Fic: Tin Man (4/?)

[eumelia]

Title: Tin Man (4/?)
Author: Mel (eumelia)
Disclaimer: Marvel owns it all, I just like to play with other people's toys and get no money from it.
Rating: PG-13, here be some language considered dirty, though it seems pretty natural to me.
Fandom: Iron Man (Movieverse)
Characters: Tony, Jarvis... sorta.
Previous Parts: One, Two and Three.


Part 4

Peppers watched Tony spasm and go limp in the limo. His arc reactor was still glowing bright and Pepper's breath constricted as she felt for Tony's pulse, which she could barely feel under her fingers at his jugular.
"Tony?" she asked, her vision blurring, she shook his shoulders, "Tony?!" she said again.
"Pepper," said Happy "What's going on?"
Her throat felt closed and she couldn't speak, her breath hitched and she shakily reached her Blackberry and pressed speed dial.
"Colonel Rhodes speaking"
"Jim," Pepper choked out "There's something wrong with Tony".

Tony whirled around.
He was back in the cave.
"Well, fancy seeing you here" said a familiar voice; Yinsen sat on a bunk and had a serene smile on his face.
Tony frowned "Am I dead?"
Yinsen kept on smiling and shook his head "No, not yet"
Tony raised an eyebrow.
"For a dream, this is pretty straightforward"
"Your mind is sharp, Anthony"
"No, not really. I don't want to die"
"You are mortal. That is what happens. There is no escaping that fact"
"And yet…"
"Yet?"
"This dying thing… it seems a bit premature, don't you think?"
"You're arguing with yourself. I am merely a hallucination" Yinsen said and stood.
He walked (glided) towards Tony and reached into his (sans arc reactor) chest.
Tony watched as Yinsen's hand disappeared through his sternum and rib cage.
Tony frowned.
He felt no pain.
Yinsen gently pulled out the heart; pulsing, bleeding and glowing cerulean blue.
"This is very disconcerting"
"Isn't it just" said a different voice and a loud bang echoed in the room.
Tony watched as a hole oozed blood between Yinsen's eyed and he slowly slid to the ground.
A large hand caught the glowing heart as it descended with Yinsen (dead again).
Obadiah smiled at Tony and juggled the heart from hand to hand.
"Give it back!" Tony shouted.
"Give it back?" repeated Obadiah, his nostrils were smoking and his eyes glowed like coal embers, "Tony, my boy, whatever made you think this little ticker was yours".
Obadiah grinned, his teeth sharp and red, he opened his mouth wide and swallowed the glowing heart, plunging the cave into darkness.
.
.
.
"Well, that was interesting" Tony said in the dark.
"Fascinating isn't it, sir" said Jarvis the man, his voice coming from a mouth, on a face, on a head that was attached to a body.
Tony turned to him (Jarvis was wearing an old fashioned butler's suit which reminded Tony of Jeeves).
The cave was gone and they were standing in a desert that Tony recognized as Death Valley and not the Afghani base.
"You're taller than me" Tony said.
"I would say that that says something about an inferiority complex, sir" the pale face smirked.
"This isn't remotely funny"
"So you say, sir"
"Stop calling me sir. Obadiah just ate my heart!"
"Metaphorically"
"It looked fucking real to me!"
"You're hallucinating"
"So Yinsen… my mental projection of Yinsen said. What do I do about it?"
"I am merely a figment of your imagination, though I am, as ever, here to serve"
"You're just a Jack-of-all-trades, ain't ya?"
"I wouldn't be in a hurry to dismiss me, sir. At the moment I am your logic and intellect personified… and you are lacking a crucial element of your Self"
"Pardon?"
Jarvis reached into Tony's chest, where a gaping wound was oozing a clear, blue tinted, viscous. Jarvis showed the ooze to Tony. It shone in the dark.
"I'm leaking" said Tony.
"Your heart has been, as I've mentioned, metaphorically removed"
"What the fuck is this!? Alice in acid-tripping land!?"
"I do believe a more apt allegory is the Wizard of Oz… you are in need, as it were, of a heart"
"And who would you be? Toto?"
"I believe we already established that I am your logic and intellect… it was Scarecrow who wanted a brain" Jarvis' teeth had a Cheshire quality in the dark.
"Stop that"
"Stop what?"
"That smiling. It's disturbing coming from a robot"
"I'm not a robot, I'm-"
"A figment of my imagination, I know, I know… Only I could hallucinate and be aware of it" Tony muttered and felt his chest tighten suddenly, the pain was sharp and drove him to his knees.
"Ah! Ow…" He clutched at the hole and felt a warm wetness beneath his hand, he brought it to his face and saw it was caked with bright crimson.
"I'm bleeding"
"Sir, you are dying"
"Well that… that's just unacceptable"
"So you say"

Tony watched as the clear bluish viscous mixed with the crimson blood on the hard, cracked earth of his imagination.

"Fuck this" he muttered and scooped up the sand that had been emerging through the cracks, covering the macabre mix of blue and red. He gasped as he shoved the sand into the hole in his chest, but was relieved when the pain began to subside and he rolled over onto his back.
He touched his bare chest. The hole was gone, but he felt no heart beat and the place where it should be was softer than the rest of his flesh.

"All places are alike, and every earth is fit for burial"
"Good line. Apt. Deep. Poignant even"
"Christopher Marlowe"
"I can quote Christopher Marlowe?"
"Your subconscious has a great reservoir of knowledge and information you have never accessed, nor ever will. In this altered state of consciousness, said knowledge will appear before you. Remember sir, everything you see, hear, taste, smell and act upon here, has a greater meaning. Don't let your natural obtuseness be you failing"
"Was that a dig? I think it was. Jarvis, you took a dig on me"
"Sir" there was a long suffering sigh "Do not blame your self loathing on me, I am merely – "
"A figment of my fucking imagination! I know! Fine, okay. Shut up. Help me up" the tall, blonde, blue eyed and pale Jarvis pulled Tony up from the earth. Tony was now wearing jeans and a button down casual shirt, he was quite barefoot.
"What does the absence of shoes mean?" Tony asked.
"Vulnerability, sir. I do believe this is a reference to you feeling safe in your own mind. After all, you walk around bare foot in your own home"
"Well, my mind is a lot more dangerous than I thought"
"Feeling out of it, sir?"
"Oh, that's a terrible pun! Even for you"
"For you"
"That's what I said"
"No, you said for me, sir. And I must mention again that I am merely – "
"Say it and I will hurt you. I don't care if it causes a seizure, but I've had up to *here* with this figment of imagination bullshit!"
"Please sir. I'm only trying to help"
"You suck"
"Very succinct"
"For a butler, you're incredibly rude"
"Majordomo, if you please sir"

TBC in Part 5
Previously

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