Hi everyone!

This is the second-to-last chapter. Next week will be the last chapter of this story. Cannot believe we are nearly at the end of the second story in this series! I know there are a few people who would like to have more regular updates but I cannot manage it. I can only keep up with updating once a week,

I am going to try my best to get ahead of myself in December. More details on the next fic will be published next week with the last chapter.

Understanding the Real Hero: Iron Man 2

Eight

At the Stark Expo Natasha opened the door for Pepper to exit the car. Happy said he would keep the car there. As an Announcer said Justin Hammer's presentation would begin shortly, Natasha and Pepper walked up the steps towards the seating area facing the main stage.

"Did you have any indication something was going to happen?" asked Sam.

"Not really," affirmed Natasha. "I was on alert for anything suspicious. It was only when Tony arrived that I realised something else was going on."

The audience clapped as Hammer danced on stage towards a podium. Pepper didn't look impressed.

"Is he trying to dance?" scoffed Sam.

Tony was struggling to keep a straight face. He had missed Hammer's little dance routine as he'd been in flight to the Expo.

"That's not how one dances," stated Thor. "I'm not big on dancing myself but that isn't dancing!"

"I think Hammer's making a fool of one self," said Rhodey shaking his head. "At least Pepper doesn't look impressed."

"Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. Thanks for coming. Ladies and gentlemen, for far too long, this country has had to place its brave men and women in harm's way, but then the Iron Man arrived, and we thought the days of losing lives were behind us. Sadly, that technology was kept out of reach. That's not fair. That's not right. And it's just too bad."

"Oh, Lord," sighed Pepper.

Tony rolled his eyes. "I haven't kept the technology out of reach of people. I've shared what I can without compromising my right as intellectual creator. The Iron Man suits themselves were not meant to be used by others. They were for me. And Rhodey," he amended hurriedly. "The Arc Reactor technology… yes, I kept it for myself and to expand on the premise of clean energy. It's my right as creator to do that. It's the way business works. I own the patent so no one can use it."

"Would you share it with anyone?" asked Sam.

"At some point I would. The benefits of Arc Reactor technology outweigh my desire to keep it all to myself. The technology is there for people to use. As of yet no one has successfully created another Arc Reactor," explained Tony. He saw Clint about to make a comment and pre-empted him. "Vanko doesn't count as he never told anyone else and he created it to solely use on me. As of yet, no one else in the scientific or engineering community have been able to successfully replicate my work."

"At some point, Tony will share details of the Arc Reactor more widely, however it is new technology. It is only fair he is given time to explore all aspects of it," continued Rhodey, supporting his friend.

"Stark Industries will always profit and own the patent for the Arc Reactor. But the element itself could be utilised for other uses which other companies are working on," revealed Tony. "I cannot prevent anyone from using the element itself in research or other designs. Not that I would want to. It's just the Arc Reactor technology itself cannot be used by anyone else. And that isn't unusual in business."

"Regardless, it was an impressive innovation, one that grabbed the headlines the world over. Well, today, my friends, the press is faced with quite a difficult problem. They are about to run out of ink." There was scattered applause as two people ran onto stage to remove the podium. "Get that out of here. Ladies and gentlemen, today I present to you the new face of the United States military. The Hammer drone!"

Drones rose out of the stage in four stages, each representing the Army, Navy Air Force and Marines as the US Air Force music played in the background. Each drone seemed to be equipped with their own Arc Reactor with a variety of weapons spread between them.

"So, Hammer's prototypes only had Arc Reactors because of Vanko?" clarified Steve.

"He did," confirmed Tony.

Pepper and Natasha did not look impressed with the reveal.

Natasha grimaced. "We weren't. If those drones had been cleared for use… It would have made SHELD very uneasy. Though drone technology is in use in some aspects, a whole army of drones…"

"I know what you mean," agreed Rhodey, "replacing soldiers with machines doesn't work. A whole army could malfunction and you'd lose the area you were trying to defend or gain ground in. So many logistics issues…"

Sam frowned. "So, if this presentation had been successful, Hammer still wouldn't have been the top dog?"

