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Chapter 17: I Have The High Ground
The Iron Man suit, as it turned out, was not charged.
Aura was in a rolly chair with her legs pulled under her, watching Tony try to summon the armor.
It had only been a few minutes, but Tony was getting annoyed. He was pacing around the empty swath of floor near the bed frame and empty chair, flexing his arms in the air.
Aura, however, was doing great. Two armed men had come in shortly after Killian was killed, presumably to check in. Aura had quickly knocked them out, piling their unconscious bodies by Killian's dead one in the corner.
After, she had frantically searched the room until she found her weapons under a desk.
Now, reunited with her arm dagger, kopis, and archery finger and arm guards with her bow and quiver on the floor next to her, she felt like herself again.
When she had pulled on her right finger and arm guard, a strap of her arm guard scraped against her wound and she had suppressed a scream, a whimper still escaping. Even now, the wound throbbed against the soft leather and she was painfully aware of every movement of her arm.
It was probably for the better though, as the guard would protect her wound during battle.
A single Iron Man gauntlet crashed through the window and attached itself to Tony's wrist.
"Yes!" Tony crowed.
"Where's the rest?" Aura asked.
"Not sure," Tony said. He kept flexing his other wrist. "Maybe they're locked in Harley's shop?"
Whatever the problem had been, a few more minutes later the rest of the armor trickled in, starting with one of the foot pieces and finishing with the face piece.
Tony caught it as it flew in and put it on his face manually.
By then, Aura had grabbed her bow and quiver from the floor and slung them over her shoulder.
It was showtime.
…
They fought their way out quickly.
Tony flew around in the Iron Man armor blasting people, with Aura acting as backup when necessary, which was only twice.
As they made their way outside, alarms blared.
"All personnel, Stark is loose and somewhere in the compound. Repeat, Stark is loose and somewhere in the compound."
Tony and Aura heard something take off, and looked up to see the Iron Patriot suit fly out of the compound and off into the distance.
Tony's faceplate popped up for Aura's benefit as he started talking to someone on a call.
"Rhodey, tell me that was you in the suit."
"No. You got yours?"
"Uhh… mm, kind of. Main house, as fast as you can."
He took off into a run, which was really awkward and clunky, and Aura followed him over to the main house where they had encountered Trevor Slattery.
Was he still there? Aura had a few choice words for him.
When they got there, there were two armed men who had just burst in.
"I have eyes on the Mandarin-" One of them was saying into an earpiece.
Trevor Slattery seemed to be asleep in a La-Z-Boy chair.
The men caught notice of Tony and Aura. They raised their guns to shoot.
Aura threw herself to the ground to avoid the two bullets that came at her. Several bullets pinged against Tony's suit, and Aura covered her head to try to avoid being hit by them as they rebounded off.
A middle-aged Black man in gray slacks and a green polo shirt crashed through the glass doors, landing on his side with a gun in his hands. He shot both of the men as they turned to the commotion.
Presumably, this man was Rhodey. Aura liked him already.
Trevor jolted awake and took a long drink from a beer can in his hand.
"What have you come as?" He asked Rhodey.
Rhodey stood up, pointing his gun at Trevor. Tony and Aura also converged on him.
"Who's she?" Rhodey asked Tony.
"This is Aura Davis," Tony said. Rhodey nodded. "Aura, this is Colonel James Rhodes."
"Call me Rhodes," Rhodes added. "Thanks for helping Tony. But don't think that I won't shoot you in the leg if you try something," he finished, eyeing her.
"Understood," Aura said. She had no intentions of trying anything, though she was considering smacking Trevor.
Trever took another long drink from his beer, which reminded Rhodes of the reason he was there. He tilted the chair backward with his foot on the back, shoved his gun in Trevor's face, and said, "You make a move, and I break your face."
"I never thought people had been hurt. They lied to me," Trevor said.
"This is the Mandarin?" Rhodes asked.
"Yeah, I know, it's… It's embarrassing," Tony said.
"Hi, Trevor," Trevor tried to shake hands with Rhode but Rhodes smacked his hand away and repositioned the gun. "Trevor Slattery. 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."
"Here's how it works, Meryl Streep," Tony interrupted. "You tell him where Pepper is and he'll stop doing it."
"Doing what?" Trevor asked.
