Wow! This one is long, didn't think breaking it up would be beneficial, hope you enjoy :)
Rhodey sat in the car under the bridge, he wanted to laugh at the 'inconspicuous' meeting point Tony had arranged. He argued that it was so obvious if anyone was following them; Tony argued it was so overt that it was covert. Rhodey finally came around and agreed, seeing his friends' logic.
His eyes darted across the horizon and the barren industrial wasteland, keeping an eye out for any movement, Tony or otherwise. His eyes had finally become accustomed to the dark surroundings and it made it easier to sit in the silent dark waiting.
He tapped his foot nervously against the accelerator, 'come on man.' He whispered.
He glanced across at the LED display in the dash, twelve fifty, he was late.
Tony was always late, why was he worried, he probably got caught up chatting to someone, or wanted to stop and grab a drink.
'Don't be ridiculous.' Rhodey scolded himself, it's the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, where would he meet someone to 'chat' to or buy a drink?
The nervous tap became an impatient one; he pulled the key out of the ignition and pushed the door open. He considered calling Pepper, or Happy. But then decided against it, he was only five minutes late. It wasn't time to panic, at least not yet. He would wait until one, if he didn't turn up by then, then he would call someone. Who would he call? He could already imagine the horror in Peppers voice, or the concern in Happy's. But if he waited until one, it could already be too late. No, don't think like that, it's only ten minutes away. So he stuffed the keys into his pocket and got back into the car.
The warmth inside the cabin was a much more pleasant feeling as opposed to the harsh wind and cold outside. He glanced at the in dash clock again, twelve fifty-five.
'Come on, come on.' He whispered.
He squinted and tried to focus harder on the distant buildings, they were a hundred or so feet away at least, he wished he had brought his night vision binoculars. There was nothing he could do about that now, he leaned closer to the window and noticed a small, almost imagined movement in the far left corner of his peripheral vision. He turned his head and forced his eyes to focus. That was definitely a movement, his fingers instinctively found the weapon under his seat, the touching comfort was all he needed, he waited and waited. Moments later a small sequential flash alerted him that it was indeed Tony. He closed his eyes in relief, the signal.
He pulled the keys out of his pocket and turned the car on, he waited for a few minutes before driving toward the road, his passenger quickly jumped into the car and Rhodey sped off.
'What kept you?' Rhodey asked not looking at him, 'you're late.' He felt slightly agitated at having worried.
'Just a snag.' Tony replied in a breathless whisper.
Rhodey continued driving, meeting point three. The drive was silent, save for the raspy breathing beside him. He glanced over at Tony briefly; the man looked like he had been through hell. He looked injured, but he couldn't spot any obvious signs of injury.
'You ok?' Rhodey asked finally breaking the silence.
'Yeah.' He breathed.
'What happened?' Rhodey asked quietly.
Tony cleared his throat, 'nothing, just time for the shot.'
Rhodey nodded, of course, why didn't he think of that, he reached into the storage compartment in the door, Tony had made him take the syringe and a vial of liquid should he need it again.
He pulled over under a street light, he prepped the injection and looked over at Tony.
The color in his face was completely gone, he looked like he had lost a battle with a soul sucker.
He didn't ask if he was ready this time, he didn't need to, he knew what needed to be done, he swabbed his neck and plunged the needle into his skin.
Tony flinched slightly, the ever present burn still shocked him each time.
Moments later, he seemed to be better, 'alright?'
He nodded, 'thanks.'
'Alright, what's the plan?' Rhodey looked at him.
'Meeting point three.' Tony instructed.
Rhodey looked over at him, 'are you sure, if we've been compromised-'
'-We don't have a choice.' Tony interrupted, 'we have to do it, then that's it.'
'Don't you have the formula, the cure?' Rhodey asked.
Tony shook his head, 'it's only one part of what I need, if I don't get the rest, I can't do anything with this.'
'Ok, Tony.' Rhodey nodded, he pulled back onto the road and they continued in silence.
Tony closed his eyes and leaned back against the head rest, the splitting headache didn't go away this time, in fact, the temporary cure worked less and less, he didn't say anything, he didn't think he needed to.
