The plane landed and Laura angrily stormed away towards her car and from shouts from Tony.
She tossed her suitcase in the trunk and then slammed the door.
She gripped the steering wheel and took a deep breath.
She was still angry with Tony and had a really bad migraine.
The lack of glasses wasn't helping either.
She checked her phone to see it blown up with texts and calls including "Unknown Number" on top.
She saw Tony walking towards her from the plane but sped off, not giving him an opportunity to explain himself.
The next evening, Laura was sleeping in her large bed under the covers.
Her white noise machine lulling her to sleep on her side table.
She had taken the next few days off to sleep and rest.
And ignore the firestorm that was coming from the government and media.
The government was even more aggressive in trying to take Tony's suits.
And on top of that Hammer asked for a slot for a presentation at the expo.
Her phone rang, forcing her to wake up with a groan.
"Hello…" she greeted grouchily with her eyes closed.
"Hi Laura. I'm very sorry if I woke you." she heard Pepper's voice.
"No Pepper. It's fine. What's up?" she asked while shifting upwards.
"Uh, it would be very helpful to get a quote from you Laura. To help with this mess." Pepper asked while sitting next to Natalie on the couch in Tony's living room.
"Tell them that it was a lifelong dream of mine to drive on the Monaco Grand Prix track." she said sarcastically.
"Laura…" Pepper sighed.
"Pepper take it from me. Ignore all of them. I'll see you at Tony's birthday party. Good night." she hanged up on her and pulled the blankets over her head, not wanting to deal with the mess.
Pepper frowned while looking down at her phone, not noticing Nat raising an eyebrow.
"Where is he?" Rhodey suddenly asked in front of them in his uniform.
"He doesn't want to be disturbed." Nat answered.
"He's downstairs." Pepper told him.
He walked downstairs to see a sick looking sitting in his hot rod in front of holo graphics.
"Query complete sir. Anton Vanko was a Soviet physicist who defected to the United States in , he was accused of espionage and was deported in 1967. His son, Ivan, who is also a physicist, was convicted of selling Soviet-era weapons grade plutonium to Pakistan, and served 15 years in Kopeisk prison. No further records exist." JARVIS explained.
"Tony, you gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now. Laura is just choosing to ignore it and that isn't a solution. Listen. I've been on the phone with the National Guard all day, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door and taking these." he said while pointing at his suits in the glass cases.
"They're gonna take your suits, Tony, okay? They're sick of the games. You and Laura said nobody else would possess this technology for 20 years. Well, guess what? Somebody else had it yesterday. It's not theoretical anymore. Are you listening to me? Are you okay?" he asked, just seeing how he wasn't paying attention to him.
"Let's go." he opened the door but stumbled out of his car.
"Hey, man. Hey, Hey!. You all right?" Rhodey asked while grabbing him.
"Yeah, I should get to my desk." he managed to walk over to his setup with Rhodey's help.
"See that cigar box?" he asked him.
"Yeah." Rhodey nodded.
"It's palladium." he removed the arc from his chest and the core to reveal that it was smoking.
"Is that supposed to be smoking?" Rhodey asked with worry while taking it.
"If you must know, it's neutron damage. It's from the reactor wall." he replied.
"You had this in your body? And how about the high-tech crossword puzzle on your neck?" Rhodey asked about the visible veins travelling up it.
"Road rash. Thank you." he slipped the arc underneath his shirt and back into his chest.
He patted it a few times and it came back on, illuminating the blue light underneath it.
He glanced back to Rhodey to see the deep worry on his face.
"What are you looking at?" he asked annoyed.
"I'm looking at you. You wanna do this whole lone gunslinger act and it's unnecessary. You don't have to do this alone. Laura and I are here for you." Rhodey reassured him.
"You know, I wish I could believe that. I really do. But you've gotta trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I'm doing."
The next night, Laura was changing into a black sleeveless dress in her walk in closet full of clothes for Tony's birthday party.
