"And now we find out the truth about Obie and I do some spying."

"Spying?" Natasha perk up. "This I want to see."

"Not, like, assassinations or anything," I clarify quickly. "Just sneaking in, getting files, and sneaking back out."

"So recon?"

"Not really…"

"Was it under S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Nope."

"Did you have weapons?"

"No."

"Did-"

"Natasha, тихо. Wait and see."

"Sorry, Тейлор."

A~A~A

A caravan of SUVs is shown pulling up to a camp in Afghanistan. The car in the lead stops, and Obie steps out and is greeted by Raza, leader of Ten Rings.

"That hellhound!" Natasha snarls.

"That's kind of his point."

"Welcome," Raza indicates a large burn on his face. "Compliments of Tony Stark."

"lf you'd killed him when you were supposed to, you'd still have a face," Obie snaps.

"You paid us trinkets to kill a prince," Raza retorts.

"Show me your weapon." Obie orders.

"Come. Leave your guards outside." Raza and Obie walk inside a tent that houses Tony's original Iron Man armor. "His escape bore unexpected fruit."

"So this is how he did it," Obie muses, his voice tinged with awe.

"This is only a first, crude effort." Raza explains. "Stark and his daughter have perfected their designs. He has made a masterpiece of death, his daughter a threatening shadow. A man with a dozen of these can rule all of Asia. And you dream of Stark's throne. We have a common enemy. lf we are still in business, I will give you these designs as a gift. And in turn, I hope you'll repay me with a gift of iron soldiers."

Obie raises a small device and places it on the back of Raza's head. It emits a high pitched buzzing noise and paralyzes Raza. "This is the only gift you shall receive. Technology. It's always been your Achilles' heel in this part of the world. Don't worry. It'll only last for 15 minutes. That's the least of your problems."

Obie leaves the tent, emerging outside where his guards have taken over the compound. "Crate up the armor and the rest of it," he orders. "All right, let's finish up here." As he walks back to the SUV, the guards kill the Ten Rings soldiers.

In the car, Obie is shown on the phone. "Set up Sector 16 underneath the arc reactor, and I'm going to want this data masked. Recruit our top engineers. I want a prototype right away."

Tony is shown in his workshop working on the suit, looking up as Taylor walks in and towards her own suit. "Hey. You busy? You mind if I send you on an errand? I need you to go to my office. You're going to hack into the mainframe and you're going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests. Take this lock chip," he hands her a USB stick, "It'll get you in. It's probably under Executive Files. lf not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading."

"I know what a ghost drive is," Taylor reminds him. "And what do you plan to do with this information if I bring it back here?"

"Same drill," Tony shrugs. "They've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them."

Taylor sighs. "Dad, you know I want to stop him as much as you do, but what are we doing after this?"

"There is nothing except this. There's no art opening. There is no benefit. There is nothing to sign. There is the next mission and nothing else."

"Nothing else? Really? So we're just going to become fat, rich slobs after everything we've done? I don't want to." Taylor slams the USB on the table and turns to walk out.

"You stood by my side all these years while we reaped the benefits of destruction. And now that we are trying to protect the people that we put in harm's way, you're going to walk out?" Tony stares after her incredulously.

Taylor whirls back around. "You're going to kill yourself and possibly me too! I don't want to be a part of that!"

"I shouldn't be alive, unless it was for a reason. I'm not crazy, Taylor. I just finally know what I have to do... And I know in my heart that it's right."

Taylor grumbles something about clichéd lines but grabs the USB off the table anyways. "You're all I have, too, you know."

Taylor is shown exiting an elevator and entering Tony's office. She walks up to the computer, inserts the USB, and uses it to log in; finding the mainframe and discovering the Iron Man designs. "Sector 16?" she breaths. "Obie, what you up to?"

She clicks on a video file and the video pops up to show Tony being held by Ten Rings. She clicks a few more keys and the dialogue translates into English.

"You did not tell us that the target you paid us to kill was the great Tony Stark. As you can see, Obadiah Stane-"

Taylor's eyes widen. "Oh my god."

"-your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up."

Taylor quickly begins copying the files to the USB, startling slightly as Obie enters the office.

"So, what are we going to do about this? I know what you're going through, sweetheart." Taylor grits her teeth and activates the screen saver just as Obie joins her at the desk. "I was so happy when he came home. It's was like we got him back from the dead. Now I realize, well, Tony never really did come home, did he? He left a part of himself in that cave and you lost a part of yourself too. Breaks my heart."

Taylor shirts her feet slightly. "Well, you know what they say about complicated people. We've been through a lot. I think we'll be all right."

"You're a unique girl, Taylor. Tony doesn't know how lucky he is."

"Thanks. I need to get back." She slips the USB out of the computer and into a folded up newspaper.

"Is that today's paper?"

"What? Oh, yeah."

"Do you mind? Puzzle."

"Of course."

"Take care, Taylor."

Obie goes back to the computer, sees what Taylor was downloading, and furiously follows her

Agent Coulson is shown in the lobby of Stark Industries waiting for Taylor. "Ms. Stark? We had an appointment. Did you forget about our appointment?"

"Of course not. Come with me. We're going to have it right now."

"Right now?"

"Yeah. Walk with me." She glances up to see Obie watching intently from the floor above. "I'm going to give you the meeting of your life. Your office."

