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Chapter Fourteen: Seeing Red
Steve and Bruce were sitting quietly in the kitchen. Steve was cooking breakfast for the inhabitants of the tower after his morning run while Bruce sipped on his coffee as he read the morning newspaper. The only sounds were the sizzling bacon, the hiss as the pancake batter hit the hot pan, and the occasional turning of a page.
Both men jumped when the sound of thunder echoed from somewhere above their heads. The two exchanged a look before Steve turned off the stove and Bruce folded his paper up. Jarvis took the two straight to the roof of the building as they entered the elevator, not needing to ask the humans where they wished to go since it was quite obvious. They walked out of the elevator as the doors opened on the top floor and made their way through the large room to the rounded balcony area next to where Tony's machines disassembled his suit. Thor, of course, was standing there with a grin.
"Greetings brethren. It has been too long since we last spoke," he said boisterously, shaking their hands with enthusiasm.
"I thought you were supposed to be is Asgard right now. What's up?" Bruce asked.
Thor sighed. "I have news I wish to share with you. I wanted to visit with my parents, for my mother misses her sons terribly when they are away. As I was walking with my friends, the Warriors Three, we came upon a messenger. The boy told me that Heimdall sought to speak with me right away. I went right away to speak with him, and Heimdall told me that of which held his curiosity. He said that he had noticed blank spots around Midgard where he should have been able to see clearly. Heimdall is very powerful, and the only one to have ever tricked his eyes has been Loki."
"So, Loki escaped his prison?" Steve asked.
"It seems so, my friend. Heimdall noticed the gaps in his vision were from this area of Midgard, and he wanted to warn me since he knows of how we bonded during our great battle against the Chitauri. I came quickly to warn you in case my brother decides he wants to mess with my friends."
"I think... He may have already been here," Bruce said.
"You saw my brother?"
"No, but just like Heimdall, Jarvis is programmed to see this building. Well, Tony got hurt one night but Jarvis didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Someone broke into the tower, which, by the way, has better security than any bank or governmental building, without being seen. Tony has sensors located al over the outside of this building, in the windows, and every door. If someone were to come in here without permission or without it being one of us, then there's no way Jarvis wouldn't have seen them, unless..."
"Unless they couldn't be seen," Steve concluded.
"You mortals have not figured the ways to avoid being seen, correct? Then it must have been my brother. Tell me, how did you know he came here? What did he do to the Man of Iron?"
"He poisoned Tony," Steve said quietly, looking over the balcony at the city below.
"My brother does many a foolish thing, but he would never poison someone. If he wished one harm, Loki would have used one of his tricks, not something he believes only a petty mortal would use."
"If you see it, could you tell us exactly what Loki put in Tony's drink, then?" Bruce asked.
"Of course. As a child, Loki taught me some of what he knew. I myself cannot do magic like my brother, but perhaps I could tell you what was meant for our friend.
"Follow me, then. I still have the bottle in the lab from testing it."
* STONY FOREVER *
"This magic is similar to Loki's scepter."
"Wasn't his scepter part Tesseract or something? Steve asked.
"Yes, but it was used to gain one much power, especially over others in battle. One must only walk through the battlefield and touch the scepter to an enemy's chest to have them walk with them, against their fellow soldiers."
"So, the scepter was mostly used for mind control? Why didn't Loki just use it on Tony, why did he have to spell his alcohol? Steve asked.
"I heard the Man of Iron speak of how Loki tried to use the scepter on him before throwing him out the window. The Man of Iron never fell under Loki's control, so something must have protected him."
Steve and Bruce shared a look, both thinking of a once strange metal object they had seen resting right above Tony's heart that they both now knew to be the reason their friend is still alive.
"My brother must have made this concoction to control the Man of Iron from the inside out. He would ingest it, and as it spread to his entire body, it would kill him. As his spirit left his body, Loki's concoction would be able to take control of his body. Loki would then bring the Man of Iron back to life so he may serve my brother however he pleased."
"I was right, then. The stuff was killing him," Steve said to Bruce.
"It seems so. If we hadn't treated it like any other poison, then Tony could have been under Loki's control right now."
"The Man of Iron is well once again, is he not?"
"Yeah, he's fine. We got it out of Tony's system and brought him back before Loki could, so he's okay now, " Bruce reassured him.
"Should we go tell Tony that we know what exactly that stuff was now?"
