Fic: Technobiosis, chapter 6/6
Jan. 17th, 2009 05:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
veldeiaTitle: 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: "Real" medicine meets comic book medicine. Permanent things happen (so, goes AU). Unbetaed.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the universe, I just like torturing them. Poor things.
Summary: "Readings look promising," Dr. Santini said modestly. "If everything else seems in order as well, it's time to start weaning him from bypass."
6.
Pepper couldn't understand how Rhodey could actually watch the operation. Simply being in the room and knowing what was going on behind that glass were more than enough for her. She kept her eyes on the pale green wall, constantly repeating to herself that this was what Tony had wanted. Happy seemed to be feeling the same way, because he stood away from the window as well, only taking a look every now and then.
There was a point when even Rhodey turned away from the window, looking slightly queasy, and only Dr. Walton kept her eyes on what was going on. Pepper could guess what that had to mean, even though she didn't even want to think about it. They had cut out Tony's heart.
Six hours after the doctors had made the first incision, Pepper heard Dr. Santini announce that all the sutures were in place, and that he was going to connect the power source to the artificial heart.
Pepper decided to chance taking a look. What she saw was just like she had imagined. She couldn't even recognize Tony, with the green fabric covering most of him, and all the people blocking the view. All she could make out was a square of pale skin with a large blood-red hole in the middle of it, kept open by gruesome-looking surgical tools. Within the cut, she could see a glimmer of white. There was a wire snaking up from it to the arc reactor, which Dr. Santini was holding.
At the moment, everyone was standing perfectly still, staring at a blank monitor. Pepper got the impression that they were all holding their breaths. The screen lit up with numbers and graphs, none of which said anything to Pepper, especially when they were so far she couldn't even see them properly. Apparently, it was what everyone had been waiting for - suddenly, the silence was broken by a wave of enthusiastic muttering.
"Readings look promising," Dr. Santini said modestly. "If everything else seems in order as well, it's time to start weaning him from bypass. Doctor Glenn, you take up from here."
"Does this mean that it works?" Happy asked.
"Not exactly. We'll only know for sure once all external support is removed," Dr. Walton answered, and turned around to face Pepper, Happy and Rhodey, a grave look on her face. "And I've got remind you of something. I'm not sure if you understand this, but even if the surgery goes perfectly, that's no guarantee he's never going to have any problems again. That artificial heart is a very complex thing that's hastily put together and hasn't been tested properly. There's no telling whether it'll give him days or weeks, let alone years, like he seemed to expect himself. Even if nothing goes wrong today or tomorrow, he'll be living under a constant risk of device failure."
"Begging your pardon, ma'am," Happy said, "But I don't see how that makes him different from anyone else. Any of us could just have a heart attack and drop dead all of a sudden, right?"
Dr. Walton shook her head, looking at Happy like a teacher at a child who was being really slow. "No, that's completely different."
Pepper decided to ignore the doctor and do her best to stick to Happy's point of view, because it sounded about right, and made her feel better than the idea that Tony would be living with a time bomb inside his chest.
Finally, over eight hours after they had begun, the surgeons were finished with their work. They set the new arc reactor socket in its place, and stitched together the torn flesh around it. Tony was taken out of the room. As far as Pepper could see, everything had gone exactly as planned. No trouble, no complications, no device failure.
Dr. Walton left, but Pepper, Happy and Rhodey still lingered in the observation room, waiting for more news. Dr. Santini soon joined their company. He looked tired, but triumphant.
"I'll be damned," he said. "Even though I helped design that thing, I can still barely believe this. This must've been the craziest case of my entire career."
"I'm glad you took it anyway," Pepper said, and shook his hand. "Thank you, Doctor Santini."
"Don't thank me, thank Mister Stark. He did most of the work, I was just the midwife here."
"When can we do that, then?" Rhodey asked. "I mean, can we see him?"
"I don't know, that's up to the people who are looking after him now."
Which meant that they were in for even more waiting. It took over an hour before Dr. Walton showed up again, and was able to answer Rhodey's question.
"Not today, I'm afraid. There were some complications. Don't worry, it's not related to the implant. He's suffering from some pulmonary dysfunction - the sustained bypass injured his lungs. It's not uncommon after this sort of surgery, and it should heal completely, but we're going to keep him sedated and intubated at least until the morning. If all goes well, you can congratulate him tomorrow."
That didn't exactly make Pepper feel reassured, but she was left with no choice but to go home and try to catch some sleep.
