People are watching an advertisement for a Christmas tree. The screen goes black and the mandarin symbol shows up.
"So he's hacking the television signals to broadcast this." Howard said.
"Well, its not that hard to do so." Tony said.
"This guy definitely enjoys the attention." Maria commented.
Someone asks how its happening again.
"Maybe because the people trying to prevent it are incompetent." Shuri said.
"Shuri." T'Challa scolded.
"What?" Shuri asked.
Someone tells the Vice President that he should see it. The group of people in the room stare at the mandarin symbol on the TV.
The Vice President asks if President Ellis is getting this.
The president is in a plane, he looks at the screen in shock. The video starts playing. The Mandarin says that there are 2 remaining lessons and he intends to finish them before Christmas. He introduces Thomas Richards. He has a gun pointed to an old mans head.
"What did that guy do, to warrant being a hostage?" Gamora asked.
"I don't- I don't think he did anything." Steve said sadly.
He says that he has a strong name and a strong job. He says that Thomas is an accountant for Roxxon oil. Thomas starts crying. The Mandarin says that he's going to shoot Thomas in the head on TV in 3o seconds.
A few peoples eyes widened in panic. This guy is completely innocent, he doesn't deserve that.
He tells the President that the number for the telephone is in his cellphone. He tells America that if President Ellis calls in the next 30 seconds Thomas will live.
"He hacked his phone!?" Peter yelled.
"This guy is good." Shuri said. Everyone stared at her, she realized her mistake. "That came out wrong. He's bad, but he's good at what he's doing. He's a good hacker." She explained.
President Ellis asks how the Mandarin hacked his phone.
Someone says that they can't allow terrorists to dictate.
"He's right you really shouldn't..." Bucky said.
president Ellis says that he needs to make the call.
The person advises him against doing that.
"But it's the right thing to do." Steve protested.
"But, its also dangerous... negotiating with terrorists." Sam said.
President Ellis says that its the right thing to do and he calls the number. On the TV, the phone starts ringing, the mandarin doesn't answer and shoots Thomas in the head.
"But he called the number!" Wanda yelled.
"He is a terrorist." Vision said, as if that explained it, which it did.
"I guess he just... wanted to prove his point." Tony said.
"By killing a random dude." Rhodey added.
The Mandarin tells President Ellis that there is one lesson left.
"He did that just to teach him a lesson?" Thor asked.
He tells him to run, hide and kiss his kids goodbye because nothing can save him.
President Ellis tells the person to tell Rhodey to find the Mandarin.
"Yeah, please do." Scott said.
The person says that they tracked the signal and there's a possible point of origin in Pakistan.
"Well, that was fast." Clint said.
Tony is driving down the street, reading over the file.
"Don't read and drive." Pepper said.
He sighs and puts the file down in the passenger seat. He looks back at the file and notices MIA looks like it's backwards he turns it over and it reads AIM.
"Killian's project, from the party." Tony realized.
"So now we know that he has direct involvement in all of this." Rhodey said.
Rhodey, in the Iron Patriot armor, busts through a door, the people in the room back away he tells them not to move. His phone rings.
"Why do you have your phone with you?" Natasha asked.
He tells them to hang on and answers the phone.
Tony, on the other line, asks if he's ever had a girl straddling him only for him to look up and see that she's glowing a bright orange from the inside out.
"You have very weird ways of greeting people." Thor said.
Rhodey says that he's had that and asks who's speaking.
"You really don't know." Tony asked, feigning hurt.
"The world thinks you're dead, Tony." Rhodey sighed.
Tony says that it's him and tells Rhodey that the last time he went missing he looked for him. Te asks Rhodey what he's doing.
Rhodey says that he's making friends in Pakistan and asks Tony what he's doing.
Tony asks if Rhodey's rebrand was AIM.
Rhodey says it was.
"Well, shit." Tony said.
"Now you really do need to figure out exactly what's going on." Bruce said.
Tony says he's going to find a heavy duty comm sat and he needs Rhodey's login.
Rhodey says that its the same as it always was and says that its 'WarMachine68'.
Tony looked over at Rhodey, amused. "So... you do think war machine is better." Tony said. Rhodey sighed and shook his head.
Tony asks for his password.
