"Sector 16..."

I was muttering that as some kind of chant as I ventured through the factory complex, trying to find the location of Stane's pet project. Mina was collating data from the company mainframe and trying to pinpoint exactly where it was, in the meantime showing me tracking data for Pepper and the other government agents combing around. Currently, I was approaching the large glass doors that housed Dad's massive arc-reactor, and I easily blasted them out with a couple of shots from my repulsors before carefully stepping over the broken glass and inside.

"Got him," Mina breathed in my ear. "To your left, Andy, towards the back."

"Thanks," I murmured in reply, following her instructions and spotting a large yellow door striped with black hazard warnings. On a normal day, this door would lead to the underbelly of the reactor, where a deck of 1970's-era computers could be used to maintain the power flow of the reactor. But the black sixteen on the locked handle entirely changed my knowledge of what was going on down there. Hello, lion's den. I squared myself with the door and stretched out my right arm. The exterior plates slid open to permit a small rotary rifle to slide out, and a simple squeeze of my fist fired a slew of bullets into the lock, ripping it apart.

"Too easy," I snorted as the gun put itself away, and I jogged towards the now-open door and clunked down the stairs. The light dimmed as I emerged in the watery underground, support chains dangling from the ceiling and the computers flickering quite peacefully as I walked by. It didn't relieve the paranoid feeling crawling up and down my spine as I continued deeper into Sector 16.

I descended a small set of stairs before things started to look more modern, and I glanced at the nearest screens disinterestedly as I circled. Mina flickered an alert that she'd found readings for the suit designs I'd found, and I nodded silently as I finished my circle...and paused when I saw a very familiar silhouette in the shadows. My armor's gears creaked silently as I approached the mark one escape suit – or, more accurately, what was left of the mark one escape suit. I could help but look at it up and down in disgust.

"I managed to wear that?" I scoffed a little, shaking my head. I would've laughed and retreated if I hadn't heard a shift and a rattle behind me. I whirled, and both of my rotary rifles sprang out of my gauntlets. The guns whirred faintly as I stepped cautiously towards the black area, even as I heard the chains beyond rattle slightly.

"Mina, gimme low-light," I muttered under my breath, and the world shifted into shades of green and black as I walked very slowly towards the shadowy platform. My reactor provided enough light that I managed to make out a metallic shape in the darkness, sort of hunched over. I took one more step, and I was nearly blinded by the sudden light blazing from that figure. Mina quickly returned my visor to normal visuals, and I saw that the glowing light I was now facing wasn't any regular light; it was light from an arc-reactor. I looked up to find that it was in the chest of a blown-up, tank-reinforced version of the mark one.

I knew who was driving it as the giant metal monster chuckled viciously.

"...well, shit," I huffed, about half-ready to run. The behemoth took a ground-shaking step towards me, and I could easily imagine Obadiah Stane's smile as he readied himself to plow into me.

"Might want to run away now, little girl!" he laughed as he took another step towards me. I'll admit it, I wanted to run, run and never stop, but I remembered Dad's letter. He loved me for being smart and quick-witted, and I wasn't going to disappoint him now. I squared myself to Stane and clenched my fists.

"No chance in hell," I growled. "Not anymore."

"Might wish you had," he snarled before lunging at me. I barely managed to leap out of the way, rockets roaring to life as I looped around and above the reactor, heart pounding in panic. I couldn't take Stane alone; I only hoped Tony was on the way as I raised a hand to blast out a couple of windows above the reactor as I soared up.

"Mina, get Tony, pronto!"

"Jarvis's already waiting for the connection, one second!" Mina insisted, and I waited for what felt more like a minute before Mina flashed Tony's ID on my HUD. I could hear him breathing, so I didn't waste time with pleasantries.

"Tony, he's got a suit!" I warned him as I kept sailing upward, eyeing the screens while Mina tried to run a trace so as to locate Tony. Note to self: get her and Jarvis better interfaces with each other. "How about you get over here, yeah?"

"I'm on the way!" Tony replied quickly, and I heard his own rockets rumble loudly as he changed direction. I paused my ascent to wait for his arrival, drifting only a little before I heard Tony again, muttering," Okay, I'm right...above you."

I looked up and nearly shrieked to see a red and gold missile blaze less than an inch above my head, and I would've hit him if he hadn't looped back to slip up next to me. Of course he would've gone with the red, just to annoy me with his characteristic lack of subtlety. Sigh.

"Bastard's got a heavy, heavy suit," I filled him in as Mina sent images and instantaneous blueprints to Jarvis to offer Tony for his perusal. "I don't think it's all that flight-worthy, but I'm not risking anything. Let's harry him from the air, and then he might cool his jets long enough so we can get in some heavy damage. He loves stroking his ego."

And I would know, I thought, but I kept back those memories pretty well. Of course, "pretty well" actually meant I was able to block out the memory of the pain, but not of the act itself. I could swear I could feel him pinning me down again, hissing things in my ear, dehumanizing me so thoroughly I felt like a piece of trash for months afterward. But those days were over. Today was when it was all gonna change, and Stane was going to get a taste of his own medicine. The repulsors in my palms started whining as I flexed my hands and Tony shook his head in disbelief.

