Afternoon everyone!
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Understanding the Real Hero: Iron Man 3
Four
JARVIS' voice is heard over an alarm blaring inside Tony's Iron Man helmet. He tells JARVIS to kill the alarm. However, JARVIS tells him that the alarm was triggered by the power dropping below five percent.
"I really hope you are not still above water because if you lose power…" Steve pulled a face. He didn't like the idea that Tony could drown in the suit, especially one he wasn't really in control of either.
"I wasn't," Tony reassured him.
Steve breathed a sigh of relief.
Tony's viewscreen is flickering as he tries to assess the situation, only to realise he is falling out of the sky on a downward trajectory. He screams as he falls through a snow blizzard before crashing into the road, bouncing down it and into a forest, crashing through the undergrowth before he finally fell onto his front in the snow, the suit's power almost gone. He lay there catching his breath and rolls onto his back, pulling his faceplate off. Tony asks where he is.
Clint shook his head. "How are you not dead?"
"You've seen worse things happen to me and you're still asking?" Tony grinned.
"Your suit can really take a lot before it really damages you," sighed Clint.
Tony wanted to shrug off the comment but decided he needed to elaborate further. "You'd be surprised how bruised I can get even with the suit. It's a lot easier to hide injuries from you."
"Tony, you shouldn't have to hide your injuries from anyone," explained Steve quietly.
Tony bowed his head. "I never believed I could tell you about my injuries. I always thought you would criticise and lecture me on what I could have done differently to prevent that injury from happening."
Steve gaped but he wasn't surprised. Tony didn't believe he could trust them. It hurt one of this team members could not trust the team as a whole but he could not longer be surprised by that revelation. It was hard for Tony to trust others, and when he had tried to open his heart to let them in, he'd been cruelly shot down. Steve's cheeks twitched. H could only try to be better.
JARVIS confirms they are five miles outside Rose Hills, Tennessee. Tony asks why is he here and it wasn't his idea. He says they are thousands of miles away and he's got to get Pepper. JARVIS says he had prepared a flight plan and this was the location. Tony asked him who had told him to do that, before telling JARVIS to open the suit.
"Technically, it was you," pointed out Clint cautiously. "You did ask JARVIS if he had ever been to Tennessee and he said he would create a flight plan. Then the doorbell rang and your ex was there."
Tony sighed. "Ok, point taken. I simply forgot I'd already implied I wanted to go there. A lot happened!"
Clint sniggered. "Just pointing out the obvious!"
JARVIS states he must be malfunctioning. Tony tells him to open the suit and the suit opens up as Tony sits up in the freezing cold. JARVIS tells him that he thinks he needs to sleep now and the suit finally loses the last vestiges of power. Tony calls for JARVIS, asking him not to leave him but it's too late.
Wanda felt emotion rush through her. She felt sad, lonely for Tony. JARVIS had been his closest friend for years and now he'd lost his home and he was at a place he hadn't expected to be. It's because of me he lost JARVIS for good. He had been left all alone in a state he hadn't expected to be.
Tony is seen dragging the suit through the snow to a petrol station. He takes a poncho from an Indian dummy standing outside and makes a call to Pepper using the pay phone outside, calling the Stark Secure Server where it would transfer his message to all known receivers.
"Pepper, it's me. I've got a lot of apologies to make and not a lot of time. So first off, I'm so sorry I put you in harm's way. That was selfish and stupid and it won't happen again. Also, it's Christmas time, the rabbit's too big. Done. Sorry. And I'm sorry in advance because… I can't come home yet. I need to find this guy. You gotta stay safe. That's all I know. I just stole a poncho from a wooden Indian."
Sam chuckled. "Nice way to end a call by telling her you committed a crime."
"You recognised you did things wrong," said Steve slowly. "You apologised. And are trying to make up for it."
