Battle Scars {An Iron Man FanFic}

Chapter 35: Extraction

A/n: This is dedicated to @eragonfan2011 ! She read the whole story in one day (I think) and left an awesome comment on the other chapter :) 

Yeah! Andy's back home <3 

Do you guys think I should enter Battle Scars in the Watty's? I would have to finish by November, which I think I can manage.

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Chapter 35: Extraction

Andy POV 

                It was in Pepper's arms, standing in our own pool of tears, that I realized I could no longer act so selfish. I had to toughen up, for the sake of others around me. I could tell that when I walked in, Pepper was already in a bad state (might I add because of my actions). But, to top it all off, when wrapped in her arms, I had a mini break down again. It just, something about her hugging me, it set me off. Loud tears trembled down my face and at the mere realization of this; Pepper had let all her past worries out. She cried after me and I knew that if I managed to hide away my feelings, she would have succeeded in such too.

                I had to stop crying. I had to stop showing my weakness. When people saw me without it, I attained a façade of calm and in control. Even if I would be shielding myself, everyone else would benefit. They wouldn't seem as hopeless or affected; they would find comfort in the fact that the one who feared the most was no longer fearful.  And so I raised an arm up and wiped away the stream of incoming tears, smiling cheesily at Pepper through blurry eyes. She laughed once, cut and abrupt, and the smile on her face was true. She pulled me in closer and rest her cheek on the top of my head.

"Don't you ever ever do that to me again. I was so worried that something had happened" she said in a low voice and I nodded, I'm sure I would have agreed to anything she could have said. In silence, we moved ourselves over to the couches and Pepper placed me next to her, so that I was leaning against her arm. Tony sat across from us, still clad in his apparent winter wear.

"Tony, why are you wearing your gloves and a coat?" Pepper asked, now calmed down from her previous emotional tribulation at my arrival. Tony started to self consciously remove his hand wear.   "It was cold?"   "Are you getting sick? Tony it was like 80 degrees this morning"   "That's not hot" he said, enforcing the point.   "You know what I mean" she said and rolled her eyes.  She had an arm wrapped around me and would every now and then would rub my arm. It didn't bug me though; I actually liked her doing that. It reminded me that she was there. Silence followed as Tony avoided the initial question, picking at the glove with a sudden interest.   "So," I braved forward, remembering why I left, "where's Edward at?" I looked around, slightly paranoid at saying his name, as if he was the Dark Lord and Snatchers were out to get me.   "He's not around anymore" Tony said simply.   "Why?" I had to ask, successfully hiding away my relieved smirk.   "Found him with your charger." Tony said but then paused for a second before looking at me earnestly, "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you before Andy."   "It's- it's okay. I'm sorry for all the cruel things I said" I replied, staring at him.   "It's okay. Speaking of chargers, how has yours been holding up?" his face gained a whole new set of concern and, if I read it right, worry.   "Alright, I only had to charge it twice."   "Well, I have some bad news. But give me a second; I have to go check on something. Wait here." He commanded and then left the room. As he walked down the steps to his work shop, I saw him return his gloves to his shivering hands.   "Why would something be wrong?" I asked Pepper worriedly and she only shrugged, her expression as on edge as mine. Just before I could ask another question, Jarvis rang loud throughout the house.   "Ms. Valdez, so happy to see you've returned!" he said.   "Haha, thanks Jar, what's up"

"It seems you have a visitor waiting outside"   "Is it Terminator" Pepper asked, her voice set as if this has happened before   "Terminator?" I asked loudly.   "Yes ma'am" Jarvis said and I stood up slowly.   "Shane?" I asked myself in a whisper, remembering the day they came over to my house. I hurried towards the door and as I ran, I found warmth at those words: my house. I opened the door quickly to reveal a very nervous looking Shane. His gaze was turned to the floor, his feet kicking around at nothing and his hands shoved in his pockets. I closed the door behind me and just stood there, waiting for his eyes to look up.   "Look, Mr. Stark, I know I-" he started and turned to look at me. His eyes widened and he smiled brightly, but I was concerned for the more-than-sad glaze in his eyes just a moment before.   "Andy!" he said loudly and tackled me down into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him and he lifted me into the air, spinning us in a circle. As soon as he put me back onto the ground, he retracted theatrically.   "God you reek" he said in his usually cheery voice. But in his eyes I could see the glistening of emotion. I had to remain strong, I told myself, I couldn't let others down.   "Oh Shane, god" was all I could say as I took a step forward excitedly. Despite my stench, he stepped forward at the same time and was once again hugging me.   "Don't do that again, okay?" he asked, his lips just by my ear. All I did was nod, internally struggling to ward off any sappy and extremely relieved emotions.   "Sorry" I muttered out, pulling apart from him. He sat himself on the steps and leaned against the small wall bordering the set of stairs. I sat next to him, self conscious of how close I ended up because of my current... aroma.   "Where have you been?" he asked in a low voice.   "Just around, I guess."   "Are you okay?"   "Yeah" I said, trying to sound convincing.   "Andy?" he asked in a knowing voice.   "What?" I asked defensively, smiling.   "What happened?" his voice was filled with such worry that I felt my stomach unsettle uneasily. I blinked and looked up at the sky, keeping my breath calm.   "Nothing" I said in a definite voice and suddenly the door opened.   "Sorry kids, Andy I need you to come inside" Tony said in a strangely grave tone. I looked over at Shane and smiled one last time, trying to convince him as subtly as possible.   "See you later?" I asked hopefully.   "You can count on it" he said, although his voice wasn't as cheery as it had been. He looked between Tony and me again and then started heading down the steps. I saw him walk down the long stretch of the drive before Tony opened the door farther. The sound of the creaking hinges drove me forward.   . : ☼ : . 

