He's gone but they have me

by jacquisup

What if Bucky didn't fall? Would he be able to survive being by himself? Or would he have someone to look after?

5. Iron Man 3

The Iron Man suits were getting destroyed.

"We create our own demons. Who said that? What does that even mean? Doesn't matter, I said it cause he said it. So now he was famous and that's basically get said by two well known guys. I don't, uh..." Tony said and sighed. "I'm gonna start again. Let's track this from the beginning."

1999, Bern, Switzerland, New Years Eve Party.

"Half hour till the ball drops." Happy said to Maya.

"Hey, do you want...?" Tony asked.

"Tony Stark? Great speech, man!" a party guest said when Happy moved the man away from Tony.

"I got you, pal." Happy said.

"I gave a speech? How was it?" Tony asked.

"Edifying."

"Unintelligible." Maya said.

"Really?" Tony said.

"Mmm-hmm."

"It's my favorite kind, a winning combo." he said as they started walking together.

"Where are we going?"

"Uh, to town on each other, probably back in your room. Cause I also wanna see your research."

"Okay, you can see my research, but that's...I'm not gonna show you my "town.""

"Mr. Stark." Yinsen said as Tony and Maya walked away. "Ho Yinsen."

"Oh, I finally met a man called "Ho."" Tony said and they shook hands and while, Yinsen chuckled humorlessly; Tony turned to Maya. "Come here."

"I would like to introduce you to our guest, Dr. Wu." Yinsen said and moved them towards Wu.

"Oh, this guy." Tony said to Wu.

"Mr. Stark."

"Hey." Tony said and Wu greeted him in mandarin as they shook hands. "You're a heart doctor. She's going to need a cardiologist after I..." he said and turned, started blowing on his party horn and walked away with Maya.

"Bye." Maya said.

"Perhaps another time." Yinsen said.

"It started in Bern, Switzerland, 1999." Tony said while people started yelling indistinctly. "The old days." Tony said.

"Mr. Stark!" Killian said.

" I never thought they'd come back to bite me. Why would they?"

As Tony and Maya walked towards the elevator an enthusiastic man with long hair came up towards them.

"Oh, wow! Hey, Tony! Aldrich Killian." Aldrich said stuttering to Maya. "I'm a big fan of your work!"

"My work?" Maya said.

"Who isn't? He means me." Tony said.

"Well, of course. But, Miss Hansen, my organization has been tracking your research since year two of MIT." Aldrich said and Tony, Maya and Happy walked into the elevator.

"Yeah, we're full." Happy said and put his arms out to stop Aldrich from coming inside, but he ducked under Hogan's arms and moved into the elevator.

"Oh, wow. He made it. He made the cut." Tony said and Happy trapped Aldrich by the wall.

"What floor are you going to, pal?"

"Oh, now, that is an appropriate question. The ground floor, actually. I've got a proposal I'm putting together with myself. It's a privately-funded think tank called, Advanced Idea Mechanics." Aldrich said and held out two business cards towards Tony and Maya.

"Uh... she'll take both." Tony said.

"Okay." Maya said and took the cards.

"One to throw away and one to not call."

"Advanced Idea Mechanics, or AIM for short." Aldrich said and pointed to the logo on his shirt. "Do you get it?"

"I see that, cause it's on your t-shirt."

"Aw!"

"Ladies, follow the mullet." Tony said to the party of women in the elevator; referring to Happy as they walked out. "Ladies first." he said to Maya.

"Thank you, I'll call you." Maya said to Aldrich as she walked out of the elevator.

As everyone walked out of the elevator, Tony stopped Aldrich from getting out by putting out his arm in front of him.

"I'm titillated by the notion of working with you." Tony said.

"Yeah?" Aldrich said.

"Yeah, cheese clown. I'll see you up on the roof in five minutes." Tony said and stepped out of the elevator. "I'm just going to try to get my beef wet real quick. You know what I'm talkin' about?"

"I'll see you up there." Aldrich said and the elevator door closed.

"Damn betcha."

Later Maya and Tony were in Maya's room.

" Come on! I thought that was just a theory." Tony said.

"Well, it was. If I'm right, we can access the area of the brain that governs repair..." Maya said as they are looked at a computer monitor with graph of the brain.

"Wow."

"...And chemically recode it."

"That's incredible. Essentially you're hacking into the genetic..."

"...Genetic operating system..." they said together.

"...of a..."

"Exactly." Maya said.

"...living organism."

"Yes."

"Wow." he said and Happy touched Maya's plant.

"Is that... Can you..."

"What?" Happy asked.

"Can you not touch my plant? It's not...she doesn't like it. She prefers..."

"She's not like the others." Tony said. "Come on. Let's go in the bedroom. Happy..." he said to Maya.

"That's cute, but..."

"Leave her ficus alone." he said and she turned to Hapy.

"Because... and, no, seriously don't." she said and walked into the bedroom.

"And you're starting with plants?"

"For now, yeah."

"Huh."

"I'm calling it Extremis." she said and Happy reached for the plant and pulled off some leaves to just throw them on the ground.

A few minutes later Tony and Maya kept talking about her research in the bedroom.

"Well, it's..." Naya said.

"Human application." they said together.

"Exactly! Exactly." she said while the plant started growing a new "Limb". "Dendritic revitalization."

"It's revolutionary." Tony said.

"Disease prevention..."

"Changes the world."

"...even limb regrowth."

"You're the most gifted woman I've ever met."

"Wow."

"In Switzerland."

"Hmm, that's better. Aw, you're seeing things."

" This week." he said and she took off his glasses and he laughed.

"You almost bought it, didn't you?" he said and she put on the glasses and Happy shut the door.

He nodded and they started kissing to be interrupted by an explosion and glass shattering.

"This is what I'm talking about, the glitch." Maya said.

"Have you checked the telomerase algorithm?" Tony asked.

"The what?"

At that moment Happy ran into the room and tackled Tony onto the bed to make sure he's okay.

" Down! Stay down! Stay down, boss." Happy said.

"We're good." Tony said.

"Stay down."

"You're...you're right on me. I made it." Tony said and Happy got up. "What the hell was that?" he said and people started counting down outside.

"What was that?"

"It's a glitch in my work. It's..." Maya started but was cut off.

"She was just talking about it. Glitches happening." Tony said.

"It's not Y2K." Happy said.

"No." Maya said while Tony heard people celebrating outside.

"Hey!" Tony said.

"Happy New Year." Happy said.

"Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year." Maya said.

"Alright, I'll see you in the morning, goodnight." he said and shook hands with Happy.

"You good?" Happy asked.

"Yep."

"I'll be right outside."

"Okay." Tony said and Happy

Meanwhile Aldrich was on top of the building waiting for Tony, who never showed up.

"So why am I telling you this? Because I had just created demons, and I didn't even know it."

Later Tony was writing a note 'You know who I am', and leaving it on the bedside table for Maya before leaving and Maya heard the door close.

"Yeah, those were the good times. Then I moved on. After a brief soiree in an Afghan cave, I said goodbye to the party scene. Forgot that night in Switzerland. These days I'm a changed man, I'm different now. I'm well... you know who I am."

Present Day, Malibu, California Tony was in his lab injecting himself with some devices.

"Ow!" Tony said.

"Sir, please may I request just a few hours to calibrate..." JARVIS said.

"No. Forty-eight." Tony said and injected himself. "Ah! Micro-repeater implanting sequence complete."

"As you wish, sir. I've also prepared a safety briefing for you to entirely ignore."

"Which I will. Right, let's do this." Tony said to the robot using a broom to clear the floor. "Dum-E. Hi, Dum-E. How did you get that cap on your head? You earned it." he said and walked towards the robot. " Hey. Hey! What are you doing round in the corner? You know what you did. Blood on my mat, handle it."

"Sir, may I remind you that you've been awake for nearly seventy-two hours." JARVIS said addressing the Iron Man suits in their glass cages.

"Focus up, ladies. Good evening, and welcome to the birthing suite. I'm pleased to announce the imminent arrival of your bouncing, bad-ass, baby brother." Tony said to JARVIS as he records Tony with a camera. "Start tight and go wide, stamp in time. Mark 42 autonomous prehensile propulsion suit test. Initialize sequence." he said, raised his hands and motioned to activate the new suit. "Jarvis, drop my needle."

The music started playing, Tony moved with the music then pointe his arm where he'd been injecting himself toward the dismantled Iron Man suit on the table opposite, nothing happened.

"Crap." Tony said, bit his arm where he'd injected himself once and then hit it five times, then pointed his arm again and a part of the suit flew over to him and attached itself to his hand and extended to his arm and shoulder, then he pointed his other arm toward the suit and the second part attached itself to his hand and arm, he laughed. "Alright, I think we got this. Send 'em all." he said and the leg part flew over and attached itself to his leg, then as another part flew over it crashed into one of the Iron Man suit glass cages, then another part hurled itself at him and he inflected it with his arm making it crash. "Probably a little fast, slow it down. Slow it down just a..." he said and another part of the suit shot over and he ducked as it narrowly missed hitting him in the head. "...little bit." he said and the other parts flew over and attach themselves with force to his back and crotch area. "Cool it, will you, Jarvis?" he said then all the other parts shot over and get attached to him, accept for the final face piece, which just hovers, facing him. "Come on. I ain't scared of you." he said and the face piece flew over and he flipped over to grab the piece and finally the Iron Man suit was fully attached to him. "I'm the best."

At that moment, one of the stray pieces of the suit shot over to him, knocked him down, knocking the entire suit, except for the head piece, off him.

"As always, sir, a great pleasure watching you work." JARVIS said.

"And I guess seventy-two hours isn't a long time between siesta's. Didn't think it could get any worse. Then I had to go and turn on the TV."

Later the news on TV showed footage of The Mandarin.

"That's when he happened."

"Some people call me a terrorist, I consider myself a teacher. America, ready for another lesson. In 1864 in Sand Creek Colorado the U.S. military waited till the friendly Cheyenne braves all gone hunting, waited to attack and slaughter their families left behind, and claim their land. Thirty-nine hours ago the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait was attacked. I...I...I did that. A quaint military church filled with wives and children, of course. The soldiers were out on maneuvers, the braves were away. President Ellis, you continue to resist my attempts to educate you, sir. And now, you've missed me again. You know who I am, you don't know where I am, and you'll never see me coming." The Mandarin said.

As this footage ended, the TV channels change and all the news channels were talking about The Mandarin.

The news on TV showed President Ellis addresses The Mandarin Threat.

"And now that we seem to be back, let's recap some of the frightening..." News reporter 1 said.

"American Airwaves were highjacked..." News reporter 2 said.

"The nation remains on high alert..." News reporter 3 said.

"All attempts to find the Mandarin have so far proved unsuccessful..." News reporter 4 said.

"Central to my Administration's response to this terrorist event, is a newly minted resource. I know him as Colonel James Rhodes, the American people will soon know him as the Iron Patriot." Ellis said.

Meanwhile Bill Maher started talking about this on his show.

"And how is President Ellis responding? By taking the guy they call War Machine and giving him a paint job." Bill said.

Meanwhile Joan Rivers on 'The Fashion Police' was talking about the new Iron Man suit.

"Same suit, but painted red, white, and blue. Look at that. And they also renamed him Iron Patriot. You know, just in case the paint was too subtle." Joan said.

Meanwhile Bucky, Rhodey and Tony were at a bar and saw Joan Rivers making fun of the Iron Patriot suit on TV.

"It tested well with focus groups, alright?" Rhodey said.

"I am Iron Patriot..." Tony said in a mocking voice.

"Listen, War Machine was a little too aggressive, alright? This sends a better message."

"War Machine is better in my opinion." Bucky said and took a sip of his drink.

"So what's really goin' on? With Mandarin. Seriously, can we talk about this guy?" Tony asked and moved closer to Rhodey and Bucky.

"Don't look at me, I was on a mission in Italy." Bucky said with his hands up.

Ever since Bucky started working for SHIELD again he had been promoted to Colonel and being one of the creators of SHIELD back to level ten. He teams up with Natasha and Clint now and then but mostly works alone.

"It's classified information, Tony. Okay, there have been nine bombings." Rhodey said.

"Nine." Tony said.

"The public only knows about three. Here's the thing, nobody can ID a device. There's no bomb casings."

"You know I can help, just ask. I got a ton of new tech, I got a prehensile, I got a... I got a new bomb disposal. Catches explosions mid-air."

"When's the last time you got a good night's sleep?"

"Einstein slept three hours a year. Look what he did?"

"People are concerned about you, Tony. I'm concerned about you."

"You're gonna come at me like that?"

"No. No, look, I'm not trying to be a dic..." Rhodey started but a girl and a boy came up to their table. "...tator."

"Do you mind signing my drawing?" Erin asked.

"If Richard doesn't mind." Tony said. "You alright with this, Dick?" he asked Rhodey and Bucky snickered.

"I'm fine with it." Bucky said.

"Fine with me." Rhodey said.

Tony looked at the drawing of himself in his Iron Man suit that the girl had drawn.

