Tony was driving in his car. He picked up the documents he'd gotten from Mrs. Davis, but found nothing new or useful, so he tossed them onto the seat beside him and sighed. "Man. Happy, Happy, Happy-" He repeated to himself. However, as he looked back, he thought he saw something, grabbing a particular paper and turned it over, revealing that there was a logo for AIM on it in the corner.

"AIM? Aren't they the company Killian made with his think tank?" Yang asked.

"Right, AIM organized the program that allowed for Killian to test Extremis on these ex-soldiers." Glynda confirmed.

"Then that also likely means they have solid footholds in the government, or at least the military, to be allowed to create such programs." Ironwood stated.

"But still, apparently not solid enough, since they needed Stark Industries to earn more government support." Winter noted.

Rhodey, suited in his Iron Patriot armor, kicked down a door and marched forward, his weapons all at the ready. "Don't move!" He ordered.

However, before he could proceed any further, his phone rang. "Uh... Hang on a second. Hello?" He answered the call.

"You ever have a chick straddling you and you look up and suddenly she's glowing from the inside out, kind of a bright orange?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, I've had that. Who is this?" Rhodey asked.

"Who else would open up with a conversation like that?!" Cinder questioned as if it were obvious.

"And how does he not know his best friend's voice?! I'd know my BFF's voice anywhere." Ruby said, hugging Weiss.

"Probably because I'm constantly straining my precious voice scolding you, you dolt!" Weiss cried out, blushing.

"I am more concerned by the fact Rhodey has actually encountered this before." Penny said in concern.

"I think he was joking, Penny." Velvet assured her.

"It's me, pal. Now, last time I went missing, if I remember correctly, you came looking for me. What are you doing?" The billionaire wondered.

"A little knock-and-talk, making friends in Pakistan. What are you doing?" The soldier asked.

"Your redesign, your big rebrand, that was AIM, right?" The Iron Avenger asked.

"Yeah." Rhodey confirmed.

"Of course the bad guys would come up with turning the awesome armor into that tacky trash." Coco said.

"They likely wanted to make a change that was meaningful, but wouldn't become too dangerous for the Mandarin and his agents." Ozpin deduced.

"But if the Rhodey military is working with AIM, since AIM is working for Killian, who works with the Mandarin, could they be purposefully throwing Rhodey off so he doesn't find the Mandarin?" Nora asked.

"That was... very insightful, Nora. Well done." Ren praised, to which Nora beamed sweetly.

"I'm gonna find a heavy-duty comm sat right now, I need your login." Tony explained.

"It's the same as it's always been, 'WarMachine68.'" The colonel told him.

"And password, please." The inventor requested.

"Well, look, I gotta change it every time you hack in, Tony." Rhodes complained.

"And I trust none of you share your passwords, correct?" Glynda questioned her students. Security is very important, after all.

"No, Ms. Goodwitch." The students confirmed.

"Does that also mean for the scrolls I snatched?" Emerald asked her team quietly, earning some giggles from Neo and an eyeroll from Emerald.

"Then I'll be looking forward to seeing you in detention, Miss Sustrai." Glynda told her, to which she groaned.

"It's not the '80s, nobody says 'hack' any more. Give me your login." Tony insisted.

Rhodey sighed. "'WAR MACHINE ROX' with an 'X', all caps." He gave the password.

Tony busted out laughing at this. That is so much better than 'Iron Patriot'." He said. Several people in the room with Rhodey laughed at this as well, but quickly zipped their lips when his shoulder-mounted minigun was pointed at them.

Most of the audience laughed at this as well. "Hey, that sounds like a password I'd use!" Qrow said to the colonel, even though he knew he couldn't hear him.

Neo groaned. "Ugh. Roman HAS made something like that his password in the past. I had to change it for him because it was so easy to guess and someone definitely would have hacked him by now." She said.

"So then, technically, didn't you hack him?" Pyrrha asked.

"My point exactly." Neo responded.

Tony then arrived at some kind of beauty pageant and the host was speaking to one of the models. "Very nice. Very nice. I have one question for you. What would you like for Christmas this year?" The MC asked.

"Well, David..." The woman began.

