"Fuck!"
"Was that Iron Man?" Captain America questioned, turning from Black Widow in the direction where he heard the swear.
"It certainly does sound like his brand of charm." She piped in, raising a delicate eyebrow and nearing the rubble, ready for a possible fight. There was always the chance that Tony had flown off to get burgers or something, that he wasn't really trapped underneath what was left of a six-story building.
At least, that's what the hope was.
"All right, so, uh, Jarvis has gone a bit silent on me. Guess I'll sit here wondering if anyone else can here me or if maybe this is what hell is like-"
"Iron Man, we hear you, Thor is on his way to help move rubble, and we'll get to you shortly." The Captain started, confident that the other man was completely unharmed, seeing as he was being his usual self under the mess of concrete and steel.
"-Because it's really kind of odd, don't you think? I mean, I always knew I was going to hell, but I didn't ever think it would be so realistic. Hah, that's just what this is all about, right? Hell isn't fire and hard labor for a dude with a spiked tail, it's boring and dirty and-"
"Captain, I don't think he can hear us." Hawkeye commented, raising an eyebrow at the ranting the team was listening to.
"Even more reason for us to aid him." Boasted Thor, dropping his hammer to grab a nearby boulder.
"-Swear to God, if this is all there is for eternity, I really might need to start praying to God, or find some sort of religion. Is it too late if I'm already dead?-"
The rest of the team, (minus the Hulk, who was busy chuckling and smashing the last of the robots with a car he found) began digging, lifting heavy rubbing and checking to make sure there was no sight of the billionaire ahead. Hawkeye was quick to remind Thor that if he moved things too fast, more of the building could collapse on top of Iron Man. Granted, Clint wasn't necessarily saying the Iron Man suit couldn't handle the weight, and that Tony couldn't use the realism of the situation.
"-Makes sense, really, if you think about it... Oh, Jarvis, you're back online? No, no, cranberries are not needed. Blood? Where?"
Steve perked up at that while the rest of the team tuned it out and kept working, struggling through the sheer size of the mess in front of them. Thor was really the only one other than Captain America that could shift enough stone to make a dent, so Hawkeye and the Black Widow sat back, directing the demi-God, arguing about how they should go on.
"Huh, I didn't realize so much blood could come out of an ear. My shoulder too? Huh, so that's why I can't feel my arm." Tony thought aloud, or spoke to Jarvis, sort of. The machinery in the suit was fairly damaged in the crash, but Jarvis' speech was good enough to point out that Tony wasn't dead, just fairly injured.
"Avengers, Iron Man has realized he's not, um, passed on. He is injured though, so be careful that we don't disrupt the fallen building." Cap announced, joining in on the dig, scolding Clint when he didn't join and getting scolded by Natasha when he said she shouldn't participate.
Just over half an hour later, the gap was large enough for the Captain to crawl in and pull off a few last stones from atop Tony.
"Woah! I sure hope that's a hottie straddling me, because this might get really awkward. Especially for the poor suit."
Steve sighed and reached around the Iron Man mask to trigger its release.
"Sorry to disappoint, Iron Man, but in this case, all I can do is straddle you," Immediately after he said that, he frowned and narrowed his eyes at the man below, who had began snickering. "Enough of that, I need to assess the situation from this position because there is not enough room in the tunnel Thor has managed to create."
Before Tony could make any inappropriate remark, Steve went and slid down the armor, sitting right over the metal thighs. Tony decided it would be best to keep his mouth shut, if he wanted to be saved.
"All right, I've got to remove some armor to get you out of here properly. You'll be wedged in if we don't at least get the chest piece off." Cap stated, already fumbling around to see if there was a release like on the helmet.
"No, no, Captain Bossy-pants, that's not happening," The billionaire protested, trying, and failing, to shift himself away from the prodding hands. "All I've got on under this are my velvet boxers. They were a gift from Pepper, I can't let the world see them!" He excused, waving a dented hand in dismissal.
The Captain ignored the complaints, digging his finger under panels and slowly pulling away pieces of the collar and chest and sides, only to reveal bare skin. Bruised and scratched bare skin.
"Iron Man... Tony, we're going to have to get you out of this suit, you look really wounded."
The injured man continued to squirm, getting considerably more upset every time a piece of suit was torn off.
"Release me!" Tony yelled, snatching at one of his captain's hands, struggling so hard he nearly collapsed the small cave they were scrunched in. "Bruce! You can hear me right? Explain to Cap! Fast!"
Steve paused, confusion written across his face, letting the Iron Man suit close back up while he listened to the scientist explain over the com.
"Dishabiliophobia. It means he doesn't like undressing in front of others. Well, in Tony's case, when he's not drunk and in front of a woman."
"Dish... What?" The Captain repeated, shifting around until he could rest back on the balls of his feet, assessing his companion silently, noting the twitching of his fingers and the fear on his face.
"Dishabiliophohia," Bruce repeated, sighing softly. "I read his medical file. He was diagnosed after returning from Afghanistan, after he had to put in the arc reactor. We can pull him out with the armor still on, Steve, don't force him to face his fear head on, not in the midst of all this."
And with that information at hand, Steve had to concede, or leave Tony there, and that was definitely not an option.
Slowly, soon enough with the help of Tony himself and the rest of the Avengers, the suit of armor was pulled out from under the wreckage, crushed and dented and even missing chunks.
Iron Man, as soon as he could stand on his own two feet, muttered a quick thanks to each of the members of his team before giving Bruce a lingering almost-smile. Then, to the surprise of absolutely no one, Tony powered up his suit and flew off, grumbling about having to repair and tinker and build.
A/N - Okay, so another Avengers multi-parter. Didn't do much research on the phobias, so sorry if they're not completely accurate. Also, js, not really IM3 compliant, but there may be small non-spoilery references because I enjoyed that movie a hell of a lot. The other chapters will get a bit more into the emotions behind the phobia, so stick with me. :)