Iron Souls - Chapter 22
At the Stark Industries research building Pepper ran as Obadiah chased her and agent Coulson through the factory floor. The other agents had died buying them time to run and Pepper hid behind a column as agent Coulson tried to distract him further. She worried about Tony and what he might be up to and speak of the devil he was phoning her. She looked at her phone incredulous.
Relieved and worried both at the same time she answered her phone in a panicked, desperate sort of tone. Tony, is that you? Listen, Obadiah's lost his mind, he's insane don't come here he'll kill you!"
Worried about Pepper and feeling responsible for having caused this mess Tony had already suited up and was almost there when he called Pepper. "Pep, I'm almost there, I have to stop this."
"You don't have to do anything. SHIELD can take care of this, just get far away from here, go!"
"Sorry Potts, I'm already here" Tony, suited up crashed into Obadiah in his monstrous suit just as he was about to kill Pepper.
They caused massive damage to their surroundings as they fought and Tony did his best to ensure that no bystanders were killed at the same time. JARVIS warned him that he was down to 19% power as chaos exploded all around him.
Innocent bystanders were screaming as the grotesque monstrosity of a suit Obadiah was donning lifted and tossed Tony's suit around like a rag doll.
"Tony, Tony! Do you hear us?" Mia and Yinsen came through on the internal comm. "You don't have enough power to win this fight. You have to retreat; he's going to kill you!"
Tony was not going to back down but Mia did give him an idea. He feinted like he was running away by flying straight up. Predictably, Obadiah followed. He ignored Mia and Yinsen on the comm and continued to fly higher.
JARVIS came through the comm and indicated he was down to 11% power but Tony pushed further and told JARVIS to quiet but leave the power rating on the HUD.
Obadiah caught Tony's suit by the leg and pulled him down doing his best to smash the suit. Tony knew he didn't have much longer but he wanted to hold up just long enough to take Obadiah down with him.
Obadiah was boasting as he pummeled Tony while holding him in a vice grip and Tony spoke up. "How'd you fix the icing problem?"
"Icing problem?"
Then, Obadiah's suit lost power and Tony watched as his foe plummeted to the ground. Unfortunately at this point, he himself only had 2% power left and his thrusters could no longer support him at his current altitude. He made a rough landing onto the Stark Industries power building that housed the large, original arc reactor and tried to get out of his suit to preserve what power was left. He had just taken off the left glove when Obadiah' menacing form rose from the ground and landed behind him on the roof.
Already on backup power and missing a gauntlet Tony could do little to fight. Obadiah grabbed Tony and was slowly crushing the suit. Tony couldn't breathe as he used his bare and armored hand to claw at the massive machine holding him. His last thought was of Mia when his eyes got large. Her micro flares! "Flares!" He yelled at JARVIS and the last piece of his arsenal worked brilliantly to blind Obadiah in his suit, giving Tony the opportunity to escape his grip and phone Pepper with instructions to overload the building's arc reactor.
Unknown to Tony, Mia and Yinsen had just arrived on scene and they watched helpless as Pepper overloaded the arc reactor and blew Obadiah up as Tony along with what was left of his suit were blown aside.
Obadiah, still inside the suit fell into the arc reactor and caused it to explode, taking the building with it.
The shock of the explosion sent hot air and shrapnel at Pepper and at Happy who was trying to protect her. Yinsen took them aside to asses for injuries quickly while Mia ran up the side of the building using a fire escape ladder to look for Tony while the fire continued to rage.
She found him after some looking around. Everything had been reduced to rubble and the grate she'd been walking on was rickety and damaged. She saw him then, laying with his eyes closed on a piece of broken grate. The mask and helmet had been blasted off and she could see the scrapes and bruises lining his face, further emphasized by his sickly pallor. She called his name and shook him but he remained unresponsive. The arc reactor had gone dark, burnt out as it was pushed beyond its capabilities in the fight. "Tony! Wake up, wake up!" Pepper was now beside her and shaking Tony vigorously.
Unable to do anything for him Pepper cried over his still form, closing her eyes to stem the flow of tears. His suit was preventing her from even trying CPR but that wasn't a viable option since it would only cause the shards in his chest to shred him from the inside. The situation seemed hopeless when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
She looked behind her and saw Yinsen looking at her, worry for Tony evident in his eyes. Mia was now on the opposite side and was sitting on the ground across from Pepper on Tony's other side. She had tears in her eyes too as she looked at Tony.