Rhodey grinned, liking the turn of phrase. "He wouldn't have been. Hammer thought too far ahead, and didn't think of the problems and logistics going forward. It doesn't help Hammer's lack of experience in dealing with A.I or computer systems. He made weapons which were impressive in look and design but their use was not as great as they could have been."

"Technically, Hammer was trying to do what I hoped to do with my suits," mused Tony, considering the similarities between the two of them. "The only difference is that I know how to make an A.I which isn't a danger to the Earth, and know how to make suits which can stand as a last line of defence. Both of these Hammer can't do himself."

Hammer enthused with the clapping audience. "Yeah! Yeah! Woo! That's a hell of a lot better than some cheerleaders, let me tell you."

"I think I'd rather see the cheerleaders," sighed Bruce. "And that is saying something. Hammer really is an idiot."

Tony couldn't help the slight smile across his face.

Hammer is being observed by the drones. Vanko is back in his room, typing away at the computer.

"But as revolutionary as this technology is, there will always be a need for man to be present in the theatre of war. Ladies and gentlemen, today I am proud to present to you the very first prototype in the Variable Threat Response Battle Suit and its pilot, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes."

Rhodey hung his head. "He had great ideas that were executed poorly and the names he came up with… Thank god, War Machine was an infinitely better name."

"Apart from the time when the US Army wanted to rename War Machine," teased Tony. "I am Iron Patriot."

"It tested well in focus group," defended Rhodey.

Tony grinned. "If I recall, that was the exact same thing you said when I stated it before."

Rhodey shook his head. "It was supposed to reflect the American values… War Machine was too aggressive."

"In a way, War Machine is better, because it can elicit fear in America's enemies," noted Sam. "Aside from Tony, you'd be the first point of call, wouldn't you? America sees you as a line of defence against any attack." He briefly glanced at Steve; aware the Captain had a different view point.

Thankfully, Steve didn't try to interrupt, though his expression showed his true thoughts on the matter.

"Usually War Machine is called first," explained Rhodey, "unless Tony is needed specifically. A lot of the time I'm not available due to my work with the Air Force. And, since the rest of you are either not on world or on the run, pretty much its Tony and I who can do anything. And Vision."

"I am an unknown quantity," interjected Vision. "My inclusion in any mission is decided upon by either Colonel Rhodes or Mr. Stark."

Sam nodded, accepting the answer.

Pepper was shocked. "What?"

The stage opens up and a modified Iron Man suit rises up onto the stage, Rhodey in control of it. Various weapons adorn the suit, one with a big gun attached to the back of this suit. Rhodey raised his arm and saluted and all the drones followed suit.

Tony leaned in close to his friend. "Tell me, how did you feel, standing there in all that bulky armour?"

"Honestly, I was okay about it," shrugged Rhodey. "A shame the technology added to the armour didn't work to a satisfactory standard. Would have made things a lot simpler if they had been effective against Vanko."

"Hammer tech," noted Tony. "Never reliable."

"For America and its allies, Hammer Industries is reporting for…" He trailed off as a rumbling sound in the distance became louder and louder until Iron Man came soaring into the stadium and landed on the stage. The audience rose and cheered.

"We got trouble," revealed Tony to Rhodey.

"Tony, there are civilians present. I'm here on orders. Let's not do this right now."

"You didn't believe he was there for a good enough reason?" Wanda asked, surprised at Rhodey's reaction to Tony's arrival.

"To my shame, no I didn't. The brawl we had at Tony's birthday party skewered things a bit. I didn't exactly have confidence in him at that point."

"Understandable," reflected Wanda.

Tony acknowledged Hammer. "Give them a wave."

Hammer went to distract the audience.

Tony spoke to Rhodey quietly. "All these people are in danger. We gotta get them out of here. You gotta trust me for the next five minutes."

Rhodey sniped back. "Yeah, I tried that. I got tossed around your house, remember?"

Tony wilted. "Still sorry about that."

"You're forgiven. Just try to be more open to us… that's all we ask," suggested Rhodey.

It was a fair trade. "I can try my best," Tony reassured his friend.

Tony sighed. "Listen, I think he's working with Vanko."

