When I wake up, I am zip-tied to a bed frame with Tony right next to me in the same position. I see a girl across from us typing away on a computer, and then Tony wakes up. The girl turns around and smirks at us but mainly Tony.

"It's just like old times, huh?" The girl says to Tony, and I look over at him.

"Oh, yeah. With zip ties. It's a ball." Tony says sarcastically.

"It wasn't my idea." The girl explains in a low voice.

"Okay. So you took Killian's card." Killian, I know that guy. I read about him when we were in Tennessee.

"I took his money."

"And here you are 13 years later, in a dungeon."

"No."

"Yeah."

"No, you're in a dungeon. I'm free to go."

"Yeah?" The girl sighs and stands up from her chair and walks over to the window, and she starts talking, "A lot has happened, Tony. But I'm close. EXTREMIS is practically stabilized."

"I'm telling you it isn't. I'm on the street. People are going to bang. They're painting the walls. Maya, you're kidding yourself."

"Then help me fix it," Maya says while waving a card in Tony's face. She turns it over, and there is an equation written on the backside.

"Did I do that?" Tony questions and Maya drops the paper in slight disbelief and disappointment.

"Yes."

"I remember the night, not the morning. Is this what you've been chasing around?"

"You don't remember?" tears lace her eyes, and hurt is lacing her voice.

"I can't help you. You used to have moral psychology. You used to have ideas. You wanted to help people. Now, look at you." Tony and Maya continue to talk; I focus on my zip ties seeing that this conversation doesn't involve me in any way. I break the restraints, making them look like they are still holding me in place; I look around the room for my weapons, and I spot them across the room. I hear a male voice echo around the room,

"You know what my old man used to say to me? One of his favorite of many sayings... 'The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.'" A man dressed in a white suit and a blue shirt walks down the stairs towards Tony and me. Tony and Killian begin to converse, and I start planning our escape route. I hear them talking about the Trevor guy, and then Killian mentions Thor, and then he rolls out three beads.

A hologram appears, and I see Pepper Pots strapped to a chair and glowing orange. I see Pepper muttering something, and looking like she is in pain, I see Tony flinch harshly. Killian walks up to Tony and begins to choke him; I slowly slide my hands down and lower myself to the ground; right as I was about to intervene, Maya yells at Killian to let Tony. She holds something up to her neck and says that she would die with just half a dose of whatever is in that. She starts pushing Killian's buttons, and he turns towards Tony while he fires a gun, the bullet landing in Maya. She slumps to the floor and looks up at Tony; she falls to the ground with a thud, and Tony looks at the cement out of grief.

Killian walks up the stairs and out of the facility; a guard sits down, eating an apple when Tony's watch beeps. The guy has Tony's clock on the table, and he picks it up and looks at it. Tony tells him to be careful with it and that it is a limited edition. The guard gets up and walks over to us; as he passes by me, the guy smirks and looks at me like a piece of meat, and I glare at him through my lashes. The guy smashes the watch, and I see Tony starting to get mad. Tony threatens to kill that guy first, and I begin to smirk.

Tony raises his hands like something was going to happen, and we all look at him. I sigh out loud, and the guys turn their attention to me.

"Hey, pretty girl," The guy with a ponytail says, "what are you doing with this guy?"

I see Tony starting to get mad because they are walking closer to me and talking to me. I get confused, wondering why Tony would be crazy about that.

"I like Florida," I said in a teasing tone with a smirk painted on my lips.

Tony grabs their attention again and starts talking like something is going to happen. I feel embarrassed for Tony now. One guy asks how they got this shift; I don't blame them if I am going, being honest. Tony starts counting rapidly, and suddenly some of the Iron Man armor crashes through the window. His hand is encased with the glove, and I jump down from the bed. One guy runs in from the hall, and I grab his shoulder, swinging my legs around. I flip him over, and I flip toward all my weapons. As Tony starts fighting the two guys, I grab all my guns and fight the other guys. Tony is flying above me and shooting guys with both his rifle and his hand. I struggle with three guys simultaneously; I bring my knives out and slice one of the guys' Achilles heels, and fall to the ground. One guy goes to kick me, and I grab his leg, making him flip onto his back and knocking his head on the ground. The third guy picked me up and threw me across the floor, and I landed on my feet, and I charged at him, and I knee him in the face.

I jump, and I land next to Tony on a ledge, and he raises his hand at one guard. The guy raises his hand in surrender and says, "Honestly, I hate working here. They are so weird." I snort out a laugh and nudge Tony. We started walking down the hallway with me leading when Tony's armor flies in and starts attaching to him. We are outside when Tony needs his face mask; he grabs it from the air and puts it on himself. We see a giant jet taking off and the Iron Patriot flying away from the compound.

Tony tries to take flight when the thrusters stop working; We are walking down the stairs, well I am walking. Tony is stumbling in the suit. Rhodey runs up to us, and I nod my head at him; he smiles and looks star-struck but doesn't say anything. Tony walks in, and there are two guys with guns, Tony starts talking to him, and Rhodey crashes through the window and shoots them. Rhodes walks up to Trevor, pushes the chair back, and cocks the gun in his face. I walk up behind Tony and Rhodey and pull out my knives and prepare to throw them.

"This is the Mandarin? Rhodey asks in an incredulous voice while looking back at Tony and me.

