Chapter 16

Of course, the world went to hell shortly after Toni found a way to save herself. Because why wouldn't it?

"DUM-E, U can you clean up this mess?" Toni said, gesturing to the room in front of her, with dirt and materials everywhere from their work. She sighed, as DUM-E just beeped at her, "You're killing me, you know that?"

"You're too hard on them," Ava cooed as she stroked DUM-E's arm. "They're just trying their best."

Ava would think that; she had been a child when DUM-E was created and thought he was the coolest thing ever.

"Miss, you have an incoming call with a blocked number," JARVIS announced, as her screen lit up.

Harry gave her a confused look.

"I guess my phone privilege have been reinstated," she remarked.

"They haven't," Harry shook his head, "I haven't told them that you found an element. I've been waiting to see if it worked yet before letting them know. I don't want them trying to reassign me to anything else until we know for a fact that this worked."

She glanced at her screen warily; it didn't mean that SHIELD wasn't calling then. But it didn't mean that they were.

"Hello, you've reached Toni Stark," she answered, "Please give yourself a number on how highly you think you rank in my life."

Well if it was SHIELD, she'd know from the unimpressed response.

Ava simply snorted and Harry smiled exasperatedly.

"Hey Toni," she heard a familiar accented voice, "How you doing? I double cycle."

"You what?" she asked, growing cold, as she looked over at her cousins.

"JARVIS start tracing the call," Harry demanded, as Toni muted the speaker, and JARVIS began running numbers on the screen as Toni engaged with him.

"You told me double cycle's more power," Vanko laughed, "Good advice."

"You sound pretty sprightly for a dead guy," Toni commented, as worry filled her. Was Vanko free? Did he somehow escape the prison? Would he be coming for her? How did he get out of the explosion?

"You too," Vanko responded, and she placed a hand over her arc reactor. "Now, the true history of Stark name will be written."

She muted the call again, as Ava spoke up.

"JARVIS, where is he?" she said, scanning over the satellite images.

"Accessing the Oracle grid," JARVIS replied as the map locked in on his coordinates. "Eastern Seaboard."

"What your father did to my family over 40 years, I will do to you in 40 minutes," Vanko chuckled.

"Sounds good," she said, as JARVIS continued to get a better reading on the location of the call, "Let's get together and hash it out."

"Tri-State area. Manhattan and outlying boroughs," JARVIS brought up.

"I hope you're ready," Vanko said, hanging up on her.

"Call trace incomplete," JARVIS responded. She looked at the location it had picked up. No. It couldn't be. Her heart raced as she looked over at the headline of Hammer's presentation that afternoon.

She moved over to where the arc reactor was sitting and picked it up.

"Toni what are you doing?" Harry grabbed her arm lightly, "We don't know it works yet."

"I do," she said, looking over at Ava. "It works, Harry. It would have burnt out already if it didn't.

"You don't know it won't kill you yet either," Ava said somberly, "What if it's worse for you than the palladium?"

"If you both want to run some tests, then run them. But JARVIS, I need you to assemble the suit. It won't matter if the reactor kills me or not if Vanko has destroyed the expo. If he puts innocent lives at risk just to get back at me. None of it will matter then," she said, shoving the new arc reactor into her chest.

It glowed brightly, as Harry took a step backwards.

"That tastes like coconut," she grimaced, feeling the raw power course through her, "And metal. Oh wow! Yes!"

"You're not doing this alone," Harry told her with a shake of his head, "I'll inform SHIELD and have them stationed. We need to get civilians out of the way."

"Okay," she nodded, as Ava turned to the computer. "Ava, can you watch my back from here? Be my girl in the chair with JARVIS?"

"Already on it," Ava grinned at her, as the suit began to place itself on her. "Go get him!"

She beamed back at them both, as she took off flying towards the STARK Expo. She'd be dammed if Vanko ruined her what she'd worked so hard to achieve.


"What's happening?" she asked, as she flew towards the expo.

"Justin Hammer has taken the stage," she could hear the cringe in Ava's voice, "He's dancing. Oh god, he looks ridiculous."

