A Game Called Operation
“Colonel Rhodes?” asked Peter tentatively. Rhodey smiled slightly at him.
“Yeah?”
“So, um, KAREN came back online at some point in the… earlier scenes and she has been getting updates from FRIDAY and Mr Stark is awake.”
“Who’s Karen?” asked Scott quietly, Sam shrugged.
“That’s great, I guess,” said Rhodey. “I’ll go get him then.” Rhodey stood up and once again left the room.
Tony was still in the chair with his chin resting in his hands and his eyes closed.
“Tones?” At the sound of Rhodey’s voice, his eyes snapped open and he attempted a smile.
“Hey Platypus, how’s it going in there?” Rhodey rolled his eyes at the nickname and sat in a chair near to Tony.
“Well you just stopped weapon manufacturing at SI, so I would say it’s going pretty well,” Rhodey replied knowing Tony probably meant people’s reactions.
“That’s good, good.” murmured Tony distractedly.
“You gonna come back Tones?” Tony nodded slightly, leaning back in the chair and tapping his fingers against the new arc reactor nervously.
“Yeah, I will. Just hang on…” He sighed and several moments later his stood up, mask firmly back in place. “Waiting on you Honeybear,” he smirked and Rhodey sighed standing up and following.
As Tony returned to the cinema room everyone, more specifically the Rogues, Wakandans, and Guardians, stopped talking and kept on glancing at Tony with various emotions on their faces, worry, sympathy, admiration, or confusion. Tony ignored them all and resumed his seat next to Rhodey and Peter. Peter smiled at Tony but his eyes screamed sympathy which half annoyed Tony don’t need their sympathy, and half made him feel joy at the love given to him by this kid. Rhodey cleared his throat in the silence.
“Continuing?”
A TV can be seen, the words 'Mad Money' on the bottom, along with 'Stark Industries (SIA)'. The man on the show speaks up, "Stark Industries! I've got one recommendation! Ready? Ready?" He reaches for a button beside him, the words,
"Sell, sell, sell!" coming over the speakers.
Tony groaned, and most who knew the show glared at the screen. Not very popular.
"Abandon ship! Does the Hindenburg ring any bells?" He continues.
“Are they kidding?” asked Steve shocked. “That is incredibly disrespectful.”
“It’s not a very popular show,” said Strange coolly.
The screen shows an annoyed, exasperated Pepper Potts before switching back to the TV.
"Let me show you the new Stark Industries business plan!" The man grabs a bat, swinging it at a mug on the table in front of him. It cracks instantly, sending a loud crashing sound through the speakers.
Pepper winces but keeps watching, pursing her lips as she eyes the TV.
"Look; that's a weapons company, that doesn't make weapons!"
Wanda pursed her lips at that staring at her hands.
"Pepper, how big are your hands?" Tony's voice is suddenly heard, and the Strawberry blonde leans over a touchpad on the table, muting the television.
"What?"
"How big are your hands?" He repeats.
“Um. What?” asked Bruce.
“Did you really?” Rhodey asked Tony slightly amused. Tony shrugged.
“I couldn’t exactly do it myself.”
"I don't understand why…" Her voice is edged with confusion, but Tony cuts her off.
"Get down here. I need you." There's a sense of urgency to his tone, so inevitably she concedes.
The scene changes and Pepper can be seen approaching the glass doors of the workshop. A touchpad appears on the glass and she enters her access code, hesitantly stepping inside.
"Hey." Tony is sitting on a chair, not unlike those at a dentist's office, electrodes stuck to his chest and an arc reactor in his grasp. "Let's see them. Show me your hands. Let's see them." He wiggles his fingers and she holds up her hands for him to see, "Oh, wow. They are small. Very petite, indeed."
He turns to look at the arc reactor in his hands when he speaks again, "I just need your help for a sec."
“Oh no.” sighed Natasha, Tony looked affronted.
