Fic: Technobiosis, chapter 6/6

[veldeia]

Title: Technobiosis
Author: Veldeia
Series: Takes up right where Thermobiosis left off, but should work as a stand-alone.
Fandom: Iron Man (movieverse)
Characters: Tony, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy. Gen/friendship.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: "Real" medicine meets comic book medicine. Permanent things happen (so, goes AU). Unbetaed.
Disclaimer: I don't own

Comments

[magicamethyst80]

Thanks for the credit, certainly consider posting this one to Starkindustries. It isn't as depressing and emotional than what you said it would be.

Excellent chapter, love how at the end you make the point that at the end, after Tony has the artificial heart implanted he is effectively a cyborg, something I have heard they make a point of in the comic books, and one of the things that sets Tony apart from other comic characters. A part of what makes him human is gone and he is essentially part machine. I feel it is an inevitable development in terms of the Tony Stark character, and something I'm surprised more authors, hurt/comfort, and non hurt/comfort haven't tackled. Also nice to know that the trick of stealing the arc reactor will no longer work.

[veldeia]

Well, it's not the emotionality or depression that made me uncertain about posting, it's the focus on medicine. I mean, basically, the plot revolves around how Tony survives a heart condition and that's all there is. If I'd concentrated more on the action/mystery potential that this story had, I'd have no problem posting this all around the net. As it is now, I can't see anyone who isn't a h/c fan seeing the point of this fic at all. But I guess I'll post this anyway. :)

There really is a lot one could write about Tony being not-entirely-human, though yeah, it's especially relevant in the comicverse, where Tony has (had?) the Extremis, which sort-of makes him even more of a cyborg than a single implant like the arc reactor does. One could write lots of introspective short fics about Tony's relationship to the technology that's a part of him. Not me, though, since I don't really do that kind of stuff. I just do long, silly h/c fics. :P

[magicamethyst80]

But you also did include the bit where someone goes and physically steals the arc reactor, and left what happened in Cryobiosis as a possible mystery. You also connected it to infamous comic book villains. If you had a simple heart infection, Tony gradually getting sicker and weaker, and no "bad guy," who attempted to steal the arc reactor while in the hospital, then I would consider this pure h/c. Heck if you wanted to you could follow this up with a new story about Tony attempting to track down the individual who attempted to steal the arc reactor, blew up Stark Industries, and may have sabotaged the Iron Man suit.

[veldeia]

Hmm, well, yeah, I guess you're right. :) I still think I could've done a lot more with the murder mystery part of the story. And yes, if I do continue the series, the next part(s) will deal with the aftermath, because of course Tony's going to go after the bad guys as soon as he can. (Or knowing him, maybe a bit sooner than he should :P)

The funny thing is, my preliminary drafts for this story would've made it exactly a pure h/c story without much of anything else in it (except that it would've been a House crossover) - instead of an assassination attempt, the original cause of Tony's heart problems would've been something else entirely (something like new damage caused by the stuff in Iron & Irony 2). I'm glad I didn't go that way, I'm sure this story is much, much more interesting this way. :D

[captain_elessar]

Go for it. Excellent story. Yay! All happy in the end. :D I'm glad you posted this, it went really well and ended well and a very good story all around. (Cyborgs are fun, by the way)

[veldeia]

Thanks for all the comments! :)

The truth is, I can't help it, I need my happy ends. <3 Got to have a happy end even when permanent things happen - besides, they weren't exactly bad permanent things anyway. I guess I kind of upgraded Tony. Didn't return him good as new, but better as new. Hee. Because cyborgs are cool. Yay. :D

[golden_helikaon]

Brilliant story. I loved this. I do hope you continue this Bioses series of yours.

[veldeia]

Thanks! :) I think I really should continue, since there's so much unresolved stuff left. Hopefully I'll find the time & the inspiration.

[amonitrate]

nicely done.

[veldeia]

Thank you! :)

[jeymien]

*cheers!

YThat was wonderful :)

[veldeia]

Hehe, "wonderful" might not be the adjective I'd pick myself. ;) But glad you liked. Thanks.

[jeymien]

Well, *I* happy to think it was. Stop being so hard on yourself :)