Fic: Technobiosis, chapter 4/6
Jan. 15th, 2009 01:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
veldeiaHmm, I'm wondering if everyone just missed the previous part, or was it too weird for words, or what... Gah, I know it's the middle of the week, and I really worry too much and tend to get a bit paranoid about what other people think about fic which I see as odd myself. So, on to the next chapter.
Title: Technobiosis
Author: Veldeia
Series: Takes up right where Thermobiosis left off, but should work as a stand-alone.
Fandom: Iron Man (movieverse)
Characters: Tony, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy. Gen/friendship.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Silly mix-up of medical realism and comic book medicine, written by a non-medic. Permanent things happen. Unbetaed.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the universe, I just like torturing them. Poor things.
Summary: "It's not like this is the first time you need technology to survive," Rhodey went on. "You could deal with the arc reactor, you can deal with this. You've beaten impossible odds before, a dozen times. I mean, you're the guy who can grasp at a straw and use that straw to build some gadget that no one's ever even dreamed of!"
4.
Rhodey was still pretty much stuck in bed rest - with two broken legs, one of them in a cast that ran from his toes to thigh, even sitting in a wheelchair wasn't a comfortable experience. Still, he couldn't claim he was entirely on sick leave, since he spent most of his time trying to figure out everything that had happened.
After the promising beginning of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigations, they had quickly hit the wall. Rhodey had relayed them the little information Pepper had got from Tony, but that hadn't helped at all. Obviously, "Dan" hadn't been the assassin's real name, and they'd already known it from the security camera videos that he had been in his late thirties or early forties.
They had been able to find out that the poison "Dan" had used had been pancuronium, a paralyzing agent used in lethal injections and as a muscle relaxant in hospitals. Not the easiest drug to get one's hands on, but not exactly rare, either. It did explain why Tony was so traumatized by what had happened. Not only had it been a parallel to Stane's earlier murder attempt, it must have also been a horrible experience to be perfectly aware of everything that was going on, dying, and totally unable to communicate. Rhodey had discussed this with the doctors, and they had said that it was possible Tony had even been conscious through some of the resuscitation effort. No wonder he panicked when he tried to talk about it.
Rhodey had also put some thought to the matter that it was weird this "Dan" had known about the arc reactor at all, let alone been able to detach it so quickly - he had only been in the room for five minutes. There weren't many people who would know enough about it to do that. And had the assassin simply wanted to take the reactor to kill Tony, or was there industrial espionage mixed into this mess as well? The attack on Stark Industries a week back pointed to the latter.
Rhodey was trying to jot down a list of all the people who knew or had known about the arc reactor, starting from Tony, himself, Pepper and Obadiah Stane, when Pepper walked in, and practically collapsed into her accustomed chair. Rhodey didn't think he'd seen her look this shocked since the night when Tony had been attacked, which was saying a lot, since she had had the air of someone at the end of her rope ever since that night.
"Pepper? You all right?" Happy asked, sitting up in his bed.
Pepper shook her head, opening her mouth to say something, but closing it again.
Happy had gotten on his feet. He made his way to her side, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "What is it? Something happen to Tony?"
She shook her head again, biting her lip. "No, he's all right - I mean, he's not worse, physically, but I've no idea how he's going to cope with this."
"With what?" Rhodey asked.
"He's not going to get a transplant," Pepper answered. "And God, it was his only hope of ever returning to normal life - he's devastated, said they should've just let him die. He told me to leave him alone, so I left. I've no idea what's going to happen now."
Rhodey hadn't even seen Tony since he'd been attacked. As long as Tony was in the ICU and Rhodey's mobility was seriously limited, it didn't seem like he would, either. He had to rely on whatever news Pepper could bring. Happy did go and visit Tony with her the following day, since he wasn't actively telling people to go away anymore. Apparently, he wasn't saying much of anything else, either.
"I've never seen him like this," Happy said, when he and Pepper had returned to Rhodey. As unflappable as Happy always was, even he looked upset now. "I can barely recognize him."
"He's given up," Pepper sighed. "Dr. Walton thinks this is an understandable reaction to what happened, and that he'll get over it, but I think it should've passed by now. I know Tony, this isn't like him. He still refuses to even talk about any other options he might have. He's just... He's not really there anymore."
