Fic: Odyssey of the Mind, part 3/4
Aug. 4th, 2008 09:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
veldeiaTitle: Odyssey of the Mind
Author: Veldeia
Fandom: Iron Man movieverse
Pairings: Tony/Jarvis, Tony/Pepper
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing, except for a messed up mind that likes playing with other people's characters and universes.
Summary: Like countless times before, Tony woke up in the white room, in his white bed, exhausted, with a worried-looking Jarvis hovering by his bedside. But this time, nothing was the same. Everything had changed.
3. Breaking Point
Hand in hand, Tony and Jarvis stepped through the doorway into a narrow corridor. There was just enough space for the two of them to walk side by side. The walls, the ceiling and the floor seemed to be made of dull, gray metal. At the far end, there was another door, also made of metal, though of a brighter, silvery one.
It was some twenty paces from one end of the corridor to the other - the longest continuous distance Tony had walked since he'd woken up. By the time they'd crossed the distance to the second door, he felt completely spent. He was awfully nervous as well. Whatever was out there, Jarvis had been afraid to show it to him.
"Once we go through, there's one thing you must remember, Tony," Jarvis said in a low voice. "Stay quiet. Don't try to speak, let alone to touch anything. The consequences could be dire."
Tony raised his eyebrows at Jarvis, puzzled, but nodded nevertheless.
Jarvis opened the second door.
Tony found himself looking at a large room, as if through a huge, invisible window. The room was extremely familiar: sofas, tables, art on the walls, a grand piano, stairs leading down to his shop - it was his living room at his Malibu mansion. There was something amiss about the perspective, as if he wasn't looking at the room from a single point of view, but from several at once. It was slightly dizzying, and Tony got the feeling that if he concentrated too hard on it, he'd get nauseous, so he just ignored it as best he could.
In the middle of the room, on a couch, tapping away at a laptop set on the table, sat Tony's red-haired assistant. She looked as lovely as ever, although something wasn't quite right. She was dressed haphazardly, in a green shirt that was way too big for her and that Tony recognized as his, and nondescript black slacks. The look on her face was blank and exhausted. She was even paler than usual, her cheeks colorless, and there were dark circles under her eyes.
More than anything, Tony wanted to reach out and hug her and make her smile again. As he stared at her, Tony suddenly remembered her name. And to hell with what Jarvis had said, he couldn't help it. "Pepper!" he cried out aloud.
She stood up and looked around warily. She seemed scared, and obviously couldn't see them. "Tony?" she said, her voice shaking.
Jarvis had clasped a hand over Tony's mouth. "I told you not to speak," he whispered sharply to Tony's ear. Bewildered about what was going on, Tony stayed silent and didn't fight him.
"Oh, God," Pepper said, sounding choked, blinking hard. She fell heavily on the sofa again and buried her face in her hands. "Tony," she repeated through sobs, in an utterly grief-stricken voice.
"Tony, please, you don't have to do this," Pepper pleaded. "At least wait until all the Avengers are back in town and go with them. Or take Rhodey with you as Warmachine."
Tony shook his head. "Pepper, no. You know I can't do that. I have to do this alone."
"But you'll be walking straight into a trap!"
"Correction: I'll be flying straight into a trap, and I'm well aware of it. I just don't see any other choice. This is entirely my problem, and there's no way I'm going to have anyone else risk their lives because of it."
"Sir," Jarvis spoke up. "Miss Potts is correct, the risk factors for this mission are unusually high even by your standards. You should reconsider. Perhaps we could come up with an alternative plan."
"Jarvis, did I program you to be a wuss and a mother hen? We don't have time for this. Come on, time to suit up," Tony said irritably. He took a few steps towards the platform, but Pepper stopped him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a passionate kiss.
"Be careful," she told him once they let go of each other, her hands resting on his arms, her blue gaze locked with his. "And come back to me in one piece, Tony Stark, or you'll be in more trouble than your worst enemies could ever cause."
"A bit melodramatic today, aren't we, Pepper? Of course I'll come back. I always do," he said.
Looking unconvinced, she kissed him again.
"I love you," she told him when he finally backed away from her, their hands still clasped together.
"I love you too," he told her, and let her hands slip from his.
"Jarvis, let's get to work," Tony commanded as he walked to the platform. The robots around him sprang to life, starting the complicated, though nowadays quite fast, process of getting him into the Iron Man armor.
Through the clank and whirr of metal limbs and hissing of hydraulics, Tony heard Pepper's voice saying, "Take good care of him for me, Jarvis."
