"Oh shit," I muttered, momentarily forgetting the small boy grasping my hand. This was the plan? Blowing up the drones and hoping it does as much damage as possible?

The flashes and sounds were increasing in speed, indicating I was running out of time. I scanned my surroundings, partly searching for a place to hide and partly looking to see if anyone was around who needed warning. It was only us. I quickly bent down and lifted Jacob into my arms. I ran for the nearest building. It was small and as I neared I saw it was a set of toilets. And it was locked. I resisted the urge to swear.

I ran around to the back of the building and looked around. There were no drones. I set Jacob down on the ground against the wall. I could hear in the distance the sound of the beeping were increasing in speed.

"There's going to be a very loud bang Jacob. But don't worry, you're going to be fine."

I crouched down and shielded Jacob's body with my own. The piercing sound stopped and for a second there was complete silence. Then the bombs went off.

Even though we had some distance between us and the nearest drone, the sound was almost deafening. I could feel the ground beneath us vibrating from the shock. The sounds of destruction could be heard once the blast was over. I wanted to know how much damage had been done but I was too afraid to walk around the building and look. God, what if someone had been killed? Yes, Ivan was the one who was doing this but it was because of me and dad. It's hard not to feel personally responsible if anything happens.

Jacob was still tucked safely away in my arms. Surprisingly he hadn't made a sound. I released him from my arms and quickly assessed him. He looked perfectly fine as he gazed up at me with wide eyes.

"See, we're fine," I said with a forced smile. I wasn't smiling on the inside. I was scared. I was already thinking of the repercussions of what had just happened. No doubt there would have been news cameras that would have captured everything. Soon everyone in the world see what had happened. And they will probably blame us. I did.

But I couldn't think about the future now. Right now I needed to know if everyone was okay. Where was dad when that explosion when off? Was he okay? What about Pepper, and Happy, and even Natasha? I needed to know that everyone was alright.

I was reaching into my pocket to use the phone I'd stolen to call dad when I heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

"Hey! Are you alright?!"

"Yeah," I said as I stood up and turned around. "I'm…"

It took me a second to place the face. And when I did, I wondered how on Earth I could forget that face.

"Doctor Shepherd?"

Standing in front of me, complete in a white coat, was Doctor Daniel Shepherd. I flashed back to the last time I had seen him. It had been back in the hospital in LA when I was still recovering from Obadiah's attack. I had totally been crushing on him but with a smashed up face and 2 broken limbs, it hadn't exactly the best time to ask him on a date.

He hadn't changed much in 7 months. His blonde hair had grown slightly, curling at his temples, and even in the darkness I could see his gorgeous blue eyes staring at me.

"Morgan?" There was surprise in his voice but also pleasure.

I was secretly pleased that he remembered me. Although I guess treating a girl who had been attacked because her dad was Iron Man would be pretty unforgettable.

"Daniel," I said as we walked towards each other. Jacob's hand was still in mine and he stayed close to my legs, using them to hide behind. "What are you doing here?"

"I was here representing my hospital, doing a presentation on the future of medicine. We were just about to start when all the shooting happened." His eyes scanned my face as he stepped closer. "What happened?" His fingers brushed the side of my face. The touch sent shivers down my spine. "Did you get this from the blast?"

In the excitement of the last 20 minutes, I'd almost forgotten how awful and bloodied my face looked. The pain in my broken fingers was brought back to the front of my mind. Luckily Jacob was grasping the other hand.

"Oh no, this is from earlier. Long story." Would I ever meet this man when I wasn't battered and bruised?

"What's going on?"

"The usual. Someone is attacking dad." Jacob suddenly tugged on my jeans. I'd momentarily forgotten about him. "Oh. Can you please take Jacob out the front to the ambulances? He's lost his mom so hopefully they can help find her."

"Yeah, sure. What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I'm going to go looking for dad and find out what exactly what has happened." I bent down to Jacob's level. "This is my friend Daniel. He's going to take you to some people who can help you find your mom."

"No!" Jacob whined as I went to pass his hand to Daniel.

"It's okay. He's going to help. And remember, when you find your mom we can go see Iron Man."

Jacob hesitated for just a moment before he let go of my hand and took Daniel's. "Hey mate," he said in an adorable voice.

"Thank you," I said as I stood back up.