Rhodey saw it, he saw his friend suffer, and he saw the pain in his face as he lay against the chair with a constant grimace painted on his features.
He didn't wake him, he needed the rest, and there was nothing more important than succeeding tonight.
Rhodey drove down the highway, trying to ignore the soft whimpers coming from his passenger; he glanced at him every so often. Pepper said he was plagued by nightmares, but he still didn't expect this. The pain he was in was real, the nightmares crossed over into his waking world, the Extremis virus was eating away at his mind, and the dreams came harder and much worse than they had before.
He shook his head; he tried to focus on the road.
A small glimmer of a light in the rear view mirror caught his attention; he focused on the dots of light.
It was a public highway, but at this time of night, other cars were highly unlikely, the dreariness washed away immediately as his alertness to the company on the dark highway grew.
He sped up, constantly checking the rear view mirror; the lights grew as the car came closer and closer.
'Tony, Tony.' He gently shook his friends shoulder.
Tony woke with a start, 'what, what's going on?' he looked confused.
'We've got company.' Rhodey muttered as he switched gears and increased the speed.
Tony rubbed his face and turned around to look through the back window, 'how long have they been on us?'
'Ten maybe fifteen minutes.' Rhodey answered.
'Are you sure they're following us?' Tony asked looking back at Rhodey, 'it could just be another car.'
Rhodey shot him a sideways glance, 'are you serious?' he retorted, 'you, who doesn't believe in coincidence,' he glanced back at the mirror, 'just after someone tried to hack into the military security feeds at the exact time we were there, and now there's a car on an usually deserted highway speeding up behind us, and you're saying that, seriously?'
Tony nodded, 'just trying to think positive sour patch.'
Rhodey rolled his eyes, 'don't call me that, and thank you for the positive thinking, but this could be bad.'
'Agreed, someone must be tracing the link.' Tony took the laptop from the bag on the back seat, he plugged in the flash drive and brought up the file he had downloaded, 'yep, someone's trying to hack the link.'
'What does that mean?' Rhodey asked quickly.
Tony glanced over his shoulder, the car was definitely gaining speed, 'it means that whoever our guest was back at the base knows what I've got here and they obviously want it as much as I do.'
Rhodey watched as Tony countered the attack on his files, the Tony who woke up from the painful nightmares was completely gone, and instead the man who sat beside him was full of determined energy. He had no idea how he did it.
'You're good, but you're not that good.' Tony smirked as he successfully shut the encryption hack down.
Rhodey looked over at him, 'what happened?'
'I've blocked the access, they can't break in.' Tony answered, he swiftly turned to look at the fast approaching car, 'but that doesn't mean they won't try to get the hard copy.'
They looked at each other, 'call Romanov.' Rhodey suggested.
Tony retrieved his phone from his pocket, 'keep heading north, there should be a gas station coming up, pull over there, when I'm out, you keep driving.'
'No, Tony, I'm not leaving you here.' Rhodey snapped.
'You need to get this back to my house,' he grabbed to flash drive and held it out to Rhodey, 'make sure this is safe, I can do the rest.'
'What's the use of that if you're dead?' Rhodey spat, he pressed down on the accelerator and drove faster and faster, the lights of the gas station coming into view.
'Because it's out of the wrong hands now, if anything happens to me, get that to Pepper, she'll know what to do.'
The panic of the situation was evident between them. Rhodey looked to Tony once more as they neared the gas station, 'are you sure about this?'
Tony reached around to the back seat; he pulled forward the case with his armour, 'I'm sure, just get yourself out.'
Rhodey slammed on the break and drifted the car around a corner into the gas station, Tony threw the door open and took cover behind the building. The other car rounded the corner and screeched to a halt. As Rhodey slammed on the accelerator and sped off, he noticed the flashes of gun fire in the rear view mirror.
'Christ Tony.' He muttered, he felt that pang of guilt and fear prick at his heart, his hand hovered over his cell phone, he needed to tell Pepper, but Tony would kill him if he walked out of this, if he walked out of it. He swallowed hard. He raised the phone and dialled Natasha's number.