Rhodes burned his ear with the barrel of his gun.
"Oh! I get it! Ow. That hurt. I get it! I get it!" Trevor said, severely overreacting. "I don't know about any Pepper, but I know about the plan."
"Spill," Tony said.
"Do you know what they did to my suit?" Rhodes asked.
"What? No. But I do know it's happening off the coast. Something to do with a big boat."
Aura did not like the sound of a big boat.
"I can take you there," Trevor offered.
His attention completely focused on the TV in the background, which was playing a live soccer game. "Olé, olé, olé, olé…"
"Tony, I swear to God, I'm gonna blow his face off," Rhodes threatened.
"Oh, and this next bit may include the vice president as well. Is that… Is that important?"
"Somewhat," Tony said.
"Yeah, a little bit," Rhodes added.
Who was the vice president again? Aura couldn't recall.
Tony beckoned Rhodes over, and the three of them huddled. Aura absently flexed her right arm. Trevor picked up his beer and watched the television, ignoring them completely.
"So?" Tony asked. "What are we going to do?"
"I mean, we don't have any transport," Rhodes pointed out.
"Actually, Aura has a van," Tony offered.
"You do?" Rhodes asked.
"Yeah, that's how we got over here," Aura said.
"I don't think a van's going to be fast enough," Tony muttered. "Hey, Ringo, didn't you say something about a lovely speedboat?"
…
It was most definitely a lovely speedboat. The cerulean water was sparkling in the bright Miami sun, the sounds of music and people talking and laughing carried over the water, and the boat was smooth and wonderfully fast.
And Aura couldn't focus on any of it.
According to Tony, they were about 20 minutes from where Pepper was.
Aura was currently cleaning and bandaging her wound. While Rhodey and Tony had handled the boat, she had taken a few minutes to grab some supplies from the van. She had also taken a cube of ambrosia to take the edge off of the constant stinging and accelerate the healing.
Tony was talking to the vice president on the phone. He was wearing the Iron Man suit with the helmet off. It was hooked to a portable charger device with jumper cables.
"...We believe you're about to be drawn into the Mandarin campaign. We gotta get you somewhere safe as soon as possible," Tony said urgently.
"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," came the voice of the vice president from the phone, somewhat muffled, alongside the sounds of a party. "I think we're good here."
Rhodes leaned close to the phone, still focused on driving the boat. "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."
"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," said the vice president, much more serious.
"Rhodes and Stark out," Rhodes hung up the phone.
"We gotta make a decision," Rhodes said. "We can either save the President, or Pepper. We can't do both."
Aura had already offered splitting up, but the problem was that they couldn't be in two places at once and the Iron Man suit would be necessary for saving the President's airplane, thought Tony was much more concerned about Pepper and had shut down Aura when she offered to try to save Pepper by herself.
"Sir, I have an update from Malibu," interrupted JARVIS, Tony's AI assistant. "The cranes have finally arrived, and the cellar doors are being cleared as we speak."
"And what about the suit I'm wearing?" Tony asked.
"The armor is now at 92% percent."
"That's going to have to do," Tony said, unplugging the cables.
…
"Come on! That's not physically possible!" Rhodes whined.
Pringle crumbs dropped into the ocean, only to be snatched up by a small herd of excited seagulls. Aura's arrow slid into the sea.
Aura lowered her bow slightly, grinning. "And you thought you got me, throwing the Pringle like a frisbee. That's probably cheating."
Tony was in the cabin of the boat, using one of the distance-controlled Iron Man suits to handle the President issue. He was taking a bit long though, so an offhand question about why Aura had a bow had turned into skeet shooting with Pringles.
Rhodes grabbed another Pringle and set the can down. He gazed over the ocean, looking very concentrated, and hurled the Pringle (like a frisbee again, the cheater) towards the front end of the boat. It whizzed past the windshield and started to tilt downward, losing speed.
Aura, leaning over the side of the boat slightly, cleanly shot the Pringle out of the air. The seagulls squawked and rushed over.
Rhodes cursed under his breath, shaking his head slightly. Then he grabbed another Pringle, this time throwing it straight up into the air just a foot or so over the side of the boat.
Aura reached for another arrow, aimed her bow up into the clear blue sky, and fired.
