hello! and yes i am still alive! well, to those of you who read APPS, i'm not sure when i will be working on it. i havent been able to write much lately, as you can see... XD well anyways, enjoy my latest death-fic :D

DISCLAIMER: i do not, by any means, own IMAA. i would love to, of course. but i dont. so there. :P

oh, and by the way, the quotes in bold are directly from the show...

Drowning

Tony and his friends walked casually down the crowded sidewalk, school having gotten out only moments before. Rhodey and Pepper chattered on about who knows what while Tony listened mindlessly to his armor's com link.

The computerized voice reported many minor accidents in the area, all issues that had already been taken care of. The next bit of information, however, caught his attention.

The slightly metallic voice reported a recent distress call from an SI weapon cargo ship in the Atlantic. The ship had a severe fuel spill and was threatening to explode.

Tony quickly put his earpiece in his pocket, cutting off the stream of electronic reports. "Guys," he said, getting Rhodey and Pepper's attention, "there's an emergency on an SI cargo ship. The bombs on it might detonate. I gotta go help. I'll catch up with you two later." With that said, the teen took off towards his own personal armory.

"Tony! Wait!" called Rhodey as him and Pepper running after their friend.

-

Once in the armory, Tony rushed to the case containing his armor. Suiting up, he listened to the cargo ship's SOS, inputting the coordinates into his autopilot. Igniting his boot jets, he took off towards the ship.

Mere moments after Iron Man left the armory, Rhodey and Pepper ran in.

"He's not here…" said Pepper, motioning towards the empty armor case.

"I see that," replied Rhodey, typing his password into the computer.

Responding to the code, the computer brought down the Iron Man remote control system. Rhodey sat down in said machine, and started typing on the touchpad keyboard. Pepper came up next to him, grasping the arm rest. "Computer, bring up Tony's location," he commanded.

A satellite view zoomed in on Iron Man speeding across the Atlantic Ocean. "Communication established with Iron Man armor."

"Tony!" cried Pepper.

The screen switched to Tony's point of view.

"Pepper?" came Tony's distorted voice through the speakers.

"Dude! What do you think you're doing going out there? That ship could blow with you inside!" worried Rhodey.

"What?" Tony asked, "I could've died any other time I put on this armor, who says I'm going to die this time?"

"But Tony!" whined Pepper, "If you get hurt… that ship is in the middle of nowhere!"

"It's alright Pepper, the armor will protect me. Don't worry, you guys, nothing bad can happen. I promise."

On the screen view through Tony's helmet, billows of black smoke were becoming visible on the horizon. Only moments later, the burning ship came into sight.

-

Tony flew up to the burning SI cargo ship, landing lightly on the deck. A short, scruffy looking man came up to him.

"Iron Man! Thank god you're here!" said the man in an equally scruffy voice, "I'm the captain of this ship by the way, Captain Grey at your service."

"Well Captain, first things first, how many people are left on this ship?" asked the teen-in-disguise.

"Just you and me."

Tony sighed, "Alright, is there anymore lifeboats? I need you to get out of here."

Grey nodded, "Yeah, but I can't abandon this ship! I made a promise to go down with my ship like all captains should!"

Tony pushed the captain slightly towards where the lifeboats would be, "Well not on my watch. I need to make sure those Stark weapons in the hull don't detonate and kill anyone. Now go, and that's an order." Ignoring Grey's reactions, Tony made his way down into the hull of the ship.

A column of smoke came out from a large hole burned into the ship's deck. Tony jumped through it, hovering with his boot jets.

"Tony wait, are you sure you can stop all those bombs from exploding?" asked Rhodey through the com link.

"Yeah I can… well no… not really…" he admitted sheepishly, "but—"

"WHAT?!" came both Rhodey and Pepper's voices.

"Ow… not so loud! But I might be able to put out the fires. If I can just blast a hole through the hull of the ship, it should fill with water and put them out!" assured the superhero.

"But wouldn't that sink the ship?" asked Pepper.

"She's right Tony, you just got yourself into a ton of trouble… again," agreed Rhodey.

"C'mon guys, it'll work. I'm sure it will."

With that, Tony began to blast a large hole in the metal with his repulsors. After a few deathly slow minutes, the hole was finished and water rushed into the hull. Tony quickly flew out of the ship, not wanting to get caught in the torrents of water.

But he was too late. The fires in the back of the ship could not be put out by the water rushing in. Flames engulfed a particularly large crate of landmines, reaching extreme temperatures in moments.

