The refugees ran screaming as the bombs landed around him. Their village was beign attacked by the Ten Rings. One family tried to hide in a house, but the terrorists followed them and shot everyone down. Some threw bombs into homes.
The terrorists gathered up all the men and forced them together, so that the firing squad would have an easier job of it. The women and children were crying. "Hurry it up!" the leader shouted in Arabic. "Put the women in the trucks! Stack the weapons here! Clear all the houses! That one over there! Faster, faster!"
One man ran out of a house with his arms wrapped around his wife, his son, and his daughter. He tried to usher them over to the trucks, but tripped and fell, bringing him to the terrorists' notice.
"Grab that dog!" the leader shouted. THe man continued to try to usher them over, but was grabbed by the terrorists. "Put him with the others," the leader ordered coldly. His wife and daughter began screaming. His son began yelling, "Papa! Papa!"
The boy broke free and ran to his father. The man broke free and ran to him, embracing him tightly. "Go, go!" he told him.
"What the hell is this?" the leader yelled, walking over. He grabbed the boy and threw him away, despite his father's anxious cries. He the man to the ground and stomped on his chest, several times. His wife and children fell to the ground crying. "Shoot this dog!" he ordered as he walked away. "You're all incompetent."
A man came up to shoot him in the head as he sat on his knees with his hands raised. His children and wife were screaming for him. "Turn your head!" the terrorist demanded. "Turn your head!" "PAPA!" his son shouted.
Suddenly, there was a great noise from overhead. Everyone turned to look. Tony Stark landed in their midst on one knee, his hands out behind him.
The terrorists instantly began shooting at him as he landed. "Careful, Tony," Biela warned through her headset. She was watching back at the mansion. Of course, all the bullets bounced off.
Tony ran up to one of the men shooting at him and punched him, sending him flying up into the air and into a nearby house. He then began firing his repulsors at the terrorists. He killed three, and then turned to the main group, who were holding their guns to the heads of the civilians and yelling in whatever language they spoke.
"What are they saying?" he asked as he stood still. "That they'll kill them," Biela responded. "Watch it." Tony lowered his repulsors as the suit targeted the hostiles. A unit opened up and shot them with tiny missiles. All the hostiles fell to the ground, dead, the civilians unharmed. A young boy broke away from his mother and ran to his father, shouting, "Papa! Papa!" His father was still on his knees, and he hugged the boy tightly.
The boy watched Tony over his father's shoulder as the superhero walked over to a wall and punched a hole in it. He then dragged the leader out and threw him on the ground amidst the villagers. "He's all yours," he said as he took off.
As he flew, Jarvis located the Jericho missiles. "Blow 'em to kingdom come!" Biela cheered. Then a tank shot at him. He went down instantly. "Are you okay?" Biela asked. "Fine," Tony groaned as he crawled out of the pit. "Have some ice ready when I get home, will ya?" He could hear her in the background saying, "Jarvis, where do we keep the ice?" Introducing Biela to Jarvis was the first thing Tony had done when she arrived. He had been glad she had taken to him so well.
The tank fired another shot at him. He leaned out of the way. Turning back to the tank, he fired a small missile at it. It made a really big boom. As he walked towards the Jericho, more gunfire struck him. It didn't phase him, he just took off and fired both repulsors at the Jericho. It made an explosion large enough to kill all the terrorists nearby.
As he flew out, he noted a group of vans heading towards the town. "I'll be back for them," Tony promised as he continued soaring through the sky. "Can I have a suit?" Biela asked. "Flying looks like so much fun."
Inside Edwards Air Force Base, the soldiers monitoring the area started mumbling. The major said, "What the hell was that? Were we cleared to go in there?" "No, sir," a soldier responded. "They were using human shields, we never got the green light!" "Get the state on the line, they're gonna be all over us," the major ordered. "We got a bogey," one soldier announced. "Wasn't Air Force!" another shouted. "Anybody got CIA on the line?" the major interrogated. "I've got Langley on the line, they want to know if it's us," a different man said. "No, it definitely was not us, sir!" "Wasn't Navy!" "Wasn't Marines!"