Tony nodded. "I put Pepper in danger because I didn't think of the consequences. I thought I could protect her at the mansion. I didn't expect the retaliation to be a missile attack against my home." He'd really messed up. "I had to apologise to her for that. And… I knew she'd think I was dead if I didn't find a way to let her know I was fine. Only that I couldn't come home to her just yet… I couldn't leave her hanging in the dark."
Steve watched Tony carefully. He could see the guilt still resonated within the man. He wondered if he would ever not feel guilty?
He drags the suit to an abandoned looking farmhouse, kicks the door down and drags the suit inside, placing it on a couch and sits next to it. He turns the head away from him and puts the arm by its side. "You happy now?" The farmhouse is littered with objects. Someone clearly uses this place as a workshop.
"Breaking and entering?" Bucky smirked. "First you steal a poncho and now this?"
"I had to get somewhere," shrugged Tony. "If I was discovered by the owners, I had an idea of what to do to get them to let me stay. Little did I know the user of the farmhouse was not an adult…"
Tony sits at a desk, fiddling with the micro-repeater implants in his arm.
"Freeze!" Tony looks up and sees a boy holding a toy gun at him. "Don't move."
"Scary," grinned Clint.
Tony threw Clint a dirty look. "He's a smart kid. You'd be surprised." Despite his attitude towards the kid during their meeting, he had grown fond of him. He was certain the others would frown, perhaps even make comments about how he had spoken to the kid. He was fond of Harley.
Tony raises his hands. "You got me. Nice potato gun. Barrel's a little long. Between that and the wide gauge, it's gonna diminish your FPS." The boy points the gun at a glass on a shelf, shoots at it and breaks the glass. "And now you're out of ammo." Tony lowers his arms.
"What's that thing on your chest?" The boy sees the Arc Reactor light shining out of Tony's chest.
"It's an electromagnet. You should know, you've got a box of them right here." The boy asks him what does it power. Tony stands and points the desk light at his suit sitting on the couch behind him. The boy drops his toy gun in surprise and steps towards Tony. He asks him if that is Iron Man.
"Technically, I am," Tony corrects.
"A lot of people still see Tony and Iron Man as separate people even though they are one and the same," noted Rhodey.
Tony shrugged. "It doesn't bother me."
The boy walks forward and hands Tony a newspaper which has Tony's picture with the headline 'Mandarin Attack: Stark Presumed Dead' written across the top. "Technically, you're dead."
"I really wish I'd known more of what was going on," murmured Steve quietly. "If I'd known…" He'd been a bad friend to Tony, only having some semblance of caring when he needed Tony's help. He hadn't even bothered to stay in touch with Tony from New York until they'd been recalled by Fury to hunt down the last remnants of HYDRA.
He hoped if he had known what was going on with Tony, he would have offered his assistance.
Tony admits the boy has a valid point. The boy asks what happened to Iron Man. Tony says life did, and that he built him and he will take care of him and will fix Iron Man. The boy clarifies if Tony means like a mechanic. Tony agrees. The boy begins to say if he was building Iron Man and War Machine, in which Tony then interrupts to tell him its Iron Patriot, the boy says that is way cooler. Tony disagrees. The boy said he would add in retroreflective panels to make him stealth mode.
Tony thinks it is a good idea and maybe he will build one with that ability.
Rhodey laughed. "The kid's constant questions are tiring. But I am surprised you hadn't already thought of retroreflective panels to make a suit that had a stealth mode."
"Is Iron Man capable of being stealthy though?" queried Bucky. "It makes so much noise. Just by walking or flying into places."
Tony considered the options. "It is possible but a lot of the design would have to change to be able to implement a stealth mode. It is something I'm working on. We might need a use for it one day." A while back he had considered a stealth suit for Natasha. She had been trained to be stealthy and an Iron Man suit made for her specifically would greatly benefit the team.
Trouble was, he wasn't so sure he would give it to her now. Her actions during the Accords still stung.