"What's your name?" Tony asked the girl.

"Erin." Erin said and he looked at the boy standing next to him.

"I loved you in A Christmas Story, by the way." he said as he signed her drawing.

"Listen, the Pentagon is scared. After what happened in New York... aliens, come on. They need to look strong. Stopping the Mandarin is priority, but it's not..." Rhodey said.

"It's not superhero business, I get it."

"No, it's not, quite frankly. It's American business."

"That's why I said I... got it."

Suddenly as Tony was signing the drawing he looked sick and put his hand on his face.

"Tony?" Bucky said gently.

"Are you okay?" Rhodey asked.

"I broke the crayon." Tony said.

"Are you okay, Mr. Stark?" Erin asked.

"Take it easy. Tony..." Rhodey said.

"How did you get out of the wormhole? How did you get out of the wormhole?" the little boy whispered to Tony.

Suddenly Tony rose and started walking off.

"Wait a minute! Tony!" Rhodey said and they followed Tony as he walked out the bar.

"Tony!" Bucky said.

"What'd he say?!" Tony asked.

"Tony!" Rhodey said.

"Calm down!" Bucky said.

"Sorry. Have to check on the suit... make sure... okay." Tony said, stepped into his Iron Man suit parked outside the bar and collapsed to his knees. "Check the heart, check the... check the... is it the brain?"

After being a sergeant and working for SHIELD Bucky knew what was wrong.

"No sign of cardiac analomy or unusual brain activity." JARVIS said.

"Okay, so I was poisoned?"

"My diagnosis is that you've experienced a severe anxiety attack."

"Me?"

Then Rhodey knocked on the Iron Suit's head, people have gathered around them watching Tony.

"Come on, man. This isn't a good look, open up." Rhodey said.

"Sorry, I gotta split." Tony said and flew off in his suit.

"Tony, I know you have anxiety. After working for the army myself all those years ago I know when something like this is wrong." Bucky said gently. "I have anxiety attacks now and then. After going through war, losing Steve, being captured and experimented on by HYDRA right after I left for England, losing everyone but Peggy, who doesn't even really remember me that much, I worked with or grew up over the years and all that shit I know when someone has an anxiety attack, a panic attack and or PTSD." he said and put his hands on Tony's shoulder. "Now get out of the suit and we can go."

Then Tony opened the face and looked at him.

"OK." Tony said and got out.

"There. Now lets go head home." Bucky said and they left.

At Stark Industries Happy pointed to his badge as he walked through the lobby passing the other employees.

"Badge. Badge. Come on, badge. Badge, guys. I put a memo in the toilet, come on." Happy said. "Tony has got them in his basement, they're wearing party hats. This is an asset that we can put to use." he said referring to Tony's robots as he met with Pepper.

"Uh-huh. So, you're suggesting that I replace the entire janitorial staff with robots?" Pepper said.

"What I'm saying is that the human element of Human Resources is our biggest point of vulnerability. We should start phasing it out immediately."

"What!?"

"Excuse me, Bambi." he said to another employee as they walked past them.

"Did you just say that?" she asked as he pointed to his badge.

"Security."

"Happy?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I am thrilled that you're now the Head of Security, okay? It is the perfect position for you."

"Thank you.

"However..."

"I do appreciate it."

"Since you've taken the post..."

"You don't have to thank me."

"We've had a rise in staff complaints of three hundred percent."

"Thank you."

"That's not a compliment."

"That's not a compli...? It is a compliment! Clearly somebody's trying to hide something."

"I..."

"Excuse me." Pepper's assistant said.

"Yes?"

"Miss Potts, your four o'clock is here."

"Thank you."

"Did you clear this four o'clock with me?" Happy asked.

"Happy, we'll talk about this later. But right now I have to go deal with this very annoying thing." she said and started walking towards her office.

"How so?"

"I used to work with him, and he used to ask me out all the time. So it's a little awkward." she said and he opened her office glass door and they entered.

"I don't like the sound of that."

As they step inside, they saw Aldrich, looking handsome and fit in a business suit.

Pepper looked shocked at the change in his appearance.

"Pepper." Albrich said.

"Killian?" Pepper said.

"You look great. You look really great."

"God, you look...you look great. I... I...I can't... What on earth have you been doing?"

"Nothing fancy, just five years in the hands of physical therapists. And please, call me Aldrich."

"Uh...you were supposed to be issued a security badge." Happy said.

"Happy, it's okay." Pepper said.

"Yes?"

"We're good."

"You sure?"

"Yes. Stand down."

"Okay. I'm gonna linger, right here."

"Thank you."

"Okay." he said, stepped out of her office and closed the glass door.

"It's very nice to see you, Killian."

As Happy waits outside Pepper's office, he saw Aldrich's man sitting in the waiting area.

"Hey, guy." Happy said, pointed to his security badge and the guy picked up his badge from the table next to him and held it up to show Happy he has a badge; to an employee as they walk past him.

"Merry Christmas." Savin said and Happy looked at him with suspicion.

Back in Pepper's office.

"After years dodging the President's ban on "immoral biotech research", my think tank now has a little something in the pipeline. It's an idea we like to call Extremis. I'm gonna turn your lights down." Albrich said, dimmed the lights and held in his hand three small metal balls. "Regard the human brain." he said and threw the balls onto the coffee table and as they rolled and stop, they project a 3d image into the room. "Uh...wait. Hold on, hold on. That's...that's the universe, my bad. But if I do that..." he said and pressed his projector control changing the 3d image to show inside of the brain. " That's the brain. Strangely mimetic though, wouldn't you say?"

"Wow, that's amazing!" Pepper said.

"Thanks, it's mine."

"What?"

"This...you're inside my head. It's a..." he said and tapped behind his ear, referring to something embedded inside his head. "It's a live feed. Come on up, I'll prove it to you." he said, rise from the couch and stood on the coffee table. "Come on." he said and helped her to stand on the coffee table next to him, they stood directly in the 3d image. "Now, pinch my arm. I can take it. Pinch me." he said and she pinched him and immediately something lit up in the 3d image of his brain.

"What is that?"

"It's the primary somatosensory cortex. It's the brain's pain center. But this is what I wanted to show you." he said, turned her round and pressed his projector control and started changing and moving the image with his hand. " Now, Extremis harnesses our bioelectrical potential and it goes...here. This is essentially an empty slot, and what this tells us is that our mind, our entire DNA in fact, is destined to be upgraded."

"Wow."

As Happy sat outside Pepper's office, he got a call on his tablet, answers the call and held the tablet high so the camera monitor showed his forehead and eyes.

"Hello?" Happy said.

"Is this forehead of Security?" Tony asked.

"What? You know, look, I got a real job. What do you want? I'm working, I got something going on here."

Meanwhile Tony and Bucky were in Tony's lab.

"What? Harassing interns?" Tony said.

"Let me tell you something, you know what happened when I told people I was Iron Man's body guard? They would laugh in my face." Happy said and Tony laughed. "I had to leave while I still had a shred of dignity. Now I got a real job, I'm watching Pepper."

"What's going on? Fill me in."

"For real?"

"Yeah."

"Please do because he won't shut up!" Bucky said smirking a little.

"Alright, so she's meeting up with this scientist. Rich guy, handsome." Happy said.

"Right." Tony said.

"I couldn't make his face at first, right? You know I'm good with faces."

"Oh, Yeah, yeah. You're the best."

"Yeah. Well, so I run his credentials, I make him Aldrich Killian. We actually met the guy back in... where were we in '99? The science conference?"

"Um...Switzerland."

"Right, right, exactly."

"Killian? No, I don't remember that guy."

"Of course you don't. He's not a blond with a big rack. At first it was fine, they were talking business, but now it's like getting weird. He's showing her a big brain."

"His what?"

"Big brain, and she likes it. Here, let me show you. Hold on. See?" Happy said, held his tablet up and pointed it towards Pepper's glass office, where Aldrich and Pepper were standing close together on the coffee table watching the 3d image of the brain, but all Tony saw was Happy pointing the tablet camera at himself.

"Look at what? You watching them? Flip the screen and then we can get started."

"I'm not a tech genius like you. Just...just trust me, get down down here."

"Flip the screen, then I can see what they're doing."

"I can't! I don't know how to flip the screen! Don't talk to me like that anymore. You're not my boss."

As Happy was talking, Tony used his small tablet device to look up Aldrich and find his photo.

"Alright, I don't work for you. Now I don't trust this guy. He's got another guy with him, he's shifty." Happy said.

"Relax."

"Seriously?"

"I'm just asking you to secure the perimeter. Tell him to go out for a drink or something?"

"You know what? You should take more of an interest in what's going on here. This woman... this woman's the best thing that ever happened to you, and you...you're just ignoring her."

"A giant brain?"

"Yeah, there's a giant brain, there's a shifty character. I'm gonna follow this guy. I'm gonna run his plates and if it gets rough, so be it."

"I miss you, Happy."

"You miss him but not me when I'm on a mission? That's harsh Tony." Bucky said. "My old heart can't take it. After everything I've done for you." he said with his hand on his heart.

Tony snickered.

"Of course I miss you when you're not here!"

"Yeah, I miss you too. But the way it used to be. Now you're off with the 'superfriends', I don't know what's going on with you anymore. The world's getting weird..." Happy said.

"Hey, I... I'd hate to cut you off. Do you have your taser on you?"

"Why?"

"I think there's a gal in HR who's trying to steal some printer ink, you should probably go over there and zap her." Tony said, put his small tablet in his wine fridge, closed it and walked off still with Happy online.

"Yeah, nice."

Back in Pepper's office after Aldrich had shown her his new research.

"Imagine if you could hack into the hard drive of any living organism and recode its DNA." Albrich said.

"It would be incredible." Pepper said.

"Mm."

"Unfortunately, to my ears it also sounds highly weaponizable. As in enhanced soldiers, private armies, and Tony is not..."

"Tony. Tony. You know, I invited Tony to join AIM thirteen years ago, he turned me down. But something tells me now there is a new genius on the throne who doesn't have to answer to Tony anymore, and who has slightly less of an ego."

"It's gonna be a no, Aldrich. As much as I'd like to help you." she said and he started leaving the building.

"Well, I can't say that I'm not disappointed. But then as my father used to say, 'Failure is the fog through which we glimpse triumph.'"

"That's very deep."

"Mm."

"And I have no idea what it means."

"Well, me neither. He was kind of an idiot, my old man." he said and she laughed. "I'm sure I'll see you again, Pepper." he said, kissed her gently on the cheek and she watched him as he walked off, then she noticed Happy coming toward her and she looked flustered.

"Happy..."

"The car is ready, if you're ready to go." Happy said and she glanced over to Aldrich as he walked towards his car.

"Yes. I just um... God, I forgot my... other thing, so... I'm just gonna..." she said and walked back into the building, Hogan glance over to Aldrich's car and as it drove away, he took a photo of the license plate.

Later Pepper returned to Tony's home, as she got out of the car she saw a large stuffed rabbit outside the house that Tony bought for her as a gift and she walked inside.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I was... What the...? What is that?!" Pepper said and noticed Tony sat in his Iron Man suit on the couch with Bucky dressed as Winter Soldier on the phone.

"My god Coulson! Can you do anything right?!" Bucky said annoyed. "I don't care if you were busy! When I tell you what to do, you do it and do it right! Fury may be the director but we all know I've been working here for over fifty years. I was even considered a founder after the damn war I joined Peggy, Howard and Chester." he said and looked out the window. "Black Widow and Hawkeye can take care of themselves and do it for me today. I have someone else to take care of right now." he said and hung up. "Idiot. Every time I'm not there they need me. They have Hill, Nat, Clint and plenty more people to ask for help!" he muttered and saw Pepper. "Oh, hi Pepper."

Pepper wasn't happy he was always in a bad mood lately but still waved then looked at Tony.

"You're wearing this in the house now? What is that, like Mark 15?" she asked and Tony looked at the small number marked 42 on the suit.

"Uh...yeah. Something like that. You know everybody needs a hobby." Tony said.

"Oh, and you have to wear your hobby in the living room?"

"I tried to stop him but he wouldn't take it off." Bucky said while Tony rose and walked toward Pepper.

"Just breakin' it in. You know, it's always a little pinchy in the gooey bag at first, so." Tony said, shook his ass and Pepper laughed. "Oh hey, did you see your Christmas present?"

"Yes, I did. I... I don't know how I could have missed that Christmas present. Is it gonna fit through the door?"

"I was saying the same thing." Bucky said shaking his head when his phone rang again and he looked at it. "OH FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!" he yelled and took it. "WHAT?!" he snapped and walked away.

Pepper and Tony watched him and felt bad for him.

Everyone knew he didn't want to work there anymore and yet he still went back after the Loki accident.

Then Tony cleared his throat and she looked at him.

"Well actually, uh... it's a good question. I got a team of guys comin' tomorrow, they're gonna blow out that wall." Tony said.

"Okay." Pepper said.

"So, uh...tense? Good day?" he said, walked up behind her and started massaging her shoulders. "Ooh shoulders, a little knotty. Naughty girl. I don't wanna harp on this, but did you like the custom rabbit?"