"Oh no." Rhodey said, remembering what he most recently changed his password to.
Rhodey says that he needs to change it every time Tony hacks in.
"Its something embarrassing, isn't it?" Clint asked.
"Yep." Rhodey said.
Tony says its not the 80's and no one says hack anymore. He asks for the password again.
Rhodey says that its 'WARMACHINEROX' with an x and it's in all caps.
Tony started laughing.
Rhodey shook his head and sighed, then glared at him. "Not a word." He said as other people started snickering.
Tony starts laughing and says that it much better than Iron Patriot. He makes a U-turn.
"Definitely is." Scott said.
A beauty pageant is going on in the building Tony just passed. David asks the girl what she would like for christmas this year.
"Ugh, those things are so demeaning." Natasha said, disgusted.
"You've done them?" Hope asked.
"It was a part of a cover for a mission a few years ago." Natasha explained.
Gary is on the phone, he tells the person on the other line not to erase anything from the DVR. Tony slides past him and gets into the van.
"Nice job blending in." Rhodey joked.
The beauty pageant is playing on the TV a man(Stan Lee) Holds up a sign with a '10'. Tony turns it off.
Gary is still on the phone talking about erasing shows from the DVR.
"I wonder who that guy is arguing with." Quill said. "Seems pretty intense."
Gary opens the door and says that they've talked about this. He notices Tony in the van/
"And now you're caught." Shuri said.
Tony turns around finger to his lips. Gary tells his mom that he'll call her back.
"So it was his mom." Peter said. "Couldn't relate." He said quieter so May couldn't hear him.
Gary says that something magical is happening and Tony Stark is in his van.
"So he's a fan." Coulson said. "This'll be interesting."
Tony tells him to keep it down.
Gary says that Tony Stark is in his van.
Tony says that he isn't.
"He kind of is though." Happy said.
"Well, I can't exactly let everyone know that I'm there." Tony reasoned.
Gary tells Tony that he knew he was still alive.
"Oh dear." Tony mumbled.
Tony tells Gary to come in and close the door.
Gary enters the van and closes the door behind him. He tells Tony that he's his biggest fan.
"This is gonna be fun." Clint said. Tony rolled his eyes.
Tony asks if anyone else is going to come into the can.
Gary says that it's just them.
"That's good." Strange said.
Tony asks for his name.
Gary tells him his name.
Tony says that he gets a lot of this.
"Sounds exhausting." Natasha said.
"Oh, you have no idea." Tony sighed.
Gary says that he doesn't know if Tony can tell but he's patterned his whole look off of him.
"So this is boarding on just a tad creepy." Rhodey said.
He says that his hair isn't right because there's no product in it. He says that he doesn't want to make things awkward for him.
"I think its a little late for that." Sam said.
He shows Tony a tattoo. The tattoo is of Tony.
"Do you get stuff like this, a lot?" Wanda asked.
"No this is actually a first." Tony answered.
Tony asks if its a Hispanic Scott Baio.
"That's your best guess?" Pepper asked.
Tony apologizes and asks if its supposed to be him.
Gary says that it is and its not perfect because the reference was a doll that he made not an actual picture.
"Okay this is definitely a little creepy." Quill said.
Tony grabs his shoulders and says that he doesn't want to clip his wings and says that they're both a little overexcited.
"No, I think it was just him." Clint laughed.
Tony says that he's chasing bad guys and he's trying to get something from hard crypt data files but he doesn't have enough juice. He says he needs Gary to get on the roof and re-calibrate the ISDNs and to pump it up by 40%. He says that its a mission.
"That's a good way to put it." Natasha spoke, in reference to Tony's persuasion.
Tony says that Tony needs Gary.
Gary says that Gary needs Tony.
"This guy's weird." Scott said.
Tony tells him to be quiet about it. Gary is now on the roof doing what Tony told him to. He hits the side of the van 3 times, letting Tony know he's done. Tony logs into Rhodey's account and finds the files he needs.
"They were experiments." Wanda muttered. "And the ones that went wrong, the mandarin takes credit for."
"He's not gonna get away with that." Tony seethed.
An Interview of Killian and Chad Davis plays. Killian asks Chad Davis what he regard as the defining moment of his life.
Chad Davis says that it would be the day he decided to stop letting his injury beat him.
