Fic - Ignis in Glacium (Fire in Ice) - Part 2
The return trip to the Tower was swift. When they arrived it was quickly apparent that a number of things were not going to work. The white-coat wearing, well meaning, medical professionals were not going to be able to separate Steve from Johnny. It just wasn’t going to happen. Although they needed to assess Johnny’s condition they were hard pressed to unwrap him from the Captain America burrito he was in while Steve insisted the blankets needed to stay in place to retain the body heat that had been generated. They were unwilling to push the issue with Ben looming.
Additionally, as Tony noted earlier in the warehouse, there were just too many people trying to do the same work in a very small space. Although Tony designed each medical suite in the Tower to be about twice the size of the typical emergency room setup, Ben, Steve and Johnny took up about half the space just by themselves. Add in most of the Avengers, the rest of the Fantastic Four and various Stark medical staff and it made for confusion which was not easily sorted with emotions running so high. The idea of getting the Steve and Johnny combo up onto a gurney, even a Captain America sized gurney, was laughable.
Clint wryly observed the scene and stated, “We need a bigger boat.”
Barton was a genius.
Tony threw up his hands. “Okay! If you get a paycheck from Stark Industries, stand down but stay here. Dr. Richards will ask for you specifically when he needs you. The rest of you,” he indicated the Avengers and the Fantastic Four with a wave “follow me!”
Tony led the way toward a different suite. Bruce nodded in approval and rushed ahead to open the wide double doors. Tony nodded as well when he walked in; this would be perfect. This particular set of rooms was Hulk-sized. The Hulk didn’t need medical assistance per say after a fight the way others on the team might, but he did need a place to wind down that wasn’t in the public eye or prison cell. It had become a habit to get the team back to the Tower as swiftly as possible after an engagement, and the Hulk would use this room to transition. There was medical equipment for monitoring, kept mostly in storage along the sides of the room, but most importantly there was an extra wide, extra long, steel reinforced bed for the Hulk to relax in and for Bruce to wake up in.
This time Steve didn’t argue when Reed and the others tried to get him situated. With Ben’s assistance, Johnny and Steve were transferred from the dolly to the bed with the army blanket cocoon loose enough for Reed to insert heart and blood pressure monitors to his satisfaction. In lieu of superfluous medical staff, Bruce and Sue served as Reed’s underlings, gathering equipment and tending to the men on the bed.
Tony tried to answer Reed’s questions as accurately as possible, but there was a lot going on in the warehouse. He was pretty sure Johnny had been unconscious since before they left the warehouse and had been unresponsive since they’d arrived at the Tower. Ben backed him up and added that though Johnny had been shivering when they first got him out of the ice it had stopped by the time they got to the jet. That bit of information made Reed look very concerned.
In all the time he’d been administering first aid to Johnny, Steve hadn’t stopped talking. Steve mumbled encouragements which had changed from “we’re going to get you out” to “you’re safe now” - not that Johnny gave any indication that he heard any of it.
The doors to the medical room swung open wide as Thor arrived on the scene. Sometimes Tony wondered if the Asgardian created mini wind gusts to make his cape flutter when he entered a room. Thor looked battle ready with Mjolnir in hand.
“What happened?” Thor asked as he took in the scene. His eyes scanned the room and landed on Bruce with confusion. “Banner?” Tony kicked himself a little bit. In all the excitement he hadn’t composed a very informative message for JARVIS to pass on to Thor. Chances were good that the only information Thor had was to suit up and to meet in this particular medical suite; he probably thought he was needed for some Hulk wrestling.
Bruce stepped toward Thor but gestured toward the bed. “It’s Johnny. Extreme hypothermia.”
For the first time, Steve acknowledged someone in the room other than Johnny. He raised his head up off of the pillow and looked at Thor. “Trapped in ice,” was all Steve said.
Tony didn’t comprehend what passed between Thor and Steve. It was unspoken, but there seemed to be an understanding between them. Thor nodded as he placed Mjolnir, head down, on the floor at the food of the bed. “This ‘hypothermia’,” he replied to Bruce, “this is when one has been exposed overlong to the cold. Correct?”