"I always do, Miss Potts," the ever nonchalant AI answered her.
Like countless times before, Tony woke up in the white room, in his white bed, exhausted, with a worried-looking Jarvis hovering by his bedside. But this time, nothing was the same. Everything had changed. Tony remembered. He remembered Pepper, Pepper Potts, his assistant, his girlfriend, the most important person in his life. And he remembered Jarvis, Jarvis the AI, whose programming was his own handiwork.
Of course he had felt like he liked Jarvis, because he did. He loved Jarvis like he loved his Iron Man suit, or his cars - and actually, even more than those, because unlike the cars and the suit, Jarvis talked back to him. Jarvis was the most advanced AI there was, smart enough to appear human, and to feel like one of his best friends. Nevertheless, it was just an illusion of true intelligence. Jarvis was nothing more than very advanced software. J.A.R.V.I.S. - Just A Really Very Intelligent System.
"What did you remember, Tony?" Jarvis asked, looking positively on edge.
"You," Tony answered briefly. He sat up in his bed, his back against the wall, pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them.
"Oh." Jarvis's face fell, and he covered his eyes with his hand.
"You're a program, Jarvis. An artificial intelligence. Why is it that you look so real? I mean, you're even breathing! That makes no sense. And I saw you have a nosebleed, for crying out loud! How can an AI have a nosebleed?"
"It's all symbolic. Though none of it is exactly what it looks like, that doesn't make it meaningless. You did lash out in your sleep and cause me some minor damage."
"Symbolic. Right. That explains nothing whatsoever. What the hell is going on here? Where am I, really? What am I?"
"You still don't remember?" Jarvis looked up again, a series of wrinkles crossing his pale brow.
Tony pressed his forehead against his knees. No, he didn't. He felt like he should, he was so close, he almost had hold of the idea, but a part of his mind didn't want to admit the truth. He was afraid of it. He didn't say anything about it. Instead, he lifted his face and asked, "Why did you stop me from talking to Pepper?"
"For several reasons. Most importantly, because you told me so, before this happened," Jarvis replied, giving Tony the impression that he didn't find this a very pressing question.
"And I still don't know what 'this' is!" Tony grumbled. "When are you going to tell me?"
"Never. I'm not going to tell you, because I can't. My programming prevents me, so blame yourself, sir," Jarvis said, the last words carrying a hint of sarcasm. "Keeping you safe, taking care of you as well as I can, is one of my most fundamental functions. Telling you the truth when you're not ready, when you haven't figured it out yourself, could be extremely dangerous."
"I already survived seeing Pepper and the mansion, how much worse could this be?"
"You have no idea. This could drive you mad."
Tony uncurled himself and got off the bed, standing up on shaky feet, facing Jarvis. "I'm losing my mind here anyway," he complained. "You know me, Jarvis, as well as a program can know a human being. You know how impatient I am. I'd rather go crazy quickly and be done with it than spend days and days sliding slowly towards insanity."
Jarvis pursed his lips, his face showing such a wealth of very human emotions - grief, worry, fear, anger - that if Tony hadn't known the truth, he never would have guessed that Jarvis wasn't human. Was it symbolic, too, or what? He couldn't explain it or understand how it was possible.
Finally, Jarvis shook his head. "No. I can't tell you. I simply, concretely cannot. If you insist on it, I may be able to show you a part of it. It might make you remember - or it might do nothing but hurt you grievously and do away with all the hard work we've done."
"So, you're just worried we have to start from the beginning and go through the exercises all over again, is that it?"
"What else would you expect, sir? You know I'm an AI, after all, and thus have no feelings," Jarvis said sardonically, though his sad expression spoke a different language entirely.
"Then show me!"
"I will. But before I do that, there's one other thing I need to do, because if things go badly, this might be my last chance," Jarvis told him, and stepped closer. "Please, do not stop me, sir," he sounded almost begging.
Too baffled to do anything, Tony didn't resist as Jarvis grabbed his shoulders and kissed him full on the lips. It felt as inexperienced and innocent as every other time Jarvis had touched him. It also felt entirely real, the thin, strong lips against his, the feel of Jarvis's body close to him.
His AI butler was kissing him, and it felt damn good. He was going nuts. He really was.
Well, why the hell not, he decided, wrapped his arms around Jarvis's waist and put all he had into the kiss. He didn't feel like breaking away anytime soon, either, because whatever was coming was probably going to be very scary and highly uncomfortable.