Tony shielded his eyes form the sparks which flew around his head as the bullets ricocheted against the corner of the building.
He took a chance and sprinted along the side of the building, the armour assembled itself around him whilst he ran.
'Jarvis, I need the feeds from the cameras in this area.' He breathed as the faceplate finally shut.
Now that he was armoured he felt marginally better.
'Mr Stark, you've taken something which belongs to us.' A rough voice beamed across the still night, the gunfire had ceased.
He took a deep breath, 'ever heard the tale of Robin Hood?'
The voice responded with a shrill laugh, 'well, Mr Stark, if that's the road you're going down, then shouldn't you be offering something of yours to the less fortunate?'
'I've given my life, numerous times; I think we can call it even.' Tony retorted.
'Sarcasm to mask fear, very nice.' The man laughed again.
'Jarvis, feeds.' He hissed, he was afraid, but that wouldn't stop him, 'guns are a little out dated, don't you think?'
'Right you are, Mr Stark, perhaps something a little newer, a little more you?'
Before Tony could ponder his question he heard a high pitched noise crash through him. He fell to his knees trying to clutch his ears, but the armour was in his way.
'Does this meet Stark approval?' The voice beamed through his suit.
'Jarvis, how is he doing that?' He stammered through clenched teeth.
'It appears that my systems and protocols have been overridden, complete system override of the remote access points.'
'Only the armour?' Tony cried out in agony.
'Yes sir, remote shut down will cause me to lose signal to you at base.' Jarvis replied.
Tony yelled out again, 'shut it down!'
'Shutting me out isn't going to solve your problem.' The man laughed again.
'Jarvis, shut it down!' Tony repeated.
Tony's breath caught in his chest, this was a catastrophic security breach, no one had ever come close to hacking Jarvis the way this guy had.
'Sir, all contact will be lost.'
Tony grit his teeth, 'do it!'
An instant silence washed over him, he dropped his arms by his side.
He shook his head, 'good plan Stark.' He muttered to himself.
'Not bad, not bad at all, remotely shutting everything down.' The man yelled, 'countering my remote hack?'
Tony gathered his strength and found his legs again, he rounded the corner.
The man who belonged to the voice stood in the middle of the gas station driveway, his arms outstretched, beckoning Tony to him. A large, jagged scar ran from his left eye down across his top lip. The dark coat he wore was similar to that of Fury's. His dark hair blended into the night, he smiled with perfectly white teeth.
The man looked at Tony with a smug grin, 'now that you've shut your AI out, doesn't that mean you've got no contact with anyone right now?' He stuffed his hands into his coat pockets.
Tony raised his face plate, 'who are you?'
The man smirked, 'I am Dragon.'
The Asian man began to walk toward Tony; his men stood their ground as Tony stepped backwards. His men wore dark, hooded coats similar to Dragons, but their faces were hidden and he didn't see any weapons, but he felt the powerful surge of whatever weapon it was they used against him.
More you…what did that mean? Was it a weapon someone in his company had created without his knowledge? No, it couldn't be, had they modified one of his previous designs? It felt a lot like the neuron stabiliser Obi had used on him. No, no one could bypass any of his security now, not since he upped the surveillance of all his systems after Obadiah's betrayal.
'Mr Stark, this doesn't have to be any more painful than it's already been for you.' Dragon spoke with a quiet certainty.
Tony looked at the man intently, 'the men who took Pepper were yours?'
He smiled, 'indeed, not my proudest moment.'
Tony cocked his head, 'not your brightest moment either.'
This moron nearly cost him Pepper, it nearly cost him his own life, he grit his teeth. Finally a face was put to the evil.
One of his men stepped forward; he lowered his hood, Rick. Tony swallowed hard, he was going to kill him first, and then deal with this guy.
Dragon held his hand out, as if presenting Rick, 'the man who brought Tony Stark to his knees.'
'The man who will soon have Tony Stark's knee in his face.' Tony bit back.