"Did I like it?"

"Nailed it, right?"

"Wow. I appreciate the thought very much." she said, turned to face him, rise from her seat and stood close to him. "So why don't you lift up that face mask and give me a kiss?" she asked and he knocked the metal helmet on his head.

"Huh. Yup, dammit. No can do. You wanna just kiss it on the..."

"Uh-huh."

"The facial slit?"

"Well, why don't I run down to the garage and see if I can't find a crowbar to shimmy that thing open?"

"Crowbar. Yeah." he said and started walking towards his lab. "Oh, except there's been a...uh...a radiation leak."

"I'll take my chances."

"That's risky." he said and she walked down the stairs to his lab. "At least let me get you like a Hazmat suit or a Geiger counter or something like that." he said. he said and she saw him not in his Iron Man suit, but in the lab exercising as he remotely controlled the suit, following Pepper into the lab. "Busted."

"This is a new level of lame."

"Sorry." he said and she noticed the food tray in the corner.

"You ate without me, already? On date night?"

"He was just..." he said referring to Mark 42 suit.

"You mean you?"

"Well, yeah. I just mean we were just...just hosting you while I finished up a little work."

"Uh-huh."

"And yes, I had a quick bite. I didn't know if you were comin' home or if you were having drinks with Aldrich Killian." he said. "And Bucky made sure of that." he said and Mark 42 suit turned its face toward her, as if to look at her accusingly.

"What?"

"What?"

"Aldrich Killian? What are you checking up on me?"

"Happy was concerned."

"No, you're spying on me."

"I wasn't..."

"I'm going to bed." she said, turned and started walking off.

"Hold on. Come on. Pep." he said as she starts walking upstairs. "Hey, I admit it! My fault. Sorry." he said and she stopped and looked at him. "I'm a piping hot mess. It's been going on for a while, I haven't said anything." he said and she walked back down. "Nothing's been the same since New York."

"Oh really? Well, I didn't notice that, at all."

"You experience things and then they're over and you still can't explain 'em. Gods, aliens, other dimensions. I...I'm just a man in a can. The only reason I haven't cracked up is probably because you moved in. Which is great. I love you, I'm lucky. But, honey, I can't sleep. You go to bed, I come down here. I do what I know, I tinker." he said then paused for a minute and sat down. "But threat is imminent, and I have to protect the one thing that I can't live without. That's you. My suits, they're uh..."

"Machines."

"They're part of me."

Then Bucky came down rubbing his forehead and still on his phone.

"I'll be there later but right now I'm at Tony's." he said. "I don't care if Fury wants me there now I agreed to work for him again and he should be thankful for that!" he said and hung up. "God! That idiot is worse than Steve!" he said and looked at Tony and Pepper. "And they're not a part of you. If you would get it out of you you'd be fine."

"He's right. They're a distraction." Pepper said.

"Maybe." Tony said and she walked towards him and they held each other.

He rest his head against her chest and she removed his headband controlling the Iron Man suits while Bucky smiled seeing Tony having someone there for him when he's not.

"I'm gonna take a shower."

"Okay." he said and she turned to walk off, then stopped and looked at him.

"And you're gonna join me." she said and Bucky patted Tony on the back.

"Better."

Later that night, Tony and Pepper were sleeping when Tony started having nightmares about when he was in New York with The Avengers and had to get rid of the nuke in space, Pepper woke and started to shake him awake.

"Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony..." Pepper said.

Suddenly she got grabbed and shoved off Tony by Mark 42 suit, waking Tony who commanded the suit.

"Power down!" Tony said so the suit shut down and he hit it making its pieces fall apart, then looked over at Pepper in shock while Bucky came running in with a gun in hand.

Then he didn't see anyone so put it down.

"What happened?" Bucky asked.

"I must have called it in my sleep. That's not supposed to happen. I'll recalibrate the sensors. Can we just... just let me... just let me catch my breath, okay?" Tony said and Pepper rise and started to leave. "Don't go, alright? Pepper?"

"I'm going to sleep downstairs. Tinker with that." Pepper said and left the room.

"What happened?" Bucky asked gently and put a hand on Tony's shoulder and Tony looked at him.

"I saw the day we fought Loki and when I went to get rid of the nuke." Tony said and Bucky held him close.

"It's over now. We're safe and Thor took Loki to Asgard with him so he won't be back. You're at home with me and Pepper." Bucky said gently and rubbed Tony's back like when he was little after a nightmare.

Tony nodded and started to calm down.

"I love you uncle Bucky." Tony whispered and Bucky smiled.

"I love you to squirt." Bucky said and kissed his head.

At the Chinese theater in Los Angeles, Aldrich's henchman met a man sitting outside the theater.

"Can you regulate?" Savin asked.

"Yes, I can regulate." Taggert said.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes."

Meanwhile Happy had been following Savin and was keeping an eye on him from a distance, when he saw him giving the man a briefcase.

"It's a decent batch. Don't say I never did nothin' for you." Salvin said.

"Thank you...I mean for understanding." Taggert said and Savin walked off while Happy walked towards Taggert and as Taggert rise to leave Happy bumps into him knocking the briefcase out of his hand, falling open on to the ground.

"I'm sorry, buddy." Happy said and helped him put the stuff back in the suitcase.

As he looked at Taggert he noticed he was glowing red, and started to walk off taking one of the items from the suitcase, but suddenly Savin bumped into him.

"What are you doin', buddy? You out by yourself? A little date night? Watching your favorite chick flick maybe?" Savin asked.

"Yeah, a little movie called "The Party's Over", starring you and your junkie girlfriend, and here's the ticket." Happy said and showed him what he took from Taggert's suitcase.

"No kidding? That doesn't belong to you." Savin said and went to take the item from Happy's hand, but Happy punched him in the face twice and noticed his face glow red and heal.

Then Savin grabbed hold of him and with super strength threw him aside, as Savin walked towards him, Taggert started glowing red and turned hot.

"Savin!" Taggert said.

"What?"

"Help! Help me!" Taggert said and suddenly exploded, causing an explosion inside the theater wounding Happy.

As Happy lay injured, he saw Savin, also glowing red and then healing and walking off as if nothing had happened.

Later there was another TV footage from The Mandarin.

"True story about fortune cookies. They look Chinese, they sound Chinese, but they're actually an American invention. Which is why they're hollow, full of lies, and leave a bad taste in the mouth. My disciples just destroyed another cheap American knock-off, The Chinese Theater. Mr. President, I know this must be getting frustrating, but this season of terror is drawing to a close. And don't worry, the big one is coming; your graduation." The Mandarin said.

As Hogan lay in hospital critically injured, Tony and Bucky sat in his room when a nurse walked in to check on Happy.

"Hi." Tony said.

"Oh."

"Uh...mind leaving that on?" he asked referring to the TV.

"Sure." Happy's nurse said and Tony rise from his seat.

"Sunday night's PBS 'Downtown Abbey'. That's his show, he thinks it's elegant." he said and paused for a minute. "One more thing...make sure everyone wears their badges. He's a stickler for that sort of thing, plus my guys won't let anyone in without them." he said and turned to leave with Bucky following.

There were news reporters waiting for them outside the hospital.

Ever since he rejoined SHIELD and become an Avenger Bucky had been getting more attention than the beginning.

At first it set off a small anxiety attack seeing the HYDRA that got him in 41 but with Tony's help he calmed down.

"We're awaiting the arrival of Tony Stark. We're hoping he'll give us the reaction... his reaction to the latest attack." a Hospital news reporter said while they walked out and all the reporters swarm toward them. "Mr. Stark! Colonel Barnes! Mr. Stark! Colonel Barnes! Our sources are telling us that this is another Mandarin attack. Anything else you can tell us?" he asked but they ignored the questions and walked toward Tony's car.

"Hey, Mr. Stark! When is somebody gonna kill this guy? Just sayin'." Pushy Tabloid reporter said and Tony turned to face the reporter.

"Is that what you want? Here's a little Holiday greeting I've been wanting to send to the Mandarin. I just didn't know how to phrase it until now. My name is Tony Stark and I'm not afraid of you. I know you're a coward, so I've decided [He removes his sunglasses and stares into the phone's camera] that you just died, pal. I'm gonna come get the body. There's no politics here; it's just good old-fashioned revenge. There's no Pentagon; it's just you and me. And on the off-chance you're a man, here's my home address: 10-8-80, Malibu Point, 9-0-2-6-5. I'll leave the door unlocked." Tony said to the reporter. "That's what you wanted, right?" he said, took the phone and threw it at a wall. "Bill me." he said, got in his car and they drove off.

Later Tony was working his lab with Bucky sitting quietly watching.

"I've compiled a Mandarin database for you, sir. Drawn from S.H.I.E.L.D., F.B.I., and C.I.A. intercepts. Initiating virtual crime scene reconstruction." JARVIS said and Tony started looking at all the data gathered.

"Okay, what do we got here? His name is an ancient Chinese war mantle, meaning "adviser to the King". South American insurgency tactics, talks like a Baptist preacher. There's lots of pageantry going on here...lots of theater." Tony said and pushed the virtual information down to close. "Close." he said and looked at the virtual crime scene reconstruction.

"The heat from the blast was in excess of 3000 degrees Celsius. Any subjects within 12.5 yards were vaporized instantly."

"Jesus." Bucky said.

"No bomb parts found in a three mile radius of the Chinese theater."

"No, sir." JARVIS said.

"Talk to me, Happy." Tony said and in the virtual reconstruction, saw Happy pointing his finger at some dog tags. "When is a bomb not a bomb?" he asked and picked up the virtual image of the dog tags to investigate them further. "When is a bomb not a bomb?" he said and picked up the virtual image of the dog tags to investigate them further. "Any military victims?"

"Not according to public records, sir." JARVIS said while Bucky played with his own dog tags.

"Bring up the thermogenic signatures again, factor in three thousand degrees."

"The oracle cloud has completed analysis. Accessing satellites and plotting the last twelve months of thermogenic occurrence now."

"Take away everywhere that there's been a Mandarin attack." Tony said and looked at the information popping up. "Nope." he said and saw an attack in Rose Hill, Tennessee. "That. You sure that's not one of his?"

"It predates any known Mandarin attack. The incident was the use of a bomb to assist a suicide." JARVIS said and Bucky twitched at 'suicide' thinking about after losing Steve.

"Bring her around."

"The heat signature is remarkably similar. Three thousand degrees Celsius." JARVIS said and Tony looked at all the information being presented on the Tennessee attack.

"That's two military guys. Ever been to Tennessee, Jarvis? I know Bucky has plenty of times."

"Creating a flight plan for Tennessee."

"What?" Bucky said and saw Tony was about to get ready to leave for Tennessee when he heard his door bell ring.

"Are we still at "ding-dong"? We're supposed to be on total security lock down. Come on, I threatened a terrorist. Who is that?" Tony asked.

"There's only so much I can do, sir, when you give the world's press your home address." JARVIS said and showed Maya standing outside the house and the glass doors were opened and she entered.

"Right there's fine." Tony said and dressed in his Iron Man suit walked toward her. "You're not the Mandarin, are you? Are you?"

"You don't remember. Why am I not surprised?" Maya said.

"Don't take it personally, I don't remember what I had for breakfast."

"Gluten-free waffles, sir." JARVIS said and Bucky snickered.

"That's right."

"Blame Howard for that Tony. He forgot plenty of things." Bucky said smiling. "Bucky Barnes." he said and they shook hands.

"Maya Hansen." Maya said and turned to Tony. "Okay, look, I need to be alone with you. Someplace not here, it's urgent."

"Normally, I'd go for that sort of thing, but now I'm in a committed relationship." Tony said and as he turned to walk into the living room, two bags were thrown down from the above balcony. "It's...with her."

"Tony, is somebody there?" Pepper said and he stepped out of his suit.

"Yeah, it's Maya Hansen." he said and Maya smiled. "Old botanist pal that I used to know, barely." he said as Pepper started walking downstairs and he moved towards Maya. "Please don't tell me that there is a twelve year-old kid waiting in the car that I've never met." he said quietly and Bucky fought the laughter in him.

"He's thirteen. And no, I need your help." Maya said.

"What...what for? Why now?"

"Because I read the papers, and, frankly, I don't think you'll last the week."

"I'll be fine."

"And I'll be with him." Bucky said and Tony looked at him. "I'm not leaving you alone this time."

"I'm sorry. With Happy in the hospital, I didn't know we were expecting guests." Pepper said.

"We weren't." Tony said.

"No, I..." Maya started but was cut off.

"And old girlfriends!" Pepper said.

"She's not really." Tony said.

"No, not really. It...it was just one night." Maya said.

"Yep."

"That's how you did it, isn't it? Yep." Pepper said.

"It was a great night."

"Well, you know..."

"Yeah." Maya said.

"You have saved yourself a world of pain."

"I'm sure."

"I've been stuck with it since it started." Bucky said with his arms crossed.

"What?" Tony asked.

