Tony drove her back to her apartment so she could change for the gala.

While he waited in his car outside, she changed into a floor length black dress with sleeves that nicely covered her prosthetics.

And her bullet shaped scar on her back.

She liked that discretion but saying she was nervous would be an understatement.

It was the first time she was out in public since the kidnapping.

Granted most of the media's attention was on Tony which she was grateful for but she was well known among Stark Industries thanks to her being Tony's number two.

But still it was public knowledge of her kidnapping, her injuries, and her ordeal so she was not looking forward to being in the spotlight again.

And she hated these types of events in the best of times.

She put on her flats and inspected herself in her vanity mirror.

The bags under her hardened eyes were clearly visible.

She caressed her prosthetic over her dress, feeling subconscious about it.

She repositioned her hearing aids and sighed, not liking how much they stood out.

She also didn't like the fact that her arm was still in a sling.

But her neck was out of the brace at least.

And she did like her hair.

It being back up in its usual bun.

After staring at herself for a few minutes while fiddling one of the beads of with her necklace anxiously, she grabbed her clutch and forced herself to leave her apartment.

She walked out and grabbed the railing to walk down he three flights of switchback stairs one step at a time.

"Last time I rent an apartment on the third floor." she muttered to herself.

Tony saw her walking down the stairs outside and got out of his car, revealing his tux.

He opened the passenger door and the two got inside.

"Looking to get a date?" he joked about her dress.

"Yeah, I'm exactly what guys want. A short paralyzed, partially deaf girl with mental and anxiety issues that can fill a notebook. I'm a catch." she rolled her eyes.

"You never know." he joked.

"Yeah, whatever. Love is for children. I'm happy being single." she scoffed while looking out the window.

He frowned, caught slightly off guard by her statement but chose not to bring it up.


Tony sped over to the Disney Concert Hall and pulled up to the red carpet.

Laura gripped the door handle seeing the large stair case and crowd of reporters flashing their cameras.

She began breathing rapidly and Tony saw the panic in her eyes.

"Hey, Laura it's okay. They're just journalists." he tried comforting her.

"Yeah, that's the problem." she managed to say while eyeing the flashes.

"They're nothing Watson. You can do this. But if you want I can drive you back." he reassured her.

She took another deep breath and nodded.

"It took me forever to change for it all to be for nothing. Let's just get a drink and get this over with." she grabbed her clutch and the valets opened the doors for them and she stepped out of the car.

The reporters turned their attention towards them, particularly Laura.

"Ms. Watson! Ms. Watson! Mr. Stark!" they shouted as they walked up the stair by them.

Laura struggled up them but took Tony's arm for support.

"Hey, Tony you remember me?" a blonde tried getting his attention.

"Certainly don't. You look great, Hef." he patted Hugh Hefner on the back.

Laura looked back at him while they walked up the stairs and they saw Obie talking to a reporter at the top of them.

"What's the world coming to when a guy's got to crash his own party?" Tony joked, getting his attention.

"Look at you. And Laura I… I… have no words." he said while looking at her with amazement.

"Prosthetics legs. Tony and I made them down in the shop can walk now. Kinda." she shrugged her shoulders, not mentioning the suit.

"You never cease to amaze me." he smiled at her.

"Yeah… I need a drink. Particularly bourbon." she marched ahead inside.

Tony began to follow her but Obie put his arm on his shoulder.

"Hey. Listen, take it slow, all right? I think I got the board right where we want them." he asked.

"You got it. Just cabin fever. I'll just be a minute."


Laura walked inside, getting the people by the doors attention.

She saw that they were mostly Stark employees along with other celebrities who began clapping for her.

She forced herself to smile and wave at the standing ovation while the rest of the room stopped chatting in their groups and applauded along.

She sighed, hating the attention and shook hands with some of her colleagues.

She saw Pepper walking over to her and sighed with relief.

"Thank God. None of them will leave me alone." she grabbed her wrist and walked to the corner of the hall so the two can have some privacy.

"Laura how are you..? I…" she said stunned and she lifted up her dress slightly, revealing her prosthetics.

"Prosthetic legs. I am paralyzed. Nothing can change that. But with these I can at least walk and start taking my life back." she smiled widely.

"Oh Laura I'm so happy for you. And you look stunning." she complimented while hugging her.

"As good as I'm gonna look I guess. And I should be the one telling you that." she complimented back about her dress.

"Really? Do you think it's a bit much?' Pepper asked back unsure.

