Melody tried to slam the door, but Tony caught it right before it shut. "Melody," He tried.

"Get out of my room." She told him without looking at him and moving out onto the balcony.

"I'm sorry." He spoke as he followed her.

She turned around, looking at him with wide eyes. "For what, exactly?" She moved closer to him. "For me getting my arm hurt?" He looked down at her now bandaged arm. "For driving that car when you're not supposed to?" He opened his mouth to say something when she shoved his finger into his chest. "Or for forcing me to do something about it, almost getting myself killed in the process?"

"Melody," He began in a scared voice. He knew she was pissed and he felt like he was losing her. He already didn't feel as connected to her with this new attitude, but now he felt like he was really losing her. "I didn't want any of this happen. I didn't know-"

"I know you didn't know someone was going to come after you, but you don't have to be careless!" She put her hands on her head, feeling angry tears fall down her cheeks. "God, you think you're a superhero, but how can you be a superhero when all you care about is yourself?!" He stood there, swallowing the lump in his throat. "You don't deserve to be Iron Man." She told him calmly as the tears fell down her cheeks, her eyes now puffy.

All Tony could do was study her. He knew this was her last straw and he knew that he couldn't mess up any more than he had today. In that moment, he wanted to tell Melody about all of it. About the palladium cores slowly killing him. He wanted to apologize countlessly for what he had done and he wanted to give her time to pour her soul out. To get all of her grievances out and open. He wanted to hold her as she cried about Clint and he wanted her comfort about his fear of dying. Something he hadn't expressed to anyone. But all he did was stand there and watch her as she cried. He didn't make an attempt to hold her. He didn't make the attempt to have a serious conversation with her. He didn't want to get her dragged into all of this. Any of this. "You should get some sleep." Melody studied him with a confused face as she sniffled from the tears. "That arm isn't gonna heal by itself. You need rest."

He turned around to walk out as Melody stood there, trying to understand what had just happened. He had nothing to say. Tony usually had everything to say. "That's it?" She asked as she came back into her room from the balcony.

Tony stopped, so close to the door and turned around to look at her. "I don't want to fight with you and you're right. I don't deserve to be Iron Man. But you are wrong about one thing." Melody's eyebrows furrowed, ready to hear what he had to say. "I don't just care about myself."

With that, Tony left her room as Melody sat down on her bed with a deep sigh. She knew she had been unfair, but so had he. He put her in a situation where she had no choice in the matter. It was the right thing to do. She had to protect her family when Tony couldn't. So why did she feel so bad about it?

Once Tony left Melody's room, he went to the police to find out who this man was. The authorities were giving him five minutes and all Tony was hoping for was that it was enough time. When he walked into the man's room, he was sitting on his bed, shirt off, only shorts. He had darkly tanned skin and he was covered in tattoos. Tony walked forward, he wasn't scared of the guy. Not anymore. He was chained up and all Tony cared about now was finding out why he threatened his family.

Right when he got in front of him, he began to compliment him on his technology, trying to ease him into a conversation which was difficult to do considering he hated the man and everything he did to Melody. He sat down next to him, ready to get into his reasoning. "It's a passable knock off. With a little fine tuning you could have made a nice paycheck. You could have sold it to North Korea or China. Iran. Or you could have gone straight to the black market." Ivan smiled at him, realizing that Tony had no idea who he was or why he was here. "You look like you've got friends in low places."

Ivan turned to him, annoyed. "You come from a family of thieves and butchers. And now the guilty man is trying to rewrite his own history and forget all the lives the Stark family has destroyed."

Tony knew he was just trying to get under his skin and he could have given him some more remarks, but he needed answers. "Speaking of thieves, how did you get that design?"

"My father." He answered seriously. "Anton Vanko."

"Well, I've never heard of him."

Ivan's face seemed to darken with anger at his sentence. "My father is the reason you're alive."

"The reason I'm alive is because you had a shot, you took it and you missed."

"Did I?" He was tired of Tony's attitude and the way he looked down on him. "If you can make God bleed, then people will cease to believe in him. And they will wonder if the shocks will come. For the truth, all they have to do is sit here and watch as the world will consume you."

Tony had to admit that he was a little freaked out, but he sure as hell wasn't going to show it. "Where will you be watching the world consume me from? That's right, a prison cell." He stood up from his seat and began to walk back to the door. "I'll send you a bar of soap."

