Fic: Tin Man (6/10)
Jun. 16th, 2008 11:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eumeliaTitle: Tin Man (6/10)
Author: Mel (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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 and violent imagery
Fandom: Iron Man (Movieverse) - this happens approx. a month after the events of the movie.
Characters: Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, James Rhodes
Previous Chapters: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5
Part 6
Rhodey sat next to Tony's bed in the private suite.
The soft beeping and constant hum in the room were not so reassuring.
Tony was too still. Rhodey had seen his friend unconscious more times than he could count in their 25 years of friendship.
Dr. Medina had prescribed a broad spectrum anti-biotic to deal with the infection around the reactor's ring, but they still couldn't figure out what liquid kept filling Tony's lungs, which they were draining with a chest tube – Rhodey watched as the blue tinted clear viscous traveled from inside Tony to the receptacle on the floor under Tony's bed.
He couldn't help but wonder what Tony would think of all this.
"Tony" Rhodey said softly.
He took Tony's limp hand in his own and squeezed.
Not even a twitch in reply.
Rhodey sighed and looked over Tony's bed to see Pepper sitting on the extra bed; she was also watching him, out of her suit and stilettos and in jeans and sweatshirt. Her Blackberry, laptop and cellular ear piece in place as she dealt with damage control the tabloids were causing.
The tabloids were rife with speculation, rumor and pure malice.
They weren't actually big on content, but when The Enquirer, Star, Sun, The Daily Mirror and The Sun all publish front page spreads of (ex-)weapons mogul-cum-superhero Tony Stark on his hands and knees spewing all over the sidewalks with his trusty and almost equally famous assistant Pepper Potts kneeling beside him… content really didn't make any difference.
Happy was standing just outside the door, ever vigilant. Pepper had arranged Happy and the other bodyguards to take shifts outside Tony's door. The Paparazzi were still lurking outside the hospital. The more reputable media were also beginning to ask questions if the flash updates on CNN, BBC, CBS, FOX and Al-Jazeera were to be trusted.
Tony had been admitted eight hours ago.
The anesthesia had worn off an hour ago.
He hadn't woken up and didn't look like he intended to do so anytime soon.
Tony and Jarvis walked.
"Where are we going?"
"Following your heart, sir"
"I hate that cliché"
"You are a cliché"
"Fuck you"
"Sir –"
"No seriously. Fuck you. Go away. Leave me alone. What use are intellect, logic and fucking rationale when I'm searching for a fucking heart!" Tony shouted and quite suddenly noticed he was shouting at no one.
.
.
.
"Jarvis?"
"He's gone" said a different voice.
Tony turned around towards where he thought the voice had come from.
He was back in the cave.
"What is with this cave?"
"Maybe there's a clue" said the voice and Tony saw it was Rhodey.
For the first time since Tony found himself in the desert of his subconscious he felt relief. Tony grinned and practically launched into Rhodey's arms, hugging the life out of him.
"Rhodey, man, am I glad to see you!"
Tony pushed away to look at Rhodey better. Rhodey was smiling at him.
"So… who are you supposed to be in this little adventure of mine? I assume you've been briefed on the details. My heart and all" Tony gesticulated wildly and eventually put his hand on the soft spot of his chest.
"I'm just your friend. Your brain kicked Jarvis out. You can't actually relate to pure intellect when that part of your mind is shut off"
"Part of my mind is shut off?"
Rhodey rolled his eyes "You know for a genius, you're not all that"
"What's worrying me is the fact that I'm being self-deprecating in the third person here. By cognitive images of my friends"
"I think you're distracting yourself"
Tony frowned "From what, exactly, could I be distracting myself from? This whole thing is one big Trip"
Rhodey sighed and put his hand on Tony's shoulders, his narrow eyes boring into Ton'ys big ones "You need to try and focus on getting your heart back and not fighting with yourself… which is why Jarvis left… you're sinking deeper and deeper"
"Deeper into where?"
"Further down and further out"
"What?"
