Ending of this kind of starts the beginning of "Avengers: Age of Ultron"
Tony and Rhodey had just infiltrated the oil tanker and spotted the president in the Iron Patriot suit hanging up above it all.
"He's strung up over the oil tanker. They're gonna light him up, man," Rhodey breathed out.
"Viking funeral. Public execution," Tony explained in understanding.
"Yeah, death by oil."
They rushed further into the ship, climbing up the stairs as Tony hesitated with the pistol he wielded. He'd used it before, but now Rhodey was calling the shots and without his suit, he was more than happy to follow, but had some obvious hesitations about going forward.
"Is your gun up?" Rhodey asked, making Tony snap it back up.
"Yup. What do I do?"
"Stay on my six, cover high and don't shoot me in the back."
"Six, high, back. All right," Tony replied, the two of them ducking out of the way as someone spotted them and fired off shots.
Tony fired back, emptying his clip and hitting nothing but the edge of the light that was near the guard.
"You see that? Nailed it."
Rhodey shot him a look. "Yeah, you really killed the glass."
"You think I was aiming for the bulb? You can't hit a bulb at this distance."
Just to prove him wrong, Rhodey leaned forward and shot out the light bulb.
"I'm out. Give me, give me, give me—You got extra magazines?"
"They're not universal, Tony," Rhodey sighed with a roll of his eyes. How is this man a genius hero again?
"I know what I'm doing, I make this stuff. Give me another one. One of yours."
"I don't have one that fits that gun."
"You've got like, five of them," Tony argued, before giving up and turning. "Here's what I'm gonna do. Save my spot. Ready?" He poked his head over the top quickly.
"What'd you see?"
"Too fast. Nothing. Here we go." Tony poked his head over again, slower, and spotting the people spreading out over the ship. "Three guys, one girl, all armed."
Rhodey and he both poked over the top and aimed their guns, except it was painfully obvious how outmatched they were and Rhodey groaned.
"God, I would kill for some armor right now."
"You're right. We need backup."
"Yeah, a bunch."
Tony began to smile then. "You know what?" He nodded at the incoming light in the distance and Rhodey gave him a disbelieving look as not just one, but every Iron Man suit Tony had made came flying over.
"Is, is, is that…"
"Yup."
"Are those…"
"Yeah. Merry Christmas, buddy. Jarvis, target Extremis heat signatures. Disable with extreme prejudice."
"Yes, sir," Jarvis replied through all the suits.
"What are you waiting for? It's Christmas." Tony spread his arms after signing a cross over his chest. "Take them to church."
The suits began to fight, one getting defeated and causing the crane they were on to shake.
"Jarvis, get Igor to steady this thing."
The largest, most reinforced suit rushed under the crane and steadied it as Rhodey gave Tony a disbelieving look.
"This is how you've been managing your downtime, huh?"
"Everybody needs a hobby. Some of these are Jess's designs though, I just put them together."
"You're kidding. She made a suit?"
Tony grinned. "I only take the best. Heartbreaker, help Red Snapper out, will you?" He suggested, sending a suit to help out one who was struggling with a few of the men on its back.
The resulting explosion of the suit crashing into a dozen oil drums sent debris flying. Namely, into the container area holding Killian and Jess. Tony summoned a suit and stepped back into it with a smile.
"Nice timing."
"Oh, yeah. That's awesome. Give me a suit, okay?" Rhodey asked, bouncing on his feet eagerly.
"Oh, I'm sorry. They're only coded to me. I've been meaning to make Jess coded too, but…"
"What's that mean?"
"I've got you covered."
Rhodey frowned as he took off, only for another suit to land in front of him.
"Good evening, Colonel. Can I give you a lift?" Jarvis asked, grabbing him and flying him off.
"Very funny."
As the suits fought, Jarvis chimed into Tony's suit.
"Sir, I've located Miss Norris."
"About time," Tony said, following the directions and stepping into the room where she'd been.
He went to move some metal that hovered over her, only for it to shift and her to shout at him.
"Stop! Put it down, you dolt! Put it down!"
Tony lowered it and leaned down, faceplate flipping up. "See what happens when you hang out with my ex-girlfriends."
