Tony pulls up his mask, Rhody, who had been kidnapped for the suit as well, following in with a gun of his own.
"Tony," Brie breathes, a tired smile spreading across her face. His heart jumps at the sight of her, both in fear and relief. He hurries to her, suit clacking with every step.
"Ma'am, you need to leave," James tells Trice.
"No. That's my sister," she says. Tony turns at the word.
"Get her out of here. I've got Brie," he says. Trice furrows her eyebrows at him.
It was Iron Man. She wasn't going to argue.
Before leaving with James, she picked up a tranquilizer shot from the tray, shoving it into her lab-coat pocket in case of necessity.
Tony walks and stands across Brie. His brows furrow, and heart clenches at the sight of her. "My god…what did they do to you?" he whispers in despair, feeling guilt flood his senses for not getting to her sooner.
She looked pale, tired, sick. Seeing her before, and seeing her now, it broke him, bad.
But soon, frustration clouded his judgment. He could only see red, and he would insure it spilled.
Brie chuckles dismissively, it coming out quite soar. "Nothing I can't handle," she says. Tony's eyes soften on her, admiring her every sense of strength and determination.
He turns to her cuffs, ripping them off carefully and furiously. She watches him contently, feeling her heart jump with every passing second of acknowledgment for his presence.
Though she hadn't wanted him to come, she'd never been happier to see anyone in her life.
She falls into his arms, completely off balance, moaning in pain. "I gotcha," he tells in assurance, gently holding her up. He scoops her off her feet.
Mere minutes ago, she'd though herself a goner. She'd thought she'd finally taken it far enough to get herself killed. She knew she moved fast, sometimes thoughtlessly, and on impulse.
She regret nothing though. She would do it all again for her sister.
But that wasn't enough to keep the fear of losing her life at bay.
And then here he was,
her knight in shining armor.
Her eyes lock with his once more. "My hero," she smiles happily. Tony's heart races at the words, at the way she eyed him, and couldn't help his own smile from spreading.
"Come on, angel. Let's get you outta here," he calls, causing her to rejoice at the name.
Her heavy head falls onto his chest as he starts walking out and into open grounds.
She winces at the sun's sudden light, hiding her face into him, and he subconsciously tightens his grip on her as if protectively.
"Easy now. I gotcha. I got you," he tells, attempting to calm her as well as himself. It works like magic.
In the distance, Rhody and Trice lead the way to a speedboat Tony remembered Trevor telling him about. Him and Rhody had also found Brie's location from him. And the fact that Killian had plans for the vice president, somewhere along the coast.
That was where Rhodes was set. Tony had other priorities though, like insuring that the woman in his arms was well and fine.
They enter the boat. "We going sailing?" Brie asks him humorously, causing the Stark to smirk despite the circumstances.
Tony lied her inside on one of the long, leather seats. Rhody took the wheel, and Trice hurried to her sibling's side in concern, looking her over for signs of trouble, eyes watering at the heavy relief of her being okay after having seen her tortured first-hand.
Tony removes his helmet completely, needing air. "How is she?" he asks Trice worriedly, who held Brie's face in her hands.
"She's okay, but the procedure wore her down bad," Trice says warily.
"I feel fine," Brie says firmly, pushing her sister's hands aside. She felt anything but fine, but the Smith was quite stubborn. Rhody scoffs from upfront.
"You sure as hell don't look fine," he states.
Tony had told him, as he'd told Snow, Loki, and Banner, of Brie. But for her to be here, involved in the current situation, Rhody didn't quite get that.
Brie glares at James irritably. "Rhody, right?" she asks knowingly. James looks over his shoulder at her, grinning.
"What gave me away?" he inquiries curiously.
"You don't wanna know," she smirks mischievously, causing the Stark to grin admirably. Trice dismisses the conversation, more focused on the current situation.
Rhody turns to Tony. "She's good," he smirks as if in praise. Tony smiles proudly, then turns to her as Trice eyes them curiously.
"Damn right, she is," he notes firmly. Brie cocks an amused eyebrow at him, suppressing a blush at his tone and the look in his eyes. Trice smiles knowingly.
"Not that this isn't super cute," she says in light sarcasm. Brie glares irritably at her. Tony turns to her as if just noting she was there. Rhody smirks. "But did you guys get Killian?" she asks seriously.
Tony and Rhody share a look. "No. We didn't," Tony says in disappointment. "But we're going to," he says firmly. Determination lights in Brie's eyes.
"First, though, we gotta warn the vice president," Rhody states. Brie turns to him.
"About what?" she asks.
"Well, we were told, by a trusted source," Tony starts reluctantly. Rhody scoffs at 'trusted source'.
"'Trusted'. The guy's as mad as a hatter," he notes irritably.
"Who?" Trice asks.
"The Mandarin," Tony replies. They turn to him in shock, all but James. "Turns out, he was just an actor. Killian's behind the whole thing," he explains.
The girls take a moment to process. Frustration rises in Brie's chest, and Trice's heart clenches in fear.
