Once again, thanks for the last comments, I always enjoy getting feedback! So, in this chapter Tony has to deal with his failing reactor - also some action is going on. Have fun and feel free to let me know what you think about it :)

Chapter 11

"Get down!" Romanoff screamed, dragging Pepper to the ground with her.

Shards rained down clanging on both of them, where a bullet had shattered the window. Exactly where Pepper had been standing seconds before.

No, not now of all times, Tony thought. Not now, when there was nothing he could do.

Romanoff jumped up and drew her gun. "We've got to get out of here! I saw at least fifteen men outside! Probably more."

"Ten Rings?" asked Rhodey, full of dark foreboding.

"Yes," Romanoff answered curtly, coming up to Tony and Rhodey while Pepper, shock written all over her face, sat up.

"And again… What have you done?!" Romanoff yelled at Tony.

However, Tony couldn't answer, the reactor was already flaring up again, and the stabbing pain in his chest reached a horrifying scale. The next thing he saw was the floor - on which he was lying. Rhodey had bent over him.

"I told you to stay in the house and keep your feet still until we found out more!", Romanoff yelled angrily. "And how the hell did you even manage to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.?!"

Tony groaned and tried to sit up. Immediately Rhodey and Romanoff grabbed him under the armpits and helped him up.

"Shouting won't help now," Rhodey interfered. "Let's focus on a way out."

"Jarvis, how many are they?" Romanoff ignored him.

"I register twenty men," Jarvis replied. "They're approaching the house from all sides."

"Then let's get down to the cars. We've got to get Stark out of here."

More shots rang out, glass shattered, and everyone ducked. Tony felt terribly sick. Romanoff's bad mood was justified. They were here because of him. The surviving terrorists in Afghanistan had to have informed Raza and his people here in America. It was very likely that they knew he had been hit by one of those magnets and had been incapacitated accordingly. And now they were taking advantage of that by attacking him - and those who were here with him.

"Let's go!" Romanoff urged them on, waving Pepper over, who was still sitting on the floor.

"Wait!" Tony shouted in a weak voice. "I have something important to tell you. My reactor, I think the problem -"

Another shot rang out and Romanoff pulled Tony with him.

"No time for that! We've got to get out of here first!"

The small squad started moving, Romanoff taking the lead. Outside, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents appeared to be engaged in a fierce battle with the terrorists. Numerous shots were fired and quite a few screams told them that some of them must have hit their target.

Supported by Rhodey and Romanoff, Tony dragged himself forward. His legs almost wouldn't support him, he was completely powerless and exhausted, and his heart was beating painfully fast.

Then - something else flew in front of them through a shattering window.

"Grenade!" Rhodey shouted just when it exploded violently before them.

Hit by the force, Tony was flung through the air, then remained lying down. Thick, black smoke surrounded him, making it impossible for him to see anything. The terrorists would be coming in any moment; they had already sent their welcome. Irritated, Tony still lay there. He didn't know if he was hurt or if one of the others had been hit. Only one thing was significant right now. The reactor. And the stabbing pain in his chest.

"Tony!"

Rhodey's voice was close to his ear. Tony could have sworn his eyes were open, but all he saw was blackness. Was he just about to pass out?

"Come on!" Rhodey shouted, tugging at him, but Tony was unable to sit up. The pain in his chest was overwhelming.

"Damn it, Tony!"

Rhodey gave him a couple of hefty slaps, yelled at him, and continued tugging. And indeed - dimly, he gradually recognized the Colonel's face in front of him again.

"Rho -"

"Get up!" his friend said once again. "We've got to get to the workshop!"

The smoke billowed through the room, unperturbed, fortunately for them. Just as they couldn't see anything, neither could their opponents. Rhodey lifted his friend up and then dragged him more than that he supported him. Tony's heart raced and he felt the painful throbbing in every fiber of his body.

"There's Stark! He's here!" a voice yelled directly in front of them.

Without waiting, Rhodey drew his own gun and fired three times. The figure collapsed and Tony could tell the man was dead as they made their way past him.

It seemed the room had become a war zone. Screams and gunshots rang out from all corners, but no one could see anything.

"Pepper," Tony groaned, clawing harder at Rhodey.

"Romanoff is with her," Rhodey explained curtly.

A loud bang sounded behind them, followed by another shock wave; the whole house shook.