"Yeah, he needs to get up sometime before dinner anyways," Bruce agreed, a small, fond smile gracing his lips.
* STONY FOREVER *
Steve knocked on Tony's door. No response. He knocked again, a bit harder, but there was still no response. 'Déjà vu' he thought to himself. Steve stood silently for a moment, unsure if he should leave Tony be or risk a repeat of the last time he went to get Tony from his room during the morning. Deciding to risk it, Steve opened the door slowly, listening this time for any sounds from the bathroom. There was nothing. No light snoring indicating Tony was still asleep, the bathroom door was open to reveal a dark and empty room, and there were certainly no suggestive comments about Steve visiting Tony's room so often.
Steve saw a little bit of light from the bed. The way it was angled made it seem like Tony had fallen asleep so only a little bit of light from his arc reactor could be seen beneath his body. The light flickered. 'Its not supposed to do that,' Steve thought worriedly. He moved quickly across the room, his heart beginning to pound at the thought of the one thing keeping Tony alive failing before his eyes, if that was really what was happening. He stepped into the room when it hit him like a ton of bricks. As Steve's eyes were still adjusting to the room Jarvis kept nearly pitch black for Tony, a strong scent washed over him. It was rustic, metallic, overpowering, and very familiar from his time in the war.
Steve was sure his heart stopped in that moment, the color draining from him and leaving him pale. Not as pale as the ghastly form in front of him, however. Tony was lying face up on the bed, his chest barely moving as it labored to intake air. The pale lighting had been caused by the dimming of the arc reactor, which looked as if it was about to stop working any second now. Tony was still wearing the clothes from yesterday, only they were rumpled now and the left sleeve of Tony's shirt had been yanked to above his elbow. His forearm was red. The blood was still trying to ooze out of the open gashes along Tony's forearm, though much more of it was dried on the sheets or his right hand.
A gasp escaped Steve as he noticed the small object in Tony's hand. 'He... He did this to himself?' Steve wondering why in the world Tony would have done something like this to himself. His racing mind brought him back to the night before. Everything was going great until Steve basically ran away from the man. 'Its all my fault,' he thought. Steve shook his head of his thought, trying not to panic so he could help Tony.
Steve rushed into the bathroom, throwing the tap water on and tossing a washcloth into the water as he grabbed another. He picked up the wet washcloth on his way out of the room, using it to cover Tony's cuts. The water in the washcloth wouldn't allow the blood to still seeping out of his arm to go anywhere, trapping it in his veins. He put the dry washcloth over the other to make sure it wouldn't move before deciding that was all he could do for Tony at the moment.
Steve picked up the man, careful not to jostle him too much. It was far easier to pick up the smaller man than it should have been. Steve turned and ran out the door, moving as fast as he could towards where he heard the others heading to after he left to get Tony.
"Bruce!" he yelled. He chanted the name over and over in the short time it took him to propel his body towards the others. As he entered the living room, Steve saw Bruce and Thor starting to stand, worried expressions on their faces. Bruce paled as he saw the limp figure in Steve's arms, noticing how both men's clothes were soaked in a red liquid that could only be one thing.
"Place him on the couch," he ordered quickly, moving next to Tony as soon as Steve backed away. "His pulse is too slow, he's hardly breathing, and he's lost a lot of blood. Steve, we need to take him to the hospital. Now." Steve nodded, gently picking up Tony's unmoving form. "Jarvis?" Bruce asked the ceiling.
"I called Mr. Hogan as soon as the Captain exited Master Stark's room. He's waiting downstairs to take Master Stark to the hospital."
"Thank you," Steve breathed out as they rushed to the elevator. As soon as all four bodies were in the elevator, the doors slammed shut and gravity seemed to disappear. Jarvis only slowed their descent enough towards the end to keep the men from slamming into the base of the elevator shaft, the entire ride lasting only seconds. Happy was sitting in the driver's seat of Tony's fastest car that would fit all of them, having traded it out for his personal car he drove to the tower. Steve jumped into the passenger's seat as Bruce and Thor quickly got into the back of the car. Steve held on tightly to Tony as Happy raced through the streets far above the speed limit.
* STONY FOREVER *
All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kinda funny
I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very mad world, mad world
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello, teacher, tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me
And I find it kinda funny
I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very mad world, mad world.
A/N: Any thoughts? Please send me a review or any suggestions you may have. Thanks! -A