A/N: I am SO, SO, SO, SO SOOOORRRYYY! I know I said I was going to update once a week, and it has been two weeks, so I beg for forgiveness. I didn't mean to mislead anyone.

Writing and updating four stories at the same time was confusing the hell out of me, so I decided to power through my other Iron Man story 30 Days (which, I recommend you read ;)). Now that that story is over, I'm focusing on Man in a Can nonstop until it is over.

Thank you for your patience ^_^


Chapter 6

By the time Iron Man arrived at the small village, there was very little to do in terms of rescue. The flames could be seen from afar, the rich forest surrounding the settlement a raging inferno. Township people carried water from the nearby river and ocean to the scene, in whatever containers they could get their hands on: buckets, pitchers, and even plastic cups. However, their best efforts were not enough to salvage their scarce belongings.

Tony watched in anger as children sat on the floor, holding onto their siblings and watching the adults of the community scrounge to find whatever was left that could be reclaimed. The huts burned quickly, leaving behind nothing but ash and memories.

Dammit! I wasn't fast enough!

Iron Man took to the skies, looking every which-way to find anything he could use to help. The village was remote, with hardly any commodities accessible. There was nothing around that he could use to carry massive amount of waters with, nothing he could quickly mold to serve his needs. These people only had their families and their huts, and nothing but vast amounts of land and forest surrounded them.

"¡Ayudenme, por favor! ¡María! ¡Está atrapada!"

Tony picked up the gist of the plea for help, and recognized the name as belonging to the kind-hearted woman that had nursed his Pepper back to health. He lowered himself and flew to where the man that had just asked for help was standing, flailing his arms trying to get anyone's attention.

The billionaire lifted his face plate, grabbing the desperate man by the arms, and getting his attention.

"¿Donde está?" Tony asked the man.

"No ha salido de su casa. ¡Ayúdela, por favor!" the man responded as he pointed to the burning home.

Tony wasted no time, rushing to the hut and walking in, the heat not bothering him thanks to the upgrades he had made to the suit after training with Pepper. The place looked nothing like he remembered when he had visited last week, but his only concern was finding Maria, preferably alive.

He called out her name, but there was no response. The smoke was thick, and he knew probably scalding as well. If he found Maria alive, she would probably be severely injured for life.

"Maria! Maria!" Tony yelled, the name tugging at his heart. For an instant, he could not help but picturing his own mother being amidst the chaos, and her life relying on his aid.

"Maria!" Tony yelled again before his armored foot hit something on the floor. He bent down and saw nothing but blankets and old palm tree leaves, yet Jarvis's analysis showed him someone was underneath.

"Dammit!" he cursed, pulling the debris off the woman and finding her below all of it. He retracted the armor off his hand, instantly feeling the steam burning it. He bit his lip and ignored the pain, checking for a pulse.

"Hang in there, Maria! I'll get you out!" Tony said, placing his armor on his hand once more, and picking up the woman from the floor. He pressed her as close to his body as he could, lowering his head to protect her from the falling ceiling. By the time he exited the collapsing hut the entire population of the village had stopped trying to stop the fire, and instead were trying to find a safe place to ride out the rest of the day.

Tony took Maria's limp body to the man that had been screaming her name. They placed her on the ground, and it was not until them that Tony noticed the burnt skin on her face. The moist eyes of the man told Tony they both had the same thought. If Maria lived, she was not going to be able to do much more than breathe and eat.

"Lo siento mucho," Tony apologized, feeling even more useless than he already felt. He knew reinforcements would not arrive for another 45 minutes to an hour and by then the village would be flattened out. However, the threat the fire posed was still imminent as the shrubs and trees around the village would guarantee its spreading.

The sound of incoming vehicles caught everyone's attention. A few feet from them, two old pickup trucks stopped, their owners exiting the vehicle in awe of the scene in front of them. Tony flew over to them, eyeing the back of the trucks with desperate eyes. His faceplate opened up once more, and he spoke to one of the newcomers.

"Do you speak English?"

"A little," the man responded in a thick accent.

"I need your truck," Tony said, finally feeling close to being able to help in some form. "I need a large bucket."

"Bucket?" the man asked, not knowing the meaning of the word.

"Agua," Tony said, pointing to the back of the truck and then to the fire. He was familiar with the Spanish language, but his lack of practice was costing him being able to properly communicate with the locals. "Bucket…agua…your truck."

The man turned around, stared at his dingy truck and then at the fire. He was not thrilled to give Iron Man his only vehicle, but he understood that his own town could be in danger if the fire continued to spread.

"OK," the man said.

Tony wasted no time, pulling the man out of the way and lowering his face place. Using the lasers in his wrists, he cut the cabin from the back of the truck, leaving the bed free to use. Iron Man lifted the bed up in the sky with him, and headed to the closest source of water available.