"No, you're perfect. " she said but the two spotted Tony walking towards them.

"Running away from your standing ovation?" he joked to Laura.

"I told you. I hate pity and attention." she frowned.

"You look fantastic. I didn't recognize you." he complimented Pepper.

"Thank you. The dress was a gift, actually." she replied.

"Oh." he nodded.

"From you, actually." she clarified.

"Well I have great taste. Do you want to dance?" he offered.

"Oh no I don't…" she denied while pleading to Laura with a look who smirked.

"I actually really need a drink. Or two. I'll be back in a minute." she began to turn around but Pepper hugged her again.

"I'm really happy for you Laura. Truly." she said as Laura hugged her.

"Thank you… for everything. You're the best friend anyone could ask for. Now go dance." she joked.

The two stopped hugging and Laura walked over to the bar and the other two walked over to the dance floor.

"Bourbon please. Neat." she tipped the bar tender a $100.

She took her drink and turned around but frowned, seeing agent Coulson walking up to her.

"Ms. Watson." he nodded politely.

"Agent." she greeted coldly while drinking from her glass.

"Listen, Ms. Watson I apologize for being persistent with you but we still need to debrief you and Mr. Stark. There's still a lot of unanswered questions, and time can be a factor with these things. How about the 24th at 7:00 p.m. at Stark Industries?" he offered a handshake.

She sighed and pinched her nose in frustration.

"I'll have to contact my lawyer." she replied.

"That won't be necessary Ms. Watson. You aren't in any legal trouble." he reassured her.

"Yeah, whatever." she shook his hand.

If he wasn't going to let up that didn't mean she had to be cooperative, she thought.

"And congratulations." he nodded at her legs and walked off.


She frowned and downed the rest of drink.

"Yeah, I'll have another please." she asked the bartender.

He gave her another and she tipped him another $100.

She leaned up against the bar while drinking it and raised an eyebrow, seeing Christine walking up to her.

"Where is Tony Stark?" she demanded angrily.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked, not remembering her.

"Christine Everhart. Vanity Fair magazine." she replied smugly.

"Still don't know who you are." she dismissed.

"I wrote a piece about him after Las Vegas." Christine reminded her.

"Oh yeah you're one of Tony's conquests. Tell me, is this how you've gotten all your other stories?" she quipped smugly while sipping her glass.

"You know I'd love to do an interview of you your experience of your kidnapping. For such a young woman as yourself, it must have been such a hard time for you. They're many who'd love to read our story." Christine quipped back.

She took a drink, swallowing her discomfort the best she could from her.

"Well here's my quote for you. Tell them to mind their own business. And FYI I don't swing that way so don't even bother offering." she joked, trying to be smooth.

Christine scowled at her but Tony walked up to them.

"Hey, Watson. Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, let's go." she placed her glass on the bar and began to walk out but Christine stepped in front of them.

"Mr. Stark. I need to speak with you." she repeated.

"Oh yeah Tony this is Christine from Vanity fair or… whatever." Laura dismissed.

"That's right." he sighed, remembering.

"You have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight. Can I at least get a reaction from you?" she accused.

"Panic. I would say panic is my reaction." he joked.

Laura giggled, getting their attention.

"I'm not sorry for laughing." she said through them.

Tony smiled, liking that she was laughing again while she covered her mouth to stifle the laughs and Christine eyed her.

"Cause I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity." Christine clarified.

"Yeah. They just put my name on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you." he joked.

"The gala isn't that bad Tony. Come on." Laura joked as well.

"I actually almost bought it, hook, line and sinker." Christine accused.

"I was out of town for a couple months, in case you didn't hear." he reminded her sarcastically.

"Same here." Laura raised her hand.

"Is this what you call accountability?" she forcefully handed him photos.

He and Laura went through them, revealing Stark weapons in the hands of the other Ten Rings members.

Including Jericho Missiles.

Laura swallowed, trying to remain calm.

"It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?" Christine asked angrily.

"When were these taken?" Laura asked confused.

"Yesterday." Christine answered.

"I didn't approve any shipment." Tony replied.

"Well, your company did." Christine revealed.

"We stopped selling weapons this doesn't make…" Laura began but went wide eyed in realization.

She looked over to Tony who had the same idea in his mind.

"That double crossing little…" she hissed.

"Let's go."


The two marched angrily out to Obie who was still talking to the press outside.

"Have you seen these pictures? What's going on in Gulmira?" he demanded him forcefully.

"Tony, Tony. You can't afford to be this naïve." he dismissed.

