Tony is standing in his lab, in front of a lot of nice cars with the flight stabilizers on. Dummy is behind him, U is beside him, recording.
"You have some very nice cars, Tony." Clint said.
"Thanks Hawkman." Tony said.
Tony says that this is day 11, test 37 and its configuration 2.0.
"Damn."
He says that for lack of a better option, Dummy is on fire safety and tells Dummy that if he douses him again and he isn't on fore he's being donated to a city college.
"We both know you wouldn't do that Tony, you love him too much." Rhodey said.
He says that they're gonna start out with 1% thrust capacity.
A few people snickered, remembering what happened with 10%.
He counts down from three and activates the stabilizers and hovers about 2 feet in the air for a few seconds. He lands and stumbles a bit. He turns to Dummy and says not to follow him around with the fire extinguisher because he feels like he might spontaneously catch on fire.
"Has that happened before?" Thor asked.
"Surprisingly, it has never happened. The only times he's ever sprayed me were when I was not on fire." Tony replied.
He tells Dummy to stand by and come in if something happens. Then says they're gonna up thrust capacity to 2.5 and activates the stabilizers.
He starts flying backwards and ends up over the cars and says that that's not where he wants to be.
"Oh no."
Then he flies over to his desk and a few papers go flying off of it. He says that it could be worse and that they're fine. He makes his way back over to Dummy and lands, not without stumbling. He yells at Dummy who was about to spray him.
"Damn." Clint said, wishing Dummy would spray him again.
He says that he can fly.
Tony is now getting completely suited up and asks JARVIS if he's there.
JARVIS says he's at his service.
Tony says to engage heads up display and import all preferences from home interface.
JARVIS says he will do that.
"I have wondered what it looks like in there." Bruce said.
"Seems like it'd be a little rough on the eyes." Steve said.
"Eh, you get used to it." Tony said.
JARVIS says that he has been uploaded and that they are online and ready.
Tony asks to start the virtual walk around.
JARVIS says he's importing preferences and calibrating the virtual environment.
Tony says to do a check on control surfaces.
JARVIS complies and says the test is complete and says preparing to power down and run diagnostics.
Tony says to do a weather and ATC check and to start listening in on ground control.
"Bad idea." Bruce said, he had a feeling Tony was about do do something stupid.
"Yeah, have a little patience." Strange said.
JARVIS says that there are still terabytes of calculations before actual flight.
Tony says that you have to run before you walk sometimes.
"That literally makes no sense at all." Bucky said.
"Actually, it makes perfect sense. Sometimes the faster you get to fully testing a project, the faster you can find any problems in it or things that may need some tweaking. Things that you otherwise might have missed if you did it 'normally'" Peter said.
"He's right." Shuri noted.
"But, in this case it was a bad idea, Tony, you could have gotten seriously hurt." Bruce scolded.
"Who's to say I didn't get seriously hurt?" Tony asked.
"You're gonna give me an aneurism one of these days." Pepper said.
Tony counts down from three and flies out of his garage with a yell of excitement. He flies over the ocean. He says the suit handles like a dream. He flies over to a Ferris wheel, two kids are eating ice cream, the little boy's ice cream falls out of the cone.
"Press F to pay respects to the ice cream." Shuri said, wiping a fake tear from her eye.
"F" All the teenagers said.
T'Challa just sighed.
Tony says they should see what the suit can do and asks for SR-71s record.
"I don't like where this is going." Rhodey mumbled.
JARVIS says that the altitude record for fixed wing flight is 85,000 feet.
Tony says that records were made to be broken.
Pepper smacked Tony's head. "You're an idiot."
Tony keeps flying straight up. JARVIS says that there is a potentially fatal build up of ice on the suit.
Tony says to keep going higher.
"Lower!" Everyone yelled.
The suit loses power and Tony starts to fall, he screams. He says that they iced up and tells JARVIS to deploy the flaps and that they need to break the ice.
"You're an idiot." Natasha said, agreeing with Pepper.
The ice breaks and the power comes back.
