Chapter 4

Dr. Shaw tells Tony that it isn't a flashlight. She shows him pictures of inside his chest that she took when he was sleeping, which are interesting, and says it's to keep his heart safe and that it isn't a toy and no one is allowed to touch it. Then she wraps it in a bandage to be sure.

"But you're hiding the light," Tony tells her, because it's his gift from the nice lady and it is a flashlight, and if it's hidden then there's no light and someone might turn out the lights and lock the door like in the bad place. Dr. Shaw wraps it up anyway and tuts at the bruises on his arm and puts on a cream. Then she gives him a sucker that's red, because Tony says he likes red best, and Tony can't tell her to unwrap the bandage because his mouth is full of sticky sweetness that turns his tongue bright red so it's fun to stick it out and look at it in the mirror.

"Is it alright? Is it still working?" Miss Pepper asks Dr. Shaw in a grownup sort of tone that means she is talking to the doctor and not to Tony, so Tony sucks on his sucker and examines his tongue in the mirror.

"It seems to be functional," Dr. Shaw says to Miss Pepper, "I'm no engineer of course, but from a medical standpoint I've found no real difference with the shrapnel. Everything's just smaller. You can compare with his old medical files, see here, and the foreign objects are more prominent, but they're still there, in the same location, just…smaller. Thank goodness…I hate to imagine what might have happened if their size had remained the same when…well. Still inoperable, I'm afraid."

"Well, what about its effect on the body itself?" Miss Pepper asks, "It looks so…big."

Tony wishes they would stop talking. His sucker is mostly gone now because he crunched on it and now it's all sticking inside his teeth and he just has a soggy stick to play with. He wants to go to the room where Bruce and Clint and Natalia and Steve are all playing. Tony played there yesterday and he talked to Dr. Mackerel who was funny and asked silly questions about what year it was and then some questions Tony didn't like about his daddy and mommy and Jarvis and kidnappers. They all had to talk to him, Mr. Phil said, and Bruce asked if it was because he was a monster after all and were they going to be locked up forever. Mr. Phil said Bruce isn't a monster, he's a hero and that's different.

Tony is tired of doctors and he's tired of grownups talking and he wants to go home. He still hasn't decided if they've been kidnapped or not. Kidnappers aren't nice, and a lot of the grownups here are nice, but no one will let them go home. Miss Pepper and Dr. Shaw talk about boring things like lungs and not running and doctor pictures and Tony's sucker is gone and his teeth are only a little bit gummed up now and it's boring.

Tony also doesn't like the bandage around his flashlight, but he can't take it off or everyone will be mad at him and maybe not let him see his friends again. So Tony decides he's a mummy, like in that scary film he wasn't supposed to watch. Mummies have lots of bandages and they shuffle and walk funny and moan and are a little bit scary, but not as scary as kidnappers because Jarvis says mummies aren't real. Tony is only half a mummy though, because it's only his chest that has bandages wrapped around. His arm didn't even get a band-aid and it has a real hurty bit on it. There are more bandages though, all wrapped up like tape, except it isn't sticky. Dr. Shaw left a whole roll on the bed. Miss Pepper and Dr. Shaw are still looking at body pictures and talking grownup talk and not paying attention to Tony. Tony takes the bandages.

He isn't being bad. Dr. Shaw told him to not take off the bandages. No one said anything about putting more on. He starts with his hurty arm, because hurt bits are supposed to get bandages put on them. Wrapping it around his back is harder and he drops it and it rolls and unwinds so he wraps his legs after that. There's a lot of bandage but there's also a lot of Tony, and when he gets to his other arm and his head there's only a little bit left and then there isn't any at all. He isn't all the way wrapped like a mummy but he decides it's good enough.

Now he's a scary mummy, and he can show Bruce, and Bruce will see it's fun to be a monster and not bad and won't be scared or sad anymore. Bruce isn't there, though. He's back in the other room with Clint and Natalia and Steve. And maybe Natalia is teaching them new words in her language and Tony won't know them and Clint will laugh at him and they will all be friends without Tony because Miss Pepper made him go and see the doctor even though Tony isn't sick.

But no one told Tony he has to stay in the doctor room. Whenever Jarvis wants Tony to stay in one place he always always tells him he has to stay, and mommy tells him if she's there too. Daddy usually tells him he has to leave instead of stay, but sometimes he will tell Tony to stay someplace and then leave himself. But Dr. Shaw didn't say 'stay', and Miss Pepper didn't say 'stay', and they're talking about 'medical histories' and 'diminished lung capacity' and 'possible allergic reactions to foreign objects' and they don't look at Tony or stop talking about boring things that Tony doesn't understand.

