Chapter 25
She knew as soon as she had driven off that she made the wrong decision.
She had been angry, so angry, that Happy had been put in the hospital. Her family had been hurt by this man who thought for some reason that he deserved to rain down the horrors he was bringing on the world.
And why? Because he thought he was better than them. Because he wanted to hurt America, the country that she had grown up and loved. And he had hurt her family in order to prove his point.
She knew that logically homicide was not the correct answer. It never worked out well to get revenge on someone by killing them.
But that wasn't to say that she hadn't been responsible either for the deaths of others while trying to defend herself.
Obadiah had tried to kill her, and she had given Pepper to light up the arc reactor core, which had killed him.
And well Vanko had blown himself up while trying to kill her. And maybe if she was faster, she could have stopped it. Maybe if she had gotten ahead of it, she could have made sure none of those bombs went off.
But that was different. She hadn't killed anyone outright.
It was another thing if Iron Woman just started killing people.
If the government hadn't been trying to take her suit before, she knew that they most certainly would try once she started going after American threats.
There would only be so much that Rhodey would be able to do if the government came knocking down on her door then. And they would have more than enough cause and public support to be able to do this.
She had to be smart with how she handled this. She had to think with her brain and not her heart, no matter how much it hurt to see Happy lying in the hospital, unconscious and injured. Because of her. Because he thought Pepper was in danger from some threat to the company and wanted to take matters into his own hands.
But despite that, she had openly challenged a terrorist on national television, and given out her own personal address.
It wasn't like people didn't already have a decent idea where she lived. She'd thrown many parties over the years and have several flings spend the night. Yet they had all had to face the wrath of Pepper Potts if they as much as thought about breathing a word about where it was that she lived.
And now Toni Stark had just gone and outed her home live on the news.
There would only be so much Pepper would be able to do to minimize the damage of such a thing, and she already felt a headache just thinking about having to deal with all of it.
Copernicus, she'd really made a mess out of everything, hadn't she?
"Miss, might I advise you to enter through the back entrance?" JARVIS said, coming over her car speakers. "The press have begun to gather at your home."
Of course they had.
She sighed to herself, knowing really, she had no one but herself to blame over all of this.
She wondered briefly who would be the first to yell at her over her rash decisions. Would it be Pepper, mad at the shitstorm she'd stirred up?
Or Rhodey, angry at the fact that he'd have to leave his post because she'd told a terrorist she was coming for him and now he was worried about her safety?
Surprisingly, when she answered the first call without looking at the caller ID, it was neither of them.
"Patch them through, J," she sighed, as JARVIS connected the call.
"What the hell were you thinking, Toni?" Bruce's voice demanded over the phone. "Do you have any idea what you've done? You can't just challenge terrorists! What do you think is going to happen, Toni? That you'll just put on the suit and everything'll be fine? What happens when they send several explosions to your home? You're fast, but even you aren't fast enough to deal with that. For the smartest person I know, you sure are an idiot at times."
"Aww Brucie-Bear," she cooed, trying to keep the emotional rush she was feeling out of her voice, "Don't tell me you're worried about little old me."
"Don't be ridiculous, Toni," He snapped at her, "Of course I'm worried about you. And you just put yourself in danger. Why wouldn't I be worried about you?"
She was quiet for a moment, and Bruce sighed.
"Toni, I know things have been rough for you since the invasion, and I've tried to give you privacy about it. I figured you'd talk to me if you wanted to. But just because I haven't said anything doesn't mean I don't care, okay? You were one of the first people after the accident who didn't treat me like I'm some sort of monster that you need to constantly watch yourself around me. You mean a lot to me and the Big Guy, and I don't want you to think otherwise, okay?"
She swallowed and nodded.
"I know, Bruce," she said softly, and he dropped something on his end, swearing quietly.
