Tony slowly woke up and found he was zip-tied to a mattress spring. "Ah..." He groaned, then sighed. "Okay." He said.
"It's just like old times, huh?" Maya taunted.
"Oh, yeah. With zip ties. It's a ball." He said sarcastically.
"Oh, no. Tony's in real trouble." Ruby said worriedly.
"And yet he's still got time to crack jokes. My guy." Qrow said, raising his drink.
"It's a power move. To show your enemy doesn't threaten or scare you. Adam Taurus did the same when I threatened him and the White Fang to help us. I set half their camp on fire, but he still kept a straight face. I can respect him for that." Cinder explained.
"Adam's always been good at hiding his true colors." Blake said darkly.
"It wasn't my idea." She assured him.
"Okay. So you took Killian's card." He accused.
"I took his money." She corrected.
"Tony has money, too! He was clearly interested! You could have asked for a loan or, heck, even a place at Stark Industries!" Weiss argued.
"To be fair, that was way back when Tony was a much more difficult person to deal with." Ren pointed out.
"Still, he was still aware of what Extremis was and how lucrative it could have been, it would have made sense to offer her a job." Pyrrha agreed.
"I guess he was too drunk to think about that." Coco guessed, rolling her eyes.
"And here you are 13 years later, in a dungeon." Tony declared.
"No." She denied.
"Yeah." He confirmed.
"No, you're in a dungeon. I'm free to go." Maya explained.
"Yeah?" He asked.
Maya sighed and walked towards him. "A lot has happened, Tony. But I'm close. Extremis is practically stabilized." She declared.
"Uh, no it's FUCKING NOT!" Yang shouted.
"Yeah, stabilized, my ass. Tell that to the people that EXPLODED." Neo agreed.
"While I don't approve of your language, you certainly aren't wrong, girls." Glynda stated.
"Exactly. Has she not been a part of the testing and seen what Extremis can do? That's the only explanation I can think of." Winter said.
"I'm telling you it isn't." Tony shouted at her, before lowering voice to usual volume. "I'm on the street. People are going bang. They're painting the walls. Maya, you're kidding yourself." He told her.
"Then help me fix it." Maya pleaded, showing him the "You Know Who I Am" note he left in 1999.
"Did I do that?" Tony asked.
"Yes." The traitor confirmed.
"I remember the night, not the morning. Is this what you've been chasing around?" Tony questioned.
"So you mean to tell me he figured out the secret to human regeneration... WHILE HE WAS DRUNK!?" Nora cried out.
"We knew he was smart, but... holy crap." Jaune said in awe.
"This series really likes to make us believe Tony can't be any smarter, only to reveal he actually is. I'm almost surprised he hasn't discovered planetary or even universal travel at this point." Penny stated.
"Oh, I really wish he would, so we could see him and his Iron Man suits! And maybe even try them on." Ruby said hopefully.
"Wishful thinking, sis." Yang told her.
"You don't remember?" Maya asked.
"I can't help you. You used to have a moral psychology. You used to have ideals. You wanted to help people. Now look at you. I get to wake up every morning with someone who still has their soul. Get me out of here. Come on." Tony urged her.
"Please, Maya. Do the right thing! Please!" Velvet pleaded.
"You clearly don't like what's going on here. It's not too late to change your ways." Blake urged as well.
"I have a feeling it's about to be too late." Neo said, a creeping suspicion in the back of her mind.
"You know what my old man used to say to me? One of his favorite of many sayings... 'The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.'" Killian declared.
The movie paused as the entirety of the viewing crew, Katana included, looked between each other, each individual person looking to each one of their viewing mates to see if they understood the metaphor, before all looking back to the screen with only one thing to say. "WHAAAAAAT?!" They all cried out in confusion.
"I've been around for QUITE some time now, but I've NEVER heard a metaphor quite that nonsensical in any of my times." Ozpin stated.
"The only possible thing I can think of is that the first mouse is killed by some form of trap, allowing the second mouse to get the cheese, since the first rat activated the traps and made it safe to do so." Ironwood theorized.
"Well, he did say that his dad was an idiot. It's probably more nonsense. Besides, mice don't even like cheese anyway. They like food high in carbohydrates." Emerald said, earning looks from the others. "I-I like animals, okay!? Whatever." She huffed and looked away with a blush. [1]
"You're not still pissed off about the Switzerland thing, are you?" Tony asked.
"How can I be pissed at you, Tony? I'm here to thank you. You gave me the greatest gift that anybody's ever given me. Desperation. If you think back to Switzerland, you said you'd meet me on the rooftop, right? Well, for the first 20 minutes, I actually thought you'd show up. And the next hour... I considered taking that one-step shortcut to the lobby. If you know what I mean." The mastermind explained.
Jaune shivered at this, remembering when he thought Pyrrha was taking him to the roof so he could jump. "It's good he didn't jump, but it's too bad he used his second chance." Jaune said sadly.
"Sadly, not everyone makes the most of their second chance. We can only be thankful when they do, like you or Tony... Or even Cinder." Pyrrha told him.