She turned herself around in front of her vanity mirror between the built ins to see that the strap was fortunately covering the scar on her shoulder blade.
She turned herself back around, revealing the pair of her older glasses.
She sighed and began fiddling with one of the beads on her necklace nervously
"Please may this not end up being a disaster."
She drove up to Tony's house and up his driveway.
Passing the line of cars she pulled into the workshop.
While getting out she frowned, hearing loud music and people cheering.
"JARVIS what's going on?" she asked.
"Mr. Stark is currently entertaining his guests Ms." he answered.
"Well that's vague." she muttered.
She let herself out of the shop and walked up the stairs.
She heard "California Love" blasting as everyone was crowded in the living room and she looked up to see Tony at the DJ booth in his suit.
She glared daggers at him but saw Pepper watching on from the side.
"Pepper!" she called out for her as she walked over to him.
"What is going on?" she asked angrily.
"I don't know. I don't know what to do anymore." Pepper sighed.
She frowned and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"I'm going to get some air." Pepper said and turned around to see Rhodey walking in.
"You gotta be kidding me." he said angrily, getting Laura's attention.
She frowned but they all turned around to see Tony losing his balance while holding a bottle, clearly drunk and everyone clapping and cheering him on.
"That's it. I'm making…" Rhodey began but Laura gripped his wrist.
"Don't you dare…" she warned.
"Laura. This is ridiculous. I just stuck my neck out for this guy!" he stated and she pinched her nose.
"I know. Well I'm gonna be a party pooper and crash this thing. Just let me handle it." she pleaded while walking up to the booth.
"Handle it. Or I'm gonna have to." he warned.
Laura walked up to him while Pepper and Rhodey watched on.
"You know, the question I get asked most often is, "Tony, how do you go to the bathroom in the suit?" Just like that." he laughed while peeing in the suit.
The crowed cheered loudly and Laura rolled her eyes while taking the mic.
"Wow what a great party. Wasn't this a great party?" she spoke into the mic and everyone cheered again.
"Yes well I'm afraid the party is now over. Thank you all for coming…" she began and the crowd jeered her like children.
"You don't have to go home but you can't stay here. The party's over!" she spoke with authority.
"No, no, no, we can't … Wait, wait, wait. We didn't have the cake. We didn't blow out the candles." Tony muttered to her.
"Tony. This isn't a good look. We're in damage control right now." she argued.
"But it's my birthday. Come on. Loosen up." he joked and she glared at him.
"Tony, just send everybody home. Please. It's time." she ended the argument.
"If you say so." he conceded.
She raised a skeptical eyebrow as he took the mic back from her and she took the bottle of Cristal from his hand.
"Laura Watson." he said in the mic and a few people awkwardly clapped for her.
She crossed her arms and took a long drink from the bottle.
"She's right. The party's over. Then again, the party was over for me, like, an hour and a half ago. The after-party starts in fifteen minutes. And if anybody, Watson, doesn't like it, there's the door." he accidentally sent a blast into the glass wall by the staircase above the guests heads.
Laura flinched away from it, dropping the bottle and Rhodey stared at him angrily.
He marched down the stairs and let himself into the shop.
A blonde ran up to the front row while carrying a watermelon.
Laura tossed her arms up in disbelief as she tossed it to Tony who blasted it from his arc.
The pieces splattered all over the place and Laura took another large drink from her bottle.
"I'm only gonna say this once!" Rhodey suddenly alerted in one of Tony's spare suits, getting everyone's attention.
"Get out!" his face guard came on and everyone ran out quickly but Laura marched over to him.
"Rhodey what the hell do you think you're doing!" she demanded.
"Fixing this mess. Step aside." he pushed her away with his arm effortlessly while walking up to Tony.
"You don't deserve to wear one of these. Shut it down!" Rhodey ordered.
"Goldstein?" he asked the DJ.
