The group made their way to the secret base, climbing up the ladder and towards the part where the real action was going on. Each of them had guns in their hands as they inched forward, being careful not to be spotted by anyone. "You're not gonna freak out on us, right, Tony? Mel?"
Melody rolled her eyes at Rhodey's comment as Tony simply just shrugged, knowing he had a point. "I hope not."
There was canned oil all around them as they jumped up to get on the upper levels, realizing it was getting even harder to go by without being seen. They finally found a large crate to hide behind, Rhodey peeking out to see what was going on.
In front of him was a man with a camera angled up, pointing at the President dressed up in the Iron Patriot suit, his head downcast, looking at his fate. "Oh my god." Rhodey hurried back behind the crate, Emily immediately giving him a worried look. "He's strung up over the oil tank." Tony looked up from the caboose of the line with a worried face.
"They're gonna light him up." Emily concluded.
"Viking funeral." Clint spoke, looking right at her.
Melody shook her head at how these people just thought of something this destructive. "A public execution."
"Yeah, death by oil." Tony spoke, causing them all to look over at him, knowing this was going to be the most violent televised death in the history of America.
Melody took a deep sigh as she put her head against the cold, metal crate, finding it slightly relaxing. It was the only thing keeping her from having a panic attack. Clint put a hand on her arm, looking at her intently, wondering if she should just sit this one out. "You okay?"
Her eyes opened, a thinking face on. "Actually," She looked over to him, Clint knowing that face immediately. "I think I have an idea."
Melody immediately took off in the direction of the stairs to get to the upper levels where they were keeping the President as everyone took off after her, mostly in fear of her life. And with how fast she got them all running, they weren't seen by any of the minions.
Once they finally got to the upper levels, Clint took a deep sigh. "Melody, babe, remember what we talked about earlier?"
Melody shrugged without turning to look at him. "You weren't gonna do it anyway and we'd still be behind that crate."
Rhodey shrugged, looking back to Clint briefly with all of their guns out. "She's got a point."
"Thanks, Rhodes." That's when she turned behind her to look at her uncle, rolling her eyes slightly, realizing how little training he had in that moment. "Is your gun up?" She asked with the annoyance lingering in her voice, wondering how the hell he didn't realize why she made sure his suit was going to be the only one that was going to make it.
Right after she said something, he picked the gun up, obviously not comfortable with them or in a proper position, and she didn't blame him. With the Iron Man suit, he had no need for holding a gun anymore. He was going to be a little rusty. "Yup, what do I do?"
"Stay on my six." Rhodey commanded from the front of the line. "Cover high."
Melody turned to look at him for a moment as they continued to move forward. "Don't shoot me in the back."
Tony immediately turned around, watching for what was behind them. "Six, high, back." He mumbled. "I got it."
Right as Rhodey was about to continue walking forward, Emily saw a sniper right above them. She immediately grabbed his shoulders, pulling him back as Melody, Clint and Tony shot at the sniper, looking for cover.
The finally found a spot by the machines around, Clint and Melody immediately checking each other for any wounds. "You see that?" Tony asked just as Clint and Melody finished their inspection. "Nailed it."
Melody immediately turned to look at him, surprised they were still in their alignment. "Yeah, you really killed the glass."
"I was aiming for the bulb." He spoke obviously with the shake of the head. "You can't hit a bulb at this distance."
Her eyebrows raised at that, causing her to get up slightly, aim and hit the light bulb in a matter of seconds before ducking back down, giving Tony an obvious look. He made a face at her, making her roll her eyes as he began to open up his gun. "Can you admit that I'm better than you at something for once in your life?"
"I'm out." He spoke, ignoring her, causing her to immediately roll her eyes, but she was happy that he was back to the old Tony. He peaked over Melody and Clint to look at Emily and Rhodey. "You got an extra magazine?"
"They're not universal, Tony." Emily spoke obviously with a slight eye roll.
"I know what I'm doing." He told her in an annoyed voice.
"That's debatable." She spoke quickly, causing Tony to give her a straight face of annoyance.
"I make this stuff." He told her as Melody and Clint gave each other a tired look. How were they the only two acting like adults right now? "Give me another one."
