Hi guys, this is my first one shot… I needed a break from my incredibly long multiple chapter fic I'm currently writing, and this happened. Knocked it up in a day so it might be a bit raw, but regardless hope you enjoy.

Buried alive

Tony scoured the tower block from the air as it creaked and groaned.

It was coming down. There was no avoiding it.

Hulk had just torn through one of the main structural supports and now the concrete was peeling away from the face of the building as the internal struts began to buckle. The remaining supports groaned under the weight they had not been designed to withstand.

The area was still under evacuation, people running through the streets, screams of terror ringing through the city. What was it with aliens and attacking New York?

Tony knew the answer of course. The aftermath of the tesseract was not to be underestimated. The walls between the worlds where still repairing, things kept slipping through and of course, the Avengers had announced their presence on a universal scale when they had defeated the Chitauri.

They were inviting the challenge. He knew that that brief period of unchallenged bliss after he'd revealed himself as Iron Man was not going to repeat itself with the avengers. Superheroes were old news now, not like back then. New was feared, normal wasn't.

"There may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge, challenge incites conflict, and conflict... breeds catastrophe."

When he was alone, he could almost hear the voices in dark corners plotting, trying to find a way to overthrow them. To make the Gods bleed.

But that wasn't his concern right now, he had to focus on the task in hand.

Tony watched his display intently as Jarvis scanned for signs of life. The upper floors were so far showing up clear. He descended, scanning the floors slowly, spiralling round the building, determined not to make a mistake, not to miss anyone or anything. He glimpsed a flash of red hair on the ground, urgently directing panicking civilians away from the structure. They had certainly improved their team work with regards to casualty minimisation since the incident. They'd had to. The media watched their every move like hawks and they were hardly short of critics.

There was no way to brace the building, it was completely unsalvageable. But, his calculations suggested that if he could knock out the support on the south-east corner first he could get the building to collapse in on itself and minimise damage to the surrounding area.

"Sir, it would appear the building is clear." The friendly British voice informed.

Tony nodded in silent acknowledgement.

"Ok, lets blow this sucker."

"Tony Wait! Some Kid has just run back inside. I'm going in!" Natasha crackled through the comms.

"No Romanov, stay where you are!" Tony yelled. The building wasn't going to last much longer. "Get everyone back!" As if on cue the building shuddered, glass exploding and raining down onto the street below. There were screams from below as people cowered, searching for cover from the falling knives.

"I've got the kid." Tony yelled, diving down, shards of glass bouncing off his armour as he approached the entrance. He landed in the lobby, skidding a little on the polished stone floor. Visibility was poor. As pieces of the ceiling flaked off and clattered to the ground a cloud of dust swept up, filing the space.

"Jarvis, where's the kid?"

"12 metres to your 2 o'clock." The display gave him a clear line to follow through the brown cloud, he started forwards cautiously as the ceiling above him rumbled.

"J, how long is this thing going to hold."

"I would estimate less than a minute with current wind conditions."

Tony moved faster, careful not to bump into anything as he moved. Tony grunted, thrown to his knees as a large piece of concrete fell from the ceiling above him. Shit. He hissed, head throbbing and got back to his feet.

"Hey there kiddo." Tony said, as he spotted the child. The kid was sensible at least, he was hiding under the reception desk, sheltering from the blast. It was a small boy, couldn't have been much older than 6. Tony smiled a little.

The child looked at him with wide fearful eyes. He was frozen to the spot. "What's your name kid?"

"Noah." The boy said softly, the building squealed above them again.

"Ok Noah, you going to come with me?"

"No."

"No?" Tony said in surprise. "You know who I am? What I do?"

"You're Iron man. You save people." Noah nodded enthusiastically

"Yes, that I do, and I'm trying to save you Noah. But you have to come with me, now. We don't have much time."

"I'm here to save someone too. I can't leave them behind."

"Who you trying to save Noah?" Tony was getting anxious now. They didn't have time for this, he didn't want to, but he was probably going to have to drag the kid out kicking and screaming.

"Chloe."

"Jarvis, any other signatures?"

"No more humans detected in the building."

