Chapter Seven

Flames were still dancing in the sky by the time we got far enough away. A crowd had gathered to see what was going on. Most of them were asking one another questions, trying to figure out what could have caused the explosion. And to add more to the chaos, the fire trucks arrived, sirens wailing away as they reached the now burning building.

"Is... it... like this all the time?" Harley was gasping for breath as we stopped to watch the scene unfold before us.

It had been a while since I had a workout like that. But it felt good to run, despite the overwhelming sense of fear that followed.

"You get used to it," I replied. His eyes widened with dread.

With a sigh I held up the other half of the light sword our attacker had broken. This thing had gotten me through difficult situations on the Grid. I never realized how much I had relied on it until now. Whoever was behind these attacks would pay for what they did.

Speaking of which, I had to wonder who the heck or what the heck that guy was. I've read files about the Centipede Project that Coulson and his team is working on. From what I gathered the victims of that project didn't have glowing hands.

What bothered me more than anything was that there was no traces of the woman's body. She had to have followed Tony if he was forced into creating a bomb.

"That guy was talking about something called the Grid... what exactly is it?" Harley was looking at me questioningly now.

Crap. I wasn't even sure how to answer him. No one else besides SHIELD or Encom knew about the Grid. It wasn't ready for the public's eye. Tron was still trying to repair the damages left behind by Clu.

I was saved from answering as Tony approached us. A few bruises and cuts now covered his face, but for the most part he looked safe.

"What happened to them?" I demanded as he stopped in front us.

"Lady's dead and the guy lost consciousness," he explained. "Hope he doesn't mind me borrowing his ride," he added after jingling the set of keys he'd taken.

Why does that sound so familiar? Beck had done the same thing to Zed back when his light cycle was destroyed. Only he had to rescue Paige from getting derezzed by the explosion from the drill. After they tried killing us, Tony had every right to steal his car.

"Where are you going?" Harley exclaimed as he unlocked the car.

"I'm continuing my investigation. You two just go back and pretend none of this happened." His expression grew serious as he looked down at Harley, whose face fell when he realized what was happening.

Frustration churned within me. While he had every right to turn us away, I wasn't about to let him risk his life like this. I wasn't one to follow orders anyways. Tron had learned that the hard way.

"Investigating what? The Mandarin, or the explosion sights? From what I saw back there you can't do this alone," I said in a scathing tone. Tony just snorted and tried to make a retort, but I stopped him before he could say anything, "Look, you and I both know that somehow he's involving the Grid. The question I want to know is why?"

"He mentioned the Grid?" This time concern flashed in his eyes. I nodded my confirmation, and he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Get in the car, now," he ordered. Flashing a look at Harley, he added, "You go home."

"But I wanna help." Tony shot him a warning look, and he tried making himself look smaller than usual.

"Harley, go home. Be with your mom, keep an eye on the suit, and stay connected with the phone. If I give you a call you better pick it up." Harley looked like he was ready to argue when he thought better of it.

"I'm cold," he whimpered.

I have to give him some credit. He was trying to make us both feel guilty. And if our lives weren't in danger, it might have worked.

"And you know how I can tell? 'Cause we're connected." Before he could say anything else, he drove off, leaving Harley in a cloud of snow.

. . .

"Mr. President, only two more lessons remain. And I intend to finish this before Christmas morning. Meet Thomas Richard. Good strong name, good strong job. Thomas here is an accountant for the Roxxon Oil Corporation. And I'm sure he's a really good guy. I'm gonna shoot him in the head, live on your television in thirty seconds. The number for this telephone is already in your cell phone. Exciting isn't it? Imagine how it got there. America, if your President calls me in the next half minute, Tom lives. Go... there's just one lesson left, President Ellis. So run away, hide, kiss your children goodbye. Because nothing, not even your red, white and attack dog can save you now! I'll see you soon."

. . .

I was disgusted as I watched the video play on. The man the Mandarin had grabbed was just killed in front of thousands of viewers. What I wanted to know was why no one did anything about it. True Tony was running his own investigation, but why wasn't SHIELD getting more involved?

"So the Grid is involved," Tony said nonchalantly. I looked at him as if he'd grown wings. How could he not be taking this seriously? "Somehow that doesn't surprise me. What exactly did he say?"

"He mentioned something about programs healing themselves," I explained.

"Programs have the ability to heal their wounds, right?" I nodded a confirmation to the question. That kind of power could be risky in the wrong hands. Now I could see why he was so worried.

"So what next?" I frowned as I thought of what to do next. Fury sent me out here to investigate the explosion sight, and to find out more information on the Mandarin. Now that I knew the Grid was in real danger, I needed to make sure that nothing happened to it.

"This is where I drop you off," Tony replied. "Look, I know Fury wants you to keep a close eye on me. Thing is, SHIELD can't be trusted. They've got more secrets than anyone I can think of, heck, they kept secrets from Widow and Hawkeye. Just go back to what you were doing before this, and keep an eye on the Grid."

Really? I couldn't help raising an eyebrow in annoyance. Tony was partly right about SHIELD. But something told me they kept these secrets for a good reason.

