I have to admit this is more just a filler chapter, but I had to fit this in somewhere. :)
Chapter Seventeen
Tony's plan to go to Tennessee fell through when he received news of another, more recent, Mandarin attack. This one was definitely one of his because the man was taking credit for it. Once again, he was on the news – just a voiceover – taunting the president for not being about to find him. He was even threatening the president.
The Chinese Theater in Los Angeles had been hit, but that wasn't what changed Tony's mind about going to Tennessee. What changed his mind was that Happy had been at the place when the explosion had taken place. Happy was now wounded – badly enough to have slipped into a coma – and in a hospital.
So instead of catching a flight to Tennessee, he was on route to California. Arianna and Loki were with him. Tony had heard the news of the attack before he'd found out about Happy being in the hospital and the reason why he was in the hospital. Once he'd realized how badly Happy was injured, he'd recruited Arianna to go with him to California. She'd agreed without hesitation with the condition that Loki come with them. She wasn't going to risk leaving him alone anymore than they were willing to risk leaving her alone.
They still had a few hours left of the flight – in Tony's own plane, of course – and Arianna had drifted off almost as soon as the plane had taken off.
"If I may ask," Loki said quietly, "what is the plan once we get there?"
"We have to make a quick stop at my place. Pepper's not done decorating to her liking, but it's done up enough to stay in."
Tony was speaking quietly too, since Arianna was asleep.
"She's not gonna like it, but you'll have to stay with Pepper while we are at the hospital. You look different than you did when you first came to Earth, but we still can't risk someone in authority recognizing you."
"I figured as much," Loki said. "Does Miss Potts know the situation? Is she okay with me staying with her?"
"She's fine. She knows I wouldn't leave you with her if I thought you had any intention of hurting her."
Tony watched as Loki processed the fact that he trusted him to some extent. They had come a long way.
"To be clear, what Arianna is to you, Pepper is to me. She is the thing I can't live without."
Loki's brow furrowed and his lips moved as if he were going to speak, but he never did. He didn't have to.
As Tony had predicted, Arianna was not happy about having to leave Loki at the Malibu mansion.
It wasn't that Arianna didn't think it was secure enough – it belonged to Tony Stark, so of course it was secure, but she didn't like how open the house plan was. The whole back wall was basically made of glass, a whole window that looked out over the ocean. It didn't help that the house was basically built into the cliff it was hanging over. Tony had built underground so he could have his lab and garage there.
Pepper wasn't there when they arrived, but Arianna and Tony made sure Loki was settled in. There was food and any other thing he may need for the short time he would be there on his own.
Loki hadn't had to be on his own for months, not since he'd been left on Earth.
"I assure you, I will be fine for however long you're needed at the hospital," Loki said.
"Pepper should be here soon, anyway," Tony said. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah."
Tony and Arianna got in one of Tony's many cars and he drove them to the hospital. They didn't really talk much other than for him to explain what was wrong with Happy. The only thing he really seemed to know was that he was in a coma.
"Is he in a natural coma or a medical coma?"
"I think a natural one. Why?"
"I can only heal natural ones. They're caused by actual wounds. The medical ones are drug induced, so I would be able to heal his other wounds but his doctor would have to pull him out of the coma."
"Oh. Good to know."
Once they reached the hospital and went in, it didn't take long to find Happy's room. Tony seemed to have to steel himself before going into the room.
Arianna should have done the same. Happy was in a really bad state. He apparently had lacerations all over his body if the bandages were anything to go by, and his left wrist seemed to be broken, along with his right elbow. There was a bandage wrapped around his head that covered his left eye. Worst of all, he was hooked up to a ventilator and had a tube down his throat. He needed a machine to help him breathe.
"Why didn't you say it was this bad?"
"I didn't know," Tony answered simply.
"Right."
She moved forward and pulled a chair towards the bed, careful not to hit any of the machinery around her.
"Anything you need? Before you start?"
Arianna shook her head and placed her hand on Happy's arm – on a place that wasn't covered by a bandage – and let herself be pulled into him. She hated this part, but it was necessary to find out what she could do to help.
Right away she knew she would need to heal his lungs first.
"Well, the good news is that his heart seems to be fine," she said. "I think if I focus on his lungs first, he'll be able to do the rest on his own."
Relief seemed to have a physical effect on Tony as his body sagged with it.
"Do you need me to leave? I know you need to concentrate."
"No, you can stay. Just don't talk too much."
It took over two hours for Arianna to expend enough energy for Happy's lungs to be able to work properly on their own. The doctors were shocked when he no longer needed the ventilator to breathe. Arianna and Tony were forced out of the room when the doctors came in to take the breathing tube out of his throat.
