1.

"Stark!" A voice snapped over the intercom. "Stick to the plan!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... Don't get your panties in a twist, Cap. They're just Doombots." God, Tony hated Doombots. Not only did they pop up every couple weeks, but there were just so many of them. Not to mention their shells were nearly as hard as the Iron Man suit.

Needless to say, it got extremely annoying after a while.

"I swear to god, next time I see Doom, I am going to shot an arrow in his ass," Clint hissed, probably furiously eyeing the new wave of robots. Nobody said a word, but there was a tone of mutual agreement.

Tony scanned the ground from the skies, a troubled frown settling on his features as he spied two or three getting close to a group of frightened civilians. Too close. He apparently wasn't he only one that noticed. Hawkeye muttered a few words over the link.

However, the good Cap was nearly two blocks away, Natasha couldn't take out so many at once, Clint was almost out of arrows, like hell the Hulk was gonna listen, and Thor was busy with a couple hundred.

Before Steve could bark out the order, Tony was dipping down. "On it, Cap."

Had the man not been so frantic, he probably would have cared about the fact the bots had weird suction cup hands. Had he not been so frantic, he probably would have seen a suction cup hand fired. If he had't been so frantic, he probably wouldn't have let it break the exterior of the clear place covering the reactor and attach itself.

His breathing hitched and warnings far too late of Hawkeye and JARVIS echoed in his ears. Clink! Whoosh! Then the pain in his chest multiplied a hundred times and it was getting harder to breathe and stand. Because this wasn't just a normal invasion, what they really wanted was-

"Sir!" JARVIS exclaimed sharply, effectively bringing Tony out of his shock. "Your heart rate is accelerating! It is advised you retrieve the arc reactor as soon as possible."

But all Tony can do is fall to his knees, gasping. "Tony! Are you alright? Get the reactor back!" Steve's voice spoke in his ear. Everyone knew how important it was to keep the arc reactor technology safe.

"I can't-the arc reactor-it keeps me alive-without it I can't-" Tony barely sputtered out.

But then an arrow wizzes past him and suddenly there's Natasha, and with such a calm face, there's a click as she attaches the baseplate. And sweet, sweet air fills Tony's lungs.

"...God, Stark..." That was all she said before she was off.