They had almost reached the stairs down to the workshop. But what about the others? Were they already downstairs or still in the midst of the commotion? Or even dead? Rhodey let go of him and peered down the stairs with his gun raised. Tony began to sway.

"The coast is clear, I think!" he called over his shoulder. "Follow me!"

Tony didn't follow. The reactor flared again, then died. Tony stopped and saw Rhodey turning to face him. For a moment, they both just looked into each other's eyes. Then the world dissolved into pain and Tony heard nothing but his own screams and the frantic pounding of his heart in his buzzing ears.

When he opened his eyes, the reactor was shining. He was on the floor again, but now right in front of the stairs, Rhodey must have dragged him on.

"We're almost there, Tony!"

It would have been great. Except, all Tony could feel was, that there was no way he was going to make it. His body felt like an empty, useless shell - out of order. With the greatest effort, he somehow got back on his feet. Only the stairs... impossible.

"Here," Rhodey said, as if reading his mind, reaching his arm toward him.

Rhodey put Tony's arm around his shoulder, held his hand there, and then almost carried Tony down the stairs. The smoke lessened, and at the down there, the view was completely clear.

Rhodey entered the code to the workshop and hurried on. The others were not there...

"Wait," Tony gasped. "Pepper... Romanoff... And what about Happy?"

"We don't have time."

"No... we have to… go back... Pepper"

"She will be fine. Romanoff is with her."

"No."

Tony started a pathetic attempt to break free, but he had no strength and Rhodey probably didn't even notice. But no, he couldn't let Pepper left behind! It was his fault that the terrorists had come. They wanted him. What if Pepper got shot? If only he could use the suit.

Stopping in front of Tony's Audi A8, Rhodey carefully let him go.

"Hold on!" he said forcefully, guiding Tony's hands to the roof of the car. Tony didn't know how long he could hold himself upright.

"Where are the keys?" Rhodey shouted, snapping his fingers in front of Tony's face as the faint feeling clouded him.

"On... on the..." Tony muttered. He pointed toward the desk and held onto the car even tighter to keep from tipping over. Rhodey sprinted off.

Sweat beads were dripping from Tony's forehead, and he knew the reactor would fail any minute again. Full of fear, he stood there on shaky legs, waiting for the pain to set in any moment. But he needed to tell Rhodey what he had found out before it was too late. His life depended on it.

"Rhodey..." Tony gasped weakly.

Too weakly. Rhodey didn't respond, he was just rummaging on the messy desk. Tony watched as Rhodey then hurried back, car keys in hand, unlocking the car on the way.

"Rhodey..."

"Get in, come on!"

"Rhodey, listen..."

"Get in the damn car!"

"Rhodey, my leg!" Tony said again, trying to stay conscious with all his willpower. "My leg... you've got to look at my leg... the right one... it's about -"

"Tony! Get in the fucking car now!"

Tony didn't get in. The reactor stopped.

"Rhodey..."

There was something pleading in Tony's voice and the Colonel immediately knew that something was wrong. He turned around just in time to see Tony - now pale as a corpse - coughing up blood and then collapsing.

"N-no!" Rhodey groaned, stumbling over to his friend, and dropping to the floor beside him.

Tony had lost consciousness, and this time slapping him in the face did not help. Tony didn't respond. With trembling fingers, Rhodey groped for Tony's neck. He still had pulse. His heart was racing like a sewing machine. The reactor didn't lighten up again. The lights stayed off. The reactor didn't restart...

"Fuck!" Rhodey screamed, looking around for help in sheer panic. But there was no one. He could still hear noise, screams and gunfire from above, but it would take too much time until he found Romanoff or any of the others... if they were even alive...

"Damn it, Tony, what do you want me to do?", he muttered, shaking Tony, whose shirt was spattered all over with blood. So the shrapnel were now inexorably approaching his heart, and certainly faster than by Jarvis' initial prediction. Had one of the splinters already hit an organ? Was that why Tony had been spitting up blood?

"What are you doing?!" a voice suddenly called out.

Rhodey startled, drew his gun and looked up.

"Coulson?"

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was running toward them. Also with a gun in his hand.

"Get him into the car, come on! What are you waiting for?!"

"Y-yah."

Rhodey threw the car keys to Coulson, lifted Tony into the back seat, and sat down beside him. Coulson started the engine and drove off with squealing tires.

"Where did you come from?" Rhodey asked.

"I've never really been away," Coulson replied calmly, driving the car out of the workshop. "How is the situation back there?"