"Yeah, I know, it's...It's embarrassing." I nod while pointing at Tony.

Rhodey and Tony start talking to the Mandarin, and I zoned out because Trevor was irritating me. We all look back at him for his speed boat. I get in the driver's seat, and I start to hotwire it, I am driving it, and Tony begins to talk to the Vice President. I start speeding down the coast when Tony starts talking to Jarvis. He unplugs the battery from the suit, and I pull up to a deck, and I kill the engine. Rhodey opens the door that leads downstairs, and we both peer in.

"Yeah, but I missed the President." Tony says Rhodey, and I walk away when Rhodey speaks, "You couldn't save the President with the suit; how are you going to save Pepper with nothing."

I walk out, sit down, and pull out one of my knife sharpeners, and I began sharpening all my knives so they are ready for battle. All of us find the oil rig that Killian is using, and we climb up a ladder. I pull out my guns that are filled with new ammunition. We hide behind a crate and look up at the giant rig; we start moving closer and closer. I see the President is strung up above an oil tanker, ready for the execution. I follow behind Tony and Rhodey, but then I signal that I will find another way. They both nods at me, and I peel off from the group.

Gunfire starts to break out, and I run up behind one guy, and I pull out my most large knife and swing, he drops to the floor dead, and I take his giant gun and start walking into the shadows. As they fire at Tony and Rhodey, an announcement lets everyone know that there are intruders. Some people start hopping on the vents, and I crept up behind one of the guys, and I pushed him off the vent. As he fell, it captured the attention of another girl, and she ran at me. I threw a knife, but it did little damage. I realize I am going to have to use my powers.

I encase the girl in the force field, and I manipulate the atoms in her body to activate her EXTREMIS, and she blows up; there is little damage thanks to the fact that I have a force field around her. I suddenly look up, and I see a whole bunch of Iron Man suits surround the rig. I laugh in disbelief, and I start to run to the nearest EXTREMIS, I made them blow up, and I begin to fall when something hits a leg that stabilizes a rig. There is a giant explosion, and I head that way when I see Tony fly towards the explosion.

An alarm sounds, and I see Pepper lying down on a ledge, the whole container starts tilting to one side, and she begins to slide with it. I run over to where I can try and figure out a way to get to Pepper; as I run over, I use a force field to throw one of the EXTREMIS into a create causing another explosion. I see Pepper fall into the giant pit of fire below, and I gasp, I see Tony with tears in his eyes, and he runs towards Killian. I run down to the stair and make my way to the ground levels. I run into another one of Killian soldiers, and I slide between his legs, he turns around, and I wrap my legs around his neck and throw him to the ground. I bring up one of my knives, and I slit his throat and then blow him up.

Above me, there is a giant explosion, and Tony ends up on the ground floor with me; I run over to him when I see Killian severely burnt. He is hit with a giant pole by PEPPER. I run over to Tony and kneel next to him. One of Tony's suits comes flying around the corner and shoots at Pepper. Tony tries to call it off, but he doesn't have the earpiece in place. Pepper looks over at us and runs; she uses Tony's knee and slams her fist into the suit.

She hits Killian across the face, and it causes him to soar through the air. She kicks a missile at him and powers up the hand reactor. I create a force field around Killian, so the explosion is contained. It shoots straight up instead of out. Tony calls out to Pepper, and they start talking. I walk away from them and head towards the boat I have waiting for us. I give Tony and Pepper their time; they walk toward the ship I was in and got in.

I powered it up and drove off.

The following weeks were semi-normal. Tony was able to fix Pepper and get the EXTREMIS out of her. I am currently standing outside the operating room, looking in. Tony is getting the shrapnel removed from his chest, finally. He gave us a thumbs-up, and then he went under. I stay for a couple of minutes before my phone beeps. I look down, and I see a message saying, 'We Need You' I sigh and take one last look at Tony before walking away.

I reach my truck when I hear a voice call out, "Nikolina, wait." I turn around, and I see Pepper.

"Yeah?" I ask as I pause mid-way, getting into my truck.

"I just want to say, 'Thank you.'" I raise an eyebrow at her, "For helping Tony, for saving me."

I smile slightly before nodding and heading towards my car again. Pepper carried on, "You know, he talked about you all the time," I turn around and look at her. "He would tell me about this small Russian girl that beat two Norse gods in battle, a girl with extraordinary powers, a beautiful girl that could have any man she wanted."

I hide my surprise and say, "Thanks."

"I used to be jealous of you, still am if I am honest. You can relate to Tony so much better than I can, and you are so beautiful that I feel insecure standing next to you."

I look at Pepper, chuckling slightly, "Take care of him, will you? He ruined my vacation. He still owes me."

She smiles and nods her head.

"Goodbye, Pepper."

"Aren't you going to say bye to Tony?"

"I have a mission; besides, we will be called in again. I won't be around for a bit; Tony knows that if he needs me that he can call me."

I smile at her and get in my truck; I start it up and drive out of the parking lot. I pull out my phone and call Jarvis, and I leave a message for Tony.

"Hey Tony, I know I am not there to see you wake up, but I know that you will. You're too annoying not to. I have to go away for a while, but if you ever need me, call, and I'll come. This is goodbye for now. Take care, Tony."

I drive up to an airport and get in a quinjet. I am handed my next mission.