Tony's pov
It was a normal day, as normal as things were now. I found myself lazing around the common room my mind running a mile a minute, trying to understand how to best use the energy contained in my reactor.
The blaring alarm snapped me out of the thought process, I jumped up from the couch, running to towards the elevator, but it didn't open.
"Jarvis!"
"captain Rogers has given me orders to keep you within the tower sir, you are currently in no shape to be fighting a battle" I grunted, my hands itching to smash something.
"Jarvis, override orders" I said firmly but the elevator didn't open.
"Jarvis! What the hell?" I shouted in frustration glaring at the camera in the left corner of the ceiling.
The elevator dinged and opened, I turned to step in but collided into a fully battle ready Steve carrying his shield followed by a slightly haggard Clint who looked like he had just woken up from sleep but was still on high alert his eyes tracking all small movements happening around him.
Steve grabbed me by my upper arms and pushed me back out of the elevator as Natasha and Bruce came running down the stairs two at a time.
"did Fury brief you yet?"nat asked pushing a gun into her boot.
"Fury will brief us in ten, quinjet in the air by three" he said in his captain America voice. They nodded heading out towards the quinjet landing pad. But Steve had his arm wrapped around my forearm as he waited for the rest to leave.
"Tony, I need you to stay here okay?"
"Steve! No! I can help, don't bench me on this please"
"I am sorry but this is not up for discussion, you are staying here." He said again using his captain America voice as he just nodded and left in a jog towards the jet.
I sulked. Physically sulked, falling into the couch. "would you like me to bring up a live feed of the happenings, sir?" Jarvis asked and I nodded my head no still too angry and sulky to care, if the avengers didn't want him there then he was not going to care.
Thirty minutes into me sulking and solving the sudoku in the paper, Jarvis spoke again "sir, you are going to want to see this" I jumped to my feet as Jarvis bought up the feed. I felt my blood run cold at what Jarvis was showing me. There she was, lying under the rubble of what looked like a collapsed building, there was so much blood, blood that was essential for a person to stay alive. And then I noticed it, the small twitch in her fingers and that's all I needed.
"Jarvis prep the mark 7"
"Yes sir"
I ran to the launch pad just as the suit came up. My heart was hammering in my chest, as Jarvis took me to the location where nat was now lying in her own blood.
But just as I made it, got closer to help her, the twitch in her fingers stopped and her eyes slipped closed.
"Natasha! Come on, I am here to help you! Come on Tasha! Open your eyes! Jarvis get me her vitals "
"sir I am unable to detect a heart beat" no! No no no! How is that possible, this is Natasha for godsake, if anyone could handle a battle solo, it was her!
"nat, come on open your eyes" the armor released, and I pulled her into my embrace, her blood soaking my hands. She didn't move. She didn't give any witty remarks, her face was a kind of pale that was scarier than the typical Natasha glare.
"nat!" I begged shaking her, this wouldn't have happened if I was there watching from the air, if only I had been there
"nat please"
"Tony!"
I could feel my heart in my throat, my vision clouding, I couldn't breathe. I should have been there.
"Tony, babe, what's wrong?"
I could feel hands on me, pulling me away form her, I gasped unable to breathe but it didn't matter, Natasha mattered.
"Tony, wake up!"
"Clint run down to medical and grab oxygen, his lips are turning blue"
"Tony, you need to breathe buddy, wake up, common"
"Jarvis what is his BP? Temp?"
I struggled against the hands holding me, couldn't they see? Natasha was dead. Why were they not helping.
"Natasha! NO!"
Pain ripped into my face, and suddenly, there was no Natasha, no battle, I forced my eyes open, searching. Searching for Natasha.
"Tony! Are you back with us? Focus on me, here Tony" I felt hands cupping my neck turning my face until my gaze locked with blue ones. Steve. Steve will know what to do, Steve will help her, steve is captain America after all.
"Steve! Natasha is in trouble, we need to help her! Why aren't you helping her! "I screamed but Steve still wasn't moving but at least he looked concerned.
Steve's pov
"it doesn't matter" Bruce shook his head no and continued "our best option right now is to get this out of our atmosphere. It's getting more unstable by the day. I say we let thor have a go, he is most likely to understand what it is."
"Tony would never agree to just hand over the reactor to the Team, let alone some alien he has no idea about." Nat made a good point, but I was more inclined towards Bruce's idea, for once we wouldn't have to deal with it. We were already short of one genius brain, and it's not going to be fair on putting all pressure on Bruce to figure it out.
