Tony Stark kissed Pepper as the paparazzi shot thousands of photographs recording their super-hero's love interest. This kind of material was great for common gossip magazines and the Times periodicals. The couple walked into the building's ball room, bringing the life of the party with them. Drinks were being served on the long walkway, and when he came out through the grand entrance there were many groups already laughing and glowing, strolling off into the maze of party attendees. The room and its occupants seemed to take and hold the richly filtered evening light. The musicians and DJs both played eloquent music, which filled the room with an eminent atmosphere. The evening filled with business transactions, fine drinks, and dancing.
"Tony, it's time to give your speech." Pepper said into his ear.
"I have to give a speech?" Tony looked at her in mock surprise.
"Yes, and you forced me to help you write it because you were lazy."
"Not lazy, I just wanted to irritate you." Tony laughed, planting a kiss on her face. Through the generous laughter Pepper caught Tony's eyes, and held it for two or three long seconds.
"Well you succeeded. But I'm forgiving you now." Pushing his shoulder lightly to the center of the room.
"AHEM! My honored and esteemed guest! Thank you for coming to my little humble event of celebration!" the partiers and photographers laughed. "I hope you all have enjoyed yourselves this fine evening! As you all know, or some of you don't if you haven't paid attention, we are all here to celebrate the expansion of the non-profit organizations to help those who were affected by the-"
A woman screamed.
"Now that's a dedicated fan." A low laughter traveled through the party, Tony glanced round, with a little shrug of amusement. But then others began to gasp in terror, and the participants of the party dispersed from the center of the ballroom.
A young boy knelt in the middle of the room, throwing up thick scarlet blood. He held onto his throat as he convulsed in sporadic spasms.
No one helped the boy. Flashes from cameras lit up the room. Stark rushed down to aid the boy. Where the hell did he come from? The boy stared blankly as blood seeped out of his nose and mouth, some leaking out of one of his eyes. "JARVIS! Contact the ambulance! We got a minor in critical condition."
"The ambulance would arrive in approximately 10 minutes, sir, the streets are in high traffic, my apologies."
The boy grabbed onto Stark's wrist, fingers clenched. "Please don't hurt me, I beg you!" Tears and blood splattering out of him with each word. He fell unconscious, but did not let go of Tony's arm. Tony looked at the boy's face, stunned.
"JARVIS! Send my suit!" In a matter of seconds, the suit shot through the room attaching each piece to the precise location on his body. He picked up the boy's body, launching himself out of the room. The room stared in stunned silence. Pepper took control of the situation by directing them to another location, but most of them feeling unsettled, tried to leave the party due to what they just witnessed. "JARVIS, redirect me to Stark Tower. And I need you to contact Dr. Banner." The call connected, "Dr. Banner? I need you to pay me a visit, right now."
"I'm in Iceland. I'm sorry Tony, I'm a bit busy at the moment." Bruce apologized profusely, but a bit annoyed with how Tony thought he could just boss him around.
"Doesn't matter." Stark landed in his tower, charging to the tower's infirmary unit.
"I'm sending a jet. You'll be here in a few hours." Tony hung up on Bruce.
"The jet for Dr. Banner has been processed. He will arrive at approximately six o'clock, Mr. Stark."
Tony landed onto his Tower, ditching the Iron Man suit, going straight to the personal infirmary of Stark Tower. Jarvis informed Tony that the medical personnel has been contacted, and waiting for his arrival. The doctors pried the boy's hand off of Stark, taking him to the critical care unit.
The boy had a respirator on his face, no longer shaking or bleeding, they had pumped the blood out of the boy's lungs. His doctors were not sure where the blood came from. He did not have any internal injuries, nor did he have any health problems. In fact, he was the healthiest boy they have ever looked at, other than choking on blood and having a few weird qualities. They ruled out a prank, the blood was real and his own.
They dismissed themselves after placing ventilators and connecting other medical equipment onto him, leaving him with Tony. Tony observed the boy, whom was unusually pale, dark hair, and teal eyes. Maybe about fourteen years old. He was familiar, but anything that he thought of didn't make much sense.
