Howie woke to the sound of people walking across the top of the container. He ran his hand over his face, blinking several times. He checked his leg and hand, the portals around him and the static in his ears disappearing. He stood up, hoisting his backpack further onto his shoulders and heading towards the opening. He pushed the door forward as slowly as possible, peaking his head out of the door. He couldn't hear anyone, at least no one coming his way, but knew there were people around, Killian and his goons and possibly more.
Howie looked upwards spotting the two men running across the structure. He narrowed his eyes at them, wishing he had installed the bionic eye he'd joked about. He didn't have his glasses on, top afraid they would smash, so he had no way of knowing who they were.
'FRIDAY.' He whispered, edging out of the container. 'Can you find Pepper?'
There was a moment's pause before FRIDAY replied. The poor AI was probably run down, from all the work she'd been doing in the last few days. Her programming wasn't completely finished and she couldn't run as long as JARVIS without being connected to the internet directly. Wirelessly connecting worked for finding stuff but not for helping FRIDAY reboot.
'No, sir. I'm sorry, sir.' FRIDAY said, voice slower than usual. 'She is definitely nearby, however.'
'Thank you.' He said, sighing slightly. He walked out, moving his head side to side. He was out in the open and knew he would probably be found easily.
There was a bang and a shout to his left and Howie flinched, raising his gloved hand instinctively. When nothing came running out him, he activated his boots, slowly raising himself to the level above. He moved along the metal ledge, listening out as the shouting increased and he recognised one of the voices.
'Not too brave, now, are you?' Someone mocked as Howie reached them, looking down.
'Yeah, I'm the coward here.' James replied, glaring up at the guard standing above him. The man and several others were in Howie's way so the boy couldn't completely see what was going on. He couldn't even tell if Peter was there. 'When you can only taunt me when I'm tied up and injured.'
'You're only tied and injured because of the Master.' Another guard said, leaning against the nearest metal beam. 'So you still lose.'
'Alright, guys, leave the kid alone.' A woman said, walking forward. 'Boss needs everyone in position for the show.'
The guards surrounding James laughed slightly and spread out, giving Howie a good view of the scene below. He winced almost instantly, seeing his friend slumped against a container, with Peter beside him.
They had both clearly been beaten up, though James looked a lot worse than Peter did. Peter's face was covered in blood, one of his eyes was blackened and there was a huge cut across his face but James' entire face seemed purple, his nose looked broken and his lips were swollen. Both boys had their arms twisted behind their backs but one of James' was sticking out at a very painful angle. James' leg was the worse thing, bloody and burnt and barely holding together. Howie flinched away from it and almost stumbled, banging his leg on the metal floor.
'Hey, you!'
Howie swore, jumping backwards and flying upwards. He held his gloved hand down, sending pulses at the men and women who were now firing at him. A bullet grazed his shoulder and he yelled out, flying upwards as static appeared in his ears. He groaned as he found himself horizontal, skidding across the ground.
'Why'd you come out here?'
Howie looked to his side, seeing Peter staring at him with wide eyes. He turned his head the other way and saw James watching him, lazily. He glanced back at Peter, glaring.
'I didn't do it on purpose!'
Peter rolled his eyes, looking sideways. His eyes widened even further and he rolled, grabbing Howie with his legs and pulling him away from the portal. Several guns fired as they rolled and Howie heard the bullets hit the ground through the other portal, one even hitting on of the guards. They rolled over to James, who manoeuvred himself in front of them as Howie untangled the chain around Peter's neck. The three huddled together, staring at the guards advancing on them, reloading their guns.
'Howie.' James muttered, using his unburnt hand to grip the mutant's shirt awkwardly. Howie held tight to the James's sleeve, shaking and unable to concentrate fully through the static in his ears. 'Now would be a really good time for a surge in ability.'
The guards raised their guns, the apparent leader holding up a hand. Peter leaned onto Howie's shoulder, stretching his foot out to keep in contact with James. The leader started counting down on his hands, possibly speaking but Howie couldn't hear anything, portals appearing all around but in terrible places. The leader closed his hand and Howie closed his eyes, turning his head away.
Nothing happened.
Howie waited, ignoring the insistent tugging on his shirt. Just because they were taunting him, didn't mean he had to look. He didn't have to give them the satisfaction.
'How.' James said, voice tight. 'Howie, are you doing that?'
Howie opened his eyes slowly, looking up. A huge dome surrounded them, pure black but glowing somehow. The static was gone but Howie knew it was a portal. Outside the portal, Howie could hear screams and thuds.
'No, its not me.' He said, as the sounds died down. 'I think I know who it is though.'
The sounds stopped and the portal disappeared around them. Stood in front of them, looking incredibly worried and holding two knives made of purple-ish energy, was Howie's mother.
'Hey mum.'
Clarice dropped the knives, both disappearing before they hit the ground. She dashed forward, pulling him into a hug.
