Fic: Thermobiosis, part 1/3
Look! I wrote fic! Yay!
It's not a particularly remarkable story, it's a sequel to Cryobiosis - also, it's sort-of an inversion of that story, with many similarities, but many things that are the exact opposite - although it's even more basic and simple than that story was. I just figured I'd try writing at least something to see if I still can. Apparently, the answer is yes. This makes me very happy. <3
Besides, there isn't nearly enough hurt/comfort in this fandom, so seeing as no one else is writing any for me to read, I had to write some more myself.
The story is already finished, so I'll be posting the rest of it soon. It's also unbeta'd, so there may be mistakes and weird ESL non-English and stuff.
Thermobiosis
by Veldeia
Fandom: Iron Man movieverse (post-movie)
Series: Sequel/companion piece to Cryobiosis
Characters: Tony, Jarvis, Rhodey, Pepper, Happy. Gen, friendship.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing, except for a messed up mind that likes playing with other people's characters and universes.
Summary: A month after the incident in the Arctic, a simple rescue mission at the home front turns into a fiery disaster. Pretty much predictable and cliched drama/hurt/comfort.
thermobiosis
'ability to live in high temperature'
-http://www.medword.com/adjectives.html
Damn, he was bored.
As much as Tony hated hospitals, the as-good-as endless period of convalescence at home was almost worse than the days he had spent staring at boring TV-shows and flirting with nurses. A few days short of a month after his little accident in the Arctic, he was still under strict doctor's orders to stay out of the armor, and everyone around him had teamed up to make absolutely certain that he followed those orders.
He was no longer officially on sick leave, he could attend meetings, he could do design and repairs at his workshop, but none of it could make up for the fact that working as Iron Man was still off-limits to him. He missed the suit. He missed the action, the adrenaline, and even more than those, he missed the feeling that he could actually do some good. Business dealings, paper work and tinkering would never give him that.
He leaned back and glanced at the suit schematics filling the screens in front of him. He rested his right hand on his slightly achy left shoulder - now with extra titanium, implanted in the surgeries that it had taken to get all the bones back where they belonged. The good news was, the fine motor functions of his hand weren't impaired in any way. The bad news was that his shoulder might never be quite the same again. He'd regained most of the use of it already, thanks to his physical therapist and Pepper. If it wasn't for Pepper, he would probably have missed most of his PT sessions and skipped all of the exercises he had been given, so it was a good thing she was annoyingly persistent about these things.
During the last few weeks, Tony had done a dozen upgrades to his suit. He'd done the same to Rhodey's suit, and he'd had Rhodey do test flights, so he also knew that everything worked. Still, that wasn't the same as doing the tests himself, especially since he didn't want to ask Rhodey to do any really risky, extreme stuff. And as long as he wasn't allowed to do test flights, Tony was stuck designing more upgrades.
He was still staring absently at the screens, his thoughts lingering somewhere between boredom and self-pity, when his phone rang.
It took a good minute before he began to make any sense of the call - the number was an unknown one, and whoever the caller was, they seemed to be on the verge of panic. "Mr. Stark, I know I shouldn't have bothered you directly, but since you're you - I mean, you're Iron Man, after all, I thought that, well, the security folks have already contacted the fire department and they're doing their best, but -"
"Whoa, whoa, hey, you need to slow down a bit," Tony said. "Who're you, again, and where's the fire?"
"I'm sorry, sir, this is Jones, from logistics, I know you've got no idea who I am, I'm just a grunt, really, but there was an explosion in assembly plant three, and the fire's spreading, and there were people working there at that time, and -"
As he listened to the frantic explanation, Tony held his hand over the cell phone's microphone and told Jarvis to search the media for anything related to this. The screens were still empty when Jones finished speaking, which wasn't all that surprising, since the explosion had taken place only a few minutes ago. Apparently, this guy's first reaction to the whole thing had been to pick up his phone to contact Iron Man. Tony definitely appreciated that.
"All right, Jones, thanks for letting me know. You did the right thing. Help is on the way."
Tony placed the phone on the table and stood up. He knew perfectly well that what he was supposed to do was to call Rhodey, so that War Machine could take this case. Then again, that would take time, and those were his people in there, people who worked for him, trapped in his plant. Even though no one seemed to have any idea of the cause of the explosion yet, it screamed "sabotage" to Tony. His safety protocols were strict, and all related technology was top-notch. The possibility of an accident leading to an explosion leading to an uncontrolled fire was virtually non-existent. Besides, assembly plant three was where most of the projects for S.H.I.E.L.D. were done. There was no way that could be a coincidence.
The worst thing that could happen was that he'd overstrain his shoulder, which would give him some serious pains and aches and cause a setback in his physical therapy. It was nothing he couldn't handle, when lives were at stake.