A scientist is shown on the phone. "Yeah, we've been working our best to do it. Absolutely, we're..." he looks up to see Obie enter the room. "I'm going to have to call you back. Mr Stane? Sir, we've explored what you've asked us, and it seems as though there's a little hiccup. Actually..."

Obie raises an eyebrow. "A hiccup?"

"Yes, to power the suit, Sir, the technology actually doesn't exist. So it's..."

"Wait, wait, wait. The technology? William, here is the technology. I've asked you to simply make it smaller."

"Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave! With a box of scraps!"

"Well, sir, I'm not Tony Stark."

Tony and Taylor are shown in the living room of the Malibu house, Taylor lounging on the couch watching TV while Tony's phone rings, the caller ID showing Rhodey. Tony answers it, but before he can speak a high pitched beeping noise sounds and he freezes, his phone falling to the ground with Rhodey still on the other line. "Tony? Tony, are you there? Hello?"

Obie picks up the phone and lowers Tony gently onto the couch while Taylor watches frozen from fear. "Breathe. Easy, easy," Obie shows Tony the device. "You remember this one, right? It's a shame the government didn't approve it. There's so many applications for causing short-term paralysis." He turns Tony's head to face him. "When I ordered the hit on you, I worried that I was killing the golden goose. But, you see, it was just fate that you survived. You had one last golden egg to give."

He reaches for the reactor, and Taylor finally stands and barrels towards him. "Hey-"

Obie grab her neck and holds her still for a moment, then there's a flash of silver and blood covering her arms as she collapses and is forced to watch events unfold, completely helpless.

"Pause," I whisper, rolling the sleeves of my long sleeved shirt up on my left arm to reveal a long, slightly puckered scar running from the crook of my elbow to my wrist. I chuckle humorlessly. "Pretty sure he was trying to hit a vein. Its twin was on my right arm."

Clint stares at the scar, bloodlust and rage creeping into his eyes. "He tried to kill you."

"This wasn't the last time."

Obie watches her fall and the blood spread for a moment before kneeling next to Tony and unscrewing the reactor. "Do you really think that just because you have an idea, it belongs to you? Your father, he helped give us the atomic bomb. Now, what kind of world would it be today if he was as selfish as you?"

He disconnects the reactor and Tony's breathing becomes labored. "Oh, it's beautiful. Tony, this is your Ninth Symphony. What a masterpiece. Look at that. This is your legacy. A new generation of weapons with this at its heart. Weapons that will help steer the world back on course, put the balance of power in our hands. The right hands. I wish you could see my prototype. It's not as... Well, not as conservative as yours. Too bad you had to involve Taylor in this. I would have preferred that she lived."

Rhodey is shown talking to Jarvis on the phone. "What do you mean, he paid to have Tony killed? Jarvis, slow down. Why would Obadiah... Okay, where's Tony now?"

Coulson is shown walking through the garage with several other agents as Jarvis talks. "I don't know, he's not answering his phone. Please go over there and make sure everything's okay. Thank you, Colonel. Agent Coulson, there is a shortcut you can use."

Tony is shown stumbling into an elevator and pressing the button for the workshop, leaning heavily against the elevator wall as it moves from floor to floor. Once the elevator doors open again, he drags himself across the floor towards the first generation reactor Taylor gave him. He reaches as high as he cans from the floor, but comes up short. Dummy reaches up and lowers the reactor, bringing it into his reach.

"Good boy," Tony breathes before smashing the glass case on the ground, freeing the reactor.

Obie is shown standing front of his armor, inserting the reactor and lighting the suit up.

Rhodey is shown searching Tony's house. "Tony? Tony? Tony? Tony? Tony!" he finds Tony unconscious on the workshop floor and turns him over and Tony opens his eyes. "Tony! You okay?"

"Where's Taylor?"

"Coulson's with her, she's going to be okay."

"Her arms got sliced open, Rhodey, that's not going to be enough."

Taylor is shown walking with Coulson, surrounded by other agents, an inch of bandages showing beyond her shirt sleeve. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Taylor nods. "Section 16. Section 16. There it is. My key's not working. It's not opening the door." Coulson attaches a small device to the doorknob. "Oh, what's that? Is that an electronic key? I like it."

"You might want to take a few steps back."

They all step back as device explodes, slamming the door open. Obie hears the explosion and runs for his suit.

A~A~A

"Duh dun dunnnn," Clint hums ominously, flinching as I slap him on the shoulder. "So that's why you wear a lot of long sleeves."

"How were you up so fast?" Bruce, ever the doctor, asks. "You lost so much blood and got your arms filleted."

I wince slightly at his description, but explain anyways. "Battlefield medicine until I could get sewn up properly after the battle."

Everyone frowns slightly as Clint and Natasha purse their lips, most likely reliving their own hasty medical procedures at some point.

"Well at least it was Coulson." Steve points out.

"True," I grin, then sober. "I owe him so much…"

Clint puts a hand on my shoulder and kisses my temple. "I know. We all do."

"Thank god for Coulson," Natasha sighs.

"I'd probably be dead." I conclude.

"Pretty sure that all of us would have died at some point had it not been for him."

"Conclusion: we're all brave idiots who need the American version of James Bond to saves us."