I am Ironman (Mathim & PhoenixRising82)

[PhoenixRising82]

Continued from E​

The trip to Tienman Mountain and Beijing as a whole had been pleasant enough, despite the rough, ok really rough, start they’d had before they’d even made it to the airport.

Once Gen had found the sweets that Tony wanted and they’d gone and gotten them together, he seemed to lighten up a little more. The fact that he wanted to be in her presence, even when she offered to handle something by herself, threw her for a minor loop. After what she’d said to him prior to the trip, it outright shocked her at times if she were being honest. Maybe she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. For Tony Stark, the Tony Stark the world as a whole knew, to make an appearance.

He never did and she was a little shocked that after the helicopter ride to the top of the mountain, she’d convinced him to take a stroll with her, at least part way down the mountain to enjoy it a little more.....personably. Stimulation rather than simulation. They did take the tram back up however. Which was just as enjoyable for her as the physical exercise had been.

She wasn’t sure what to expect once they’d arrived back to the States, more specifically when they’d arrived back home. The Jericho Exhibit was still a couple of days off. Would he retreat back into his solitude?

Sometimes he did and she couldn’t fault him. Would he resort back to heavily drinking? She hoped not but as she’d told him, he was a grown man that could and did do anything he wanted to, whenever he wanted to.

She was pleasantly surprised when he didn’t really do as heavy drinking as he had been. She still took care of everything that needed doing and everything he would throw at her. She still made sure he had a healthy, home cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner unless he requested otherwise.

She prepared their luggage for the Afghanistan trip. Made sure he had everything he would need otherwise as well and for the most part, did her job, that she was honestly grateful to still have after the episode in the limo.

When she tried to tease or joke with him, she did so lightly and steered away from anything that could potentially cause another rift between them. And she always stayed close, the only time she didn’t was her usual run in the early mornings and she always tried to get out and back before he was even awake.

**********

”Jarvis, where is he?”

She muttered as she stalked back into the house. Everything was in the car.....except him. Her heels clicking softly against the floor as she made a beeline for the stairs leading down to his workshop.

”Miss Harlan, I wouldn’t....”

”Yeah, yeah. I know, he doesn’t want me down here but clearly you nagging him isn’t working either. Please open the door, so I don’t have to yell at him through it?”

There was a pause of silence and before Jarvis could say anything she added softly.

”I won’t go any further than the door, I just don’t want to yell at him, Jarvis.”

She waited silently for a long moment before she heard the lock click open.

”Thank you.”

She murmured as she pulled the door open and leaned in, as promised, staying just inside the doorway.

Thankfully it didn’t take long to get his attention and get him out to Happy and the waiting car.

”Alright, we’re good? Good. Let’s go.”

She muttered softly as she settled into her seat beside Tony. She took a second to settle in before she peered sidelong at him.

”Hungry?”

A soft smirk played at the corner of her lips.

 

[Mathim]

Being sober for that long was taking a toll on him. A lot of retreating into his own mind, the very last thing he'd wanted to do and thus constantly dulled it with booze. All the memories he avoided dealing with attacking him, forcing him to use actual courage and mental strength to deal with them. It wasn't going well. If the right number of people cornered him and forced him into an intervention, then he might have considered therapy. But his pride just wouldn't allow that. The spite he felt for Gen also didn't motivate him to do what she was now afraid would be going a step too far in suggesting.

He wasn't wearing the right shoes for a mountain excursion but he put up with it, keeping mostly silent as he accompanied Gen on her spur of the moment bucket list vacation. It would give him an excuse to cut things reasonably short and not go back out again. He was starting to dread even the Jericho exhibition now, but knew there was no way to put it off or let someone else handle it without significant consequences and thanks to sobriety, he couldn't just pretend there would be none or coast through them like nothing was happening.

It hadn't been planned to go back home before returning to the East but he wasn't having the kind of fun he wanted and in his vulnerable state he would rather have had the comfort of his own familiar surroundings. A place where he could play with his toys and blast music as loud as he cared to and shut out the yawning bottomless maw in his soul roaring ceaselessly about how much he had on his shoulders and what he should be doing.

He couldn't concentrate on anything. Unfinished projects lay strewn about his workshop, the only things he did see fit to do were purely mechanical and not technical, banging on something with a hammer, tightening things with a wrench, or tying things with rope or chains. He seemed to have lost his passion along with everything else. Was the creative process only possible when he got the euphoric feeling of blissful intoxication? It made sense. He never got any such satisfaction when he was younger, his father never gave him the recognition he craved for it. Once he started drinking in high school and got all the attention from others for his work, the connection seemed to be there and he never wanted that to end.

