Authors Note *~*~*
No copyright infringement intended...
All Movie Scenes used here belong to Marvel Studios and their respective owners, I'm not out to profit from this work.
I made it purely for enjoyment purposes.
Answering your Reviews *~*~*
Ciel Tombe - Muahaha! XD I am a meanie to stop it there. Here is the next part. I will! Thank you :)
Unajet - I'm glad you commented and that you have been enjoying this :) Yup! It's been quite interesting to explore too. Yeah poor Tony :"( because JARVIS was his child and yet he had to be destroyed to make Vision. Yup! I will do my best to point that out about the Accords whilst saying that he thought the document itself made sense and could be amended. Thank you!
afedrigo - Thank you :D I'm glad you enjoyed it again! Here's the next chapter. :)
Yuuki kanon Akatsuki - Hey, thank you for your lovely comment in Spanish :) it's not a language I speak so I had to go to google translate to see what you said. I'm glad you love my story :D I know it's always bothered me how Marvel/ MCU constantly call Tony bad and are turning him into a scapegoat. :( Me too! :D That's what inspired me to try and write my own. He does :) Oh cool! Aww thanks! I will try my best to do Gulmara and the first flight justice.
Tony glared at the progress bar which seemed to be crawling to the end.
'Faster!'
He couldn't hear Yinsen anymore, the other man's yells and gunfire had faded out of hearing range.
'If there is any God at all up there, please just help me now. I need to save Yinsen.'
As if in answer the green line boosted to a hundred percent, the computer flashed a moment before it along with all the rest of the lights in the cave blacked out, plunging the room into darkness.
Narrowing their eyes in an attempt to adjust to the sudden darkness, they felt a malicious satisfaction and a deep determination rise up in Tony as they heard ominous clanking coming from the suit as he lifted it from the dock.
As Tony finally freed the suit from the dock and slunk further into the darkness, they could hear the distant sounds of the terrorists chatter approaching.
Thor boomed a short callous laugh as he watched the terrorists wearily approach the entrance, startling the team. "Selfish fiend," he sneered, upon seeing his friend's looks of confusion The God elaborated. "One of those Midgardian torturers tried to push his comrades ahead of himself to face the Man of Iron. An act of true Cowardice and Dishonour which could be expected of these lesser Mortals."
The Avengers got a closer look at the men as they moved shakily into the cave, clutching their guns like frightened children clutching their blankets.
Tony clenched his fist when a terrorist drew near him, daring further into the cave then the others.
Taking the opportunity the terrorist had provided by singling himself out, Tony lifted the hand covering his chest and bared down upon the witless man.
The blue glow lit his terrified features as he turned around. He barely got a glimpse of the metal behemoth before an iron gauntlet slammed into his face. The impact sent him flying several feet backwards with a scream and a rattle of bullets that ended abruptly when he landed.
The three men outside splayed the cell with bullets in a blind panic. The wild gunfire ricocheted loudly around the room and caused sparks to fly.
"Shit!" Cried Sam as he and most of the others reflexively ducked or hid behind objects. Sam still shivered as he felt several bullets and ricochets pass through him. "Are they stupid?! There's explosives in here!"
"I think that's already been well established!" Clint shouted over the gunfire.
The gunfire finally petered out and they ducked out from their hiding places trying to see where Tony had gone.
"How is he being so stealthy in that suit?" Peter whispered as he blinked away the spots in his vision from the bright sparks.
Natasha shrugged in answer, her eyes were glued to Tony as he waited in his new position for the terrorists to move. She had only found him because she was so used to looking for things out of place, she knew Clint had spotted him even before her. She was impressed at how Tony was able to hide so effectively in something so large and obvious. The darkness of the room and the materials were too his benefit as he was able to blend in with the supplies and the terrorists hadn't got a good look at him yet.
One of the terrorists turned backwards and spoke to his comrades, even through the language barrier it was obvious what he was saying. His assumption was proven wrong when, just as he finished speaking, a light shone on them and he turned back in time to see the man next to him be picked up and slammed into a wall before he met the same fate.
The man behind them had blanched upon seeing the metal man, watching as his comrades crumpled against the cave walls. He desperately started shooting as it stalked towards him.