"Vanko's alive?" Surprise flickered across Rhodey's face within the suit.

"That must have made you stop and think that maybe Stark was onto something?" asked Clint.

"Partially," sighed Rhodey. "But I was distracted by it for Vanko to take complete control of the suit."

Bruce frowned. "Hold on, how was Vanko able to hack the War Machine suit? He never went near it."

"But Hammer did," realised Natasha. "Hammer made all the alterations to the War Machine suit at his facility, correct?"

Rhodey confirmed it with a slight incline of his head. "He did."

"It's possible for Vanko to have included an interface he could easily hack," mused Bruce, considering all the information he had been given. "Vanko could have easily gone to the suit and carried out the work he needed to, especially if he knew where it was being stored."

"Which is likely what happened," said Tony quietly.

Tony approached Hammer. "Where is he?"

"What?" Hammer turned to face him.

"Where's Vanko?"

Hammer feigned ignorance. "Who?"

Steve shook his head. "No point in denying it if your foe is insisting."

"Even if he had been truthful, he wouldn't have avoided a prison sentence," explained Tony. "He didn't exactly hide his involvement with Vanko's escape from prison well once we got into his systems. All the evidence was there."

Pepper watched carefully from the audience.

"Tell me," ordered Tony.

Hammer was attempting to save his presentation. "What are you doing here man?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Does he really think if he continues to stall you long enough, you'll just give up?"

"To be fair, Hammer doesn't know Vanko has double-crossed him," interjected Rhodey. "He's about to though. He thought he controlled Vanko."

But Rhodey's exclamations interrupted them as new information scrolled over his interface. The large gun on his back took aim at Tony.

"Is that you?" asked Tony, getting into a defensive stance.

"Yeah, I routinely want to kill my best friend," drawled Rhodey sarcastically.

Tony shrugged. "I had pissed you off."

Vanko was typing away at his keyboard, flipping everything into online mode, taking control of all the drones, including Rhodey's suit.

"He's activating all the drones…" Sam paled.

"No, I'm not doing that. That's not me. I can't move. I'm locked up. I'm locked up!" The Drones took aim, all at Iron Man. "Get out of here. Go! This whole system's been compromised!"

"The terror I felt when that happened was awful," said Rhodey. "I was putting everyone in danger. I couldn't control my suit; I was just a puppet for Vanko to play with."

"It's not like mind control but in a way, it is," mentioned Clint. "You feel powerless, unable to do anything to stop what you're doing."

Rhodey nodded, surprised Clint could sympathise with him.

"Loki," grated Clint. "He mind-controlled me. I knew what I was doing but couldn't stop myself. I know what it feels like to be powerless and to hurt your friends… It's awful."

Tony fired his thrusters and shot off into the sky as the drones and Rhodey fired at him. Glass shattered and fell onto the audience below as they fled from the building.

Rhodey's thrusters fired and he followed; with some of the drone army shooting off into the sky with him. Pepper and Natasha evacuated from the seating area.

"Jarvis, break in. I need to own him!" ordered Tony.

Rhodey peered curiously at Tony. "Own me?"

"Your suit," rectified Tony. "If I could get control of your suit back, I could get you your freedom. JARVIS could detect the wireless network. It was just trying to get into it."

"If I recall, Sir, the firewall erected by Vanko caused problems in my ability to return control to Colonel Rhodes," noted Vision. He glanced at Natasha. "It was only with other help that control was reinstated to its pilot."

Rhodey glanced at Natasha, aware of her role in the process. "I guess I should say thank you."

Natasha swallowed. "Just doing my job."

"Yes sir." JARVIS set to work at once.

Rhodey called out to Tony over the internal coms on the suits. "Tony, Tony, I'm locked on. I have target lock."

"On what?"

Tony shook his head. "Dumb question, Stark."

"Well… he did point his big gun at you earlier," stated Bucky.

"In the heat of the moment you forget things," sighed Tony.

"On you!" The machine gun mounted on his back started firing rounds as Tony flew through the air dodging out the way. "Tony, on your six!"

