Red in my Ledger

Chapter Forty-Three

They wouldn't have been able to hear the crash from the party. Maybe if there was no music, but it wouldn't have been a good party without music.
The guests, however, still found out.
The news circulated between everyone, including the Avengers.
It took a while, too long, for them to hear the full story.
They were told there was a crash.
The car just drove up onto the sidewalk.
It crashed through a car window.
Luckily, the driver managed to jump out so he didn't get badly hurt.
Someone else was hit.
Two people unconscious.
Don't worry, the driver took them away, to the hospital.
Where did this happen?
Right outside.
"Do we know the victims?" Tony asked Rhodes, who had been repeating all this information back after he had heard him from someone else.
"They were guests at the party. I don't know."
"We should check everyone's okay... have you seen y/n?"
"No. You don't think it was her, do you?"
"No, I don't think so. I can't think of any reason why she would have left, she has no where to go. But I wanna check up on her anyway. Let me know if you see her."
Rhodes nodded and the guys went their seperate ways.
Tony saw Steve, and went to ask if he had seen you.
"No, not in a while... is everything alright?"
"Honestly, I don't know. Did you hear about the crash?"
"I thought it was just rumours."
"Apparently, the store across the street's window is smashed in."
"Was anyone hurt? Anyone we know?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out" Tony frowned.
He grew increasingly worried as he looked around the room but couldn't see you anywhere. He spotted most of the other avengers, but didn't see you with any of them.
"Maybe she went back to her room. She didn't really seem keen on the whole party idea."
"Maybe... do me a favour. Go check?"
"Sure. Back in a minute."
Steve left and Tony continued to look for you. He found Rhodes again, trying to follow along the story of a drunk couple.
Tony and Rhodes nodded in greeting, and listened to what they were trying to say.
"She did not look okay!" the woman cried.
"You're drunk. It was probably nothing" the man said.
"You're drunk too!" the woman added, then faced Tony. "I swear she was drugged! She was completely fine and the car didn't hit her but then this guy came over and all of a sudden she's passed out!"
"Honey, you're making up stories to entertain yourself... so sorry Mr Stark" the man chuckled.
"Wait- wait... What did this woman look like?"
"Um she was wearing a red dress, long dark hair, you know she actually kinda looks like you but a woman and ten times prettier" the woman laughed.
"How long's it been since the crash" Tony nervously turned to face Rhodes.
"I don't know. At least half an hour."
"Shit" Tony walked off in a hurry to gather the others.
Rhodes followed him.
They saw Natasha and Clint, and told them to come too. They approached Thor and Sam, then Bruce and Yelena, then Steve found them.
"Please tell me she's in there" Tony hoped.
Steve shook his head sorrowfully.
"What's going on?" Natasha asked.
Tony turned and faced them all.
"We really need to find y/n. I'm worried somethings happened to her."
"Like what?" Bruce wondered.
"You all heard about the car crash on the street outside? I think she was involved."
"The one that crashed the car?" Yelena asked.
"The one that got hit" Rhodes corrected. "Or worse."
"Or worse? What do you mean 'or worse'?" Steve questioned.
"The driver apparently took them to the hospital in another car. A friends car or something. But what if they're not going to the hospital."
"What exactly are you thinking?"
"I don't know... What if the crash was intentional?"
"You're saying someone wants to hurt her?"
"I reckon there's definitely quite a few people out there that would want to hurt her. I just don't think she's safe."
"And you're sure she's not just passed out in a room somewhere?"
"I can't possibly check every room for her not to be here and have it all be a waste of time... look, if it's not her, it's not exactly a bad thing to help out whoever it is that got hurt... I still need everyone's help just in case" Tony looked around the group pleadingly.
"Of course, Tony" Natasha assured. "We'll find her."
"What about Bucky?" Clint asked. "Where's he?"
"Oh, he went off with Sharon quite a while ago" Sam explained. "They looked, um, busy."
"Should we tell him?" Steve asked. "He could help look."
"Leave it for now. We can tell him when we know more... or when he's not busy" Tony sighed.
"So what do we do now?" Thor questioned.
Tony gave everyone a different job. Some went to the crash site to look for evidence and talk to people to see if they saw anything. Some spoke to the guests of the party to ask about what they'd heard. Some checked rooms closest to the party in case you had passed out.
Steve went with Tony to check the security cameras of the ground floor. They could see the front door of the tower, but it didn't really pick up anything from on the street.
Tony sat back in a chair, disappointed that they had not found anything and very worried about you.
"Tony look" Steve pointed after a while.
Tony paused the screen and leant forward to examine it closely.
"Oh god" Tony muttered. It wasn't helping his nerves.
He unpaused the video and watched you walk outside. You seemed pissed about something as you aggressively swung open the doors and marched outside.
That's when he lost you.
"You don't have any cameras outside?" Steve asked.
"Yeah but they face the door" Tony said, switching to that camera.
It showed you walking out, then you crossed the street, walking off the screen.
"I don't know. Maybe I can hack into the store camera across the street" Tony mumbled, as he attempted to do just that.
He managed it, but it barely showed anything. He could see some of the sidewalk outside, but no one was there. He thought.
"Wait, look" Steve pointed at the screen. In the very corner, he could see the edge of someone's heel. "I don't know if it's her, just stay there for a minute."
Tony did as he suggested, watching the minimal movement on the screen.
The heel steeped away, then came back onto the frame again.
"There's someone else" Tony noticed a black shoe just behind the heel.
Then you were pushed to the floor. They could see you clearly in the frame. But only for a second. The car crashed through the store window, and the camera became clouded with dust.
Tony rewound the tape and paused it just in time to see your face.
He watched it closely, noting the pure fear in your eyes.
"I can't lose her. Not again."
"We will find her, Tony."