Cooperation

by flyppa

NEST contact Tony Stark, who comes to help them take down the Decepticons. He brings Pepper and Rhodey along with him. Set after Revenge of The Fallen, and after the first Iron Man film. Mainly canon pairings.

7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or Iron Man.

Summary: NEST contact Tony Stark, who comes to help them take down the Decepticons. He brings Pepper and Rhodey along with him. Set after Revenge of The Fallen, and after the first Iron Man film.

Warnings: There may be bad language and hints of slash in later chapters, though nothing explicit.

Co-operation

Chapter 7:

The flight to the Arctic was currently uneventful. Tony, sat between Lennox and Epps, had been driving everyone mad by asking 'Are we there yet?' about every five minutes. Epps had turned on his iPod and was listening to it to drown out the sound of Tony's voice. Rhodey was asleep, leaving Lennox awake with Tony.

"This flight is boring." Tony declared.

"Did you expect it to be fun?" Lennox asked.

"I wasn't sure what to expect." Tony shrugged. "Well, except snow and beating up evil giant robots – but that was pretty much it. Oh. And I expected it to be fun."

"Sometimes we have to do things that aren't fun, Tony." Lennox sighed. He couldn't make up his mind whether he liked Tony or not. Sometimes the millionaire would do something that made him like him... and then other times Lennox wondered whether Tony Stark lived in the real world at all. "That's life."

"That might be your life, but it isn't mine." Tony snorted. He turned to look out of one of the small windows along the side. "Lennox, I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Do the USAF own any F-22's painted like that, or is it alien? It does look pretty cool though." Tony asked, pointing out of the window. Lennox unstrapped and pushed Tony and Epps aside, staring out of the window.

"Guys, prepare for attack!" Lennox ordered. "Starscream's around and that's never a good sign! Tony, wake Rhodey up and tell him what's going on! The rest of you, get ready to jump. We're not too far away from the drop-zone anyway."

"Rhodey!" Tony yelled, unstrapping and climbing out of his seat. He dashed over to his sleeping friend, and started slapping him on the cheek. "Rhodey! Rhodey! Come on, you gotta wake up!"

"Go 'way Tony..." Rhodey mumbled, grimacing and turning his head away. "Lemme sleep some more... so tired..."

"Sleep time's over." Tony said, unstrapping Rhodey and shaking him. "We're being attacked by alien robots... and one of them looks like one of your planes."

"You owe me a plane..." Rhodey grumbled, opening his eyes and grabbing his gear.

"I know. Just keep reminding me, and I'll get you a new one... sometime." Tony said. "It was his fault anyway. He flew into me."

"Guys, can you stop talking now?" Lennox asked. Tony and Rhodey fell silent. "Thank you." He cleared his throat. "Alright guys, we're not too far from the drop-zone so we may as well jump here. The winds around here are probably going to be pretty strong, so don't pull your chute too soon or too late." There was a loud crashing noise, and the C-17 tipped over on to its side, causing everyone to fall to the floor.

"Sounds like we're going to be bailing out." Epps said, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head. "Damn, what did I hit my head on?"

"My head... and then I hit mine on Ironhide." Tony scowled at the topkick parked behind him, rubbing the side of his head. "Epps, did you know you have an extremely hard head?"

"He's got a thick skull." Lennox grinned. "Why do you think he's an NCO?"

"Hey!" Epps scowled at Lennox and turned to face Tony. "I could say the same for you, Stark. You've got a pretty hard head too. You got an iron plate or something in there?"

"Not that I know of." Tony shrugged, being pulled to his feet by Rhodey. "It wouldn't surprise me if I did though."

"Tony, I don't think it would surprise anyone." Rhodey said, helping Epps and then Lennox to his feet. "So, do you think we should bail out?"

"Sounds like a good idea." Lennox grinned. His grin faltered. "And we had better hope we don't get shot by Starscream on the way down."

xXx

Pepper walked into the NEST operations room, and walked over to where Morshower was sitting in a chair on an observation platform, watching everyone working. He spotted Pepper and beckoned her over to him. She walked over, apologising when she had to squeeze past several very high ranking officers.