"Jarvis, seems it's time for Iron Man to fly again," he declared, already pulling on his undersuit.
"Sir, you are still under doctor's orders not to take up any activities that will place significant stress on your injured shoulder."
"Yeah, and you're still hard coded to obey my orders, which means that you can forget about whatever the docs say. I'll use an override if I have to. I know you hate it when I do that."
"I'm incapable of 'hating' anything, sir," Jarvis replied - but nevertheless, didn't push his point any further, which Tony took for resignation.
The very second he stepped on the platform, the door to his workshop opened, letting in an anxious-looking Pepper. Her expression went from a worried frown to an angry glare as soon as she spotted him.
"Jarvis, don't you dare put that suit on him, and Mr. Stark, get away from there, right now. You know as well as I do that you can't do Iron Man missions yet."
"Pepper, I've got to! There's a fire at -"
"At assembly plant number three, eastern quadrant of the Stark Industries complex, yes, I know. I've already called Rhodey, and he'll be here in less than five minutes."
"That's five minutes that we shouldn't waste. In five minutes, I'll be in the suit and at the site. It's not like I'm actually injured anymore," Tony complained, still standing on the platform, although the robotic arms around him had stopped before they'd placed one single piece of armor on him.
"Right, sure you aren't. Tell me that doesn't hurt," Pepper said, and poked his bad shoulder with her forefinger, "and you're free to go."
He couldn't help flinching and gasping the unexpected stab. "Hey, your nails are really sharp!"
"Come on, Tony," Pepper said, resting her hand on his biceps now, steering him away from the platform. "This mission is Rhodey's, not yours."
Rhodey drove straight into Tony's basement and leaped out of the car. He found Tony sitting behind his workstation, wearing his undersuit, and looking like a sulking kid, while Pepper stood in front of the suit platform, her arms crossed, like an an angry mother. Even though he knew the situation they were facing was serious, Rhodey couldn't help grinning a little.
He walked over to Tony and gave his good shoulder a squeeze. "Hey, give it a week or two, and we'll be doing this together again."
Tony shook his head. "I don't care about two weeks from now. What's going on right now is that my people could be trapped in there and dying," he motioned at a screen in front of him, which was showing a live camera feed from the accident site. A thick, dark column of smoke rose from a large, low building, which had the Stark Industries logo painted on its wall. There were already several fire trucks parked in front of it.
"So, forget about the pep talk, and get going," Tony finished.
Although Rhodey had his doubts about selfless reasons being the sole explanation for Tony's sullen mood, Rhodey nodded, and went on to get suited up. Almost ten minutes had already passed since the explosion, and the chances of being able to get anyone out of there alive were growing slimmer with every passing second.
"The armor should protect you from the environmental hazards long enough for you to go in there, see if anyone's around, and to get them out, but you need to be careful," Tony said, as the robots were building the metal shell around Rhodey. "The conditions are bound to be extreme. We've never tested the suits in circumstances like those, and despite all the upgrading I've done, they're not designed for sustained use in a blazing inferno. Of course, your air supply isn't endless, either. So, we'll be sitting here, monitoring your progress and making sure you stay within safe limits. Also, I've every reason to believe that this wasn't an accident. There might be bad guys in there, or more bombs."
Rhodey stepped off the platform in full armor, his faceplate still up. "You're telling me to be careful? Who are you, and what did you do to Tony Stark?" he quipped, shaking his head. "Pepper, you'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, like follow me, right?"
"You can count on that," she said sternly. "I'll tie him up if I have to."
"Ooh, I'd like that," Tony said with a wink. "Handcuffs would do the job, too. Or you could just sit on my lap, that might be just as effective. You'll have to test it to find out."
"In your dreams, Mr. Stark."
"That does it, I'm outta here," Rhodey said, closed his faceplate, and took off.
He'd done several missions alone during Tony's sick leave, but this was the most dangerous one yet, and the one closest to home. It felt weird and wrong to dash into action at Stark Industries, while Tony stayed at home with Pepper, staring at screens and going nuts with the lack of activity and the general feeling of uselessness. Then again, they'd almost lost Tony in the Arctic, and his shoulder had been a complete mess. He really needed the extended time-out.
At full speed, Rhodey covered the distance from Tony's mansion to the Stark Industries complex in a few minutes. He didn't need instructions to find the exact location, since it was obvious from afar. From the video he'd seen, Rhodey hadn't realized how big the plant was. The amount of billowing black smoke escaping through the hole the explosion had made in the roof was overwhelming from a close distance.
"I'm here," he told Tony and Pepper through the radio.
"Jarvis has the plans for the building," Tony said, and the said diagrams showed up on Rhodey's HUD display. "Pepper's been in contact with the fire department, so they know you're there. Not that they're really doing anything at the moment. The fire isn't going to spread outside that building, and the conditions in there are so difficult that they can't go inside."