"Be careful." He stared into my eyes and for a moment it felt like he was looking at me, the real me. Not the bloodied, beaten me that stood before him. This couldn't just be in my head. The sparks that were flying couldn't just be from me, right? I got my answer when he said "Be careful. When this is all over I'd really like to see you again."

Okay, so it definitely wasn't in my head. I could feel the big, stupid grin on my face and knew I must have looked like an idiot but I couldn't stop it. This gorgeous, talented, intelligent and caring man was interested in me! Sure, I'd had cute guys like me before but I had never reciprocated their feelings. They had only been interested in my money, and who my father was. But with Daniel it felt different. I don't know why. For all I knew, he could've been just after my money like all the rest. But I'm sure he wasn't. This one was different.

I watched Daniel walk away hand in hand with Jacob. Before he turned the corner and disappeared, he looked over his shoulder and shot me a smile.

I stood rooted to the spot for a few seconds, forgetting everything around me. After a few moments, I ran back into the main area, surveying the damage the exploding drones had caused. There was rubble everywhere and a lot of damaged buildings but thankfully, I couldn't see any injured people. Half of the drones were still standing and I wondered why they hadn't been programmed to blow with the others. Right now it didn't matter. Less exploding drones meant less damage and destruction.

I fished out the stolen phone from my jeans and punched in the number for the suit. While Pepper had ignored the unknown number, dad picked up on the first ring. "'Ello," he said in a calm, and slightly sarcastic, tone.

"Of course you would answer an unknown call while battling a crazed mad man."

"I ordered a pizza. They're going to call me when it's ready." I rolled my eyes, genuinely unsure if he was joking or not.

"What the hell is going on? Have you finished him yet? This battle has destroyed half of the expo!" I was walking through the now eerily silent expo, dodging the exploded drone remains and debris.

"And how would you know that?" he asked with feigned suspicion. "Could it be perhaps because you ignored my order to go to the hospital and have instead come to the expo?"

"Did you really expect me to do anything different?" I asked.

"Wishful thinking. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"

"I'm perfect, as usual."

"What about Pepper? Is she-"

"She's fine," he said cutting across me. "She's here with me and Rhodey."

"Oh thank God." I breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Where are you? I'll come pick you up." I heard the powering up of the suit through the phone.

"Uh." I looked around. "I'm 200 meters North of the Unisphere. So I take it Ivan is dead?"

"Yeah." I wish I could pretend to feel some semblance of sadness about that fact, but honestly I couldn't give a damn. He deserved what he got after hurting so many people, not just here at the expo, but back in Monaco too. "When he realized he couldn't win he activated the bombs in the drones. Blew them all up, including himself."

"Not all," I said as I walked past an intact drone, still standing motionless with its gun aimed at the sky. "About half of them are still standing. I wonder why he didn't program them to all blow up?"

I heard the sound of dad's voice but I wasn't paying attention to the words. My mind was still stuck on the unexploded drones. It just didn't make sense. Why wouldn't he go for maximum impact? Maybe there had been an error? Maybe they were supposed to have exploded but something went wrong? I wanted to believe that but Ivan wouldn't have been that careless. He had planned this out to a tee.

So he must have accounted for the fact that he might die before fulfilling his wish to see dad's reputation in tatters. What plan did he have for that situation? How could he still have one last impact even though he was dead?

It was like I had been standing in the dark and suddenly the lights were switched on. It all made sense.

"Shit!" Adrenaline was quickly being pumped back into my veins.

"What?" Dad's tone swiftly went to one of carelessness to one of concern. "What is it?"

"I have to find Daniel! I have to make sure he and Jacob are safe!" I kept the phone up to my ear as I began sprinting through the park. I leapt over rubble and bits of drones, ignoring my protesting legs.

"Daniel? Jacob? What are you on about? What's going on?"

"The drones!"

"You mean the unexploded ones?"

"They're not unexploded. They're about to-" a red light suddenly began flashing in the centre piece of the drone I passed. "explode."

"Shit!" Dad yelled as he finally comprehended what was going on.

"It's like terrorist attacks," I rambled as I continued to run, my eyes desperately searching out Daniel and Jacob. "There's a first wave of attacks and then the ambulances and police and everyone comes and then there's another attack."

"Morgan, stay where you are. I'm almost there." I hated hearing the fear and concern in my father's voice.

"There's not enough time," I said with despair as I realized the lights coming from the drones were flashing faster. Faster than the first attack. Ivan wanted to make sure there was less time to escape. This was the maximum impact he wanted.