The boy accidentally snaps one of the fingers off. Tony asks him what he is doing and that Iron Man is in pain and he's been injured. The boy apologises. Tony says he will fix it and then asks who is home.
"Well, my mom already left for the diner and dad went to 7-Eleven to get scratchers. I… I guess he won, because that was six years ago."
Tony folds his arms across his chest. "Mm. Which happens, dad's leave. No need to be a pussy about it. Here's what I need: a laptop, a digital watch, a cell phone, the pneumatic actuator from your bazooka over there, a map of town, a big spring, and a tuna fish sandwich."
Steve blinked. "Wow. You really don't know how to talk to kids, do you?"
"Would you have been patient if you'd been through what I had?" asked Tony.
"I like to believe I would be," answered Steve, though he couldn't say for certainty he would.
Tony folded his arms across his chest. "Besides, kid knows how to bargain."
The boy asks what's in it for him if he helps.
"Salvation. What's his name?"
"Who?" the boy asks.
"The kid that bullies you at school, what's his name?"
The boy wants to know how Tony knew that.
Sam shifted in his seat. "How did you know?"
"Victims tend to recognise other victims," answered Tony quietly. "I could see it in the kid's eyes. Plus, he has a workshop of stuff in his garage. There is no way that kid isn't getting bullied. He's basically a younger version of me."
"But just because he has a workshop in his garage doesn't mean…" Sam frowned as he trailed off.
"He was also quite withdrawn," added Tony. "Finding it easier talking to adults is another sign too. A lot of kids do not easily engage adults in conversation. That kid did. He knew a lot of big words other kids his age wouldn't. He's smart too. There were a lot of signs in our short conversation which pointed to me the kid was being bullied. And, I had the means to help him if he asked."
Tony moves to his suit and opens a compartment on it and takes out a metal object. "I got just the thing. This is a pinata for a cricket. I'm kidding. It's a very powerful weapon. Point it away from your face, press the button on top. It discourages bullying. Non-lethal, just to cover one's ass." The boy reaches out to take it but Tony moves it out of his reach. "Deal? Deal? What'd you say?"
Steve frowned a bit at Tony's tactics. "You recognised he was being bullied but would have kept the device away from him if he hadn't agreed to your deal?" He hoped Tony wouldn't.
Tony rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to leave a kid to deal with bullies, am I? I'm not that mean." He sighed, shoulders slumping forward. "I would have given it to him regardless."
The boy agrees. "Deal."
Tony gives the boy the object. "What's your name?"
"Harley. And you're…?"
"The mechanic. Tony." Tony looks at Harley for a moment. "You know what keeps going through my head. Where's my sandwich?"
Rhodey sniggered. "Guess you were really hungry after everything that had happened that day."
"To be fair, I hadn't really eaten since that morning before going to the hospital to see Happy," answered Tony. He was stunned to realise how quickly events had escalated in the short time he had issued his threat to the Mandarin. How quickly he had acted. It wasn't a surprise considering who the Mandarin really was in this case. "Things happened really fast."
Emergency services have gathered at Tony's house, along with news reporters. Pepper is still standing by the edge, looking out across the ocean. She is holding one of Tony's shattered Iron Man helmets and pulls it towards her, resting her forehead against it. She hears a faint beeping and turns it around to see inside, noticing a small red light flashing inside. She puts the helmet on and a computer voice tells her that it is the Stark Secure Server. Her retinal scan verifies her as an authorised user and she hears Tony's voice message apologising for what has happened and that he couldn't come home yet. Relief washing across her face and she smiles happily, glad he is alive.
Grief welled up in Tony's chest. He felt guilty for making her believe he was dead, for putting her in harm's way; for not listening to her to leave the mansion. She'd been lucky to survive. Lucky, he had managed to direct the suit onto her to better protect her. I have to start thinking more of her than what I want.