"I need answers, can I please get eyes on target?" The major yelled. He turned to another man. "Get me Colonel Rhodes from Weapons Development down here now!" A few moments later, the man in question strode into the room. "We ran an ID check and cross-referenced it with all known databases, we have nothing." "Any High-Altitude-Surveillance in the region?" Rhodey demanded.
"We've got an AWAC and a Global Hawk in the area," one soldier announced. "This thing just appeared out of nowhere? How come it didn't show up on radar?" "Got a minimal radar cross-section, sir," another soldier responded. "Is it stealth?" Rhodey asked. "No sir, it's…tiny. We think it's an unmanned aerial vehicle."
"Colonel, what are we dealing with?" the major asked in a low voice. "Let me make a call."
"You can have a suit if I can paint it black and gold and call it the Mark B, okay, Bee?" Tony asked. "Ha-ha, very funny," the girl responded. Just then, Tony's phone rang. "Who's calling?" Biela demanded. "It's my friend Rhodey. Listen in, don't say anything." He answered the call, "Hello?" "Tony," Rhodey greeted. "Who's this?" Tony asked, feigning ignorance. "It's Rhodes." "Sorry, hello?" Tony responded, looking at Rhodey's information on the screen. "I said it's Rhodes." "Speak up please," Tony said. "What the hell is that noise?" Rhodey demanded.
"Honey, I'm driving with the top down." Biela snickered on her end of the line. "Well, I need your help right now," Rhodey said. "It's funny how that works, huh?" Tony asked. "Yeah, speaking of funny, we've got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few klicks from where you were being held captive." "Well, that's a hotspot, heh, sounds like someone stepped in and, heh, did your job for you."
"Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?" Rhodey asked, obviously still suspecting him. "I'm not, I was just jogging through the canyon," Tony said quickly. "I thought you were driving," Rhodey said, picking up on his slip. "Right, I was driving to the canyon, where I'm going to jog."
"You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?" Rhodey asked. "Nope!" Tony said, a little too quickly. "Good, because I'm staring at one right now that's about to be blown to kingdom come." Tony hung up the phone as the two jets came in behind him. He spun to one side. "That's an AWAC and a Global Hawk on your tail, Tony," Biela said. "Jarvis, bring up the specs."
The information on those two planes flashed on the HUD. "You can't destroy them, they're on our side," Biela added. "Yay, fun," Tony said as he began the high-speed chase. "Jarvis, hack into their communications, we need to know what they're saying," Biela ordered. A moment later, Jarvis replied. "We are inside their communications, sir, miss."
"Ballroom, this is Whiplash One," the first jet called in. "I've got the bogey in my sights." "Whiplash One, what is it?" Rhodey asked. "I've got no idea," the pilot confessed. "You have radio contact?" the major questioned. "Nonresponsive, sir," the pilot replied. "Then you are cleared to engage," the major ordered.
"You're kidding," Tony said, as he noticed that his followers could go supersonic as well. He flew quickly and broke the sound barrier.
"The bogey just went supersonic!" Whiplash One reported. "I've got a lock!" The pilot hit the button and fired missiles at the Tony. "Projectile missile," Jarvis announced. "Flares!" Biela ordered.
A compartment opened up and the flares went out, stopping the missile from hitting Tony. The explosion rocketed him forward. "Just a second, the bogey deployed flares," Whiplash One reported as the two jets swerved to avoid the explosion. "Woah!" Tony yelled as he fell downwards.
"Tony!" Biela screeched. "I'm okay," he said, as he regained his footing and soared again. One of the jets began firing on him. "Woah!" he shouted. "Deploy flaps!" The flaps deployed and he soared back between the jets.