It wasn't until after midday, the following day, that they actually got to see Tony. She was expecting him to be pretty sick. Sure, he looked like death warmed over, had a nasal cannula for oxygen, and there was still one tube sticking out of his chest, but he flashed them his widest "Tony Stark, owner of the world" grin, something she hadn't seen from him in - she couldn't even tell how long. Maybe not after the accident in the Arctic, two months ago.
"Hey, I missed you guys," Tony said cheerfully. "Or maybe I just missed anyone who wouldn't gape at me like I'm the local freak show, can't be entirely sure. Pepper, you're staring. Stop that."
She tried to, but it was difficult. The idea that he'd actually made it this far was incredible, and he looked so normal. The only visible sign of the change he'd gone through was that he no longer had a heart monitor. Instead, he had a wire going from the arc reactor to a screen with various numbers and abbreviations, out of which "HR/bpm" was the only one she could actually recognize. Still, no matter what he looked like, Pepper couldn't forget Dr. Walton's words in the observation room, that there was no telling how much time he had bought himself, and that made her uneasy.
"So, um, how do you feel?" Rhodey asked, sounding as wary as Pepper felt.
"Like a new man. Rhodey, you're staring at me, too. You know, I overheard the nurses talking that there's a betting pool on how long my do-it-yourself ticker's going to last. I told them I wanted in, but they wouldn't let me. I guess I can't blame them, I would've bet a hundred grand that I'll make it at least twenty years, unless I get killed doing something heroic but stupid before that."
They were only allowed to stay with Tony for fifteen minutes. After that, Pepper walked out of the room feeling oddly numb. She had thought she'd be glad and relieved like he was, but she wasn't. It was as if she couldn't allow herself to let go of the constant fear and worry.
Several days passed uneventfully, without a sign of trouble or further complications. Tony really was getting better. The third day after the surgery, Dr. Walton had him transferred from the ICU to the ward. Even she had to admit that everything looked promising. For all intents and purposes, Tony's artificial heart seemed better than his biological one had been ever since Afghanistan.
Four days after the surgery, Agent Coulson showed up in person to deliver some important and highly confidential details about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigations. Dr. Walton gave her OK, and Pepper took Coulson to see Tony. She had no idea how Tony would handle talking about the incident now, but she felt confident that it wouldn't bother him enough to cause serious trouble.
"Glad to see you're on the mend," Coulson greeted Tony. Neither he nor anyone else from S.H.I.E.L.D. had heard the full story of Tony's miracle recovery. All they knew was that he'd overcome a serious heart condition of some sort, one way or the other.
"Glad to hear you've been making progress," Tony said, and paused to clear his throat. "I know you're not here for the small talk, so what've you got? Names, locations, motives?"
"Only names, so far. We have reason to believe that the man who attacked you was a supervillain known as Spymaster."
Pepper was eyeing Tony anxiously. He looked a little pale, but she couldn't be sure he hadn't been that way ever since they had entered the room. Now that she thought about it, he didn't look quite as energetic as he had yesterday, the last time she'd seen him.
"What's the most alarming detail about this," Coulson went on, "Is that we've got some clues suggesting that he's connected to Roxxon Oil -"
Tony drew a few sharp breaths, an odd, confused expression on his face.
"Mister Stark?" Coulson asked.
Tony didn't answer, just gave a little, stifled-sounding cough. He was starting to look distressed.
"All right, I think that was enough," Pepper told Coulson. He nodded, clearly taken aback, and withdrew from Tony's bedside.
Pepper crouched closer to Tony, taking hold of his shoulders, looking him in the eye. "It's all right," she told him. "Tony, you're safe, I'm right here."
Tony was wheezing in earnest now, but he grasped her arms to push her away. "No, no, no, I'm not panicking," he said, and coughed, forcefully this time, covering his mouth with his fist. To her horror, she could see red stains on his lips when he moved his hand aside. "Okay, maybe I'm panicking a little, but that's just because I can't breathe."
From the corner of her eye, Pepper saw Coulson head out of the room. All her attention was on Tony, who had his palm pressed tightly against his chest. He had been doing so well - this couldn't possibly mean that - she couldn't even bring herself to finish the thought.
"Tony, is your..." she began.
Tony took a quick glance at the bedside monitor and shook his head. "Readings look all right. The heart's fine. This has got to be something else."
He sounded like he really believed that, but how could he be certain? Even if the device itself was working perfectly, there could always be a problem of some sort in the connection between it and his body.