"Look, Toni," Bruce said, clangs coming through the phone as he picked up whatever it was, he dropped, "Ava and I are coming okay? Neither of us want to leave you alone, especially given that you've put yourself in immediate danger. And Ava quote on quote said to me, 'if that idiot cousin of mine thinks she's going to do any of this without her girl in the chair, then she has another thing coming.' Ava's arranging for the quinjet to bring us to Malibu okay? We should be there in a few hours. Just don't do anything stupid until then, okay?"
She grinned at the mention of her cousin, knowing fully well that it was something she would say. "Tell Ava not to worry. I can handle myself for a few hours until you get here."
"Good," Bruce told her firmly. "See you soon, Toni."
When she got into her lab, after dodging the press and going through several more angry phone calls from Harry, Pepper, and Rhodey, she immediately got down to work.
There wasn't really time to spare, not really. Not when she'd just put a time bomb on her own home and painted a target on her back.
"I've compiled a Mandarin database for you, Miss. Drawn from S.H.I.E.L.D., F.B.I., and C.I.A. intercepts. Initiating virtual crime scene reconstruction."
She threw up the data, walking around it as she took it all in.
"Okay, so let's see what we've got. He's not Chinese, yet his name comes from ancient Chinese war mantle, meaning "adviser to the King". He has South American insurgency tactics, but he talks like a Baptist preacher. Almost as if there's more than one person behind the man. And I'm not talking about a façade. There's lots of pageantry going on here, lots of theater."
And if anyone knew a thing about putting on a show, it was her.
"The heat from the blast was in excess of 3000 degrees Celsius. Any subjects within 12.5 yards were vaporized instantly," JARVIS told her as she shut down the data and pulled up a rendering of the blast.
She paused at that, remembering something Rhodey had told her, "No bomb parts found in a three-mile radius of the Chinese theater."
"No, Ma-am," JARVIS confirmed.
"Talk to me, Happy," she said, as she watched Happy's fallen body rendered in front of her. She ignored the pang in her chest as she took a closer look at her friend pointing at some dog tags on the ground.
"When is a bomb not a bomb? She mused to herself. "Any military victims?"
"Not according to public records, Miss," JARVIS told her, and she looked puzzled.
"Bring up the thermogenic signatures again, factor in three thousand degrees," Toni said, climbing onto a shelf.
"The oracle cloud has completed analysis. Accessing satellites and plotting the last twelve months of thermogenic occurrence now," JARVIS responded.
"Take away everywhere that there's been a Mandarin attack," She looked at the information, swiping away the ones that weren't accurate. "Nope. Nope. Wait, that!" she said, looking at the report for Rose Hill, Tennessee, with the high temperature signature. "That. You sure that's not one of his?"
"It predates any known Mandarin attack. The incident was the use of a bomb to assist a suicide," she was informed.
"Bring it around," she said, as the report circled closer to her.
"The heat signature is remarkably similar. Three thousand degrees Celsius."
"That's two military guys. Ever been to Tennessee, Jarvis?" She asked, as her baby knew what to do.
"Creating a flight plan for Tennessee," J confirmed as she wiped the data aside, ready to go.
Except the doorbell rang.
At that very moment.
"I thought we were on total security lock down," Toni said, looking towards the roof. "Who is that?"
"There is only so much I can do when you give the world's press your home address.
She ran up the steps, suit on her body as she took a look at the young girl on her front steps.
"Right there's fine," she said simply, "You don't look like the Mandarin."
"You don't remember me, do you?" the woman said, with that same look of disappointment that most men and women had when Toni couldn't remember their names. "Why am I not surprised?"
"The nineties were a rough time," she said with a simple shrug. "Besides, I can barely remember what I even had for breakfast."
"Gluten-free waffles," J supplied to her helpfully and she would have laughed if she weren't a bit stressed.
"Yeah, that," she said, as she lifted her face plate carefully.
"Okay, look, I need to be alone with you. Someplace not here, it's urgent," the woman said and Toni nearly laughed at her.