"He... his pulse seems to be blasting out of normal range, and the arc reactor is still off!"

"If it doesn't restart, his heart will probably stop any moment."

Shots hit the side of the car and the two instinctively slid deeper into the seats. Coulson's driving became more rapid, some terrorists had turned their attention to them, although they were in the middle of a bloody battle with the agents. It was only a few yards to the estate's exit.

"Make way," Coulson said quietly, heading straight for three terrorists who immediately dove to the side.

Rhodey's head slammed painfully against the front seat as the car broke through the gates and entered the street. Dazed for a moment, he sat there, staring out the window, until he realized Coulson was talking to him.

"...Talk to me, Colonel! Hey, can you hear me? Is Stark still alive?"

"Wha -? Y-yes."

Rhodey composed himself and stared down at Tony. Coulson was driving like a maniac, not making it easy for Rhodey to keep his balance. He got into a useless rush. Rhodey began to curse loudly to himself, but then his fingers finally found Tony's neck.

"So?" Coulson called to the back.

Rhodey felt for a pulse.

"His heart... it's not beating!" Rhodey shouted back, and now all sweat his body ever seemed to have stored broke out.

Coulson dashed around a bend and glanced in the rearview mirror. But it didn't look like they were being followed. Then everything just seemed like to be in trance for Rhodey. He couldn't believe it. Tony Stark was dead...

But then he suddenly remembered what Tony had said. My leg... you have to look at my leg... the right one... His leg? What had Tony meant by that?

Rhodey's hands felt for Tony's leg, but it seemed perfectly fine. He pulled himself together and ripped the pant leg from the bottom to the knee. Coulson's driving style still didn't make it easy for him.

He twisted Tony's leg back and forth and lowered his head further to see better. There's nothing, he thought in panic. Goddamnit, there's nothing...

Or was it? Rhodey gripped Tony's leg as tightly as he could to keep it still. Yes, there was something! Reddened skin, just a small spot, and in its center something even smaller, it looked like a slightly thicker, short needle, barely visible to the naked eye. Rhodey bent down low, then grabbed the needle with his hand and pulled gently. The needle came loose, revealing something at its end that looked a bit like a miniature button battery.

Whatever it was, it was out now. Rhodey's gaze darted up to Tony's chest, but the reactor was still off.

"Son of a bitch! Get started!" he yelled at the reactor.

Desperately, he stared down at Tony. Dead. He was dead.

Then the reactor did flare up again. Lit up and died, lit up and died. And then finally, it stayed on. It lit up again with full power and consistency. But had it been too late?

Rhodey bent down to Tony's head and suddenly felt a violent rush of adrenaline inside him.

"Breathing!" he shouted. "He's breathing again! So..." He felt for a heartbeat. "Yes! He's back! His heart's beating!"

Coulson blew out a gush of air and then said, completely matter-of-factly: "Good."

Gradually Rhodey felt his body again and relief spread through him. However, would the reactor stay on now? Rhodey clutched the small something in his hand. Whatever it was, it had obviously been responsible for the failures.

For now, the most important thing was that Tony was alive. He just hoped it hadn't been too late. Had he gotten his heart going again quickly enough, or had too much time passed? Was there permanent damage? Too much oxygen deprivation in the brain for too long? Had the shrapnel moved too far already?

And what about Pepper, Happy and Romanoff? Were they injured? Were they still alive?

Pepper opened her eyes and saw nothing but blurry colors and shapes. Her head ached as if someone was drilling her brain. She blinked a few times. Things in front of her became clearer. She was lying on the floor, rubble and dust around her. With a start, she sat up.

"Oh my God..." she said in horror.

There was a huge hole in the wall of Tony's house, revealing even more rubble inside the building. The destruction was unmissable.

Pepper looked up and stared into Romanoff's face. There was a gash on her forehead, and blood ran down her face, which she casually wiped away with her arm.

"Are you okay?" the agent asked, holding out a hand to her.

"I think so", Pepper said unsure, allowing herself to be helped up.

"That will have to do for now", Romanoff replied.

Pepper nodded and wiped some dirt off herself.

"Where's Tony?" she asked, letting her gaze slide over the battlefield.

All Pepper could think about was him. She just had to know if he was alive and what had happened to the reactor.

"I don't know", Romanoff answered.