Tony paid no mind to the bullets he could feel hitting the suit. He knew the layers of metal would deflect them even as he sweated and heaved under the hulking weight of it.
He stepped heavily forward, toward the terrorist and hit him with all the force of the suit, his punch aimed right at the man's face. He heard the man's neck snap from the hit as he fell limply with a thunk a few feet away.
Winter, despite himself, admired Stark's technique. Blunt force was effective, sure, but he knew it was more so to utilise the metallic hand in order to squeeze the neck until the tell-tale snap was achieved. 'Don't think about that,' Bucky hissed in his head. 'It's inappropriate, you killed Stark's mother that way.'
Frustrated at the reprimand, Winter huffed, 'I can't exactly help it. Stark said some of the programming would stick.'
Tony took a moment to straighten to his full height again, bracing himself under the weight of the suit and the now familiar strain lancing across his chest and back.
Steve cringed slightly both at the ghost pain and at the figure Tony cut in the metal suit. 'Tony truly does cut a menacing figure in the suit. That has clearly always been the case.'
Peter was awed at the sight of the suit, it was far more intimidating than the other suit's he'd seen. The size and roughness of the suit giving it the sort of dangerous air that the sleeker versions could never achieve the same way.
Scott whistled.
Tony turned toward the next section of cave, being met with more gunfire. He remorselessly bounded forward with heavy menacing, sounding clanks, the bullets harmlessly bouncing off of the armour whilst he faced off with those who dared to fight him.
One man was foolish enough to run at him with his gun going off, yelling while he did so.
"Idiot." Natasha stated unsympathetically as she watched Tony's metal hand punch him so hard they all saw a part of his face concave, without even checking they knew he was dead.
Scott swallowed heavily, he felt his face pale and he quickly looked away from the gore.
Another was stupid enough to follow his friend's lead and this time Tony lifted his arm to slam into the other terrorist and his body was flung into a motionless heap several feet ahead.
A man appeared from the side when Tony reached a junction, his view under the helmet was too narrow to see the assailant, instead he relied on the sound of the gunfire to locate his target. He swung out his left arm as the man ran into it, twisting him head over heels.
The next group hesitated at this before before running back up the tunnel.
Sam and Peter looked down at the limp man as they kept pace behind Tony. Rhodey glanced at the man with a remorseless look.
'You can run but you can't hide…' Tony thought viciously.
Sam shivers, as an ex Veteran and a councillor, he knew that it was environments like this that brought out the worst people. 'Clearly this is Stark's dark side...not that I blame him for expressing it after everything.'
Tony stalked them ominously down from behind whilst the terrorists run in a panic, one fell behind and turned to in a futile attempt to fire more shots at Tony.
His fellows did not wait for him, callously locking the metal door behind them.
"Cowards." Steve spat after them, before his eyes flit to Tony who was stalking down the terrorist unmercifully like a predator would stalk after prey. Feeling something cold creep up his spine, Steve inadvertently took a step back.
They watched as the man the terrorists had sacrificed desperately banged on the door, no doubt pitifully begging them to open it. He kept glancing back at the approaching armored man as he screamed to his companions, pleading in vain.
They didn't speak and they didn't move.
Tony got closer and closer until he was right up behind the other man.
The terrorists pleading cries and shouts only got louder as Tony pulled the other man's head back and slammed him into the metal door so hard his skull split outwards and a dent formed in the door.
"Fuck!" Peter jumped violently and his eyes bulged, he was genuinely surprised and horrified and the extremity of the violence his mentor was using, it wasn't something he had ever thought of Tony using before.
Natasha watched unblinkingly.
Winter eyed the gore with satisfaction.
Knowing the man was dead, Tony dropped him.
Wanda inhaled shakily and inadvertently backed into a equally frightened looking Steve, he tried to give her a false shadow of a smile and squeezed her shoulder in comfort but the effect was ruined by the sight of Tony rhythmically punching out at the door until it exploded outwards like the dead man's skull.
The terrorists fled in a frenzy as Tony broke through, one crushed under a panel of the door before he even had a chance to run.
He reached another junction with terrorists running through.
Tony swung out his arm and the terrorist he'd been about to hit just managed to duck while Tony's arm hit and caught in the wall.
