So, this should run pretty IM3 compliant. This is unbeta'd, so All mistakes are mine
The Mandarin.
A terrorist.
A man who got his rocks off by bombing innocent people. He bombed the Chinese Theater, and Happy got caught in the blast.
Erika went with Tony to visit Happy in the hospital, and she looked just as angry as Tony did when they stepped out of the hospital to all the members of the press.
"We're awaiting the arrival of Tony Stark. We're hoping he'll give us his reaction to the latest attack," Erika heard a woman say just as she and Tony stepped out of the building.
'Here we go,' she thought, and then the onslaught began.
"Mr. Stark! Our sources are telling us that this is another Mandarin attack. Anything else you can tell us?" One woman asked as she and other reporters crowded Tony on the way to his car, Erika hot on his heels.
"Hey Mr. Stark! When is somebody gonna kill this guy?" some jerk with an iphone asked.
Erika repressed a groan. Great.
Tony turned around, and he was pissed. "Is that what you want?" he asked tensely. "Here's a little holiday greeting I've been wanting to send to the Mandarin. I just didn't know how to phrase it until now."
Erika cringed. "Don't do anything stupid, Dad," she muttered, but she was ignored. She could only watch in horror as Tony gave the whole world their home address and basically told the Mandarin 'come and get me.'
"Why would you do that?" she asked when they got home? "I can't believe you! There's a NUTCASE out there, and you just give him our address. What the hell, Dad?"
"Relax, I've got it handled," was all he said before disappearing into his lab.
"Yeah, great," Erika muttered. She really didn't want to deal with this right now, so she went up to her room. "I'm just gonna go pack my stuff," she called down the stairs.
She got no reply.
Erika sighed and wandered to her room, flopping down on the mattress, her cane clattering to the floor.
She missed New York. She missed the Avengers. She missed her brothers.
She missed her family.
'Mom would have ripped him a new one,' Erika though, and then she drifted off in an uneasy sleep.
Pepper was pissed when she found out what Tony did, and they argued for a long time over whether or not to leave for a while. Tony didn't want to, and he said so multiple times, before saying he had work to do and going down to his lab.
"Start packing," Pepper told Erika. "We're leaving."
Right as Erika finished packing a bag, the doorbell rang.
"Seriously?" Erika muttered, grabbing her cane and wandering out to the living room.
The Mark 42 was intercepting an unfamiliar brunette woman at the door. "Weird time for guests," said Erika, looking the woman up and down. "Who's your friend?" she asked just as Pepper's bags dropped from the floor below.
"Tony, is somebody there?" Erika heard Pepper ask as she came down the stairs.
"Yeah, it's Maya Hansen," said Tony, walking towards the stairs. "Old botanist pal that I used to know, barely." He turned back to the woman—Maya—and said, "Please don't tell me there's a 12-year-old kid waiting in the car I've never met."
Erika snorted. Great—one of his old one-night stands. That's just what they needed.
"He's 13," said Maya, and Tony's eyes widened comically before Maya said, "No, I need your help."
Tony didn't look happy about her little scare. "What for? Why now?"
"Because I read the papers, and, frankly, I don't think you'll last the week."
They went back and forth, and then Pepper started in on the conversation, and then Tony and Pepper started arguing.
Erika was just about to lay into Maya and ask her what the hell she needed from Tony, but the brunette was looking distractedly at the TV.
"Guys . . . do we, um . . . . ." started Maya. "Do we need to worry about that?" she asked, pointing to the TV, which showed that there was a missile headed right for them, and Erika had exactly two seconds to panic before the whole house shook and she and Maya went flying.
More explosions rocked the house, and her vision was swimming. The Mark 42 grabbed Maya and hauled her up, and then grabbed Erika and pulled her up, too. They stumbled along and Erika realized when the repulsers weren't working that Pepper was in the suit. They managed to get out, but then if Pepper was in the suit where was Tony?
"Dad!" Erika called out weakly, struggling to get up, and she screamed when she saw their home was collapsing,
"DAD!"
Erika shot to her feet, ignoring her leg's protests, and she did her best to run back to the house. "DAD!"
"Erika, no!"
Erika barely heard Pepper, and she almost fell when the Mark 42 whizzed past her towards the wreckage in front of her.
"DAD!"
"Erika, get out!" Tony roared, the Mark 42 attaching itself to him, and that was the last thing he said before he fell into the ocean with the rest of the crumbling structure.
"NO! DAD!"
No, no, no nonononNONO!
She was barely aware of Pepper grabbing her and holding her back from diving in after Tony. She sagged in Pepper's arms, sobbing.
He was gone.
"Pepper, it's me. I've got a lot of apologies to make and not a lot of time, so first off. I'm so sorry I put you in harm's way. That was selfish and stupid and it won't happen again. Also, it's Christmas time. The rabbit's too big. Done. Sorry. And I'm sorry in advance because . . . I can't come home yet. I need to find this guy. You gotta stay safe. That's all I know. You and Erika, you gotta stay safe for me. Tell her . . . tell her I'm sorry, and I'll be home as soon as I can."
". . . "
"I just stole a poncho from a wooden Indian."
The press were having a field day.
While firefighters and paramedics crowded the site of Tony's wrecked home, everyone was already speculating what had happened to Iron Man.
He was being presumed dead.
Erika was numb.
She'd lost him. She'd lost him again, and he wasn't coming back.
First Loki, then her siblings, and now Tony.
She was crying when Pepper found her, and when she told Erika Tony was alive and let her hear his message, she cried even harder with relief.
"I need to leave with Maya," Pepper told her. "I need you to get somewhere safe." She pressed a plane ticket into Erika's hands, along with a folded slip of paper. "Go to this address, alright? I need to keep you safe."
Erika looked down at the ticket, and then she looked at the address.
Who the hell did Pepper know that lived in Iceland?
The address Pepper had given her was for a really nice apartment building. Whoever lived here was up in the penthouse.
She still didn't know who lived here.
Adjusting her grip on her cane, Erika hobbled over to the elevator, dragging her suitcase behind her. She got a few funny looks from the people in the elevator when she pushed the button for the penthouse. She ignored them, though, and exited the elevator, stopping in front of the door with the right apartment number on it. She knocked three times and waited.
She didn't recognize the man that answered at first.
He was tall and pale, with sharp features, short black hair, and eyes the color of sea glass, dressed in a gray Henley and really nice sweatpants.
He looked surprised to see her, and said in a voice and a language she hadn't heard in over two years, "How in the Nine Realms did you find me?"
Erika swallowed back the sudden sting in her throat.
"Jormungand?"
A/N: Okay, show of hands, and be honest—who saw that coming?