Before Tony even registered what was happening, the cargo ship was engulfed in an enormous explosion. The landmines had set off a chain reaction in the ship's hull, detonating every explosive it carried.

Tony flew back, unable to protect himself from the sheer force of the blast. All he could see was the bright orange and yellow of the flames dancing on and around his armor. His brain faintly registered the sounds of his friends calling his name, but it didn't matter.

Next thing he knew, the force blowing him back suddenly stopped. It felt like he had been shot into a brick wall… no, it was even harder than brick. But all of Tony's thoughts were lost as pain flooded his entire body. He involuntarily cried out, wishing the hurt away.

After many agonizing minutes, he began to sink willingly into the black depths of unconsciousness… and the Atlantic Ocean.

-

Rhodey and Pepper watched skeptically as Tony flew out of the cargo ship's hull. The black smoke coming from below seemed to die down a bit, as if his plan was working.

But it was too good to be true.

To say it simply: the ship exploded. Tony let out a cry of surprise as his armor was blown back.

"Tony!" the two called over and over, hoping that their friend was alright.

Rhodey and Pepper could only watch as Tony crashed into the water. He cried out in pain, the sound nearly bringing Pepper to tears. After a few moments, the armor began to sink into the ocean.

"Computer, engage armor remote control systems," said Rhodey, watching Tony's heart rate slow as he lost consciousness.

"Negative function: remote systems damaged," replied the computer with a bit too much artificial enthusiasm.

"Argh…" growled Rhodey, frustrated with the computer.

"Iron Man armor shutting down. Communications lost," announced the computer.

"Oh no… what's gonna happen to Tony?" worried Pepper, grabbing Rhodey's shoulder.

"I-I don't know… we're just going to have to wait 'til he wakes up…"

-

Nothing bad would happen? He was perfectly safe? Some promise.

-

Tony groaned, slowly regaining his senses. He opened his eyes, only to see nothing but blackness. He tried to move, but found that he could not. Not only was his suit not responding, but it felt like a heavy sheet of metal was lying on top of him, holding him down. Not to mention he was cold, almost freezing actually.

Finally, after the haze in his mind began to clear, he realized what had happened. The explosion blasted him into the water, and the resulting impact knocked him out. The suit must've gotten damaged as well, as it was offline. And without anything running it, he sank to the bottom of the ocean. Boy was he out of luck today.

"Computer… reboot all systems," Tony ground out, a headache pounding in the back of his skull.

After a few minutes, the familiar metallic voice filled Tony's helmet, "Iron Man armor systems online. Armor power at eleven point five percent. Warning: communications system down. Propulsions systems down. Repulsors down. External pressure reaching dangerous levels. Internal air supplies at twenty-three percent."

The warm orange LEDs in Tony's helmet lit up, along with his visual systems. Tony looked around him, but he still could only see darkness.

He shivered, waiting impatiently for the armor's heating systems to start up. 'Note to self: insulate armor.' He'd definitely need to make sure his armor was more suited for extreme temperatures, should something like this ever happen again.

"Computer, turn on the chest plate floodlight."

Responding to his command, the dim light coming from his chest plate brightened, illuminating the world around him. Several tiny fish rushed away, scared by said light.

Tony sat up, regretting it almost instantly. His headache seemed to increase tenfold and the world began to spin. He could barely keep himself from blacking out again.

After a few moments, the dizziness passed and his headache began to dull. Tony looked up, trying to get an idea of how deep down he was. He put a hand over his chest light, wondering if there was any natural light at the depth he was at. Then, an idea struck him:

"Computer, what time is it?"

"Nine fifty-six PM."

'No wonder its dark… maybe I'm not down that deep after all,' thought Tony, climbing to his feet, 'But my boot jets are down… so unless I'm anywhere near the shoreline, which I doubt, I wont be able to get to the surface. Great, just great.'

-

Rhodey and Pepper waited for Tony to come to. They managed to be patient for the first hour or so, but once it got dark neither of them could sit still.

"Are you sure he's not dead?! He shouldn't be unconscious for this long…" worried Pepper, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I'm sure. See, his heart's still beating," said Rhodey, pointing to the tiny screen showing Tony's BPM, which was steadily rising, "But you're right, he usually isn't out of it for this long… Look! His heart rate is rising, he must be waking up."

