Iron Heart: The Beginning

Chapter 6: He's going to live

With T'Challa's permission and Shuri's insistence, Stark's frozen body was taken via portal to Wakanda.

The portal took them straight to Shuri's lab where Stark's body was set upon an operating table in the middle of a theatre.

Every Wakandan doctor and surgeon had been called in to assist, whilst junior doctors and nurses dealt with injuries from the other combatants on the field.

Outside the operating theatre waited Stark's family and friends for updates on his condition.

Keeping Stark frozen in time was putting a lot of toil on Strange's powers but if it meant saving the man's life...What mattered was giving Stark a fighting chance. His injuries were severe, but with Dumbledore's help were not fatal... Perhaps even to a point where it would be possible to bring him back .

But Stark had just saved the entire universe with his selfless actions.

Surely the universe owed him this one thing? This one chance to live? The universe couldn't be that cruel.Could it?

He was taken out of his thoughts by one of the surgeons who were prepping themselves for surgery. "Will you be staying?"

Strange nodded.

"I'm the one keeping him alive at the moment." He looked down at his dusty and blood-stained clothes. "I'll get into scrubs. I have to remain here if we have any chance of saving Tony Stark."

Pepper was trembling in her seat. Rhodey sat next to her, an arm wrapped around her shoulders in comfort. Her face was still streaked with tears. She'd removed her armor but now they waited outside the medical unit for any news. Pepper hadn't spoken since Tony had been taken inside. They didn't know how long it had been since they'd been sitting there either.

"Morgan. Harry"

Rhodey glanced at Pepper. "they'll be fine. Harley, and Happy, are there I have contacted them there."

"They need to be here. I promised Morgan. I wouldn't be too long. I was just going to drop Harry at his home and help –" she choked.

They were soon joined by Steve, Thor, Bruce, Clint, and Peter Parker. Pepper had dozed off in that time, despite her insistence in not wanting to. She was exhausted.

"The others are waiting for news," said Steve quietly.

"We told them what we've been doing the last five years... How we got everyone back. How Tony won the war..." He bowed his head. "I once accused him of never being able to lay down on the wire and make the sacrifice play..." His shoulders shrunk. "But Tony's been doing it for years... The nuke, Ultron, Thanos on Titan... And now... this..."

"You always misjudged him, Steve," said Rhodey quietly. "Only a few of us ever knew the real Tony. You judged him on his past, not on what he had become. Afghanistan changed him in more ways than one. Every experience he had made him different, more open. He started off completely selfish, big-headed and full of himself, but in the end... He showed you what he is truly capable of."

"We all did," murmured Clint. "I thought he'd betrayed us when we were in the Raft... I accused him of breaking us."

Rhodey winced.

Tony had told him what Clint had said to him. Those words had hurt. Clint had been laying the blame of Rhodey's spine injury at Tony's feet, ignoring the fact that if Steve had tried to settle the Accords diplomatically rather than fight against them, none of this would have happened. He chose not to bite back. Now wasn't the time.

"I thought you'd go home to your family, Clint."

"I was," answered the archer, "but Laura told me to stay. It's all over the news that everyone is back. It's chaotic out there. I want to see her and the kids... I sort of told her what happened. She's realized she disappeared and came back. As did all the kids. But Stark...no, Tony, is one of us. I need to be here. Nat would want me to be here too."

"I think Tony would appreciate you being here, Clint," said Rhodey sadly. "I just hope he makes it."

"He will," said Dumbledore quietly. "He has to, for his daughter. Uh I am Albus Dumbledore a wizard."

"Like Strange?" Steve asked.

"Yeah Yeah"

It was nearly seven hours before Doctor Strange emerged from the operating theatre, a happy expression on his face. He looked tired, exhausted even. His hands were trembling.

"So he's going to make it?"

The doctor and Strange nodded, and Pepper fell into Rhodey's arms, unable to stop tears from escaping for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Rhodey murmured soothing words as he gently rubbed her back. Peter likewise found himself being hugged tightly by May. "He's going to live, May!" he sobbed into her chest. "Oh my God, he's going to live."

"It was the treatment he was given before he came to us that likely saved his life, however," the doctor continued. "In truth, perhaps the only thing we did was use the research left to us by Dr. Cho to heal his face and manipulated the quantum particles provided by Janet van Dyne to finish restoring his nerves there. But he will live, and for a long time, at that." The doctor smiled.

"He's very fortunate to have people who care about him so much, Miss Potter" Dumbledore spoke. "I have fixed his right hand and I guess all his organs will be working properly maybe in few weeks, Dr. Strange?"

"Yes Yes" Strange answered still guilty, "Should I bring your daughter Mrs. Stark?"

"Oh yeah if you can," Pepper said with a smile.

The doctor smiled warmly at the group. "Mr. Stark will need all of your help. And I believe you are all quite qualified to provide it. That is the exact reason I am sure he will live a very long and very happy life." They shifted their clipboard to beneath their arm. "If you have no other questions, I will be on my way."

"When can we see him?" Peter blurted out. "If not now, when? When do visiting hours reopen?"

"Hmm," the doctor mused. "Well, visiting hours don't reopen until tomorrow. But I would estimate he will wake a few hours from now. But I can find my superiors and ask for a more exact time, if you'd like, and see if they'll let you visit early. They often do that for extreme scenarios."

"Yes, that would be much appreciated," Pepper said. "Thank you."

The doctor nodded. "I'll be back the moment you're allowed entry." With that, they walked away. May ran a hand through Peter curls before kissing the top of his head. "Not to jinx us, but we're very lucky, aren't we?"

Rhodey reached out and pulled both May and Peter into a tight hug with him and Pepper. "Yes. Yes, we are."

"I'll have to write a hundred – no, a thousand – thank you notes to Ms. Van Dyne, to you Dumbledore," Pepper said as she reached up and stretched. "We are indebted to her and you for life."

"Pepper you remember, the year?"

"Yes I do Dumbledore" She replied looking at a confused Rhodey.

No one knows what

"I can't help but wonder if Pym will gloat about that for as long as possible," Rhodey chuckled as Dumbledore left.

"Only in good humor, of course."Pepper shrugged, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth for the first time in what felt like years.

"I doubt I'd mind if he did." Pepper's gaze shifted to Peter, who had fallen fast asleep after the first twenty minutes of waiting, his head resting on May's shoulder.

"He must be exhausted." May gave Pepper a soft smile. "Yes. But he's not the only one. Have you considered trying to rest, Ms. Potts? God knows you need it."

"Please, call me Pepper. I think we've reached that level of closeness." She sighed.

"I know I should rest. But I can't. Not without seeing him."May nodded.

"I understand."

All heads turned at the sound of approaching footsteps from down the hall. It was Happy and Dr Strange holding both hands of a little girl with dark brownish-black hair, both making their way towards the group.