Tony knows that no one told him to stay, but he is still very careful and quiet when he opens the door. He isn't sneaking, not really, but grownups don't like kids interrupting their grownup talk with a lot of noise. And if they don't see him leave and never say 'don't leave' then he isn't being bad.

His heart still beats hard in his chest as he slowly, gently shuts the door behind him. And maybe it feels a little bit like he's being bad, but then it's fun to walk all by himself down the hall and he forgets about feeling bad. A grownup uniform man walks by and he looks at Tony and Tony goes back against a wall and is ready to run really really fast, but the man doesn't stop walking.

Then Tony remembers that he's a scary monster and he shouldn't be afraid of big grownup people because no one hurts scary monsters. So Tony moans in a mummy-like fashion and shuffles his feet with his arms held out straight. Then he sticks out his tongue because he's the walking dead and dead people always stick out their tongue. It's a rule. Dead people also close their eyes and flop over, but Tony doesn't do that because mummies are walking dead people and he needs to see so he can find the right door where his friends are. There are a lot of doors, but Tony's good at maps inside his head and remembering and he knows the way.

So Tony shuffles and moans and moves down the hallway and sometimes people stare at him but mummies aren't scared of anything so Tony isn't scared. Someone whispers, 'shouldn't we stop him,' and someone else says, 'you heard what happened to Larsson, no way am I touching any of them. Just call it in and let Coulson handle it', but no one stops Tony and that's good.

He's almost all the way to the room where his friends are when a humongous pair of legs block his way.

There's a man standing in front of him. A very strange man with woman hair and a dressy cape but it isn't a woman because he's muscley and big and when he speaks he has a booming voice, so maybe he's a dam hippy because dam hippies have long hair and dress in happy colors but they are also very angry people who block progress like dams block water. His dad is always talking about them so Tony knows.

"What is this?!" his booming voice says that makes Tony sure he's a dam hippy rather than an unusually large woman, "Are you injured?!"

And hippies are scary and so are loud giant men, but the look on this man's face isn't mean. It reminds Tony of the look Jarvis got once when Tony found a snake in the garden and named him Slither and carried Slither over to meet Jarvis. Jarvis had just that look on his face and called people to take Slither away and Tony was sad until he found Wiggly to be his friend instead. But even if the man's expression is strange he's still big and scary, so Tony moans at him to show him he's a scary monster and hopes that he will go away.

The man doesn't go away, but he does drop down onto one knee so he isn't a towering giant, his eyes roaming all up and down over Tony. Perhaps the dam hippy has never seen a mummy before. Tony tries sticking out his tongue in a dead sort of way. The dam hippy looks suitably alarmed, but he doesn't flee. The door to the room is only a little ways away and the man is kneeling so maybe Tony can run and make it there, but then the man might follow and if he is mean he might hurt Tony's friends.

"You!" the dam hippy booms, but he's addressing a passing black clothes woman, not Tony. It's still a little scary and Tony shrinks away and wonders how fast he can run when his legs are all wrapped in bandages. The woman the man booms at freezes and looks like she wants to run too, but she doesn't. "Why is this injured child wandering the halls unaided?!"

"I don't think he's injured," the woman answers, her voice all stuttery.

"Not injured?!" the dam hippy says, "He is covered in bandages and bleeds at the mouth! Why does no one bring a healer?!"

A healer sounds like a doctor, and suddenly Tony is very certain that he's being bad after all and that Miss Pepper and Dr. Shaw will be very angry with him. The loud man is scary, but so is being in trouble, and the loud man isn't grabbing Tony or yelling at him or being mean so maybe Tony can talk to him and he won't be mean and no one will call Dr. Shaw or Miss Pepper and Tony won't be in trouble. Tony tugs at the dam hippy's sleeve.

"I'm not hurt," he tells him, "I'm a mummy."

"You…have a child?" the dam hippy asks, his voice a little quieter and he looks very confused. Tony is confused too, but his brain thinks about a joke Jarvis told him when Tony was hiding under the bed after the movie he wasn't supposed to see, and then Tony giggles. The dam hippy is funny.