"Life's all about what you make of it. And I guess Killian wanted to be a terrorist." Coco said.
"But he still hasn't explained his reasoning behind this. Why does he wish to do all of this?" Penny questioned.
"Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out what happened to the first mouse." Tony admitted.
"But as I looked out over that city, nobody knew I was there, nobody could see me, no one was even looking. I had a thought that would guide me for years to come. Anonymity, Tony. Thanks to you, it's been my mantra ever since. Right? You simply rule from behind the scenes. Because the second you give evil a face, a bin Laden, a Gaddafi, a Mandarin, you hand the people a target." Killian explained.
"Guy's got a point. That's the reason Salem's been as successful as she has been. Nobody knows about her, so when something happens, we're left pointing our fingers at each other." Qrow said.
"Soon enough, we'll make sure all the fingers are pointed at Salem, where they belong." Cinder declared.
"Yeah. She'll pay for roping all of us into this. But especially me and Dum-Dum." Neo said.
"Really? I'm not in the special category with you and Roman?" Yang asked.
"W-well..." Neo said, blushing and looking away.
"You're something else." The inventor said.
"You have met him, I assume?" Killian asked.
"Yes. Sir Laurence Oblivier." The billionaire confirmed.
"I know he's a little over the top sometimes. It's not entirely my fault. He has a tenden... He's a stage actor. They say his Lear was the toast of Croydon, wherever that is. Anyway, the point is, ever since that big dude with the hammer fell out of the sky, subtlety has kind of had its day." The mastermind explained.
"Hey! Leave dad out of this!" Nora snapped.
"It was hardly Thor's fault for changing the world the way it has. Certainly, HYDRA'S original work with the tesseract played a large factor." Ren said.
"And I don't really think he can say subtlety had its day when half his plan still relies on it." Blake pointed out.
"Well said, Miss Belladonna. He may have Trevor as a distraction, but he can hardly be open with this secret of his." Glynda agreed.
"What's next for you in your world?" Tony questioned.
"Well, I wanted to repay you the selfsame gift that you so graciously imparted to me." Killian explained as he rolled three balls forwards and they stopped, projecting an image of Pepper. She had been injected by Extremis and was now lightly glowing orange.
"Pepper!" Ruby cried out.
"Showing someone their loved one suffering. This man is a monster!" Winter shouted in anger.
"Please don't let her explode... Not Pepper..." Velvet pleaded, holding Coco tightly.
"There's no way they can kill off the main love interest! That just doesn't happen!" Weiss said worriedly.
"Sadly, Weiss, there have been several occasions where love interests are killed off in movies." Penny told her. Due to her father not wanting her to go many places, she often spent most of her time watching movies with him and sadly, there were several where the love interest didn't survive.
"Desperation. Now, this is live. I'm not sure if you can tell, but at this moment the body is trying to decide whether to accept Extremis or just give up. And if it gives up, I have to say, the detonation is quite spectacular. But until that point, it's really just a lot of pain. We haven't even talked salary yet. What kind of perk package are you thinking of?" The villain questioned.
"I'm thinking of smashing your face in!" Yang snapped.
"You'd have to get in line." Emerald said, glaring as well.
"Sorry to steal your thing, Nora, but I'd break his legs if I were there." Neo said darkly.
"Let him go." Maya ordered.
"Hold on, hold on. Maya..." Killian told her.
"I said, let him go." Maya demanded again.
"What are you doing?" Killian asked.
"1200 CCs. A dose half of this size, I'm dead." Maya declared.
"Yes! I knew she'd come around!" Velvet said happily.
"But it might be too little, too late." Blake said.
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Qrow said suspiciously.
"It's times like this my temper is tested somewhat." Killian declared. "Maya, give me the injector." He requested.
"If I die, Killian, what happens to your soldiers? What happens to your product?" Maya questioned.
"Of course! Without her, they have no idea how to make the formula!" Penny said hopefully.
"You mean to tell me she never wrote this formula down for them or they never observed to find out the formula?" Ironwood questioned incredulously.
"She may be referring to the treatments needed to maintain the subjects after their initial injections. But yes, this still does seem quite farfetched at best." Ozpin agreed.
"We're not doing this, okay?" Killian told her.
"What happens to you? What happens if you go too hot?" Maya continued to challenge her boss. Killian looked back at Tony and sighed, then turned and shot Maya.
"So he's got Extremis, too. Then he absolutely cannot afford to lose her." Weiss realized.
"Yeah. If he can't regulate for some reason, he's toast!" Ruby said.
Yang gasped. "Ruby, was that a pun?! I'm so proud of you!" She said happily, hugging her little sister.
"Nooo! What have I done!?" Ruby cried.
However, the hope and fun quickly stopped when Killian suddenly shot her. "What!?" Everyone cried out.
"B-but why!? He needed her!" Velvet said already tearing up.
"He must expect that, with Pepper's life in danger, Tony will take over her position." Winter theorized.
"But if she was the only one that knew the formula, then even if Tony is capable of even improving Extremis, he still needs to know how to make it, first! He's effectively doomed himself!" Glynda declared.
