The Perfect One

by choejhulkp9

SHIELD. The Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division protects the world from a much weirder one. But they soon meet someone with a unique ability set that makes him a force of nature. One of Earth's mightiest heroes will turn into its last hope from total annihilation. You don't mess with Inhuman perfection.

9. I never can catch a break

Hello everyone, here is chapter 9 of the Perfect One. Will's birthday celebration gets interrupted for a mission. Honestly, it's like he keeps getting called in for every single thing going wrong like some kind of super solider—oh, right. Then Christmas ends up being more complicated as Will helps Tony deal with his PTSD and tangles with the Mandarin and AIM who will become real pain in the asses in the future. Enjoy!

The Perfect One: I can never catch a break, can I?

September 2012: Atlantic City, New Jersey

September wasn't usually a big deal for most people except for a few things. It was the last few weeks of summer weather before fall started, schools were back in session for students and your favorite shows usually began their season runs but for Will it was special because it was when his birthday was. September 8th to be exact and he was lucky enough to spend it with his friends and family. He managed to get a reservation at the Palm Restaurant in Atlantic City for him and his party which consisted of Crystal, his Uncle Jeffrey Mace, his uncle Stuart, Aunt Lenore, and Cousin Kim as well. Grant and his brother Riley were coming along with his buddy Keith, Daisy, Angel, Clarice, Tabitha, Alex, Bobby, and James. It was a nice reunion of his friends to hang out, relax, enjoy some good food, and help each other while celebrating Will's birthday. Maria along with Frankie Jr. and Lisa Castle came as well with Frank overseas but he sent his wishes. Dr. Banner also came and even though he tried to get out of it, Will wanted him to come. Better than being stuck in the tower all day.

He got birthday wishes from Clint and Natasha who were on assignment, Rhodey was in the middle east but sent his wishes along with Tony and Pepper who were in California and Cap who was in Europe on assignment. Well, they were missing a nice dinner. Will managed to get a private dining room at the Palm restaurant and steakhouse by the water for the night so they could have some privacy which was a nice treat for everyone. They all got dressed in fancy clothes with dresses and suits, but it was a nice, especially considering the mess he made back in Texas with the whole cannibal family massacre thing.

When the state police and FBI showed up to a house with dead bodies and a basement out of a horror movie, a lot of questions were asked, and Will answered them as best he could. Some of the agents and police wanted to arrest Will for his gung-ho massacre of the family even if he was a SHIELD agent as they were just taking his word for what happened and felt that a lot of it was unnecessary and he could have just arrested them. And you'd be hard pressed to say that shotgun massacre and using a chainsaw to decapitate someone was justifiable self-defense and responsible actions for an international agent. Will justified his actions considering the circumstances and the end results of saving those kids. Hill chewed him out because even though he saved people it had some raise issues about the legality and lethality of his actions and of SHIELD agents in general. The news articles of a cannibal family massacre at the hands of a SHIELD agent gave her a massive migraine despite the end results along with some whispers from the World Security Council but he figured that was just rumor. They had an entire secret spy organization to oversee so one news article from an incident in Texas that had nothing to do with Aliens or superheroes was probably not even on their radar. Clint, Natasha, and Cap congratulated him on the mission and for saving those kids but he was put on leave for a week so Hill could clear things up. He was fine with that, he got a break and spent time with Crystal before he was put back on another mission.

Anyway, it was his birthday now and he was happy with how things turned out. His friends and family around at a great restaurant for a great dinner. He was dressed in a nice black and blue suit and tie as he sipped his glass of whiskey and watched the room they were in. Jeffry Mace was talking with Maria while Dr. Banner spoke with his Aunt Lenore and Kim was taking selfies with Frankie Jr. and Lisa for fun and to later show off to her friends how her cousin had a hookup at a fancy and expensive restaurant. Everyone else was mingling and ordering drinks. Will was paying for everything and despite some protests from the others he told them it was fine, so they were ordering their fill. The girls talked with Crystal and loved her dress which she got when Will took her shopping. She had pretty much conformed and was now an earth girl just like anyone else.

Will sipped his whiskey as Dr. Banner walked over, having finished his talk with Will's aunt. "Interesting conversation?"

"A nice conversation. Thanks again for inviting me." Bruce told him.

"My pleasure. Has to be nice getting out for a change and nothing's better than a night of good food and drink." Will commented.

"I'll drink to that." Bruce clinked his beer with Will's whiskey. "It's also nice that no one is making a fuss about who I am. It's actually circumstances like this where I'm glad the Hulk gets the publicity and I don't."

"Well as the only one on the team whose superhero persona is actually a secret…being able to relax like a normal person is quite nice every now and then. Such as a birthday dinner." Will pointed out and Bruce agreed. "So, how's everything going besides enjoying your freedom and the sweet justice of knowing General Ross can't get to you."

"Just doing some work. Stark Industries is infinitely better than military work, that's for sure." Bruce commented.

"And what about things with Dr. Ross? Has she reached out yet?" Will wondered.

"She did and we've been talking a lot. She's busy and I'm busy…" Bruce muttered.

"Uh-huh. Scared to see her in person again, aren't you?"

"Terrified." Bruce answered causing Will to chuckle.

"Well you don't have anything to worry about. I mean, General Ross is off your back, you're an Avenger and I can personally guarantee you that SHIELD has you in their friend column so relax and go live your life now." Will told him. "Make up for some lost time."

"Easier said than done." Bruce told him.

"Fair enough but you've got your life back and take it from someone who's seen how bad the world can get…enjoy it while you can." He said, sounding like a grandpa to his grandson.

