Iron Scales - Chapter 13 – Returning To Civilisation

Warning: Slash, merge, language, violence, blood, creature fix.

Beta: Catkyn (Any problems blame her not ME :P)

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter/Ironman or any of the characters. I also gain no profit from this story and never will.

This story is based on the movie not on the comics.

Previously

"NOOOO!" he screamed into the early morning air and a great surge of power welled up inside him. Feeling this power reach its' peak, he screamed as a large white flash blurred his vision for a few minutes. Tears still streamed down his face as he lay helplessly upon the billionaire's chest. Whatever the light was, it had drained him. Turning his head away from Tony's blood smeared face he looked down, expecting to see a half mangled leg but instead, he found two whole ones. Weakly turning his head to look back at Tony's face he could see colour starting to creep back into the man's skin.

"Tony... Please come back to me..." A large crack, similar to gunshot, echoed throughout the island but Hadrian was too weak to lift his head and look. Hearing footsteps approached him from behind Hadrian's vision began to darken.

"Tony..." As the darkness finally took him, the body underneath him took a large breath. After that he knew no more.

Presently

Hadrian let out a soft groan as he began to awaken. His body felt heavy and exhausted which had not occurred since he swam to his island to escape his grandmothers murder. Cracking his dry eyes open, he instantly winced at the bright white light that that seemed to envelope the beach. Moving his legs under the soft sheets Hadrian froze. Legs. Not tail. Last time the teen was awake he had a tail. Also the surface beneath him was not sand and he realized that the usual sound of the waves was missing, as well as the sun's warmth upon his skin. Suddenly, the memory of the night before rushed through his mind. The confessions, the shark bite, Tony's dying words, the flash of light, the crack of sound and finally the exhaustion. His breathing increased as thoughts rushed though his mind. Where was he? This obviously wasn't the beach where he lived. And where was Tony?

Sitting up a little bit to look around, Hadrian realized he was in some sort of hospital or medical facility. He recognized the white walls, white bedding and lack of dirt as a sure sign of this, after all he remembered one of Dudleys' TV programs being based in a hospital. Out of the corner of his eye, Hadrian noticed movement from a door he had previously over looked. Quickly laying back down and closing his eyes, he pretended to sleep while listening intently for clues to his location.

"No, Albus. He is fine for somebody living on their own for such a long time. I don't understand what all the fuss is about!" The voice seemed to come from a woman who, by the sound of her footsteps, was approaching his bed side.

"Poppy, I don't doubt your judgment but he is important to the cause. I need to know his status immediately..." This voice came from a man and sounded strong and steady, but was cut off by the same woman who spoke before.

"No, Albus! I took a vow as a healer not to reveal any personal information to anybody but my patients. I don't care if you are Headmaster. That is a different situation. If he was indeed one of your students currently at school then I could give you information; however, he is not a student. Therefore, I suggest you leave and come back when he's awake and you can ask your questions yourself!" The stern voice held no room for argument, despite the man's protests she still refused to answer his questions over Hadrian's health. Hadrian almost sighed in relief when he heard the man exit through the door he had just come through before closing it loudly.

"Now young man, you might as well open your eyes because I know you are awake." Hadrian froze instantly as the woman's voice sounded from right next to him. Cracking one emerald eye open he looked up at the tall figure. Licking his lips he spoke in a hesitant voice.

"How did you know?" The woman was wearing a pink-ish dress covered by a white apron, grey hair pulled back into a bun and covered with a white hat. She wore a stern expression that warned people not to mess with her. yet her hazel eyes seemed warm and comforting. She tutted at his question before leaning over his head to prop up his pillow, allowing Hadrian to sit up easily.

"I work in a school Mr. Potter. You really think you are the first child trying to act as though you are still sleeping?" Hadrian gazed at her with wide eyes.

"How do you know my name?" Hadrian spoke clearly despite his nerves. She frowned at him and opened her mouth to speak when he cut her off

"Where am I? How did I get here? The last thing I remember is Tony being attacked and a flash of light. Where is Tony?" Hadrian was starting to panic. His breath was coming out in short, sharp gasps as the situation rushed back to him. Tony was dying on the beach and he was helpless to stop it. Then the flash of light. His memory got hazy after that moment and due to his elevated breathing Hadrian was beginning to feel light headed.

"Tony. Where is he?" his hands were starting to shake unwillingly. He could vaguely hear someone talking by his side. That did little to calm his mind as thoughts of Tony lying alone, injured, or possibly dead, without him there to help, rushed through his mind.

"Where am I? I can't leave him there. Tony needs me. Let me go!" Hadrian felt firm hands grip his arms and chest as he struggled to get free from his captives. Unbeknownst to Hadrian, due to his frantic state, another man had rushed into the room to assist the nurse and was desperately trying to get the teen to swallow a calming potion. All Hadrian could feel were arms holding him down. In his frantic state he thrashed and lashed out. Faintly he could hear a smashing sound of glass hitting the floor and shattering, but he paid it little mind in his frenzied state. After a few more moments, a large strong hand gripped his jaw tightly and the person was able to pour something foul down his throat, quickly followed by another nasty-tasting concoction. His eyesight blurred and his limbs felt heavy. He vaguely felt hands move his body around so he was lying down once again on the bed.