The layout of the plant seemed simple enough: a rectangular structure, with a personnel entrance and several small rooms in two storys adjacent to it, and then a huge big hall, filled with machinery, with several large doors for vehicles.
Rhodey landed in front of the personnel entrance - a simple, thick-looking metallic door. The fire trucks were parked nearby, and the firefighters waved at him as a greeting. He lifted a silvery hand in reply.
"You might want to stand back," he told them and the gathered crowd. Then, feeling more than a bit nervous, he grabbed the door handle and turned it. The door opened to reveal a long corridor filled with smoke, pitch-dark except for the flicker of flames at the far end. Through the suit, Rhodey couldn't say anything about the temperature, but he could almost see the heat in the air. He switched the HUD to infrared. It would help him to spot any trapped people.
"All right, I'm going in," he declared, both to the onlookers and to his friends.
He stepped into the corridor, and closed the door behind him.
Pepper put her Blackberry back in her purse, shaking her head. "The PR department really isn't satisfied with that, Tony," she told him.
They now had an exact idea of the amount of missing persons: there had been fifty people working in the plant at the time of the explosion, and eleven were still unaccounted for. And that was pretty much all they were telling the media at the moment. Tony insisted that they couldn't give out any details about the explosion yet, not as long as they had no idea of the exact cause themselves.
"Too bad for them," he answered her. "It's not their job to be satisfied, it's their job to keep the media satisfied. I'm sure they can do that. If they can't, I might have to consider some personnel changes."
"Shouldn't we contact S.H.I.E.L.D., in case this falls into their jurisdiction?" she asked.
"I'm one hundred percent certain it does, and since that's the case, I'm sure they're already on it. They're probably at the site right now," Tony said, motioning at the screens in front of him.
The display to the left was showing news about the incident, including a live video feed, the middle one was linked to Rhodey's suit and showed whatever he saw - at the moment, a corridor leading deeper into the building. The one to the right was filled with numbers, suit data and Rhodey's vitals and whatnot.
"You know, we're essentially useless here," Tony went on. "Redundant. Jarvis is keeping track of all this stuff too, and he's probably doing a better job than I ever could."
"I disagree, sir," Jarvis said. "For one, I am unable to provide any sort of emotional support, should that be required."
"Yeah, because I'm so very talented at that sort of stuff," Tony said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "I should be there," he pointed at the news screen, where a reporter was explaining that War Machine had just appeared at the site and entered the burning building.
"Tony, you know that's out of the question," Pepper said, for what had to be the tenth time today, and the gazillionth time this month.
Tony was worse than most of the kids Pepper had ever known - the truth was, she was amazed she'd managed to keep him in check this long. It had really been a trying period of time for all of them, first the accident and the following days of worry and uncertain waiting, and then, these weeks of ridiculously difficult babysitting. Luckily, she'd had Rhodey, Happy and even Jarvis to help her.
"That's not what I meant," Tony replied, sounding exasperated. "I'm not entirely hopeless. Rhodey's already there, I already gave up. I should be at the site, talking to people, organizing things, instead of sitting here and twiddling my thumbs. It's my company, after all."
Of course, she had to admit that she was sometimes a bit too quick to think the worst of him. "Well, I think it's good someone's keeping an eye on how Rhodey's doing, but if you're sure Jarvis can handle it..." she let left the sentence unfinished, eyeing the row of sports cars at the other side of the room. Driving was on the list of things Tony wasn't allowed to do yet, both because of his shoulder, and the pain medication he was taking for it.
"Nah, on second thought, I think I'll just stay here. It is sort of interesting to see how the suit performs in those circumstances. It really is," Tony said unconvincingly.
"I'll call Happy anyway," Pepper said, and did so, just in case. If they needed a ride, it'd be better if Happy drove, since that would be less of a blatant reminder of Tony's current limitations.
Tony turned his attention back to Rhodey. "How's it going in the sauna?"
"So far so good," Rhodey's voice came through slightly distorted.
"Readings look good, too. Feeling hot?"
"Ha ha, really funny. And seriously speaking? No, not at all. It's amazing. I'm walking through fire and I don't feel a thing. The firefighters will be green with envy once they find out how well this works."
"I could build a downgraded version of the suits that they could use," Tony said thoughtfully.
"Dollar signs in your eyes already?"
"Hey, I'm just thinking about all the lives it would save. Besides, we can't throw a barbecue party yet, you've only been in there for five minutes, twenty-seven seconds."
Rhodey's suit camera showed him climb a staircase into what seemed to be another corridor, with rows of doors in both walls. The thermographic image wasn't exactly easy to interpret.
Rhodey opened the first door to the right, then the second one, and the third one - which revealed two people on the ground, one of them prone, the other hunched close to him on all fours. The closed door seemed to have kept the fire out of the room, but there was probably almost no air left in there.
