Hello faithful readers! Here is another chapter for you! I had originally finished the story after this chapter, but then I thought: This could be a little longer.
So here's another chapter, and many more after hopefully. But I will post the 'alternate ending' at the very end for those of you who want to only read that.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Avengers... :(
"mphnggg…Heyz…" Tony managed to squeeze the word out of his burning lungs. He looked at the water bottle Clint still held in his hand and Clint took it as a sign to give him some more. Tony's lips were weak and wobbly and he spilled most of the water on his chest, which caused the arc reactor to spit and hiss, and Tony to flinch. "-at's nough." He coughed again and Clint moved the bottle away, closed it and placed it back in the emergency kit he had.
"Tony, Can you hear me?" Natasha began to do a sensory check that Bruce had taught her on their way here. She waited until she got a slurred response from her patient before going on. "I need you to look at my finger, follow it with your eyes."
Natasha held out her index finger in front of Tony's face and watched his eyes closely as she moved her hand back and forth, his eyes were a little unfocused, she noted, but he seemed to be able to follow the target easily enough. Next she made Tony wiggle all his muscles, starting with his fingers and (minus his left leg) his toes. He was able to do that without too much pain, but Natasha suspected that the real pain was radiating from his chest. By the time she finished her check up, Bruce and Steve had arrived via twin jet. Thor arrived soon after, speeding in using his hammer as a propeller. They immediately set to work gently lifting Tony out of the cockpit and onto a stretcher. He was given an oxygen mask which he gladly accepted, it seemed he had been having more trouble breathing than they thought. They loaded the stretcher onto the jet and took off. Thor went with them, leaving Natasha and Clint to fly the other two jets back to base.
Tony was muttering constantly in his delirious state on the stretcher in the jet. Bruce was doing scans on his vitals while the two medics wrapped up his broken ankle. They would need to re-wrap it once they got to a more supplied hospital and did an x-ray scan. The oxygen mask was left on Tony because nobody wanted to hear what he was muttering about, when they had taken it off in the first place, all Tony was talking about was gross legs and cockroach wings. Bruce also hooked up an IV into Tony's left arm, right on the inside of his elbow. Tony flinched when the needle went in and let out an annoyed moan. Bruce just patted him on the shoulder.
They arrived at the Helicarrier and Tony was rushed off to the hospital wing, accompanied by Bruce. Thor and Steve were sent to the bridge to relay the events to Fury. They had just reached the door off the deck when two more jets landed behind them, they waited a bit and were soon joined by Natasha and Clint. They all headed up to the bridge and were greeted with an odd looking Fury. His face wore a look that almost could have resembled worry, if you squint your eyes and turn your head just so.
"Worried about the tin man, Fury?" Clint jibed.
"As a matter of fact, I am. You know why?" He continued before they could answer. "Because without Stark, we can kiss our fast responses goodbye, he's the only one who can monitor the news better than SHIELD." Fury barked out the last bit like it disgusted him to admit that Tony was better.
"So you're saying we aren't good enough?" Clint spoke what Steve, Natasha, and Thor had been thinking. He raised his voice. "You're saying we can't get the job done!?"
Clint turned and stormed off the bridge. Steve and the rest gave Fury an angry glare before turning and following the archer. Fury looked flabbergasted as they left, he hadn't meant what he said that way. He sighed and turned back to the screens in front of him, he would let them blow off steam, but he would need them if a threat arose.
The Avengers (minus Bruce and Tony) were assembled in the main lab area of the helicarrier. They were waiting for Bruce to give them news on Tony's surgery. They were also attempting to blow off steam from their almost fight with Fury. Clint and Steve were the most hurt at Fury's jibe. Thor was confused, and Natasha was silent. Clint paced back and forth, grumbling about control freaks. Steve leaned against a table and watched Clint, but he wasn't really paying attention, he was too busy thinking about Tony. He wondered what had happened to Tony while he was held captive, and how he had escaped.
Natasha glanced out one of the windows into the hallway, she seemed to think for a moment, and then announced she was going to go check on Bruce and Tony. The others nodded and she left, the door hissing closed behind her.
"I do not understand why you are angered?" Thor boomed at Clint and Steve. "Should you not be worried about our Iron friend?"
"I'm sorry Thor, we are very worried about Tony. It's just, what Fury said back there…" Steve was cut off by Clint, who rounded on Thor with unexpected venom.
