𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐓

𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐖𝐀𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄

TONY

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

Amid the erratic state in the atmosphere, the genius man, to whom sleep had become dangerous borders, lay still behind the viewing screen of the intensive care unit and his gaze fixated on the slow rise and fall of Elle's lethargic self. There was a panic to him with the jump-leaps, his brain maturing into a flat battery and all the exertions winding into an irregular path to finding a solution to treat her.

They had force sedated Elle to examine her defects two hours ago and in order to lay low, he had his trusty friend, Happy chauffeur the ambulance to a meagre Stark-based sanatorium in the suburbs of the Taiwanese province. His first move was to contact Rhodey who had upon hearing the news, deserted Tabora in minutes and used his armour to travel past the continent to the allocated destination. He'd gotten an earful from Tony while performing his actions.

Rhodey had his hard eyes fall on Tony's stance, his gaze finally lifting to meet his friend's. His fast footfalls arrested to a halt a foot away, a little frightened to move ahead and witness the scene. Rhodey swore he saw the glassy look in them, his jugular bouncing intermittently as if the bad news were yet to come. The tall man flanked his best friend's side, their gazes straining on the unconscious body of the woman, the breath leaving his lips sharply.

'How is she?'

Tony answered a beat later. 'Alive.'

There wasn't more he could say because it was an inevitable truth. Tony found nothing else to say, his throat thickened with emotion. He fisted his anxiety-ridden palms on the side of his suit pants and taking in a heave. Rhodey reached out, clamping an assertive hand over his tense shoulder and squeezing down gently. No words were spoken after, knowing not to trouble the already troubled man.

'Mr Stark, may I have a moment please?'

Both the men snapped their gazes to the white-coated male who stood ahead of them with a glistening set of scans in his hands. Tony nodded at once, moving forward with a rake of his finger into his scalp and ready to heed the information.

'It's grim, I'll be honest.'

Tony found the strength to roll his eyes.

'Most of the damage is favourable to a minor. But, manageable,' he revealed, the tense silence between the duo yet to break. Because they knew the good news didn't always last. 'There's a lot of it. Add all the loss up, it raises her baseline trauma considerably. She cracked a few ribs, had a doozy hit and running a lifeline.'

The doctor paused to gauge the men's expressions, their gazes still stern and firm. Especially Rhodey, who knew the girl behind the glass was the sort that never gave up. She was a fighter that one, and too smart for her own good.

'There's more,' Tony said bluntly, not the least bit upset. 'Go on, doc.'

'She took shrapnel through her chest cavity.' 

His conveys was halfhearted, sifting through a few scans in his hands to show the proof. Rhodey took it from him when Tony locked his arms in place, shooting the genius a grim look knowing the man hated being handed things. 

'Near her spine and her heart—'

'Yeah,' Tony grunted, rubbing the region near his nose as it experiencing a sudden headache. This was coming and he knew it. It was like history was repeating itself and this time, it decided to hold Elle as the base of operations. There was no going back again since he knew what had to be done.

The doctor went on. 'Plucking it out of her—there's just so many of the bits—she's so beaten—' 

'I know.'

'I wish there's something I could do—'

'There is,' Tony said, too content to be normal. Rhodey watched forlornly as Tony kneaded a hand over his left shoulder as if it had numbed for a second, backing away from them. He pointed a thumb at the glass, nodding at the doctor. 'I need to talk to her when she's up.'

'She's resting now, Mr Stark. We have to wait until the sedative subsides.'

'Thanks, doc.'

The doctor nodded at the men and leaving them to themselves. Rhodey had his eyes on the doctor's retreating back, a sudden change in the scene behind the male causing Rhodey to scrunch his eyes. Happy Hogan stumbled up into the hallway barely balancing four coffee cups, blinking sluggishly in disbelief at the officer.

'Rhodes? How'd you get here so early?'

'A little this and that,' Rhodey shrugged in return, easing Happy out of his misery as he plucked two out his hands. The War Machine was a centre of attraction at the ER entrance of the hospital but he turned a blind eye to it. 'Any survivors at the tower?'

'Other than Elle, no. But,' Happy beckoned Rhodey closer, causing him to move in to listen to this piece of information. He looked leeway before heeding him. 'An emergency ambulance escorted another survivor out the crash site. He had tech all over his spine—sound familiar?'

Rhodey knew it wasn't feasible for anyone to have survived such an intense blast. Yet, the bastard had done it.