"Thank God!" one of them said, coughing. "I thought we were dead for sure!"
"Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here," Rhodey told them reassuringly. The image shifted back to the doorway as Rhodey turned his head. She could guess he was wondering how he was actually going to do what he said. Even though he was safe in his suit, there was no way he could take two unprotected people all the way to the entrance unharmed.
"No, you dimwit," Tony muttered, and then louder, "Rhodey, the ceiling. You're in the top floor."
"Oh, right," Rhodey answered. "Stand back," he said to the people in the room, aimed his palm repulsors at the ceiling, and shot a hole right through it.
"See, you can make a difference from over here, as well," Pepper told Tony, as they watched Rhodey leave the assembly plant, carrying two people to safety.
Maybe Pepper was being overly optimistic, but it seemed to her that Tony might actually learn a lesson or two from this mission.
Rhodey took the two survivors to the EMTs. They were both still alive - hopefully he'd got to them in time. He had to be careful lifting them, because even though the suit kept him cool, its outer surface was getting warm enough to cause burns.
Rhodey headed back into the inferno, this time using the hole he'd made in the roof as an entrance. He actually didn't know a whole lot about fires. Sure, he'd faced explosions and even fires before, in military settings, but nothing like this. Fire was a foreign element, a wild force of nature that he didn't understand. Luckily, Jarvis had more information than he did. Sometimes, it felt sort of scary how much the AI knew about everything.
Compared to the emotionless numbers and data Jarvis kept spouting, it was a relief to have Tony and Pepper looking over his shoulder as well, as his mission control. It was a great combination: Jarvis for the factual details, Tony for the quick, intuitive thinking that no AI could match, and Pepper for the human, emotional side of things. A good team - even though Rhodey knew Tony hated being stuck where he was, and Pepper needed the patience of an angel to put up with him.
Continuing his sweep of the second floor corridor, Rhodey found two more people, and three more in the rooms along the other corridor of the same floor. He was able to get everyone out safely, too, punching more holes in the roof. He hoped it didn't cause a risk of the fire spreading - Jarvis assured him that it didn't. Besides, the folks from the fire department were keeping an eye on it.
By the time Rhodey had checked the entire second floor, Jarvis announced that he was only narrowly within the preset safety margins. He might have to abandon the mission soon.
"Did you get that, Rhodey?" Tony asked - was that concern in his voice? "I don't want you risking your ass doing this. When Jarvis says it's not all right, you get out of there, right away."
"You wouldn't, if you were here," Rhodey retorted.
"This isn't a competition," Pepper said, her voice more distant. She probably wasn't as close to the microphone as Tony was. "Rhodey, I know you're smart enough not to risk your life for some macho need to prove yourself, unlike someone else who wears an iron suit."
"Gold-titanium alloy," Rhodey and Tony told her in unison.
"Anyway, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I'm going in again," Rhodey added.
So far, everything had gone fine - it had been almost too easy. On the other hand, he'd started with the easiest part. With seven people out of the fire, there were four still missing, and Rhodey had now combed through all of the small rooms. It was time to enter the hall, which was the source of the fire. Since it was a huge, open space, it was bound to be a lot more difficult to search. The chances of finding anyone still alive were slim, but that wouldn't keep him from doing his best.
He entered the hall through the large hole the explosion had left in its roof. Thick, black smoke was still pouring out of it, so he couldn't get a very good picture of what it actually looked like.
He landed in the middle of a fiery chaos. The flames rose almost all the way from the floor to the ceiling at two storys' height, dancing on massive machinery, long conveyor belts and tables. All around him, vehicles, components, and half-assembled things he couldn't recognize were burning in different colors. A good part of the hall was filled with collapsed structures and debris. Rhodey could guess that going through that area would take more time than he had left, considering what the suit could take. He'd search the parts that were relatively easy to reach, and then he'd have to call it quits.
Unable to come up with any better methods, Rhodey simply started making his way forwards, looking around, scanning the area as carefully as he could. Even with thermographic vision, it was nearly impossible to make out any details. At least there were no signs of any bad guys. If there was some crazy flame-throwing supervillain behind this, they weren't here anymore.
Rhodey no longer felt like he was looking for survivors, he was looking for fatalities. Slowly but undeniably, he was starting to feel the heat through his armor, although it wasn't anywhere near bad enough to make him consider quitting yet.
He had almost covered one quarter of the hall, with no sign of anyone, neither dead nor alive, when there was an ear-splitting boom, the floor trembled, and something heavy collided painfully with his legs, knocking him off his feet. He could feel both metal and bones twist in ways they were definitely not meant to.
He fell to the floor, and the back of his head hit the concrete hard. The last thing he heard were three different voices - a man, a woman and an artificial intelligence - calling out to him in worried tones.
