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There are some rumours going around that this site may disappear. I have been slowly removing myself from his site over the last few years so if this site does go down, you can find this series on archiveofourown. I'm very tempted to stop posting this series here, after this story is finished. This series will continue on A03 though so I strongly suggest people follow me there.
Please enjoy this chapter!
Understanding the Real Hero: Iron Man 3
Three
At a Chinese theatre in Los Angeles, one of Killian's henchmen meets a man who is sat outside the theatre. The henchman, whose name is Eric Savin, was the same man who accompanied Killian to Stark Industries to meet Pepper, and he has with him a briefcase. Savin asks the man if he can regulate who says he can. Savin double-checks.
Bucky glowered at the screen. "Despite the lack of ethical approval, he's still conducting tests, dealing in the black market."
Tony nodded. "He needed to know his product worked. And, sometimes, tricking the wrong person into taking it, meant disaster." He'd carried out a little bit of investigating after the whole incident had been dealt with. The man Savin had given the briefcase to had believed it to be a simple off-the-market drug rather than Extremis. He'd been duped into taking it resulting in the explosion which had nearly taken Happy's life.
Happy watches from a distance as Savin hands the man a briefcase, telling the man it is a decent batch and told him not to say he never did anything for him. The man thanks Savin for understanding. Savin walks off as the other man opens the briefcase. Happy walks toward the man with the briefcase as he gets up, deliberately walking into him knocking the briefcase out of the man's hand. The contents scatter on the ground.
"Smart move. Get a sample, Happy," agreed Sam.
Happy apologies and helps the man put the stuff back in the suitcase. As he looks at the man, he notices he is slightly glowing red. Hogan starts to walk off with one of the items from the suitcase, but Savin bumps into him.
"What are you doing, buddy? You out by yourself? A little date night? Watching your favourite chick flick maybe?"
"Yeah, a little movie called "The Party's Over", starring you and your junkie girlfriend, and here's the ticket." Happy showed Savin what he had taken from the man's suitcase.
Rhodey groaned. "Not the right thing to do. He should have not been so confrontational."
"He was onto Happy at that point," sighed Tony. "They wouldn't have let him leave the area now they knew he'd been followed. Even if Happy hadn't had one of the items, they would have made sure he couldn't report back what he had seen."
Happy had been very lucky that night to survive what he had. Even then, Happy hadn't woken from his coma until after Killian had been dealt with. By then, any information he'd had, Tony had already acquired.
"No kidding? That doesn't belong to you." Savin goes to take the item from Happy's hand but he is punched in the face twice. Happy sees Savin's face glow red and heal.
Steve swore. "Shit. He's got Extremis, hasn't he?"
Tony nodded. "Yup! And, he's one of the few it works for. He's able to regulate it and use it to its full potential. He's also a man-made weapon ready for deployment at any time."
Sam considered his next words carefully. "There was an explosion at a Chinese theatre wasn't there?"
"There was," admitted Tony. "Shortly before Christmas."
"It wasn't a usual bomb… I remember the reports being very sketchy. But if Extremis is very volatile then…" Sam had got it in one. "It was him. The addict who thought it was other drugs. He was duped into taking it to cause an explosion, making it look like a terrorist attack by the Mandarin."
Tony was pleased how analytical Sam was being. He was able to take apart all the evidence collected and come to a swift and correct conclusion. He hoped they'd be able to work together more in future. There was a lot of potential there for a partnership between them if they utilised their skills in the best way.
Then Savin grabbed Happy and threw him aside, through a selling stand, scattering the contents everywhere. Other shoppers are beginning to flee the scene. Savin starts to walk towards Happy however the other man seems to have ingested whatever was inside the case and his face is now burning red and he is turning super-hot. He calls for Savin. He asks for help but it's too late.
"Happy! Get out of there!" Clint shouted, watching as Happy attempted to get behind cover.
The man explodes causing a massive explosion which vaporises other people nearby instantly. The explosion rocks out into the road causing cars to crash as fire and smoke billow down upon them. Happy is burned and lies injured on the ground. He is just conscious enough to see Savin emerge from the wreckage, his skin glowing red and healing itself. He walks away from the scene as if nothing he happened, leaving Happy injured and alone.
Wanda looked pale. "Are they immortal? If an explosion doesn't kill them…"
"It depends on how close they are to the explosion," explained Tony. "Savin was far enough away that he wasn't vaporised instantly but he was severely burned. He's able to regulate Extremis and can use it to heal himself from serious injuries. If used correctly, Extremis could be a cure for many medical illnesses. And, you can kill them. You just have to injure them in a way it is impossible for Extremis to kick in and heal them before death takes them."