Pepper still felt a bit dazed. Apparently, she had been unconscious for a moment and her head was throbbing. Despite this, she sensed the uneasiness that Romanoff's "I don't know" caused in her. She continued to look around, hoping to catch sight of Tony somewhere. But there was no sign of him. There were many ambulances outside the house, taking care of injured S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, while police officers were going from one to the other, asking questions and apparently trying to make sense of it all.

It looked like some of the terrorists had been arrested. The expressions on the faces of the police officers suggested so at least. A couple of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents conferred with each other a few steps away.

"Better you get a medical check," Romanoff said, pointing at Pepper's head. "But don't talk to the police. We'll have to sell them a different story later."

Without objection, Pepper followed her advice and headed for one of the ambulances. The sun was low, how many hours had passed? She waved to one of the paramedics.

"Alright, let me take a look," one of them called out, having seen her wave, and maneuvered her to an ambulance.

Pepper sat down at the back of the ambulance and had her head palpated.

"Do you have any discomfort? Pain, disorientation, double vision?" he asked, attaching a large band-aid to her temple, and checking her pupillary reflexes.

"Just a headache," Pepper said, still distracted by her search for Tony and Rhodey. "But I know who I am and where I am. Apart from the pain everything seems okay."

"That's good. Mild concussion, I suspect. We'd take you to the hospital as a purely precaution, though."

"No, thank you."

The paramedic gave her a scrutinizing look. "You sure you don't want to go to the hospital? It would be best."

Pepper shook her head and stood up.

"Have you seen Tony Stark?" she asked, "Or James Rhodes? Happy Hogan?"

"I'm sorry, I haven't. Whereas Hogan... that name rings a bell. I think he's being taken care of over there."

Pepper's gaze followed the paramedic's extended index finger and sure enough - there was Happy, lying on a gurney some distance away, one leg bloody and bandaged. From the look on his face, she could see he was in pain, but it didn't look like a worse injury. A little relief came to her. She thanked the paramedic and decided to walk over to Happy.

"Potts, wait." It was Romanoff, hurriedly walking toward her. "Come with me."

Confused for a moment, she followed the agent to a black Cadillac and then took a seat next to her in the passenger seat.

"I just got off the phone with Agent Coulson. Stark and Rhodes are safe. They're alive."

A lump in Pepper's throat finally dissolved. The two had made it out safely. They were alive!

A short time later, Pepper and Romanoff arrived at a house somewhere near Los Angeles. It was in a suburb and looked totally nondescript.

"Here we are," Romanoff said, getting out of the car.

Pepper followed her to the house. Her body was tingling with excitement. She wanted one thing. Making sure Tony and Rhodey were okay. The two entered the house. It was sparsely furnished and probably served only one purpose: providing temporary shelter for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Romanoff led the way and then opened a door. Pepper entered the room after her and stopped in the doorway. There was Tony, sitting on a wooden chair next to a small round table on which he had casually rested one arm. He looked exhausted, his skin was pale and his eyes bloodshot. However, when he caught sight of Pepper, his expression changed abruptly.

"Pepper!" he exclaimed, smiling at her with such genuine delight that it warmed her heart.

She did register that Rhodey, Coulson, and two other female agents besides Romanoff were in the room with him, but she couldn't take her eyes off the man in front of her. She didn't care what the others thought - with five long strides she crossed the room and threw herself into Tony's arms.

"Jesus, Tony..." she whispered, unable to hold back a few tears of joy and relief.

She clutched Tony's neck and pressed her face into his hair. Underneath her, she felt Tony's posture relax and he snuggled up to her a little as well. He took his arms, wrapped them around Pepper's back, and gently hugged her closer.

Then she leaned back a bit and investigated his face. Tony looked at her a little puzzled, as if to ask what suddenly had gotten into his personal assistant, but Pepper laughed out loud for a moment and more tears dripped from her face.

"Tears for your long lost boss again?", he asked, and Pepper understood the allusion to the moment of his return from Afghanistan.

"Yeah, I still hate job hunting."

Tony grinned somehow sheepishly as he wiped away her tears with one hand and continued to hold her with his other arm.

"Are you feeling any better?" Pepper asked, glancing down at his chest.

She could see the reactor glowing brightly under his shirt, so that was a good sign.

"Yeah, all good," Tony said softly. "Problem solved."

Pepper realized it was far from appropriate to continue clutching Tony when she remembered they weren't alone in the room. Suddenly blushing, she brought some distance between them and wiped the last tears from her face herself. Then she threw a glance at Rhodey, who was eyeing Tony and her suspiciously. Romanoff next to him rolled her eyes and Coulson just smiled kindly as always.