He knew the demo was upcoming but he wanted to see how gingerly Gen was going to approach getting him ready. He wasn't dressed or showered when she went down to collect him. But since they were in a limo with tinted windows and getting on a private jet in an isolated part of the airport, it didn't matter. Throwing a jacket on him to cover the filthy white tank top, and the dark blue jeans that mostly couldn't have shown much grime or grease from the workshop, he was more or less presentable without any objections. There weren't going to be any paparazzi anywhere between there and Afghanistan anyway so much like with his trip with Gen to collect her things, slumming it wasn't out of the question.

"Thirsty." he replied to Gen as he sat back sleepily. He was already way out of his normal sleeping pattern so now he just felt tired all the time. Luckily a nap on the plane would give him time to get enough rest for the presentation since their arrival would be very close to the time it was scheduled, thanks to his deciding to go traveling beforehand instead of just staying home and leaving for Afghanistan a day early. He still resisted the urge to drink in the limo and when they got on the plane. A shower and a change of clothes would relax him and help him sleep. They'd meet Rhodey when they got there, that would cheer him up too. If he could handle himself sober during the presentation, it would probably mean he was going to be able to get over his problems on his own. If not...back to the bottle. Normally a couple of days wouldn't be enough to convince him that sobriety wasn't the solution but he was feeling desperate to get his problems off his mind. Maybe business would help kick his concentration into the forefront.

 

[PhoenixRising82]

She handled him gingerly enough but she was sure that he was well enough aware that if she had to get a little tougher, she would, without hesitation. A quiet, concerned look fell his way. Perhaps a questioning raised brow where his appearance was concerned but she said nothing. She too, knew they weren’t going to be in front of cameras or in the presence of anyone of importance until they were in Afghanistan.

The smell of grease and grime, even the lack of a shower didn’t seem to bother her. The slumming it look hardly bothered her. In truth, the sheer humanity he exuded, the....vulnerability, seemed to set her somewhat at ease. Though she was also well aware of the silent struggle he was battling. She hadn’t pushed and she’d been careful not to. While they’d been back home, rather than hiding away in her room, she stayed present and available. She’d for once forgone her usual run outside but rather she’d settled in and played games on her tablet. Read. Used the gym in the house. Made food. The only time she had disappeared was when she herself had gone to shower or gone to bed, otherwise, if he found himself wanting to be in her presence, whether silently or screaming and yelling at her or just talking, she’d been available but she never pressed the issue either and otherwise left him alone until she’d had to force him out of his work room just moments ago.

When he replied that he was thirsty rather than hungry, she nodded softly. She heard the inflection or thought she did anyway. She reached across the small space between them, a chilled bottle of water held out to him. A quiet and tender smile curling her lips. Encouraging. And was that a small hint of pride in the gaze she leveled on him?

On the plane, she made her way toward the back in silence while he settled a moment to eat the food she’d ordered, regardless of the fact that he hadn’t specifically asked. The man still had to eat. She went about prepping a towel and rag for a shower and a change of clothes set out on the edge of the bed for when he was done before joining him to eat her own meal.

When he was done, she gently suggested a shower and a nap, relieved that he was agreeable at least. When he disappeared to the back, she kicked her shoes off and finished her meal before stretching out on the couch and dozing for the remainder of the flight.

 

[Mathim]

Tony was starting to realize his thought process was not as active as it had been. Suppressing the seriousness of his issues and not giving himself license to dream ridiculously big had emptied him of the creative projects he normally came up with by the dozen, even if they didn't go anywhere most of the time. Even at a 10% success rate of his brainchildren being engineered, Tony could single-handedly create any number of independent companies from Stark Industries if he decided to divest from the business his father started. Without his usual inspiration from getting drunk and/or high and having nobody with the guts to say 'no' to him, Gen had inadvertently brought him to a point where he didn't know whether he could legitimately continue heading the company in the capacity he had before.

He focused on the Jericho exhibition. What else did he have right now? Something he could be proud of and that nobody else on the planet could even hope to duplicate. Gen would still find something to criticize, no doubt. 'Merchant of Death' and all that. If it weren't for how unstable the Middle East was he might have agreed. He had to convince himself it was for the greater good, and luckily enough people agreed with him for the most part. But if this was as succesful as projected, he would never have to create another weapon again. Nothing on Earth could possibly threaten them with that kind of artillery. A brief thought from his father about things from outside the Earth threatening them flashed through his head but he didn't believe any of those stories about Captain America and the Tesseract.

