There couldn't be enough warning for Tony to not recoil, both hands up and tight to his chest with his fingers curled into delicate claws, lip raised in a scowl at the sight of that thing. Even then, when he risked lifting his chin to give it a cursory examination, he had to admit, "Bit smaller than I remember..." It was possible the bugs were exaggerated in his memory, though he didn't need them to be any more heinous than the thing Jan should have been more bothered by touching. Maybe it wasn't a corpse, exactly. And looking at it was not inspiring Tony to press on; he had to take a steadying breath, which only went out of him like a deflating balloon as he nodded and readied himself to take on the darker depths. "We should make sure," he had to acknowledge. "Can't leave them down here if they are." As he moved down the tunnel, he strained to hear their shuffling over the crackle of his current bouncing off of the wall, illuminating their progress in short pulses.
no subject