"They don't want you." The voice that fills Tony's nightmares returns as it always does when he sleeps. "They don't need you." It changes to Pepper's voice. "I don't need you." The voice changes again. This time it's Howard. "You'll never be more than a shadow of me." Images fill his head to accompany the voice. "This is a piece of shit." Howard screams toppling Tony's biggest accomplishment of his then five years of life to the ground. "I can't believe you allowed him to fucking destroy my stuff, Maria." Howard had screamed no once acknowledging Tony cowering under the kitchen table.
The scene and voice shifts to Fury. "You're not qualified to be an Avenger."
Tony jolts awake, he glances at the clock. He'd barely made it ten minutes. Not wanting to go down memory lane again, he heads to his shop. He might as well do something with his hands.
"Has anyone seen Tony? I want to borrow a couple of things from him." Natasha asks the assembled Avengers in their common living room.
"He's made it clear he doesn't want to see us." Steve says dismissively. "He's probably in his private quarters."
"I was just there. I knocked for almost three minutes before I decided to just break in. He's not in there."
"You check his lab?" Banner asks while eating a diabetes haven amount of chocolate and other sweets.
"It's locked."
"He's in there then."
"I asked Jarvis to scan for life forms and he informed me no one was inside."
"Maybe he went back to Malibu." Steve says with a shrug.
"Where is my son?" Before Natasha was able to push her issue, Howard burst into the room a frantic look in his eyes.
"We were just telling Natasha, he's most likely in his lab." Steve answers slightly cautious confused by Howard's behavior.
"Has anyone seen him in the last twenty minutes?" Howard demands.
"No, I was just looking for him." Natasha provides.
"Call nine one one." Howard barks at Steve. He then turns to Natasha. "I need you to get me into my son's lab now. No questions asked about how you do it. Just do it. I can't explain why I need you too either."
"Is Tony in danger?" Steve asks, not sure of what nine one one is. Because of Steve's lack of action, Banner picks up the phone and dials the emergency hotline.
"He might be." Howard says, already following Natasha toward Tony's lab, the rest of the avengers follow behind.
"What kind of response am I asking for?" Bruce asks Howard timidly.
"Ambulance." Howard says gruffly. "Someone get ahold of Ms. Potts and have her handle downstairs. No one is to know the reason that ambulance is coming. Have Ms. Potts issue an official statement saying that the ambulance was dispatched for a lab accident in the R&D labs downstairs. While Howard has been ordering Bruce around, the Avengers have traveled to Tony's lab door.
"Tony, open up now." Howard demands banging on the door giving his son fair warning before he looks to Natasha to open the door. She does so by disabling the electronics, it takes her five minutes. In perfect timing, Banner informs the others that the ambulance has arrived on the ground level. Howard however doesn't wait for this news, he's already inside his son's lab. His weary old eyes scan the room for any sign of his son. The room is pitch black, Thor manages to find the light switch. The light helps immensely and within seconds Natasha has spotted Tony in the back corner of his lab on a couch. Howard rushes forward, his hand flying to Tony's neck to check for a pulse. His eyes taking in the sight of needles and empty drug bottles. Tony's veins bulge unnaturally and it appears he vomited before he passed out.
"Damn it, kid." Howard cusses, his mind flashing back to when Tony was fifteen years old and tried a similar stunt. Howard had thought for sure he'd lost his son back then and he damn near did. Tony's much worse now, the bottles beside him only prove that, Tony had a plan. Howard barks at Banner to tell the paramedics to hurry up, knowing that they don't have much time to help Tony.
"What's wrong with the Man of Iron?" Thor asks, looking to Natasha for an answer.
"He's sick, very very sick." Natasha says her trained eyes recognizing a lethal dose of drugs when they see one. She has little hope that Tony will survive.
"What are we waiting for. We must get him medical attention."
"Medical will be here any minute." Natasha assures Thor as a worried look settles in on his face. Time seems to drag as they wait for the paramedics that the security office assures them are in the elevator. When the distinct ding of the elevator goes off, they all turn to see a team of five medics rush off. Four rush to Tony, while the fifth engages in conversation with Howard.
"How long has he been in comatose state?"
"We found him five minutes ago, but I have reason to believe it's been twenty."
"Is this what he took?" The paramedic asks motioning to the bottles on the floor.
"I assume so."
"Any past incidents?" Here Howard pauses, no one outside of his family and their family doctor had known of Tony's previous incidents.
"Two drug overdoses as an attempt at suicide when he was a teenager, and one other attempt by different means. There is about a twenty year gap, I'm not sure about though."
"One overdose and a severe addiction to alcohol." Pepper informs the paramedic as she walks into the situation. "The overdose was accidental while he was at a party, but he had to be hospitalized."
The paramedic nods jotting down notes on a piece of paper. She looks over to her counterparts who have now loaded Tony onto the stretcher and are wheeling him toward the elevator. "Come with me." She instructs both Howard and Pepper. The two wordlessly follow, leaving four very stunned Avengers behind them.