"Where could he have gotten the plans? He was never at the house," Tony surmised, even as I heard a rumbling noise from below us, "unless he came when we weren't there..."

He was startled into silence as he glanced down, and when I followed his gaze, I saw Stane clawing up through the asphalt, right as Pepper and the government agents were about to swarm the reactor area. Mercifully, they stopped short of managing to get into Stane's range, and my repulsors flared brightly, almost sending me shooting into the air.

"He bought the mark one," I snarled. Ten Rings had likely found what was left, scattered in the sand, and, of course, they called him. "I'd say we send him a greeting card or four; what say you, bro?"

"Couldn't agree more," Tony affirmed as his own repulsors flared. "What's the term? Happy betrayal or somesuch?"

"Somethin' like that," I snickered faintly, and I was gracious enough to let Tony take the first shot. His blast slammed Stane right in the shoulder, catching his attention. What I wasn't expecting was an overlarge rocket launcher strapped to Stane's wrist getting fired off. I lunged out of the way, and I was grateful as Mina popped open a window that gave me a direct feed into Tony's view. He'd looped around the missile with loads of room to spare, and I took the chance to zip in close and fire a repulsor blast from each palm, holding the golden beams there for as long as I possibly could.

"Andy, stop draining your reserves!" Mina eventually snapped at me, so I rolled my eyes and cut off the blast. That didn't stop me from shaking my fist at Stane.

"Yeah, how'd you like that, Obi Bouldy?" I taunted. If I could've stuck my tongue out at him, I would've. "Come and get some, you lyin' sonofabitch!"

Guess what. He did. Both Mina and I were dead silent – as was Tony – as full-size rockets emerged from the boots of Stane's suit. Their roar filled the air as Stane literally lifted up off the ground. My mind churned at top speed, even as Tony enjoyed a bit of eloquence.

"Shit."

"Took it right outta my mouth," I quipped, even as Stane started looming closer. I could only hope my crazy plan worked, even as I asked, very quickly, "You wanna distract him or should I?"

"Does it matter?" Tony argued. "We need a plan, now..."

"So go vertical already!" I ordered. "Ice him up, then get him to drop on the roof. I'll handle the rest."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm pretty damn sure, now go!"

Tony shot skyward, and I twisted out of the way as Stane blew past me, after Tony. I breathed a light sigh of relief before I landed, and I was soon surrounded by Pepper and the government people.

"Andy, what...wha..." Pepper was stammering, glancing skyward at the two shrinking lights. I had Mina lift my mask up, albeit reluctantly, as I glared unwillingly.

"In case no one has noticed, I need to get in there to get Stane out! Now move!" I snapped, and I gently moved Pepper out of the way before pushing through the other suits, back into the reactor room. The smell of burning metal clogged up my nostrils, and I had Mina drop my visor again, also so I could keep an eye on Tony. In the meantime, I twisted at the circuits, letting Mina tear down the breaker programming as the power built up within the reactor. I glanced at my window on Tony, and a pit dropped into my stomach when I saw Stane's masked face looming in the corner.

"Mina, gimme audio," I breathed in terror, and she even expanded the little screen so I could listen and watch in horror.

"Just because you and your little sister get ideas," Stane was growling at Tony, "doesn't make those ideas yours, Tony! The both of you, so naïve and stupid..."

"Maybe," Tony coughed; I realized Stane had a chokehold on him. God, please, protect him. "But at least I don't rape family friends. And lemme ask you this: how'd you solve the icing problem?"

"...icing problem?" Stane echoed weakly, and I grinned victoriously as Tony kicked out at Stane, breaking his hold. Stane twisted in midair, though, even as he started falling, and my breath caught in my chest as I saw his monstrous metal fist suddenly collide with Tony.

That was when I lost the feed.

"TONY?" I shrieked, heart pounding in fear as Mina brought my present back. The call line was dead, and I didn't know what had happened. Oh, God, oh, God...

"Andy, he's falling fast!" Mina barked at me, and I remembered to punch the emergency bypass before sailing skyward, past Stane as a column of blue-white light shot into the air with a roar. I think I heard Stane scream in pain as he was electrocuted, but I didn't care. I scanned the sky, and I saw, to my horror, a speck of gold and red, sprawled on top of a building. There was no light shining out from his chest.

"No, no, no, no, no!" I chanted as I flew down there, dropping onto my knees as I landed, and I wrenched my helmet off before grabbing Tony's shoulders, shaking him. "Tony! Tony, talk to me! Please...no...don't leave me...don't leave me alone again..."

He didn't move. Didn't reply. I nearly screamed, even as I heard sirens on fast approach, and Pepper's voice calling out in the distance. I barely registered it all as I clung Tony close to me, tears streaming down my face. He couldn't die...he was my big brother, he couldn't leave me like this...

"Tony...don't do this," I pleaded, voice cracking from my barely-restrained sobs. "Please, don't die! I love you...I love you so much, you can't die!"

I was like that as the paramedics came, begging him not to die, sobbing my heart out and close to hysterics. I'd never been so worried and terrified in my whole life. I didn't even care we'd beaten Stane. All I wanted was Tony to survive, to stay with me no matter what.