Part of the reason their relationship had broken down in the midst of the Accords had been Tony's reluctance to listen to Pepper's concerns regarding his use with Iron Man, and his continual pursuit on improving the suits. They had rebuilt their relationship and were far more understanding of one another than they had been before.
But the brief few months where he had split from Pepper had been some of the hardest of his life.
Later that night Pepper is driving Maya home. She asks her what she was doing at the house tonight and what was so important that she needed to speak to Tony. Maya doesn't reply instantly but when she does her reply shocks Pepper.
"I think that my boss is working for the Mandarin. So, if you still want to talk about it, I suggest that we get ourselves someplace safe."
"This Mandarin… was it this Killian fellow?" asked Thor. "The bombs are Extremis… He's the one behind all this, isn't he?"
Tony deigned not to answer, choosing to let them find out when the reveal happened further in the movie, though he was pleased Thor had already considered the possibility that the Mandarin had always been Killian.
"Your boss works for the Mandarin, you think? But Tony says you're a botanist so…" It didn't add up.
"That figures. What I actually am is a biological DNA coder running a team of forty out of a privately-funded think tank, but sure you can call me a botanist."
Tony grinned. "It's easier that way."
Pepper asks what her boss's name is. The answer shocks her.
"Aldrich Killian."
"I think Pepper should be considering trying to get away from Maya," mused Sam. "She could be leading Pepper into a trap."
Pepper had told Tony that Maya had wanted to help, that she hadn't intentionally put Pepper in danger, but had to in order to get Killian to spare Pepper's life when he had tracked them to the hotel room they had booked into. There were so many things Tony could have done differently.
Killian is talking on the phone to Savin who is reporting back to him regarding the attack on Tony's house. He informs him there is no sign of a body. Killian tells him he has to go as the Master is about to record, and informs Savin to keep his appointment tonight and to call him when it's done. Killian walks into a room which has been set up as a set with all of the Mandarin's props in place and a camera crew is ready to record. He tells everyone not to talk and not to have eye contact unless they want to get shot in the face.
The Mandarin arrives with an entourage, enters the house. A call out goes to the people on set to tell them the Master is travelling. When he arrives on set, the Mandarin takes a seat and asks Killian what are they waiting for.
"What is going on?" asked Steve, confused. "It looks like a movie set!"
The true details of the Mandarin had never been released to the public though details had leaked out onto the internet over the years, though they had never been confirmed by the Government.
"Someone had to film all those propaganda videos…" mooted Rhodey.
"Is someone pretending to be the Mandarin?" gasped Wanda, as she peered forward. "All those videos are not from the real Mandarin, but a fake one?"
Tony avoided her gaze, wanting them to find out as the movie progressed.
In Tennessee, Tony and Harley walk in the town at night. Tony is telling him the sandwich was fair, the spring was a little rusty but the rest of the materials he would make do with, however he did take issue having to wear a little girl's pink watch. Harley laughs and says she is six years old and that the watch was a limited edition. They are heading towards the bomb site in Tennessee where the soldier had committed suicide. Harley begins to ask Tony a lot of questions.
"When can we talk about New York?"
Tony shuddered. "That was the one irritating thing about that kid. All he wanted to do was talk to me about New York."
"Not good when you're suffering anxiety and panic attacks…" sighed Sam.
"To be fair, not many people knew how much Stark was suffering," pointed out Clint wisely. "And a kid isn't going to pick up on it."
"Maybe never, relax about it."
"What about the Avengers, can you talk about them?"
"I don't know, later." Tony asks Harley to give him some space. They stop and look at the local explosion site. There is a shrine in place, candles align around the walls and there are shadows of the people, who were vaporised instantly, on the walls. "What's the official story here? What happened?"
"I guess this guy named Chad Davis, used to live roundabouts, won a bunch of medals in the army. One day, folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb. Then he blew himself up right here."
"In other words, he lost control of Extremis and he went bye-bye," grated Clint, his teeth grinding together and his fists clenching hard together.