"I mean, I guess for some people, they thought that not having an injury of disability would be amazing and they could be 'normal. That probably sounded so appealing to them that they didn't bother to think about the downsides." Strange said.
Another video starts playing. Brandt is being interviewed, this version of her has one arm. Killian asks her to give her name for the camera.
Brandt says her name is Ellen Brandt.
"The woman from the bar." Mantis remembered.
Killian says that the injections are administered periodically and addiction won't be tolerated. He says that anyone who cant regulate will be cut from the program.
"In other, more grotesque, words: You will die a very morbid death." Tony said.
He says that they are the next iteration of human evolution. he promises them that looking back on their lives there will be nothing as bitter as the risk they elected to forgo.
"See, it sounded appealing." Strange said.
People are being injected with Extremis. Brandt's arm starts glowing as it grows. She screams.
A few people leaned away from the screen with a wince.
"That looks very painful." Drax observed.
The man next to her starts screaming as well. Killian says that the need to get him out of there. The guy explodes.
"That's terrible. He's seen what it does and he still gives it to people." Steve said.
Tony realizes that a bomb isn't a bomb when its a misfire. He says that Extremis doesn't always work but he found a buyer and sold it to the Mandarin.
"Finally figured it out." Quill said.
"So the Mandarin is behind Extremis, sort of, and the explosions that he's been taking credit for are caused by people who can't regulate it." Coulson said.
Maya and Pepper are in a room, talking. Maya tells Pepper about Wernher von Braun. She says that before he built rockets for Nazis he stargazed. "
"Where is she going with this?" Steve asked.
She asks if Pepper knows what he said when the first V-2 hit london. Then answers it by saying that he said the rocket performed perfectly but it landed on the wrong planet.
"That's morbid. But what does it have to do with the situation at hand?" Shuri asked.
She says that they all begin wide eyed but then the ego and obsession steps in and when they look up they're a long way from shore.
"Its true." Tony said, remembering what he used to use his intellect for and where it got him.
"But you found your way back and you're better for it." Rhodey said, sensing the self-deprecation.
Bruce felt the same way, about what he turned himself into.
Pepper tells Maya not to be too hard on herself. She says that she gave her research to a think tank.
"It wasn't her fault, she didn't know." Peggy said.
SHe says that Killian built the think tank on military contracts.
"I did the same thing." Tony countered.
Pepper says that she and Tony used to do the same thing and tells Maya not to judge herself.
Maya says that she appreciates that.
There's a knock at the door, Pepper opens it. Its room service she tells him to come in.
Killian steps up behind the waiter and twists his neck.
"That asshole." Tony growled. He grabbed Pepper, protectively, despite knowing that this her wasn't in any danger.
Pepper tells Maya to run. Killian puts her in a choke-hold against the wall.
"Pepper." Tony gasped, tightening his grip.
"Tony, I'm scared too but you're cutting off the circulation to my hand." Pepper said.
"I swear to god, you better be okay." Tony said after loosening hos grip.
Killian turns to Maya and asks why she was at Tony's mansion last night.
Maya says that she was trying to fix this thing.
"Trying to fix it? Fix what, Extremis?" Steve asked.
"Obviously." Bucky said.
"She thinks Stark can fix the glitch." Loki noted.
She says that she didn't know that Killian and the master were going to blow the mansion up.
"She's working with the mandarin too!?" Tony shouted
Killian says that she was trying to save Tony even though he threatened them.
"I didn't...-" Tony's eyes widened. "The Mandarin isn't just one person. There's the guy in the videos, aka the front of it. Then there's Maya and Killian, aka, the brains, I guess, behind it all."
Maya tells Killian that they can use Tony she says that if they want to launch the product by next year she needs Tony. She says that before he didn;t have an incentive but he has one now.
Tony was livid. How dare they use Pepper to get to him. It was one thing to threaten him directly, it was a completely different thing to threaten her.
Rhodey is flying through the air. Someone says that they're sending him coordinates of a suspected Mandarin base.
Rhodey busts into a sewing factory and tells them not to move.
"That's not right." Rhodey said.
A few people started giggling.
Rhodey says that unless the Mandarin's next attack involves cheaply made sportswear they messed up again.
