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I looked over at the emergency doors then up at the sky to make sure dad was out of sight before turning around and running down the street. Like hell I was going to sit in a hospital while dad was out there trying to stop Ivan and Pepper was in danger. I was going to do something. I wouldn't be able to do much to stop Ivan but I could help the people at the expo, warn them, and help them get out. Plus, I needed to find Pepper.

My eyes scanned the street, looking for an older car that wouldn't have an alarm. I spotted a red BMW E30 from the 90's halfway down the street. With no time to waste, I ran towards it, picked up a heavy rock from a nearby garden bed and promptly hurled it through the back passenger window. As suspected, no alarm sounded. I reached through the broken window and unlocked the front door. As I slid into the driver's seat, I caught a quick glance of my reflection in the rear-view mirror. I understand why dad had been so angry when he'd seen me. I looked horrible.

The numerous small cuts over my face from the party were starting to heal but a large bruise was blossoming on my left cheek along with a black eye. I had blood on my face from my split lip and damaged nose, and a small gash near my temple had been reopened from Ivan's last punch and was still trickling a tiny river of blood down the side of my face. No wonder my head was throbbing like a bitch. Not to mention my two broken fingers and partially cut tongue.

I pushed the thought of my injuries aside and focused on hotwiring the car (another skill dad had taught me). It wasn't long until the silence inside the car was broken by the engine starting. I stomped on the gas and shot off down the street. I had never been one to stick to the speed limits (try doing 30mph in a Porsche- it's impossible), and I wasn't about to start tonight. While this rust bucket wasn't as fast a Porsche, it was getting the job done. I sped through the streets, ignoring the red lights and earning plenty of honks from annoyed motorists. I almost jumped in surprise when a shrill ringtone echoed through the car. A phone, which looked as old as the car, was sitting in the centre console. I couldn't believe my luck.

I ignored the incoming call and quickly dialled Pepper's number. I prayed to god she wouldn't ignore the unknown number and I prayed even more that something wasn't stopping her from answering. It rang out so I immediately called again.

"What?" I could instantly tell from her tone that something was going on.

"Pepper, it's me," I said as I weaved through 2 particularly slow cars.

"Morgan! Where are you? Are you here at the Expo?"

"No, I-"

"Good! Don't come here, stay wherever you are!" I had never heard Pepper sound so forceful before.

"Why? What's happening?"

"Hammer's drones have gone crazy. They're attacking everyone."

Pepper confirmed my earlier predication. Ivan was using the suits he'd built for Hammer to hurt people at the expo. Dad would come to the rescue, giving Ivan the perfect opportunity to kill him.

"Is dad there yet? He just left me so he should be there soon." I hated to think what was going to happen if he didn't get there in time. How many people could die...because of us.

"Tony was just with you?"

"Yeah, he just rescued me." I regretted the words that had just come from my mouth when Pepper reacted the way I knew she would.

"What?! Rescued you? What happened?!" She practically screeched.

I considered lying to her but figured, what the heck? Nothing else could go wrong tonight. "Ivan kidnapped and tortured me. Dad rescued me and now he's on his way to stop Ivan."

"Oh my god? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Is dad there yet?" I pushed down on the gas and hoped this car would last long enough to make it to the expo.

"I don't know. I'm inside, trying to figure out how to stop the drones."

"Okay, stay inside. Don't go outside, don't do anything. Stay where you are. Okay?"

"Okay."

My attention was suddenly caught by a flash in the sky up head. "I've got to go." I hung up the phone and scanned the sky. I was only a few blocks away from the expo. That's when I noticed that I had no one to fight for the road, no one to weave around. There was no traffic heading towards the expo, only away.

Shit.

A red blur in the sky suddenly shot across my vision, followed by a lot of grey blurs. I felt better knowing that dad was there, trying to stop Ivan, but I also hated seeing my father being attacked by a bunch of drones. At least they wouldn't be attacking the public anymore. Just dad.

