It felt good to be back in my old armor, and even better to have the entirety of Tony's Iron Legion as backup. It wasn't long before Killian's freighter came into view and Tony's voice sounded in my helmet.

"How are we doing, Iz?"

"Back in action and ready to go full badass mode," I said, grinning as the Legion and I formed a ring around the seacraft. "We got a plan?"

"Target Extremis heat signatures. Disable with extreme prejudice," Tony said.

"Got it."

The Extremis subjects weren't that hard to find; they stuck out like glowing Christmas lights on my heat sensor. And they looked strong. Pure aggression emanated from the man and woman who came up to engage me as I landed hard on the port deck. As FRANNIE activated my weaponry, I felt Isabella Stark slip away—and Iron Girl take over.

The guy went down after three blasts to his abdomen in quick succession. Before he could properly regenerate, I'd tossed him overboard. The woman nearly smashed a fist through my chest, but as I staggered backward and held my arm up another blast went off, knocking her over completely. "Anyone else, FRANNIE?"

"One target coming up on your eight o' clock."

I spun sharply and was just able to dodge as a tall blonde man threw a fist at me.

"You really shouldn't be here right now, kid," said Aldrich Killian, with his usual smirk. He made a power stance, as if that was going to threaten me. "Makes you think, eh? You're uncle's willing to endanger his niece to save his girlfriend. I mean, that's kinda messed up isn't it?"

I growled in annoyance and sent a couple of shots at him as I charged.

"Gettin' real tired of yer shit, Mr. Killian!" I yelled, attempting a messy left hook.

"Is this all because I kidnapped you?" he said, mock-pityingly.

"Is this all because of that elevator in Switzerland?" I snapped.

He chuckled dryly before blocking my next strike. His touch burned my armor. "Little girl, you're way in over your head." Killian twisted his arm, jerking me off-balance. "And isn't it way past your bedtime?"

I used my other arm to push his hand off me and came back, blast after successive blast. "I haven't slept in 48 hours, don't piss me off!"

Just when I thought I was able to get close to him and take him out, he grabbed me—literally grabbed me, armor and all—and lifted me into the air like we were figure skaters.

Then he tossed me into a stack of cargo boxes.

I slammed right in between two of them, my weight pushing them apart. On the floor I wheezed, breathless, my head pounding as FRANNIE refocused my helmet display.

"Minimal damage, Miss Stark. We're lucky."

"Lucky," I said, as I tried to get up stiffly. "Lucky." Killian was long gone, jumping from rig to rig with shocking agility.

"What about the President?"

"Recovered by Colonel Rhodes, ma'am. They are clearing the area using the Iron Patriot armor as we speak."

"Excellent," I huffed. "That's one less thing to worry about."

It took me longer than I expected to even sit upright, but I finally pushed myself to a standing position. A crash overhead, several yards away, caught my attention. Dangling from a wrecked crane was a familiar red-haired figure—

"Pepper!" I gasped visibly. She was trying to hold on to Tony. Then she fell.

"FRANNIE, thrusters at full power now!" I said, taking flight. Explosions burst right beneath me, beneath Pepper, swallowing her up in smoke and flame—

"Dammit!" Why couldn't I have had my Chrome suit? I plunged straight into the inferno like a diver into water.

There! She was still falling. I reached out a hand—

Grabbed her—

"Aaaagh!"

"Pepper, I got you!"

We shot out of the other side of the blast and hit the metal floor, away from the wreck. Pepper groaned in pain.

"Are you okay?" I gasped, grabbing her shoulders and lifting up my faceplate.

"My shoulder…"She blinked, and a soft orange glow started to burn underneath her skin…

We watched in shock as she popped her shoulder back into its socket, the glow continuing down her arms and body and healing up her other injuries.

I gaped. "Pep…"

"Isabella! What are you doing here?"

"Came to rescue you," I said. "What did he do to you?"

She shook her head, frightened. "I don't know. Where's Tony?"

I looked up. A figure launched itself off the crumbling crane and was caught mid-air by another Iron Man suit.

"There," I said. "Right there. Stay here."

I blasted off once more, not bothering to pull my visor down again. No rest for the bitchy.