Arcs Collide

Chapter 3 - Reforged Iron

When Tony woke up, he was surprised by a few things.

First, the fact that he woke up at all. He remembered Ste—Rogers—raising his shield, ready to deal the final blow to his head. Tony had a shot; he knew he could fire the thruster and fry the traitor's face, but he didn't. Even Tony wasn't sure why anymore. Rogers, of course, didn't want to be directly blamed for his death, so he went for the reactor and left him there in a dead suit. The last thing Tony remembered was choking on a sob before his world went black.

Second, the fact that he wasn't feeling any pain. Actually, he couldn't recall the last time he felt this good. How long ago was he in Siberia? Maybe he was out for months, which would explain the progress of his healing. The warm feeling inside of him could be the temperature of the room he was in. Then he noticed an odd yet familiar weight in his chest. He could actually feel the power coming from the device, like fire spreading through his body from his chest.

When Tony's head cleared even more, he recognized the familiar feeling in his chest. It was the Arc Reactor! Tony guessed his injuries forced Helen to put it back in, but he could only think about one reason she would install the reactor again. Tony wanted to cry. Who the hell made that decision? He had asked Pepper specifically to never allow Extremis to be used on him. Now he could feel the warm liquid flowing through his bloodstream, and it scared him.

With his mind now finally working at full capacity, Tony opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was a ceiling he recognized. That was the design of his tower. He was very glad now that he changed the name back to Stark Tower after the team moved to the compound. He then looked down at his chest, and sure enough, under the white shirt he was wearing, a familiar blue glow was visible. Tony wasn't sure how to feel about that either.

"Fury," Tony heard a female voice he couldn't recognize calling. He turned his head to see Nick and a woman he recognized only from pictures as Captain Carol Danvers sitting next to his bed.

The ex-director rose from his seat and stepped closer to Tony, asking with a worried tone Tony rarely got to hear, "You doing alright there, kid?"

Tony stared into the man's eye and asked hoarsely, "Extremis?"

Nick's features hardened as he said, "Yes. It was my call."

Tony was about to point out he knew it would require Pepper's approval as well as a certain AI's cooperation, but at that moment, Captain Danvers came to his side and handed him a glass of water.

After gulping all the water in a single go, Tony cleared his throat before speaking with a much more normal voice. "Thank you, Captain Danvers."

The captain smiled at him and replied politely, "Don't mention it, Mr. Stark."

Tony returned her smile and said, "Tony, please."

"Then call me Carol," the blonde said.

Tony was about to sit up when Helen entered the room. Without delay, she was at his side, poking and pulling. He groaned before whining, "Helennnn, I'm fine."

Helen sent a glare his way. "Yes, after I had to cut a new hole in your chest and inject an experimental drug into your heart while leaving a new Arc Reactor inside. Lucky for you, this one is shallower than the previous one, so it shouldn't interfere with your breathing too much."

Tony gave the doctor a relaxed smile as he said, "I always have full confidence in your abilities, Helen, so I don't see any reason to worry while you got me."

The glare on the Asian woman's face melted into a smile as she shook her head and said amused, "My my, Doctor Stark, if I didn't know any better, I would say you were flirting with me."