"I haven't been entirely alone. Just so you know, I've been talking with my cousin ever since SHIELD was able to clear things up and not proclaim me a wanted criminal." Banner told him.

"Oh, that's good. And is this cousin fictional?" Will joked causing Bruce to chuckle.

"She's real. Jennifer Walters and she works at a law firm in Los Angeles. We've always been close growing up. Helped us survive and grow despite our dysfunctional families." Bruce explained. "It's nice getting back in touch with her. I'd try and keep tabs on her while I was on the run, but it wasn't easy."

"Well, good. I'm happy for you, Bruce. And seriously, just visit Dr. Ross. Take it from someone who has in-depth knowledge in how the mind works, overthinking it isn't going to help. Sometimes just doing is better." Will suggested. "When you see her again, things will just fall into place."

"When did you become the expert?" Bruce wondered as Will tapped the side of his head.

"When this thing became one of the deadliest weapons on the planet." He joked causing Banner to chuckle. "But seriously, I mean this thing is powerful. It helped us get the Hulk on sort of level ground with you. I figured with some more therapy sessions we could improve your relationship."

"That's something to look forward to." Bruce muttered as he sipped his beer.

Soon enough, everyone sat down for dinner and ordered their fill of some really good food. Steaks and lobster were ordered as the dinner was just a nice and fun affair. In the middle of dinner Will's phone buzzed, and he checked it to see a message from SHIELD, so he got up and went to the corner for privacy. He encrypted his cellphone before answering, as was SHIELD protocol.

"Agent Detmer. I was just buzzed." Will answered.

"One moment, transferring line to Triskelion." He heard as the operator transferred him. "Agent Detmer?"

"Speaking." Will answered, and by now some people at the table saw him on the phone.

"Agent Detmer, you are to report immediately to the Triskelion for a mission briefing with Agent Hand."

Will sighed in exhaustion as he looked back at the table and by now everyone saw him on the phone. "Check your status logs, I'm off for the next few days."

"Negative. Alpha situation takes precedence regarding pending assignment 45A7. Report to the Triskelion for a briefing with Agent Hand." The operator said and he knew this was serious. Assignment 45A7 was code for an agent down in the field. He took a final sigh of exhaustion and mentally cursed his bad luck before making his decision.

"Roger that. I'm on my way." Will said before he hung up.

"Will, everything ok?" Crystal asked as he walked over and gave her a kiss before downing his glass of Scotch.

"Sorry, everyone but I've got to go." He said as he took out his credit card and placed it on the table.

"Go, but it's your birthday. You're off for the next couple of days." His cousin Kim said.

"Sorry but it's important. Believe me, I know it sucks and I would love nothing more than to stay here with all of you but duty calls. Thanks again for coming, stay for dinner. Eat. Don't worry about paying and hopefully I'll see you all soon." Will said before giving Crystal another kiss on the head and leaving the restaurant in a hurry. He got into his Chevelle and drove as fast as he could to the nearest airfield where he got a flight down to DC to the Triskelion.

Suffice to say, he found the people responsible for what happened, and they paid dearly in money and in blood. You don't mess with a powerful telekinetic Inhuman who missed his birthday dinner. Especially when he had a nice ribeye steak and lobster waiting for him. He was angry and they felt everything.

October 2012: Manhattan, New York City

Will was driving through Manhattan in his 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS to go visit his cousin Kim at Columbia. It was parent's weekend at Columbia, so he decided to go visit Kim with his uncle Stuart and Aunt Lenore. The frequency of his missions and assignments had ramped up a lot within the past few weeks, probably as a result of the success rate of his missions since he had a 100% success rate making him one of SHIELD's best agents. And he was also probably the youngest level 7 operative so that probably was a factor in it. His reputation within SHIELD was growing but he paid no mind to it.

He drove his car into the Columbia University visitor lot and managed to find an open parking space. With all the visitors coming to visit it was lucky he did. He hid his HK pistol in his back-carry holster before grabbing his jacket and making his way over to the main hall. Parents met with their children as they converse and were happy to see one another. Feels just like yesterday that was him and now here he was an agent and super-powered Inhuman working for SHIELD and a founding member of the Avengers. Things sure have changed.

He walked through the crowd of people and saw Kim talking to some friends. One was a girl about the same age as her wearing heels, white slacks, a blue tank top with a grey button-up over and a beige jacket with red hair running past her shoulders. Next to her was a guy the same age wearing sneakers, jeans with a grey polo and blue/grey leather jacket. He was wearing glasses, but the lenses were tinted red. (1)

"Kim!" Will waved as he walked over and hugged her. Kim smiled and hugged back, happy to see him. "Glad to see you're doing well and the thousands of dollars your parents are spending on you aren't going to waste. Are they here yet?"

"No, they got stuck in traffic but should be here soon." She explained before introducing him to her friends. "Will, these are my friends Jean Grey and Scott Summers. Jean, Scott this is my cousin."

"Nice to meet you." Will shook both their hands and smiled and they smiled back. "Nice glasses."

"Thanks." Scott replied. "It was nice of you to come visit Kim."

"Well, I had some free time from work, and I was in the area, so I wanted to pay my favorite and only cousin a visit." He explained.

"That's nice. What do you do?" Jean asked.

"I'm ah…a consultant of sorts. For companies and various government agencies and things like that. Keeps me busy but it's important work."

"Wow. No offense but you seem kind of young for that kind of work." Jean commented.