"Noah, I think Chloe is already outside, my scan shows there's no more people in the building… Get down!" Tony yelled, putting himself between the child and the large chunk of ceiling that was plummeting towards them. Tony heard Noah scream as the rubble contacted with Tony's arm, repulsor firing to blast it out of harm's way.

He turned back to the child. But Noah was gone.

"Noah! Oh hell. Jarvis, where is he?" Tony growled. This was not going to end well, he could feel it.

"10 metres straight ahead."

"Noah what you are doing?" Tony approached the child who was holding onto a white box. Tightly stumbling over the rubble.

"I had to get Chloe." He opened the lid of the box and inside it was Chloe… A rather stunning tortoise shell cat with big green orbs for eyes. But that wasn't all. Smaller mews from inside the box confirmed the presence of 4 or 5 smaller bundles of terrified fur.

"Tony? Tony can you hear me!" Natasha's voice rang in his ear. He ignored her, he could talk to her when he got out.

"Ok, kid let's get out of here." Tony wrapped his arms round the child, who was gripping the box tightly but was stopped dead as the building started shaking.

"Sir, the structure in the South-East corner is about to fail." Time to move

"Tony, you've got to get out of there now!"

It was too late.

Tony shoved the child back towards the heavy wooden desk, crouching over him as 12 storeys came thundering down around him. Tony felt the concrete pound into his back as he locked the suits mechanics, acting as a human shield. The deafening roar and plumes of dust filled his senses. Pain shot through his body as he braced against the onslaught. Then everything went black.

…

"Tony? Tony, can you hear me?" Natasha gasped as the building started to crumble. "Tony you've got to get out of there now!" But it was too late. The building heaved and then gave in, dropping from the top down, thundering to the ground.

"Steve! We need an emergency rescue team down here right now!" Natasha yelled through comms.

"What's happening Romanov?"

"The building that just came down, Tony was inside."

"What!" Clint joined in, concern biting in his tone.

"He was trying to get a child out."

"Did the kid get out?"

"No, they are both still inside." Natasha nearly sobbed. She'd seen the building come down. They weren't coming out of that unharmed.

"Keep trying to raise him on Comms, we've nearly got this under control. A team is on its way."

…

When Tony came around all he felt was pain. The nerves in his temples were burning, his lungs full of dust. Everything was dark. His back was screaming.

He heard a faint coughing underneath him.

"Hey Noah, you ok?"

"It's dusty. I can't breathe very well." A little voice spluttered. Tony sighed with relief.

"Just hang in there little guy. Stay nice and still and the dust will settle."

As his senses began to sharpen he also realised there was several other voices, mewing desperately.

Well at least the cats were ok.

"J, you there buddy?" Tony coughed. His chest ached, each breath stabbed and he realised he was wheezing.

"Just about Sir."

"What's functioning?" Tony gasped. His eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness, the only light was the bluey glow from his own chest which was lighting the child's terrified face.

"Only the standard functions are operational. The distress beacon has been activated, but the suit mechanics will remain locked, you are currently acting as a structural support for this small air pocket."

So, if he moved, the whole thing would come down on their heads… again. Not good. Tony could already feel his muscles burning. The weight on his injured back was nearly unbearable.

"How's the kid."

"Elevated heart rate and a few minor abrasions. All 6 feline signatures are in a similar state."

"Ok, so we're ok." Tony panted.

He knew that wasn't really true. Glancing up at the screen he could see the damage report to himself. Contusions and Fractures… everywhere. He focused on the fractures. 5 cracked ribs, 2 broken, hairline fractures in both shoulder blades, small pelvic fracture and, more concerning, a small pneumothorax. Brilliant. A punctured lung in a low oxygen environment.

This was a mess. A horrible, hot and painful mess… not unlike the sort of mess he promised Pepper he'd stop getting into. He was in way over his head again, and it was all to save some kittens.

Hour 1

Ok. Time to assess the situation.

"Sir I would suggest that I administer an analgesic injection at this juncture."

"Go ahead." Tony choked. Anything to numb this pain. Now the adrenaline was wearing off Tony was beginning to feel everything. And it was far from pleasant.

"Iron man, sir, who are you talking to?" There was a large crack in Tony's helmet, he could feel the air coming in and tickling his sweat soaked hair. It also meant that the child could hear nearly all of what was being said.