"Ugh. I always hated those. Another aspect where people judge each other based on their bodies and not by their personality. I'm sure if you met any of these women, they'd be stuck up and terrible in real life and only care about their looks." Blake complained.

"Yeah. Growing up, my sisters always wanted to be like those girls, but my mom always told them those competitions turn the winners into horrible people." Jaune agreed.

"But why is Tony HERE of all places?" Yang questioned.

"He needs a strong signal to be able to access AIM's files. The kind of strong you need a satellite, like the kind on a news car." Cinder pointed out proudly. She's learned a thing or two about signals, transmissions, etc. from Watts, as much as she'd hate to admit that he taught her anything.

Tony moved through the building, trying to act inconspicuous. "Do not erase a program from my DVR unless you are 100% sure..." A cameraman was arguing with someone on his cell phone as Tony snuck past him and into his van.

"One more time! Ms. Elk Ridge, everybody! All right." The MC called for a departing round of applause for the woman.

"Because you erase my shows!" The cameraman snapped.

Tony soon realized his level of power was inadequate. "That ain't gonna cut it." He stated.

"We talked about this." The cameraman told the person over the phone, before he noticed our hero in his van. "Excuse me, sir. I don't know who..." He began, before Tony turned around.

"Stealth mission failed." Ren stated.

"Maybe he'll be willing to help?" Ruby wondered.

"Tony's technically broken into this man's van. At this point, Tony would e lucky to be simply removed from the van." Ironwood explained.

"True, but these movies have always been quite excellent at subverting expectations." Ozpin reminded the general.

Tony quickly held his hand to his face. "Shh." He tried to keep the man quiet.

"Mom, I need to call you back. Something magical is happening." He said in shock and disbelief, hanging up.

Some people were a bit off-put by the man describing meeting Tony as magical. "That's kind of creepy." Coco said awkwardly.

"Oh, come on, Coco! I think it's sweet." Velvet chastised her leader, although the man did seem a little too excited.

"Until he tries to shave Tony's hair, put it in bags and sniff it." Emerald said.

"Too real, Emmy!" Nora told the former thief.

He then looked at Tony in awe. "Tony Stark is in my van." He declared.

"Shh. Keep it down." Tony requested.

"Tony Stark is in my van!" The cameraman yelled.

"No, he's not." Tony denied.

"He's clearly trying to tell you to be quiet, fool." Cinder said.

"He can't help it, Cinder. He's excited! He's meeting his hero! It's like when most people meet Pyrrha!" Jaune told her, causing his girlfriend to blush.

"I knew you were still alive!" The man insisted.

"Come on in. Close the door." Tony offered. The cameraman got in the van and closed the door. "Shh..." Tony requested silence once more.

"Oh, wow. Can I just say, sir..." The cameraman started.

"Yep." The billionaire permitted.

"I am your biggest fan." He declared.

"How would one determine a ranking system on how big of a fan someone is?" Penny wondered.

"Oh, trust me, Penny. There's sites for that. They give you a survey and base how big of a fan you are by how many you get right." Neo assured her.

"Yes, sadly, there are many similar sites for myself as well. And no doubt for Weiss." Pyrrha admitted.

"Okay. First, is this your van? Is anyone else gonna come in?" Tony questioned.

"No, no, no. Just us." The fanboy assured him.

"Great. What's your name?" The Avenger asked.

"Gary." The man introduced himself.

"Gary?" Tony repeated.

"Oh, wow." Gary said, struggling to contain himself.

"Right there is fine." Tony told him.

"Okay." The cameraman acknowledged

"Okay? I get a lot of this, it's okay." Tony assured his fan.

"Is that something we should expect a lot of as Huntsmen and Huntresses?" Jaune asked.

"Only if you try to really make yourself into a celebrity Huntsman." Blake explained.

"I would suggest a well-maintained balanced lifestyle. It's for people to know who you are to avoid panic, but being a well-known figure may make moving through two difficult, especially if you're tracking criminals and such." Ozpin pointed out.

"Oh, good. Can I just say?" Gary started.

"What do you want?" The inventor asked.

"Yeah. I don't know if you can tell, but I have, like, patterned my whole look after you. My hair's a little..." The fanboy explained, taking off his cap to reveal hair somewhat similar to Tony's.