Tony walks around inspecting the memorial. "Six people died, right?"
Harley confirmed they did.
"Including Chad Davis?"
Harley nodded. Tony continues to look around at the explosion site. Harley is sitting on the ground and Tony moves to sit beside him. "That doesn't make sense. Think about it. Six dead, only five shadows."
"Yeah, people said these shadows are like the mark of souls gone to Heaven. Except the bomb guy, he went to Hell on account of he didn't get a shadow. That's why there's only five."
"Do you buy that?"
"Do you?" asked Bucky.
Tony shook his head. "No, I don't."
"That's what everyone says," answered Harley. They are sitting by the edge of the bomb crater. "You know what this crater reminds me of?"
"Oh no…" Rhodey shook his head, already guessing what Harley was about to say. "He's not gonna give up, is he?"
"No," whispered Tony to his friend.
Tony shakes his head. "No idea. I'm not… I don't care."
"That giant wormhole, in um… in New York. Does it remind you?"
"That's manipulative. I don't want to talk about it."
Harley continues to question him despite Tony's obvious discomfort. "Are they coming back? The aliens?"
Sam groaned into his hands. "That kid is going to give you a panic attack if he doesn't stop pestering you." A part of him wished he had been there to help Tony through the clear PTSD he was suffering. Though he wouldn't have been able to be much help in regards to worrying about aliens returning, he did understand how anxiety could take control of one's life and how PTSD could completely overcome someone.
"Maybe. Can you stop? Remember when I told you, that I have an anxiety issue?"
"Does this subject make you… make you edgy?"
"Yeah, a little bit. Can I just catch my breath for a second?" Tony is clearly at the beginnings of a panic attack.
"Breathe Tony…" whispered Rhodey. "Breathe."
"You do know it's the me on screen having the panic attack and not the me right here, correct?" Tony asked.
Rhodey rolled his eyes. "I was talking to your onscreen self."
"It's not going to change the outcome of this…" noted Tony. "It's already happened. I couldn't help freaking out…"
Harley doesn't get the hint. "Are there bad guys in Rose Hills? Do you… do you need a plastic bag to breathe into? Do you have medication?"
"Nope."
"Do you need to be on it?"
"Probably."
"Do you have PTSD?"
"I don't think so."
Sam fidgeted in his seat. "Do you still stay in touch with this kid?"
Tony nodded. "I communicate with him on occasion. Why?"
"He needs to know pushing a subject when someone is clearly uncomfortable does not help the situation one bit!" stated Sam, a little bit of anger in his voice.
"Trust me, he knows," said Tony. "It took him a while to understand – and you don't see it here – but after this was all over, as he grew up, he recognised what he did was wrong and he reached out."
Sam felt relieved. "Good."
"Are you… are you going completely mental? I can stop, do you want me to stop? Do you want me to stop?"
Tony is breathing heavily and quickly. "Remember when I said to stop doing that? I swear to God, that you're going to freak me out!" Tony sees Harley's tongue poke out but it was enough to freak him out. "Ah man, you did it, didn't you? You happy now?" Tony gets up and runs away from the memorial. Tony pulls off his jacket and collapses to his knees in the snow, breathing heavily.
Harley chases after him. "What did I say? What the hell was that?"
"If you hadn't told us, he had reached out to you, I think I'd be yelling at the screen now," commented Steve.
"The kid has a good heart," shrugged Tony. "Despite his rather annoying attitude, he was helpful."
Tony holds his face in his hands for a moment before he throws some snow at Harley. "Your fault, you spazzed me out." He's feeling a lot calmer now. "Okay, back to business. Where were we? The guy who died… relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?"
Harley wipes his nose. "Where she always is."
"See, now you're being helpful."
Tony pointed to the screen. "I wasn't mean all the time. I did compliment him when he deserved it."
"Though one could question whether he deserved the compliments after he had spazzed you out," noted Thor.