"At least you're trying to help," praised Steve. "Shooting a friend out of the sky would be horrible…"

Sam cringed at Steve's words. He'd dodged out of the way of an attack made by Vision to bring him down resulting in Rhodey's injuries which had paralysed him. Rhodey could only walk because of the braces Tony had designed for him.

Rhodey glared at the Captain. "You do realise your actions resulted in me being paralysed, don't you?"

Steve flinched at the accusation. "It wasn't…"

Rhodey stood from his seat. "If you had come quietly when Tony asked you to at the airport I wouldn't have been paralysed. That is on you." He sat back down again and refused to meet Steve's gaze.

Flying through the air, dodging anyway he could, Tony attempted to keep the drones away from the people fleeing, however he wasn't always successful, as shots permeated a viewing area, shattering the glass, causing the audience to flee. The remaining drones on stage trumped towards the audience left in the main stage area.

Hammer reached the technicians behind the stage. He ran to a computer demanding to know what was going on.

Natasha shook her head. "How did he not make the connection it was Vanko behind this?"

"I don't think he wanted to believe his partnership with a Russian had turned sour," sighed Tony. "Vanko had already demonstrated he could hack systems, its not much of a stretch to realise your guy on the ground is the one behind this, especially after he made a point of changing the suits to drones."

"Personally, I don't think he wanted to believe Vanko had double-crossed him," said Rhodey.

The technician said the software had been overridden. Hammer wanted to know what that meant. The technician thought the drones had been slaved. Hammer didn't believe it and ordered Jack to call the guards. Jack attempted but found the phones were down. Hammer told him to try their cell phones, which were not working either. The technician said they had all been locked out of the mainframe.

Clint rolled his eyes. "All the evidence points to Vanko and yet he doesn't believe it!"

"He knows he is inline for a jail sentence if his deception is uncovered," said Sam. "You can see the panic in his expressions, no matter how he tries to hide it. He knows his career is bust unless he can sort the problem himself."

"Which he won't be able to," added Natasha. "To restore the system I had to manually go into the system myself at Hammer Industries and revert the system back."

Pepper arrived with Natasha behind her. "Who's locked you out of the mainframe?"

Hammer attempted to prevent her from investigating further. "Please, please, go away. Go away. I've got this handled."

Pepper didn't believe it. "Have you now?"

Tony grinned. "It's so much better when she turns that side of her onto others."

"Yes, I do. In fact, if your guy hadn't showed up, this wouldn't be happening. So, please, now go away. Thank you." He leaned down to whisper to the technician. "Listen, we got to get these bitches out of here. What?"

"Oh… don't call Nat a bitch," winced Clint. "She would have heard that."

Steve frowned. "Is he right though? That if Tony hadn't have arrived this wouldn't have happened?"

Rhodey shook his head. "No. Vanko would have still acted. He wanted to ruin the Expo, destroy Tony's reputation. Either way, even if Tony was out of the picture, Vanko would have gone in for maximum disturbance. He wanted to go out for a bang. It wasn't just about Tony; it was about the Stark legacy too."

Natasha surged forward and grabbed Hammer and held him down on the desk, hissing vehemently in his ear. "You tell me who's behind this. Who's behind this?"

"Ivan. Ivan Vanko," revealed Hammer.

Clint smirked. "He didn't even try to make up a name."

"I was quite harsh in my actions," grinned Natasha. "In this job you learn who your easier targets are. Hammer was easy."

"Where is he?"

"At my facility," panted Hammer.

Sam whistled. "Wow, he didn't even try to hide where he was."

Bucky recognised why. "I think he knew whatever he did would be hopeless. He was probably going to try to flee."

"Pepper didn't let him," grinned Tony. "Didn't stop him threatening her though."

Natasha let him go and rushed away as Pepper dialled for NYPD. Hammer tried to stop her but failed. She gave the police the location and ended the call, then stepped up to the technicians and told him to tell her everything that they knew.

"He didn't try to leave once Pepper took charge?" Sam was surprised.

"No. I think a part of him knew the jig was up. He may have also hoped his influence with the Air Force would save him too," explained Rhodey. "But once my suit was hacked via Hammer tech, Justin Hammer's days were over."