"Modeling his hair after Tony's? Now this is getting quite awkward." Glynda stated.

"Man, it'd be great if Happy were around right now." Velvet said.

"The one time Tony needs a bodyguard, he doesn't have one." Coco agreed.

"It's fine." Tony assured him.

"It's not right, 'cause there's no product in it." He explained.

"Right." The billionaire agreed.

"I don't want to make things awkward for you, but I do have to show you... Boom!" Gary revealed as he rolled up his sleeve to show a tattoo that VERY poorly resembled Tony.

"Okay, NOW we're DEEP into the creepy territory." Qrow said awkwardly.

"I've had fans like these at my concerts before. It's endearing, but also disturbing. Luckily, I never saw them at another show for whatever reason." Weiss said.

Winter looked away awkwardly. "Yes... Strange..." She said. Of course, the Eldest Schnee sibling secretly had a handful of soldiers attend Weiss' concerts, one to record the concert for her and a couple more to be on the look-out for fans such as these, then have them issue restraining orders against those fans that basically prevented them from being in the same building as her sister.

"A Hispanic Scott Baio?" Tony questioned, before realization hit him. "I'm sorry. Is that me?" He asked.

"Yeah. It's... I mean... I had them do it off a doll that I made, so it's not like it's off a picture. So it's a little bit..." The fanboy explained.

"Correction, Qrow: NOW we are deep in creepy territory." Ironwood said, deeply uncomfortable.

"Why wouldn't you use a picture?!" Neo questioned.

"Something tells me this man isn't very well in the mind." Ren admitted.

"He has demonstrated absolutely obsessive qualities that border the territory of a full-blown stalker." Penny noted.

"Gary. Listen to me, okay? I don't want to clip your wings, here. We're both a little over-excited. I got an issue. I'm chasing bad guys. I'm trying to grab a little something from some hard-crypt data files. I don't have enough juice. I need you to jump on the roof... Right? Recalibrate the lSDNs. Pump it up by about 40%." Tony carefully instructed the hyped up fanboy.

"Uh, do what now?" Jaune asked.

"If I had to guess, I would say it's similar to the CCT increasing the signal of scrolls beyond simply localized areas." Glynda theorized.

"Man, Tony's getting REALLY lucky in this movie with finding just the right people to help him and who are willing to help him." Yang noted.

"Yes. A little too convenient in all honesty." Coco said.

"I just think it's a sign that there's good people out there." Velvet said happily.

"Got it." Gary confirmed.

"All right? It's a mission." The Avenger upped the importance of the mission.

"Yeah." The cameraman agreed.

"Tony needs Gary." The billionaire told his fan with utmost importance.

"And Gary needs Tony." The fanboy declared.

"Aaand he ruined it." Ruby groaned.

"Well, technically he's not wrong. He does need Tony to stop terrorists from destroying their whole country." Blake admitted.

"She's got you there, Rubes." Yang told her.

"Be quiet about it. Go." Tony instructed again.

"Yeah." Gary acknowledged.

Tony typed on the keyboard & accesses the files he needed. A video starts playing. Killian looked like he was in some kind of interrogation room with Chad Davis. "What would you regard as the defining moment of your life?" Killian asked.

"Well, uh, I think that would be the day I decided not to let my injury beat me." Tony typed again and another video showed up.

Killian was then seen in a similar room with the redhead who attacked Tony, where it was revealed she had been missing an arm. "Will you please state your name for the camera?" He requested.

"Ellen Brandt." Brandt stated her name.

"Using soldiers with injuries as guinea pigs for his experiments..." Ironwood said furiously.

"A chance to get a lost limb back, I don't think anyone could resist a chance like that." Winter said, a mix of sad and sympathetic for the soldiers and, much like the general, furious at Killian.

"And he didn't even warn them about the possible side effects of taking Extremis. Atrocious." Pyrrha said angrily.

"Okay. So, the injections are administered periodically. Addiction will not be tolerated. And those who cannot regulate will be out from the program." Killian explained off-screen.