She rolled her eyes as she and Rhodey went through the magazines they had. "We don't have one that fits that gun." Rhodey spoke for her.
"Oh, come on," He spoke completely annoyed. "You and your girlfriend have like five each."
Melody shuddered at those words. "I'm not against it." She spoke, leaning over Clint to look at the two. "But I just need some time getting used to that terminology about each other."
"Alright, here's what I'm gonna do." Tony spoke, causing them all to turn to look at him. "I'm gonna spot."
He got up quickly, turning his torso around and immediately came right back down. "What did you see?" Clint asked.
"Too fast." He reported instantly. "Nothing."
They all rolled their eyes as Melody hit him on the arm. "Tony!"
"Alright." He spoke, sitting up again, actually watching this time before ducking back down to the rest of the group. "Three guys, one girl, all armed."
They all sighed, knowing these people had Extremis running through their veins, meaning this fight was going to be nearly impossible. "I would kill for some armor right now." Rhodey cursed.
"Yeah." Tony agreed. "We need backup."
"Yeah," Emily agreed with a slight eye roll. "Much."
"You know what…" Tony trailed off, looking to the sky with a slight smile.
They all looked to the direction he was staring in, seeing something that looked like a very bright star, but it was just too close to be a star. Then, it broke into two. That's when it all clicked to them. "Is that…" Clint spoke, not even finding himself able to finish the sentence from shock.
"Yup." Tony spoke, smiling like a proud parent.
A smile grew on Melody's lips, realizing Tony had missed her the whole time, considering the fact that this was her original idea. "The House Party Protocol."
Tony looked over to his niece, knowing that even if they died today from all of this, he would die the luckiest man in the world with Melody by his side. "Just for you." He wrapped his arm around her as she leaned in slightly to appreciate a family moment in this chaos. "Merry Christmas, Mel."
"Jarvis," Melody began, knowing they would all be able to hear her, her voice being one of those to recognize automatically. "Target Extremis heat signatures, disable with extreme prejudice."
"Yes, ma'am." They all spoke as one, causing a big smile on her face and Clint's, knowing he had never been more proud of her.
"What are we waiting for?" Tony asked as he looked over to Melody. "It's Christmas." With one hand movement, all the suits were waiting on his command. "Take 'em to church."
All the suits sprang into action, taking on the Extremis fighters as the group watched, occasionally ducking from spare parts flying all around. The seemed to be winning for a while, but these people were just too strong, ripping the suits apart and one actually hitting the ground in an explosion, sending them all down, gripping onto the railing to keep from falling. Melody breathed in her first sharp breath of the battle, causing Clint to give her a worried face, but she shook her head with a hand out, knowing she would be able to handle it this time.
"Jarvis," Tony commanded. "Get Igor to settle this thing."
An enormous Iron Man suit began charging towards the ones coming after the group, sending Melody to turn to Tony with wide eyes. "Hulkbuster idea?"
Tony shrugged, turning back to the suit. "Prototype. The real one is going to be bigger. A lot bigger."
"So, this is how you're managing your downtime?" Rhodey chuckled out.
"Everyone needs a hobby." He retorted almost instantly.
One of the suits lost its face mask and visual, sending it into the tanks of gas, sending off multiple explosions, one in the direction of the room Pepper was being held in and where Killian and Zeke were.
A suit landed right next to them, Tony immediately standing up and going to it as the others stood there, both confused and shocked. "Perfect timing."
"That's awesome." Rhodey spoke, spreading his arms out, ready to have the same thing as him. "Give me a suit."
Tony's face dropped as he looked to his best friend, knowing he was going to enjoy this one. "Oh, I'm sorry. They're only coded to me and Mel." He looked over to Melody, a question coming to mind. "Mel, you want one?"
Melody was looking up at one of the rooms an oil tank had crashed into, noticing one of the people glowing orange. This was something she was going to have to bury herself. She looked over to Clint who gave her a slight nod, knowing what she had to do, no matter how much it scared him. "Looks like I'm gonna need one for this."
A suit immediately crashed next to her, a smile spreading on her face, recognizing those purple and silver colors instantly. "Hello, Mark 41."