Part 2
It's not a particularly remarkable story, it's a sequel to Cryobiosis - also, it's sort-of an inversion of that story, with many similarities, but many things that are the exact opposite - although it's even more basic and simple than that story was. I just figured I'd try writing at least something to see if I still can. Apparently, the answer is yes. This makes me very happy. <3
Besides, there isn't nearly enough hurt/comfort in this fandom, so seeing as no one else is writing any for me to read, I had to write some more myself.
The story is already finished, so I'll be posting the rest of it soon. It's also unbeta'd, so there may be mistakes and weird ESL non-English and stuff.
Thermobiosis
by Veldeia
Fandom: Iron Man movieverse (post-movie)
Series: Sequel/companion piece to Cryobiosis
Characters: Tony, Jarvis, Rhodey, Pepper, Happy. Gen, friendship.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing, except for a messed up mind that likes playing with other people's characters and universes.
Summary: A month after the incident in the Arctic, a simple rescue mission at the home front turns into a fiery disaster. Pretty much predictable and cliched drama/hurt/comfort.
thermobiosis
'ability to live in high temperature'
-http://www.medword.com/adjectives.html
Damn, he was bored.
As much as Tony hated hospitals, the as-good-as endless period of convalescence at home was almost worse than the days he had spent staring at boring TV-shows and flirting with nurses. A few days short of a month after his little accident in the Arctic, he was still under strict doctor's orders to stay out of the armor, and everyone around him had teamed up to make absolutely certain that he followed those orders.
He was no longer officially on sick leave, he could attend meetings, he could do design and repairs at his workshop, but none of it could make up for the fact that working as Iron Man was still off-limits to him. He missed the suit. He missed the action, the adrenaline, and even more than those, he missed the feeling that he could actually do some good. Business dealings, paper work and tinkering would never give him that.
He leaned back and glanced at the suit schematics filling the screens in front of him. He rested his right hand on his slightly achy left shoulder - now with extra titanium, implanted in the surgeries that it had taken to get all the bones back where they belonged. The good news was, the fine motor functions of his hand weren't impaired in any way. The bad news was that his shoulder might never be quite the same again. He'd regained most of the use of it already, thanks to his physical therapist and Pepper. If it wasn't for Pepper, he would probably have missed most of his PT sessions and skipped all of the exercises he had been given, so it was a good thing she was annoyingly persistent about these things.
During the last few weeks, Tony had done a dozen upgrades to his suit. He'd done the same to Rhodey's suit, and he'd had Rhodey do test flights, so he also knew that everything worked. Still, that wasn't the same as doing the tests himself, especially since he didn't want to ask Rhodey to do any really risky, extreme stuff. And as long as he wasn't allowed to do test flights, Tony was stuck designing more upgrades.
He was still staring absently at the screens, his thoughts lingering somewhere between boredom and self-pity, when his phone rang.
It took a good minute before he began to make any sense of the call - the number was an unknown one, and whoever the caller was, they seemed to be on the verge of panic. "Mr. Stark, I know I shouldn't have bothered you directly, but since you're you - I mean, you're Iron Man, after all, I thought that, well, the security folks have already contacted the fire department and they're doing their best, but -"
"Whoa, whoa, hey, you need to slow down a bit," Tony said. "Who're you, again, and where's the fire?"
"I'm sorry, sir, this is Jones, from logistics, I know you've got no idea who I am, I'm just a grunt, really, but there was an explosion in assembly plant three, and the fire's spreading, and there were people working there at that time, and -"
As he listened to the frantic explanation, Tony held his hand over the cell phone's microphone and told Jarvis to search the media for anything related to this. The screens were still empty when Jones finished speaking, which wasn't all that surprising, since the explosion had taken place only a few minutes ago. Apparently, this guy's first reaction to the whole thing had been to pick up his phone to contact Iron Man. Tony definitely appreciated that.
"All right, Jones, thanks for letting me know. You did the right thing. Help is on the way."
Tony placed the phone on the table and stood up. He knew perfectly well that what he was supposed to do was to call Rhodey, so that War Machine could take this case. Then again, that would take time, and those were his people in there, people who worked for him, trapped in his plant. Even though no one seemed to have any idea of the cause of the explosion yet, it screamed "sabotage" to Tony. His safety protocols were strict, and all related technology was top-notch. The possibility of an accident leading to an explosion leading to an uncontrolled fire was virtually non-existent. Besides, assembly plant three was where most of the projects for S.H.I.E.L.D. were done. There was no way that could be a coincidence.
The worst thing that could happen was that he'd overstrain his shoulder, which would give him some serious pains and aches and cause a setback in his physical therapy. It was nothing he couldn't handle, when lives were at stake.
"Jarvis, seems it's time for Iron Man to fly again," he declared, already pulling on his undersuit.
