"Tony, I'm at Stark Expo. What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to go home and stay there. But you wouldn't, would you?" He sighed. "Destroy all the drones you can and get people out."
"And try to get people away from us!" added Rhodey.
"Got it."
Bella flew over Stark Expo. Things were exploding everywhere and people were running around, screaming. She dropped down onto the cement and fired her repulsors at a nearby drone, sending it crashing through a wall.
Bella had been in these sorts of situations. Before she'd been in a coma. Working for terrorists tended to get a person into dangerous situations. Only then she'd been on the wrong side, with nothing to protect herself. This time, she had a suit of armor to protect her.
She dodged under a shot from another drone and scrambled to her feet, firing at the drone.
"Tony? Do you know where Vanko is?"
"No."
A flash of red and gold went by, followed by grey. Then something started to fire at Bella.
"Hey!" yelled Bella.
The grey thing stopped midair, then went after her.
"Uh oh," said Bella, dodging a shot.
She flew behind a building. "Tony, any ideas?"
"Keep him moving, try to crash him into something. That won't kill him, but it might stop him."
"No, it won't," said a Russian voice.
"Vanko," whispered Bella.
"Stark, if you want your friend to stop targeting your daughter, go to the glass dome in the middle of the Expo. I'll be waiting."
"Why would we believe you?" asked Bella.
"Do you have any other choice?"
Red and gold flashed Bella, heading for the glass dome.
"No!" yelled Bella. "Even if the arc reactor is killing you –"
"It isn't any more. I fixed it."
"What?" said Bella and Rhodey at the same time.
"Rhodey, you're not responsible for any of this. If it wasn't you, it would be a drone or something. Izzy, if I die, Pepper's your guardian. Destroy the Iron Man suits except for yours, I don't want them falling into the wrong hands. Promise me that?"
"Yes."
Bella suddenly spun and fired a hard round into Rhodey, just enough to slow him down, not enough to actually do any real damage to anywhere that could hurt him.
"I'm sorry!" she said. "But I can't let Tony face him alone."
"It's okay. Just go stop Vanko."
Bella dodged and fired again. Her thoughts raced. Tony wasn't going to fix his arc reactor just in time to get killed. She fired again, and Rhodey went down.
"I'm sorry!" she said. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just a little banged up, can't fly any more. I hope."
Bella took off toward the glass dome.
She crashed through a hole in the glass to find Iron Man and Vanko in combat, splashing around in the middle of a stream, surrounded by grass and trees. Bella fired at his head.
A whip wrapped around her body, pulling her in.
"No!" yelled Tony.
She screamed in pain as the power ran through her body. This would have been useful at Hammer Industries. Then, suddenly, she flew through the air and hit the ground, landing behind some trees. She lay there for a moment, the wind knocked out of her. If she hadn't been wearing the suit, the landing would have been enough to break several bones at very least. What had this dome been? Never mind, it was a fighting ring now.
Bella climbed to her feet, ignoring the pain, and slipping around through the trees, up to a high point.
The whip shot back and coiled around her, pulling her forward, sending her flying through the glass.
Everything went black.
Bella woke up what she guessed to be about only seconds later. The screen in front of her eyes blurred and went fuzzy for a moment, then came into focus. She sat up slowly and carefully. She had been blown out of the dome, but could see through the hole she'd made in the glass. Tony and Vanko were fighting, with Vanko gaining the upper hand.
She flew forward through the hole, slamming into Vanko and knocking him to the ground.
Yet another time, the whip wrapped around her.
All the shots Tony and Bella fired seemed to have no effect. Another whip came out, wrapping around Tony's suit.
Bella's makeshift arc reactor started releasing sparks. Her body felt as if it were on fire. She opened fire again, ignoring JARVIS's voice advising her to be careful, she might drain her arc reactor. None of her shots had any effect.
"I win. You lose," said Vanko.
"Izzy!" said Tony. "Charge up a shot!"
Bella obeyed, the shot glowing white hot. Tony did the same.
"Fire at my shot!" he yelled.
It took Bella a split second to figure out what he meant, then she fired at the glowing light on his hand. He fired in that exact moment, and their shots collided.
The resulting explosion sent them both flying back, free of the energy whips. Bella bounced off a rock ledge and lay there for several moments, dazed.
"Izzy!?"
Bella sat up. "Did we get him?"
She stood and ran over to the man in the armor. He was alive, grinning at them, but clearly in no condition to continue the fight. Tony came to stand next to her.
"Could never have done is without you, Izzy," said Tony. "Thanks."
"You're too late anyhow," said Vanko. A red light started blinking on his chest.
"Bomb," said Tony. "Get out of here!"
Bella took off through the glass ceiling. All over the Expo, red lights blinked from drones. Fortunately, it looked as if everyone had been evacuated. Except for…
"Oh, no. Pepper!" said Tony. He dove down toward a lone figure standing at the entrance to one of the buildings, grabbing it and flying back up again.
The explosions began.
Tony and Pepper streaked past Bella, landing on a rooftop. Bella flew toward them, then heard Pepper's voice.
Tony's former assistant sounded like she'd had just about as much as she could take for one night. "I never know whether you're going to kill yourself or – or wreck the whole company or –"
"Hey, I think I did okay!" protested Tony.
Bella decided to leave them alone. She landed in a parking lot a few miles away. She sat down on the edge of the curb.
"It's over," she told herself, staring up into the dark sky. "We won."
Footsteps sounded on the cement. Bella looked up to see Agent Coulson standing in front of her. On all sides, armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents emerged.
"Well, Miss Stark," said Coulson. "You have a lot of explaining to do."
Seven reviews on my last chapter. Thank you, readers, for all your lovely feedback and your lovely comments.