"Hey, Tony, before you go," Tony stopped at the door, ready to hear what he had to say. "Palladium in the chest, painful way to die." He froze, trying to think how he knew that. "And that Melody girl of yours," He turned around that time, the fact that her name was on his lips made him want to murder him right there. "Strong fighter. Very brave. Strong, brave fighters usually have a very tragic end." Tony stood there for a moment, seething in anger at his threat towards Melody. And he knew in that moment that she was not going to be let out of his sight.

Justin Hammer walked through Hammer Industries with only one thought in his mind. When he got outside of his office, he stopped at his secretary's desk and she looked up at him. "Can I help you with something?"

"Get the boys up here." He demanded before walking into his office.

The secretary picked up her phone and dialed a number as Hammer sat down at his desk. After what he saw in Monaco, he knew the only other person who hated Tony as much as he did was Ivan Vanko. In almost no time, the boys walked through his office door and Hammer smiled as he stood up. "Boys!" He yelled happily. "Do I have a job for you?"

"What do you want?" The older one asked as he looked away from his younger brother.

"I need you to get Ivan Vanko."

"Who the hell is Ivan Vanko?" The older one asked.

"Have you watched the news lately?" Hammer asked him in an annoyed voice. "He almost killed Melody Barnes in Monaco."

"Is that the guy who she had to put the suit on to face?" The younger one asked while looking at his brother.

"Yes he is." Hammer told them as they looked back to him. "And I need him here in America to help me take down Tony Stark and Melody Barnes."

The two brothers turned to each other and smiled before looking back to their uncle. "Where do we start?"

"Not being left out of your sight?!" Melody screamed at him in the workshop. "What the hell does that mean?!"

Tony was moving things around in the workshop as she was watching him angrily. "It means that you almost killed someone and they are very angry."

"I thought he was locked up in Monaco!" She protested.

"Point is," He spoke as he moved to stand right in front of her. "You and I are not leaving this house."

Melody's eyes widened. "No." She protested.

"You'll work from home."

"NO!" She screamed at him as Tony tried to control his anger from her temper tantrum.

"It is all for your own safety."

"You're putting me under house arrest!"

"For your safety!" He yelled in her face, trying to reason with her.

"If I pulled crap like this on you, you would not even let me finish talking."

"You aren't letting me finish talking!"

"Pepper!" Melody called as she began to hurry towards the stairs.

"She's busy!" Tony yelled as he ran after her. "Don't bother her!"

"Pepper!" Melody called again. Pepper was upstairs, working away on her laptop and once she heard Melody's voice, she shut her eyes while letting out a stressed breath. "Pepper!"

"Yes?" She called once Melody made it up the stairs and was moving towards Pepper who was sitting on the couch.

"Tony's trying to-" She was cut off by Tony picking her up by the waist and Melody screaming as he sat her down at the piano before turning back to Pepper.

"I'm making her stay home considering she almost killed someone who is very revengeful and could go after her."

Melody stood up from where Tony had put her and moved in front of him, getting ready to convince Pepper of her point like she was the mom and Tony and Melody were her children. "He's making me stay home because I almost killed someone who is locked in the Monaco prison and heavily guarded."

"I'm trying to protect you!" He yelled while getting closer to her as Pepper rolled her eyes and put her laptop down next to her, knowing she wasn't going to get any work done until they had sorted this out. "That's my number one priority!"

"Oh, really?!" Melody screamed as Pepper stood up. "Because that didn't seem to be a big priority in Monaco!"

"Hey!" Pepper yelled as she clapped her hands loudly, getting them both to turn to her like scared dogs, afraid of what trouble they were in. "Tony, Melody is right."

"Ha!" She yelled as she pointed at him.

"Melody," Pepper sighed out as Melody turned back to look at her. "Tony is also right."

"Ha!" Tony yelled even louder at her before turning back to Pepper. "Both of us can't be right."

"No," She told them with a smile. "But you can both compromise." They both groaned while throwing their heads back. "Melody, you will check with Tony before you leave the house, understand?" Melody opened her mouth to protest. "Understand?!"

Melody let out an angry sigh as she crossed her arms. "I understand."

"And Tony," He didn't even look at Pepper. He was looking up at the ceiling with his arms crossed. "You can't just put people under house arrest. Understand?"

"I understand." He mumbled.

"Good." Pepper smiled while putting her hands on her hips. "Now hug it out."

"No." Melody and Tony both spoke at the same time.

"Hug it out!" She yelled at them.