Wanda nodded, understanding the serious implications Extremis could have if used incorrectly.
More footage from the Mandarin is shown on screen. Over a montage of clips, they could see the Mandarin. "True story about fortune cookies. They look Chinese, they sound Chinese, but they're actually an American invention. Which is why they're hollow, full of lies, and leave a bad taste in the mouth. My disciples just destroyed another cheap American knock-off: the Chinese Theatre. Mr President, I know this must be getting frustrating, but this season of terror is drawing to a close. And don't worry, the big one is coming; your graduation!" The last image of the video shows a picture of the President being shot in the head.
Steve gritted his teeth. "I don't really remember these threats. Did SHIELD keep us away from it?"
"They tried to," admitted Natasha. "They knew Tony was dealing with it. And it was more of an American Military operation than a SHIELD one. If we'd been required to step in, we would have been. Fury knew you didn't keep up much with the news reports. He wasn't worried about you going off to solve it on your own."
Steve hung his head. He'd been oblivious a lot of the time, choosing to believe SHIELD had the right idea and he was working for the good guys. He'd allowed himself to believe they knew what was best and where and when he was needed. If he'd known more about the events happening in the world with the threats against the President, Steve was certain he would have acted.
But because he hadn't tried, they'd left Tony to deal with it by himself.
And he hated it, especially when they now knew how badly the wormhole had affected Tony.
Happy lies in hospital critically injured, intubated. A nurse walks in to check on him and is startled when Tony makes his appearance known. He asks her to leave the TV on which is showing an episode of 'Downtown Abbey'. Tony explained that was Happy's show and he thinks it is elegant. He also asks to make sure everyone wears their badges as Happy is a stickler for that sort of thing, and that his guys wouldn't let anyone in without them. Tony turned to leave.
"I wasn't going to let anyone harm Happy again," grated Tony. "He had full protection around the clock."
"And JARVIS was monitoring the hospital from satellites," revealed Vision. "If anything was going to happen, the relevant authorities would have been informed."
Steve was beginning to realise how much Tony cared for his friends.
Outside, news reporters are all waiting for Tony outside the hospital as they would like to have his reaction on the latest attack. As soon as he walks out, reporters swarm toward him, telling him that their sources were telling them that this was another attack by the Mandarin and if there was anything he could tell them. Tony ignores the questions and walks toward his car.
"I didn't want to be baited," sighed Tony, "but they succeeded." If he hadn't given out his home address, it was unlikely Killian would have sent his minions to destroy his home in an attempt to murder Tony.
Another reporter asks Tony when someone was gonna kill the Mandarin. Tony turned to face the report.
"Oh…" Steve paled, already knowing what was about to happen.
"He pressed your buttons," finished Bucky.
Tony nodded quietly.
"Is that what you want?" Tony does not look happy. "Here's a little holiday greeting I've been wanting to send to the Mandarin. I just didn't know how to phrase it until now. My name is Tony Stark and I'm not afraid of you. I know you're a coward, so I've decided…" He removes his sunglasses and stares into the phone camera held up by the reporter, "that you just died pal. I'm gonna come get the body. There's no politics here; it's just good-old-fashioned revenge. There's no Pentagon; it's just you and me. And on the off-chance you're a man, here's my home address: 10-8-80, Malibu Point, 9-0-2-6-5. I'll leave the door unlocked." Tony looks to the reporter. "That's what you wanted, right?" He grabs the phone and throws it at the wall, smashing it. "Bill me." Tony gets in his car and drives off.
"You gave out your location on tv." Steve was stunned.
Tony slid down his seat. "It was a stupid thing to do."
"To be fair, Steve," explained Rhodey, "Tony's address was already publicly known. People usually left him alone because they knew how enhanced his security systems were."
"Plus, I don't think anyone wanted to anger Iron Man," grinned Tony, "by turning up unannounced in case they were considered a threat. But, in giving out my exact location, despite it being easy to find anyway, I was challenging the Mandarin to take me on. Unfortunately…"
"He took Tony up on that particular offer," sighed Rhodey.
Tony is working in his lab. JARVIS has compiled a Mandarin database for him, data taken from SHIELD, FBI and the CIA. JARVIS is rebuilding the crime scene virtually as a hologram. Tony inspects the data before he closes the information down and looks at the virtual crime scene reconstruction.
"The heat from the blast was in excess of 3000 degrees Celsius. Any subjects within 12.5 yards were vaporised instantly," analysed JARVIS.