"Are you hurt?" Rhodey asked, gesturing to her head.

"Nothing bad," Pepper replied.

For a moment Tony feared his heart skipped a beat again when he looked at Pepper. He'd gotten all heated up when she'd hugged him so tight. He was so relieved that nothing worse had happened to her. Just a scratch, it seemed. He was also comforted by the news of Happy being alive and not too badly hurt.

Apart from that, Tony felt weak more than anything else. His heart had briefly stopped beating, but, therefore, he wasn't doing too bad overall. His broken ribs and his shoulder hurt quite a bit from the overexertion and the wrong movement. Still - the fact that he was able to sit here halfway upright on a chair was more than fortunate. He was glad to have a smart friend like Rhodey who had understood what Tony had been trying to tell him before he had collapsed. Words could not express the gratitude Tony felt toward him.

He looked over at Rhodey, who returned his gaze with a brief smile and then went back to listening to Romanoff's narration of what had going on outside Tony's house. He was sure Rhodey understood his gratitude even without many words.

"So, please tell me, what about the reactor?" Pepper asked, now looking at him with a little more concern.

Tony pointed to a small dot on the table next to him that Pepper didn't seem to have noticed until now.

"What's that?" she asked.

"A small device that interfered with my reactor," Tony explained. "When that magnet I told you about was stuck to the outside of my armor, it must have simultaneously poked a tiny hole through it unnoticed, and poked this small device under my skin. Since I was under fire like crazy, I guess I didn't notice it."

"This magnet - as you call it," Coulson said. "it was just a diversion?"

"Yes and no. It made my armor and all the systems fail. I think this little thing here was plan B in case they couldn't get me out of the armor fast enough to kill me."

Tony took the device and slid it thoughtfully through his hands.

"It's pretty clever. That needle and that tiny thing were so small that there was no damage detectable on the outside of my body. There was no noticeable hole in my pants, no drop of blood. Besides, these two pretty ladies here…" Tony gestured and winked at the two female agents. "…found traces of local anesthetics on it. Apparently, when the device was thrust under my skin, it immediately released that anesthetic and made everything numb. That's why I couldn't feel it even hours later. Pretty ingenious. And this device kept sending out electromagnetic pulses that caused my reactor to fail."

"How did you figure that out - in your condition?" Romanoff asked, arms crossed.

"I realized that there just had to be something else on or in my body. There was no other reason for my intact reactor to be persistently malfunctioning, even though that magnet wasn't even stuck to me anymore. After all, the other functions did come back to life right away, when I removed his bigger brother on the outside."

"And why couldn't Jarvis find anything? He scanned you several times, didn't he?" Pepper asked.

"Stealth mode," Rhodey replied this time. "Used on a lot of fighter jets, too, to stay off radar. It's a very specific type of stealth that Jarvis apparently couldn't register."

"I'm sure he'll be offended," Tony grinned.

He put the little thing away again and tried not to look worried. These terrorists had actually designed this specifically to fight him. What else had they been thinking about? What would come next?

"Somebody's put quite a bit of thought into this," Romanoff also said.

"That's exactly why we agreed that you would lie low for now, Mr. Stark," Coulson said.

"Oh, did I sneak out of the house despite being grounded? Sorry, Mom," Tony said, waving it off.

"It's not funny," Romanoff shouted angrily. "You saw what a fire it started. A couple of our people died!"

"Yes, and that's terrible! But I didn't ask you to stand guard outside my house!" Tony shouted back, now upset. "Ever since Raza showed up at my house, I've had a permanent Open Doors Day!"

"Would you rather have been on your own today?"

Tony stifled any further comment. He knew it was nonsensical. Both sides had their arguments. Both were right in some way. Both would now have to lick their wounds.

"Mr. Stark," Coulson said quietly but forcefully. "I must point out to you again that, by announcing to be Iron Man in public, you have gambled away the card of secrecy that we actually agreed to before this press conference. S.H.I.E.L.D. is now involved, whether you like it or not."

Tony fell silent and changed position on his chair a little. He was getting very tired and therefore just wanted to go back home and rest for now.

"And one more thing. I don't know how you managed to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D., but if you do it again, Director Fury himself will come and tear you a new asshole. Promise."

There was silence for a while as Tony stared at Coulson with a mixture of defiance and amusement on his face.

"We're on your side, Mr. Stark," Coulson then added.