"Hardly spoke more than three words in one sentence," Happy added.
"Goddamn it, this is stupid!" Rhodey exclaimed. "He's obviously not dead yet, he needs to snap out of it. I wish I could talk to him."
"Well, maybe you can," Pepper said thoughtfully. "That VAD thing is supposed to be movable, and I don't think he's too sick to get in a wheelchair. He just hasn't wanted to even try going anywhere. Rhodey, I think this could be a really good idea!" Pepper was starting to sound almost eager as she went on. "Actually, I think getting the doctor's OK for a trip to this room is going to be the easy part. Talking Tony into coming might be more difficult."
"If there's anyone who can still talk him into anything, that's you, Pepper," Happy said.
Amazingly enough, the very same evening Pepper pushed Tony's wheelchair into Rhodey and Happy's room. There was a bona fide convoy with him, a nurse and no less than four bodyguards, although two of them stayed outside the room. Pepper brought Tony right next to Rhodey's bed, and sat down at her usual place.
Even though Tony was wearing a robe that covered the life support Rhodey had heard so much about, it was obvious that he was badly off. He looked like he had aged several decades, with sunken cheeks and dark circles under his eyes, but the worst thing was his expression. It was so hollow that Rhodey would never have believed he could even look like that. That had to change.
Rhodey knew he couldn't make Tony cheerful, but maybe he could at least get some sort of a reaction. He had seen Tony go through some of the darkest times of his life - he'd been there when his parents had died. Rhodey was prepared to bet that he could deal with a depressed Tony better than anyone else.
"Tony. It's been a while," Rhodey greeted him.
"Hi, Rhodey," Tony answered mechanically, refusing to look him in the eye.
"So," Rhodey said. "All this shit I've been hearing about you, I can't believe my ears. How can you just 'give up'? The Tony Stark I know would never do that!"
Tony shrugged. "Maybe he's gone."
"Oh, come on! You're not dead! Hell, you've been worse off than this, you've actually been dead for an hour and lived to tell the tale - more than that, to make bad jokes about it!"
"That time, I knew I could recover."
"Who's saying that you can't recover now, except for yourself? Have you even really gone through your options? As long as you're not six feet under, there's always hope. You never let things like this slow you down before!"
"Things like this?" Tony shook his head. "I haven't faced 'things like this' before," he said, and opened his robe enough to show a glimpse of crimson tubing. "I'm stuck with my blood doing extra loops outside my body, how the hell could I not be slowed down by this?"
Rhodey saw Pepper raise her eyebrows at Tony's outburst - clearly, this was something new. Rhodey really was getting somewhere.
"It's not like this is the first time you need technology to survive," Rhodey went on. "You could deal with the arc reactor, you can deal with this. You've beaten impossible odds before, a dozen times. I mean, you're the guy who can grasp at a straw and use that straw to build some gadget that no one's ever even dreamed of!"
Tony's eyes had gone wide, and his cheeks were actually flushed, the color making him look feverish. He ran his fingers through his hair, stopping so that his hand rested on the back of his head. "Rhodey, you're a genius," he said, sounding slightly breathless.
Pepper had walked over to his side, peering at his face. "Tony, are you all right?"
"I'm fine. No, I'm great! I need to talk to Dr. Walton, right now."
The transplant committee had disqualified him.
None of this made any sense anymore. He didn't believe in fate, but he did believe that he had survived Afghanistan for a reason. Now, there was no reason. This wasn't a second chance, or a third or a dozenth chance. This was just prolonged suffering.
He should be dead. Why the hell was he still stuck in this godawful in-between? Why wouldn't they just let him die?
Pepper came back to visit him, and then it was night, and day again, and Pepper came to visit him with Happy. He saw them, he heard them talk to him, and he heard himself answer, but none of it meant anything.
Later on, Pepper was there again, this time with Dr. Walton, and a wheelchair.
"Tony, you're going to visit Rhodey now," Pepper said. "Sit up, and help us get you into the chair."
"Not interested."
"That wasn't a question, and this isn't a conversation. Get up."