"None taken and you're not the first one to tell me that." He admitted. "It wasn't the career I planned out for myself when I was in college, but I can't imagine another line of work. I help a lot of people."

"Yeah, he does some really good work." Kim added.

"Granted the hours are crazy as is my schedule but what I do is important. Anyway, enough about me talking about myself. How have things being going on here?" Will wondered.

"Ok. The traffic in the city is still a little crazy with all the clean-up and repairs but things here are fine." Jean told him. "But that hasn't stopped a lot of the students from heading into the city or going to see Avengers Tower."

"Yeah, we even went to go see it on a Saturday." Scott said.

"Really? That must have been fun." Will replied, mentally chuckling when Scott and Jean saw their parents arrive.

"We'll see you later, Kim." Jean and Scott went over to see their parents just as Kim's parents arrived. They went on a tour of campus, partake in some of the activities for parents day before going to a nice fancy dinner in the city. A nice break as the next day he was immediately called on another mission.

November 2012: Linjiang, China

It was Thanksgiving in America and despite the cultural backlash issues with the holiday, it was generally a time for families and friends to gather around a nice dinner and be thankful for what they had. Granted, bringing together family and friends could result in nonsensical arguments over politics or beliefs that render the evening ruined or not. Unfortunately for Will he was pulled on a last minute mission stopping a North Korean spy cell that was moving into China through the city of Linjiang.

The North Koreans were hold up at a warehouse, acting as their base to plan their moves west while also helping more of their group come across the border. Too bad for them SHIELD sent Will to deal with them and he was letting out his anger in a healthy and maybe not-so healthy way.

His backup were watching the warehouse from the outside from hidden positions mainly to inform Will of incoming reinforcements or if the local police and other forces approached. The agents watched the warehouse when all of a sudden gunfire began to erupt on the second floor.

"What the hell?" The agents were beyond confused and were worried that Will got himself killed when their radios went off and heard gunfire and shouting.

"Fall back to the safehouse! I have this handled!" They heard as the gunfire continued.

Inside the warehouse, Will in his SHIELD gear was tearing through all the North Korean agents with vicious brutality. Wielding his HK pistol in his right hand and the Predator knife in his left, he slammed a North Korean agent to the ground before stomping on his throat and then again in his face killing him with a sickening crunch. He quickly ducked and turned, shooting an agent in the knee before landing a headshot that blew his brains out.

Several more agents entered the room with assault rifles and opened fire but Will ran across the room and dived over a table before sliding across the ground like in a John Woo film and unloaded a torrent of pistol bullets that killed them all. He got up and quickly reloaded before moving to the next room where he quickly ducked a knife and slashed the man in the leg before slicing his throat open. One agent pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin but Will threw the Predator knife and nailed him in the head. The body dropped to the ground and the grenade went off, blowing the body to bits but the alien knife was without a scratch.

He walked forward and grabbed the knife when two agents stepped out from a doorway and unloaded a torrent of bullets at him from assault rifles. Will just walked forward, using his telekinesis to create a shield that deflected them. He kept walking forward and killed both agents with headshots when he heard the rapid patter of footsteps. The leader was rushing to the exit when a bullet hit him in the back of the leg, sending him to the ground as he clutched his thigh.

Will jumped from the second floor and landed with ease, kicking away the agent's gun and then grabbed his wrist to stop a knife stab. "You have pissed me off beyond belief, pal." Will broke his wrist and punched him in the face.

The agent groaned in pain before managing to get back to his feet with a heavy limp and threw out another punch that Will parried and backhanded him in the face. "You and your friends wanting to hurt and kill people because your monsters, but you've made one grave error, asshole!" Will kneed him in the gut before throwing him into the wall. "You did it on Thanksgiving! I had the day off and yet I get called in to deal with you because you and your leaders want to start shit?! Because your leader is an asshole?! Fuck you!"

Will began slamming the agent's face into the wall repeatedly in a steady rhythm. "I…WAS…SUPPOSED…TO…BE…EATING…MY…AUNT'S…FAMOUS…APPLE…PIE…RIGHT…NOW!"

After the hundredth slam, the agents head was a bloody mess and he was dead for sure so Will dropped his body to the ground. "Fucker!" Will kicked the body one last time to get his frustration out before doing a quick mind scan to get the intel he needed just as the police arrived. They stormed the warehouse but all they found were dead bodies and no trace of anyone else.

Suffice to say that Will was still salty about this for a while.

Line Break xxxxx

December 2012

The holiday season and end of year was coming, and it was unfortunately not going to be a simple one as Will hoped. His problem: The Mandarin. Even a few days out from Christmas didn't stop this nutjob from terrorizing people. The terrorist was ramping up his attacks within the last few months of the year against the US and so far, the government had no answers or valid action plan to stop him. President Ellis's response to the Mandarin, giving Rhodey a new armor upgrade and paintjob and naming him the Iron Patriot. A little pretentious and honestly it was a crappy idea but that's why the president called Director Fury personally to handle the situation. So, Fury put him on the case and honestly Will was stumped to be honest. He got all the information on all the bombings and they were odd to say the least. Even with the best equipment SHIELD had, he couldn't identify any kind of explosive agent or bomb device. No radiation signature or casings of an explosive device, it's like the bomb was made out of nothing and appeared out of thin air with an outstanding heat of 3,000 degrees Celsius to vaporize anyone standing too close that they caused imprint shadows.

Luckily, Will wasn't a regular agent and when he used his telekinetic sense and clairvoyance abilities, he got something interesting. He was able to see what happened just before the blast and it seemed like the explosion didn't come from a bomb or anything like that but more like it erupted from someone. He never got a clear enough image on any of these visions because time had passed but each one did show someone at the center of the blast like they caused it. It's possible the Mandarin was using enhanced people as living bombs but the whole thing seemed off.