More typing, another video. "Once misfits, cripples... You are the next iteration of human evolution. Everybody, before we start... I promise you, looking back at your life, there will be nothing as bitter as the memory of that glorious risk you prudently elected to forego. Today is your glory- Let's begin." Killian told them all as Brandt's missing arm grew back as she glowed red. The other volunteers glowed red and screamed, too.

Everyone winced at this. "I know it's technically helping them, but I can't imagine how painful that has to be." Ruby said shakily.

"Extremis is superheating them, so it's like they're burning alive." Qrow realized in horror.

"At least losing the limbs must have been instant, or they likely lost consciousness, so there was no pain. But this... This is torture." Penny said, equally disturbed.

Something then appeared to be going wrong with one of the volunteers. "We gotta get out of here! We gotta get out of here! Get her out! Get them out of here!" Killian cried out as one of the volunteers exploded.

Tony finally realized the answer to his earlier question. "A bomb is not a bomb when it's a misfire. The stuff doesn't always work. Right, pal? It's faulty, but you found a buyer, didn't you? Sold it to the Mandarin. Got you, pal." He declared.

"So, it's true. Killian uses them as test subjects, but if it goes wrong, then the Mandarin can take credit for a bombing that didn't actually happen, turning a freak accident into a terrorist threat. Either way, it's a win for him. That's almost Salem-levels of planning." Cinder said in shock.

"But that still doesn't answer why Killian is working for the Mandarin in the first place." Coco pointed out.

"He did mention that government restrictions had limited the amount of work he could perform on Extremis. Perhaps they figured if the President was removed from power or murdered, as seems to be the Mandarin's plan, they could go about their research and perfect Extremis, which would net them a fortune... And a small army of super soldiers with fire powers." Ozpin suggested.

Pepper and Maya were in a bedroom talking. "What happened?" Pepper asked.

"Fun fact. Before he built rockets for the Nazis, the idealistic Wernher von Braun dreamed of space travel. He stargazed. Do you know what he said when the first V-2 hit London? 'The rocket performed perfectly. It just landed on the wrong planet.' See, we all begin wide-eyed. Pure science. And then the ego steps in, the obsession. And you look up, you're a long way from shore." Maya explained.

To say many were confused by this statement was an understatement. "Uh, yeah, okay... uh, what?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, that didn't make ANY kind of sense." Neo agreed.

"I believe she meant that she simply wished to finish the research on Extremis she began all those years ago, but somewhere along the line, became to proud of what she was doing and too obsessed with getting her work right, she didn't realize what Killian was using it for." Penny explained.

"And now he's using her research meant to help people to create super soldiers with Cinder's semblance for who knows what and if it doesn't work, they're bombs for the mandarin." Weiss added, ignoring Cinder's glare.

"Oh, yeah. That's gotta be rough on the conscience, when your life's work is used against you or in a way you never meant it for." Jaune said in understanding and sympathy.

"You can't be too hard on yourself, Maya. I mean, you gave your research to a think tank." Pepper tried to ease her new friend's guilt.

"Yeah, but Killian built that think tank on military contracts." Maya countered.

"That's exactly what we used to do. So, don't judge yourself." Pepper assured her.

"Thank you, Pepper. I really appreciate that." The scientist said gratefully.

"That's sweet of Pepper to try and calm her down like that." Emerald said.

"It's what any good person would do. It's what any of us would do, I'm sure. Even you, Cinder and Neo." Blake said, getting a smile from Emerald.

"It just seems to be in Pepper's nature to be a caring soul and help who she can." Ren stated.

"She had some rough moments early on in the film, but it is clear behind everything she still cared for Tony and was concerned for him. And Maya was weak and vulnerable like Tony was. She likely felt some form of connection through that." Glynda stated.

Someone knocked on the door and Pepper looked over, before getting up and opening the door.

Room service pushed in a tray of food, but Killian appeared and snapped his neck.

"She shouldn't be doing that. It might be an Extremis agent." Ironwood said.

"What makes you say that? They're in a hotel, not any well-known place they might be like Stark Industries, Avengers tower or wherever Maya lives." Yang suggested.

"True, but Killian is a clever man. He may have placed a tracker on Maya or simply had her followed by another agent." Winter explained.

"Very good guesses, Winter. I WISH I could say they were right, but sadly, that is not the case." Katana said.