'Stane survived the bombing?'

Just before Rhodey could react with an attainable clarification to Zeke being under arrest, he heard loud hissing coming from behind him. It was Tony, speaking in fast tongues into the speaker. He cast a glance at a nonchalant Happy who walked beside him to get a close hearing at the conversation.

Tony caught their gazes and pulled the phone from his ear. His face was everything related to disappointment. 'It's Hill.'

'Put her on speaker,' Rhodey whispered quickly, wanting in on the conversation.

Tony followed the command and soon Maria Hill's domineering voice bled out into the secluded hallway of the room. Even with the echoing, Hill had a way of bringing hell down through an interface.

'What do you mean, I can't—'

'Stark—'

'I can't arrest—'

'Tony!'

'No, Maria,' Tony had his voice terser and stronger this time. 'I know. I just know.'

'It's Taipei. Taiwan. China,' she enunciated every syllable as if speaking to a toddler. 'Even then, how can you—on what charges can you—'

'Charges? Are you shitting me right now?'

'You don't have any evidence to prove Zeke Stane's involvement with the bombings, Stark.'

'Uh, Tabora?' Tony scoffed, finding all the reasons to go against her orders. 'One hundred and fifty-six people dead on my watch? Philippines, Triumph Division? And El—my—what about Elle?'

Rhodey saw Tony's face pinch up in misery as he fought out her name. His eyes were crazed, looking everywhere to avoid Rhodey's complacent gaze.

'Oh what charges,' Maria repeated, this time her voice was bitter, lengthening out her justification, 'can you arrest him for tonight's bombing?'

'There are three hundred more people dead, Maria. That's enough assessments.'

'So this man stole your girl—who is his ex-fiancee, by the way—creeped you out at a cocktail party and then, had the gall to survive?'

A beat passed before Tony hummed out, 'Well—'

'You're full of shit, Tony.'

'Look, Hill, it was him. I just know it was.'

'You're on Chinese soil,' she stated clearly. 'I am not going to have my soldiers and the States itself, go to war because of your insecurities.'

Tony went begrudgingly silent, his jaw hardening with tension. Rhodey saw his hand fist around the phone tightly, ready to smash it to smithereens. With a rough rush of breath, he shoved the phone into Rhodey's open palm and sauntered away with a grumble. The door slammed shut on his way out.

'Hill? It's Rhodes,' he dutifully notified into the receiver.

'He's out of his damn mind, colonel,' Hill grunted out, knowing very well that a sneer was etched on her face. 'How can he base something off his relationship on the attacks?'

'I believe him,' he muttered.

'What?'

'Elle's hurt pretty bad,' he hinted softly. 'I haven't seen anything like this. I—I don't know if they can save her.'

'Rhodey...'

'Please, Hill,' he mumbled. 'You need to trust him on this one. It's gonna break him is she doesn't make it out of this alive.'

A swift second later, she cursed out under her breath. 'Damn it.'

'I need someone to operate the ROVER-2 keyhole SAT in geosync until the sun comes up,' he placed his orders forward, ready to be authoritative if he had to. 'Trace Stane and get the board on the line.'

'Yessir,' she sighed. 'But, that's all I can do for now.'

'That's enough.'

∞

When they let Tony into Elle's holding unit, he couldn't help but notice how frail she actually was. Elle could be heading out to strange places with editorial duty as an excuse but she was only human, no physical strength or superpowers as such. The only line of defence for her was her wits which held secondary but primarily, it was Tony himself. 

'Tony,' Elle muttered woozily, blinking out the bright lights on the room that shine down on her. She tried to focus her blurry gaze on the figure that perched at the edge of her bed and holding her wired-up hand as a refuge. She couldn't move, as if someone had cut off all ties with her sensory organs neck and below. A sudden recollection of incidents screened behind her lids, making her gasp under her breath. 

'There was a bomb.' 

Tony's relief was short-lived when he realized he had to break down the next set of procedures to her. Then, Elle had pressed her head deeper into her pillows, gulping tightly. A thin line of tears sprouted underneath her lids.

'How many made it out?'

He shook his head, unable to answer. He had no courage left to cry either, the pain locking him in. He felt Elle's thumb rub his knuckles slowly, his hands watching the movement in a blank gaze. He clamped another hand over hers as if trying to channel in his inner conviction into her. Elle sighed.