Bruce nodded.
“This is familiar to me.” Thor unhooked the bright red cape from the clasps on his shoulders and laid it on the foot of the bed. He continued to speak as he shucked himself out of his tunic and armor. It was an impressive maneuver. It was a good thing the majority of Stark’s staff were in a different room because semi-naked Thor was sure to induce group swooning.
“This is not the first time I have had occasion to warm a comrade; blizzards on Jotumheim can be fierce.” Thor swiftly removed his boots and whatever passed as socks on Asgard. Tony was highly relieved that that was as far as Thor’s striptease progressed, and that his leggings stayed on; the Asgardian was extremely casual about nakedness, and it wouldn’t have been surprising if he’d gone completely au natural.
Thor walked around the bed on Johnny’s left side and faced Steve, but addressed his question to Bruce. “This does not look like a comfortable arrangement. Can we remove those blankets they are swaddled in?”
Reed approached the bed, walking from behind Thor. “Steve has been reluctant to let us unwrap them…”
“S’okay now,” Steve mumbled from the bed. Tony could see that Steve had started to push against the outermost blanket, but had no leverage and was hindered by Johnny’s weight as well.
Thor reached across the bed and laid a hand on Steve’s shoulder to still him. Again, something passed between them. “Then let us rearrange them more satisfactorily,” Thor proposed.
With assistance from Ben on Steve’s side and Sue and Thor on Johnny’s side, they unwrapped the army blanket cocoon. Thor climbed onto the bed and lay down on his right side facing Steve with Johnny sandwiched between them. It surprised Tony that before Thor allowed Sue to cover the group with a heated blanket he pulled his cloak up and over Steve and Johnny. The vibrant red cape was an abnormally bright spot in the medical room. Tony didn’t miss how Steve’s face visibly relaxed when the cloak settled around his shoulders and covered the length of his frame. Before Sue arranged the additional covers, Thor reached across Johnny to grasp Steve’s arm and pull him closer.
Once the three men on the bed were relatively settled there was nothing to do but wait.
Tony had never been particularly good at waiting. He caught Clint’s eye and motioned him closer with a raised eyebrow. “I need you to get back over to that warehouse. Von Doom said he was taking notes and left data for Reed. Grab anything that can be salvaged - video, hard drives, flash drives.” Tony glanced over toward where Reed, Sue and Bruce were consulting. “Don’t bring it here. Take it down to my lab.”
“It’s not for you or your team, Stark,” Ben’s growled whisper caught Tony by surprise. How could an animate pile of rocks walk across the room without making any noise?
“I’m not trying to take ownership, Ben,” Tony explained keeping his voice low but urgent, “but right now everything Von Doom did is all out in the open. Anyone could walk through that hole I blasted in the wall and take off with whatever we left in that warehouse.”
“Natasha and a team have secured the premises,” Clint interjected.
Tony look at him in surprise. Barton gave a casual shrug. “You had a lot on your mind, so I called it in.”
“Good thinking,” Tony nodded in approval.
Clint turned toward the door and then he looked over his shoulder at Ben. “You coming?”
Not for the first time, Tony was surprised by how expressive Ben’s face was. It was obvious he longed to go with Barton - whether to secure the data for his team or to provide muscle in case Dr. Doom presented himself, wasn’t clear - but his heart was with his team and with Johnny’s condition still unstable there was no way he was going to leave. Ben opened his mouth to answer, but Clint raised a hand forestall him. “Understood.”
As Barton made for the hallway, Ben returned to his post on Steve’s side of the bed. Tony walked over to where the others were talking.
“Actually, Steve’s insistence on calling in Thor makes a lot of sense,” Bruce explained to the Richards. “Both Thor and Steve have elevated body temperatures due to their unique metabolisms. We could have any two people in a bed helping Johnny warm up, but those two people are the best.”
“How does this work?” Tony asked.