She stepped into it, having it take her shape and lock her in immediately. "Hello, Miss. Barnes."
"Wait," Rhodey spoke, his arms still up in confusion. "What does that mean?"
Melody and Tony looked to each other, not sure what to say. "I got you covered." And with that, they blasted off.
Clint looked up at Melody flying immediately into that room, making his heart tighten in worry. He had no idea what was going to happen to her, but he trusted her more than anything and he had even more faith in her. "Love you, Mel."
Melody flew into the now trashed room, looking all around, knowing Zeke was in there. Off in the corner, she saw Pepper lying in the rubble. "Oh my god." She whispered as her heart tightened, sending her off into her direction.
Suddenly, the suit was grabbed by the neck, throwing her into one of the remaining walls. She gasped, her feet weren't touching the ground and even in the suit it was uncomfortable. Zeke's yellow hair matched his now orange skin perfectly. "Melody," Zeke spoke. "Not so quickly."
"Look," Melody finally spoke, feeling the heat begin to seep into her suit. "I know you hate me for what I did, and I have to live with what happened every day of my life, but Pepper doesn't have to suffer for what I did."
"No," He spoke, that twisted voice creeping back. One she didn't recognize at all. "She kind of does because you got Clint, so now, I have to hurt Pepper. An eye for an eye type thing."
Melody shook her head, knowing there was no talking with this guy. "Just kill me." She pleaded.
"Oh," Zeke spoke. "You're gonna wish you were dead when I'm done with you."
"Zeke," Melody pleaded with him. "Look at what you've done!" Zeke blinked a couple of times, some normalcy passing across his face. "You've killed hundreds of people, and no matter how you feel about me, I know you know this is wrong!" Horror began to pass over his face as he looked below them, watching all the chaos. The chaos that he helped cause. "Zeke," Melody pleaded again, running out of air as he looked back to her, seeing that he was tormenting the girl he once said he was in love with. "I know you're in there."
Suddenly, a crash went through the room, causing Zeke to let go of her and both of them ending up on different sides of the room.
A suit appeared next to three who were left, causing them all to jump, not sure they were really needed in this fight. "Can I give you three a lift?" Jarvis asked.
Rhodey let out a dry laugh and eye roll. "Very funny."
Clint turned to them, knowing what he had to do. "You two go get the president, I'll keep the fighting down here."
"Clint," Emily spoke in a worried voice. "You can't possibly fight them all off. They're all insanely powerful."
Clint shook his head, looking up to the building Melody was in. "I have to try." When he looked back to Emily, she was giving him a worried look. "Go." She leaned forward, giving him a kiss on the cheek before joining Rhodey on the suit, taking them away.
Clint looked to one of the men glowing orange coming to him, taking a deep sigh. "I guess it's always good to get some anger out."
The two met in a punch, Clint getting burned slightly, but he was quick, able to deliver hurtful blows with minimal amount of contact, and with the Iron Man suits helping him, he would have this done in no time.
Rhodey and Emily were dropped down to one of the levels of the place, taking deep breaths, but when they looked up, they saw that they wouldn't have long to rest. Two of the Extremis minions were headed right toward them. They both hopped up, knowing what they had to do, but a suit landed right in front of them, taking care of the job for them. Emily looked at Rhodey wide eyed before giving him a little shrug. "I see why you love the suits."
Rhodey gave her a smile before grabbing her hand and pulling her forward, knowing that as soon as they saved the President, he was going to kiss her over and over again.
Clint was doing well, but he would never be as strong as those guys and when he looked up, he saw the position Zeke had Melody in. His blood was boiling at the thought of him threatening her and decided no matter what happened to him, he was going to act rashly. "Jarvis!" he called loudly, knowing one of the suits near him could hear. "I need a lift!"
As soon as he said that, one of the Extremis minions was right in front of him. He began to run, heading for the end of one of the railings. "And I need it now!" Clint yelled before jumping off.
He had a minute of free fall right before a suit caught him, sending him into a relieved sigh. "Anything for you, Mr. Barton."
"Get me to Melody."
The suit took off, the blast behind it disintegrating the minion trying to attack Clint. He took a deep breath, bracing himself for the crash, closing his eyes tightly just as he made contact and was thrown from the suit.
