Earlier that day during Elynea's appointment. Tony.
"Dummy, You, can we clean up this mess? You're killing me. You know I don't…" Tony scolded his bot.
"Incoming call with a blocked number sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. pipped in.
"My phone privilege is reinstated. Lovely." Tony commented as he sat down at his desk. "Coulson. How's the Land of Enchantment?"
"Hey, Tony, how you doing? I double cycle." Ivan Vanko's thick accented voice comes through the speakers.
"You what?" Tony answers, completely confused and shocked by the voice of a purposely dead man.
"You told me double cycle's more power." Ivan reminds him. "Good advice."
"You sound pretty sprightly for a dead guy." Tony comments.
"You too." Ivan says pointedly.
"Trace him." Tony order's J.A.R.V.I.S. after muting his end of the call.
"Yes sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. obeys opening up the screens to start tracing the call.
"Now, the true history of Stark name will be written." Ivan begins to rant.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., where is he?" Tony asks impatiently.
"Accessing the Oracle grid. Eastern Seaboard." J.A.R.V.I.S. responds as the map comes into view.
"What your father did to my family over 40 years, I will do to you in 40 minutes." Ivan tells him.
"Sounds good. Let's get together and hash it out." Tony counters un-muting only his voice from the call.
"Tri-State area. Manhattan and outlying boroughs." J.A.R.V.I.S. continues, the map zooms in as the trace comes closer to being complete.
"I hope you're ready." Ivan states before ending the call.
"Call trace incomplete." J.A.R.V.I.S. says almost regretfully as the screen freezes over a map of Manhattan.
Tony's eye suddenly catches an advert for Justin Hammer's presentation at the Stark Expo. He was going to show some Iron Man drones. Bingo!
"Sir!" J.A.R.V.I.S. nearly shrieks as Tony grabs the new reactor.
"You want to run some tests, run them. And assemble the suit while you're at it. Put it together now." Tony orders as he takes out the old reactor and moves to put in the new one.
"We are unclear as to the effects." J.A.R.V.I.S. states in a near panic now.
"I don't want to hear it J.A.R.V.I.S." Tony retorts shoving the reactor into his chest. "That tastes like coconut. And metal. Oh wow, yeah!" He cheers as the reactor fills his body with a warm, buzzing feeling. He was not going to die, not today!
The Expo
The crowd cheers as Tony dramatically lands on the stage. He waves to the crowd as he stands next to Rhodey.
"We got trouble." Tony tells him through the coms.
"Tony, there are civilians present. I'm here on orders. Let's not do this right now." Rhodey retorts.
"Give them a wave." Tony teases.
"Hey, all right. Yeah." Hammer says off to the side shocked as hell.
"All these people are in danger. We gotta get them out of here. You gotta trust me for the next five minutes." Tony says trying to reason with his friend.
"Yeah, I tried that. I got tossed around your house, remember?" Rhodey says. Low blow, man. Tony thinks.
"Listen, I think he's working with Vanko." Tony bits out, trying to kick some sense into his friend.
"Vanko's alive?" Rhodey says shocked. Tony doesn't answer him as he makes his way over to Hammer.
"Yeah." Hammer cheers half-heartedly.
"What is he?" Tony demands standing in front of him.
"What?" Hammer says confused.
"Where's Vanko?" Tony clarifies glaring at him behind the helmet.
"Who?" Still confused.
"Tell me." Tony barked.
"What are you doing here man?" Hammer asks trying to get him off track. Before Tony can move to strangle the man in frustration his suit alerts him to someone taking aim at him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Rhodey gasps.
"Is that you?" Tony demands staring down at the gun on Rhodey's shoulder being pointed at him.
"No, I'm not doing that. That's not me. I can't move. I'm locked up. I'm locked up!" Rhodey yells. "Get out of here. Go! This whole system's been compromised."
"Let's take it outside." Tony says as he takes off into the air. Rhodey and the other drones start to follow him.
"No, no!" Rhodey cries as his suit takes off to follow his best friend.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., break in. I need to own him." Tony orders as he dodges bullets from the drones and Rhodey's suit.
"Yes sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. answers.
"Tony, Tony, I'm locked on. I have target lock." Rhodey cries in alarm.
"On what?"
"On you." Rhodey responds just as his suit takes fire. "Tony, on your six!"
"You have an incoming call sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. informs him as he dodges another drone's attack.
"Put it on hold! I'm kinda in the middle of something here!" Tony retorts as he blasts the drone out of the sky and quickly moves to dodge another attack.
"It's from Miss Elynea sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. interjects.