"Speaking of Killian, miss Smith," Tony turns to Trice. She cocks an eyebrow at him. "Care to explain what you were doing when we found you?" he tells, a tone of distrust evident in his voice, causing Brie to turn to her sister, whose eyes went wide, suspiciously.
Rhody listens in from behind the wheel, looking at them over his shoulder momentarily.
Trice's heart falls heavy with guilt. She inhales sharply, leaning out of her seat, getting ready to explain. "The formula to the Extremis is faulty. I worked to perfect it when I thought we were actually helping people, and I eventually did. But when I realized what was really happening, he locked me up, and demanded I give up the formula. I refused, and he kept me in a cell for the past…two weeks, I guess," she tells in shame.
The three across her take this information in.
They understand.
Trice turns to Brie. "I'm sorry, Brie. I never meant for any of this to happen," she tells, eyes watering and voice cracking. Brie shakes her head firmly, taking hold of her sister's light face.
"It' not your fault. It's not your fault," she assures, pulling her into her arms.
Brie and Trice were close since childhood. Brie was the older by three years. They were both very bright, worked incredibly well in school.
Life happened and they drifted apart, but not too far apart.
Tony smiles happily at their reunion. "Tony," Rhody calls from upfront. Tony walks towards him. "We kinda have to figure out this vice president thing, like, fast," he says. Tony nods understandingly.
"On it."
Tony calls the vice, warning him about the Mandarin. The vice thanks him and Rhody for the warning, and says he would handle it.
"What now?" Rhody asks.
Suddenly, they get a call from the government, demanding an explanation from James Rhodes about the attack on air force one, where the president him freaking self was boarded!
Shocked, the four note the Iron Patriot armor flying off from near a plane high above them. The plane itself seemed to be in dismay.
Somehow, they had to get up there. Tony charges forward.
"Tony! No!" Brie yells, snatching his arm. He turns to her irritably. "You go up there, you're as good as dead. I fought them hand to hand. With my suit. Their powers aren't something we can fight face on," she tells seriously.
Tony considers her words carefully. His eyes then light up. "I have an idea," he says. Tony exits the suit, suddenly two inches from Brie's face, causing her to take a few steps back as he rushed to his mask, ripping something from it somewhat carefully. "Come with me," he beckons Brie, opening the door to the lower deck and entering. She follows suspiciously.
"Can I help?!" Trice calls after them.
"No!" Tony replies, closing the door behind them.
"God, I hope they're not making out," Rhody states, quite seriously. Trice widens her eyes at him as if in realization, but then Tony's suit assembles and flies off, demonstrating the Stark's and Smith's actions indoors.
XXXXX
Inside.
"Brie, get the lights," Tony tells. Though still confused, she hurries to comply.
The room goes pitch-black; the only light came from the headset Tony had on as he sat on a chair nearby with a table across it.
"Jarvis, get us into the plane," Tony tells.
"Yes, sir," Jarvis replies as Brie goes to stand behind the Stark.
He wasn't entirely sure why he asked her to follow. He just wanted her there with him.
She watches, in amazement, images flicker across Tony's eyes. The sky. The plane. The heat signature Jarvis had targeted as an Extremis bearer, the source of the problem.
Brie watches Tony shove Iron Man's hand into the plane's form, targeting it on the mercenary to the side and blasting.
"Nice," she grins, rubbing her hands together in excitement.
"Yeah?" he grins back, focusing his eyes once more.
He then flies back out and enters from a large gap. He charges at the man from behind, using his boots to fly the man into the opposite wall. "Ooh, that's gotta hurt!" Brie says happily, subconsciously placing her hands on the Stark's shoulders. He doesn't mind.
Tony turns the man to face him, aiming a gloved hand at his face. "The president!" he speaks through.
The man wears a smug look on his face. He flashes Iron Man a smile, and remains his silence. "Now," Tony growls threateningly.
"Oh no," Brie utters warily. Tony furrows his eyebrows at her words.
"He's not here," the man replies.
"Tony, give me the set. Give it to me!" she tells.
Panicking, Tony does not have time to argue, madly worried by her yelling. "Wha-Okay! Okay!" he tells as she takes it from his head and places it onto hers.
She blasts the man's hand that was just about to grip hers and melt it off! The hand falls as the man screams in pain, and Tony's eyes widen as he rises to stand behind her.
"I won't ask again!" she yells at the mercenary. She stands against him, who had fallen to the ground, clenching his severed arm.
He does not reply, but attempts to punch at her knee. She side-steps him, and evades as he waves his growing-again arm wrathfully.
He tries another punch. She grabs his fist, and head-bumps him.
"Oof!" Tony exclaims in utter amusement. Brie grins.
"Where is he?!" she demands again.
"At the docks!" the man yells. She stops. "But it's too late," he smirks, rising to his feet once more.
Brie stomps to finish him,
but then,
he pulls out a detonator.
She freezes. "You know," he starts, "pigs don't really fly."
And before she could act,
he releases the button.