"You wanted me to come and see you, Sir." Pepper said.

"Yes, I know." Morshower said. "I thought you might be a bit lonely with Tony and Rhodey off on the mission."

"I'm used to being alone..." Pepper interrupted.

"And I thought you might need something to do, to keep you busy." Morshower finished. He stood up and began to walk away, and Pepper followed him. He continued to talk as they walked down some stairs, into another corridor. "Down here is where all of our intelligence officers and analysts work. I may not know you very well, but the work they do down here is very interesting and I'm sure they'll be able to keep you occupied with some small jobs, maybe some computer inputting."

"So you want me to do some work for you?" Pepper asked.

"Yes, and I'd like you to do something else." Morshower replied, stopping outside a closed door. "These missions are dangerous, Pepper, and not every comes home. We need morale boosts. I understand that you have exceptional organisation skills?"

"I have to, working with Tony." She smiled.

"Yes, I guessed that." Morshower showed a hint of a smile. "I'd like you to try and organise some sort of event that'll make the troops happy. I'm giving you free reign – don't disappoint me."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Good."

"Well let me introduce you to who I want you to work with." Morshower placed his hand on the door handle. He smiled at Pepper. "If you're worried that analysts are boring, don't worry. I can assure you that these two aren't. They're quite human compared to everyone else who works in this department."

Morshower opened the door and gestured for Pepper to go first. She stepped into the room and immediately knew what Morshower was talking about. The two people in the room – Pepper assumed they were the analysts – were bickering intently about something that sounded very complicated, involving lots of different numbers. One of the analysts was a large black man, wearing a pair of long shorts and a sports jersey. The other was a tall blonde woman with a distinct Australian accent wearing a pair of jeans and a blouse.

Morshower cleared his throat and they stopped arguing, turning their attention to him. The man was sitting in his chair with his hands held up in front of his face. The woman was standing in front of him with her hands on her hips and a stack of papers in one hand. They both stared at Morshower and Pepper for a few moments, before the man started talking.

"Did you see that?" He asked in outrage. "Did you see that? She was going to hit me!"

"Glen! Stop making stuff up!" The woman snapped. "I was not going to hit you! I was just coming over here with the facts and figures –" She held up the papers she was carrying "– To show you that you're wrong!"

"Miss Potts, this is Glen Whitmann and Maggie Madsen." Morshower said, gesturing to each of them in turn. "Glen, Maggie – this is Pepper Potts. She works for Tony Stark. For now, she'll be working down here with you two. Give her some small jobs to help out with."

"Nice to meet you, Pepper." Maggie stepped forwards and shook hands with Pepper. "I know that our first impression on you probably isn't the best one, but Morshower has some timing issues." She grinned at him. "Nice to see you come down here instead of staying in your high and mighty control room."

"Maggie, you know I come down here occasionally." Morshower laughed.

"Yeah, only if you have to." She laughed. "Go on, go back to your cosy little control room – we have real work to do."

"I'm sure you do." Morshower said. He turned to Pepper. "Come and find me if you have any problems."

"Of course." She smiled. Morshower touched two fingers to his brow in a casual salute and left the room.

"So... you work for Tony Stark." Glen said.

"What's he like?" Maggie asked. "We've been really busy down here recently, so we weren't able to make it to his demo."

"He's very stubborn." Pepper said. "If you don't mind me asking, what have you two been working on?"

"We've been working on ways to track the Decepticons." Glen explained. "We were using an experimental bit of tech now that the storms in the Arctic finished – we do most of our testing there because there's less risk of civilians getting involved – and then we picked up some spark signatures and realised that they were Decepticons and raised the alarm."

"Spark signatures?" Pepper asked.

"A spark is the life-force of the transformer... like a soul or something. If the spark is severely damaged then it's extinguished and the transformer dies." Maggie explained. "It's basically their heart."

"Hey – doesn't Tony have his heart powered by some sort of electronic device?" Glen asked.

"Yes – an arc-reactor." Pepper replied. "It powers the electro-magnet that keeps the shrapnel in his chest away from his heart. Without it he would die."