"so why can't we transfer the energy to a different container, you know? Then hand it over to the norse gods" Clint asked his face scrunched up like when he is trying to understand the science talk between Tony and Bruce.
"the reason this thing has not yet exploded on us, is because it's being contained by the arc reactor. Trying to shift the energy will make it all the more unstable. There is no telling what amount of damage it can cause. Also, currently the best technology to house the energy at the moment is only the arc reactor, we have not been able to come up with anything with more capacity."
"if I may interrupt" Jarvis said suddenly "sir seems to under some kind of distress and is in need of dire attention"
I sputtered, putting my coffee mug down, everyone doing the same after. "what's happening Jarvis?" I asked as I took the stairs two at a time.
"he seems to be experiencing a panic attack caused by a nightmare , and I am unable to rouse him"
What I saw broke my heart, Tony was lying in the middle of the bed, trashing and gasping for air. But his eyes were closed, he was clutching my t-shirt like a lifeline and just as I ran to him he let out a scream which came out more strangled from lack of air 'nat! Please'
"Tony!" my hands hovering over him, unable to touch knowing it may make the situation worse.
"Tony! Wake up"
I looked up at my frozen team mates , all in a state of shock. Bruce was the first to move, he pushed at Clint snapping him out of the shock
"Clint run down to medical and grab oxygen, his lips are turning blue!" I stared down in horror realizing Bruce was right.
I grabbed him, trying to rouse him, but he was still trashing around "Tony, you need to breathe buddy, wake up, common" Bruce said as he held Tony's wrist feeling his pulse.
"Jarvis what is his BP? Temp?"
"BP is 160 over 110 and rising. His temperature is 99 degrees farenheit"
Bruce motioned for me to pick him up, but as I moved he let out another scream more clearer than last time "Natasha! NO!" And for a second time we froze, wanting to understand what was happening in Tony's dream and why he had screamed for Natasha. He was trembling all over and that was it, I needed to do something now! So I slapped him. Hard. Across his cheek. But that did it, his eyes snapped open and he sat up straight gasping for breathe, his lips still blue but his eyes were not focusing, they were searching for something, I didn't know what he was looking for "Tony! Are you back with us? Focus on me, here Tony" I said wrapping my hand around the back of his neck and forced him to look at me. His eyes locked onto me in a moment of recognition and he raised his hands grasping at my shirt
"Steve! Natasha is in trouble, we need to help her! Why aren't you helping her! " I looked at Natasha, she shrugged moving forward into Tony's field of vision
"Tony? Hey, I am not in any trouble okay, I am right here, I am okay " his breathing was erratic, his eyes snapped towards Natasha's voice and he jerked back shuffling away from us. Clint came running in carrying a cylinder and a mask handing it over to Bruce.
he seemed awake now, more aware of what was happening, I sat down on the bed reaching out to him, he looked somewhat confused though "Tony, hey look at me" I said gently holding his hand and waited for him to look at me. His eyes reluctantly left Natasha's and turned to me. "natasha is fine, it was just a dream okay?" he turned his head back to Nat just staring long and hard like he was missing some information. Natasha crawled onto the bed next to him and he immediately latched onto her hand like a little child "I am okay Tony, see?" he nodded as Bruce passed the mask to Natasha who gently placed it around his face. He made a face but didn't protest. I moved to sit behind him, to prop him against my chest while his breathing was becoming steadier by the minute his eyes never leaving Natasha's even once.
"you with us now tones?" Clint asked and I felt Tony nodding against my chest.
Bruce and Clint settled around us on the bed while Nat stayed put not daring to disturb the link Tony had created between them.
I don't know what his nightmare was about, but it had to be bad if it left him shaking and trembling like this. No one spoke anything for ten minutes, the only sound was that of Tony's rattling breath. Every two minutes he nodded off only to startle awake until his gaze found Natasha again. Eventually his color returned, his breathing evened out and the mask was removed.
"Tony?" I asked him softly so as to not startle him,
"mm"
"are you feeling better?" I asked brushing my hands through his hair, it was sticking out in every direction possible from all the trashing around on the bed. Once it looked tame enough I dropped a kiss on his head waiting for him to say anything at all.
"please don't bench me, I could have saved her" he said his voice small but his hold on nat tightened and she frowned at me. Realization hit us at the same time as to what exactly Tony might have had the nightmare about.