"Ugh!" Tony grunted and stepped out of the suit, still in his formal suit. He groaned with each step, staring at the nurses dumbly standing there in shock. "H-Head!"
"All of you should be fired?!" A masculine voice rang from behind the nurses and a tall doctor stormed out. Behind him, a female doctor took the stretcher and pushed it closer to Tony.
"What are you waiting for?!" The female doctor shouted.
As if the entire hospital woke up from a daze suddenly, chaos broke out. The nurses rushed over and helped Tony lie down on the stretcher. He was quickly pushed in after that while the two doctors tried to talk to him.
"Mr. Stark, what happened?"
Am I even alive? Tony wondered all of a sudden. He could hear everything and see very clearly, yet he felt separated from reality. The pain in the head was there, and so was the heavy sensation, and also suffocation.
He looked at the nametag of the Doctor. Stephen Strange? Weird name.
Then his eyes fell on the female doctor. Christine Palmer? That's one pretty doc–ugh.
"Head! My head feels heavy, and it's painful." Tony felt out of breath. "Suffocating…"
"Vitals normal!" Someone shouted as they all started running around and wheeling Tony into a room.
Is this another poisoning? He feared for the worse.
"Did you get injured recently? Or eat something unknown?" Asked Christine Palmer, constantly moving her hands to attach the vitals monitor to him.
"No."
"Where does it hurt in the head?" Doctor Strange asked.
Tony groaned and clutched his head again. It felt as if something was trying to rip him out of his mind. "E-Everywhere… Shit… Do an MRI! Quick! I was in space for the past ten days… could be radiation!"
Was the suit faulty? He wondered.
"Space? What do—"
"Prepare for an MRI quickly!" Doctor Strange interrupted his fellow doctor. "Come on, Doctor Palmer. Be more professional."
Thud!
Thud!
Jarvis continued to follow into the building to protect Tony from any dangers. He had too many enemies at that point. Jarvis had even sent out orders to five of the ten Iron Guardians across New York to come over and keep an eye on the entire hospital and the surroundings.
Besides, nobody had the guts to stop a seven-foot-tall metal robot.
Trrrr~ Beep~ Beep~
In no time, Tony found himself headfirst into the MRI machine.
While lying there, he almost felt dead. He failed to feel his body. No control over any of his limbs. It scared him infinitely, but then he suddenly sat up.
"What the!" He noticed his body simply phased through the MRI machine's frame. He looked towards the glass window and the doctors were still there, almost six of them by now. Jarvis was also there but only looked inside instead of the computer screens.
He got down from the machine's bed and looked back. The machine was still running.
I'm dead? He asked himself. How could he not when his own body was still inside the same machine?
He looked down at himself and realized his body was almost transparent.
"I'm dead-dead?"
Shhh~
"What now?!" He felt a pull on his astral form all of a sudden. Before he could realize it, he found himself sucked back into his own body.
"Gah!" He jolted with a gasp. But he failed to move his head since the frame around his head kept him stable. "I'm alive!"
What the hell was that?
Right then, he noticed the machine's sounds diminishing. The bed slid out right after, and he got up as if nothing was wrong with him. The pain, heaviness, and suffocation were gone. He quickly put on the cotton slippers, walked out of the room, and entered the doctor's observation chamber where all the monitors showed charts.
"Any clue?" He asked. But deep down he knew they wouldn't be able to help.
"Some." Doctor Strange took the initiative. "I can't fully explain it, but your brain activity was significantly elevated. More than normal."
"How much more than normal?"
"By ninety percent."
Tony frowned. "But that's—"
"Impossible," Doctor Strange declared, his gaze fixed on one of the monitors. "The elevated activity abruptly stopped mere moments before the MRI concluded. I'll need to keep you under observation and perform additional tests."
"Tough luck." Tony shrugged and sauntered out of the room. He stepped into the tiny changing area, rummaging for his clothes. "Sometimes, even science has to throw its hands up and say, 'I don't know, man.' Yeah, I'm actually saying that."
Unbothered by the pairs of eyes on him, Tony started putting on his regular pants and removed his hospital-issued gown. Plenty of them marveled at the piece of tech stuck to his chest. But Doctor Strange didn't.
"Mr. Stark, the gravity of your situation can't be overstated. If this happens again, the outcome is uncertain—your survival is anything but guaranteed. A brain hemorrhage is a dire threat that can turn fatal at any moment."