"I don't know if you got the memo but I'm on lock down. I'm not going anywhere. None of us are," Toni said, and at that moment, she saw several bags drop in front of her. "Or I thought none of us were."
"Toni?" Pepper called as Toni took the suit off, and Pepper came down the stairs. "Is someone there?"
"Yeah, Maya Hansen," Toni said and at the surprised look on the woman's face she nearly shrugged. "I do remember some things about that night, contrary to popular belief. And for the rest, I've taken a look at the footage. Seems like I keep running into people I met then."
She turned to Pepper, "Old botanist pal that I used to know, barely," she turned back to the girl, "Please don't tell me there's a twelve-year-old in your car."
It shouldn't be possible, but the woman was into genetics, so who knew what she could have cooked up.
"No," Hansen shook her head with a smile, "I need your help."
"Me?" Toni furrowed her brows, "Why? And why now?"
"Because I don't think you'll last the week," she said bluntly, "I read about your challenge to the Mandarin.
"I'll be fine," she shrugged simply.
Pepper looked over at the two of them, eyeing up Hansen carefully, "I'm sorry. With Happy in the hospital, I didn't know we were expecting guests."
"We aren't," Toni said, looking at the woman carefully.
"Especially old girlfriends," Pepper said, glancing back at Toni.
"She's not really," Toni said with a simple shrug. "Just one night."
"Of course," Pepper said, with a bit of edge. "Now you and I are going out of town."
"What?" Toni asked, a bit surprised.
"You heard me," Pepper narrowed her eyes, "I've already arranged with Harry to go to a safe house for a few weeks."
"We can't," Toni protested.
"We are," Pepper gave her a glare, "Jim, Ava, Harry, and I are all in agreement. You don't get a say in this."
"Great idea. Let's go," Hansen agreed.
"You are not coming with us," Pepper told her firmly, "We don't even know you."
"I'm not leaving!" Toni argued, "I am going to stay here until I find out who this threat is, and you can't make me leave."
"Toni-"
Pepper said, as Hansen interrupted them. "Guys!"
She pointed at the footage of her tv streamed on television as a bomb came straight towards the house.
The impact felt slow, as she felt herself falling backwards. She jerked her arms, trying to wrap Pepper in the suit. She'd be damned if she let another person get hurt because of her. She looked over at Hansen, unconscious on the ground, as the ceiling began to crack on top of her.
She felt a wave of fury fill her. This was the house she'd built for herself when her family had died. The one she'd built her new family in.
And now some terrorist was going to take it away from her.
The ceiling began to fall on top of her, and she watched in amazement as Pepper blocked it.
Damn her friend was a badass in that suit.
She stood as more missiles impacted the house, dividing up her path to escape.
"I'll find a way around," she told Pepper when her friend looked at her terrified. "Get her and get out. Don't worry about me."
She watched as Pepper exited the building, as her home crumbled around her. The house began to tilt,
and she fell backwards.
"Miss Pott's is clear of the structure," J told her, and she nodded, as she summoned her suit back to her. It flitted around her body quickly, and if it weren't for the stress of the current situation, she would have been more pleased.
"JARVIS, where's my flight power?" she asked JARVIS hurriedly, as the suit struggled to come to life.
"Working on it, Miss," J told her. "This is just a prototype after all."
She lifted the piano and threw it at a helicopter, "That's one," she said, to herself.
Ma-am, the suit is not combat-ready," JARVIS warned her. She dodged the bullets coming down at her, as she adjusted her suit and shot a repulse out of it. "That's two."
The helicopter exploded, crashing into the house and she swore to herself.
She fell backwards, as she felt her house begin to collapse. Who's idea had it been to build a house overlooking a cliff?
Hers, probably.
She saw DUM-E struggle to pick up a part of U that had broken off and she felt her heart ache over her bots. Would they be okay? Would they survive? Would she?
She watched as her suits were destroyed in front of her eyes, anger filling her chest.
