Monte Carlo, Monaco

Monaco Grand Prix

Happy drove Laura, Tony, and Pepper on the track up to the Hotel de Paris.

They all got out and Tony made a peace sign to the cheering fans in the stands.

Laura was looking excited, wearing Stark gear, mostly for the Grand Prix itself.

Happy was carrying Tony's suit in a case as they walked inside the hotel.

"You know, it's Europe. Whatever happens the next 20 minutes, just go with it." Tony told them.

"Go with it? Go with what?" Pepper asked confused.

"That literally means nothing." Laura rolled her eyes as Natalie walked up to them in the lobby.

"Mr. Stark." she greeted.

"Hey." he smiled.

A waiter offered drinks to them and Laura eagerly took hers.

"Hello. How was your flight." she asked.

"It was excellent. Boy, it's nice to see you." he smiled at her and Laura rolled her eyes once again.

"We have one photographer from the ACM, if you don't mind. Okay?" Natalie gestured towards the cameraman but Laura stepped aside.

"Ms. Watson, that includes you." she said politely.

"Yeah… no thanks…" she denied with a head shake, not wanting her picture taken and sipped from her glass.

The cameraman snapped their photo with Pepper's disapproval.

"Right this way…" Natalie gestured.

"Actually I've got a meet and greet with the team down in the pit lane. I'll catch up with all of you after the race." Laura told them.

"Ok Laura we'll meet you back here later." Pepper nodded.

"Bye guys."


She downed her drink before making her way out of the hotel and began walking along the barrier between the stands and the track.

She had her Stark Phone out, taking pictures of Monaco and the spectacle of the pre-race festivities.

This was a much needed vacation.

Well it was a working vacation but it was the best she was going to get.

She made her way down to the start finish line.

The cars were lined up with the pit crews frantically getting them and the driver ready.

She met and shook hands with the Stark drivers and allowed a few press photos to be taken of herself between them.

"Good luck Sebastian, Kimi. We've got a real shot at a podium finish here. I believe in you." she shook their hands.

They offered their thanks and they put on their helmets.

Commotion was heard behind them and they all turned to see a large crowd following Tony walking towards them.

He was wearing a Stark driver's suit, Laura noticed.

"Ms. Watson what is this!" Sebastian demanded angrily in his thick French accent.

"I'm not sure. Just let me handle it." she reassure him while walking up to him.

"Tony what is this…" she demanded.

"Hey it's my car Watson and…" he began but turned back towards the camera.

"Of owning a race car if you don't drive it?" he taunted the crowd and reporters.

The crowd gasped but she grabbed his shoulder.

"Are you insane! That's a 200 mph way to kill yourself! And the team is in 4th and 5th place!" she exclaimed angrily.

"Relax. I know what I'm doing." he simply walked past her and towards the drivers.

She watched in disbelief as one of the pit crew ran up to hand him a helmet and he placed it on his head.

He took Sebastian's place and he tossed his helmet away angrily. He ran up to begin yelling at her in French but she put her hand up.

"Je Sais. Je Sais, Sebastian. Je vais passer un appel." she said in French while bringing out her phone.

She pinched her nose, feeling a migraine coming on while speed walking off the track.

The race was about to begin as she made her way towards the Stark garage.

The call went to Pepper's voicemail and she sighed.

"Come on Pepper pick up…" she tried calling her desperately.

The lights went out and the race began.

Laura watched the car race off while still trying to call Pepper.

It went to voicemail once again and she groaned in frustration.

"Just one day! Is one peaceful day too much to ask?" she sighed and placed her phone in her jeans pocket.


Laura was watching the first lap on one of the TV's but she saw a man dressed as one of the marshals push a gate open and walk casually onto the track.

She went wide eyed while others gathered around her to watch him rip the top of his uniform off, revealing a Stark reactor.

"Oh no…" she muttered as the man revealed a pair of electric whips that charged with electricity.

She ran as fast as her prosthetics would let her down the pit lane as the whips burnt the heavily tattooed man's uniform shirt off.

He strolled down the middle of the track as the first F1 car sped towards him.

He arched one of the whips back to whip the Ferrari, slicing it in half.

