Authors Note: DON'T KILL ME FOR WHAT I'M ABOUT TO DO! I own nothing. No spoilers here, unless you haven't seen the Avengers or Iron Man 2. Please review!
3. A Warm Light, A Dark Day
Reilly was the only one to notice the scientist that Cap had hit raise himself and lift his gun. He pointed it at her brother. She acted faster than she knew she could. She stepped in front of him as the self proclaimed scientist pulled the trigger. She could only gasp as she felt her ribcage crack then shatter. Pain was all she felt as her world went black.
There was a millisecond of pure silence as Reilly Stark fell to the floor with a crack and a spurt of blood from a gunshot wound on her chest. The Hulk moved first. He grabbed the scientist who had shot her by his head and shook him till his neck gave an even louder snapping sound than Reilly had and his screaming stopped. Tony was at his daughter's side and Pepper had figured out how to turn off Reilly's shield. She raced to her daughter. Phil dropped to his knees as the Hulk continued to pound the now most certainly dead scientist into a bloody pulp.
"Rei? Reilly?! Wake up!" He whispered, begging his twin to be alive begging her not to have died for him. He fumbled and found a pulse. Tony seemed to be in shock. He had raised his visor and tears streamed down his face. Pepper had tears streaming uncontrollably down her own cheeks. Her hands shook as she found her daughters hand. It was Captain America who did the rational thing.
"JARVIS! Do that thing where you check if someone's ok!" The English AI complied and scanned Reilly.
"She is alive. It appears the bullet was aluminum. It broke her ribcage in one place and shattered against her spine. I would advise placing her inside the Iron Man Armor to help stabilize her vitals and assess the damage more closely." Tony instantly began yanking at the Armor.
"DAD! We're in the Armory; it'll be faster if..." Tony nodded at his son.
"JARVIS! Deploy the Mark 12." A set of armor rose from its holding place and opened much, to Tony's eyes at least, like a coffin. He carefully lifted his daughter and placed her into the armor which closed around her much in the same way it had opened. When the visor shut he ordered JARVIS to tell them what the armor found.
"The armor has detected extensive damage to her heart and some to her lungs. A solution has been advised. To save her life she must be implanted with an arc reactor. The shards of the bullet are too small to be removed and it would take a medical miracle for her to survive the operation that would remove the fragments. This is the only option." Tony looked up at Pepper with something like devastation in his eyes. He couldn't speak, couldn't think. His daughter had always been the most like him, but he had never wanted it to go this far. Pepper spoke looking determined.
"Will it save her life?"
"Yes Mrs. Stark."
"Do it. Now." She nodded at Tony. He knew what would happen now. The armors, all of them, were programmed to do anything medically necessary to keep the user alive. It had all the technology it needed to drill a hole in his daughter's chest and insert the thing he had spent years building. The thing that had saved his life and the lives of those he loved. The warm light he had wanted to share with everyone would soon shine out of his daughter in a way he had never foreseen. Tears continued down his face as he looked at the machine which held his daughter. He trusted his own armor but right now he wanted there to be anything else to do. Waiting was not his strong suit.
The Hulk roared and shrank back down into Bruce Banner. Back into the friend Tony needed right now. The song had once again changed. Now it played probably the worst song it could think of. The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage.
