AN: Hi, so this is my first fanfic ever. I will be the first to say that I am definitely the not the most impressive writer, so any constructive criticism is very welcomed. Just don't be too mean please. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.
It wasn't the first time he had been casually tossed through a wall or two, or however many the office building had. The real problem was when he was stopped not so gently as he slammed up against a steel support beam. Tony barely felt the beam bending to conform to his back, he was more focused on the feeling of his neck snapping forward and then back so quickly that he saw a whole new constellation, and the fact that he was jostled as he slumped down to the ground was not all too helpful either.
Tony squeezed his eyes shut, had the HUD always been so bright and why was there the taste of nickels in his mouth? He must have bitten his tongue on his way to where he was his mind reasoned. But where was he again, what was he doing? Tony groaned as he wobbled back to his feet. Excluding his little vacation out in the Afghan cave for three months he couldn't recall ever being so sore. His body ached but his neck and head were throbbing along with his pulse. He could hear JARVIS now, but he sounded far away, scratch that, JARVIS was way too loud now.
"Sir!" JARVIS exclaimed, "Sir I really must insist that you lay down this instance!" Tony groaned as the level that JARVIS's voice took sent another spike of pain through his head, his ears were ringing.
"JARVIS lower audio levels to fifty, no, forty percent," Tony all but slurred. "Oh, and do me a favor and lower the HUD brightness to around forty as well," he cracked his eyes open to see the adjustment, squinting into the light, "Drop it by another five percent please and thank you, JARVIS."
"Sir, your readings suggest that you have a mild to se-" Tony cut him off.
"Not now J, what's the situation?" Why did he feel like he was having so much trouble speaking?
"Sir, you just-" JARVIS was cut off by another voice this time, one that was much more demanding.
"Stark, report!" Steve's voice filtered through his helmet. "We needed air support yesterday, we don't have time for you to be running off like you always do," Tony could hear him nearly growl. "Stick to the plan we still have civilians that need extraction and the only way Natasha and I can get to them is if you are where you are supposed to be which is drawing this god-awful monstrosity away from the city!"
"Gasp," Tony mumbled with a smirk, "Never thought I would hear the day that Captain America would take the lord's name in vain. I was raised catholic and I know that's a big no no, Cap."
"Stark," it was Clint this time. "Just get your ass back here and so I can focus on the small ones and help Thor deal with the giant clawed fucker." Tony paused and listened to the distant twanging of Clint's bowstring.
"That means now, Stark," Steve spoke again after Tony had been silent for a moment too long.
"How come you never scold him for swearing but you always ride my ass about it."
"Stark."
"It's because at least I do what I'm told. Now get over here and-" Clint cut out and Tony distantly felt the ground shake. "Crap. Well there goes another building."
"Sorry friends, I could not divert the beast's attention away. Man of Iron are you near yet, we are in dire need of assistance."
"Well when you say it like that, Goldilocks," Tony engaged his thrusters, trying to push down the nausea that arose with the sudden movement, and made his way out of the building.
"Sir-"
"Mute, JARVIS." Silence, silence was what he needed. Clenching his jaw as he gained altitude, Tony took in the current situation. Towering over the high rises and standing in the bay was a giant, and ugly Tony might add, beady-eyed shrimp. He could spot Thor in his bright red cape flying around the thing, probably looking for an opening to attack. Tony began to make his way over, it would take him about a minute to reach the monster of a shrimp, but his mind was still whirring even as his head throbbed. How had the thing managed to hit him so far? Even the leviathans in New York hadn't been able to do that. Then, speak of the devil, Tony's question was answered as the shrimp raised a disproportionate claw and the inner part of it cocked back and it tried to take aim at Thor. The piece snapped forward and a resounding boom shook the air. Shit, Tony remembered now as he watched Thor barely manage to get out of the way. Some stupid scientist had been messing around with a supposed growth serum and tried to enlarge pistol shrimp to test if the force at which they could snap their claws would be directly proportional to their size. Turned out that it was, and it also turned out that the lab assistant had mislabeled the strengths of the growth. Fancy that. Now they had a mass of amount of shrimp the size of great danes running around along with another one that would give Godzilla a run for its money.
"Okay Goldilocks," Tony opened his coms when he was close enough to get involved, "You distract Mr. Shrimp while I get rid of that claw." The shrimp's large right claw was doing most of the damage and need to be taken care of first and foremost.
"Man of Iron, we have already attempted such a feat and were unable to disarm this creature," Thor grunted as he swung his hammer at the smaller claw, barely making a crack in the exoskeleton.