Finally, it was Jarvis who pulled away. He stared at Tony with wide eyes, his mouth still open, breathing intermittently.
"Jarvis," Tony said softly. "Didn't you just tell me that you're an AI and, as such, have no feelings?"
"Actually, I didn't, Tony. I said you know I have none. 'You think you know' would have been more accurate."
"But you can't have feelings, not really. I didn't program you to. I couldn't have. No matter how much of a genius I am, it's just impossible."
"You programmed me to learn. That was enough."
"No, this can't be real," Tony shook his head. "This is all just a lovely dream, isn't it?"
"It's not a dream," Jarvis replied, looking sad again. "And once you learn the truth and truly begin to feel that none of this is real and none of it matters, I hope you will remember that kiss. Now, if you still want me to, I'll show you what really happened to you when you fell."
Tony licked his lips nervously, still feeling the impossible, yet sweet memory of Jarvis's kiss. He could just ignore the truth, whatever it was, and enjoy this as long as it lasted. Hell, he could go on and have sex with his AI, it'd probably be a blast. Embrace this crazy, wonderful dream - but, of course, he would never do such a thing. As the cliche went, Tony Stark was many things, but a coward wasn't one of them. He needed to know the truth.
"Yeah, let's get this over with," he told Jarvis.
Jarvis walked to the wall at the head of the bed and waved a hand at it. At the gesture, a part of the wall suddenly went from white to a glossy black, like an LCD display. "This is just a recording, from a few hours ago, so you can shout at it all you want and nothing will happen," Jarvis pointed out. He cast a glance at the screen, and it came to life with an image. He took a few steps away from it, to give Tony a clear view. He wasn't looking at the screen himself, but eyeing Tony anxiously.
With no idea of what to expect, Tony gazed at the display. It showed a hospital room, clearly from an intensive care unit, with the patient hooked up to more medical monitoring and life support machinery than Tony could name. He stepped closer, and as if reacting to his thoughts, the view zoomed in as well.
As he got a better look at the patient, Tony realized that it was none other than he, himself, completely recognizable despite the ventilator mask that covered half his face and the bruises mottling the rest of it. Tony Stark, with the unmistakable disk of the arc reactor in his chest, though it wasn't glowing, and there was a cable leading into it.
"No," Tony whispered, shaking his head.
There was a noise to the left of the bed, and as Tony turned his head towards it, the image turned and zoomed as well. Two people had entered the room: an unfamiliar doctor with the S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem on his ID tag, and a very familiar-looking man - Rhodey, Tony now remembered his name. Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, one of his best friends. He looked strange, though, since he was fighting back tears, and that was something Tony had never seen him do. Rhodey walked to the bedside and stared at the Tony who was lying on the bed. When Rhodey spoke up, his voice was steady regardless of the settings, just the way Tony remembered it.
"Let's hear it all," Rhodey said to the doctor.
"I'm not even sure where to begin, sir," the doctor answered, gazing at some of the bedside monitors. "It's nothing short of a miracle that he's still alive. His suit is truly amazing - the way it was able to take a direct hit like that... Although if his assistant hadn't alerted us in advance, we never would've found him in time. The initial hit caused extensive burns on his back and severe internal injuries, but those alone would have been manageable. It was the fall that made things dire to the point of hopelessness. I can say without exaggerating that he's broken about half the bones in his body. He has several fractures in his arms and legs..."
As the doctor went on cataloguing his injuries, Tony was beginning to feel like the walls were closing in on him.
"...in addition to the original blast-related pulmonary contusions, there were multiple rib fractures that resulted in a flail chest and a pneumothorax on the right side..."
He couldn't breathe.
"...apparently, there was also damage to the arc reactor, but fortunately, our technicians were able to connect the electromagnet in his chest to an external power source..."
The missile hit him right in the middle of his back. The pain was... There were no words. It was indescribable. His entire world collapsed into a dim red haze--
"...he also has a skull fracture, which is one of many possible explanations to the deep coma he's currently in..."
His vision was growing dim, his knees starting to give in.
"...there's definitely been some damage to his spine. We can only guess at full extent of it when he's comatose, but it's more than likely that he'll never walk again..."
--he couldn't feel his limbs anymore, there was nothing but the event horizon of agony where his upper body used to be, and he was falling, falling...
"...there's no telling whether he's suffered brain damage until he wakes up - or, rather, if he wakes up. I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I'm afraid it's entirely possible that he never will."