"The good news is, a high-level position has just been vacated." Killian declared.
"You are a maniac." Tony insulted him.
"No, I'm a visionary. But I do own a maniac. And he takes the stage tonight." Killian declared as he left.
"He just killed her like nothing..." Weiss said in horror.
"Tony must stop him. No matter the cost." Penny said, surprisingly serious.
"But first, he has to free himself somehow and escape." Pyrrha added.
"He's Tony. He's always got a plan. He has to." Jaune said in a worried, but hopeful tone.
Killian was then seen talking to Savin. "Once we get the Patriot installed, it will take me nine or 10 minutes for the takedown." He told his right-hand man.
"Wait, what? What are they talking about? What does he mean install the patriot. And what's he gonna do for a takedown?" Jaune asked.
"It's an Argus horse." Ironwood explained.
"A what now?" Ruby asked.
"Long ago, during the Great War, Mistral was gaining many victories and any attempt to invade Mistral was foiled, thanks to their many homes in the cliffs and what not. Too many places to hide and too many vantage points for an assault force to deal with. So, Vacuo created a giant, wooden horse to give to Mistral as a gift, only it was hollow on the inside and an advanced attack force was inside. Then, at night when most Mistralians were asleep, the Vacuoans emerged and took out their soldiers and captured Mistral. It's one of the most infamous stories of the Great War." Winter explained.
"Right. And we had our own version, the Trojan horse. Similar story, except the people of Troy were holed up behind a giant wall and gate the Greeks could get through, so they made the horse and hid in it to be brought inside the city." Katana told Earth's version of the story.
"So, they want to put Savin in the Iron Patriot suit to get the president?" Ruby asked.
"It definitely looks that way, Red." Cinder confirmed.
"Well, that's great, but the last time I looked there was somebody inside of it." Savin explained as a whirring sound could be heard. This was revealed to be people sawing into the armor with power saws in an attempt to cut it open.
"Afternoon, gentlemen." Killian greeted everyone in the room, causing the whirring cease as the men stopped sawing. "Hello, Colonel. Step aside." Killian instructed and ushered the man aside, where he stepped up beside the suspended soldier and placed his hand on the suit's stomach and his hand glowed orange. "Oh! We'll get you out of there. Don't worry." Killian assured him as the suit's belly also began to glow with intense heat.
"Oh, no! Rhodey!" Velvet said.
"Inside that armor, he's going to cook like he's in an oven!" Neo realized in shock.
"But they're liable to damage the armor like that. Their whole plan will be ruined." Ren pointed out.
"It's possible they have someone capable of repairing the armor, no matter how slim that chance may be." Glynda theorized.
"Well, at least he'll probably melt off that ugly red, white and blue paint." Coco said to try and lighten the mood.
"You'll damage the armor." Savin warned him.
"Yes, I will. But you can fix it, right? I'm gonna take the Chinook to base camp. And I want Potts with me." Killian instructed.
"She's still in Phase Two." Savin warned once again.
"You're not going deaf, are you?" Killian questioned.
"Phase Two?" Yang asked.
"It must be that she's still in the process of accepting Extremis... And possibly blowing up." Emerald pointed out.
"I think we were fine with the first part, Em." Blake assured her.
"Hey, she's not wrong." Qrow said.
Tony's watch started beeping in the hands of one of the thugs. "Careful, there. It's a limited edition." Tony informed them. "Hey, uh, Ponytail Express. What's the mileage count between Tennessee and Miami?" He asked.
"832 miles." The first guard said.
"Very nice." Tony confirmed.
"He must be summoning the armor with his implants!" Penny said excitedly.
"Yay! Fight-y time!" Nora cheered.
"Assuming this armor, which we know for a fact has a laundry list of problems doesn't continue to have problems." Weiss said.
"Weiss, why do you have to be so negative and point out everything that could go wrong?" Ruby complained.
"It's not being negative, it's being realistic." Weiss told her.
"I'm good like that." The guard confirmed, before looking to his cohort. "Can you, uh, stop that?" He asked.
"Break it, you bought it." Tony warned them.
However, the second thug simply dropped it on the ground and stomped on it. "I think I bought it." He taunted.
"That was completely uncalled for!" Pyrrha snapped, angry that a little girl's limited edition watch was ruined.
"But how STUPID do these thugs have to be if they can't figure out how to turn off the alarm on a CHILD'S watch?" Cinder questioned, facepalming.
"They're basic henchmen, they're always complete idiots." Neo said.
"Now that you mention it, most low-level White Fang members never were very bright." Blake admitted.
"Okay, that wasn't mine to give away. That belongs to my friend's sister. And that's why I'm gonna kill you first." Tony declared.
"What are you gonna do to me?" The guard challenged.
"You'll see." Tony told him.
"You're zip-tied to a bed." The guard reminded him.
"This." Tony declared, holding his hands out, but nothing happened. "That." He tried again, but nothing happened again.
