Chapter 47 – No More Jericho

A/N – I think I've had more nice things said about this story than about anything else that I've done in my entire life and it feels amazing so much love to those who review although I love everyone who reads this :)

youwannabekate: I always love it when Toni/y does something that shows that they aren't in it for the style of the thing and they are just getting a job done so I love that section too. Yeah me too and I would probably do more than simply brag :D Have another BAMF Toni scene.

nessa11997: You're welcome :)

babyliss12: Yeah me neither and I'm writing her :D I am really glad you liked it and the wait is over!

XxxBellaBellaxxX: Don't be worried because Toni kicking ass is supposed to make you smile because it's epic. And I would be running scared if someone did that to me and I consider myself fairly brave.

LaNaturalBreezeOf-Books: I'm glad you liked the badass song :D I will join in the Go Toni chant :)

Post U Later: I'm glad you think that Steve would think that in that situation because that is my own opinion on the subject that he only condones. BAMF!Toni is my favourite :D

Dragones: I'm so glad that you think it's still getting better even though we're quite far along in the plot now.

maipigen: I'm glad that the change didn't affect your feelings about that scene as it makes me feel good about how I'm writing it. The Enchantress does seem to have made a big mistake hasn't she? :D

Frostfire613: It is taking me longer than I thought but with all the potential for commentary and personal issues. Up next is IM2 because it just makes sense to do it like that especially since time wise both of the other films at least partially took place after Toni's fights.

Harm Marie: I'm glad.

"Well I wasn't about to endanger the lives of the citizens that I just saved was I," Toni told him although it wasn't in an unkind tone for she knew that he had been complimenting her, "besides in a way I didn't have the right to deal with him because he did far more damage to their lives than he did to mine no matter how much of an impact he had on me as a person. Those people would have had their entire lives torn apart and in a way that would have been worse than being killed by them."

Clint and Natasha both muttered an agreement to this statement knowing from their choice of career and the things that they had seen whilst on missions that were far worse than dying would be. Death wasn't something that a spy/assassin feared. It was the torture and the loss of people that you had grown close to that you really feared which is why you weren't supposed to make friends in their profession. You weren't even supposed to like someone beyond the amount that you needed to so that you were able to cooperate with them. Well in that aspect both of them had failed; for a start they had gotten way too close to each other in Budapest for the liking of their superiors but it ended up making them a better team so no official complaints were filed against them and they weren't separated. They had made other connections over the years but the one that had infuriated Fury the most was when Natasha appeared to have made a connection with Toni Stark. Who was a force that he was finding impossible to control and use for his every whim because she was so independent by nature. He truly believed that Toni would bring down one of his best Agents and of course was thrilled when Natasha's 'report' seemed to reflect her in a negative light. This was why Natasha knew that he was to this day baffled by the fact that the pair was so close and got on so well. He didn't understand how Natasha could have written those things about her and the truth of course was that she hadn't. Not that she would ever tell Fury that because she knew that Toni used her hidden personality to get one up on Fury all the time. Of course they might not encounter each other as often now that the Avengers were cutting all ties with SHIELD.

The Mark III suit cut through the Afghanistan sky with ease as Toni arced away from Gulmira searching for the stash of her weapons that the Ten Rings was coveting. Especially the Jericho missiles they had been given through Obadiah's double dealing.

"I still really want a go," Clint said in awe of how gracefully the suit could move through the air when it was basically made out of a giant hunk of metal. He knew that it was streamlined and every single piece of it was designed to perfection. But all he could see when he looked at it was something that shouldn't be possible and couldn't be replicated in the exact same way by anyone but Toni. And certainly couldn't have been invented by anyone else because the imitations were only possible because Toni had come up with the idea first.

"I don't really give out my suits anymore," Toni said quietly, "not even for one flight."

Sensing that this was for a reason Clint decided not to push the matter. He had the distinct feeling that it was a trust issue and knew that he didn't know Toni well enough yet that he was able to sense which issues to push on and which to leave alone. Hence the default position had to be to let issues go unless you felt really passionately about the subject. Plus Toni had her guard up even more around him than she did around the others since he had witnessed her at what was possibly the lowest point she had ever let anyone see her at. Although he suspected that even that moment hadn't showed everything Toni had to hide from the world.

Her targeting system had just identified a batch of Jericho missiles that she had to take out when a projectile collided with the side of the suit and knocked her out of the sky.

The synchronised gasp that came from the room would almost have been comical if the situation hadn't been so serious. Maybe later they'd be able to laugh at these moments of complete synchronicity but a scene like that wasn't to be made light of.