'What did I say about not dying?'
Howie patted her back gingerly. 'To be fair, you wouldn't have read about that one.'
She pulled back, a relieved smile spreading across her face. 'Okay. Let's get your friends out.'
Howie nodded, tapping a few buttons on his right hand and sorting out the kinks that were appearing in it. He shuffled forward to James, placing his hand over the cuffs.
'No, don't!' Peter shouted, pushing Clarice's hands away. 'They're rigged. Break on set of cuffs, the other person dies.'
'What about the chain?' Clarice said, peering at the collar.
'Same result.'
'Hmm.' Clarice said, leaning back and holding her hands out so her fingers were inches from each collar. 'Well then.'
'No!'
All three boys shouted as she flexed her fingers. James and Peter flinched, eyes clenched shut. The collars clattered to the ground in two halves, miniature portals hovering around the boys' necks. James glanced back at Clarice, even as she helped Peter out of his handcuffs.
'You could have killed me.'
'But I didn't.' She said with a tilt of the head. Howie raised an eyebrow at her as he grabbed Peter's web slingers and mask from one of the fallen guards.
'But you coul-'
'James.' Howie said, glaring at his friend. 'Not the time. Do you need help with those cuff?'
James glared back but shook his head, green pooling in his eyes. 'I think I can handle this.'
James skin stretched, turning green as he went. His cuffs broke and his arm clicked painfully several times as the bones reset and healed themselves. The Monstrosity pushed himself upward, the muscle and bone of his injured leg filling itself in before he could put any weight on it. He looked at Howie, eyebrows lowered.
'Smash anyone trying to hurt the president.' Peter said, pulling on his mask and shrugging off his other clothes. 'Anyone with glowing skin.'
Monstrosity nodded, jumping off into the fray. Howie heard someone scream within seconds and had to smirk to himself. There was an explosion and Howie's eyes widened, looking for Monstrosity. He smiled when he heard an answering roar.
'Are we sure he knows who the president is?' Howie said, glancing back at the others.
'Nope.' Spiderman said, holding a hand out and webbing away. 'Get to work, Titanium!'
'I hate that name.' Howie shook his head, turning back to his mother. 'You don't have to stay here, if you don't want to.'
She smiled at him, the sort of smile he reckoned children got when their parents knew something they didn't. 'I know I don't. That's why I'm staying. Now, like your friend said, lets get to work.'
Howie nodded, activating his boots and flying up. He watched her until it threatened his own safety, turning his eyes back onto the sky then onto the soldiers below him. He needed to find Pepper.
He saw Monstrosity plowing his way through several soldiers, only stopping when he saw ones without Extremis activated. It showed how stupid they were, as they quickly fired up and tried fighting him. They didn't last one minute. Spiderman seemed to prefer to use his friend's ferocity than his own, which was acceptable when his friend was over seven foot tall and could crush a grown man like a grape. So Spiderman was just swinging around, pulling guards towards Monstrosity and leaving him to do the rest. Several guards tried to run but found themselves on the wrong end of a portal, either sliced open by one or being transported back into Monstrosity's reach.
Howie watched the soldiers as they ran in, trying to figure out which direction they were coming from. He glanced down one more time, spotting his mother perched on the metal structure, looking almost bored with the situation. Pulling his backpack up again, Howie started hovering away from her, in the direction of the soldiers. Some shot at him but he dodged, sending a blast back at them. They kept shooting and he held out his hands as he moved out of the way, a portal directing their bullets back at them. He laughed, steadying himself as he almost fell and continued on his way.
'Titanium!' Spiderman shouted, ruining Howie's mood slightly. He understood the need for code names but he wished he had a chance to choose his own. 'Friends of yours?'
Howie froze in midair as Spiderman swung past him. He followed the other hero's gaze, seeing dozens of his father's suits in a circle around the tanker. He grinned as the suits flew forward, helping with the battle. He turned to look at Spiderman before he flew off, smirking.
'Friends of my dad's.'
He laughed as he dived down, flying through several oncoming guards. He hit them with enough speed to send them flying. One managed to recover fast enough to grab his foot and pull him down. His left boot fell off as he fell and he cursed, trying to stay in the air and failing miserably. The guard who had grabbed him went for his gun but Howie held his glove out, sending a pulse the man's way. Before the guy could recover, he pressed a button on his prosthetic hand, activating the grappling line and taking the man's gun. He smirked and got to his feet, the expression dropping as the man's skin began to glow.
Howie turned and ran, skidding to a stop as more soldiers ran towards him. There was a roar above him and then Monstrosity was in front of him, pushing all the guards into the dirt. The behemoth swung a punch and Howie ducked, hearing his friend's fist connect with the man behind him. Howie stood up, nodding slightly.
'Thanks, bud.'