The man picked himself up off the ground and fled as Tony began pulling at his arm. Another man noticed Tony's moment of vulnerability, hesitantly creeping towards him with his gun raised.
"Tony hurry up!" Clint shouted, concerned that Tony would be caught again.
Steve griped his shield just a bit tighter, it was truly a dishonorable move to try to attack someone whilst their back was turned.
Tony continued frustratedly trying to pull his arm loose, cursing the bulky design when he felt an impact on the back of his helmet. He turned to look down at the crumpled idiot with a ricochet through his head.
Clint groaned at the stupidity.
Tony gave a withering glare from under the mask as one massive yank finally ripped his arm free.
'That's what you get for shooting at someone when their back is turned.'
Bruce let out a nasty smile in agreement with that statement and his eyes shone a vibrant vicious green.
With that Tony moved onward, noting that the terrorist had already fled the area, heading towards the exit of the cave system. His mind ran through his map of what he knew about the caves to figure out where they might be planning to ambush him.
He kept an eye out for any sign of Yinsen taking hope in the fact that he had not yet found a body.
'Hopefully that means he has made it out or found somewhere to hide.'
"Oh god, it's coming isn't it?" Steve whispered hoarsely, he felt Natasha and Bucky's concerned eyes on him.
"I think so Stevie." Bucky moved closer to Steve as a way to try and offer some semblance of comfort whilst they followed Stark into the mouth of the cave.
Tony's hopes were dashed when he saw Yinsen sprawled across the sandbags in a bloody mess. All thought of the terrorists and ambushes fled his mind at the sight of his bloody, bullet ridden form.
Despite the horrid parallels that Yinsen's death drew to Erskine's, Steve was thankful that Tony at least didn't have to witness Yinsen's injuries happen.
"YINSEN!"
"Watch out!" Yinsen warned weakly, he coughed and more blood leaked from his wounds.
The team were speechless, even mere minutes from dying Yinsen was looking out for Tony.
Tony turned and was barely able to duck out of the way of the small missile and it exploded behind him, the shockwave and rubble nearly overbalancing the large suit.
He quickly opened the panel on his left arm that held his own missile, a quick strike from the flame on his right arm ignited and launched it, returning the favor.
The missile exploded on the rocks behind Raza as he tried to cover himself. Without a suit or armor, Raza was exposed to the full shockwave and lashing fire from the explosion, rocks above him were dislodged and finally sent him to the floor. Tony allowed himself a brief, guilty hope that the man was dead before disregarding him.
"Don't feel bad about that." Rhodey spat, "I hope he's dead too."
He hauled a rice sack off Yinsen's body and raised his faceplate. He felt tears burning at the back of his eyes as he looks at his friend now with clear vision.
Yinsen's shirt was soaked through with the life blood seeping from the multitude of bullet wounds. His skin was turning waxy with pallor, he was barely able to keep his eyes open and it was clear that he didn't have long.
Peter could feel his own eyes burn, the scene reminded him mockingly of what happened to Uncle Ben, it took all of his will power not to start crying.
Steve exhaled shakily. He wiped his eyes as Bucky wrapped a hand around his shoulders and gave it a comforting squeeze.
However, Tony was firmly courting denial.
"Stark…"
"Come on, we've got to go. Move with me, we've got a plan. we've got to stick to it." Tony begged him, desperate not to lose this friend he'd known for far too little time but already come to care for.
"This was always the plan Stark."
"No it wasn't ." Scott muttered forlornly staring at the man.
"Come on we have to go see your family, get up." Tony was certain his throat was burning and his lungs were struggling to expand, his eyes were noticeably watery. He couldn't make sense of what Yinsen had said.
"How could he want to go?" Wanda murmured in a soft heartbroken voice.
Natasha was about to answer before Yinsen himself spoke up.
"My family's dead, I'm going to see them now Stark," Yinsen breathed. "It's okay, I want this… I want this..."
Natasha blinked and frowned deeply. She was half expecting that as an answer but she still found that it resonated with her deeply.
Tony's face twitched in shock as he swallowed back the words of denial that immediately rose. He thought about what Yinsen just said and he could understand no matter how much he wanted to deny it. Tony could understand the desire to be with family quite well - his mother, Jarvis and Ana - and he would honor that.