That's when he used his Oliver Queen alias to do some sniffing in the underworld but there wasn't a lot on the Mandarin like there was nothing there. He did however get a lot of chatter about AIM or Advanced Idea Mechanics. It was a private think-tank that was funded by the military and was one of their sole arms suppliers, but AIM specialized in a lot other things besides weapon manufacturing. He always got an iffy feeling about them and his undercover work indicated that AIM wasn't on the up and up as they let the government believe. There were rumors about genetic experimentation and other dirty things about AIM, but Hill told him he needed more to go on.

So, at the moment he was at the Triskelion in one of the spare computer rooms, having EDI patch into the system to collate all the information they had to find another lead.

"Will, I've compiled all the information on the Mandarin attacks." EDI brought up a map of the US that showed all nine location of the Mandarin attacks.

"Nine Mandarin bombings so far but how? There has to be a source." He said to himself as he looked over the map. "EDI, bring up thermographic signatures for the entire planet factoring in 3,000 degrees Celsius."

"Accessing SHIELD satellites. The Oracle cloud has completed analysis. Compiling satellite information and plotting the last 12 months of thermogenic occurrences now." EDI replied as she showed a world map and highlighted the recorded thermal readings all over the planet. Most of the high readings were from Mandarin attacks while others were from reactors, factories, and military bases but they didn't get much higher than 1000 degrees and none of the Middle East which is where military intelligence suggested he was. "I have discovered one anomaly."

EDI highlighted one heat signature read in Rose Hill Tennessee that was the same 3,000 degrees Celsius mark as the Mandarin bombings. "Are you sure that's not one of his?"

"It predates any known Mandarin attacks. The incident was the use of a bomb to assist a suicide." EDI brought up relevant information on the incident. Apparently, it was a suicide bombing of a US army veteran. "The heat signature is remarkably similar. 3,000 degrees Celsius."

"No homemade bomb could do something like that unless there's another factor involved. EDI, get me a quinjet to Tennessee." Will said when the system picked up another heat signature that appeared in Los Angeles, California. "EDI, what happened?"

"Another heat signature appeared bearing a similar heat signature in Los Angeles, California." EDI told him.

"Tennessee will have to wait. I need to head to California." Will grabbed his bag and quickly headed for a quinjet.

Los Angeles, California

The new heat signature turned out to be another Mandarin bombing at the Chinese Amphitheater. The total number of deceased was still being tallied but dozens were injured. And then the Mandarin released another message promising the big one as he called it. A lucky survivor of the attack was Happy who was there, dead center in the blast and only survived because he hid behind a souvenir kiosk. He was in a coma, so no one knew why he was there until now.

In Happy's hospital room, Tony was sitting in a chair as he watched one of his closest friends laying down in a bed with a breathing tube shoved down his throat. The door opened and Will walked in, sad to see Happy in this state.

"Hey, Tony." Will greeted him as he walked over.

"Hey, kid." Tony got up as Will approached Happy's body and touched his forehead to do a brain scan. "How is he?"

Will's eyes were closed as he checked Happy's brain and it was fine. Some swelling but he would live. "He's all right. Some brain swelling but it'll go down soon. He'll be fine." Will assured him. "All right, Happy. Show me why you were there."

He entered Happy's subconscious and access the last memory which was at the Chinese Theater. Happy was at a souvenir kiosk and watched via a mirror of an exchange between two people. One was a man sitting on a bench but looked jittery and like he was a drug addict and the other was a bald man in a suit and from Happy's memories he was the guard/driver for Aldrich Killian of AIM. Happy didn't like the look of the guy so he followed him. The driver dropped off a case to the man and left so Happy made his move.

He walked over and bumped shoulders with him, causing the case to drop and its contents to spill out. Some kind of metal inhaler and various small vials.

"Sorry about that man." Happy snuck one vial into his hand and helped the guy put the rest in his case when he saw the man's eyes and face glow red for a moment.

Happy got up and left, looking at the vial in his hand when he was shoulder bumped and saw it was the driver. "What are you doing, buddy? You out by yourself? A little date night. Seeing your favorite chick flick, maybe?"

"Yeah, a little move called the Party's Over, starring you and your junkie girlfriend. Here's the ticket." Happy held up the vial.

"No kidding. That don't belong to you." He grabbed Happy's arm but Happy wouldn't let it go and threw out a warning punch. The driver seemed amused as Happy kept his cool before landing a right cross to his face. What he saw next was when things got weird as the veins in the driver's face seemed to glow red like the other guy and flowed to his nose where it fixed the cut and everything was fine.

Happy threw out another punch but the guy caught his arm, punched him in the face before throwing him through the air where he crashed into a kiosk cart. Happy was in pain as the driver walked over to him when they saw the addict begin to glow red but not like before as it got brighter and brighter.

"What the hell?" Will paused the memory as he got a good look at what was happening and he would think that his mind was going crazy but seeing as how this was Happy's memory then this really happened. He let the memory resume and the glowing man soon turned into a living bomb that blew up the theater and killed the nearby civilians. Happy was lucky enough to hide behind the kiosk which managed to protect him just enough.

It was at this point that Happy's memories began to get fuzzy as he was barely conscious afterward but saw metal glint of military dog tags in the rubble. He managed to lift his hand up and point at them when he saw the AIM driver get up off the ground and walk away. Just like before, his body was glowing red and seemed to regenerate his destroyed and damage limbs to the point where the guy popped a piece of gum in his mouth and left like nothing happened.

