Rebecca had been sidetracked for a while when she thought about what Ben was saying. Lucas could easily be setting her up, he had no reason to help her and he still had his chance to help Hammer even though it was now pointless. She didn't know whether or not she should keep following the trail that Lucas had told her to follow or stop what she was doing and wait for her father like she was advised to do. However, as she neared the Stark Expo she slowed down, knowing she shouldn't be there, but a few moments later she saw Iron Man flying out of the glass ceiling, and it didn't look good. She could hear the screams of everyone inside, and at first she though that Ivan Vanko had shown up and done something horrible, but soon enough her dad was being chased by the same suits she had seen at Hammer Industries.
''Dad?'' she spoke, hoping his device was turned on. ''Dad! Can you hear me!''
''Little busy at the moment,'' he replied, his voice sounding out of breath.
''I know, I can see that.'' her eyes followed him soaring through the sky. ''What's going on?''
''What? Where are you?''
''It doesn't matter, fill me in.''
''I would if I could, but I don't know either. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say Vanko's behind this, the drones or whatever are all locked on to target me.''
Rebecca watched on anxiously. ''How are we supposed to stop them?''
''I don't know, find the power source I guess, I'm a little preoccupied on getting Rhodey back, his suit's being controlled as well. You should go somewhere safe, this isn't going to end anytime soon.'' he told her.
''I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to try and stop this.'' she told him with confidence.
''No, Bec, Ivan is doing this and I don't want you anywhere near him.''
''But I know where he is...I think.''
''I don't care, I don't want you going there alone.'' he paused for a moment. ''Rhodey! What's going on? Bec, I gotta take care of this but please don't go hunting down Ivan, it's too dangerous.''
Rebecca knew he had more important things to deal with right now than worrying if she would go running off, so she humored him and agreed to stay safe so that he could focus on not getting hit by the drones.
''Fine, I won't.''
She couldn't sit around though, not when she knew where Ivan was and knew how to stop him. Lucas had told her and although he couldn't be trusted, she had never seen him so scared before and she could trust his fear. Lucas was someone that did things under pressure or threat, to please people, and since Ivan had literally killed three people in front of Lucas, he was severely threatened. He wanted Ivan stopped, and Rebecca could trust that. She had to, it was her only hope if she wanted all of this madness to end.
''Ben?'' she spoke, hoping he could hear he back at the workshop. ''Ben? Ben! Are you there?''
Rebecca let out a frustrated groan, she just wanted to know what was going on and where everyone was, now she had more to worry about. She set her mind to finding Ivan, and then she glanced back at Iron Man being chased through the skies. She could stop this, no one would have to get hurt and everything would be okay if she found Vanko and stopped his control. She could do it.
Ben sped down the highway, ignoring all of the horns blaring around him at his erratic driving, his mind was set on something and there was no stopping him. He drove around bends on streets as if he was in an action movie, accelerating until he could see the building he was looking for. As soon as he arrived, he pulled his keys out of the ignition and ran inside. There was glass everywhere before the door and he looked up to see a busted window and a massive hole in the wall, knowing what it was from.
He was in Hammer Industries, and he was in search of one particular person. The door at the side of the building led around many corridors before bringing him to a warehouse where he instantly knew Tony and Rebecca had been. There was no sign of anyone, but he was going to walk out with no answers. There was a small room over by a staircase, just below it, and he strode over in an intimidating way to push the door open with force. There was a frightened yell for a moment as Lucas cowered in the corner.
Ben looked at the other boy, assuming it was him. ''You must be Lucas.''
Lucas looked back in shock. ''Who the hell are you?'' he shook his head. ''What the hell is going on?''
Ben couldn't help notice just how scared Lucas was, but that didn't stop him from putting on his bravest face and getting straight to the point of why he came here in the first place. He knew what Lucas had done, he had been the one to take Rebecca and get her into this mess, happily agreeing to stand by and watch her murdered by Ivan Vanko. Ben wasn't much of a bad guy, he could barely speak for himself sometimes, but when it came down to Rebecca, he would do anything, and that's what he did. He didn't flinch, his expression was blank and he didn't give off any sign that he himself was frightened of what Lucas would do.
''Where's Rebecca?'' he asked in a firm voice.
Lucas shook his head. ''Who are you!''
Ben walked over cornered him. ''Where is she?''