Jess shot him a look. "Don't you start. I knew she was suspicious from the get-go and would have been fine if Killian wasn't all superhuman. God, you're such a jerk," she muttered, sagging slightly and out of breath as he reached out.
"Yeah, we'll talk about it over dinner."
"W-Where's Killian?" Jess asked, reaching for him.
"Don't worry about that, just reach."
Jess stopped. "No, no, no. You find him, and you find him now, before he comes after you. I'll be fine."
"Jess, we're not going to argue this right now."
"You idiot! He was in this room! He could be here right now! This is a trap! You need to go! Go, now!"
Tony went to argue further, only for a heated hand to punch through the floor below Tony and paw at his chest piece. Killian pulled himself out of the ground, giving Jess a look.
"Is this guy bothering you?"
"You piece of s-shit," Jess snarled, eyes flaring crimson before fading as she grimaced and Killian advanced on Tony's prone form.
"Don't get up," Killian said, sitting on Tony's chest and taking a heated finger to just above his chest piece. "Ooh, is it hot in there? Stuck? Do you feel a little stuck? Like a little turtle cooking in his little turtle suit."
"Tony," Jess muttered, slowly pawing her way towards them.
"She's watching. I think you should close your eyes. Close your eyes," Killian said. "Close your eyes. You don't want to see this."
Killian reared back an arm to attack Tony, but a blade snapped out of Tony's wrist and sliced off his hand, making the man groan in pain and get up.
"Yeah, you take a minute."
The severed limb melted through the floor, dropping Jess down further as she cursed, half-hanging until the platform she'd landed on began to move. Tony had fallen to the ground outside and ditched his damaged suit, seeing Jess's situation and quickly running to try and get to her. He was chased for maybe half a second before the guy was dragged off by another suit, and he turned his attention back to Jess as she clung to a pipe and eyed the end of the track that the platform was heading too.
"Jarvis, give me a suit, right now!" Tony demanded, rushing after her as she neared the edge.
The first suit that he had almost jumped into was shot away last minute and he groaned as he continued to run.
"Oh, come on!"
I cursed, trying to will up the heat gain and cringing in pain. Something was changing again. I'd been able to control the heat minutely for a while, but when I was knocked out of the restraints, I'd immediately felt my energy zapped. Now? It was slow going. I was trying to nudge it towards the piece of metal that had my lower half pinned to the platform, but my head ached, and my vision swam. It was as if I had the worst fever imaginable and was trying to run a marathon on top of that. Then, I saw Tony.
"Jess, I got you. Relax, I got you."
Again, I had to ask. "K-Killian?"
"I have to focus on you right now, Jess. There's no time."
I groaned. "Tony, you have to deal with him first or he's going to keep interfering!"
"Jess, I can't reach any further and you can't stay there. All right?" He called out, hand reaching out for me from a few feet away. "You've got to let go. You've got to let go! I'll catch you, I promise!"
I hesitated, feeling the heat doing it's work on the metal and giving me the chance to let go if I wanted to. And just as I chose to reach out for him, something snapped overhead, flipping me off the container and throwing me downward.
"No!" Tony shouted, trying to grab my hand and just barely missing as I was sent falling to the fiery boat below.
Tony landed back on a safe platform, mind stuck on the image of Jess falling to her death even as Killian stepped up to join him.
"A shame. I would've caught her," the man said, making Tony's furious gaze latch onto him as all that anger built up in him.
They ran at each other and Killian aimed a punch, but Tony slid underneath him and into a suit that appeared for him to step into. The two began to fistfight; Tony landing hard hits and Killian stripping bits of the suit off him before shoving him down a level. Killian when to slam a heated fist through his chest, but Tony was quick and ejected, getting caught by another suit before he could hit the ground. He then grabbed Killian, bringing him up to another level as the man superheated himself even more—picking up speed and hitting Tony harder than before. Tony was nearly punched off the platform, only to use his thrusters to stay up and land even more hits on Killian.
Killian grabbed his leg, cutting it off, but not before Tony could get his actual foot out of the suit. More punches were exchanged before Killian flipped him to the ground, preventing him from firing off a shot with a smirk.
"Well, here we are, on the roof."
Killian went to cut him in half, but the eject saved Tony again, dropping him down a level, but Tony spotted a light heading in.
