The helmet beeped, drawing my gaze to it as something akin to hope filled my chest and I pulled the helmet on, ignoring Pepper questioning me. The damaged device lit up and after a quick retinal scan, a message began to play, making my heart soar as Tony's voice spoke.
"Jess, it's me. I've got a lot of apologies to make and not a lot of time. So, first off, I'm so sorry I put you in harm's way. That was selfish and stupid, and it won't happen again."
"Y-You idiot. I knew I would be in harm's way the moment I started dating you."
"And I know you're probably arguing with me right now, but just listen for a moment, okay," Tony's recording said, making me chuckle ever so slightly. "Also, it's Christmas time and the rabbit's too big. Done. Sorry. And I'm sorry in advance because I can't come home yet. I need to find this guy. You gotta stay safe, that's all I know. I just stole a poncho from a wooden Indian."
I shook my head. "What?"
But the message ended abruptly after that and I pulled the helmet off, schooling my expression carefully. I had to look like he was still dead. That was his plan. If the Mandarin believed him to be dead, then he could find a way to get to the guy without being noticed. So, I needed to play it up. Act like I was depressed and mourning. I'd been schooling my expression and lying since I was a child. I knew I was good at it and this was going to be the ultimate test. That, and I wasn't about to let Tony go through this alone. I might have no clue where he was, but I could help from my end. I had to. He couldn't do this alone and I wasn't about to stand around idly while he tried. Even if it meant deceiving Pepper and the media and whoever else. I needed to be stealthy and careful, but most of all, I needed to use everything at my disposal without letting on what I was doing. And with Tony's lab destroyed, trying to do so was going to be the hardest part.
Tony dragged the useless Iron Man suit into the shed and dumped it haphazardly onto the floor, trying to regain some strength after having dragged it through the snow to this point. One look at the shed told him it was his best option to fix the suit and he heft it up onto a couch before collapsing beside it.
"Let's get you comfy," he muttered, adjusting its arms before putting its head on straight. "You happy now?"
He took only a few moments to rest before he moved over to the workbench and flicked on a lamp, grabbing a pair of pliers and preparing to start yanking out the shrapnel in his arm, only for a voice to stop him.
"Freeze!"
He put down the tool and eyed the young boy aiming a potato gun at him.
"Don't move," the boy commanded, and Tony lifted his hands.
"You got me. Nice potato gun. Barrel's a little long. Between that and the wide gauge, it's going to diminish your FPS."
The boy lifted the gun and fired off a shot, breaking a glass not far away with pinpoint accuracy.
"And now you're out of ammo," Tony replied, lowering his hands and not taking the boys threat seriously now that the gun had been emptied.
"What's that thing on your chest?" The boy asked and Tony debated on answering him, but it was just a kid.
No threat to him, unless he talked, so keeping him entertained by the idea of a friendly guy in his shed would make better sense than petrifying the brat.
"It's an electromagnet. You should know. You got a box of them right here."
"What does it power?"
Tony stood up, flicking the lamp towards the Iron Man suit behind him and fully drawing in the kid's attention. The kid was at least semi-intelligent. Why not indulge him? Sure enough, the kid ditched his potato gun and went over.
"Oh, my God. That… That's… Is that Iron Man?"
"Technically, I am."
"Technically, you're dead," the boy countered, hitting him in the chest with a newspaper as he walked past to check out the suit.
Tony unrolled the paper to read the headline 'Mandarin Attack: Stark Presumed Dead' on the front page. "Valid point."
"What happened to him?" The kid asked, patting the head of the suit.
"Life. I built him I take care of him. I'll fix him." Tony tossed the paper aside upon seeing no mention of Jess or her reaction to the incident.
He'd hoped she'd gotten his message and knew he was okay, but he also knew she was clever. She'd find a way to communicate with him somehow, and the papers seemed like the best option. He could only hope that she wasn't planning on doing anything drastic in his absence.
"If I was building Iron Man and War Machine—"
"It's Iron Patriot now," Tony stopped him.
"That's way cooler!"
"No, it's not."
"Anyways, I would have added in the um, retro…"
"Retro-reflective panels?" Tony finished for him, a little surprised by the extent of the kid's intelligence.