Lucas shoved him back, obviously not appreciating the breach of his personal space. ''Hey, back off! You tell me who you are and I might tell you something in return.''
''Ben.''
Lucas thought to himself for a moment. ''Oh, so you're the boyfriend.'' he nodded. ''How's that going by the way? It's a shame things didn't work out between me and her, she sure is one fine girl, Rebecca.'' Lucas grinned, trying to intimidate Ben. ''Did she not tell you about us? Oops.''
Ben knew what he was doing, or at least he thought. Rebecca would have told him if she had been in a relationship before him since they had spoken about that many times, but maybe she just wanted to hide this one. No, there was no way. Rebecca would have told him, he knew it, this guy was just trying to get the edge on him.
''Where is she?''
''Something tells me you already know. So why are you asking me?''
''Something tells me you're lying. Why would you help her when Hammer is relying on you? From what I've heard you're his little bitch, so I doubt you'd actually tell Rebecca the truth.''
Lucas's grin faded. ''I don't care about what Hammer wants from me anymore, I could care less.''
''Fine, then where is Rebecca?''
''Now? She's probably almost at one of Hammer's offices trying to find Vanko.'' Lucas shrugged.
''Where is that?''
''Now, why would I tell you? I think I've been more than honest with enough people today.''
Ben walked over to him and grabbed around his shirt, reaching his frustration level and snapping. ''Where is she Lucas? If you think I'm an idiot then think again 'cause I'm not leaving until I get what I came for.''
Lucas laughed. ''Oh, and what's that?''
''Answers.'' he shoved Lucas into the wall, watching as he winced in pain. ''So you'd better start talking.''
''Who the hell do you think you are?'' Lucas laughed. ''You can't just step in and try and be a hero, you're walking into things that are bigger than you know. Metal suits, crazy-ass Russian men and an obsessive weapons developer who wants all of that to himself. What could you possibly do to help anyone right now?''
Ben had already gone over everything Lucas was telling him anyway. He knew he was the disadvantage in this whole thing, after all he didn't have anything he could offer to help. Not when things had became so crazy today.
''You wouldn't have a clue what I could do.'' Ben shoved him again. ''Now, where's Vanko at?''
Lucas just shook his head in laughter before pushing back against Ben. It was forceful and knocked Ben to the ground. ''You're so blind to the fact that you cannot help anyone whatsoever right now.''
Ben pulled himself up, looking at Lucas angrily. ''I wasn't the one hiding out in this room, screaming at a shadow.''
''You're so clueless to everything.'' he threw his hands up. ''Maybe I will tell you where Ivan is, that way you'll learn just how in over your head you are.''
''Great, so where is it?'' Ben walked closer to him, pushing him back onto the wall again.
''It's about ten minutes from here, not far.'' Lucas pretended to think to himself before he gave Ben the location, thinking he would probably get himself killed when he got there anyway. ''Now, is that all you wanted?''
Ben nodded, but he paused as he was about to turn away from Lucas, bringing his fist around to hit him. Lucas fell to the ground in pain, holding his nose where Ben had hit, making it bleed down his face. Ben didn't know he was actually capable of making someone bleed, especially in such a violent way, but he wasn't sorry, Lucas deserved it.
''What the hell! I told you where he was!'' Lucas yelled, his voice muffled by his hands that held his face.
''That's for everything you've done to Rebecca.'' Ben told him. ''If you come near her ever again, and if you ever hurt her again in any way I would suggest leaving the country and never coming back, got it?''
Ben walked out of the room feeling happy with the way he handled things. He was in no way a violent person or even a mean person, but when he saw Lucas all of that changed with the hate he had for him. He should think himself lucky that Ben found him and not Tony, but Ben could care less about what happened to Lucas. He walked back out to his car and with the location of Vanko now in his knowledge, he sped back onto the road in hopes to find Rebecca.
''You sure you know what you're doing?'' Happy asked as he stopped the car outside of a Hammer Industries building, the one which Hammer had directed Natalie to.
Natalie got out of the car, now dressed in her Shield uniform which was a black catsuit equipped with numerous weapons which made Happy think that she wasn't just a personal assistant. There were guns strapped to her waist and legs by holsters, a belt lined with all sorts of smaller weapons and there were bracelets around her wrists that looked lethal.
''Stay here,'' she advised him.