He minimized his interaction with Gen, mainly to keep from being tempted to replace her for his own sake. It was like the worst kind of nanny and he'd inflicted it upon himself. He couldn't get away with any of his normal behavior with her around. Rhodey finally being there with them helped some, but he was also surprised at Tony's sobriety and impressed at Gen's effect on Tony. But he also knew better than to condone the changes or it would likely upset Tony on a level like when he had stormed out of the limo. Happy stayed out of it as well, though he and Rhodey clearly liked the change and exchanged looks that conveyed it non-verbally.

The landing in the military-controlled zone had the mercy of putting Tony in his element, surrounded by people who worshiped him and had no judgments about his negative aspects, nor any knowledge of his new changes. Rhodey could also ensure nothing that might trigger Tony in his vulnerable state would happen, and the demonstration commenced shortly thereafter, with Tony's slight impatience forcing it to happen ahead of schedule but with no complaints. Stone cold sober, Tony decided to entertain himself by being more theatrical. He gave the spiel about how his father touted that the best weapon was one that need only be fired once. Raising his arms like a Christ figure as the Jericho blast unleashed a torrent of rubble like a raging sandstorm behind him, he offered to have Gen nag the surviving terrorists into submission. The soldiers, conspicuously lacking any female presence, laughed, but Rhodey and Happy didn't follow suit, knowing why Tony was doing it and not wanting to encourage it.

Once the choice to ride in the 'Funvee' rather than the 'Humdrumvee' that separated Tony from the rest of his familiar trio had been made, Tony believed he was going to be able to make some new friends that would coddle his impulsive side, but before they started moving, Gen hopped into it. Apparently the boys thought it wasn't good to leave Tony unsupervised in this unfamiliar condition he found himself in, especially in a foreign environment. He made her ride shotgun so he could splay himself out in the back all he wanted. The radio was playing heavy metal as loudly as he could get away with. He wanted a drink so badly he could have stopped the Hummer and sucked the gasoline out but he just gritted his teeth and tapped his leg restlessly. A loud echo some distance away caught his attention. "Are we doing some exercises out there that I didn't know about?" Tony asked the driver, before something unexpected happened.

 

[PhoenixRising82]

Gen would clarify to Rhodey that while initially her tirade she’d laid on Tony had initiated the change, that it was Tony himself that had continued to stay dry. That she hadn’t bothered him about it any further. Essentially, it was his own doing, he was fighting it, she was merely silently supporting it. And that she was proud of him for doing so.

His snarky comment about her nagging the surviving terrorists earned him a smirk and a mouthed “funny” but little other concern was given to the dig, for now.

She obliged the other men when they asked her to keep an eye on Stark. She would have preferred to stay with them of course but they weren’t here boss either. She rather enjoyed Happy’s company as always but she was rather fond of Rhodey as well upon meeting him.

Stripping her business jacket as she climbed up and into the Humvee’s front seat, she offered the driver a smile before turning to cast a glance into the back at Tony. She bit her tongue and turned forward. Her eyes darting out over the terrain before them. Small talk even with the driver was nearly impossible with the music as it blasted through the vehicle but she was fine with communication at a minimum anyways.

The driver remained silent a minute after Tony asked his question, turning the radio down a little, so that he could listen as well.

Gen turned in her seat, drawing a knee up into the seat, her skirt shifting as she moved. An arm draped over the back of her seat and she cast another glance at her boss. A smirk danced across her lips and he probably knew what was coming.

”Should I nag him to make him surrender any informat.....”

The rest fell dead on her lips as the humvee rocked hard enough it threatened to flip. The explosion caused her to tumble forward and against the driver before the second tossed her backwards like a rag doll.

Amidst the commotion, a pained yelp escaped her as her head cracked an angry sound against the passenger side door. The smoke, yelling, the sound of gunfire swirled in her head.

”Tony....”

His name managed to squeak past her lips. She didn’t hear him or if she did, it was in the midst of everything else and lost as darkness consumed her.

A voice, seemingly in the distance seemed to stir her. Her head tilted toward the direction she thought it might be coming from, a soft groan escaping as even with her eyes closed, everything seemed to spin. A hand rose, pressing against the tender back of her head, feeling cloth covering the curls of her hair.

Her eyes fluttered open, greeted by...darkness. Not quite as dark as before but dark and rough and spinning slightly. With a groan she managed to sit up, her hand pressing against the cold, rough stone beneath her that she laid on. Unsteadily sitting up, she tried to focus long enough to try to get her bearings, wondering where exactly she was.