A charade of screams sounds from behind.
Tony gives the command, and Jarvis fires the suit's heart at the man, striking him right in the chest, leaving a nice hole behind as the man fell alas.
Brie flies out towards the screaming. She charges at the door, smashing it to see the last of the passengers get sucked into the gap and out into the sky. "Shit," she utters.
She storms after them, only to be presented with a mad sight of people scattered in the air, like stars, and falling fast.
"Okay, gimme," Tony tells, putting his hands out. Brie hurriedly takes the piece off and hands it to him.
"All yours, handsome," she tells, as worried and panicked as he was.
"How many in the air?!" he asks Jarvis.
"Thirteen, sir," Jarvis replies.
"How many can we carry?"
"Four."
Tony zooms down, grabs one of the passengers. Eyeing around, he is uncertain what to do.
Brie suddenly jumps up and down beside him, eyes wide. "Oh! Oh! Make them hold hands! Make them link hands!" she exclaims.
"Yeah! Okay!" Tony agrees, adrenaline flying about the room.
After a very long five-minutes, all thirteen passengers had linked hands, literally mere feet away from the ocean.
And when close enough, Tony dipped them safely into the waters.
"Yes!" Brie beams happily. Tony grins.
He praises the passenger for good work, and glimpses the sight of a truck just before they abruptly lost signal.
It takes the two a moment to process what had happened. "Well, that was unexpected," Tony utters.
Tony removes the set. The door bursts open, Rhody and Trice on the other side, crouched down, staring at them. "Give me some good news, man," James says worriedly.
"He got them," Brie nods in relief, grinning.
"Oh, thank god," Trice sighs.
"We," Tony stresses, turning to Brie, "got them," he smiles softly. Brie fights the incredible urge to kiss him then and there.
The other two smirk knowingly at them. Then Rhody furrows his eyebrows. "Did you get the president?" he asks. They turn to him, momentarily taking in the question. They glance worriedly at one another.
"No, we didn't," Tony replies in disappointment.
"He wasn't even there," Brie states as fact. Rhody nods, listening.
"They must have taken him in the suit," he says, referring to the Iron Patriot.
Him and Trice move as Tony and Brie climb back up. "We do know that they're headed to the docks," Tony tells encouragingly. Rhody nods contently.
"Okay. Good," he retorts, taking the wheel once more. "Where do we drop off the ladies?" he asks.
Trice is relieved to hear that alas.
Brie however.
She widens her eyes in utter shock.
"Excuse me?!" she questions. Tony exhales tiredly.
"This is why I do the talking," he tells Rhody, who shrugs in confusion. Brie turns to Tony, more so shocked.
"You're kidding me, right? I'm coming with you," she says firmly, stepping towards him.
"Brie. You've been injected with an unstable serum. You're in no condition to fight," he tries as nicely as possible. She stares at him as if seeing an alien. Her sister preaches in.
"He's right, Brie. It's too risky," she says. Brie glares at her to shut up. She does, though Trice doesn't believe her sister was being serious.
"Hey," Tony calls softly. Brie reluctantly turns to him. "This was about saving your sister. You did that. Let me do the rest," he tells softly.
"Saving my sister?! The man who kidnapped her is still out there! The only way I'd call it 'saving' is if he was dead," she retorts grimly.
From behind Brie, Trice stares at Tony, waving a needle at him in hint.
A small part of him deduces what she held.
A tranquilizer.
Brie wouldn't back down. He knew, and it seemed her sister did too.
He needed to distract her.
"Brie-"
"It's too…dangerous," she whispers in sudden despair, taking another step towards him for emphasize, as if pleading him not to go alone.
And he could see, she was scared.
She was scared for him.
Tony's gaze softens on her.
And it was as if, all of a sudden, he was put in the same position she was in back at the barn.
He couldn't talk her down. He didn't want to even. Didn't want to anger or upset her.
Tony's heart pinches, and, instinctively, reaches out to caress her check.
She eyes him in such impossible admiration as he neared her face, softly locking lips with hers.
Her lips move against his instantly, and yearningly, heart hammering madly in her chest.
Tony slipped his arm around her waist, holding tightly as she rested her arms against his chest.
He'd never wanted not to do something as much as he didn't want to do this to her.
Using his other hand, he pulled her hair to one side, hands numbing at its softness.
With a clear target on her neck, Trice steps forward, piercing her sibling's neck with the needle.
Brie moans in sudden pain. Almost instantly, she feels heavy headed.
She pulls back from Tony, who still held her firmly, an apology held behind his glossy eyes. "I'm sorry," he tells her.
Sadness flashes against her eyes before they shut, and she went limp in his hold.
Her head fell back, but he held it, scooting to lay her on the couch as the others eyed the situation grimly, none speaking a word.
Rhody called in a hotel and reserved a room. They parked. Trice called a cab. Tony carried Brie's sleeping form into it. It drove off with the Smiths, and the Stark and Rhodes set off on the boat, going after Killian.
XXXXXXXXXX