And here's chapter one! I hope you all like it! I know it's kinda long, but this part didn't really lend itself to getting cut off any sooner.

Disclaimer: I don't own Iron Man or any related characters. Marvel does, and unfortunately, Disney owns Marvel.


Chapter One

72 Hours

Diana sat perched on a pile of boxes and looked down into the room where Tony was working on his newest suit of armor. JARVIS counted as Tony injected himself with micro-repeaters.

"I've also prepared a safety breifing for you to entirely ignore," the AI informed him.

"Which I will. Let's do this." Tony looked up and adressed a robotic arm that was holding a broom and had a dunce cap on it's head. "Dummy! Hi, Dummy. How did you get that cap on your head? You've earned it." He directed the robot to take care of some blood on his mat and headed to the larger area of the room.

"You should be nicer to your things," Diana told him.

He shot her a look. "Says the girl who can't even manage to fly without completely wrecking her suit."

She glared at him. "Hey, my suit isn't made out of metal. It's cloth... sorta."

"Whatever."

"Sir, may I remind you that you've been awake for over 72 hours," JARVIS pointed out.

"Focus up, ladies," Tony said, adressing his other Iron Man suits and ignoring the AI. "Good evening, and welcome to the birthing suite. I am pleased to anounce the imminent arrival of your bouncing, baby brother." He gave brief instructions to JARVIS on how he wanted the camera angle done, then continued. "Mark 42. Autonomous prehensile propulsion suit test. Initialize sequence." He tapped out a beat on his fingers, and a small part of his new suit lit up on the worktable.

"JARVIS, drop my needle." The needle dropped on a nearby record player and a version of Jingle Bells began playing. Tony danced to it for a moment before calling the first piece of his armor to him. It took three tries, but he finally managed to get the left hand of the suit to fly to him. It molded right onto his hand and Diana smiled.

The rest of the left arm attatched itself to him and then he called for the right hand. Pleased with the sucess, he smiled. "Alright, I think we've got this, send them all." Diana arched one eyebrow. This could prove interesting.

The right leg came to him and spread over his leg. Then things started going a little wonkey. One part zoomed right past him and crashed into one of the display cases for the other suits. Another piece was barely deflected by Tony, and went crashing into something on the wall. "Probably a little fast, slow it down." Tony called. If there was a speed change, Diana didn't notice it. One part slammed into his front, and another part slammed into his back sending him flying forward and making him catch himself with his repulsors.

Diana sat up a little straighter, concerned as most of the rest of the suit settled onto his body. Then the faceplate zoomed past him and slammed into the record player, stopping the music. Diana winced, but Tony was just focused on the faceplate. It lifted up on it's own little hover-jets and sort of looked at Tony. "Come on," Tony told it. "I ain't scared of you." The faceplate moved toward him, but the bottom edge hit a table and flipped itself upside down.

Tony waited a moment to see if it would fix itself, but in the end, he had to jump upside down with his repulsors to get it on correctly. He landed in his classic Iron Man pose. Diana smiled. He looked so cool in that pose. "I'm the best," he said. At that moment, another part that hadn't quite attatched yet, flew in and slammed into him knocking the rest of the suit off of him and sending him sprawling on the floor.

Diana gasped and hurried down. "Are you alright?" she asked anxiously as he sat up and removed the faceplate of his helmet which was the only part of the armor that hadn't fallen off.

"As always sir, a great pleasure watching you work," JARVIS said. Tony sat up slowly, and Diana noticed that his lip was bleeding. She quickly crossed the room and grabbed a first-aid kit before hurrying back over and taking care of the cut after Tony removed the helmet.

"Maybe 72 hours is a little too long to go without sleep," she said quietly as she finished with the cut.

"Maybe," Tony agreed, and Diana raised her eyebrows a little at him but didn't comment.

She convinced him to come upstairs and get something to eat at the very least. He agreed and, while Diana went into the kitchen to rustle up something simple, Tony crashed in the living room and turned on the TV.

Only a few moments later, Diana heard Tony call for her. The call was loud and sharp, a demanding, Iron Man call. She rushed to the living room and stared, horrified at the screen. It showed images of an Asian-looking man with a long beard and a top-knot of hair. There were gunshots, and a line of men fell as the Asian man walked calmly away.

