Later that night, Laura had her spear out as she, Tony and Rhodey pulled up to the Port of Miami and climbed up a ladde.
The docks were surrounded by guards as they snuck by them and climbed onto the top of a crane.
"You're not gonna freak out on me, right?" Rhodey asked them.
"I hope not." he answered.
"Yeah, we had a heart to heart back in Tennessee we're good." Laura added.
They snuck up to the Roxxon oil barge and looked up.
"Oh, my God." Rhodey gasped, seeing Ellis in the Iron Patriot armor, strung high over barrels of oil above the ship.
"He's strung up over the oil tanker. They're gonna light him up, man!" he said nervously.
"Viking funeral." Tony replied.
"Public execution." Laura swallowed.
"Yeah, death by oil." Rhodey nodded at her.
"Broadcast will commence shortly. Take final positions." was heard over the P.A.
They snuck behind guards getting the transmission ready and climbed onto a crane.
"ls your gun up?" Rhodey asked them.
"It's not a gun but yeah." Laura aimed her spear at the guards above them.
"Yep. What do I do?" Tony asked.
"Stay on my six, Laura you cover high and don't poke me in the eye with that thing." he tilted his head away from the blade of her spear right by his face.
"Yes, Christmas story." she joked.
Guards began firing semi automatic weapons at them, forcing them to fall back and duck for cover.
"You see that? Nailed it." Tony said sarcastically.
"Yeah, you really killed the glass." Rhodey mocked.
"You think I was aiming for the bulb? You can't hit a bulb at this distance." he argued and Laura shot a blast above their heads, taking out the light overhead with ease, leaving them speechless.
"What? Nat trained me for this shit." she rolled her eyes.
"All personnel, we have hostiles on east unit 12." was heard over the speakers.
"Oops. Sorry." she cringed.
"Yeah, great training." Tony said sarcastically and she rolled her eyes.
"Over there!" one guard shouted as more guards were surrounding them.
"I repeat, hostiles on east unit 12." was heard.
"I'm out. Give me. You got extra magazines?" Tony asked Rhodey.
"They're not universal, Tony." he tried explaining.
"Well, this is." Laura gestured her spear and got in front of them.
"I know what I'm doing, I make this stuff. Give me another one." he asked again.
"Ok." Rhodey gave him a clip.
"You've got, like, five of them. Here's what I'm going to do. Save my spot, ready?" he peaked his head quickly.
"What'd you see?" Laura asked.
"Too fast. Nothing." he answered and Rhodey just shook his head.
"God I have to do everything." she peaked over and saw guards jumping down towards them.
"Three guys, one girl all of the armed." she warned as they all took their positions.
"God, I would kill for some armor right now." Rhodey told them.
"You're right. We need backup." Tony hinted.
"Yeah, a bunch." Laura hinted as she felt one of her Kimoyo beads vibrate.
"You know what?" Tony nodded at something in the distance.
"Is that...?" he asked.
"And mine." Laura crossed her arms proudly.
"Yours." Rhodey asked confused.
"Oh, yes…" dozens of Iron Man and Black Bird suits flew in, hovered above, and formed a circle around them and Laura smiled widely.
"You like what I've been working on Tony?" she asked smugly.
"I do Laura I do. JARVIS, target Extremis heat signatures. Disable with extreme prejudice." he asked.
"Yes, sir." was heard through all of the helmets.
"What are you waiting for? It's Christmas. Take them to church." Tony made a sign of the cross.
"Gentlemen." all of the suits began attacking the guards.
Three guards overpowered a Black Bird suit, sending it crashing into the support beam of the crane they were on, causing it to lean.
"Incoming! JARVIS, get Igor to steady this thing." a large Iron Man suit ran over and clamped on the ground.
"This is how you've been managing your down time, huh?" Rhodey asked them.
"You know me Rhodey I work too much." Laura joked.
"And everybody needs a hobby. Heartbreaker, help Red Snapper out, will you?" he took out a bunch of guards flying on him.
