Hey guys! I know I haven't been updating, but I haven't had wifi for almost a month and I've been dealing with transferring to another college. Sorry about that... Enjoy!

Normal POV

Damn it, damn it, damn it...

Tony kept driving as he put the file from Mrs. Davis onto the passenger seat. Things were crazy with the Mandarin bombings, and there was definitely a connection with Chad Davis, one that was as clear as day itself. After Tony came into the bar and met up with Mrs. Davis, it was noticeable that she was waiting for someone by the way she was acting and talking to Tony. As soon as he began conversing with her, Mrs. Davis finally realized that she really did mistake Tony for someone else.

And then it all went to hell.

That one lady he had bumped into on the way to the bar had caused absolute chaos as soon as she stepped back inside and realized who he was. Of course, everyone knew Tony Stark and could recognize him as soon as they saw him. Honestly, he probably should have put more effort into a disguise, but then time issues and all that. It was then that he remembered...

Was she the one who was supposed to meet with Mrs. Davis for that file?

The mysterious and deadly woman then went on trying to kill Tony, probably killing the sheriff and who else knows as she made her way towards him. There was something absolutely off with her, that much was for certain. She was almost superhuman, and that red glow from her skin.

It was definitely unnatural.

As he thought about it, chills go up and down his spine, and pauses what he's doing for a brief minute. After regaining himself, he gets back to work and opens the folder he's holding from Mrs. Davis before reading the damn file that he almost risked his life for, and saw something that immediately caught his attention. The MIA on Chad Davis' file was AIM spelled backwards. Tony almost crashed the car and pulled over taking deep breaths as he tried to process this.

Tyra was right! AIM is completely involved with this...

Tony did the first thing that came to mind, he called Rhodey. If there was anything his best friend could do, it was make sense out of a dark and difficult situation. Perhaps James Rhodes could give him the push he needed to move forward in all of this madness.

"Hello?"

"Have you ever had a chick straddling you and then suddenly she's glowing, like a bright orange, from the inside out?" Tony asked.

"Yeah I've had that. Who's this?" Rhodey sounded confused.

"If I recall, the last time I went missing, you went out looking for me." Tony faintly smiled. "What are you doing?"

He could practically imagine Rhodey grinning at the sudden realization of who he was speaking to. Rhodey then acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary and began talking back to him nonchalantly.

"A little knock and talk, making some friends in Pakistan. How about you?" Rhodey replied.

"Your redesign, your big rebrand, that was all AIM right?" Tony questioned.

"Yeah." He answered.

And that was all Tony needed to hear to confirm his suspicions.

"Thanks, I'll talk to you later alright?" Tony started.

"Tony wait-!"

With that Tony hung up, renewed determination coursing through him as he realized...

He had work to do.

I woke up feeling groggy and mostly exhausted. The pain from Extremis had my body nearly numb to everything. Then, it was as if I had an epiphany when I remembered what happened not so long ago.

They used Extremis on Pepper.

I panicked as I glanced around, noticing that I was obviously in a different room. I was most likely moved to a more secure location because of my previous meltdown and nearly killing Maya in the process. Part of me wish I had finished her off, knowing prison was too good for someone like her. I was at an all time low, unsure if Pepper was alive or not at this point, and if she wasn't alive, I didn't have much to lose then.

I need to get out of here...

"Hey...can I get a drink or something?" My voice cracked.

No answer.

"Anyone?" I rasped.

I heard the door behind me open and close.

"Finally...someone shows up." I rolled my eyes.

"So you're okay now, Miss Stark?"

My eyes flew open in surprise when I heard his voice. It was the man who injected me with Extremis.

"I mean, I feel pretty numb from the inside and out, plus a person whose dear to me could be dead because of you people, but yeah...I'm okay." I spoke with venom laced in my tone.

"Look, Miss Stark. I don't even want to be here, I wanted no part in this." The man confessed.

He almost seemed sincere, but I wasn't sure I could believe him.

You can never trust anyone these days...not anymore...

"So a scientist with a guilty conscious huh? What made you change your mind?" I glared at him. "You were probably in it for the money, but then realized it wasn't worth it right?" I sarcastically retort.

"No." He snapped at me. "I never wanted to be apart of this."

"What was stopping you then?" I questioned.

"At first, I thought the idea of working with Extremis was going to be life changing for medical history...but then...I didn't want to do it anymore since it was getting nowhere. None of us could fix that one bug. When they took it the wrong way...they took my daughter."

Killian took his daughter?

In a way, it made the most sense to me. It certainly explained why he was so nice to me. Before he injected me, he tried comforting me...

Much like a father would for his daughter...

I wanted to believe this guy, but I wasn't sure if I could. A lot of people had been deceptive lately. I was able to see through Natasha and figured out she was a SHIELD agent. Then, Nicholas Fury had ulterior motives for letting me work with Dr. Selvig on the Tesseract. Not to mention that SHIELD had planned to make Hydra weapons from the Tesseract's power. Loki has lied and manipulated me multiple times (not so shocking) and in the end, it got him killed. Obadiah Stane, Justin Hammer, Maya Hanson, and Aldrich Killian also used me all to get to my father.

