So sorry! Thanks to those who let me know that the formatting was weird. That'll teach me to post without double checking. Anyway. I really hope this one works. So sorry! Kinda embarrassed now...Hope this makes up for it
'Present Day Malibu California' appears on the screen along with a large house on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea.
'That's your house?' Scott questioned. He hadn't seen the extent of Tony's fortune. Tony nodded.
A series of yells along with an injecting sound begin.
'What's that?' Natasha questioned, looking at Tony suspiciously.
'Don't look at me. I didn't put this together.' Tony replied.
'Forty-six.' Jarvis says.
'I'm different now.' Tony's voiceover adds, 'I'm... Well...'
'Forty-seven.' Jarvis continues.
'You know who I am.' Tony says in the voiceover.
The scene cuts to Tony Lab and DUM-E is wearing a party hat with 'Dunce' written on it. Tony is sat in a chair injecting himself and he has a tissue covered in blood in his mouth.
'What the hell?' Bruce questioned.
'Please tell me that isn't drugs.' Steve asks.
'Jeez, Cap. Why do you always assume the worst? It's micro-repeaters. It's what allows me to call the iron man suit to me.' Tony replied, slightly annoyed.
'That isn't a lot better. It looks painful.' Steve comments but Tony rolls his eyes in response.
'Ow' he yells, as he injects himself again and shakes his hand and put the metal injector down.
Tony winces at the memory.
'Sir, please may I request just a few hours to calibrate...' Jarvis asks.
'No.' Tony replies and he injects himself again and yells.
'Forty-eight.' Jarvis continues.
Tony yells in pain.
'Micro-repeater implanting sequence complete.' Tony says and he uses the tissue to wipe the blood off his arm from the injections.
'That looked like it hurt.' Rhodey said, looking concerned.
'I've had worse.' Tony replied, without a smile. That only made Rhodey more concerned.
'As you wish, sir.' Jarvis says, 'I've also prepared a safety briefing for you to entirely ignore.'
'I wish you wouldn't' Vision said, wistfully.
'I'm not wasting half my life watching those stupid videos. I'd only ignore them anyway.' Tony replied.
'Mabye you should watch them once in a while...' Bruce comments but he's interrupted.
'Lay off, alright? I'm fine. I'm still alive, right?' Tony replied, irritably. He was regretting allowing them to watch this more and more.
Bruce and Rhodey looked at each other, concerned.
'Which I will.' Tony replies. 'All right, let's do this.'
He sniffs and puts the tissue down.
'DUM-E. Hi, DUM-E. How did you get that cap on your head? You earned it.' He says whilst looking over at DUM-E, who is sweeping the floor.
Hey. Hey!' Tony says and he goes over to DUM-E, pausing to give a few punches to a punching pole with wooden spikes coming out of it.
'What are you doing out of the corner? You know what you did. Blood on my mat. Handle it.' Tony orders and he points offscreen.
'Sir, may I remind you that you've been awake for nearly 72 hours?' Jarvis reports as Tony throws a few fake punches in front of a camera being held by the robot YU.
'Jesus, Tony. That's not healthy.' Stephen Strange commented.
'I know, I know. I learnt that the hard way.' Tony said, inwardly cringing. He really hoped it wasn't going to show that.
It is then revealed that he is standing on a platform, surrounded by many iron man suits in display cases.
'I never realised you had that many iron man suits?' Wanda commented. Tony just shrugged in reply. He was getting more and more uncomfortable.
'Focus up, ladies. Good evening, and welcome to the birthing suite.' Tony turns and talks to them. 'I am pleased to announce the imminent arrival of your bouncing, bad-ass baby brother.'
'Don't judge.' Tony said, as he saw the looks the others were giving him.
Start tight and then go wide. Stamp date and time. Mark 42. Autonomous prehensile propulsion suit test. initialise sequence.' Tony says into the camera as everything begins to power up and he holds his hands out as a piece of iron man suit on a nearby table glows blue.
Tony leant back in his chair and sighed. This was going to be embarrassing.
'Jarvis, drop my needle.' Tony says and a needle drops on a record and a jazzy version of jingle bells starts playing. Tony begins moving to the music.
'I said don't judge!' Tony said, irritably as the others began laughing quietly. His face growing slightly red.
He then holds his hands out to try and get his suit to come to him but it doesn't work.
Everyone chuckled, except Tony.
'It's so weird seeing your inventions not working.' Clint said, with a smile.
'Crap.' Tony says and he bites his arm and then hits it and then holds his hands out again.
'That's not going to help.' T'Challa commented.