"Than save it for later!" Tony barks as he spins around to shoot yet another drone on his tail. "How are we doing on Rhodey's end J.A.R.V.I.S.?"
"Remote reboot unsuccessful." He answers as a blueprint of Rhodey's suit pops up on Tony's screen showing it to still be a hostile red color.
Tony is flying above the screaming crowd when he spots a kid standing alone, in an Iron Man mask, facing off a drone. He races down just as the kid raises is gauntlet hand and the drone takes aim at him. Landing behind him the drone turns its attention on him just as Tony shoots it down.
"Nice work kid." Tony says to the shocked kid before taking off again to go after the drones.
"You got multiples coming in on you." Rhodey warns him.
"Let's get this away from the Expo." Tony mutters to himself as he flies in loops to dodge the incoming bullets. He sores through the parking garage with the drones close of his tail, setting off all of the car alarms.
"Listen, listen. A pack just peeled off. They're headed back to the Expo." Rhodey says still right on Tony's tail.
"Got it." He answers.
"In closing in on you. Ordnance coming in hot Tony. Watch it." Rhodey warns.
Tony grunts as he tries to lead the drones away, they follow back are determined to stay at the Expo.
"Rhodey, you still locked on?" Tony asks suddenly coming up with an idea.
"Yeah." Rhodey responds in a confused voice.
"Drop your socks and grab your Crocs. We're about to get wet on this ride." Tony tells him as he starts flying towards the globe in the middle of the Expo.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Rhodey shouts in protest just before they enter it. Tony doesn't stop as he flies in, makes a sharp right, and exits out through the other end. The drones that follow him aren't as lucky and explode as they hit the side of the globe.
"I'm sorry buddy. Had to thin out the herd. What's your 20?" Tony apologizes as he continues to fly, having lost his visual on his friend's suit.
Suddenly Rhodey is crashing down on him pushing both onto the bio-dome below them. When they land on the ground Tony desperately pushes against the machine gun pointing at his face.
"Tony." Rhodey gasps just as his suit shuts down and falls on top of Tony.
"Reboot complete. You got your best friend back." Agent Romanoff announces through the coms.
"Thank you very much, Agent Romanoff." Tony grunts as he pushes Rhodey's immobile body off of him.
"Well done on the new chest piece. I am reading significant higher output and your vitals all look promising." She notes positively.
"Yes, for the moment, I'm not dying. Thank you." Tony says sarcastically as he stands up from the ground.
"What do you mean you're not dying? Did you just say you're dying?" Pepper's shocked voice comes through the coms, making Tony groan in frustration.
"No, I'm not. Not anymore." He retorts. God, he missed Elynea's coherent reasoning and insight.
"You really were dying? You were gonna tell me?" Pepper barked.
"I kinda thought giving you my company would have tipped you off." Tony barked back.
Pepper was silent for a moment.
"Hey, hey. You got incoming Tony. Looks like the fight's coming to you." Agent Romanoff warned.
"Great." Tony sighs. He turns off all communication with Pepper before she can make any more remarks, as he makes his way of to Rhodey's still immobile body.
"Rhodes? Snap out of it buddy. I need you." He yells as he taps the masks. His face plate lifted as he stares down at him. "They're coming. Come on, let's roll. Get up."
"Oh, man." Rhodey groans as his face plate lifts up. "You can have your suit back."
"You okay?" Tony aske helping him up.
"Yeah, thanks." Rhodey assures him. "Tony, look, I'm sorry, okay?"
"Don't be." Tony brushes off.
"No. I should have trusted you more." Rhodey insists.
"I'm the one who put you in this position. Forget it." Tony tells him.
"No. It's your fault. I just wanted to say I'm sorry." Rhodey cuts in.
"Thank you." Tony says chuckling a bit. "That's all I wanted to hear. Partner. They're coming in hot, any second. What's the play?"
"Well, we want to take the high ground, okay? So, let's put the biggest gun up on that ridge." Rhodey strategizes.
"Got you. Where do you want to be?" Tony asks making his way up to the hill at the same time as Rhodey does.
"Where are you going?" Rhodey asks looking at him in confusion.
"What're you talking about?" Turning to him.
"I meant me." Rhodey clarifies.
"You have a big gun. You are not the big gun." Tony argues.
"Tony, don't be jealous." Rhodey scolds.
"No. It's subtle all the bells and whistles." Tony teases.
"Yeah. It's called being a badass."
"Fine. All right. You go up to. I'll draw them in." Tony gives in throwing his hands in the air as he moves into position in the middle of the valley.
"Don't stay down here. This is the worst place to be." Rhodey warns.