Tony noticed that Arianna was kind of sluggish now and her nose had started bleeding not long before the doctors had come in. He'd had to pull her away from her task when she'd appeared to not even notice the drain of her own energy. Then again, she never did seem to notice the toll this seemed to take on her.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I – my head hurts and I probably need to eat."
"Right. We're not eating hospital food. We can pick something up on the way back to the house."
"But he –"
"He can breathe on his own now, Aries."
"Well, yeah, but –"
"You said if you healed his lungs he could probably do the rest on his own. We can come back later after you've rested." When she didn't respond, he continued with, "Come on. You don't have the Tesseract this time."
"Right."
"So . . . food?"
"Food," she agreed, allowing a small smile to form.
They passed by the nurse's station on their way out and Tony let them know that no one was to enter Happy's room without some form of identification. He didn't really think anyone would come after him, but he did think it was better to be safe than sorry.
A media circus was waiting for them when they reached the front doors of the hospital. It made Arianna stop in her tracks. Tony had to put a hand on her back to get her moving again.
"Just ignore them," he said.
How do you ignore a group of hungry news reporters and journalists?
It was fairly easy for Arianna because they weren't hounding her, but they were throwing questions left, right, and center at Tony.
He was able to handle it with grace – probably because he'd had years of practice – until they reached his car. Then one of the reporters basically shoved a phone in Tony's face and said something that Tony didn't respond well to. It ended with Tony threatening the Mandarin and even inviting the Mandarin to come after him. Tony gave up his address – to the press! – before grabbing the reporter's phone and throwing it away to let it smash.
"You can bill me."
Arianna didn't know what to think about that display, but she got in the car after Tony did and didn't say anything as they drove off.
Tony was the first to break the silence with, "So . . . cheeseburgers?"
The question struck Arianna as ridiculous, considering the context of what they had just been through coming out of the hospital. She couldn't help but let out a few huffs of laughter.
"Tony, you just gave out your address to the media and invited a terrorist to come after you."
"We still gotta eat."
Arianna sighed and shrugged. "Fine. I want chicken tenders, though."
Loki was waiting in the living room area when Tony and Arianna arrived back from the hospital. They had a few white paper bags with them and a cup holder with four Styrofoam cups.
Loki could tell just from the way that Arianna was walking that she was exhausted and would probably need a nap after she ate. He would see to it that she got one.
Loki hadn't been alone for long once Tony and Arianna had left earlier. As predicted, Pepper Potts had come home not long after. They hadn't said much to each other, just confirmed that she, in fact, did understand the situation and that he wasn't there to hurt her. Other than that, they had both stayed to themselves.
Considering she was the CEO of Stark Industries, she might have had work to do, even if she was at home.
"How did it go?" Loki asked as Arianna reached him.
"He's . . . better. I'm going back later," she said.
"He couldn't breathe on his own before she worked her magic on him and now he can," Tony put in before putting the paper bags on the table. "Where's Pepper?"
"Upstairs."
"Ah. I'll be right back."
Arianna sighed. "You gonna tell her what you did?"
"Nope. She'll find out soon enough," he called down as he made his way up the stairs.
"What did he do?" Loki asked.
"Basically gave his address to the whole world."
"Oh. Not very subtle, is he?"
"Well, he is Tony Stark. We shouldn't expect anything else."
"Hm. Are we safe here?"
"We should be, at least for the night. It hasn't made the news yet."
"And tomorrow?"
"By then Pepper will have found out and she'll handle it. She's the only one who can talk sense into Tony."
"Oh. That must be quite a thing to see."
"Probably. I've never actually seen it, but I've heard stories."
Once Tony and Pepper came downstairs, they all went into the dining area and sat on stools that were situated around a counter.
Tony was the only one with a cheeseburger and fries. Pepper had a garden salad with a side of chicken tenders, and Loki and Arianna had chicken tenders and fries. Everyone had sweet tea. Loki didn't seem too fond of it.
Dinner was peaceful, so Tony definitely hadn't told Pepper what had happened. Loki assumed there would be some type of yelling if he had.
It turned out there was a lot of yelling when Pepper found out.
"We're on total security lockdown," Tony said. "We will be fine. Jarvis is monitoring everything that moves around the perimeter I've set."
"There's only so much I can do, sir, when you give the world's press your home address," Jarvis said.
"Yeah, yeah. I've got the Iron Man suit. I can handle the Mandarin, if he comes."
"We don't have suits, Tony," Pepper exclaimed. "We are vulnerable and we should leave."
"We're safer here."
Pepper seemed to take a deep breath before continuing. "We are going, immediately and indefinitely."
"Iron Man says no."
"Tony, we are leaving this house. That's not even up for discussion."
"I said no."
While Tony and Pepper were arguing back and forth. Arianna and Loki mostly just sat back and watched, even though Arianna thought that Pepper was right in the long run. They would eventually have to leave.