The arm of the suit comes to him, forcing his hand backwards with the speed at which it flies towards him. The shoulder piece on the same side then follows. He then turns around holds out his other hand and the other arm comes to him.
He laughs and says, 'All right, I think we got this. Send them all.'. He holds his hands up.
'That's not a good idea.' Bruce commented.
'Yeah. It really wasn't.' Tony replied, with a half-smile.
A leg piece then flies towards him and attaches itself. Another piece then hits the glass protecting another iron man suit and breaks the head off it.
'Jeez. Definitely not a good idea.' Sam commented.
Tony then turns and sees another piece flying towards him which he deflects with his arm and it soars upwards, smashing a light.
'Probably a little fast.' Tony says, 'Slow it down. Slow it down just a...' Tony ducked as another piece came flying toward him. Then there was a crash '...little bit.', Tony finishes.
Everyone laughed, even Tony. It was quite funny.
He is then forced to duck again as another piece flies towards him. A leg piece then flies towards him and attaches itself. Then the piece protecting his groin flies towards him and attaches itself, forcing him backwards.
'That must have hurt.' Thor said, wincing along with everyone else.
Then a back piece attaches itself and forces him forwards onto his stomach. He uses his flight stabilisers to stop him crashing into the ground.
Everyone burst out laughing again.
'So that's why you rarely let anyone into your lab?' Rhodey said with a laugh, 'You don't want anyone watching when experiments go wrong.'
'You could've seriously hurt yourself' Bruce said, sounding worried.
'Cool it, will you, Jarvis?' Tony asks as he flies back to the platform and lands as the chest piece arrives and attaches itself.
The record scratches and the music stops as it is hit by the face mask which then turns around and faces him.
'Come on. I ain't scared of you.' Tony says.
'Course not.' Natasha said with a laugh. Tony sighed.
The mask flies forward and turns around and Tony does a flip as it attaches itself and he lands in a stereotypical superhero pose.
'I'm the best.' Tony says as the inside screen display lights up.
'Sure.' Steve says, smiling at Stark's arrogance.
Then the piece that had hit the suit flies towards hits him in the back and the suit falls back into pieces and Tony is left only with helmet and is sprawled on the floor. He then takes off his helmet and groans as he flexes his arm.
Everyone bursts out laughing.
'Sure, laugh it up. Not like that hurt or anything.' Tony mumbled and the others quietened down.
'As always, sir, a great pleasure watching you work.' Jarvis says, sarcastically.
Tony's voiceover then continues by saying 'I guess 72 hours is a long time between siestas.'
'So now you realise that.' Vision said, exasperatedly.
'I didn't think it could get any worse. Then I had to go and turn on the TV. That's when he happened.'
Steve frowned. How could it get any worse?
The scene cuts to the Mandarin talking over a series of horrifying scenes of the mandarin speaking, people cheering, people being killed and buildings burning. 'Some people call me a terrorist. I consider myself a teacher. America. Ready for another lesson?'
'I remember this guy. He was on the news, right?' Clint questioned. Tony nodded.
'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 AI Salem Air Base in Kuwait was attacked. I... I... I did that. A quaint military church filled with wives and children, of course. The soldiers were out on manoeuvres. The braves were away. President Ellis. You continue to resist my attempts to educate you, sir. And now you've missed me again. You know who I am. You don't know where I am. And you'll never see me coming.' The Mandarin continued.
'Jesus. He's threatening the president?' Steve questioned.
'He's not actually the Mandarin.' Tony informed him.
'What?' Steve questioned.
'Well if you shut up for a minute and watched the movie, you'd find out.' Tony snapped.
Steve frowned but he decided to say quiet.
The news that comes back on and various newsreaders then begins talking again and says 'Now that we seem to be back, let's recap some of the frightening developments... American airwaves were hijacked... The nation remains on high alert. All attempts to find the Mandarin have so far proved unsuccessful.'
'How did he manage to hyjack the tv airwaves?' Thor questioned.
'It's not difficult. I hacked into it when I was 18. It wasn't worth it.' Tony replied.
'Do you ever stop showing off?' Natasha asked.
'Nope' Tony replied, with a smirk.
The news cuts to President Ellis saying 'Central to my administration's response to this terrorist event is a newly minted resource. I know him as Colonel James Rhodes. The American people will soon know him as the Iron Patriot.' Rhodey then appears in the Iron Patriot armour.
'It's literally just a paint job.' Scott observed. Rhodey sighed.
Other news reporters then comment 'And how is President Ellis responding? By taking the guy they call War Machine and giving him a paint job. The same suit,
but painted red, white and blue. Look at that. And they also renamed him, "Iron Patriot." You know, just in case the paint was too subtle.'