"How do they keep getting it wrong?" Scott asked.
The women start walking up to him. Rhodey tells them that they're free if they weren't before. He says that he's happy to help and there's no need to thank him.
"Such a gentleman." Tony joked.
"Maybe you should take lessons." Natasha suggested.
The last woman's hands start glowing red. She shoves him to the ground, takes off the hijab. And tells Savin that she's acquired the armor.
"This is not good, this is very not good." Clint said.
Rhodey tells her that if she wants the suit she'll have to pry his cold dead body from it.
"She better not." Tony said. Rhodey nodded in agreement.
The woman tells him that that's her plan.
Tony growled at the screen.
Tony is driving again, he's on the phone with Harley he asks for a full report.
Harley says he's still eating candy and asks if Tony wants him to keep eating it.
"I don't think that's what he meant." Valkyrie said.
Tony asks how much he's had.
Harley says that he's has 2 or 3 bowls.
"That is not healthy." Strange said.
Tony asks if he can still see straight.
Harley says the he sort of can.
Tony tells him he's fine.
"No, no that means he should stop." Bruce said.
"You are so irresponsible." Rhodey sighed. "Please never become a parent."
He asks Harley to get him JARVIS and asks JARVIS how they are.
JARVIS says that its fine and he does well for a stretch but at the end of the sentence he says the wrong cranberry.
Everyone laughed. "Poor JARVIS." Natasha said.
Tony looks confused. JARVIS says that once he factored in available AIM downlink facilities he was able to pinpoint the Mandarin's broadcast signal.
"Let's hope this signal is the right one." Rhodey said.
Tony nodded in agreement, he knew it would be, he had the utmost faith in JARVIS' tracking skills.
Tony asks where it is and lists off a few countries.
JARVIS says that its in Miami.
Everyone looked confused, thinking that it wasn't actually in Miami and JARVIS was just saying the wrong word at the end of the sentence.
Tony tells Harley that he's going to need to walk him through rebooting JARVIS' speech drive but he can't right now. he asks Harley to look at the screen and give him the location.
Harley says that it is in Miami, Florida.
"Well. Not where I expected it to be." Tony said.
Tony says that he needs the armor and asks where they're at with it.
Harley says that it isn't charging.
"That's gonna be an issue." Steve said.
Tony slams on the breaks, breathing heavily.
Tony sighed, not again.
JARVIS says that it is charging but the power is questionable and it may not succeed in revitalizing the mark 42.
Tony asks what's questionable about electricity.
"Pretty much everything about electricity is questionable, you of all people should know that." Bruce said.
Tony starts fumbling over his words before saying 'not again' then he gets out of the car.
Harley asks if he's having another attack then he says that he didn't even mention New York.
"That's probably not helping." Steve said.
Tony tells him that he just said while he denied having said it. He asks what he's going to do.
"You're not completely hopeless without the suit, you know that right?" Rhodey asked.
Harley tells him to breathe and reminds him that he's a mechanic and tells him that he should build something to help him.
Tony thanks him and gets back into the car and drives off.
Pepper, Rhodey and Happy all smiled. There was that familiar determination.
Tony walks through a hardware store, he picks up a wrench. He now has a full cart, he moves to another aisle and has 2 full carts. He goes to checkout. He is now in a hotel room building things with what he found.
"What is all of that stuff?" Quill asked.
"You do remember I used to make weapons, right?" Tony asked.
'Miami, Florida' appears on the screen. A large mansion is shown.
"That must be where the mandarin is." Clint said.
Tony is hiding in a tree watching some guards. He jumps over a concrete wall. He sneaks up behind a guy and pulls him down the stairs with a rope, he shoots another with the gun he made.
"Nice." Rhodey commented.
He knees him in the no no area then tasers a guy that sneaks up behind him. He throws an ornament at 2 guys, one picks it up and it explodes in his face. He throws the other guy into the water and drops an ornament in with him.
"You made explosives out of some junk you found in a hardware store.." Scott said. "Impressive."
He drops the gun on the gun on the ground and walks inside. There's a woman asleep on a table.
"Not what I expected from a terrorists headquarters." Sam said.
There's another in the living area. A woman asks why it's so hot in there when she told the mab to set it to 68.
