Battle Scars {An Iron Man FanFic}

Chapter 8: Brains and Tech

A/n: Thanks to @Abevans710 for helping me find ways to bond in the previous chapter. Two others  people helped me out so I'll dedicate to them in future chaps!  Enjoy the read and remember to comment and vote :)

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Chapter 8: Brains and Tech

. : ☼ : .  A Month Later  . : ☼ : .

Andy

                I sat staring at the math problem for a minute before calling out to nobody in particular, "What's eight times seven?"

"Fifty-six" a voice I immediately recognized as Tony's filled the room. "I can't believe you still don't know your time tables." He walked out from the living room and into the kitchen. No doubt he had just come from the work shop. I had known he was Iron Man the day after he saved me. I still can't believe it took so long for me to wonder how exactly I had gotten from a burning mountain side to a sterile doctors office. He stood behind one of the chairs and grinned at me.

"I do know them! I'm just missing a few, jeez" I said while plugging in the number into the new equation. I bit the end of my thumb before solving the problem and circling the small C.

"How do you get such high marks when you still have to count with your fingers?"

"It's called hard work, you should really try it sometime" I glanced over to him before heading to my next problem. I automatically began to circle key words and all that good stuff before setting up my next equation. I was the top student on most of my classes and kicked my butt for it to go so high. Apparently, most kids thought that being isolated meant being as smart as a stick. I still smile whenever I think of how much smarter I am over them all because of self teaching.

"You don't have to work hard when you're a genius like me" he winked at me.

"Yeah I noticed" I muttered before circling B and then moved my finished math page to the side. I grabbed the play Antigone by Sophocles out of my bag. Before I could start reading, however, Tony started speaking as he sat on a bar stool and spun it around to face me.

"Anyways, how's the friend making going?" he asked, genuine curiosity in his voice.

"Fine, I suppose" I muttered, looking back down to the play in my hands and drumming my fingers nervously over the purple cover. I could feel him staring at me from across his glass and fought the urge to meet his eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked, immediately causing me to shut my eyes closed. I hated it. I felt like I let him down, again. A cold feeling sprouted from my chest and I felt a chill drip down my spine. I swallowed before replying in a low voice, "I just can't do it. I mean, there's always something that ends up ruining everything I build up."

"Well maybe if you..." he started off hopefully, and I felt even more pathetic that he thought he needed to comfort me in some way. Although I've only known him for a month and a half, I know how he acted and pity wasn't exactly a good vibe to be getting from him.

"No, I'm done," I sighed and tossed my book and my math homework into my bag. "I'm fine on my own, I don't need anyone." I felt the cold feeling begin to grow again and stood up.

"Not even me?" I froze once I realized his voice was actually filled with concern, and something else I couldn't put my finger on.

"I'm sleepy" was all I could muster as I walked past him and up the stairs to my room. I collapsed onto my bed and curled up in a ball, trying to rid of the cold feeling. I hated disappointing him and ignoring his question like that only made me feel worse. I wasn't trying to be a jerk, I was just...unsure. I couldn't answer his question, even if I wanted too.

. : ☼ : .  A Few Days Later  . : ☼ : .

"So this is what you've been working on?" I asked, walking around the small separate room of Tony's work shop.

"Yup, a whole new branch leading off into Stark Medicines. I got at least fifteen new inventions here just waiting to be tested" he said with a grin, proud of his work.

"How would you test these?" I asked, somewhat worried as I eyed a full out mechanical heart. It was an exact model of the human heart, but made of clear materials with three tubes running within it. I gulped down and looked up at him.

"Oh, you know volunteers mostly. Sometimes pre practice runs are done with dummies, but only if there is like a possibility of, I don't know, spontaneous ignition." I responded with a simple "oh" before walking throughout the room. I stared through about five glass encased devices before stopping at a round silver disk connected to simple wires and another disk.

"That's a pacemaker with an exterior charge set up."

"Pacemaker?" I asked, staring closely at the device.

"Yeah, for when someone's heartbeat is too slow. The disk further to the back is placed near the SA node, the natural pace maker, in the heart. If the beat is irregular or too slow, the device will step in and help out."

"Who would want that inside of them?" I shivered, thinking of the surgery and the feeling of having that metal buried beneath your muscles.

"A dying man," he looked over to me sadly, "this can make the difference between life and death. Better it be this than an ICD. A pacemaker is relatively painless and most people forget it's even there... an ICD creates a living hell. Whenever the heart begins to fail, it sends out a violent shock, like being kicked full on in the chest. "

"That sounds, really painful" I admitted. I turned over to another case and asked about it.

"Now this is something I'm not planning on putting out on the market yet." We were both staring within a glass case filled with a series of metallic disks in the outline of a human spinal cord.

"This could help the paralyzed one day, if only I could work out some of the kinks." He frowned and his forehead creased.

"The great Tony Stark is having technical issues?" I asked, amused. Seeing him get so excited over his new inventions was incredible and slightly humorous. His eyes lit up like a kid's on Christmas morning and he had an aura about him that screamed genius.

"Nothing I can't handle," he started off, "You know, with time."

"Time is the golden truth my friend" I said while spinning on the spot. I placed my hands on my hips and looked at all the other inventions around the room. I smiled to myself, thinking about how many people could be saved with this tech.

"Oh yeah, and how would you know?" he asked while walking over to a prototype for some sort of laser.

"Hmm... I'll tell you later but I have to go see if Pepper's here yet. She's going to help me get ready for a party" I grinned nervously, fully expecting the next words to come out of his mouth.

"What party?"

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

(( What?! Andy's going to a party? Do you think Andy can still leave the Stark house without regrets? ))

-Ela