They laughed, 'well Mr Stark, I'm sorry it had to come to this, we really only ever wanted one thing.'
Tony nodded, 'well you can't have it.'
'Oh Tony, Tony, Tony, you disappoint me.' Dragon said in a condescending tone.
'Well, glad I'm living up to my reputation.' Tony smirked.
'You're going to give me what I want; perhaps Rick here wasn't persuasive enough.' He drew his hands together and smiled.
Tony's blood boiled, he was persuasive, so much so he laid his life down to protect Pepper. He chewed his bottom lip, whatever they threw at him, at least he had his armour and at least he could fight back. The flash drive was safe and out of reach.
'Why don't you come and get it?' Tony challenged.
Without further threats Dragon slammed his fists together and a glowing ball of energy started to form around his hands, Tony stepped backward bracing himself, Dragon threw his hands toward Tony and the ball of energy exploded and impacted with Tony. He ignited the repulsors and steadied himself.
Tony felt the heat radiate through the suit, he readied his palm repulsors and hit him with it.
Dragon dodged the beams, so Tony hit him again and again, eventually it made contact with the man and he flew backwards.
He had no Jarvis, no way to know what damage the suit had sustained. The heat which continued to radiate throughout was a bad sign, before he could assess the further impact it had on him, Dragon threw another beam of energy at him.
Tony stammered backwards as the beam made contact with his chest, a sharp pang of pain ripped through his chest. Whatever energy this was, worked a lot like his unibeam did.
And if that was the case Tony knew how bad the pain in his chest was, the energy was working off a magnetic field, the opposite to what his was. Dragons shot to his chest had impacted the reactor, it caused an antimagnetic spin.
He took short, sharp gasps as he prepared the next wave of attacks on him.
'You're not going to walk away from this Stark.' Rick yelled over the chaos which buzzed through Tony's head.
He ignored him as much as he could, he ignited the repulsors and flew up into the sky, without a proper damage report he couldn't risk flying for a long period of time, he changed his mind, he took off back to the ground, he directed the power to the chest beam, before he could fire it, Dragon hit him with yet another beam to the chest, he fell to the ground, crashing into the earth below he clenched his eyes shut as his head slammed into the helmet, he lay in a heap on the floor, his chest ached, his head ached, and he couldn't breathe. Good plan Stark.
'I told you that you're not walking away from this, why do you insist on putting yourself through all this?'
He saw Dragon standing above him.
He sucked in the air as best as he could, his body refused to do what was necessary to live.
'Tell me where the formula is, and we'll end this quickly.' Dragon knelt beside him.
Tony wanted to laugh, no bargains for his life. This man didn't care whether Tony lived or died.
He couldn't answer him; he lay in silence looking up through tear filled eyes.
Dragon rolled his eyes, 'why is this always so difficult?' he muttered before placing a hand on Tony's mask.
The pain ripped through his body and gargled scream escaped his lips, the heat intensified inside the suit, he noticed the edges of the faceplate spark up before it flew off his face.
He looked up at the man kneeling beside him with wide eyes; he was met with a satisfied smirk.
'How did I do that?' He anticipated Tony's question, he rubbed his fingertips together on his right hand and a smaller ball of energy formed in the palm of his hand.
'You see Mr Stark, I am the final decedent from a long line of Chinese healers, this is just a little taste of what I can do,' he marvelled at the energy flickering in his palm, 'it's been modified by the Extremis, but it's not complete, and I need it to be complete Mr Stark.' He looked down at Tony and pressed the ball of energy against Tony's forehead.
He screamed, the agony pierced his mind and then it was gone.
He ran toward the sound of the screams, he ran as fast as he could, but it seemed that the closer he got, the farther her voice sounded. Pepper! Pepper! He yelled looking for her, the burning building collapsed around him as he ran, Pepper! He screamed for her, she only replied with agonising, painful cries. He pushed his body harder and faster, finally it paid off, he rounded a corner and found her, she was kicking and screaming under the weight of a man who was pushing himself against her harder and harder. Her hands were covered in blood as she scratched and clawed at him, but he didn't let go, he didn't stop. Tony could see the pain and fear in her eyes, her pleading for help, pleading for him to help her, he couldn't move, he couldn't get to her. His feet remained glued to the ground, Pepper! The man pushed harder and harder against Peppers weak body, breaking her, killing her, her clothes lay in tatters around her as her milky skin grew redder and redder as her own blood tainted her, No! Pepper! He screamed for her, the life from her eyes faded as she looked to him pleading for help which never came. Pepper!