Laura ran down to the end of the pit lane where the Mercedes pace car was parked.

She opened the gullwing door and reached up to slam it shut.

Officials charged up to her but she locked it.

She flipped the sun visor for the key while she heard banging fists on the windows.

"This is familiar at least." she muttered.

She started it, revved the engine before speeding onto the track.

The Ferrari crashed into the barrier, shocking the crowd.

Laura changed a gear as she sped down the track.

She looped around the hairpin, burning rubber, while F1 cars were speeding behind her as she entered the tunnel.


Tony was driving towards the man at top speed but he whipped his car, flipping him over and he landed upside down.

He tried crawling out of the wrecked car as Laura sped towards the scene.

She changed a gear but a group of F1 cars slowed down to her pace.

The ones ahead of her saw the man on the track and tried to swerve out of the way at the last second but ended up swerving into each other, causing a fiery crash.

Officials were scrambling to evacuate everyone as Laura sped around the chicane and saw the man sliced Tony's car in half.

He peaked underneath it but Tony whacked him with a piece of rubble from behind him,

She honked the horn, bracing herself as she got their attention as he turned around but it was too late.

Tony jumped out of the way just in time and onto the fence before she crashed into him into the wrecked F1 car pinning him.

The air bags went off, slamming into her face, hard.

After a few moments of trying to focus her ears were ringing loudly as she slowly came too.

Her head and arm hurt like hell as she blinked multiple times through her mangled, bent, and cracked glasses.

Tony stumbled upwards to see the man pinned between his car and the wrecked pace car with a steaming smashed hood and cracked windshield.

He opened the door to see Laura sniffing up blood from her bloody nose while it streamed from her mouth.

"Laura…" he gasped while she cupped her head.

"My head hurts like hell…" she muttered and he sighed.

"Come on.." he gently grabbed her and helped her out of the steaming wrecked car.

Shattered glass spilled from the seat and onto the track while she got out of it.

"God Watson what were you thinking!" he exclaimed.

"Me, what about you! Driving a F1 car! Are you insane!" she shouted back but clenched the front of her head.

"Ow… there's gonna be a bruise there…" she said while taking off her glasses.

"And I need new glasses. Thanks for that!" she yelled back.

"I was attacked!" he yelled back.

Unknown to them the man was trying to pry himself free while they fought.

"Because of you!" she screamed while stomping her foot.

She glared up at him but the man suddenly whipped the gullwing next to them, stumbling them back on their butts.

"Geez!" she gasped.

The two helped each other stumble up but the man tried whipping them again.

They ducked and rolled on the track, narrowly avoiding the whip as it left a burn mark on the pavement.

The two heard honking to see Happy speeding up the opposite way on the track in the Rolls.

They sped walked out of reach of the man as Happy slammed on the breaks.

Pepper was in the back seat, holding the suit case while panicking.

"Are you ok!" Happy asked concerned.

"Are you two out of your minds!" Pepper yelled at them angrily.

"Me! What did I do! Ow…" Laura yelled back angrily but winced at the pain.

"Give me the case!" Tony shouted.

She tossed him the case through the window and it landed by his feet.

He stomped on it while reaching for it with his hands and it assembled piece by piece up his arms and legs.

The arc reactor assembled as all of the pieces put themselves together with finally the helmet around his head.

His HUD came on and Laura watched him kick the Rolls away.

The man was still pinned but whipped Tony.

He dodged it and blasted the pace car away.

The man collapsed onto his back and before he could get up Tony pressed his knee into his neck and ripped out the arc reactor in his chest.

That powered down his whips and police quickly moved in to detain him.

The crowd was clapping behind them as Laura stumbled over to Tony.

She glared at him behind his helmet but the two looked down at the reactor in his hand.

She raised an eyebrow, seeing how similar it was to their design and glanced back at the once in his chest.

The police lifted the man up who spat out blood. He began laughing menacingly and shouted, "You lose!" multiple times at them.

Laura frowned and Tony crushed his reactor in his hand.

Police and ambulances quickly surrounded the scene and Laura sighed.

"Get yourself checked out. We'll talk later." Tony told her angrily.

"Damn right we are!" she said and spat out some blood from her bloodied lip.