"Just ash. He turned them to ash," Clint slammed his fists together. "They were people!"
Tony noted that no bomb parts were found in a three-mile radius of the Chinese theatre, which JARVIS confirmed.
JARVIS reconstructs Happy's injured body at the site, and Tony realises he is pointing to something on the ground. They are dog tags and Tony picked up their virtual representation. He asks if there were any military victims. JARVIS said there wasn't any according to public records. Tony wanted the thermogenic signatures bought up again, and to factor in three thousand degrees.
"You wanted to know if there were any other explosions similar, didn't you?" asked Steve.
"Yeah. If the other bombings were similar, there could be a link we were missing. At the time I didn't know it was Extremis," answered Tony.
"The oracle cloud has completed analysis. Accessing satellites and plotting the last twelve months of thermogenic occurrence now," said JARVIS.
Tony sat on top of the cabinet as JARVIS bought up the information he'd asked for. "Take away everywhere that there's been a Mandarin attack." Data disappeared as Tony examined the remaining data. He dismisses each one in turn as the temperature is not as high as 3000 degrees. He spots an explosion that was located in Rose Hill, Tennessee. He asks JARVIS if he is sure that's not one of the Mandarin's.
"It predates any known Mandarin attack. The incident was the use of a bomb to assist a suicide," explained JARVIS. Tony asks for it to be brought around. "The heat signature is remarkably similar. Three thousand degrees Celsius."
"So, there were already suspicious bombings happening far enough apart that no one was linking them to one another…" frowned Steve.
"They didn't want to draw attention to themselves just yet," said Tony. "The Mandarin had only just recently come out into the open. If there were other bombings similar before his arrival, it suggested there was something deeper at work. It was worth investigating anyway."
Tony examines all the data on the Tennessee attack. He notes that is two military guys involved with these explosions. He asks JARVIS if he's ever been to Tennessee.
JARVIS creates a flight-plan for Tennessee. Tony shuts down the data just as his doorbell rings.
Bruce raised an eyebrow. "You're still accepting visitors despite the threat you send to th Mandarin?"
Tony shrugged.
"Are we still at "ding-dong"? We're supposed to be on total security lock down. Come on, I threatened a terrorist. Who is that?"
"To be fair, I wasn't expecting anyone to walk up to my house after I'd issued a threat to a terrorist," Tony pointed out.
"There's only so much I can do, sir, when you give the world's press your home address," stated JARVIS. Outside press helicopters are seen hovering over his house.
Maya Hansen is standing outside Tony's house. The glass doors open and she enters. She is scanned as she walks in. Tony comes towards her dressed in his Iron Man suit. His face-plate flips up and he states that she isn't the Mandarin, wanting her to clarify it.
Sam sniggered. "She may not be the Mandarin but it's her work that's being used in these explosions. That much is clear. She is definitely working for him."
"At the time, I didn't know that," admitted Tony. "I hadn't made the connection between Maya and Extremis at that point, and I had already forgotten I had originally helped her at that conference with her formula. I never expected it to come back and hit me."
Maya laments he doesn't remember and she is not surprised by that. Tony tells her not to take it personally as he doesn't remember what he had for breakfast. JARVIS reminds him it was gluten-free waffles. Maya tells him she needs to be alone with him, somewhere that is not here as it is urgent. Tony explains he would normally go for that sort of thing but he is now in a committed relationship. He walks into the living room just as two bags are thrown down from above. He pointed upwards to Pepper, stating its with her. Pepper calls down and asks him if somebody is there. Tony steps out of his suit.
"I'm honestly surprised you still had Pepper at your mansion," said Steve. "If you've issued a threat to a terrorist, why would you not send her away? She'd be safer away from you."
Tony hung his head. "Another mistake I made. I assumed she'd be safer with me as I knew best. I had everything I needed to protect her with me right there. I couldn't protect her if I wasn't with her. But I should have trusted and listened to her when she wanted to leave. I put her in harms way and I nearly lost her for it." He'd been lucky, despite everything, Pepper had still come back to him.
He didn't deserve her. He didn't know what he had done to deserve her.
Pepper comes down the stairs as Tony tells her its Maya Hansen, an old botanist pal that he used to know. Tony lowers his voice and speaks quietly to Maya. "Please don't tell me that there is a twelve-year-old kid waiting in the car that I've never met."
"He's thirteen," Maya replied. Tony shivers.
Clint chuckled. "I'm pretty sure Tony Stark made sure none of his conquests could come back to him with an illegitimate kid."
"You're right. Despite my womanizing ways, I have no illegitimate children." Tony was quite proud of the fact he hadn't had any accidents in the years he had slept around. He'd been very lucky.