"To make him stealth mode."
"You want a stealth mode?"
"Cool, right?"
"That's actually a good idea. I think my girlfriend mentioned it once and I forgot about it. She probably hates me for that. I really should listen to her more often." He winced though when the kid pulled off one of the suit's fingers. "Not a good idea."
"Oops," the kid muttered sheepishly.
"What are you doing? You're gonna break his finger? He's in pain. He's been injured. Leave him alone."
"S-Sorry," the kid murmured, fiddling with the broken part and Tony lightened up, knowing what Jess would be saying to him if she'd been there to scold him.
She was always better with kids then he was, though she'd be quick to deny it.
"Are you? Don't worry about it. I'll fix it. So, uh, who's home?"
"Well, my mom already left for the diner, and dad went to 7-11 to get scratchers," the kid replied, eyes downcast. "I-I guess he won because that was six years ago."
"Hm," Tony hummed, a part of him feeling sympathy for the kid. "Which happens. Dads leave. No need to be a pussy about it. Here's what I need."
The boy looked up, surprising Tony yet again by not giving any complaint about what he'd just said. Tough kid, or he's used to it.
"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 challenged.
"Salvation. What's his name?"
"Who?"
"The kid that bullies you at school. What's his name?" Tony hit the mark, judging by how the kid grew sheepish once more.
"How'd you know that?"
"I've got just the thing," Tony said, opening up the Iron Man suit and pulling a part from its chest, holding it out to the kid. "This is a piñata for a cricket. I'm kidding. It's a very powerful weapon. Point it away from your face, press the button on top, it discourages bullying. Non-lethal, just to cover one's ass. Deal?" He kept it out of the boys reach. "Deal? What do you say?"
"Deal," the kid said, taking it.
"What's your name? Harley. And you're…"
"The mechanic… Tony. You know what keeps going through my head? 'Where's my sandwich?'" He teased the kid, who rolled his eyes and got up to get one for him. "And if you ever meet my girlfriend, don't tell her I made you fetch me things or gave you that. She'll chew my head off."
"For real?"
"For really real."
The boy shivered, before bounding out into the cold, making Tony shake his head with a small smile. Hope you're doing okay, Jess. Don't get into anything stupid.
I drove Maya down the freeway in my car, head aching, but not enough so that I felt I couldn't drive properly. Pepper had tried to convince me otherwise, but I was quick to refuse that and her offer to stay at her home.
"Why were you at Tony's place? What was so important that you needed to talk to him someplace secure?"
Maya was quiet for a second before giving in. "I think that my boss is working for the Mandarin. So, if you still want to talk about it, I suggest we get to someplace safe."
I was glad I hadn't listened to my gut instinct to jerk the wheel or we'd very surely be flying off the cliff edge at that.
"You… think your boss works for the Mandarin? And you're… a botanist?"
She rolled her eyes. "What I actually am is a biological DNA coder running a team of forty out of a privately funded think tank."
Her words echoed in my head. The terms, the meaning behind them.
"Your boss, could he be… Aldrich Killian?"
"Aldrich Killian," she said the same time I did, pinning me with a look. "How did you…"
"Your words. 'Think tank' is what he called A.I.M. He met with me and Pepper Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries to try and get us to use his project. He explained what it was briefly, but we rejected the offer. It was too close to being something weaponizable for comfort and I didn't like the way he spoke."
"You… denied him funds because of the way he spoke?"
I groaned. "Look, I used to be a lawyer, and in my job, words held a lot of meaning and showed you a lot about the person using them. So, when I have a guy come up to me dodging 'immoral' restrictions and saying that human minds are destined to be 'upgraded'? Yeah, that tells me that he has no empathy for humans other than himself and is a power-hungry asshat who quite possibly has a grudge against my boyfriend." I winced, playing up my act. "E-Ex boyfriend."
"I'm sorry," Maya murmured, but I shook my head silently praising my acting skills as I moved on.
