Chapter 12

Air whizzed by at near deafening volumes as Tony flew at supersonic speed. The whole thing still felt a bit surreal. This was what he had always planned. He didn't completely realize that this had always been the plan or that it would come so soon. But here he was, about land in Gulmira. That wasn't the only thing that surprised him.

"Okay, Tony. ETA ten minutes. Are you ready?" JC asked through the intercom, a small video of her popping up on his HUD.

When he told her what he was going to do, he wasn't sure she would actually agree to it. He'd had actually hoped she would have been out of the house when he decided to take off. She still would have been angry, might have even called Rhodey to try to stop him. He hadn't planned on shooting off the repulsors the way he did, which Pepper was going to be pissed about, but after what he saw, he couldn't help himself. He had to do something. So when she actually told him she would help him, he was too caught up in the moment to think anything else of it. Now that he'd had a few hours of flight time to think about it, he still didn't understand why she had done it.

"Yep," Tony responded. "You still haven't said why you agreed to it."

"To what?" she said as she stared at the monitors.

"To this test. You could have stopped me if you wanted to. You know that. Why didn't you?" he persisted.

"First, this is not a test," she said, holding up a finger to the screen as she finally turned to stare at the camera. "A test would be taking the unmanned suit to a field in the middle of nowhere and shooting it with a bunch of big guns and see how it holds up. This is a suicide mission, at best, okay? You are not a soldier; you have no background in combat tactics; and if we're being completely honest, you are not technically trained to be able to handle this suit. I'm surprised your body has even been able to handle the stress of that kind of flight. Second, I try not to make a habit of arguing with crazed men with weapons in their hands. I'm told it's not healthy for me."

He couldn't help but smirk, yet he knew none of it was the truth. Well, the part about him being technically unqualified for this kind of mission might have been mostly true, but the rest of it was a total lie.

"JC, I have seen you singlehandedly take on a small army. I'm more than positive that you could have taken me down. If you really believed it was so suicidal, why help me do it?"

"Stay focused, Stark," she said, turning back to her monitors. "You're small enough now for the military not to pick you up on radar, but once you start making things go boom, they will notice, and they will react. Get in, get out, understand?"

"Yes, mother," he said with an eye roll. "Can't you just hack in and block sensors or something? That would be rather helpful."

"Besides being illegal, do I look like a techy?" she said dryly.

"Well you don't look deadly either. I could be wonderfully surprised. Besides, I thought that's what Airforce people did. You fly planes or you work tech, or some weird combination. And we both know you didn't fly."

She let out a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. "If you happen to survive this, remind me to go over the fact that there are more positions in the Airforce than flying and tech. Five minutes, Tony," she reminded him, getting focused. "Be aware of possible human shields. Tony, they won't hesitate to kill. Are you prepared to do the same?"

"What do you think I did the day we escaped?" he asked coldly.

"There weren't civilians then. There will be now. There's still time to turn back. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

"Affirmative," he answered. This wasn't just about revenge for him or JC. This was for Yinsen. This was his home. He couldn't save Yinsen that day in the cave, but he could do something to save his home. "You still never answered why."

"And you'll never get an answer," she said, making her video disappear. He knew it was better to have the HUD clear of anything unnecessary, but it was a little too convenient timing.

"Oh come on. It couldn't have been for nothing."

"Tell you what, you make it home, I'll tell you why. Deal?"

Now that was one bargain he could definitely make. "Deal."

"Target in sight. Start your descent," she ordered. "Shock and awe will only last so long, so whatever you plan to do, do it quickly."

And that was exactly why he was glad she was there. He didn't have a mind for tactics, but she did. If anyone could walk him through this, it was her.

He landed with a loud thud amidst the frightened villagers and terrorists. They looked at him curiously for a moment before several opened fire. Tony didn't waste a moment and hit the closest one, sending him flying to the roof of a nearby building. He turned to the others letting off several more bursts from his repulsors. As he went to dispatch the others who were guarding on of the trucks, he stopped. Each one held a prisoner in front of them, weapons pointed at the hostages.

"JARVIS, small munitions only. I'll paint the targets," JC ordered.