Will exited Happy's consciousness and was still reeling from what he saw. "Kid?" Tony wondered if he got anything good. "What happened?"

"Happy risking his life to give us the answer to everything." He touched Happy's head and his hands glowed a faint blue as he used his telepathic energy to boost the natural healing process occurring. He was making sure Happy's brain would stay healthy as his body healed. "Let's go someplace we can talk in private."

Tony nodded as he put on his sunglasses and the two left the hospital. Immediately, Tony was swarmed by reporters and cameras who wanted a comment on everything as Will kept them back and pushed through the crowd. Honestly, a part of him would love nothing more than just to freeze them all in place or send them flying into the air but he couldn't. Hoped too but couldn't. So, he settled for pushing the reporters and vultures away as they walked over to Tony's Audi.

"Hey, Mr. Stark! When is somebody gonna kill this guy?!" A reporter asked, holding a camera up at Tony. "Just saying."

Tony turned around and based on his facial expression he was angry. "Tony, don't do it. Let's just get out of here." Will begged but it fell on deaf ears.

"Is that what you want? Here's a little holiday greeting I've been wanting to send to the Mandarin. I just didn't know how to phrase it until now. My name is Tony Stark and I'm not afraid of you." Tony announced.

"Dear god." Will pinched the bridge of his nose as he knew this was going to become a headache.

"I know you're a coward. So, I've decided that you just died, pal. I'm gonna come and get the body." Tony said as he removed his glasses. "There's no politics here. It's just good old-fashioned revenge. There's no Pentagon, it's just you and me! And on the off chance you're a man, here's my home address. 10880 Malibu Point. 90265. I'll leave the door unlocked. That's what you wanted, right?"

Tony threw the reporter's camera at the wall and shattered it. "Bill me."

Tony and Will got in the car and drove away. Will had already taken out his phone and was having SHIELD set up a secure perimeter around Tony's mansion along with arranging a security team and safehouse for Pepper to be taken to. First things first they did when they got to Tony's home, Pepper went to pack as Will and Tony went to his lab so he could show him the database he had already compiled on the Mandarin and the possible AIM connection which was more no longer possible but definite.

Will was on the phone updating Director Fury and Commander Hill while Tony was going over the information in the database. "And you're positive with what you saw?" Fury asked.

"Yes, sir. AIM is definitely connected to the Mandarin. The reason no one's been able to find any bomb signatures or accelerant is because AIM is using enhanced individuals as human bombs. Must be some kind of super soldier serum." Will explained. "I know you said I needed more to go on to pursue a lead in AIM and this is it. Whatever Killian is doing in AIM is developing these super soldiers."

"I trust your judgement and your abilities on this, Agent Detmer but that's not gonna be enough to convince the President and the World Security Council. Especially considering that AIM has been a primary weapon's contractor for the US government. What's your next lead?" Fury wondered.

"After I get Ms. Potts to safety and secure, I'm heading to Tennessee. There was a bombing there that is the same thermographic signature as the Mandarin bombings and it involved another military veteran. There might be a link to AIM there that I can uncover." Will explained.

"Do whatever you can and stop them, Agent Detmer." Fury told him.

"Yes, sir." Will hung up and saw Tony still going over the information.

"You sure this is all right, kid?" Tony asked.

"A lot of this information has been compiled directly from SHIELD databases and Jarvis has vetted my information. Yes, Mr. Stark it is accurate." EDI told him.

"I always knew there was something off about Killian. Never did I think he'd stoop to human experimentation." Tony muttered. "All right, what's the next step?"

"Well, I was already working up a lead before I came here. EDI, do you mind bringing up the thermographic signatures we extrapolated?" He asked.

"Of course." EDI replied as a holographic map appeared with markers that indicated all thermographic signatures that were 3,000 degrees Celsius AKA sights that the Mandarin bombed.

"All of these marks indicate where a Mandarin bombing occurred except for these two spots here." Will pointed to the ones in California and in Tennessee. "The one in California, thanks to Happy, we know the truth which leaves us this one in Tennessee. According to public record, this signature was the result of a bomb to assist a suicide of a US army veteran. Even an army trained bomb maker can't make a homemade bomb capable of expelling temperatures that high. Not to mention that he's a veteran like the other person at the theater. It could be how the Mandarin and AIM are recruiting people."

"A bomb is not a bomb if it's a dud. Kilian's lost his mind. But how is the Mandarin is involved?" Tony asked.

"I'm not sure but I'm gonna find out. First things first, we put Pepper in protective custody before anything else." Will told him when his phone rang. "Agent Detmer."

"Sir, we intercepted a visitor at the perimeter." One of the agents working the perimeter told him.

"A visitor? I authorized a complete ground and aerial lockdown of the area so inform the visitor about the consequences for trespassing in a SHIELD controlled area." Will told him.

"Yes, sir and we've informed her but she's adamant that she talks to Mr. Stark. Says it's a matter of life or death?"

"Who is she?"

"Doctor Maya Hansen."

"Tony, do you know a Maya Hansen?" Will asked and saw Tony's face, he knew. "Yup, of course you do. EDI, bring up information on Dr. Maya Hansen."

"Doctor Maya Hansen. MIT graduate where she specialized in biological DNA coding. Now a bio-medical DNA coder working a team of 40 individuals out of a privately owned think-tank." EDI explained, bringing up her information from the SHIELD database.