"No, it's fine. Because if what you said is true, then that over-excessive attack on the manor just now makes sense. If you want someone dead who gives you their home address, you snipe them while they're asleep. You do it stealthily and then make it look like a message to others who challenge you. What he did? That was overkill. That was not just accepting a challenge, that was revenge in the biggest way possible. That was sloppy."
"You don't mean Tony might be alive?"
Shit. "No… No, he couldn't be. The suit he had, it… it was a prototype. It wasn't ready for any combat and… he never did listen to me when I suggested better sealing a-and and oxygen supply. It's… It's impossible that he made it out of there. I want to be hopeful but… but even I know when to accept something like that."
Her hand brushed my shoulder and I struggled not to jerk away from her touch. I couldn't do physical contact right now. Not from anyone except Tony. I was too tense, body on red alert. It was like I was back there with him and everything made me want to swing out in defense, but I kept hold of myself as she muttered another apology and we drove on in relative silence.
Tony looked over the memorial site where the heat energy spike had occurred, brows furrowed in thought as the boy he was with sat on the floor.
"Six people died including Chad Davis," Tony said, getting affirmatives from the boy. "Yeah. That doesn't make sense. Think about it. Six dead, only five shadows."
"Yeah. People said these shadows are like the marks of souls going to heaven," the boy murmured. "Except the bomb guy. He went to hell, on account of he didn't get a shadow. That's why there's only five."
"Do you buy that?"
"It's what everyone says."
Religion. Always mucking up the facts.
"You know what this crater reminds me of?"
"No idea. I'm not… I don't care," Tony said, hoping the little fan of his didn't bring up what he thought he was going to.
"That giant wormhole in um, in New York. Does it remind you?"
"That's manipulative. I don't want to talk about it," Tony said sternly, breath already getting short at the thought.
"Are they coming back? The aliens?"
"Maybe. Can you stop? Remember what I told you, that I have an anxiety issue?" Tony said, hating that he was showing this weakness to a kid instead of having Jess to help him through it.
He hadn't mentioned the anxiety attacks to her when they talked and now, he wished he had.
"Does this subject make you edgy?" The boy asked innocently.
"Yeah, a little bit. Can I just catch my breath for a second?"
"Are the bad guys in Rose Hill?" The boy pressed, making his deep breathing even harder. "Do you need, do you need a plastic bag to breathe into? Do, do, do you have medication?"
"Nope."
"Do you need to be on it?"
"Probably."
"Do you have PTSD?"
"I don't think so, but my girlfriend would know better than I would since she has it. God, why am I sharing that with you?"
"Are you going completely mental? I can stop. Do you want me to stop? Do you want me to stop—"
"Remember when I said to stop doing that?" Tony snapped, unable to keep his calm anymore as the panic rose. "I swear that you're gonna freak me out." He pushed himself up. "Ah, man, you did it, didn't you? You happy now?"
"What did I say?" The kid questioned as Tony took off in a run, though already out of breath he wasn't getting far. "Hey! Wait up! Wait! Wait!"
Tony fell back to the snow at the corner, wheezing. "H-How does Jess h-handle these?"
"What the hell was that?" The boy asked, as clueless as ever while Tony pressed handfuls of ice to his face to try and stop his skin from being overbearingly hot.
Tony threw the snow at the kid, calming down. "Your fault. You spazzed me out."
The kid smiled, obviously knowing what he'd done as Tony put back on his hat.
"Okay, back to business. Where were we? The guy who died. Relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis? Where is she?"
"Where she always is."
"See, now you're being helpful."
Tony had gotten lucky upon finding the man's mother inside the bar, but he could feel that something big was about to happen. The woman he ran into with the burn scars warned him as much and when he'd found out that Mrs. Davis had already been waiting for someone, that suspicion only grew. Then, of course, the woman returned and pinned him to the table and if he hadn't known any better, she was very much not who she said she was. So, being on the safe side as he was cuffed and tossed side so she could deal with the sheriff, he nodded for Mrs. Davis to hide the files she had before she got caught up in something too much to handle and just in time.
The woman glowed.
People screamed as she killed the sheriff and used another man's gun to kill more people, while Tony took that chance to rush outside and try to draw her attention away from the people fleeing.
