The shadow had known what he knew from the moment it had entered his body. Now he knew what the shadow knew. It was like seeing a private slide show of atrocities against the front of his skull.

Had Tony been in control of his mouth, he would have screamed.

Then cruel intelligence on the other side of the gate called the shadow home and the slide show stopped.

Somehow, Tony managed to hang on.

“You don’t have to go!” He fed it the memory of being absorbed, of becoming nothing once again. Of losing self.

*And if I stay.*

It sounded like Hartley, the boom operator, had Hartley been able to list “enjoys inflicting torment” as one of his hobbies. It also sounded remarkably like the voice in Tony’s head.

“That was you. The bright lights in the elevator were freaking you out!”

*Yes.*

He was losing the tug-of-war. He could feel the shadow slipping away.

*If I stay, will you give me your body?*

Its tone went beyond innuendo. Tony shuddered, unable to control his body’s visceral response and lost a little more of his grip. Strangely, the rush of blood away from his brain helped clear his mind. If a lack of information was all that was keeping the Shadowlord from attacking . . . He couldn’t . . . He had to. Arra could deal with whatever that made him and Henry could call him back from wherever he’d gone and another little bit of shadow slipped free while he tried to work out the consequences. “Yes!”

Too late.

As the shadow roared free and his world became pain, he realized it had been taunting him, that however much it feared the loss of self, it had to rejoin the whole. It had just been indulging itself before it went home—offering a glimpse at hope, then snatching it away again.

Tony regained consciousness to see a familiar face bending over him. Green eyes were concerned and a warm hand had a comforting grip on his shoulder.

“Tony?”

He clutched at Lee’s voice as dark memories threatened to overwhelm him. Lee being there when he woke up was a bit of a dream come true and he was damned well going to hang onto it. “What . . . ?”

A slightly confused but comforting smile. “You tell me. You yelled and when Adam came over to tell you to shut up, you were on the floor.” He glanced around and the smile faded. “I was on this floor . . .”

Tony struggled to sit up, wondering, if the 1AD had come to check on him, where the hell he’d gone. Through the gate? No. The shadow went through the gate.

Oh. Fuck.