He held the makeshift bucket above his head, slowly dunking himself and it inside the river. A minute later, Tony was carefully flying back to the village, carrying the bed filled with pouring water in his hands.

The locals watched in astonishment as Iron Man maneuvered the contraption until he was able to pour the water on a portion of where the village had once stood, effectively putting out the fire in that section. In a flash, Tony was gone to repeat the action as many times as needed to stop the flames.

Half an-hour later, the fire had been contained. Tony dropped the bed on the ground before falling from the air himself, landing on all fours and staying there as he caught his breath. Even in the suit of armor, the effort had been straining for him, leaving him breathing heavily and already feeling his muscles ache.

When he heard Jarvis telling him Pepper and company were in range, he closed his eyes and collapsed on the ground.

xxxXXXxxx

When Tony Stark opened his eyes again, he found himself in the back of the second truck, covered by a thin blanket, and not inside his suit. He panicked for a second, touching his body to make sure everything else was still in place as he sat up in the back of the vehicle. The expanded view allowed him to see his armor standing a few feet away from him, still as it should be when not commanded by its creator.

"About time you wake up, Stark," Barton said, walking up to the billionaire and sitting next to him. "Although I gotta say, that was a nice move you pulled there."

Tony stared at the archer for a second, trying to read in his face what had occurred after he had passed out, but the master sniper's face was as stoic as ever.

"Where's Pepper?"

"She's inside our choppers with a couple of our paramedics, overseeing the medical attention of the injured."

Without another word, Tony jumped off the truck, and headed to the chopper, followed by Clint who had been assigned to keep an eye on him until he woke up. As he walked down the path of destruction, he could feel the glances he was getting from the villagers. They had more than likely seen Pepper take off his suit while unconscious, and they were probably wondering how one single man could have pulled the stunt he had.

As he reached the S.H.I.E.L.D. chopper, he saw Romanoff and Pepper helping the paramedics patch up the children, and Bruce assisting with the adults while War Machine and Captain America were performing cleanup duty of debris. He stood by the ramp, feeling the same sense of failure that reflected in the Avengers' eyes, knowing this village had been placed in danger due to their connections with the heroes.

"Pepper?" he called out to her, and she immediately looked up to him. She swallowed hard as she whispered something to the child she was keeping company. The child nodded and then giggled, pointing at Tony and blushing. Pepper gave the little girl one last smile before making her way toward her husband.

"Are you OK, Tony?" Pepper asked him, already knowing he was physically OK, but knowing that if there was one thing Iron Man despised of his job was to fail a mission or failing to save a life.

"I could be better. What about you?" he asked her, cupping her face with her hands.

Pepper shook her head, her eyes filling with tears again as she hugged Tony. "Maria's not gonna make it, Tony."

He tightened his embrace, rubbing her back to provide some comfort. "I'm sorry, Pepper. I was too late."

"It wasn't your fault. It was mine. I should've picked up on the signs sooner…I should've sensed them quicker…I should've…" she trailed. "I need to train more. I can't let this happen again," she said, choking on her words, and breaking his heart with them.

"Sshh, babe, sshhh. It's not your fault. It's Killian's. He made these people who they are. He gave them powers they should've never had."

"I know, but…I could've stopped them. I could've…"

"No, Pep, don't do that. Don't blame yourself. We're here now, right? Let's do what we can for them."

Pepper nodded, pulling away from him for a moment and sniffled. "We need to help them rebuild, Tony. Please…even if just…"

"I was already thinking about it, and we will. I'll get Jarvis to get us some buses here to get these people to a decent place to spend the night," he said, noticing the day was beginning to wind down.

"No, it's OK. S.H.I.E.L.D. is sending more choppers. We're gonna fly them out of here to the closest major city, Merida."

"OK, but I'm still getting Jarvis to get some contractors over here. We're getting them real homes."

"¡Señora Stark! ¡Venga por favor!" The couple heard from afar. The same man that had taken Maria from Tony was approaching them in a rush.

"Señora Stark, María quiere verla."

Pepper recognized the man was addressing her by using Tony's last name, and understood Maria's name, and even though she was not sure what else was being said, she followed the man, Tony holding onto her hand and following her.

"Pepper, she…she was injured."

"I know. I saw her earlier; she hadn't woken up yet."

The increased grip on his hand told him she knew what was to come, and silently thanked him for being there with her with a quick glance.

When Pepper reached Maria's location, she kneeled down next to her, caressing the woman's gray strands off her face. Despite the burnt skin, the woman had a smile on her face, looking up at Pepper as if she was looking at her own flesh and blood.

"Mi niña, viniste a ayudarnos," Maria said as Pepper held the woman's hand.

Pepper looked back to Tony, waiting for a translation from him.

"She said you came to help everyone."

