Chapter Text
He felt it creeping up on him, ever so slowly but he knew what was happening.
Just take a breath, you know what's happening, you're stronger than this. Heroes don't deal with this. You're a hero, right?
Tony trained his focus back on his work, on the tiny adjustments he was making to the latest version of the repulsors for the palms of his suit. He realized he was staring at the core of the energy source, his mind drifting to the lack of feeling that was taking over in his hands, making its way up his arms.
Nonono, that's the opposite of what you should be doing. It's all in your head, just like this voice right now. You're fine, just take a breath and push it away.
Tony dropped the repulsor on his desk and distantly registered it clattering a few times before falling to the floor at his feet.
Great, you can't even hold up the piece of tech you're working on, how are you ever supposed to get better?
Maybe water would help, he thought, so he stood up to grab a glass from the sink. Or rather, that's what he tried to do. Instead, he found himself grasping at the edge of his desk, desperately trying to wrap his fingers around the glass to keep himself upright. This only resulted in taking various objects with him as he collapsed on the floor, and he registered that once again, the numbness had spread throughout his limbs and rendered him helpless to move about in any productive way. His could feel his pulse throbbing through his temples, drowning out any attempt to rationalize what was happening. As he tried once again to breathe deeply, the air he was forcing into his lungs turned ragged and short. As he laid in the crumpled position he had landed in, he longed for something, anything, that would make this never ending nightmare stop.