“It wasn’t that bad and it’s not like I had anyone close enough apart from her to do that.” Natasha rolled her eyes and several people were thinking about how Tony implied he lacked friends.
"Oh, my God, is that the thing that's keeping you alive?" She asks as she makes her way over to his side, her eyes fixed on the makeshift technology in his chest.
"It was. It is now an antique." He holds up the new reactor, this one much improved in its quality, "This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future. I'm swapping it out for an upgraded unit, and I just ran into a little speed bump."
"Speedbump, what does that mean?" She sounds concerned, her eyes widening just the slightest bit.
"Nothing," He waves a hand as if it were really no big deal, "It's just a little snag."
He reaches his free hand for the reactor currently in his chest, "There's an exposed wire under this device," He continues as he twists his hand over it, "And it's contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short. It's fine." He says in response to her gasp as he yanks it out, handing it to a concerned and very much nervous Pepper Potts.
"What do you want me to do?" She questions, obviously unsure about the situation.
"Put that on the table over there. That is irrelevant," He states with the flick of his wrist.
“That attitude will definitely help you with lessening her concern,” commented T’challa.
"Oh, my god," She sighs as she sets the old reactor aside.
"I just want you to reach in, and you're just going to gently lift the wire out." He explains as Pepper turns back to him, her eyes blowing wide as he explains her job.
She peers sceptically into the hole before looking at Tony, who is noticeably just as uncomfortable with the situation as she is, "Is it safe?"
“I’m Tony Stark. Nothing is ever safe,” said Tony grinning slightly but the smile didn’t reach his depressed eyes.
"Yeah, it should be fine." He gestures to the metal casing, "It's like Operation. You just don't let it touch the socket wall, or it goes 'beep.'"
"What do you mean Operation?"
"It's just a game never mind."
"Just gently lift the wire, okay? Great." He states as Pepper starts reaching her hand forward.
"Okay…" Her hand goes in slightly, but is quickly drawn out followed by the shake of her head, "You know, I don't think that I'm qualified to do this."
“Well considering it’s new technology no one would be qualified to do that?” Peter said sounding unsure about the comment Tony smiled kindly at him.
“No joke spiderling.”
"No, you're fine." He reassures her, "You are the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met. You're gonna do great." When she still casts him an uneasy glance, he adds, "Is it too much of a problem to ask? 'Cause I'm…"
"Okay, okay."
"I really need your help here."
"Okay," She exhales and reaches her hand forward again. Instead of pulling out, it goes further in, almost up to her wrist. He leans his head back and avoids eye contact with her, shifting slightly in the chair. She shrieks when there's a squelching noise, making a face of disgust, "Oh, there's pus!"
“Pus?” said Shuri shocked, “Is she serious right now???”
“Don’t panic it wasn’t pus.” sighed Tony rubbing his left arm.
"It's not pus," Onscreen Tony explains in hopes of easing the blonde's disgust, "It's an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body."
“How comforting.” sighed Bruce.
"It smells!" Pepper shrieks again, turning her head and making a face.
"Yeah, it does. The copper wire. The copper wire, you got it?"
"Okay, I got it! I got it!"
"Okay, you got it? Now don't let it touch the sides- AH, OW!" There's a buzzing sound when he shouts from the pain, "When you're coming out!"
Most winced at the cry of pain given by the onscreen billionaire but Tony barely reacted.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She cries out, doing her best not panic upon seeing Tony's face twisted in discomfort.
"That's what I was trying to tell you before." He says as the monitors start beeping for a brief moment, before slowly calming down, "Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, you don't-" Pepper pulls before he can finish, and a circular object attached to the copper wire comes out with it, dripping with the plasmic discharge, "There's a magnet a-at the end of it! That was it. You just pulled it out." The heart monitor starts beeping like crazy, and the blonde is having a very difficult time keeping it together.
"Oh, god!" Pepper holds it over the chest cavity, having no idea what to do with it.
"Okay, I was not expecting… Don't put it back in! Don't put it back in!"