"Stop thinking Tony"
"You're not making any sense"
Rhodey sighed "You have a long way to go if that's the case… Tony, you're dying and then you'll be gone"
"I'm sick of hearing that" Tony muttered and walked over to the bunk in the corner of the cave and lied down, covering his eyes with his forearm. He was dressed the filthy vest and pants he wore during his captivity, but he didn't comprehend the significance.
"Tony, you're back in the cave and before you were in a desert"
"So?"
"I will smack you"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Oh, yeah"
*smack*
"OW! You freakin' bastard! Shit, that hurt!" Tony jumped off the bunk and rubbed his chest.
"I did warn you"
The voice changed again and Tony saw Raza, smiling at him. Tony froze and stared at the warlord. Without warning, Raza grabbed Tony's shirt and head-butted him. Tony cried out, but found himself paralyzed, unable to fight against the other man. Raza dragged Tony to the horrifyingly familiar tub.
It wasn't filled with water.
"Come here, Tin Man" Raza grinned "Revel in your creation" and dunked Tony's head into the blue tinted viscous liquid.
The machines around Tony crescendoed into a sudden cacophony, causing both Pepper and Rhodey to jump in fright. Tony's body was thrashing, inadvertently pulling at the IV's, chest tube and other medical apparatus' that surrounded him.
While all this was registering in Pepper and Rhodey's minds, a team of doctors and nurses, Dr. Medina around them surrounded the bed and shouted at each other in medical jargon that sounded like gibberish in Pepper and Rhodey's ears.
"Get them out of here!" shouted Medina and the two were quickly ushered into the hallway, to stand with Happy.
TBC in Parts 7 and 8
Previously
Feedback and comments are my bread and butter... and jam, because it makes everything extra tasty.
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 and violent imagery
Fandom: Iron Man (Movieverse) - this happens approx. a month after the events of the movie.
Characters: Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, James Rhodes
Previous Chapters: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5
Part 6
Rhodey sat next to Tony's bed in the private suite.
The soft beeping and constant hum in the room were not so reassuring.
Tony was too still. Rhodey had seen his friend unconscious more times than he could count in their 25 years of friendship.
Dr. Medina had prescribed a broad spectrum anti-biotic to deal with the infection around the reactor's ring, but they still couldn't figure out what liquid kept filling Tony's lungs, which they were draining with a chest tube – Rhodey watched as the blue tinted clear viscous traveled from inside Tony to the receptacle on the floor under Tony's bed.
He couldn't help but wonder what Tony would think of all this.
"Tony" Rhodey said softly.
He took Tony's limp hand in his own and squeezed.
Not even a twitch in reply.
Rhodey sighed and looked over Tony's bed to see Pepper sitting on the extra bed; she was also watching him, out of her suit and stilettos and in jeans and sweatshirt. Her Blackberry, laptop and cellular ear piece in place as she dealt with damage control the tabloids were causing.
The tabloids were rife with speculation, rumor and pure malice.
They weren't actually big on content, but when The Enquirer, Star, Sun, The Daily Mirror and The Sun all publish front page spreads of (ex-)weapons mogul-cum-superhero Tony Stark on his hands and knees spewing all over the sidewalks with his trusty and almost equally famous assistant Pepper Potts kneeling beside him… content really didn't make any difference.
Happy was standing just outside the door, ever vigilant. Pepper had arranged Happy and the other bodyguards to take shifts outside Tony's door. The Paparazzi were still lurking outside the hospital. The more reputable media were also beginning to ask questions if the flash updates on CNN, BBC, CBS, FOX and Al-Jazeera were to be trusted.
Tony had been admitted eight hours ago.
The anesthesia had worn off an hour ago.
He hadn't woken up and didn't look like he intended to do so anytime soon.
Tony and Jarvis walked.
"Where are we going?"