"I'm nearly there," she told them, as JARVIS played a clip for her in the corner of the screen, "Then maybe this atrocity will end."

She watched as he brought out different sets of Hammer Drones, and she wanted to cringe at how bad the design was. Just from looking at it she could see ten different things that would fail, and that was from just a glance.

And then her best friend rose up from the stage, wearing her suit, as it was tacked on with Hammer weapons.

The betrayal.

Even if she knew what was happening and that Rhodey was very much not a fan of it. It didn't mean it was any easier to see her tech defiled in such a way.

She arrived then, hovering over the stage as gasps filled the room, before cheers emerged.

"We've got trouble," she told her Honey Bear.

"I'm here on orders," Rhodey told her, "If it's a matter of how horrid the suit looks with these upgrades, now is not the time."

"Give them a wave," she said simply, as she rose a hand to wave to the crowd. "All these people are in danger, we need to get them out of here. I think he's working with Vanko."

"Vanko's alive?" he gasped, having read the same report of the explosion as she had.

She moved closer to Justin Hammer, the eternal thorn in her side, "Where is he? Where is Vanko? Tell me!" she demanded.

"Who?" he asked, giving her an innocent and confused look. "What are you doing here, Sweetheart?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Rhodey said, sounding worried, as a gun engaged and pointed at her from the suit.

"Is that you?" she asked frantically, and Rhodey shook his head.

"No, I'm not doing that. That's not me. I can't move. I'm locked up. I'm locked up!" Rhodey said, panicked. The Drones raised their arms, taking aim at the crowd, "Get out of here. Go! This whole system's been compromised."

"Let's take it outside," she said, flying up, as she tried to move the path of the shots out of the way of the civilians. And almost immediately, the shots began aiming at her, as glass rained down at the crowd below.

"Harry, where are we on evacuations?" she demanded as Harry came on her comms.

"SHIELD is here," Harry told her, "Clint and the others are taking on some of the drones as they're getting everyone out."

"JARVIS, Ava I need you to break into the system. I need to own him," she said, as the Drones came after her.

"Toni, I'm locked on," she heard Rhodey's voice say, "I have target lock."

"On what?" she asked, dreading the answer.

"On you!" he said frantically, as his suit began firing on her, "On your six!"

"Clint has Hammer in custody," Harry called out through her ear, "They're working on it from their end to get control back of the systems. Pepper's called the NYPD."

"Good!" she sighed, as she flew around the expo again. She needed to get out of the firing range of all the civilians. Damn Manhattan for being so packed with buildings and with people. Couldn't this have happened somewhere where she could just take him to the desert or some abandoned stretch of land?

"How are we doing, J? Ava?" she asked quickly, hoping they were at least getting close.

"Remote reboot was unsuccessful" JARVIS responded, and she swore under her breath.

"Clint and I are going to Hammer Industries," Harry updated them, as she heard him drive, "Maybe we can access it from the inside. Oh fuck, Toni the drones have begun cross firing."

"Shit," she swore.

All this so Vanko could get back at her father.

Bloody Howard.

She panicked as she saw the drone standing next to a boy wearing an Iron Woman helmet, and knew if the tech was Hammer based, it wouldn't be smart enough to discern that the little boy wasn't her.

Bloody Hammer Industries and their horrible weapons. Of course they couldn't make anything that would actually work the way it was intended. And now an innocent little child would be hurt.

When this was done, she was going to make sure that Justin Hammer had the full force of the Justice System come down on him.

If he thought the Senate Hearing that she had to go through was rough, then he would have another thing coming.

She landed behind him, watching in horror as the child rose his palm up to aim at the drone, and fired.

She would have been impressed with the way his palms lit up to mimic her repulsors at any other time. But now, she was focused solely on the child and ensuring he wasn't hurt. She raised her own arm up and shot the drone to pieces, as the boy jumped backwards in surprise.

"That was awesome," the boy beamed up at her, and she glanced over him to make sure he had no injures.

"Nice work, kid," she grinned as she held him close, as a shot came their way. "Now where are your parents?"