"Mark 42 inbound."
"Well, I'll be damned. The prodigal son returns," Tony murmured, only for the suit to crash into part of the railing and crumble to pieces. "Whatever."
"You really didn't deserve her, Tony," Killian mocked him. "It's a pity. I was so close to having her perfect. Though I must say, it's a bit curious of you to chose someone like her. The intelligence, I understand, but her looks? I thought you were more into the busty blondes."
Killian landed on the same level as Tony, who hastily held out his hands.
"Okay, okay. Wait, wait, wait. Slow down, slow down! You're right. I don't deserve her. Here's where you're wrong. She was already perfect. She was gorgeous. And if you didn't see that within the first few minutes of knowing her, then I'm sorry. You don't deserve to even think about her."
Tony pointed at Killian, sending the scattered bits of his suit at the man and pinning him to a wall.
"Jarvis, do me a favor and blow Mark 42."
"No!" Killian shouted before the faceplate muffled him and Tony slid down a support beam as the suit blew Killian up.
Tony jumped then, as it began to crumble even more, landing in a suit that wasn't entirely complete and bouncing off the hard steel of the ship. He managed to somehow land mostly safe on the deck of the ship as debris landed around him, the head of Mark 42 landing not two feet away. His hearts raced, fearing Killian was still in there and able to regenerate somehow, but the faceplate fell off to reveal emptiness and he relaxed for maybe half a second. There was the sound of metal groaning and a grunt, drawing his attention to said man as he stumbled out of the burning wreckage of the crane. Tony couldn't believe the man was still alive after all that, trying to crawl back as the stumbling charred man wandered closer.
"No more false faces," Killian hissed. "You said you wanted the Mandarin, well you're looking right at him. It was always me, Tony. Right from the start. I am the Mandarin!"
Then, a steel beam slammed into his face, knocking him back. Jess stood there out of breath and skin glowing red, leaving Tony sitting on the floor in shock.
"I've got nothing."
A suit flew over then, and Tony realized something worrisome. Jess had Extremis. His suits were told to destroy anything with that heat signature. Oh no.
"Jarvis, subject at my 12 o'clock is not a target. Disengage!"
But his earpiece was on the ground and Jess dodged a blast from the Iron Man suit with a glower at Tony.
"What? What are you mad at me?" Tony questioned as she headed over, fearing for what she'd do while capable of frying him in seconds.
She bounced off his knee though, slamming a fist through the Iron Man suit that flew overhead and slamming it to the ground. She then shoved her arm in the suit and used the metal fist to knock back an advancing Killian. A large bullet skid across the ground, catching her eye and she kicked it at Killian before using a blast from the suit to destroy the man all with an air of thinly veiled annoyance.
"Honey?" Tony called out cautiously, drawing her attention to him and he could see how it took her a second to get a hold of herself and realize where she was and what had happened.
"That was… v-violent," she muttered, giving the roaring flame that used to be Killian a glance and looking back to Tony.
"You just scared the devil out of me," Tony said with a shake of his head. "I thought you were…"
"Dead, why? Because I fell 200 feet?" She huffed, running a hand through her soot-covered hair. "I feel like shit."
"Same, though I think the scale of who's more of a hot mess is tipping your way a little bit. Why don't you dress like this at home, hm? Sports bra, the whole deal."
Jess sent him a glare, clad in only a pair of slim-fit jeans and a sports bra, and looking ready to set him on fire. "If you come near me to try and coddle me right now, I will turn you to ash."
Tony cracked a slight smirk, getting up and approaching her anyway. "No, you won't."
"I will."
"Won't." He took her hand, eyeing her. "See? Not hot."
Jess gave him a look, calming down but still uncertain. "I can set people on fire now."
"Yeah."
"Is that going to be okay?"
"No. You're in a relationship with me. Everything will never be okay," Tony joked, earning a small smile in return. "But if you want, I think I can figure out a way to get you back to normal. I almost had this twenty years ago when I was drunk. I think I can get you better. That's what I do. I fix stuff."
"Like your fifty suits?" Jess teased in return.
"Well, I think I can shave them down a little bit. Jarvis, hey," he called out, tapping his earpiece.
"All wrapped up here, sir. Will there be anything else?"
"You know what to do."
