She sighed out, "I used too go so fast before I quit flying, I might be a little rusty but I'll try. How about you guys?"

"We're fine, just get here fast." Tony found his voice, clearing this throat a little bit as to not sound any different then normal.

Miriam didn't bother to pay attention to anything else, knowing her hearing was about to be blocked with all the air she was going to have to catch. Once, she had been faster then a missle in the air and the mere sound of her through the air broke military technology flying nearby but since she'd made a deal with SHIELD much of that had gone away. For a second she allowed herself to feel nostalgic about the past and how liberating it had been before building up the energy in her system and skyrocketing. The initial sound of her body breaking through air was like a bomb going off and she supposed if those around hadn't heard the helicarrier blow then they definitely heard that one, within second she neared the aircraft and slowed down, catching her breath. It'd been so long since she'd flown much less broken the sound barrier that she felt almost drained afterwards but she shook her head and concentrated.

Once she was near enough she pressed the earpiece to communicate with the agents, "Nat? Where are you?"

After a brief moment, Nat's struggling voice came through. "I'm a little busy! Can't really talk right now, Hulk."

"I'm coming!" Miriam responded, hearing Hulk's loud roar.

"No! Thor's here!" She retorted, "he'll take care of it."

"Alright then, Fury?" She went on. "Where are you?"

"Headquarters." He muttered. "I'd hurry."

Despite her reservation for him she knew this was no time to argue and flew into the helicarrier through one of the openings the enemy had made. Miriam dropped to her feet, now flat out running as she heard gunshots going off. The SHIELD agents ran in different directions, most with guns and some holding wounds of their own and running from the danger Miriam was headed towards.

The brunette wasted no time, black smoke encircling her hands as soon as her first victim came into view. He drew his gun, firing a shot straight at her head to wish she deflected by disintegrating the bullets with her black smoke, creating enough so the opponent couldn't tell where she was and she barreled through the mass then. All at once she was directly in the middle of them, kicking and throwing clouds of death straight at their chests, the smoke ran right through the material of their gear and burned through their chests, leaving gaping holes.

"Don't shoot me! I'm here!" She kicked one away, sending him into the steel wall and potentially cracking enough ribs to keep them down.

Bullets flew everywhere, and yet her speed never slowed as she dodged them all and continued to send kicks into their craniums. The enemies she missed were quickly shot down by Maria Hill or Fury who were taking cover behind the walls of the entrance. The last one decided to take his gun and aim to strangle her with it, pushing the metal tightly against her neck the longer she struggles. Miriam kicked out, attempting to find anything to use as leverage as her hands clung to his black gear without use. Finally her feet kicked at the wall and she ran up it, kicking off to flip her over and out of his hold. The enemy attempted to turn in one quick swing before she grasped his neck and burned right through it.

Miriam sucked in air, feeling her muscles stretch from lack of use over the last few days.

One hand over her hip she pressed against the intercom as SHIELD Shooters approached the dead men around her and kicked their guns away. "Okay? Who needs help? Tony?"

"Not unless you want to mess that pretty face up," he retorted, pushing the giant wings of the helicarrier. After a moment of silence he realized his own words and quickly retracted, "Steve might be in need of assistance."

Miriam barely paid attention to the compliment he had given her instead nodding towards one of the agents and then running in the other direction, "on it."

She raced through another set of halls, running around incoming aid and other fighters prepared to defend the flying aircraft. Just as she was beginning to come to one of the wings a grenade went off and she held onto the wall for support as the helicarrier tilted slightly.

"Steve? How many?" She muttered once her balance had been restored, quieting her voice down as she crept closer.

"8, maybe more." He recounted, gunshots firing off before his intercoms shit out.

"Don't shoot me." She nodded, rounding the corner and instantly firing off a blast of black smoke. She caught Loki's men off guard, the group of them not knowing wether to fight her or Steve which gave the super soldier enough time to shoot a few of them out and run for the red lever.