'Tony… I hope you're ok…' thought Pepper. "He's been down there for hours… it's almost ten o'clock. Can you try to get communications working?"

Rhodey began to press seemingly random buttons on the armor remote control system, "Maybe, let me try one more time."

After many slow minutes, the computer's metallic voice came through the tiny speakers, "Communication established."

The main screen flickered to show Tony's point of view, "Tony! Dude can you hear me? Are you alright?"

"Rhodey? Yeah, yeah I'm fine," replied Tony, slightly surprised.

Pepper could hardly contain herself, "Thank god! Are you sure you're ok? Are you bleeding? Do you have enough air? How's your heart?"

Tony chuckled, trying not to sound nervous, "Pepper, I'm fine, really." But that was a lie. His air and energy reserves were slowly depleting, and he had no way of getting back to the surface alive. But there was no way he'd let his friends know that, he couldn't let them worry about him.

"Tony stop it, I know you're lying. There's no way you didn't get hurt at all in that explosion. Tell us the truth."

Darn it, they caught him, "Fine," he sighed heavily, "my boot jets are down, and I have no way of getting back to the surface. I only have enough power to keep the suit running for just over half an hour, and maybe forty-five minutes worth or air," the teen said glumly.

"No… oh god no…" whispered Pepper.

"Tony…" Rhodey shook his head, barely keeping his anger in check. "You should've known better than to get yourself into this mess. Is there any way possible to get yourself to the surface? Even if you have to abandon the armor?"

"I-I'm not sure. I could use the emergency release, but if I'm down more than twenty feet, I'll drown before I make it to the surface," Tony said, sounding completely hopeless.

"…and how deep down are you?" asked Rhodey a bit anxiously.

"I have no clue."

"Alright," said Rhodey, "seems to me like you should go ahead and try that, since if you're down too deep… well you know…" he couldn't bare to accept the fact that his friend might die.

"Yeah, you're right… well here goes…"

"Tony, Wait!" cried Pepper.

"Yeah Pepper?"

"I-if you die down there… I just want to make sure… I got to say goodbye…" she said, struggling to keep from crying.

-

"Alright… bye guys." Tony said, pulling the hidden latch on his chest plate to open the armor.

There was a loud cracking sound as the metal began to come apart, and then nothing.

"Tony?" asked Rhodey through the com link.

Tony winced, icy cold suddenly flooding his armor, "Guys… something went wrong… I think the armor's leaking."

"Tony? What happened? Are you ok? What's going on?" that was Pepper's voice.

"I-I don't know… but the armor's filling up with water… I-I'm running out of air," gasped Tony.

Pepper and Rhodey called out to their friend, helpless to save him.

"Oh no… Tony!"

"Please don't d—"

And then the link went dead. Static filled Tony's ears.

Tony struggled to get air, water quickly rushing into his suit. Before he knew it, his helmet was filled with water.

Tony shut his eyes tight as his armor lights flickered out. He struggled to keep what air he had left in his lungs from escaping. Numbly, he felt himself sink to his knees, then to the ocean floor. He wrapped his arms tightly around his chest and curled up his legs, struggling to not breathe the water.

But after what seemed like hours of his strength constantly fading, he began to loose his resolve. His body went numb, his arms and legs going limp. He could faintly feel his lips parting, the air rushing out.

The sound of the air bubbles brought back his focus again, but it didn't last long. Involuntarily, he breathed in the water, resulting in an intense stabbing pain throughout his chest. He tried to cough out the water, but it was too late.

He was drowning.

He was the invincible Iron Man, and he was drowning.

How could this happen to him? Why?

Had Tony been able to think even partially straight, he would've wondered what would happen to his friends, to his father's company. He would've wondered if the world would be different with out him. He probably would have wished for another chance, to go back and make sure he survived. He eventually would've asked Pepper to be his girlfriend. He would've made a suit for Rhodey. He definitely would have fired Stane once he took over the company, and maybe have figured out a way to get the jerk arrested too.

But all of this was irrelevant, as Tony could already feel the icy claws of death around his heart.

His dull blue eyes slid open, seeing nothing.

-

Rhodey and Pepper watched the screen displaying Tony's heart rate flat-line.

Pepper burst into tears, wrapping her arms around Rhodey, who could barely keep himself from crying as well.

The End.

so how was it?

IMPORTANT!!! i'm not sure if i should write an alternate ending to this, but if enough of you wonderful peoples want me to, i will...

thank you!