Tony fired the repulsor.
The next moment was a lot of noise – it was so much noise. Gunshots, something metal clanging off the ground, shouts, running footsteps. Then there was light – bright light flashing, so much movement. She closed her eyes, not caring what it was, just wanting it to end.
After a minute, there was silence. She opened her eyes to see Tony aiming a gun with one hand and a repulsor with another at something she couldn't see.
"Honestly, I hate working here, they are so weird," said the last man standing. His gun clattered to the ground and he ran.
Tony ran over to Bella, pulling the straps off and helping her to her feet. "Are you okay? Do you think it's stable?"
"It hurts, but for now, I think it's stable, but I don't know how it will last. What… happened?"
"I called for Mark 42, but only the repulsor and the leg piece have actually come. Killian got your suit?"
She nodded.
A piece of Tony's suit slammed into him.
"Let's get out of here," he said. "We can always replace your suit, or come back and get it later."
Bella nodded. She doubted Killian would destroy it, it was a valuable piece of equipment which he would benefit from copying and selling – which, while Bella was still breathing, was not going to happen.
The two made it through tunnels up into a large, fancy house, and then outside. As they ran, pieces of Tony's suit assembled on him, causing him to stumble and nearly fall several times.
Bella stumbled through the dry grass, Tony holding her arm to keep her from falling.
"Did he give you anything aside from Extremis? Any injuries I should know about?"
Bella shook her head. "Nothing that I know of."
Tony, still maintaining his grip on her arm, turned to look at her. "Wow…"
"What?"
"You look like a female Capsicle."
Bella looked down at herself.
She'd always been bony, never particularly strong. Her former employers, though not exactly abusive – she cost too much to starve and beat around – had never been too concerned with her health. Now, she did, as Tony said, "look like a female Capsicle." On her, muscle looked very strange.
"Whoa," said a voice just behind them.
Bella twisted around.
Agent Barton stood a dozen yards behind them, bow at his side, staring.
"Extremis," said Bella. "Killian gave me a dose."
"If that's what Extremis does, I might just see if I can get Killian to give me some."
"Trust me, it's not worth it."
Barton walked toward them. "We've got a bit of a problem. Killian used the Iron Patriot suit to go after the president."
Oh no. "What happened?"
"The president's missing."
"Oh, great," said Tony. "What now? Where's S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"I don't know. I'm here on my own. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get away in a hurry, you'd think they'd be at least a little worried if Bella Stark went missing, especially if Iron Man was supposed to be dead. Good to see you're alive, Stark."
"It's good to be alive. How'd you find us?"
Barton's gaze locked on a rock near his boot. "I… may have… placed a….tracker. On Bella. When I saw her after the house destroyed."
There was a very long silence.
"A tracker?" Tony didn't seem quite sure he'd heard right.
"I wanted to know where she was if she got into trouble. You weren't there, Stark, and she is sixteen."
It was just like something one of her "employers" would have done. A tracker? "I am not an animal to be tagged, Agent Barton," Bella growled.
"What did you put a tracker on me?" asked Bella.
"Your shirt. Just inside the collar at the back. "I know you don't like it, but -"
Bella ignored him and ran a hand around the back of her collar until she found it and pulled it off. She stared at the tiny device in her hand. "Did S.H.I.E.L.D. put you up to that?"
He shook his head.
000000000
Except for after that incident where he'd decided to drive a race car and been attacked by Aton Vanko, and the incident where he'd flown a missile into a portal in New York, Tony had never seen Izzy angry. She saved being angry for when she was truly enraged.
Her face had gone very pale as she regarded the small device in her hand. She looked at it and then at Agent Barton.
"I trusted you. Did you know that?"
She dropped the device and ground it under her heel, then turned to Tony. Her face was a blank mask, with no expression of what must be going through her head. "What do we do now, Tony?"
He looked at Izzy for a moment.
"We have some things to finish up in the house. This way, come on." He started to walk forward, then glanced over his shoulder and gave Barton a tiny nod. Barton dropped behind, following at a distance.
"I thought he trusted me," said Izzy. "I thought he knew this was something I had to do on my own."
"He's an Avenger too, Izzy. And I'd died. He was trying to protect you."
She didn't respond, instead just kept walking.
He shouldn't have been surprised that Barton would have put a tracker on her. After Tony and Pepper, it was likely that he was the closest person in the world to her. In a strange way, Barton placing that tracker on her was a relief. That, even if Tony wasn't there, someone would be keeping an eye on Izzy.
Not that she'd see it like that. The whole "someone actually cares what happens to me" was a fairly recent development for her. Before that, the only reason anyone would care what happened to her was because they'd paid for her and would lose money if she died. Barton was a friend who had just been trying to protect her, but he worked for S.H.I.E.L.D., which had already made their interest in her clear, and his putting a tracker on her…
This would take some work to fix.