By the time Jarvis had finished compiling the videos and the data that had been requested, Tony and Pepper had eaten, cleaned up and Tony was threatening to doze off on them.
"Sir, are you ready to view the footage that you requested?"
"I have been ready for a while Jarvis. Let's get the show on the road here."
Six video screens came up on both Tony's laptop and the TV. One screen was the roof, four were different views around the arc reactor and the last was the parking lot outside of the building. The video came into focus at the moment Obadiah returned to Stark Industries after taking the arc reactor from Tony and showing him ducking into Sector 16 and closing the door behind him.
Tony winced at the memory and his hand absently flew to his chest almost out of a reflex he was unable to do when it happened. He had nearly died on his living room couch because of that and that was not easy to forget.
He fast forwarded a bit until the moment that Pepper showed up with five federal agents and Coulson and Tony started to commit their faces to memory as they broke into Sector 16. He had to admit that he wasn't thrilled with their methods of entrance. It wasn't long though before Obadiah's Iron Monger came out of the darkness and started chasing Pepper. Tony felt his blood boil at this again and his face quickly went from calm observer to pissed as hell and ready to kill.
Pepper felt Tony next to her just by the movement of the bed when Obadiah began chasing her. She silently took his hand to show him that she was still there and he didn't need to fly off the handle.
As Pepper took his hand, Tony saw himself come in at full speed and knock Obadiah to the street. He didn't need the video to remember being thrown into a bus and under a minivan. While the battle between two iron soldiers was going on, Tony scanned the screens for the agents. At least two were still in Sector 16 while the other three and Coulson were in the parking lot with Pepper.
Once everyone was counted for, Tony fast forwarded again to the roof up until the moment that Pepper overloaded the reactor – the true test. As the blast came up, the image fizzled for a bit, blacked out for 7.9 seconds and then returned to reveal the burned, destroyed and still burning wreckage of what was once his factory.
"Turn up the volume, Jarvis. I want to hear this." Tony commanded as he watched.
Jarvis complied and turned up the sound, the sounds of breaking glass and metal and fires and Pepper screaming Tony's name. As the smoke and debris cleared from the aftermath of the overload of the reactor, Tony could see Pepper climbing to the roof as fast as she could up with Rhodey and Agent Coulson following behind her. She had screamed out Tony's name but the lifeless body in red armor on the ground with the light from his arc reactor flickering faintly that was Tony was non responsive. She screamed his name as she shined the flashlight on his body for Rhodey and Coulson. Given the fact that Tony was unconscious at the time, this was the first time he had ever seen what had happened to him. All he remembered was waking up in bed the next morning.
"You have to get him out of there," Tony heard Pepper gasp out as she followed behind them. He watched as she knelt behind his body and cradled his head in her lap as Rhodey and Coulson got to work stripping him of the broken armor.
"Half of this is just falling off," Rhodey said with a grunt as he pulled off the battered chest piece and one of the arms. "Please tell me he's still alive and I am not doing this for his funeral."
Tony watched as Pepper put her fingers to his neck to find a pulse. "He's alive and he's going to stay that way."
"He needs to be in a hospital." Rhodey stated as he freed one of his legs.
"He needs to be home." Pepper countered as she looked down at Tony's broken form. "You know he will not consent to being in a hospital and he would check himself out as soon as he was able. If he is at home, I can make sure he rests and gets the time he needs to recover."
Tony had to smirk a little bit at this as he looked over at Pepper. "You know me too well."
"After this long, I would not be doing my job if I didn't." Pepper countered as she gently nudged his face back towards the video just as Rhodey and Coulson were carrying Tony down from the roof to Rhodey's truck.
"So that was how I got home," Tony exclaimed. "I am not sure whether I should be embarrassed or grateful."
"Go with gratitude on this one." Pepper urged as they saw Rhodey's truck drive off.
The SHIELD agents quickly went into action after Tony and Pepper had left. Many things were still on fire but they went into the building to clear up what could cause issues. Several of the agents freed Obadiah's body from the wreckage of his armor and took it to a waiting car.
Tony had trouble watching that. It was almost just as bad as identifying his parents' bodies after the car crash that had killed them.
After the body was gone, the agents again returned inside to grab the remainder of the Iron Monger suit as well as the original.
It was in the few moments between the removal of Obadiah's body and the agents' return for the rest of the suit that one agent stuck out. It was the one who had seemed interested in the computer with the plans earlier in the footage. He made sure he was alone before approaching the armor. He knelt down by the edge of the hole that the explosion had made over the armor, reached down, unlocked the reactor and put it in his pocket before anyone else had noticed.
Tony rewound the footage a bit and took a screen capture of the moment that the agent looked around to make sure he was alone and looked dead into the camera and saved it before forwarding it back to where he had left off.