He frowned as he watched her march off towards one of the ambulances.


While Laura got herself checked over, Tony was in a Monte Carlo police station, surrounded by officials as they walked towards the man who attacked him cell.

"Where are we going?" he asked in French.

"We ran his prints. We got nothing back, not even a name. We're not even sure he speaks English. He hasn't said a word since he got here." the officer explained as they walked up to his holding cell door.

"Five minutes." Tony asked as the door was opened for him.

He saw the man was stripped down to his underwear, chained, and handcuffed to the bench and he was sitting away from him.

He walked in and the door was closed behind him.

"Pretty decent tech. Cycles per second were a little low. You could have doubled up your rotations. You focused the repulsor energy through ionized plasma channels. It's effective. Not very efficient. But it's a passable knock-off. I don't get it. A little fine tuning you could have made a solid pay check. You could have sold it to North Korea, China, Iran, or gone onto the black market. You look like you got friends in low places." he said while walking up to sit down next to him.

"You come from a family of thieves and butchers. And now, like all guilty men, you try to rewrite your own history. And you forget all the lives the Stark family has destroyed." the man insulted in a Russian accent.

"Speaking of thieves, where did you get this design?" he asked.

"My father. Anton Vanko." Vanko answered.

"Well, I never heard of him." Tony dismissed.

"My father is the reason you're alive." Vanko spat.

"The reason I'm alive is 'cause you had a shot, you took it, you missed. Among other reasons…" he muttered about Laura.

"Did I? If you can make God bleed, the people will cease to believe in him. And there will be blood in the water. And the sharks will come. The truth, all I have to do is sit here and watch as the world will consume you." Vanko sneered.

"Where will you be watching the world consume me from? That's right. A prison cell. I'll send you a bar of soap." he dismissed and got up to leave to knock on the door.

"Hey, Tony. Before you go, palladium in the chest. Painful way to die." Vanko hinted.

Tony looked back at him one last time before the guards opened the door to let him out.

The door closed and Vanko chuckled to himself sinisterly.


Later that afternoon, Laura, Tony, and Pepper were flying back from Monaco.

Laura herself had her headphones on while she was sleeping in one of the reclining chairs.

After she and Tony had a very heated argument that eventually led to nothing.

She was exhausted.

She had a black eye along with one on her forehead with some minor cuts on her cheeks.

She also had a concussion.

Pepper glanced over to her with worry but then back to the TV where Stern was on the news.

"It's just unbelievable. It proves that the genie is out of the bottle and this man has no idea what he's doing. He thinks of the Iron Man weapon as a toy. And then there was Ms. Watson and her reckless actions! I was at a hearing where Mr. Stark and Ms. Watson were in fact adamant that these suits can't exist anywhere else, don't exist anywhere else, never will exist anywhere else, at least for five to ten years, and here we are in Monaco realizing, "These suits exist now."

"Mute." Tony muted the TV from the aisle while holding a covered food tray.

"He should be giving me a medal. That's the truth." he got her attention.

"What is that?" she asked about the tray.

"This is your in flight meal." he opened it, revealing a poorly made omelet.

"Did you just make that?" she asked confused.

"Yeah. Where do you think I've been for three hours?" he asked but looked over to a snoring Laura.

"She reassured me she's fine." Pepper told him.

He nodded but sighed and sat down in front of her.

"Tony, what are you not telling me?" she asked kindly.

"I don't want to go home. At all. Let's cancel my birthday party and… We're in Europe. Let's go to Venice, Cipriani. Remember?" he smiled.

"Oh, yes." she smiled back.

"It's a great place to be healthy." he said.

"I don't think this is the right time. We're in kind of a mess." she argued.

"Yeah, but maybe that's why it's the best time. 'Cause then we can…" he said but she interrupted him.

"Well, I think as the CEO I need to show up." she countered.

"As CEO, you are entitled to a leave." he replied.

"A leave?" she asked in disbelief.

"A company retreat." he suggested.

"A retreat? During a time like this?" she asked again.

"Just a ride. Well, I'm just saying, to recharge our batteries and figure it all out." he sighed.

"Not everybody runs on batteries Tony"