A/N - This is an AU where the fight in Siberia left Tony Stark in a coma. As in canon, the superhero community is in turmoil, and most are sure it can never be put together again. Fortunately, in case of his death, Tony left behind something to pick up the pieces: the Demosthenes Protocol.

This is what I wrote from one in the morning to eight thirty at night yesterday. I was up for twenty-two and a half hours, pretty much just to write this, so I decided I would just post it after I edited for spelling and grammar.

It's 21,800 words in all and idk how many chapters I'm going to break it up into, but it's ALREADY DONE so it will be updated regularly.

Er, just to be clear, this was written almost exclusively because I wanted a hologram of Tony to be guiding everyone through his master plan, because it seemed like a Very Tony Thing To Do.

Steve hadn't thought Tony had been that badly hurt when they had left him in Siberia.

He certainly hadn't thought the word coma would ever come into play.

The thumb drives were mailed out the day the doctors told Pepper, "He probably won't ever wake up." JARVIS may not have been as smart as he used to be, not since Tony had to reboot him from an outdated backup after the whole Ultron thing, but he knew one thing. When Tony had programmed the Demosthenes Protocol in the event of his death, JARVIS knew what it was intended for, and this was close enough.

He hoped he had made the right decision to activate it. If he hadn't, things in the superhero community could go even more wrong than they already had. Then again, when Tony had written the program, which took him over three weeks of lab time, he had used the phrase, "If it reaches this point, it's not like things will be able to get much worse."

More specifically, JARVIS was to activate the protocol if Tony died at the hands of another superhero. If another superhero was the victim, Tony planned to activate it himself.

He had almost done it when Colonel Rhodes was crippled. He had chosen not to because he figured Rhodes was considered affiliated with the army more than with superheroes.

Now everything really had fallen apart, with some Avengers missing, some fugitives, and only The Vision still at the compound.

Something in JARVIS's learning brain made the decision. Sir was unable to activate the protocol when it was necessary, and this was the exact kind of situation it was made for.

The thumb drives were mailed out within the hour. Each one was in a package with a collapsed black mat, one that Tony had never patented and now never would.

One drive was delivered to a nondescript law firm in Hell's Kitchen, only a few minutes away from the Tower. Another made the trip across the river to Queens to find a young student.

An envelope containing two clearly labelled drives ended up in a package along with two mats and a rolled up sheaf of blueprint paper. It was delivered into the hands of the founder of a former 'rival company.'

One arrived in an army officer's mailbox. One thumb drive, without a mat, was simply carried cautiously by the robot Butterfingers up the elevator to the CEO's office in the tower.

One had a long journey, all the way to Tennessee. One travelled even farther, to a remote part of India and into the hands of a man who couldn't even be surprised that someone had discovered his location. One travelled all the way to the royal palace of an African nation. One was sent to the Avengers' Compound. Two made their way to London.

One found it impossible to find the intended recipient and ended up at the Barton farm, clearly labelled, only to mysteriously vanish a mere two days later. The last went through SHIELD channels, being scanned every step of the way but never plugged in until it reached its intended destination. Each was received within four days of being mailed, and each was regarded with some level of trepidation.

Well, not the one that went to Tennessee.

Each thumb drive was plugged into a computer as soon as it was opened. Each one caused a popup to open, one that merely read, Are you alone?

Aunts and teammates alike were ushered out of the room, given various excuses or simply told that it was classified until further notice. One by one, they assured the drive that they were, in fact, on their own.

Every screen went black.

In the center of the screen, an image started to grow, all in white. As it filled the screen, it became recognizable as a burning campfire.

Red words were suddenly typed out on top of the picture.

DEMOSTHENES PROTOCOL: ACTIVATED.

And suddenly it was all gone, replaced by a simple video feed of a man they all knew they would probably never see awake again. Dressed in a simple gray pinstripe suit with a black tie, he sat behind an empty desk and looked into the camera with a more serious face than some of them had ever seen from him.

"If you got this drive in the mail, it means I'm dead. And I hate to impose even more on you all, but if that's true, then I desperately need your help to fix what I've left behind."

A/N - Please work your way through the meh setup. I'm uploading the first three chapters all at once because I'm nice and they're short. We'll get to the Holographic Tony Speeches soon, that's the fun part. Love you all, please review, I have other stories I am more proud of so if you like Tony Stark please feel free to check out my profile.

I, uh, I write a lot of Tony Stark.

In case you couldn't guess by the username.