Instead of arguing with him, I got out of the car and let him drive off. At this point I was too pissed off to say anything. Tony had his own thing to do, and I couldn't blame him for leaving me in the dust. But he could've at least given me a ride back.

. . .

So how was I supposed to get back to New York again? I had no source of transportation, leaving me wandering aimlessly through the snow. It was late out, and there was only one dimly lit street lamp brightening the road.

It was one of those moments I wished I wasn't alone. Being on the Grid at least I had my disk if someone tried attacking me. Now without my light sword I felt defenseless.

The worst part was I'm pretty sure that my 'mission' was a complete failure. Most of the information I had gathered wasn't even on the Mandarin. All I knew for sure was that he wanted to know why programs had healing abilities and Users didn't.

Maybe Tony was right about SHIELD keeping secrets. Agent Coulson was supposed to be dead, and yet he was alive with his own team to back him up. And SHIELD had been keeping secrets about the Grid even before Beck and I arrived.

I stopped walking as a black van started pulling up the street at a slow and steady pace. The windows were tinted black as well, and an all too familiar logo was painted on the side. For a moment I wondered who was picking me up this time.

"Agent Barton, it's good to see you again." This time I couldn't help but smirk as a familiar figure stepped out of the van. Coulson was grinning from ear to ear when I finally glared back.

"You couldn't be here five minutes ago?" I folded my arms and waited for his response.

"Sorry, we got held up in traffic." Well, that was somewhat believable. "Fury wants you back in New York. The Mandarin mission is in Mr. Stark's hands now."

I really wish they would have thought of that days ago before sending me all the way out here. Could've saved me from breaking my favorite weapon. But there was no point in crying over spilled milk, or whatever that saying was.

Guess it was time to go back and figure out what to do next.

. . .

"Hello."

"Did you ever have a chick straddling you and you suddenly look up and she's glowing from the inside out, kinda bright orange?"

"Yeah, I've had that. Who is this?"

"It's me pal. Now last time I went missing, if I remember correctly, you came looking for me. What are you doing?"

"A little knockin', talking, making friends in Pakistan. What are you doing?"

"Your redesign, your big re-brand, that was AIM right?"

"Yeah."

"I'm gonna fine a heavy duty combat right now; I need your login."

"It's the same as it's always been, War Machine 98."

"And password please."

"Well, look, I gotta change it every time you hack in, Tony."

"It's not the eighties, nobody says 'hack' anymore. Give me your login."

"WAR MACHINE ROX, with an X, all caps."

"That is so much better than Iron Patriot."

. . .

"Sorry about your light sword." The van was smaller than I would've liked, but it was better than being stuck with Ward.

Let me just say, being stuck with Agent Coulson was so much better. At least he had a sense of humor and was willing to talk. Ward was a lot like Tron, minus having wisdom and the skills to take down any opponent.

"It was a gift from an old friend," I explained icily.

Castor really did go all out to make sure I was safe. He could have been derezzed for doing what he did. Clu's soldiers wouldn't have hesitated in killing me. I wondered what happened to him since Sam and Quorra rewrote the Grid. Tron hadn't mentioned his name since than.

It didn't take us long to reach New York. Maybe half the night and most of the following morning. All I knew was I was exhausted. Not to the point where I might pass out, but I was getting close to that point.

By the time we did reach the HQ it was close to noon.

"Keep yourself out of trouble," Coulson said after handing me the bag of clothing I'd forgotten at the motel. I didn't bother asking how he'd known I left it there. Some things were better off left unexplained.

"Thanks," I replied.

I really was thankful for all of his help. Even though I was pretty much forced to join his team, I think I'd trust Coulson over Fury any day. He just seems like that kind of person.

The moment I got out of the car I almost dropped my bags. Waiting for me in front of the building was someone I didn't expect to see any time soon.

"It's good to see you again." Natasha didn't look surprised to see me standing there in disbelief. I was more surprised to see Rinzler at her feet, looking ready to pounce at anything that moved. "Pepper thought it would be a good idea to get him out of danger while she could," she explained after noticing my confusion.

"Is she alright?" Questions began forming as we headed into the building. Pepper was with Tony at the time of his mansion being torn apart. He never mentioned whether or not she had made it.

"She's fine, she's just... worried," Natasha replied.

Right. Somehow I wasn't surprised to hear that Pepper was worried. She probably knew that Tony was alive and well. I'm guessing he left her to keep her safe or something like that. I was just relieved to find out that she was safe.

"So what now?" Rinzler finally jumped into my arms as I unfolded them.

"Let's talk, inside."

. . .

"So, you want to tell me why you were at Stark's mansion last night?"

"I'm trying to fix this thing. I didn't know you and the Master were going to blow it up."

"Oh I see. So you were trying to save Stark when he threatened us."

"I told you Killian, we can use him. Look, if we wanna launch product next year, I need Stark. He just lacked a decent incentive, now he has one."


AN: Yay for fast updates! And happy Tron Thursday! :D So I hope everyone's enjoying the first official day of Spring as well. Hope it actually starts to feel like Spring soon, I'm getting tired of the cold weather. Big thanks to 2theSky, Briannajs-22 and Guest for reviewing! You guys are awesome! :D