Tony was still being chased in the air by Rhodey and the Air Force drones, dodging bullets and trying to avoid injuring the crowds of people rushing for safety. JARVIS told him the remote reboot of Rhodey's suit had been unsuccessful.

The drones on the ground began firing into the running crowds, as Vanko watched the chaos unfold from the safety of his room.

"Coward," grated Wanda. "If you are going to cause havoc, the least you could do is get involved yourself!"

"Oh, don't you worry, he does," said Tony.

"He's wanted someone to reach the facility so he could leave," grated Natasha. "We could have caught him if he hadn't left. He had his own suit waiting in the wings."

Security guards were directing the crowds in specific directions as Natasha left the building at a hurry. Happy noticed her and approached her.

"Nobody's answering the phone. What's going on?"

"Get in the car. Take me to Hammer Industries," ordered Natasha.

Tony chuckled. "Yeah, Happy isn't going to like being ordered around by you."

"He had no choice," smiled Natasha sweetly. "Happy is good at adapting to the situation if he knows its serious."

Tony couldn't refute that.

Happy refused. "I'm not taking you anywhere!"

A stern expression crossed Natasha's face. "Fine. You want me to drive?"

"Only person he lets drive is me," grinned Tony. "You'll note he hardly drives me anywhere. Usually its me the one driving."

"No, I'm driving. Get in the car." They both get in the car with Natasha in the back seat.

The army drones lock themselves onto the steps and fire up at Iron Man, hitting some of their own counterparts, sending the Air Force drones crashing to the ground. Vanko continued to control the drones from a distance, inputting new instructions to cause as much damage as possible.

Sam's expression turned to anger. "He doesn't care he's hurting civilians, does he? Just to get to you…"

Tony shook his head sadly. "No, he doesn't."

One drone spotted a kid with an Iron Man helmet on, standing amongst the fleeing crowd and approached him, targeting the helmet. The kid held his hand up in the same gesture Iron Man used when he was firing his repulsor blasts.

"Oh no…" muttered Steve. "Please don't kill the kid…"

"He won't," said Tony. "I made sure of it."

The drones gun focused on the kid, but then Iron Man landed beside the kid and shoots the drone himself with his own hand repulsor.

Steve blew out a sigh of relief.

"Nice work kid," said Tony, as he took off.

Rhodey leaned in close. "You know that kid, don't you? He was seen earlier in the movie, right at the start."

"He was," said Tony.

"Who.. who is he?" asked Steve, curious as to who the kid could be.

"You've fought him…" Tony trailed off, hoping the hint was enough.

Steve looked confused for just a moment before his eyes widened. "No! He can't be!"

"He is."

Sam glanced between the two. "Who is he?"

"You've all fought with or against him…" Tony dropped more clues, wondering who would reach their first.

"The kid… the kid from Brooklyn?" gasped Steve. "Really?"

"Got it in one!" Tony folded his arms across his chest. "That kid there grows up to be Spider-Man. Considering we've got a movie named after him to watch, you'll all find out who he is I'm sure. But I saved his life and I was his hero. I'm also his mentor. He's quite… brilliant… Reminds me of me a bit when I was young and full of ideals and plans for the future… Most of which never happened… But, still…"

Rhodey lowered his voice. "That's the Parker kid?"

Tony nodded. "Yeah. I didn't realise it was him until Peter told me during one of our science sessions. Funny how our paths were linked together even then…" He was proud of his association with Peter, and he intended to keep on mentoring him for years to come. At some point the kid would become an official Avenger, whether that was months away or a few years from now, the kid was an asset who the Avengers couldn't afford to lose.

When I retire, I know there is someone out there who can carry on my legacy, thought Tony. Even if Pepper and I have children of our own, Peter will always be the first to carry on my legacy. I've taught him everything I know.

As Tony flew through the air, Rhodey informed him he had multiple attackers coming in on him. Tony needed to get this away from the Expo and shot off into the sky.

Inside the car, Natasha is getting undressed as Happy drives them towards Hammer Industries. She's instructing him he needed to watch the perimeter whilst she enters the facility and takes down the target. She noticed Happy ogling her, as he lost concentration and a car horn sounded, causing him to regain control of the car. She told him to watch the road.