"Following your heart, sir"
"I hate that cliché"
"You are a cliché"
"Fuck you"
"Sir –"
"No seriously. Fuck you. Go away. Leave me alone. What use are intellect, logic and fucking rationale when I'm searching for a fucking heart!" Tony shouted and quite suddenly noticed he was shouting at no one.
.
.
.
"Jarvis?"
"He's gone" said a different voice.
Tony turned around towards where he thought the voice had come from.
He was back in the cave.
"What is with this cave?"
"Maybe there's a clue" said the voice and Tony saw it was Rhodey.
For the first time since Tony found himself in the desert of his subconscious he felt relief. Tony grinned and practically launched into Rhodey's arms, hugging the life out of him.
"Rhodey, man, am I glad to see you!"
Tony pushed away to look at Rhodey better. Rhodey was smiling at him.
"So… who are you supposed to be in this little adventure of mine? I assume you've been briefed on the details. My heart and all" Tony gesticulated wildly and eventually put his hand on the soft spot of his chest.
"I'm just your friend. Your brain kicked Jarvis out. You can't actually relate to pure intellect when that part of your mind is shut off"
"Part of my mind is shut off?"
Rhodey rolled his eyes "You know for a genius, you're not all that"
"What's worrying me is the fact that I'm being self-deprecating in the third person here. By cognitive images of my friends"
"I think you're distracting yourself"
Tony frowned "From what, exactly, could I be distracting myself from? This whole thing is one big Trip"
Rhodey sighed and put his hand on Tony's shoulders, his narrow eyes boring into Ton'ys big ones "You need to try and focus on getting your heart back and not fighting with yourself… which is why Jarvis left… you're sinking deeper and deeper"
"Deeper into where?"
"Further down and further out"
"What?"
"Stop thinking Tony"
"You're not making any sense"
Rhodey sighed "You have a long way to go if that's the case… Tony, you're dying and then you'll be gone"
"I'm sick of hearing that" Tony muttered and walked over to the bunk in the corner of the cave and lied down, covering his eyes with his forearm. He was dressed the filthy vest and pants he wore during his captivity, but he didn't comprehend the significance.
"Tony, you're back in the cave and before you were in a desert"
"So?"
"I will smack you"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Oh, yeah"
*smack*
"OW! You freakin' bastard! Shit, that hurt!" Tony jumped off the bunk and rubbed his chest.
"I did warn you"
The voice changed again and Tony saw Raza, smiling at him. Tony froze and stared at the warlord. Without warning, Raza grabbed Tony's shirt and head-butted him. Tony cried out, but found himself paralyzed, unable to fight against the other man. Raza dragged Tony to the horrifyingly familiar tub.
It wasn't filled with water.
"Come here, Tin Man" Raza grinned "Revel in your creation" and dunked Tony's head into the blue tinted viscous liquid.
The machines around Tony crescendoed into a sudden cacophony, causing both Pepper and Rhodey to jump in fright. Tony's body was thrashing, inadvertently pulling at the IV's, chest tube and other medical apparatus' that surrounded him.
While all this was registering in Pepper and Rhodey's minds, a team of doctors and nurses, Dr. Medina around them surrounded the bed and shouted at each other in medical jargon that sounded like gibberish in Pepper and Rhodey's ears.
"Get them out of here!" shouted Medina and the two were quickly ushered into the hallway, to stand with Happy.
TBC in Parts 7 and 8
Previously
Feedback and comments are my bread and butter... and jam, because it makes everything extra tasty.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-06-16 12:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-16 01:03 pm (UTC)I hope it's not too outlandish for everyone.
Thank you for reading.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-16 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-16 03:15 pm (UTC)Not a bad thing.
But it does decrease the readability somewhat.
I'm glad you're enjoying. Thank you for reading.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-16 07:52 pm (UTC)However, one small point:
"Revel in your creation" and dunked Tony's head into the blue tinted viscous.
Viscous is an adjective. Probably, you want to finish that sentence.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-16 09:07 pm (UTC)Thank you very much for reading.
I'm glad the transitions are clear, whew!