A double update for you, as an apology for the wait! Hope you enjoy :)
Harry started hearing gunshots and screams long before they caught sight of the ruined town of Gulmira.
Jarvis – integrated into the software of Tony's suit – gave them directions to Afghanistan as they flew through the dark, Harry struggling to keep up with the rockets in Tony's heels.
They flew next to each other, visible from the ground only as a golden blur and a streak of fire that looped around each other and pulled stunts in the air. Harry snatched his glasses out of the air and jammed them back on his nose when they fell off during an exuberant loop in the sky, adrenaline coursing through his veins as he thought about willingly flying back towards the people who had held him captive for so long.
They had left the West coast of America in the middle of the night and flown East. By the time Tony caught sight of the devastated village and the crates of weapons and missiles they had been flying in hot sun for hours. They landed on a huge, weathered rock a few hundred metres from the village and faced each other.
"We need to take out those missiles." Tony said. His voice sounded robotic through the suit, and with the faceplate hiding his expression, it was oddly chilling.
"We need to save the people the terrorists are shooting at." Harry snapped back.
"If we don't destroy those weapons, a whole lot more villages are going to get blown off the map." Tony replied, raising an arm and pointing in the direction of the shouting and explosions. "We take out their arsenal, we stop them hurting anybody else."
"We take out their arsenal, they buy more from your company." Harry said, glaring at the glowing eyes of Tony's suit. "I thought that was why we came here, to help?" he couldn't believe they were even having this conversation.
"You're right." Tony said. The metal faceplate flipped up, revealing his worried, angry look. "It's my fault they have those weapons. Which is why we need to destroy them. They have guns. If we land in the middle of town and try and rescue all of the people in that village, you're going to get shot and be no help to anyone anyway."
Harry grit his teeth, unable to deny it. A bullet wound would heal, but he didn't have indestructible skin. "I'll find the missiles and blow them up, and you go help." He said finally.
"Fine." Tony said. The visor slotted back into place and he straightened, pointing in the opposite direction to the village. "There's at least 3 Jericho missiles 2 clicks that way." Harry nodded. "Stay safe." A high-pitched whine filled the air and he lifted off the ground.
Harry grinned, propelling himself into the air with a roar of flame. "'Stay safe', he says, as I fly towards a group of terrorists with tanks and missiles, to blow up said missiles." He muttered to himself. He heard Tony land in the centre of the ruined town square, and the confused, hopeful voices of the villagers trapped there before the Ten Rings opened fire, bullets pinging off the suit.
Harry flew low and fast towards the natural depression in the desert that the Ten Rings had utilised to store – and presumably hide – the assortment of weapons, keeping half an ear on the progress of Tony and the insurgents rounding up the men in the village. Tony was right that he would be no help if he got shot, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was flying in the wrong direction, heading away from the action.
He changed his mind rather rapidly when he had to tuck and roll to the side to avoid a rocket fired at him from an anti-aircraft missile launcher, the projectile parting his hair as it whistled past him. His dark glasses fell off his face and dropped to the ground below him as he twisted in the air to avoid a maelstrom of bullets that followed the missile.
Harry dropped into the side of the hill and stared around, finding a flaw in their plan in that he couldn't actually see where the missiles were. With Jarvis integrated into the suit, Tony would be able to scan the area and lock onto the correct positions in under a minute, but the only tactic Harry currently had was shoot fireballs and hope he hit something, which would do him no good if he was still nearby. The only focus points he had to go off were the various guards moving around and big lumps of warm metal Harry presumed were tanks of some kind.
Still staring around the compound, Harry nearly jumped out of his skin when a second land to air missile rocketed into the air, colliding with something in the sky and knocking it to the ground. Harry raised his palms and sent a veritable stream of fire towards the point it had originated from, and was rewarded with a satisfyingly large explosion that made the ground shake slightly.
Below him, one of the tanks had started moving towards the object they had shot out of the sky, and Harry realised it was Tony. He jumped over a large rock and zoomed down into the hollow, just as Tony raised his fist and sent a small rocket straight down the barrel of the tank behind Harry.
The blast knocked Harry forwards, and he landed heavily on his stomach, a sharp rock stabbing into his hip. He scrambled to his feet, trying to find Tony now that all of his surroundings were washed out by the heat from the explosion. It was disconcerting not to be able to even make out the shapes of buildings or people.
He jumped when Tony's voice sounded close to him, the metal suit making a small clang with every step he took on the desert stone. "You alright kid? Did that look as cool as it felt?"