They would not take everything from her. Not again.
She felt herself falling, the water surrounding her. She tried to make her way back to the surface, but she couldn't, the suit was weighing her down.
Perhaps this was how she'd die.
Drowned due to her own arrogance.
"Miss, take a deep breath," JARVIS told her, as her suit disengaged at the arm to pull her upwards. He must have taken over control over the suit, because while her mask filled with water, her repulsors lit up, and she propelled out of the water.
Steve Rogers just wanted to take a road trip in peace. But he supposed really, he was asking for too much.
He knew it would have been. Really, he was lucky he was able to make it to most of the cities on his bucket list without being to widely recognized, shy of having to sign a few autographs and pose for some pictures. He was lucky really, as most people looked at him, did a double take, then simply thought they were imagining things.
Maybe it was easier slipping under the radar when less people expected to see him.
Perhaps it was why it had been harder for Stark, because people always expected to see her. Her very presence was enough to draw every eye in the room. If there was one thing he'd learned during his travels about her, it was that the people wanted a story even if there was none to give.
And with the creation of the Avengers, stories speculating her love life only grew, and he knew that none of them were true.
Well maybe the one about her and Bruce. The two of them had been close, and he wondered if maybe there was some truth to that rumour.
But none of that mattered. Not when he'd got the news about the attack on Toni's home.
It was why he'd made his way directly to SHIELD headquarters. Needing to know what he could do to help.
"What's the status on the debris?" Fury demanded, as he watched agents running around the control room. "Has anyone found a body yet? Do we have a confirmation on the source of the attack?"
"Fury," Steve nodded at the man and Fury nodded back at him.
"Just in time, Rogers," Fury said, gesturing at Harry Carter-Sousa. "Get caught up and get to work."
He turned towards the agent he'd worked with during the battle and had kept in contact with after it had ended. The two of them had a strange relationship, to say in the least, and he didn't think anything would make it less strange. But they were becoming friends, or at least he hoped so.
"Do we know what happened?" he asked the man as he looked at the footage playing on the screen.
"Toni's house was attacked at 1800 hours," Harry nodded at him. "Pepper Potts and a Maya Hansen were also on the site but made it out. There's no new on Toni yet. She's not among the debris fished out of the water as of yet, and she wasn't in any of the rubble on the land. As of now, she's been declared MIA."
"Why did she have to threaten him" Steve sighed, running a hand through his hair. "She should have stayed out of it. She's a civilian."
"She's never been one for sitting it out," Harry said, in a rough voice. "We'll find her, Captain. One way or another. And if anyone's hurt her, then they'll damn well pay for it."
He nodded at the man, a mutual understanding passing over them both.
He wasn't sure when he'd become protective over her and wasn't even sure he'd had a right to be. But he'd be damned if he sat on the sidelines, without knowing what happened to her.
The loud alarm woke her up immediately and she groaned. She hadn't felt this hungover in years, really.
"Miss," JARVIS tried to get her attention, "Miss!"
"I got it, J," she groaned, "Kill the alarm."
"That's the emergency alert triggered by the power dropping below five percent," JARVIS told her. She looked around her surroundings, noting the snow and forest around her. Well, she wasn't in Malibu anymore, that was for sure. She crashed to the ground, screaming, as she stared up at the sky above her.
"It's snowing, right? Where are we, upstate?" She questioned
"We're five miles outside of Rose Hills, Tennessee," JARVIS informed her, and she nearly jumped in shock.
"I'm sorry, what now? What are we doing here? This is thousands of miles away, I gotta get Pepper, I gotta-" she stumbled off. Was Pepper even okay?
"I prepared a flight plan. This was the location," J told her, sounding off.
"Who asked you?" she demanded, "Open the suit, Baby boy."
"I, I think I may be malfunctioning, Mother," her bot said, sounding scared.
"It's going to be okay, Baby," she said softly, "We'll figure this out. Open eject."