I swerved around a corner and immediately slammed on the brakes as a swarm of people ran across the street. I was close enough to run on foot so I grabbed the phone before jumping out of the car. In the back of my mind I made a mental note to send some cash to whoever's car I had stolen and abandoned. The closer I got to the expo, the more chaotic it was. There were people running everywhere, screaming in fear. It got harder and harder to weave between them. I noticed many of them had already sustained injuries, like cuts on the face and broken limbs. I prayed they were the worst of the injuries.

As I reached the expo, I took a moment to take in everything that was happening. There were hundreds of people streaming out of the buildings with police officers trying to direct them towards the exits. A few buildings were on fire while some others had been destroyed and were now just a pile of rubble. I spotted what appeared to be a handful of large drones standing among the retreating crowd. But instead of harming the fleeing people, they stood motionless with their weapons were aimed at the sky. I was confused for a moment until dad flew overhead. As soon as he came into their range, the drones on the ground fired. I watched as dad swerved to avoid their shots. Following dad's trail was what appeared to be our suit, although much more heavily armed, and a number of drones, all firing at him.

Although I was greatly concerned, I couldn't worry about dad now. He could take care of them. I had to help the people who couldn't take care of themselves. The first thing I did was run over to a building that was burning. It was probably a stupid thing to do and dad could yell at me later for it, but I ran straight into the building. It had once been an exhibition, displaying the history of the American Army but now everything was either ash or about to be. Flames were licking the walls and smoke was quickly filling the room. It looked like everyone had already evacuated so I was about to leave when I heard the sound of a child crying.

"Hello?" I called out, hoping I could be heard over the flames and screaming still coming from outside.

"Help! We're back here!"

I ran further into the building, pulling up the neck of my shirt to cover my mouth. The smoke and the heat from the flames was almost enough to send me running outside but I ignored my instinct and kept running. Up ahead the fire had already severely damaged the building. Some of the beams from the roof had fallen and were blocking my way. I could just make out the figure of a man and a child beyond the flames.

I could go back outside and try to get help but by then it could be too late. I took a few steps back, took in a deep breath (which was mostly smoke) and ran. I lept over the beam, thankfully missing the flames. Huddled near the corner was a family. A man was leaning over a woman who lay unconscious. Beside her was an unconscious kid, no more than 3, who had a cut bleeding on his forehead. Standing next to them, crying loudly, was a small girl around 5 years old.

"Thank God!" The man cried as he saw me. "I need your help. I can't carry them all out."

"I'll get your kids out. You carry your wife."

While the man gathered his wife in his arms, I turned to little girl, who still had tears streaming down her face. "Hey, it's okay." I reached down and wiped a tear from her cheek. I was trying to remain calm but the truth was we were running out of time. "I need you to be a brave girl, okay?" She sniffed and nodded. "I need you to climb onto my back and wrap your arms around my neck."

Although she was hesitant to climb onto the back of a stranger, her father assured her it was okay and she quickly hopped onto my back, wrapping her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. I gently pick up her unconscious brother and held him close to me.

"Quickly!" I cried out as the man hesitated. Clutching his wife, he leapt over the beam but quickly disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Time was running out. My lungs were starting to burn and I couldn't stop coughing.

"I need you to hold on real tight!" I said over my shoulder to the little girl. I felt her arms tighten around me. I took a running jump, barely missing the flames below. Without a second to waste, I ran towards the exit.

The cool night air entering my lungs was a relief but caused a coughing fit. I was just glad to have made it out of there without any burns.

"Sara! Michael!" Their father came running over with tears in his eyes. "Thank you so much! Thank you!"

"It's okay. They're fine. We need to get them to hospital." I could hear police and ambulance sirens nearby. They had to be here soon if they weren't already. The man picked up his wife from the bench he'd placed her on and together we walked through the expo to the nearest street. There were far fewer people around, most of them having already run away or found some shelter from the fight. There were a lot of damaged drones lying on the pavement, which I took as a good sign.