Agent Coulson returned with Dr. Walton and a nurse. They instantly pushed Pepper aside and got to work, and Coulson escorted her out of the room. Looking over her shoulder, the last she saw of the scene was Dr. Walton placing her stethoscope on Tony's chest and complaining that there was no way she could hear breath sounds past all the mechanical noise.
Pepper let Coulson steer her to the cafeteria, where he bought her a cup of tea. Instead of calling Rhodey or Happy like she probably should've, she just stared at her tea, making circles in it with the plastic spoon. She felt far less shocked and surprised than she ought to. It was as if she had been expecting for something like this to happen. Everything had been going too well - she had known it couldn't last. She wondered if she'd ever get her normal emotional range back. She still hadn't cried, not once, ever since the time when Tony and Rhodey had first ended up in the hospital.
"I'm sure this is just a momentary relapse of some sort," Coulson was saying soothingly.
Pepper nodded and sipped at her tea.
"You know, Miss Potts, even though that obviously wasn't psychological, if you think there's any chance that talking to someone would help Mister Stark, you shouldn't hesitate to get help for him."
Pepper just nodded again.
"Or for anyone else who's been involved in this, for that matter. I know the sort of effect serious emotional trauma like this can have on people. It should never be underestimated."
That was a very tactful way of saying that she should seek help, if she felt like she needed it. She found herself smiling at him. "I'll keep that in mind."
"We have people who're trained for confidentially handling cases that are a bit... unusual. I could email you their contact information."
"Thank you, I'd appreciate that." She didn't just say it out of courtesy, but because she thought talking to someone might be a very good idea.
An hour or so later, they met Dr. Walton outside Tony's room. Pepper couldn't read anything from her expression, no matter how hard she tried.
"So..." Pepper said, instead of an actual question.
"He was right all along," Dr. Walton answered. "I was completely expecting this to be something to do with the -" She glanced at Coulson, and quickly corrected herself. "With his heart, but doesn't look like it is."
"What is it, then? Is he going to be all right?"
"We're waiting for the lab results to confirm it, but it seems Mister Stark has pneumonia. It's most likely related to the surgery. We've started him on antibiotics, and he's on extra oxygen to help with his breathing. Since he was relatively healthy before this, I'm optimistic about his recovery."
Pepper let out a long, shuddering sigh. It had been a false alarm, after all. Not that she was happy to hear that he was sick, but at least it was something treatable, nothing alien or instantly lethal. And at least, for a change, it wasn't about his heart.
Tony spent the first days after the surgery in a haze that was the exact opposite of the depression he'd felt after he'd been ruled out from the transplant list. He was so giddy the procedure had worked that he was practically deaf to any negative comments. Let them bet on how long he was going to live, he didn't care. He was alive, and he was on his own again, free of external life support. Tony Stark 1 - the universe 0. Or maybe it was 2-0 by now, or 3-0, or more - he wasn't entirely sure what to count. Afghanistan, definitely, and probably the Arctic, because he'd actually been clinically dead then. Maybe a couple of other incidents. Most likely there were more to come, but right now, he didn't mind that, either. The universe could keep on setting impossible obstacles in his way, he'd just build his way right over or around or through them. Take that, you bitch.
His cheerfulness wavered slightly when he came down with pneumonia. It was hard not to feel a bit dispirited when one couldn't breathe properly. Still, even though Dr. Walton was kind enough to remind him that it was a serious illness that could slow down his healing considerably, Tony decided that compared to everything else he'd gone through, it was just a nuisance.
She said that he had been lucky, because the strain he'd caught was one that responded well to antibiotics. He was convinced he just pushed through it by sheer willpower.
Two weeks after the operation, over a month and a half since Tony had first ended up in the hospital, Dr. Walton admitted that there was no reason for him to stay there any longer. She was still looking at him as if he were some fragile, extremely exotic creature in the zoo, but at least she no longer treated him like he was going to drop dead at random.
He dressed in the casual clothes Pepper had brought for him, and walked out of his hospital room without looking back once. He was done with this place.
Pepper was waiting for him right outside the room, together with the standard four bodyguards. For some odd reason, she had tears running down her face.
"Pepper, you do realize that crying whenever I survive something horrible against all odds is sending me some seriously weird signals, right?"
She only answered him with a chuckle between sobs, and gave him a quick hug.