"Tony. Where is my Tony?" he spoke softly as his emerald eyes fluttered against his will. Nobody answered his question and silence surrounded him.

"Please. Don't hurt my baby. I don't want to be alone." Faintly he heard a gasp of shock but his consciousness finally gave up and he drifted into darkness.

"Come on, come on. Just click it. Don't change any settings." A flash of light followed by a deafening noise.

"What's going on?" Tony desperately tried to get an answer through the chaos, helpless as he watched a young woman gunned to death when stepping out of the truck.

"Jimmy, stay with Stark!" Crash. Another young soldier dying from a gunshot to the head and he was sitting there helpless to save him.

"Son of a bitch!" The last person risking his life to defend him.

"Wait wait wait wait, Jimmy!" Tony desperately begged for no more senseless killings, but by that point it was already too late.

"My family is dead. I'm going to see them now, Stark."

"Stay here!" A loud bang. A flash of light. An eerie ringing noise. Another young man killed by a gun. His gun. He designed weapons to protect young soldiers like Jimmy, but instead he was the reason they were now dead. His design, his weapons, his fault.

"That is your legacy, Stark. Your weapons, in the hands of those murderers." The voice rang though his head.

Tony felt his own terror and confusion as he desperately tried to escape, but instead found himself trapped in a tight space. Breathing heavily, he clawed his way through the sand. Grit and stones made their way under his fingernails as he dragged himself across the ground. His lungs were clogging up with ash and smoke, making him dizzy and dazed. Heat bore down on his skin and he felt as though he was being boiled alive.

"Don't waste your life." The words echoed though his head as the sounds of war and people dying surrounded him.

Suddenly, a sharp pain in his hand woke him from his nightmare. Tony snapped his head up and found himself buried in sand surrounded by scrap metal. Glancing down he noticed a large, bleeding cut traveling from his pinky, down the side of his hand, and ending wrapped around his wrist. His head pounded as he tried to remember where he was. He remembered getting the cut earlier in the week, when he had cut his hand on a piece of metal that was half submerged in the ocean floor. But it had healed? He felt lightheaded, as he watched the blood run down his hand and onto the yellow sand he was buried in. Something wasn't right. His head felt like it was going to explode as the pressure grew.

Prying himself from the wreckage, Tony could finally see that it was the wreckage of his suit. The one he tried to fly home in. The one he had crashed into the sea wearing. The one he and Hadrian had spent their time gathering so he could fulfill his promise. So, how was it here? Looking around in dismay Tony immediately recognized the mountain range and the landscape surrounding him. He was trapped in Afghanistan once again. After escaping the Ten Rings camp, he had landed to make sure the suit was secure before beginning his flight home; but somehow he had ended up back here.

Tony licked his dry lips and groaned. Blinking at the harsh sun high in the sky he allowed his consciousness to slowly drift away with only one thought echoing through his mind.

The thought of Hadrian being alone. After Tony had given his word that he would never leave him.

Returning to civilization was joyous. Shutting down the weapons division of Stark Industries was peaceful, as though he was avenging those brave American soldiers who were killed by the weapons he had designed to protect them. Talking with Obadiah seemed to give him a bad feeling, which he pushed down as a figment of his imagination. Then, finally returning home alone felt heartbreaking. He promised Hadrian he would bring him home, and yet Tony found himself entering alone.

It was late that night when Tony finally broke down. It was a bad idea to drink after changing his chest plate around this afternoon, but the billionaire was unable to help himself. After drinking himself into a stupor, he tried to make it from the living room couch to his bed.

"I don't have anyone but you." Those words reverberated though his head. Tony stumbled and fell down beside his bed, bringing his quilt down with him. Resting his head against his large bed Tony felt a sob well up in his chest. Clutching the bottle tightly in his fist, he tried to take another sip of the strong alcohol, only to find the bottle empty. A strong reaction to his pain resulted in the empty bottle being hurled across the room at the bedroom wall.

"Tony?" He heard Pepper's voice call out to him but didn't reply. His mind was telling him that Hadrian, that the island was just a hallucination. A dream from the crash in the desert. His quick calculations on the flight home revealed that his suit should have made it back to Malibu, yet he had crashed only a few short miles from the Ten Rings camp. Nothing seemed to make sense. It was as though Tony was missing a huge chunk of his memories, specifically the ones of how he made it from the island back to Afghanistan. He remembered Hadrian singing in the water. Joining him. Then pain, a blur and a flash of light. After that nothing. What the hell had happened?!

"Tony, you in here? Tony!" Pepper rushed to the intoxicated mans' side as his head lolled back against the bed.

"What's wrong with me, Pepper?" he felt his head dip forward and didn't have the energy to push it back but was saved when Pepper placed her hand against his forehead. Unseeingly he blinked in her direction, as though he was talking to someone else.