As I had expected, police and ambulances were pulling up at the expo entrance. We ran to the nearest one. The paramedics quickly loaded the mother and son onto gurneys. I handed the little girl, Sara, over to her father who couldn't stop thanking me. When he turned around to talk to the paramedics, I turned and ran back into the expo. I wanted to stick around and make sure they were okay but I needed to go back and make sure there weren't other people in need of help. Plus, I needed to find out what was going on with dad.

I got my answer as I jogged to the centre of the expo, still having the occasional coughing fit. As I stopped in front of the shallow pools to catch my breath, the sound of gunfire echoed through the night. I looked up to see dad flying towards me. He flew low to the ground, barely skimming over the water as he flashed by me as a red blur. He was quickly followed by our suit and a handful of drones, still firing shots towards him. While other screamed and ran away from the gunfire, I stood transfixed as I watched dad fly towards the Unisphere. He flew into the large metal sphere before shooting out of the top. As the drones went to follow they couldn't make the sharp turn, resulting in half of them crashing into the sphere and blowing up.

It was a great move but he still had a few drones on his tail, including our suit. I wondered who was inside it but I had a sinking feeling I already knew. As I watched them fly off and disappear, the sound of gunshots was replaced by the sounds of screams. I whirled around, looking for the source. It wasn't hard to find, considering the expo was now almost completely deserted.

A destroyed drone had collapsed onto a bystander. She was screaming in pain as she tried to pull her leg out from underneath the drone, with no luck. The few stragglers left in the expo completely ignored her as they ran past. My feet were moving before I knew it. It was a futile effort but I tried lifting the fallen drone on my own. It wouldn't budge.

"Hey, I need help!" I yelled, my voice barely audible over the sounds of the pinned woman's screams. The people running past us ignored me, barely sparing us a glance. There was no way I could lift this thing by myself but no one seemed to care enough to stop and help. "HEY!" I screamed as I grabbed the jacket sleeve of a man as he ran past. "HELP ME!" For a moment I thought he would keep on running but after getting over the shock of having a teenage girl scream in his face he bent down and together we managed to lift the drone. The woman shuffled backwards on the pavement. She had tears streaming down her face as she looked down at her crushed and bloodied ankle.

"Take her over there." I pointed in the direction where the ambulances were arriving. The man picked up the woman bridal style and swiftly disappeared in that direction.

As I looked around I saw the expo was almost well and truly deserted. I was the only person left in the main area that I could see. I wondered how many drones were left flying around after dad as there were so many littering the ground. There couldn't be too many left for dad to take out. Even if he got rid of all of the drones, there was still Ivan to worry about. Where was he? What was he planning to do? Something more had to be happening.

I was about to pull out my phone and call dad to find out what the heck was happening when a cry sounded out. Not just any cry- a kids. I whirled around and traced the sound back to the kid. He was no older than 4 and was sitting against the wall of the reflecting pools, tears streaming down his face.

"Hey there," I said in a gentle voice as I approached him. "It's okay." He seemed a bit weary as I bent down in front of him. "Did you get lost from your mom?" He sniffled and nodded. "How about I help you find her?"

He nodded. I held out my hand to him but he didn't take it. "I'm scared," he said in a small voice.

"It's okay to be scared. But everything is going to be okay. My dad is Iron Man and he's going to make sure everyone is alright."

The little boy's eyes brightened as I spoke. "Your dad is Iron Man?" he asked in an awed voice.

I nodded. "Yes. Maybe once we've found your mom you can meet him." The little boy suddenly surged forward and took my hand in his. "What's your name?"

"Jacob."

"Okay Jacob, let's find your mom." We walked hand in hand through the expo while Jacob asked question after question about Iron Man before he pointed to one of the many drones we were passing and asked "what are those?"

I was debating whether to just say they were robots when I noticed the centre chest piece in a nearby drone was flashing red. A piercing sound was emitted with every flash, steadily increasing in volume. I glanced around. Approximately half of the drones were flashing red.


As usual, I have to thank my amazing, wonderful and fabulous reviewers! ZabuzasGirl, NicoleR85, Lollypops101, animexchick, 88dragon06 and SassyMomOfGirls1. I love you all!

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