Harry could hear the grin in his voice, and raised an eyebrow, fighting back his own smile. "Seriously?" He waved a hand it his face, eyes no longer hidden by round black lenses. "You're asking the blind kid if something looked cool."
"Right." Tony said, sounding sheepish. Bullets slammed into the ground on either side of them, sending up clouds of dust as men ran towards them, shouting in a foreign language.
"Where do I aim?" Harry made a large fireball float over the palm of his hand, a gleeful grin spreading over his face.
Tony quickly pointed out two of the huge Jericho Missiles, and together the two of them rose into the air, hovering high above the ground. "On three."
Harry raised his hands as Tony counted down, and then the two of them were throwing fire and lasers at the missiles arranged around them.
The resulting explosion launched them both even higher into the air and singed Harry's eyebrows. The turbulence created span Harry around, and Tony had to grab a hold of his t-shirt and shoot upwards.
Harry shook his head, trying to clear it and get rid of the ringing in his ears. He looked back at the place the compound had been and let out a laugh at the sight of the smoking crater, flying out from underneath Tony and spiralling through the air.
Tony laughed, and Harry let out a whoop, his aerial acrobatics becoming more elaborate. Tony joined him, the two revelling in the exhilaration of what they had just done, adrenaline still coursing through them.
The speed at which they were flying made it difficult to carry out a proper conversation, but Harry was able Tony's voice, strangely altered by the robotic suit and breathing more heavily than was normal after rescuing a village from terrorists. "Hello? Who's this?" Harry laughed when he realised the man was on the phone inside that thing. "Sorry, hello? Speak up, please."
"I'm... driving with the top down." Tony said. Usually Harry could hear the other end of calls through the small speaker in a phone held to the person's ear, but with the wind in his own ears and Jarvis controlling the call from inside Tony's suit he had no idea who the other person even was. "Funny how that works out." There was a moments' quiet once more. "Well, that's a hotspot." Tony said, still panting slightly. "Sounds like someone stepped in... did your job for you."
Harry grinned, flipping around in the air and looping around the man.
"I'm not, I was just jogging... Right, I was driving. To the canyon. Where we're jogging."
Harry shook his head and dropped into a steep dive, dipping under the clouds and then racing parallel to the ground. He flew low enough that he could have reached out and touched the sand if he wanted to, dodging and swerving around rocks and plants that sprang up in front of him, pushing to see how fast he could go. Harry didn't exactly have a speedometer on his wrist, but he knew it was at least four times faster than he had ever gone on a broom.
Wind buffeted his face and flicked up grains of sand, leaving a trail of dust behind him.
There was a 'boom' far above him that made his ears pop and pushed him down into the ground, and he groaned as he skidded along the desert floor. Harry lay for a few seconds once he had stopped moving, and then sat up, wondering what had caused the pulse. It hadn't been an explosion exactly, more like a shockwave through the air. Now that he had stopped moving and was left in the usually silent desert, Harry could hear the whining rumble of at least 2 large jets flying overhead. He looked up, and caught a flash of orange as something exploded mid-air kilometres away from where he stood.
"Well that can't be good."
Brushing the sand out of his hair, Harry launched into the air, heading in the direction of the fighter planes. They were travelling at incredible speeds, and Harry realised that the shockwave that had knocked him out of the air had been a sonic boom when Tony broke the sound barrier in his suit. He hadn't known it could go that fast.
Gunshots joined the sounds of the 2 engines, and Harry's eyes widened as he realised they were trying to shoot Tony out of the sky. He pushed more fire out of his hands and feet and focused on trying to reach him before that happened.
He had almost reached the them when the plane on the left suddenly went into a roll, spiralling down towards the ground at high speed. After a few seconds, something seemed to break off the underside of the aircraft, spinning away and slamming into the second plane, tearing out a chunk of its wing. Thick black smoke began billowing from its engine, and Harry forced himself forwards. He saw the pilot fly out of the damaged plane and frantically watched him fall, wondering where Tony was and if the falling pilot had a parachute. He was too far away and moving too slowly to try and catch him, but maybe...
In desperation, he threw his left hand forwards, aiming at the hot dark blur that was falling to the ground.
"Arresto momentum!"
The pilot's descent slowed slightly, and Harry cast again, desperation fuelling the spell. The plane he had fallen from exploded and debris began raining down towards the ground, but Harry sighed in relief when he saw a bright streak zoom out from the wreckage. Tony shot towards the falling pilot, and a few seconds later the canopy of a parachute billowed out above him.
Harry put on a burst of speed and shot towards Tony, catching up as he ended another phone call.
"So, Rhodey's not happy."
Harry laughed, shaking his head.