Tony hovers over his roof and says to kill the power. He falls through the roof and the piano on the second floor and lands on one of his cars.
"So that's why there was a giant hole in the floor." Pepper said. "Good to know."
Dummy sprays him with the fire extinguisher, Tony throws his head back in exasperation.
"Why does he keep spraying you with the fire extinguisher?" Steve asked.
"Because he's dense and apparently hasn't learned a thing in all the years I've had him." Tony said.
Tony is walking around his lab, holding an ice pack to his head.
"Only an ice pack... after all that?" Scott asked.
He spots the box Pepper left him a few days ago. He takes the coffee cup off of it and looks at the box. There's a note that says 'from Pepper.' Tony opens it. Inside of a glass case is the arc reactor that he asked Pepper to get rid of, around it is an engraving that says 'Proof That Tony Stark has a Heart'. Tony smiles.
"Aw. Isn't that sweet." May said.
"Your gift saved my life, you know." Tony told Pepper. "Also, single-handedly the best gift I've ever gotten."
The 10 Rings are trying to figure out how to put the armor together by looking at Tony's blueprints. Raza is staring at it.
"Oh no." Happy mumbles.
Tony is sitting at his desk with an ice pack taped to his shoulder. Tony gives his notes, saying that the main transducer feels sluggish at plus 4o altitude, the hull pressurization is problematic and that ice is the probably factor.
"Definitely a factor." Bruce said.
JARVIS says that its an astute observation, and says that they should improve the exoskeletons if Tony wants to visit other planets.
"Only you would create an AI that's as sarcastic as you, Stark." Fury said.
Tony says to connect to the sys. co. and have it reconfigure the shell metals, he says to use the gold-titanium alloy from the seraphim satellite, because it should ensure a fuselage integrity while maintaining power-to-weight ratio.
JARVIS asks if he should render the proposed speculations.
Tony says to thrill him then he looks at the TV.
"And so the suit is made." Peter said.
The reporter says that the nights red-hot red carpet is at the Disney Concert Hall where Tony's annual firefighters family fund has become the place for LA's high society.
Tony asks JARVIS if they got an invite to it.
JARVIS says he has no record of an invitation.
"You're not invited to your own party?" Steve asked.
"That's cold." Rhodey said.
The reporter says that Tony hasn't been seen in public since the bizarre and controversial press conference, and says that some people claim that he's suffering from post- traumatic stress and is bedridden. Then she says that nobody expects an appearance from him.
"You just jinxed it." Clint said.
"What does jinx mean?" Drax asked.
"It pretty much means that that lady is expecting something to happen but by saying it out loud, the opposite of what she expects will happen." Natasha explained.
"So irony before the irony happens then?" Rocket asked.
JARVIS says that the render is complete and a gold painted suit appears on one of the screens.
Tony asks if JARVIS thinks its ostentatious.
JARVIS sarcastically says that Tony is usually so discrete and asks himself what he was thinking.
"You just got roasted! By your own AI." MJ said while laughing.
The only thing any of the adults were thinking at this point was 'Why are there so many teenagers here?' If this was going the way they thought it was, then the amount of kids here is concerning.
Tony looks over at his car and tells JARVIS to put some hot-rod red on the suit.
"Of course."
JARVIS says that that should help him keep a low profile then tells him that the new render is complete.
Tony says he likes it and tells JARVIS to fabricate it and paint it.
JARVIS stars the automated assembly and says that it will take an estimated five hours to complete.
"Wow, that's not bad actually. It'll be done by the end of the night." Ned said.
Tony stands up and holds out his watch and tells JARVIS not to wait up for him.
"You're going to that thing, aren't you?" Quill asked.
"I mean..."
Tony is driving down the street. He pulls up outside the party and gets out, he hands his keys to the valet. Obadiah talks to a reporter. He says that weapons manufacturing is only a small part of what Stark Industries does and starts to talk about their partnership with the fire and rescue community.
"If it's only a small part of what you do then why are you so freaked out about Tony wanting to shut it down, hmm?" Shuri asked.