Tony watched as targets were quickly assigned to the hostiles and civilians before shooting out high caliber bullets at the hostiles. They fell to the ground silently as the civilians looked on in awe and terror at what he had done. A small boy ran up and hugged his father who was about to be executed when Tony arrived. That alone justified his decision. But he wasn't finished yet.

"Tony, where are you going?" JC asked as he walked towards one of the dilapidated buildings.

"I saw a friend I'd like to say hello to," he said as he neared the wall. He had only caught a brief glimpse of the man, but he hadn't forgotten the face of Raza's second in command. Nearing the wall he had seen the coward go behind, he punched through the concrete and grabbed the man by the scruff of his neck, pulling him back through the wall. The man looked up, fear in his eyes as he waited for Tony's next move. He wasn't Raza, but he would do for a start.

"Tony we don't have time for him," JC said over the intercom. "It's only a matter of time before the military catches wind of this. We have to go."

He didn't like it, but he knew she was right. There was still more to do. But this man wasn't going to just get away.

"He's all yours," he said to the villagers as he took off and got back to his mission. They would no doubt have a few ideas for how to deal with him.

"Okay, Jericho missiles are over in the next settlement. Take those out, and we should be good to go." The missiles lit up on the HUD, showing they were set up and ready for use. As JARVIS began to target the missiles, something struck Tony from behind, sending him tumbling to the ground with a loud bang.

"Tony, what happened? What's going on?" JC demanded.

He picked himself up and surveyed what had hit him only to find one of his tanks staring him in the face.

"Tank," he reported as he pulled himself from the small crater he had created.

"Can you handle him?" JC asked.

The tank fired again. Tony side stepped the projectile before raising his arm and firing his own small missile down the tank's muzzle. He turned and walked away as the tank exploded behind him.

"No problem," he said and went back to the missiles.

"Getting a little theatrical, aren't we?"

"If you're going to blow up a tank, might as well be in style."

He took to the air again as more terrorists opened fire on him. He hovered over the Jericho missiles, locking on to them before releasing another discharge from his palms, blowing the missiles to pieces and sending the terrorists screaming. Satisfied with his work Tony turned around and headed home.

"Nice job, Tony. If it weren't highly illegal and extremely dangerous for you to do that, I'd say the military would be giving you a thank you right about now," JC said. "I know those people down there are more than grateful."

"Yeah, I know. This still doesn't answer how they got the weapons in the first place. That can't be all that they have or all that's gotten out. There's still more to be done," Tony said solemnly.

"Tony, this isn't that simple," JC said as she turned on her monitor again. "I understand wanting to handle Gulmira, but trying to go everywhere is unrealistic, impossible even. There's no way to be sure where any other weapons are, and even if you did find them, there's no way for you to get them all before these guys found a way to reproduce them themselves. Much as I'd like to hope they're stupid, they're not. If they don't hire someone to do it, they'll take someone, just like they took you. They're terrorists. They're not going to give up until they're all dead."

"Do you always have to be so pessimistic?" he retorted.

"I'm being realistic, not pessimistic."

"Yeah, right, JC. You and I both know that's-" He was cut off by his phone ringing. The ID on the screen came up as Colonel Rhodes. Shit.

"Tony, don't answer that. This is not a good time."

"If I don't answer, he'll just keep calling, or worse." He answered the phone. "Hello."

"Tony," came a muffled voice.

"Who's this?" Tony said.

"It's Rhodes," he clarified.

"Speak up," Tony said almost able to make out what he was saying. Maybe JC had been right about not answering the phone.

"I said it's Rhodes. What the hell is that noise?"

JC started making some sort of gesture that he could only interpret as "make something up."

"I'm driving with the top down."

"Yeah, well, I need your help right now."

"Funny how that works, huh?" Tony said referring to Rhodey's reluctance several days before.

"Yeah. Speaking of funny, we got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few klicks from where you were being held captive."

"Well," Tony said, sucking in air against the strain of being in the suit for so long, "That's a hot spot. Sounds…like someone stepped in and did your job for you."

"Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?" Rhodey asked, suddenly suspicious.

"I'm not. I was just jogging through the canyon." He immediately wanted to bite his tongue as he watched JC making a wide eyed face at him.