Despite the tense situation, everyone couldn't help but laugh. "Ah, we needed some good humor after all that." Jaune said.
"It may only be a moment's distraction, but sometimes, that's all you need." Qrow agreed.
"I can only wonder what's keeping the armor from coming now? The faulty power line? Or perhaps something even more ridiculous?" Winter wondered.
"Are you coming out?" Killian taunted.
Rhodey was panting and sweating as Killian attempted to cook him inside his armor. "Do not open. Do not open. Don't open. Don't open." Rhodey repeatedly pleaded the suit. However, a beeping noise was heard to indicate the armor was opening so Rhodes couldn't be roasted inside the suit. "All right. Let's go." The colonel declared.
"So the suit has a safety feature to open if it heats too much to endanger the user." Ironwood noted.
"Very useful. And smart, Tony truly does think of everything, it seems." Glynda agreed.
"At least when he gets enough sleep." Velvet pointed out, reminding them of everything Tony DIDN'T think about this movie.
The suit opened and Rhodey jumped out and punched Savin in the face, then kicked him back into another guy. Killian glowed red and breathed fire at Rhodey.
"Oh, come on! How does this power keep getting better than my semblance?!" Cinder complained.
"But you can do way more stuff with your semblance, Cinder! You can make all kinds of weapons and stuff out of a little bit of dust!" Ruby reminded her.
"And, I suppose you'll have to receive the other half of the Maiden powers when we return. It's rare, but the Maidens have shown the ability to breathe fire." Ozpin explained.
"With magic, yeah. Scientifically I got no clue how someone breathes fire." Qrow added.
"Indeed. In fact, the only flammable substance the human, or Faunus, body produces... comes out the other end." Penny pointed out.
"You... You breathe fire? Okay." Rhodes said in shock, raising his hands in surrender. Savin then knocked Rhodey unconscious.
"It's a glorious day, Savin. This time tomorrow, I'll have the West's most powerful leader in one hand and the world's most feared terrorist in the other. I'll own the war on terror. Create supply and demand. For you, for your brothers and sisters." Killian boasted.
"Well, at least they didn't kill Rhodey." Jaune said in relief.
"Yet." Emerald pointed out.
"Oh, come on!" Jaune complained.
"She has a point. I mean, I doubt they're gonna just leave him there to potentially escape." Neo agreed with her teammate.
Tony was still tied to the mattress, but still trying to convince the thugs of their impending doom. "Trust me, you're gonna be in a puddle of blood on the ground in five, four, three... Come on! Two..." Tony repeatedly counted down.
"Oh, come on! The Avengers assembled faster than this armor!" Weiss screamed.
"I know, right!? They're rocket powered! Rockets go faster than Ruby!" Nora cried out, getting a pout from the younger girl.
"Good thing these guards are only meant to watch Tony, not kill him." Blake said.
"How did we get this shift?" The thug who smashed the watch asked.
"All right, I'm gonna give you a chance to escape. Put down your weapons. Tie yourselves to those chairs. I'll let you live. In five, four, bang!" Tony declared.
"Wow. That was..." The watch smasher taunted.
"You should be gone by now. You should've already been gone." The inventor told them.
"I am just beyond terrified." Watch breaker teased again.
"This is sad now." Qrow said.
"I almost think it's not even coming." Emerald admitted.
"It has to be. I just know it." Velvet declared.
"Here it comes. Three, four..." Tony counted down again.
"Shut up." Smasher snapped.
"Five, four, three, two, one!" Tony quickly counted down one final time as he Iron Man suit FINALLY flew in through the window, knocking out the watch smasher and joining to Tony's right arm. "Told you." He declared, before firing a blast from the repulsor on his hand, blasting the guy and causing him to spin back on the mattress. He then freed himself and hit the guy he blasted in the face as he came at him again. They grappled each other, struggling to gain the advantage, before another piece of the suit attached to Tony's left foot, allowing him to kick the guy back after Tony disarmed him of his Uzi.
"Alright, Tony! Only two pieces of armor and he still won!" Ruby cheered.
"He is good with working with what he has." Ren admitted.
"Oh, come on! They couldn't have been on the same side at least?! Now he's super asymmetrical and he looks terrible!" Coco complained.
"So what do we call him now? Partly-Iron Man?" Neo asked jokingly.
"Where's the rest?" He wondered.
Meanwhile, Harley watched as the garage door shook. He ran over and used some form of minor explosive to blow door open after he cleared a safe distance. The suit then quickly flew out as the boy watched in amazement.
"Are you kidding me? This armor can crash through glass walls and decapitate other suits and send Tony flying, but it can't break through a simple wooden door or chain!?" Winter demanded.
"I think we've clearly established by now, this is far from Tony's greatest armor." Winter explained.
"Still, at least the rest of the suit is on its way. And against a bunch of punks with guns, it should be more than sufficient." Ironwood told them.