Pepper returned her eyes to Maria, tearing up again and nodding to her. Pepper had never actually spoken to the woman until now, but Pepper was everything but ungrateful. She had wanted to come visit them with Tony, but her duties as co-CEO of SI and her training as an Avenger had prevented her from doing so. "I'm sorry, Maria. I'm sorry I was so late."

Maria's attention was caught by Tony when he crouched down next to Pepper, to translate for her.

"Pepper pide disculpas por llegar tarde," Tony said, to which the woman snickered and shook her head.

"Lo que importa es que viniste, tú y tu esposo, antes de que me muera. Yo quería verte una vez más."

Tony took a deep breath, staring at Pepper knowing the translation would hurt her even more. Any other day he would have kept her in the dark, but if he did so today, it would have been a disservice to the woman that had kept her alive for six months.

"She said that what matters is that you're here, that we both are. She's just glad that she gets to see you…one last time."

Pepper sobbed, holding onto her firmly, whispering her thanks to her. "If it wasn't for you, I'd have never had my babies, or would've gotten back to Tony. I'm sorry I didn't help you sooner. I'll never forget what you did for me."

Tony translated Pepper's words to the woman, who gave her one last smile and nod. Maria's smile slowly disappeared, and her eyes closed to never open again. Pepper yelped, clinging onto the dead body of her caretaker, sobbing loudly before Tony pulled her away and held her racking body.

Tony held on to her, kissing the side of her face and whispering words of comfort. Some of the locals began crying as well, knowing what Pepper's sadness implied.

"Pepper…let's just…" Tony began, but was interrupted when Pepper pulled away from him, staring to her right. He felt her fingernails dig into his skin, the warmth emanating from her telling him she was not fully in control of her actions.

"Pepper, snap out of it," he said, causing Pepper's head to return to face his.

"They're still here. Ten miles, that way," she said, pointing with the finger on a northwest direction. "Take me there," she said, standing up and taking Tony with her.

The Iron Man suit met them halfway, enveloping Tony with its armor before grabbing Pepper by her waist, leaving nothing behind but a trail of dust and smoke where they had just been.

xxxXXXxxx

Pepper did not even wait for Tony to land and jumped off from the skies down to the ground. She landed gracefully in front of the five Extremis soldiers, who stared blankly at her. The loud thud of Iron Man landing behind them startled them even more, making them look back and forth between Pepper and the billionaire.

"Why did you set the village on fire?" Pepper demanded, her eyes glowing orange and her fists glowing red.

"We ain't telling you shit, bitch," one of the five said to her after he recovered his senses, before Tony's repulsor hit him in the back, sending him flying off to Pepper who received him with a punch through the stomach.

The body of the man fell to ground, groaning as the virus worked hard to rebuild the hole in his belly. The other four could tell Pepper was like them, so they turned around and tried attacking Tony instead.

Iron Man took a step back, aiming his repulsors at them, hitting two of the soldiers and slowing them down. The other two however, jumped on him, trying to burn through Tony's suit.

Pepper ran toward the group, grabbed the two soldiers clinging to Tony, and pulled them off him, sending them flying behind her.

She then turned around so that she was giving her back to Tony, shielding him from the other two incoming soldiers who were now recovering from the repulsor's blasts. She extended her arms to her sides, and after a blink from Tony's eyes, she had ran towards them, decapitating them with her hands.

Tony had never seen Pepper move this fast when they fought. She was as fast as Killian, and it only proved to him that her training was truly working to develop her skills.

"Pepper?" he called out to her, hoping the Extremis was not completely overtaking her. "Don't kill the other two. We still need answers."

Pepper looked down to see the leader of the small army starting to recover, and she smirked to him. "Guess I don't' need you," she said, venom in her voice as she prepared to slay the man, but Tony walked up to her, holding her hand before she inflected the fatal blow.

"Pep, it's OK. You got two of them, let's take the other three back with us to base."

Pepper exhaled, glaring at the man below them, who was actually looking afraid of the ginger. He had thought the woman was just like them, but she acted more like the man that had given them their powers –stronger, even.

The other two soldiers stood up from the ground, but instead of trying to continue the battle, they began fleeing the scene. Tony took a step to follow them, but Pepper stopped him.

"I'll get them," she said.

"Pepper, don't kill them," he reminded her.

"I won't…yet," she said, then looking down at the man on the ground she groaned. "If you lay a finger on Iron Man, I will fry your head."

The man nodded, blinking rapidly and almost holding his breath. Pepper gave Tony a nod before taking off and running toward the two fleeing men.

Iron Man watched her figure become lost in the bushes before looking down to the trembling man by his feet. "Call my wife a bitch again and I will make you swallow your balls."

xxxXXXxxx

Nick Fury, Agent Coulson and Pepper Potts sat across from the two surviving raiders of the village in Yucatan, waiting for the answers they were searching for. Pepper had returned with only one of the two fleeing men alive since the other had tried to attack her rather than surrendering like his partner. Pepper had exterminated him quickly, not wanting to risk the man returning to Tony and harming him as he had threatened to do.