"Just my buddy Jarvis. He's going to help us."

"When can I go home? I don't like it here."

"J, how long till rescue can get to us?"

"I would approximate 20 hours given the instability of the structure's remains. The main issue is oxygen level, I approximate only 13 hours of air in this pocket with current consumption levels and a further hour in the suit's emergency supply."

"Comms."

"Currently non-functional. You are buried too deep."

Shit.

"Mr. Iron Man I'm scared."

"Jarvis can we get this helmet off I'm cooking in here. And can we up the lights." On command the arc reactor grew brighter, lighting up the space around them. The reception desk they had dived under was providing them with quite a sizeable air pocket which the blue glow revealed. Everything looked stable at least, but there was no way out. They were well and truly stuck here.

They needed to start saving oxygen, and for that they needed to cool down and calm down, especially the child. Despite the pain Tony was controlling his breathing, Noah however was panting furiously.

The helmet clicked off and Tony breathed in relief as the slightly cooler air rushed over him. The little boy's eyes widened when he saw blood streaking down Tony's pale face.

"Hey Noah, I need you to take deep breaths for me. Everything is going to be ok. I promise."

"You're bleeding." Noah whined, tears pricking at his eyes.

"It's ok, just a scratch." Tony lied, with a smile.

"Does it hurt?"

"No, not really." Tony said, holding back the grimace from his face. "Who's looking after you, Mummy and Daddy?" Tony knew oxygen was low, but if he could get the child relaxed it would help massively in the long run.

"Mummy and Daddy are on holiday; my Nana is looking after me today."

"Ok, where did they go on holiday?"

"They went to Paris."

Tony smiled. He could guess what they were doing right now. That made his Pepper flash in his mind. Hell, she was going to be mad. "Well that sucks that they left you behind. Should have taken you to Disney Land." Tony certainly wished they had. Then he wouldn't be in this mess. "How old are you Noah?" Tony choked down a grunt.

"5 and half."

"Wow, well, you're being very brave Noah. We're going to be here a little while, so maybe we should have a little nap while the nice people dig us out, ok?"

Noah nodded. The child clearly didn't want to sleep, but Tony supposed that as the authoritative benefit of being a superhero. Noah did was he was told and closed his eyes. The cats had gone silent in their box. But Tony knew he couldn't let his own eyes close. He might not wake up

Hour 2

It had taken a long time for Noah to fall asleep for real and now Tony was doing everything he could not to wake him. He was really, really glad of the pain relief at this point. His whole body was numb, but he still felt uncomfortable. What he wouldn't have given to move right now… his neck was stiff and he knew when the meds wore off he it would ache like hell. Then he remembered that when the meds wore off neck pain would be the least of his problems. He was losing blood, not a lot, but if the wound didn't seal in a few hours he was going to have problems. A piece of armour in his back had twisted and broken in the bombardment, slicing into his side.

He hadn't been this bashed up in a long time, if ever. It wasn't life threatening… not at this point. He wouldn't have been worried if help was close by and yes, distance wise, it was less than 20 feet away, time wise he really didn't fancy spending another 18 hours in this sweat box.

In all honestly, he was already starting to wonder how he was going to get out of this one alive.

Hour 4

Why did this have to happen in the middle of summer? With their combined body temperatures and the confined space, the temperature was 90 degrees and rising. Noah was sweating a little and stirring now. Tony, however had sweat pouring down his face. His hair was drenched, the salt and dust stung his eyes as sweat trickled down his forehead and dripped from his nose.

Now he had dehydration to worry about. Trapped in his metal suit with the climate control completely non-functional, he felt like he was back in the dessert, traipsing across sand and praying for rescue. He snapped his mind back as he felt his heart rate rising, pumping hard in his chest. God, he hated being trapped. But he had to stay calm. With every second he could feel the weight on his back grow heavier and heavier. The oxygen was gone. All of it. How had this happened? He couldn't breathe. He looked at Noah. The kid seemed to be fine? Why wasn't he?

Calm down! He willed himself. If he kept breathing like this he'd use up all the air, he may also turn that slow puncture in his lung into a tension pneumothorax. Then he would collapse his lung and… Ok, worse case scenarios were not helping.

