Flying
“Jarvis, where are we?” Tony says desperately as he feels Natasha go limp in his arms.
“New Haven. I’m plotting a route to the tower.”
Tony sees the path laid out in front of him, and pushes the suit to go faster, taking care of how he’s holding Natasha’s broken body in his arms.
“Sir, you have a broken arm, multiple contusions and some ligament damage in your wrist.” He doesn’t care.
“Scan Natasha,” he commands
“Sir. It is a modified form of Extremis.” He knows the AI can’t be shocked or he’s just imagining it, but there’s a tone to the AI’s voice that he can’t place.
“I know, tell me how she is, monitor her vitals,” he says, frustrated.
“Her temperature is elevated, too high to stay at this temperature. It appears as though she has posperthetic neuralgia, did her skin seem sensitive?
Tony nods.
“Her heart is working hard to regulate her breathing. She has broken fingers, a dislocated thumb, and she also has multiple contusions as well. Possibly a concussion. Sir, she needs medical attention.”
“Will the Extremis protocol work, like it did with Pepper?”
“I’m not sure Sir. Agent Romanoff has a different physiology to Miss Potts. Her DNA structure and immune response is… different,”
“Can you run it? Try all possible combinations, with drug combinations as well,”
“Sir, Agent Barton and Miss Potts wants an update, can I put them through?”
“First set up the hospital, find the doctor that did Pepper’s care, so they’re ready as soon as I land,”
“Already done, sir. Patching through Miss Potts and Mr Barton.”
“Tony!? Tony!? Where are you?”
Peppers voice is frantic and he can hear Barton in the background.
“Tony, are you with Natasha?”
He’s frantic, and Tony gets it.
“Barton, I have her,” he assures.
“Are you ok?” He’s not sure how to answer that.
“They caught us, they made me..” he stops, unable to day the words. He opts instead for the here and now, and what they need to know.
“Clint, Natasha will need surgery,” it needs to be now, he thinks but he can’t fly faster.
Clint hums.
“What did she do?” It’s an odd question that he chooses to ignore.
“Is there anything I need to know? We’re landing in twenty minutes, ok? Can you meet us at the top of the tower? I have a feeling she’s going to respond better if you’re there.”
Clint mutters something that sounds like ‘not likely’ but he agrees.
“Pepper, can you meet the doctors and get them set up?” She sounds on the verge of tears as she agrees.
“Tony, her body will react different, she metabolises things differently. Faster, usually. A bit like Steve. If it’s drugs, it should be out of her system soon, don’t worry,” Clint explains.
There’s so much in that that Tony can’t even begin to unpack it. He decides on the truth, because no matter how quickly Natasha metabolises something, it’s not actually helping with what’s going on in her body.
“It’s not drugs Barton, it’s Extremis,” he admits.
“What?” They both say simultaneously.
Tony can’t stop his head from pounding as he tries to explain.
“It’s trying to change her,” he tries. Just like it did to Pepper, but with Pepper it succeeded. He doesn’t know what it will do to her, what if it half succeeds or half fails. What if..
he’s broken out of his thought by Pepper.
“When did it happen?” She asks, likely thinking of her own experiences.
“Almost three hours ago,” he says as the time flashes on his HUD.
Clint is silent and Tony thinks he’s going through all the options.
“Ok, do you have an antidote?” It’s said harshly, like he expects Tony to have an answer. He does, but it’s not one anyone wants.
“I have the one we used for Pepper,” he answers.
Clint thinks for a minute.
“I think it should be ok, her body will try and fight whatever is invading, I think… whatever dose you have, just double it, ok? One won’t be enough.”
Tony does the calculations in his head, tells Jarvis to get everything ready. The doctor has arrived, and he thanks god for modern transport and quinjets.
“Is she ok?” Pepper asks, quietly.
“She’s…” he doesn’t know how to answer that. Her chest is rising and falling and there’s pain on her face that’s more emotive than he’s ever seen her; even when they were fighting aliens.
“I don’t know,” he decides on.
“Are you ok?” Pepper asks.
“I’m fine,” he says immediately. He’s glad he’s in the suit, he wouldn’t be able to hold onto Natasha if he didn’t have it.
“We can get the quinjet to come and get you?” Clint offers, and Tony knows he’s been caught in his lie.
“No, I’ll be there soon, I can make it, I can do this,” he assures. He did it to Natasha, he can follow through on his promise. He can fix this. He promised and he can.
“Tony, is she conscious?”
He looks down at her as she’s frowning, not conscious but he’s seen her open her eyes and watch him before she’s out of it again.
“She’s in and out,” he tells them.
He’s almost there.
Jarvis corrects the flight path and he lands somewhat awkwardly, trying to shield Natasha from the jolts of the suit.
Clint and Pepper run to him, and it’s like a scene from a medical show as the gurney is pushed towards him.
He tries to get her attention as he lays her down, tries to convey her vitals to the doctors as she opens her eyes to look at him.
“Natasha?” He asks, “Natasha, Clint’s here, we’re going to help you ok?”
He’s met with her body pushing up against his hands, folding in on itself before she vomits on herself.
He would be disgusted if he wasn’t so worried.
Clint tries to get her attention but she’s hyperventilating and can’t seem to get a breath in.
“Tash, you gotta breathe,” Clint says frantically, the doctors pushing them both aside as her vitals spike.
Clint watches as they rub on her chest, and she tries to push them away, noticing her ripped up wrists and broken fingers.
“Stop,” he asks, as he hears her cry out when they touch her.
But they don’t.
He knows they’re only doing what they need to, but it’s hard to watch.
First they inject her arm, then they intubate her and finally her body goes still.
.