''No way! You can't go in there alone!'' Happy protested. He was a bodyguard, he couldn't let her walk into this building by herself.
''You want to help?'' she looked at him. ''Keep the car running.''
Happy followed behind her, confident that he could help with whatever was to be faced inside. Happy had no idea she was a Shield agent and was perfectly capable of handling anything on her own. When she was in her Shield uniform, she was deadly serious, and she was no longer Natalie Rushman, she was Natasha Romanoff.
As they entered the building, there was one security guard at the door that was trying to block Natasha getting past, but she easily slipped by him and ran to the other corridors that were full of guards as well. Happy stayed back at the main entrance, throwing punched at the guard that was attacking him. He looked over the man's shoulder and saw that she was gone, probably running through the building now that he had helped get her in, so he continued throwing punches until one of the stopped.
Rebecca had only just reached the building after her slight delay, and she noticed the car that was parked outside. It was Happy's car, there was no mistaking his personalized plates that she had grown so familiar with. Her initial reaction was fear that Ivan had taken them, they were probably in there with him, but she had no idea why they would come here in the first place. She dropped to the ground and moved to the door, hoping everything was okay.
''I got him!'' Happy yelled out, looking away from Rebecca and down the hall. Rebecca didn't say anything at first, trying to think of what to say to him. She wasn't expecting to see him right at the entrance, she didn't know how to approach the situation. However, before she could think anymore about it, Happy turned and looked at her in horror. He thought she was one of the drones that Ivan had created, but her suit was more like Tony's rather than those robots, he was confused. ''W-what the...''
''Don't worry, it's just me.'' Rebecca told him, watching as his eyes widened. Although her father had advised her not to let her identity be known just yet since it was too dangerous, she could trust Happy with her life.
Happy lip trembled as he searched or words. ''B-bec?''
''Yeah, its' me.'' she nodded. ''I can't explain things just yet. What are you doing here?''
Happy just shook his head in disbelief, but after working for Tony for so long, he soon adjusted to the situation. ''Ivan took over Hammer's suits and Rhodey's.'' he explained breathlessly. ''Natalie's gone to find Ivan.''
''What? Where is he?'' Rebecca asked frantically.
Happy was still shaking his head in shock, but his arm lifted up and pointed down the corridor. ''She went that way...''
Rebecca set off in pursuit of Ms. Rushman, wondering why she was here in the first place trying to stop Ivan. For all Rebecca knew, Natalie was a personal assistant, she wouldn't have a clue what she was doing. There were unconscious guards everywhere, but they were okay, and Rebecca hurried her pace to the room down the corridor, leading straight to the room where Ivan was thought to be. Happy followed quickly behind her.
''He's gone.'' Natasha stated, looking back to see a metal suit instead of Happy, who she thought was following behind her.
Rebecca put her hands up, seeing the danger in Natasha's eyes. ''It's just me,'' she told her. ''Rebecca.''
''What the hell are you doing?'' Natasha asked her angrily.
''Hey, I could ask you the same thing!" Rebecca shot back just as angrily.
''I'm trying to stop your father from being killed by his best friend.'' she turned away, walking over to the computers. ''You shouldn't be in that.''
''I would have been dead two hours ago if I wasn't.'' Rebecca told her honestly.
''What?'' Happy asked, shocked again. ''Where were you anyway? Pepper was going crazy.''
''It's...a long story.'' she took off her helmet to speak comfortably.
Natasha turned back to look at her. ''What do you mean you would have been dead?''
Rebecca sighed. ''I woke up in Hammer Industries, Ivan was planning to kill me there and then go for my dad but I got away...barely, thanks to this.'' she tapped against the suit. ''I know it's dangerous, but it saved my life.''
Natasha nodded in understanding and then turned back to the computers, hacking into the system. She didn't need details just now, she just needed to basics so she wasn't so confused by the whole thing.
''Does your dad know?'' Happy asked.
Rebecca nodded. ''Yeah...we'll deal with everything later. Right now we need to get those things back in control and find Ivan.''
''Ivan's long gone,'' Natasha informed, her eyes not moving from the screen. ''His location is unknown but it's impossible to trace him at the moment.''
Rebecca then had to ask. ''What are you, anyway? Police? Undercover agent?''
''Sort of.''
''Sort of what?''
