Connections

The first thing he noticed was that he was in the dark.

There are two types of darkness. The first type is the darkness that keeps you safe, holds you close. It keeps you away from your demons, tints everything a shade of grey so you can focus on what truly matters. Those who fear darkness have no idea what the light can do, because it is the darkness that can truly protect you.

This was the second type.

It robs you of your sense and replaces it with a paralysing fear, until you can’t breathe, can’t think, because it surrounds you, clinging to your skin, imprisoning you inside your mind, and after so long, it can drive you mad.

As he was brought back to reality, Tony finally managed to open his eyes, and there was the familiar feeling of his lungs pressing in on themselves, depriving him of air, his breathing becoming frantic, because he can’t be here, not now.

On any other occasion, the stars would have been impressive, beautiful. But here, with so little separating him from them, it was terrifying, the blanket of black, specked with white and blue, hidden behind silhouetted Chitauri ships, just a reminder of how small he was, how much danger they were in. How much danger they were all in.

The circle of light underneath him was drawing closer, a small glimpse of New York still visible, but he could feel his lungs burning, deprived of oxygen, his heart pounding in his ears in an attempt to get the smallest bit of air to his mind, and the light beneath him, his guide home, disappeared into nothingness, Earth saved but this wasn’t supposed to happen- he was supposed to be there too, on the other side- not trapped here so far from home- it wasn’t supposed to be this way-

“Tony!”

His arm waved out violently as he woke, missing Jean by mere inches. Tony shook himself, trying to regain his breath, not wanting to speak.

“You were muttering in your sleep. I thought it would be better to wake you than leave you be.”

He swallowed, and nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”

“Nightmares?”

“That obvious?” He attempted to smile, but failed.

“You’re not the only one. A lot of the team...” She sighed sadly. “I’ve learned to recognise them.”

He sat up slowly, wiping away the sweat that had beaded on his forehead, and finally took note of his surroundings. The two of them were alone in the mansion’s medical bay.

So they had made it.

He looked to Jean, who was biting her lip absent-mindedly. She hadn’t changed much since he’d last saw her, but she seemed… Sadder.

He suddenly remembered all that had happened before he blacked out, and he looked down to his leg, which seemed to be have a suspicious lack of pain radiating from it.

“Did someone heal this? I’m sure this was broken earlier.”

Jean smiled. “Yeah. Two of the kids wanted to help you out and worked together with their powers.”

He raised an eyebrow. “The kids? Must be pretty strong to sort something like this.” He paused. “How long have I been out for?”

Jean checked her watch. “Nearly thirteen hours.” He sat up straighter. “Using your powers to that extent- It used up a lot of your energy.” She paused. “You could have been unconscious for days if you’d done any more.”

“I’m sorry.” Tony sat silently for a moment, before a thought hit him. “The Avengers, do they know?”

“No.” He let out a sigh of relief, and she continued. “They were confused as to why you blacked out, but seemed to blame it all on your leg when they saw it.”

“And Bobby?” He took a sip of the water left for him, throat suddenly feeling dry.

“He told the newer kids about what he saw, but Scott put in a word. They won’t say anything to your team.”

“Thank you.”

He sensed footsteps approaching after a minute, and smiled slightly as he recognised the feeling of Xavier’s wheelchair among them. Scott popped his head around the door, more relaxed when he saw Tony awake.

“The rest of the team are outside. They want to know if you’re up to talking.” He didn’t hesitate to nod in reply, and the others entered the room almost immediately, as if already knowing his reply.

“I have to say that I’m impressed.” Tony’s eyes flicked to Xavier. “If you’ve been out of practice, it’s incredible that you managed to support the whole jet with your powers.” He smiled, and Tony couldn’t help the warmth that spread through him seeing it. “Although… I noticed you haven’t told the Avengers about them yet.” It was a statement, not a question, and Tony simply shrugged in response.

“I can’t trust them yet,” he answered, “So can we not talk about this now?”

He received a few sceptical looks, but they all took the hint and said nothing about the Avengers, Scott changing the subject to avoid an awkward silence. “Anyone got any ideas on how to deal with this whole thing?”

No one needed to ask what he meant. “Locating Raven won’t do anything in helping us locate the Sentinels at the moment,” Xavier started, “I could see if I can work out any details in their plan from her, but I’m not sure how much I could find.”

“Unless one of the Sentinels goes online, there isn’t much I can do, so that’s probably best at the moment.” He thought for a moment, before continuing. “I'll try and set something up to alert us if any of them do activate.” Tony suddenly felt someone outside nearing the door, and he looked to Xavier. “The Avengers?”

“Doctor Banner. He’s alone.” He nodded, and sure enough, Bruce was standing there when he opened it, looking relieved to see him awake.

“You’re okay.” He seemed to be saying it more for himself than for Tony. “I thought you got hurt when we crashed?”

“I did,” he answered quickly, “But we’re in a house full of mutants. Some of the kids helped heal it while I was out. Not that I’m ungrateful.”

Bruce smiled (although hesitantly, Tony couldn’t help but notice) at the X-Men, before turning back to him. “You’re okay with all these guys, then?” He hastily corrected himself. “I’ve got no problems with any of them, but our teams don’t seem to be on the best of terms at the moment.”

“It’s fine. We’re just trying to see if there’s any easier way to locate Magneto’s team which is harder than you’d expect, considering the team we’ve got.” He shrugged. “If any of the team asks,” Not bloody likely. “Just tell them I’m fine, I’ll be up soon.”

“I’ll see you later then?”

Tony nodded silently, and shut the door as Bruce left.

“You need to tell them, Tony. You won’t be able to keep this a secret while you’re here.”

He didn’t take note of who spoke. “I can’t. You saw how Natasha reacted to just being around you all. If they knew now….”  He drifted off.

“You’d be able to use your powers when we fight. Without needing to try and hide them.” Jean finished for him. The rest of the team seemed to agree with her, and glanced expectantly at him.

“No- Don’t look at me like that- You can’t just try and team up against me.” Rude. He sighed. “Look, I’ll tell them at some point while we’re here. But I can’t have the team not trusting me while we’re fighting. It just won’t work. Just give me some time.”