"I can't."
"There's no medical reason why you couldn't," Dr. Walton said.
"Come on, you haven't been out of this room in a week. Rhodey wants to see you."
"No, he doesn't."
"Tony, please. Just humor us, this once, and we'll leave you alone for good, all right?"
He'd like to be left alone, yes. Maybe he should do this. "Whatever," he said, sat up, and let the two women help him into the wheelchair.
They unplugged the VAD console so they could move him - the console was the control and power unit connected to the actual pumps, a device almost the size of a small fridge. Dr. Walton said that the batteries would last for an hour. He was running on batteries that would only last one hour, when his arc reactor would've worked for a lifetime, but he didn't even feel a thing, no regret, no nostalgia, no annoyance, nothing.
Rhodey was just like the rest of them, trying to tell him that this wasn't the end - what did he know, really? He wasn't stuck where Tony was. What right did he have to talk to Tony like that? For the first time in over a day, Tony actually did feel something. He got angry.
Rhodey kept going on - and all of a sudden, things clicked into place.
All of a sudden, Tony knew what he had to do, once more.
"Rhodey, you're a genius," he said.
"Tony, are you all right?" Pepper asked, staring at him as if he'd gone crazy, when what had happened was actually the exact the opposite. He finally felt sane again. Maybe for the first time since the murder attempt - that was the only way to explain why he hadn't thought about something like this much earlier.
"I'm fine. No, I'm great!" he replied. "I need to talk to Dr. Walton, right now."
Pepper still looked like she wasn't sure whether this was a good or a bad thing, but she took him back to his room, left, and not long after, returned with the doctor.
"All right, where to start..." Tony said thoughtfully, scratching at his beard, and realizing that it was alarmingly long. It had to look horrible. "Tell me, Dr. Walton - hey, I don't even know your first name, do I? What's your first name?"
"I'm sure I've told it to you," Dr. Walton answered, looking both amused and surprised. "It's Laura."
"So, tell me, Laura," Tony started again. "The human heart isn't a very complicated organ, is it?"
Dr. Walton gave a light chuckle. "You're asking the wrong person, really. From a cardiologist's point of view..."
"No, but really. It's basically a mechanical thing, right? A pump. That's why this contraption actually works," he said, motioning at the pair of constantly ticking devices hidden under his robe.
"Well, yes, basically, you could say that," Dr. Walton said, nodding slowly.
"Great, we're agreed on that. Okay. So, tell me more about VADs, then."
"Well, there are several types of ventricular assist devices - basically, an LVAD assists the left side of the heart, an RVAD the right, and a BiVAD supports both sides. That's what you've got. The device you're on at the moment is Next Heart's eVAD system - the e stands for extracorporeal. They have an implantable version, too, which is the option I was planning on telling you about once you were willing to listen."
"Please don't say they call it an iVAD."
"Actually, they do. Anyway, I'm afraid implantable BiVADs haven't been all that successful so far. The long-term survival rates are lower than with LVADs, and the risk of complications is greater. That's why I -"
"Whatever," Tony waved a hand at her. "Doesn't sound promising. What about artificial hearts?"
"Total artificial hearts?" she shook her head. "There are a few models, and several more under development, but they all have their problems. As long as you're a candidate for an implantable VAD, there's no point in even talking about those."
"But if you could have one that'd really work?"
"A TAH that'd be as good as a real heart, with no risk of complications or mechanical failure? Sure, I'd recommend that right away, but so far, that's science fiction. Total artificial hearts are like the Holy Grail of medicine. Countless doctors have spent decades trying to design one that'd be a viable option to a transplant from a human donor."
"Maybe they just haven't been good enough. Have you ever tried to design one?"
"Me?" Dr. Walton was actually laughing now. "Oh, dear, no. I can't say I'd have that much of an engineer in me."
"Too bad. Do you know anyone who has, then? I'm going to need some help on this project."
"This project? Mr. Stark, you can't seriously be thinking..."
"You really have no idea how good he is at what he does, do you?" Pepper put in.
Dr. Walton shook her head. "I can give you a few phone numbers, but honestly, if you ask me, this is pure fantasy."