Tony was surprised by Thor's statement. "Despite his attempts to spaz me out, he was helpful. Any compliments I gave him, he deserved."
Tony is heading to a bar, pulling the cap down further over his head. He bumps into a woman who drops something. He picks it up and hands it back to the woman. She has a scarring mark on one side of her face. Tony states she has a nice haircut and it suits her. She compliments his watch and he tells her it is a limited edition. She doesn't doubt it and tells him to have a good evening. The woman turns and walks off leaving Tony to enter the bar.
Bucky frowned at the interaction. "Something felt off about that…"
The bar is full of drinkers and residents having fun. The Sheriff sits at the bar, gun on full display, sipping a drink. Tony gets a drink and finds Mrs. Davis who is sitting at a table drinking alone. He asks her if she minds if he joins her. She tells him it is a free country. Tony agrees with her. He sits across from her.
"I just want to say I'm sorry about your loss. I want to know what you think happened."
Mrs. Davis got agitated. She passes him a confidential file. "Look, I bought your damn file. You take it and go. Whatever was in here, he wanted no part of it."
"Interesting…" murmured Natasha. "She was expecting to meet someone. And she assumed it was you."
Tony nodded. "Yeah."
"I bet that woman you bumped into outside was who she was really supposed to meet," theorised Bucky. He shrugged when Steve looked his way, questioning why he thought so. He couldn't really explain why. It had just seemed off to him.
Tony looks through the file, seeing photos of Chad Davis in his military days. "Clearly, you're waiting for someone else. Yeah? Supposed to meet somebody here?" Mrs. Davis confirms that she is. Tony notices a 'Suitability Medical Report' in the file. There is also a photo of a man named Taggart, another army soldier who had died in a similar explosion. Tony closes the report. "Mrs. Davis, your son didn't kill himself, I guarantee you. He didn't kill anyone. Someone used him."
She seemed shocked by this revelation.
"As a weapon," continued Tony.
Sam cringed. "That may not have been the best thing to tell her. You may have some evidence to back up your thought process there, but… telling her he didn't commit suicide without the proper evidence to back it up may make her feel worse. Plus, she's clearly intoxicated and suffering with depression over her son's death. There are better ways to approach sensitive subjects like that."
Tony acknowledged the criticism, noting it was valid in the circumstances he'd been in at the time.
Mrs. Davis realises Tony is not the person who she was supposed to be meeting here. She asks him that but before he can reply a cell phone is slammed down onto their table and they both look up.
It is the woman Tony bumped into outside the bar.
"Told you," grinned Bucky, pleased he had been right about his suspicions with the woman.
Suddenly she grabs hold of Tony's arm and twists it, slamming his head onto the table. Noticing Chad's dog tags on the table, Tony quickly grabbed them as the Sheriff rushed to intervene. He wanted to know what was going on. The woman pushes Tony to the ground and steps towards the Sheriff, telling him it's an arrest.
The Sheriff ask who she was.
She holds up a badge. "Homeland Security. We good here?"
"She's lying," said Steve. "She's being too confrontational."
Tony raised his eyebrows at Steve's comment.
The Sheriff wants more information and the woman says it's a little bit above the Sheriff's paygrade. He responds by telling her to get on the phone to Nashville to upgrade him. Tony gestures to Mrs. Davis to hide the file and she pushes it under the bar.
"I had my suspicions of what she may be capable of," explained Tony. "I didn't want her to get the file."
"Good thinking," praised Clint.
The woman walks further forward. "Alright, you know what? I was hoping to do this the smart way, but uh… the fun way's always good." Behind her back, her hand is turning red hot, burning the badge in her hand. Tony notices this.
"Shit-!" Steve winced as the following scene played out.
The Sheriff begins to tell his Deputy to get the woman out and she shoves the hot badge into the Sheriff's face before grabbing his gun and shooting him. Tony leaps to his feet and runs out of the bar and the woman follows him. Her skin is still slightly glowing orange as people in the bar fled the scene.