"You really need blackout screens in your cars if Happy is going to be easily distracted," grinned Clint. "Nat is a beautiful lady…"

"I don't make a habit of undressing in the back of cars," stated Natasha. "But I needed someone more fitting if I was going to make my way through Hammer's facility."

Tony flies through a parking lot, setting off one car alarm, while the rest of the drones set off the rest as they fly past at speed.

Vanko is still typing away inside Hammer Industries, instructing a small pack of the drones on Tony's tail to peel back towards the Expo.

"What's he doing that for?" asked Steve. "If you are his target…"

"Bombs," revealed Tony. "The drones were bombs waiting to happen. He was setting them up for their final positions."

Rhodey informed Tony of the change. Rhodey was closing in on his friend, and the gun at his back slot into place and started to fire continuously at Iron Man, as he dodged out the way. Multiple cars exploded in fire, flying through the air, destroying an entire packing lot of cars. Tony peels back up into the sky as Rhodey and the remaining drones followed.

"That's a lot of cars…" winced Sam. "Who paid for them?"

"I did," said Tony. "They were destroyed because of me so I settled all the claims. It didn't really dent my fortune. Also, the Courts ordered Hammer's company to pay for damages too so a part of the money came from him too. It did ruin his company… I did save all the jobs though and folded them into Stark Industries, so no one lost employment."

"Not many businessmen would save the jobs of other people in a rival company," said Bruce, "it was nice you did that."

"A lot of them had experience, and it wasn't fair they lost their livelihoods because of Hammer's mistake in freeing Vanko," continued Tony, justifying why he had saved the jobs of Hammer's employees. "It was the right thing to do."

Happy pulls up at Hammer Industries and they both exit the car. Natasha ordered him to stay in the car, in which he refused. Natasha, again, gave the same order. He wanted to know what she was wearing and he was not going to let her go in there alone. Natasha was now wearing her SHIELD combat overalls but didn't answer Happy's query as she was busy trying to unlock the front door to Hammer's building. She told him if he wanted to help, he should keep the car running. He opened the door and dived into the building before Natasha.

"He didn't listen," Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Happy does have combat experience," said Tony. "He may not look it but he does have a history with the army. He had an honourable discharge. I had my reasons for taking him on. Though his self-defence skills have reduced over the years."

An alert popped on Vanko's computer signalling a security breach.

Two security guards approached Happy and Natasha. She slips past him as Happy punched the guard. The second guard attempted to stop Natasha but she turned and tossed two small discs on the floor which electrocuted the guard, dropping him to the floor.

"Never face a SHIELD agent unprepared," stated Clint. "Nat always has a box of tricks up her sleeves to deal with almost any situation."

"I'm glad you said 'almost'." Natasha remembered a situation where she'd had to improvise and hadn't had anything on her to help her escape. She'd been lucky to survive. She always tried to ensure she thought of every possible scenario for any mission. Being prepared was an essential aspect of being a SHIELD agent or an Avenger.

Happy continued to brawl with the first security guard as Natasha leapt over an object and kicked another guard down. She rushed ahead, sliding between a man's legs and punching him in an area he didn't want to be hit. He remained on the floor as another guard attacked her, swinging her legs around him, twisting and he fell to the floor. Natasha ran off, observed on the security cameras by Vanko.

"I almost feel sorry for Happy," said Sam, "He's still fighting the first guard and Nat is making her way quickly through them."

Natasha shrugged. "I didn't have time to waste."

At the Expo several of the drones fly into buildings and explode as the crowd continues screaming and running for their lives. Vanko activates the remaining drones which hadn't attacked yet, sending some into the air to pursue Iron Man and the rest into the crowd.

"He's just mercilessly trying to take as many lives as possible," Steve felt angry by the slaughter. "How many people died?"

"Surprisingly, not many," answered Tony. "Less then ten people died. There were a few serious injuries but they all made full recoveries." Tony wanted to comment on how Steve was outraged by civilian's deaths caused by the bad guys yet when it was Steve who indirectly caused them by going to places, he shouldn't, he had tried his best. But Tony knew getting into that argument now would be counter-productive so he kept his thoughts to himself.