The suit slid off around her, and she shivered to herself, "I forgot how much I hated winter. I think I might just get back in for a bit."
"I actually think I need to sleep now, Mother," JARVIS said, before powering down.
"J? JARVIS?" She called out for him, "Don't leave me, Baby."
But it was no use, her suit wasn't coming back to life.
She stood then, knowing she needed to get to warmth, or she'd die out here, in the dark cold expanse, alone.
Not today.
She pulled her suit behind her, as she trekked towards the town, before she came to a gas station.
There was a statue of a Native outside and she looked at him sadly.
"You people have been so wronged by mine, and I promise, I'll try and make amends. But for now, I really need to borrow your poncho. I'm sorry," she told it softly, as she placed it around her arms for warmth.
She walked to the phonebooth, dialing in a secure line that very few people had access to. She waited for it to ring, "Stark Secure Server: Now transferring to all known receivers."
She took a deep breath, "Pep, it's me," she said softly, "I'm alive. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry I put you in harm's way. Sorry I told the press about where I lived, and I know I've made life for you and Rhodey hard lately. And I'm sorry you've had to put up with me. Tell Uncle Daniel I'm sorry and that I'll try and make it for Christmas. Tell Ava and Harry that I love them. And tell Rhodey he means the world to me. I can't come home, not yet. I need you to stay safe, and you won't be if I'm there. I'll get him though, and I'll come home soon. I promise."
She moved through the city, as she found a farm on the outskirts. The lights were off, and she prayed whoever lived there wouldn't throw her out on her feet when they found her in their home.
She sat her suit down, as she moved to the table in the garage. Her micro-repeater implants had been damaged and she tried to fix them when she heard a young boy's voice.
"Freeze!" he demanded. "Don't move."
She nearly smiled at the site of the boy pointing a toy gun at her.
"Nice gun," she said, raising her arms, "Barrel's a little long, and the gauge too wide. It'll diminish your FPS."
He aimed the gun behind her and shot it, breaking the glass, as the rest of the ammunition fell out of his gun, just like she knew would happen.
"And now you have no ammo," she told him quietly. "I'm not here to harm you, I promise. I just need a place to spend the night."
He looked at her chest, as the arc reactor lit up the room.
"What's that thing on your chest?" he asked her without lowering the empty gun.
"An electromagnet. You should know, you've got a box of them right here," she said, gesturing to his desk.
"What does it power?" he asked her curiously.
She grinned at him, standing, as the suit sat on the ground behind her.
"Is that Iron Woman?" he asked, eyes widening.
"I mean, I am Iron Woman, technically," she said with a smirk.
"You're dead," he said in a deadbeat voice, "Technically."
"Touché, kid," she grinned at him, as she took the article claiming she had perished.
"What happened to the suit?" he asked her carefully.
"Life," she shrugged, "I built her, I take care of her, I'll fix her."
"Like a mechanic?" The boy asked, curiously.
"Yeah, like a mechanic," she said simply. Because really, was he wrong?
"If I was building Iron Woman and War Machine-" he started before she cut him off.
"It's Iron Patriot now," she said, unimpressed.
His eyes widened, "That's way cooler!"
"It most certainly is not," she spluttered back at him.
"Is so," he grinned, "Anyways. I would have added in um, the retro-
"Retroreflective panels?" she offered up, knowing what he was trying to say.
"To make him stealth mode," he said with confidence.
"You want a stealth mode?" she asked, with a small laugh.
"Cool, right?" he grinned at her.
"That's actually a good idea. Maybe I'll build one," she said, and he beamed up at her.
She watched as the boy played around with her suit, snapping off one of the fingers.
"Not a good idea," she sighed, "I'm trying to fix the suit, not break it."
"Sorry," he said, a bit sheepishly.
"It's fine," she waved it off, "So who's home?"
"Well, my mom already left for the diner and dad went to 7-Eleven to get scratchers. I guess he won, cause that was six years ago," the boy said, without even a stutter in his voice.