Tony gasped for breath, he looked around, the flames, the heat, it was gone, Pepper! He sucked in the breaths, ignoring the screaming pain from his body.
He looked up at Dragon, his grin made Tony's breath hitch.
'That was just a little taste Mr Stark.' He said softly so that only he could hear him.
That wasn't real, what was he? How could he plant images into his mind like that? He swallowed hard, 'The Extremis.' He managed.
Dragon nodded, 'exactly, amplifies what I need it to, just like what you did, only I didn't get the boosted version like yours.'
Tony couldn't believe it, if he could inflict pain through his mind the same way Tony could control electrical currents with his mind, there was no telling what damage he could do with the full dose. He looked at him with wide eyes, whatever magical power of the mind this man possessed was powerful, the Extremis, even in it the flawed dose he received, made him lethal. Tony cringed at the thought of what could be done if he got the formula, he would become unstoppable, magic boosted by science.
There was no way he could let them get this, especially not now. They knew his weakness, they knew what hurt him.
'If you don't help us, I will kill you, and then I will make sure that little scenario comes to light, and you won't be around to do anything about it.'
He was injured, he was without Jarvis, he sent Rhodey away, and Natasha, nor S.H.I.E.L.D knew what was happening, think Tony, use that genius mind of yours to fix this mess, he looked up at him helplessly, there was nothing he could do. He failed whatever he did.
He closed his eyes, 'don't hurt her,' he pleaded; he couldn't see any way out.
'Give me the formula and I won't have to.' Dragon said quietly, he lay his palm on Tony's forehead again.
The pain and heat burned through him like a flame, he yelled out, begging for it to stop.
'Ok, you're telling me the truth, get him up.' He motioned to his men.
Tony was dragged up to his feet by three men, Rick stood before him with a grin.
'Should have given me what I needed, it would have been a lot easier.' Rick said flatly.
'Can't live in regret.' Tony said simply.
A dry laugh escaped Rick's lips; he shook his head, 'I'm not sure Pepper would feel the same.'
Tony's eyes shot up, he couldn't bear hearing him say her name, he knew what he meant. He dropped his head, he was so exhausted.
'Bring him to the front.' Dragon motioned to his men.
Rick must have been somewhat of a right hand man, he didn't get orders like the others did.
Tony looked around as they dragged him to the front of the service station.
His eyes widened with horror as one of his men dragged the gas station attendant out before them.
Dragon laughed as the older man was pushed to his knees.
He pleaded, his eyes darted from Tony to Dragon, to the other men around him.
'Please, I have family.' He begged.
Tony's couldn't look away from him, he swallowed hard.
'A demonstration.' Dragon held his hands out, 'to inspire you.'
Before Tony could blink, he had brought his palms together again and created another glowing ball of energy.
'Don't do this.' Tony heard himself say.
Dragon didn't turn around; instead he slowly stepped toward the struggling man. His eyes wide with horror.
'Please Iron Man, I have family, don't let them kill me.' He screamed.
'Stop this!' Tony yelled.
Dragon continued walking toward the horrified man.
All that met them were laughs from the men who surrounded them, Tony couldn't help him, he couldn't help himself, he struggled against the men holding him.
'Don't worry, this will be over soon.' Dragon smirked at the man on the ground.
He pressed the ball of energy to the man's forehead, and just as Tony had before, the man collapsed to the ground in agony, he screamed and thrashed. He pleaded and cried.
'Stop it!' Tony yelled but he couldn't break free. The weight of his dead suit, and exhausted limbs jarred his movements.
Dragon remained unmoving, palm pressed firmly to the man's head.