Watching Civil War may be enlightening.

In some respects, Tony was looking forward to it, but in others he wasn't.

The technician tells Pepper each drone is communicating in its own unique language. She ordered him to choose one and focus on it. Hammer asked if they had tried Russian, and if they hadn't, they should.

"Now he's trying to be helpful," drawled Thor. "He does know it won't work?"

"He does," answered Bruce, not liking Hammer's conduct one bit.

Back at Hammer Industries, Happy is still fighting the same guard, getting punched in the stomach before managing to headbutt the guard with a table. Natasha paced the corridors as an announcement came over the intercom of an intrusion on Grid W. More guards flocked to Natasha's position.

Natasha unclipped something from her belt as two guards approached which exploded in their faces. She launches herself at them, kicking them both onto the floor. Then another two attacked her, one with a baton. She pulled a piece of string from her wrist, wrapping it around her attacker's neck, pulling him back as she fought another security guard. Both went down.

Another guard was just getting up, holding a spray can in his hand. She leapt up onto his back and swung herself around his body, strangling him, bringing him down. Another guard approached her, twisted his wrist and then punched him in the face, bringing him down. Natasha took the pepper spray from the guard's hand and walked off, spraying another guard in the face with it as she walked intently down the corridor.

Sam glanced uneasily at Natasha. "Remind me never to get on your bad side… Your scary when you are intent like that."

"All part of my job," smiled Natasha sweetly.

Happy finally got the upper hand in his fight, knocking the guard out underneath the chin. "I got him!" He looked up to see Natasha's handiwork, with multiple guard's unconscious on the floor, and one hanging from the ceiling with a rope around his neck.

Tony chuckled quietly, remembering Happy telling him how he had felt when he'd finally beaten his guy and found Natasha had swiftly moved through the rest. It had made him feel old and not up to the task of being Tony Stark's body guard. Tony had reassured him he was capable of defending Tony, as he'd done it for years before Iron Man had come along.

Vanko continued to runs programmes on his computer and then left the computer running.

"Now he's going to escape because he knows I'm coming," growled Natasha. "At least he left the computer running so I could at least do some damage control."

Tony flies over several pools clustered together. Rhodey and the drones are still following him.

"Rhodey, you still locked on?"

"Yeah."

Tony kept his eyes focused on the goal ahead. "Drop your socks and grab your Crocs. We're about to get wet on this ride."

"Wait, wait, wait!" called Rhodey.

Rhodey hung his head. "I honestly thought he was trying to kill us all."

"I was trying to thin the crowd so Rhodey would be the only one on my tail," explained Tony.

Tony's interface showed him the large world dome sculpture as he headed towards it, calculating an escape trajectory route for him. He soared through an open gap, put on his thrusters, and soared in the opposite direction. All the drones, save from Rhodey, ploughed right into the wall of the globe, unable to manoeuvre in time. Rhodey bounded out into the sky as explosions rocked the globe structure.

"You were lucky," grated Rhodey.

"I knew what I was doing," defended Tony.

Natasha kicked open Vanko's door, holding two guns. Happy is behind her, and the room is empty, save for the hanging bodies of the two dead guards.

Flying through the air, Tony communicated with Rhodey. "I'm sorry buddy. Had to thin out the herd. What's your 20?"

"It says a lot you at least apologised," mused Clint.

"I know when to apologise," glared Tony.

Clint looked like he disagreed with that sentiment but didn't offer any explanation as to why.

Rhodey didn't answer, instead he flew right into Tony, knocking them both off course and heading into the Oracle biodome, crashing through the glass and landing amongst the water of a miniature lake.

Natasha puts her guns on the table and started to type. Happy enquired what she was doing. She said she was rebooting Rhodey's suit.

In the biodome, Rhodey attacks Tony, his suit completely out of his control, holding the Iron Man suit in the water as he fires his guns at close range. Tony reached up and was able to keep pushing the gun to stop it from shooting him.

"I was hoping I would run out of ammo before I hurt you." Rhodey had hated being in the suit, unable to control it, knowing any action he took could have killed his best friend.