"So ever since that first time, there was been an excess of electricity in your pacemaker. If it had only remained isolated in the external setup, we wouldn't be here right now. But your pacemaker is automatically registering up to the charger and telling it that it needs more energy. Although it isn't always doing it straight forward, there is an excess of electricity present at all times, even when you still need to charge your pacemaker. I think... well I think it's started to affect the tissue of your heart and the immediate muscles surrounding it" Tony said in a troublesome voice, all the while tapping hurriedly on a keyboard.

                I was trying to not look too worried as I stared down at my restrained feet. Tony had basically tied me up to a nearly vertical table, with my hands pulled to the side and my feet perpendicular to them and parallel to each other. He said it was the best way to ensure all the electrical flow could possibly leave my system. But the problem was that he couldn't remove it all, seeing as that I would die without a working pacemaker.   

                Apparently there was no way to differentiate the energy stored up around my cells to the energy stored by the machine. If this worked out the way he planned, I should only have to repeat this once or twice every three months.

"Wait so what exactly are you doing?" I asked, biting my tongue when I felt my voice quiver in fear.

"Just... removing some of the excess electricity is all. We are going to try and absorb the high levels around your sternum that have naturally circulated to your arms." He started to go off with calculations and the very slightly probability of something going wrong when I spaced out. I looked nervously to each of my hands and then down at my sneakers.

                What I would do for a hot shower right now. I started to wander off and dream of a shower when I felt something cold on my left hand. I looked over hurriedly to see Tony cleaning off the side of my hand with a cold alcohol pad, right next to my pinky.

"This is only going to hurt a bit, okay?" he said reassuringly and I only nodded. I saw him reach over for one of twin sharp metal rods just before pausing at my side. His face was just slightly above my hand and he looked at me as if asking for approval.

"Do you trust me?" he asked and I nodded yes immediately. He whispered out a brief apology before piercing my flesh with one of the metal rods. I felt it run parallel to the side of my hand and slither roughly over one of the bones. It paused just near the junction of my wrist.

"Agh" I heard myself say put quickly grind my teeth to shut myself up.

"You okay?" he asked nervously and I nodded with my eyes shut. I felt him move over to the side and repeat the process.

"So I'm going to try this out without further conduction of the electricity. I want to see if it can be done without it, because this way... well, let's just say you may live longer" I heard his voice fluctuate, as if he were talking about something as causal as the weather. I shut my eyes tighter and grew worried when I felt his presence leave. After what felt like eternity, I heard his voice somewhere in front of me. I pictured him in front of one of the computers.

"Ready D" he said in a soft voice and I nodded once. In an instant I felt a great jolt pass through my body and barely managed to suppress a scream. I felt darkness begin to pull me in as wave after wave of electricity was forced through my chest and down into my arms. I fought with it mercilessly, I wouldn't knock out again. I wouldn't be weak. I could handle this, no bigee.

                Just when I thought it was nearly over, I felt an even more powerful strike hit me across the chest. I kept my eyes shut painfully and wiggled my fingers instinctually. My arms felt like fire, like a wire had been inserted within me and plugged directly in to my heart. I thought I heard Tony's voice but figured it was just my imagination.  The currents slowly began to grow more separated.

                I opened my eyes as the strongest wave struck me and saw Tony next to me, forcing my hands down. I had been moving them? Once I felt the last of the energy leave me I took in a deep breath and was met with the smell of burning flesh.

"Ow" I managed to say through still clenched teeth, feeling Tony slowly remove the strange metal rods. What just happened?

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Editted November 6, 2013. Remember to vote and comment! Let me know what you think! :D

(( What do you think of that whole last part we just read about? Freaky right? More explanation needed, I think yeees!  ))

-Ela