Tony Stark sat at his desk fiddling with his physics textbook. He had so much homework to do and he barely put a dent in it. It was a little difficult to focus on homework when his head was pounding like crazy. Rubbing his temples, Tony got up and decided to go down to his lab. Stretching, Tony left his room, swaying a bit as he did. 'What the heck is wrong with me?' Tony asked himself as he steadied himself by leaning against the door frame of his lab, 'I gotta call Rhodey…'

James Rhodes A.K.A Rhodey/War Machine was on his way home from going to the grocery store when his phone went off. Thinking it was his mom, Rhodey answered right away.

"Hey mom, what's up?"

"Hey Rhodey, can you pick me up some aspirin? My head won't stop pounding." Tony asked in a strained voice.

"Yeah man, no problem. Where are you now?" Rhodey asked, concern laced in his question.

"I'm sitting on the floor in front of my armor in the lab. In all honesty Rhodey, I can't get up. If I do, I think my head will fall off."

"I will be there as soon as possible, don't go and be hero while I'm getting your medicine, okay? The last thing we need is you overdoing it and collapsing."

"Yes, mom." Tony said not bothering to mask his sarcasm. (XD)

Hanging up his phone, Rhodey made one last stop to the pharmacy to pick up the aspirin for Tony when his crime alert went off. 'Damn…' Hopefully, Pepper is at the lab with Tony keeping him from doing anything stupid.

Tony sat with his back to his armor leaning his head back trying to make the pain a little more bearable. Everything was great until that damn alarm went off. 'Damn it… Can't I have a day off?' Tony thought to himself as he suited up. With Pepper being on vacation and the War Machine armor offline for updates, Tony was the only one available. 'Just don't pass out.' Tony thought as he flew to the scene of the crime.

When Tony arrived to the bank, he noticed two things. One it took everything he had to stand, and Two it hurt to breathe. Not letting it stop him, Tony went into the bank where Count Nefaria's men were too busy loading the money into bags to notice the very agitated Iron Man. Deciding to use the sonic disruptors in his armor, Tony happily took out the idiotic excuses for robbers. Right as he was turning around to leave, a bomb went off sending Tony through a very sturdy brick wall into a dumpster. Groaning, Tony got up and went back into the bank to make sure no one was injured and to find the source of the bomb. When he came up empty handed for the bombing, Tony checked the injured and helped escort the innocents from the bank, then and only then did Tony finally decide to go on home. It was a very uncomfortable trip home. His chest had tightened more and his head was pounding so bad that he thought he was going to be sick. Sighing, Tony kept on going. He was too exhausted to quit now. He had to get home and into bed. He finally reached his lab and got out of the armor but that was all he did.

As soon as he stepped out of the armor, Tony fell to his knees holding his chest. He couldn't take a breath. Gasping, Tony pulled out his phone and called Rhodey.

"Tony, are you alright? I saw you fly over."

"…Rhodey… Help…" That was all Tony could get out between gasps.

"Tony? Are you alright, man?" Rhodey asked fully alert and freaked out now.

"C-can't… catch… breath… Hurts… Help…" Tony tried to explain. But before he could say anymore the pain from his chest became too much for him and he fell into unconsciousness.

"C-can't… catch… breath… Hurts… Help…" That was the last thing Tony said before it got quiet on the other end.

Hanging up his phone, Rhodey took off at a full run. He had been close to home when Tony had called him. Running directly into the lab, Rhodey saw Tony sprawled out on the floor right in front of his armor unconscious. Freaking out completely, Rhodey ran over and rolled Tony over onto his back. Rhodey noticed that his best friend was gasping for breath and felt like he had a fever. 'Damn it… I told him not to overdo it.' Rhodey thought as he picked up his unconscious friend bridal style and took him out of the lab into his house.

Deciding it would be best to call an ambulance; Rhodey laid Tony on the couch and checked him over for any other injuries while on the phone with 911. The ambulance showed up and Rhodey led the paramedics to where Tony laid. As soon as the paramedics saw him they kicked it into high gear. They pulled out IV lines, attaching one to Tony's arm, cut open Tony's shirt and attached leads to monitor his heart rate, and slipped an oxygen mask over Tony's face before gently and steadily picking him up and placing him on the stretcher.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Rhodey asked as the paramedics quickly rushed Tony out to the ambulance.

"He is currently in what we call respiratory distress. If we don't get him to the hospital now he might not make it." The paramedic who had put the oxygen mask on Tony answered.

"Can I ride to the hospital with him? I'm his best friend." Rhodey asked keeping his voice from cracking.

"Yeah, hop in the back." The paramedic said as she and her partner loaded a very pale, unconscious Tony into the ambulance.

The ride to the hospital was frightening. Rhodey never took his eyes off his best friend. 'How could he have gotten so sick?' Rhodey asked himself while looking down at Tony's frail form.

"It must have been festering for a while," the paramedic told Rhodey, silently answering his question, "From everything you have told me and my partner about this boy, he seems to be healthy, active young man. Whatever is wrong with him must have been inside him for a while."

"Yeah, Tony hardly ever gets sick and even when he does he is only down for a day at most. I just don't understand what happened. He said he had a headache and from what I picked up when he called before he passed out I think he was trying to tell me that it hurt to breath."

"Has he shown any signs of having a cold?"

"No, like I said Tony hardly ever gets sick. It's like a super-cool power he has."

Just as Rhodey was going to ask more questions, Tony started to move. He was trying to pull the oxygen mask from his face when the paramedic grabbed his hand and held it, "Oh no you don't," she said as if she was talking to a little child, "That is the only thing helping you breathe. You take that off and you will struggle for breath again. Do you want that?"

This had brought Tony to a standstill. Opening his eyes, Tony saw a blurred outline of a paramedic by his side. Freaking out, Tony frantically started to try and get loose. The only thing that frightened him more than going to the hospital was being in the back of the ambulance by himself. Needing to get loose, Tony started pulling at the leads connected to him and tried pulling the mask off his face once again. He was almost able to reach the leads on his chest when another hand grabbed his other wrist. Thinking it was another paramedic, Tony tried to pull his hand away only to hear, "Whoa man, take it easy. It's alright. Calm down."

"…R-rhodey…" Tony gasped out while looking at a blurred version of his best friend.

"Yeah man, I know how you freak when going to the hospital so I made sure to tag along." Rhodey explained trying to calm Tony down as much as he could.

"So that's why you wanted to come," The paramedic said giving Rhodey a knowing look.