"Hey, hot wings. You want to party? Come on. You and me. Let's go." He rushed away from her only to spot another very familiar face, glowing as he stepped out of a car.
Tony took off running as the man drew a gun, but the shot he fired missed thanks to Harley hitting him with a snowball. Tony threw himself through a window as the woman was accosted by another man with a firearm, only to take the weapon and aim it at Tony the moment he stood. Tony slid over a counter just in time to not get shot, cuffed hands now in front of him as the woman came closer. Except, she was quick and closer than he thought, grabbing him and smacking his head harshly on the wall before flipping him to the floor with a sadistic smirk.
He managed to flip them both onto their feet before he had him pinned and pressed her heated hands against his head. He was quick to react though, spinning her around and attempting to choke her with his cuffs only for her skin to melt the metal. Glad the cuffs were off, he rolled an open jug of cooking grease across the floor and used the remains of the heated cuffs to set it aflame, in an attempt to stop her. He knew it wouldn't do much, so had a back up plan just in case, taunting her.
"You walked right into this one. I've dated hotter chicks than you and the one I'm currently dating? Pft, please. You've got nothing on her."
"That all you got?" The woman smirked after tumbling through the flames. "A cheap trick and a cheesy one-liner?"
"Sweetheart, that could be the name of my autobiography."
Tony rushed out just as the dog tags in the microwave sparked and the entire kitchen went up in flames—the only thing protecting him being a freezer door just outside the building. He wobbled away, spotting the woman hanging from the powerlines, only for a loud crack to draw his attention to the suddenly falling water tower. He'd stopped one fiery woman, and now there was a guy he had to deal with. He dove desperately across a tree yard, but a fence stopped him and with the rush of water, he was soon trapped with his foot caught in a bit of twisted metal. And to make things worse? Harley had been caught by the guy too.
"Hey, kid? What would you like for Christmas?" The man joked; a heated arm wrapped tightly around Harley to hold him down.
"Mr. Stark, I am so sorry."
"No, no, no, no. I think he was trying to say, 'I want my goddamn file.'"
"It's not your fault, kid," Tony said, trying to get the kid to calm down for part C of his plan. "Remember what I told you about bullies?"
The kid's eyes widened, and he pulled out the part Tony had given him, closing his eyes and thrusting it towards the man holding him, blinding the guy and giving the kid a chance to run off.
"You like that, Westworld?" Tony mocked, trying to keep the man's attention on him. "That's the thing about smart guys, we always cover our ass."
Tony lifted his hand, aiming the thruster he'd been working on right at the man and firing it. The man flew back, and Tony quickly ripped off the useless thruster, prying himself out of the twisted metal as quickly as he could before the man could get up, reaching down and grabbing the car keys for the man before heading back to the bar to grab the files.
"You're welcome," the boy huffed when he came back out.
"For what? Did I miss something?"
"Me, saving your life."
"Yeah, A: saved you first. B: thanks, sort of. And C: if you could do someone a solid, don't be a yutz, all right? Just play it cool. Otherwise, you come off as grandiose. Girlfriend told me that. Good advice."
"Unlike you?" Harley mocked him. "Admit it. You need me. We're connected."
"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. Move out of the way or I'm gonna run you over. Bye, kid."
He couldn't risk someone that young getting hurt because of him. And as he thought of Jess and how many times she was going to risk her life because of him, he sighed and rolled down the window.
"I'm sorry, kid. You did good."
"So, now you're just gonna leave me here, like my dad?"
"Yeah…" Tony paused, seeing what the kid was doing. "Wait. You're guilt-tripping me, aren't you?"
"I'm cold," the boy pretended, and Tony joined in.
"I can tell. You know how I can tell? Cos we're connected." He drove off then, not wanting to see the kids' heartbroken face as he left because, despite that last moment between them, he knew the kid meant those words.
As he drove though, looking over those files, he nearly groaned at the obvious sitting right in front of him. A.I.M. Dammit, Jess.
"So? Explain," I said, grabbing a drink from the mini bar in the hotel where we were staying and taking a quick glance out the curtains.
