It smelled like blood. Tony never thought he would be able to recognize the smell of blood, but after a week within the gates of hell he could instantly identify the stench. In the small room it was overpowering and frankly, very frightening. His skin crawled because he knew some had already dried on his skin. He just couldn't tell where.
A sack covered his head whenever he left the workshop, this room held no exception to that rule. The sack never scared him as much as it should have, not until they bring him to this room. It was when he was here that he so desperately wished for his sight. Just so he could prepare himself for the pain that was to come. Only through the thick weaves of the fabric could he see the light of the room or the blurry figures around him.
With a vivid memory he could recall the hot coals that burned and twisted his flesh. The smell would become so prominent that Tony just wanted to roll over and heave. Words were screamed at him in many languages that he didn't understand, while they cut, burned and drowned him. Though some of them yelled at him in English so he could understand.
"Give us the Jericho!"
"Why is it taking so long?"
"What are you making?"
"Jericho."
"Jericho?"
"Jericho!"
The fear he amassed was from the state of ignorance he found himself in in each day. He could never understand anything they said without Yensin translating. He never knew when he needed to keep his mouth shut without Yensin guiding him. Yensin was the only reason his heart was still beating in the first place. Yensin is the only reason he could even hope salvage what was left of his legacy.
But in the cave legacy didn't matter. It didn't matter if you had millions of dollars, even billions. It didn't matter if you could understand the theory of relativity. It didn't matter that you could solve even the most difficult equations in a matter of minutes.
Survival.
That's what mattered.
It didn't matter how you got out, just so long as you did.
When they tore the bag off his head in the end, it only to make sure he was still alive. There was blood on the floor, the walls but Tony could see the table behind them. It was the one that he was put down on as they dug shrapnel from his chest. His own screams echoed through his mind as he stared at the table. Soon he had stopped hearing the shouting voices and he was somewhere else.
Survival was the only thing that would keep a man going. Everything can be justified in this world by the word. Others don't have to agree with you though.
He was in the sky. The wind was howling in his ears, it was too loud. This wasn't right. He was flying forward but the sand dunes where coming up at him just as fast, as if the earth was angry someone had managed to cheat it for even a second. The silver suit shot like a rocket down to the ground. He could feel the pain of the impact all over again, except this time he didn't get up. After everything he didn't have the strength to get up. Sand blew up in his face but Tony couldn't care.
He was being consumed by pain from each part of his body. It was like the pain from the impact refused to go away and would stay until Tony passed. But he couldn't, his body refused to move anymore and his efforts were getting more and more desperate.
What if you didn't survive though? What if you died in that desert with blood on your hands? What if the only thing you left behind was a body count and a scorched Afghan cave?
Then They were there in front of him dragging him back to the cave, past Yensin's corpse and threw him back into the room, this time to kill him. But their efforts were wasted, had they left him there in the desert Tony would have watched the light in his chest flicker out, just as he was doing now, stuck in the room with an onslaught of weapons pointed right at him.
Except these weapons weren't created by SI. They were long and sharp. They were alien. When Tony looked passed the barrel of the gun, he was met with glowing green eyes. An inhuman growl tore out of the alien's throat as it pulled the trigger.
Tony woke with a start, his breathing coming out in fast gasps. His hand covered the reactor protectively. He looked around wildly for any sign of a threat, when he didn't see any he relaxed but only a bit. Next to him Pepper slept with her arm folded under the pillow, her face void of emotion as she rested. Tony was glad his sudden waking hadn't aroused her from her sleep.
Again the dreams had haunted his sleep. He was beginning to feel pathetic. Was he really so weak as to let these things chase him in his dreams too? Was this something that his mind couldn't let rest?
It was as if the battle had just unraveled Tony altogether. It had picked at the last thread holding Tony together and now everything came back in an immense wave. Now Tony was reliving his days in Afghanistan and the fear he felt every time he cheated death. He would wake covered in sweat and nothing could sway his mind to relax enough to start sleeping once again. Sometimes his dreams were not involved in the obvious torture his own mind was inflicting upon itself. It could just be a mention of the light in his chest or the sly joke about the Chitauri warriors that would send Tony into his own personal state of panic.