He shook off his other boot, pretty much useless without its pair and headed through the soldiers, creating portals as he went without meaning to. It seemed to help though, with several soldiers running into half formed portals without noticing and losing limbs when the portals disappeared. Howie kept his arm raised, sending of repulsor blasts and heat beams whenever someone tried to get in his way.
He finally managed to find the section of the tanker the soldiers were guarding the most. He saw Pepper, tied up and placed on a platform high above his head. He sighed, wishing he hadn't thrown away his boot. Trying to make as least noise as possible and waiting until Monstrosity roared to start, he climbed the nearest metal column, so glad his prosthetics could magnetise, even if the force was very weak. When he reached high enough, he jumped off, rolling onto the same platform Pepper was on.
'Hey, Pep!'
She looked up, eyes brimming with tears as the guards rushed him. He dodged most of their attacks, trying to remember the self defence training Natasha and Clint had given him. He threw guards off the platform until their were only a couple left. The last two rushed at him, giving him no where to dodge to and knocking him off the platform. As he fell, he activated his grappling hook again, managing to swing up and back onto the platform, kicking the two guards away as he did so. Howie grinned to himself.
'Spiderman's got nothing on me.'
Pepper grinned as he ran forward, undoing her bonds quickly and letting her pull him into a hug. He got to his feet, holding out a hand to help her up. She froze as she stood, staring past his shoulder.
'Well, isn't this cute?'
Howie's jaw hardened and he turned around, standing protectively in front of Pepper. In the distance, he saw someone falling out of a portal sixty foot in the air.
'Hello, Aldrich. Here to make another business proposition?'
Killian smirked. 'Very funny, Mr Stark. I had hoped for a while that you had died when we attacked your house.'
'Yeah, sorry about that.'
Howie held his arm out, a heat beam coming from the suit glove. Killian moved to the side and Howie followed him with the beam, using his other arm to keep Pepper around him. The beam ran out and he switched to repulsor blasts, pushing Pepper to the side, away from the fight.
Killian dodged around the blasts, picking Howie up by his neck. Even as static built up in his ears and his airways were cut off, Howie managed to press a button on his hand, pressing his electrocuted fingers against Killian's chest. The man dropped him and Howie swept his foot out, knocking Killian to the ground. He scrambled to his feet, waving at Pepper.
'Go, Pepper, run!'
Something grabbed his ankle and he tripped, rolling instantly to punch Killian as he tried to loom over him. Killian merely sneered as Howie went to punch again, grabbing the glove and pulling it off Howie's hand. Howie's eyes widened as the glove, the last piece of his suit, was thrown away and the stumbled to his feet again, shouting behind him.
'Pepper, go!'
'Oh, no, Pep.' Killian smirked, as several portals appeared behind him. 'I want you to watch this.'
Howie ran at Killian head first, hoping to tackle him into the portal. Killian was ready for it and caught Howie's shoulder, slamming him into the metal floor. Howie groaned and felt, rather than saw, the portals go haywire, moving around. Killian placed a knee on Howie's chest, pinning him down.
'Your daddy wouldn't respect me until I was healthy, wouldn't give me the time of day when I was broken.' Killian growled, skin lighting up again. Pepper screamed nearby but Howie saw her being held by a guard out of the corner of his eye. 'I wonder how impatient he got when waiting for you to get fixed. How much do you think he'll care when you're broken again?'
Howie spat at Killian, sneering. 'My dad loves me, you sick bastard. He never thought I was broken, no matter how injured I was.'
Killian tilted his head, hands hovering over Howie's prosthetics. 'Really? Lets see if we can change that.'
He pressed down, heating up the metal and beginning to burn through it. Howie couldn't feel his arm and leg melting away but he could feel the heat radiating off them, burning the skin around his hip and elbow. He cried out, eyes clenched and portals appearing all around him, getting smaller as they increased in number. Killian finally stopped, the portals fading as Howie took several deep breaths.
'Looks like Stark Tech isn't as good as we were led to believe.'
The guard holding Pepper chuckled and Howie managed to turn his head to glare.
'Go to hell.'
The guard raised a mocking eyebrow and Killian laughed shortly. He grabbed Howie's shirt, lifting the boy up and carrying him to the edge of the platform. Howie started struggling as soon as he knew what was happening, albeit weakly. Killian just chuckled, grabbing Howie's leg and holding the boy above his head.
'Say high to your goddess friend for me.'
'No, don't!'
Killian threw Howie over the edge, the boy scrambling to grab the ledge as he flew through the air. He missed it and screamed as he fell, hitting one of the containers down below. He was winded, barely able to move and he could feel his head spinning. The container shifted and he panicked, grabbing the edge with his flesh hand. He looked below him, seeing the container tilted towards the sea. He held on as tightly as he could, knowing it wouldn't last for long. His strength was fading, his vision swimming and darkness creeping in on him.
Above his head, Pepper screamed.
