Adult-FanFiction.org : Marvel 'Verse

Spirited Away	By : AkumaKawa Category: Marvel Verse Movies > Avengers, The Views: 3922 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Nothing of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron, The Avengers, Thor belongs to me, no money made

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
A/N: Parts of this used to be part of chapter 1.
Tuesday August 21, 2012 T minus 262 Days
JARVIS didn't run one round of tests, he ran an entire battery of tests on Tony's blood samples, checking for anything and everything that could possibly reveal any sort of abnormalities in his blood work and DNA. It was because of this, that it took three and a half days for Tony to receive the results of the tests.
Three days of Tony standing at the windows for hours upon hours just staring at the ocean's tidal waves during the day and the blackness of the night when the sun had set. He would stand there drinking his alcohol and feeling like a condemned man because he had this feeling that he already knew what the result was going to be.
The feeling was coming from the data that Tony would update on his Starkphone and how the visits kept increasing as the time between them kept decreasing. Today he hit the everyday mark, soon the visits will be happening more than once a day then it will keep increasing until a point will come when the visits are constantly happening with no break between them. After that, Tony doesn't know what will happen.
The reverse of the data is also daunting. How long had the hallucinations actually been taking place? How many times has he seen shadows dancing on the peripheral of his vision and thought nothing of it? Was it only now, with the audible hallucinations starting, that Tony's conscious recognized that something was wrong?
It's almost like Tony isn't experiencing hallucinations but is somehow piercing a veil between this dimension and a neighboring one. What's happening is that his body and mind are learning to access that dimension. Well that at least explains the shadows...but not the bell tinklings and how Tony feels something inside answer that call. That's something that his data can't explain away by any relative fringe scientific theories.
Tony's acceptance of the fringe science theory is based on his fear and hope of finding another answer for his hallucinations than what he thinks it will be. Anything, even fringe science of dimensional bleed through is more acceptable.
By the data's estimates, pretty soon the hallucinations will give him his answer. Is it a dimensional bleed that Tony is learning to see? Or is it them coming for him?
For now, it's just moments of hearing the bell that calls to him, seeing a shadow just oscillating out of his clear sight, and moments of the feeling of being watched. Eventually, he will reach a point where the veil no longer exists and then he will know
However, Tony isn't patient enough to rely upon the data and wait for the visions to become more pronounced. He wants to know NOW. Which is why JARVIS is running the tests on his blood.
Tony is at once hopeful and fearful. Hopeful that he is wrong. That something else is going on than what he dreads. Fearful because he he knows that it won't be true.
He doesn't know what he will do when he can no longer deny what something inside him is telling, screaming, at him is the truth. However, Tony's tired of this Schrodinger's Cat bullshit and can't stand the knowing and not knowing where hope is still breathing. He needs the truth. No matter what it is.
When JARVIS calls him down to the lab that afternoon to be given his results Tony finds that not only isn't he not shocked or surprised but he feels somehow relieved. Something unusual had been found in his blood work. Something that can finally lead Tony to his answers.
"JARVIS, what'd you find?" Tony softly asks as he lets out a sigh. He half collapses in the chair as he sits down feeling drained of all his strength as he waits to hear the results with trepidation on par to feeling like he was awaiting his execution.
"I am unsure, sir." JARVIS replied with uncertainty evident in his tone.
Tony's forehead crinkled in confusion. "Not sure?" Then frustration leaked into his tone of voice as the stress from the past few days had been building up inside of him and now he was feeling it. "How are you not sure?! You had three days to run every test you could think of."
"I did, sir." JAVIS snarked back. "I conducted three different rounds of tests upon the blood samples you gave me." JARVIS answered with a slightly frustrated and bewildered tone.
"Th-Three rounds?!" Tony exclaimed as he tugged his hair in an attempt to keep his anger in check. Goddamnit! What the hell? I've been standing around with my thump up my ass for whole three days, waiting for the results and JARVIS already had them done! He did it three fucking times even! And didn't even tell me? Tony ranted in his mind. Then a thought came to him, why did JARVIS run the tests two more times? Was there something wrong with him? Something like a brain tumor or cancer and all of this has nothing to do with them?