"I thought you were driving."

"Right. I was driving…to the canyon…where I'm going to jog," Tony lied pathetically. JC started to make a strangling gesture at him.

"You sure you don't have any tech in that area that I should know about?" Rhodey asked, the insinuation clear in his tone.

"Nope."

"Good, 'cause I'm staring at one that's about to be blown to kingdom come."

A moment later two F-22 jets pulled up behind him. Shit. JC signaled for him to cut the transmission. This was not good.

"That's my exit," he said brightly before hanging up on Rhodey and spinning off in an evasive maneuver.

"Tony, get out of there. Go supersonic and get out of there," JC ordered.

"I'm working on it, but in case you hadn't noticed, they are more experienced than I am at flying."

"This is exactly why we should have done more testing!" she muttered.

He dodged and rolled as the jets followed him and attempted to shoot him down. "Flares!" Tony ordered as a missile locked on target. The missile made contact with the flares propelling Tony forward and stunning him for several seconds, allowing the jets to close in.

"I hope you have a better idea than trying to outrun them, JC." They started firing bullets, and plenty were finding their marks, and Tony wasn't sure how much more he or the suit could handle.

"You're going to have to break their line of sight. They can't hit what they can't see," she suggested, "JARVIS, deploy flaps."

Tony braced himself as every flap on the suit spread out slowing him down as the jets raced forward. As one of them passed he latched on to the closest one and pulled himself close to its underside. "You think they fell for it?"

"For your sake, I hope so. Just hang on tight until they break formation, then try to make a break for it. You're still small enough that their radar won't be able to easily pick you up again."

"I got a better idea. JARVIS, call Rhodey back," Tony said.

"Tony, what are you doing? There's nothing he can do."

"He might be able to B.S. his way out of this. Just do it," he ordered.

JARVIS did so and after a few rings Rhodey answered, "Hello."

"Hi, Rhodey, it's–"

"Rhodes, it's JC. Call off the birds." Well that wasn't part of his plan, but it would do.

"What are you–"

"I don't have time to explain, Rhodey. But that thing your boys are shooting at is Tony."

"You should know better. This isn't some game. You don't go sending civilian equipment into my active war zone," Rhodey chided.

"It's not a piece of equipment. It's Tony in there. Do you understand? It's him!"

Tony was doing everything in his power to keep a grip on the jet. All of a sudden the jet began spinning at an accelerated rate. Somehow they must have figured out where he was. Tony held on to no avail. He lost his grip on the jet's underside and went tumbling through the air before colliding with the other jet's wing. Tony righted himself in time to watch the other jet begin to plummet as the pilot ejected. Several seconds passed without a chute.

"Tony, he's jammed. If his chute doesn't deploy soon-"

"I know," Tony cut her off and chased after the free falling pilot.

"We have been reengaged. Execute evasive maneuvers," JARVIS chimed in.

"Keep going," Tony ordered as he began to close in on the pilot. He reached out and grabbed the seat, ripping the chute release and watched as the parachute deployed. He smirked to himself before flying off in the opposite direction of the jets.

Rhodey came back on the phone a few seconds later. "Tony, JC, you still there?"

"Yeah, thanks man."

"You crazy son of a bitch," Rhodey chuckled, "You know you owe me a plane right."

"Technically the jet ran over him, Rhodey," JC chimed in. "Plus, he saved the pilot. So I'd call it square."

"So you gonna come by and see what I'm working on?" Tony offered. He hoped that his little demonstration would be enough to get his friend on board. With the suit now fully operational, he was going to need all the help he could get.

"No, no, no, the less I know, the better. Now, what am I gonna tell the press?"

"Training exercise. Isn't that the usual B.S.?"

"It's not that simple."

"Rhodey, you and I both know we never tell the truth when this shit comes up. The media will believe whatever the hell we tell them. Besides, I doubt they'd believe a story about a flying tin man," JC said.

"I am not a tin man," Tony interjected.

"You just worry about getting yourself home, Tony. I'll see you in a few hours," JC said.

"She always that bossy?" Rhodey asked.

"You should see her on a regular day," Tony replied.