She felt her heart pang for the boy. If anyone understood shitty fathers, it was her.
"Which happens, dads leave. They don't always know what they're missing out on," she said, and she saw him look uncomfortable, "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."
"What's in it for me?" the kid bartered with her and she nearly laughed.
"Salvation," she said sarcastically. "So what's his name."
"The kid that bullies you at school, what's his name?" she asked again.
"How'd you know that?" he asked, looking a little upset.
She opened her suit up as she took out a metal cylinder, "I got just the thing. This is an anti-bullying device. Non-lethal, just to cover one's ass. I'll give it you if you help me out, deal?"
"Deal," the boy confirmed, taking it eagerly.
"So what's your name," she asked the boy.
"Harley," the boy offered up. "And you're?"
"The mechanic," she said with a grin, "Or Toni. Whichever you prefer. Now, can I get a sandwich, please?"
The boy grinned at her, before scampering off the chair he was on to get her the things she'd asked for.
She walked down the streets of the city with the boy, cap on his head to mask who she was, as best as she could.
"So that sandwich was fair, the springs rusty, the rest of the materials, I'll make do. By the way, when you said your sister had a watch, I was kinda hoping for something a little more than that."
Not that she wasn't rocking the Dora watch. But she had class.
"She's six!" The boy giggled, "Anyway, it's limited edition. When can we talk about New York?"
"It happened and now it's over," she breezed over it, not wanting to go into details with the kid.
"What bout The Avengers?" he asked, "How cool are they?"
"Really cool," she said blankly as they got to the site of the explosion. "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."
"Six people died, right?" she said, a bit confused, and he confirmed it. "Including Chad Davis?"
"Yeah," the boy said, taking a seat on the curb, and she shook her head.
"That doesn't make sense," she said, sitting down beside the boy 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," he said solemnly.
That was the dumbest shit she'd ever heard in her life.
"Do you buy that?" she asked him curiously.
"That's what everyone says," he shrugged. "You know what this crater reminds me of?"
"Don't care," she said, not wanting to know what he was fishing for.
"That giant wormhole, in New York. Does it remind you?" he peered over at her.
"That's manipulative," she wagged a finger at him. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Are they coming back? The aliens?" he questioned, and she felt herself begin to shake.
"I don't know," she said, "Can you stop? Remember when I told you, that I have an anxiety issue?"
"Does this subject make you, make you edgy?" he prodded.
This was why she didn't have a therapist, Darwin.
"Yeah, a little bit," she said, on edge, "Can I just catch my breath for a second?"
"Are there bad guys in Rose Hills? Do you need a plastic bag to breathe into? Do you have medication?" He asked her as she began to shake, breath getting shaky.
"No," she grunted out.
"Do you need to be on it?" he badgered.
"Probably."
"Do you have PTSD?" he questioned again.
"I don't think so," she said shakily.
"Are you...are you going completely mental? I can stop, do you want me to stop? Do you want me to stop?" he asked again, and she nearly laughed hysterically.
"Remember when I said to stop doing that? I swear to God, you're going to freak me out!" She said, standing, "You really did it now!"
She took off running, not that she knew where, and she knew he was chasing after her.
"What did I say?" he called out after her, "Hey, wait up! Wait, wait." She stopped running and he caught up to her, giving her a weird look. "What the hell was that?"
She sunk to the ground and threw some snow at the kid.
"Your fault, you spazzed me out," she said, trying to steady her breathing. "Okay, back to business. Where were we? The guy who died; relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?"
"Where she always is," he simply shrugged, and she really wanted to throw more snow at the little shit. Why couldn't he be more like Peter and respect her? Even a little?
Instead he seemed to enjoy this.
At least he hadn't asked for money, she supposed.
"See, now you're being helpful," she said, knowing she'd have to question him further.
She walked towards the bar, after questioning him a few more moments, knowing she'd have to keep a low profile.