“In cases of hypothermia it is most important to bring the patient’s core temperature back to normal slowly. That’s where the skin-to-skin contact and heated blankets come in. It’s also very important to monitor cardiac activity; any type of physical stress can cause tachycardia.” Bruce took a deep breath and glanced at the others. Tony could see he was carefully editing his comments for the benefit of Sue and Reed. “The good news is if that was going to happen, most likely it would’ve happened when you were getting him out of the ice. Steve was very smart to start administering first aid before Johnny was completely free.”
Reed nodded absently listening to Bruce. His face was still pinched with concern as he scrutinized the data on the StarkPad he held in his hand. “The problem we’re facing is that Johnny’s core temperature is not that of a normal person. Generally his resting temperature is a little above two hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Even with Thor and Steve’s higher body temperatures, we may have to take stronger measures if Johnny doesn’t respond to this treatment.”
“And that’s bad because…?” Tony prompted.
“More aggressive treatment can cause shock and trigger a cardiac arrest, like Bruce was saying.” Sue’s expressive blue eyes were filled with worry and she reached for Reed’s hand. He squeezed it reassuringly though his features still looked grim.
“Hey!” Ben’s gravely voice called, breaking up their conference. “There’s something going on here!”
Ben loomed over Steve’s side of the bed. He unconsciously reached out to help, but he didn’t know what to do. It was difficult to see anything under layers of blankets and superheroes, but it was easy enough to hear Johnny’s distress. He had begun to groan softly. His teeth started to chatter and he sucked in air at irregular intervals. Sue knelt on the bed behind Thor’s back and reached over to place her hand on the hat that still covered Johnny’s head.
“Johnny?”
Tony’s attention was divided between Bruce and Reed who had their heads together and watching the shaking mass on the bed. Both Steve and Thor attempted to soothe the increasingly agitated young man trapped between them with assurances that he was not alone and that everything was going to be fine. Johnny’s moans escalated to involuntary whimpers as his body continued to attempt to readjust.
For the first time, Reed actually looked encouraged. “As bad as it sounds, this is actually a good sign.”
“I don’t know, Reed,” Tony responded sharply, “it sounds pretty freakin’ bad!”
“The shivering, the muscle spasms…it’s all a way for his body to regulate after being subjected to the cold for so long. Almost like a computer doing a hard reset.” Reed’s eyes remained fixed on the tablet displaying Johnny’s vital signs, but Tony saw him flinch when Johnny gave a particularly piercing yelp of pain. Reed passed the StarkPad over to Bruce. “At least we can make one thing a little easier for him,” Reed stated.
Reed wheeled a tank closer to the head of the bed and removed a mask that was attached with a thin tube. Any other doctor would’ve needed to ask Sue to or Thor to move, and any other doctor would’ve had great difficulty getting to Johnny the way he was curled into Steve’s shoulder, but Reed simply stretched out his arms until he could easily work the mask around Johnny’s nose and mouth. Tony would never admit it, but of all the super powers he had witnessed in his time as a hero, Reed’s plasticity was the one thing that completely freaked him out.
“What’s that?” Sue demanded. She knelt straight up, using Thor’s shoulder to steady her.
“It’s just humidified oxygen,” Reed responded. “One less thing he has to make his body fight for.” Before he pulled his arms away, Reed rested his hand on the top of Johnny’s head like Sue had done. He exchanged a glance with his wife and gave her a slight smile, much more confident now than he’d been just a few minutes earlier.
Unfortunately for Johnny, his body’s attempt to get itself back on track also brought him back to consciousness; he was awake enough to feel and react to the pain he was in. Agonizing minute stretched into agonizing minute as his nerves fired pins and needles into abused muscles forcing them to spasm painfully. At the same time he was wracked with uncontrolled shivering and would’ve curled into a miserable ball without the bookends of Thor and Steve.
Tony could see his own frustration at his helplessness to do anything but listen empathetically to Johnny’s pain echoed on everyone’s face. Johnny must have been making some attempt to keep himself in check because Thor spoke through the thick, anxious silence of all the observers.