God, he wanted out of here, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn't move, even if he wanted to. He couldn't blast his way out. He was stuck. Was he going to die here?

It would be fine. He told himself. He'd had worse. He just had to stay still conserve oxygen and try and forget about the pain that was slowly but surely returning.

"Iron man…" Noah asked uncertainly as Tony ground his teeth together and squeezed his eyes tight shut.

"Tony… Call me Tony." Stark tried to muster a neutral tone, he wasn't sure he was succeeding.

"Tony." Noah nodded. "Are you ok?"

"Yes Noah, fine." Noah wasn't convinced. He knew adults didn't always tell the truth.

"Do you want to stroke Chloe?" Noah asked quietly.

"Huh?" Tony asked. Chloe, who the hell was Chloe? The kid better not be on about an imaginary friend, he was already struggling to figure out what was real.

"Mummy says when things are bad stroking a cat makes you feel better?" Noah opened the box and the mother cat crawled out into the small space. Oh yeah, Chloe the cat… the reason he was in this mess in the first place.

The kittens mewed sweetly, curious looks on their faces. They looked wary for a moment, torn between staying in the safety of the box or following their mother and exploring the space around them. Their inquisitive natures soon got the better of them. The largest, most confident crawled out first and soon it's siblings followed.

Tony felt himself grow calmer, fascinated by the sets of large green eyes looking at him from intelligent and delicate faces. One put its front paws on his arm, standing in its back legs and sniffing close to his face. Tony giggled as a rough tongue ticked his nose, the tension leaving him in a wave. The kitten jumped and backed away unsure at the sound. A few minutes later it decided he wasn't dangerous and it curled up on the armour's glove, settling down to sleep on the warm metal.

Huh. Panic attack averted. Maybe the cats weren't so bad after all.

Hour 5

Noah started moving around a little. Tony was amazed by the little boy. The kid was probably scared, bored, hungry and thirsty, but he hadn't complained one bit. He actually seemed quite content, carefully stroking the kittens and making sure they didn't wander too far, or try to push further into the rubble.

"Hey Noah, could you put that helmet back on for me. I need to speak to my Buddy again?"

"Is he outside trying to get us out?"

"No actually he's a computer I made." Tony said. "Give it a real good shove, it's a tight fit."

Noah pushed as hard as he could and the helmet slipped back on. "You made a computer that talks to you?" Noah said in awe. "You must be really clever."

"Well I like building things. What do you want to do when you grow up?"

"I don't know. I'm too little to decide that."

"Your parents tell you that?" Tony said amused.

"No, my parents always ask me what I want to be. My friend Daniel wants to be a fireman. But last week he wanted to be an astronaut and the week before a Train driver. I don't want to think about grown up jobs. I just want to play."

"You're a wise kid Noah. Believe me, being a grown-up ain't much fun." Tony said, impressed.

"Do you have fun, being Iron Man?"

"Most of the time."

"Not now, though?"

"Yeah, this isn't much fun, is it?" Noah shook his head in response. "But it can be fun." Tony smiled. "I have a lot of fun, even when I'm not being Iron Man and do you want to know the secret?"

"Yes please." Noah grinned.

"I never grew up. Grown-ups forget to have fun. You may not be able to stop getting older, but you don't have to grow up."

"I'm not sure I understand." Noah said, after pondering it for a few moments.

"You will when you get a bit older." Tony smiled behind the face plate.

"Your voice sounds funny when you have the helmet on."

Tony smiled, but didn't reply. The kid seemed to be coping fine. Tony however, wasn't. Whatever pain relief Jarvis had given him, had more than worn off. The pain was constantly bordering on completely intolerable. He'd have yelled it out if he were alone, but he didn't want to freak out the kid and they didn't have the air for that either. He could see from the readouts that the oxygen level prognosis had improved a little, they'd gained an extra hour of breathing time; a privilege arising from a combination of being calmer and some air that was leaking in from a neighbouring air pocket.

Rescue was moving as scheduled, but it was still a few hours too far away. They were going to suffocate before then.

Hour 6

Noah was looking so good anymore and Tony was worried. His own pain was crippling him. He would have collapsed if he wasn't being held in position. He was glad he had the helmet on now. It meant he could pant and grimace without worrying Noah.

