I prop my elbows on my knees, resting my face in my hands as I lean forward and squeeze my eyes shut, lacing my fingers into my hair.

I remember this particular memory; the beginning is brutal, the middle is violent, and the end was terrifying.

I groan softly, but nobody in the room says or does anything more than lay a hand on my back (Clint). They know by now that these memories are complicated, messy, and painful for those involved.

And the final throw down still hasn't arrived.

A~A~A

Tony and Taylor are shown standing in the workshop, their eyes fixed on the TV. Tony is wearing a red and gold arm piece and Taylor is by his side, her leg covered in black and purple up to the knee.

The TV is showing footage of a small village, people crying and buildings burnt and half torn apart as a reporter dictates from the scene.

"The 15 mile hike to the outskirts of Gulmira can only be described as a descent into hell, into a modern day Heart of Darkness. Simple farmers and herders from peaceful villages have been driven from their homes, displaced from their lands by warlords emboldened by a new-found power. Villagers have been forced to take shelter in whatever crude dwellings they can find in the ruins of other villages, or here in the remnants of an old Soviet smelting plant. Recent violence has been attributed to a group of foreign fighters referred to by locals as the Ten Rings."

Tony's eyes darken and Taylor's eyes spark.

"As you can see, these men are heavily armed and on a mission. A mission that could prove fatal to anyone who stands in their way. With no political will or international pressure, there's very little hope for these refugees."

Tony stands and throws his screwdriver down, aims the gauntlet, and fires a repulsor at the wall as Taylor stands stiffly and kicks her chair away, sending it flipping into the wall.

"Around me, a woman begging for news on her husband, who was kidnapped by insurgents, either forced to join their militia... Desperate refugees clutch yellowed photographs, holding them up to anyone who will stop. A child's simple question, "Where are my mother and father?" There's very little hope for these refugees, refugees who can only wonder who, if anyone, will help."

Tony walks forward, spins around, and sees himself in the glass door to the workshop, firing the repulsor three times until all his reflections are shattered.

Taylor turns and, with a loud, dark, growl, kicks a jagged hole in the steel siding of her desk.

Tony and Taylor are standing about five feet away from each other as the floor opens up at their feet and robots begin assembling the suits as they step into their respective boots.

They're fully suited in less than a minute, vengeance held in their tense metal shoulders and lit up eyes.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

Iron Man is shown speeding across the sky, the sands below him a blur and a smaller figure keeping pace just behind and above him.

Terrified villagers run screaming as their houses are blown up using Stark Industries weapons, including the Sherman and the Jericho.

One man, Abu Bakaar, shouts orders to the others.

"Put the women in the trucks. Stack the weapons here. Clear all the houses. That one there. Faster. Faster."

A family, a father, mother, and their children, are dragged from a house.

"Grab that dog. Put him with the others."

The father is pulled away from his wife and children, dragged towards a separate truck. His son breaks free and runs towards him, the father begins run back to his son.

"What the hell is this?" Abu Bakaar grabs the boy and violently throws him to the ground before knocking the father to the ground and stamping on him vehemently several times.

"Shoot this dog! You're all incompetent!" The children look on terrified, wide eyed and pale, as a soldier points a rifle at their father's head.

Suddenly a red blur streaks over the mountains, landing in the village square, as a black smaller blur follows and shoots a soldier's gun out of his hands along the way.

A soldier opens fire upon both of them, but the bullets have no effect.

The soldier gets thrown back, flying over the buildings, as lasers are used to kill – or decapitate in Taylor's case – the remaining soldiers.

When faced with the group of soldiers and hostages, Jarvis distinguishes terrorist from victim on the holoscreens, and smaller, shoulder mounted guns are used to kill the hostages.

Taylor quickly helps the young boy over to his father before going back to conform the wellbeing over the mother.

Abu Bakaar tries to hide in a house and make a phone call as the two make their way through the village, but a black metal figure slams through the roof as a red gauntlet reaches through the wall and tosses him out of the house and to the feet of the villagers.

"He's all yours." A slightly robotic male voice reports as he nods to the other figure before flying back up.

They take off from Gulmira to where the weapons are stored and take aim at the Jerichos and Shermans, but they're targeted by tank fire and shot out of the sky before they can fire.

They climb from the massive crater their fall created, ignoring the bullets pinging off the suits, and take aim at the missiles again, firing this time before fly away.

Edwards' Air Force Base

Airmen watch satilite images of the events happening around Gulmira when one airman turns to another.