Back with Tony, more guards were making his way towards him, so he fired his repulsor, blowing up a bit of the roof down the hallway. He then took to the air with the repulsors he did have while firing the Uzi, although with only one boot jet, he spun in circles through the air while firing, almost hitting a wall, but he stopped himself with his arm jet. Tony eventually turned to the ground and took cover while continuing to fire. He carefully maneuvered around, firing repulsors to scare enemies, shoot at them or launch himself out of the danger zone.
"He's doing really good with those couple of parts." Jaune said, deeply impressed.
"Indeed. We should all take a lesson from this and be able to improvise if we're ever disarmed, or our weapons malfunction." Pyrrha noted.
That's what's good about fighting with my fists. Even if my guns don't work, I've still got THESE guns!" Yang said, showing off her muscles.
"Yang, do you have a fever? I think you may be hallucinating. Those are your arms, not guns." Penny said, earning laughter from the students.
He eventually flew at and grappled with one guard, pulling and leaning away as a thug from below shot at him, hitting the guy he was grappling instead. He then blasted that thug below back into hiding, blasting the thug who was shot back into a wall and grappling another thug, the two battling for his gun, eventually aimed at the thug who'd been blasted into a wall. Tony then stomped on the foot of the guy he was grappling with, taking his focus away and allowing Tony to shoot the downed thug AGAIN. He then put his booted foot up and launched the two of them back into a wall, crushing the thug he was grappling with.
This left only the thug on the lower level, who Tony aimed at with both a pistol and his repulsor as the thug aimed his pistol at him. Seeing he was outgunned and alone, the thug actually did the smart thing and surrendered. "Honestly, I hate working here. They are so weird." He said. Tony wiggled the fingers of his gloved hand in farewell as the thug dropped his gun, quickly fleeing as Tony left as well.
Everyone couldn't help but chuckle at this. "It's always nice to see some thugs are willing to give up and stop being evil." Ruby said.
"I'd rather surrender than get my ass kicked." Neo admitted.
"But again, Tony won with just the two armor pieces. That's incredible." Velvet said, bouncing happily.
As he made his way down the hallway, more and more pieces of the armor affixed to him. "Ah! Better late than never." He said, before he got outside and the rest affixed to him, except for the part that became his rival in the beginning. " Not this time. Not the face." Tony declared as he caught the faceplate in mid-air, gently attaching it to himself. "Phew! It's good to be back. Hello, by the way." He said, getting all his functions up and running, including JARVIS.
"Oh, hello, sir." JARVIS greeted. Tony then saw a large military helicopter taking off, as well as the Iron Patriot armor flying away with help from his telescopic feed.
"Reunited and it feels so good~" Nora sang.
"Indeed. Not only is JARVIS an invaluable asset, but also a close and trusted friend. Having him back is likely better for Tony than even he realizes." Glynda pointed out.
"Sometimes, you can't beat having your bestie by your side!" Ruby said happily, hugging Weiss.
Rhodey began to wake up to the sound of beeping and a guard over the comm system. "All personnel, Stark is loose and somewhere in the compound. Repeat, Stark is loose and somewhere in the compound." The thug alerted everyone.
"Are you kidding me?! They left him there completely unguarded!?" Neo cried out.
"These may be the most incompetent terrorists I've ever seen." Winter stated.
"I can't believe I'm saying this: even Mercury is better than that." Emerald said.
"Ah! Let's go!" Tony declared, attempting to fly away. However, the thrusters were misfiring. "Aw, crap." He cursed his situation.
"Tony?" Rhodey questioned.
"Rhodey, tell me that was you in the suit." Tony pleaded.
"No. You got yours'?" Rhodey asked again.
"Uh... Mmm. Kind of. Main house, as fast as you can. There's somebody I'd like you to meet." Tony explained.
"Oh, gods, no. Not him again." Cinder groaned.
"Please, no." Ironwood said as well.
"It's gonna happen, guys. We might as well accept it and prepare to lose brain cells." Coco told them.
Trevor was asleep with a beer in his hands while the two girls he was with were playing ping pong. However, two men came in with guns. "You, you, you! Move! Get out!" One ordered as the girls were whimpering.
"The room is secure. I have eyes on the Mandarin." The second declared.
Tony then walked around the corner with a ping pong paddle. "What's this? I had winners." Tony said. Rhodey then leapt through a glass door, shooting at the men and taking them down.
"Nice work, Rhodey." Blake said with a smile.
"I feel like diving through the window was a bit much, but it did look impressive." Weiss said.
"I mean, don't we always try to look cool in all of our fights and stuff? Especially you guys with your big, over-the-top attacks." Jaune pointed out.
Trevor woke up and began drinking again, before noticing the two men in front of him.
"What have you come as?" Trevor asked.
"You make a move, and I break your face." Rhodey threatened.
"I never thought people had been hurt. They lied to me." Trevor stated.
"This is the Mandarin?" Rhodey asked.
"Yeah, I know, it's... It's embarrassing." Tony said.
"I would consider that the understatement of my current lifetime." Ozpin stated.
"I'd say it's the understatement of SALEM'S lifetime." Cinder grumbled.
"I just want us to be done with this guy in general." Emerald agreed.