But the little boy was looking very pale and sitting very quietly.

"Noah, you feeling ok?"

"My tummy hurts. I'm hungry and thirsty. I think the cats are thirsty too."

Tony had to admit he was absolutely gasping for water. Jarvis had him at 12% dehydration. He was incredibly surprised it wasn't worse with how much he had been sweating. The temperature was up to 95, but he'd kind of got used to it. As Noah spoke Jarvis started scanning the child.

"I have some water in the suit Noah, but not a lot."

"Sir I would recommend waiting an hour before the child consumes any water." The scan showed Noah was a little more dehydrated than Tony, but wasn't at dangerous levels yet, water was a precious commodity. He had to save it.

"Can you wait a little while? We have to make it last as long as possible."

Noah nodded, a little disappointed, but he didn't make a fuss.

"The kittens got names, yet?" Tony asked in a desperate attempt to wipe the disappointed look off little Noah's face.

"No. Mummy says the new owners will name them when they buy them."

"Well, I don't think Mummy will mind if we name them while we're down here."

"Really?" Noah's little face lit up. His big blue eyes twinkling in excitement and Tony suddenly felt a whole lot better.

"Sure, that one can be Tony Jr. since he loves me so much." Tony said, nodding to the one that had licked his face earlier and then fallen asleep on his gauntlet. It had since wriggled back to its mother's side, but he had to admit he had soft spot for the larger, darker kitten.

Hour 9

Tony realised he didn't notice the pain any more. He'd just accepted it. He couldn't escape it. His head was getting fuzzy now. He'd hit 16% dehydration. Now he was in trouble.

He'd had a sip of water from his suits internal storage half an hour ago, but he'd given most of it to Noah and the Cats. The child was fine now, and would be for a good few hours yet. Hopefully until rescue came. Tony had less than 200ml left and he was fading fast. He was still drenched from head to foot, but he had stopped sweating some time ago and that was very bad news.

"Tony, how much longer are they going to be?" Noah asked curiously.

Tony was amazed it had taken the kid this long to ask. This situation was terrible. Most kids threw a tantrum being stuck in a car for half an hour, but Noah, he just amused himself and well, got on with it. He was sure going to set that kid up with enough money for life when he got out of here.

"I'm not sure Buddy. There are coming as fast as they can but it's still going to be while."

"Ok."

Tony felt his head growing heavy. His eyelids threatening to close. He knew if he let himself drift away he'd probably get stuck there. There was a crackle of sound which jerked him awake.

"T..T.."

"Jarvis? What's going on."

"Communications link from the surface. They have cleared enough rubble to re-establish a connection."

"Tony." Natasha's voice was breaking through. Tony sighed in relief.

"Hey Tash, what you still doing here?"

"Digging your ass out, of course."

"How's things up there?"

"All sorted. You should be worrying about yourself."

"Don't worry I've been doing plenty of that for the past nine hours."

"We reckon we'll be with you in 4 or 5 hours. Can you hold on?"

5 hours, that was much better than expected. "We've not really got a choice, have we?"

"We? I'm assuming you mean the kid?"

"Yep, me and my buddy Noah are fine, as are Chloe, Tony Jr., Alfie, Daisy, Mia and… Kid help me out my memory's shot."

"Lucy" Noah reminded him.

"Yeah, and Lucy."

"Tony what are you talking about?"

"Cats."

"Are you delirious?"

"Yes but... No, there really are cat's down here. The kid went back in to save his cat Chloe, and it has kittens."

"You named a kitten after yourself?" Tasha said scolding, but she was really smiling.

"Tash?

"Yeah Tony."

"I know you guys will be doing your best, but you're going to have to get here a little quicker."

"What's wrong?"

"We've got no water… and we're running out of air."

….

"Mrs. Cassidy?" Natasha approached an old woman who was crouched down on the side walk. She was wrapped in blanket one of the emergency personnel had given her. SHIELD agents were keeping back civilians and the predatory reporters who had learned there was an avenger down.

"Yes." The woman looked up tiredly, tear marks staining her wrinkled cheeks.

"It's your Grandson Noah…"

"No, please, No!" She sobbed, cutting off Natasha mid-sentence.