They both sighed and turned to each other, giving each other a hug. "You're only going within fifty feet of the house." He whispered into her ear.

"I will murder you in your sleep." She growled back.

Ivan waited in his cell, his dinner showing up with a note under the cup of water they had given him. With a confused face, he hurried back to his bed, reading the note which read: enjoy the potatoes. He picked up the "potatoes" and saw that there was a clock on the bottom of them for a time bomb. Then, the same guard who gave him his food came up, unlocking his door and letting in someone with the same prison number as him and who could pass as Ivan.

Ivan stood up, knocking the man out and moving to the bars in his cell where a key had been placed for him. He put the time bomb on the wall, pressing the button to get it started and let himself out of his cell. He didn't know who had set this up for him, but he wasn't going to argue when it came to getting out of prison. He walked up to a guard who tried to get him to come back to his cell, but Ivan finished him off quickly, continuing to walk through as casually as he could.

Shortly after that, the bomb went off, sending all the workers into a frenzy. Ivan tried to run away, but two guards grabbed him, handcuffed him, put a bag over his head and took him away from the prison. Ivan remained confused as they shoved him into a car and drove him away from the prison.

When they opened the door and took the bag off of his head, he was in an all-white room with a plane off to the side and Justin Hammer sitting at a table with dinner and wine glasses and the boys standing behind him. "Hey!" Hammer yelled happily. "There he is!" Ivan looked around as he walked through the room, trying to understand where he exactly was as Hammer stood up from where he sat. "It is my absolute pleasure. Welcome!" He shook his head once he looked down at Ivan's hands. "Goodness gracious, can we get the handcuffs off my friend, here?"

The men who had brought Ivan in took the handcuffs off of him as Justin Hammer apologized for his discomfort and sat him down in the chair across from him. The boys stared him down. The younger one was measuring him up, trying to see if he could take him if it escalated to a fight and the older one was trying to measure how smart he was by his looks, trying to see if he could outsmart him if anything happened. "Anything you want here, we got it." Hammer spoke as a man brought out a dish for Ivan to eat. "I like my dessert first." He shrugged. "What can I say? I have a sweet tooth, and apparently so do you for Tony Stark and Melody Barnes."

Ivan looked around, confused, just wanting to know what these people wanted from him. "What I saw from you on that track, how you stepped up to him in front of God and everybody that was…wow. You spoke to me is what you did." A man came up to fill his glass, the younger one, watching Ivan's every movement. "I know that you knew that I would be listening. This is why I couldn't bear to have you shipped off to God knows where because it's such a waste of talent."

"But if I might make a suggestion, you don't just try and kill the two. If I may, I think you should go after their legacy. That's what you kill." Ivan watched him, unimpressed. He was trying to make him do something he had no desire of doing. "You and me are a lot alike in a lot of ways. The only difference between you and I is that I have resources. I think, if I may, you need my resources. Someone behind you. A benefactor. I'd like to be that guy."

Ivan laughed and began to speak something in Russian, causing Justin to just shake his head. "Okay." He spoke in a confused voice. "Do you speak English? Because I can get a translator. Have you been understanding anything I've been saying?"

Ivan laughed, knowing that he would have Justin Hammer fooled if he pretended to do what he wanted. "Very good man."

Justin laughed happily. "Very good man." He repeated.

They clinked their glasses in celebration when Ivan grabbed his arm. "Hey, I want my bird."

"A bird?" Justin asked in a confused voice.

"I want my bird."

"I can get you a bird." Justin said with a shrug. "I can get you ten birds."

"I want my bird." He argued.

"Well, okay. Nothing's impossible. Is this a bird back in Russia?" Ivan just stared at him so he turned to the older nephew. "Find this bird." He turned back to Ivan and smiled. "These are my nephews by the way. Kyle and Joey. If you need anything that requires physical strength," He turned to the younger one. "Go for Joey." He then turned to the older one. "And if you need anything that requires knowledge on tech, go to Kyle."

Since Melody was on, what she called, Tony arrest, he gave her the permission to have Kyle over at the house. They were currently lounging on the couch as Pepper and Natalie were sitting in the living room, doing business when Rhodey walked into the house. He looked around, saw Melody with Kyle and rolled his eyes. He hated the new boyfriend too. "I'll talk to you later." He told Melody, who just threw her head back, dreading the talk. "Where is he?" He asked while looking back to Pepper.