She really hoped the hat would be enough.
She bumped into a lady just then, as she dropped something, "Lady, this is uh," she said, handing it over to her.
"Thank you," the woman said with a nod, as she noted the scars on her face.
"Nice haircut, suits you," Toni nodded.
"Nice watch," the woman smirked at her.
"Yeah, limited edition," she said simply.
"Oh, I don't doubt it," she said carefully, "Well, have a good evening."
She walked off and Toni didn't give it a second thought as she walked to the bar and sat down beside the woman drinking alone.
"Mrs. Davis, mind if I join you?" Toni said politely.
"Free country," she said with a shrug.
"Sure is," Toni said simply, sitting down beside her.
"Alright. Where'd you like to start?" she said, looking impatient.
"I just want to say I'm sorry about your loss. I want to know what you think happened," Toni asled her.
"Look, I brought your damn file. You take it and go," she said, dropping a file in front of her. "Whatever was in here, he wanted no part of it."
She flipped through it carefully. "Clearly, you're waiting for someone else. Yeah? Supposed to meet somebody here?"
"Yeah," Mrs Davis said again, as Toni landed on the photo of Chad.
"Mrs. Davis, your son didn't kill himself, I guarantee you. He didn't kill anyone. Someone used him," Toni told the woman.
"What?" Mrs Davis asked, a bit confused.
"As a weapon," Toni repeated herself.
"You're not the person who called me after all, are you?" Mrs Davis said, a bit dazed.
"Actually, I am," the woman from earlier said, dropping a badge on the table. And the next thing she knew, her hands were behind her back, and head slammed into the table. She grabbed the dog tags and shoved it in her pockets, before anyone could see.
"Hey, hey, hey! What's all this about? What the hell's going on here?" An older man asked.
"It's called an arrest," The woman said, as she shoved Toni to the ground.
"Sheriff, is it?" She asked in a smug tone.
"Yes ma'am, it is. And you are?" The sheriff asked, sounding unimpressed.
"Homeland Security," The woman raised a badge. "We good here?"
"No, we're not good. I need a little more information than that." The sheriff scoffed at her.
"Well, I think it's a little above your pay grade, Sheriff," she said, speaking down to her.
She nodded at Mrs Davis, as the lady got the hint as she hid the file, throwing it under a bench.
"Yeah, well, why don't you get on the horn to Nashville and uh...upgrade me?" He asked her.
"Alright, you know what? I was hoping to do this the smart way, but uh...the fun way's always good."
Her hand began to turn bright red as the badge in her hand glowed.
"Deputy, get this woman and," he started as the lady shoved the hot badge in his face, before shooting him and the Deputy.
The bar patrons began to scream, and Toni ran out of the bar, hands cuffed behind her back.
"Hey hot wings, you wanna party? You and me, let's go," She taunted, as she started to run, before seeing the man Happy had identified earlier in front of her. Oh he definitely was going to pay.
The man raised his cup of coffee at her and spilled it on to the ground.
Monster.
She ran backwards as he raised a gun, and she ducked behind a car where a man was lying on the ground holding a Christmas tree.
"Crazy, huh?" she asked him, and the man looked at her dazed.
"Yeah," he said, unsure of how to respond.
"Watch this," she said, as she smashed a store window with her head, falling onto the floor of the store. She saw the woman raise the gun and she ran, sliding across the counter and falling behind it, as the shot narrowly hit her.
She turned to leave, and came face to face with the woman, as she lifted Toni up and shoved her against the wall.
"Kinky," Toni leered at her and the woman punched her in the face before throwing her behind her back and onto the ground. Toni spun her around using her handcuffs and the woman dragged her up, shoving her back against the wall, as her arm lit up.
She spun around the room, using the shelves as leverage, and had the woman on her back, handcuffs pressed to her neck.
Happy and Harry would have been proud of her fighting abilities. If they didn't kill her first.
