Serendipity // Tony Stark's daughter

Chapter 5

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After Tony explained to Rhodey who Leida was (excluding her unique abilities, which he'd told Leida shouldn't be shared with anyone just yet) the pair was promptly escorted onto the helicopter, and taken to a military base so they could get a good night's sleep before Tony had to return to the craziness of his life.

As soon as they arrived to the base they took both Tony and Leida to get checked over for injuries, as Tony's arm was still in disrepair and Leida had cuts and bruises all over from the fall.

Once they had arrived they'd tried to treat them separately, but seeing the distress in Leida's eyes, Tony insisted that they were to stay together until Leida expressly stated otherwise.

The two were treated at the same time; Tony received a sling for his sprained arm and a few bandages from the doctor, while Leida flinched every time the nurse would put disinfectant and butterfly bandages on her cuts. Tony fought back the urge to take the supplies from the nurse and do it himself. Instead he settled for holding her hand when a tear slipped down her cheek.

"I want this off of her as soon as possible." Tony said to the doctor who stood off to the side typing up something on his computer, while pointing to the shock collar still firmly encasing her neck.

Leida's free hand reached up to touch it as a watery smile presented itself on her face. "Off?"

"Off." Tony nodded reassuringly.

The doctor gathered some medical scissors and wheeled his chair over to where the girl sat on the med bed. "Ok miss Leida, I'm going to use these to get the collar off. Don't worry it won't hurt." He explained.

Leida nodded, readying herself for the shiny blades to come near her. Tony gathered her hair so it wouldn't be caught up in the scissors.

The doctor cut through the thick strap that wrapped tightly around Leida's neck, having to saw at it for a bit before it was fully cut through.

However, the collar didn't fall away, it was held to the side of Leida's neck by the skin that had fused to the metal prongs over time.

The nurse quickly placed her gloved hand under the collar so it wouldn't hurt the girl as it hung from her neck.

"Oh my..." the doctor took in a deep breath.

"What? Bad?" Leida started to breath harder as everyone looked at her with horror.

"No,no,no. Everything's fine. You're good, the doctor's just gotta get some different tools and quit guffawing like a child yeah?" Tony said, pointedly looking at the doctor

"Ye-yes sir just one moment." The doctor snapped back to attention, leaving the room to get some more supplies.

Leida's eyes swam with tear that began to trail down her cheeks as her hand found Tony's again.

The doctor returned quickly, holding a few tools on a sterile looking trey.

Something inside Leida felt wary of this setting. It seemed pain was inevitable, flashes of being strapped to a metal table appeared in her mind and she started to hyperventilate and squirm away from the nurse as the doctor approached, scalpel in hand.

"Hey, hey. Leida hunny you're going to be fine. I'm right here." Tony said, crouching to eye level and cupping her tearstained face. "I promise."

"What is promise?" Leida said in a shaky voice.

"Means you can't ever not do what you said you would. It's final." Tony explained. Leida nodded, taking a deep breath as the doctor stepped forward again.