"What do you mean he's alive?" Cassidy asked. Pepper played them the message once they got back in the car and a wave of relief came over her. Tony was okay. Extremely stupid, but okay.

"I think my boss works for The Mandarin." Maya told them.

"Who's your boss?" Pepper asked her.

"Aldrich Killian."

Pepper drove to a hotel and booked them a room. As Maya started telling her story, Cassidy pulled Nat aside. "Something doesn't seem right here." She told her. There was a knock on the door and Pepper went to answer it, having ordered room service for them. When she opened the door, the hotel worker was thrown out of the way and Aldrich Killian came in. "Cassidy!" Pepper yelled, before Killian grabbed her by the throat.

Cassidy kicked his legs out from underneath him and he dropped Pepper, while Nat went to put him in a headlock. He saw her coming and sent an elbow to her face, dropping her to the ground. Cassidy kicked him in the gut and tried to get up, but his hand clamped down on her arm and it started glowing orange. Then her arm started to burn. Cassidy screamed out but it was short lived as a blow came to the back of her head, knocking her out.

When Cassidy woke up, she was strapped to a table. She couldn't move her feet or her hands. She looked around and saw Pepper also strapped to a table. "Pepper?" She called out. She heard Pepper moan in pain and open her eyes. "Cassidy…they…injected me with something, I don't know what, but it feels like my insides are on fire." She groaned. Then her skin started glowing just like Killian's had. Oh God, had they injected her too?

"Oh good, you're awake. Now we can begin." A voice said from across the room. Killian walked in and over to the table Cassidy was strapped too. "I wanted to make sure you were awake for this. We really only wanted Pepper, but having you is a bonus for me I suppose."

"Why are you doing this?" She asked, Killian picked up a large needle and turned to her. "To better the world of course. Stark should have listened to what I had to say all those years ago." He went to put the needle into her arm when the door opened and a guard stepped in. "Stark is awake." He told Killian. Wait, Tony was here? He'd save them, he'd figure it out.

Killian stepped away and followed the guard out of the room. Cassidy immediately started pulling against her restraints, trying to get her hand underneath her to check for the knife she always kept in her back pocket. She let out a little 'yay' when she found it, thankful they hadn't taken it off her. She was able to get it open and flip it so she could start working on getting her hand free.

Two guards came in and began to release Pepper's table from the floor. "What about her?" One of the said, pointing to Cassidy. "Boss said leave her."

Cassidy watched as they wheeled Pepper out of the room, then went back to work on her restraints. She got both hands free and started working on her feet when she heard the unmistakable sounds of a repulsor. Tony was close. She just needed to get to him.

She jumped off the table and ran outside. She heard gunfire and ran towards it, probably not the best plan, but she figured Tony was that way. She rounded the corner and saw an Iron man suit talking to another man, she recognized as James Rhodes. Tony saw her and lifted his faceplate.

"Cass, what are you doing here?" He said, stepping out of the suit to pull her into his arms "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay, they took Pepper though, I don't know where. Killian told his guards to leave me, so they took Pepper and left. I'm so sorry Tony, I tried to protect her but there's something wrong with Killian. He touched me and burned me with his skin." She lifted her sleeve up to show him the red area on her forearm.

"Yeah, dude breathes fire too." Rhodes added.

"Okay, we have to get out of here." Tony said. They ended up on a speedboat and Rhodes found a first aid kit for Cassidy's arm. He put some ointment on it and wrapped it the best he could.

"Thank you, Colonel." She told him. He shook his head. "It was nothing. Please, call me Rhodey." She smiled at him and listened in as he and Tony talked about how to save the President and Pepper.

Tony powered his suit from the boat and sent it up to try and save the President from the plane. He was too late though and the suit was met with Killian's right-hand man. Cassidy watched as thirteen people were sucked out of a hole in the plane and the suit had them all grab onto each other, kind of like Barrel of Monkeys, so it could safely drop them in the water.

"Nicely done." She told him. He winked and stood to face them.

"Now let's go save Pepper."

It was nighttime when they got to the shipyard and Tony turned to Cassidy, a worried look on his face. "You need to get out of here." He told her. Her eyes widened. "Are you kidding me? I'm not leaving you guys." She told him. Rhodey looked from her back to Tony. "I mean, it would be nice to have an extra set of eyes out here Tones." He told him. Tony glared at him and looked back at Cassidy. "Fine. But you do exactly like I say, got it?"