"Did you or did you not sell weapons to the same bastards who held us prisoner for three months in a cave? It's a simple question, Obie. Answer it!" Laura said while clenching her fists.

She twitched her neck angrily while photographers took pictures of them.

"Tony, Ms. Watson your picture please!" one of them shouted.

"Let's take a picture. Come on. Picture time!" Obie put his arms around her and Tony.

She shifted out of his grasp while narrowing her eyes up at him as the photographer took his photo while her fists were still clenched.

"Tony. Who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you. It was the only way I could protect you." he walked down the stairs as the two glared at him.

"I'm gonna kill him…" Laura began to follow him but Tony grabbed her wrist.

"We can't do anything here. Not yet. We need a plan." he whispered.

"And that plan is what?" she whispered back.

"C'mon, we're going back to the house."


He sped back to the house and parked inside the shop.

The two got out and he sped walked over to the platform.

"So, what's the plan?" Laura asked as the platform raised up.

"I'm going over there to destroy those weapons. Here." he tossed her an earpiece.

She took out one of her hearing aids and placed it in.

The robotic arms assembled the suit pieces around him as Laura watched on as all of the suit pieces and bolts fastened themselves together.

"Tony." she got his attention.

"Kill them all!" she spat.

He simply nodded as his face guard came on.

His eyes glowed blue as he marched to the hole in the roof he left from his test flight.

He ignited the thrusters and flew out fast, vertically into the night sky.

Laura flung her flats across the shop and walked over to his setup.

"Tony, can you hear me?" she asked through the comms.

"Copy." he acknowledged.

She sat down in the chair and waited for an update.


The Ten Rings fighters were rounding up civilians in Gulmira but Tony landed in the middle of them.

One began shooting his rifle at him but the bullets bounced off his suit.

He charged for him and punched him, hard, flinging him back into a wall.

He blasted multiple of them and turned around with his hands raised but stopped, seeing the remaining terrorists aiming their guns at the women and children.

He slowly lowered his hands but his HUD highlighted their faces. Shoulder mounted guns rose and fired at the targets, taking them out all at once.

The new leader, after Laura killed the old one, was cowering behind a wall but Tony punched through it, grabbed him, and tossed him into the middle of the group of villagers.

"He's all yours." he ignited his thrusters and took off.

He flew into the clouds and spotted a Jericho missile.

A tank shell suddenly fired at him, taking him out of the sky.

He climbed out of the crater and saw the tank down the rubble laden street.

It fired again but he swerved out of the way.

He fired a wrist rocket at it and the rocket bounced off it.

He began walking backwards, not looking back as the tank exploded.

The remaining men were shooting at him as he flew and hovered above them.

He used his thrusters to destroy the Jericho missile and took off.


"Tony, can you hear me? Did you kill all of them?" Laura asked.

"Yeah, it's done." he said but his phone rang.

The call appeared on one of the monitors back at the setup so Laura could see.

"Tony it's Rhodey." she warned.

"Hey, Rhodey." he greeted at Edwards Air Force Base.

"Tony." he greeted back.

"Speak up, please." he asked over the wind.

"What the hell is that noise?" Rhodey asked, hearing it in the background.

"Oh, yeah, I'm with Watson driving with the top down." he improvised.

"Hi Rhodey." she interrupted quickly.

"Hi, Laura. I need your help right now." he asked.

"It's funny how that works, huh?" he replied.

"Yeah. Speaking of funny, we've got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few clicks from where you and Laura were being held captive." he stated.

"Well, that's a hot spot. "Sounds like someone stepped in and did your job for you, huh?" he managed to say.

"Yeah, Rhodey the government is really slacking here, Very disappointed." Laura added.

"Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?" he asked suspiciously.

"I'm not, I was just jogging in the canyon." he lied badly.

"I thought you were driving." Rhodey asked confused.

"Right, I was driving…" he began but Laura interrupted him.

"But we're going for a jog to test my prosthetics."

"You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?" he asked again.

"Nope!" he yelled.

"Bogey spotted!" Rhodey looked up and saw the suit on the wall of monitors.

"Whiplash, come in hot."

"Okay, good, 'cause I'm staring at one right now, and it's about to be blown to kingdom come." Rhodey warned them as two F-22's flew up behind him.

"That's my exit." he barreled rolled but the jets followed him.

"Ballroom, this is Whiplash One. I've got the bogey in my sights."

"Whiplash One, what is it?" Rhodey asked.

"I've got no idea."