"What happened? Fun fact. Before he built rockets for the Nazis, the idealistic Wernher von Braun dreamed of space travel."
I was only half-listening to Maya talk, suspicion having welled up in me about her and everything else. I was already out in the open thanks to the media at Tony's house. It was well-known that I was alive after the incident and if Aldrich was after revenge on Tony, then it was only common sense that he'd come for me too. I didn't want to be caught unawares. Taking Maya with me might have been a bad idea, but she was a valuable source of information, and I wasn't about to let that go. If she was a mole for Aldrich—which I was almost certain of—then he would be here soon, and I needed a plan of escape. Which is why I picked a room on only the second floor with a balcony facing the front, and haven't even tried to order room service. Anonymity or not, I can't trust anyone right now, let alone nosey hotel staff.
"See, we all begin wide-eyed. Pure science," Maya went on, not realizing that I wasn't really listening. "And then, the ego steps in, the obsession and… you look up… you're a long way from shore."
My gaze finally flicked back over to where she was seated on the bed.
"See, now Pepper might say you're being too hard on yourself, but I'm different than her," I said, giving the curtains another brief glance as I slid my fingers under it to ensure the latch to the sliding glass door was unlocked at the sight of a sleek black car out front. "I've been through some things, and I know better than to coddle people with kind words. You made a mistake, now you have to get over it, move on, and do your best to fix what you fucked up. Others can't do that for you. They can try, but in the end, it doesn't help you with whatever you're dwelling on. You chose to give your research to a think tank."
"Yeah, but Killian built that think tank on military contracts."
"And you had the option to back out then and there," I argued, frowning. "Don't go blaming him, when you're the only one accountable for your actions. Tony did the same thing with his company. He used his genius to make weapons for the military until he got the same wake-up call that you're having. And what did he do? He got up off his ass and did something about it without dragging Pepper or anyone else into it unless they chose to involve themselves. Pepper runs his company now, with no connection to his new side job as Iron Man. And I'm involved with him because I chose to involve myself. Now, you?" I stepped over towards her, not a shred of sympathy in my gaze as I eyed her surprised expression. "You need to do the same. You want out? You want to stop him? Then, get off your ass and do something. You have the tech, the brains, figure it out."
"You're… You're definitely not what I expected."
I rolled my eyes, eyes flickering to the door as someone knocked and called out about room service, hand reaching behind my back. "Yeah, again, I've been through some things and I've learned the hard way that relying on others isn't always the smartest decision. It's why Tony and I get along. Neither of us expects the other to get involved without asking first, and we both tend to handle things on our own. My psychiatrist had a field day trying to work with that. Now, you've got five seconds to either get the hell out of here and prove to me that you are at least the smallest bit trustworthy, or I'm not responsible for what happens next."
"W-What?"
"Five," I counted down, silently praising her on her clueless expression as the doorknob began to turn. "Four… Three… Two…"
Her eyes went wide as I pulled a gun out from the waistband of my pants and aimed it at the door as I stepped closer to it.
"One."
"Don't shoot!" She shouted, just as the door opened and a hand whipped out, Killian grabbing the barrel of the pistol and tearing it from my hands before slamming me against the wall with a hand on my throat.
I choked at the tight grip, attempting to pry his hand off me only to find him far stronger than humanly possible. He's altered himself somehow. A.I.M.?
"Hi, Jess," he hummed, looking over at Maya as she stood. "So, you want to tell me why you were at Stark's mansion last night?"
"I'm trying to fix this thing and I didn't know you and the master were gonna blow the place up."
"Oh, I see. So, you were trying to save Stark when he threatened us."
"I've told you, Killian, we can use him."
"C-Completely untrustworthy. A-As expected," I spat, glaring at her as my hand slipped back behind my back again—the other keeping up the pretense that I was struggling in Killian's hold.
Maya sent me a confused look—probably about why I took her with me if I knew she wasn't trustworthy—but continued. "Look, if we want to launch product next year, I need Stark. He just lacked a decent incentive. Now, he has one."
"Y-You're too obvious," I scoffed, cracking a smirk and making Killian frown.
"Obvious?"
