I woke up a few hours later, just in time for dinner. Carlie came to visit me, for half an hour before visiting hours were over. It was awkward, to say the least, as I was still drowsy, and even though she never asked I could tell she wanted to ask about my injury. She didn't though, and I was very grateful for her just being near me when I needed her. After she left I spent some more time talking with my mom and watching a movie on the T.V. Eventually my mom had to go home, and get to bed, so after a long hug and a kiss on the cheek I was alone in my room. I kept watching the movie, some Adam Sandler film, until a nurse came in at 9:00 to see if I wanted more midazolam to help me sleep, a question to which I answered yes wholeheartedly. I wasn't completely used to the tingling and slight pain in my head, and I didn't think I could sleep without it.

I fell asleep to Adam Sandler hitting a golf ball with a hockey stick, and I wondered (not for the first time) how insane Sandler had to be to make these movies. I fell asleep with a loopy smile as I thought about the comedy that never seemed to fail in his movies. I didn't have any prophetic dreams(that I could tell), but I did have a very wild dream about flying spider-monkeys and swimming baboons.

I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. I looked at the clock on the wall, and saw it read 1:39. I glanced about, confused as the nurse said I should be asleep until 6 at the earliest. I glanced over at my I.V. drip and saw Dr. Russan standing with a needle in the injector slot. I scrunched my eyebrows together, confused as to why she woke me up. Then my mind jumped to a terrible conclusion, that something was wrong, that there was a big emergency with the metal in my head.

Dr. Russan must've noticed my concern, because she quickly said "Relax Mr. Michaels, he just needs a quick word" with a small smile. I was about to ask her who wanted to talk with me, she nodded her head over to my left, where the visitor couch was. I jumped slightly, as I hadn't noticed the man sitting there before. 'Was he there before? I could've sworn no one was sitting there when I first woke up.' I thought to myself.

"Who are you?" I asked the dark figure. I couldn't make out any of his features, as he was leant back, away from the light of my bedside lamp.

"That's not the right question you should be asking," the shadow said, leaning forward and uncrossing his leg, placing his elbows on his knees. "You should be asking, 'What did Agent Romanoff put in my I.V.?'"

"Agent Romanoff?" I aksed, quickly looking back at Dr. Russan, who smirked and shrugged slightly, moving to stand near the wall.

"It's a benzodiazepine variant, so you needn't worry. We're not in the business of killing innocents," He said and as my eyes finally adjusted I could see who I was talking with. It was an older black man, wearing a black long coat and an eyepatch over his left eye. My heart rate on the E.K.G. sped up slightly when I first saw his intimidating glare.

"You never answered me. Who are you?" I asked, trying to appear confident and unafraid, even though I was terrified of him after his killing innocents remark. In the dim light, I though I saw him smirk slightly, but the expression was gone as soon as I thought I saw it.

"Nick Fury, Director of Shield. And I have some question for you, Jackson." He stood up, and walked over to the side of my hospital bed. "What happened to you at Stark Industries," he phrased it as a question, but his tone conveyed he wasn't asking me, he was telling me to tell him. I froze for a second wondering if he could possibly know about my weird videogame hallucination from earlier. Did he know I was different now?

"Why do you want to know?" I asked hoping to gain some time to think of a good answer.

"I'm in the business of knowing things, and I don't like when I don't have all the puzzle pieces. You're the one missing corner piece to my puzzle Mr. Michaels. And I'd appreciate if you told me what you remember," he said his one eye boring into me.

"Um, alright. Well I was on my way home from my girlfriends house on the bus," I quickly gave a run down of what happened to me the night of my accident, glossing over the PSP and the weird experience when I first woke up. When I finished my tale, he seemed satisfied enough. But then he leant closer to me, his eye searching my face for deceit.

"One last question. Have you noticed anything, abnormal? Odd, weird, or unexplainable?" I couldn't look away from his deep brown eye as it bore into my soul.

"No." I did my best to lie, but I couldn't tell if he believed me or not. His eye stayed on me for what seemed like an eternity, until he made up his mind and walked towards the door.

"Thank you for you candor Mr. Michaels. We might be in touch for an actual written report, but we might not. It doesn't seem like you were a cog in this machine," he said turning away from me and stopping in the door way. "Just remember-" he turned his head and looked at me over his right shoulder, "- I have my eye on you."

He stepped fully out of the room, and I immediately felt woozy. I looked back at the woman playing Dr. Russan, who again was putting something in my I.V. "You'll have a new doctor in the morning Mr. Michaels. Dr. Russan is going on a plane trip she won't come back from. You'd do best to remember that, or you might meet the same fate."

And on that ominous note I was asleep again. This dream had all the feeling of a precog dream, and even in my sleep I could feel my body tense. I saw flashes of men in ski masks and track suits, and some glimpses of a figure in black with outlines of orange. The figure was ablur, so I couldn't see his face fully, I could only make him out as he passed by thugs and fought them off. The dream ended, and I relaxed back into a deep sleep as I dreamt of Carlie, wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper. My precog dream quickly drifted into a distant memory as I watched my girlfriend peel herself out of her wrapping paper.

I woke up at 8:30 to yet another visitor. It took me a minute, and several rubs at my eyes to fully understand and comprehend that Tony Stark was standing at the end of my bed. He was looking down at my chart and hadn't seemed to notice I was awake yet. I tried several times to speak up and meet one of my heroes, but in my shock I lost my voice. Eventually, Mr. Stark looked up from the doctors' notes and flinched when he saw I was awake.

"Jesus kid, let a guy know you're awake," he said to me, putting my chart back in the plastic holder. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Michaels. Can I call you Jackson? I'm gonna call you Jackson. No, Jack. Yeah Jack fits you better, Jack."

