"Help is coming," the purple people eater informed him solemnly.
No, that wasn't right. The purple being seemed vaguely familiar but he couldn't remember. His mind had performed a hard shutdown a while back and he'd seen no reason to try restarting it.
Then the being vanished from his sight, though he could hear it saying, "He is here. The police will be needed."
Something about that statement seemed like it should elicit a reaction. He felt nothing, even as there was a burst of activity behind him, the sound of feet and voices and a whirring that sent a shot of reassurance through him.
Before he could dissect that reflex, the people were surrounding him, the bed was moving slightly away from the wall, there were flashing lights and voices that addressed him in a torrent of words that he couldn't interpret quickly enough.
It was loud and overwhelming and he began to panic, his chest heaving faster than he could draw in air even though someone had removed the muzzle. He clenched his eyes shut and turned away from the light, his mouth moving as he tried to form the words that would make it stop.
"Too much," he whispered finally, then repeated himself. "Too much, too much, too much-"
The whirring stopped with a clank and a new voice rose above the chaos. "Shut up and give him some space," it commanded.
Mercifully, the noise level dropped immediately, though his heart still raced and it remained difficult to breathe.
"You, taking the photos, you two with the medkit, and one of you to take notes. You can stay. Everybody else out."
He only vaguely understood the words. Then the owner of the voice stepped into his view and he recognized him with a sudden spark of insight. "Rhodey."
"Tony," Rhodey said gently, remaining out of the way until the straps holding his upper body immobile were removed. Then he was there, helping him sit up, coaching him through taking slower breaths.
But the shreds of memory that were coming back had him panicking anew and he buried his face in Rhodey's shoulder in humiliation at what he remembered. He would have clutched his friend, but his arms remained immobilized in the casts and he was too weak to move them.
Rhodey remained within reach as the others worked to free him from the restraints and the casts and then tended his various wounds. "How long?" Tony asked dully as one of the arm casts was removed to reveal the partially healed wounds around his wrist.
"You've been incommunicado for six weeks. I'm so sorry I didn't realize something was wrong sooner. I didn't think anything about not hearing from you until one of your lawyers contacted me and Pepper about not being able to get in touch with you."
"They wouldn't have let you realize sooner. Unless..." His eyes narrowed. "What do you know?"
The confusion on Rhodey's face was honest. "What are you talking about? Who's 'they'?"
"Where's Hill?" he demanded.
"Hill? She's at the compound, like always. Why? Tony, what's going on?"
"Mr. Stark, I need to move you onto your stomach so we can see to these sores," one of the medical people said.
He chuckled darkly. "That's not the best position for my condition," he said snidely. "Didn't you look at whatever records they had on your way in here?"
"I'll take a look," the other medical person said, hurrying out of the room.
"Tony, what's going on?" Rhodey demanded.
Quick footsteps returned. "It says he's with child, about sixteen weeks along," the second person said with disbelief.
"But-" Rhodey started.
"You mean they didn't tell you that one of the perks of team membership is having a turn to knock up the resident billionaire? Congratulations, now you're in on the Avengers' dirty little secret," Tony said.
"That's-that's inhuman," Rhodey protested.
"Talk to Natasha if you don't believe me. Or ask Rogers about our twins. I think he gets to see them. I never have."
"Oh my God," Rhodey said weakly. "You, taking notes, get Agent Romanoff."
Tony sighed and drooped against Rhodey's chest, exhausted from the adrenaline and all of the unaccustomed movement. The medical types helped him shift onto his side so they could deal with the sores.
Rhodey interrogated Romanoff in a low tone as soon as she appeared and did not seem to like what he heard. "How could you allow this?" he demanded, raising his voice. She responded quietly so Tony couldn't hear her, but whatever she said was enough that Rhodey didn't yell again and allowed her to approach the bed.
"I need it gone," Tony said to her.
She nodded once. "Are you willing to go to a hospital?"
He shuddered. "No, it's bad enough that the police are involved."
"We'll have people sent to you. Here or at the compound?"
"Here is safer once I get Friday back online. Hill?"
She grimaced. "Gone to ground. The medical staff have all been arrested, along with the security personnel."
"It's a start," he said with a sigh. "Are all of the new recruits in the dark, or just Rhodey?"
"All of them. I thought your negotiations with Hill meant you were done."
"So did I, and then I realized... I was going to take care of it, but Hill happened."
"I'm sorry," she said simply and he knew she meant it.