'Stop!' Tony repeated, he couldn't watch, the man thrashed in agony, Tony sympathised, he knew how painful it was, 'please!'
Rick stepped in front of Tony and looked down at him with pity, 'the simplest weakness of a hero,' he laughed and without warning slammed his fist into Tony's jaw.
Tony's head was thrown backwards with such force he nearly lost consciousness, he felt a pool of blood well up in his mouth.
'I'm going to kill you.' He hissed up at Rick who looked down at him grinning.
Rick took another swing and met with Tony's jaw again.
He spat out the blood which was forming.
The man under Dragons touch screamed louder and louder.
Tony felt the armour become less heavy, he didn't know how, but he somehow gained control of it and mustered up enough energy to fire the unibeam from his chest, Rick and the two men holding him down were thrown away form him by the force. He felt the pain from the reactor spread through his body, get up, he hissed to himself.
Dragon's eyes snapped to Tony, anger flared across his face, the older man was momentarily spared.
Tony found his feet, the suit was functional again, he had no idea how much power he was running on, no idea how long the reactor would hold up before he dropped dead.
'You're beginning to agitate me now Mr Stark.' Dragon muttered through clenched teeth.
Tony managed a grin, 'what can I say, I don't follow orders well.' The palm repulsors were back online, he threw his hands up and shocked Dragon with the force at which they hit him.
He stammered backwards, Tony's chest screamed in pain, fight it, he scolded himself, keep moving.
The older man scrambled to his knees and took refuge behind a nearby pump.
Tony looked around at the men who had their weapons drawn, guns, lots of guns. He knew his armour would protect him but it would definitely be an inconvenience.
He powered up the mini missiles and fired them, they were all taken out.
Rick got to his feet and made his way to Dragon who shook his head, 'you continue to disappoint me.'
Tony shrugged.
'You think those men meant anything to me, they're just there for looks.' Dragon said with a smirk.
He slammed his fists together and the familiar ball of energy formed. Tony's suit still wasn't flight ready he looked at him like a stunned deer in headlights. Another blast to his suit and the reactor would fail.
Before he could make a move, a blast from above slammed into Dragon; Tony looked up to the sky, S.H.I.E.L.D's jet hovered above the gas station. Dragon's body was thrown with such force Tony's couldn't see where he went.
The jet's engines kicked up the dirt around them and plunged them into blinding darkness. Tony shielded his eyes and dropped to his knees, he looked across the ground for any sign of Rick or Dragon. He couldn't see anything, he couldn't breathe, he covered his mouth in hopes of protecting himself from inhaling the debris.
Another blast from the jet above him, and another, his heart rate sped up, was this really happening, against all odds he was going to walk away from this mess, he tried to slow his breathing down.
Moments later the jet landed on the road and the dust began to settle quickly. He heard the shuffling of boots against the dusty ground coming toward him.
'Get him out of here, you three come with me.' Natasha yelled through the dust. 'Stark?'
Tony stood up slowly, his head was spinning and his chest was aching.
'Right here.' He managed through the coughing which wracked his body.
As the dust settled, his eyes rejoiced at the woman who broke through the dust, she grinned at him, 'lone gunslinger thing working for you?'
Tony laughed; despite the pain in his chest and the blinding pain in his head.
'Come on.' She motioned for him to follow; the three agents she brought with her helped him to the waiting jet.
She stood above him with her arms crossed, 'you ok?'
He looked up at her, exhaustion finally catching up with him; he nodded weakly, 'did you reboot my suit?'
She nodded, 'Rhodey told me you ran into some problems, when I couldn't get through to you and Jarvis was shut down I traced the output signal of your suit.'
'Thanks.' He breathed.
'You should have called me.' She knelt down in front of him.
He looked at her intently.
No snide remarks, no sarcastic grin, only genuine concern.
'Couldn't put others in danger, not because of my mess.' He said simply.
'You know that's what a team does, right?' She asked incredulously.
Tony smiled weakly, 'yeah, not when the mess is mine to clean up.'