"And that think-tank is…you've got to be kidding me." Will closed out that file. "Tony, lock your place down and any sensitive information you have along with any suit you need. Do it fast. We're leaving."

"Where are you going?" Tony asked.

"To get our next lead." Will left the basement and saw the piles of bags by the doorway gathered by Pepper along with a SHIELD agent there standing guard. He would be escorting Pepper to a safehouse. He left Tony's mansion and walked down the very long driveway where the SHIELD vans had blocked off the exit and agents were standing guard over the guest. They went over her car and her person with a fine-tooth comb.

"She's clean, sir." An agent told him.

"Yes, I told you that before. Thank you for the pat down." Maya Hansen told them. "Now that I'm clean, I need to speak to Tony Stark immediately, please. It's important."

"You'll be talking but not to Tony Stark." Will replied. "I know who you are, Ms. Hansen and I know who you work for and knowing what I know now, I don't trust you being here. Take her into custody and to a safehouse for interrogation."

"What?" The Agents restrained Ms. Hansen and took her to a van. "Wait, please! I'm here to help!"

"I know but you'll be doing it on our terms." Will pointed out as she was put in a van and driven away. "Zero out the perimeter. We're leaving to the safehouse. No noise and I want zero visibility. Camouflage."

"Yes, sir." The other agent replied as he signaled the others and they began cleaning up the area.

Pepper soon walked out of the house with her bags as the agent helped her into a car while Tony walked out with the Mark 42 armor walking behind him via Jarvis. They got into the vans and left the area for a SHIELD secured safehouse. It was a bit of a drive but they eventually arrived at the safehouse And good thing too as on their way to the safehouse, apparently a fleet of disguised news helicopters destroyed the mansion with assorted missiles and rockets. Probably in an attempt to kill Tony but unlucky for them he wasn't there.

Said safehouse took the appearance of a small two-story house you would find on any normal residential street. But what made it unique was the basement was actually heavily modified for protecting important personnel and equipped with whatever an agent or team might need from weapons, a small med bay and a computer system. Pepper would be staying there under guard by two civilian dressed agents and the perimeter would be watched by plain clothes wearing agents so to now arouse suspicion.

In the basement of the safehouse, Will gathered Pepper and Tony to tell them what was going on and explain the situation. "So, what's this Botanist lady doing here?" Pepper wondered.

"She's in the secure room right now for interrogation. I'm gonna be there in a moment after I explain what's going on. She's a Biological DNA coder working for AIM. She and Tony have some history." Will said as Pepper looked at Tony. "It was a long time ago, you two are together, let's move on. Anyway, she works for AIM under Aldrich Killian and after what I found out, more than likely she's responsible for the human bombs that I've been looking into."

"I just can't believe this." Pepper muttered, still not believing what she was hearing. If it were from anyone else, she would have serious doubts but Will's expertise with these kinds of things and his powers make it impossible not to believe. "I mean, Killian came into the office to discuss a partnership for his Extremis idea but I had no idea he would be working for the Mandarin."

"Well, suffice to say that he's definitely a bad guy. I always knew it." Tony commented.

"This may sound like Tony being a jealous boyfriend but he's not wrong. My own investigations into AIM show that they're a lot dirtier than they'd led the Pentagon to believe." Will explained. "Pepper, what did Killian say about Extremis?"

"He said it was a new break through his company was working on. Genetic manipulation and harnessing the body's bio-electrical energy potential to go into an empty slot in the brain or DNA. Honestly, I'm not that versed in the whole biology of all of this." Pepper tried to explain it as best she could. "Essentially he wanted to recode the DNA of living things."

"Yeah, like that ever works. Seriously, don't you scientists ever watch sci-fi movies. This is how we end up in Gattaca." Will muttered. "But genetic manipulation could explain how an ordinary human being would suddenly explode in an exothermic reaction that could reduce a living person into nothing but a smoke outline."

"And it's what Maya Hansen was working on when I met her in Switzerland. Granted, I was drunk for most of that time of my life but the dentra-degree vitalization process is something she was working on in plants and it matches up with the regeneration you said you saw in the driver. Plus, the explosive side effects match as well." Tony added. "Still can't believe she would do something like this."

"A wise man once said we create our own demons, Tony. Yours takes the form of that thing on your chest but you turned it into a strength." Will complimented. "I'll be back."

He then walked over to the interrogation room where Maya Hansen was sitting, handcuffed to a table with an agent watching over her. "Please, this isn't necessary. I'm here to help."

"No, you're not." Will sat down across from her and signaled the agent to leave so he could handle this alone.

"Excuse me?"

"You're not really here to help. You think you are but you're not." Will told her. "You see, I know everything. I know about AIM, your boss's tie to the Mandarin, the fake bombings…and I know about your involvement."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She replied only for Will to sigh.

"Ms. Hansen and yes I'm calling you miss because quite frankly you lost the right to be called a doctor when you decided to use your science to help kill innocent people." Will told her, pushing her in the direction because he knew everything she did.

"I didn't do anything. It's all Killian. It's why I came to warn, Tony Stark. He needs to know that Aldrich Killian is working for the Mandarin." She begged.

"Oh, he does because we figured it out ourselves. Ms. Hansen, you may think you're smarter than me but quite frankly nothing could be further from the truth. You scientists all begin wide-eyed and pure science but then your egos step in and what was once a clear goal turns into a sinister plot. Your research turned people into living bombs and those killed innocent people. You put on this façade to try and get us to lower our guard but I know the truth about you. You came here for one thing and that is Tony Stark because you need him to fix the problem with the instability of your Extremis serum. Right now, it's a one in five shot that the hosts bonds to it properly and even then, they need regular injections to keep the serum stable. If not, then they go boom and your boss has been using your failed experiments as bombs for the Mandarin. No one wants a faulty product or a scientist who can't fix it." Will explained as Maya's expression of innocence soon gave way to subdued anger. "You have one chance. Where is the Mandarin?"

