Read with caution if you are squeamish. There is no blood but part of the surgery is explained.
Merry Christmas!
Tony Stark left the room after the sedative was administered, giving the doctor and her techs time to set up. Aubrey's friend had followed him out and was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed. The lab was close by so Tony ambled in, intending to retrieve the filters and the rest of the Nanos. The filters had been based on cage spinal implants used for collapsed discs but he had altered the inside to connect to nerve endings in her spine.
Each filter had its own metaphorical brain that communicated to a certain number of the Nanos. In order to install the cages a small amount of bone would have to be removed and replaced with the cage. If all went correctly and the metal was counteracted then her enhanced healing system would take over and heal the bone, causing it to grow over the filter and make it permanent. The big word there was If. If it worked, if his treatment didn't kill her first, if the pain from having bone removed didn't kill her. Panic started to spiral through his mind and Tony stumbled, catching himself on a table and placing the precious filters down. Reminding himself to breathe.
"Tony?" He knew that voice...at least he thought he did. His blurred eyes flicked up and he saw Pepper standing over where he had sunk to the floor.
"Hey Pep" he gasped out, his fist pounding his chest once as he struggled to contain the panic welling up inside of him. Pepper's face was painted with concern as she helped him into a chair, crouching down to his eye level.
"Look at me," she said but when Tony ignored her she repeated. "Tony. Look. At. Me." after a moment his eyes moved to hers. "You are one of the smartest people in the world-"
"The smartest" he corrected, focusing on her green eyes.
"Yes-" she smiled softly before continuing "and even if this doesn't work she is so thankful that you even tried. You've brought in the best surgeon you could find and have done everything you could in preparation. But you can't panic now, your confidence boosts theirs."
"One could say it is my most important attribute" he leaned back into the chair, feeling his panicked breaths start to slow and his heart rate return to normal.
"I can feel your ego getting bigger by the minute" Pepper stood to her feet, leaning back against the table. The concerned look had disappeared from her face, the only thing that remained was the slight tug of her eyebrows as she looked around Tony at the implants. He turned and stared at them for a moment as Pepper asked.
"Where are all the Nano's?"
"I have the rest already in the operating room, these are the…" he paused, trying to figure out how to explain it correctly. "They take direct orders from the cages and repeat the orders to the rest of the Nanos"
"So….commanders?" Pepper grinned as Tony nodded
"I suppose so….-" he opened his mouth to say more but F.R.I.D.A.Y interrupted them.
"I apologize for the interruption Mr. Stark but Dr. Fletcher has informed me that she is ready to start the operation."
"Okay…..alright…...yep" Tony got to his feet, heaving a breath, gently cradling the cages and petri-dish of Nano commanders in his hands before going out the door, Pepper not far behind him. She followed him all the way to the door of the operating room that Dr. Fletcher had set up, opening the door for Tony, whispering that she believed in him. Once Tony was inside, Pepper turned to leave but saw the nervous person leaning against a wall not too far from her, he had a deadly looking knife out and was fiddling with it. Silver peeked out from beneath one of the sleeves of his hoodie and mentally Pepper recalled where she had seen him before. Although everything about him said don't talk to me. She wondered quietly if he just needed someone else to sit beside him and wait. So instead of going to the meeting for a charity benefit, Pepper Potts pulled two chairs over from a nearby room and sat down in one, flipping her computer open and starting to work. Noticing when he eased down into the other chair without a word but his body language said Thank you.
An hour passed, and then two. They had successfully implanted two of the four cages, Tony had planned for one to go into the Cervical part of her spine, two to go into the Thoracic, and another for the Lumbar. The Thoracic ones had been the easiest as the vertebrae were medium-sized and easier to cut into. Dr. Fletcher seemed confident that her body wasn't rejecting the implants and said they could do all four in one surgery instead of three. So they moved onto the Lumbar cage, saving the Cervical for last because it was the smallest part of the spine. The piece of bone had been removed moments before and Tony watched as Dr. Fletcher inserted the flat, accordion-looking gadget into the spot. It whirred as it found the nerves and little strings came out, attaching to them. The cage turned electric blue, which meant that it had successfully attached and was safe to leave. She moved to the Cervical and used a small chainsaw-like tool to hollow out a small amount of bone, her hands steady and sure. Setting the tool aside she picked up the last cage, the smallest of the four, and looked at Tony.
"You're the one who should me how to insert them. Want to do the last one?"
He nodded and picked it up from her outstretched hand, sliding it into place and watching as it attached to the nerves. Aubrey's heart rate and breathing were still steady so Dr. Fletcher deemed it safe to release two of the Nano commanders. One was put in each of the Thoracic cages, it was bigger than the rest of the Nano's and turned blue when it had connected to the cage. Then Tony and Dr. Fletcher stepped back, watching as another doctor stepped in and started stitching the muscle and skin back together. Tony turned away, not wanting to watch Aubrey's back be stitched together, instead he readied the first dose of Nanoparticles to be injected. He estimated the first dose would have several thousand and as long as her body continued to accept the technology they would inject more of the particles until her blood levels had returned to normal, the serum started healing her bones and she had enough particles to create the wings he had promised her.
It took another hour of careful cleaning and stitching before it was done and Tony studied the scan of her back, pinpointing the exact location where the Nano's needed to be injected. He quickly poked the needle in, emptying it before letting the nurses wrap her back in several layers of bandages and ointment to keep away infection. Her wound needed to stay clean because her body was in such a fragile state, even the smallest amount of infection would kill her at this point. He looked to Dr. Fletcher and she assured him that F.R.I.D.A.Y would notify him when Aubrey was awake. Tony nodded and took his surgery gown off, quietly shutting the door behind him. However, he was not ready for Pepper to dart to her feet and the other soldier to follow behind her as she spoke.
"Tony?"
Heaving a sigh he ran a tired hand down his face, it had to be around three in the morning. "It's done."
Peppers shoulders relaxed and she smiled gently, moving out of the way so the Soldier could ask;
"She's stable?" His voice sounded tired but Tony heard the hope buried in his words.
"As stable as she could be in her state." He nodded to the man, starting down the hallway towards his bedroom, exhaustion from barely sleeping since last week starting to set in. "FR.I.D.A.Y will let us know when her body decides to wake up."