I work for Shield,'' she told her simply. ''You'll be hearing from them soon, no doubt.''
Just as Natasha finished speaking, there were loud footsteps coming down the corridor and they all turned to see Ben running toward them. They were all confused as to why he was here, but they didn't have to wonder long since he began telling them straight away.
''I went over to Hammer Industries...that Lucas kid told me Ivan was here.'' he told them breathlessly.
''So you decided to come here and stop him?'' Rebecca asked in a shocked tone.
Ben shook his head. ''No, I wanted to stop you.''
Natasha turned back to the computer screens once again after hearing all the details she wanted. She felt responsible for Rebecca since Shield would be wanting to speak with her now she had an Iron Man suit, but her focus right now was to break Ivan's control over Rhodey's suit.
''There's an attack coming in.'' Natasha spoke, reading the codes. ''Five minutes, and then the drones are going for him.''
Rebecca looked over to her. ''What do you mean? They're already going for him.''
''This is a much bigger party, Ivan must have had others stored for the occasion.''
''How do you stop them?''
''Right now I need to get Rhodey's suit under control, but I don't know how long they're going to hold out under all of those drones coming in.''
Rebecca thought to herself, and it was as if Ben could read her thoughts in that moment. ''No,'' he told her. ''I only just found you, don't leave again.''
''I need to help them,'' she told him. ''There's too many, they need help.''
''You can't be serious. You've been in that suit for a few hours, how do you know you can use it properly?'' he asked, concerned.
''I know I can. I have to do this, they're not gonna be able to do this on their own.''
Ben didn't know what to say back, he knew she wanted to go, but he wished she could see how dangerous it was and what he was worrying about.
''She's right,'' Natasha told him. ''They can't do this on their own. Especially if it's going to take longer to get Rhodey's suit back.''
Rebecca seemed confused. ''Wait, so you think I should go?'' she asked.
''I think you'll be able to help them, yes.''
''Don't you care if she gets hurt?'' Ben asked, getting frustrated.
''She's done alright for herself so far, I don't see how it would be a problem.'' Natasha told him calmly. ''But, it is up to her...so,''
Ben looked back to Rebecca with pleading eyes. ''Please, think about this.''
''There's no time to think about it, I have to do this.'' she told him seriously. ''I'm sorry if you don't like the idea, but I promise I'll be okay. I just want to help my dad.''
Ben understood why she was doing it, and he felt guilty about trying to talk her out of it, but he was protective of her as well and he couldn't help that he worried so much. But then again, if she was brave enough to face Ivan herself, build this suit and use it to save her own life, she could do this, he knew that.
''Don't do anything stupid.'' he told her.
''Well, you know me...I don't really think about things until I'm doing them.'' she shrugged, trying to ease the tension. ''I promise.''
Ben put his hands around the back of her neck and pulled her in for a soft kiss, just because that is all he had been wanting to do all day since he left her.
''Be careful out there,'' Happy told her as she pulled her helmet back on. ''You're dad's probably going to kill me for letting you do this...''
Rebecca shrugged again. ''Who said you knew anything about this?''
Happy grinned, catching onto what she was saying. ''Right, yeah, no idea.''
Rebecca walked out of the room and Ben followed her out to the main entrance, standing with her on the sidewalk. She looked back at him, knowing he couldn't see her face, but she smiled and knew he could tell she was trying to ease his worries, and then she flew up into he air as Ben watched until she was finally gone.
Whew, that was a bit of a jumbled chapter, I'll admit. Anyway I hope you guys liked it and I apologize for any confusion when I referred to Natalie and Natasha. I wanted to show that her identity and persona immediately changed when she was 'working' as the Shield agent, so I think I might have referred to her as Natalie and Natasha at the same time, so I apologize and hope you still understood what I was doing. Next chapter will be a bit more exciting! Please review, and thanks for reading!
Just a little side note: I know some of you have been wondering if I was going to do an Avengers story that follows on from this and the answer is yes I will be and I intend to do so after this story is completed which will still be a few chapters away yet. I might take a break after this story and then post the Avengers one a few weeks later, but knowing me I will probably post it the next day since I hate to wait! Anyway, I hope you guys will stick with me through to that story as well! Also a thanks to people who have stuck with this story since 'A Change' and have continued to review and read, thanks heaps, I appreciate it more than you know!