Rhodey blew out a harsh breath.
He gathered himself back together, forcing back tears and grief and shoving them into the recesses of his mind.
Sam cringed a little. 'Repressing that is definitely going to come back to bite him later…'
He looked down at Yinsen with a sigh and his mouth twitched up into a tiny smile - he could do this, he would for Yinsen. Tears still stung at the back of his eyes as he thought about how he was losing this friend, this man he'd barely known and yet had carved out a spot in his heart, a piece that Yinsen would take with him. Tony was glad to give it to him.
"Thank you for saving me," He said softly, he didn't think his words did justice to what this man had done for him. Yinsen had done more than save his life, he'd helped Tony find a part of himself Tony had never realised was there. He'd saved Tony from himself.
Wanda shifted uncomfortably, knowing that last part wasn't entirely true. 'Maybe he did so at that point. But Yinsen only really delayed the inevitable…'
"Don't waste it… Don't waste your life." Tony imagined he could feel those words searing on to his heart like a brand; a vow he would endeavor to keep.
"I promise Yinsen… I promise. And I'll never forget you.'
Steve nodded in understanding, he knew that he carried Erskine with him still. The Doctor had made him a hero a lot like Yinsen had made Tony one.
Yinsen choked a little before he breathed out one last time.
Tony watched Yinsen's chest still, a slow simmering anger rising up in his own chest as his friend breathed his last. He turned with a sharp jerk towards the cave mouth, his eyes burning dark with rage and revenge.
As he flicked his visor down, Tony swore he could feel something deep within him snap...
The team blinked under the desert sun as all of a sudden, they were standing with the terrorists who quaked and trembled at the foreboding smacks of metal Tony made as he stomped to the cave's entrance.
It was when the daylight revealed the clunky silver body of the suit they could all appreciate in broad daylight how terrifying the suit was.
The slots for Tony's mouth and nose were drawn in insidious intimidating lines that mirrored the expression on Tony's actual face.
They could feel the raw cold rage, radiating from Tony like a mini sun.
Shivering, Peter took a step back, the ghost murderous feelings were so alien and unsettling to him that he couldn't help but feel afraid of his mentor in that moment.
A rogue terrorist let out a shout and they all opened fire on Tony.
The bullets buffeted the suit, but despite jaring Tony around a little bit, the gunfire did no damage.
"Do they never learn?" Sam raised his eyebrows after a little wince as he felt the minor impacts against the suit, "bullets can't get through Stark's armour."
"Feats of their stupidity were shown earlier." Natasha raised an eyebrow and scooted an inch to the left to miss a ricocheting bullet. "I suppose they are hoping to get a lucky shot in. But it would be smarter to run."
A few seconds later, inevitably, the terrorists ammo ran out, they inched backwards as the pellets clattered to the floor.
The tension rose and nobody dared to speak. They could feel the dark, curling rage inside Tony's chest twisting in a malicious, malevolent satisfaction.
"My Turn."
It was the only warning both the team and the terrorists got before flames flared out from Tony's arms.
Running from the flames would be futile, but the team still backed away all the same.
Fire engulfed them.
Steve found he could no longer see anyone else, he was swamped in orange and red.
He had instinctively reached for his shield before finding that despite an uncomfortable feverish hit of heat he couldn't feel the flames.
The terrorists weren't so lucky.
Steve saw the one behind him had his legs alight, the man had stumbled into a crate of what Steve quickly judged to be explosives by how one of the cases exploded.
It caused another terrorist who had rushed towards his friend to become riddled with flash burns as it threw him out of his view.
Stalking forward, Tony adjusted his arms and the flame throwers, which allowed Cap to see the group again.
"Is everyone alright?" Steve asked, he directed his question to all of them but mainly at Vision and Rhodey who appeared very scared.
Quickly he sees that they are looking at boxes of Tony's weapons that he was hosing with flames.
"Oh God!-" Steve's eyes go wide but he is quickly cut out by Rhodey's desperate shout.
"Tones get out of here! They're going to blow!"
Tony remained obvious to his desperate shouts as he kept stalking forward, aiming to destroy all the weapons and the terrorists in the camp.