"Sir, you are still under doctor's orders not to take up any activities that will place significant stress on your injured shoulder."
"Yeah, and you're still hard coded to obey my orders, which means that you can forget about whatever the docs say. I'll use an override if I have to. I know you hate it when I do that."
"I'm incapable of 'hating' anything, sir," Jarvis replied - but nevertheless, didn't push his point any further, which Tony took for resignation.
The very second he stepped on the platform, the door to his workshop opened, letting in an anxious-looking Pepper. Her expression went from a worried frown to an angry glare as soon as she spotted him.
"Jarvis, don't you dare put that suit on him, and Mr. Stark, get away from there, right now. You know as well as I do that you can't do Iron Man missions yet."
"Pepper, I've got to! There's a fire at -"
"At assembly plant number three, eastern quadrant of the Stark Industries complex, yes, I know. I've already called Rhodey, and he'll be here in less than five minutes."
"That's five minutes that we shouldn't waste. In five minutes, I'll be in the suit and at the site. It's not like I'm actually injured anymore," Tony complained, still standing on the platform, although the robotic arms around him had stopped before they'd placed one single piece of armor on him.
"Right, sure you aren't. Tell me that doesn't hurt," Pepper said, and poked his bad shoulder with her forefinger, "and you're free to go."
He couldn't help flinching and gasping the unexpected stab. "Hey, your nails are really sharp!"
"Come on, Tony," Pepper said, resting her hand on his biceps now, steering him away from the platform. "This mission is Rhodey's, not yours."
Rhodey drove straight into Tony's basement and leaped out of the car. He found Tony sitting behind his workstation, wearing his undersuit, and looking like a sulking kid, while Pepper stood in front of the suit platform, her arms crossed, like an an angry mother. Even though he knew the situation they were facing was serious, Rhodey couldn't help grinning a little.
He walked over to Tony and gave his good shoulder a squeeze. "Hey, give it a week or two, and we'll be doing this together again."
Tony shook his head. "I don't care about two weeks from now. What's going on right now is that my people could be trapped in there and dying," he motioned at a screen in front of him, which was showing a live camera feed from the accident site. A thick, dark column of smoke rose from a large, low building, which had the Stark Industries logo painted on its wall. There were already several fire trucks parked in front of it.
"So, forget about the pep talk, and get going," Tony finished.
Although Rhodey had his doubts about selfless reasons being the sole explanation for Tony's sullen mood, Rhodey nodded, and went on to get suited up. Almost ten minutes had already passed since the explosion, and the chances of being able to get anyone out of there alive were growing slimmer with every passing second.
"The armor should protect you from the environmental hazards long enough for you to go in there, see if anyone's around, and to get them out, but you need to be careful," Tony said, as the robots were building the metal shell around Rhodey. "The conditions are bound to be extreme. We've never tested the suits in circumstances like those, and despite all the upgrading I've done, they're not designed for sustained use in a blazing inferno. Of course, your air supply isn't endless, either. So, we'll be sitting here, monitoring your progress and making sure you stay within safe limits. Also, I've every reason to believe that this wasn't an accident. There might be bad guys in there, or more bombs."
Rhodey stepped off the platform in full armor, his faceplate still up. "You're telling me to be careful? Who are you, and what did you do to Tony Stark?" he quipped, shaking his head. "Pepper, you'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, like follow me, right?"
"You can count on that," she said sternly. "I'll tie him up if I have to."
"Ooh, I'd like that," Tony said with a wink. "Handcuffs would do the job, too. Or you could just sit on my lap, that might be just as effective. You'll have to test it to find out."
"In your dreams, Mr. Stark."
"That does it, I'm outta here," Rhodey said, closed his faceplate, and took off.
He'd done several missions alone during Tony's sick leave, but this was the most dangerous one yet, and the one closest to home. It felt weird and wrong to dash into action at Stark Industries, while Tony stayed at home with Pepper, staring at screens and going nuts with the lack of activity and the general feeling of uselessness. Then again, they'd almost lost Tony in the Arctic, and his shoulder had been a complete mess. He really needed the extended time-out.
At full speed, Rhodey covered the distance from Tony's mansion to the Stark Industries complex in a few minutes. He didn't need instructions to find the exact location, since it was obvious from afar. From the video he'd seen, Rhodey hadn't realized how big the plant was. The amount of billowing black smoke escaping through the hole the explosion had made in the roof was overwhelming from a close distance.
"I'm here," he told Tony and Pepper through the radio.
"Jarvis has the plans for the building," Tony said, and the said diagrams showed up on Rhodey's HUD display. "Pepper's been in contact with the fire department, so they know you're there. Not that they're really doing anything at the moment. The fire isn't going to spread outside that building, and the conditions in there are so difficult that they can't go inside."