"Trust me." Pepper said. "We're going out of town." she said to him and Bucky.

"Okay, we've been through this. Nope."

"Yep!"

"The man says no."

"Immediately and indefinitely!" she said. "And besides, considering the fact that Bucky is here, you're the boy and he's the man." she said and Bucky chuckled.

"She's right. I'm 95." he said and Tony rolled his eyes then looked at Pepper.

"Honey..." Tony said.

"Great idea. Let's go." Maya said.

"I'm sorry. That's a terrible idea. Please don't touch her bags."

"Tony, this is how normal people behave." Pepper said.

"I can't protect you out there. I challenged..." he said and Maya noticed giant stuffed rabbit Tony had bought for Pepper.

"Is... is that normal?" Maya asked.

"Yeah." Bucky said nodding.

"Yes, this is normal!" Tony said.

"Sadly, that...is very normal." Pepper said.

"It's a big bunny, relax about it!"

"Calm down!"

"I got this for you."

"I'm aware of that."

"You still haven't even told me that you liked it!"

"I don't like it!"

"I asked you three... You don't like it?!"

As they bickered, Maya and Bucky noticed on the TV that helicopters were coming toward Tony's home.

Bucky groaned and covered his face.

"Tony, we are leaving the house; that's not even up for discussion." Pepper said.

"I said no." Tony said.

"Guys, can we um..." Maya said.

"What?"

"Do we need to worry about that?" she asked and pointed to the bomb heading straight for the house.

Suddenly the house was hit, as everything exploded around them, Tony managed to get his Iron Man suit onto Pepper to protect her from the fall while Bucky put up his metal arm to block his face, Tony looked over to Maya, lying unconscious on the ground, as the ceiling was about to fall on Tony, Pepper saved him with the Iron Man suit.

"I got you." Pepper said.

"I got you first. Like I said, we can't stay here." Tony said and the helicopters started shooting at the house. "Move! I'm right behind!" he said as they ran to get out and the floor between them collapsed.

Bucky was watching and fighting his own PTSD from the day he got his own serum.

He saw in a large cage atop a rusty drain laying slumped against the bars.

"Barnes, James Buchanan. Sergeant. 32557038." he called out wearily.

"Bucky?" Steve said but he didn't respond.

"Who... who is that?" he asked and Steve raced to the cage. "Is that..." he said and Steve smashed off the lock and held out his hand, grinning.

"It's me, Buck." he said and he studied his face.

"Steve?"

"I thought you were dead."

"I thought you were smaller." he said and Steve gently helped him down from the cage. "What happened to you?"

"I joined the Army."

At the control room the first of the timers reached zero and beeped.

He and Steve staggered as the blast shook the room. As they headed out, Steve saw a big map, featuring a series of HYDRA symbols spreading across Europe.

Then Steve helped him limp down the corridor as more bombs went off.

"Did it hurt?" he asked.

"Little bit." Steve said.

"Is it permanent?"

"So far."

"You are going to get so many girls."

Soon they reached the stairs and headed down but another explosion blocked their way. They headed back up, spotting a catwalk high above.

When they reached the catwalk they found Schmidt on the other side with Zola waiting behind him at the elevator.

"Captain America. How exciting." Schmidt said and smiled. "I'm a fan of your films." he said and handed the titanium box to Zola while he and Steve slowly walked forward, studying each other. "So the old man managed it after all. Not quite an improvement, but impressive." he said and Steve hit him in the jaw, sending him reeling.

"You've go no idea." Steve said and Schmidt straightened up.

"Don't I?" he asked and swung but Steve blocked it with his shield.

Schmidt's fist left a dent in the steel. Steve gaped, surprised. When he looked up, Schmidt hammered him down. Schmidt loomed over him.

"Erskine said your experiment was a failure." Steve said stunned but kicked up, driving his feet into Schmidt's jaw and Schmidt tumbled to the floor.

Zola scrambled to the catwalk controls. A gap appeared between Schmidt and Steve as both sides retract. Schmidt shot a withering look at Zola who paled. When Schmidt turned back to Steve his face was askew. Red skin bulged from torn seamed.

"A failure? Oh, no, Captain." Schmidt said and got to his feet. "I was his greatest success." he said then pulled, peeling his face from the bone, revealing Red Skull underneath.

He grined, hideous and Steve stared in disbelief.

"You don't have one of those, do you?" he asked and gaped, then looked at Steve worriedly.

Red Skull tossed his mask away and Schmidt's face wafted into the flames, staring at us as it fell.

"You're a liar, Captain. You pretend to be a simple soldier. But in reality you're just afraid to admit we've left humanity behind." Red Skull said and another explosion rocked the floor below. "Unlike you, I embrace it proudly. Without the masquerade...without fear."

"Then how come you're running?" Steve asked and scowled from the end of the catwalk, helpless.

Then Zola handed Skull back his titanium box and they stepped into the elevator and disappeared. Steve pulled him away as explosions rocked the catwalk. They saw a gantry above.

When they reached the gantry he ran on and it creaked.

Then Steve stepped on.

"Hurry." Steve said and he carefully limped across the gantry but rivets fell.

"Get her, I'm gonna find a way around." he quietly heard Tony say.

He jumped form the end of the gantry to the other side. Then, another bomb exploded and the gantry collapsed. Steve stood alone, trapped. He looked around, frantic.

"There's got to be a rope or something." he said.

"JUST GET OUT!" Steve said and the explosions came faster now.

"Stop stopping! Get her, get outside! Go!"

"Not without you." he said and the roof around Steve fell in and eyed the impossible gap.

"Aw, hell." Steve said, backed up and raced for the edge.

His eyes went wide as Steve leapt, sailing over the blazing chaos. Just as the biggest bomb yet went off.

"Get her, I'm gonna find a way around." someone said "Stop stopping! Get her, get outside! Go!"

"Oh my God. Tony! Bucky!" someone else said.

Back inside the house was being destroyed around Tony and Bucky.

Bucky was still out of it and trying to get control of himself.

Then Tony saw the look on his face and was worried.

"Sir, Miss Potts is clear of the structure." JARVIS said and Tony motioned for his Iron Man suit to come off Pepper and onto him.

"Jarvis, where's my flight power?!" Tony asked.

"Working on it, sir. This is a prototype." JARVIS said and Tony managed to fire a piano at a helicopter to destroy it.

He knew this wasn't helping Bucky and saw him shut his eye and coverer his ears.

At France HYDRA factory a door crashed open, revealing Steve dressed in his red, white and blue battle uniform, firing a Tommy gun. TITLE: "FRANCE, DECEMBER 1943." Bullets ping off his red, white and blue vibranium shield. The Invaders pour in behind him, blasting away.

"That's one." someone said.

At Belgum HYDRA factory Steve and the invaders fan out across the blazing battleground, wreaking havoc. TITLE: "BELGIUM, JANUARY 1944."

"Sir, the suit is not combat-ready." someone else said.

At Poland HYDRA factory Steve stalked a bombed-out factory. TITLE: "POLAND, FEBRUARY 1944." The scope whipped to see A HYDRA gunman aiming at him. The sniper fell and Steve clocked it and gave the thumbs up to the camera. He grinned behind the gun.

"That's two." the other person said.

At Czechoslovakia HYDRA factory the Invaders scrambled out the side doors of a HYDRA factory. They dive for cover and wait. No explosion. They peer out from their cover then Steve crashed through a factory window on his motorcycle and the factory behind him exploded. He hit the ground, roaring toward the camera.

TITLE: "CZECHOSLOVAKIA, AUGUST 1944."

In frozen woods the woods stood white and silent. Then six white figures rise out of the snow like ghosts. The invaders shake off the snow and creep forward. Then a seventh figure rises: Steve in full red, white and blue.

A rifle cracked, a bullet pinged off his shield. He spun and hurled his shield. A HYDRA sniper fell out of a far tree. The Invaders gape.

In a HYDRA factory Steve and Jones rode in the back of a jeep as Dugan drove away from the burning factory. A HYDRA fighter plane swooped over them, guns blazing.

Steve blocked with his shield as Jones opened up his .30 CAL.

The plane bearded down and Jones stitched it up the middle. It caught fire, spun out of control and crashed ahead of them. Dugan slowed to a stop. The three of them stared, impressed.

In a forest Dernier ran through the woods, a bomb tucked under his arm. Parallel to him, a HYDRA fast track raced along a road. Dernier rolled under the fast track and magnet the bomb to the bottom of the vehicle as it roared over him. He jumped to his feet in time to see the fast track explode.

On the battlefield the Invaders race across a field as the land Kruezer bear down on them. They're almost to safety when Dugan's hat flew off his head, landing in the path of the oncoming tank. Dugan ran back for it. The rest of the men shout and Dugan dove, grabbing the bowler and rolling out of the way. He wedged the hat on his head, smug. Then he realized the tank turned and was coming right at him. Then, from nowhere Steve dove over him and grabbed the tank's cannon barrel. He flipped himself into the air and landed atop the turret.

Steve saw a glowing energy housing, marked: "EXPLOSIVE!" and raised his shield high and brought it down. The tank grind to a halt.

Steve raised the shield again and the house crackled. Sparks fly.

Then he brought the shield down one last time and an ominous drone began to rise. He took a running leap off the tails as the tank explodes.

As the helicopter exploded it crashed into the house, the remaining helicopter kept shooting at the house, finally the remains of house with Tony and Bucky inside fell into the ocean and Pepper ran to the edge of the cliff and looked down into the ocean.

In the Control Tower the radio squawked in the empty control room.

"Agent Carter, come in..." Steve said and Peggy ran in and grabbed the radio, frantic and relieved.

"Steve, is that you? Are you okay?" Peggy asked.

"I'm fine."

"Steve?" he said.

Through the window, the invaders were rounding up the surrendered HYDRA men.

"Where's Schmidt?" Peggy asked.

"Schmidt's dead." Steve said on the radio.

"Dead?" he said.

"Yeah."

"What about the plane?" Peggy asked.

"That's a little bit harder to explain."

He groaned knowing Steve had done something stupid again.

"Give me your coordinates. I'll find a landing site-" he started but was cut off.

"There isn't going to be a landing. Schmidt's locked the navigation system." Steve said. "And there's more than enough power to reach the East Coast." he said and Peggy looked grave then waved Phillips down.

Peggy looked grave and waved Phillips down.

"I'll get Howard on the line. He'll know what to do." Peggy said.

"I'm sitting on a hundred tons of explosives. Hotwiring this thing's not an option." Steve said. "I've got to put her in the water." he said and she spread her fingers on the wall, her knuckles white.

"But you said you couldn't steer it."

"Steven Grant Rogers don't you dare doing what I think you're doing!" he said.

"I'm sorry Bucky, I can't. But I think I can crash it."

"Steve, don't do this. We've got time. We can figure this out." he said. "Till the end of the line, that's what I said that day of your ma's funeral."

"I already did. Right now, I'm in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer, a lot of people are going to get hurt." Steve said. "Peggy, Bucky, this is my choice."

Peggy, him and Phillips looked at each other, slowly accepting what's happening.

"We'll send out rescue ships. We'll find you." Peggy said.

"I don't think there's going to be much left to find." Steve said. "Peggy?"

"I'm here."

"I'm going to need a raincheck on that dance."

"All right. A week Saturday. The Stork Club." she said holding back tears.

"Okay. "You got it."

"8:00 on the dot. If you're three minutes late I'm leaving, do you understand?"

"I still don't know how to dance."

She closed her eyes while he snickered a little.

"I'll show you. I'll show you everything. Just be there."

"And I'll help you get ready." he said.

"Maybe the band could play something slow, I'd hate to step on your-" Steve started but the radio in Peggy's hand went silent.

Phillips put a hand on her shoulder and she just stared out the hanger at the blue sky beyond.

He kicked a table causing it to break after getting his own serum.

"GOD DAMNIT STEVE!" he yelled and tears started going down.

In the water, Tony started to feel like he's drowning.

"Tony!" Pepper yelled.

"Sir, take a deep breath and tell Colonel Barnes the same." JARVIS said and after a few minutes Tony's suit got its flight power activated by Jarvis. "Flight power restored." he said and finally Tony managed to fly himself and Bucky out of the ocean.

"Sir. Sir!" JARVIS said.

"Alright, kill the alarm. I got it." Tony said.

"That's the emergency alert triggered by the power dropping below five percent." JARVIS said and Tony noticed he's flying through the snow at night holding onto a still out of it Bucky.

Then he fell and crashed into the ground in the middle of a forest then let go of Bucky and took off his face helmet as he lay on the ground catching his breath.

"It's snowing, right? Where are we, upstate?"

"We're five miles outside of Rose Hills, Tennessee."

"Why?! Jarvis! Not my idea! What are we doing here? This is thousands of miles away, I gotta get Pepper, I gotta..."

"I prepared a flight plan. This was the location."

"Who asked you? Open the suit."

"I... I think I may be malfunctioning, sir."

"Open eject." Tony said and the suit got off and he sat up. "That's brisk!" he said and started to feel the cold weather. "Maybe I'll just cozy back up for a bit."