At least she was smart enough not to even suggest putting him in a wheelchair. There was nothing wrong with his legs, thank you very much. There was nothing wrong with him, in general, except for the not-quite-healed wounds the surgery had left. Of course, he was still weak - just walking through the hospital to the lobby took more out of him than he was willing to let on - but he'd be damned if he let that bother him now.
In the lobby, he met Happy and Rhodey, the former pushing the latter's wheelchair. Of course, Rhodey had already been discharged, but he was still working on his walking. Dr. Walton was there, too, and several of Tony's regular nurses. To his surprise, Dr. Santini stood next to them. He had returned to Arizona soon after the surgery, and though he'd called several times, curious to hear how the TAH was holding up, Tony hadn't actually seen him since.
"I can't say I'm going to miss you," Dr. Walton told Tony, grinning. "I hope I'm not going to see you here again any time in the near future. Not counting your follow-up appointments, of course."
"I'm not going to miss this place, but I might miss you, just a little," Tony said, winked at her, and shook her hand. "I guess I never really thanked you for saving my life in the first place? Thanks for everything, Laura."
He shook Dr. Santini's hand next, smiled at him, and asked, "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"I took the day off. I just had to see this with my own eyes. Here you are, looking just like the next man - I'd never believe the truth if I hadn't been there myself," he said. "I hope this isn't the last the medical technology field hears from you. It'd be a criminal waste if that device remained the only one of its kind."
"Don't worry about that, doc, you're not getting rid of me this easily. I'll keep in touch," Tony said. "And thanks for all your help."
He walked across the lobby and out of the building with the small crowd. He was amazed there were no media people around. Pepper and the PR and security teams had clearly done a good job.
The Phantom was parked right at the front door. Happy helped Rhodey to the front passenger seat, and Tony sat in the back, next to Pepper.
"Happy, take us home," Tony declared.
"With pleasure, boss," Happy said, and Tony was sure he could see the corners of his mouth turn into something that looked a lot like a smile.
Pepper, on the other hand, was still crying.
Late that night, Tony lay in his bed, listening to the deep, complete silence, staring at the familiar ceiling of his bedroom, which he hadn't seen in over a month. After all he'd been through, was he even the same person he'd been back then?
Just thinking about the murder attempt sent enough adrenaline into his system that he felt his heart pick up speed. It was a strange sensation, smooth, barely noticeable. His new heart would never skip or leap. He rested a hand on his chest, over the still sore surgical incisions. Beneath the slight vibration of the arc reactor, there was a soft thrumming, something that was almost, but not quite like a heartbeat. He wasn't a nostalgic, let alone a romantic, but still, he couldn't help feeling that he had lost something. He could call himself a cyborg now. He was part machine.
Even though he was more dependent on technology than he'd ever been before, he was actually better off than he had been. He'd built an emergency reserve battery into the device. If someone somehow managed to grab the arc reactor again, he'd have an hour to find another power source. If he failed to do that, there would be no sharp pain tearing through his chest, no torment before the end. He'd stop and keel over, dead, just like that.
Sooner or later, Tony would find the guy who had tried to kill him, Spymaster, or whatever his real name was. Before punching the crap out of him, he'd probably have to thank him, and not just for himself. For once, he had built something that could only be used to do good. The first thing tomorrow, he was going make a few phone calls, and Stark Industries would start business negotiations with CardioWare. Of course, he couldn't start handing out arc reactors to people who were dying of heart failure, but he'd figure out another power source. What he'd had to do to survive could save thousands and thousands of lives - maybe more than he'd ever be able to save as Iron Man.
End Credits:
Thanks/blame for this one go to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
magicamethyst80, whose comment originally gave me the idea of writing something like this.
Other inspiration/sources include:
-The Movie (Duh.)
-Iron Man vol. 1 #19 (A doctor called Jose Santini fixes Tony's heart with a synthetic tissue)
-IM vol. 3 #30 (Tony gets an artificial heart - although it's not by choice)
-IM vol. 3 #66-67 (Both Tony and Happy are in the hospital, and Tony gets attacked by a nurse)
-A ridiculous amount of medical websites and articles (for example, eMedicine, The Merck Manuals, Texas Heart Institute and, of course, Wikipedia)
-And probably a dozen other issues of Iron Man I just don't realize I've been ripping off, and about every h/c story ever, and every medical show ever ("Sex Kills" from S2 of House comes to mind right away), and so on.
I have vague ideas for more Bioses-fics, it'd be interesting to explore this artificialheart!Tony AU further, and the whole murder mystery plotline was left really open here, but we'll see, we'll see.
