Tony Wakes Up
They all got into one elevator and it started immediately. Just a few seconds later the door opened again and they stepped out on the medical floor. Bruce led them to one of the rooms and the door opened as soon as they got close. Wanda, Sam, Bucky, Steve and Clint stopped dead in their tracks. Tony was lying in the bed hooked up to a few different machines. He was pale, almost white. Pepper was holding one of his hands in her both. Bruce and Vision rushed to the machines and started to push different buttons while throwing medical terms between each other. Natasha and Rhodey went over to Pepper. After a few minutes Bruce sighed.
“We can’t stabilize him more than this. Damn! We’ll have to do it now.”
That made Wanda finally move. She went over to the bed and sat down on one of the chairs. Bruce came over with a syringe and the girl rolled her sleeve up.
“You ready?”
She nodded and Bruce stuck the needle in her arm. A red liquid could be seen coming into the syringe but it was clear that it was not blood. Wanda slowly begun to pale. When the syringe was half full Bruce pulled the needle out and quickly turned towards Tony. Vision appeared next to Wanda and gave her a mug with warm coffee. She smiled towards him and quickly drank it. Some of the color slowly came back to her face. Meanwhile Bruce was slowly injecting Tony with the power. Bucky, Clint, Sam and Steve had now moved into the room too and closed the door behind them. Bucky went over to Wanda and put a hand on her shoulder.
“You all right Wanda?”
She nodded. Bruce pulled the needle out of Tony’s arm and kept his eyes on the machines. Everyone else was looking at Tony. Suddenly his face gained color and at the same moment Bruce turned to the others and said:
“He’s stabilizing. It worked.”
Pepper stood up, went over to Bruce and hugged him. He held her tightly and that was when Clint just had to ask.
“Are you guys together?”
Pepper let go of Bruce and nodded softly.
“Yes. We got together some time after Bruce arrived here.”
Steve looked at her in surprise.
“But I thought you and Tony…”
Pepper sighed.
“Me and Tony were never together that way. Yes we kissed but it never went further than that. We were never really in that kind of relationship. And when we decided that we should settle on a brother-sister relationship we were both in on it. Especially since I knew that Tony was in love with someone entirely else.”
Clint choked on air.
“Wha…? Tony is in love? With who?”
Pepper smiled suddenly.
“Well… Tony didn’t really love her that way from the beginning. But he started to love her as time went by. In the end he couldn’t stop talking about her. Of course that idiot never told me about it until we broke up. But after that he couldn’t shut up.”
“Not an idiot Pep.”
Almost everyone jumped and turned towards the bed again. Tony was smiling. His eyes were closed and he asked slowly:
“Before I open my eyes I wanna know one thing. How many people here will try to kill me when I get up?”
They all stilled. Then, before anyone could even move, Bucky stepped a bit closer so that he was now standing directly behind Wanda’s chair and said:
“It’s fine Jamie. No more.”
Tony’s eyes snapped open. Tony’s blue eyes. At the same second Wanda smiled widely.
“It worked!”
Tony looked from Bucky to Wanda.
“What worked?”
Instead of answering Bucky picked up a small pillow and threw it at Tony’s face. It stopped right before it could hit him. He seemed to be so shocked by the fact that he sat up and hit his face on the pillow. Bucky burst out laughing which in its turn shocked all the others. No one had ever heard Bucky laugh and Steve who had grown up with Bucky had not heard him laugh since the Winter Soldier. Tony flicked his wrist and the pillow shot off towards Bucky. The man ducked in the last second. But when he stood up again the pillow came back and hit the back of his head. He stopped laughing and became suddenly very serious.
“Listen Jamie. I need to apologize to you. I shouldn’t have just assumed that you are the bad guy because Steve said that. I should have stopped and listened to what you had to say. I’m ashamed that I didn’t recognize you when I was triggered that one time when we fought. I’m sorry for fighting you in Siberia. And especially for leaving you there. And I’m…”
“If you say that you are sorry for one more thing I will hang you upside down outside the Tower and call the media.”
Tony’s voice was light but when he noticed how serious Bucky was he sighed.
“I mean it Winter. It’s fine. I figured out that you didn’t recognize me. It’s partly my fault. I never told you my real name and Pierce kept it a secret.”
Then he suddenly froze. He must’ve noticed how many people were in the room and thought probably that he had said too much. The world begun to spin and he felt two hands slowly help him to get back to a lying position. The spinning stopped and he noticed that the person who helped him was Wanda. She smiled at him and said carefully:
“It’s okey Tony. Friday got some videos that someone had made magically about your life. She thought it would be good if we saw it. So we sat down to look at it.”
Tony visibly paled and his eyes glowed even more. Wanda took his hands in hers and squeezed them.
“It’s all right. No one blames you for anything.”
Then after a few seconds of silence she added:
“I don’t blame you for anything.”
And that seemed to snap him out of the shock. He looked over to Bucky and then back to Wanda.
“How far did you watch?”
“You were setting up a workshop in Ana’s basement.”
He took a deep breath and then nodded.
“Fine. But no more.”