"I can still hear you, you know," JC chimed in, giving him a cocked brow on the screen.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't hear that. What did you say? You're breaking up," Tony lied.

"Do I need to tell Pepper what you've been up to?" she threatened.

"I'll tell her you helped me."

"You held a high power gun to my head."

"Did not." Sure, he might have been a little threatening with the repulsor on his arm, but he never pointed it anywhere near her.

"Who's she more likely to believe?"

"I'm her boss."

"I'm her friend. Friend trumps boss every time."

"Yeah, well…" Tony grasped at straws trying to find a good come back. "I've been her friend longer."

"I dare you to try using that one. Just worry about getting yourself home. And, Rhodey, good luck with the press."

"Yeah, right."

With the jets off his tail and no signs of anyone else coming after him, it was smooth skies for Tony.

"Hey, Tony, I'm going to hop off for a few minutes. I need to call Darren," JC said after she finished one of her systems checks.

"Take your time. I'll be here."

She hit a few buttons, but the screen never went blank, and he could still hear her clearly over the comm. system as she stood and took a few steps away from the console to pull out her cell phone. He thought it strange since she typically preferred privacy to talk to Darren, but normally she wasn't trying to monitor him while he was flying at supersonic speeds, so he didn't put much thought into it.

"Hey, Darren…No, everything went well over here. I'm just about to hop back on the plane, so I'll call you in a few hours when we land, okay?"

Well, that was interesting. He didn't think she would have lied to him about where she was. What was the point? He didn't see a difference if the kid knew she was in his house alone compared to being across the world.

"I know it's been a lot of hours, but I get to come home every night…I know the last few nights have been a little…"

He watched as she let out a heavy sigh and took a seat, her fingers raking through her hair tiredly.

"I'm doing the best I can, Darren…I don't know how else to…Okay, sweetie. I'll call you in a few hours. I lo–"

She pulled the phone away slowly and stared at it for a moment. She looked like she wanted to cry, and he couldn't blame her. He remembered what it was like to be a teenager at odds with his parents, but if he had been through the same thing Darren had with his mother, he didn't think he could have ever treated his own mother so coldly. Not even with his father, who he'd never had the best relationship with, would he have acted that way.

When JC had collected herself, she stood and came back to the console. She pressed several controls and said, "Okay, I'm back," looking like nothing had happened.

"Everything okay?"

"Fine. Darren's headed back to class. Nothing that interesting."

He knew he was toeing the line, but he didn't have much to lose at this point. What was the worst she could do? Turn off her video?

"Are you sure? Because that's not what it sounded like."

She froze as she realized what he had said and looked up to the camera. "You heard all that?"

"Well, if you were trying to mute your end, you hit the wrong button. Why did you lie to him?"

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm not discussing this with you, Tony."

"Why not? I have about five and half hours of flight time and nothing else better to do. We have to talk about something, so why not this?"

"I do not have to justify my parenting choices to you." She was starting to get defensive, a snarl curling her lip.

"I'm not asking you to," he said carefully. "I'm just curious why it would be better for him to think you're with me in an airplane instead of alone at my house. I would think the first option would be worse than the second."

She groaned. "Because if I tell him I'm alone over here, he'll wonder why I don't just come home. But I can't be at home while you're flying around out there, in case something happens. If I tell him I'm required to be here alone, he would want to come over here, and I can't have him over here, because he can't see any of this." She motioned around to all the monitors. "This…thing…is the last thing he needs to be involved in."

He grimaced as he chose his next words. "JC, if this project is starting to come between you and your son, maybe we should–"

"No," she snapped. "I am an adult, and I get to choose what I do or don't do with my life, not my teenage son who thinks he knows everything. Just because he went to some group home where they teach you how to be independent, because one day you're gonna turn eighteen, and they're gonna have to give you up, and you're gonna need to know how to do things; so they teach you how to cook, and mow the lawn, and do your freaking taxes, because one day you're going to have to do it all yourself, because you have no one; you're all alone."

She was nearly breathless by the end of her rant. Tony stayed silent for a few moments as she dropped her head into her hands, her fingers tangling in her hair. A piece of him broke for her, wishing he could have been there to console her. But he couldn't, because he had decided to go on a suicide mission.

