Tony Stark felt the cold iron grow around his bare skin as he donned the suit. He felt confident in the knowledge that he was unstoppable, a machine. He had a purpose.
"Tony?" The all-too-familiar high voice of Pepper Potts called from the stairs. Tony heard the clicking of her stiletto heels against the tiled floor as she approached.
"Yeah?" Tony asked, turning half-heartedly to face the woman he had just two months ago declared his feelings for.
Pepper appeared what could only be described by Tony as conflicted; her strawberry blonde hair sat atop her head in tangle, as though she'd pinned it in a hurry to reach him. Tony admired the idea that she had. Her thin eyebrows were furrowed in indecisiveness, and her rosy lips were pursed. She seemed to be battling something.
"What is it, Pepper?" Tony asked, not bothering to hide the impatience in his tone.
Pepper was a blur as she cascaded towards him, entwining herself into the arms of his strong suit. If she was hugging him tightly, Tony couldn't tell.
"Just… be careful. I know you won't, but try." Pepper smiled sadly as she entangled herself.
Tony was having trouble getting used to being in a relationship, to say the least. He'd never had a commitment to anything living before, and now here he was; a hero and a boyfriend. Tony felt the words roll around his brain, the notion of being a superhero was far less frightening than that of being a boyfriend.
Pepper's eyes blurred into focus in front of him, and Tony shook himself from his reverie. He flashed Pepper a toothy grin, and interlocked her hand in his. "I'll be fine. I'll just do what I always do."
"That's what I'm worried about." Pepper sighed, giving his hand a slight squeeze before releasing it. "Good luck."
Tony laughed heartily before his helmet shot down to cover his face.
"Take her away, Jarvis." He yelled for Pepper's benefit, and then he was soaring away through the recently opened ceiling. Tony felt the rush of power flow through him as he took flight, the feeling of control consuming him. It was incomparable to anything else.
"The destination has a hundred soldiers sir, possibly more." Jarvis' voice echoed inside the suit. "It would be wise to enter somewhat cautiously."
Tony laughed harshly. "When have I ever done anything cautiously, Jarvis?" He thought for a second. "We'll land at the entrance to where the hostages are being kept."
Tony swore he could have almost heard Jarvis sigh in exasperation, but his robotic voice simply muttered; "as you wish, sir."
Tony sped through the sky at inhuman speed, darting right and left to avoid any obstacles. He felt confident and unstoppable. Nobody was man enough to step toe to toe with him on his best day, and he took pleasure in that.
He'd been flying for around 25 minutes when Jarvis' voice echoed inside the suit once more. "We are approaching the destination, sir."
Great, Tony was sick of the apprehension, already. "Prepare for landing, Jarvis."
Tony saw the commotion below him as he flew to the middle of the destination. He surveyed his opponents with detachment. They had weapons from Hammer Industries, which meant a simpler and quicker victory for Tony.
He ostentatiously launched into landing in the middle of the soldiers. There was a moment or two of complete silence surrounding him before the soldiers went into disarray. He was fired with rifles, shotguns and pistols, which barely scratched the surface of his suit. Tony laughed to himself, when would Justin Hammer get anything right?
He saw realisation dawn on the soldier's faces around him as they ran began to run out of ammo.
"Iron Man." He heard one of them yell in horror.
"You've heard of me, great." Tony's deep voice boomed.
He observed the large pile of varying ammo roughly around a hundred feet away from him, and prepared to launch a missile to destroy it. He quickly checked that there were no innocents around the pile, before firing his weapon.
The missile hit the centre of the pile, sending surrounding soldiers running as it alighted, creating an explosion and cascading heavy debris around the village. Tony raised both arms, taking care to perfect his aim before firing a single, killing shot to each of the villains. Some attempted to turn and run, others stood their ground, but in the end, they all fell in unison.
Tony could hardly believe how easy it had been, too easy. He marched toward what appeared to be a warehouse to his left, where he knew there was human presence. There was a large, wooden locked door blocking his entry, not that that was a problem for iron man. Tony kicked the door down with one motion, and heard screams from inside.
"You've got to assume that they have guards." Jarvis notified him.
"I'm betting on that." Tony replied quietly, and resolved to enter the warehouse with caution.
Sure enough, upon entry Tony was charged at by no less than a dozen armed guards. They were moving constantly, making it impossible for Tony to perform the same trick he had moments before.
A dark-skinned man nearest to him had raised his weapon, another Hammer Industries product. Tony expected no less. He swatted the man away with minimal effort, but sent him flying against the hard brick wall at the other end of the entrance. Blood oozed from the large, welling cut in his head.