After making sure his people took care of the villagers, Tony and the Avengers returned to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base in California, and were now watching the interrogation from the other side of the tinted window.

"How are you so strong? You're just like us!" Michael, the leader of the five-man army asked Pepper, still not believing how easily she had disposed of his men.

"I will answer your question when you answer mine. Who sent you to burn down the village?"

"I already told you! The voice in our head did. It brought us together, and told us to kill them."

"What voice in your head?" Nick Fury asked, needing more than just broad answers to narrow down his search.

"You know, the voice…you've heard it too, haven't you?"

Pepper narrowed her eyes at him. She did remember the voice that had made her attack Rhodey and Tony a few months ago. "What else did the voice tell you? Why did it have to be that village?"

"It said it was easy to get rid of them, and that the practice of our powers would be worth it. It never said anything about you showing up. He never told us he made more of us," the other man, Raul, answered.

"He? Who?"

"Killian or some other –the voice sounds a lot like him, actually," Michael said, his face showing he was just now making the connection.

Pepper cracked her knuckles, pushed herself away from the table and stood up. She turned around on her heels and walked to the door while Coulson spared her a quick glance and smiled. He knew what was coming, and so did Fury. Neither man tried to stop her, however, but Fury put his left hand to the wireless communicator in his ear.

"Stark, stop her!"

Pepper's boots resounded loudly on the concrete floor. Her fists burned red, and she walked with the determination only anger could give anyone. She was still consumed with anger and outrage over what had happened, it had not yet hit her that her rage, combined with the heightened aggression produced by Extremis, had enabled her to take three lives earlier. She heard Tony exiting the observation room and rushing toward her.

"Pepper, Honey, take it slow."

"He sent them to test me, Tony. He's not getting away with it."

"No, Pep, we don't know that for sure," he tried to reason with her without having to touch her, seeing steam coming out from her pores.

"Get out of my way, Mr. Stark," she said when she reached the first entrance of Killian's cell and Tony stood between her and the door.

"Sweetheart, please don't do this. We still need the jerkoff to find the rest of the soldiers and to cure them."

"We only need him to be able to talk," she deadpanned.

Tony exhaled loudly, his shoulders slumping and looking defeated. "Worth a shot," he said, stepping aside and letting Pepper continue her trek. She entered the anteroom leading to Aldrich's containment room, and when the second door opened, she saw Steve and Rhodey flanking Killian on either side.

The two men stared at Pepper, and when they tried to speak she lifted her left index finger towards them, shushing them immediately, and then pointed her thumb toward the exit.

Cap and Rhodey stared at each other and then at Pepper. After a silent conversation between them, they shrugged and walked around Pepper and headed out the door. Killian had a wide smile on his face, sitting comfortably in his chair.

"Pepper, darling, it's good to see –" he began, but was interrupted when Pepper ran toward him and lifted him off the chair by his neck with her right hand. Her left fist made contact with the side of his face, cracking the cheekbone on impact. She then let go of her grip on him, and as he was falling down she jumped upwards and kneed him in the stomach, sending him flying up. As he was returning near her reach again, she twisted her body and elbowed him in the chest, sending him flying away from her and hitting the back wall.

Pepper used her speed to follow him, preventing him from sliding down the wall by placing her left forearm on his neck.

"Give me a good reason why I shouldn't rip your brain out right now."

"Love, I don't need to remind you that you need me."

"Do I? I'm quite the self-learner. I don't really need you around."

"What you need to know is not written in books, Pepper."

"I'll manage."

"I don't think you can. I don't think you'll want to carry the guilt of killing your only source of knowledge of the Extremis."

"Tony can figure it out."

"Truly? Well, then do it," he teased, knowing she would not kill him. Pepper growled, hating the fact that she still needed him to learn more about how to better serve as a locator of the soldiers, and preventing another catastrophe to happen to innocent people.

"Besides, Pepper, you're barking up the wrong tree. I didn't send them."

"Bullshit! They said you manipulated them like you manipulated me!"

"And I'm telling you it wasn't me. Check your sources with Stark and Banner. They'll confirm I have not messed with anyone today."

Tony and Bruce had developed a sensor to detect when Killian attempted to communicate with other Extremis soldiers, and had they picked up any readings, she knew they would have already mentioned it by now.

"If you didn't send them, then who did?"

"How would I know, dear? This is why you have to learn from me, and you still have a lot of work to do."

"If I find out you're behind this, Killian…I swear…"

After a long exhale, Pepper dropped Killian on the floor, walked out of his cell and did not stop until she and Tony got to their car and headed home.