The Black Bird Mark XLVl flew in piece by piece and attached to her instantly.
"Perfect timing. See ya!" she gave them a salute and jumped off the crane with style as her reflective panels came on, and took off, followed by Tony.
"Oh, yeah. That's awesome. Give me a suit, ok?" he held out his arms.
"Oh, I'm sorry, they're only coded to me." he replied.
"Mine as well but don't worry Rhodey we've got you covered." Laura hinted.
"What does that mean?" he asked and a suit landed and walked over to him.
"Good evening, Colonel. Can I give you a lift?" it grabbed onto him.
"Very funny." he sighed and Laura laughed.
"Sir, I've located Ms. Potts." he told him.
"About time." he flew over to her.
"You got this right Tony?" Laura asked.
"Yes, secure the President." he ordered.
"On it." she flew over while taking out two guards jumping towards her and landed right in front of him, startling him and she opened up her helmet as her panels came off.
"Ms. Watson." he greeted surprised.
"Sir, I'm gonna grab onto you ok?" she grabbed his shoulders.
"Ok, now I'm gonna blast the right wire." she blasted it, snapping it and Ellis used his free hand to grab her.
"Ok, now I'm gonna repeat that same action and lower you onto the ground ok?" he asked him and he nodded in understanding.
She blasted the last wire and hovered him down to the ground as Rhodey jumped down towards them while taking out a guard.
"Rhodey I've got the President." she said through the comms as he ran over to them.
"Good job Laura." he said while trying to catch his breath.
"Told you I had you covered." she said smugly as Rhodey got him out of his suit.
"Tony we've got the president." she told him.
"Nice work." he complimented while trying to get Pepper.
"Ready, sir?" Rhodey grabbed onto him.
"What do you mean ready?" Rhodey took off and Laura followed suit, covering for him.
They landed a distance away as Secret Service and Miami Dade police were speeding towards them.
"Ms. Watson I should have expected you to be with Tony Stark." Ellis said relieved.
"It's gonna take more than a few rockets to kill me sir." she joked casually.
"For my sake and America's I'm glad that's the case." he shook her hand.
"Uh, sir there is something you should know. About the Vice President..." as she told him of his involvement with Killian Tony was trying to reach Pepper inside the collapsing crane.
"Pep, I got you. Relax, I got you. Just look at me! Honey, I can't reach any further and you can't stay there. All right? You've got to let go. You've got to let go! I'll catch you, I promise." the floor collapsed beneath her and she plummeted hundreds of feet into the flames below.
"No!" Tony watched in horror as Killian climbed up the ladder as he glowed on the other side and Tony gave him a death stare.
"A shame. I would've caught her." he and Tony ran towards each other.
Killian jumped to punch him but Tony slid underneath him and suited up.
They exchanged blows but Killian launched him over the edge and he landed on his back.
Killian landed on him and was about to strike him.
"Eject." he ejected over the edge but a suit came flying in for him.
Tony tackled him but he got out of his grip and landed on a platform.
Tony sent blasts at him but he sliced the middle of the suit.
He repeatedly blasted him in the face but Killian sliced the suit arm off.
He flipped him over and pinned him on the edge.
"Well, here we are on the roof." he sliced the suit in half, sending Tony down a lower platform.
"Mark XLll, inbound." JARVIS announced.
"I'll be damned. The prodigal son returns." Tony held out his arm but it crashed into a railing behind him, scattering it into pieces.
"Whatever." he rolled his eyes.
"You really didn't deserve her, Tony. It's a pity. I was so close to having her perfect." he jumped down right in front of him while glowing red hot.
"Ok, ok, wait, wait, wait! Slow down! Slow down! You're right. I don't deserve her. Here's where you're wrong. She was already perfect." Tony gestured the Marl XLll pieces to attach to Killian.
"JARVIS, do me a favor and blow Mark XLll." he asked.
