Ch 9: Please Be Ok

No no no nononono

Oh fuck, oh fuck. Everything was fucked.

How could this happen? How could she screw up this badly?

Corvin laid prone on the floor, her breathing coming fast and labored. The pain was strong, every part of her throbbed with every beat of her heart. She wished she could scream, or cry, but all that would come out were little pitiful whines that sounded choked off.

Her head hurt so bad and her vision was shot to shit as well. She could feel something hot and wet soaking into her fur under her, and it didn't take a genius to know what it was.

She could see Tony from where she was laid, blinking through the dark spots in her vision.

He was moving, slowly and obviously in pain. Sweat dripped down his forehead and soaked his shirt until it stuck to his skin. The hole where the reactor once was sat deeply in his chest and made her's ache in sympathy.

He was crawling towards her on his hands, eyes wide and locked onto her form. She could hear the choking sounds coming from deep in his throat as he battled the pain in order to come to her.

He made it, thumping down beside her on the wood flooring with a pained noise. Shaking fingers coming to cart through her fur as she continued to whine in pain.

God, this man was unreal. Even as he was literally dying, he was trying to comfort her. It was both awful and moving. She could feel a burn behind her eyes that didn't come from pain. Feeling his care and knowing it was his last to give.

"It's ok, it's ok, baby," he murmured, his skin waxy and pale. "Everything is going to be ok."

This wasn't fair! This wasn't fair.

It's her fault and she was so so sorry.

Tony wasn't supposed to die like this, he was supposed to live a long time, meet the Avengers, save the world and be happy with Pepper and his kid. But thanks to her, he didn't even get a chance to become Iron Man.

Tears leaked from the edges of her eyes and her breathing rattled in her chest as she sobbed, the sounds coming out in huffs.

This was wrong, why did this happen? Why did she try to help, why didn't she look before coming in? Choose a different thing to do or come up with a better plan? Stane took the only chance Tony had to live and now he was dying and it was her fault.

Her body burned, she was unworthy of the comfort Tony was giving her. She raged against the world and she cursed herself for her stupidity.

If only he had another reactor, if only she hadn't fucking dropped the first one, if only if only if only-

Blood pounded through her head as her heart thumped wildly in her chest, clouding her blacked out vision with red as it rushed behind her eyes. She was consumed by the burning fire of her rage and self-loathing, wishing with every atom in her body that Tony would be ok please be ok-

She would do anything, give anything, for him to be ok.

She heard Tony take a sharp, deep breath of air. Like a drowning man surfacing for air.

The sound startled her enough that she was able to push past the red haze and peer at Tony through blurry eyes.

There was a light shining in his chest.

An arc reactor sat in a familiar triangular metal casing, the light shining brightly to her like a candle in the void.

The relief that filled her was all-consuming, dousing out the pain for a moment of temporary bliss.

She didn't know how this happened, but she was thanking everything in the universe that it did, chanting thank you thank you thank you in her mind over and over.

Tony would live, God he would live.

"Licorice…" Tony breathed, also thrown from what happened. A spontaneously appearing arc reactor when he was certain he was going to die was enough to short circuit any brain.

Whatever conclusion that would have been made was stalled when Rhodey came in.

"Tony! Tony!" the man screamed, running into the room looking frazzled and panicked. He visibly sagged in relief as soon as he spotted Tony.

"Wh-Where is Pepper?" Tony croaked out.

"She and 6 other agents went to arrest Stane." the man moved forward, down the steps and across the floor.

Tony huffed out a breath, "That won't be enough, Rhodey. He has an armored suit. He'll tear right through them."

"Shit, Tony. We need to tell someone."

"No! No, I'm not waiting, I'm headed out now. Rhodey, I need you to look after Licorice Stick, contact Happy and get her to a vet asap." The other man looked down.

"Holy shit, Tones. What the hell happened?"

"Obadiah smashed her into the floor, I-I don't know how injured she is, but he used a lot of force."

"That's a lot of blood, Tony." Rhodey said, worriedly.

"I know!" the engineer practically screamed, panic taking over his voice. "I know, I know ok. I just- please Rhodey. Please help me." His voice lowered dramatically, but the panicked edge was still there as he pleaded with his friend.

"Ok man," Rhodes nodded, he grabbed both of Tony's shoulders in his hands. "I'll take the cat. And you! You go out there, and you kick his ass, you hear? And then you come back, I expect you to be right back here." Tony gave his friend a watery, but determined nod.

Turning to Corvin, he placed a quick kiss to her forehead, and then turned around and ran down to the workshop.

Corvin barely saw his foot pass the door's threshold before she fell unconscious. At least when asleep, she felt no pain.

Tony on the other hand was all rage and bitterness. A fire was lit under his feet and behind his eyes, flaring so bright he burned. His heart hurt both literally and figuratively. His closest father-figure that he's had since that awful night when he was 21 years old. Obadiah - no- Stane had betrayed him. Cut him so deep it felt like he'd bleed out, the grief choking him like blood in his lungs.

But he couldn't let it, wouldn't let it. Because it wasn't just him anymore.

It was Pepper, it was Rhodey, it was Jarvis, and it was his baby girl Licorice Stick. He was going for the people Tony loved dearly, a transgression that would never be forgiven or forgotten.

And Stane was about to get an ass kicking of a lifetime.

Tony suited up and took to the skies, headed towards the Stark Industries building, Jarvis rattling off statistics in his ear.

He arrived just in time to smash Stane's ass into the ground.

Metal fists flew faster than the eye could see as he rapid fire hit the gunmetal gray armor in the face plates. Adrenaline pumped through his veins like liquid fire, burning away the pain from the displaced shrapnel and wiping away any hesitation he would have felt hitting Stane not even a day earlier.

His suit was powered up, the energy levels beyond anything he'd ever seen. The arc reactor within his chest, the one that appeared out of nowhere (reminder: freak out later) hummed with an energy that crackled through his chest and left the lingering taste of coconuts on his tongue.

His repulsors sizzled with heat as he shot at Stane, the blasts more powerful than before, leaving gaping holes and scorched metal instead of dents and scratches.

Stane got inventive after that, throwing things at Tony from a distance. Including people.

Panic gripped Tony as he saw a car fly at him, with a family still inside. He was able to catch it, his suit's inner mechanisms whirling in strain from the added weight. He was able to set them down in time to catch the next person, and the next, and the next, and the next.

Tony screamed in rage as he saw a kid launched through the air, firing up his boots to fly over and catch the little boy as gently as he could. He deposited the crying child in an alleyway, telling him to stay low and stay hidden until the fight was over.

The rage within Tony was burning hotter than ever as he raced back into the fight, crashing into Stane before he could grab another person. He clawed at seames and ripped off anything he could close his fists around, all the while Stane flailed and smashed his suit's fists into his body.

The pain was secondary to the all-consuming rage and determination to succeed. He kept going, hitting, smashing and ripping until Stane's suit was a pile of scrap metal and burned wires. The man inside looked little better.

Tony gnashed his teeth together as he stared down at the other man, his hands itching to punch him one more time; to strike flesh instead of metal, to break bones instead of glass, to rip and tear through his body instead of lifeless wires and plates. But he stayed his hand.

He would not become a monster because of this man. He wouldn't let Stane take away another piece of himself.

Instead, Tony removed him from the suit and tied him up, destroying the remains of the suit so that nothing remained, just a charred pile of rubbish.

Jarvis was in his ear then, informing him about the agents on the way. Tony did wait around, taking to the sky.

Tony headed back to his house.

He was ready for answers.