The scene cuts to Tony and Rhodey at a restaurant.
'It tested well with focus groups, all right?' Rhodey says, slightly annoyed.
'"I am Iron Patriot!" it sucks.' Tony replies.
'It really does.' Clint agreed.
'Listen. "War Machine" was a little too aggressive. All right? This sends a better message.
Tony sighs and says 'So, what's really going on? With the Mandarin. Seriously, can we talk about this guy?' Tony asks.
'It's classified information, Tony. Okay, there have been nine bombings.' Rhodey concedes.
'Nine.' Tony replies.
'The public only knows about three. But here's the thing, nobody can ID a device. There's no bomb casings.' Rhodey informs him.
'How is that possible?' Scott questioned.
'You know I can help.' Tony reminds him. 'Just ask. I got a ton of new tech. I got a prehensile suit. I got bomb disposal. It catches explosions in mid-air.'
'When's the last time you got a good night's sleep?' Rhodey asks.
'Einstein slept three hours a year. Look what he did.' Tony answers.
'I don't think Einstein is the best role model.' Dr Strange observed.
'People are concerned about you, Tony. I'm concerned about you.' Rhodey says, shaking his head.
'You're going to come at me like that?' Tony says.
'No, look, I'm not trying to be a dick...tator.' Rhodey corrects himself as two young children appear. A young girl and boy.
'Nice save.' Natasha commented.
'Do you mind signing my drawing?' The little girl asks.
'If Richard doesn't mind. Are you all right with this, Dick?' Tony says with a grin.
'Yeah. Fine with me.' Rhodey replies.
'What's your name?' Tony asks.
'Erin.' She replies, with a smile.
'I loved you in A Christmas Story, by the way.' Tony says to the little boy who has so far been silent.
'Listen, the Pentagon is scared. After New York, aliens...Come on. They need to look strong. Stopping the Mandarin is a priority, but it's not...' Rhodey begins but he is interrupted. Tony looks increasingly uncomfortable and he writes 'Erin help me' on a speech bubble coming out of her drawing which shows the battle of New York and Iron Man carrying the nuke through the wormhole.
'What's the matter with you?' Bruce asked, looking concerned.
'I'm fine. I was just a little anxious. That's all.' Tony replied, shifting in his seat. His heart began hammering in his chest.
'It was more than that.' Rhodey commented, making the others even more concerned.
'Can we just keep watching the stupid movie please?' Tony asked irritably.
'It's not superhero business.' Tony finishes.
'No, it's not, quite frankly.' Rhodey replies.
'I get it.' Tony answers.
'It's American business.' Rhodey says.
'That's why I said I got it.' Tony said sharply, looking very uncomfortable and he breaks the crayon.
Tony exhales sharply and put his head in his hands.
'Are you okay?' Rhodey asks.
'I broke the crayon.' Tony replies.
'Are you okay, Mr Stark?' Erin asks.
'You really don't look well.' Said Bruce, worriedly.
'Take it easy. Tony.' Rhodey warns. Tony looks up and freezes after he takes his hands away from his face.
'How did you get out of the Wormhole?' The boy whispers in his ear. Tony flinches and gets up from the table.
'The wormhole? That's what's causing this?' Natasha asked, quietly.
'Just watch the movie. Quit asking questions.' Tony said, sharply.
'Wait a minute. Tony!' Rhodey says as Tony starts to leave.
'What did you say?' Tony asks.
'Tony.' Rhodey questions,
'Sorry. I'm just checking on the suit.' Tony says breathlessly as he walks outside and pushes past people to where his suit is standing and he goes inside it and falls to his knees.
Everyone was quiet. They had never seen Tony look so vulnerable.
'Okay. Check the heart. Is it the brain?' Tony questions, looking alarmed and scared.
'No sign of cardiac anomaly or unusual brain activity.' Jarvis informs him.
'Okay, so I was poisoned?' Tony asks.
'My diagnosis is that you've experienced a severe anxiety attack.' Jarvis says.
'Jesus Tony. Why didn't you say something?' Rhodey asked. Upset that his friend hadn't come to him for help.
'I was fine. Quit over-reacting.' Tony replied.
'Over-reacting? A severe panic attack is not fine, Tony. You need help.' Bruce told him.
'Me?' Tony asks, incredulously.
'Why is that so surprising? The stuff you've been through.' Rhodey wondered.
'Come on, man, this isn't a good look. Open up.' Rhodey says, knocking on the helmet.
'Sorry, I gotta split.' Tony says and he flies off.
'Sure. Just fly away. That's going to solve all your problems.' Steve said. Tony frowned.