Then a voice began speaking. "Some people call me a terrorist. I think of myself as a teacher." Old images of some kids in cowboy outfits, and women in nice outfits flashed by. "America. Ready for another lesson?" More images flashed of fields and indians and the man continued speaking. "In 1864, in Sand Creek, Colorado, the US military waited until the friendly Cheyenne braves had all gone hunting. Waited to attack and slaughter the families left behind and claim their land.

"39 hours ago, the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait was attacked. I... I... I did that," the man smiled, as though he was proud of what he had done, and Diana leaned against the back of the couch for support. "A quaint military church filled with wives and children, of course. The soldiers were out on maneuvers. The Braves were away." This time, Diana had to sit down or risk falling down. "President Ellis. You continue to resist my attempts to educate you, sir. And now, you've missed me again." Images shifted of men cheering, their cries turning to a roar in the back of her mind as Diana stared blankly at the TV. "You know who I am. You don't know where I am. And you'll never see me coming." More images of guns and shouting and explosions, and then the screen switched back to the regular news channels.

Of course, everyone wanted to rehash what had happened, but Diana just stared at the screen, barely registering as Tony flipped through a couple of channels and every one of them was just about the same thing. It wasn't until Diana heard Rhody's name mentioned that she tuned back in. The president was talking about him. He was to pilot his old War Machine armor that Tony had given him during the Palladium Panic. The armor had been painted in red, white, and blue, like someone was trying to cross Iron Man with Captain America, and it had been given a new name: The Iron Patriot.

People were still talking about it on TV when Tony and Diana met Rhody for lunch at a bar/restaraunt the next day. Tony wasn't impressed, the Rhody said that the name had tested well with focus groups. "War Machine was too agressive, this sends a better message."

"So what's really going on," Tony asked, deciding to change the subject. "With the Mandarin." Rhody gave him a significant look, clearly not wanting to talk about it, but not seeing much choice. Tony would find a way to get the information one way or another.

The two of them scooted closer together, and Diana leaned forward across the table. "This is Classified information, Tony," Rhody said, but he didn't stop talking. "Okay, there have been nine bombings. The public only knows about three. Nobody and ID a device. There's no bomb casings."

"You know I can help," Tony offered, and Diana nodded. "Just ask. I've got a ton of new tech. I've got a prehensile suit. I've got bomb disposal, catches explosions in midair."

"When was the last time you got a good night's sleep?" Rhody asked knowingly.

"Einstine slept three hours a year. Look what he did."

"We're concerned about you, Tony. I'm concerned about you," he replied.

"You're gonna come at me like that?" Tony asked, and Diana sighed. Rhody was frustrated too, but his rant was interrupted by two kids approaching him for an autograph on a picture that the girl had drawn of Tony flying the nuke into the wormhole in New York.

Diana sucked in a wary breath. She knew that Tony's most recent nightmares, and the reason he hadn't been sleeping lately, had been because of New York. For some reason, almost dying, and going through that wormhole had really messed with Tony's head.

Rhody was still talking, but Diana wasn't really listening. Her focus was on Tony, her heartrate speeding up as he started getting jittery. Then he pushed too hard on the paper and broke the crayon he had been using to sign the picture. "Tony?" Diana said, trying to keep her voice calm as a scared look suddenly flashed up on Tony's face. Then the little kid, the girl's brother, leaned in close and whispered something in Tony's ear. That was the last straw, and Tony got up quickly hurried out of the bar.

Diana followed him, Rhody right on her heels. They found him crouched in his suit, which he had used to get there. Rhody tapped on his visor, "Come on, man, this isn't a good look, open up."

But Tony just pushed him aside. "Sorry, I've gotta split." And he took off back to the house.

Diana sighed and shook her head. "You've always been concerned about looks, Rhody," she admonished him. "Tony is only human."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rhody asked, sounding a little hurt.

"He's been having trouble since New York. He's still getting over it."

Rhody nodded, looking a bit guilty. "Let me give you a ride home," he offered, but Diana shook her head.

"No, I've got my ride. Thanks anyway. I'll call you later." She smiled gently at him, then went to find her dark green, Mini Cooper Convertable Sport in the parking lot.


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