I couldn't see Daniel. I just prayed he wasn't near any drones. I realized I wasn't as lucky as I looked around. There were at least 7 drones in my immediate vicinity.

"I'm sorry Dad," I said as I continued to run, desperately looking for a clear space. "I love you."

"No! I'm almost there!" I hated that I was going to leave dad alone. No, he had Pepper. And Rhodey. He wouldn't be alone. He would just feel like he was. Looks like Ivan was getting his wish. Losing me would destroy dad. He didn't have to be dead to feel like he was. "I can see you! You're going to be fine."

I stopped and looked up into the sky. I could just see the red and gold dot that was dad. I smiled as I watched him flying towards me. For a second I truly believed I was going to be okay.

Then the drones exploded.

The sound was deafening and the heat felt like it was peeling the skin from my bones. The back of my eyelids glowed red. My hands flew up to protect my face from instinct. I felt my feet leaving the ground as the force of the blast knocked me back. I flew through the air as shrapnel shredded my skin. Gravity pulled me back down, but instead of landing on flat ground, something hard and large broke my fall. My head snapped back, knocking hard against metal. My body rolled to the ground. I squinted and saw through the haze that I'd landed on the remains of the previously exploded drone.

Then it all went black.


My ears were ringing. I couldn't hear anything over the sound. I could feel someone touching me. Their hand was on my wrist, checking for a pulse. I wanted to tell them I was alive but I couldn't. My eyes wouldn't open, neither would my mouth. All I could do was lie there in…wait, no. I wasn't in pain. Maybe I was dead after all. A blast like that should be causing some serious pain. It must be the adrenaline. It was stopping me from feeling the full extent of my injuries. That thought scared me. What injuries did I have that my own body was trying to protect me from?

I forced myself to open my eyes. It took a couple of tries and a few seconds to adjust. There were two faces hovering above mine, both of whom I recognized. Dad had his faceplate flipped open and the worry all over his face disappeared the second he saw my eyes open. I saw his lips moving but couldn't hear the words over the ringing. The second person kneeling beside me was Daniel. He looked unhurt so I hoped that Jacob was too. He was talking as well, looking down at me with a smile that didn't quiet conceal the concern.

I lifted my hand, which was surprisingly difficult, and brought it up to my ear. I think they understood me as they both nodded and stopped talking down to me, instead talking to each other. I wondered if Dad remembered Daniel.

The pain was slowly seeping into my body. I could feel Daniel's hands roaming my body, assessing me for injuries. It was only then that I became aware of what I couldn't feel.

My legs.

I was numb from the waist down. I focused all my remaining energy on moving my legs, wiggling a toe, anything. But there was nothing.

Tears were rolling off my face. I could feel myself sobbing, the tears on my face and the heaving of my chest, but I couldn't hear it. I curled my hands into fists and began punching the sides of my thighs. I must have looked a sight, lying flat on my back while punching my legs.

I could feel the pain in the fists, but not my legs. My punches became more frenzied as the tears increased. Dad's cold metal hand wrapped around my wrist to stop me but I flicked it away. My punches decreased to slaps before dying completely. I felt nothing.

I laid there sobbing hysterically. I wanted to tell them but I couldn't hear my own voice. I don't think I needed to tell them anyway. A light suddenly dawned in Daniel's eyes and after murmuring something to dad, the same light showed in his. We were all thinking the same thing.

Dad's hand was suddenly stroking my hair, trying to soothe me. He hadn't done that since I was a kid. His lips were moving, saying reassuring things I gathered. He smiled as I looked into his eyes but I could see it cracking at the edges. He was just as scared as I was, but putting on a brave face for me.

The ringing in my ears was dulling slightly and through it I could just make out the sounds of a siren coming closer. An ambulance. Too late, the damage is done.

I lied there motionless, with a few tears still escaping. I didn't want to be there anymore. I wanted to go back, before this all began. Before Ivan, before Obadiah, before Iron Man. I wanted to go back. The darkness pulling at me grew stronger. I closed my eyes, ignoring Dad lightly shaking my shoulder, and let it take me.


Thank you so much to the amazing people who left a review for my previous chapter: Lollypops101, ZabuzasGirl, NicoleR85, TheMagentaColor and 88dragon06. It honestly means so much to me when people leave a review.

There is going to be one last chapter before this story is (finally) complete. Keep an eye out and make sure to leave a review!
Reviews are what help me make up my mind when I wonder if I should continue writing.