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: "Real" medicine meets comic book medicine. Permanent things happen (so, goes AU). Unbetaed.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the universe, I just like torturing them. Poor things.
Summary: "Readings look promising," Dr. Santini said modestly. "If everything else seems in order as well, it's time to start weaning him from bypass."
6.
Pepper couldn't understand how Rhodey could actually watch the operation. Simply being in the room and knowing what was going on behind that glass were more than enough for her. She kept her eyes on the pale green wall, constantly repeating to herself that this was what Tony had wanted. Happy seemed to be feeling the same way, because he stood away from the window as well, only taking a look every now and then.
There was a point when even Rhodey turned away from the window, looking slightly queasy, and only Dr. Walton kept her eyes on what was going on. Pepper could guess what that had to mean, even though she didn't even want to think about it. They had cut out Tony's heart.
Six hours after the doctors had made the first incision, Pepper heard Dr. Santini announce that all the sutures were in place, and that he was going to connect the power source to the artificial heart.
Pepper decided to chance taking a look. What she saw was just like she had imagined. She couldn't even recognize Tony, with the green fabric covering most of him, and all the people blocking the view. All she could make out was a square of pale skin with a large blood-red hole in the middle of it, kept open by gruesome-looking surgical tools. Within the cut, she could see a glimmer of white. There was a wire snaking up from it to the arc reactor, which Dr. Santini was holding.
At the moment, everyone was standing perfectly still, staring at a blank monitor. Pepper got the impression that they were all holding their breaths. The screen lit up with numbers and graphs, none of which said anything to Pepper, especially when they were so far she couldn't even see them properly. Apparently, it was what everyone had been waiting for - suddenly, the silence was broken by a wave of enthusiastic muttering.
"Readings look promising," Dr. Santini said modestly. "If everything else seems in order as well, it's time to start weaning him from bypass. Doctor Glenn, you take up from here."
"Does this mean that it works?" Happy asked.
"Not exactly. We'll only know for sure once all external support is removed," Dr. Walton answered, and turned around to face Pepper, Happy and Rhodey, a grave look on her face. "And I've got remind you of something. I'm not sure if you understand this, but even if the surgery goes perfectly, that's no guarantee he's never going to have any problems again. That artificial heart is a very complex thing that's hastily put together and hasn't been tested properly. There's no telling whether it'll give him days or weeks, let alone years, like he seemed to expect himself. Even if nothing goes wrong today or tomorrow, he'll be living under a constant risk of device failure."
"Begging your pardon, ma'am," Happy said, "But I don't see how that makes him different from anyone else. Any of us could just have a heart attack and drop dead all of a sudden, right?"
Dr. Walton shook her head, looking at Happy like a teacher at a child who was being really slow. "No, that's completely different."
Pepper decided to ignore the doctor and do her best to stick to Happy's point of view, because it sounded about right, and made her feel better than the idea that Tony would be living with a time bomb inside his chest.
Finally, over eight hours after they had begun, the surgeons were finished with their work. They set the new arc reactor socket in its place, and stitched together the torn flesh around it. Tony was taken out of the room. As far as Pepper could see, everything had gone exactly as planned. No trouble, no complications, no device failure.
Dr. Walton left, but Pepper, Happy and Rhodey still lingered in the observation room, waiting for more news. Dr. Santini soon joined their company. He looked tired, but triumphant.
"I'll be damned," he said. "Even though I helped design that thing, I can still barely believe this. This must've been the craziest case of my entire career."
"I'm glad you took it anyway," Pepper said, and shook his hand. "Thank you, Doctor Santini."
"Don't thank me, thank Mister Stark. He did most of the work, I was just the midwife here."
"When can we do that, then?" Rhodey asked. "I mean, can we see him?"
"I don't know, that's up to the people who are looking after him now."
Which meant that they were in for even more waiting. It took over an hour before Dr. Walton showed up again, and was able to answer Rhodey's question.
"Not today, I'm afraid. There were some complications. Don't worry, it's not related to the implant. He's suffering from some pulmonary dysfunction - the sustained bypass injured his lungs. It's not uncommon after this sort of surgery, and it should heal completely, but we're going to keep him sedated and intubated at least until the morning. If all goes well, you can congratulate him tomorrow."
That didn't exactly make Pepper feel reassured, but she was left with no choice but to go home and try to catch some sleep.
