Energy

Tony’s surgery was successful. Every single shard of metal was removed from his chest, and then the arc reactor was able to come out. Christie watched the whole thing, somehow able to keep her lunch down, and was thankful that she didn’t have to step in and revive him again. Once it was all over, she couldn’t help but feel anxious and restless, as though something was wrong. But it wasn’t. No evil being was attacking the planet, and Tony was still breathing. Christie nervously fiddled with the necklace Tony had given her as she sat in his hospital room, waiting for him to wake. Eventually he did, and it took a while for the effects of the anaesthesia to wear off.

Hours later, Tony was fully capable of comprehension and back to his normal self. He attempted to make conversation, but Christie never had much to reply with. She felt shy and withdrew from his presence. His sarcasm was no longer funny, and any joke made was offensive in some way. Christie felt so cold knowing that she had enjoyed Tony’s personality for months beforehand. She couldn’t put her finger on what was going on, but it didn’t feel right. All of the love and passion for Tony had just slipped away, disappeared as if it never existed, and she felt empty.

Tony sensed her distancing herself from him so he made the excuse that he felt nauseous and let her leave to the hotel room he had rented for her. As he watched her back walk away, he truly began to feel nauseous. Tony felt the same way, and he didn’t know why.



“It’s not the suit that makes me, you see,” Tony told Christie as he switched the engine of his new sports car off. “I make the suit. I define Iron Man, not the other way around.” Christie gave him a polite smile, feeling uncomfortable and as if she was only with him because of some sort of a duty. The past week had been awful. She spent as much time as possible in the hotel room, and once Tony had been discharged they simply watched some TV together and kept conversation to a minimum. Even touching was off their agendas. Nothing felt right anymore.

“I’ll wait here,” she said, keeping her eyes focused on her lap.

“Won’t be long,” Tony remarked as he grabbed the arc reactor from the dashboard. Before he got out of the car, he paused to give a quick look of sympathy at the shell of his girlfriend. Despite constantly musing over what could have possibly happened, Tony had reached no conclusions. He walked across what used to be the driveway of his seaside mansion and stood on the edge of a concrete slab. There was a jagged crack that marked where the rest of the house had fallen down below into the water, and Tony made sure that he didn’t get too close. He had a will to live, after all. Tony twirled the arc reactor around in his palm, watching the tiny, flickering, pale blue light in the centre of it. It was all his past now, and Tony wanted to let go. Time for a new chapter in his life… With a grunt, he threw the reactor into the sea before him.

“Tony,” Christie gasped. A jolt of pain had tore through her chest. Something was wrong. Hurriedly, she pushed open the car door and ran towards the cliff. A man in a dark blue suit stood there, but it wasn’t Tony. It couldn’t be. The man turned at the sound of her quick footsteps, revealing Tony’s face, but Christie knew that it was an illusion. She could sense Tony’s presence further along, and further down. Christie ignored the man and jumped off the edge.

Her energy propelled her forwards and gravity pulled her down, and she was soon submerged. Eyes open, Christie desperately searched the wreckage of Tony’s house, expecting to see his welcoming brown eyes any second. Deeper she went, unable to see any sign of him. Christie shoved aside any debris she could while she swam along. Her connection to Tony drove her more to the left, so she headed in that direction. Christie’s lungs were beginning to strain at holding her breath. She needed air and she needed it soon, but she was so close! Christie could sense Tony’s presence so strongly! A glimmer of light blue caught her eye. Christie’s hand automatically reached out and attempted to seize it. She felt cold metal against her skin, but that soothed her. Christie broke the surface a few moments later. Gasping for air, she flew upwards and saw a distressed Tony leaning over the edge, mouth and eyes wide open. He wasn’t a delusion. As she flew to re-join him, Christie dared to look in her hand. She saw his arc reactor.

“What the hell are you doing?” Tony yelled right before Christie landed. She quickly shifted away from the edge, and a second later her knees buckled and she fell to the ground. As the water began dripping out of her clothes, her eyes became damp with tears. It all made sense to her now. Tony dropped to his knees and as he reached out to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, Christie opened her hands to reveal the arc reactor he had thrown away a moment ago.

“You should never have had that operation,” she sniffed.

“What? I don’t…” Tony trailed off. He was about to say that he didn’t understand, but the flickering blue light had made things clearer.

“That’s me,” Christie said as she jabbed her finger on the reactor. “A part of me, a part of my energy is trapped in there.”

“Oh god… No…” Tony groaned. He knew exactly what she was going to say next.

“I was… trapped inside you. That’s why I loved you,” Christie whispered. Saying it aloud and acknowledging the truth made her begin to weep. The pain she felt was incredible. Her relationship with Tony had essentially been a lie. Christie bent over the reactor, cradling it to her chest as she cried loudly. Tony’s head fell into his hands and he allowed his tears to fall too.



Tony and Christie sat with their backs against a slab of concrete, staring out at the horizon of the sea. The sun had almost completely dried Christie and her clothes, but her face was still damp from her tears. Both of them had reddened puffy eyes, and both had aching abdomens from the pain of the shocking truth.

“What now?” Christie said quietly. She didn’t know what to do. A part of her felt like leaving, yet the thought of abandoning Tony was terrible.

“I don’t know,” Tony admitted.

“Should I go?” she suggested somewhat reluctantly. Christie didn’t want to be alone, and she knew that Tony understood what she was trying to deal with. Perhaps his scientific mind could even come up with an answer for whatever had happened.

“I don’t want you to.”

“Okay.” Christie stayed put, running her right thumb around the edge of the reactor. It was such a bizarre thing to have happened, and she doubted that she would ever truly understand how they had been so unfortunate.

“I think we should at least try,” Tony said out of the blue, bringing Christie out of her contemplation of the situation.

“Try what?” she wondered.

“Try being together,” he replied simply.

“What’s the point? It won’t work, not without this in you,” Christie said with a gesture towards the arc reactor.

“I don’t see why we can’t at least try to make it work,” Tony countered. Christie shook her head slightly, not believing his words. “Hey, wasn’t it amazing when we were together? Don’t you want to have that again?”

“Of course I do, but-”

“So let’s try,” Tony interrupted her, not wanting any excuses. He reached across and grabbed her hand, interlocking their fingers. “We can do it.” Christie remained staring at the arc reactor. She wasn’t so sure.