"Once I knew for sure she was one of those with the potential to become a bomb, I knew I had to get out as quickly as possible, and draw her away from the public," said Tony. "I got the feeling she was probably under orders to eliminate me if she found me alive."
"Hey, hot wings, you wanna party?" Tony taunts her. "You and me, let's go." As he runs away, he sees Savin getting out of a car and walk towards him. Savin smiles, raises his gun. Tony changes direction. Savin's shots miss him as Harley throws snow at Savin, disrupting his aim. Tony stops behind a car and sees a man hiding low on the ground. "Crazy, huh?" The man agrees.
"Kid was brave to try to throw of his aim," commented Sam.
"Told you he was useful," grinned Tony, pleased the others were beginning to recognise Harley's potential.
Tony tells him to 'watch this' and he leaps to his feet and smashes through a window. The woman grabs a gun from a member of the public, using it to try to shoot Tony in the shop as he tries to hide. His hands, chained behind his back, were now in front as he'd managed to get his legs through his arms to bring them to his front, making movement easier. Tony peers behind the counter, only for the woman to grab him and slam him into the wall.
They brawl as Tony is at a clear disadvantage. Eventually, Tony manages to get on one side of a counter and has her neck trapped underneath his chains. Her skin is burning bright orange and the heat intensifies, melting his cuffs. Her eyes are glowing too and she shakes her head, merely brushing it off.
"Is it possible to even kill these things?" grated Steve.
"It is possible, Mr. Rogers," started Vision. "It just takes a phenomenal amount of heat to nullify the effects of Extremis and render it helpless to heal the person effected."
"Which is why the human bombs exploded at 3000 degrees," pointed out Bruce. "They overheated to the point they couldn't regulate their temperature and they exploded, unable to heal themselves as they were vaporised by their own cells."
Now in the kitchen of the diner, Tony kicks the heated cuffs away along with a bottle trailing liquid on the floor. The heated cuffs cause a fire to break out as they hit the liquid, blocking the door to the kitchen, but she inhales sharply and starts to walk through the fire.
Tony has put the dog tags inside the microwave and set it to count down. "You walked right into this one, I've dated hotter chicks than you."
She pushes through the doors, her skin burnt but glowing orange as it repairs itself. She is smiling in triumph. "That's all you got? Cheap trick and a cheesy one-liner?"
Tony grabs a gas line. "Sweetheart, that could be the name of my autobiography." Tony quickly leaves through the back door.
"It should be the name of your autobiography," chuckled Rhodey.
Tony shook his head. "Still not writing one. My entire life is already available for free on the internet."
"Yes, but not from your point of view," added Rhodey. "I'm sure loads of people would want to read the rambling thoughts of one: Mr. Tony Stark."
"Trust me," Tony pointed to his head, "no one wants to know what it's like in there."
The woman notices the dog tags in the microwave starting to spark as they heat up. She realises the gas has been left on and suddenly the diner explodes, killing the woman instantly. Tony has sheltered behind a piece of metal, shielding himself from the extent of the explosion. Tony stumbles through the wreckage, noticing the woman's body atop a main electrical line.
"That definitely cooked her," murmured Clint. There was a small chuckle around the room at his comment.
Outside, Savin is heating up the stands of a large water tank, causing it to fall and flood the area. Tony tries to flee but his leg is trapped in the rubble. He hears Harley's voice and sees Savin has grabbed him.
"Let me go."
Savin mocks him. "Help me! Help me!" Savin places a metal chair down and sits on it with Harley sat on his lap. "Hey kid, what would you like for Christmas?"
Harley tells Tony he is so sorry.
Steve clenched his fists angrily. He didn't like it when innocents were threatened.
"He should use the anti-bullying device you gave him," suggested Wanda.
"Exactly what he does…" murmured Tony quietly.