"FURY doesn't have the right to say we are weak. We are the strongest team on earth! Next time he calls us to action, he can count me out." Clint snapped, Thor took a step back. Clint stormed out of the room. Steve could only agree with the archer, he wanted to punch Fury in the face too. Thor seemed a little less confused, and more likely to follow Steve and Clint than Fury now.
Just then the whole ship lurched to the side, throwing Steve and Thor against the windows of the lab. Luckily they had been repaired since the Hulk had smashed them. Thor grabbed Steve's waist and, holding Mjolner up, he leaped forward and grabbed the doorway on the other side of the room. He threw Steve into the hall, which was tilted at a sickly angle, though not quite ninety degrees. They glanced at each other and locked eyes, nodding, they both ran in the direction of the infirmary, intent on helping Tony.
Natasha entered the surgery observation room and joined Bruce to watch the doctors operate on their friend. Tony was covered in a white sheet, except for his head, chest, and left leg. The doctors were currently wrapping his leg in a white plaster cast and preparing to move onto his arc reactor, which they would need Bruce's help with. Bruce nodded at Natasha when she walked in, but never took his eyes off the patient below. Natasha could see little of Tony's face, he had an oxygen mask on, and there were wires connected to his head. From what she could see, though, his face was peaceful. His blood was probably pumped full of anesthesia and other drugs keeping the pain off, and him asleep.
She was about to ask Bruce how he was doing, when the floor shook and tilted. The two avengers were thrown onto the glass that they had been looking through. Luckily it didn't break, but they were lucky compared to the doctors, and Tony. He had been lightly secured on the operation table, but that wasn't enough to hold his entire body up when the helicarrier tilted. He ended up rolling off the bed, pulling free of many of the wires that he was hooked up to. The doctors were equally piled around and under him on the floor. Bruce and Natasha stared in shock for a moment before hastily groping there way to the tilted stairwell that led to the operation room.
Clint was wandering the halls when the floor tilted out from under him. He hit his head hard on the wall, falling to the floor in a daze. He shook his head and looked around himself. The floor was tilted to the side, he was alone in the hallway too. He stood up a little wobbly at first, and put his hand on the wall for a moment to steady himself and wait for the blood to rush back to his head so he could see. He stumbled down the hall, quickly gaining speed as he got used to walking sideways. He was heading to the infirmary.
He had almost reached the door labeled 'Surgery' when he ran into Steve and Thor, they nodded at each other, and burst through the doors into the operating room. Bruce and Natasha had managed to prop Tony up on the wall, Bruce was trying to hook up the wires again, with little success. Steve knelt down next to Tony, staring at his friends sweaty face. Tony was having trouble breathing again, although Natasha held the oxygen mask up to his mouth, it appeared to be giving little help.
"What can we do to help?" Thor asked, noticing the doctors that were slowly sorting themselves out of the pile they had fallen into. Thor didn't wait for an answer and dove straight into helping them untangle themselves and leave the room.
Tony was in a dark place. He couldn't see, or hear, or feel anything. His mind was just full of cotton. He tried to move, but it felt like he was stuck in ice. Like Steve he thought. He wondered if this was how Steve felt while he was in the ice. He should check that out back at his lab. Cryogenic freezing wasn't impossible you know. Then his thoughts trailed off and he was once more stuck in a dark place. Only this time he could see. It was very dark, but a tiny sliver of grey light fell on some walls that formed a small square room. He stood up - when did he sit down? - and looked around. It was just a square room. There were no doors, no windows, nothing but grey light and walls. He spun once more and froze when he saw a mirror. He took a step towards his reflection, and it didn't move. It wasn't a mirror. It was a copy.
His copy was grey, and older looking. It stood still, staring into Tony's eyes. It's hand was over it's chest, covering something, Tony thought. Tony took another step, and watched as his copy moved it's hand down, revealing a red circle, right where the blue of the arc reactor should have been. Tony stopped advancing, a stab of fear shot through him. He wanted to run, to scream, to cry, for no apparent reason. And then his copy disappeared in a burst of flames and he was back in the dark place.
He could faintly hear someone calling his name, but everything faded away before he could respond.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, and sorry for the lack of Tony-ness! Next chapter will be very full of Tony-whump and pain! Please review and I will update much sooner, seriously, it only takes one click!