So how could I trust this guy? I'm just so tired of being used...

"Why should I believe you? Give me one good reason why I should..." I lowered my voice.

"It's okay if you don't believe me. But...I don't want this...for you or for Ms. Potts. I'm sorry I did this to you..." The man blinked away tears. "Which is why I'm going to help you escape."

My eyes widened at him as he checked my IV bag carefully, replacing the IV bag after it was nearly empty. I felt the coldness rush through my veins when he properly attached the new IV bag to me.

"And how the hell do you think you're going to do that?" I looked at him in disbelief.

"They're going to kill the President on national television, make it seem like the Mandarin did this..."

Okay...

I nod at him to continue.

"Mostly everyone around here will be guarding the President...make sure things go according to plan. They'll also be protecting the cameras and all of the broadcasting equipment to make sure the broadcast goes through. I'm going to help you and Ms. Potts escape then..." He seemed determined.

"Wait...you mean..."

"Yes. Ms. Potts is okay...she pulled through." He informed me.

I didn't know how to react to the news.

I felt my eyes stinging and noticed that I was crying, but they were tears of joy for once. I was incredibly grateful and happy that Pepper pulled through. The scientist went over to a table nearby to pretend to check on some paperwork as he continued to converse with me. Which only meant one thing: Killian was watching us.

Of course there would be cameras in here. Fucking Killian...what a dick...can't believe I thought he was attractive...

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Isaac McCone." He informed me.

"I promise you that I'll find your daughter. Once we get out of here, I'll help you track her down." I promised him.

"Thank you but...after all this...I don't think I'll be alive to see that happen. If you're able to save her...tell her I love her...also...tell her to check my safety deposit box. There will be something left for her." He informed me.

"Don't talk like that...we'll get through this, okay? I'll think of something that'll save all of us. I'm a SHIELD agent––...well used to be SHIELD agent..." I tried smiling to ease the tension.

"I've got to go...they might get suspicious." Isaac said.

"...Isaac..."

Isaac stopped at the door, his hand hovering over the handle as he glanced at me from the corner of his eyes and kept his head forward.

"Thank you." I mumbled softly.

"You're welcome...and again, I'm sorry." He apologized.

I was left alone, a hope that I once lost now returned as I prepared for our escape.

Let's hope we make it through this...

Tony's POV

Finally, the pieces were starting to come together to this huge puzzle. It was a conspiracy that stemmed to the Vice President even. Thanks to Tyra, the files belonging to AIM had only confirmed some of my suspicions. Although, it was even difficult to find a place safe enough to use the flash drive. Everyone involved with the Mandarin had been out of sight thus far, and as far as I knew, I was safe. From there, I found a small laptop in a news van and plugged in the flash drive. The flash drive itself had a shit ton of files on it, but I couldn't help but smirk from the fact that Tyra had so easily found the connection with the Mandarin and AIM.

That girl was always good with hacking...wait...it's not the freaking 80's, who the hell says hack anymore?

I watched in amazement at the test subjects from the Extremis program, and from what I could gather, it was an experimental treatment intended to allow its users to recover from crippling injuries. At least, from Maya Hanson's perspective, that's what Extremis was meant to be used for, improving the medical field drastically.

But here comes the tricky part...

If a user's body can't metabolize Extremis, they heat up and explode into smithereens like the Fourth of fucking July. Chad Davis was obviously a victim to Extremis which meant that his 'suicide' was a goddamn cover up, something I should have realized but failed to. Two very familiar looking assholes that I had the not so much pleasure of meeting were also part of the Extremis program: Ellen Brandt and Eric Savin. And guess what these people had in common?

They were all veterans that had some kind of disability and they all volunteered for Extremis.

It clicked together, finally making sense. Veterans that grew unstable from Project Extremis and ended up exploding into nonexistence were used as a cover up to boost the Mandarin's fear factor for the United States. Everything involving the deaths of those veterans were credited to the Mandarin as terrorist bombings. Suicidal bombings that were never actual bombs to begin with. But as usual, my own fucking daughter saw right through that bullshit.

Tyra was right about Killian having connections with our deadly neighborhood terrorist.

I ripped the flash drive out of the computer and ran out of a news van I had snuck into. After running back into the car I had stolen, I called Harley.

"Harley, tell me what's happening. Give me a full report." I spoke up.

"Yeah, I'm still eating that candy. Do you want me to keep eating it?" He replied.

"How much did you have?" I sighed.

"About two or three bowls..." He answered.

"Can you still see straight?" I asked.

"Sorta."

"That's good enough. Give me JARVIS." I told him.

I waited patiently until I finally heard my favorite AI speak up.

"JARVIS, how are we?"

"It's totally fine, sir. I seem to do quite well for a stretch, and then at the end of the sentence, I say the wrong cranberry."

Ah jeez...

"And, sir, you were right. Once I factored in available AIM downlink facilities, I was able to pinpoint the Mandarin's broadcast signal." JARVIS informed me.

"What are we talking? Far East? Europe? North Africa? Iran? Pakistan? Syria? Where is it?" I asked.