Her neck began to heat up, as her cuffs snapped off, burning her wrists as she threw off the bracelets.
Her eyes began to glow then, and Toni scrambled to grab a large jug of oil, spilling it as she kicked it towards the woman, and kicked the hot handcuffs into it.
The kitchen lit up, and Toni saw her walk through the fire without even flinching, as she set the timer on the microwave, with the dog tags in them.
"You walked right into this one, I've dated hotter chicks than you," Toni taunted. She broke the pipe off the gas.
"That's all you got? That's all you got? Cheap tricks and a cheesy one-liner?" the lady taunted her, "I almost feel bad for all your partners."
"Sweetheart, that could be the name of my sex tape," she said in a sweet tone, as she ran out the back door. "Or autobiography. Take your pick."
The microwave went off then, as the kitchen erupted into flames, and she was glad her metal door held up against it.
She stumbled back towards the town, as the people ran, their screams filling the air. The lady was on the electrical line, burnt to a crisp. Well she wouldn't be a problem anymore.
The town's water tower began to buckle then, glowing bright orange and she swore again.
She ran backwards trying to get out of the path it would fall on, as she watched the water pour out of it, and around her.
The pipes fell around her, and she struggled to sit up as the water flowed past her. Her foot was trapped and she winced, as she tried to pull it free.
"Let me go!" Harley screamed.
"Help me!" The man mocked, as he carried him over his shoulder and towards Toni. "Anyways," he said, sitting down across from Toni, kid on his lap as his arm glowed red. "Hey kid, what would you like for Christmas?"
"Ms. Stark, I am so sorry!" Harley struggled, and anger flowed through her again. This man and the Mandarin would not hurt any more people she cared about. Not if she could help it.
"Oh. No, no. I think he was trying to say, I want my goddamn file," The man said staring at her.
"It's not your fault kid," she said calmly, "Remember what I told you about bullies?"
She nodded at the kid and he got the message, lifting up what she'd given him as it flashed a bright colour. The man grimaced, falling to the ground and releasing his hold on Harley.
"You like that Westworld?" she called after him, "That's the thing about smart people. We always our ass," she said, lying there still.
She lifted her arm up then, as a makeshift repulsors shot the guy backwards, frying him.
She created a lever with a piece of metal, and lifted the piece trapping her foot, as she stood up gingerly.
She reached into the guys pocket, taking his car keys and headed back towards the town.
"You're welcome," an annoyed voice said as she flipped through the file.
She turned and paused, looking at Harley as he stood there, arms crossed.
"For what?" she asked him with a grin, "Did I miss something?"
"Me saving your life," he punched her lightly.
This boy, in so many ways reminded her of Peter. He was smart and clever, and she wondered if she ever got Peter back in her life, if the two would be friends.
"A, I saved you first," she pointed out. "B, thanks, sort of? And C, if you do someone a solid, don't be a yutz. All right? Just play it cool. Otherwise you come off grandiose."
"Unlike you?" he asked her carefully. "Admit it, you need me. We're connected."
She laughed, "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? Can you feel that? We're done here. Bye, kid, I'll call you soon. Promise."
He gave her a sad look and she sighed.
"I'm sorry, kid. You did good," she told him softly.
"So, now you're just gonna; leave me here, like my dad?" he asked, and she almost bought it for a damn minute.
"Yeah," she said at first, before narrowing her eyes at him. "Wait, you're guilt-tripping me, aren't you?"
"I'm cold," he pouted at her.
"I know, I can tell. You know how I can tell? Because we're connected" she grinned at him, "But like go home kid. You'll warm up. You did good, okay. Promise."
"It was worth a shot," Harley shrugged, and she laughed, before driving off.
A/N: Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter! I wanted to thank you all for your words of encouragement and reviews. I love hearing what you think of the story so far, and I can't wait for you to see what'll happen next. I've gotten a few questions about the update schedule, which is every Sunday.