When she finally came up, she straightened herself out, laying her messed up hair flat again.

"My son grew up without me. And he apparently doesn't care whether I'm there or not, so that settles that."

"That's not true, JC."

"I wouldn't be so sure. You didn't hear him on the phone just now."

"JC, take it from someone who used to be a stupid teenage boy. We are stupid, and we will say stupid things. Trust me, he cares if you are there or not, and lately you haven't been there. That's my fault." He knew this moment had to come sooner or later, but he didn't expect it to be now. "I think we're at a good point with this thing, so after tonight, why don't we hang it up for a while?"

"Tony–"

"It's not forever," he lied. For her, it would have to be the end of the line. The last thing he ever wanted to do was rip what was left of JC's family apart. "It's just for a little while. I jumped straight into this thing, and I pulled you right down with me so fast that I forgot we both need to breathe. We just need time to get our heads back on straight."

She mulled over his words for a few minutes, considering carefully. "What about needing to find these guys? The longer we wait, the harder it will be to find them."

"You said it yourself. We don't even know where these weapons are. It's going to take time to even figure out where to start. So we'll use that time well, and try to get our lives back in order. We both need it."

She seemed to accept that answer, which was a good thing, he told himself. He didn't want to let her go like that, but he reminded himself that her being here was never meant to be a permanent thing. The fact that she had stayed on for more than that first week was more than he could have ever asked for. And what she had shared with him the past few days had been heartbreaking yet incredible. It was more than he dared to hope for from their friendship…if he could even call it that. What he had come to feel for her was far more than that, but he knew it could never go beyond that. He had burned that bridge a long time ago. No turning back. No second chances for that. He would just have to be content with what he had received so far and hope she wouldn't be too angry with him when he finally told her that she shouldn't come back. Oh, who was he kidding? She was going to be pissed.

Nearly six hours later Tony finally came flying through the open garage door coming to a halt by the assembly equipment. His body was sore and exhausted from the whole ordeal, but he regretted nothing. The test had been a success, which meant this was only the beginning.

"How was the flight?" JC greeted.

"Well enough, but I need to get out of this suit," Tony said as he got into position in the equipment.

"Getting a little claustrophobic are we?" JC teased.

"There are no bathrooms in this suit." Okay, so maybe there was one regret: not taking bodily functions into consideration before attempting international flight.

JC stared at him for a moment as she contemplated his statement. "I take it that's going to be the next revision?"

"Yep," he said as the equipment started to take apart the suit. It had barely started when it started tugging and got stuck. "Ow!" Tony exclaimed as the machinery jerked on his arm.

"It is a tight fit, sir," JARVIS commented.

"Gimme a break, will you? It's my first time."

"You know, I don't think you got hit enough. You could easily take a few more," JC mocked as she surveyed the armor.

"Very funny. I made this thing to come off, so it should just…" Tony grunted as he attempted to pull his arm free.

"Tony, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt. So just hold still and take it like a man," JC chided. She was getting far too much enjoyment out of this.

"I'd like to see you in this position," he challenged.

"You wish," JC smirked.

"Would you just get over here already and help me out of this suit."

"And what would you suggest I use?"

"You can use one of your knives for all I care. Just don't stand there. I don't think I can do this by myself," he said as he again tried pulling his arm free.

"Fine," JC said and took one of the screwdrivers from Tony's tool kit. "Where should I start?"

"Go anywhere. Just hurry up. I don't know how much longer I can wait."

"All right, all right, I'm going," JC said and went to undoing the screws on the inside of the legs of the suit.

"What is going on here?" came a new voice. Tony and JC looked over to see Pepper standing in horror at what she had seen and most likely heard. They looked to each other, realizing the compromising position they were in. JC pulled away, a bright hue of red covering her face while Tony looked at Pepper unabashed.

"Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've ever caught me doing."

She continued to stare in horror at Tony's armor before speaking again in a shaky voice, "Are those bullet holes?"


AN: Hope you all are enjoying the updated version of this story. Only a few more chapters to go! Don't forget to check out the other stories in this series, including the recently finished Avengers story. And as always, don't forget to leave a review :)