Tony walks up to the door. A girl asks him if he remembers her.
Tony says he doesn't and keeps walking.
"Typical."
He walks up to an old man (Stan Lee) and tells him that he looks great.
"I know that guy!" Everyone in the room shouts.
"He was in one of my friends crazy long stories." Scott.
"He was in space." Rocket said.
"He's my neighbor." Peter said.
"He tried to move my hammer." Thor said.
"How does... space you said?" Tony asked. "Wonder how he got there."
Obadiah tells the reporter that they're gonna have a great quarter.
Tony asks what the world's coming to when a guy has to crash his own party.
"Right. I mean come on." Scott said.
Obadiah comments about how its a surprise to see him.
Tony says he'll see Obadiah inside.
Obadiah says that he thinks he has the board right where he wants them.
"You mean where you want them!" Pepper yelled.
Tony says he's got cabin fever and he'll just be a minute. He walks up to the bar and says to get him a scotch because he's starving.
"You know, when normal people are hungry, they eat food." Rhodey said.
Coulson is also there, he greets Tony and introduces himself.
Tony tries to remember what organization Coulson's from.
Coulson reminds him, saying he's from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.
"Still a mouthful." Pepper said.
Tony says that he needs a new name for that.
Coulson says that he hears that a lot
"I bet you do." T'Challa said.
Coulson says that he needs to debrief him because there's a lot of unanswered questions and time can be a factor. He says to put something in the books and asks how the 24th at 7pm at Stark Industries works for him.
Tony isn't listening, he's looking at Pepper who is talking with some people Tony says that he's right and that he'll go talk to Pepper and they'll make a date.
"You did not hear a word he said did you?" Rhodey asked, knowingly. Tony had been head over heels for his fiery assistant since the day he met her.
Tony walks up to Pepper and says that she looks fantastic and that he didn't recognize her.
Pepper asks what he's doing there.
Tony says he's avoiding government agents.
"You say that like it's something that happened on a daily basis." Maria said. "Also government agent is a low- blow."
Pepper asks if he came alone.
Tony says he did and asks where Pepper got her dress.
Pepper says it was a birthday gift.
"Watch it be the one she got herself from Stark." Clint whispered to Natasha.
Tony says that its great.
Pepper says it was from him.
"Told you." Clint said.
"I never said it wouldn't be." Natasha said.
Tony says he's got good taste.
Pepper agrees.
Tony asks her for a dance.
Pepper denies the request.
Tony tells her to come on.
Pepper thanks him, but says no again.
"Bruh, she said no. Stop pestering she's obviously not ready." Shuri said.
Tony leads them to where the other people are dancing and they start dancing, then asks if he's making her uncomfortable.
"Yes."
Pepper says that he isn't, and that she always forgets to wear deodorant and dance with her boss in a backless dress.
Tony says that she looks great and smells great but he could fire her if it'd take the edge off.
Pepper says that she doesn't think Tony could tie his shoes without her.
Tony says he'd make it a week.
"I'd give you 4 days." Natasha joked.
"You know what, Natashalie." Tony said, Natasha smirked.
"Natashalie?" Bruce asked.
"I was sent to spy on him when shield found out he was.. ill and I used the name Natalie Rushman, you'll probably find out more about that little adventure later."
Pepper asks him for his social security number.
Tony thinks for a moment and answers with 'five.'
"You really don't know your social security number?" Steve asked.
Pepper says he's missing a few digits.
Tony says he's got her for the other 8, then asks if they could get some air.
Pepper says she needs some air and they go outside. They walk outside. Coulson is watching them.
"I gotta admit, that's a little creepy." Natasha said.
Pepper says that their dance was weird.
Tony says it was harmless.
"No not really, you just don't know how that might have looked to other people." Maria said.
Pepper says it wasn't harmless.
Tony says that they were dancing an nobody was watching.
"Actually, they were. You just didn't notice because it doesn't effect you like it does her." Coulson said.