It wasn't until after midday, the following day, that they actually got to see Tony. She was expecting him to be pretty sick. Sure, he looked like death warmed over, had a nasal cannula for oxygen, and there was still one tube sticking out of his chest, but he flashed them his widest "Tony Stark, owner of the world" grin, something she hadn't seen from him in - she couldn't even tell how long. Maybe not after the accident in the Arctic, two months ago.
"Hey, I missed you guys," Tony said cheerfully. "Or maybe I just missed anyone who wouldn't gape at me like I'm the local freak show, can't be entirely sure. Pepper, you're staring. Stop that."
She tried to, but it was difficult. The idea that he'd actually made it this far was incredible, and he looked so normal. The only visible sign of the change he'd gone through was that he no longer had a heart monitor. Instead, he had a wire going from the arc reactor to a screen with various numbers and abbreviations, out of which "HR/bpm" was the only one she could actually recognize. Still, no matter what he looked like, Pepper couldn't forget Dr. Walton's words in the observation room, that there was no telling how much time he had bought himself, and that made her uneasy.
"So, um, how do you feel?" Rhodey asked, sounding as wary as Pepper felt.
"Like a new man. Rhodey, you're staring at me, too. You know, I overheard the nurses talking that there's a betting pool on how long my do-it-yourself ticker's going to last. I told them I wanted in, but they wouldn't let me. I guess I can't blame them, I would've bet a hundred grand that I'll make it at least twenty years, unless I get killed doing something heroic but stupid before that."
They were only allowed to stay with Tony for fifteen minutes. After that, Pepper walked out of the room feeling oddly numb. She had thought she'd be glad and relieved like he was, but she wasn't. It was as if she couldn't allow herself to let go of the constant fear and worry.
Several days passed uneventfully, without a sign of trouble or further complications. Tony really was getting better. The third day after the surgery, Dr. Walton had him transferred from the ICU to the ward. Even she had to admit that everything looked promising. For all intents and purposes, Tony's artificial heart seemed better than his biological one had been ever since Afghanistan.
Four days after the surgery, Agent Coulson showed up in person to deliver some important and highly confidential details about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigations. Dr. Walton gave her OK, and Pepper took Coulson to see Tony. She had no idea how Tony would handle talking about the incident now, but she felt confident that it wouldn't bother him enough to cause serious trouble.
"Glad to see you're on the mend," Coulson greeted Tony. Neither he nor anyone else from S.H.I.E.L.D. had heard the full story of Tony's miracle recovery. All they knew was that he'd overcome a serious heart condition of some sort, one way or the other.
"Glad to hear you've been making progress," Tony said, and paused to clear his throat. "I know you're not here for the small talk, so what've you got? Names, locations, motives?"
"Only names, so far. We have reason to believe that the man who attacked you was a supervillain known as Spymaster."
Pepper was eyeing Tony anxiously. He looked a little pale, but she couldn't be sure he hadn't been that way ever since they had entered the room. Now that she thought about it, he didn't look quite as energetic as he had yesterday, the last time she'd seen him.
"What's the most alarming detail about this," Coulson went on, "Is that we've got some clues suggesting that he's connected to Roxxon Oil -"
Tony drew a few sharp breaths, an odd, confused expression on his face.
"Mister Stark?" Coulson asked.
Tony didn't answer, just gave a little, stifled-sounding cough. He was starting to look distressed.
"All right, I think that was enough," Pepper told Coulson. He nodded, clearly taken aback, and withdrew from Tony's bedside.
Pepper crouched closer to Tony, taking hold of his shoulders, looking him in the eye. "It's all right," she told him. "Tony, you're safe, I'm right here."
Tony was wheezing in earnest now, but he grasped her arms to push her away. "No, no, no, I'm not panicking," he said, and coughed, forcefully this time, covering his mouth with his fist. To her horror, she could see red stains on his lips when he moved his hand aside. "Okay, maybe I'm panicking a little, but that's just because I can't breathe."
From the corner of her eye, Pepper saw Coulson head out of the room. All her attention was on Tony, who had his palm pressed tightly against his chest. He had been doing so well - this couldn't possibly mean that - she couldn't even bring herself to finish the thought.
"Tony, is your..." she began.
Tony took a quick glance at the bedside monitor and shook his head. "Readings look all right. The heart's fine. This has got to be something else."
He sounded like he really believed that, but how could he be certain? Even if the device itself was working perfectly, there could always be a problem of some sort in the connection between it and his body.