The agents were loading both the Iron Monger armor and the original armor that Tony had built into an unmarked van that drove off quickly after everything was loaded and the fire department was arriving.
"Jarvis, stop the tape, save it and bring up the screen cap I just made." Tony ordered. The image of the agent's face was soon blown up on the screen. "Pepper, do you know who this is? Did Coulson send a list of everyone who was there?"
"Yes he did," Pepper said seriously. "And that man is dead. It was listed on his bio."
Tony swallowed hard. "Did it say when he died?"
Pepper shook her head. "No, just the fact that he was no longer alive."
"Looks like I'll need to ask the source directly," Tony exclaimed as he grabbed his laptop.
TO: Coulson
FROM: Anthony Stark
CC: FBI, INTERPOL
BCC: sharks
RE: a question and information
Coulson,
I was going over some of my security footage from the night of the explosion and I found some very interesting bits of information that could help my case. Attached is my security footage from that night unaltered. I have reason to believe that something that belonged to me was stolen that night by one of the agents that were involved with the clean up, one who is deceased, and that stolen item ended up in the hands of the terrorist that attacked the London armory. Look this over and give it to the proper authorities and if possible, I would like to know the circumstances and date of the agent's death.
Tony Stark
Tony hit send and within moments a reply was in his inbox.
TO: Anthony Stark
FROM: Coulson
RE: a question and information
The agent died two months ago. His body was found with several stab wounds on a pier outside a warehouse in New York. His assailant has yet to be found.
"This is getting more interesting here." Tony commented aloud but more to himself as he replied to Coulson.
TO: Coulson
FROM: Anthony Stark
RE: a question and information
There may be a connection between these two cases and I may be able to help. Getting the footage of the bombing and my security feed was easy but I will need a few more permissions for this. Get me the clearance and permissions to access some more secure video feeds and I am sure both of us will get our answers.
Tony sent this one a little more hesitantly. He was essentially asking for permission to hack into secure footage was reserved typically only for those in a law enforcement capacity when he was essentially wanted for a crime at the moment.
Hours had gone by before a response had been received. It was past one in the morning when the faint sound of an incoming email alerted Jarvis who in turn woke Tony and Pepper, but not intentionally.
"Sir, Agent Coulson has responded."
Tony blinked a few times as his brain registered what Jarvis had just said. "Bring it up, Jarvis." Tony said through a yawn.
The email opened on Tony's computer screen with a list of about ten different codes and a very short message – "You will be monitored and any thing that could be perceived as criminal activity will result in your immediate arrest."
Tony saved the codes to his computer and closed the email, his hands shaking as he did so. "I'm going to have to tread carefully or Afghanistan will look like a vacation." He stated seriously as he lay back down to attempt to sleep for the night.
The next morning, Tony was up before six to try and find what he was searching for. He tried to go down to his workshop to scour over potential hours of video feed once he hacked into them but Pepper stopped him at his bedroom door, tucked him back into bed with a cup of coffee and his laptop and left him to work.
"You know this would go a hell of a lot faster in my workshop where I can have three computers doing this simultaneously!" Tony called out the door.
Pepper poked her head back in. "But up here I can keep an eye on you to make sure that you don't over do it. You still have a low grade fever and that cough and I will not have you relapse again due to your stubbornness in listening to directions so deal with it."
Tony flinched a little in surprise at the hint of ice in Pepper's voice. "Ouch…someone switch your latte this morning or something?" he commented as he pulled up a few files and blew Pepper a kiss before she ducked out.
It took a little over two hours to hack into the Port Authority's website, a task that could have easily taken ten without the gift of the access codes. After getting in, Tony realized that getting in was the easy part. The logistics of the search he wanted to try were daunting. New York Harbor consisted of 750 total piers and docks, 1100 warehouses with nearly 1.5 square miles of enclosed space that would have to be gone over from the night of the explosion to August when the agent in question died to explore any and all possibilities.
Tony slumped back against his pillows as a string of whispered expletives slipped out as he looked at this. "This is nearly goddamn impossible," he breathed out, almost defeated. "Okay, we'll have to do this systematically. Coulson said this guy died outside a warehouse with several stab wounds so he wouldn't be going too far. Jarvis, start a scan of every video feed from every pier with a warehouse on it in August. Scan them with facial and audio recognition and if this bastard pops up, show it to me."
"Yes sir but I must warn you that this will take some time even at full capacity," Jarvis interjected.
"I know but this is important," Tony sighed as he tried to pull up anything else that could possibly help such as access records and shipping manifests.