She nodded. "Got it Captain." Tony glared at her again and she covered her mouth to stop from laughing. "Sorry Tony."

She followed Rhodey up onto the deck, Tony behind her, each with a gun in their hand. "You're not gonna freak out on me right/" Rhodey asked Tony. Cassidy looked to him with a raised eyebrow. "I hope not."

Rhodey snuck a look from their hiding spot and let out a strangled 'oh my god.' Cassidy peeked and saw the President hanging in the Iron Patriot suit up in the air. "He's strung up over the oil tanker., They're gonna light him up man." Rhodey told Tony.

"Viking funeral. Public execution."

"Yeah, death by oil. Ugly way to go." Cassidy added. This was awful. How the hell were they gonna save him? And where was Pepper?

They climbed some stairs and Cassidy aimed her gun, ready to shoot. "You got your gun out?" Rhodey asked Tony. Out of the corner of her eye, Cassidy saw Tony put his gun up really fast. "Yep. What do I do?"

"Stay on my six, cover high and don't shoot us in the back." He told him. Cassidy chuckled. "Little different being on this side, isn't it Tony?" She asked.

"Shut up."

As soon as they rounded the corner, gunfire let out and Tony did as he was told, aiming high, while Cassidy had Rhodey's other side. They took cover and while Tony and Rhodey argued about universal magazines, Cassidy took a look at how many more people there were.

"How many we got." Rhodey asked. "Three guys, one girl, all armed."

They stood and saw that all of them were glowing just like Killian. "I would kill for some armor right now."

Tony sighed. "You're right, we need backup."

"Yeah, a bunch."

They looked out into the sky and saw several lights coming toward them.

"Is that?"

"Yep."

Several Iron Man suits came flying toward them, circling the president. "Merry Christmas buddy." Tony said. "Jarvis, target EXTREMIS heat signatures. Disable with extreme prejudice." He ordered.

Collectively all the suits gave out a 'yes sir' and Cassidy had to admit, it was pretty cool. Tony gave the signal and the suits began to attack, taking them out one by one.

"This is how you've been managing your down time huh?" Rhodey joked.

"Everybody needs a hobby."

Cassidy laughed. "Well, this time your hobby paid off."

A giant explosion went off and a suit landed behind Tony and he stepped in. "Nice timing."

"What about us?" Cassidy asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, they're only coded to me." He said. "What's that mean?" Rhodey asked. Tony said, 'I got you covered.' As two suits landed in front of them.

"Colonel, Cassidy, may I give you lift?" Jarvis asked. Cassidy rolled her eyes and stepped up to the side of the suit, Rhodey taking the other side. They landed rather roughly after someone tried to take them down, and Cassidy got up to follow Rhodey to try and save the President.

Rhodey jumped down to a metal container and fought two of them off, while Cassidy tried to run around to the other side but was cornered by two men. They came closer as she backed away, but they were blown over the side by a suit. "Thanks Jarvis!" She yelled.

Cassidy climbed down a level just as Rhodey landed and the President set free, "You look damn good Mr. President, but I'm gonna need that suit back." He held his arms out for Cassidy and the President to hold on. "We can't leave him Rhodey." She told him.

"He's gonna be alright. I have to get the President to safety and it's not safe for you either. Tony told me to get you out of here." Cassidy huffed and grabbed on, the President doing the same.

They landed at Stark Industries and were taken to a safe spot until a jet could come from the President. They waited for what felt like hours, when Nat burst into the door, pulling Cassidy into a hug. "Oh my God, I thought you were dead." She whispered into Cassidy's hair.

"Any longer and I might have been." Which wasn't a lie, if Killian had injected her with EXTREMIS, there's no telling if her body would have survived it. She was just hoping Pepper had.

"Steve is going crazy. Fury wouldn't let him leave to come here, he even knocked Rumlow in the face for saying something to him."

Cassidy rolled her eyes. "Well Rumlow probably deserved it. He's a douche." She hated Brock Rumlow. Ever since she met him, something about him just irked her. The way he always stared at her like she was naked pissed her off too.

Nat nodded, linking her arm with hers. "Well, lets get you home before Steve fights someone else."