"Hi, Trevor. Trevor Slattery." Trevor introduced himself, going for a handshake, but Rhodey slapped it away. "I know I'm shorter in person. A bit smaller. Everyone says that. But, um, hey, if you're here to arrest me, there's some people I'd like to roll on." He declared.
"Here's how it works, Meryl Streep. You tell him where Pepper is and he'll stop doing it." Tony explained to the faux bad guy.
"Doing what?" Trevor asked, before Rhodey placed the gun up to his cheek, burning him SOMEHOW. "Ow, I get it! Ow! That hurt. I get it! I get it! I don't know about any Pepper, but I know about the plan." Trevor told them.
"Why did that burn him?" Ruby asked.
"Well, gun barrels heat up a bit after bullets are shot from them, but it's been a while since he shot, so it should be fine." Ren noted.
"They must have just needed some reason to torture him. Any reason to torture this guy, I approve of." Neo declared.
"Spill." Tony ordered.
"Do you know what they did to my suit?" Rhodey questioned.
"What? No. But I do know it's happening off the coast. Something to do with a big boat. I can take you there." Trevor told them.
"Woah!" Trevor suddenly shouted, causing Rhodey to jump. It was revealed Trevor was simply excited about a score in the soccer game he was playing. "Ole', ole', ole', ole'..." He cheered.
"So... Stupid..." Winter groaned.
"I can't believe we were ever intimidated by this man." Ironwood groaned, ashamed.
"He had us all fooled, Tony included. We shouldn't feel that bad." Pyrrha told them.
"Tony, I swear to God, I'm gonna blow his face off." Rhodey told his partner.
"Oh, and this next bit may include the vice president as well. Is that... Is that important?" Trevor asked.
"Somewhat." Tony said sarcastically.
"Yeah, a little bit." Rhodes played along.
"Yeah, that would've been a good thing to LEAD WITH!" Jaune cried out.
"If he was a smart villain, I'd give him credit for not revealing it at first. But he clearly isn't, so he's an idiot for not saying it sooner." Ren agreed with his leader.
"Goodness. It's rare to see Ren so worked up like this." Glynda said in shock.
The two heroes then grouped up to talk privately. "So?" Tony asked.
"What are we gonna do? I mean, we don't have any transport." Rhodey reminded his friend.
"Right." Tony agreed as Trevor opened another beer, bringing the attention back to him. "Hey, Ringo. Didn't you say something about a 'lovely speedboat'?" Tony questioned as Trevor just looked stunned.
"Aww, yeah! speed and power on the water! That's what I'm talking about!" Yang cheered.
"I wouldn't mind taking one of those babies for a spin." Emerald said.
"What a coincidence. I just HAPPENED to find a set of keys to a speedboat at the harbor." Neo told them quietly, the three girls gaining a smirk.
"I'm actually willing to let you off the hook for stealing. THIS TIME. But we're only taking one joyride, then returning it!" Yang said to her new girlfriend.
"If he's right about the location, we're 20 minutes from where Pepper is." Rhodey explained. "But we also have to figure out this vice president thing, right?" He asked.
"Right. I wonder who I'm calling right now. Oh! That's the vice president." Tony declared, holding up his phone.
"Oh. Fair enough." Weiss said.
"Leave it to Tony to have a quick or simple answer." Blake said with a smile.
"What does he love reminding us? That he's a genius." Cinder said with a slight eye roll, as that trait of Tony's reminds her of Watts.
"Thanks. Hello?" The Vice President answered.
"Sir, this is Tony Stark." Tony explained.
"Welcome back to the land of the living." The Vice President greeted.
"We believe you're about to be drawn into the Mandarin campaign. We gotta get you somewhere safe as soon as possible." Tony warned the second-in-command of the country.
"Mr. Stark, I'm about to eat honey-roast ham, surrounded by the Agency's finest. The president's safe on Air Force One with Colonel Rhodes. I think we're good, here." The Vice President told him.
"Sir, this is Colonel Rhodes. They're using the Iron Patriot as a Trojan horse. They're gonna take out the president somehow. We have to immediately alert that plane." Rhodes explained.
"Yeah, that's quite the surprise, isn't it?" Qrow questioned.
"So, what's he going to do?" Velvet asked.
"Probably tell the security people on the plane, if I had to guess." Coco theorized.
"Okay, I'm on it. I'll have security lock it down. If need be, they can have F-22s in the air in 30 seconds. Thank you, Colonel." The second-in-command said gratefully.
"Excellent tactics." Winter praised.
"Yeah! This guy seems like he knows what he's doing." Ruby said, hoping it would be enough.
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Neo said suspiciously.
"Rhodes and Stark out." Rhodey declared, before ending the call.
"Everything okay, sir?" A man asked.
The Vice President smiled at this. "Couldn't be better." He said, walking back to the table and looking to his daughter, who was missing a leg. "I love you, babe." He said, kissing her cheek.
"Traitor!" Ironwood said.
"So the Vice President is a part of the Mandarin's group to get his daughter a new leg with Extremis?" Penny put the pieces together.
