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You were back in the mansion from Monaco. Kate and Natalie were sat in the living room, handling the numerous calls about Tony and Monaco, while he was in his workshop.

You were just coming down the stairs when Rhodey walked into the mansion, looking at the three of you."Where is he?"

"He doesn't want to be disturbed."Natalie answered and Rhodey looked at you.

"He's downstairs. I was on my way there, too." You said and went towards the stairs with Rhodey following you.

You found Tony sitting in the car, watching the holograms in front of him, while Jarvis was speaking."Query complete sir. Anton Vanko was a Soviet physicist who defected to the United States in 1963.However, he was accused of espionage and was deported in 1967. His son, Ivan, who is also a physicist, was convicted of selling Soviet-era weapons grade plutonium to Pakistan, and served 15 years in Kopeisk prison. No further records exist."He finished when the two of you entered.

Rhodey immediately went towards Tony."Tony, you gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now."He said, but Tony didn't react."Listen. I’ve been on the phone with the National Guard all day, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door and taking these."He gestured at the suits."They’re gonna take your suits, Tony, okay? They’re sick of the games. You said nobody else would possess this technology for 20 years. Well, guess what? Somebody else had it yesterday. It’s not theoretical anymore."He placed his hand on Tony's shoulder and Tony turned towards him. You could see the exhaustion on his face and how sick he looked all the way from where you stood. "Are you listening to me? Are you okay?"

You walked towards them to calm Rhodey down. "Rhodey, let's just leave him to-"

Tony raised his hand to stop you from talking. He patted Rhodey's arm and smiled. "Let’s go."He stood up, opening the door and you walked to the other side to help him, but he already fell down on the floor.

Rhodey rushed after you to help Tony up. He spoke to you, "Wait, I got him! Hey, man! You all right?"

"Yeah, I should get to my desk." Tony said. Rhodey supported him as they walked towards the desk."See that cigar box?"

"Yeah."

"It’s palladium." Tony said as Rhodey placed him down on the chair. You opened the box while Tony removed the arc reactor for you to place the new palladium inside.

"Is that supposed to be smoking?"Rhodey asked, looking at the arc reactor in Tony's hand.

"If you must know, it’s neutron damage." Tony said. "It’s from the reactor wall."

You took the reactor in your hand and took out the old palladium, while Rhodey stared the whole time. "You had this in your body? And how about the high-tech crossword puzzle on your neck?"

Tony looked at you and saw the sad look on your face. "Road rash." He answered Rhodey and took the arc reactor from your hand."Thank you."He said, lifting up his shirt a bit to put the arc reactor back in its place and he started drinking the green liquid again, while you got rid of the old palladium, placing it in the trash. Tony noticed Rhodey's stare on him again. "What are you looking at?"

"I’m looking at you." Rhodey said."You wanna do this whole lone gunslinger act and it’s unnecessary. You don’t have to do this alone."

"You know, I wish I could believe that. I really do. But you’ve gotta trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I’m doing."

Rhodey shared a look with you and you shrugged. You both looked back at Tony, both worried for him. The only difference between you was that Rhodey didn't know his best friend was dying.