I let his wrist go and waved my hand at Maya. "T-Talkative coworker, t-taking the weakest link hostage i-in order to draw T-T-Tony out. B-Basic bad guy m-moves. You w-watch too many movies."
Killian eyed me for a second, then looked to Maya. "What is she talking about?"
"I don't know. She's insane if you ask me."
"I-I told you," I growled. "I've been through some shit."
I then whipped out a switchblade and jabbed it into Killian's shoulder, enticing a cry of pain and allowing me to escape his grip and bolt for the balcony.
"You bitch!" He roared as I jumped over the balcony's edge, cringing at the strain it put on my shoulders to slow my descent and nearly rolling my ankle when I landed.
I took off running though, throwing myself into the nearest alleyway and doing what I could to lose any possible tails Killian would soon send after me. I knew I wouldn't last long. He had too many resources that I didn't have the slightest idea about and if he'd already started using A.I.M. to make superhumans, I knew I didn't stand a chance. My only option was to try and warn Tony and I was more than grateful that I'd asked Pepper for some time alone at Tony's in order to grab Tony's emergency phone—Jarvis included.
"Jarvis?" I panted into the receiver, pausing briefly to catch my breath behind a dumpster. "Get a hold of Tony, now."
"Miss Norris, I'm not sure he's—"
"Don't you joke with me, Jarvis. He's not stupid. He wouldn't leave me without some form of contacting him in an emergency and that's you. Every damn suit is connected to you, and even though it might not be flying, the first thing he'd fix is you. Now, contact him, or I'm making you a robotic body just so I can put Dum-E's dunce cap on it, make it wear a maid outfit, change its voice to an old English woman's and make it serve me like a slave."
"…Yes, miss."
AIs, honestly.
Tony drove down the road in the dark while on a call with Harley, who he'd managed to get his suit up and talking.
"Harley, tell me what's happening. Give me a full report."
"Yeah, I'm still eating that candy. Do you… Do you want me to keep eating it?"
"How much have you had?"
"Two or three bowls."
"Can you still see straight?"
"Sort of."
"That means you're fine. Give me Jarvis and don't tell my girlfriend I said that either. Goes for you too, Jarvis. How are we?"
Jarvis came through the phone then. "It's totally fine, sir. I seem to do quite well for a stretch, and then at the end of the sentence, I say the wrong cranberry."
Understanding the problem, albeit confused about it, Tony nodded to himself.
"And sir, you were right. Once I factored in available A.I.M. downlink facilities I was able to pinpoint the Mandarin's broadcast signal."
"What are we talking? Far East? Europe? North Africa? Iran, Pakistan, Syria? Where is it?" Tony asked, guessing based on the video footage he'd seen.
"Actually sir, it's in Miami."
"Okay, kid, I'm gonna have to walk you through rebooting Jarvis' speech drive, but not right now. Harley, where is he really? Just look on the screen and tell me where it is."
"Um, it does say Miami, Florida."
"Okay, first thing's first. I need the armor. Where are we at with it?"
"Uh, it's not charging."
Tony slammed on the breaks and pulled over, voice getting strained as his breath shortened.
"Actually, sir, it is charging, but the power source is questionable. It may not succeed in revitalizing Mark 42," Jarvis chimed in.
"What's questionable about electricity?" Tony snapped. "All right? It's my suit and I can't… I'm gonna… I don't wanna… Oh, God, not again."
"Tony?" Harley called out in concern as Tony got out of the car and leaned up against it on the ground, fighting to control his breathing. "Um, my-your computer says you have a call coming in. Are you having another attack?"
"A-A-A call? Impossible. From who."
"From Miss Norris, sir," Jarvis answered instead. "She was quite adamant I put her through."
"Oh, not now. T-This is a r-really bad time, Jarvis," Tony complained, clenching his fists and closing his eyes as he breathed heavily.
"I, uh… I answered it," Harley muttered apologetically.
"You what?" Tony hissed before Jess's voice came over the phone.
"Tony, that you? Listen, we've got a bit of a situation here."
"Jess, I think that much was obvious when my house was blown up," Tony grit out, earning a pause on the other end of the line.
"Tony, what's going on? What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong."
