The journey to the airport was, for all intense and purposes a PR disaster, as soon as Tony had stepped onto the bus the passengers began to stare and edge away or cover seats. The driver however, didn't care as long as the masked figure paid and promised not to cause any problems. Tony agreed and held onto the rail above the seats since nobody was brave enough to let him sit next to him. For four stops, while uncomfortable, the journey was un-eventful despite the incessant pointing and whispering. It was only at the fifth stop when everything hit the fan, an elderly lady was getting off to the stop and as she passed the Taskmaster she looked up to see a skull like grimace staring back at her. It was then when the screaming started.
"It's the Grim Reaper." the woman called, "Call the Police, Call HAMMER somebody stop him."
"No that's the Red Skull." a small kid corrected her.
"Actually I'm the Taskmaster, I work as an instructor…" Tony began but was interrupted as somebody yelled, "He's got a bomb." as the passengers panicked and fought to get off the bus leaving Tony standing alone. Shortly afterwards the local police arrived and set up a perimeter with SWAT vans turning up only minutes afterwards.
"Get out of the Bus." an officer yelled over a mega phone, "Come out with your hands up." Tony considered his options, while it was unlikely that he would be able to slay them all and escape four months ago it would have been his only option. Now however he was part of the system and could just walk out after he explained the misconception. Removing his sword belt and pocketing his Initiative ID Tony marched out of the bus up to the police officers who dashed forward to cuff him and read him the usual 'anything you say can be used against you.' speech.
"Check my ID." Tony replied as a police officer took his sword belt, "I work for HAMMER"
"Bus reads clean for any sign of explosives." an officer said as the bomb squad disembarked.
"Taskmaster huh." the chief officer said, "Head of the Initiative." he added, "Hmm, looks like your story checks out and the Driver and several passengers have stated that you didn't do anything."
"Does that mean I can go?" Tony asked
"You're free to go but a word of advice." the officer informed, "Either choose a less scary costume or take the Halloween mask off next time."
The local police were still mistrustful even on the Taskmaster even when the whole incident had been classed as civil panic due to misidentification. As such the officer decided the easiest thing was to take Tony directly to the airport and escorted him through security before handing him over to a federal air marshal and his sword and shield stowed in the hold. From there the marshal took him onto the plane and left him while the rest of the passengers boarded. Tony ended up sitting at the back of the plane next to a young family.
"You're the Taskmaster aren't you?" a young boy asked Tony
"Max don't speak to the strange man." his mother said
"It's okay he's a super-hero I saw him on TV." Max replied
"I said don't talk to him." the mother snapped before turning on Tony, "You people gallivant around causing so much chaos and destruction. If you wanted to do something useful why don't you go deal with the terrorists in Afghanistan?"
"It's because these so called 'heros' are all cowards." the woman's husband stated, "I bet he didn't even fight in that so called Siege in Broxton." he sneered.
This kind of talk continued throughout the flight and Tony decided the best thing to do was to say nothing and hope for a speedy exit from this nightmare. He almost preferred Camp Hammond to this nightmare flight, at least there he had the authority to do whatever he wanted as long as it matched up with Osborne's instructions. As the plane eventually touched down in JFK the pilot made an announcement, "I'm sorry folks but due to problems in the terminal we won't be disembarking for a while."
"Great." Tony grumbled as the air-marshal ran down the aisle to his location.
"You work for HAMMER right?" he asked
"Yes." Tony replied, "Will it get me off this plane any faster?"
"Come with me." the marshal ordered
"That's right just because he's a 'Hero' he gets special treatment." the mother snapped as the marshal led Tony towards the cockpit. Knocking on the door into the cockpit, the marshal and Tony were let inside by the pilot who was rubbing his temples with his hands.
"There's a situation in the terminal," the pilot explained, "Multiple hostages are being held by a criminal named Bombshell. Security went to intervene but she detonated the bombs killing several hostages and the security. HAMMER has been called in but she had demanded that Osborne come personally. So far he's refused so we need to get somebody inside to deal with her."