"What the hell was that? Were we cleared to go in there?"

The second airman shakes his head. "No, they were using human shields. We never got the green light."

A Major speaks up, his voice tense. "Put me through to State. They're going to be all over this."

"Get those monitors up! We got a bogey! Wasn't Air Force!

"We got the CIA on the line?"

"I've got Langley on the line. They want to know if it's us."

"No, it definitely is not us, Sir!"

"It's wasn't Navy."

"Wasn't Marines."

The Major clenches his jaw. "I need answers! Can I please get eyes on target?"

"Negative, negative. Cannot identify."

"Get me Colonel Rhodes from Weapons Development down here now!"

"We ran an lD check and cross-referenced with all known databases. We have nothing."

Rhodey glances at the Major. "Any high altitude surveillance in the region?"

One airman speaks up. "We got an AWAC and a Global Hawk in the area."

"So this thing just appeared out of nowhere? How come it didn't show up on the radar?"

"Got a minimal radar cross-section, Sir."

Rhodey sighs. "Is it stealth?"

The airman shakes his head. "No, Sir, it's tiny. We think it's an unmanned aerial vehicle."

"Colonel, what are we dealing with here?"

Rhodey looks back at the surveillance. "Let me make a call. Sergeant, clear a hole."

Tony answers the phone on the holoscreen, Taylor watching him from a corner of the screen. "Hello?"

"Tony?"

"Who's this?"

"It's Rhodes."

"Sorry, hello?"

"I said it's Rhodes!"

"Speak up please!" Tony has to yell over the wind noise.

"What the hell is that noise?" Rhodey asks, annoyed.

"Oh…" Tony pauses. "I'm driving with the top down."

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

"Funny how that works, isn't it?"

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

Tony hums. Well, that is a hot spot. Sounds like someone slipped in and did your job for you."

Taylor grins with a soft snort.

"Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?"

"I'm not, I'm jogging in the canyon."

"I thought you were driving?"

"Right…I'm driving to the canyon, where I'm going to jog."

"You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?"

"Nope!"

An airman cuts in on Rhodey's side. "Bogey spotted! Whiplash, come in hot."

"Good, because I'm looking at one right now that's about to be blown to kingdom come."

Two fighter planes appear behind Taylor and Tony, and Taylor sends a panicked glance at Tony. "And that's my exit."

Tony ends the call and swerves sharply to avoid the planes. "Taylor?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember those aerial evasion techniques you were reading about?"

"Yes…"

"Time to use them now! Scatter!"

Taylor drops suddenly to avoid a stream of bullets, rolling quickly to the left.

The first pilot reports back to Rhodey. "Ballroom, this is Whiplash One. I've got the bogeys in my sights."

"Multiple?"

"Two, sir."

"What are they?"

"I have no idea."

"You have radio contact?"

"Non-responsive, sir."

"Then you are clear to engage."

A button labeled 'Supersonic flight' shows up on both holoscreens.

"Hit it."

"That bogey just went supersonic. I got a lock!" The airman fires a missile, which Jarvis sees coming.

"Jarvis, flares!" They both yelp, causing a swarm of flares to be set off by both suits. The flares deflect the missile and it explodes, sending bot suits into a downwards spiral.

"Wait a second. Bogey deployed flares!"

"Jarvis, deploy flares! Taylor, up!"

Tony's flaps jerk him up quickly between the planes, Taylor shooting straight up from her former position.

One of the pilots yelp. "Holy-"

"Those things just jumped off the radar, sir. The sat visual has been lost."

"No way those are UAVs."

Rhodey sighs. "Then what are they?"

"I can't see anything. Whatever it was, it just bought the farm, I think bogey's been handled, Sir."

Rhodey nods and looks down to see his phone ringing. "Hello?"

Tony answers, still in the suit. "Hey, Rhodey, it's me."

"It's who?"

Tony sighs. "I'm sorry, it is me. You asked... What you were asking about... is me."

"No, see, this isn't a game. You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone. You understand that?"

"No, it's not a piece of equipment!" Tony protests. "I'm in it! It's a suit. It's me!"

"And the other one…?"

"Taylor!" Tony watches as a black blur speeds past, trying to outrun the jets.

On Rhodey's end of the line, the Major call out. "Rhodey, you got anything for me?"

The base sends a message to the pilots. "Mark your position and returns to base."