"Yes, Mr. Stark?" he asked while crouching up hiding from the booth.
"Give me a phat beat to beat my buddy's ass to." he laughed and "Another one bites the dust" came on.
The DJ ran out but Laura ran up to him.
"Tony please stop this!" she pleaded while getting between him and Rhodey.
She grabbed his shoulder but Rhodey pushed her out of the way and grabbed him.
She lost her footing but Tony ignited the thrusters, taking Rhodey backwards.
Laura got caught with them and quickly raised her arms to shield her face while they smashed through the glass door of the sauna.
She slammed up against the bench with a loud thud as the other two crashed through the other aside and into the gym.
"Ow…" she groaned while on her side.
"Oh my God! Laura!" Pepper rushed to her.
She ran over the broken glass and crouched down to help her up.
"I'm gonna feel that in the morning." she muttered while taking her hand to help her up.
She heard more glass breaking from the gym and sighed.
"Do you wanna stay at my place tonight?" she asked Pepper, seeing the worried look on her face.
"Are you sure?" Pepper asked back.
"Yeah. I've been a bad friend lately."
Meanwhile, Tony used a dumbbell to fling Rhodey into the boxing ring, hard.
"Sorry, pal, but Iron Man doesn't have a sidekick." he said while hovering over to land next to him.
He grabbed a piece of metal and began hitting him in the face.
"Side. Kick. This." Tony grabbed the last attempt to hit him but Rhodey punched his knee into the floor.
He tossed him up into the ceiling, smashing it and he landed in his bedroom.
"Had enough?" Rhodey taunted while flying up through the hole to him.
Laura was rushing Pepper out of the house with the crowd of onlookers watching the scene with their phones out recording outside but Pepper spotted Natalie.
"Natalie!" she demanded while stopping and Laura glared at her.
"Ms. Potts. Ms. Watson." she greeted innocently but Laura put her hand up.
"Don't you "Ms. Watson" me. I know there's something going on with you. Ever since you came…" she accused but Tony and Laura crashed through the ceiling right by them. Pepper gasped as Laura tackled her out of the way.
"Come on!" she grabbed her hand to help her up.
"Laura, Pepper!" Happy rushed in to help them out.
"Get the hell out here assholes!" Laura began shoving the onlookers away, forcefully.
With one final punch, Tony smashed Rhodey into the grand piano.
He looked around, seeing his wrecked house and that nobody else was there.
Rhodey broke off a piece of the piano to whack Tony in the head with it, flinging him into the fireplace.
He pried his head free, taking a piece of the chimney with it.
He raised his hand at him and Rhodey copied him.
"Put you hand down." Rhodey ordered.
"You think you got what it takes to wear that suit?" he taunted.
"We don't have to do this, Tony." Rhodey pleaded as their thrusters began to charge.
"You wanna be the War Machine, take your shot." Tony continued to taunt.
"Put it down!" Rhodey shouted.
"You gonna take a shot?" Tony demanded.
"Put it down!" "No!" the two sent blasts at each other but they in the middle of them, creating a large explosion that engulfed the room and shattered the glass windows.
A plume of smoke blew over the cliffside, revealing the wrecked house.
Tony's HUD came back on and he looked up to see Rhodey walking towards the deck.
He looked back at him one last time before taking off into the night sky.
At sunrise the next morning, Laura was sipping from her cup of coffee at her island in her kitchen.
She was still in her pajamas, and hungover.
She had just woken up to walk Pepper out.
The two were up all night because she knew Pepper needed a shoulder to lean on.
Although she didn't directly admit it, Laura knew Pepper's feelings for Tony had only grown since they were kidnapped and that last night was much harder on her personally.
So she stayed up all night to hear her talk and complain.
She was deep in thought, trying to figure out what was wrong with Tony.
It was something that she should know... she thought.
"Wait a minute..." she reached for her Stark laptop from her bag on the other bar stool and brought up the blueprints of the Mark ll on a secure file.