"Oh, well," Tony mumbled, his mind felt foggy. He must have taken a near direct hit from that claw which was how he ended up across town. "I'll distract him this time and you, maybe, go for the eyes I guess?" Tony couldn't stop himself from slurring his words slightly. He was tired, no, exhausted. Tony didn't really know how long they had been fighting for, but it must have been an eternity. He felt himself veering off course and overcorrected to try and straighten himself out. He nicked a building in the process and Hawkeye must have seen because next thing he knew he was getting another sour comment.
"Jesus, Stark. Watch where you're flying. Are you drunk or something?" Tony groaned at that.
"Stark are you intoxicated?" Steve questioned and then continued without waiting for an answer, "I knew you were irresponsible," Okay ouch, "But I cannot believe you would find it acceptable to be drunk while we are trying to save lives here." Tony grit his teeth, they really thought so little of him. He had been dry since a month after the invasion. Given he was drinking heavily during that month in some desperate attempt to rid himself of the nightmares of the hole, the falling, the cold, the dark. But it only made it worse, so he did his best to give it up. Then the others moved into the tower and it was extra motivation to stay dry. Hell, he didn't even drink at his own publicity events anymore. The only reason he still had alcohol in the tower is because the others had their own preferences for having a nice glass of whatever suited their fancy to help relax after a fight.
"First of all, I am not drunk," he could hear Clint scoff, "Second, can we just kill this thing and go home already." Tony banked around the shrimp's outreached small claw, swoop close to its face in an attempt to get its attention.
"Try to steer it way from the town and into the bay, when that thing falls, it's going to fall hard. We also have to make sure that we get all of the smaller ones, we can't afford to overlook even one of them considering how much damage they can cause"
"Roger, Rogers." Tony began to gradually attract the attention of the massive shrimp, forcing it to begin turning itself back in the direction of the bay to get Tony in its range of attack. He would periodically fire his beams or missiles to make sure that it took no notice of Thor's approach. The Norse god landed briefly on the head before slamming Mjolnir into its right eye. The shrimp moved quickly to raise its claws in defense, but Thor was quick to move out of the way. There was another boom as the it "fired" its larger claw in Thor's direction sending a shockwave that had him tumbling through the air. However, Thor had been lucky to be far enough away that he wasn't sent flying.
While it was distracted by Thor, Tony locked his missiles onto the other eye and let out a little huff of satisfaction when he completely blinded the beast. Unlike Thor, when the claws cam at him, his reaction time was too slow and small claw managed to clip his right leg. It wasn't hard enough to send him flying, but he flipped head over heels long enough for his nausea to return in full force. He landed unsteadily on a roof top and quickly opened his visor to empty the contents of his stomach. He squeezed his eyes shut when he felt the midday sun on his face, it was too bright even through his eyelids.
"Hey Stark, if you're going to puke can you try not to leave your coms on when you do?" Clint's annoying voice filtered through his helmet.
"Just shut the fuck up already, Barton," Tony near hissed back.
"Language," Steve scolded, "Thor, have you and Stark taken down the giant shrimp yet?"
"No, we have blinded him but have not yet brought it down."
"Natasha, Clint, and I are almost done here on the ground. The sooner you get rid of that thing the better."
"Agreed, we will renew our efforts to defeat it. Man of Iron, do you have any ideas on how to do so?" Tony spit out any bile lingering in his mouth before standing dizzily.
"Gimme a sec…" He grunted. Tony looked toward the shrimp that was still waving its claws around trying to follow Thor. His eyes lock onto the places where there was light cracking in the exoskeleton. If they could crack the shell enough to expose flesh, then it might be possible for Thor to use his lightning to fry its nervous system and kill it. Why didn't he think of this before? Was he even thinking before, Tony couldn't remember. After sharing his new pearl of wisdom with Thor, the two of them tag teamed cracking the shell around the joint between its head and abdomen.
"JARVIS unmute," Tony commanded as he flew above the crack for one last shot.
"Sir you need to-"
"I need to kill this shrimp is what I need to do." Tony interrupted, "So I need you to charge the Unibeam to eighty percent." JARVIS was silent for a moment before confirming his compliance. Once charged, Tony used the beam to finish breaking apart the shell and clear away some of the pieces so Thor would get a better shot. The feeling of relief that overtook Tony as Thor's lightning struck the shrimp and he watched it go limp was indescribable. But now with all distractions gone, Tony was more aware of how hard his head was pounding, how nauseous and off balance he felt. Hardly acknowledging the fact that the team was talking to each other, Tony only managed to get out a few words before he began slipping off into a daze.
"Autopilot, J. Home, please."
"Sir I must insist you go to the hospital."
"No. No Doctors. Home," Tony ignored the calls as JARVIS carried him home.
AN: Well I hope that wasn't too bad. Thank you for reading. If you have any thoughts/ideas on my writing/story please don't hesitate to leave a review. The next chapter shouldn't be too long after this one.