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When he entered his lab, Tony was greeted by Peter crafting something with Connor.
It's been a year now that the android got his new body, and lived in the tower. He spent most of his time with Tony, or Jarvis. Of course, the two AIs were friends. Tony didn't even know why he was surprised.
Today, his two boys decided to build… Something. It had too many arms, and it was squirming around the lab. The mechanician rubbed his eyes.
"Peter, I left for half an hour."
"Mr. Stark ! You saw what I did with Con ?"
The android smiled silently as Peter presented the arm tangle robot to Tony. The two kids got along surprisingly well, considering the android's wariness toward strangers. But he was getting better.
When he first arrived in the tower, Connor wouldn't leave the lab. The only human he trusted was Tony, and even that wasn't always true. He zoned out, for hours sometimes, and flinched away when the mechanician tried to talk to him.
To see him now, crafting horrors with Peter, interacting with some of the other Avengers, and seeing his LED have another colour than constant red… Tony could almost say he was proud of the kid.
The mechanician grabbed the poor robot from Peter's hands and put it on the table. "What were you trying to do with that ?"
They spent the rest of the afternoon working on the centipede —"a centibot !" Peter suggested. The thing will haunt the tower's vent system, Tony was sure of that.
When Peter left at the end of the day, and the inventor went to work on gadgets for the others, Connor sat next to him and watched him work silently. The android liked to wear a formal suit, he didn't really know why. He never found a jacket that pleased him, but he had everything else.
"… Tony ?"
"What, kid ?"
"Maybe I could come with you during your next mission."
Tony stared at the android. They had a similar discussion a few months ago, and his position was clear : Connor would not come with them. Peter was already playing Spiderman, he would not have the other boy on the battlefield too. Plus, Connor couldn't heal normally like the rest of them, the nanites in his blue blood needed electricity to work and repair.
"Why do you want to come, kid ? It's just throwing punches at aliens or Hydra."
"Why don't you want me to come ?"
"It's dangerous. You could get killed."
"Jarvis ? How many times did Mr. Stark act impulsively and against all logic while fighting ?"
"Jarvis don't you dare ! It doesn't matter !"
Tony opened his eyes slowly. His whole body protested at every breath he took, Jarvis was offline, and his suit unresponsive. Great.
Two weeks after Connor managed to negotiate his way into missions, a few portals opened in New York. And, as Tony was evacuating citizens, a tower collapsed on him.
With his suit not working, he was trapped in it until someone else pried it open. His right leg was numb, probably crushed under concrete, but he could wriggle his other toes and fingers. He was mostly fine. In complete darkness, with no way of contacting others, but alive. And they'll look for him soon. Surely. Probably.
His side was warmer than the rest of his body, and wet. Maybe he injured himself in the fall. He was a bit cold, but it couldn't be that bad, right ? Probably just a piece of his suit digging in his skin and drawing a bit of blood.
His ventilation systems were working, barely. The air in the armour was getting very warm, and dust will soon block the ventilators. He'll last maybe a few hours with the oxygen reserves, surely less, and if he kept sweating like that the dehydration will get him too.
Installing the safety of "if the armour has no power supply it should lock the joints" was a stupid idea. It was to save the battery for the ventilators and visor, that's why he made it, but right now it was useless.
He couldn't die here, buried under a collapsed building. It couldn't end here. The air he was breathing was burning hot, but he felt so cold. Maybe if he could rest his eyes a little bit…
"Tony !"
He jerked awake —he didn't remember falling asleep— at Connor's concerned voice. Connor ?
If he squinted his eyes, through the dust and grime on his visor, he could see light. The android must've found a way to dig to him. He could breathe a bit easier, maybe the new air arriving.
"Tony, say something…"
"… Connor…"
The android pushed the rocks aside and reached for Tony. All he could manage to do was brush his fingers against his chest plate. If Tony could see his LED, he was sure it'd be bright red. That wasn't right. The kid should never be worried like that again, Tony promised himself. He shouldn't be the reason his LED was red again.
"Everything will be okay. The others are coming."
"I can't move… I tried…" Tony coughed, a wet and hacking sound. Maybe he was more injured than he thought. He could taste blood on his tongue.
Connor forced the rubble away and managed to slip in the air pocket. He forcefully opened the armour and cradled a barely conscious Tony in his arms. The man closed his eyes and rested his head on the android's shoulder. He was so cold…
"It'll be okay."