"I actually think I need to sleep now, sir." JARVIS said and the suit lost power.

"Jarvis. Jarvis? Don't leave me, buddy." Tony said and sighed then looked at Bucky taking shaky breaths. "You with me Bucky?" he asked and Bucky slowly nodded.

"I saw so much from the war during that explosion." Bucky said shaking his head.

"It's over now. You're fine."

Bucky nodded and looked around.

"We better get going." he said and Tony nodded. "Winter Soldier to Fury." he said but got nothing. "Damnit! Looks like we're on our own." he said and Tony nodded so Bucky checked to make sure he had a gun with him and as usual when in his uniform he did. "Perfect. With your suit dead you wouldn't be able to do anything. I have experience with stuff like this, my arm and gun so we'll be fine." he said and Tony nodded.

Later Tony was dragging the suit to a petrol station and made a call to Pepper.

"Stark Secure Server: Now transferring to all known receivers." a computer said.

"Pepper, 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. Also, it's Christmas time, 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." Tony said and dragged the suit to an abandoned looking farmhouse, put the suit on a couch and sat next to it with Bucky on his other side. "Let's get you comfy." he said and put its hand by its side. "You happy now?"

Bucky chuckled while Tony tried to fix the micro-repeater implants in his arm.

Then a boy stood by the doorway and pointed his toy gun at them.

"Freeze! Don't move." the boy said.

"You got us. Nice potato gun. Barrel's a little long. Between that and the wide gauge, it's gonna diminish your FPS." Tony said and the boy pointed his gun at a glass on a shelf and shot at it, breaking the glass. "And now you're out of ammo." he said and saw Bucky twitch a little.

"What's that thing on your chest?"

"It's a electromagnet. You should know, you've got a box of them right here."

"What does it power?" the boy asked then stood and pointed the desk light at his suit sitting on the couch behind him. "Oh my God!" he said, dropped his toy gun and took a step towards Tony and Bucky. "Oh my god! That... that's... Is that Iron Man?" He said and saw Bucky. "Aren't you the Winter Soldier to?!"

"Technically, I am." Tony said while Bucky nodded.

"Technically, you're dead." the boy said and give Tony a newspaper which has Tony and Bucky's pictures with the headline 'Mandarin Attack: Stark and Colonel Barnes presumed dead'

"A valid point."

"Why the hell did they think I'm dead? I can't even die!" Bucky said.

"What happened to him?" the boy asked referring to the suit as he sat next to on the couch checking it out.

"Life. I built him, I take care of him, I'll fix him." Tony said.

"Like a mechanic?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. If I was building Iron Man and War Machine or Winter Soldier's arm."

"It's Iron Patriot now." Tony said interrupting him.

"That's way cooler!"

"No, it's not."

"It really isn't." Bucky said shaking his head.

"Anyways, I would have added in um... the retro..." the boy started but was cut off.

"Retroreflective panels?" Tony said.

"To make him stealth mode."

"You want a stealth mode?"

"Cool, right?"

"That's actually a good idea. Maybe I'll build one."

As the boy touched the suit, he accidentally snapped off one of its fingers.

"Oops!" he said.

"Not a good idea! What are you doing? You're gonna break his finger? He's in pain, he's been injured. Leave him alone."

"S...Sorry."

"Are you? Don't worry about it, I'll fix it."

"Tony, stop it. You're scaring him." Bucky said.

"So, uh, who's home?"

"Well, my mom already left for the diner and dad went to 7-Eleven to get scratchers. I... I guess he won, 'cause that was six years ago." the kid said.

"Ouch." Bucky said.

"Mm. Which happens, dads leave. No need to be a pussy about it. Here's what I need: 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." Tony said.

"What's in it for me?" the kid asked and Bucky snickered.

Tony Stark: "Salvation. What's his name?"

"Who?"

"The kid that bullies you at school, what's his name?" Bucky asked.

"How'd you know that?"

"My best friend was a punk and kept getting beat-up so I know when someone's bullied."

"I got just the thing." Tony said then opened a compartment on the suit and took out a metal object. "This is a pinata 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." he said and the boy reached out to take it, but Tony pulled his hand away. "Deal? Deal? What'd you say?"

"Deal." the kid said.

Bucky looked at Tony surprised but didn't say anything.

"Deal?" Tony said and gave him the object. "What's you're name?"

"Harley. And you're..." Harley said.

"The mechanic." Tony said and looked at Harley for a moment. "You know what keeps going through my head? Where's my sandwich?"

Back at Tony's house, which was now surrounded by emergency rescue and news reporters, Pepper stood alone and looked out across the ocean and saw one of Tony's shattered Iron Man helmets and pulled it towards her, her forehead resting against the helmet's. Then she saw a red flashing light inside the helmet and as she put it on she received the message Tony had left her earlier.

"Stark Secure Server. Retinal scan: Verified." the computer said.

"Pepper, it's me." Tony said and she gasped and smiled. "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."

Later that night Pepper drove Maya home.

"Why were you at the house tonight? What was so important that you had to speak to Tony?" Pepper asked.

"I think that my boss is working for the Mandarin. So if you still want to talk about it, I suggest that we get ourselves someplace safe." Maya said.

"Your boss works for the Mandarin, you think? But Tony says you're a botanist, so..."

"That figures. What I actually am is a biological DNA coder running a team of forty out of a privately-funded think tank, but sure you can call me a botanist."

"This boss of yours, does he have a name?"

"Yeah, Aldrich Killian." Maya said and Pepper looked at her in shock.

Meanwhile Aldrich was talking on the phone to Savin.

"Well, we took the house down, sir..." Savin said.

"Mmhmm." Albrich said.

"But there's no sign of a body."

"I see."

"No Stark or Barnes."

"I have to go." Albrich said and rise from his seat walked towards another room. "The Master is about to record and he's a little... Well, you know how he gets. Keep your appointment tonight and call me when it's done." he said and walked into a room set up as a set with all of Mandarin's props in place and camera crew ready to record Mandarin's message. "Alright everybody. No talking and no eye contact, unless you wanna get shot in the face."

Then the Mandarin arrived with his entourage and enter the house.

"The Master is traveling." Mandarin Look-Out said as the Mandarin arrived on set and took a sit and looked at Aldrich.

"Well then. What are we waiting for?" The Mandarin asked.

Back in Rose Hills, Tennessee, Tony, Bucky and Harley walked in town at night.

"The sandwich was fair, the spring was a little rusty, the rest of the materials, I'll make do. By the way, when you said your sister had a watch, I was kinda hoping for something a little more than that." Tony said and pulled his sleeve up wearing a little girl's pink watch and Harley laughed.

"She's six! Anyway, it's limited edition. When can we talk about New York?" Harley said.

"Maybe never, relax about it."

"What about The Avengers, can you talk about them?"

"I don't know, later. Hey kid, give us a little space." Tony said and they stopped and Bucky looked at the remains of the local explosion site that they came to investigate. "What's the official story here? What happened?"

"I guess this guy named Chad Davis, used to live roundabouts, won a bunch of medals in the army. One day, folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb. Then he blew himself up right here."

"Six people died, right?" Bucky said.

"Yeah."

"Including Chad Davis?" Tony said.

"Yeah." Harley said and Bucky kept looking around at the remains of the explosion site.

"Yeah. That doesn't make sense." Tony said and sat next to Harley. "Think about it. Six dead, only five shadows."

"Yeah, people said these shadows are like the mark of souls gone to Heaven. 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?"

"That's what everyone says. You know what this crater reminds me of?"

"No idea. I'm not... I don't care."

"That giant wormhole, in um... in New York. Does it remind you?" Harley asked and Bucky twitched a little.

"That's manipulative. I don't want to talk about it."

"Are they coming back? The aliens?"

"Kid, stop!" Bucky said.

"Maybe. Can you stop? Remember when I told you, that we have an anxiety issue?" Tony said.

"Does this subject make you... make you edgy?" Harley asked.

"Yeah, a little bit. Can I just catch my breath for a second?"

"Are there bad guys in Rose Hills? Do you...do you need a plastic bag to breathe into? Do you have medication?"

'I do.' Bucky thought fighting his own anxiety.

"Nope." Tony said and Bucky sighed.

"Do you need to be on it?" Harley asked.

"Probably."

"Do you have PTSD?"

"I don't think so."

"Tony, calm down." Bucky said gently and sat next to him.

"Are you... are you going completely mental? I can stop, do you want me to stop? Do you want me to stop?" Harley asked and Bucky sighed.

"Remember when I said to stop doing that? I swear to God, you're going to freak me out!" Tony said looking agitated and suddenly rose. "Ah man, you did it, didn't you? You happy now?"

"Tony, calm down. I'm right here. You helped me so now I'm gonna help you OK?" Bucky said gently and Tony nodded.

"What did I say?" Harley asked and Tony started running off and Harley ran after him. "Hey, wait up! Wait, wait." he said and Tony stopped running and Harley caught up with him. "What the hell was that?" he asked and Tony held his face in his hands for a moment and then threw some snow at Harley.

"Your fault, you spazzed me out. Okay, back to business. Where were we? The guy who died... relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?" Tony asked.

"Where she always is."

"See, now you're being helpful."

"He's right." Bucky said.

Later Tony and Bucky were walking towards a bar and Tony bumped into a woman.

"Sorry." Tony said and the woman dropped something. "Lady, this uh..." he said, picked up the item and handed it back to the woman.

"Thank you." Brandt said and Bucky noticed the woman had burn marks on one side of her face.

'What's that from?' Bucky thought.

"Nice haircut, suits you." Tony said.

"Nice watch."

"Yeah, limited edition."

"Oh, I don't doubt it." she said and they paused for a minute. "Well, have a good evening." she said, turned and walked off.

Then Tony and Bucky entered the bar and walked up to Mrs. Davis, who sat at table drinking alone.

"Mrs. Davis, mind if we join you?" Bucky asked.

"Free country." Mrs. Davis said.

"It sure is." Tony said and sat next to her and she looked at him for a minute.

'For you it is.' Bucky thought.

"Alright. Where'd you like to start?" Mrs. Davis said.

"I just want to say I'm sorry about your loss. I want to know what you think happened." Tony said.

"Look, I brought your damn file. You take it and go." she said and dropped the file in front of him. "Whatever was in here, he wanted no part of it." she said and he opened the file.

"Clearly, you're waiting for someone else. Yeah? Supposed to meet somebody here?"

"Yeah." she said and he looked at the file again and noticed a photo of Taggart next to the photo of Chad.

"Shit." Bucky muttered.

"Mrs. Davis, your son didn't kill himself, I guarantee you. He didn't kill anyone. Someone used him." Tony said.

"What?" she asked.

"As a weapon."

"You're not the person who called me after all, are you?"

Suddenly a cell phone was slammed on their table.

"Actually, I am." Brandt said.

Tony looked up and it was the woman they bumped into outside the bar.

Suddenly Brandt grabbed hold of his arm and twisted it, slamming his head onto the table, Bucky managed to quickly grab hold of Chad's dog tags that were on the table.

"Hey, hey, hey! What's all this about? What the hell's going on here?" Rose Hills Sheriff asked.

"It's called an arrest." Brandt said, pushed Tony to the ground and stepped towards the Sheriff. "Sheriff, is it?"

"Yes ma'am, it is. And you are?"

"Homeland Security." she said and held up her badge. "We good here?"

"No, we're not good. I need a little more information than that."

"Well, I think it's a little above your pay grade, Sheriff."

"Yeah, well, why don't you get on the horn to Nashville and uh...upgrade me?" Rose Hills Sheriff said and Tony gestured to Mrs. Davis to hide the file and she pushed it under the bar.

"Alright, you know what? I was hoping to do this the smart way, but uh...the fun way's always good." she said and Bucky noticed her hand turning red hot, burning the badge in her hand.

'Oh shit!' Bucky thought.

"Deputy, get this woman and..." Sheriff started but was cut off.

Suddenly Brandt shoved the hot badge into the Sheriff's face, took his gun and shot him, Tony and Bucky ran out of the bar and Brandt followed them and Tony turned to her.

"Hey hot wings, you wanna party? You and me, let's go." he said and as he turned to run again he saw Savin getting out of a car and walk towards him, as Savin got his gun out to shoot at him, Tony and Bucky ran off and Harley threw something at Savin to make him miss them and they Tony who stopped behind a car and saw a man hiding low on the ground. "Crazy, huh?"

"Yeah." Rose Hill Christmas Tree Shopper said.

"Watch this." Tony said and smashed into the window of a shop.

As they and Brandt fought in the shop, Bucky started a fire in shop.

"You walked right into this one, I've dated hotter chicks than you" Tony said and Bucky put Chad's dog tags into the microwave and turned on the gas.

"That's all you got? Cheap trick and a cheesy one-liner?" Brandt said. "That's just sad considering that the Winter Soldier, sergeant Barnes and one of the founders of SHIELD is doing it."

"Sweetheart, that could be the name of my autobiography." Tony said and they quickly left through the back door.