"The Clean Slate Protocol, sir?"
Tony hesitated and Jess reached out but paused before taking his sleeve instead of grabbing his arm—still unsure about her abilities.
"You don't have to do this, Tony. I don't mind the suits. They're you."
Tony raised a brow. "So, I can keep them?"
Jess winced. "A-A couple? I don't mind a couple, but you're at what? Forty-seven?"
"Forty-two."
"Right. That's… That's a bit much."
He smiled, pulling her into an embrace and watching as a majority of his suits began to explode.
"I'm sorry," Jess murmured in his ear and he lightly shook his head, kissing her temple and just feeling glad that she was safe.
"Don't. I've got all their blueprints at home. I can just remake them."
Jess lightly smacked his back with a choked-up chuckle, coercing a smile out of him again.
"And I'll tell you what. We'll make all the new ones together. A pair, like before since I'm pretty sure yours blew up when the helicopters destroyed the house. And anything mine can do, so can yours. Although, I'm warning you now, the implants are a bit painful." He paused. "Okay, so far? You like it?"
"Better than the rabbit."
Tony had been working on getting my firepower sorted out, struggling with it a bit and convinced that getting drunk again would help him get the last bit of the equation down, before I stopped him. I didn't mind the whole firepower thing, explaining to him that it wasn't so bad since I could control it for the most part. He still wasn't convinced but came up with a solution that worked for the both of us. An inhibitor was placed just above my heart, managing the heat so that it would be impossible for me to end up like the other men and women who had been turned into bombs. I could still take hold of these hidden abilities when I needed to, but otherwise, I was just as normal as I was before—other than a slight base temperature increase.
And it worked out for Tony too, who had almost backtracked on his promise to get me better skills to protect myself. This gave me something to keep me safe should I not have a suit, and after some doing, he set me up on a training regimen too, in order to get the skills I needed to be able to use these abilities to the best that I could.
In turn, he chose to finally have the surgery that would remove the shrapnel constantly trying to kill him. Once recovered, he drove me back to our destroyed mansion to pick up what few things he could get from the basement—including a nearly wreck Dum-E that I insisted upon—and from there we proceeded to move into the Avenger's building he'd set up to give Bruce somewhere safe to live and do his research. Bruce, of course, hadn't been thrilled to become Tony's sounding board, but balanced him out enough that Bruce didn't go insane.
Thing was, Tony and I weren't being idle. Tony was working his hardest to get the building set up with the latest tech for S.H.I.E.L.D when they summoned the Avengers again, and I had proposed my own idea that he had put me in charge of. So, while Tony tinkered—with help from myself and Bruce—I created a new business: Damage Control and Insurance. Tony always said I looked at the small details, and upon losing our house due to a firefight, I realized that we'd done that to so many just by fighting as supposed heroes. I knew it wouldn't look good if the heroes weren't viewed as such by the rest of the people, so I quit my job working with Pepper to peruse this.
A clean-up crew to pick up after our messes safely in conjunction with S.H.I.E.L.D. but monitored by myself, Tony, Bruce and Thor (who knew more about alien tech than we ever could). And then an insurance company that wouldn't charge an arm and a leg in order to protect people's livelihoods when a superhuman goes plowing through their apartment or causes physical damage while trying to keep people safe. It was hard to get started, but Tony—who knew more about business than I did—was quick to help once he understood what I was doing and how it could help. I had to be careful though. As much money as Tony had, I was doing what I could to not rely on his funding and running a business without being fully healthy myself (I still had flareups on occasion that he and Bruce were trying to work out a solution to) things weren't going to be easy. And it only got worse when the nightmares returned.
Loki's staff, a woman engulfed in red, so much fighting, and a jewel. A jewel that burned like the sun and saw through the smallest of defenses. One nearly human and one not human enough. Merging, twisting into something new. And the anger that spread through the people. Time and time again the dreams woke me up, never fading but leaving me with more questions than I could answer and telling Tony wasn't an option, because I was beginning to understand what they were, and I feared what telling anyone would do.
I'm an unknown factor that could save or destroy everyone just by merely existing.
And when Fury called to get everyone together to go on a mission to get Loki's scepter from a research facility, it was like a rock settled in my gut. Everyone's lives were on me.