"He's having another attack," Harley piped up, making Tony scowl at the phone.
"Shut up, kid. I told you not to say anything."
"Hold on. An attack? Like an anxiety attack? About what? And what do you mean, another one?"
"He said it's because I said New York before, but I didn't even say it this time."
"Harley, I said shut it," Tony snapped, but Jess ignored his treatment of the boy for now.
"Right, I'm not even going to ask about the kid, but Tony we really should have talked about this before. If you're having anxiety attacks—"
"You're not sending me to some psycho nut-job to pick at my head."
"I never said I would, but it's something we need to discuss. What are you doing to handle it?"
"Nothing. Everything. Um, d-deep breathing exercises and frustration."
Jess sighed. "Okay, look. That doesn't always help. What set you off, do you know? Couldn't be New York this time around. So, what's doing it?"
"I don't know. We were just talking," he grumbled, though he was already beginning to feel a bit better just by speaking with Jess.
"We were talking about the suit," Harley chimed in again. "It said, um… It said it wasn't charging enough to get it moving."
"Oh, God, what am I going to do?" Tony murmured, and Jess came in again.
"You're going to do what you always do, Tony," she said calmly, trying to relax him and keep him from noticing the slight urgency in her tone as she spoke. "You're going to use that big head of yours, make something, and track this guy down. Although, I'm only assuming you know it's Killian behind all this?"
"Y-Yeah, but how did you…"
"While I may not be as clever as you, your little friend who showed up was very talkative. She mentioned working under him and believing Killian was working for the Mandarin. Then, go figure, Killian himself shows up at the hotel we're at, and she spills that she's trying to stop something, make some sort of patent of their research and use you to help them do it."
Tony sat up straighter. "Me?"
"Yes, you. You've got more brains than they do, so of course, they need you. There's just one problem. I may have upset him a bit."
Tony pushed himself up, worry beginning to fill him for Jess now. "What do you mean? What happened? You said Killian is there?"
"Was, past tense. He was hoping to do the whole evil villain thing. Kidnap the girl to draw out the hero or whatever, but I'm just a bit paranoid right now and it didn't quite work out well for him."
"Jess, what happened?" Tony emphasized.
"I may or may hot have threatened him with a gun and them stabbed him in the shoulder when he had me pinned to a wall."
"So cool," Harley murmured.
"Yeah, see the good thing is, I got away doing that. The bad thing is, I probably just pissed him off."
"Pissed him off? Jess, you stabbed him." Tony paused. "Good on you."
"Shut up, I know," she replied with a hint of a smile in her voice. "Bigger problem is, I doubt I've got much time left. I've got no resources and nowhere to go without endangering someone. I've just poked the proverbial bear who undoubtedly dabbled in his own project. I only have bits and pieces, but he's been making some sort of superhumans using the unused portion of the human brain and whatever Maya was studying."
"Cell regeneration," Tony explained simply, mind racing. "And you're right about the superhumans. I've already bumped into a couple. They're sort of… lava people? Super-heated skin and apparently, highly regenerative."
"Lucky me. But I just called to give you a heads up and to tell you not to do anything stupid because of me. They're going to get me, I know that, but I swear to God that if you fly down here without a foolproof plan to stop this guy because he has me, I'm going to make you watch as I paint every Iron Man suit pink and strut it around the world for everyone to see."
"Ew," Harley grumbled as Tony held the phone a bit tighter.
"I won't let them hurt you, Jess."
"You might not have a choice, and if you blame yourself, I'm going to find something much worse to torture you with than pink suits. Now, listen to me. I'm going to do my best, so I expect you to do the same. Don't let anything like some anxiety attack stop you from kicking this idiot's ass. You understand me?"
Tony cracked a smile. "Loud and clear."
"Good. I… I love—"
"Jess?" Tony called out, worry making his skin crawl as Jarvis replied.
"Her call was interrupted, sir, and the phone number is now unavailable."
"Shit," he cursed, remembering Harley was on the line. "Don't repeat any of those words around your mother, especially what Jess said."
"What happened? Is she in trouble?"
"Oh, more than that, buddy, and I've got a plan."