"And you want me to be that person." Tony groaned
"It's either that or go back to your seat for however many hours it takes to resolve this thing." the Marshal offered
"Good point." Tony replied, "Now where's my sword?" he asked
About ten minutes later Tony stepped off the plane his sword gleaming in the flood lights, heading for the security entrance. Stepping past the SWAT barricades whispers came with words like 'Avenger' and 'Hero' being thrown around, a stark difference to four hours ago.
"Sir." a man in a bomb technician uniform said, "I'm Office Barrett, your files show that you have some bomb disposal experience but we would prefer to do it ourselves. All we need is an environment clear of hostiles." Tony nodded he understood what the EOD guys were saying, while they thought he was brave, they also thought him a neophyte, a rookie, practically green. "Perhaps I am" he thought "I never really did the whole hero thing".
Opening the door and heading through the reasonably deserted airport to the VIP lounge that Bombshell had taken over Tony though more and more about his 'intended heroics' and how the public was turning on Osborne after a string of high-profile attacks. His thinking ended when he came across a group of statues that had the outline of HAMMER armoured security agents. Tapping one of the 'statues' Tony felt a clay like outer-substance surrounding them, almost like some macabre form of mummification. Opening the door a fraction Tony saw his target staring back at him obviously waiting for him.
"Well looks like Osborne sent his lackey to deal with me. Maybe you'll be a better hostage then these" Bombshell motioned her arm passing over the hostages strapped up with suicide vests. "Now let's play ball." she hissed throwing a pair of grenades at the Taskmaster. Tony thought quickly and brought his shield up the grenades bouncing off his defences back at Bombshell who expertly caught them.
"Your good I'll give you that." Bombshell said, "But I'm better." she added with the usual villain bravado as a third grenade came flying at him before detonating on impact with the shield releasing a thick red cloud which bit into Tony's flesh.
"Anti Riot Grenades?" Tony asked, "With a name like Bombshell I thought you'd be packing the real thing at the very least."
"Oh I am." Bombshell replied juggling five frag grenades, "My first bomb-shell is designed to reduce your reflexes and cloud your vision. Now let's play a game of catch." she added maliciously throwing the grenades at Tony. Dropping his shield and sword Tony caught the grenades and threw them out into the hallway where they detonated harmlessly.
"I'm the Taskmaster." Tony stated evenly, "I might not be able to throw buses down Broadway or get from Los Angeles to New York in five minutes but I can learn. Quickly may I add. Your tactics are so basic that I could have done this as soon as I walked in." he added clearing the red smoke and disarming Bombshell before knocking her into a seat next to a struggling hostage. "Seriously this is Amateur night. I'm not surprised Osborne is here if this is all you're going to bring."
"Oh no I'm just the warm-up act to get the crowd ticking." Bombshell replied, "He's the feature length film." she added pointing to a hulking shape moving through the doors. Tony let go of Bombshell and turned to face the new threat dressed in armor with a real mounted fuel tank of some kind and wrist mounted sprayers. The Taskmaster recognized this kind of armor, it was a Stark Industries EOD suit designed to be light weight and durable, the sprayers on the other hand were retro-fitted and were not part of the normal design.
"Who are you?" Tony asked
"I am Corporal Edward Oswald Daniels of the 5th Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squad." the armored figure replied but you can call me EOD."
"So why's a bomb tech holding people hostage?" Tony asked trying to stall for time while he tried to figure out what the sprayers were. He had ruled out flamethrowers since there was no pilot light but that didn't mean they weren't dangerous.
"Osborne is recalling all Stark equipment from the field, IED casualties have gone up by 50% because of him. The army is running on a budget and Osborne wants them to buy Ozcorp's faulty products. The expense required to do this will cause hundreds of families to loose their homes due to redundancies." EOD informed him, "Maybe he will listen when his precious Taskmaster is on the line." he added raising his arm and shooting a jet of grey sludge directly at Tony who expertly dodged coating the chair as it quickly hardened.
"A High Yield Solvent Explosive designed to harden on contact with air," EOD explained, "all it needs is some detonators." he added as Bombshell go to her feet and produced a set of detonator caps.