Tony flew around in his suit, helping all of the other suits that needed it, but his main goal was getting his family out of there safe. "Sir," Jarvis spoke, lasering Tony's focus instantly. "I've located Miss. Potts."
"About time." He retorted before blowing one of the minions next to him to bits.
Tony landed in the room, Melody, Clint, Pepper and Zeke were lying around in, but all he saw immediately was Pepper, not realizing two of the people he loved were lying unconscious. He began to move the rubble around to get to Pepper, scaring her instantly, thinking it was Killian or Zeke. "Stop!" She saw the Iron Man suit, letting a relieved breath come out. "Put it down." She commanded.
He did as she said, leaning down to be at her level, sending his suit up so she could see his face, giving them both immediate comfort. "See what happens when you hang out with my ex-girlfriends." He spoke with a bit of the shrug.
Pepper shut her eyes, slightly relieved he was joking around with her so quickly. "You're such a jerk."
"Yeah." Tony spoke, moving his hand out so she could grab onto it. "We'll talk about it over dinner." She let out a little laugh as she moved her hand towards him. "Come on." He encouraged, just wanting to get her out of there and someplace safe. "A little more, baby."
As soon as they had got to finger tips touching and Tony almost pulling her out, Killian's hand crashed out, disrupting the suit as best as he could and throwing Tony away from her. He pushed himself out of the under part of the rubble, immediately looking to Pepper. "Is this guy bothering you?" She let out a tired, hateful sigh, finding herself not even able to look at him.
Melody woke up, taking just a few seconds to realize where she was. When she jolted up, she could make out some familiar voices, Killian being one of them. What scared her the absolute most was who was laying a few feet ahead of her. "Clint!"
She hurried towards him, throwing the mask from the damaged suit off her face and clawing through the rubble just to get to him. Fear ran through her whole body once she reached him, finding no movement whatsoever, but then he coughed, replacing fear with relief. He looked up at her with tired eyes and a small smile. "Hey."
She was angry with him for doing something stupid, but she honestly couldn't be happier he was alive. "I get it now."
He smiled as he sat up, Melody eager to help him as well. What she said needed no explanation to him. She was rethinking her recklessness. "I thought you might." He spoke as his hand went to his head. He was more alert now, his eyes fully open, giving her an understanding smile. "I get it too."
The two leaned in, about to kiss when the rustling of metal distracted them. They saw Zeke running in the opposite direction they were in. Clint and Melody looked at each other, wanting to finish this more than anything, but Zeke was taking precedence.
The two got up and followed him into a room with old machinery in it. That wasn't the shocking part, though. The room was the least shocking thing about it. The shocking part was that Zeke was standing in front of them, a gun pressed to his temple.
Killian immediately climbed on top of Tony, putting one finger to his chest plate, Extremis working instantly. "Is it hot in there?" He taunted with a big smile. "Stuck?" He asked mockingly. "Feeling stuck?" Tony rolled his eyes slightly, knowing he could come up with something so much better than that if he was in Killian's position. "Feel like a little turtle? Cooking in his little turtle suit?"
"Tony." Pepper whispered out, watching this all was hurting her, just like it was hurting Tony to hear her voice that weak.
"She's watching." Killian whispered to him. "I think you should close your eyes." Tony looked back and forth from Killian to Pepper, not sure what to do that exact minute. "Close your eyes, you don't want to see this."
Killian's hand went down, but a blade came out of Tony's suit, taking his arm off instantly. Sure, it would regenerate, but it still hurt like hell, causing him to fall over, gripping what was left of his arm. "Yeah," Tony spoke, completely done with this guy. "You take a minute."
His arm began to burn a hole, sending Pepper down another story and onto a moving conveyer belt. Tony immediately threw his suit off and began chasing her down, defeating any of the minions in his way, switching suits to fly over there, doing anything possible to get her to safety.
Rhodey and Emily ran, finally making it to one of the railings looking over the President. Emily looked around, trying to figure out how they were going to do this as Rhodey leaned forward. "Mr. President!" He called, catching Ellis's attention immediately. "Just hold on, alright! We're coming."