"That's the plan, yes. I'll quickly explain our chain of command: the president runs our country, but in the event of a president's removal, death, resignation, or inability, the Vice President takes over the power and duties of the President. So, they kill the current President, the Vice President becomes THE President and would then be in a position to legalize Extremis and all other biological science the current president has banned or outlawed." Katana explained.
"To betray the people you were loyal to and the Kingdom you've sworn to serve and protect... I can't even imagine such a thing." Glynda said in shock, Katana not bothering to correct her that Earth didn't have Kingdoms. Meanwhile, Ozpin looked down sadly in remembrance of all who had turned on him or abandoned him over the years and even now, Leo had aided Cinder in what would have been a plot to bring down Beacon that would end his life.
The Iron Patriot landed and walked towards President Ellis. "Colonel Rhodes." The president said and saluted to his armored guard, who nodded back. "Glad to see you could make it, son. I feel safer already." He stated as they got on board the plain.
Back on the boat, the real Colonel Rhodes drove the speedboat as Tony stood back in his suit, which was currently charging. "We gotta make a decision. We can either save the president, or Pepper. We can't do both." Rhodey told Tony.
"No... I hate these save one or the other moments." Ruby said sadly.
"It's unfortunate, Miss Rose, but these situations do occur on occasion." Ozpin explained.
"But this is Tony we're talking about. He has to be able to come up with another option. He just HAS to." Jaune said hopefully.
"Sir, I have an update from Malibu. The cranes have finally arrived and the cellar doors are being cleared as we speak." JARVIS informed his creator.
"And what about the suit I'm wearing?" Tony asked.
"The armor is now at 92%." JARVIS answered.
"That's going to have to do." Tony said, pulling out the charging cables.
"As long as it doesn't act like a scroll and the battery power drops like 20% every hour just because you didn't charge it to 100%." Nora grumbled.
"I'm willing to bet the power source for this armor is better than our scroll's batteries, Nora." Ren told her.
"Wait. I was under the impression all Iron Man suits were powered by the arc reactor." Penny pointed out.
"I don't know, Penny. These pieces can move on their own and stuff, so they must have their own built-in batteries." Ruby theorized.
The Iron Patient's arm opened and the suit wearer put their hand against the door handle on a plane, burning it closed. He then approached the president and his guards. "Everything all right, Colonel?" One of the aides asked, before Iron Patriot killed him and people begin shooting at him. He killed everyone beside the President. The helmet lifted up to reveal Savin.
Everyone lowered their heads in sadness for the fallen guards, trying to do their job and protect the president, while glaring viciously at Savin once the faceplate was lifted. "He's a monster." Weiss said.
"And he needs to pay. For those guys AND for Happy!" Nora declared.
"Oh, don't worry. Something tells me his comeuppance is coming." Coco assured them.
"It is an honor, Mr. President." Savin greeted.
"If you're gonna do it, do it!" The president challenged.
"Whoa! Cool your boots, sir. That's not how the Mandarin works." Savin declared.
"What?! Wasn't that the whole point!?" Blake questioned.
"Too easy. They've gotta be over-the-top dumbass villains that make spectacularly elaborate execution methods that the heroes can and will easily foil." Katana explained.
"Oh, my god. I'm really glad I left the villains side. It's full of complete idiots." Cinder groaned.
"Yep." Blake, Emerald and Neo voiced their agreements.
"Sir, Air Force One has been compromised. Internal shots, temperature spikes." One officer explained.
"Get me eyes on it now." Another officer ordered.
"Image coming through now, sir." The first office informed him.
They got an image of the plane, as well as the Iron Patriot suit flying away from it. "Was that Rhodes?" The second officer asked.
"'Fraid not, pal." Qrow said.
"What has he done with the president, then, if he's flying away now?" Pyrrha wondered.
"We saw the armor fly away. Not who was in it." Velvet realized.
Someone was banging on a door with a melted handle. "Is anyone there?" A man cried out.
"Let us out!" A woman screamed as well. Savin was then seen no longer in the armor, walking around the plan.
"Velvet, you were right!" Nora cried out.
"But what's he still doing there, then?" Weiss wondered.
"Perhaps he knows Tony is onto him and wants to finish things between them. Tony has gotten away from him twice now. That's a hit to anyone's ego or reputation." Winter explained.
Suddenly, an armored hand smashed through a window and knocked Savin down. He looked up to see Tony had somehow gotten in the plane and stormed up to Savin and pinned him against the wall. "The President. Now." Tony ordered.
"He's not here." Savin explained, grabbing and burning the suit's arm. Electrical crackling, mechanisms grinding, soft groaning could be heard as the suit was being damaged by the heat. "Try the jet stream? Speaking of which, go fish." He declared, holding up a detonator and pressing a button. After that, a door blasted open on the plane, the pressure escaping causing people to be sucked out, screaming.
"That monster!" Ruby cried.
"That's too far. Even for me." Neo said in shock.
"Oh, Tony, you have GOT to take him down now!" Coco declared.