Pepper says that everyone she works with saw.
Tony says he thinks she lost objectivity, and that they just danced.
"It was more than just a dance, Tony." Pepper said.
Pepper says it wasn't just a dance but he wouldn't understand because of who he is and how he is with girls, which she says is fine, but he's her boss and she's dancing with him.
Tony says he doesn't think it was taken that way.
"Maybe not to you." MJ said. "But to others... it absolutely was."
Pepper say it makes her look like the one who's trying to-
"It makes it look like she was trying to sleep her way to the top." Natasha said.
Tony says he thinks she's overstating it.
Pepper says that they're there and she's wearing a ridiculous dress and they were dancing-. Pepper and Tony move closer and almost kiss.
"Oh?"
Pepper says she wants a vodka martini, dry with at least 3 olives.
"Oh."
Tony walks back over to the bar. Tony orders their drinks saying that he wants 2 vodka martinis, extra dry, extra olives and asks to make one of them dirty. He sits down and Christine comes into view.
"Why her?" Clint groaned.
Christine greets him.
Tony greets her back.
She says that it's fancy seeing him here.
"Is it, though?" Scott asked.
Tony struggles to place her name, then calls her Carrie.
"Christine." Everyone said.
Christine corrects him and says that he has a lot of nerve showing up there and asks for a reaction from him.
"Not the one you're so desperate to get out of me. No." Tony said.
Tony says panic is his reaction.
"Mood." The teenagers mumbled.
Christine says she was referring to his company's involvement in the latest atrocity.
Tony says he doesn't know what to tell her and that they just put his name on the invite.
"There was no invitation though, you just kind of showed up." Rhodey said.
Christine says that she almost bought it.
Tony says that he was out of town for a few months.
"That's one way to put it." Pepper said.
Christine asks if this is what he called accountability and shows him pictures of Gulmira and asks if he's heard of it.
"That's where Yinsen was from." Bruce said, quietly.
Tony asks when the pictures were taken.
Christine says they were taken yesterday.
Tony says he never approved any shipment.
Christine says that his company did.
"Little did I know just how little control I actually had over my own company." Tony said. So much was happening under his nose and he never even suspected.
Tony says that he isn't his company and walks out of the building to find Obadiah.
"She really likes to make you angry." Loki said.
He asks Obadiah if he's seen the pictures and what's happening in Gulmira.
Obadiah says he can't afford to be so naïve.
"You were the one keeping me that way." Tony said.
Tony says that he was naïve before when they said that there's the line, don't cross it this is how we do business. He then asks if they're double dealing under the table.
"You already know the answer to that, man." Clint said.
Obadiah tells him that they should take a picture. Obadiah said and pulls Tony to his side.
He asks Tony who he thought locked him out, he says that he was the one who filed the injunction because it was the only way to protect him. Then walks away. Christine is still lingering behind Tony.
"That guy is a dick." Bruce said. Wanda looked over at Tony and realized, that though it may have been his company's bombs, he, more than likely was not the one to give the weapons to the people that killed her parents.
"Do you know how long this had been going on before this all happened?" Steve asked.
"I can only assume it started when we took over the company after dad died." Tony said. "Maybe before... maybe after."
Tony is sitting on a couch in his lab watching the news. He is fiddling with one of his gauntlets. The news reporter says that the 15 mile hike to the outskirts of Gulmira can only be described as a descent into hell in a modern day heart of darkness.
"That's terrible." Bruce said.
Tony felt a pang of guilt. This happened because of his negligence. Obadiah was right about one thing and one thing only. Tony was naïve. He was so sure of himself and his company and it never occurred to him that something shady was going on. There was also anger. Anger at himself for not realizing sooner, for being complacent and complicit with what his company was doing. Anger at Obadiah for... well a lot of things. Too many to name really.
She says that farmers and herders from peaceful villages have been driven from their homes, displaced from their lands by warlords emboldened by a new-found power.