"No, No, No, No… Mrs. Cassidy. Noah is fine. I just heard his voice, Mr. Stark is looking after him and the cats are all ok as well."

"He's Ok, he's really OK!" She stood up very quickly and Natasha had to hold her arm to steady her. "And the cats, praise the lord. Thank you, thank you so much. Can I talk to him?"

"They are running a little low on oxygen. We should get to them in time, but we are trying to have them talk as little as possible. It is still going to take a few hours to get to them, but we will keep you updated."

Hour 11

Noah had gone back to sleep. Tony was glad. The cats had got back into their box and snuggled up as well. He supposed of all the animals to get stuck with cats where the best. They slept for like 12 hours a day right?

"Tony how you doing?"

"Hey Brucie." Tony wheezed. His lungs had been screaming at him for a good 3 hours, but now he was really starting to get concerned. He was trying not to breathe deeply to avoid the pain. But that meant he was always short of oxygen. Now his muscles were starting to spasm with the dehydration, which only added to the issues.

"Jarvis sent me an injury report. We have the med team here ready. We're just a couple of hours away." Tony nodded inside the helmet, too exhausted to answer. "Tony?" The voice came concerned when there was no answer.

"Still here." He wheezed.

"We should be able to get water to you in an hour. We'll check in every 20 minutes. You better answer."

"Do my best."

Hour 12

Tony couldn't hold on much longer. He knew they had nearly drilled down to them so they could get water and supplies, but Tony didn't think he was going to make it. He wanted to throw up, the pain was searing through his every fibre. His vision was just a haze now, nothing was sharp or distinct. He was burning inside and out, red alarms flashing all over the display of his vitals.

"Tony what are those noises?" Noah was awake and above them was the sound of shifting rubble and the whir of a drill. It was very disconcerting and every now and again some of the rubble around them started to shift, blowing up dust into the small space.

"Are those the people who are coming to rescue us?" The child sounded very breathy, the oxygen was getting low.

Tony nodded in response.

Now rescue was most definitely on its way, it was the time to use the suits emergency supply. As the extra oxygen leached into space, Noah started to look better. Tony however, didn't notice the change. He was too far gone and he so desperately wanted to close his eyes and sleep.

"Noah, if I stop talking don't worry." Tony panted. "I just might have to go to sleep for a while. You might not be able to wake me up, but try ok?"

"Ok." Noah looked worried, but nodded and kept his best brave face on. "What should I do if you can't wake up."

"When you hear someone talking from my helmet, just try and answer any questions you have as best you can."

Hour 13

"Get the water down there!" An emergency worker stood at the top of the small hole they'd drilled watching as the winch slowly started to lower the supplies.

"Steve." Bruce smiled weakly as the super solider ran up to him.

"Bruce. How's things going?"

"They've just got air and supplies…" Bruce started optimistically.

"But?" Steve asked in dread.

"Tony's 22% dehydrated. That's deadly levels Steve and Noah hasn't been able to wake him up for nearly an hour."

"How long until we can get him out?"

"Another few hours. He's holding up the air pocket they are having to dig carefully or they could be crushed… He's not going to last that long Steve."

"Then were just going to have to do better."

Steve patted Bruce firmly on the back. Natasha had been sent back to Stark tower. After standing above the rubble for 9 hours she was exhausted. Clint was desperate to come, but he'd been a bit knocked up in the fight. He needed the rest. Captains orders.

"Bruce, how old is the kid again?"

"He's 5 or 6 I think… why?"

"That hole they made for the supplies, isn't that big enough to get a child out?"

"I suppose it is." Bruce tilted his head. "Noah? Can you hear me."

"Yes Bruce."

"Did you get the things we sent."

"Yes, thank you, feel much better now and the cats were very thirsty."

"Good." Bruce smiled. "Is Tony still asleep? Can you give him any water?"

"No, he won't wake up. I'm sorry."

"It's Ok Noah. We think we might be able to get you out of the hole we just made. Do you think you will fit?"

"Yes, there's plenty of room."

"Good Ok, we're to send something down and all you need to do is sit on it and hold on tight ok?"

"Can I bring the cats?"

"Yes, if they will fit."

"What about Tony?"