She shook her head, 'your mess is our mess, we solve problems and look out for each other, that's the way it is, we take the good with the bad, why won't you let anyone help you?'
Tony opened his mouth to reply.
'And don't say because you don't want to put anyone in danger.' She interrupted.
Tony nodded, and smirked at her, 'well I was going to say, I want all the credit and my name in flashing lights when I do something awesome.'
She shook her head and smiled back at him, 'your name is in flashing lights and as much as that would have been an acceptable response from the Tony Stark I met four years ago, I don't believe that from the Tony Stark I'm looking at right now.'
Her eyes saw right through him, he sighed, he knew she was the one person he could never fool.
'You should have your own act in Vegas.' He said dryly, 'Natasha, the mind reader.'
She raised her eyebrows at him, 'sarcastic banter to hide the truth doesn't work on me.'
'I know it doesn't.' he said flatly.
'Jarvis should be up and running again,' She stood up and nodded toward the handcuffed prisoners, 'I'll see if we can get anything from his men,' Natasha playfully roughed Tony's hair, 'don't worry, we'll find them.'
Tony laughed softly, 'I know, get an extra watch on Pepper, and the house.'
She nodded, a few phone calls later and several demanding exchanges with the people on the other end of the line she smirked, 'perks of being intimidating.'
Tony laughed, 'you've got that down to a fine art.'
'Years of practice, it's the Russian influence.' She quipped, 'extra watch has been enforced on the Malibu house, and the tower in New York, Pepper will be safe.'
Tony knew she kept her word, but he couldn't help the nagging feeling which made his chest tighten and the searing pain which ripped through his body was now a dull ache, he clutched the reactor in his chest. Something definitely didn't feel right, he couldn't tell whether it was the injuries he'd sustained or something more that was worrying him.
Natasha was back beside him, she took his wrist in her hand, 'your heart is racing, we need to get you checked out.'
He nodded, he felt lightheaded and nauseous. He leaned back against the seat and tried to focus on his breathing.
'The magnetic pulse he was using threw my heart out of rhythm.' He breathed.
'An EMP?' Natasha asked still holding onto his wrist.
He shook his head weakly, 'no, this was much more powerful, it felt a lot like the neuron stabilizer, but heavily modified.'
The words coming out of his mouth sounded too surreal to be true, he closed his eyes against the pressure which threatened to render him unconscious.
'How is that even possible?' Her voice was full of concern.
'No idea, they must have had someone brilliant working for them, Dragon is powerful, but he doesn't strike me as the intellectual type.' Tony grimaced, speaking was a struggle.
'And that threw your reactor out of whack?' She asked.
'The reactor works on a specific magnetic wavelength, whatever he uses countered it.' He let out a soft groan.
'Ok, hang in there; do you need a new reactor?' She asked.
Tony nodded weakly, 'call Pepper, she'll know what to do.'
'Ok, I'll call her.' Natasha agreed.
Tony's eyes shot open, he quickly grabbed her wrist, 'escort her yourself, please.'
She nodded, 'I will, don't worry.'
He nodded weakly.
The hum of the jet was soothing, he forced himself to stay awake and Natasha did her best to keep him awake. They talked about the mission, the formula which was at the centre of it all, the men who took Pepper and the man who nearly destroyed Tony.
All he could think about was the vision Dragon had injected into his mind; the flames and the screaming, the pain, it felt so real. He knew it wasn't, but the terror which subdued him and brought him to his knees was real.
If anything ever happened to Pepper because of him, because of Extremis and Iron Man, he was done. He wasn't doing this anymore. If this crusade for the greater good cost him the one thing he couldn't live without, he wasn't interested in doing it anymore.
'We're taking you to the Mercy, it'll keep S.H.I.E.L.D off your radar.' Natasha announced.
Tony nodded, good idea. He finally closed his eyes, he couldn't believe he was alive.
Let me know what you think, I hope the fight scene there wasn't too difficult to follow...sometiems I get carried away and it becomes a little messy :)
As for the little naughty scene from the previous chapter, I think I will write a little more detailed version, as one of you lovely readers agreed :)