Then he looked around the room again and seemed to notice Steve for the first time. His eyes widened and he tried to get off the bed. Wanda was almost thrown backwards so Vision moved to the bed and started to talk to Tony in a soothing voice. Bucky looked over to Sam and whispered:
“Take him out of here.”
Sam seemed to understand because he grabbed Steve and, together with Rhodey, quickly led the confused man out of there. Clint got up and left too after whispering to Natasha:
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”
Pepper went over to Natasha but her sudden movement seemed to rile Tony up even more. He struggled against Vision even more and was whole the time talking quickly.
“You don’t understand J. He will kill me. He hates me. He tried to kill me. Howard said he would. And Howard never lied about things like that. They all want me dead. Clint and Steve and Sam and...”
Bucky moved around Vision and Wanda and sat down on the edge of the bed. He put his metal arm on Tony’s chest but then drew it back in surprise. Tony quieted and froze again. Bucky reached out and pulled the engineer's shirt up. The arc reactor was glowing blue. The exactly same blue that Tony’s eyes were still in. Bucky looked from it to Tony’s face. Wanda was shocked too. Although she knew that Tony had the arc reactor in him she had never seen him without a shirt. Natasha and Bruce understood Bucky’s surprise. Many people didn’t understand that the reactor was so much more than just a battery for the suit.
“James?”
Tony shook his head.
“Another time. Please?”
Bucky nodded and pulled the shirt back down. Then he looked over to Bruce and back to Tony. The engineer seemed to understand because he turned his head and his smile was almost splitting his face a second later.
“Brucie!”
Before he could get up Bruce moved forward and put a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m happy to see you too Tony but stay down. You are still weak. You just woke up from a coma. You have to stay in bed and eat. Doctor’s orders.”
Tony grunted but leaned back onto the pillows. He looked over to Natasha and Pepper and frowned.
“You look as a post battle Natasha. Not a domestic Natasha. What’s going on?”
But Natasha simply smiled at him.
“Food is going on Shellhead. Me and Vision are going to go and order something. NOT pizza.”
Tony kept his eyes on her for some more seconds but then seemed to let it go. He raised one eyebrow and whined:
“But pizza is the best comfort food.”
“Yeah. And you most probably won’t be able to keep it down after not eating solid food for so long.”
She stood up and gave Tony a kiss on the cheek before she left the room with Vision and Pepper. Bruce checked some of the machines and Tony rolled his eyes.
“You know I will unhook myself from all of this as soon as you leave right?”
Bruce smirked and turned towards Bucky.
“Barnes. Would you mind keeping an eye on Tony while I go to see so that Nat doesn’t scare the poor delivery boy to death?”
Bucky simply moved from the bed to one of the chairs while Wanda took a seat on the other side. Tony glared at the three of them and muttered:
“Traitors.”
But he was smiling the next second when he looked at Wanda and said:
“Thank you Wanda. For helping me get it back.”
She smiled back at him.
“You’re welcome Tony. But listen. There is something I want to ask you.”
Bruce went out and closed the door behind him. He didn’t even need to say anything in the elevator. Friday took him immediately to Clint’s old floor. They were all sitting in the living room. Steve looked upset while Natasha tried to explain something to him. When Bruce stepped in she was raising her voice.
“You tried to kill him Rogers! And you think he will accept you back with open arms?!”
Bruce cleared his throat to get their attention. When all heads had turned towards him he said slowly:
“I think I can guess what you were talking about. Tony is scared of Steve. It was actually easy to predict. Tony is already struggling with PTSD, anxiety and a few phobias that I know of. He always blames himself for everything and no one ever does anything to prove him wrong. He blamed himself for the Jericho and Gulmira, for Yinsen, for putting Pepper’s life at risk, for not stopping Vanko earlier, for not realizing Loki’s plan before the Helicarrier blew up, for killing Wanda’s parents, for Pietro, for Sokovia. When you fought him in Siberia he most probably accepted that he would die. You spared him, he got back here. From what I can see he is happy that he has Winter back. So right now we all have a mission that we have to deal with as fast as possible to be able to become a team again and save T’Challa wherever he is. We need to find out which ones of us Tony trusts and is not afraid of. And convince him that the others mean him no harm. For now me, Bucky, Wanda and Natasha are cleared. I’m sorry Pepper but judging by how he seemed to be frightened when you moved we can’t clear you yet.”
He was met with silence and sad faces. A few people kept their heads down. Then Clint looked up with determination in his eyes.
“Tony is a part of this family. And we’ll make him feel that way again.”
Slowly one after one they all nodded. Then Natasha took the leadership in her hands again.
“Right. Sam, Clint. You two go to the roof again. Turn the jet upside down if you have to but find some clues. Steve. You and Vision head up to the common area. See if there is someone there that is able to speak. I don’t think everyone is so gone. Pepper, Rhodey. You two are the most neutral ones here. I need you to go to some shop and buy food. We’ll cook something when you get back. Bruce. You and I have a few calls to make. We’ll need all the help we can get. Bucky and Wanda will keep an eye on Tony for now.”
When everyone left she took out her phone and Bruce moved a bit closer.
“Who are we calling?”
Her grin was scary when she answered:
“Fury.”