"You have radio contact?" the Major asked.

"Non responsive, sir."

"Then you are clear to engage." Supersonic Flight appeared on Tony's HUD while the F-22's were closing in.

"Hit it." he went supersonic, leaving the jets far behind.

"That bogey just went supersonic. I got a lock!" a pilot fired a missile.

"Inbound missile." JARVIS warned while Laura held her breath nervously, hearing everything through the earpiece.

"Flares!" Tony deployed flared, bombing it but that flung him out of control.

"Wait a second. Bogey deployed flares!"

"Deploy flaps!" Tony deployed them, causing him to stop instantly between the two fighter jets.

"No way that's a UAV." a pilot stated.

"What is it?" the Major asked.

"I can't see anything." the pilot answered.

"Whatever it was, it just bought the farm." the other pilot said but Rhodey shook his head unconvinced.

His phone began ringing and saw it was Tony on the caller ID.

"Hello?" he greeted.

"Hi, Rhodey, it's me." Tony said while catching his breath.

"It's who?" Rhodey asked again.

"It's Tony, Rhodey! It's Tony in the suit!" Laura interrupted urgently.

"Laura what…?" Rhodey asked with confusion.

"You understand that? This is not a piece of equipment. I'm in it. It's a suit. It's me!" he exclaimed, shocking him.

"Rhodey, you got anything for me?" the Major asked but he only stared back at him dumbfounded.

The pilots began returning to base but as one began to roll the other pilot spotted Tony clinging onto the belly of the F-22.

"On your belly! It looks like a man! Shake him off! Roll! Roll!" he began barrel rolling and Tony struggled to cling on.

He was flung off backwards but he smashed the wing of the other jet, causing it to free fall.

"I'm hit! I'm hit!" Laura gripped the armrest while Rhodey and the others back at base held their breaths in the control room.

"Punch out! Punch out!" he ejected but the chute didn't deploy.

"Whiplash One down."

"Whiplash Two, do you see a chute?" the Major asked

"Negative! No chute, no chute!"

"My chute's jammed!" the struggling pilot said while trying to yank it out.

"Tony the pilot has no suit! Get him!" Laura shouted, hearing Rhodey's whole conversation.

"I'm on it!" he flew down, pulled the chute out of the seat, steadying the free fall.

"Good chute! Good chute!" Laura released the shuddered breath she was holding and sank back into her chair.

"Tony. Laura." Rhodey spoke into the phone.

"Hey, thanks." he thanked him.

"Oh, my God, you crazy son of a bitch. You owe me a plane. You know that, right?" Rhodey joked.

He laughed and Laura smiled.

"Hey, we tried to warn you…" she joked.

"She's got a point, Rhodes." he joked back.

"Enough you two. Now what am I supposed to tell the press.

"To shove it and mind their own business?" Laura dismissed.

"Laura…" Rhodey sighed.

"Training exercise. Isn't that the usual BS?" Tony suggested.

"Same thing, really." Laura tossed out the earpiece and put her hearing aid back in.

"It's not that simple."


Later that morning, Laura was watching Rhodey's press conference from the setup while waiting for Tony to come back.

"An unfortunate training exercise involving an F-22 Raptor occurred yesterday. I am pleased to report that the pilot was not injured. As for the unexpected turn of events on the ground in Gulmira, it is still unclear who or what intervened, but I can assure you that the United States government was not involved." was heard but Laura heard thrusters outside.

She got out of her chair as Tony landed hard through the hole in the ceiling.

"Well, that could have gone worse. I suppose." she crossed her arm unimpressed.

Tony opened his faceguard and walked over to the platform.

"I think it went well." he argued.

"Would have gone better if you didn't go all Top Gun on Rhodey." she countered.

The arms rose from the platform and began taking each piece off one at a time.

"Hey!" he winced, feeling the pain as he struggled in their grasp.

"Sir, the more you struggle, he more this is going to hurt." JARVIS warned.

"Hold still Tony. You're like a child." Laura added.

"I really should be able to…" he began but they were interrupted.

"Laura you didn't come home last night what's going...What's going on here?" Pepper began to ask but looked up to see them from the bottom of the stairs.

The two slowly turned their heads around while the robotic arms continued to take the suit pieces off.

"Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing." Tony joked.

"Are those bullet holes." she gasped.

"It was him!" Laura pointed at him, throwing him under the bus.

Pepper watched her as she grabbed her clutch, still wearing the dress from he night before and sped walked past Pepper and up the stairs.