He was doing a great job at hiding it from others though. Or he thought so. He was his usual cocky self around everyone but alone his facade broke open. Just thinking about it was enough to send his panic into new heights. When his mind wandered too far he would escape to his shop to let the waves of panic settle, just like he was then.
Tony slipped out of the bed with ease as he had been doing for a time now. Leaving Pepper in bed alone, he walked out of the room and down the cold stone steps in his pajamas, his bare feet padded on the floor softly. Walking into the shop, he saw the tools laying around from his last project. He saw the AI in the corner, sweeping up dirt and dust that wasn't there.
"Hey Dummy?" He said and the robot slowly turned to him with the broom facing straight out, almost knocking over some dumbbells. "Whats all this?" He said gesturing to all the tools laying out on top of the table. The robot, in turn, swiveled to look. "Clean it up." Tony said with a small smirk to his face. The slow reactions and cluelessness of the robot always seemed to amuse him. Slowly the robot dropped the broom to the floor and came over to the littered table. Tony rolled his eyes and walked to the middle of the room where screens surrounded one side of the black swivel chair. Sitting in it, he twirled around and stared at the ceiling.
"What now?" Tony said aloud to no one in particular. He turned his head to watch the robot pick up all the tools laying around. They dropped to the ground with a clang as they fell out of Dummy's claw. It would be so much easier if they just put themselves away, Tony thought. And just like that Tony's brain was whirring. Turning to the screen, he pulled up a draft picture of an iron suit.
The black and yellow suit before him was only half finished, it was missing a leg and had mechanical parts hanging from its hip. Tony worked on the leg with a micro welder. The parts and joints in front of him began to blur in front of him and he found focusing a hard task.
His eyes started to shut as sleep threatened to take over. His hand drifted from the metal as the welder began to burn through his thick gloves, effectively waking him from his light sleep.
Tony yelped as he tore off the glove and brought his burning finger to his lips. He hissed in pain and took the finger away from his mouth, the skin was turning an angry red. He grudgingly walked over to the sink and ran his finger under cold water. Thankfully the burn wasn't terrible.
He sighed and turned off the water. Wiping his hands carefully, he turned back to the workshop and leaned against the countertop. He saw that the dummy had gone back to sweeping a clean floor and gave up the task of cleaning countertops.
Tony shook his head and pushed off the counter. He turned off the welder, finding that one burn was enough for one night. He started to pick up the papers and tools scattered around the shop. As he was putting away a wrench the size of a hubcap his watch beeped and he blinked in surprise.
It was five in the morning. He needed to get back to bed before Pepper noticed he was missing. He sighed once again and closed the tool box.
When he got back to the room Tony crawled back into bed with her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her close to him, as if she could keep away the bad dreams that were to come. But it seemed as if terror wasn't seeking him out this time because when he finally found rest he dreamed of nothing.
It seemed as if only a minute had passed until he was shaken awake by Pepper who was smiling down at him.
"Time to get up, Tony." She said leaning over him. Tony gave her his trademark smirk and pulled her down to him.
"Or we could just stay in bed all day, get some popcorn, watch a few scary movies." Tony said as Pepper tucked her head into the crook of his neck. She smiled. Tony's personality alone was enough to drive most of the Avengers mad but she had found it oddly soothing to hear his witty comebacks and sly comments.
"As tempting as that sounds. You have a meeting. One that you can't miss." Tony frowned at this. Tony hadn't attended a meeting in months and he didn't feel as if he was required to after Pepper became CEO. Of course there was some meeting she wanted to have him present for just to get the negotiating side intimidated, but Tony had tried to avoid those more now after Manhattan, that had not gone unnoticed by Pepper. Seeing Tony's confused face she smiled more. " Your meeting with the team and S.H.I.E.L.D. remember?" She said sitting up.