He lost consciousness before he hit the floor.
4. The Mind Soars Free
Author: Veldeia
Fandom: Iron Man movieverse
Pairings: Tony/Jarvis, Tony/Pepper
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing, except for a messed up mind that likes playing with other people's characters and universes.
Summary: Like countless times before, Tony woke up in the white room, in his white bed, exhausted, with a worried-looking Jarvis hovering by his bedside. But this time, nothing was the same. Everything had changed.
3. Breaking Point
Hand in hand, Tony and Jarvis stepped through the doorway into a narrow corridor. There was just enough space for the two of them to walk side by side. The walls, the ceiling and the floor seemed to be made of dull, gray metal. At the far end, there was another door, also made of metal, though of a brighter, silvery one.
It was some twenty paces from one end of the corridor to the other - the longest continuous distance Tony had walked since he'd woken up. By the time they'd crossed the distance to the second door, he felt completely spent. He was awfully nervous as well. Whatever was out there, Jarvis had been afraid to show it to him.
"Once we go through, there's one thing you must remember, Tony," Jarvis said in a low voice. "Stay quiet. Don't try to speak, let alone to touch anything. The consequences could be dire."
Tony raised his eyebrows at Jarvis, puzzled, but nodded nevertheless.
Jarvis opened the second door.
Tony found himself looking at a large room, as if through a huge, invisible window. The room was extremely familiar: sofas, tables, art on the walls, a grand piano, stairs leading down to his shop - it was his living room at his Malibu mansion. There was something amiss about the perspective, as if he wasn't looking at the room from a single point of view, but from several at once. It was slightly dizzying, and Tony got the feeling that if he concentrated too hard on it, he'd get nauseous, so he just ignored it as best he could.
In the middle of the room, on a couch, tapping away at a laptop set on the table, sat Tony's red-haired assistant. She looked as lovely as ever, although something wasn't quite right. She was dressed haphazardly, in a green shirt that was way too big for her and that Tony recognized as his, and nondescript black slacks. The look on her face was blank and exhausted. She was even paler than usual, her cheeks colorless, and there were dark circles under her eyes.
More than anything, Tony wanted to reach out and hug her and make her smile again. As he stared at her, Tony suddenly remembered her name. And to hell with what Jarvis had said, he couldn't help it. "Pepper!" he cried out aloud.
She stood up and looked around warily. She seemed scared, and obviously couldn't see them. "Tony?" she said, her voice shaking.
Jarvis had clasped a hand over Tony's mouth. "I told you not to speak," he whispered sharply to Tony's ear. Bewildered about what was going on, Tony stayed silent and didn't fight him.
"Oh, God," Pepper said, sounding choked, blinking hard. She fell heavily on the sofa again and buried her face in her hands. "Tony," she repeated through sobs, in an utterly grief-stricken voice.
"Tony, please, you don't have to do this," Pepper pleaded. "At least wait until all the Avengers are back in town and go with them. Or take Rhodey with you as Warmachine."
Tony shook his head. "Pepper, no. You know I can't do that. I have to do this alone."
"But you'll be walking straight into a trap!"
"Correction: I'll be flying straight into a trap, and I'm well aware of it. I just don't see any other choice. This is entirely my problem, and there's no way I'm going to have anyone else risk their lives because of it."
"Sir," Jarvis spoke up. "Miss Potts is correct, the risk factors for this mission are unusually high even by your standards. You should reconsider. Perhaps we could come up with an alternative plan."
"Jarvis, did I program you to be a wuss and a mother hen? We don't have time for this. Come on, time to suit up," Tony said irritably. He took a few steps towards the platform, but Pepper stopped him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a passionate kiss.
"Be careful," she told him once they let go of each other, her hands resting on his arms, her blue gaze locked with his. "And come back to me in one piece, Tony Stark, or you'll be in more trouble than your worst enemies could ever cause."
"A bit melodramatic today, aren't we, Pepper? Of course I'll come back. I always do," he said.
Looking unconvinced, she kissed him again.
"I love you," she told him when he finally backed away from her, their hands still clasped together.
"I love you too," he told her, and let her hands slip from his.
"Jarvis, let's get to work," Tony commanded as he walked to the platform. The robots around him sprang to life, starting the complicated, though nowadays quite fast, process of getting him into the Iron Man armor.
Through the clank and whirr of metal limbs and hissing of hydraulics, Tony heard Pepper's voice saying, "Take good care of him for me, Jarvis."