"It's a similar concept then." Glen shrugged. "I'm hungry. Who wants some doughnuts?"

xXx

Tony unbuckled his parachute and threw it off, somewhere in the snow. Tony saw a smoke cloud drifting not too far away, and guessed that was where the C-17 had gone down. He crawled towards the large metal box that had landed not too far away, which still had a parachute attached to it. He could hear other people's footsteps crunching in the snow and clanking sounds from the transforming robots around him.

"Stark! Get over here!" Lennox yelled.

"Not until I get my suit on!" Tony yelled back, typing the code in on a panel on the metal box. The front panel slid open, revealing Tony's Iron Man suit. He began to pull various parts of his suit on, despite his numbing fingers, hoping he was assembling it properly. When he had finished putting the suit on, he walked over to where the NEST team were assembled.

"Stark, you need to start following orders." Lennox snapped. "If you don't follow my orders, you might end up dead."

"I might up dead if I do follow your orders." Tony said, retracting his mask. "Orders don't keep you alive."

"Well I damn well try to give orders that do keep my men alive." Lennox growled. He took a deep breath and addressed the rest of the group. "Okay guys, Starscream is still in the area and I'm guessing that he isn't alone. We have no way of getting home so we're going to give Morshower a call and ask for back-up. Epps, give Maggie a call too. Ask her if the gear is still working properly and if she can give us any idea where the Decepticons are."

"They won't be able to do anything to help us." Epps said, holding the radio out to Lennox. "The radio isn't working. They're jamming our communications."

"Damn it, I can't get through to Jarvis. Oh well... as long as these things don't use any EMP's against us." Tony grumbled, absent-mindedly laying his hand over the arc-reactor protectively.

"EMP's would probably knock them out." Rhodey said. He turned to Epps. "They don't use EMP's, do they?" He was anxious for Tony's safety. He had asked Tony how EMP's affected him before. Tony had laughed and said they would kill the suit and knock his arc-reactor out.

"Only if they want to take out some of our radio gear and none of the other's are in the area." Epps said. "It happened before. I'm guessing that they're close if they don't want to use EMP's against us."

"Then if they're that close..." Graham said, looking around. "Where are they?"

"Move." Tony said.

"What?" Graham asked.

"Nevermind." Tony grabbed Graham's shoulder and dragged him out of the way, just as the ice where he was standing smashed, and a Decepticon erupted out of it.

xXx

"Glen, I've lost everything we were getting from the Arctic!" Maggie exclaimed, hitting the monitor. "There's no spark signatures, no communications – nothing! We've lost everything! The Decepticons must be jamming all of the tech we're using!"

"They can do that?" Pepper asked.

"Yes." Maggie replied. "It means we can't reach the team and they can't reach us. They're on their own now."

xXx

"EPPS! HOW MANY DO YOU SEE?" Lennox yelled to the man who had his back. "I CAN SEE THREE."

"I'VE GOT A VISUAL OF THREE – MEGATRON, STARSCREAM IN THE AIR AND BARRICADE ON THE GROUND." Epps yelled back. The wind was picking up, making it difficult for the soldiers to hear each other. "NOT SURE IF THAT'S ALL THOUGH. COULD BE MORE IN THE AREA."

The main team had split up into small groups so that they could spread out more. Rhodey and Tony were with Graham. Optimus Prime was nearby and the other Transformers were taking orders from him. Ironhide was there, and so were several Tony and Rhodey had never seen before.

"Sideswipe, I want you and Ironhide to attack directly. Ratchet, hang back and provide support for those who need it. Jolt, cover me. Chromia – cover Ironhide and Sideswipe. They're unlikely to need as much support as the rest of us." Optimus ordered. "Autobots, roll out!"

Starscream passed low and fast overhead, firing some missiles into the ice, near where the NEST team was. Lennox stared at the cracks that were appearing in the ice and shoved Epps away. Epps grabbed Lennox's arm and pulled him away just as the ice opened up, revealing the water underneath.

"Damn!" Epps said, panting heavily, looking at the ice bobbing up and down on the surface of the water. "Thanks man."

"You're welcome." Lennox said, rolling onto his hands and knees and sitting up. "This is crazy. They don't even need to come near us to attack. Starscream can just keep firing and wait for us all to fall through the ice."