The majority of the group quickly folded in behind Tony to take shelter from the uncomfortable heat. They could feel sweat soaking their skin and clothes but when they tried to wipe it away there was nothing there. There was a burning sensation along their forearms and a few of them coughed in a useless attempt to clear their airways and lift the weight off their chest to breathe better.
Only Wanda seemed oddly frozen behind her abnormally useless red shield.
"WANDA!" Someone shouted at her, but she was becoming lost in remembered panic.
'I'm powerless against Starks bombs… just like before.'
Stark's bombs were exploding left and right, sending debris flying everywhere. She suddenly felt trapped in her surroundings as they were swamped by screams-
Forcefully dragging herself away from those disturbing similarities, Wanda quickly took Clint's offered comfort in the form of a side hug as they all trailed behind Stark.
Being pressed against Clint felt safe, she almost felt shielded from the horror going on around her. She was reminded profoundly of the fact that Clint was a father, Wanda was convinced he was a good one.
Meanwhile Rhodey cringed at seeing the exposed mechanisms in Tony's suit as renewed gunfire started.
Tony staggered a little and had to bring an arm up to block the gunfire better.
Steve griped his shield tighter and Vision's gem flared angrily as the gunfire rained down on the suit from above.
Seeing Tony being pushed back slightly, multiple shooters from the side and the front began to batter the suit.
The suit held up well against the barrage, until one unlucky shot hit part of the hydraulics system for the right leg. Tony lost the support of the suit and felt his leg buckle under the weight.
Peter can't help but let out a gasp as his mentor crashed to his knees. "Oh no."
"Oh man...Shit! Shit!" Clint hissed in sympathy upon watching Tony jolt a little with every bullet that smacked into him. He thought Tony's armour meant that he couldn't feel bullets at all but through the phantom pain he knew now that some of them would make some rather nasty bruises. "They're obviously bringing out bigger weapons. Stark get out of there!"
The sensation of being in an oven grew as the blast from a small explosion smacked into Tony's side, he fired back with his own fire blast despite the pain emanating from where the flame throwers lay against his arms.
"Thank god they're just firing shots-" Sam cut himself off mid sentence when he saw another terrorist preparing a rather familiar looking bazooka. It was one that appeared disturbingly like the one that shot down Riley - in fact he found that it was exactly the same model. Sam felt an icy crawling sensation in the pit of his stomach, his eyes bulged and he found he could no longer keep his voice steady. "Oh crap."
For a moment Tony was swamped in flames when the missile hit nearby, several loud blasts sounded across the camp along with the screams of burned and dying men.
Their view cleared but even then only Tony was visible in the fire. Several closer bombs went off and Tony took it as his cue to leave.
The smoke was becoming suffocating, clogging his airways and making his chest feel even heavier and hotter around the reactor. He barely draw a breath. The bullets were still coming hard and fast and were starting to feel harder against the armor. He knew he had to leave, he also knew he wouldn't be able to walk now.
He struggled to get his right leg into a position to stand and supported the weight of the suit on his left leg. He nearly lost his balance as he awkwardly stood, fighting against the suit's bulk, and for a moment all his weight had been on the damaged right leg. He groaned as he felt like something in his leg might have twisted.
He fumbled with a hidden switch that activated the crude propulsion.
The heat was bubbling under his skin, his sweat drenched him and caused the suit to stick to him and trap the warmth, even whilst he was flying up above the balls of fire.
Shocked, the team found themselves start to levitate with Tony, however as they were just behind him, they were hit with the full force of the feverish flames.
Steve squinted his eyes in a way he hadn't ever had to do since he crashed the Red Skull's aircraft in the arctic. The only things preventing him from thinking that he was back there was the direct contrast Tony's event drew to his own.
Instead of the flashes of brilliant blues, whites and the dark, almost black, navy of the sea which eventually choked him and encased him in ice, he saw the horrid hues of fiery red, oranges and yellows. Now he was also rising up into a bright blue sky, not down into the dark grey suffocating smoke or the inky blue of the ocean.
A wave of more intense burning heat rushed over him and he pressed his eyes shut. He prayed for this to be over soon as he was almost deafened by the explosions, however he was thankful for the shouts of his teammates. He was not alone. Not like before and not like Tony was here. A wave of relief rushed over him when he felt the similar sensation of the Memory warping around him.