"What's that going to do?" Rhodes asked.
Aura lowered her bow. Her arrow soon slowed and started to fall back to the ground, turning upside down and gaining speed again as the point flashed in the sun. Aura and Rhodes watched as the arrow caught up to the Pringle and smashed into it about ten feet above the water, almost right over their heads.
Aura reached a hand over the side of the boat and caught the arrow before it fell into the water. She brushed the Pringle dust off with her thumb and index finger and slid it into her quiver.
Rhodes stared. "You know what? I don't think I want to know."
He walked over to the cabin door and pushed it open. "Give me some good news, man."
"I think they all made it," Tony reassured him.
"Oh, thank God," Rhodes muttered.
"Yeah, but I missed the President," Tony sounded annoyed.
"You couldn't save the President with the suit, how are we gonna save Pepper with nothing?" Rhodes asked, walking to the front of the boat and sitting down in the driver chair.
"Uh, say, JARVIS, is it that time?" Tony asked quietly.
"The House Party Protocol sir?" Came JARVIS's weirdly British voice.
"Correct," Tony said.
Ooohh, the House Party Protocol sounded exciting.
…
The House Party Protocol was just code for 'send every Iron Man suit to my aid.'
So, kind of nice, but whatever.
What was fun was sneaking onto the Roxxon Norco with Tony and Rhodes.
Aura had all of her weapons, and Tony and Rhodes carried guns. Tony had taken the Iron Man suit off and was back in his zip-up hoodie.
The Norco was a huge oil tanker crawling with Extremis soldiers. Aura, Tony, and Rhodes crept from hiding place to hiding place, crouching behind machinery, thick support beams, and large metal oil canisters.
President Ellis wasn't hard to find. He was in the Iron Patriot suit, rope tied around each limb to string him between two huge support beams. The oil tanker's spotlights were turned on him.
"Oh, my God," Rhodes said, horrified. "He's strung up over the oil tanker. They're gonna light him up, man."
The sight was certainly terrible, but Aura had remembered why she recognized the Norco's name. In 2010, the Norco spilled a million gallons of crude oil off the coast of Pensacola. Matthew Ellis had ensured that the Roxxon executives avoided being judged or imprisoned.
Yes, the same Matthew Ellis as the one currently in the Iron Patriot armor.
She was still going to help Tony and Rhodes save him, but her sympathy was a bit lacking.
"Viking funeral. Public execution," Tony replied.
"Yeah, death by oil," Rhodes said.
They moved to the stairs of the nearest support beam.
"Broadcast will commence shortly. Take final positions," the speakers announced.
"Is your gun up?" Rhodes asked Tony as they hurried across the catwalk.
Tony quickly put his gun up. "Yep. What do I do?"
"Stay on my six, cover high, and don't shoot me in the back."
"Six, high, back, all right," Tony repeated.
"Same goes for me?" Aura asked.
"Don't go on my six, stay wherever will get you the best shot. Focus on covering high, but feel free to focus wherever needs to be covered. Don't let Tony get shot."
"Sure," Aura said. That's what she was going to do anyway, but communication was always important.
The first shots rang out as someone caught sight of them, and everyone else nearby followed suit. Tony focused on ducking, Rhodes focused on the people on the ground, and Aura dispatched anyone and everyone she could reach, starting with people higher than them.
More people just kept coming. The three had crept to a pretty good spot where they were hard to reach but could pop up to shoot. Aura was trying her best, but she wasn't as confident as Rhodes with so little visibility, and she wasn't used to fighting people with guns.
Then, they heard a humming noise that was steadily growing louder. Tony smiled.
"Are those-" Rhodes asked.
"Yeah," Tony said.
The shooting stopped as the soldiers watched the suits show up, unsure of what to do. The Iron Legion spread out around the Norco.
Aura, Tony, and Rhodes stood up. Aura shot a man who raised his gun.
"JARVIS, target Extremis heat signatures. Disable with extreme prejudice," Tony ordered.
"Yes sir," The suits all repeated, the synchronization uncanny.
The suits soared and blasted.
"This is how you've been managing your downtime, huh?" Rhodes asked.
"Everybody needs a hobby," Tony replied.
He pointed to a suit that was being overwhelmed with glowing Extremis soldiers. "Heartbreaker, help Red Snapper out, will you?"