"I didn't really think anything could take that suit out of the sky," Phil said amazed that the suit had gone down after a single hit.

"For a start that was the Mark III and what hit me back then wouldn't take down the later versions of the suit that I almost always fly now. I only use the older versions when the others are a complete wreck and are beyond my abilities to repair with the materials I have available at the time," Toni told them, "but yes precise hits can take down the older ones. Obviously the aim and targeting was good enough to score a direct hit."

The explosion of dust that resulted from the impact of Toni with the ground was huge displacing a giant cloud that flew up into the air clearly marking her position.

"That makes you a huge target," Steve said concerned as Toni's position was far too obvious when she had only crash landed because of somebody shooting her from the sky.

"Although I'm pretty sure we shouldn't worry," Natasha said with a smirk.

"Why not?" Bruce said obviously having forgotten Toni's reactions to previous events having gotten caught up in the worry that he was feeling for her friend.

"Because Toni is sitting right next to you Bruce so she obviously got out of it alive," Natasha explained, "and Toni was already pissed off and shooting her out of the sky as she tries to get rid of the Jericho missiles for good is not going to improve her mood. They're going down and it's going to be painful for them."

From the crater caused by the collision Toni's gloved hand emerged as she pushed herself up off the ground. The blank expression of the mask coupled with the burn marks that now covered it somehow showed the rage that Toni was feeling even without a change of expression.

Steve shuddered a little at the imagery that seemed to have happened completely by accident. He could almost imagine that look on Toni's actual face and it was terrifying. He now knew that he was very lucky that Toni had never actually been 'angry' at him. Mad maybe and annoyed definitely but angry no. Because if he had seen her angry he would have been running away no matter what super powers the serum had given him.

The tank that had fired the projectile that took her out of the sky attempted another hit but this time Toni could see it coming a long way off and dodged it with ease. Then she fired a missile of her own at the tank and simply began to walk away.

"You didn't even check whether it landed or not," Phil said disapprovingly. One of the first things you needed to learn about a combat situation was that you always needed to make sure that your target was destroyed otherwise they could strike at your back and you would end up dead.

"Wait for it," Toni said simply.

She only took about one step before the tank went up in a blazing inferno accompanied by a loud boom.

"It was time delayed," Clint realised understanding why Toni had decided to save time and walk away before the tank had actually blown up due to the direct hit.

"That's the second time in the course of this film that you have just been calm in the face of an explosion," Natasha said shaking her head in exasperation. Only Toni. That was the only thing to say in the face of that realisation. Only Toni!

As she walked forward bullets started raining down on her as the insurgents on the ground ran over with their guns. Toni could afford not to care about the bullets hitting her because the suit was simply deflecting them so she slowly lifted herself off the ground and focused once more on finding all the Jericho missiles.

"Why were you going for them specifically?" Bruce queried, "I know they caused your injury but the insurgents had a lot more of your other weapons which you could have eliminated as well."

"Because of what Yinsen said about there being a lot of people in Gulmira who suffered from the same wounds as I did only they weren't as lucky as I was for even if Yinsen had operated on them they wouldn't have had the capacity to build the arc reactor that I did. Therefore eventually the electromagnet would have failed and he would only have prolonged their life for maybe a week more," Toni told him, "I didn't want to subject someone to the pain that I went through when that missile first hit me. And I knew that was always going to be the biggest killer in the hands of terrorists so once it got there it needed to be eradicated."

Ignoring the people who were milling around on the ground Toni landed a direct hit on the three nearest Jericho missiles and the explosion billowed out swallowing up some of the terrorists on the ground which was so much the better for Toni.

"It's good that you took them out at the same time," Natasha said approvingly.

As this was happening Raza came back from wherever he had been raiding with a platoon of vans and spotted the explosion and the bullet like figure of Toni who was shooting out of it at high speeds.

"It was very good of you to do that for them," Bruce said with a smile at his best friend once again trying to show her that she was a good person. It was starting to make him sound a bit like a broken record but that was probably the only thing that would get through to Toni. Probably because it would annoy her so much that she might finally think about it properly and actually come to a proper conclusion based on all of the facts.

"The problem is the military is not going to react well to Toni intervening when they probably did not get the approval to go in," Phil said worriedly, "they were using human shields after all."

"Why would the military not be grateful to Lady Toni for saving lives that they could not?" Thor said bewildered, "on Asgard we would commend Lady Toni for being able to do what we could not."

A/n: Next up is Toni getting shot at by the military. Oh Avengers you are so going to wish for the quiet parts of this movie very soon :) The chapters are becoming mainly commentary and I know that but this is because I do have a sequel to set up here. We will get through all the movies :D