"Okay, you got a spot. Where's mine?" Tony says in mild frustration.
"It's the kill box, Tony. Okay. This is where you go to die." Rhodey warns. Tony moves to argue with him but then drones begins to drop into the dome.
Tony and Rhodey drop their face plates simultaneously, as the drones surround them, shooting and blasting them away.
"See that?" Tony asks as he blasts one of the drones in half.
"Yeah, yeah. Nice." Rhodey complements as he blasts his own drones.
Despite their best efforts, however, they are soon surrounded at all sides and still more coming in. Looking around at the drones Tony gets an idea.
"Rhodey? Get down." He orders and just as Rhodey ducks down he activates his laser blasts and spins around in a circle to hit every single drone. Once the laser is done slicing through, the drones drop down in pieces.
"Wow. I think you should lead with that next time." Rhodey says staring down at the destroyed drones around them.
"Yeah. Sorry boss. I can only use it one. It's a one-off." Tony informs him.
"Heads up. You got one more drone incoming. This one looks different." Agent Romanoff informs them through the coms. "The repulsor signature is significantly higher."
Before either man can think another suit lands in the dome. The helmet lifts up to reveal Ivan Vanko inside.
"Good to be back." Ivan says cockily.
"This ain't gonna be good." Rhodey comments as Ivan thrusts out his new and improved whips. "I got something special for this guy. I'm gonna bust his bunker with the Ex-Wife."
"With the what?" Tony asks confused. Rhodey activates the little missile and shoots it directly at Ivan. It hits him, bounces off, falls to the ground, then sputters pathetically as it dies. "Hammer tech?" Tony guesses holding back a laugh.
"Yeah." Rhodey mutters quietly.
"I got this." He assures him taking aim at Ivan.
The fight is long and hard, even with the two of them fighting Ivan at the same time. The whips cause serious damage each time they hit their suits. Eventually Ivan is able to wrap each of his whips around their necks, sending electric currents though their bodies even through the suits.
"Rhodes. I got an idea. You want to be a hero?" Tony says as he thinks up a way they could beat him.
"What?" Rhodey says shocked.
"I could really use a sidekick. Put your hand up." Tony orders raising his own hand to meet Rhodey's yet to be raised one.
"This is your idea?"
"Yep."
"I'm ready. I'm ready. Go, go, go!" Rhodey yells as he lifts his own hand.
They fire up their replusers and shot them at each other creating a ball of energy that explodes right up against Ivan and throwing both of them backwards onto their backs.
Tony and Rhodey get up with a groan of pain and look over to where Ivan had landed.
"You lose." He whispers before dying right there. His reactor begins to flash red. As do all the other drones' reactors.
"All these drones are rigged to blow." Rhodey says shock as he looks around at the drones. "We gotta get out of here man."
"Ms. Potts is located within the blast zone sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. informs him as he and Rhodey blast off out of the dome.
"What the hell is she doing there?!" Tony yells as he changes course towards where Pepper was standing. J.A.R.V.I.S. doesn't give him an answer as he swops down and picks up the screaming woman. The drones begin to explode as he flies her over to one of the nearby roof tops and sets her down.
Tony's helmet is badly damaged from Ivan's whips, so he moves it as it begins to spark around his neck.
"Oh my God. I can't take this anymore." Pepper gasps at as she moves away from him.
"You can't?" Tong shrieks looking at her in disbelief.
"I can't take this." Pepper mutters running her hands through her hair. "My body, literally, cannot handle the stress. I never know if you're gonna kill yourself or wreak the whole company."
Tony barked up a bitter laugh at that. He couldn't help it. "That's all you care about, isn't it?" He whispered hoarsely staring at the woman before him. Something exploded behind him, it just amplified Tony's mood even more.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Pepper said starting to defend herself.
"No!" Tony interjected holding up a hand to stop her. "I don't want to hear it Pepper!" He yelled making her shrink back from him a bit.
"Tony, man, are you okay?" Rhodey asks landing on the roof in between them.
Tony shakes his head a bit. "No, I'm not okay. I can't deal with this right now. I'll see you two later." He mutters before slipping on his faulty helmet and taking off away from them.
"J.A.R.V.I.S. could you play that message from Elynea for me?" Tony asks as he flies towards his empty and destroyed house.
"Right away sir."
"Hey Tony, I'm not sure how to tell you this. I didn't even want to do this over the phone, but when I went to your house you weren't there so…" She pauses. "So, this is next best thing." A deep breath. "I'm pregnant Tony."
Tony freezes mid-air in shock. He doesn't even hear the rest of the message as he spins the suit around, racing for Elynea's apartment.