We all know every hero needs a sidekick! So we get a little bit of Rhodey action...now as much as I love the guy, I do like watching Tony doing his 'lone gunslinger act' but even I can admit when the guy needs a little help, he has to ask for it!

'What's up?' Rhodey was waiting for us when we got home. 'What's going on?'

We made our way to the house, the gates opened up for us and I walked ahead with Rhodey.

I made sure I was out of earshot. 'I need your help, I'm going to break into a medical facility.'

He looked at me sideways, 'you're kidding right?'

I shook my head as I motioned for him to follow, 'Nope, you in or not?'

Pepper and Happy stayed upstairs and Rhodey and I went down to my workshop.

'We need to do something, it's getting too close to home, and now they know where I go with Pepper.' I keyed in the code to enter the armour displays.

Rhodey entered his code and the War Machine stood before him.

A sharp jolt of pain ran through my head, I flinched; Rhodey must have noticed because he stopped what he was doing.

'Can you even do this?' Rhodey pointed to my suit.

I probably couldn't. I most definitely shouldn't, the Extremis was already beyond my control and the symptoms hit me at any time, but what choice did I have? 'I'm fine.' I lied.

Rhodey nodded and proceeded to suit up.

I made my way to the lab and picked up the small vial of blue liquid. A note from Bruce was attached to it.

"I've run a few tests while you were gone, the antigen should slow the symptoms down enough to buy you some time, I've gone to the hospital to consult a friend of mine in relation to the next phase of the antigen. Bruce."

'Jarvis; call Bruce and tell him to go home as soon as he can.' I took the vial and filled a syringe with it.

'Very well sir.' Jarvis replied.

I rolled up my sleeve and plunged the needle into my arm, the liquid spread through my veins. A sharp gasp escaped my lips, I dropped the syringe and the glass shattered around me. The site of the injection felt like it was on fire, heat spread through my body.

'Tony.' Rhodey's voice echoed throughout the workshop.

I steadied myself against the bench. I felt my heart race; I tried to control my breathing.

I heard Rhodey make his way over to me, he opened his faceplate, 'you are so not ok to do this man.' He stood beside me.

I closed my eyes against the pain, I called on the suit, I looked back at Rhodey as it assembled itself around me. 'I'm fine. Let's go.' I managed.

He stepped in front of me, 'you're barely standing, you are going to get yourself killed.'

'Move.' I said firmly.

His face plate shut, 'no.'

'I'm not doing this Rhodey.' I managed.

Rhodey remained still. 'You're not going anywhere, and if you think you are you're going to have to go through me.'

'I'm not one of your soldiers you can command Rhodes.' I grit my teeth, I shut the face plate, I smirked to myself, one great thing did come from Extremis, I looked up and around the workshop, I shut down Rhodey's suit and activated the internal lock sequence. I instructed Jarvis to let him leave once I was clear out of the building.

I stepped past him, 'I may be sick, Rhodey, but I'm not stupid.' I walked toward the exit, 'I'll see you there.' I ignited the thrusters and took off.

'Tony!'

I heard him yell.

'Jarvis, lock on to Futurepharm for me.'

'Locked, coordinates incoming through satellite four.' Jarvis offered.

'Ok, good, keep me posted on my vitals too, ok.' I locked in to the satellite and set my coordinates.

The HUD displayed my heart rate and reactor reading. Both seemed to be stable and the burning pain had subsided.

'Sir, Colonel Rhodes is on his way.' Jarvis added.

'Good, lock him in to the same coordinates, ensure sat link between the suits remains inactive.' I didn't want to have any sort of conversation with him right now; I needed him as a friend and an ally and I had no time for a lecture.

Once I finally landed I made my way to the doors of the familiar building. The HUD displayed my increasing heart rate; I felt the bile building up in the back of my throat. I pushed it down. The eerie darkness of the town did little to calm my nerves. It was only a little bit past midnight, but the lack of stars in the sky plunged the whole town in a blanket of uneasy darkness.