"Not a mommy," Tony tells him, "A mummy. That's a monster that's dead and it walks like this and is scary." Tony shuffles a little to show the dam hippy and moans again. "See?"

"And…why is your mouth red?" the man asks next. Tony smiles again and sticks out his tongue.

"It's from a red sucker. Dr. Shaw gave it to me when she looked at my flashlight and my heart because red is my favorite and they were boring so I decided to be a mummy. What's your name? Why don't you have a happy color shirt? I'm Tony. I'm four and four fifths."

"I am Thor," says the dam hippy, "You are…you are Tony?"

"Tony Stark," Tony tells him, holding out a hand, "Nice to meet you." Thor takes his hand but doesn't shake it. He's still staring at Tony with a funny look on his face, his eyes going all up and down. It makes Tony remember that maybe he's shy and maybe Thor will be mean after all, but Thor is still kneeling so Tony doesn't run away. Then Thor frowns, his free hand moving to push aside the bandages where they came a bit unwrapped and loose on his arm. Tony flinches back because maybe he's going to touch his hurty arm and it will hurt.

"How did this happen…Tony Stark?" Thor asks. He doesn't touch, though, his fingers stopping short. Tony looks down at his feet, wishing he could run to his friends and be a mummy, but Thor is still holding his hand and he's big and strong and maybe he won't like it if Tony is quiet. His dad never likes it when Tony won't answer questions.

"I was bad and pulled his hair," Tony finally admits towards his feet before looking up again to look Thor earnestly in the face, "But he was being mean to Steve!"

"Steve?" Thor asks, still staring at Tony's arm. He looks angry but his voice isn't shouty, so maybe he isn't too mad at Tony for being bad.

"Steve's my friend!" Tony is quick to explain, "He's six but he's really really big!"

"I begin to see why I was summoned so urgently," Thor says, and he doesn't look angry anymore so that's good. But then he stands up and he's really tall again and he reaches down and picks Tony up too. Tony yelps in surprise and he still doesn't know if he likes Thor or not and what if he's a kidnapper? Before he can protest or try to squirm and get away, Thor begins long strides down the hall.

"Come, friend Tony," he says, and being carried away is scary but also a little bit fun because Thor is really big and all the other people they pass move away from him. They aren't going to the doctor's room and they aren't going to his friends' room, but Thor puts Tony on his giant shoulders and strides with long strides and it's a bit like flying. Tony wishes he could fly.

Before Tony can remember it's scary and maybe Thor is really a kidnapper hippy who doesn't like Starks, they come to a door that Tony doesn't know and Thor throws it open without knocking. There's a man in there with dark skin and he has an eye patch like a pirate and there's also someone Tony knows very well.

"Mr. Phil!" Tony calls from Thor's shoulder. Mr. Phil looks surprised to see them. The pirate eye patch man does not look happy. Then Tony remembers that maybe it was bad to run away from the doctor and that maybe Mr. Phil will be angry, and Tony wonders if he can hide under Thor's cape. Or his hair.

"Tony," Mr. Phil says, reaching up to pull him from Thor's shoulders. Thor has to duck so that Mr. Phil can reach better. "Why are you covered in bandages?"

"I'm a mummy," Tony explains to him, looking at his face carefully in case Mr. Phil is going to be angry, "I'm a monster like Bruce and we're going to be good monsters together and he won't be sad."

"So I see," Mr. Phil says, and then he smiles so he isn't angry and isn't going to shout or hate Tony after all. Tony smiles back a real quick smile before he feels too shy to smile anymore.

"Son of Coul," says Thor, "This is Tony Stark?"

"Why don't I let Col. Fury debrief you," Mr. Phil says, "We'd better find Ms. Potts before she tears the place apart looking for our misplaced mummy."

"Ms. Potts is a formidable woman," Thor agrees, still staring at Tony, "I will see you again…Tony."

"Goodbye Mr. Thor," Tony answers and then remembers the other man in the room and says, "Goodbye…sir," because he doesn't know his name. The eye patch man nods his head at him, still frowning and scary, and then Mr. Phil carries Tony back into the hallway.

Miss Pepper is angry but she promises she doesn't hate Tony and she was scared, and Tony cries and promises not to be bad and she promises to never ever hate him or lock him in the bad place and she cries a little too.

Dr. Shaw scolds Tony and then says he was good because he didn't touch his heart protector and she gives him more tape so all hid friends can be mummies too. Bruce makes a really good mummy, except he keeps forgetting to moan and giggles instead.