As the dog tags heat up in the microwave they started sparking up fire, Brandt realized the gas had been left on and suddenly the shop exploded killing Brandt. Tony and Bucky stumbled out of the shop as people ran past. Then a water tank fell down and trapped Tony's leg while Bucky got away to find Savin had grabbed Harley.

"Let me go!" Harley said and Savin mocked him.

"Help me! Help me!" Savin said and as Tony's leg was trapped under some rubble, Savin sat in front of him with Harley on his lap. "Hey kid, what would you like for Christmas?"

"Mr. Stark, Mr. Barnes, I am so sorry!"

"It's OK kid." Bucky said gently.

"Oh. No, no. I think he was trying to say, "I want my god damn file."" Savin said.

"It's not your fault, kid. Remember what I told you about bullies." Tony said and Harley used the gadget Tony gave him earlier and ran away. "Do you like that, Westworld? That's the thing about smart guys, we always cover our ass." he said and brought up his hand revealing his Iron Man suit hand.

Then he fired at Savin and sent him flying backwards. Then he made his way out of the rubble before leaving.

"You're welcome." Harley said.

"For what? Did I miss something?" Tony asked.

'Tony!" Bucky said.

"What?"

"Me saving your life." Harley said.

"Yeah. A, saved you first. B, thanks, sort of. And C, if you do someone a solid, don't be a yutz, alright? Just play it cool otherwise you come off grandiose."

"Unlike you? 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 it out the way or I'm going to run you over. Bye kid." Tony said and he and Bucky got in his car. "I'm sorry, kid, you did good."

"So now you're just going to leave me here, like my dad?"

"Yep." Tony said. "Wait, you're guilt tripping me, aren't you?"

"I'm cold." Harley said childishly and Bucky chuckled..

"I can tell. You know how I can tell? Cus we're connected." Tony said mocking him.

"Thanks for the help kid." Bucky said and they drove away.

"It was worth a shot." Harley said.

Meanwhile Savin woke up, coughing and healed from Extremis. His face glow red and during an advert, the Mandarin took over the satellite.

"Mr Vice President, I think you should see this." a government employee said.

"Oh god, not again. Is the President getting this?" the vice president asked.

On a plane, the President looked at a TV in shock.

"Mr. President. Only two lessons remain and I intend to finish this before Christmas morning. Meet Thomas Richards." The Mandarin said and the screen zoomed out to show a man lying on the floor while he pointed a gun at him. "Good strong name. Good strong job. Thomas, here, is an accountant for the Roxxon Oil Corporation." he said and Thomas sobbed. "But I'm sure he's a really good guy. I'm going to shoot him in the head, live on your television in 30 seconds."

"No!" Thomas said.

"The number for this telephone is in your cell phone. Exciting, isn't it, imagining how it got there? America, if your president calls me in the next half-minute, Tom lives. Go!"

"How did he hack my phone?" Government Official 1 said.

"We can't allow terrorists to dictate..." Government Official 2 said.

"I have to make this call." Ellis said.

"I'd strongly advise against that."

"This is the right thing to do." Ellis said and the phone rang but Mandarin didn't answer so he waited for a few seconds before firing the gun.

"There's just one lesson left, President Ellis. So run away, hide, kiss your children goodbye. Because nothing, not your army, not your red, white and blue attack dog, can save you. I'll see you soon." The Mandarin said.

"Tell Rhodes, find this lunatic right now."

"Sir, we tracked the broadcast signal. We have a possible point of origin in Pakistan and the Patriot is ready to strike." Military Aide said.

"Right now."

"Yes, sir."

Meanwhile Tony and Bucker were reading over some files in a car and sighed.

"Man. Happy, Happy, Happy-" Tony said.

"You can say that again." Bucky said.

Then Rhodey, suited in his Iron Patriot armor, kicked down a door and marched forwards.

"Don't move!" Rhodey said and his phone rang. "Uh... Hang on a second. Hello?"

"You ever have a chick straddling you and you look up and suddenly she's glowing from the inside out, kind of a bright orange?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, I've had that. Who is this?"

"It's me, pal. Bucky's here too. Now, last time I went missing, if I remember correctly, Bucky came looking for me. What are you doing?"

"A little knock-and-talk, making friends in Pakistan. What are you doing?"

"Your redesign, your big rebrand, that was AIM, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'm gonna find a heavy-duty comm sat right now, I need your login."

"It's the same as it's always been, "WarMachine68.""

"And password, please."

"Well, look, I gotta change it every time you hack in, Tony."

"It's not the '80s, nobody says "hack" any more. Give me your login." Tony said and Rhodey sighed.

""WAR MACHINE ROX" with an "X," all caps." Rhodey said and Tony and Bucky laughed.

"That is so much better than "lron Patriot.""

"Oh yeah!" Bucky said.

"Very nice. Very nice. I have one question for you. What would you like for Christmas this year?" EMCEE said.

"Well, David..." Elk Ridge said.

"Do not erase a program-me from my DVR unless you are 100% sure..." Crew said.

"One more time! Ms. Elk Ridge, everybody! All right." EMCEE said.

"Because you erase my shows!" the cameraman said.

"That ain't gonna cut it." Tony said.

"We talked about this. Excuse me, sir. I don't know who..." the cameraman said and Tony turned around.

"Shh."

"Mom, I need to call you back. Something magical is happening. Tony Stark is in my van."

"Shh. Keep it down."

"Tony Stark is in my van!"

"No, he's not."

"I knew you were still alive!"

"Come on in. Close the door." Tony said and the cameraman got in the van and closed the door. "Shh.."

"Oh, wow. Can I just say, sir..."

"Yep."

"I am your biggest fan."

"Okay. First, is this your van? Is anyone else gonna come in?"

"No, no, no. Just us."

"Great. What's your name?"

"Gary."

"Gary?"

"Oh, wow."

"Right there is fine."

"Okay."

"Okay? I get a lot of this, it's okay."

"Oh, good. Can I just say?"

"What do you want?"

"Yeah. I don't know if you can tell, but I have, like, patterned my whole look after you. My hair's a little..."

"It's fine."

"It's not right, 'cause there's no product in it."

"Right."

"I don't want to make things awkward for you, but I do have to show you... Boom!"

"A Hispanic Scott Baio. I'm sorry. Is that me?"

"Yeah. It's... I mean... I had them do it off a doll that I made, so it's not like it's off a picture. So it's a little bit..."

"Gary. Listen to me, okay? I don't want to clip your wings, here. We're both a little over-excited. I got an issue. I'm chasing bad guys. I'm trying to grab a little something from some hard-crypt data files. I don't have enough juice. I need you to jump on the roof... Right? Recalibrate the lSDNs. Pump it up by about 40%."

"Got it."

"All right? It's a mission."

"Yeah."

"Tony needs Gary."

"And Gary needs Tony."

"Be quiet about it. Go."

"Yeah." Gary said and Tony typed on the keyboard accessing the files he needed and a video started playing.

"What would you regard as the defining moment of your life?" Albrich asked.

"Well, uh, I think that would be the day I decided not to let my injury beat me." Chad said and Tony typed again and another video showed up.

"Will you please state your name for the camera?"

"Ellen Brandt." Brandt said.

"Okay. So, the injections are administered periodically. Addiction will not be tolerated. And those who cannot regulate will be out from the program-me." Aldrich said and did more typing, another video. "Once misfits, cripples... You are the next iteration of human evolution. Everybody, before we start... I promise you, looking back at your life, there will be nothing as bitter as the memory of that glorious risk you prudently elected to forego. Today is your glory- Let's begin." he said and Brandt's missing arm grew back as she glowed red and the other volunteers glow red and scream too. "We gotta get out of here! We gotta get out of here! Get her out! Get them out of here!" he said and one of the volunteers exploded.

"A bomb is not a bomb when it's a misfire. The stuff doesn't always work. Right, pal? It's faulty, but you found a buyer, didn't you? Sold it to the Mandarin. Got you, pal." Tony said muttering.

Meanwhile Pepper and Maya were in a bedroom talking.

"What happened? Fun fact. Before he built rockets for the Nazis, the idealistic Wernher von Braun dreamed of space travel. He stargazed. Do you know what he said when the first V-2 hit London? "The rocket performed perfectly. It just landed on the wrong planet." See, we all begin wide-eyed. Pure science. And then the ego steps in, the obsession. And you look up, you're a long way from shore." Maya said.

"You can't be too hard on yourself, Maya. I mean, you gave your research to a think tank."

"Yeah, but Killian built that think tank on military contracts."

"That's exactly what we used to do. So, don't judge yourself."

"Thank you, Pepper. I really appreciate that."

Then someone knocked on the door and Pepper looked over. Then she got up, opened the door and room service pushed in a tray of food but Aldrich appeared and snapped his neck getting Pepper tp gasp.

"Maya, run!" Pepper said and Aldrich grabbed her by the arm, spun her around and slammed her against the wall, holding her by the neck.

"Hi, Pepper." Albrich said. "So, you want to tell me why you were at Stark's mansion last night?" he asked Maya.

"I'm trying to fix this thing. I didn't know you and the master were gonna blow the place up." Maya said.

"Oh, I see. So, you were trying to save Stark when he threatened us?"

"I've told you, Killian, we can use him."

"Pepper. Pepper. Pepper."

"Look, if we want to launch product next year, I need Stark. He just lacked a decent incentive. Now, he has one."

Meanwhile Rhodey flew across the sky in his Iron Patriot armor.

"This is support team Blue-Zero. Sending coordinates for a suspected Mandarin broadcast point of origin." a man on the radio said.

"Copy." Rhodey said and the repulsor started firing, people shrieking. "Nobody move." he said to a women exclaiming in fear. "Oh. Support Blue-Zero, unless the Mandarin's next attack on the U.S. involves cheaply-made sportswear, I think you messed up again. Yes, you're free, uh, if you weren't before. It's... Of course. Yes, ma'am. Iron Patriot on the job. Happy to help. No need to thank me, ma'am. It's my pleasure."

One of the women shook his hand and her hand glow red and Rhodey fell backwards, grunting.

"Savin? I've acquired the Patriot armor." a woman said.

"If you want this suit, you're going to have to pry my cold dead body out of it."

"That's the plan, Colonel."

Meanwhile.

"Harley, tell me what's happening. Give me a full report." Tony said.

"Give us a full report." Bucky said.

"Yeah, I'm still eating that candy. Do you want me to keep eating it?" Harley said.

"How much have you had?" Tony asked.

"Two or three bowls."

"Can you still see straight?" Tony asked and Bucky chuckled.

"Sound like you when you were little." Bucky said and tony turned a little red.

"Sort of." Harley said.

"That means you're fine. Give me Jarvis. Jarvis, how are we?" Tony said.

"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. And, sir, you were right. Once I factored in available AIM downlink facilities I was able to pinpoint the Mandarin's broadcast signal." JARVIS said.

"What are we talking? Far East, Europe, North Africa, Iran, Pakistan, Syria? Where is it?"

"Actually, sir, it's in Miami."

"Okay, kid, I'm gonna have to walk you through rebooting Jarvis's 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." Harley said.

"Okay, first things first, I need the armor. Where are we at with it?"

"Uh, it's not charging." Harley said and Tony pulled over to the side of the road, heavy breathing.

"Actually, sir, it is charging, but the power source is questionable. It may not succeed in revitalizing the Mark 42." JARVIS said.

"Great." Bucky muttered.

"What's questionable about electricity? All right? It's my suit, and I can't... I'm not gonna... I don't wanna..." Tony said breathing heavily. "Oh, God, not again."

"It's gonna be OK, don't worry." Bucky said gently.

"Tony?" Harley said and Tony got out of the car followed by Bucky. "Are you having another attack? I didn't even mention New York."

"Kid!"

"Right, and then you just said it by name while denying having said it." Tony said while Bucky rubbed his back gently.

"Okay, um, uh..." Harley said.

"God, what am I gonna do?" Tony asked panting.

"It's gonna be OK. Look at me and take a deep breath." Bucky said and Tony looked at him.

"Just breathe. Really, just breathe. You're a mechanic, right?" Harley said.

"Right." Tony said.

"You said so."

"Yes, I did."

"Why don't you just build something?"

"Okay. Thanks, kid." Tony said and got back in the car.

"Yeah, thanks a lot." Bucky said and got back in to.

Later Tony and Bucky were in a shop buying supplies.

Later Tony was building something.

Later at Miama, Florida. Tony and Bucky climbed a wall and started fighting guards. Then they headed into the house and found a woman lying on a table.

Meanwhile a different woman was lying on a sofa with a man sitting at a desk.

"Why is it so hot in here? I told you to put it at 68." the woman said and a man scoffed.

"My fault again. Let me tell you something, sweetheart. I am not your personal air con..." the man said.

Meanwhile Tony put a gloved hand on his head, electrocuting him then got the gun and left the room with Bucky in Winter Soldier form. They made their way to the bedroom and Winter Soldier pulled the duvet off the bed, revealing two girls so sushed them and the toilet flushed.