"No!" the faceguard came on. Tony slid down the crane and jumped onto a suit as the whole crane began to collapse.
He landed hard on the ground as the Mark XLll helmet landed right in front of him in the flames.
The front burned off, revealing an empty shell and Killian rose in the middle of the flames and began walking towards him as his body re grew.
"No more false faces. You said you wanted the Mandarin. You're looking right at him. It was always me, Tony. Right from the start. I am the Mandarin!" someone struck him from the side.
Tony looked over at them, revealing Pepper, glowing with Extremis.
"I got nothing." he said in shock.
Killian got up as a suit flew in, locking onto him and Pepper.
"JARVIS, subject at my 12 o'clock is not a target, disengage!" he looked over at his earpiece on the ground.
The suit attempted to fire a blast at them and began circling back around and Pepper looked back at him.
"What? Oh, what, are you mad at me?" Pepper jumped, taking out the suit and melted a hole in the middle of it.
Killian began charging for them but she blasted a bomb at him with the suit hand, delivering the final blow, creating a large explosion.
"Honey?" Tony got her attention and she looked between him and where Killian was in shock.
"Oh, my God. That was really violent." she gasped.
"You just scared the devil out of me. I thought you were..." he began but she interrupted him.
"I was dead. Why? Because I fell 200 feet? Who's the hot mess now?" she asked.
"It's still debatable. Probably tipping your way a little bit. Why don't you dress like this at home? Hmm? Sport bra. The whole deal." he joked.
"You know, I think I understand why you don't want to give up the suits. What am I going to complain about now?" she admitted.
"Well, it's me. You'll think of something. Come here." Tony began to hug her but she backed away.
"No, don't touch me." she warned.
"Don't worry about it." he reassured her.
"No, I'm gonna burn you." she pleaded.
"No, you're not. Not hot." she looked down at herself no longer glowing.
"Am I gonna be ok?" she asked with worry.
"No. You're in a relationship with me. Everything will never be ok. But I think I can figure this out, yeah. I almost had this 20 years ago when I was drunk. I think I can get you better. That's what I do. I fix stuff." he promised her.
"And all your distractions?" she asked about his suits.
"Tony is Pepper ok? Can you hear me?" she asked through static in the comms.
"Yes Laura I've got her." he replied.
"Oh, thank God." she sighed with relief.
"JARVIS?" he asked.
"All wrapped up here, sir. Will there be anything else?" he asked.
"You know what to do." Tony hinted.
"The Clean Slate Protocol, sir?" he asked.
"Screw it, it's Laura's baby and yes Christmas. Yes, yes." he hugged her and she looked up at all of the Iron Man and Black Bird suits exploding.
Laura saw them from the distance as they looked like fireworks.
"Merry Christmas you guys." she told them.
"You too." she took off and went supersonic towards New York.
She landed on the porch of her parents house and them and her sister walked out relieved.
"Oh, thank God! Oh, thank God!" they all hugged her as her helmet came off.
"We thought you were dead. We saw the rockets." her mom rambled hysterically and Laura sighed with guilt.
"I'm sorry I had no choice but the good news is I've been up for three days and I'm exhausted. I could sleep for a week." she joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"You can sleep until 8 because Christmas is back on."
The day after Christmas, Laura flew down to the White House and she and Rhodey watched the Vice President be arrested and escorted away.
Trevor was arrested and escorted by cops through a mob of press to the courthouse.
Tony was being prepped for his surgery to get all of the shrapnel removed from his chest and gave Laura, Rhodey and Pepper a thumbs up in the viewing room and she and Rhodey gave him one back.
Happy woke up and coughed, gasped in pain while a nurse rushed over to him.
"It's ok. It's ok." she reassure him.
"No look!" he pointed at Downton Abbey on the TV.
Harley got off the school bus, walked into his shed, and gasped.
He looked around at his new computer, tools, a mini robotic arm built by Laura and equipment in awe with a note saying,
"From your pals, The Mechanics."