revivalproject | affliction

WHO: Tony, Billy, and anyone that wants to deal with the fallout from the first bug bites
WHERE: L'hopital
WHAT: Come visit Tony as he recovers and try to figure out what's going on with this infestation!
WHEN: Backdate a bit. Shortly after the rage incident with the Young Avengers (Tommy's included? Unsure.)
WARNINGS: Everyone got a little hurt, some injuries might be gross? Depends on if anyone is here to do actual hospital stuff.

The recovery was definitely going much faster than it would have without Extremis' accelerated healing, but that didn't make Tony any more patient with it. They had worked fast, he had only been out for a few minutes, he knew that much-- he had been completely brain dead for half an hour the last time he had a very similar heart attack, and Nick Fury couldn't keep him lying around in bed for more than a day. He could at least get some sleep that time, though. The shock hadn't burst straight through his chest, leaving him feeling mummified under the dressing that only irritated the raw depression over his heart and the lightning burst that shredded across his back, impossible still to put any weight on. And he had been revived by a team of very professional EMTs, not one frenetic teenager stabbing him with a needle that left his whole chest cavity feeling bruised and swollen and impossible to breath in any other position. If he deigned to stay in bed, he was sitting up, cross-legged, bent over the D.A.T.A. sphere recovered from where he had abandoned it in the diner, excruciatingly trying to coax Extremis from focusing on the physical to let him do some programming, at least, barely mustering a small, golden nanoweb over his fingertips to create a contact point with the sphere.

More likely, though, he was draped in a sweater that made him stiff and uncomfortable, too aware of every stitch of yarn in it, but not feel quite as vulnerable as he lurked around the front desk or break room behind it to try to fill in the gaps of his still unreliable short term memory. He still didn't exactly understand why he was here, what could have possibly gone so wrong after several months of solidly risky behaviour in an alien environment on a morning that, Tony was pretty sure, he only had plans to behave himself with a cup of coffee for once. And he was still owed that cup; he definitely didn't remember enjoying it.

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Tommy being angry could very well have been his normal reaction to fighting with Billy, but that didn't explain what problem he could have possibly had with Cal to do this kind of damage. The kid had a gentle nature, he would have had to stumble into the exact wrong thing to find himself on someone's wrong side, surely. Tony joined him with BD on the other side with his own sigh of relief from the effort of helping him over, leaning back as he leaned forward to try to see what damage was done to his back that had made him wince like that. This may or may not have been the best time for Billy to appear-- he definitely knew better than anyone what to do with Cal's information, but he could have been eased into the news about his brother a little better.

"He's an incredibly pushy nurse, best to just do what he says," Tony advised under his breath, gaze flicking over to Billy to dare him to accuse Tony of not following his own advice if he wanted Cal to cooperate.

Billy's presence wasn't noted until he was there in the room and speaking. Cal raised his head again, taking a moment to match a name to the face. He'd seen Billy before, just hadn't had the chance to talk to him. He'd felt the concern, the tangle of feelings, but he wasn't sure what the story was behind them.

He felt a little bad having to admit what he did as he slowly shook his head. "Sorry, I don't. I lost track of him as soon as I set him down," the padawan admitted. He glanced between Billy and Tony at the latter's comment, brow arching.

Billy's brow creased with worry, especially hearing Cal talk about setting him down, knowing how much his brother hated being airborne. He took a steadying breath to keep focused, and tried to offer a reassuring smile.

"...I'll go look for him once I get you patched up," he said to help explain Tony's teasing. "It's nurse now, really?" he added.

Tony pursed his lips at Billy, not about to retract the statement unless he could earn doctor in this case by taking care of Cal properly, and tugged at the back of Cal's shirt to place a cool hand to his overheated skin under his collar, testing gingerly for any more bruises there. "Do you think that's a good idea?" he challenged Billy, all he would say on the subject if Billy could follow the logic and acknowledge the last time they came to blows because of this bug, it hadn't ended well. That Cal didn't seem to know Billy was taking on a job at the hospital was something of a surprise, and Tony realized he had only been assuming they must have known each other, making him direct the question to BD-1, "Has he not been making friends his own age? No wonder he's acting out," like they were at a parent-teacher conference.