The layout of the plant seemed simple enough: a rectangular structure, with a personnel entrance and several small rooms in two storys adjacent to it, and then a huge big hall, filled with machinery, with several large doors for vehicles.
Rhodey landed in front of the personnel entrance - a simple, thick-looking metallic door. The fire trucks were parked nearby, and the firefighters waved at him as a greeting. He lifted a silvery hand in reply.
"You might want to stand back," he told them and the gathered crowd. Then, feeling more than a bit nervous, he grabbed the door handle and turned it. The door opened to reveal a long corridor filled with smoke, pitch-dark except for the flicker of flames at the far end. Through the suit, Rhodey couldn't say anything about the temperature, but he could almost see the heat in the air. He switched the HUD to infrared. It would help him to spot any trapped people.
"All right, I'm going in," he declared, both to the onlookers and to his friends.
He stepped into the corridor, and closed the door behind him.
Pepper put her Blackberry back in her purse, shaking her head. "The PR department really isn't satisfied with that, Tony," she told him.
They now had an exact idea of the amount of missing persons: there had been fifty people working in the plant at the time of the explosion, and eleven were still unaccounted for. And that was pretty much all they were telling the media at the moment. Tony insisted that they couldn't give out any details about the explosion yet, not as long as they had no idea of the exact cause themselves.
"Too bad for them," he answered her. "It's not their job to be satisfied, it's their job to keep the media satisfied. I'm sure they can do that. If they can't, I might have to consider some personnel changes."
"Shouldn't we contact S.H.I.E.L.D., in case this falls into their jurisdiction?" she asked.
"I'm one hundred percent certain it does, and since that's the case, I'm sure they're already on it. They're probably at the site right now," Tony said, motioning at the screens in front of him.
The display to the left was showing news about the incident, including a live video feed, the middle one was linked to Rhodey's suit and showed whatever he saw - at the moment, a corridor leading deeper into the building. The one to the right was filled with numbers, suit data and Rhodey's vitals and whatnot.
"You know, we're essentially useless here," Tony went on. "Redundant. Jarvis is keeping track of all this stuff too, and he's probably doing a better job than I ever could."
"I disagree, sir," Jarvis said. "For one, I am unable to provide any sort of emotional support, should that be required."
"Yeah, because I'm so very talented at that sort of stuff," Tony said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "I should be there," he pointed at the news screen, where a reporter was explaining that War Machine had just appeared at the site and entered the burning building.
"Tony, you know that's out of the question," Pepper said, for what had to be the tenth time today, and the gazillionth time this month.
Tony was worse than most of the kids Pepper had ever known - the truth was, she was amazed she'd managed to keep him in check this long. It had really been a trying period of time for all of them, first the accident and the following days of worry and uncertain waiting, and then, these weeks of ridiculously difficult babysitting. Luckily, she'd had Rhodey, Happy and even Jarvis to help her.
"That's not what I meant," Tony replied, sounding exasperated. "I'm not entirely hopeless. Rhodey's already there, I already gave up. I should be at the site, talking to people, organizing things, instead of sitting here and twiddling my thumbs. It's my company, after all."
Of course, she had to admit that she was sometimes a bit too quick to think the worst of him. "Well, I think it's good someone's keeping an eye on how Rhodey's doing, but if you're sure Jarvis can handle it..." she let left the sentence unfinished, eyeing the row of sports cars at the other side of the room. Driving was on the list of things Tony wasn't allowed to do yet, both because of his shoulder, and the pain medication he was taking for it.
"Nah, on second thought, I think I'll just stay here. It is sort of interesting to see how the suit performs in those circumstances. It really is," Tony said unconvincingly.
"I'll call Happy anyway," Pepper said, and did so, just in case. If they needed a ride, it'd be better if Happy drove, since that would be less of a blatant reminder of Tony's current limitations.
Tony turned his attention back to Rhodey. "How's it going in the sauna?"
"So far so good," Rhodey's voice came through slightly distorted.
"Readings look good, too. Feeling hot?"
"Ha ha, really funny. And seriously speaking? No, not at all. It's amazing. I'm walking through fire and I don't feel a thing. The firefighters will be green with envy once they find out how well this works."
"I could build a downgraded version of the suits that they could use," Tony said thoughtfully.
"Dollar signs in your eyes already?"
"Hey, I'm just thinking about all the lives it would save. Besides, we can't throw a barbecue party yet, you've only been in there for five minutes, twenty-seven seconds."
Rhodey's suit camera showed him climb a staircase into what seemed to be another corridor, with rows of doors in both walls. The thermographic image wasn't exactly easy to interpret.
Rhodey opened the first door to the right, then the second one, and the third one - which revealed two people on the ground, one of them prone, the other hunched close to him on all fours. The closed door seemed to have kept the fire out of the room, but there was probably almost no air left in there.