"Tony's a bit bigger you than you, so he can't come just yet. We'll get him out though I promise." Bruce bit down at the last words. He promised the kid. He promised himself. They were getting Tony out of there.

Hour 14

"How's the kid." Steve asked the worried Bruce.

"Kid's fine. Back with his Nan on the way to hospital." Bruce smiled weakly.

There was silence for a while.

"I met Tony Jr. Definitely earns the name." Bruce chuckled, trying to find some light in the situation.

"Tony Jr.?"

"The kitten. Tony named it."

"Oh. Typical." Steve chuckled. "I thought Tony hated cats?"

"12 hours trapped with them probably changed his mind."

"We've nearly got him Bruce." Steve consoled the desperate scientist. This was nightmare situation for all of them.

"We've broken through." The rescue coordinator ran over to them. "The extraction crew are going in. We should have him in the hospital within the hour."

40 minutes later the street burst into action. Tattered red and gold armour was dragged into view. Medics swarmed. Bruce ran forward.

"Do you know how to get this off him?" One young woman asked, trying to find the armour release.

"Yes." Bruce rushed to his friend's side, and started stripping the armour. Tony's shirt was cut open. There was blood. He was deathly pale, his hair damp with sweat and salt lines marked his forehead. An oxygen mask was pressed to his blue lips. His chest was barely moving. Was he even breathing?

An IV went in as soon as there was bare skin and he was soon fixed to a spinal board and whisked away.

Bruce's heart was running at a thousand miles an hour, but his brain refused to process. One minute he was stripping armour from Tony's frail form, the next his friend was gone, all that was left was a crumpled pile of titanium and the sound of an engine dulling into the distance. He felt a strong hand on his shoulder, helping him to his feet.

His legs were shaking under him, but he wasn't allowed to fall.

"He's going to be fine Bruce. He's in good hands." Steve's warm voice helped the world come back into focus.

"We've got an ambulance to chase."

Hour 40

The darkness was slowly replaced by a flurry of bright lights. He felt numb, still swimming a little as he strained to open his eyes. Morphine, he guessed, as the events of the day started to reform in his mind. That stuff was chuffing brilliant.

"Tony?" A concerned voice broke through the silence.

As his vision came into focus and the pain began to seep into him, he saw five worried faces staring down at him. Bruce, Steve, Natasha, Clint and Pepper. They were all pale and tired, lines of worry drawn on their faces.

"Next time you save the kid Tash." Tony groaned, letting his eyes close again.

"Agreed." Natasha said, lightly.

"Now you know I'm fine go get some rest. Y'all smell."

That got a laugh from the room and it was certainly true. None of them had washed in over 40 hours.

Day 9.

"You should be resting." Pepper scolded as she caught Tony hobbling through to the kitchen. "Let me get that. Go rest your back." She ordered but Tony wasn't listening.

"Sitting for so long makes it worse. I need to keep moving."

"Tony, you have more broken bones than you have healthy. Please take it easy."

"That's far from accurate Pepper."

"Whatever." She huffed, carrying the snacks he'd selected back to the couch. He could barely manage anything with one arm completely out of action and he walked like a cripple, trying to mask the pain from his back.

"Take the pain killers." She ordered, holding out a glass of water and fluffing up the mountain of pillows he was lying on.

"Pepp I'm fine."

"Take them."

Tony nodded. He knew it was sensible and he knew it made Pepper feel better.

"Where's Junior?" Tony asked.

"Last I saw he was playing with one of Clint's socks."

There was a faint mew and the quiet padding of tiny paws on the thick carpet.

"Hey Junior, come sit with Daddy!" Tony patted his knee as Pepper draped the blanket back over him. The kitten obliged and carefully found its way onto Tony's knee, rubbing his head lovingly against Tony's hand before settling in a ball in his lap.

Pepper couldn't help but giggle at the sight. It was the most adorable thing she'd even seen.

"What are you laughing at?"

"You." She smiled, kissing him softly on the forehead. "I never thought you'd be a cat person."

…

I hope you enjoyed that! I really enjoyed writing it. Something completely different to what I have been writing. So please let me know what you think...

How did you find the hour by hour thing? Thought I'd try something different.

One line makes a writer's day, so see you in that review box.