This chapter will be a smidge longer. Things are starting to heat up, and that means the story will be more interesting as well.
Disclaimer: I don't own Iron Man or any related characters. Marvel does, and unfortunately, Disney owns Marvel.
Chapter Four
Un-Happy
Diana was able to sleep through the night, but she woke to a quiet alarm from Jarvis. "Miss Stark, I'm afraid there's been another attack. The Mandarin has claimed responsibility. Also, Happy was involved in the bombing." That woke Diana right up.
The Mandarin's video was even more of a taunt this time. Jarvis gave her a summary, but Diana was glad that she hadn't had to watch it this time. She and Tony went to the hospital together to see Happy. He was in a coma, and on life support. He'd been badly injured, and the doctors weren't sure if he would ever wake up.
They left after sitting with him for a while, and were instantly swarmed by reporters when the exited the building. Diana clung to Tony's arm, keeping her head down and just moving forward. She still wasn't a very prominent figure in the media, but she was still easily recognizable.
It wasn't until they got to the car and Diana had split from Tony to get in on the other side that it happened. One of the reporters called out above the din from the others. "Mr. Stark! When is somebody going to kill this guy?" It got, not only Tony and Diana's attention, but also the other reporters. Tony turned slowly to face him. "Just saying."
"Is that what you want?" Tony asked. He was quiet for a moment before continuing. "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, that you just die, pal."
"Tony!" Diana snapped angrily. She knew he was angry about Happy's injury, but this was just too far.
Tony ignored her. "I'm gonna come get the body. There's no politics here, just good, old-fashioned revenge. There's no Pentagon, it's just you and me. On the off-chance you're a man, here's my home address."
"Tony, stop!" Diana shouted, but it was useless. The reporters were pressed too closely together, and Tony was still ignoring her.
"10880 Malibu Point, 90265. I'll leave the door unlocked." He then focused on the guy who'd asked the question in the first place. "That's what you wanted, right?" he asked, grabbing the guy's video phone from his hands, then turning and lobbing across the car and into a pillar on the other side. The reporters ducked and cried out, but as the phone whistled past her head, Diana didn't even flinch. She was too busy glaring daggers at her brother. "Bill me," he told the guy, then he simply got in the car. Diana entered as well, but didn't say a word the entire drive back home.
The drive back was silent. When they got home, Diana went straight upstairs where she found Pepper already packing up. Without a word, Diana moved to join her.
Diana's thoughts were all over the place. She was so angry with Tony, that she could barely think at all. As she stuffed clothing into a bag, she tried to understand what had caused this strange burst of stupidity from her normally intelligent brother.
She heard the sound of helicopters outside her window and peered out to see several news 'copters surrounding the house. She sighed and rolled her eyes. As she continued packing, she told Jarvis to close the curtains on her windows. If the press wanted to get a look at the more elusive of the Stark siblings. they were going to be disappointed.
As she finished packing, Diana decided to go for a slight outfit change. She changed in to the rocket boots that went with her Concerta costume. If Tony was going to threaten the world's most infamous terrorist, then she was going to be ready.
She was suddenly startled out of her thoughts by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Shocked and amazed, she turned towards the nearest wall display, Jarvis pulling up the feed of the front door before she could even ask. A woman stood there. She had dark hair, and a bag over her shoulder.
Diana went down the stairs with her bag, just in time to hear Tony say, "Don't take it personally, I don't remember what I had for breakfast."
"Gluten-free waffles, Sir," Jarivs chimed in helpfully.
"Look," the woman said, (why hadn't she introduced herself yet?) "I need to talk to you in private, someplace not here. It's kind of urgent."
As Diana came to the bottom of the stairs, she thunked her bag down on the floor hard. Pepper's giant bunny had been moved inside the house, somehow, and was now sitting right in front of the stairs.
Diana was impressed to see that Tony had at least gone to meet his unknown visitor in his Iron Man suit. "Normally, I'd go for that sort of thing," Tony replied, finally stepping out of his suit. "But now I'm in a committed relationship-" two bags dropped down from the second floor. "With her."
"Tony!" Pepper called before coming down the stairs. "Is somebody there?"
"Yeah, it's Maya Hanson," Tony replied. Maya smiled, clearly happy that he remembered her. "Old botanist pal that I used to know... barely."
Diana helped Pepper get down off the stairs and then jumped down after her. "I'm sorry," Pepper said, walking over to Tony with Diana following closely. "With Happy in the hospital, I didn't know we were expecting guests."
"We weren't," Tony said quickly, clearly trying to cut her rant off before it could get really started.
"Or old girlfriends!" Clearly it didn't work.
"It was just one night," Maya said casually.
"That's how you did it back then, wasn't it?" Pepper said. "Well, you saved yourself a world of pain," Pepper assured Maya. "Trust me."
"What?" Tony protested, but Pepper wasn't listening to him.
Pepper then turned to Tony, "We're going out of town."
"Alright, we've been through this. Nope!"
"Yep! Immediately and indefinitely."
"The man says no."
"Right now," Diana cut in, "the man doesn't get a say."
Even Maya seemed to agree with Pepper and Diana. "That's a great idea," she said.
"I'm sorry," Tony interrupted, "that's a terrible idea. Please don't touch her bags."
"This is how normal people behave," Pepper explained.
"I can't protect you out there!" Tony protested.
"We can protect ourselves!" Diana shot back.
"Is... is that normal?" Maya asked, having caught sight of the giant bunny.
"Sadly, that is very normal," Pepper said.
"Yes, this is normal!" Tony added. "It's a big bunny. Relax about it!"
"Calm down!" Pepper admonished him.
"I got this for you!" Tony said.
"I'm aware of that."
"You still haven't even told me you liked it."
"I don't like it!"
"I asked you three-" then he realized what she'd said. "You don't like it."
"We are leaving the house!" Pepper shouted, trying to get the argument back on track.
It took several tries for Maya to get their attention. She was pointing at the TV screen which was showing footage of the house. "Do we need to worry about that?"
Suddenly they were all very quiet. On the TV, there was a smoke trail heading straight for the house. They all turned just in time for something to smash through the window and explode against the wall. They were all sent flying backward. In mid-air, Tony sent the Iron Man suit to Pepper, encasing her in a protective shield before she hit the wall. Diana managed to twist and fire off a blast with her rocket boots just enough to lessen her impact with the wall. It wasn't much, but it let her get up not long after hitting.
Maya was unconscious, and Tony currently had no suit. The ceiling was cracking as the house began to collapse. Thankfully, Pepper managed to get to Tony before a piece of debris could hit him. "I got you," she said, flipping her mask up.
"I got you first," Tony countered. "Like I said, we can't stay here." He got up, but then they were hit again and he was thrown away from them. "Go! I'm right behind you!" Unfortunately, a gap opened up in the floor, making impossible for him to follow through on his promise.
"Get her out of here!" he yelled, gesturing to Maya. "I'll find a way around!" Pepper didn't move. "Stop stopping and go. Go!" Finally, Pepper moved, and got Maya out of the crumbling house.
Diana rocketed over to him. "Grab onto me! I'll get you over!"
"No! Your boots aren't strong enough!" More explosions cut off their argument as the floor sharply tilted and Tony was thrown against one of the support columns. Diana started to use her boots, but falling debris knocked into her, sending her tumbling out of the air.
She scrambled for something, anything to latch onto. Unfortunately, she hadn't been near a convenient column when she fell. She smashed straight through the window and out toward the ocean below.
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