"What are you guys doing here? I thought you were at the house."
"We'll talk later, but right now we need to help Tony." Yinsen had removed a tool from his pocket and was applying it to parts of the suit causing them to loosen up and become easy to remove. He would apply the tool and Mia would remove the plate. Pepper caught on and helped with their efforts.
Once the top portion of the suit was removed Yinsen stopped and checked Tony's vitals. He shook his head in sadness. "There is but a faint pulse and he's not breathing. I'm not sure I can bring him back this time. The reactor in his chest has burned out and all that's keeping him alive is the core magnet. It won't keep the shards from his heart for long, I'm sorry." He bowed his head in defeat; Pepper sat there numb and looked at Tony as his lips were starting to look blue.
Mia was shaking and her hands were balled into fists. "No! He's not gone yet and he can't die! Not like this, not thinking he was alone. Yinsen I'm going to fix this, get ready. I'm going to need a battery or something for the magnet under the reactor. "She looked around quickly and saw a man in a suit checking the perimeter about them. "You!" Agent Coulsen came over, wanting to help however he could. "What do you need?"
"I need a car battery, hurry, please!" Mia tipped Tony's head back and gave him a few breaths to keep his brain from becoming too oxygen deprived. While she did that Yinsen made quick work of the suit and had pulled out some wires and exposed the tips underneath the reactor in Tony's chest. Pepper gasped as she saw the gaping hole in his chest. Happy, who had now joined everyone on the roof did his best to reassure his girlfriend but was also shocked to see the plating which housed the reactor and the resulting hole in Tony's chest.
Everyone held their breaths as Mia and Yinsen worked. Coulson returned quickly with a battery and Yinsen quickly connected it to the wires in Tony's chest. Yinsen worked quickly and was about to connect the last wire to power the magnet when Mia stopped the mouth to mouth and spoke up. "Yinsen, if you boost the magnet is there a chance the shards might be pushed back out? By now they might have gotten a bit closer to his heart."
"There is the possibility, but it would cause extreme damage internally but there is nothing we can do about that now."
"Do it, I'll take care of it. If those shards pierce his heart, I don't think even I could do anything while they're still in there." She steeled herself for what was to come already feeling Tony's pain with her proximity to him.
"Mia, his pulse has stopped."
Mia knew what was coming and breathed deeply and tried to center herself. "Do it Yinsen." The words sounded forced as she looked up at Pepper before Yinsen proceeded. "Pepper, do you trust me? I can help Tony, but I need you to trust me."
Pepper hesitated so Mia spoke up while motioning Tony's still form. "Listen, he's dying, half his rib cage is smashed up from the dents in the armor, his ankle is twisted, probably broken with major nerve and muscle damage but most importantly he isn't breathing and now his heart has stopped. I can't make it any worse."
Happy held Pepper closer.
"Please, just trust me." Mia's eyes were pleading and sincere.
"If you can help him, do it. Please, before it's too late."
"Alright, Yinsen, make sure no one touches me or Tony. It might take a while but if anything happens to me don't touch us until it's done, you'll know when that is. Got it?"
Yinsen nodded unsure of Mia's ability to absorb so much damage at once while the small crowd around Tony looked puzzled.
"Ok, here it goes." Mia breathed deeply and placed her hands on Tony's chest on either side of the housing where his arc reactor had been. She let go suddenly and fell back as if burned. Before anyone said anything she quickly got back into the same position. Tears pooled in her eyes as the pain magnified now that she was touching Tony. Her breathing was fast and hard and she looked terrified. The onlookers didn't know what was going on but Yinsen made sure they didn't interfere. Once again Mia closed her eyes and tried to ignore everyone and everything around her as she concentrated on helping Tony through the onslaught of pain.
"Yinsen, what….." Pepper's question died on her tongue as Mia's breathing became labored and she started whimpering in pain. Pepper brought a hand to her mouth in shock as she saw the scratches on Tony's face disappear, she couldn't believe it.