"I've been living a nightmare for the past week. Fantasy sounds a lot better," Tony said. "Oh, and Pepper, I think I'd like to have my arc reactor back, now, if you don't mind."
Chapter 5
Title: Technobiosis
Author: Veldeia
Series: Takes up right where Thermobiosis left off, but should work as a stand-alone.
Fandom: Iron Man (movieverse)
Characters: Tony, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy. Gen/friendship.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Silly mix-up of medical realism and comic book medicine, written by a non-medic. Permanent things happen. Unbetaed.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the universe, I just like torturing them. Poor things.
Summary: "It's not like this is the first time you need technology to survive," Rhodey went on. "You could deal with the arc reactor, you can deal with this. You've beaten impossible odds before, a dozen times. I mean, you're the guy who can grasp at a straw and use that straw to build some gadget that no one's ever even dreamed of!"
4.
Rhodey was still pretty much stuck in bed rest - with two broken legs, one of them in a cast that ran from his toes to thigh, even sitting in a wheelchair wasn't a comfortable experience. Still, he couldn't claim he was entirely on sick leave, since he spent most of his time trying to figure out everything that had happened.
After the promising beginning of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigations, they had quickly hit the wall. Rhodey had relayed them the little information Pepper had got from Tony, but that hadn't helped at all. Obviously, "Dan" hadn't been the assassin's real name, and they'd already known it from the security camera videos that he had been in his late thirties or early forties.
They had been able to find out that the poison "Dan" had used had been pancuronium, a paralyzing agent used in lethal injections and as a muscle relaxant in hospitals. Not the easiest drug to get one's hands on, but not exactly rare, either. It did explain why Tony was so traumatized by what had happened. Not only had it been a parallel to Stane's earlier murder attempt, it must have also been a horrible experience to be perfectly aware of everything that was going on, dying, and totally unable to communicate. Rhodey had discussed this with the doctors, and they had said that it was possible Tony had even been conscious through some of the resuscitation effort. No wonder he panicked when he tried to talk about it.
Rhodey had also put some thought to the matter that it was weird this "Dan" had known about the arc reactor at all, let alone been able to detach it so quickly - he had only been in the room for five minutes. There weren't many people who would know enough about it to do that. And had the assassin simply wanted to take the reactor to kill Tony, or was there industrial espionage mixed into this mess as well? The attack on Stark Industries a week back pointed to the latter.
Rhodey was trying to jot down a list of all the people who knew or had known about the arc reactor, starting from Tony, himself, Pepper and Obadiah Stane, when Pepper walked in, and practically collapsed into her accustomed chair. Rhodey didn't think he'd seen her look this shocked since the night when Tony had been attacked, which was saying a lot, since she had had the air of someone at the end of her rope ever since that night.
"Pepper? You all right?" Happy asked, sitting up in his bed.
Pepper shook her head, opening her mouth to say something, but closing it again.
Happy had gotten on his feet. He made his way to her side, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "What is it? Something happen to Tony?"
She shook her head again, biting her lip. "No, he's all right - I mean, he's not worse, physically, but I've no idea how he's going to cope with this."
"With what?" Rhodey asked.
"He's not going to get a transplant," Pepper answered. "And God, it was his only hope of ever returning to normal life - he's devastated, said they should've just let him die. He told me to leave him alone, so I left. I've no idea what's going to happen now."
Rhodey hadn't even seen Tony since he'd been attacked. As long as Tony was in the ICU and Rhodey's mobility was seriously limited, it didn't seem like he would, either. He had to rely on whatever news Pepper could bring. Happy did go and visit Tony with her the following day, since he wasn't actively telling people to go away anymore. Apparently, he wasn't saying much of anything else, either.
"I've never seen him like this," Happy said, when he and Pepper had returned to Rhodey. As unflappable as Happy always was, even he looked upset now. "I can barely recognize him."
"He's given up," Pepper sighed. "Dr. Walton thinks this is an understandable reaction to what happened, and that he'll get over it, but I think it should've passed by now. I know Tony, this isn't like him. He still refuses to even talk about any other options he might have. He's just... He's not really there anymore."
"Hardly spoke more than three words in one sentence," Happy added.