The minions came running at them, causing Emily to take a huge sigh. "Bloody hell."
She looked all around, finally finding a way out. She looked over to Rhodey as he gave her a wild look. "Follow my lead."
He looked at her for a moment, not sure what she was going to do when she took off running and began to slide down one of the electrical wires, sending her on one of the crates. Rhodey did just what she did, finding it hard not to with how insanely fearless and brilliant she was.
The minions followed, both Rhodey and Emily pulled out their guns, shooting them as quickly as possible, but it wasn't helping much. Emily took a swing at them once they got close, but she slipped, almost falling off the crate, but she held on. "Emily!" Rhodey called, immediate fear in his voice, causing them to do the same to Emily, both of them holding on for dear life.
Emily looked to the minions for a moment before a smile grew on her lips. "Bye, bye." She spoke before shooting the wire keeping the crate up right, sending the minions falling to their deaths and Rhodey and Emily on their way to the President.
"That was part of the plan?!" Rhodey screamed, completely amazed by her.
"Of course it was!"
The wire led to the President, both of them catching onto the President before the crate hit the ground and blew. "Brace yourself!" Rhodey told the President and Emily before making the suit blast the wire off and the three were flying onto the safest platform.
Right when they landed, Rhodey shot the other part of the wire off the suit, leaving the President safe and sound. Emily and Rhodey looked to each other, both marveling the other's strengths, knowing this was going to be an amazing relationship. They both sighed and at the same time, said, "I love you," before clashing their lips together in a passionate kiss.
When they finally pulled away, the President was smiling at them as Emily still clinged to Rhodey, both looking up at the leader of their country they were fighting so hard for. "You look damn good, Mr. President." Rhodey commented, causing his smile to get even wider. "But I'm gonna need that suit back."
"Zeke," Melody tried as hard as humanly possible. "Put the gun down."
"I-I killed people." He whispered out. "You said so yourself."
"Zeke, you were being manipulated." Melody tried again, sharing a worried look with Clint. "You had no idea what you were doing."
He looked insane in that moment. Part of Clint wanted him to pull that trigger for everything he had done, but Clint knew that this wasn't the right thing to do. "Zeke," Clint tried, making Zeke jump a little, but turned to him nether less. "You can't do this, buddy. You're not thinking straight."
"You two should want me to do it the most with everything I've done to both of you."
Melody opened her mouth, but knew there was no way to counter that. They should have wanted him dead, but Melody most definitely didn't. "We don't want you dead, we just want you to give up the gun."
He looked back and forth between the two, wanting to listen to them, but all he could think of himself as was a monster now. He made it up in his mind. He had to do this. That was the only way to make up for everything he had done.
"Zeke," Melody pleaded, causing him to look at her desperately. She was completely on edge, eyes watering, hands shaking, and heart twisting in all ways possible. "This is not going to solve anything so please, put the gun down!"
He looked at Melody, taking a deep steady breath, knowing that he got into this for her. To get her back. But he lost himself along the way. He started out wide eyed with only love and science on his mind, then came the mistakes and looking up now, he knew, he was a long way from shore. And he now knew, he lost that battle a long time ago because Clint would always have her heart. And with that, he had his peace. "I love you, Melody." He whispered before taking a deep breath.
"NO!" Melody screamed, trying to run forward, but she didn't even get close as he pulled the trigger, blood and brains splattering everywhere. Mostly on Clint and Melody. They each stood there for a moment, taking in deep breaths, not sure what to do or where to even start. They had gotten one of the Mandarins down, but why did they feel like they lost something?
Tony continued to run, making a risky jump, finally getting on the conveyer belt that had Pepper. "The President is secure." Rhodey spoke through Tony's earpiece. "Emily and I are clearing the area."
"Nice work." Tony spoke instantly, finding himself not able to focus on that in the moment. Just Pepper.
He was right in front of her, the only thing keeping her from falling was the pole she had a death grip on. "Pepper!" Tony called, his voice tinged with urgency. "I got you. Relax. I got you." She was letting out scared breaths, as she reached out for him, the thing just threatening to fall. "Honey, I can't reach any further and you can't stay there, alright?" She gave him a worried look. "You gotta let go." She continued to cry out. "You gotta let go. I'll catch you. I promise."