I felt like an idiot when all I could do was nod my head dumbly. My head was reeling, the man who I revered, looked up to as an engineer was standing not five feet away. I cleared my throat and tried to say something, anything. But I couldn't speak. As much as I wanted to tell him how amazing it was that he was here, and ask a thousand questions about any current R&D projects happening at Stark Industries, all that left my throat was a rasp.

"Cat got your tongue Jack?" Mr. Stark said, walking over to the office chair next to my EKG. He started playing with some of the buttons, seeing the different views and functions of the machine. "Your doctor came by a few minutes ago, put some pills and water on the table there." He said gesturing to my left side. "I could make this a thousand times more efficient," he said under his breath as I grabbed the water and medication.

I downed the three pills, not entirely concerned about what their function was. After a few swigs of the water I was finally able to say "You're Tony Stark", and I immediately wanted to smack myself for sounding like an idiot.

"He speaks! Yes it is I, Tony Stark, in the flesh. Well 99% in the flesh, 1% metal," He said tapping his chest, making a small clink sound. "Just like you," he gestured to my forehead.

"You have metal in you too?" I asked, not taking my eyes off his chest, noticing the light blue glow for the first time.

"You haven't heard?" he asked rhetorically, "I guess you wouldn't, you were asleep for a week. I'm Iron Man." He said spreading his arms like I was supposed to know what the hell that meant. I raised an eyebrow, showing my confusion, and he sighed and took out his phone, pressing some buttons and taking control of my T.V. "Some new tech I made a few months back," he said after hearing a small "woah" leave my lips.

A grainy image of a red and gold man holding up a car appeared on the screen at the push of a button, followed by another, clearer image of a robot standing at a press conference. I looked from the screen to Mr. Stark, still confused. "That's Iron Man? That's you?"

He smiled and held his arms out again, nodding once. His smile fell a second later, a look of remorse placing itself onto his impish face. He stood up from the chair, walking back to the end of my hospital bed. "I'm not just here to brag kid, even though I am a superhero. You got hurt because I was careless. You see-I'm trying, trying to turn a new leaf, so to speak, y'know take responsibility for my actions. Be an adult."

"Um...you are an adult sir." I said, trying to figure out where he was going with this. A brief smile graced his lips, and I smiled back, glad I was humorous enough to make him smile.

"What I'm trying to say, is I'm sorry," he said, leaning on the bed frame at the end of the bed. "And in an attempt to be responsible, I've decided to pay for all your medical bills."

My eyes went wide at his declaration, and I stuttered out my appreciation. He seemed to find my astonishment amusing, because he let out a small chuckle. "Mr. Stark there's really no need, I mean I was in there by my own mistake, it's really not your fault, not at all. I mean, I-I'm very grateful, and all, and my mom did say that she would have to take from my college fund, but I couldn't ask this of you at all!"

"Kid. I'm a certified billionaire. I think I can handle a few thousand in medical bills" He said with a smirk. "When my assistant, Pepper, told me about how you were injured I wanted to handle your medical bills. But then I found out the extent of your injuries, and, well I felt even worse. Especially when I did something to you, that was done to me."

"Oh right...I heard about the bomb," I said, frowning slightly.

"Yeah...well, since we're injury cousins, I decided to visit you personally, and ask if there's anything else I can do for you."

"Oh no sir! Paying for my medical bills-" he cut me off before I could word vomit again.

"Kid I insist. What can I do for you? New car? Trip to Vegas?" He asked pulling some M&M's from a hidden bag in his pocket. I thought for a moment, realizing that I could ask for anything. A new car sounded amazing, I wouldn't have to drive my mom's anymore, and I wouldn't have to get a ride from Carlie's parents when my mom was busy. Or maybe a recommendation for MIT! As I pondered my options, I glanced at the T.V. again, and I was hit with inspiration.

"Can I see how your suit works?" I asked, and watched Stark's eyebrows shoot up. He seemed to contemplate my request for a second, and I was worried that he was gonna say no, so I quickly added, "I'm a big engineering nut, I wanna go to MIT or NYU or Stanford. It would be so amazing if I could see the suit in person, it's gotta be the best invention of the century. If I'm gonna top it, I gotta see the competition, right?" I added with a small coy grin.

He huffed a chuckle, squinted his eyes, and rolled his jaw. "You're something else kid. How about, once a month you come visit my lab and see what I've been working on, instead of seeing how my suit works?"

I tried not to answer too fast, but my mouth let slip the words without my permission. "Awesome! That sounds great!" I smiled, until I realized that I probably could have negotiated some more. I mentally shrugged, deciding that this was an amazing enough opportunity. He walked over to me, and held out his hand.

"You got yourself a deal kid," he said as we shook, and I couldn't wipe the grin off my face as I shook hands with my only living scientific hero. He stepped back for a moment, pressed something on his phone-like thing, and I heard a beep sound from next to me. I realized for the first time that my mom had left my phone on the table next to me. "I have your contact now, I'll give you a shout when you can come by. Sound good?" I nodded. "Good. I'll see you later kid, I have to go see a man about a horse. Oh, and don't tell anyone."

Without another word, he waved and walked out of the room. I saw him walk down the hall way, and finally shook myself out of my stupor, "Bye!" It's safe to say I didn't stop smiling and when Carlie came to visit, I almost let it slip. Carlie was extremely curious as to my happy mood, so I lied and said it was because she was here. That earned me a very careful, but passionate make out session until my mom showed up. Four hours later and my new doctor came by to tell me about how my recovery was progressing. I was a little bummed to hear that I would have to stay in the hospital through Christmas, until halfway through January, and be stuck at home for another month. It would be a very boring couple months.