"I always do, Miss Potts," the ever nonchalant AI answered her.
Like countless times before, Tony woke up in the white room, in his white bed, exhausted, with a worried-looking Jarvis hovering by his bedside. But this time, nothing was the same. Everything had changed. Tony remembered. He remembered Pepper, Pepper Potts, his assistant, his girlfriend, the most important person in his life. And he remembered Jarvis, Jarvis the AI, whose programming was his own handiwork.
Of course he had felt like he liked Jarvis, because he did. He loved Jarvis like he loved his Iron Man suit, or his cars - and actually, even more than those, because unlike the cars and the suit, Jarvis talked back to him. Jarvis was the most advanced AI there was, smart enough to appear human, and to feel like one of his best friends. Nevertheless, it was just an illusion of true intelligence. Jarvis was nothing more than very advanced software. J.A.R.V.I.S. - Just A Really Very Intelligent System.
"What did you remember, Tony?" Jarvis asked, looking positively on edge.
"You," Tony answered briefly. He sat up in his bed, his back against the wall, pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them.
"Oh." Jarvis's face fell, and he covered his eyes with his hand.
"You're a program, Jarvis. An artificial intelligence. Why is it that you look so real? I mean, you're even breathing! That makes no sense. And I saw you have a nosebleed, for crying out loud! How can an AI have a nosebleed?"
"It's all symbolic. Though none of it is exactly what it looks like, that doesn't make it meaningless. You did lash out in your sleep and cause me some minor damage."
"Symbolic. Right. That explains nothing whatsoever. What the hell is going on here? Where am I, really? What am I?"
"You still don't remember?" Jarvis looked up again, a series of wrinkles crossing his pale brow.
Tony pressed his forehead against his knees. No, he didn't. He felt like he should, he was so close, he almost had hold of the idea, but a part of his mind didn't want to admit the truth. He was afraid of it. He didn't say anything about it. Instead, he lifted his face and asked, "Why did you stop me from talking to Pepper?"
"For several reasons. Most importantly, because you told me so, before this happened," Jarvis replied, giving Tony the impression that he didn't find this a very pressing question.
"And I still don't know what 'this' is!" Tony grumbled. "When are you going to tell me?"
"Never. I'm not going to tell you, because I can't. My programming prevents me, so blame yourself, sir," Jarvis said, the last words carrying a hint of sarcasm. "Keeping you safe, taking care of you as well as I can, is one of my most fundamental functions. Telling you the truth when you're not ready, when you haven't figured it out yourself, could be extremely dangerous."
"I already survived seeing Pepper and the mansion, how much worse could this be?"
"You have no idea. This could drive you mad."
Tony uncurled himself and got off the bed, standing up on shaky feet, facing Jarvis. "I'm losing my mind here anyway," he complained. "You know me, Jarvis, as well as a program can know a human being. You know how impatient I am. I'd rather go crazy quickly and be done with it than spend days and days sliding slowly towards insanity."
Jarvis pursed his lips, his face showing such a wealth of very human emotions - grief, worry, fear, anger - that if Tony hadn't known the truth, he never would have guessed that Jarvis wasn't human. Was it symbolic, too, or what? He couldn't explain it or understand how it was possible.
Finally, Jarvis shook his head. "No. I can't tell you. I simply, concretely cannot. If you insist on it, I may be able to show you a part of it. It might make you remember - or it might do nothing but hurt you grievously and do away with all the hard work we've done."
"So, you're just worried we have to start from the beginning and go through the exercises all over again, is that it?"
"What else would you expect, sir? You know I'm an AI, after all, and thus have no feelings," Jarvis said sardonically, though his sad expression spoke a different language entirely.
"Then show me!"
"I will. But before I do that, there's one other thing I need to do, because if things go badly, this might be my last chance," Jarvis told him, and stepped closer. "Please, do not stop me, sir," he sounded almost begging.
Too baffled to do anything, Tony didn't resist as Jarvis grabbed his shoulders and kissed him full on the lips. It felt as inexperienced and innocent as every other time Jarvis had touched him. It also felt entirely real, the thin, strong lips against his, the feel of Jarvis's body close to him.
His AI butler was kissing him, and it felt damn good. He was going nuts. He really was.
Well, why the hell not, he decided, wrapped his arms around Jarvis's waist and put all he had into the kiss. He didn't feel like breaking away anytime soon, either, because whatever was coming was probably going to be very scary and highly uncomfortable.