"Holy!" one of the jets cursed. "Thing just dropped off the radar, sir," a soldier reported. Biela sighed with relief. "Tony, you might want to call Rhodey back now." "Sat reception has been lost," another soldier reported. "No way that's a UAV," Whiplash One said. "Where is it?" the major demanded. "I can't see anything!" Whiplash Two said. "Whatever it was, it just bought the bar," Whiplash One announced. "I think bogey has been handled sir."
"I'm calling Rhodey now," Tony said. "Hello?" the lieutenant colonel answered. "Hi, Rhodey, it's me," Tony said tiredly. "I'm sorry, what?" Rhodey asked. "I'm sorry, it is me. That thing you were asking about, it's me," Tony replied. "Now see, this isn't a game," Rhodey said angrily. "You do not send civilian equipment into my active warzone, you understand that?" "It's not a piece of equipment, I'm in it, it's a suit!" Tony said painfully as he gripped the side of the jet. "It's me!" he yelled.
"Rhodey, you got anything for me?" the major asked. The order came through to the jets, "Mark your positions and return to base." "Roger that, Ballroom," one of the Whiplashes replied as they tilted to turn around. "On your belly!" Whiplash One yelled. "It looks like…a man! Shake him off! Roll, roll!"
"Uh-oh," Tony said as the jet began rolling. As he slipped off the jet, he ran into the wing of Whiplash One, yelling all the while. "I'm hit, I'm hit!" the airman yelled. "Punch out, punch out!" Whiplash Two yelled. "I'm up again," Tony told Biela. "Watch that pilot, he looks like he's having issues," Biela said. They watched as the ejection seat deployed just before the jet exploded.
"His parachute should have deployed by now," Biela said worriedly. "Whiplash One, down," the second reported. "Whiplash Two, do you see a chute?" the major asked. "Negative!" the pilot said. "No chute, no chute!" The first pilot's heavy breathing could be heard over the communications line. "My chute's jammed!" he yelled. "Tony, help him!" Biela almost screamed.
Tony rocketed down towards the man, aware that he had been seen. "Sir, I've got a visual on the bogey," Whiplash Two reported. The major responded angrily, "Whiplash Two, reengage. You get a clear shot, you take it!" The jet rocketed around to follow Tony. "Major, we don't know what we're shooting at, call off the Raptor," Rhodey said. "That thing just took out an F-22 inside a legal no-fly zone! Whiplash Two, you get a clear shot, you take it!"
"Target lock reengaged, execute evasive maneuvers," Jarvis announced. "Keep going!" Tony said, speeding towards the pilot. He grabbed the ejection seat and freed the chute, watching as it whipped out behind the man. "Good chute, good chute!" Whiplash One cheered.
All the men in the so-called ballroom cheered. Tony continued soaring, evading the lock of Whiplash Two. Rhodey's voice came through the line again. "Tony, you still there?" "Hey, thanks," Tony said. Rhodey sighed with relief. "Oh my god, you crazy son of a bitch," Rhodey said. "You owe me a plane, you know that, right?" Tony began laughing.
"Yeah, well, technically, he hit me, so…now you gonna come by and see what I'm working on?" "No, no, no," Rhodey said. "The less I know, the better. Now what am I supposed to tell the press?" "Uh, training exercise, isn't that the usual BS?" Tony asked. "It's not that simple," Rhodey said.
"Well, could you at least come by and see Bee?" Tony asked. "Who?" "Biela, the girl I brought in who was a captive with me? She's staying with me currently," Tony explained. "Say hi, Bee." "Hi, Rhodey!" Biela chirped through the speakers. "Please tell me she's not out there with you," Rhodey dead-panned. "Nope, I'm currently sitting in Tony's nice, comfortable mansion, with air conditioning, and water pressure, and an ocean just outside…much more comfortable than a cave in Afghanistan, I can assure you." "Okay, I'll be by later. See you, Tony," Rhodey said as he hung up the phone.