"What the hell?" Sam asked whilst he scanned the seemingly deserted desert, the rest of the team appeared equally as confused as he was feeling.
"Let's spread out Stark can't be far-" Natasha cut herself off when the sound of a long drawn out frightened yell was heard along with the whine of the wind.
Stark's form was quickly spotted by the team, they immediately smiled at the sight of him emerging from the clouds at a rapid descension, however it became clear that he wasn't stopping.
His armour was falling apart in the sky, his back seemed to arch into an almost unnatural way in the air but nothing seemed to deter his head first course to the sand.
"Shit! That could break his back…" Sam muttered, he caught a look of pure terror over Rhodey's face as he glanced to him then to his best friend.
Panicked, they both set off at a sprint to try and fruitlessly catch up to Stark, to Sam it seemed like a mocking parody that fate was drawing to what happened with Riley and Rhodey.
Upon seeing this, Thor's eyes widened in fear for his friend and he gripped his hammer tightly before spinning it, faster and faster until he lifted over the dune.
However thanks to his natural flying and phasing abilities, Vision reached the landing point first. He made easy work of the sand and arrived to Tony's estimated landing just in time to see Tony pull his body into a twisted flip.
He landed awkwardly on the side of his back with a heavy thump before a large sand cloud erupted from the area where he fell into the sand.
Vision stopped just short of the dust cloud and he heard Thor, Sam and Rhodey skid to a halt behind him.
The sand cloud began to disperse as the rest of the group caught up, ignoring the debris raining down around them.
Vision paid no mind to the chunk of metal that went through him as he moved forward slowly towards the mechanical, whirring, half destroyed mess of armour that Tony resided in.
Skittishly, Peter peered up at the sky to check for anymore rogue pieces of armour falling and upon finding none, he skirted forward like a spider.
Tony gingerly assessed himself, he lifted his left leg cautiously and tore a clump of metallic wiring off of it and onto the sand.
His right shoulder, which Tony realised felt all too warm, wet and out of place, protested sharply at the movement so Tony gently rested it back down on to the sand and used his other to yank his helmet clean off.
Vision shifted around to gaze at the inside of the helmet, and frowned at the small amount of blood he saw on the inside.
The unforgiving sunlight from above dazzled him, he twisted his aching neck gingerly before resting it in the sand.
"Not bad," he murmured. He took a moment to try to motivate himself to move again before he glanced down at himself and the strengthening of the intensity of the pain emanating in his right leg. If it hadn't been injured before, it certainly was now.
'Thats something to worry about after you try to get up. But first the rest of the suit needs to come off.'
Wincing minutely as he pulled off the remnants of the burning metal suit encasing his arms, Tony shakily sat up.
"Ow, fuck!" He gasped as he noticed two long first degree burns stretching from his hands up to his elbows.
'Flamethrowers! Fucking brilliant idea genius!'
"Ouch." Bucky hissed, he felt Winter perk up in interest at the back of his head, his alter ego had been keeping a track of all the scars Stark was acquiring, the methods of which had been similar to what had happened to him. The addition of the super serum had caused all his scars, apart from the ones that had caused the heaviest trauma around his arm, to be erased. However unfortunately for Winter he could still remember the pain, some of which was startlingly familiar to the blistering phantom pain of those burns.
'Yay! With the amount of scars I'm collecting I'm going to look like a patchwork quilt.'
"I think you're pretty far off patchwork quilt stage Stark." Clint smiled, "You should see Fury."
"Did he actually have quilts in the Avengers merch store?" Sam asked, trying desperately to take his mind away from the memories this scene unearthed for him. "I'm grabbing a falcon one for Redwing if he does."
"He had one for every Avenger." Peter blushed under the suit, glad no one could see it, as everyone turned to him. "I got myself an Iron Man one after the battle NY."
Tony unclasped the few remaining intact metal struts surrounding his legs and stood, gingerly due to the obvious sprain his right leg had gained, it felt like it was going to fold under him at any second.
Although scarred both mentally and physically - he was out.
'I should feel happy. I got revenge, I destroyed the terrorists and my weapons.