Savin disagrees. "Oh. No, no. I think he was trying to say, "I want my god damn file."" Savin's hands and eyes are alight with the orange palor. Holding Harley tight, the threat was clear.
"It's not your fault, kid. Remember what I told you about bullies?"
Harley realises what Tony means and uses the gadget Tony gave him earlier to temporarily blind Savin into letting him go. Harley ran off.
Clint cheered a little. "Very useful device. Maybe we should all have one of those? It serves as an easy distraction, if only for a few brief moments."
Steve considered it for only a few seconds. "Good idea. Though might be difficult to come by…"
Tony sighed. "If we have to work together again, I may – no definite yes yet – may agree to make some for you all. But no guarantee on it at all."
"Thank you, Tony, even if you only think about it," smiled Steve.
"That's the thing about smart guys, we always cover our ass." Tony brings up his hand and reveals a tiny piece of his Iron Man suit hand. It powers up and fires at Savin, sending him flying backwards into rubble. Savin's face is completely burnt. It gives Tony precious moments to free his leg from the rubble and take Savin's car keys from his pocket.
"A shame you couldn't have taken that guy out permanently," muttered Rhodey. He was remembering Savin using War Machine to kidnap the President. He still felt a bit bitter that Tony had been the one to eventually end his life. Still, Savin had got what he had deserved.
After retrieving the file from the bar, he reunites with Harley who tells him he is welcome.
"For what? Did I miss something?" asked Tony.
"Me saving your life," replied Harley.
"Technically, he gave you a chance to disable that guy," corrected Bruce.
"Yeah. A, saved you first. B, thanks, sort of. And C, if you help someone, don't be a yutz, alright? Just play it cool otherwise you come off grandiose." Tony reaches Savin's car.
"Unlike you?" Harley retorts. "Admit it, you need me. We're connected."
"Is he hoping you might stick around?" chuckled Bucky.
"I was probably the first person he had met in a long time who didn't bully him," replied Tony. "We stayed in touch. There is still a connection there."
Tony turns to face him. "What I need is for you to go home, be with your mom, keep your trap shut, guard the suit and stay connected to the telephone because if I call, you better pick up. Okay?" He pauses just briefly. "Can you feel that? We're done here. Move out the way or I'm gonna run you over. Bye kid."
Steve frowned but didn't comment.
Tony looked down. He really had been a bit of a sarcastic bastard to the kid.
Tony got into the car, starts the engine and unwinds the window. "I'm sorry, kid, you did good."
"I'm glad you apologised," said Steve.
Tony scratched the back of his head. "I was being a bit of a dick to him. He deserved to know he'd done well."
Harley looks forlorn. "So now you're just going to leave me here, like my dad?"
A slight pause. "Yep." A beat. "Wait, your guilt tripping me, aren't you?"
Harley hugs himself cold, using a childish voice. "I'm cold."
Clint laughed. "He knows how to try to pull at your heart-strings."
"Wasn't going to work on me," answered Tony. "Though… thinking back on it, I really should have driven him back home instead of leaving him there at night…" He hadn't really thought of it at the time.
Tony mocks him back. "I can tell. You know how I can tell? Cus we're connected." Tony drives away leaving Harley alone.
Back at the site of the fallen water tower, Savin wakes up, his skin healing from Extremis. He is angry.
"Oh… that's not good," noted Bucky. "The Mandarin will know you're definitely alive now…"
Tony winced slightly. "Don't worry. I have everything under control."
Even though that wasn't strictly true at that particular time. He'd done what he could in the circumstances. There hadn't been anything he could have done differently after all.
To be continued...
Please let me know what you think!
I really considered using the Harley deleted scene with Tony using his Arc Reactor to save Harley's bully's life. I did try to, but the scene just didn't seem to work with it included so I had to drop it.
The next chapter will be posted on Sunday 6th June!
Until then,
the-writer1988