After a few more moments of struggling, Tony blasted Savin in the chest with his chest laser. "Walk away from that, you son of a bitch." Tony said darkly as Savin fell to the ground.
"He BETTER not get back up from that." Cinder said with a glare.
"Nope. He dead." Katana said.
"FINALLY. It was getting ridiculous what he got up from." Emerald said.
"But now Tony has to save all those people." Jaune reminded them worriedly.
Tony then flew outside of the plane and looked to all the people falling. "How many in the air?" Tony questioned.
"Thirteen, sir." JARVIS explained.
"How many can I carry?" Tony asked.
"Four, sir." JARVIS answered.
"So Tony can barely save a third of them." Velvet said sadly.
"There must be some kind of way to save them all." Penny said.
"I'm sorry, Penny. But sometimes, you just can't save everybody." Ironwood said sadly.
"It's a hard lesson to hear. Even when it's coming from a cartoon pig with spider powers." Katana sniffled. Of course, she knew Tony WOULD save all these people, but it still didn't take away from the message Ironwood told them.
Tony quickly flew down to a woman and grabbed her. "Slow down. Slow down, relax. What's your name? Heather?" Tony asked.
"Oh, God! No! No!" Heather screamed.
"Listen to me. See that guy? I'm gonna swing by, you're just gonna grab him. You got it?" The billionaire instructed.
"What? Oh!" Heather continued to scream.
"I'll electrify your arm, you won't be able to open your hand. We can do this, Heather." Tony assured her. They flew to the nearest person and Heather was able to grab and hold onto him. "Easy, see? Eleven more to go. Remember that game called Barrel of Monkeys? That's what we're going to do." Tony explained.
"Ingenious! He actually may have found a way to save everyone!" Glynda said in amazement.
"Oh, man. I loved that game when I was a kid. I used to have pig tails that I'd hang the monkey chains off to make Ruby laugh. They were probably the only toy that wouldn't mess with my hair." Yang explained.
"You can do this, Tony. You can save everyone!" Ren urged.
"18,000 feet." JARVIS alerted Tony.
"Come on, people. Everybody, grab your monkey. Nice." The inventor coaxed the people as needed.
"10,000 feet. 6,000 feet." JARVIS reported every so often.
"Come on, people. Come on, come on, come on! Yeah!" Tony cheered them.
"1, 000 feet. 400 feet. 200 feet, sir." JARVIS warned.
"They are getting VERY low!" Penny said worriedly.
"Hurry, Tony!" Everyone except Katana screamed.
"He has to save them! He has to." Ruby cried out, clinging tightly to Cinder, to the point the half-Maiden actually had trouble breathing.
The last man, slightly larger than the others, was still falling. "He's a chunky monkey, let's get him. Hello." Tony urged. Finally, someone managed to grab the last man and Tony used his chest thrusters to launch them up as much as possible to avoid hitting either the water or or the small boat right beneath them. After they cleared a safe distance, Tony deployed his flaps to slow down to a safe speed, dropping them all in the water from a few feet above.
"We made it!" A man cheered.
"You did it, Tony. You're a true hero." Blake said with a smile.
"Just when I think he ran out of ways to surprise us, he keeps doing it." Emerald said, putting a hand on Blake's shoulder.
"I think you should stop thinking that, Emerald. Because it doesn't seem like he'll ever stop being amazing and surprising us at every turn." Velvet said with a fond smile.
"Nice work, guys! Excellent. Good team effort all around. Go us." Tony told them, before flying off. "All right, Jarvis. But it's only half-done. We've still got to get Pepper..." He began to explain, but he flew up to the road and was hit by an 18 wheeler, the suit disassembling.
"TONY!" Everyone screamed.
"Wait, the pieces are all over, but there's no body!" Coco said.
"The armor! It can be remote controlled when Tony isn't in it! Like when he ditched Pepper on their date!" Ruby reminded.
"She's right! Tony doesn't have to be in this suit for it to work. So he wasn't inside it this time! Good point, Ruby." Winter praised.
"So, thoughts?" Katana asked.
"That was incredible how Tony saved everyone!" Jaune said.
"Indeed! I had only calculated Tony's odds of success at 33% at maximum, yet he defied all odds and brought it back up to a full 100%!" Penny said excitedly.
"And it's about time they finally got rid of that Savin guy." Neo said.
"Yeah. I wanted him gone as soon as he took Harley hostage." Yang agreed angrily.
"But Pepper's still in danger." Ruby said.
"So is the president." Ironwood added.
"Then that just means we've reached the climax. Am I right?" Cinder asked.
"You are indeed, Cinder. Get ready, guys. Because the party's about to begin!" Katana said excitedly, continuing the movie.
A/N: Whew! Finally. This one was a bit of a doozy. The transcript for this part in particular was HORRIBLE. Certain actions were horribly out of place or not in the script, a whole bunch of spelling errors, many lines that the script said were from Tony were actually TREVOR'S lines and during the escape scene, it got where the parts of the armor were attaching to Tony wrong.
[1] Tsundere! Tsun- Tsundere!