"Well, I wouldn't go in there for 20 minutes." The Mandarin said and laughed. "Now, which one of you is Vanessa?"

"That's me." Vanessa said.

"Ah! Nessie. Did you know that fortune cookies aren't even Chinese?"

"There's some guy over here."

"They're made by Americans, based on a Japanese recipe."

"Hey!" Tony said while Mandarin raised his hands.

"Bloody hell. Bloody hell."

"Don't move." Tony said and Winter Soldier came with a gun in hand.

"I'm not moving. You want something? Take it. Although the guns are all fake because those wankers wouldn't trust me with the real ones."

"What?"

"Hey, do you fancy either of the birds?"

"Heard enough. You're not him. The Mandarin, the real guy. Where? Where's the Mandarin? Where is he?"

"Answer the question!" Winter Soldier said and got his gun ready.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. He's here. He's here, but he's not here. He's here, but he's not here." The Mandarin said.

"What do you mean?"

"It's complicated. Hey, it's complicated." The Mandarin said and Winter Soldier hit a shot getting him to jump.

"It is?"

"It's complicated."

"Uncomplicate it. Ladies, out. Get out of the bed. Get into the bathroom. Sit." Tony said, closed the door then heard a gunshot and women exclaim in fear.

"My name is Trevor. Trevor Slattery."

"What are you? What are you, a decoy? You're a double, right?"

"What, you mean like an understudy? No, absolutely not." The Mandarin and Winter Soldier pointed the gun at his face. "Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor."

"You got a minute to live. Fill it with words." Winter Soldier said and rolled his metal arm to get that ready to.

"It's just a role. "The Mandarin," see, it's not real."

"Then how did you get here, Trevor?" Tony asked.

"Um. Well, I, um, had a little problem with, um, substances. And I ended up, um, doing things, no two ways about it, in the street, that a man shouldn't do."

"Next?"

"Then, they approached me about the role, and they knew about the drugs."

"What did they say? They'd get you off them?"

"They said they'd give me more. They gave me things. They gave me this palace. They gave me plastic surgery. They gave me things." Trevor said and started snoring.

"Did you just nod off? Hey." Tony said and Winter Soldier kicked him.

"No, and a lovely speedboat. And the thing was, he needed someone to take credit for some accidental explosions." Trevor said and there was a mimic explosion.

""He"? Killian?"

"Killian."

"He created you?"

"He created me."

"Custom-made terror threat." Tony said and Winter Soldier sighed.

"I worked for the army and SHIELD for way too long." Winter Soldier said and shook his head. "What is this world coming to with villains?"

"Yes. Yes. His think tank thinked it up. The pathology of a serial killer. The manipulation of Western iconography. Ready for another lesson? Blah, blah, blah. No. Of course, it was my performance that brought the Mandarin to life." Trevor said.

"Your performance? Where people died?" Tony said.

"No, they didn't. Look around you. The costumes, green screen. Honestly, I wasn't on location for half this stuff. And when I was, it was movie magic, love."

"I'm sorry, but I got a best friend who's in a coma and he might not wake up. So you're gonna have to answer for that. You're still going down, pal. You under..." Tony said and Savin hit him around the head, unconscious.

"Tony!" Winter Soldier said and went to check on him.

"Okay, Trevor, what did you tell him?" Savin asked. "With Colonel Barnes here I know you didn't lie." he said and Winter Soldier glared at him.

"I didn't tell him anything." Trevor said.

"Nothing?"

"No."

"You should have pressed the panic button."

"Well, I panicked, but then I handled it."

'Panic button?' Winter Soldier thought.

"Ah..." Tony said and sighed. "Okay."

"It's just like old times, huh?" Maya said.

"Oh, yeah. With zip ties. It's a ball."

"It wasn't my idea."

"Okay. So you took Killian's card."

"I took his money."

"And here you are 13 years later, in a dungeon."

"No."

"Yeah."

"No, you're in a dungeon. I'm free to go."

"Yeah?"

"A lot has happened, Tony. But I'm close. Extremis is practically stabilized." she said, sighed and walked towards him.

"I'm telling you it isn't." he shouted out then lowered his voice to usual volume. "I'm on the street. People are going bang. They're painting the walls. Maya, you're kidding yourself."

"Then help me fix it." she said and showed him the "You Know Who I Am" note he left in 1999.

"Did I do that?"

"Yes."

"I remember the night, not the morning. Is this what you've been chasing around?"

"You don't remember?"

"I can't help you. You used to have a moral psychology. You used to have ideals. You wanted to help people. Now look at you. I get to wake up every morning with someone who still has their soul. Get me out of here. Come on."

"You know what my old man used to say to me? One of his favorite of many sayings... "The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."" Albrich said.

"You're not still pissed off about the Switzerland thing, are you?" Tony asked.

"How can I be pissed at you, Tony? I'm here to thank you. You gave me the greatest gift that anybody's ever given me. Desperation. If you think back to Switzerland, you said you'd meet me on the rooftop, right? Well, for the first 20 minutes, I actually thought you'd show up. And the next hour... I considered taking that one-step shortcut to the lobby. If you know what I mean."

"Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out what happened to the first mouse."

"But as I looked out over that city, nobody knew I was there, nobody could see me, no one was even looking. I had a thought that would guide me for years to come. Anonymity, Tony. Thanks to you, it's been my mantra ever since. Right? You simply rule from behind the scenes. Because the second you give evil a face, a bin Laden, a Gaddafi, a Mandarin, you hand the people a target."

"You're something else."

"You have met him, I assume?"

"Yes. Sir Laurence Oblivier."

"I know he's a little over the top sometimes. It's not entirely my fault. He has a tenden... He's a stage actor. They say his Lear was the toast of Croydon, wherever that is. Anyway, the point is, ever since that big dude with the hammer fell out of the sky, subtlety has kind of had its day."

"What's next for you in your world?"

"Well, I wanted to repay you the selfsame gift that you so graciously imparted to me." Albrich said, rolled three balls forwards and they stopped, projecting an image of Pepper with Extremis. "Desperation. Now, this is live. I'm not sure if you can tell, but at this moment the body is trying to decide whether to accept Extremis or just give up. And if it gives up, I have to say, the detonation is quite spectacular. But until that point, it's really just a lot of pain. We haven't even talked salary yet. What kind of perk package are you thinking of?"

"Let him go." Maya said.

"Hold on, hold on. Maya..."

"I said, let him go."

"What are you doing?"

"1200 CCs. A dose half of this size, I'm dead."

"It's times like this my temper is tested somewhat. Maya, give me the injector."

"If I die, Killian, what happens to your soldiers? What happens to your product?"

"We're not doing this, okay?"

"What happens to you? What happens if you go too hot?" she said and looked back at Tony and shot her.

"The good news is, a high-level position has just been vacated."

"You are a maniac."

"No, I'm a visionary. But I do own a maniac. And he takes the stage tonight." Albrich said and left and talked to Savin. "Once we get the Patriot installed, it will take me nine or 10 minutes for the takedown."

"Well, that's great, but the last time I looked there was somebody inside of it." Savin said whirring.

"Afternoon, gentlemen." Albrich said whirring ceased. "Hello, Colonel. Step aside." he said, put his hand on the suit and it blew orange. "Oh! We'll get you out of there. Don't worry."

"You'll damage the armor."

"Yes, I will. But you can fix it, right? I'm gonna take the Chinook to base camp. And I want Potts with me."

"She's still in Phase Two."

"You're not going deaf, are you?"

"Careful, there. It's a limited edition. Hey, uh, Ponytail Express. What's the mileage count between Tennessee and Miami?" Tony asked while his watch started beeping.

"832 miles." Guard 1 said.

"Very nice."

"I'm good like that. Can you, uh, stop that?"

"Break it, you bought it."

"I think I bought it." Guard 2 said.

"Okay, that wasn't mine to give away. That belongs to my friend's sister. And that's why I'm gonna kill you first."

"What are you gonna do to me?"

"You'll see."

"You're zip-tied to a bed. This." Guard 2 said but nothing happened. "That." he said and nothing happened again.

"Are you coming out?" Albrich asked.

Rhodey was panting and sweating.

"Do not open. Do not open. Don't open. Don't open." Rhodey said and heard beeping. "All right. Let's go." he said and the suit opened, Rhodey jumped and Winter Soldier punched Savin in the face, then kicked him and Albrich glow red and breathed fire at Rhodey but Winter Soldier went in front of him, raised his metal arm and got it. "You... You breathe fire? Okay." he said and Savin tried to knock him unconscious but Winters Soldier held his arm stopping him.

"As long as they have me, you can't win." Winter Soldier said.

"It's a glorious day, Savin. This time tomorrow, I'll have the West's most powerful leader in one hand, and the world's most feared terrorist in the other. I'll own the war on terror. Create supply and demand. For you, for your brothers and sisters." Albrich said.

"Trust me, you're gonna be in a puddle of blood on the ground in five, four, three... Come on! Two..." Tony said.

"How did we get this shift?" Guard 2 asked.

"All right, I'm gonna give you a chance to escape. Put down your weapons. Tie yourselves to those chairs. I'll let you live. In five, four, bang!"

"Wow. That was..."

"You should be gone by now. You should've already been gone."

"I am just beyond terrified."

"Here it comes. Three, four..."

"Shut up."

"Five, four, three, two, one!" Tony said quickly and The Iron Man suit joined to his left arm. "Told you. Where's the rest?" he said, blast one of the men and untied himself. And as they fought, the suit connects to his right leg and he kicks them. "Where's the rest?"

Meanwhile, Harley watched as the garage door shook and ran over and blew it open to see the suit fly out.

The repulsor started powering up then there was a gunfire and screaming.

"Honestly, I hate working here. They are so weird." a man said and Tony left.

"Ah! Better late than never." Tony said, got outside and caught the face mask. "Not this time. Not the face. Phew! It's good to be back. Hello, by the way."

"Oh, hello, sir." JARVIS said.

"All personnel, Stark is loose and somewhere in the compound. Repeat, Stark is loose and somewhere in the compound." guard said and Rhodey woke up.

"Ah! Let's go!" Tony said and thruster misfiring. "Aw, crap."

"Tony? Bucky?" Rhodey said.

"Rhodey, tell me that was you in the suit."

"I know it wasn't me because I've been with Tony and don't fly." Bucky said.

"No. You got yours'?" Rhodey asked.

"Uh... Mmm. Kind of. Main house, as fast as you can. There's somebody I'd like you to meet." Tony said.

"You, you, you! Move! Get out!"

"The room is secure. I have eyes on the Mandarin." Tony said while girls whimpered.

"What's this? I had winners." Rhodey said and there were gunshots while Trevor woke up and started drinking beer again.

"What have you come as?"

"You make a move, and I break your face."

"I never thought people had been hurt. They lied to me."

"Yeah well, join the club." Winter Soldier said.

"This is the Mandarin?" Rhodey said.

"Yeah, I know, it's... It's embarrassing." Tony said.

"No kidding. He's just like a rookie SHIELD agent when they meet me." Winter Soldier said with his arms crossed.

"Hi, Trevor. Trevor Slattery. I know I'm shorter in person. A bit smaller. Everyone says that. But, um, hey, if you're here to arrest me, there's some people I'd like to roll on." Trevor said.

"Here's how it works, Meryl Streep." Tony said.

"You tell him where Pepper is and he'll stop doing it." Rhodey said.

"Doing what? Ow, I get it! Ow! That hurt. I get it! I get it! I don't know about any Pepper, but I know about the plan." Trevor said.

"Spill."

"Now." Winter Soldier said.

They both knew Bucky was officially back in hero mode after working for SHIELD for so long.

"Do you know what they did to my suit?" Rhodey asked.

"What? No. But I do know it's happening off the coast. Something to do with a big boat. I can take you there." Tony said.

"Woah!" Trevor said and Rhodey jumped. "Ole', ole', ole', ole'..."

"Tony, I swear to God, I'm gonna blow his face off." Rhodey said.

"Oh, and this next bit may include the vice president as well. Is that... Is that important?" Tony said.

"What?" Winter Soldier said confused and surprised.

"Yeah, a little bit." Rhodey said.

"So?" Tony said.

"What are we gonna do? I mean, we don't have any transport."

"Right." Tony said and a beer opened. "Hey, Ringo. Didn't you say something about a "lovely speedboat"? If he's right about the location, we're 20 minutes from where Pepper is."

"But we also have to figure out this vice president thing, right?"

"Right. I wonder who I'm calling right now. Oh! That's the vice president."

"Thanks. Hello?" Vice President said.

"Sir, this is Tony Stark." Tony said.

"Welcome back to the land of the living."

"We believe you're about to be drawn into the Mandarin campaign. We gotta get you somewhere safe as soon as possible."

"Mr. Stark, I'm about to eat honey-roast ham, surrounded by the Agency's finest. The president's safe on Air Force One with Colonel Rhodes. I think we're good, here."

"Sir, this is Colonel Rhodes. They're using the Iron Patriot as a Trojan horse. They're gonna take out the president somehow. We have to immediately alert that plane." Rhodey said. "Colonel Barnes is here with us."