Tony groaned and rolled over, throwing a pillow over his head. He was more than reluctant to get out of bed for those people. If they couldn't enjoy even the tiniest part of his jokes then why is he obligated to bless them with his presence?
"Come on you have to leave today. The meeting is early tomorrow and it's in Manhattan." She argued. Tony didn't move but responded from under his barricade of pillows.
"I can just go in the suit and get there in an hour or two tomorrow. No harm there." Pepper rolled her eyes at Tony's antics.
"Except that the meeting is at the tower and you don't want all of them there before you, unsupervised." Pepper says rubbing Tony's bare back. Tony's head popped up and the pillow fell off the side of the bed.
"Why aren't we meeting at the Helicarrier?" Tony complained, turning to face Pepper.
"Its under maintenance. After the Hulk did some smashing and not to mention Loki, it needed a little bit of a tune up." Tony groaned and got out of bed, heading to the dresser next to the bed.
Even if the helicarrier was under repairs, why wouldn't they meet at one of SHIELD's ground bases. There are some that exist much to Fury's surprise. Tony highly doubted Fury ever took foot off the helicarrier unless necessary.
"And since when did the tower become the next available location?" Tony said pulling on a t-shirt, his chest peice glowing through it. Pepper shook her head at him and stood up as well.
"Since the building was offered to S.H.I.E.L.D. as a temporary base of operations for the Avengers." Pepper says as she walks towards Tony. Tony, himself, stiffens as he was straightening the shirt and turned to Pepper slowly.
"Since what?" He said as he closed the draw he got the shirt from.
"It was a prototype and half destroyed from the attack. There was already another building in construction that was improved after the attack and, as if God himself wanted it to be the Avengers building, only the A was left on the Stark sign. It was better that having to rebuild and cheaper as well." Pepper said.
Tony hated how she made everything sound so reasonable when he didn't want it to be. In Tony's own mind the move was one that he himself would never consider. That building was one of his babies. The entire building was running on a green power source created by his own genius.
The fact that SHIELD could be abusing that right now made Tony feel like pouting. No doubt Fury was having some of his top scientist and analyst try to figure out how the machine worked. Tony nearly snorted at the thought. He could just imagine them scratching their heads while Fury was yelling at them.
"Well God should ask first and who cares about cheaper? You gave away my building! To S.H.I.E.L.D. of all people!" Tony responds and Pepper frowns. Tony takes a small step back at her expression. It was one he had seen before. Right after the racing incident with Ivan Vanko. Her overall displeasure with the racing in general was enough to enforce that look on her face, it was one of pure evil. Tony could just imagine the cogs turning in her head on how to make Tony pay for that comment.
"It wasn't just your building." She said and it was Tony's turn to frown. "It was mine too, 12% mine." Tony sighs.
"I knew I was going to pay for that comment." Pepper smiled and shook her head, unable to keep the angered look on her face.
"Get ready, Tony. You head out in an hour." Pepper walked out of the room and left Tony behind.
Why on earth does Pepper always scheduled plane rides so early in the morning? Tony couldn't help but smile as he remembered when he arrived for a plane three hours late. Rhodey had been so mad at him for making him stand there for three hours on end. Tony had only blamed the timing of the plane for being too early for his brain to commit to waking up.
The smile faded from his face quickly. That was the trip to Afghanistan. Tony didn't think that he would have minded an early flight back if it meant skipping the alternative ride back on an Air Force cargo plane, three months later.
He sighed and picked his phone off the bedside table. As soon as he turned it on there was a notification for the meeting and Tony grimaced. He didn't even look at the time.
Tony had taken notice that JARVIS had not waken him and Pepper up meaning it was earlier than eight and Tony didn't want the displeasure of knowing how long he would be missing out on the rare, peaceful sleep that he was having only minutes before.
He was never a fan of these meetings, too many aggravating people in one room, this wasn't going to be fun at all. He stuffed his phone in his pocket and headed for the airport. This was going to be a long ride.
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