"Goddamn it, this is stupid!" Rhodey exclaimed. "He's obviously not dead yet, he needs to snap out of it. I wish I could talk to him."
"Well, maybe you can," Pepper said thoughtfully. "That VAD thing is supposed to be movable, and I don't think he's too sick to get in a wheelchair. He just hasn't wanted to even try going anywhere. Rhodey, I think this could be a really good idea!" Pepper was starting to sound almost eager as she went on. "Actually, I think getting the doctor's OK for a trip to this room is going to be the easy part. Talking Tony into coming might be more difficult."
"If there's anyone who can still talk him into anything, that's you, Pepper," Happy said.
Amazingly enough, the very same evening Pepper pushed Tony's wheelchair into Rhodey and Happy's room. There was a bona fide convoy with him, a nurse and no less than four bodyguards, although two of them stayed outside the room. Pepper brought Tony right next to Rhodey's bed, and sat down at her usual place.
Even though Tony was wearing a robe that covered the life support Rhodey had heard so much about, it was obvious that he was badly off. He looked like he had aged several decades, with sunken cheeks and dark circles under his eyes, but the worst thing was his expression. It was so hollow that Rhodey would never have believed he could even look like that. That had to change.
Rhodey knew he couldn't make Tony cheerful, but maybe he could at least get some sort of a reaction. He had seen Tony go through some of the darkest times of his life - he'd been there when his parents had died. Rhodey was prepared to bet that he could deal with a depressed Tony better than anyone else.
"Tony. It's been a while," Rhodey greeted him.
"Hi, Rhodey," Tony answered mechanically, refusing to look him in the eye.
"So," Rhodey said. "All this shit I've been hearing about you, I can't believe my ears. How can you just 'give up'? The Tony Stark I know would never do that!"
Tony shrugged. "Maybe he's gone."
"Oh, come on! You're not dead! Hell, you've been worse off than this, you've actually been dead for an hour and lived to tell the tale - more than that, to make bad jokes about it!"
"That time, I knew I could recover."
"Who's saying that you can't recover now, except for yourself? Have you even really gone through your options? As long as you're not six feet under, there's always hope. You never let things like this slow you down before!"
"Things like this?" Tony shook his head. "I haven't faced 'things like this' before," he said, and opened his robe enough to show a glimpse of crimson tubing. "I'm stuck with my blood doing extra loops outside my body, how the hell could I not be slowed down by this?"
Rhodey saw Pepper raise her eyebrows at Tony's outburst - clearly, this was something new. Rhodey really was getting somewhere.
"It's not like this is the first time you need technology to survive," Rhodey went on. "You could deal with the arc reactor, you can deal with this. You've beaten impossible odds before, a dozen times. I mean, you're the guy who can grasp at a straw and use that straw to build some gadget that no one's ever even dreamed of!"
Tony's eyes had gone wide, and his cheeks were actually flushed, the color making him look feverish. He ran his fingers through his hair, stopping so that his hand rested on the back of his head. "Rhodey, you're a genius," he said, sounding slightly breathless.
Pepper had walked over to his side, peering at his face. "Tony, are you all right?"
"I'm fine. No, I'm great! I need to talk to Dr. Walton, right now."
The transplant committee had disqualified him.
None of this made any sense anymore. He didn't believe in fate, but he did believe that he had survived Afghanistan for a reason. Now, there was no reason. This wasn't a second chance, or a third or a dozenth chance. This was just prolonged suffering.
He should be dead. Why the hell was he still stuck in this godawful in-between? Why wouldn't they just let him die?
Pepper came back to visit him, and then it was night, and day again, and Pepper came to visit him with Happy. He saw them, he heard them talk to him, and he heard himself answer, but none of it meant anything.
Later on, Pepper was there again, this time with Dr. Walton, and a wheelchair.
"Tony, you're going to visit Rhodey now," Pepper said. "Sit up, and help us get you into the chair."
"Not interested."
"That wasn't a question, and this isn't a conversation. Get up."
"I can't."
"There's no medical reason why you couldn't," Dr. Walton said.
"Come on, you haven't been out of this room in a week. Rhodey wants to see you."
"No, he doesn't."