'It's weird that you're not talking,' she joked, her voice feeble and weak. Even her laugh, too low to be considered the charming Eleanor chuckle. 'You talk my ears off.'

'It's relative,' he murmured finally, swallowing down the thick emotion that had choked his throat and lilting his voice. He jumped straight to the point, not willing to waste time. 'Honey, there's something you should know.'

When she quietened down with curiosity, he continued. 'When the building came down, you were in the way and - you got hurt, Elle. There's stuff in your heart and spine and if we don't have it out of you in time, it could cause some damage.'

Elle's lips had formed a perfect 'o'. She wasn't shocked as most would be, she was numb all over so there was no chance she'd feel anything. She knew it was inevitable and she would have to find her way out of this and Tony being the altruistic being he was, it was close to a complete probability. She kept her gaze fixed on him, forcing her trembling lips secured.

'Okay... what do we do?'

He chuckled through his nose. 'You scared, yet?'

'I've got you,' she said, smiling back at him. 'Why do I have to worry?'

He shrugged, knowing this operation was a no or go. There were slight chances of the procedure taking a wrong turn but he willed himself to think positive for once. She was trusting him to take her decisions and he wasn't going to let that go to waste. He was Tony Stark - he found a way out. It's what he did best. He fixed the situation, no matter how bad it was. The title genius didn't come to him simply and he wasn't letting go easy as well. 

'Remember when I got hurt in the Middle East? Similar things happened and I had shrapnel rubbing on my heart,' he shared, reaching behind him to produce a thin circular disc with browning wire coiled around in loops, spasmodically. Elle figured out what it was, nodding with her lips parted in surprise.

'I put one of these in my chest and it kept the shrapnel still while I healed enough for the procedure. We have to make you,' he breathed out sharply, 'like me. Used to be, back in the day.'

The blue in Elle's eyes had nearly disappeared, her eyes straining on his desolate appearance. He looked miserable and the fact that he was comfortable enough to hold her hand was the only thing keeping her from leaping her way out of the bed and giving him a hug. She knew the decision was easy. Yes, plant that thing in me and make me walk again. But the way Tony said it, it was similar to one of his one-liners. Trying to pick up a turd by the clean end. It could collapse or it could be taken out safely after the arc-reactor had done its work. Elle shook the thoughts out of her head, facing him with complacency. 

'I trust you,' she offered, trying to better his mood. 'If you think that this is right, then go for it.'

'You're so busted up,' he rubbed a hand down his face, his gaze fixated on the familiar core in his hands. He was frightened for her and he just didn't know how to accept it. 'Don't rush your decisions, babe. You need to get better, no matter the time frame and—'

'—hence the arc-reactor,' she finished for him, her voice still a whisper. 'Stop blowing this out of proportion. I'm just knackered, is all.'

'That's not going to cut it,' he sighed, exasperated. 'What if it doesn't go as planned, hon? I am not prepared to—'

'None of that,' she murmured, her eyes pleading to wad off his what-ifs. 'I don't need that on my conscience.'

He barely laughed, bringing his lips into his teeth and nodding in agreement. 'No, you don't.'

'I know. Promise me, then,' she said, gripping his hand back but still packing the force of a fleeting feather. 'Promise me you won't do anything stupid until I get better.'

He rolled his eyes, fighting off a smile. 'You rubbed off on me, Preece.'

'Shut up,' she breathed with a faltering smile. 'I'm a constant fucking delight.'

'Yeah, you are,' he mused. Her face hardened when he drove the topic away from her former question and he drew in a breath to answer her. He looked her dead in the eye. 'I don't do guarantees. But I'll keep an eye out for anything, okay?'

Tony watched as her features calmed down, returning back to normalcy. He leaned forward careful enough to stray away from any wires that were hooked onto her, pressing his lips to her cheek. He let it revel there for a moment, harnessing the feel of her skin against his and memorizing the very warmth of it. He was home.

'I'm going to fix this,' he whispered. He felt her skin stretch underneath his touch. Into a small smile. He pushed the stray tresses that fell into her eyes for her, letting his finger revel by the side of her face. Her reaction had already started to prod around the corners of his heart, his hands tightening around the metal contraption that once saved his life. His game-changer that had once again proved to enclose a place in his legacy. 

∞

[ w/n: i love the amour between these two so much. that gif on top was hard to make, had to crank out the exact moment, y'know. anyhoo, how was this one and huhhhh, Stane's alive?!?! ]

[ update (17.01.2020): 😍😍 ]