More than twelve hours later, Jarvis flagged a video from Pier 50 on August 20 at three in the morning. The agent that they were looking for showed up at a nearly empty warehouse since it was reserved for overflow on shipping. Tony turned up the sound so he could hear what was exchanged between the agent in question and a larger man who appeared to be Middle Eastern.
"This is what you asked for, isn't it?" the agent said as he held out the reactor.
The other man took it with admiration. "Yes, this is what was described to me and what I saw on my brother's tapes. The final piece to recreating the armor that led to my brother's end."
"Where's the money you promised me? I am really sticking my neck out here for that." The agent shot back.
The other man moved closer to the agent. "Payment…pardon me, I forgot," he said calmly as he stepped closer yet again and with a quick flick of his wrist, rammed what appeared to be a knife right into the stomach of the agent. "This is your payment. I have no use for traitors." He stated as he twisted the blade to pull it out and shoved it into his body at least three more times. "Infidels like you stand in the way of a true power but soon that will be no more."
The agent staggered out of the warehouse as the other man slipped unnoticed through the shadows. The agent took no more than ten steps before he fell dead just outside of the door.
"Jarvis, do we have any data on the sand viper there?"
"According to the databases I have access to; we have no information on this individual." Jarvis replied.
"Damn it," Tony hissed. "Fine, let the feds do their own work here. Bundle up the video and all the saved data and email it to the feds and my lawyers."
"Of course sir. Consider it done."
Four days went by without a single word. After Tony's fever finally broke and he finished the antibiotics, Pepper finally let him back down to his workshop for one and only reason…he was driving her nuts being confined to the living room with nothing to do and no where to go since the feds had not yet fixed their foul up.
Once he was allowed back down into his workshop, Tony threw himself head first into the suit to make sure it was ready to blow the shit out of anything or anyone who put him through this hell. He had made a few slight improvements and was aching to take them for a test flight but Pepper and Jarvis still put the squash on that one.
With the sound of heavy bass thumping through the speakers at full volume, Tony never heard Pepper come down the stairs until she was right behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.
"You scared the hell out of me!" Tony exclaimed as he dropped the screwdriver in his hand. "What is it?"
"There's an FBI agent on the phone for you," Pepper stated seriously. "It's on a video feed."
Tony nodded and ran upstairs. Normally he would have just transferred the call but it wasn't like he wanted the feds snooping in his workshop.
"What do you want?" Tony snapped harshly to the agent in front of him, crossing his arms over his chest as a murderous glare took over.
"Thanks to the information you sent us, we were able to figure out a name to go along with the death of one of our agents."
"Well that's damn nice but what the hell does it do for me?" Tony snapped, not even trying to hide his annoyance and irritation with the Federal Agency in question. "You summarily ruined my life in one sentence and despite the fact that I have given you every proof that I am not involved, you refuse to make a statement clearing my name."
"We do apologize for that Mr. Stark and I assure you that you are no longer considered a suspect in anyway but we can't let that information out until we apprehend the suspect in question." The agent said. "That actually brings me to the reason why I phoned. When we discovered the identity of the other man in the video…a one Feda al Razul…we uncovered a coded message over our networks related to him and the Ten Rings but we can't decipher it due to its extremely complex mathematical nature. The head of the FBI was wondering if you could crack it."
"Why don't you just call the head of the math department at MIT? I am sure he would be more than willing to help." Tony snapped.
"We did," the agent replied. "And he referred us to you saying that you were the only one who would even have a chance at breaking it."
"Well thanks for the compliment but what's in this for me?" Tony countered. "As far as I'm concerned, you all have ruined my life as I know it so why the hell should I even consider helping you."
The agent paused. He was desperate. "What do you want?"
"That's a pretty open ended question." Tony spat. "First I want a personal apology…"
"The FBI does apologize for all that you have gone though…"
"Not good enough but I'll take it for now." Tony interrupted. "Give me the damned code. When this is done and I am cleared a thousand times over, I want a public apology on national TV and every major newspaper clearing my name and stating for the record that if it wasn't for me, all of you would have still had your heads up your ass." He added as he saw the code downloaded to his computer. "But as for now, don't bug me. I'll be in touch." He said as he hung up so he had the last word.
"That was tactful, Tony." Pepper said dryly as she looked up from the couch.
"I wasn't going for tact." Tony stated as he went back down to the workshop to get to work.
With all three of his computers going at full speed, Jarvis and his own infallibility when it came to mathematics, Tony had the code cracked in just a few short hours but when he cracked it and read what it said, it made his blood run cold.
"Jarvis, get the suit ready and tell Rhodey to high tail it over here. I'm going to need his help." Tony ordered. "Pepper!"
"Sir, I must insist that you do not use the suit at this time."