Miriam managed to kick one of them straight off the jet, sending them straight into the air where they more then likely hurled to their deaths while she continued to kick guns out of the others hands and snap their necks. She decided not to throw her bolts of death at them in fear that one would hit Steve accidentally so instead opted for hand to hand combat. Steve kept up with her once he'd pulled the lever, at times even deflecting some punches he'd thought she would miss until eventually they were all either off the jet or killed.

Miriam rolled her shoulders, looking towards a panting Steve with a raised eyebrow. "I could have handled that by myself you know?"

"I know, it's a force of habit." He responded with slight embarrassment, realizing that he'd done it again.

"Well, saved me the trouble of having to ice my chin for awhile so thanks for that." She shrugged her shoulders with a small smile that showed she wasn't at all angry. The small gentlemen like characteristics Steve couldn't seem to let go of were heartwarming for her, plus it felt nice to know that at least someone was looking out for her. In return the women took a moment to look him over, noticing small cuts around his face but other then that he was clean of injuries.

After she'd spoke Tony appeared, his suit was all banged up but it managed to get him to the small platform the two of them were. He touched down, eyes set on Miriam who seemed to not have a scratch on her despite all the killer's she'd taken down.

Her brown eyes creased the longer she smiled at Steve with appreciation and Tony felt his stomach tighten as she did so, briefly wondering why he'd never seen her soft eyes directed to him in that way. He liked the fire that brewed behind the wood colored iris' but the carefree expanse in them was appealing as well, something he had yet to see directed his way unfortunately. Before he could think of anything else she was looking at him.

Miriam instantly noticed how scratched and beat the thick metal of his suit was, suddenly remembering how a loud pounding had been heard during her struggle. Her heart dropped for a second, realizing that he'd been dragged in the propellers for quite some time.

"Tony, you look horrible," she stated, walking forward and double checking to see if any parts were missing or a spot of blood were spewing. "Take off the helmet."

"I'm fine," he stated, barely understanding how concerned she was and the creases in her eyes had seemed to deepen.

"Don't make me yank it off," she shot back, daring him to disobey.

"You're very bossy—"

"Tony—" her hand lifted me prepared to start pulling off the metal with her bare hands.

"Okay, okay! You're a little terrifying with that mom voice," he muttered although he was attempting to keep calm as instead he found her concern all the more intriguing.

The mask retracted with a slight huff of nerves and instantly Miriam's eyes popped, fingers almost instantly clinching the sides of his face with a light pressure. "Christ, you're gonna need medical."

"I'm fine—"

"No you're not," she snapped and pressed the earpiece down. "I'm gonna need medical on the left wing, bring enough for two."

"I'm fine, I don't need it." Steve spoke up, having been silent the entirety of the conversation.

"I agree with grandpa," Tony said, tilting his hand away from her grasp, although she very firmly denied it and shot both of them a look.

"No, you both aren't! Tony you might have a broken a rib or something! And Steve infection is not a good thing so medical for you both now!" She instructed them.

Fury cut into her yelling as they all heard him call, "Agent Coulson is down."

Miriam's head shot up, looking towards the exit and sensing her heart nearly stop as the other side answered. "A medical team is on its way to your location."

After a moment Fury responded, his voice almost haunting as he confirmed the unexpected. "They're here. They called it."

Tony caught the brunette, holding her steady against her chest as her knees gave up and her breathing shortened. She didn't sob, or even cry as he held her, all she managed to do was short breaths.

They'd known each for well over two decades, Phil Coulson had been like family to Miriam and although they'd very rarely seen one another in the last years she couldn't help but grieve. The sensation of falling was foreign to someone who could fly, almost unheard of but for her it seemed that the action was beginning to repeat itself in her life.

She swallowed thickly, looking at Tony with such innocence and tenderness in her brown eyes his skin grew goosebumps and her fingers seemed to burn straight thru the metal of his suit. While he too tried to come up with anything relevant in the moment she was already forming plans of mayhem for Loki.

|•|•|•|•|•|

I live for my OTP

Tiriam?
Toriam?