Hello Friends. ThatOnePerson1234 here. Hope you've all been doing well, I'm sorry for updating so late I've been busy with…well you know, life. Darn Sandy caused a tree to crush my best friend's garage! Oh NOOOOOO! Anyway! Since it's been a while I'll provide you with a Dramatic Intro! Also, this is technically the last chapter…

ThatOnePerson1234 Presents….

The Chapter You've All Been Waiting For…(Hopefully)…

Another Mallen

Chapter 6: Another Confrontation!

Tony's POV

As he leapt from the tops of Skyscrapers, Tony realized his Extremis powers were steadily growing stronger. He chuckled softly. I could probably withstand an atom bomb! He thought with joy.

In Tony's mind though, there was a very biased situation going on. Ninety percent of his mind was consumed by the Extremis, the other ten percent being the old Tony. When he was first injected the percentage was sixty to forty. Soon, Tony would kill anyone in his path. With no hesitation. Any normal being would have lost control at the moment of injection. But we all know Tony is almost the opposite of normal.

Tony spotted a lit up building up ahead, even though it was well into the darkest time of the night. He landed on its roof and alarms began to blare. A helicopter flew over his head with the Shield symbol. Of course. He thought. A Shield base. Better get out of here…I don't want to ruin my fame yet! With that he ran to the edge of the building and dove horizontally.

He flew through the air, and smashed through a wall of glass easily into a room…an office of some sort. The room was pitch black and empty, so Tony continued on his way, until realizing he was unusually tired. His Extremis concluded that it was because he hadn't slept for a long time and his human body wasn't completely invincible in that aspect. He moved across the roofs of skyscrapers until he located a rarely used factory. There seemed to be far too many of those in this area. He conveniently had trespassed into an old furniture factory. He found an old couch and settled down to sleep.

Howard's POV

Howard's heart was slowly falling apart. He'd already lost Maria (Mrs. Stark…or so I've been told) and now he was losing his only son. But he couldn't give up hope. He knew it was supposed to be impossible, but Tony was still savable.

It was dawn, and Howard, Pepper, Rhodey, and Gene were in Tony's armory. Howard was still amazed at the armors Tony had built. They were all incredible. This only fueled the fire that was the determination to save his son. "I'll take the war machine armor." Rhodey began.

"And I'll take the Mark 2 armor!" Howard cut in. Rhodey looked surprised but he continued, "Gene…well you're the Mandarin. And Pepper…" Rhodey rubbed the back of his head and Pepper growled.

"Oh no! You are not leaving me out of this one. I'll take the space armor if I have to!(AN: The Space Armor is intact correct? I mean, it was in the Season 2 finale. If it isn't, let's just say it is.)" Rhodey nodded vigorously as Pepper was now towering over him, hands on her hips. She backed up in triumph and went to put on the armor. Gene looked at Howard.

"So…How do we find Tony?" He asked. Howard sighed.

"As you may know, I know a lot about Extremis, and I believe I can whip up a tracker for large amounts of it. It will take about an hour." The two boys nodded and Pepper suddenly flew into the room, Space Armor equipped.

She landed next to Rhodey and leaned on his shoulder. "How come I don't have my own suit?" She pouted. (AN: Haha. I wonder why :D)

Rhodey just shook his head and said, "I guess we could wait another hour." He said. Howard began to furiously work to create his tracker.

30 MIN LATER! Howard! You lied!

"Finished!" Howard exclaimed. Rhodey, Gene, and an armored up Pepper ran up to him in surprise.

"Well that was quick." Gene drawled. Howard stood up, the locating device in hand. It only stretches out about a mile, but we'll find him if we search." Tony's friends nodded…even Gene? Whatever. Howard didn't have time to wonder about Gene.

As the group of three Iron Men flew around, Gene waiting to teleport to their location once they found Tony, the tracker gave no indication of finding Tony.

They flew around for hours, until the tracker let out a faint beep. The three stopped immediately. Howard held the tracker close to his facemask. The Extremis reading was coming from an old factory. Of course. He thought. Why not?

As the now group of four entered the building, the tracker kept getting louder. "Uh…" Rhodey said, "Isn't this like, walking straight into an easy ambush?" Howard looked at him.

"I will do whatever it takes to get my son back." He replied in all seriousness. Rhodey merely nodded in agreement. They continued into the factory, the beeping from the scanner growing louder, when, suddenly, a shuffling noise stopped them in their tracks. They peered around, but the factory was well lit, so there were very few shadows for anyone (*cough* Tony *cough*) to hide in.

They continued on, but Howard held a hand up to stop. The beeping was growing so loud that Tony had to be around the corner coming up. Howard informed the others of this and shut the tracker off. They walked around the corner and took a fighting stance, for turned away from them, standing with his hands behind his back, was Tony Stark.

Tony turned to face them, hands unraveling to hang at his sides. They noticed his eyes were redder than ever, and shuddered as Tony grinned slightly.

"Hello, humans." He said softly. "Might I inquire as to why you have come here?" Rhodey and Pepper stepped up.