Tony looked down, not really wanting to watch, remembering this and wishing that it never happened. Wishing that he'd realized something was going on sooner. Rhodey took note of this and decided to speak up. "Hey. It doesn't help to dwell on the past, Tony. Just learn from this and do better."
She reports that villagers have been forced to take shelter in whatever dwellings they can find and that recent violence has been attributed to The 10 rings and that they're heavily armed and on a mission.
"To essentially rule over the middle east." Bruce muttered.
Tony gives his screwdriver a violent twist. She says the mission could be fatal to anyone in their way.
"It already is." Wanda said hollowly.
Tony gets up off the couch. She says with no political or international pressure there isn't much hope for the refugees.
"Most countries won't help with issues like these unless it directly effects them or they can benefit from it... so that's not at all surprising." MJ said.
Tony looks to the side and raises the hand holding the gauntlet. The reporter talks about a woman begging for news of her husband who's been kidnapped.
"Oh my God." Pepper whispered. She never knew much about the 10 rings, Tony never talked about it, but these men were terrible people, doing terrible things.
Tony shoots at something in the lab and his arm is knocked back from the force. A light fixture falls from the ceiling. The reporter continues talking about those who are missing.
Tony straightens his posture and walks forward.
"I really don't like that look in your eyes." Bruce said.
The reporter talks about a child asking where their parents are.
Wanda looked away, being vividly reminded of her own parents and her experiences after the bombings. Her home was destroyed, parents gone. She and Pietro had no where to go and anyone who could help them was in the same position that they were. It felt hopeless. They were 10 years old and homeless, all on their own.
Tony stops in front of three panels of reflective glass, he turns and looks at it.
The reporter says that there is little hope for the refugees who can only wonder if someone would help them.
Tony looks at his reflection with a grimace, he shoots at the center panel, then the left panel then turns and shoots at the right panel and walks away.
Pepper moved to hug Tony. "Tony-" Rhodey tried.
"Don't, it was a long time ago. Don't say anything." Tony said tightly. He'd hated himself for so long after learning what heinous crimes he'd ben involved in.
Everyone just turned away from him, except Pepper who wouldn't let go of him.
The scene switches to Tony getting suited up. Then it cuts to him flying.
"I like this better." Steve mumbled, the few people that could hear him nodded in agreement.
In Gulmira there are bombs going off and the ten rings are killing people.
The brutality of it all was jarring to some. These people really did not care about who they were hurting. They only saw them as obstacles, people to made into an example for others.
One of them says to put the women in the trucks and to stack the weapons, then clear the houses.
A family tries to get their son away. A man says to grab him and put him with the others and calls him a 'dog'.
Rhodey grimaced at the dehumanizing language. No matter who someone is or what they've done, no one deserves to be treated as subhuman.
A little boy tries to run to his father. They shove the boy away and shove his father to the ground and stand over him then a man starts kicking him, a woman screams in the background.
"No!" Everybody yelled.
"You better be getting there soon, Stark." Natasha said.
A man says to shoot him, then calls his men incompetent.
Then Tony lands.
"Wow, you have great timing." Clint said.
A man shoots at him, Tony punches him then starts firing at the others. He goes to fire at the ones behind him but they're holding guns to civilians heads. He puts his hands down and targets the terrorists.
"Nice targeting system you've got there." Clint said. "Bet I can do better."
"I'm sure you can, Barton." Tony said, smugly.
The boy runs to his father. Tony walks to where the last guy is and grabs him through the wall and throws him on the ground in front of the civilians. Says he's theirs and then flies away.
Natasha smirked. The townspeople are going to enjoy beating him up.
The people glare at the man on the ground.
"I wish they showed the people beating that guy up." MJ said. Peter just stared at her. "What?" She asked. "He deserved it."
Tony flies and locates his weapons, he gets blown out of the sky and lands at the place the weapons are located. A tank is shooting at him and he blows it up.
"Well okay then." Bruce said.
People start shooting at him, he flies up and notices the Jericho missile, he blows it up. He flies away and gets noticed by the military.
"You gave everyone quite the scare there, Tony." Rhodey commented. Tony just laughed. "But seriously, don't do that again."