She clicked on the Arc to highlight and sighed.
"Palladium..." she mumbled.
"How did I not figure this out? I need to drive up to the house!" she said but the doorbell rang.
She frowned, not expecting anyone, especially at 6:30 in the morning.
It rang again and she sighed.
She pressed a holographic on her granite countertop, revealing a live feed of her front porch.
"Hello?" she spoke into her intercom.
"Ms. Watson?" she saw Natalie's face taking up most of the camera.
"How do you know where I live?" she demanded with deep suspicion.
"It's on file at legal. May I come in? There's a matter related to Mr. Stark that requires your immediate attention." she asked kindly yet firmly.
"If it's so important why didn't Tony ask me himself?" she asked while crossing her arms.
"Mr. Stark has asked me personally to come and get you. He said it was urgent." she explained.
"Well if it's so urgent he can ask me himself. Please leave my property and don't come here again." Laura hanged up on her.
She sighed in frustration and took another sip of her coffee.
She heard the locks clicking down the hall in her double front doors and looked up to see one of the locks begin to twist.
She got up urgently and began speed walking towards it in confusion.
"What the hell…" she said as the door opened, revealing Natalie.
"Do you just break into people's houses for…" she began but stopped in place, looking her up at down what she was wearing.
"What the hell are you wearing?" she asked confused, seeing she was in a SHIELD uniform as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
"I'm gonna need you to come with me." Natalie ordered, ignoring her confusion.
"Yeah, I'm gonna call the police…" she began to turn around but Natalie grabbed her wrist and shoved her against the wall strongly.
"The hell…" she said surprised with a fist aimed at her face.
"I wasn't asking. Now I need you to get ready. If you make a wrong move or try to run..." she ignited one of her shockers in front of her face and she narrowed her eyes at her.
"This is a huge violation of my rights!" she exclaimed.
"I won't repeat myself." Natalie warned again.
"Fine. I'll play along..." she walked up to her bedroom with Natalie following her to her closet slowly.
She almost walked inside it but turned around.
"I can do this part alone. There's no way to escape. See..." she said sarcastically while gesturing to the walls dramatically.
"I'll wait by the door." Natalie nodded.
She slammed the door in her face and took one of her pant suits off of the rack.
Stalling as must as she could, she took off her prosthetics to change into her black pant suit.
"My patience is wearing thin." she heard Nat's voice from the other side of the door.
"Hang on agent. I'm paralyzed. This takes a while!" she shouted back.
She inserted her legs into her prosthetics and thought of a plan.
Opening the door, she saw Nat waiting for her with her arms crossed.
"I need to get my bag. Is that okay with you, agent?" she asked angrily.
"We're running late. And I'll warn you once again to not try anything. It won't end well for you." Nat warned once again.
Laura took a deep breath which she noticed and they walked out and back down to the kitchen.
She gripped the railing while feeling Nat's eyes in the back of her head as she tried to be as casual as she could be.
She walked back down the hall to the island to reach for the inside of her bag for her revolver.
Within a second, she grabbed it and aimed it at her who grabbed hers even quicker, matching her draw.
"I warned you Ms. Watson. Now drop the gun." she warned one final time as Laura had her finger on the trigger.
"Ha! And I think you underestimated my..." she began but Natalie shocked her with her cuff mid sentence.
She cried out in pain while dropping the gun and convulsing and spasming from the waves of electricity and blacked out.
Natalie watched her faceplant to the title floor and just shook her head as she placed her gun back in its holster.
"Director Fury. I've got her." she spoke into her earpiece while looking down at her.
"Good work Romanoff. I'll grab Stark." Fury said while in the parking lot of Randy's donuts.
He looked up to see Tony in the sign, still in his suits eating a box of them.
"Sir! I'm gonna have to ask you to exit the donut!" he shouted, getting his attention.
He peaked over his sunglasses to see Fury walking inside.