"And no, I need your help."
Tony asks her what for and why now. She explains that she reads the papers and believes he won't last the week. Tony tells her he will be fine.
"That came back to bite me very quickly…" muttered Tony under his breath.
Pepper interrupted them. "I'm sorry. With Happy in the hospital, I didn't know we were expecting guests."
"We weren't," clarified Tony.
"No, I…"
"And old girlfriends!" Pepper finished.
"Someone's jealous," chuckled Natasha.
"Pepper knew I wouldn't betray her like that," said Tony.
Tony denied that.
"No, not really. It… it was just one night," explained Maya which Tony agreed with.
"That's how you did it, isn't it? Yep," sighed Pepper. Tony remarked it had been a great night.
"Not sure Pepper would have wanted to know it was a 'great night'," said Sam, rolling his eyes at how candid Tony was being.
"It slipped out?" Tony tried to defend himself.
Pepper tells Maya she saved herself a world of pain, which she agrees with. She tells Tony that they are going out of town. Tony says they weren't however Pepper was set on it. Maya agreed with Pepper but Tony was adamant that it was a terrible idea.
"For someone who said earlier they wanted to protect Pepper, you're doing a terrible job at it," said Sam, not holding back on the criticism.
Tony knew he deserved it in this case. He should have let Pepper leave if he had been so adamant on staying. He should have listened to her. But his ego had gotten in the way, and he'd put her in far more danger than he had ever wanted to.
"Tony, this is how normal people behave!" said Pepper.
"I can't protect you out there! I challenged…"
"You'd protect her better if she wasn't in the place, you'd given the Mandarin the address to," pointed out Clint.
Maya notices the giant stuffed rabbit and asks if that was normal. Tony said it was and Pepper agreed that it sadly was normal. Tony told them to relax about it. Pepper yelled at him to calm down. Tony retorted he got the rabbit for her and she still hadn't told him that she liked it.
"Hint: she never liked it," hissed Rhodey.
Tony rolled his eyes.
"I don't like it!" replied Pepper adamantly.
As they bicker, Maya notices on the TV that something is streaking towards the house. She tries to get their attention and asks them if it was something they needed to worry about.
Wanda gasped, hand up to her lips, eyes wide.
Thor looked thunderous. "How dare they attack whilst Lady Pepper is in residence!"
Tony raised an eyebrow at the god. "But it's okay when I'm in residence?"
"You did bait them," coughed Bruce.
Tony had to give them that.
"Why didn't JARVIS detect the threat?" asked Rhodey.
Tony frowned. "You know, that is a good point. JARVIS should have detected the missile and alerted us." Why hadn't his AI informed them?
A missile streaks into the house, exploding everything around them. All three are thrown into the air. Tony ordered his Iron Man suit onto Pepper to protect her.
"You protected her," Steve was awed by how quick Tony had thought to get the suit onto Pepper, even whilst in the midst of an explosion.
Outside the house three more helicopters fly toward them, aiming more missiles at the house. One of the pilots of the helicopters is piloted by Savin.
Inside the house, Maya is unconscious. As the ceiling is about to fall on Tony, Pepper saves him with the Iron Man suit, defending him from the falling debris as it shoots off the suit. "I got you."
"I got you first," replied Tony. "Like I said, we can't stay here."
Clint shook his head. "You did not say that! She did!"
"That was me trying to admit she was right and I should have listened," admitted Tony.
The helicopters start to shoot at the house.
Tony tells her to move as he is right behind her but the floor collapses between them. Tony orders Pepper to get Maya and get outside as he will find another way around. Pepper grabs Maya and they both go flying out of the house as Pepper wasn't sure how to activate the hand repulsor. They land in a heap outside.
"I really should have given Pepper some basic training on the suits before this," winced Tony. "She should have been prepared to use it just in case." It was something he'd have to remember to do after this was over – if he could convince her to at least let him make her one. He wanted to make sure she was protected and the only way to do that was for Pepper to have her own suit.
The helicopters continue to shoot more missiles at the house, intending to destroy the very foundations of it. Pepper yells for Tony as he struggles to get out of the living room which is rapidly beginning to crumble into the sea below as another missile streaks through. JARVIS informs him Miss Potts is clear of the structure. Tony has fallen close to the window and he summons his suit back from Pepper.
"If you hadn't installed those trackers in your arms, you would have been very stuck…" noted Bruce, eyes wide as he watched the continued destruction of Tony's house.
"I think we would all be dead if I hadn't had the foresight to install them," agreed Tony.