"Thank God!" one of them said, coughing. "I thought we were dead for sure!"
"Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here," Rhodey told them reassuringly. The image shifted back to the doorway as Rhodey turned his head. She could guess he was wondering how he was actually going to do what he said. Even though he was safe in his suit, there was no way he could take two unprotected people all the way to the entrance unharmed.
"No, you dimwit," Tony muttered, and then louder, "Rhodey, the ceiling. You're in the top floor."
"Oh, right," Rhodey answered. "Stand back," he said to the people in the room, aimed his palm repulsors at the ceiling, and shot a hole right through it.
"See, you can make a difference from over here, as well," Pepper told Tony, as they watched Rhodey leave the assembly plant, carrying two people to safety.
Maybe Pepper was being overly optimistic, but it seemed to her that Tony might actually learn a lesson or two from this mission.
Rhodey took the two survivors to the EMTs. They were both still alive - hopefully he'd got to them in time. He had to be careful lifting them, because even though the suit kept him cool, its outer surface was getting warm enough to cause burns.
Rhodey headed back into the inferno, this time using the hole he'd made in the roof as an entrance. He actually didn't know a whole lot about fires. Sure, he'd faced explosions and even fires before, in military settings, but nothing like this. Fire was a foreign element, a wild force of nature that he didn't understand. Luckily, Jarvis had more information than he did. Sometimes, it felt sort of scary how much the AI knew about everything.
Compared to the emotionless numbers and data Jarvis kept spouting, it was a relief to have Tony and Pepper looking over his shoulder as well, as his mission control. It was a great combination: Jarvis for the factual details, Tony for the quick, intuitive thinking that no AI could match, and Pepper for the human, emotional side of things. A good team - even though Rhodey knew Tony hated being stuck where he was, and Pepper needed the patience of an angel to put up with him.
Continuing his sweep of the second floor corridor, Rhodey found two more people, and three more in the rooms along the other corridor of the same floor. He was able to get everyone out safely, too, punching more holes in the roof. He hoped it didn't cause a risk of the fire spreading - Jarvis assured him that it didn't. Besides, the folks from the fire department were keeping an eye on it.
By the time Rhodey had checked the entire second floor, Jarvis announced that he was only narrowly within the preset safety margins. He might have to abandon the mission soon.
"Did you get that, Rhodey?" Tony asked - was that concern in his voice? "I don't want you risking your ass doing this. When Jarvis says it's not all right, you get out of there, right away."
"You wouldn't, if you were here," Rhodey retorted.
"This isn't a competition," Pepper said, her voice more distant. She probably wasn't as close to the microphone as Tony was. "Rhodey, I know you're smart enough not to risk your life for some macho need to prove yourself, unlike someone else who wears an iron suit."
"Gold-titanium alloy," Rhodey and Tony told her in unison.
"Anyway, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I'm going in again," Rhodey added.
So far, everything had gone fine - it had been almost too easy. On the other hand, he'd started with the easiest part. With seven people out of the fire, there were four still missing, and Rhodey had now combed through all of the small rooms. It was time to enter the hall, which was the source of the fire. Since it was a huge, open space, it was bound to be a lot more difficult to search. The chances of finding anyone still alive were slim, but that wouldn't keep him from doing his best.
He entered the hall through the large hole the explosion had left in its roof. Thick, black smoke was still pouring out of it, so he couldn't get a very good picture of what it actually looked like.
He landed in the middle of a fiery chaos. The flames rose almost all the way from the floor to the ceiling at two storys' height, dancing on massive machinery, long conveyor belts and tables. All around him, vehicles, components, and half-assembled things he couldn't recognize were burning in different colors. A good part of the hall was filled with collapsed structures and debris. Rhodey could guess that going through that area would take more time than he had left, considering what the suit could take. He'd search the parts that were relatively easy to reach, and then he'd have to call it quits.
Unable to come up with any better methods, Rhodey simply started making his way forwards, looking around, scanning the area as carefully as he could. Even with thermographic vision, it was nearly impossible to make out any details. At least there were no signs of any bad guys. If there was some crazy flame-throwing supervillain behind this, they weren't here anymore.
Rhodey no longer felt like he was looking for survivors, he was looking for fatalities. Slowly but undeniably, he was starting to feel the heat through his armor, although it wasn't anywhere near bad enough to make him consider quitting yet.
He had almost covered one quarter of the hall, with no sign of anyone, neither dead nor alive, when there was an ear-splitting boom, the floor trembled, and something heavy collided painfully with his legs, knocking him off his feet. He could feel both metal and bones twist in ways they were definitely not meant to.
He fell to the floor, and the back of his head hit the concrete hard. The last thing he heard were three different voices - a man, a woman and an artificial intelligence - calling out to him in worried tones.
Part 2