I looked around the building quickly and made my way to the back. 'Jarvis, I need you to find the relays for the security feed and link it back to me.'

Moments later the HUD lit up with several screens monitoring the permitter as well as the inside of the building.

'I need to get inside, there's a failsafe to prevent external access to their mainframe.' The suit began to remove itself from my body. I stood by the back entrance and waited for the suit to fold itself into its moveable case. I activated the stealth cameras and it disappeared before my eyes. I marvelled at my creation, I let myself appreciate it. There was no telling if I'd still be able to create these kinds of things anymore.

'Sir, stealth has been activated and is holding at one hundred per cent.' Jarvis announced.

'Thank you Jarvis, keep me posted.'

I made my way to the power control box, I knelt beside it, I opened the panel and looked at the wiring. 'Ok Jarvis, let's see if I've still got it.'

The wiring was familiar to me, I could do this in my sleep, if anything more complicated came around I don't know how I would face it, I heard Rhodey land a few yards away, he made his way over to me.

I took out my knife and snipped three of the wires.

'Tony, what are you doing?'

I held up my hand, I needed silence to focus on Jarvis, the satellites and the wires before me.

Once I was satisfied I had done all I needed to I stood up, replaced my knife in my pocket and walked past Rhodey, 'I'm going in, I need you to watch the permitter.'

'Tony, wait.'

'Watch the permitter.' I repeated. I didn't give him a chance to protest again, I slipped in through the now unlocked doors.

I walked through the darkened corridors and made my way to where Maya's office used to be. The layout hadn't changed that much which was good for me. The doors were still locked the old fashioned way, I smirked. Also good for me. I knelt down and picked the lock with the small knife, after a few seconds the latch released the door. I walked around the office, I ran my hand along the walls, nothing. I walked over to the desk, after a few moments of feeling around I located a small panel under the desk; I pressed around until a found a small button. I smiled, 'ah Maya, I thought I taught you better than that.' A small tile behind the desk lifted revealing a hidden compartment. A folder and a key to everything I needed to know.

'Jarvis, activate coms.'

Rhodey's coms came online, 'I need you in here, come in through the side entrance.'

'Coming.' Rhodey replied.

I met him half way down the corridor. He lifted his face plate, I handed him the key.

'The door needs two people to open it.' I lead him down the stairs into an underground lab.

Once we reached the door I pointed to a key slot, I put mine in, 'turn in three, two, one.'

The door opened.

'Tony, what is this place?' He asked finally.

'The lab where the Extremis was created, I need to find out who the men were at the restaurant and this will help me.' I held up a flash drive, I loaded it into one of the laptops, 'ok, where are you.' I whispered to myself. I scanned through thousands of files, 'got you.' I smiled.

'Someone's coming.' Rhodey whispered.

Closed the laptop and replaced the flash drive, 'go, I'll meet you outside.' I walked with him to the doors.

'Hurry.' He said simply.

I made sure he was clear before making my way back to the lab, 'Jarvis, block the signal from my suit, make sure Rhodey goes home.'

'Of course sir.'

I knelt down behind a large desk and stayed silent until the guard walked past. The flashlight flooded the darkened room. I grabbed a book from a nearby desk and pressed it to my chest, covering the arc reactor.

The guard remained at the door, I held my breath. The nauseous feeling overwhelmed me again, I leaned my head against the desk. After an agonising wait, he finally left. 'Jarvis, surveillance feeds, where is he?'

I've never been so thankful for the ability to communicate with Jarvis in my head. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I locked in to the guards' location, I had enough time to find what I needed before he came back.

I quickly found the formula, fortunately for me, they were still working on it, and unfortunately for them I was taking it with me. I folded up the files and tucked them in the back of my jeans.

Darting around and under and windows I made my way outside unnoticed.

I called on the suit and it assembled itself around me, I took off into the sky, I flew with a light heart and new hope.

Hope that this chapter was to everyone's liking! Thankyou for the brilliant and motivational reviews guys! Really loving the love! Hope to hear from you again, good or bad! Hit me with it :)