Bella sat on the ledge where Tony's workshop had been, staring down at the dark, cold water.
Night had long since fallen. Wind blew Bella's curls. She tucked one back behind her ear. Someone had wrapped a blanket around her shoulders at some point, she wasn't sure when.
Tony was gone.
She'd been sure he'd survive. She'd been knocked unconscious when she hit the water, but JARVIS had kept her suit above water so she could be found. Wouldn't he have done the same for Tony?
But Tony was gone.
Mandarin, whoever you are, where ever you are, I will hunt you down and I will find you.
"Bella?" It was a familiar male voice.
Bella turned. Two arms wrapped around her in a hug.
"I came as soon as I heard what happened," said Hawkeye.
"Thank you."
He let go. "Don't worry, Bella. We'll find who did this, and they will pay."
Not if I find them first.
"You know… Tony and I had an argument. Last night. I never… I didn't get to…" Bella cut herself off. "Does S.H.I.E.L.D. have any leads?"
"You know, if we did, I probably wouldn't be allowed to tell you. But aside from that it was probably the Mandarin?" He shook his head. "We've got nothing. I've sorry."
"It's not your fault. I've been so worried about Tony – helping him out with his projects so much – that I didn't realize there was a threat. I'm going to find the Mandarin. And I'm going to make him pay for everything he's done."
"Revenge, Bella?"
"Not exactly. My plan is to find the Mandarin, and then hand him over to the proper authorities. He's made it personal. Very personal. But it's not my place to hand out judgment."
"Nothing I say would change your mind, will it? You won't just leave this to S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
Bella shook her head.
"And, there's nothing I can do to keep you from doing this, short of locking you in a cell on the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, is there?"
"I don't think even the cell you had Loki in would stop me."
"No, it probably wouldn't. You'd come up with something." He sighed. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Yes. Tell me if S.H.I.E.L.D. gets any information on the Mandarin. On anything related to him. I'll comb Tony's systems, see if I can get anything useful out of them, something he might have known that I didn't. If I find anything S.H.I.E.L.D. might want, I'll send it to you."
"Thank you."
"Bella? Who's this?" Pepper had approached from behind and Bella hadn't noticed her.
Bella turned slightly to face Pepper. "Agent Clint Barton from S.H.I.E.L.D., Miss Potts. Miss Stark and I have worked together on several occasions, including the battle of New York."
Recognition flickered in Pepper's eyes.
Bella picked up the suitcase which contained her damaged suit. She backed away to a safe distance, activated it, then pulled off just the helmet.
"JARVIS, are you there?"
"Yes, Miss Stark."
"I want access to Tony's systems, all of them. Everything about the Mandarin, his attacks, I want that here."
"Yes, Miss Stark. Would you like the data Mr. Stark was collecting when Miss Hansen appeared at the door?"
"Of course. Pull that up for me please."
Images of the Chinese Theater which had been destroyed came up on the screen.
"What was Tony doing with these? Was there anything in particular he was looking at?"
The images zoomed in on where a bench might have been at some point. "Mr. Stark was trying to discover where the explosion took place and what might have caused it."
"What's that, right there next to the bench?" asked Bella. A small object lay next to where the bench had been.
The object enlarged. It was what appeared to be a soldier's dog tags.
"Mr. Stark found those objects particularly interesting. I imagine he is probably investigating them right now."
How did JARVIS not know Tony was dead? She didn't pursue that. If she didn't think about it, she could forget. And he'd find out soon enough. "How were those not destroyed? At this proximity to the explosion, they should have been destroyed."
Silence from JARVIS.
It didn't matter. She looked up the name on the tags: Jack Taggart. Not much information. A former soldier who had lost a limb. That was almost all she could find.
As she searched, she found connections. There were no signs of explosives at any of the Mandarin's attacks. Also, a small town in Tennessee had experienced a similar, seemingly unrelated incident – Chad Davis, former soldier who had lost a limb. Died in an explosion, thought to be a suicide. No sign of a bomb.
"What was the last thing Tony did?" Maybe it would contain some clue of what to do next.
"He set a flight course to Tennessee in his suit, the sight of an explosion similar to the ones that the Mandarin has been setting off."
She pulled off the helmet and stepped into the rest of the suit, allowing it to envelop her body.
"Bella?" said Barton.
"I'm going to take a short trip. Please, let me know if you find anything. S.H.I.E.L.D. knows how to contact me, right?"
"Yes, where are you –"
"Less people who know, the better, I'm going to try to keep a low profile. Pepper, I'm going to be investigating something, I'll be back soon, don't worry, you know how to contact me, I'll be fine."
And before either could voice a protest, she was shooting upwards toward the starry sky.