"Bet you wish we had some airborne Autobots on our side." Epps said.

"You have no idea..." Lennox said.

xXx

"Rhodey, I have an idea." Tony stopped where he was and grabbed Rhodey's arm, spinning him to face him. "I can fly. I can go up and there and take out this Starscream."

"Are you crazy?" Graham asked.

"Hey, I've taken out an F-22 before..." Tony shrugged.

"You still owe me a plane!" Rhodey snapped.

"Rhodey – he did hit me though."

"Why did you take out an F-22?" Graham asked. "Weren't you on their side?"

"Long story – I'll explain when I come back." Tony closed his mask and shot into the air like a bullet. Graham and Rhodey ran over to where Lennox and Epps were, aiming their sabot launchers at the sky, hoping for a chance to hit Starscream.

"Lennox – we have problem." Rhodey said, skidding to a halt in front of the Major.

"What?" Lennox asked. "Where's Tony?"

"That's the problem." Graham replied. "He decided he was going to fly up to take out Starscream. Apparently he's taken out an F-22 before."

"Shit." Lennox said. He turned to Rhodey. "You get him down here, right now. I am sick of him doing whatever reckless thing he feels like when he feels like. He needs some discipline or he's going to end up killed."

"I can't get him down here. Communications are dead, remember?" Rhodey said.

xXx

"Welcome back, Jarvis." Tony grinned, speeding through the sky.

"Good to be back, sir." Jarvis replied. "I have analysed why our communications went dead before. There is some sort of force field preventing communications on the ground."

"That figures. It explains why there's only one of the Decepticons on the ground." Tony said. "The two in the air are able to talk to each other and co-ordinate the attacks."

"Sir, one of them is coming up behind you."

"Can you patch me through to them?"

"They're trying to patch through to you, sir."

"Good. Open a line."

"Doing that now, sir."

"Thank you, Jarvis." Tony cleared his throat. "This is Tony Stark. I'm currently co-operating with the NEST team. To whom am I speaking to?"

"I am Starscream from Cybertron. How did you get onto this frequency?"

"I'm just that awesome." Tony grinned to himself. He frowned when an explosion shook the suit. "They're shooting at me, aren't they?"

"I'm afraid so, sir." Jarvis answered.

"Well lets –" Tony didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, because he was grabbed from behind and dangled upside down in front of one of the most horrific faces he had ever seen. "AH! Jarvis, what is that?"

"I believe that is Starscream, sir." Jarvis replied.

"What are you?" Starscream asked and landed on the ice. Tony saw it crack slightly beneath the Decepticon's feet. "You look like a transformer... but you're not."

"I'm a human. Surely you've heard of Iron Man...?" Tony asked, struggling to free his legs.

"What?" Starscream shrieked in outrage. "You're a human, masquerading as a machine?"

"Surprise!" Tony fired up his repulsors and shot the ice beneath Starscream's feet. Starscream fell through the ice, dropping Tony in the process. Tony slammed onto the ice, flat on his face and groaned. He was vaguely aware of something heavy coming towards him.

"Tony! Tony, are you okay?" Rhodey knelt down beside his best friend, helping him sit up. Ironhide stood over them protectively. "Tony, what happened?"

"I'm fine." He brushed Rhodey away, scowling as he retracted his helmet. "I think I just took out Starscream."

"Damn!" Rhodey said.

"Ta dah!" Tony spread his arms out and grinned up at Ironhide. Ironhide roared with laughter, setting Tony off into hysterics.

The laughter stopped when Starscream's fist erupted out of the ice and grabbed Rhodey, dragging him down into the water.

This chapter took me ages because I hate writing fight scenes. They never seem to turn out how I want them too. It's also because the smut bunnies have been coming thick and fast for Tony/Rhodey and the only way to get rid of them is to write. I'm currently working on a second oneshot for them which is linked to the first one, "Drink and Drive". Check it out if you wanna read some shameless smut between Tony and Rhodey in an Audi R8.

Thanks for all the reviews guys, and thanks for staying tuned for me irregular updates. I'll try to have the next chapter up ASAP!

I Caught Myself.