Ch62. Sealing a hole
Tony was proud of himself for introducing the Extremis Cradle.
In the past, during this time period, he was slowly dying with no way out. He tried so many things only for everything to fail. The medical field of that time, of this time, was not advanced enough to safely remove the shrapnel from his body and palladium was slowly killing him.
He felt trapped and despairing, hopeless at being forced to just wait for his inevitable death.
There was simply nothing that could save him and the more things he tried, the more failures he experienced, the more hopeless his situation seemed.
Only his stubborn inborn Stark-ness carried him through that stage of depression.
Tony was sure there is loads of people feeling like that in the world. People with incurable and fatal diseases. He didn't lie to himself that he could save them all or that he would do it for free. But even if he helped only a small fraction in exchange for money, he would be satisfied with that.
That knowledge would calm his conscience and feed his unruly ego.
Now that the Extremis Cradle was having its first appearance in the world, the people got instantly interested but many were still skeptical.
Tony used his special situation to further advertise the Extremis Cradle.
Everybody and their mother knew Tony had an arc reactor in his chest and it kept him alive. As everybody and their mother knew there was no way of getting rid of it with the current technology.
That little miracle of engineering was covered in media for months and many speculated if this technology could be used for other things in the medical field.
A year has passed since his reluctant vacation in Afghanistan and this rage still didn't disappear. Tony still received a few letters a month with requests to examine his chest and arc reactor.
He did what any sensible person would do with these letters and ordered them to be donated to some homeless people so they could use them as fuel for fire during the night and then he bragged on the social media that Tony Stark was also doing charity!
Some people got discouraged by that, some didn't, but at least all that paper went to a good thing while Tony felt smug about himself.
But it was time to let go of his attachment to being a part machine. Tony decided to use the Extremis Cradle to cure himself, get good press about it, and advertise the Stark Clinic this way.
As such, a week before the official opening of the Stark Clinic, Tony walked out of it a new, whole man without a hole in his chest and spent the following month being pampered by his sweet Natasha.
And the world?
The world clamored with excitement at this unbelievable epoch-breaking technology, everybody non-stop talking about it and the Stark Industries, bringing Tony's stocks to new heights.
Tony couldn't have asked for a better vacation after all that legal shit he had to go through in the past month.
...
"Are you fine?"
Tony suddenly heard Natasha's worried voice while enjoying his morning coffee in the kitchen. He turned his head towards her and sluggishly nodded in greeting when he saw her in her fluffy pajamas approaching him while rubbing her belly under her pajama top with a worried frown on her face.
She was supremely cute...
As much as Tony hated to admit it, the procedure of removing the shrapnel and healing his chest took its toll on him.
Yes, Extremis Cradle could heal even people on the brink of death but nobody promised there would be no temporary after-effects. For all the miracles it could do, there had to be at least a slight demerit.
Having to rest a week after healing a bonafide hole in his chest sounded like a good bargain for Tony.
"You should be in bed." Natasha put her hand on his shoulder in concern before leaning towards him for a chaste morning kiss.
After they pulled away, Tony smiled at her. He must have looked quite tired but he was honestly fine. "If I had no problem with our yesterday's activity in bed, I can survive the walk from our bedroom to the kitchen."
Natasha snorted. "Please, you didn't move at all." She good-naturedly snarked, "I did all the work and I was extremely gentle. And passionate. Can't forget that."
"Yes, you were. That much I can admit." Tony put his hand over the one she had on his shoulder.
"Hmm~, praise me more." Natasha jokingly demanded in a low sultry tone.
Tony rolled his eyes at her, inwardly snickering. "I enjoyed it a lot, thank you."
Hearing him being so sincere and straightforward about it, Natasha involuntarily blushed, "It was nice..." She acknowledged, her usual flirting behavior suddenly somewhat subdued. "To be so slow and passionate for a change, I mean. I also loved it."
"Mhm. We will have to have that kind of sex more often." Tony nodded as Natasha let go of his shoulder and walked towards the kitchen counter, going to prepare the breakfast.
It wasn't much. Just taking out some yogurts from the fridge. She usually ate lightly in the morning while Tony had to eat lightly because of his weakened state.
"I'd like that." Natasha admitted with an undertone of excitement but then her tone changed to a teasing one as she threw Tony a mock reproachful look as she put his yogurt and spoon in front of him, "I just hope it doesn't mean you will get injured often to have an excuse to not move."
"As if!" Tony spoke in outrage, "Enjoy having the reins of our sex life while it lasts, Red! Because once this," He gestured at his body, "gets well, you will once again be mah bitch."
Natasha rolled her eyes at him, knowing from his overly inflated tone full of smugness that he was just joking, and promptly but gently swatted the back of his head, "Language." She dryly deadpanned in the imitation of Captain America.
Both burst out into laughter at that.
After they were done laughing, a companionable silence spread among them as they enjoyed their breakfast. Tony would have loved to have something more than yogurt and while it was not strictly necessary, as in, he would not have died if he didn't follow this diet, Natasha was relentless when it came to his health.
He was secretly convinced she enjoyed having a reason to nag him and genuinely tell him it was for his own good while being totally in the right.
Tony inwardly swore to never get injured again...
"I was thinking..." Tony started after a while.
"Uh-oh." Natasha uttered in a very doubtful manner.
Yes, she still didn't let him go for his idea to confront Vanko.
"What? I can only think since any strenuous activity is banned!" Tony huffed.
"Thinking is strenuous enough when it comes to you." Natasha quipped.
"Anyway," Tony decided to ignore her remark, much to Natasha's exasperation, "Banner's rearrangement of Harlem will happen soon and with it, Thor will appear in Mexico."
"Please tell me you do not want to, I don't know, gather Banner's blood or something?" Natasha hopefully asked but when she saw Tony's expression at her mentioning this, she got speechless.
"Well," Tony scratched his cheek, "I do need it though. I want to see how he can stuff all that power into his human frame. It's for science, Nat!"
"For science, he says..." Natasha trailed off as if giving up reasoning with him. "And Thor? What's up with that?"
"Remember when he told us about Destroyer and the rare metal its body contains?" Tony gave her puppy-dog eyes and Natasha suddenly found it very hard to refuse.
She mentally warred with her better judgment but eventually, the part of her that had unshakable trust for Tony came out victorious.
Contrary to the abundant evidence to disprove the fact, she believed he would not endanger himself if it was not necessary. Somehow. In some convoluted and very twisted sense, a normal mortal human mind could not comprehend.
"Fine..." Natasha wearily sighed, "I guess we are going to get the blood of a green, rage-filled monster that can shrug off missiles as if they were just small pebbles and steal one of the most important items of Asgard. Just your everyday month with you, really..."
Yet, despite the heavy sarcasm in her tone, Natasha was smiling with discreet fond excitement.
Tony gutsily nodded, ignoring the sarcasm, and showed her thumbs-up.
"That's the spirit!"