“Oh my god, Tony.” sighed Bruce but concern was on his face.
Pepper turns and sets the magnet aside, "Okay, what do I do? What's wrong?!"
He takes a deep breath, "Nothing. I'm just going into cardiac arrest 'cause you yanked it out like a trout…"
“Cardiac arrest?” gasped Peter.
“It’s fine Pete,” said Tony.
“Yes you seem to have everything under control,” exclaimed Strange sarcastically.
“Everything does seem pretty calm,” smirked Rocket, Gamora looked at him unamused.
"What?! I thought you said this was safe!" She's nearly shouting at this point, but Tony is doing his best to keep his cool and simply continues giving her directions.
"We gotta hurry, take this. Take this." He hands her the new arc reactor, the heart monitors beeping faster and faster, "You gotta switch it out really quick."
"Okay, okay." She takes it and lays a reassuring hand on his shoulder as she tries to collect herself, "Tony? It's going to be okay."
"What?" He says between strangled breaths.
"It's gonna be okay."
"Is it?"
"I'm gonna make this okay."
"Let's hope."
“Sure take your time why don’t you,” muttered Clint so Tony couldn’t hear.
She grabs the end of the wire, reaching inside his chest again as he instructs her, his breathing becoming noticeably more laboured and uneven.
"Okay, you're going to attach that to the base plate. Make s-sure you- YEOW!" He shouts when she finally gets the wires attached, reaching for the reactor she's trying to secure in his chest. "Was that so hard? That was fun, right? Here, I got it. I got it. Here." He twists the reactor in place, "Nice."
“Are you kidding?” said Shuri, amusement on her face. Tony smirked at her.
She looks at her hands, now dripping with the discharge, then back at him, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I feel great. You okay?" He grins at her, letting out an honest laugh at her expression.
She sighs heavily but can't help but grin back as the adrenaline settles, "Don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that, ever again."
His smile dies a bit as he considers her request, "I don't have anyone but you," He notes with a shrug and a quirk of his lips. She stares at him for a moment, meeting his eyes in a brief moment of silence before he looks away. "Anyway…" He pulls the electrodes off his chest, standing and grabbing the cover of the reactor off the table beside him, fastening it in place.
"What do you want me to do with this?" Pepper holds up the old arc reactor.
"Destroy it. Incinerate it." He says, turning to the blonde and tapping his fingers against the upgraded unit in his chest.
"You don't want to keep it?" She turns it around in her hands, studying it for a moment before looking back up at him.
“But you did keep it didn’t you?” Rhodey asked Tony quietly.
“You’ll see.”
"Pepper, I've been called many things. Nostalgic is not one of them."
She seems to consider this for a moment before she responds, "Will that be all, Mr Stark?"
"That will be all, Miss. Potts." He turns away, pointing towards one of his bots as Pepper makes to leave the lab, "Hey, butterfingers, come here. What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk? That's my phone, that's a picture of me and my Dad." The bot turns towards the desk to get to work as he continues, "Right there. In the garbage, all that stuff."
At the mention of throwing the picture away, several curious looks were sent Tony’s way.
“I told you. I’m not exactly nostalgic.” Tony muttered tapping his fingers on the new arc.
He turns to look at Pepper as she's leaving, reaching his hand to his chest and drumming his fingers over the arc reactor, making a gentle tapping sound.
“That was tense,” said Loki coolly, Tony grinned at him.
“Is the god of mischief actually showing concern?” he mocked, Loki glared at him.
“I am merely pointing out the obvious,” Loki replied.
“It is one of his favourite pastimes,” added Thor, Loki rolled his eyes at him.
“So next you’ll build that suit of yours?” asked Rocket eyes flashing interest.
“Yep. Mark II.”
“What Model is it now?” asked Quill intrigued.
“50,” answered Tony. “So in other words, noticeably less awesome than my current suit.” Most everyone rolled their eyes at that.