"I won't tell you anything unless I get a deal." Maya told him only for Will to sigh. "You need me."

"Nothing could be further from the truth and quite frankly I'm tired of playing the nice guy." Will's eyes began glowing blue and he began to forcefully take the information from her mind. For him, it was easy. For her…it was painful. Thankfully, the cell was soundproof so her screams couldn't be heard. Once he got everything he needed, he left the room while Maya had her head on the table, passed out from the pain and not going to remember any of this. "Take her into custody. She has a lot to answer for after this."

"Yes, sir." The agent walked back into the room to secure her as Will walked over to Tony and Pepper.

"What'd she tell you?" Pepper wondered.

"Well, the whole reason she came here was because she needed Tony to stabilize Extremis. Honestly, she had several plans in her head to try and get you to help her but that won't be happening." Will replied. "The only bad news, she doesn't know who the Mandarin is. Guess Killian kept her away from that as a safeguard. But I know where we can get some more information."

"Who?" Tony asked.

"EDI, could you please call Rhodey?" Will asked.

"Of course." She replied as there was a small dial tone wait before he answered.

"Hello?" Rhodey answered.

"Hey, Rhodey. Sorry to bother you but it's important. And don't worry about what you saw on the news. Happy is fine and Tony and Pepper are safe with me." Will assured him.

"Oh, that's good. I hope you SHIELD guys are getting close to stopping the Mandarin because the President is getting anxious." Rhodey told him.

"That's actually why I wanted to talk to you. Your big rebrand with the Iron Patriot was AIM, right? Through and through?"

"Yeah, why?"

"We need your AIM Login."

"What for?" Rhodey asked.

"Well, you're probably not gonna like to hear this considering you're using their tech but AIM is working for the Mandarin. Their boss Killian is the one providing the bombs for the Mandarin only they're not bombs but failed experiments for his Extremis serum. The bomb in California was another failed experiment. Happy risked his life to get us the info we needed and we got the rest from a misguided scientist who works for Killian." Will explained. "Sorry you had to hear it from me but it's true, Rhodey. We need your login."

"Right. Well I know you're not one to lie and if you got the info then it can be vetted as the truth. It's the same it's always been. Warmachine68."

"And the password, please?"

"[sighs]…It's WAR MACHINE ROX with an X, all caps."

"Ha-ha. That is so much better than Iron Patriot. Thanks, buddy." Tony told him.

"Keep your head on a swivel, Rhodey. I don't think AIM would have given you the Iron Patriot unless it was for a reason." Will cautioned.

"Right. Stop this thing, Will and give Killian a hello from me."

"Copy that." He hung up as EDI and Jarvis used the SHIELD system to log in to the AIM server using Rhodey's credentials. Then they bypassed any firewalls in place which between EDI and Jarvis wasn't that hard and soon enough they had full access to the AIM Servers.

"Ok, let's see what we have here." Tony accessed AIM's private server and found video logs on Extremis Candidates. The first one was of Chad Davis. A US army veteran who was discharged from the army after an injury and Will saw it was the suicide bomb victim from Tennessee.

"That's our Tennessee victim. Looks like we can find out what happened." Will said as Tony pressed play.

"What would you regard as the defining moment of your life?"

"Well, uh I think that'd be the day I decided to not let my injury beat me."

Will looked at the other Extremis candidates and saw that one was of Jack Taggart, the human bomb from the Chinese Theater. Tony accessed another video file on Ellen Brandt, a red-haired military veteran who suffered a left arm amputation from the elbow down.

"Will you please state your name for the camera?"

"Ellen Brandt."

"Okay. So, the Injections are administered periodically. Addiction will not be tolerated. And those who cannot regulate will be cut from the program."

Tony pressed some buttons and changed the camera view to the interviewer who was Aldrich Killian. "Got you."

Will accessed another video that was of the Extremis Injections first test. "Once misfits and cripples. You all are the next step in human evolution. I promise you, looking back at your life, there will be nothing as bitter as the memory of that glorious risk you prudently elected to forgo. Today is your glory. Let's begin."

The video showed all the volunteers being taken to some kind of underground lab where a legion of doctors and scientists tended to them. The volunteers were strapped to standing gurneys and Extremis was injected into their IVs and their veins and eyes began to glow red like he saw in Happy's memories. Ellen Brandt, the woman who suffered the amputation groaned in pain as her arm cracked and blackened like cooling lava as the limb began to regenerate itself.

"Oh my god." Pepper could no believe what she was seeing.

"Even my powers can't regenerate something like that. Granted, I've never tested it." Will commented when one of the test subjects began screaming in pain and glowing uncontrollably.

"We've gotta get out of here! We've gotta get out here!" Killian ordered as the other volunteers, scientists, and guards left the room as quickly as possible.

Soon enough the subject who couldn't handle the Extremis exploded just like he saw the human bomb do at the theater.

"A bomb's not a bomb if it's a misfire." Tony muttered. "The stuff doesn't always work, right pal? It's faulty but you found a buyer, didn't you? Sold it to the Mandarin. Got you."

"EDI, send everything directly to Director Fury and Commander Hill in an triple encrypted file. Maybe now they'll let me act." Will said.