'But you failed… failed Yinsen.'
"No you didn't." Vision answered softly, "Mr Yinsen wished to perish, you can't save someone who doesn't wish to be saved, Sir."
He shoved his hand into a pocket to pull out the little wooden phoenix. Thankfully it was safe and undamaged.
Unlike its creator.
"You were a bloody idiot, Yinsen. You were no soldier!" His fingers curled tight around the little pendant.
'We're not soldiers!' Echoed in Steve's head, he looked away.
"But friend Yinsen certainly displayed the bravery of a true warrior despite not being that in name. I see no reason why he would not be allowed into Valhalla, I shall protest it if he were not." Thor vows.
'You didn't have to die like that! Certainly not for me!'
The thought of Yinsen's bloody, bullet ridden body, caused an overpowering wave of rage and hatred to rush over him, the feeling begged for an outlet.
That's when his eyes caught the dark grey helmet stuck in the sand.
'Why did it only save you? Why? Why? WHY?!'
Without consciously telling himself to he pulled his right foot back, despite his leg protesting the movement, and slammed it into the helmet with all his might.
The helmet was lifted a short way down the dune before it landed with the empty face facing him, although some of the group were a little unnerved the symbolism of this, they were quickly distracted by an anguished sounding yell coming from Tony.
His eyes squinted in pain, a painful bolt ran up his right foot, telling him this reckless action had caused him to dislocate his big toe.
"You did the best you could my friend." Thor rumbled, he was worried by another demonstration of how puny Midgardians were. He knew that if he had attempted to kick that helmet, it wouldn't have caused any damage to him and he was sure that it would no longer be in eyesight.
"Mother fucking OW! YOU FUCKING STUPID PATHETIC IDIOT! WASN'T DISLOCATING YOUR TOES ONCE IN YOUR LIFE ENOUGH! SO STUPID YOU CAN'T EVEN SAVE YOUR FRIEND! YOU GODDAMN-" Tony's hoarse yell broke off into a wheeze. He bent over, his good arm wrapping around his chest as he struggled to catch his breath around the heavy, aching weight of the reactor. His entire torso felt bruised from the weight and pressure of the suit.
"Ouch," Clint flinched, rubbing at the echo of pain in his chest. His chest hurt and he felt slightly short of breath even though he was breathing normally. Even so he knew that failing to save a friend was worse, it was one of the worst pains that you could go through, especially if that friend died to save you. 'Like Pietro did for me…'
"It's quite telling isn't it?" Natasha spoke up, her eyes scanned Tony's wheezing form with a frown on her face. "What he says when he thinks no one can hear him."
Rhodey shot her a sharp look.
He was glad no one could see the gasping mess he'd become. It was a stark reminder of the restricting painful pressure the Arc put on his chest.
'Ow, ow, ow fucking ow! You deserve this pain! Yinsen died and you, you got out.'
Alarmed by these thoughts, Bruce's eyes widened and he stiffened, again drawing parallels between how he knew a self harmer thought. 'Oh god, no. At least Tony never acted on those thoughts. He's my best friend! I definitely would have noticed had he done so.' But Bruce knew better than to voice his dark thoughts, instead his mind flitted to his friend gasping for breath because of the arc. "Shallow, even breaths, come on Tony."
He saw Steve's eyes flicker to him then, the Captain nodded, appearing paler than usual. "He can do it." Bruce then picked up the even quieter murmur, "If I can do it, he can."
The injustice of that burned his heart worse than the Arc. If Tony had a choice, he knew who he would have picked to be flown out of there in that suit.
It wasn't himself.
Peter let out a shaky, upset exhale, hearing and feeling the ghost feelings of his mentor's self hatred was horrible for him. As was the constricted feeling in his chest, though it was more familiar for him, having had a couple of anxiety attacks that had left him short of breath. Tony had taught him some breathing techniques to help. He wasn't sure what was worse though, struggling to breathe from being so deep in panic, or because of injuries and a reduced lung capacity.
Yinsen had made him promise not to waste his life. He had promised himself to do everything possible to fix the damage his company and weapons had caused. To find a way to repay each life whose blood was now on his hands. Including Yinsen and his family.
'Good luck with that. It'll never be enough… but I can try, I have to.'