“Do not be reluctant to release your tears, shield-brother, they will bear you through your pain, as will we.”
The wrecked sob Thor’s heartfelt words elicited from Johnny galvanized everyone else in the room. Reed, Bruce and Tony all stepped away from the bed and gathered near the computer by the wall; it was only a token gesture, since Johnny had no real privacy for his breakdown, but it made them feel better to afford the moment what distance they could. Similarly Ben stepped away, but not before he brokenheartedly whispered, “Oh, kid.”
Sue climbed around Thor and repositioned herself at the foot of the bed. Though the blankets were pulled taut around the sides of the bed, she wormed her legs underneath until Johnny’s twitching feet rested against her folded legs. Steve shifted his legs and tried to make room for her, but she shook her head and patted his leg. Sue’s eyes were bright with tears and she made no effort to hide the ones that had fallen. She pulled Steve’s legs back to rest against her left knee and restlessly petted Johnny’s feet with her free hand as he cried himself out.
It felt to Tony like the Johnny’s torment would never end. Every time it seemed like that worst was over, he would be taken over again by teeth-chattering shudders or bone-cracking cramps. When Johnny was in the throes of pain, the familiar patter of reassurances spilled from both Steve and Thor. But when the pain had ebbed and Johnny apprehensively awaited the next unpredictable storm, Thor and Steve traded off telling tales of heroic comrades. Even Ben got in on the act, perching on the edge of the reinforced bed and regaling the others with some of Johnny’s more outrageous stunts.
Meanwhile, Reed obsessively monitored Johnny’s body temperature and heart rhythms; his temperature was slowly climbing, and his heartbeat stayed strong and steady. Bruce stayed busy coordinating information with Reed and Tony fretted because he had nothing to do. Tony wasn’t overly self-analytical, but he recognized that in the past he would’ve run away to his lab and convinced himself it was to everyone’s benefit, but now he felt compelled to see this through.
Without a job and no reason to join the pile on the bed, Tony found himself perched on a stool near the door with a view of the bed and the medical equipment. Johnny was experiencing an extended period of calm, though no one said anything about it aloud, not wanting to jinx it. For the first time since Clint had wrapped him against Steve, Johnny made a voluntary movement. He sighed deeply and tried to roll away from Steve onto his back. Steve was surprised by the motion, and having lain in the same position for so long, was slow to react. On his side, Thor had more room to maneuver and pushed back slightly to give Johnny more room.
“Johnny?” Sue asked, immediately on alert. “You okay?”
With his eyes closed, Johnny landed on his back but he didn’t stay there for long. He continued his roll, taking the now visible red cloak with him until he crashed into Thor.
“Warm.” he mumbled.
Steve and Sue shared a smile as Johnny snuggled closer to the god of Thunder and Thor welcomed him into his embrace. Johnny sighed again content in his new position; it looked as though he fell directly into a deep sleep. It was the first time Thor got a good look at Johnny’s face. He pushed back the knit cap, and then removed it completely. There was wonder in his expression. “He could be your younger self, Steven.”
Steve mumbled something about ‘a strong resemblance’ as he pulled his left arm under his pillow and scooted in closer to rest against Johnny’s back. “Imagine me seeing that face in a block of ice when I got to the warehouse.” Then Tony saw it again; the look that passed between Steve and Thor. He still couldn’t put his finger on what it was, but it was poignant and painful and very, very personal. It was hard to see from across the room - it was difficult to be sure under all the blankets - but Tony was pretty sure Steve had started shaking.
Heedless of the others on the bed, Thor reached across Johnny with his left arm and gently grasped the back of Steve’s head. He pulled Steve’s blonde head closer to his own and whispered something Tony couldn’t hear.
Ben and Sue, satisfied that Johnny was settled and unwilling to encroach on what was happening between Thor and Steve, each extracted themselves from the bed and made their way over to where Reed was working. Bruce studiously ignored the scene behind him and pretended he didn’t hear the heartening words Thor murmured to Steve. Tony would’ve pursued it - he would’ve marched right over and flat out eavesdropped - but that was the moment Clint returned with Natasha in tow.