Then, everyone jumped when Killian snapped the poor waiter's neck. "That was so scary!" Nora cried out, hugging Ren close.

"That poor waiter. He didn't do anything. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Velvet said sadly.

"Sometimes that's all it takes for someone to pay the ultimate price." Coco said, holding Velvet close, stroking her ears.

"It's just one more thing Tony will make him answer for." Qrow assured them.

Pepper gasped at this. "Maya, run!" She cried out, trying to do the same, but Killian grabbed Pepper by the arm, spun her around and slammed her against the wall, holding her by the neck.

"Hi, Pepper." Killian greeted her, before looking to Maya. "So, you want to tell me why you were at Stark's mansion last night?" He questioned.

"I'm trying to fix this thing. I didn't know you and the master were gonna blow the place up." Maya explained herself.

"She's with the Mandarin!?" Most the students cried out.

"That traitor! Pepper saved her life!" Weiss cried out.

"But if she was with them, why did she show up to save Tony?" Yang wondered.

"She said she wanted to fix things, but what?" Blake questioned.

"Oh, I see. So, you were trying to save Stark when he threatened us?" The terrorist demanded.

"I've told you, Killian, we can use him." The scientist told him.

"Pepper. Pepper. Pepper." Killian said, looking to her.

"Look, if we want to launch product next year, I need Stark. He just lacked a decent incentive. Now, he has one." Maya made him realize, looking to Pepper as well. Killian looked back at her with a smirk of understanding.

"She want Tony to complete Extremis for them!" Neo realized.

"It makes sense. The beginning made it seem like he knew all the same stuff about it as she did, or that he understood it, so there's a chance he could have some additional insight on it that Maya doesn't." Cinder theorized.

"It's a shame. She truly has fallen far from her initial pure goal if she's willing to go along with this." Ozpin said in a solemn tone.

Rhodey flew across the sky in his Iron Patriot armor. "This is support team Blue-Zero. Sending coordinates for a suspected Mandarin broadcast point of origin." A man over the radio informed the Colonel.

"Copy." Rhodey confirmed, his repulsors firing as he quickly flew to the scene again. Just like last time, he burst through the door, causing people to start shrieking. "Nobody move." He warned, women exclaiming in fear while they were making clothes.

"Oh, man. They may not be terrorists, but they HAD to be stopped from making cheap, shoddy clothes like that." Coco said in disgust.

"An absolute crime against fashion." Weiss agreed.

"I have a bad feeling. Something is going to happen to Rhodes." Winter theorized.

"It's too much of a coincidence. They've already done this for a gag once. I doubt they'd waste filming time only for the same joke twice." Glynda agreed.

"Oh." Rhodes said, realizing his mistake and calling his support team. "Support Blue-Zero, unless the Mandarin's next attack on the U.S. involves cheaply-made sportswear, I think you messed up again." He told them as the women began shaking his hand happily as they left. "Yes, you're free, uh, if you weren't before. It's... Of course. Yes, ma'am. Iron Patriot on the job. Happy to help. No need to thank me, ma'am. It's my pleasure." He told them all. One of the women shook Rhodey's hand and her hand glowed red. Rhodey's armor began to malfunction and he fell backwards, grunting.

"Oh, no! Rhodey!" Pyrrha cried out in worry.

"How did a little bit of heat cause the armor to shut down like that?!" Jaune freaked out.

"The internal circuitry must have overheated and subsequently short-circuited." Ironwood explained.

"Indeed. My father worried that might be a problem if I ever visited Vacuo. Which is why he added a special coolant liquid to my body that I can sweat like an actual meat person just like you all." Penny pointed out.

"Savin? I've acquired the Patriot armor." The woman told Savin over some kind of a radio

"If you want this suit, you're going to have to pry my cold dead body out of it." Rhodey told her.

"That's the plan, Colonel." The woman told him.

"Oh, no! You gotta save him, Tony!" Ruby cried out.

"They have to be bringing him to the Mandarin. Tony's probably got his real location by now thanks to those files or whatever he got from Rhodey's log-in. I'm sure he'll find him." Blake said.

"Yeah! Now it's a revenge and rescue mission!" Yang cheered.

"I like it when you're vengeful~" Neo purred.