"I came with my aunt and uncle," the boy responded. "I lost them in the crowd though. I wanted to be brave like you and fight the bad guys! I dressed up like you, see?"

"I do see," she laughed lightly, taking note of his costume. It was definitely beyond what she sold in her gift shop to raise money for the Maria Stark foundation, and she knew that either he or his guardian had helped him achieve such a thing. Either way it was impressive, and perhaps when all of this was over, she would learn more about it. "You did a good job getting the mask to look realistic."

"Peter?" she heard yelling from behind her, and she figured the kid's family had found him. Good, the last thing she wanted was to find out that the poor kid's Aunt and Uncle had been hurt here today. If innocent people had been hurt because Vanko had some sort of vendetta against her father that he insisted on taking out on her. "Peter, where are you? Peter?"

She turned, letting the boy out of her grasp, as he ran towards the woman, as she let out a sigh of relief. The man gave her an appraising looking, before realizing what had happened.

"Aunt May! Uncle Ben! Toni Stark saved me! Did you see? It was amazing! She's the best hero ever!" He said, as his Aunt held him tightly in her arms, shaking.

"Don't run off like that," the man named his Uncle Ben, scolded him lightly, "What if you had been hurt? You need to be more careful Peter and stay with us. You can't just be running around during a crowded Expo, especially when it's under attack. What if you had been in danger?"

"You all still could be in danger," she reminded them lightly, the situation weighing back down on her, "The drones are still here, causing damage. I'm handling this, but please, get to safety. I don't want anyone to be injured."

"Thank you for keeping our nephew safe," the man nodded at her, as he placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder, "Go, Iron Woman. We have it from here."

She nodded back. The family intrigued her, but it was hardly the time for her to spend time on such things. Not when her entire Expo was still under attack.

She jetted back upwards and back into the fight. She would check back in on the family, but for now, she had other things to worry about, such as ensuring that they all got out of here in one piece.

"You got multiple coming in on you," Rhodey's voice called out, as JARVIS showed her the incoming weapons.

"We need to get them away from the expo," she said frantically, as she thought of the little boy, not wanting anyone to get hurt.

She flew under a bridge, hoping to minimize the damage, as one of the Drones flew straight into a leg of the bridge. The shots kept firing her way, and she dodged to ensure none of them would hit her.

To her horror, a group of drones flew away from her path.

"Listen," Rhodey said, getting her attention, "A pack just peeled off. They're headed back to the Expo."

"Got it," she said, knowing she'd need to handle them. She couldn't risk any more innocent people getting hurt because of Vanko. Who knew what the injured count currently was?

"In closing in on you. Ordnance coming in hot Tony. Watch it," Rhodey's voice grew more desperate.

His suit began shooting all the cars parked on the ground under the bridge, growing far too close to her for her comfort. She shot straight upwards, as the cars exploded in a fiery rage.

"We're at Hammer Industries," Harry updated her, "Let's see what we can do here. With any luck Vanko is still here and we can remotely disable the drones from here."

She flew over the streets of New York where she had grown up and spent many days in her adolescent in. It had been years since she had been back for a proper stay, never being able to visit for more than a few days at a time before she felt the pain of losing her mother once more. Of losing Jarvis and Ana. Of the loss of Aunt Peggy, even if the woman was still with them.

She flew straight into the Globe positioned in the nucleus of her expo as Rhodey's worry sounded in her ears. But she didn't listen as she dodged at the last second, drawing out, as the Drones on her tail lit up.

"He's not here!" Harry said, suddenly, and she felt herself curse in anger, "Vanko isn't at Hammer Industries."

Well shit.

"What's your twenty?" she asked Rhodey, and immediately regretted it as she felt the weight of his suit crash into her from out of the blue, and they both descended into the ORACLE dome.

"James, we're rebooting your suit," Harry's voice came over the comms.

Rhodey pinned her down and began shooting at her, as her head lay pushed into the pavement.

"Well can you do it any faster?" Rhodey's voice strained out, as she struggled to keep the gun pointed away from her.

"We got it!" Clint came on, and Rhodey's suit went black as he flew off of her. "We got your best friend back."