Natalie turned to him quickly, still on the phone. "He doesn't want to be disturbed."

Pepper turned to him, annoyed that Natalie didn't know how things worked around here. "He's downstairs." Rhodey and Melody looked to the news on the TV, watching the footage from Monaco, Melody shutting her eyes, reliving all of it as Kyle kissed her neck.

Rhodey went down the stairs and into the workshop to see Tony sitting in the car that he and Melody had finished a few months ago, researching the man who had attacked them in Monaco. Rhodey was here for business though. "Tony, you've got to get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now." All Tony could do in his current condition was sit there as Rhodey got closer to him. He didn't want him to find out, but it seemed like this was going to be the only option. "Listen, I've been on the phone with the National Guard all day trying to talk them out of rolling tanks, knocking down the front door and taking these. They're gonna take your suits, Tony. They're sick of the game. You said nobody would possess this technology for twenty years. Well, guess what? Somebody else had it yesterday. It's not theoretical anymore." Right when he reached Tony, he grabbed his shoulder, causing him to lean towards him. "Are you listening to me?"

That was when he noticed how bad Tony looked. When he touched his shoulder, it was like he was a rag doll. His face was pale and sweaty, causing Rhodey to lean into him, trying to figure out what was going on with him. "Are you okay?"

Tony got out of the car and once he got on his feet, he fell to the ground. Rhodey ran to him, now knowing something was seriously wrong with him. He helped him stand up and put his arm around him, guiding him to his desk. "See that box?" He asked Rhodey as he sat him down at his chair. Rhodey nodded. "It's filled with palladium."

Rhodey hurried to the box and took out one of the palladium cores. When he turned to Tony, the arc reactor was out of his body and it was letting off smoke, causing Rhodey to begin to really worry. "Is that supposed to be smoking?"

Tony looked at him, knowing that he now had to tell him as he handed him the arc reactor. "If you must know, it's neutron damage. It's from the reactor wall."

Rhodey pulled out the burnt palladium core out of the arc reactor, watching the smoke from it fill the air. "You had this in your body?" Tony didn't say anything as Rhodey put the new palladium core in, but Rhodey saw the markings on his neck. "How about the high tech crossword puzzle on your neck?"

Tony turned to him and took the arc reactor. "Road rash." Rhodey couldn't take his eyes off of Tony as he put the arc reactor in and slowly got more comfortable. When Tony turned to him, he shrugged like nothing happened. "What are you looking at?"

"I'm looking at you." Tony turned away from him, hating that he had now dragged Rhodey into this. "Does Melody even know?" Tony closed his eyes and shook his head. Rhodey let out a sigh and crouched on the ground right next to him. "You want to do this whole lone gunslinger act and it's unnecessary. You don't have to do this alone."

Tony took a deep breath and turned back to Rhodey. "I wish I could believe that. I really do, but, trust me, contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I'm doing."

Rhodey sighed and stood up from where he was crouching. "I'm gonna talk to Melody about her boyfriend."

"Good." Tony spoke as he turned to face him. "Maybe she'll listen to you. She doesn't listen to me lately." Tony looked down sadly. If he was going to die, he didn't want to have the relationship he had with Melody now. He wanted them to be as close as they were when she was little and he was the only guy she had.

Rhodey pat Tony on the back before going up the stairs, Pepper and Natalie still crazy busy on the phone. He moved right to Melody while putting his hand out to help her up from the couch. "Young lady," She sighed and rolled her eyes as she got out of Kyle's grip on her, grabbed Rhodey's hand and moved towards the front door with him. "We need to have a talk."

Melody rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. "Are you going to give me a lecture about what I'm doing with my life like everyone else?"

"No." He told her, causing Melody to blink a couple of times at that. At first, he was, but then he saw Tony and decided that wasn't what she needed. "I'm trying to tell you that you need to be nice to Tony. You need to spend more time with him and stop hanging around your boyfriend who is bad news."

Melody sensed that there was a lot more to this talk than he was saying. "Why are you telling me this?"

Rhodey sighed and pulled her in for a hug which she gave back. "Because I love you and after everything that happened in Monaco, you should know that you don't know how much time you have."

Melody nodded as her hug on Rhodey tightened. "I love you, Rhodey."

He smiled as he rubbed her back. "I love you, Melly Kelly." She let out a laugh as they stayed there for a few moments in that hug that they both really needed.

(gasp) Melody's personal trainer and boyfriend and working with Hammer! Review your thoughts!