All the pieces fly onto his body as a machine gun whirls at his position. But the suit protects him from any further injury. Tony asks where his flight power is. JARVIS tells him he is working on it as the suit was just a prototype. The suit is barely working. As Tony slides back towards the window he manages to fire at a piano at a helicopter, destroying it.
"That's one!"
"One enemy down, two to go!" cheered Thor. "You're improvising with what you have, Stark!"
"If I recall the outcome of this attack wasn't in your favour?" queried Sam. "I'm sure there was belief you'd died around Christmas again at some point…" He held his chin in his hand as he contemplated, trying to remember the past.
"You're not wrong," drawled Tony.
JARVIS tells him the suit is not combat-ready. Tony is being tracked through the house as he runs to another part of the room. He pulls something from his right wrist, a missile inside the suit, and throws it towards the helicopter firing at him, before shooting a repulsor beam at the missile. The bomb explodes, taking the helicopter with it.
"That's two!"
"For someone whose house is being destroyed around them, you're faring well," praised Bucky, impressed by Tony's ability to adapt to the situation at hand. But then his face fell as he watched the fallout of Tony's destruction of the second helicopter.
Pepper watches in horror as the second helicopter crashes into Tony's position causing another explosion. Tony is knocked downwards into his lab where he sees DUM-E reaching for an arm that has been knocked off. Tony's white car is falling into the ocean as the third and final helicopter continued its relentless attack on Tony's home.
All the suits inside his lab are exploding and DUM-E disappears into the water below as the ground and foundations finally give way.
"At the start of the movie there were suits exploding…" remembered Wanda. "Is this where that first shot was from?"
Tony nodded. "Yeah." He believed so at least as the rest of the suits had been destroyed when he'd agreed to the Clean Slate Protocol. Some of his suits had been destroyed when his house had been taken down. His original seven suits were gone, though it would be easy to redesign them for posterity and remake them if he really wanted to. He hadn't yet done so, though a part of him would have loved to do so.
"DUM-E is gone too," said Bruce. "But I've seen him around…"
Tony nodded sadly. "I made sure to rescue him from the rubble when this was all over. I wasn't going to leave him to a watery grave."
Bruce gave him a light smile. "I'm glad you rescued them."
Tony falls into the water too. Pepper runs to the edge of the cliff and looks down into the ocean calling his name.
Water is getting into the suit's helmet, and more debris is falling on to Tony from above. The final helicopter turns and flees the scene.
"They really should have waited. Tony has a habit of escaping death…" chuckled Rhodey.
Tony rolled his eyes. "I have the feeling death will catch up with me sooner rather than later. My luck can't last much longer." He knew he was living on borrowed time, though he hoped before he died he could at least keep Earth safe and put things in place that enabled him to die peacefully, knowing the world had defences in place.
Tony reaches out an arm in the water. JARVIS tells him to take a deep breath. The armour piece covering his arm powers up and pulls free, leaving Tony's arm bare in the water. The armour turns in the water and comes back to pull Tony out of the debris before reattaching itself to Tony's bare arm.
Tony shuddered. "I had brief flashes of being water-boarded in Afghanistan there…" He barely thought of his time there anymore, the memories mostly repressed and overtaken by more traumatic memories, but occasionally they would come to the surface and give him a stark reminder that his whole journey had begun when he'd gone on a simple weapon's demonstration trip to a warzone…
Tony is drowning inside the helmet, and fires the repulsors. Both hand and feet repulsors activated. JARVIS tells him flight power has been restored and Tony rockets out of the ocean and away from his destroyed home.
The screen went black.
Everyone looked numb and shocked.
Steve's expression turned hard and his eyes glinted in fury. "We should have been there to help you."
"It's fine," started Tony, but Steve cut him off.
"No, it's not fine! We're a team! We should have been there to help you! Instead…" Steve sighed, running hands through his hair, frustration evident in his posture. "From now on, no one is left behind! We will be there for everyone, whenever they need us!" His gaze steeled. "We're not just a team, we're a family. We look after each other. Always."
To be continued...
Please let me know what you think!
Steve is trying to be more supportive of Tony, especially after their talk at the beginning of this story. The Avenger's have a greater understanding of Tony now than they did when they started watching the first movie. There are going to be a lot less intense discussions in this story, purely because of the character development the others have gone through and how they are seeing Tony.
Age of Ultron and Civil War will cause some conflict, however, I think Tony deserves to have a viewing of one of the movies where he does get off lightly by the others and they sympathise more with him.
The next chapter will be posted next Sunday 30th May!
Until then,
the-writer1988