Tony ignored the man and instead winked at the pretty doctor. He read her name again and passed a smile. It usually did the job. "If that happens, I'll come looking for Doctor Palmer. ER, right?"
"ER." Doctor Palmer responded with a smile, ogling at the shirtless billionaire.
That infuriated Doctor Strange. "Out! All of you!"
"Ugh, not her," Tony murmured but took the opportunity to wear his shirt.
Doctor Strange took long breaths to calm himself. It wasn't every day that he met men with an ego as big as his own, and narcissism on a different level.
"If you continue to ignore my medical advice, I can guarantee no other neurologist or neurosurgeon will examine your head."
"Haha!" Tony laughed at that, reaching out to Stephen's shoulder. "You can try, buddy."
Pat!
Oh, how much he felt like punching Tony. The cocky face and that arrogant smile made Stephen lose his calm. But he also knew that this man was the richest human in the world. Buying a hospital was like spending pocket money for him.
"Well, I'll come find you if that happens again." Tony finished wearing his shoes and walked out of the room.
Just outside, he found the other doctors. But he only walked over to Doctor Christine Palmer. Being a man of science and pure lust, how could he not appreciate when a beauty with a brain presented herself?
He took out his business card and waved it to her. "Just in case you want to get away from that snob and find a better job. I'm in dire need of a personal doctor these days. Think of it as an upgrade—less red tape, more red carpet."
Doctor Palmer chuckled and pocketed his business card. Even if she had no interest she would have. Having Tony Stark's number could never be a bad thing. "I'll remember that, Mr. Stark."
"Great." He winked and left, putting on his glasses.
In no time, he walked out of the hospital and stepped into his suit once again. After giving a few waves to the admirers, he jetted off into the sky.
In the sky, he talked with Jarvis. "Did you notice anything on the sensors?"
"Sir, your heart stopped for precisely three seconds," Jarvis reported calmly. "The machine didn't register this anomaly. However, the suit detected a significant distortion in space and gravity—brief, yet intensely pronounced."
Tony felt humbled yet again. Mutants, Hulk, aliens, and now this. What else was out there he had no clue about?
"It's like the closer I get to being elected, the more I discover the universe's twisted sense of humor."
For the first time in a long time. Tony flew in silence, without music, or much thought. He simply landed at Stark Tower and jumped right into his bed to take a small nap.
Too much had happened.
And he feared how much was yet to happen.
####
Somewhere off the coast of Greece.
On a small, uninhabited island, a meeting took place. In complete secrecy and silence, the two sides arrived discreetly and sat around a small table. There were three of them, however—one mediator and two friends turned enemies.
"Erik, for how long do you plan on living in hiding? Our future is in coexistence. Give me this one chance to prove that together, we can create something truly extraordinary." Charles tried to convince his old friend to give him a chance.
Erik's voice dripped with disdain as he kept his helmet firmly on his head. "How many times must we go over this, Charles? Will you ever grasp the truth? They will never accept us! This world will never be enough for their insatiable hunger. Nothing will ever be enough!"
"But we never had a chance like this," Raven chimed in. "Mr. Stark understands that we're all humans with slight differences. He will be the President, Erik."
"We've tread this path before, haven't we, Charles? What did it ever bring us but chaos and ruin?"
"Stark is not a career politician," Charles replied.
"So even you praise him now?"
"He deserves it, Erik."
Erik noticed the utter seriousness on both their faces. He sighed and looked around at the sea and the uninhabited island. "You place such unwavering faith in him?"
"I trust him," Raven declared.
Eric mused at that. It was rare for Raven to be so openly supportive of someone. "What if we fail again?"
"What's on your mind?" Charles asked bluntly.
"Should you falter once more, I want all your allegiance—without hesitation or doubt," Erik revealed the terms. "And I want to speak with Stark first."
Smooth breeze, the sound of the sea, and verbal silence. The three remained seated, unmoving, knowing such a decision couldn't be made too easily.
But Charles spoke soon enough. "Raven, please go and inform Mr. Stark of this meeting. He wanted to meet Erik, didn't he?"
______________________
Check out Tony X Darcy Lewis & Tony X Aunt May NSFW ART and advance chapters at P@treon.com/MrPlotThickens Or Subscribestar.adult/mrplotthickens.
NSFW Art Commission Open!!! DM on Discord: https://discord.gg/W5FdB6WXaP