"Thank you very much Agent Barton," she said, with a hint of a sultry tone in her voice, and she heard him laugh.

"Well done on the new chest piece. I am reading significant higher output and your vitals all look promising," Barton remarked, sounding pleased.

"Stop checking out my cousin's chest," Harry's voice sounded gruff as she heard Clint let out a squeal.

"Well at the moment I'm back to not dying, thanks," she laughed.

"Good," Pepper's voice came on, sounding relieved, "I'm glad you found something, Toni."

"It was a group effort, really," she said, as she surveyed the damage to her suit.

"As much as I'd love to continue this banter, you've got incoming," Harry said, and she saw the drones on her radar. "Looks like the fight is coming to you."

She stood up, looking over at where her brother was lying and held her hand out to him.

"Snap out of it, Sugar Plum, I need you," she said, and he groaned as he took her hand, and stood.

"You can have your suit back," Rhodey grimaced as he stood back up, "I don't want it anymore."

She laughed, and Rhodey gave her a serious look, before pulling her into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry," he told her softly, "I nearly killed you."

"You weren't in control, Honey Bear," she told him gently, as she let him hold her. "I'm fine. I didn't even get a single scratch on me."

"Are you?" he asked her, giving her a once over. "Did you find a suitable replacement?"

"I did," she nodded, "I'm going to live, Rhodey. Now, they're coming in hot, in any second. What's the play?"

"We want to take the high ground, so let's get the biggest gun up on that ridge," Rhodey said, and she nodded, moving at the same time as him.

"Got you, where do you want to be?" she asked, as she continued to walk with him.

"Where are you going?" he asked her, a little confused.

"What are you talking about?" she said, looking at him, before laughing.

"I meant me," he said, gesturing to the gun on his shoulder blade.

"Babe, you have a big gun. But you're not the big gun," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Darling, don't be jealous," he grinned at her.

"It's subtle, all the bells and whistles," she shook her head at him, as she gestured down to his mess of a suit.

"Yeah. It's called being a badass," Rhodey retorted back.

"Fine," she said, growing somber, knowing the drones would be here at any second, "All right. You go up to. I'll draw them in."

"Don't stay down here," Rhodey turned to her, looking unimpressed. "This is the worst place to be."

"You have your spot, I have mine," she stood her ground, gesturing at him to take his stop.

"It's the kill box, Toni. Okay? This is where you go to die," he argued, and they heard a sound that stopped their argument cold, as a Drone landed in front of them, followed by more and more.

"Well it's Hammer time," she said, and she knew Rhodey would have shoved her at any other moment. Instead, he shook his head and their masks went back on.

The firing began immediately, and she raised her repulsors to shoot back at them as they moved with the suit. She felt one come from behind her, as she grabbed him and flung him straight into the bot was shooting at her.

The entire dome was lit up brightly with flames as drone after drone exploded.

Well she supposed that Hammer tech was capable of causing explosions, even if unintended.

Rhodey shot down a drone, cutting through it in half, as she punched another on in the face, damaging it.

She dodged a shot aimed her way as she raised her arm and a missile divided into three, taking out the drones in front of her.

"See that?" she grinned as they exploded.

"Yeah, yeah," Rhodey said with a laugh, "Nice job Toni."

Curie, why were there so many of them?

The fighting continued around her as the drones kept coming and she and Rhodey kept blowing them up. And in a split second, she made a decision.

"Rhodey get down," she demanded, as he dropped. Lasers came out of her palms and she cut through the drones in a split second, and a couple of the trees. She probably would have to make a donation to the owners.

"Wow, I think you should lead with that next time," Rhodey remarked as he surveyed the drones in front of him.

"Yeah. Sorry Darling. I can only use it one. It's a one-off," she shook her head. She'd have to stock the suit back up for the future models.

Rhodey laughed, as Pepper came on the comms.

"Hammer's been taken into custody," she said, and Toni let out a quick sigh of relief. Good.

"Don't celebrate too soon," Harry warned them.

"You got one more drone incoming. This one looks different," Clint told them. "The repulsor signature is significantly higher."