Agent Coulson returned with Dr. Walton and a nurse. They instantly pushed Pepper aside and got to work, and Coulson escorted her out of the room. Looking over her shoulder, the last she saw of the scene was Dr. Walton placing her stethoscope on Tony's chest and complaining that there was no way she could hear breath sounds past all the mechanical noise.
Pepper let Coulson steer her to the cafeteria, where he bought her a cup of tea. Instead of calling Rhodey or Happy like she probably should've, she just stared at her tea, making circles in it with the plastic spoon. She felt far less shocked and surprised than she ought to. It was as if she had been expecting for something like this to happen. Everything had been going too well - she had known it couldn't last. She wondered if she'd ever get her normal emotional range back. She still hadn't cried, not once, ever since the time when Tony and Rhodey had first ended up in the hospital.
"I'm sure this is just a momentary relapse of some sort," Coulson was saying soothingly.
Pepper nodded and sipped at her tea.
"You know, Miss Potts, even though that obviously wasn't psychological, if you think there's any chance that talking to someone would help Mister Stark, you shouldn't hesitate to get help for him."
Pepper just nodded again.
"Or for anyone else who's been involved in this, for that matter. I know the sort of effect serious emotional trauma like this can have on people. It should never be underestimated."
That was a very tactful way of saying that she should seek help, if she felt like she needed it. She found herself smiling at him. "I'll keep that in mind."
"We have people who're trained for confidentially handling cases that are a bit... unusual. I could email you their contact information."
"Thank you, I'd appreciate that." She didn't just say it out of courtesy, but because she thought talking to someone might be a very good idea.
An hour or so later, they met Dr. Walton outside Tony's room. Pepper couldn't read anything from her expression, no matter how hard she tried.
"So..." Pepper said, instead of an actual question.
"He was right all along," Dr. Walton answered. "I was completely expecting this to be something to do with the -" She glanced at Coulson, and quickly corrected herself. "With his heart, but doesn't look like it is."
"What is it, then? Is he going to be all right?"
"We're waiting for the lab results to confirm it, but it seems Mister Stark has pneumonia. It's most likely related to the surgery. We've started him on antibiotics, and he's on extra oxygen to help with his breathing. Since he was relatively healthy before this, I'm optimistic about his recovery."
Pepper let out a long, shuddering sigh. It had been a false alarm, after all. Not that she was happy to hear that he was sick, but at least it was something treatable, nothing alien or instantly lethal. And at least, for a change, it wasn't about his heart.
Tony spent the first days after the surgery in a haze that was the exact opposite of the depression he'd felt after he'd been ruled out from the transplant list. He was so giddy the procedure had worked that he was practically deaf to any negative comments. Let them bet on how long he was going to live, he didn't care. He was alive, and he was on his own again, free of external life support. Tony Stark 1 - the universe 0. Or maybe it was 2-0 by now, or 3-0, or more - he wasn't entirely sure what to count. Afghanistan, definitely, and probably the Arctic, because he'd actually been clinically dead then. Maybe a couple of other incidents. Most likely there were more to come, but right now, he didn't mind that, either. The universe could keep on setting impossible obstacles in his way, he'd just build his way right over or around or through them. Take that, you bitch.
His cheerfulness wavered slightly when he came down with pneumonia. It was hard not to feel a bit dispirited when one couldn't breathe properly. Still, even though Dr. Walton was kind enough to remind him that it was a serious illness that could slow down his healing considerably, Tony decided that compared to everything else he'd gone through, it was just a nuisance.
She said that he had been lucky, because the strain he'd caught was one that responded well to antibiotics. He was convinced he just pushed through it by sheer willpower.
Two weeks after the operation, over a month and a half since Tony had first ended up in the hospital, Dr. Walton admitted that there was no reason for him to stay there any longer. She was still looking at him as if he were some fragile, extremely exotic creature in the zoo, but at least she no longer treated him like he was going to drop dead at random.
He dressed in the casual clothes Pepper had brought for him, and walked out of his hospital room without looking back once. He was done with this place.
Pepper was waiting for him right outside the room, together with the standard four bodyguards. For some odd reason, she had tears running down her face.
"Pepper, you do realize that crying whenever I survive something horrible against all odds is sending me some seriously weird signals, right?"
She only answered him with a chuckle between sobs, and gave him a quick hug.