"Actually, sir...it's in Miami." JARVIS said.

Whoa whoa whoa...what?

"Okay, kid? I'm gonna have to walk you through rebooting JARVIS' speech drive, but not right now. Can you check for me the actual location? Just look on the screen and tell me where it is." I asked Harley.

"Uh...it does say Miami, Florida." Harley assured me.

Wait what? Seriously?

"Okay first things first, I need the armor. Where are we at with it?"

"Um...it's not charging..." Harley hesitantly replied.

WHAT?

I hit the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road in pure panic.

"Actually, sir, it is charging. But the power source is questionable. It might not succeed in revitalizing the Mark 42." JARVIS corrected Harley.

"Alright what's questionable about it?! It's my suit...I can't...I'm not gonna..." I kept breathing in deeply. "I don't wanna...I have to save Tyra...and Pepper..."

Shit...not now...WHY NOW? I'm so useless...

"Wait. Are you having another panic attack? I didn't even mention New York this time– –"

"And you just did! Just now!" I snapped.

I got out of the car and slid down the side of it all while breathing heavily.

I'm such a mess...I have to save Tyra and Pepper or else––

"Fuck!" I barely breathed out.

"Tony! It's okay. Just breathe okay? Just breathe..." Harley tried comforting me.

I did as he said and tried clearing my mind.

Which was extremely hard right now.

"You're a mechanic right?" Harley mentioned.

"Yeah...that's right." I mumbled softly.

"Why don't you go ahead and build something?" Harley suggested.

I managed to calm down and considered his idea. After several seconds of silence, I finally spoke up.

"Yeah..." I got back in the car and shut the door. "Thanks kid."

With that I ended the call and continued to drive towards my destination.

FLASH!

"You have an interesting way of passing time don't you?"

I whipped my head around and saw Nick Fury standing beside me.

"What?" I blinked in surprise.

Fury took my sketchbook out of my hands and looked at the page I currently drew on.

"Is this...a blueprint for a shrink ray?" Nick raised an eyebrow.

"I got bored..." I grew defensive.

"I have a feeling you're going to go through with this and build it huh?" Nick chuckled.

"What? I have too much stuff and not enough space!" I joked. "It's something to pass time, you know?"

"But that's not what you're here for is it?" He gave me a knowing look.

I took my sketchbook from him and put it away in my bag. I then got out an envelope addressed to Fury and handed it over to him.

"I didn't actually expect you to be here, but...here you go." I smiled nervously.

Fury opened up the envelope as I grew tense and looked around the room nonchalantly. Fury's eye scanned over the paper and then his expression changed completely. He was surprised and stunned.

"You're resigning from SHIELD?" Fury looked at me in disbelief.

"I don't know if I can be a SHIELD agent anymore, Nick. My old man is––"

"Against having you here? He's probably been up your ass, huh? Well what about what you want?" Nick sighed and gave me a look of disappointment.

"It's not just about my dad...I don't know if I was ever ready for dealing with the unknown. I mean aliens? Gods? I don't think I was mentally prepared for...this. And after what happened to Agent Coulson, I couldn't...I can't––" I grew irritated.

Nick pulled up a chair and motioned for me to sit in it. I reluctantly sat in the chair and watched him look down at me.

"There's a lot I'd like to tell you, but right now...I can't. I'd rather not lose you at a time like this, Stark. I'm gonna need you..." Nick looked at me with pleading eyes.

Is he begging?

"What aren't you telling me, Nick?" I gave him a look of worry.

Nick fell silent and looked away.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you, but I can't risk it right now. I just know one thing...I'll need you."

I was surprised to hear Nick talk like this...he's not usually so...emotional. I mean he's pretty tough around the edges, but he doesn't seem like that calm and calculating person right now. Meaning, that something was very wrong and clearly bothering him.

"So are you still resigning from your position?" Nick asked. "Or can I rely on you?"

"Well even if I wanted to stay...what the hell do I tell my overprotective father?" I asked.

Nick fell silent again for a good five minutes as if thinking about something before finally speaking up.

"I'll pull some strings...you're fired." He told me.

"What?! I thought you wanted me to stay?!" I looked at him in confusion.

Nick then smirked at me.

"You'll work for me, Stark. Only me. You're officially no longer a SHIELD agent. But I do want you by my side...what do you say?" Nick suggested.

"Something's fishy, but fine...I'll bite, I'm in. Call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me." I joke.

Somehow catching my reference, Nick merely chuckles and smiles as I begin walking out of his office.

"I'll keep that in mind." Nick's smirk grew bigger.

FLASH!

Out of all the things to think about? Why am I so concerned about this? I'm being held captive by a psychopath, Pepper is being held captive by the same psychopath, my dad could be killed because of said psychopath and I wouldn't even know it! And I'm worrying about this?

Jeez...I almost forgot about that conversation with Fury.

I just have to be careful and not mention this to daddy dearest when I get out of this...

If I get out of this.

Well I hope you guys liked it! Let me know what you think and PLEASE be nice. I've been a little depressed lately, but let's not get into that. I hope you enjoyed reading it, sorry if you got confused on anything. I'll try to explain later on.