She heard him coming as the loud whirring of the repulsors signaled Vanko's arrival before he even landed.

His mask lifted off his face as he grinned at her, "Good to be back."

What was it with all these assholes trying to mimic her suit then fight her with it?

"This ain't gonna be good," Rhodey groaned, as Ivan raised his arms and drew back his electric whips. "I got something special for this guy. I'm gonna bust his bunker with the Ex-Wife."

"With the what?" she asked, looking over at him incredulously. A missile rose from the suit, took aim and hit Ivan, before fizzling out and landing in the water.

"Hammer tech?" she asked sympathetically. Seemed Hammer could only make things that weren't supposed to explode, well, explode.

"Yeah," Rhodey said, unimpressed.

"I got this," she said, as a target appeared on Vanko's armor through her mask. Her own tech shot out at him, before bouncing off, but at least it had more of an impact than Hammer's.

Vanko raised his whips again, trying to hit them, as she ducked to the side. Both she and Rhodey drew fire on him, as he tried to strike again, and she flew up, before one of his whips caught her and threw her back down.

She winced at the impact, before getting up and flying straight into him as Rhodey shot the man.

Vanko threw her to the side as his whip grabbed Rhodey, to pull him in closer.

She screamed, distracting the man as she came in with a punch, as he pushed her away and wrapped her neck around his whip, then stepped on Rhodey.

She pulled him backwards, as Vanko got a matching whip around Rhodey's neck.

"Rhodey, I got an idea," she said, "You want to be a hero?"

"What?" Rhodey said tightly,

"I could really use a sidekick," she told him. "Put your hand up."

"This is your idea?" Rhodey said, unimpressed.

"Yep," she struggled.

"I'm ready. I'm ready. Go, go, go!" Rhodey said, raising his hand, as their repulsors lit up.

"Take it!" Toni screamed, as they shot each other, causing a huge explosion in the middle, where Ivan was standing. She moved to check on the man after the blast had faded and saw his reactor flickering.

"You lose," Vanko said simply, as his reactor turned to red and began flickering at the same time as the drones, the beeping surrounding them.

She swore, as Rhodey turned to face her.

"All these drones are rigged to blow," Rhodey said quickly, "We gotta get out of here Tones."

"Pepper?" she asked, trying to bring her friend back on the comms. She shot up into the air, heading back towards the centre of the Stark Expo to where Pepper was standing, flying as quickly as she could.

She saw the drone beeping, too close to Pepper, and swooped in as she picked the girl up and flew them out of there. The drones throughout the city exploded, leaving the city aflame.

They landed on the roof of a building as her helmet began to fizz, and she tore it off.

"Are you okay?" Pepper asked, looking her over carefully. "Toni tell me you're okay."

"I'm okay," she said, placing Pepper's hand over her reactor. "I'm not dying. We're okay. It's over now."

"Good," Pepper said, as she heard Ava cheer over the comms.

"That'll show Hammer not to mess with us," Ava said, and Toni laughed.

"SHIELD has seized all of Hammer's tech," Harry told them, "He won't be able to do any more damage. Not on his own anyways."

"He barely managed to do all of this on his own," she pointed out and Rhodey laughed from behind her. "You kicked ass back there, Baby Boy."

"You too," Rhodey grinned at her. "Now, the Air Force is going to want answers, so I need to go deal with that."

"I'll handle the press," Pepper sighed.

"I got this," Toni said simply, placing a hand on Pepper's shoulder. "You've helped me so much over the last few months. I can handle a little press."


She sat in the SHIELD conference room a little while later, as the report for something called the Avengers Initiative sat in front of her.

She knew Fury had wanted to bring her in, to discuss everything that had happened with Hammer and Vanko, and how it turned out that no, her suit still was one of a kind, regardless of what the Military had tried to claim before.

Harry had told her it was standard procedure, and that he would be in the room when Fury briefed her, refusing to take anything else as an answer. Fury had rolled his eyes but told Harry that it was fine, as long as he agreed to be her personal handler from here on out.

"I don't want you looking at that," Fury said, handing her a file, "Not until you look through this first."