"Roger that." The first pilot, Whiplash One, looks over to Whiplash Two and sees Tony clinging to the bottom while Taylor is on the bottom of his own plane. "On your belly! It looks like a man! Shake him off! Roll! Roll!"

"You've got one too, Whiplash One. Smaller, looks like a female."

Both planes roll side to side to try and shake off there unwanted passengers. Tony gets thrown off and into the wing of Whiplash One while Taylor slips and gets sent into Whiplash Two's slipstream, sending her tumbling wildly.

"I'm hit! I'm hit!"

The pilot of Whiplash One looks over, confirming Whiplash Two's report. "It's confirmed. He has been hit. Punch out! Punch out!"

"Whiplash One down!"

"Whiplash Two, do you see a chute?"

The pilot glances quickly. "Negative. No chute, no chute!"

Whiplash One's pilot comes back on radio. "My chute's jammed!"

As the pilot continues to fall, Tony catches up with him as Taylor works to steady out her flight, burn marks from the plane engine evident on her suit.

Whiplash Two sees Tony. "Sir, I've got a visual on the bogey."

The Major eyes. "Whiplash Two, re-engage. If you have a clear shot, take it."

Rhodey shakes his head. "Major, we don't even know what we're shooting at. Call off the Raptors."

"That thing just took out an F-22 in a legal no-fly zone!" The Major insists. "Whiplash Two, if you have a clear shot take it!"

A warning pops up on both holoscreens. "You have been re-engage. Execute evasive maneuvers."

"Keep going!' Tony shouts, still racing after Whiplash One's pilot. Taylor just shakily begins to fly in zigzags and tight curls.

Tony grabs the pilot and punches the chute release button, sending the parachute billowing safely out and delivering the pilot to the ground.

"Good chute!" the pilot reports. "Good chute!"

On Tony's holoscreen, Rhodey's face pops up.

"Hey, Rhodey, give me a second." Tony puts him on hold, turning to Taylor's picture elsewhere on the screen. "Taylor, you good?"

"Yeah." She breathes. "Meeting your position now."

Tony glances around him to see a black shape arcing up towards him. "Good. You want to talk to Rhodey with me?"

"Sure thing."

"Okay." Tony connects the two calls and turns back to Rhodey, taking him off hold. "Taylor's on the line. You were saying, platypus?"

"You crazy sons of guns…you two owe me a plane, you know that, right?"

Tony and Taylor laugh. "Yeah, well, technically, he hit me. So, now are you going to come by and see what I'm working on?"

Rhodey quickly shakes his head. "No, no, no, no, no, no, the less I know, the better. Now, what am I supposed to tell the press?"

"Training exercise." Taylor suggests. "Isn't that the usual excuse?"

Rhodey sighs. "It's not that simple."

Rhodey is shown talking to the press about the plane crash near Gulmira.

"An unfortunate training exercise involving an F-22 Raptor occurred yesterday. I am pleased to report that the pilot was not injured."

Obie is shown angrily watching the news about the attack.

"As for the unexpected turn of events on the ground in Gulmira, it is still unclear who or what intervened, but I can assure you that the United States government was not involved."

Tony is shown getting his suit pulled off while Taylor sits in half her suit, removing it manually with the help of Butterfingers, You, and Dummy.

"Hey!"

"It's is a tight fit, Sir. Sir, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt."

"Be gentle." Tony whines. "This is my first time... I designed this to come off, so... Oww... Hey... I really should be able to..."

Taylor snickers and glances over as she helps the bots pry off one of her hip pieces. "Having fun over there?"

"Hardly. This should really come off easier…ah, ow…"

"I think the assembly bots need calibration." She shakes her head. "That's why I'm over here."

"Remind me to do that calibration tomorrow." Tony winces. "Hurry up, Jarvis."

"Almost done, sir."

"Dummy, don't you dare dent that – no, not there…Butterfingers, help him. There we go."

The bots chirp happily as they remove the hip piece and begin working on the thighs.

Taylor grins at her dad quickly, but she does a double take once she sees something troubling.

"Are those bullet holes?"

A~A~A

Everyone in the room starts clapping, and I stand to take a small bow.

"Nice work!" Natasha grins. "Great speed."

"The Man and Lady of Iron are formidable at evading and chasing their foes!"

"Aw, thanks guys." I gush. "But that wasn't it."

Steve looks confused. "It wasn't."

"We haven't solved the Obie problem yet." Clint explains before I can open my mouth.

"Yes." I nod. "That's next."