At least she was smart enough not to even suggest putting him in a wheelchair. There was nothing wrong with his legs, thank you very much. There was nothing wrong with him, in general, except for the not-quite-healed wounds the surgery had left. Of course, he was still weak - just walking through the hospital to the lobby took more out of him than he was willing to let on - but he'd be damned if he let that bother him now.
In the lobby, he met Happy and Rhodey, the former pushing the latter's wheelchair. Of course, Rhodey had already been discharged, but he was still working on his walking. Dr. Walton was there, too, and several of Tony's regular nurses. To his surprise, Dr. Santini stood next to them. He had returned to Arizona soon after the surgery, and though he'd called several times, curious to hear how the TAH was holding up, Tony hadn't actually seen him since.
"I can't say I'm going to miss you," Dr. Walton told Tony, grinning. "I hope I'm not going to see you here again any time in the near future. Not counting your follow-up appointments, of course."
"I'm not going to miss this place, but I might miss you, just a little," Tony said, winked at her, and shook her hand. "I guess I never really thanked you for saving my life in the first place? Thanks for everything, Laura."
He shook Dr. Santini's hand next, smiled at him, and asked, "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"I took the day off. I just had to see this with my own eyes. Here you are, looking just like the next man - I'd never believe the truth if I hadn't been there myself," he said. "I hope this isn't the last the medical technology field hears from you. It'd be a criminal waste if that device remained the only one of its kind."
"Don't worry about that, doc, you're not getting rid of me this easily. I'll keep in touch," Tony said. "And thanks for all your help."
He walked across the lobby and out of the building with the small crowd. He was amazed there were no media people around. Pepper and the PR and security teams had clearly done a good job.
The Phantom was parked right at the front door. Happy helped Rhodey to the front passenger seat, and Tony sat in the back, next to Pepper.
"Happy, take us home," Tony declared.
"With pleasure, boss," Happy said, and Tony was sure he could see the corners of his mouth turn into something that looked a lot like a smile.
Pepper, on the other hand, was still crying.
Late that night, Tony lay in his bed, listening to the deep, complete silence, staring at the familiar ceiling of his bedroom, which he hadn't seen in over a month. After all he'd been through, was he even the same person he'd been back then?
Just thinking about the murder attempt sent enough adrenaline into his system that he felt his heart pick up speed. It was a strange sensation, smooth, barely noticeable. His new heart would never skip or leap. He rested a hand on his chest, over the still sore surgical incisions. Beneath the slight vibration of the arc reactor, there was a soft thrumming, something that was almost, but not quite like a heartbeat. He wasn't a nostalgic, let alone a romantic, but still, he couldn't help feeling that he had lost something. He could call himself a cyborg now. He was part machine.
Even though he was more dependent on technology than he'd ever been before, he was actually better off than he had been. He'd built an emergency reserve battery into the device. If someone somehow managed to grab the arc reactor again, he'd have an hour to find another power source. If he failed to do that, there would be no sharp pain tearing through his chest, no torment before the end. He'd stop and keel over, dead, just like that.
Sooner or later, Tony would find the guy who had tried to kill him, Spymaster, or whatever his real name was. Before punching the crap out of him, he'd probably have to thank him, and not just for himself. For once, he had built something that could only be used to do good. The first thing tomorrow, he was going make a few phone calls, and Stark Industries would start business negotiations with CardioWare. Of course, he couldn't start handing out arc reactors to people who were dying of heart failure, but he'd figure out another power source. What he'd had to do to survive could save thousands and thousands of lives - maybe more than he'd ever be able to save as Iron Man.
End Credits:
Thanks/blame for this one go to
magicamethyst80, whose comment originally gave me the idea of writing something like this.Other inspiration/sources include:
-The Movie (Duh.)
-Iron Man vol. 1 #19 (A doctor called Jose Santini fixes Tony's heart with a synthetic tissue)
-IM vol. 3 #30 (Tony gets an artificial heart - although it's not by choice)
-IM vol. 3 #66-67 (Both Tony and Happy are in the hospital, and Tony gets attacked by a nurse)
-A ridiculous amount of medical websites and articles (for example, eMedicine, The Merck Manuals, Texas Heart Institute and, of course, Wikipedia)
-And probably a dozen other issues of Iron Man I just don't realize I've been ripping off, and about every h/c story ever, and every medical show ever ("Sex Kills" from S2 of House comes to mind right away), and so on.
I have vague ideas for more Bioses-fics, it'd be interesting to explore this artificialheart!Tony AU further, and the whole murder mystery plotline was left really open here, but we'll see, we'll see.