The rest of the guards paused cautiously, deciding how best to attack this thing.
Tony took the moment of opportunity to shoot five men in quick succession, before kicking and flinging the rest, knowing that the mere hardness of his suit would do the trick. One attempted to tackle him, but Tony simply lifted the guard from the floor and threw him to join his companion at the other side of the room.
He cast a look at the scene around him, surveying the state of the villains. All dead.
Tony continued on to the main room, where he saw three hostages tied together in the centre. They had bandages covering their mouths, but they were still able to scream effectively.
Tony approached them slowly. "It's okay, I'm the good guy."
One of the hostages, a woman by the look of her eyes, nodded her head furiously at him, although trying to convey information. Her arms were tied, but Tony noticed her finger pointing at the space behind him.
Turning rapidly, Tony observed a man inches away from him, eyes alight with fury. Tony fell to the side as he was hit with the heavy board the guard had been carrying. He took flight quickly, and sent a shot at the guard from above. He didn't miss. The guard fell to the floor with a raging yell.
Tony landed once more next to the victims. Untying them quickly, he made sure to survey his surroundings. Nobody around, but there would be soon, he was betting. Tony tried to wave away his bloodlust for the time being, he needed to get these hostages out of there before they got hurt.
Once they were all free, Tony made a motion to encircle them. The hostages were made up of the woman who had tried to warn him, who had to be around 40 years old. She had slight lines etched into her skin, probably from stress, Tony imagined, yet her eyes sparkled with youthfulness. There was also a young man, possible around 25, with jet black hair and tanned skin. His face was alight with hope. The last hostage, an ageing man, appeared stern and less happy than the other two. From their eyes, Tony guessed that they were related.
The first two ushered into Tony's arms, however the ageing man remained particularly reluctantly and mistrustful.
"Do you want to be rescued, or not?" Tony asked irritably. If more guards came right now, he would have to work incredibly hard to protect all three.
"C'mon papa" the woman begged to her father. Her eyes delved into his intensely. After what seemed like hours, the old man nodded. Tony noticed that they were German.
Once all three were in Tony's arms, he took flight and exited the warehouse through a large hole in the ceiling. Tony flew and flew until he and the hostages approached the US Military, where he knew he'd find Rhodey.
Tony slowed to a gradual stop and landed outside the entrance to the military base. Soldiers were already running from the open doors to meet them. James Rhodes was at the front.
"Are these your hostages?" Tony asked James as he approached.
He nodded enthusiastically. "Are you all OK?" He asked the three.
"Yes, thank you so much." The woman cried in broken English, turning to face Tony. The young man reached over to shake his hand. The ageing man simply nodded his acknowledgement of Tony.
"Let's go inside." Tony muttered, gesturing to the military base.
Tony hung back to talk to James as the three hostages followed soldiers into the base.
"Why were they kidnapped?" Tony asked him interestedly.
"The old man, Jonas Schmidt, was a physicist back in the day." Rhodes sighed, turning to face Tony directly.
"He's retired, then?" Tony asked, deflecting the conclusion that Rhodes clearly wanted him to come to.
"You saw him, what do you think?" Rhodes sighed exasperatedly. "Anyway, we think that the Nigerians captured him to force him to build them their own suit."
Tony laughed without amusement. "How did that go?"
"Luckily you saved them before he could get started." Rhodes nodded thankfully. "We think he took the daughter and son, Maria and Luka, as, shall we say, motivation for Jonas."
There was something at the back of Tony's mind itching to be said. "There must have been physicists closer than that, why him?"
The look on James' face made it clear that this was the question he was hoping Tony wouldn't ask. He appeared conflicted for a moment.
"You know I'll find out one way or another, Rhodes." Tony stated.
"Jonas was a friend of your father's. We're not sure how close, but records show that they met directly a considerable amount of times."
Tony's eyebrows furrowed. "So he could know about the arc reactor." He muttered to himself.
"What?" James asked, watching Tony intently.
"Nothing" Tony murmured, his features arranged into a state of worry.
"He's not a threat to you, Tony. He was captured and held hostage, remember?" Rhodes laughed, patting Tony on the back of his suit.
"Nobody is a threat to me, Rhodes." Tony laughed forcefully. He remembered the look on Jonas' face when he'd realised who had come to save him, and wasn't so sure that he wasn't a threat to him after all. All Tony's instincts were telling him was that this definitely wasn't the last of this.