"You guys really thought this through." Tony said, "So what's you part in this Bombshell, you don't seem like an activist."
"Somebody will pay for these guys and if Osborne comes and we glue him the government will pay anything we want. I get half and EOD there gets the rest to save the army or whatever." Bombshell explained, "We don't want to kill anybody but if we don't get Osborne we're going to start blowing business men sky high."
Tony's distraction had worked these guys were good with bombs but were new to the whole hostage thing. By the time they had finished their speeches Tony had recovered his sword and shield and was ready to counter-attack when the clay and detonators started flying. EOD realized they had been duped first and fired a shot of clay with his left arm. Instead of dodging Tony charged, the gunk colliding with his shield and began to solidify as he jammed it onto EOD's chest plate before elegantly twisting to the right avoiding a second blast of clay. As he dodged Tony slashed with his sword cutting through the fuel tank causing a puddle of grey liquid to ooze on the floor before solidifying gluing EOD to the floor.
As EOD was immobilized Bombshell threw a hail of grenades and detonator caps the explosives bouncing across the lounge. Grapping one of the caps Tony jammed the detonator into EODs arms and dived as the explosive blew. Getting to his feet Tony saw a three grenades heading towards his face which he expertly caught before juggling them twice and throwing them back once again at Bombshell the explosives detonating before they reached her knocking her to the floor. From behind a massive armored fist stuck out knocking Tony down as EOD broke free the suit still intact, thanks in no short part to its expert design as a second blow slammed into Tony's gut.
"Stick around." Bombshell said crawling up to Tony before smashing a capsule onto his chest. The grey gunk inside slid down his chest beginning to harden gluing him to the floor as Tony struggled.
"Stop struggling." EOD ordered "It will harden before you break free."
"You won't have to worry for to long." Bombshell said sweetly producing two detonator caps, "You won't be alive for much longer." Tony closed his hand on his sword which was also mummified along with him and moved the blade slightly, just enough to cause the setting clay to shatter. Swinging his sword at Bombshell, Tony reached out as she jumped back catching the dropped detonator caps before rolling to his feet and lashing out with the caps, the first going through Bombshell's shin and the second through her arm.
"Your choice EOD." Tony offered, "Either you surrender or I will detonate the caps."
"Don't listen to him EOD." Bombshell screeched, "He's a Hero he can't do that."
"If I surrender will you talk to Osborne about the equipment?" EOD asked
"I'll see what I can do." Tony replied sincerely. EOD nodded his armored head and took off the helmet revealing a white faced man with sunken eyes. "Okay we surrender." he whimpered putting his hand's up.
"What no." Bombshell yelled reaching for a grenade. Expertly Tony struck the explosive with his sword causing the grey goo to leak over Bombshell's arm sticking it in an upright position.
"Next time you won't be so lucky." Tony threatened. Bombshell nodded and sat back down on the chair. "Okay you." Tony said to EOD, "how are they wired? Can they move?"
"They should be able to." EOD replied, "The trigger is the detonator on her belt." he added staring at Bombshell. Tony gingerly took the trigger and placed it on one of the lounge's tables. "Okay former hostages I need you to go down to the Bomb Squad guys and tell them to send SWAT and HAMMER up here. And tell them to hurry up because I am having a very bad day."
The hostages quickly left and within five minutes HAMMER agents and a fully armed SWAT team had arrived to take Bombshell and EOD into custody. Tony breathed a sigh of relief as the two criminals were led out.
"Sir, Director Osborne wants you outside ASAP." the HAMMER commander told Tony
"Great," Tony replied stalking out of the lounge and heading for the front of the airport. Emerging through the big glass doors Tony was greeted with a series of flashing lights and cheers of celebration. "Wow," Tony said, "I don't know what to say." he added as Osborne in the Iron Patriot armor beckoned him into the waiting Quinn Jet. "Except that I never want to do that again."
"What, be a Hero?" Osborne asked
"No," Tony replied, "Fly on a commercial airline."
The Original Character of Corporal Edward Oswald Daniels/EOD is my own creation and does not belong to Marvel Comics