She nodded, preparing herself, but just as she was about to let go, the thing snapped, sending her falling a few inches in front of Tony's hand. She screamed the entire way down, finally falling into the fire below her.
All Tony could do was stand there and watch the fire, knowing she was gone, but praying to god that she got out somehow. His eyes watered, his heart shattering and falling down into his stomach, but above all, he couldn't shake this feeling of guilt. He was the reason for all of this. His foolishness.
Once he found it in him to get up, he was facing Killian, channeling all his rage into attacking him. "What a shame?" He commented, looking down at the fire below him. "I would have caught her."
That was enough to set him off. With all of the energy and anger he had, he charged forward, jumping under him to get a suit. Then, the two started their long coming fight.
Clint and Melody were still in that room, looking down just in time to see Killian throw Tony into one of the railings. "We've got to help him."
Clint looked all around, not sure what they could do. "Yeah, but how?"
Melody looked all around, finally getting an idea. "Jarvis," She announced, knowing she was still connected to Tony's server. "Give my suit to Tony."
It immediately ripped itself off of her just as Tony said, "Eject." The suit he was in spit him out and he fell, Mark 41 catching him just in time. "Thanks, Mel." He grunted before flying straight up, taking Killian with him.
They continued watching the entire thing, just when things started to get rough, Tony had a backup and save through it all, both of them not understanding just how he got lucky. And when Pepper showed up, saving Tony and destroying Killian, they were both ecstatic.
Clint turned to look at Melody, the wind blowing back her blonde hair perfectly, knowing that if he could, he would stay with her in this moment forever. She turned to look at him, giving him a perfect little smile, thinking the same as her better half. "We did it." She told him with a bit of a shrug.
"I had no doubt." He told her with a little shrug. He looked her up and down before pulling her to him by the small of her back. "Are you gonna be okay?"
She took a deep breath, thinking about it. "Yeah, I'm gonna be fine." She put her hands on his face, causing him to close his eyes slightly, breathing all of her in. "I have you. I'm gonna be just fine."
He opened his eyes, finding her the most beautiful right there. The wind blowing her hair, no makeup, a bit of blood and dirt on her face. That was her most beautiful because right there, it showed how strong she really was, both physically and emotionally. And he knew right then and there that his search for love was over. The love of his life was found.
She shook her head as she looked around, finally coming back to reality. "There's so much we have to do. We have to find Emily and Rhodey. We have to let everyone know we're okay. Oh, god, Steve and Natasha must be going out of their minds." Clint chuckled a little, finding the love of his life now extremely cute. "And we still don't know what's going on with me, Clint. I was injected with Extremis and nothing happened. I'm a complete freak."
"And we will worry about all of that tomorrow." He comforted, removing one hand from her waist to put on her cheek. With that, she shifted her hands to wrap around his neck, staring right into his eyes, knowing the same thing Clint knew. This was her end of the line love. "Right now, it's just you and me." Their blue eyes stared into each other, Clint taking a deep sigh. "And I love you."
She smiled widely. "I love you." With that, they leaned in and shared a passionate kiss. It was a kiss that had you grabbing onto anything and everything to assure yourself that something this wonderful was even remotely possible. During the kiss, different Iron Man suits began exploding in the sky, looking like fireworks, but not even that couldn't distract them from each other.
When they pulled apart, all they could do was stare into each other's eyes, that's when something occurred to Clint. "Mel, how are we gonna get down from here?" She immediately began to laugh at that. "Seriously, how are we getting down? We're like a hundred feet in the air."
"What happened to just living in the moment?"
"Well, I would like to know how we're going to continue living after this moment."
Melody let out a deep sigh, just staring at him. "Merry Christmas, Clint."
And he did the same, finding it impossible to look away. "Merry Christmas, Melody."
Just one more chapter after this one! And remember, Clint still has that engagement ring. Do you think he'll propose right away or hold onto it? And if he does propose, what do you think Melody's response will be? Would love to hear your thoughts. Remember to review! I work hard on these chapters for you guys so remember to tell me what you think! Love ya!