"I'm a bit sturdier than you," she replied when Tony berated her for protecting him, but her relief at hearing his voice was only temporary. She heard Pepper calling back at Tony, but she couldn't see the other two through the smoke.

"You go," she wheezed, trying to keep the panic from her voice. She should have been healing by now, the pain should be fading, the metal shards being pushed out, the bone knitting itself back together. She could still feel her legs, but moving wasn't an option. The toxic smoke was getting to her, so it had to be getting to Tony as well as Pepper and Jacob.

She reached down to grasp a large piece of shrapnel that protruded from her side. It was possible that the shard was why her wounds weren't healing, this was a piece of the machine that had exploded, the machine that Tony had been testing the salt in. Taking a deep breath, she pulled it out, sobbing in pain and then horror overtook every other sense. Instead of closing, the gaping wound began to gush blood. The shard had severed an artery or pierced an organ and she had just removed the only thing stemming the blood flow.