A man asks what it was and if they were cleared to go in there.
Someone else says that they weren't because they were using human shields.
"That's... barbaric." Rocket said.
Someone says to put him through to State because they're gonna want to be all over this.
"Oh they definitely are." Tony sighed.
Someone says they've got a bogey. They discover that it isn't military or CIA.
Someone else says that he needs answers and asks if he could get eyes on the target and asks for Colonel Rhodes from weapons development.
"Oh dear god. Something tells me this won't end well." Maria said.
"That would depend on who you ask. If you ask me, I'd say it was fine, nobody died. If you asked anyone else... well, you'd get a different answer." Tony said.
Rhodey enters the room. Someone tells him that they ran ID check and cross-referenced with known databases and that they have nothing.
"I wonder why that is." Rhodey said slowly, turning his head toward Tony.
Rhodey asks if there's any high altitude surveillance in the region.
The man tells him that they have an AWAC and a Global Hawk in the area.
Rhodey asks why it didn't show up on the radar if it appeared out of no-where and asks if it's stealth.
"You could say that." Tony said.
"Not when you painted it red and gold you can't." Rhodey corrected.
Someone says that it's not and its tiny and they think its an unmanned aerial vehicle.
"Defiantly not unmanned." Tony muttered.
Someone asks Rhodey what they're dealing with.
"Me." Tony said quietly, but Rhodey heard him and slapped him on the back of the head.
Rhodey says to let him make a phone call.
"You immediately didn't you?" Peter asked.
"I suspected that he had something to do with it, not that he was it." Rhodey said. "But I needed to be sure before I accused him of something."
Tony is still flying and we hear a ringing noise coming from the suit. Tony answers the phone with a 'Hello.'
Rhodey greets him. Tony asks who's talking to him. Not hearing Rhodey's answer, he apologizes and says 'hello' again.
"Are you taunting him?" Quill asked.
"No. I just couldn't hear him that well." Tony said.
Tony tells him to speak up.
"Now I'm taunting him." He said.
Rhodey asks what the noise is.
Tony tells him he's driving with the top down.
"Okay... that's plausible." Natasha said.
Rhodey says he heeds Tony's help.
Tony says that its funny how that works.
"Oof." Shuri said.
Rhodey says that he has a weapons depot that was blown up close to where Tony was held captive.
Tony makes a comment about it being a hot spot and says that it sounded like someone did Rhodey's job for him.
"Yeah... someone did." Rhodey said, rolling his eyes.
Rhodey asks Tony why he sounds out of breath.
Tony says that he's jogging.
"You are a terrible liar." Rocket said.
"I'm not. I just cant lie to Rhodey... or Pepper for that matter." Tony said.
"Or anyone who's not gullible... face it you're a bad liar." Natasha said.
Rhodey says that he thought Tony said he was driving.
Tony says that he was driving to the canyon where he was going to jog.
"Just digging yourself a deeper hole." Quill said.
Rhodey asks if Tony has any tech in the area.
Tony says he doesn't.
"Liar."
"Okay I get it, you guys can stop now please." Tony said.
Rhodey tells Tony that that's good because he's staring at a piece of tech that's about to get blown up.
Two planes appear behind Tony.
"That's not good." Bruce mumbled.
Tony says that this is his exit and he turns left. The planes follow him.
A pilot says that he has the bogey in his sights.
Rhodey asks what it is.
"I am a person not an 'it'." Tony said with mock anger.
The pilot says he doesn't know.
They give the pilot the all clear and tell him he can engage.
"Oh my god." Pepper said, panicked. "You are an idiot sometimes. Such an idiot." She told Tony.
Inside Tony's suit red words that say 'engage supersonic' appear. He activates it then flies really fast.
"Zoom zoom." Peter said.
The pilot says that the bogey went supersonic and that he has target lock on it. Then he starts shooting at Tony.
"You should probably get out of there." Quill said.
"What do you think I was trying to do the whole time?" Tony asked.