"Okay, I'm on it. I'll have security lock it down. If need be, they can have F-22s in the air in 30 seconds. Thank you, Colonel."

"Rhodes, Barnes and Stark out."

"Everything okay, sir?" a man asked.

"Couldn't be better." Vice president said. "I love you, babe." he said to his daughter.

Meanwhile the Iron Patriot landed and walked towards President Ellis.

"Colonel Rhodes." Ellis said and saluted. "Glad to see you could make it, son. I feel safer already."

"We gotta make a decision. We can either save the president, or Pepper. We can't do both." Rhodey said.

"Sir, I have an update from Malibu. The cranes have finally arrived, and the cellar doors are being cleared as we speak." JARVIS said.

"And what about the suit I'm wearing?" Tony asked.

"The armor is now at 92%."

"That's going to have to do."

The Iron Patient's arm opened and the suit wearer put their hand against the door handle on a plane, burning it.

"Everything all right, Colonel?" a military aide asked and Iron Patriot killed him and people started shooting at him.

He killed everyone beside the President then the helmet lift up to reveal Savin.

"It is an honor, Mr. President." Savin said.

"If you're gonna do it, do it!" Ellis said.

"Whoa! Cool your boots, sir. That's not how the Mandarin works."

"Sir, Air Force One has been compromised. Internal shots, temperature spikes." an officer said.

"Get me eyes on it now." officer 2 said.

"Image coming through now, sir."

"Was that Rhodes?"

"Is anyone there?" a man asked.

"Let us out!" a woman said and Tony attacked Savin and pinned him against the wall.

"The President. Now." Tony said.

"He's not here." Savin said and burnt the Iron Man suit's arm with electrical crackling, mechanisms grinding, soft groaning. "Try the jet stream? Speaking of which, go fish." he said and a door blast open on the plane, people screaming, metal creaking, more screaming so Tony blast him in the chest.

"Walk away from that, you son of a bitch." Tony said and Savin fell to the ground. "How many in the air?"

"Thirteen, sir." JARVIS said.

"How many can I carry?"

"Four, sir."

'Why'd I let Bucky go with Rhodey?' Tony thought.

"Slow down. Slow down, relax. What's your name? Heather?" he said.

"Oh, God! No! No!" Heather screamed.

"Listen to me. See that guy? I'm gonna swing by, you're just gonna grab him. You got it?"

"What? Oh!"

"I'll electrify your arm, you won't be able to open your hand. We can do this, Heather. Easy, see? Eleven more to go. Remember that game called Barrel of Monkeys? That's what we're going to do."

"18,000 feet." JARVIS said.

"Come on, people. Everybody, grab your monkey. Nice."

"10,000 feet. 6,000 feet."

"Come on, people. Come on, come on, come on! Yeah!"

"1, 000 feet. 400 feet. 200 feet, sir."

"He's a chunky monkey, let's get him. Hello." Tony said and dropped them all in the water from a few feet above.

"We made it!" a man said.

"Nice work, guys! Excellent. Good team effort all around. Go us. All right, Jarvis. But it's only half-done. We've still got to get Pepper..." Tony said and the Iron Man suit flew into a truck and the suit disassembled and he sighed. "That came out of nowhere. Wow."

Later Tony was on the boat, controlling the suit.

"Give me some good news, man." Rhodey said.

"You OK?" Bucky asked and Tony.

"I think they all made it."

"Oh, thank God." Rhodey said.

"Yeah, but I missed the president."

"You couldn't save the president with the suit, how are we gonna save Pepper with nothing?"

"Uh... Say, Jarvis, is it that time?"

"The House Party Protocol, sir?" JARVIS said.

"The what?" Winter Soldier asked.

"Correct." Tony said.

Meanwhile Pepper woke up and gasped.

"Hi." Albrich said.

"You think he's gonna help you? He won't." Pepper asked breathing heavily.

"Having you here is not just to motivate Tony Stark. It's, um... Well, it's actually more embarrassing than that. You're here as my, um..."

"Trophy." she said and he chuckled.

"Mmm." he said and Iron Patriot walked in and Pepper gasped. "Good evening, sir." he said and the armor opened and the President fell out. "Welcome aboard, Mr President. Ever hear of an elephant graveyard? Well, two years ago, the elephant in the room was this scow."

"This is the Roxxon Norco." Ellis said.

"And, of course, you'll remember that when she spilled a million gallons of crude off Pensacola, thanks to you, not one fat cat saw a day in court."

"What do you want from me?"

"Uh, nothing, sir. I just needed a reason to kill you that would play well on TV. You see, I've moved on. I found myself a new political patron, and this time tomorrow, he'll have your job. String him up."

"Hey!"

"Come on. You're not gonna freak out on me, right?" Rhodey said and climbed on to the boat.

"I hope not." Tony said.

"He does it to me enough." Winter Soldier said with his arms crossed.

"Oh, my God." Rhodey said and sighed. "He's strung up over the oil tanker. They're gonna light him up, man."

"Viking funeral. Public execution." Tony said.

"Yeah, death by oil."

"Broadcast will commence shortly. Take final positions." an announcer said on PA.

"Okay. That's good. Now give me cameras A through E and we'll do a full tech rehearsal." Albrich said and a technician started typing.

"ls your gun up?" Rhodey asked.

"Yep. What do I do?"

"Stay on my six, cover high and don't shoot me in the back."

"Me neither. I've already been aimed at enough." Winter Soldier said.

"Six, high, back. Alright." Tony said and there was a gunfire, bullets ricocheting. "You see that? Nailed it."

"Yeah, you really killed the glass."

"For a rookie." Winter Soldier said smirking a little.

"You think I was aiming for the bulb? You can't hit a bulb at this distance." Tony said and Winter Soldier fired a bullet and hit the bulb.

"All personnel, we have hostiles on east unit 12." announcer PA said.

"Over there!" a man said.

"I repeat, hostiles on east unit 12."

"I'm out. Give me. You got extra magazines?" Tony said.

"They're not universal, Tony." Rhodey said.

"I know what I'm doing, I make this stuff. Give me another one."

"Okay."

"Give me one of yours."

"I don't have one that fits that gun."

"Mine's at home." Winter Soldier said.

"You've got, like, five of them. Here's what I'm going to do. Save my spot, ready?" Tony said.

"What'd you see?" Rhodey asked.

"Too fast. Nothing. Here we go." Tony said and cleared throat. "Three guys, one girl, all armed."

"God, I would kill for some armor right now."

"You're right. We need backup."

"Yeah, a bunch."

"You know what?" Tony asked and nodded at something in the distance, whooshing.

"Holy shit." Winter Soldier whispered.

"Is that...?" Rhodey asked.

"Yep." Tony said.

"Are those...?"

"Yeah." Tony said as dozens of Iron Man suits few over. "Merry Christmas, buddy. JARVIS, target Extremis heat signatures. Disable with extreme prejudice."

"Yes, sir." JARVIS said through the armors.

"What are you waiting for? It's Christmas. Take them to church."

"Gentlemen."

There was grunting and screaming.

"Incoming! Jarvis, get Igor to steady this thing." Tony said and heard mechanisms whirring.

"This is how you've been managing your down time, huh?" Rhodey said.

"Everybody needs a hobby. Heartbreaker, help Red Snapper out, will you?" Tony said and suit up. "Nice timing."

"Oh, yeah. That's awesome. Give me a suit, okay?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, they're only coded to me." Tony said and Winter Soldier chuckled.

"What does that mean?"

"I got you covered."

"Good evening, Colonel. Can I give you a lift?" JARVIS said.

"Very funny." Rhodey said.

"Sir, I've located Ms. Potts."

"About time." Tony said.

Pepper gasped, panting.

"Stop! Put it down. Put it down. Put it down." she said.

"See what happens when you hang out with my ex-girlfriends?"

"You're such a jerk." she said and Winter Soldier chuckled.

"Yep. We'll talk about it over dinner." Tony said with metal creaking and Pepper sobbing. "Come on. A little more, baby." he said and with her straining and him grunting.

Then Albrich shoved his hand on Tony's suit, burning it.

"TONY!" Winter Soldier yelled.

" Is this guy bothering you? Don't get up. Ooh. Is it hot in there?" Albrich said. "Stuck? Do you feel a little stuck? Like a little turtle, cooking in his little turtle suit." he said sizzling.

"Tony." Pepper said.

" She's watching. I think you should close your eyes. Close your eyes. Close your eyes. You don't want to see this."

Then Tony cut off Albrich's arm, it burned through the floor and Pepper fell down.

"Yeah, you take a minute." Tony said and there was groaning, sizzling, metal creaking, yelling, grunts and Pepper whimpered. "Jarvis, give me a suit right now!" he said and the suit he called got destroyed. "Oh, come on!"

"Mr. President! Just hold on, all right? I'm coming. Just hold on. Hold on." Rhodey said and heard a gunfire. "Oh, kay. Bye-bye. Brace yourself. You look damn good, Mr. President, but I'm gonna need that suit back. The President is secure, Tony. I'm clearing the area."

"Nice work."

"Ready, sir?"

"What do you mean "ready"?" Ellis asked as Rhodey blast off and then he screamed.

"Pep, I got you. Relax, I got you. Just look at me! Honey, I can't reach any further and you can't stay there. All right? You've got to let go. You've got to let go! I'll catch you, I promise. No!" Tony said and Pepper fell to the ground and into the flames below.

"PEPPER!" Winter Soldier yelled.

" A shame. I would've caught her." Albrich said and they ran towards each other.

Then he jumped up to attack, Tony slid under and armors up. Repulsors firing, flesh burning, both grunting.

"Eject." Tony said and more repulsors started firing.

" Well, here we are on the roof." Albrich said and sliced the suit in half.

"Mark 42, inbound." JARVIS said.

"I'll be damned. The prodigal son returns." Tony said and the suit flew to him, hit a piece of metal and fell apart and he rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

" You really didn't deserve her, Tony. It's a pity. I was so close to having her perfect." Albrich said.

"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." Tony said, motioned to the suit and it flew on to Albrich. "Jarvis, do me a favor and blow Mark 42."

"No!" Albrich muffled screaming. "No more false faces. You said you wanted the Mandarin. You're looking right at him. It was always me, Tony. Right from the start. *I AM THE MANDARIN!*" he said and walked towards Tony, his flesh held together by flames.

Then someone hit him and he flew to the side. It was Pepper heavily breathing.

"I got nothing." Iron Man said as the repulsor started powering up. "Jarvis, subject at my 12 o'clock is not a target, disengage! What? Oh, what, are you mad at me?" [he said and she ran towards him, flipped in the air, punched through the Iron Man suit, destroyed it and used the suit to blow up Albrich. "Honey?"

"Oh, my God. That was really violent." Pepper said.

"You just scared the devil out of me. I thought you were..."

"I was dead. Why? Because I fell 200 feet? Who's the hot mess now?"

"It's still debatable. Probably tipping your way a little bit. Why don't you dress like this at home? Hmm? Sport bra. The whole deal."

"You know, I think I understand why you don't want to give up the suits. What am I going to complain about now?"

"Well, it's me. You'll think of something. Come here."

"No, don't touch me."

"Don't worry about it."

"No, I'm gonna burn you."

"No, you're not. Not hot."

"Am I gonna be okay?"

"No. You're in a relationship with me. Everything will never be okay. But I think I can figure this out, yeah. I almost had this 20 years ago when I was drunk. I think I can get you better. That's what I do. I fix stuff."

"And all your distractions?"

"Uh... I'm going to shave them down a little bit. Jarvis. Hey."

"All wrapped up here, sir. Will there be anything else?" JARVIS said.

"You know what to do."

"The Clean Slate Protocol, sir?"

"Screw it, it's Christmas. Yes, yes." he said and they hugged as the Iron Man suits blew up. "Okay, so far? Do you like it?"

"It'll do."

"And so, as Christmas morning began, my journey had reached its end. You start with something pure, something exciting. Then, come the mistakes. The compromises. We create our own demons."

"Oh! Great to see you! Oh, bloody hell!" Trevor said.

"But then I thought to myself, "Why stop there?" Of course, there are people who say progress is dangerous, but I'll bet none of those idiots ever had to live with a chest full of shrapnel. And now, neither will I. Let me tell you," Tony said and there was a metal clinking. "that was the best sleep I'd had in years."

"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay." a nurse said while Happy woke up, gasping and coughing.

"No, look." Happy said weakly.

"So, if I were to wrap this up, tie it with a bow, or whatever... I guess I'd say my armor, it was never a distraction, or a hobby. It was a cocoon. And now, I'm a changed man. You can take away my house, all my tricks and toys. One thing you can't take away... I am Iron Man." Tony said while he threw the Arc Reactor into the ocean. "You know and thank you by the way. For listening. Plus, something about just getting it off my chest, and putting it out there in the atmosphere, instead of holding this in... I mean, this is what gets people sick, you know. Wow, I had no idea you were such a good listener."

What do you think, should I do The Winter Soldier and then Infinity War and Endgame or skip it?