Before Barton could give him a rundown on what had been retrieved from the warehouse, Natasha self-assuredly approached the bed. Tony’s initial impulse was to warn her off, but she would just ignore him anyway. Natasha gracefully peeled off her boots as she walked and let them fall on the floor. Gently she pulled back the uppermost set of blankets revealing the bright cape underneath and insinuated herself against Steve, wrapping her arms around his torso and tucking her legs up behind his. Just like he had earlier when Thor’s cloak settled around him, Steve noticeably relaxed when Natasha curled against him and pulled the top blankets over them both.
Tony looked to Clint for some sort of reaction, but his expression was inscrutable. Paying no mind to the pile on the bed, Clint gave his report. “Tasha and I scrounged all the tech we could find, anything that looked like it could hold any data. One of the hard drives was completely fried, but we grabbed it anyway. There was no sign of Von Doom.”
Tony grimaced. “He’s like a bad penny, he always shows up.”
Barton nodded. That was a problem for another day. Together they made their way over to the group that had formed around Reed.
“This is encouraging. Very encouraging,” Reed pronounced.
Sue’s head was bent over the tablet in Bruce’s hands as he softly explained the readouts. “His temperature is already up to ninety-seven, which is still very low for Johnny, but much higher than when he first came in. The climb has been slow but steady, just what we’re looking for.”
“And it looks like the worst of the physiological reactions are over. There may be some moderate discomfort or aftershocks, but nothing at the level of what he’s just been through.” Reed’s expression was contemplative, and as per the norm he didn’t share what was on his mind. As a rule Tony would at poke Reed until he gave it up, but he figured Richards had been through enough for one day.
“Okay, so we’re in ‘sit-around-and-wait’ mode,” Tony stated. “Obviously we’ll order in - any preferences? Italian? Chinese? Pot luck?”
“Definitely pizza,” Clint chimed in. He gave a nod toward the bed. “Pretty sure Thor and Steve will be starving later.”
“What’s Johnny’s favorite, Sue? He’ll be able to eat later, right? Or do we need to give him chicken soup?” Sue looked overwhelmed by the amount of information Tony was spewing at her.
“Actually, soup is a great idea for Johnny,” Bruce tossed out.
“How about the rest of you? Sue? Ben?” Tony cocked his head and peered at Ben. “Do you eat?” He waved a flat palm in the Thing’s direction. “I’m not clear on how all this works.”
“Yeah, I eat,” Ben grumbled.
“He eats a lot,” Reed absentmindedly added eyes still on the screen in his hand. Tony smirked.
“I’ll take care of it!” Tony declared. The relief of having something to do that was close to normal put a bounce back in his step. He strode toward the door intending to make a private call to Pepper before he ordered the food when something occurred to him. Wheeling around, Tony addressed the group again while walking backwards.
“Ben! Whatdya think of the bed? Good right? You want one? I can make that happen.”
Ben blinked and exchanged a look with Bruce. Bruce nodded and gave a one-shoulder shrug. “It’s really comfortable in spite of all the reinforcements. Never had a problem with it taking Hulk’s weight.”
“Huh.” Ben looked intrigued.
“Done deal!” Tony declared as he clapped his hands decisively. “What about the mattress? What do you like, hard or soft?”
Ben rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “That doesn’t matter to me. Really, I should ask Alicia…”
Tony stopped dead in his tracks. “A-leeee-cia?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Alicia needs to make the mattress decision? How does THAT work?” He waved his hand again, this time a little lower.
“Stark…” Ben’s voice was a warning growl. “Let it go.”
“Oh, I’m not letting it go…got to call Pepper and make sure everyone gets fed. I’m gonna design the best bed ever…and then we’ll talk about mattresses. I’m so not letting it go…” Tony breezed out of the medical suite with a grin on his face, happy that things seemed to be back to as close as they ever got to normal.