Natasha gained access to Rhodey's suit and shut it down.

"Thanks for the assist," smiled Rhodey gratefully.

Natasha accepted it.

Rhodey's visor went dark and Tony used his thrusters to fly up and fling Rhodey back into the water.

"Reboot complete," said Natasha as an image of Tony appeared on one of the screens. "You got your best friend back."

"Thank you very much, Agent Romanoff," said Tony.

Natasha smiled. "Well done on the new chest piece. I am reading significant higher output and your vitals all look promising."

"Yes, for the moment, I'm not dying. Thank you," agreed Tony.

Pepper's image appeared on the second screen in the room. "What do you mean you're not dying? Did you just say you're dying?"

"Did you add her deliberately?" Tony asked. "She wasn't there before."

"I may have had something to do with her overhearing our conversation. She didn't know the truth of what was going on. It was about time she knew," admitted Natasha. "I probably shouldn't have gone over your head and included her…"

"No, you shouldn't." Tony agreed. "I was going to tell her. It was finding the right moment to. And, you know I am not very good at those."

"Is that you? No, I'm not. Not anymore."

Natasha looked confused as the two continued to bicker.

"I honestly didn't expect you two to start bickering," noted Natasha.

"They tend to do it a lot," pointed out Rhodey, "but they still love one another, no matter how many times they do."

"What's going on?" asked Pepper.

"I was going to tell you. I didn't want to alarm you," said Tony.

"You were gonna tell me? You really were dying?" Pepper's alarm showed on her face.

"I've learned to tell her things in a timely manner now," explained Tony. "It's just taken me a while to realise that."

"You didn't let me," he reasoned.

"Why didn't you tell me that?" she demanded.

"I was gonna make you an omelette and tell you," Tony explained.

"Pity you couldn't make an omelette," laughed Bucky.

Everyone remembered Tony's attempt to cook on the plane before his birthday party.

Having had enough, Natasha interrupted, as she had spotted multiple enemies on the radar heading to Tony's location. "Hey, hey. Save it for the honeymoon. You got incoming Tony. Looks like the fight's coming to you."

"Great. Pepper?" asked Tony.

Pepper still sounded worried. "Are you okay now?"

"I am fine. Don't be mad. I will formally apologise…" Tony reassured her.

However, Pepper interrupted. "I am mad!"

A few of them laughed.

"You two are made for one another," pointed out Sam. "The chemistry between you two, even when you are arguing oozes off of you."

"I honestly felt I was in the middle between those two," sighed Natasha. "I'm glad you finally did something about your feelings for her."

"…when I'm not fending off a Hammeroid attack," finished Tony.

"Fine," relented Pepper.

"We could have been in Venice," Tony pointed out.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "Oh please."

"I did suggest Venice on the plane." Tony leaned back in this chair. "Not that it would have changed anything."

"The party wouldn't have happened," observed Rhodey. "The Army would not have had your suit."

"You wouldn't have created the element either," added Bruce.

Tony had to admit they all had a point. "Ok… maybe things would have been different then."

Wanda frowned. "But would Vanko still have attacked your Expo to get to you?"

"Come to think of it… He'd either send them to my location or still attack the Expo to draw me out and make a mockery of the Stark legacy," sighed Tony. "Either way, the best outcome for all of us, was what happened." His lips twitched. "At least we are on the last hurdle of this movie now."

Yet their journey was far from over.

To be continued...

Please let me know what you think!

Not sure there is much to say. Action-orientated chapters are always difficult to get meaningful conversations from. But, I think I've tried my best.

The boy in Iron Man 2, I believe that has been retconned by Marvel Studios to be Peter Parker though it hasn't been directly mentioned in the movies yet. But, it is the canon I am going with. Peter will not be joining the Avengers for this watch-it series - mainly because I'm sure seeing Tony's death would traumatise him. The rest of the Avengers are grown-ups so could handle the more shocking aspects Infinity War and Endgame will bring them when it comes to those movies. Peter will have a role to play in the fic I plan to write set after they've watched Endgame.

The next chapter will be the last one of this story. To be posted next Sunday!

Until then,

the-writer1988