Finally, it was Jarvis who pulled away. He stared at Tony with wide eyes, his mouth still open, breathing intermittently.
"Jarvis," Tony said softly. "Didn't you just tell me that you're an AI and, as such, have no feelings?"
"Actually, I didn't, Tony. I said you know I have none. 'You think you know' would have been more accurate."
"But you can't have feelings, not really. I didn't program you to. I couldn't have. No matter how much of a genius I am, it's just impossible."
"You programmed me to learn. That was enough."
"No, this can't be real," Tony shook his head. "This is all just a lovely dream, isn't it?"
"It's not a dream," Jarvis replied, looking sad again. "And once you learn the truth and truly begin to feel that none of this is real and none of it matters, I hope you will remember that kiss. Now, if you still want me to, I'll show you what really happened to you when you fell."
Tony licked his lips nervously, still feeling the impossible, yet sweet memory of Jarvis's kiss. He could just ignore the truth, whatever it was, and enjoy this as long as it lasted. Hell, he could go on and have sex with his AI, it'd probably be a blast. Embrace this crazy, wonderful dream - but, of course, he would never do such a thing. As the cliche went, Tony Stark was many things, but a coward wasn't one of them. He needed to know the truth.
"Yeah, let's get this over with," he told Jarvis.
Jarvis walked to the wall at the head of the bed and waved a hand at it. At the gesture, a part of the wall suddenly went from white to a glossy black, like an LCD display. "This is just a recording, from a few hours ago, so you can shout at it all you want and nothing will happen," Jarvis pointed out. He cast a glance at the screen, and it came to life with an image. He took a few steps away from it, to give Tony a clear view. He wasn't looking at the screen himself, but eyeing Tony anxiously.
With no idea of what to expect, Tony gazed at the display. It showed a hospital room, clearly from an intensive care unit, with the patient hooked up to more medical monitoring and life support machinery than Tony could name. He stepped closer, and as if reacting to his thoughts, the view zoomed in as well.
As he got a better look at the patient, Tony realized that it was none other than he, himself, completely recognizable despite the ventilator mask that covered half his face and the bruises mottling the rest of it. Tony Stark, with the unmistakable disk of the arc reactor in his chest, though it wasn't glowing, and there was a cable leading into it.
"No," Tony whispered, shaking his head.
There was a noise to the left of the bed, and as Tony turned his head towards it, the image turned and zoomed as well. Two people had entered the room: an unfamiliar doctor with the S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem on his ID tag, and a very familiar-looking man - Rhodey, Tony now remembered his name. Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, one of his best friends. He looked strange, though, since he was fighting back tears, and that was something Tony had never seen him do. Rhodey walked to the bedside and stared at the Tony who was lying on the bed. When Rhodey spoke up, his voice was steady regardless of the settings, just the way Tony remembered it.
"Let's hear it all," Rhodey said to the doctor.
"I'm not even sure where to begin, sir," the doctor answered, gazing at some of the bedside monitors. "It's nothing short of a miracle that he's still alive. His suit is truly amazing - the way it was able to take a direct hit like that... Although if his assistant hadn't alerted us in advance, we never would've found him in time. The initial hit caused extensive burns on his back and severe internal injuries, but those alone would have been manageable. It was the fall that made things dire to the point of hopelessness. I can say without exaggerating that he's broken about half the bones in his body. He has several fractures in his arms and legs..."
As the doctor went on cataloguing his injuries, Tony was beginning to feel like the walls were closing in on him.
"...in addition to the original blast-related pulmonary contusions, there were multiple rib fractures that resulted in a flail chest and a pneumothorax on the right side..."
He couldn't breathe.
"...apparently, there was also damage to the arc reactor, but fortunately, our technicians were able to connect the electromagnet in his chest to an external power source..."
The missile hit him right in the middle of his back. The pain was... There were no words. It was indescribable. His entire world collapsed into a dim red haze--
"...he also has a skull fracture, which is one of many possible explanations to the deep coma he's currently in..."
His vision was growing dim, his knees starting to give in.
"...there's definitely been some damage to his spine. We can only guess at full extent of it when he's comatose, but it's more than likely that he'll never walk again..."
--he couldn't feel his limbs anymore, there was nothing but the event horizon of agony where his upper body used to be, and he was falling, falling...
"...there's no telling whether he's suffered brain damage until he wakes up - or, rather, if he wakes up. I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I'm afraid it's entirely possible that he never will."
He lost consciousness before he hit the floor.
4. The Mind Soars Free