Tony looked up, unsure what answer he was hoping for. Was anything else really okay with him? Trying to hold on to his frustration and not let fear seep in Tony growled out, "Why?"
"The first results were such that I thought there was an error in the machines. I re-calibrated them and tested the samples again. The same results came back. I then did a diagnostic on each of the machines to make sure everything was in working order and conducted the last round of tests on the left over blood samples.” JARVIS' answer emoted his own frustration and confoundedness at his creator's predicament. “Each time there was no change in the results. Either there is a flaw somewhere that I am missing with my diagnostic ability or the results are true." JARVIS paused and then continued,"In that case, sir, it is a most puzzling occurrence. The results do not make any logical sense."
Tony frowned. This entire situation isn't anything like what Tony was told it should be, or anything he thought it would be like. "Tell me, JARVIS..." Tony cut off as he took a swallow to gather his resolve, his fingers tapping on the table with nervousness. "What are the results?"
"An unknown substance resides in your DNA, sir." JARVIS paused and then continued with a befuddled tone,"If I was to hazard a guess, I would say it resembles a viral antibody. Although the composition of it and its behavior is unlike anything I have ever seen before."
"Viral?" Tony uttered half to himself, confusion laced in his voice as he renewed his tapping.
"Yes, sir." JARVIS confirmed, "It is acting similar to the HIV virus, but with radically different prerogatives and intentions."
"How?" Is the only word that Tony was able to utter while all he could think of was so very many questions about the logistics of it all, what this could mean for genetic studies, and what it means for him.
"In short, sir. The virus seems to be replacing your immune system with its own antibodies. It's acting similar to a parasitic host in that it is changing your body to suit its needs. However, instead of making your body weaker and more susceptible to viral and bacterial infections such as HIV and AIDS are known for causing, this virus is doing the opposite." JARVIS responded as Tony stops his tapping in shock. "It is behaving remarkably similarly to the versions of HIV being used to treat cancer."
Upon hearing that all Tony can think of is that he finally has the answer. All these years they never knew why them, how it could happen to them, but now he has it. "Could this virus have been a genetic mutation that suddenly kicked on? Like an autoimmune disorder that was laying dormant until triggered?"
"I cannot say with certainty, sir. The results show it is possible but it is not conclusive without more tests being done in order to rule out any other factors that could be causing the results." Tony nods. As much as he would like to think he could have all the answers now and prepare for what is to come, there is still uncertainty in the results until they check it again with other machines and other tests to rule everything out. The cold pit of fear in his stomach is heavier with these answers and more questions.
"What tests do you need to run?" Tony queried JARVIS as he absentmindedly thought about what this all means. If JARVIS' tests are correct then he has his answers. If it is false...then that means that something else is going on with Tony, something possibly life-threatening. It's doubtful that the equipment would be faulty but is that the answer he wants?
"Tests that we do not have the equipment for here," JARVIS replied. Tony feels a well of frustration build up inside of him. "Then buy the equipment we need for the tests and have them shipped here." Tony sniped back to JARVIS.
Tony just wants to know where he stands. Is it cancer? Some sort of rare genetic disease that is confusing JARVIS with their 'faulty' equipment? Or is it them coming out to play with Tony, the last of the Starks, the last of his mother's line. But why now? He has an idea, a fear, of what it could be. But that's different compared to knowing the answer with undeniable proof.
"It would be easier and more expedient for sir to travel to Stark Tower." JARVIS stated as he continued to explain, "The tower not only has the equipment necessary for the tests I need to conduct but they are also already installed and operational. This means I can do the exams as soon as sir reaches the medical lab. There will be no need to wait as the equipment is shipped, assembled, and then installed."
"Fuck." Tony whispered as he casts his eyes skyward in thought. It would require him to travel back to New York. It's something that Tony has been dreading since the nightmares began because of his belief that being in the city had been triggering them. The last time he was there was when he and Rhodey as War Machine dealt with that maniac Bruno Horgan otherwise known as The Melter.
Tony can't fly there as Iron Man in the suit. That would require more finagling than he wants to do with Fury. With the jet he can at least pretend it's official business but that still requires him to go to New York and expose him to those memories. What if he has an attack on the plane or in the limo? Or in the tower? How will he explain that?