Another suit flew bly and blasted one of the soldiers, pulling another off.
It wasn't enough, apparently. A third Extremis soldier had clung to Red Snapper, and he finished yanking the head off and doing his best to destroy the wiring inside.
Tony, Aura, and Rhodes watched as the suit crashed into a stack of oil canisters, which promptly blew up. The oil canisters were launched outward, crashing into things as they exploded. One of the control rooms suspended between two support beams took the brunt of the damage, teetering worryingly.
A suit landed on their platform and opened up. Tony turned his back to it and stepped inside. "Nice timing."
Aura thought it was a little late, but whatever. She picked off another Extremis soldier that looked like she was coming their way.
"Oh yeah, that's awesome," Rhodes said. "Give me a suit, okay?" He held his arms out.
"Oh, I'm sorry. They're only coded to me," Tony said before his faceplate closed.
"What does that mean?" Rhodes asked.
"I got you covered," Tony said. He took off.
Another suit landed on the platform. "Good evening Colonel, can I give you a lift?" Asked JARVIS's mechanic voice. It opened its arms up for a hug.
"Very funny," Rhodes said, but he hugged it, clinging tight, and let it carry him away, dropping him on a higher platform nearby.
"Hey, get back here!" Aura yelled after it.
It did return, though Aura didn't know if it was going to anyway. She slung her bow over her back and clung to it. It dropped her on the same catwalk as Rhodes.
The Iron Legion kept fighting Extremis soldiers, Aura joining in when she could. Tony seemed to be focused on finding Pepper. Aura soon lost track of him.
"I'm going to try to get the President. Cover me, okay?"
"Of course," Aura said.
He made his way over to the President, climbing stairs and jumping platforms. Aura moved to a better platform in full view of the President, shooting soldiers that went after Rhodes.
Rhodes climbed onto a shipping crate that was suspended from more support beams, hung from the side, and shot the cables attaching it on that side to make it swing towards the President. He grabbed the cable tied to the Iron Patriot's left arm and shot the one on the right leg, then the one tied to the left leg and the left arm. The suit swung, and when it made it to another platform he shot the cable on the right arm. Aura shot two guards that rushed towards them as she saw Rhodes say a few words to the President and take the suit.
Tony emerged from the teetering control room with Pepper held bridal-style in his arms. He flew to the ground and set her down. Aura made her way over there, letting Rhodes hunt down the last of the soldiers, if there were any left.
"...I think I can get you better," Tony was saying as Aura jogged over. "That's what I do. I fix things."
Very sweet and all. "Hey, nice to meet you Pepper," Aura said. She noticed yet another thug out of the corner of her eye and absently shot them.
"I- What?" Pepper asked, looking to Tony.
"This is Aura Davis, remember? With the whole gryphon thing?"
"Oh. Well, nice to meet you," Pepper said, confused but not unkind, giving her a professional smile.
"Hey, Pep, I have a Christmas present," Tony said. "JARVIS, you know what to do."
"The Clean Slate Protocol, sir?" JARVIS asked.
Why so many protocols? Just ask JARVIS to do whatever it is.
"Yes," Tony said nodding. He pulled Pepper into a hug.
Aura suddenly felt like a bit of a third wheel. Should she walk away or something?
The Iron Legion took to the skies. In ones and twos, they exploded as they soared, like fireworks all around the Norco.
Pepper smiled, and Tony kissed her neck. "Okay so far? Do you like it?" He asked.
"It'll do," Pepper said breathlessly, hugging him tighter.
"That's cool, how are we going to get back?" Aura asked. Pepper and Tony turned to look at her and released from their hug.
"Uh- I guess we can use the boat again," Tony said, looking at Pepper, who didn't seem happy about that. "Maybe Rhodes can carry you, that'll be faster," Tony offered. Pepper looked even less happy.
Aura sighed and started walking to the boat. The action over, she now had to face the reality of the long road trip ahead of her to get back to New York.
May as well get started as soon as possible.
Woo, that's Iron Man 3 all wrapped up! I'm not sure exactly what's going to happen next but I'm excited to get back to New York and really start moving forward on my demigodly continuation of the Wilson Fisk plotline. I intend to keep the promises I made in my story summary, don't worry!