"And I am overriding you." Tony spat back. "Pepper!" he called out again as the bots started putting his armor on him.
"What is it?" Pepper asked a little breathlessly as she ran down the stairs at Tony's urgent screams.
"Call the feds and the NYPD and tell them I know where Razul is going to hit next. I'm going to stop him."
"Where am I telling them to go?" Pepper asked as Tony was slamming down his helmet.
"6th and 56th…New York." Tony said before he shot out into the sky at breakneck speeds, hoping that he could get there in time.
Pepper froze at first when she heard the address but recovered and snapped into professional mode and dialed Coulson.
By the time Tony and Rhodey had made it to New York, it was nearing five in the evening.
"Are you going to fill me in on what we're going into here?" Rhodey asked.
"He's going to blow up Stark Industries headquarters." Tony stated bluntly as they landed just outside of the parking garage. "And he'll do it on the evening news to get as much publicity as possible. He's a sadistic bastard who likes to be front page news."
"How did you find out about this?"
"The feds let me play with their toys and then had to beg for my help." Tony admitted. "Jarvis, give me some stats here. How many are in the building and where's our target?"
"Based on access and exit records, there are currently 632 people in the building and your target is in the middle of the parking garage with an explosive device capable of catastrophic destruction."
"Timed?"
"No, it appears to have a manual detonator."
Tony sighed deeply. This was not going to be easy. How much was he willing to sacrifice to win?
"Rhodey, I'm going to need you outside. Jarvis, turn on the fire alarm everywhere in the building except for the parking garage. We need to get these people out as quickly as possible."
"Of course sir…accessing systems now."
"What do you need me to do?" Rhodey asked as he had a sinking feeling at what Tony was going to do.
"Keep the crowds back and pull me out and bring me home if anything goes wrong." Tony said seriously as he put a hand on Rhodey's shoulder before walking forward to meet Feda al Razul.
Tony walked forward, using all of his systems to keep tabs on the situation. It seemed that al Razul was alone except for an obscene amount of explosives and his original armor with the arc reactor at the core. One false move on Tony's part could lead to a million tons on steel and concrete coming down on top of them.
"I thought all you rag heads died in the desert!" Tony called out to get al Razul's attention.
"I was wondering when you would show up. I have been expecting you."
"I doubt you would be expecting me." Tony snapped back.
"Only you and a few other minds in the entire world could have solved that puzzle. My brother was right when he described you."
"Your brother?"
"Yes…you burned half of his face off in Afghanistan with your compliments."
Tony's stomach sank and chills ran through him. Raza was Feda's brother and now he could definitely be up shit's creek. "What do you want?"
Feda smiled as he played with the detonator in his hand. "I want you to watch your golden palace crumble to the ground from the inside. A deserving fate for what you did."
"I don't die all that easy. Your brother tried to kill me a few times."
"Yes…he did…but not in this manner." Feda countered. "You Americans always like building things bigger…forgetting that sometimes they can fall with spectacular results."
"Jarvis, is everyone out of the building?" Tony whispered upon hearing what was going to happen.
"Yes sir. NYPD and FDNY as well as the FBI are waiting out front."
"Is there any way to disable part of that bomb remotely?"
"The only thing that may be possible is to scramble the radio signals from the remote detonator. There is only a 34% chance of success though, sir. Are you sure you want to take the risk?"
"The building's insured and can be replaced. The people are safe and it's time to face crazy with crazy. Hit the scrambler." Tony whispered before turning on his exterior speakers again. "Big is a relative term though. Sometimes, smaller and more decisive can work better. That's the problem with you. You think you need a ground to air missile when an automatic weapon would do just as well. A military force that is usually successful is a military force with supreme mobility."
Tony smirked inside his helmet as he raised his arm and pointed it directly at al Razul; flipping open his machine guns and opening fire as he advanced in a full run at him.
Al Razul tried to fight back with the flame throwers and small rockets but Tony was far more maneuverable in his armor rather than the original which was made out of missile casings made of solid steel.
Tony kept going at full speed, even igniting his boosters so he ran into al Razul at force to knock him on his back like a turtle flipped over on a highway.
As al Razul fell backwards, his finger depressed the detonator on the bomb. Jarvis' scrambled signal gave Tony a few precious seconds to try to stop the inevitable. He scrambled to his feet over to the device and quickly started pulling wires out of it to diffuse it. The timer started ticking down on the device, leaving no room for something calculated. The seconds seemed to fly by even faster the more that Tony tried hoping that he was getting closer to a positive solution rather than the negative…
The people outside had no idea what was going on inside Stark Industries. All they knew was the fact that the ground had shook as a muffled boom echoed though the canyons of skyscrapers and smoke and ash filled the air…