"It was the only thing I could do to keep him from hurting me and me from having to fight him directly," Cal explained as he saw that look. He was being generous. Tommy hadn't been holding back, and it was only because he was so rage-driven that his attacks weren't completely calculated. He'd sensed it from Tommy at the time, surprised and uneasy at being levitated. Not that Cal knew if anything else he could do would have been very effective.

He nodded as Tony questioned Billy. "...I don't know that it's a good idea to go looking for him alone." If at all, definitely not alone.

Tommy's barrage of punches hadn't had any particular aim, but the unfortunate thing was that they all hit, and all Cal could do for a time was cover his face and head as well as he could to avoid too much damage. His arms and front had taken the brunt of the blows, not that bruises were anything new, but he may as well have fallen from a rigging job and bounced off every metal strut on the way down.

BD-1 turned towards Tony, beeping with a tilt of his head. Wasn't making friends at all good enough?

"..." Maybe it wasn't a good idea, but there were only so many people here who could hope to keep Tommy still long enough to remove the parasite, and Billy was one of them.

"All right, um, first thing can you wiggle your fingers and toes? Anything feel broken, or not quite right?" he asked, seeing as Cal's general area of damage seemed to be...everywhere.

He held up a finger, alight with a blue glow. "Keep your head still, follow the light," he instructed.

That was a surprisingly methodical examination from Billy, making Tony finally stop his own worried patting and lean back on his hands, mouth twisting in thoughtful doubt at BD's question. "You wouldn't say that if all of my friends were teenagers," he pointed out. At least the droid seemed to be in good repair, if a little spooked, but that did leave one element of this fight unknown. Carefully, eye on Billy, Tony asked, "What state did you leave him in?" Cal might have been playing defensively, but that didn't mean Tommy was going to be entirely unscathed when he was found, making Tony's fingers tap anxiously on the bed. But if Cal could confirm he was freaked but otherwise intact, maybe Billy would be convinced not to rush into the problem before Tony could figure it out.

There was a problem with teenage friends? BD-1 clearly did not understand as borbled as much.

Cal at least was a cooperative patient. He flexed his fingers, replied that there was nothing he felt that was off aside from just being tender in places, especially his arms. His eyes followed Billy's light without problem.

"Unharmed," Cal said, eyes still on the light as he responded to Tony. "I only slowed him or pushed him back, but I didn't drop him when I had lifted him up. He backed up pretty quick when BeeDee threatened to shock him." The padawan fingered his neck at the memory of Tommy's tight grasp there before BD-1 had made him release Cal.

Billy watched Cal closely as he preformed his examination, and once he's satisfied with how his eyes react he moves on, resting a few fingers under Cal's jaw with light pressure.

"Can you try to open your mouth for me?" he asked, features twisting with guilt at the mention of the threat of shocking, gaze skirting away, knowing why it was Tommy would have been afraid of that.

It wasn't clear if Cal needed to hear it at all, he seemed to be taking this pretty well, but Tony still offered, "You did good, sweetheart." To go one-to-one with Tommy on a good day wasn't an easy fight, never mind the bug issue, and that Cal could come out of it without doing any damage was an impressive accomplishment. "There's some kind of insect, I think the guys might have a nest in their place," he explained, shooting a look Billy's way partially for an apology for the assumption, but the Young Avengers so far had been the only ones they knew were effected, and partially hoping he was in an okay place to explain better because Tony only had his hypotheses. "I don't know if its the bug, or it's something about...Tommy, but it's creating a bad reaction." And maybe Cal should be checked for any bites, too, but Tony left that on Billy as well with another lingering stare over Cal's shoulder.

The reaction from Billy if not that sense of guilt was hint enough that something had definitely happened involving electricity or something of the sort. Cal obliged him as he pushed against Billy's fingers.

He glanced at Tony with a weary smile. Unfortunately no stranger to tight scrapes and people out to kill him, having to clash against a friend was still the worst.

"...there's definitely some kind of influence from that bug," Cal confirmed, frowning. "It was difficult sensing where it ended and Tommy began, everything was do blurred together."

affliction

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