The third and final chapter in the "Mainframe" story arc.

This was released pretty early, but since I'm done writing Chapter 4, I decided I'd publish it now.

Hopefully you enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 3: error 404

"Sandhurst?!"

"Hello, Tony. I see that my men have forgotten to reset your memory today."

"But how did- your memory..."

"Was it?"

The boy was taken aback.

How is Sandhurst here? His memories were definitely wiped!

"Tony, I'd like to personally thank you for your assistance in my synthesizing of Extremis. Without you, I would never be in complete control."

With these words, the billionaire's mind had started replaying every action he had made involving Extremis after initally being taken into the Mainframe- when he had used it to 'shut it down', when he had taken down Titanium Man and when he had fried Iron Monger, he had been providing technical specs of the virus; then his work from 2 years ago for waking the frozen body of 'Steve Rogers' provided how to create an injection friendly form of the virus.

The Controller let out a slight chuckle when he realized what the inventor had been thinking.

"You don't know how much I've been waiting for this, Tony."

Pepper was alive.

Tony's mind was working in overdrive. Every thought in his head was focused on trying to find some form of weakness that would allow him to escape the glorified virtual reality, but all he needed was a little bit of time.

"So are you going to try to kill me now?"

"You might still be of use to me, I'm afraid."

"You aren't getting anything out of me again," Tony let out with a smug grin.

That's it.

The smug grin on his face disappeared, to be replaced by a look of heavy concentration accompanied by a slight twitch of his eye.

"And, why not?" Sandhurst inquired, intrigued by the young man's sudden feeling of confidence.

"My armour's en route to this location, right now."

"No it's not. I control everything in here."

"I'm not talking about in here," the inventor responded calmly.

His armor had the ability to block mental attacks, so if he could get it to assemble around his body, it would block the feed to the Mainframe.

How did he find out?!

If Iron Man can avoid mental invasions while in the armor, then Tony Stark must have been the vulnerability. Basil Sandhurst had discovered his secret identity before the initial Mainframe attack. He could feel the blood in his veins boil as his armor formed around his body, regardless of whether he could see it in the Mainframe or not.

"Wait... what are you doing? Your suit may be able to cut the mental feed, but if you do that, it will rip your mind apart."

"I don't care, Sandhurst," the scientist replied, fighting the urge to scream when he started feeling the strain he was putting on his brain.

"Stark! Stop it! If you separate yourself like this, your Pepper will never see you alive again!"

"It's suicide either way, Sandhurst," the genius responded, trying his best to hide some of his pain. The ripping feeling in his head finally stepped aside when his head felt a cold piece of armor closing around it.

xXxXx

"Tony? Please wake up, Tony..."

Upon hearing her familiar voice softly pleading with him, he felt his eyelids lift to see her upper body tightly wrapped around his on a small hospital bed.

"Tony!"

He returned the hug as best as he could and opened his mouth, but no sound made it past his lips. He reached out with his hand to touch her face so he could ensure it was real, and in return she grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently. They began gazing into each other's eyes before starting to slowly release their hold of each other.

"RHODEY!" She yelled, with the door opening immediately after the name had left her mouth.

"Tony? You're awake!"

"I noticed, thanks," the inventor croaked, his voice just now returning to his body.

"Are you ok, man?" Rhodey questioned, his face drenched in concern for his best friend.

"I'm fine, Rhodey. Where's my dad?"

Both of his friends exchanged worried glances, signifying something important was about to be said to him.

"Wait... what's the last thing that happened, before... before this...?" the inventor's tone not quite able to show his full confusion.

"Well," the redhead started, "We had just finished up with Andros Stark when you suddenly passed out, out of nowhere..."

"So my dad... he's still..."

Rhodey looked at him with an unreadable expression.

"Nobody's seen him since the plane crash."

Error 404 - file: "Howard" not found.

I realize that this one may not be quite as good as the other two, but it sets up the next bit pretty well.

Chapter 4: upgrade is to be released on Friday.