"Tony." Rhodey said. "You have to beat the Extremis. You're my best friend and I can't live without you." Tony simply cocked his head slightly to one side in cruel amusement. Pepper was about to speak again, but surprisingly, Gene spoke without his Mandarin Armor.

"Stark." He whispered. "You were the only friend I ever had. I was terrible to you, I admit, but if not for me…come back for the world. It deserves you." Tony's grin decreased in size a small bit, but Pepper continued,

"Tony! I need you to turn back into the Tony I know now please! You're the best friend ever! Even if you never sleep, and you care more about your projects than yourself, I need you! The world needs you!" Her voice was full of pain, and Howard thought Tony would crack for sure. But his son simply chuckled softly before he frowned.

"That may have worked before, but I am almost in full control of this body!" He shouted before holding his hands out in front of him and the four were blown back. Howard realized that the Extremis had taken a mind of its own and Tony didn't have much time left. Gene stepped up and used his Ultimo ring (AN: I'm not sure if it's the Ultimo ring, but the one that I call "Jell-O of Doom" Because it's like gelatin and slowly crushes the one inside of it.) to expel some of the Jell-O of Doom onto Extremis.

Extremis just slashed its arm in the air, and Howard was the only one who realized what was going to happen. He dove to the side as the Jell-O of Doom was reflected onto the other three and captured them inside of it. They tried to move around but they were trapped. Howard stood and fired his right hand blaster at Extremis, who back flipped to avoid the shot before jumping at Howard and slamming him into a wall. Extremis held Howard down by his arms and grinned insanely.

"I almost have full control of this body." Extremis hissed. It sounded like multiple Tonys were speaking with a hollow voice full of malice. "The only way to fully claim control of him is to destroy the last things in the way!" It snarled gesturing to the three captured in the Jell-O of Doom. "And I'll start with you!" Extremis held its fist up.

"Tony." Howard gasped. "I know…you can beat this horrible thing Tony. I love you so much, my son. You're all I have." Extremis hesitated before it continued smashing its hand down. Howard closed his eyes. A loud crunch sounded…right beside of him? Howard opened his eyes to see the fist had punched the wall right beside of his head, leaving a hole in the concrete wall. Extremis stumbled backwards, clutching its head.

"No!" It gasped. But its voice sounded less hollow. "I can't deal with you yet…but I can deal with them!" It screeched before lifting a large metal beam and pinning Howard to the wall with it. Howard couldn't move. Extremis stumbled over to the three still contained in the Jell-O of Doom, breathing deep breaths full of hatred.

He stepped over to Pepper. "You." It snarled. "You are the one this body has the most difficulty slaying! You will die first!" He began to bring his hand down to her neck and suddenly Extremis was shot in the side by a golden beam. It made Extremis stumble sideways, but it didn't have a scratch on it.

Its slightly less red eyes glared at Gene, in his Mandarin form. Gene fired again, but Extremis leapt to the side. It dove at Gene and grabbed him around the waist and crashing him into a wall. Gene began to stand up, but Extremis stripped him of his armor in the blink of an eye.

"You seem to want to die first, Mandarin!" Extremis growled. "So be it!" It raised a hand, and Gene raised his own in a pitiful attempt to protect himself.

Before Extremis could kill Gene, a feminine voice shrieked, "STOP!" Everyone turned to look at Pepper. She had removed her face mask, and tears were clearly visible going down her face. "Tony! All you've ever wanted to do, all you've ever told us, is that you wanted to save lives. You did a great job of too! You helped so many people…including me!" Extremis straightened up and stared at her intently, as though it was frozen.

"If you keep doing this…You'll be no better than Gene was, no better than any of the terrible villains you've beaten. Gene saved me just now. He cares about us. If he hadn't saved me I never would have gotten the chance to tell you…how much I love you."

The factory was silent. Then Extremis clenched his skull between his hands and let out a horrible, ear shattering scream. Except the scream was Tony's, not Extremis's. He fell to his knees and began coughing violently. Then something black came from his throat…Extremis! He choked and coughed, and screamed all at once continually until he had rid himself of all of the Extremis.

By now Gene had freed everyone else and they all stood watching Tony, the air was so tense you would need a double diamond bladed chainsaw to cut it (I just made that up). Then Tony rolled onto his back…his, thank God, blue eyes staring up at the ceiling. The four bystanders sprinted over to him. He was gasping for breath and choked out two words, "I'm…Sorry." He whispered.

"It wasn't your fault son." Howard whispered, eyes filling with tears of happiness. Tony coughed some more, and his breath hitched for a moment, before he spoke again. "Pepper…I…" He continued coughing. "Love…you…too." And Pepper smiled, as did Tony before his eyes closed and his breathing stopped as well as his heart.

Don't Worry! I'm not stopping there. There will be a final chapter soon :) I feel so EVIL! Haha…this chapter reminds me of that song, "Love Will Keep Us Together!" Sigh…so inappropriate for that situation. Sorry for the cliffhanger. R+R!