"Tony, please. Just humor us, this once, and we'll leave you alone for good, all right?"
He'd like to be left alone, yes. Maybe he should do this. "Whatever," he said, sat up, and let the two women help him into the wheelchair.
They unplugged the VAD console so they could move him - the console was the control and power unit connected to the actual pumps, a device almost the size of a small fridge. Dr. Walton said that the batteries would last for an hour. He was running on batteries that would only last one hour, when his arc reactor would've worked for a lifetime, but he didn't even feel a thing, no regret, no nostalgia, no annoyance, nothing.
Rhodey was just like the rest of them, trying to tell him that this wasn't the end - what did he know, really? He wasn't stuck where Tony was. What right did he have to talk to Tony like that? For the first time in over a day, Tony actually did feel something. He got angry.
Rhodey kept going on - and all of a sudden, things clicked into place.
All of a sudden, Tony knew what he had to do, once more.
"Rhodey, you're a genius," he said.
"Tony, are you all right?" Pepper asked, staring at him as if he'd gone crazy, when what had happened was actually the exact the opposite. He finally felt sane again. Maybe for the first time since the murder attempt - that was the only way to explain why he hadn't thought about something like this much earlier.
"I'm fine. No, I'm great!" he replied. "I need to talk to Dr. Walton, right now."
Pepper still looked like she wasn't sure whether this was a good or a bad thing, but she took him back to his room, left, and not long after, returned with the doctor.
"All right, where to start..." Tony said thoughtfully, scratching at his beard, and realizing that it was alarmingly long. It had to look horrible. "Tell me, Dr. Walton - hey, I don't even know your first name, do I? What's your first name?"
"I'm sure I've told it to you," Dr. Walton answered, looking both amused and surprised. "It's Laura."
"So, tell me, Laura," Tony started again. "The human heart isn't a very complicated organ, is it?"
Dr. Walton gave a light chuckle. "You're asking the wrong person, really. From a cardiologist's point of view..."
"No, but really. It's basically a mechanical thing, right? A pump. That's why this contraption actually works," he said, motioning at the pair of constantly ticking devices hidden under his robe.
"Well, yes, basically, you could say that," Dr. Walton said, nodding slowly.
"Great, we're agreed on that. Okay. So, tell me more about VADs, then."
"Well, there are several types of ventricular assist devices - basically, an LVAD assists the left side of the heart, an RVAD the right, and a BiVAD supports both sides. That's what you've got. The device you're on at the moment is Next Heart's eVAD system - the e stands for extracorporeal. They have an implantable version, too, which is the option I was planning on telling you about once you were willing to listen."
"Please don't say they call it an iVAD."
"Actually, they do. Anyway, I'm afraid implantable BiVADs haven't been all that successful so far. The long-term survival rates are lower than with LVADs, and the risk of complications is greater. That's why I -"
"Whatever," Tony waved a hand at her. "Doesn't sound promising. What about artificial hearts?"
"Total artificial hearts?" she shook her head. "There are a few models, and several more under development, but they all have their problems. As long as you're a candidate for an implantable VAD, there's no point in even talking about those."
"But if you could have one that'd really work?"
"A TAH that'd be as good as a real heart, with no risk of complications or mechanical failure? Sure, I'd recommend that right away, but so far, that's science fiction. Total artificial hearts are like the Holy Grail of medicine. Countless doctors have spent decades trying to design one that'd be a viable option to a transplant from a human donor."
"Maybe they just haven't been good enough. Have you ever tried to design one?"
"Me?" Dr. Walton was actually laughing now. "Oh, dear, no. I can't say I'd have that much of an engineer in me."
"Too bad. Do you know anyone who has, then? I'm going to need some help on this project."
"This project? Mr. Stark, you can't seriously be thinking..."
"You really have no idea how good he is at what he does, do you?" Pepper put in.
Dr. Walton shook her head. "I can give you a few phone numbers, but honestly, if you ask me, this is pure fantasy."
"I've been living a nightmare for the past week. Fantasy sounds a lot better," Tony said. "Oh, and Pepper, I think I'd like to have my arc reactor back, now, if you don't mind."
Chapter 5