Happy took his eyes off Tony and saw that while Tony looked better, Mia seemed to be looking worse. Bruises were appearing on her face, cuts and scratches were being opened up and now there was a sickening crunch that sounded like breaking bones. Everyone stared at Mia as her form seemed to crumple inward. Sweat and tears were running down her face as she was overloaded with pain. She wished she could stop here but she couldn't control how she healed, if she stopped here she'd probably lose consciousness and she couldn't guarantee that Tony would make it. She'd gone in this far, she wasn't going to stop until this was done.
If the injuries didn't kill Tony outright, she hoped they wouldn't kill her either. After that her only concern would be dying from shock but she had faith in Yinsen and his ability to keep that from happening. If all went well in a few weeks she would be back to 100% with only a memory of the pain but she was getting tired faster now and didn't know how much longer she could hold out. "Yinsen…., Yinsen…" Her voice was watery and barely understandable. "Yinsen looked up at her …
"If I don't make it….the shock….will you let him know…..? Please…." She couldn't get the words out, her ankle was smashed, half her body felt like the bones had turned to dust and chest was on fire, it was difficult to breath, ….."
Agent Coulson was standing behind Mia now and was about to separate her from Tony when Yinsen's panicked yell caught his attention.
"Don't touch her or your life will be forfeit! She can't control the energy transfer but it is much greater than what the average person uses. If a living thing, be it plant or person touches her in this state she will absorb and transfer that energy killing its source. She will never forgive herself if she kills someone in that way due to carelessness. Leave her be, she has made her choice and all we can do is wait."
With a final tortured scream Mia sent out everything she had into Tony and promptly fell on to his chest in a boneless heap. Tony woke up with a sudden inhalation of air, a violent jerk and a yell, eyes wide and frantic. "Woah! What the hell is going on? Did I win?" He sat up, eyes wild and looked at the shocked people gathered around him. "Yinsen, is that you? Weren't you and Mia back at the workshop? Where's Mia?"
Yinsen looked down and it was then that Tony realized the heaviness on him wasn't the suit; it was a person, more specifically Mia. "What happened to her? Did she get hurt in the fight? Potts, you said the factory was empty." Tony was speaking rapidly while gently supporting her body with his own, afraid to move her, lest he cause more harm than good.
He also looked down at his chest where the arc reactor would be and was slightly horrified to see an empty hole in his chest instead. He looked around, eyes wide at the fact that his closest friends were seeing him in such a vulnerable state.
"It was….she came here after…..to help..." Pepper only now realized how badly Mia was hurt. She didn't know what just happened but she knew that Tony was OK and Mia was not.
Yinsen was quick to move to Tony's other side where Agent Coulson was and with some help he gently laid her down beside Tony. She looked worse than Tony had. She had a pulse but it was very faint and unlike Tony she was breathing but it was more of a wet wheeze indicating she probably had a collapsed lung.
Pepper was always in control, always knew the score. It scared her when she didn't know what was going on. She looked over to Yinsen who seemed to know the most of what just happened. "How is this possible? I don't even know what just happened, what happened? How is Tony alive, why is Mia hurt?" She was looking at Yinsen, eyes wide.
"I did nothing but hook up a car battery, but what Mia did is a long story and will take some time to explain. I myself know little about what she can do, having witnessed in only once in Afghanistan but she spoke to me about it on our way here. In short, she was successful and Tony should be completely healed. She on the other hand will probably require medical attention but a hospital is not ideal for her. She has the ability not only to do what she did but she can feel the physical pain of others. To place her in a hospital would only add to her pain. Since she's alive now, I think we only need to keep her stable while her body heals. If she doesn't go into shock or drown in the fluid building up in her lungs she should heal faster than a person normally would so long as the injuries weren't inflicted directly on her. "
No one had said it but Tony could put one and one together. He was hurt, he should be dead but instead, somehow Mia was suffering instead. Everyone around him always suffered and his guilt over the fact that Mia was once again hurt because of him cut deeply.
Agent Coulson took the opportunity to speak while everyone was too shocked by what Yinsen had told them. "A SHEILD med team is on the way for Miss Solomon. We have a secured building available for treating special patients. Mr. Yinsen, you're welcome to ride back with the team to assist.
Yinsen nodded while he tried to make Mia comfortable using some blankets that Happy had acquired from somewhere. "If she doesn't die from the shock to her system she will heal at an accelerated pace. The problem will be keeping her alive long enough."