JARVIS, knowing about his hangups on returning to New York, soothingly stated, "I would have the results done in a day if not hours instead of the weeks it would take to get the equipment sent here and the time it would take to set them up properly." JARVIS paused and then continued, "You do want the results as soon as possible do you not, sir?"
Tony knew JARVIS was right. Tony felt like a child scared of the monster under the bed in avoiding New York and everything going on but damnit his monster was real and somehow the thought of going to New York felt like he would attract the monster's attention. A shiver ran up his back at that thought and something somewhere in his mind twinged.
"Fuck." Tony swore once more as he put his head in the palm of his hands. He felt like he was trapped between a rock and a hard place. Return to the scene of his nightmares or continue to live in ignorance of what is happening to him for several weeks more?
"Sir?" JARVIS called out, trying to stir Tony from his spiraling thoughts and doubt.
Tony gives up trying to hide himself in his hands and calls out to JARVIS, "Do it. I'll leave for the Tower in the morning." Tony informed JARVIS as he got up to leave the lab. "Oh," Tony called back to JARVIS as he forgot one thing, "Inform Pepper of the trip. Give some suitable excuse about why I need to be there. I'll be upstairs."
"Yes, sir." JARVIS replied as the optics in his cameras watched his creator dejectedly walk up the stairs. Sir's recent behavior was concerning to the A.I. as one of his core programing traits was for JARVIS to look after him. JARVIS was unsure if there was anything that he could do except to follow his orders.
When Tony leaves the workshop he has nowhere else to go but where he's been going for the past few days, his spot at the window with the best view of the ocean. It's at this one spot in the whole of his mansion that feels the most settled and calm.
His greatest childhood fear is becoming reality, Tony isn't even prepared for what is going to happen because all he has are the stories his mother told him and the timeline of the events. The symptoms he has doesn't fully match the stories and as there is no one left alive in his family that means there is no one that can give him advice for what is going to come. Yet, somehow, even with all of this stress and fear upon his shoulders when he is standing in his spot it all drifts away. Everything drifts away as he stares at the ocean as it breathes.
What Tony needs more than anything is answers. Facts. Data. Anything that he can work with. He needs to know how much time he has.
Because, once he knows then Tony can prepare to fight back. He's not going gently into that good night, he will fight against the dying of the light.
He is Tony Fucking Stark and there is no way he is going to let them just take him away like a prized cow for the slaughter.
Already, Tony can feel their eyes watching him. He can hear their tinkling voices calling his name, trying to seduce him to their side. He can feel them hovering around him and spy their shadowy forms outside his direct field of vision by the corner of his eye. It is only the beginning as the stories spoke about it started out small and it would gain in strength until a point where he would feel as if he belonged more to their world than his own.
Jealous creatures as they are they hate for anything or anyone to interfere their sport. It, him, everything is all just a game to them.
One in which the chips are stacked against him.
When the time was right with the moon hidden from view and the night as dark as it could be, they would come for him. There was nowhere he could hide from them. He was a marked man and they would come for him and drag him to their world. It didn't matter where he was, when the moment came he could be in the deepest mine, the darkest fathom of the crevasses in the crust of the ocean, the highest mountain, the most structurally sound vault they would come and take him and not even the most tumultuous weather would be able to stop them.
What was a locked door to them when they could just walk through it?
They may be a part of this world but they were not of it and the normal rules didn't apply to them. They were beings unlike any that S.H.I.E.L.D. had ever dealt with and he doubted ever the Æsir could stop them.
Nothing would or could stop them.
Iron possibly, but that would only anger them and in their anger blood would be wrought from him and all those around him. They would demand death and destruction as payment for interference with their games. None would be spared from their wrath. Not even babies.
As if they hear his thoughts, the sound of their tinkling bell-like laughter fills the air. This game of theirs is played by their rules and it is one they fully expect to win. It infuriates him.
Tony would show them like he has shown everyone else. He is the Merchant of Death and no one or thing of Earth, the Nine Realms, or other dimensions is going to capture him and hold him prisoner if he has anything to say about it. He would burn them and their world to ashes if they try.
- 3
- 4
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Spirited Away