She took the report, flipping through it carefully.

"Antonia Stark displays high levels of intelligence and employs masks when dealing with those she does not trust. Issues most likely stem from childhood negligence and being forced into the spotlight and having to hide her true self. She has all the makings of a true operative, except she is unable to properly follow a chain of command," she read aloud. "Recruitment assessment for the Avengers Initiative. Iron Woman, yes."

She kept reading, "Toni Stark: highly recommended. As displayed, the suit is just a weapon, but it cannot be handled by just anyone. Recommendation is to bring Toni Stark into the fold with her Iron Woman technology."

"Clint Barton seems to think you would be a prime candidate for the Avengers Initiative," he told her. "Other agents would have told you that we didn't want you in an attempt to give you motivation to want to join. But he seems to think you would appreciate the candor."

"And if I say no?" she raised a brow. "Just because you want me, doesn't mean I want you. I told you no once before."

"I told you once that you were not the only superhero," Fury reminded her, "That you weren't the only one capable of extraordinary things. Do you want to know where Coulson is? He's in Mexico, investigating a magical Hammer. Turns out, Norse gods are aliens. We are not alone in this universe, Toni. You know that, and I know that. But we no longer can pretend that we are safe. Something is coming, and when it does, the world needs you to protect it. The world will need the Avengers."

"Okay," she breathed, and the man looked at her in surprise.

"Okay?" he asked, confused.

"My father and Aunt Peggy founded this organization. My father might not have wanted me to know about it, but it doesn't change the fact that I do," she told him calmly, "I am not naïve enough to believe that this organization does not have its own agendas. That those agendas might involve manipulation or coercion. But my cousin works here. My Aunt worked here. My Uncle worked here. And even my father, who I might not have had the best relationship with, worked here. Which means something. I'm not agreeing to being one of your minion spies or someone you can simply control because you wish to. But if you are right, and something is out there, then the world will need all the protection it can get. So, if such a need arises, then I will join your little boy band. But until that day, I will continue on my own."

"We'll be in touch," Fury nodded at her, as Harry shot her a small smile.

"Oh, and Fury?" she called to him. He turned to face her, looking slightly confused. "Before you go. I want to call in a favour. You know, for agreeing to all this. Rhodey and I, are being honoured in Washington, and we need a presenter."

She grinned at the man, as he knew exactly what she wanted.

Words could not describe her satisfaction at seeing Senator Stern on stage, as he talked about her.

"It is my honour to be here today to present these distinguished awards to Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes and Miss Antonia Stark, who is, of course, a national treasure," the man said with a pained voice, looking like he wanted to murder her. "For all their bravery in keeping Manhattan safe from a terror attack."

The man moved towards Rhodey, as he pinned the medal on her best friend, "Thank you Lieutenant Colonel, for such an exceptionally distinguished performance. You deserve this."

"Thank you, sir," her brother, the ever good solider responded.

She almost laughed aloud, as the man moved towards her. "Miss Stark. Thank you for such as exceptionally distinguished performance. You deserve this," he said, before stabbing her in the chest slightly. She glared at him as he smirked. "Oh, sorry. Funny how annoying a little prick can be, isn't it?"

Always with the dick references with that man.

"Let's get a photo," he said, moving to stand behind them, as he placed an arm on both of their shoulders. She beamed at the camera, not wanting to let the man get the better of her, as she raised her arms up in a peace symbol.

It was far from over. Hell, it was just beginning.

But she would be ready for whatever it was that was to come her way.


A/N: Thank you so much for all your responses! I wanted to answer some quick questions I recieved as to where I see this story headed. For those wondering when Steve will make appearance, well, we're a few chapters away from the Avengers, so very soon. I also got a question if I will every write more female Toni fics, and the answer is maybe. I have so many plot points I'd love to fit in this story, but some are contradictory and others will not fit with the timeline I wish to fit, so the answer to that would be different fics and worlds to accomodate them all. Which also involves different possible pairings in the future.

Hopefully you guys enjoyed it so far, especially the little deviances so far, to help set up more possible storylines for the future.