The man says that its his fault and tells the woman that he's not her personal air con- Tony puts the electric glove to his head. He grabs a gun off the table. The woman mimics a gunshot.
"She's on a drug of some sort." Natasha pointed out.
Tony walks away, when he enters another room, he takes the glove off with his teeth. He comes across a bed, two people are sleeping in it. He rips the cover off, revealing two more women. A man walks out of the bathroom, Tony ducks behind the bed. The mandarin walks out and tells them not to go in there for 20 minutes.
"That's the mandarin!?" Everyone yelled.
"Or, the front at least." Rhodey added.
"Not what I was expecting." Tony said.
He asks which one of the girls is Vanessa. The light haired girl raises her hand. He throws her a fortune cookie and asks her of she knew that fortune cookies weren't even Chinese.
Vanessa tells the Mandarin that there's someone in the room.
The Mandarin says that fortune cookies are made by Americans and they're based on a Japanese recipe.
"Wasn't that on one of those videos?" Quill asked.
Tony steps out from behind the bed, gun pointed at the mandarin. The Mandarin swears.
"This guy is definitely not the mandarin." Scott laughed.
Tony tells him not to move.
The Mandarin says that he isn't moving. He tells Tony that if he wants something he can take it but the guns aren't real because he isn't trusted with the real ones.
"That video... the one where he shot that guy... that was staged?" Steve asked.
The Mandarin asks the girls like birds.
"What is wrong with this guy?" Happy asked.
Tony says that he's heard enough to know that he's not the Mandarin. Tony asks him where the real Mandarin is.
'The Mandarin' says that the real Mandarin is there but he isn't there.
"That makes no sense." Peter said.
Tony asks what he means.
'The Mandarin' says that its complicated.
Tony tells him to uncomplicated and tells the girls to go into the bathroom.
The woman do so and exclaim in disgust once they reach the bathroom.
"Gross." Scott said.
The mandarin starts crawling on the floor, Tony shoots, he crawls back on to the seat and says that his name is Trevor Slattery.
Tony asks if he's a decoy or a double.
"A front, he's an actor." Natasha said.
Trevor asks if he means understudy and says that he isn't any of those things. Tony points the gun at his face. Trevor asks him not to hurt the face because he's an actor.
"I would say he'd be a bad actor if I hadn't seen the mandarin videos." Tony said.
Tony tells him that he has a minute to live and he should fill it with words.
Trevor says that it's just a role and the Mandarin isn't real.
"Well it is but it isn't." Tony corrected.
Tony asks Trevor how he got there.
Trevor says that he has a problem with substances and that he was arrested for doing things in the street that a man shouldn't do.
"Didn't really need to know that." Clint said.
Trevor says that they approached him about the role and they knew about the drugs.
Tony asks if they said they'd get him off of them.
"No, use your head Tony, he's a junkie, he wants more not less." Natasha said.
Trevor says that they said they'd give him more. He says that they gave him this palace and plastic surgery. He starts snoring.
"Did he seriously just fall asleep?" Sam asked.
Tony asks if he just nodded off. Tony kicks him.
Trevor says that they also gave him a speedboat and they just needed someone to take the credit for a few accidental explosions.
Tony asks if he's talking about Killian.
Trevor confirms.
Tony asks if Killian created him.
Trevor confirms.
"Killian's been the one behind it from the beginning." Tony said.
Tony realizes it was a custom-made terror threat.
Trevor says that his think tank thinked it up. He starts talking about the pathology of a serial killer and the manipulation of western iconography. He says that it was his performance that brought the Mandarin to life.
"I'm not gonna lie, he was very convincing in those videos." Steve said.
Tony asks about the people that died during the performances.
Trevor says that people didn't die and it was all green screen. He says that he wasn't even on location for most of it.
"Does he not realize that it is very real?" Rhodey asked.
"He doesn't seem very intelligent, so I'm gonna go with no." Tony answered.
Tony says that he has a best friend who's in a coma and he's going to answer for it. Savin hits Tony on the head, knocking him unconscious.
"And now they have you." Steve said.
Savin asks Trevor what he told tony.
Trevor says that he didn't tell him anything.
"He's not a very good liar." Loki said.
Savin says that he should've pressed the panic button.
Trevor says that he did panic but he handled it.