"I watched them die by the weapons I built to protect them. Those young people. They shouldn't have died to protect me. And yet they did." Tony's words were slurred slightly but the meaning behind them rang true.

"He never told me his family was dead. I hope he is happy with them... now. He didn't deserve to die. None of them did, yet they are" Tony's brown eyes were dull and more tears were now running down his cheeks.

"Tony..." Pepper began but was cut off.

"I know he is out there. I just know it. Because when I looked at him I could feel it." Tony paused and swayed slightly. Pepper feared he may slump to one side and pass out but instead he took in a large breath and continued his drunken speech. "Whenever I looked at him... I was home. I don't want to let that drift away. I can't accept that it was a dream. I... I..." Tony looked Pepper square in the face and she could see the truth shining in his eyes "I loved him. I don't ever want to forget that. Please, I don't want it to go away. I don't want to forget". He felt something wet run down his check but couldn't find the power to reach up and wipe it away. Pepper looked on with sorrow filled eyes.

"Come on. Lets get you into bed" With slow movements the pair were able to stand Tony upright before he fell sideways onto the bed. Tony lay their staring at the wall as Pepper lifted his legs onto the bed before pulling his quilt off the floor and placing it on top of the drunken billionaire. Tony vaguely remembered Pepper speaking to him before the lights were dimmed, leaving him in the dark to stare at the plain wall in an attempt to shut out the world.

Hadrian lay still in the darkness, listening to the conversation taking place in a small office across the room from his bed. After his panic attack and forced slumber he awoke in darkness, the sun long set upon the horizon, to hear the same people from earlier disusing him in hushed tones. Despite their attempt to have the conversation in the privacy of a small office, the quiet voices seemed to echo around the hospital room and Hadrian listened intently to what they had to say. The man's voice first drew him to the conversation.

"The little brat obviously went and got himself knocked up for some reason and now we have to deal with the consequences. He's irresponsible, just like his father!"

"Stop right there, Severus." The woman quickly interjected and scorned the cross man "People don't always turn out like their parents. You should know this if I'm not mistaken, I know for a fact you are nothing like your father." The man let out a long and heavy sigh before replying to the angry woman.

"You know I'm not like him, Poppy." Hadrian intently listened as the man stood from a squeaky chair and took a couple of steps out of the office.

"It's just hard to forget everything that I suffered because of the boy's father." Hadrian quickly closed his eyes and leveled out his breathing when loud footsteps seemed to come closer to his bed.

"I remember. Severus. I tried to help as best I could but nobody would listen. But don't forget that he is Lily's child as well." The woman sounded sad as she also stood up and left the office.

"How far along is he?" The man's voice spoke from behind the scared teen and Hadrian had to force his body not to flinch. Another set of footsteps approached and the older woman spoke in a quiet voice.

"Around 3 weeks. His magic seems to be protecting the child in a way I have never seen before. Even unconscious he's protecting his stomach." Hadrian realised she was right, for his hands were cradling his flat stomach in a protective motion subconsciously, as if they could protect his baby from the horrors that surrounded him.

"He wants this baby, and even if I wanted to remove it I would be unable to for it would most likely kill him." Hadrian began to tremble under the covers. They wanted to remove his baby. The last piece of Tony he had. The teen jumped slightly when one of the pair behind him reached out and stroked his hair gently.

"He's just a child." the man said softly before the hand left his head and Hadrian sensed both people turn away. Listening intently, he could faintly hear their footsteps as they walked towards the door.

"And yet, he must grow up so quickly. We must keep the baby a secret. No one but us will know until its necessary" The woman replied quietly, before the sound of a door opening and then closing echoed in the now silent room. Hadrian shivered in the dark and his emerald eyes began to water. They took him away from Tony and now they wanted to take away his child. Wrapping his arms around his body protectively and pulling his knees to his chest, Hadrian let out a small sob as a tear fell down his cheek onto the white pillow. This tear was followed by many more and the scared teen cried in the darkness, wishing that Tony would come to his rescue and this nightmare would end.

PLEASE READ!

I apologise for the bad grammar. I'm quite badly dyslexic and struggle with my grammar and spelling despite my love for writing. So please no nasty reviews. Also if you don't agree with or like merge, slash and/or creature fix's just please go away and save us all the trouble.

Thank you very much to my beta Catkyn!

Sorry it has been so long. I know I'm horrible! In the next two weeks I have 3 assignments and 2 exams to do. Slightly stressed at the moment so writing was far from my mind! However in exactly 2 weeks it's all over until September! Hopefully updates will become more regular after that!

I truly cannot thank you all for the amazing reviews! I doubted I would ever get 100 let alone 700! So thank you very much! I try and reply to as many as possible but I can't always so here is me replying and saying thank you. I love reading them!

BABY VOTE!

Boy – 22

Girl – 11

Boy is winning so far but it's not set in stone yet! Feel free to place another vote or vote for the first time! It's totally your choice on the baby's gender! So every vote counts!

Until next time

Georgiegirl999 x