JARVIS warns Tony about the inbound missile. Tony activates the flares. The missile blows up. Tony starts falling out of the sky but steadies himself after a few seconds.
One of the planes starts shooting at him. Tony tells JARVIS to deploy the flaps and then falls back.
"Wait, where the hell did you go?" Bucky asked.
"Somewhere I probably shouldn't have gone." Tony responded. Rhodey snorted. Steve looked confused, wasn't Tony 'where he shouldn't have been' this whole time?
Someone says that the bogey jumped off the radar.
Someone else says that he thinks the bogeys been handled.
Rhodey's phone starts ringing. He picks it up to see Tony calling, the name used is 'the starkster."
"Really? The Starkster?" Clint laughed. A few others giggled as well.
"Hey, that is all him not me." Tony said and pointedly looked at Rhodey. Rhodey glared at him, but there was no heat behind it, after all Tony was right. Rhodey started calling him that in college and it just sort of... stuck. Plus Tony needed to have a terrible nickname in exchange for all of the terrible nicknames he's gifted Rhodey with over the years.
Tony tries to tell him that the bogey is him but Rhodey doesn't understand.
Rhodey tells him that it isn't a game and that he can't send civilian equipment into an active warzone.
"Just to be clear... I did not do this on purpose. I thought I could get away unnoticed. Clearly I didn't think that through hard enough." Tony said.
"Clearly." Rhodey agreed.
Tony says it isn't a piece of equipment and that its a suit and he's in it.
Someone else tells the pilots to return to the base.
One of the planes flies off and Tony is revealed to be hanging onto the bottom of it.
"So that's what you meant when you said 'somewhere you shouldn't have." Steve said in realization.
The other pilot tells him that something is on the plane and that it looks like a man.
"Well at least one of them knew I was a person." Tony mumbled.
The pilot says to shake the man off and the other pilot rolls the plane.
Tony flies off and hits the other plane, ripping one of its wings off.
"Uh-oh." Ned said.
The plane starts falling. The other pilot tells him to punch out.
The man ejects himself, then his plane blows up.
"This is not good." T'Challa said.
"Please tell me that the pilot is fine." Bruce said.
"Pilot's fine." Tony said.
The pilot is still falling, trying to eject his parachute, and yells that its jammed.
Tony starts flying after him. The other pilot says that he has visual on the bogey.
Someone tells the pilot to reengage and that if he gets a clear shot he should take it.
"Are all Americans this dense, can he not see that Stark is trying to save the poor guy from plummeting to his death?" Shuri asked. T'Challa gave her a look. "Okay I could have phrased that better, but still!"
Rhodey says that they don't know what their dealing with and that he should call off the planes.
The man says that the bogey took out an f22 in a no fly zone and repeats what he said to the pilot.
"That was an accident and it was because you guys started shooting at me first." Tony said.
JARVIS tells Tony that he's been reengaged, and to execute the evasive maneuver.
Tony says to keep going and flies faster and successfully un- jams the mans chute.
There were a few sighs of relief at this, they were grateful that the pilot would be okay... physically, he still had a hell of an experience.
Rhodey asks Tony if he's still there and calls him a crazy son of a bitch and tells Tony that he owes him a plane.
Tony says that technically the pilot hit him.
"No you hit him but it was his fault." Rhodey corrected.
Tony asks if Rhodey will come see what he's been working on.
Rhodey says that he wont because the less he knows about it the better.
"Well, you're not wrong but you found out and got involved anyway." Tony said, remembering how much danger he put Pepper and Rhodey in by asking them to help him.
Rhodey asks what he's supposed to tell the press.
"Training exercise?" Ned asked.
Tony tells him to say that it was a training exercise and asks if that was the usual BS excuse.
"Huh?" Ned asked, not expecting to have had the same response.
Rhodey says that it isn't that simple.
"No, it shouldn't be that simple, but it is that simple." MJ Corrected. Rhodey gave her a look. MJ shrugged, defensively.
"She's right, you know." Natasha told him.