"Right away but that sill leaves us the task of finding the Mandarin." EDI pointed out.

"Well, we know that AIM is working for him so maybe that's the key. Jarvis, let's run our search again for the Mandarin's broadcast position but factor in available AIM downlink facilities." Tony told him.

"Ah, I get it. AIM might be using their connection with the military to scramble his broadcast signals to places they want them to find to keep them off the trail. EDI, help Jarvis when your done." Will told her.

"Already doing so." EDI replied and after a few seconds of calculations they managed to find it. "Location has been found."

"What are we talking? Far East, Europe, North Africa, Iran, Pakistan, Syria? Where is it?" Tony asked.

"Actually, sir it's in Miami." Jarvis replied.

"Uh, EDI is that right?" Will for sure that Jarvis had glitched.

"Yes. Factoring in all AIM downlink facilities, the broadcast signal appears to be coming from a manor in Miami, Florida." She clarified.

"Huh. All right. What better way to spend Christmas then in the sun? I'm gonna go say goodbye to our guest." Will told them, heading upstairs to see off the agents who were taking Maya Hansen away. She had a bag over her head as she was put in the back of a SHIELD van with two agents in the van as an escort with another van acting as protection. The protection van backed out of the driveway first when Will's danger sense began to tingle. "WAIT!"

His cry was too late as a nearby utility pole crashed down onto the street, cutting the van off from leaving. The protection van swerved to a stop by the pole as the agents stepped out, armed with their guns when a red-haired woman in a suit walked over.

"Don't move or we will shoot!" The agent shouted only for the woman to start glowing. The agent fired a bullet at her but all it did was make her recoil a bit. The bullet was forced out of her body and the area where the bullet hit glowed before it healed over. She smirked at the agent before breaking his wrist and then grabbing him by the neck, lifting him up and then snapping it with ease.

Will looked at the woman and recognized her from the Extremis tests. "Fall back!" He pulled out his HK pistol and fired 12 bullets at her, forcing her to step back and shield herself as the other agents in the protection van raced over to the house. The two agents in the other van grabbed Maya Hansen as Will quickly reloaded his gun. "Get downstairs and initiate lockdown!"

The agents took Maya Hansen inside as Will marched forward, firing more bullets at her but she just smirked at they did nothing. He aimed his last four at the SHIELD van, using his telekinesis to rip open the fuel tank cover before firing. His bullets hit their mark and the van exploded, taking the woman with her. Seeing the van explode and take the woman with her, he reloaded his gun when he was grabbed from behind and thrown into a car parked on the street.

"Shit…" Will muttered as he picked himself up and saw the man who threw him was the driver/guard of Aldrich Killian and the guy who Happy was following. Eric Savin.

"Hi there." He smiled with a piece of gum in his mouth.

Will raised his gun only for Savin to yank it out of his hand and break it in two but Will followed that up by kicking out Savin's left leg and then drop kicking him in the face, sending him onto his back. Will quickly pulled out his spare Glock 17 and did a side flip kick, hitting Savin in the head again before emptying the entire pistol magazine in the back of his skull. He thought that would have ended it but to his shock he saw the back of Savin's head glow and the bullets force out of his head before he got back his feet and cracked his neck.

"That wasn't very nice." Savin told him, grabbing the gun and twisting Will's arm to break it but he just twisted his body and side flipped before throwing Savin back to the ground and dropping an axe kick on his head that dug his head into the pavement.

"That's the kettle calling the pot." Will stomped his head again into the street as Savin kicked him off before standing back onto his feet. His face was glowing red and he was pissed as he rushed Will with punches and kicks. Normally that would be end of it but Will parried and dodged all his attacks. Savin pulled out a knife and swiped and slashed but Will blocked and dodged all his strikes. He sidestepped a lunge and threw him over his hip but Savin landed on his feet and grappled Will to the ground, grabbing his arms and his neck as he began glowing. The heat Savin generated burned Will on his arms when he was blasted in the face by a repulsor blast and knocked away.

Will hissed in pain as he looked at the burns on his arms before getting back to his feet to see Tony standing there in the Mark 42. "You all right, kid?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Will assured him as the burns weren't too bad. He'd be fine and they'd be healed up in an hour or so. That wasn't the end of it unfortunately as Savin got back to his feet and the screeching of metal was heard as Ellen Brandt walked out of the burning van wreckage, injured, and burnt but healing very quickly. "These guys just won't stay down."

"Time to take the kiddy gloves off, kid." Tony told him before flying straight at Savin, tackling him into the pavement and digging out an impact trench.

Will looked at Ellen Brandt and Tony was right. These Extremis enhanced people were not to be messed with so it wasn't a time to fight with one hand tied behind his back. "Taking a page out of Iron Man's book and you've kind of walked into this one but I've known hotter woman then you?"

"That's all you got. Explosions and a cheap one-liner?" She asked as she ripped off the burner bumper of the car and swung it at him only for it to stop just before it hit him.

"Oh, you don't know all I've got." Will's eyes were glowing blue as he bent the bumper back and wrapped it around the woman, squeezing it around her like an anaconda does its pray. She glowed red and melted the bumper around her before throwing out a punch right to his face but again he stopped it before it connected. A simple thought and her arm was bent at an unnatural angle which made her scream bloody murder. Her other arm was then bent and then her legs before she was thrown back into the burning van wreckage. Said van wreckage was then wrapped around her like a coffin with various pieces of metal piercing into her from all sides. To finish it all off he clenched his fist and using his telekinetic destruction, the van wreckage and the Extremis enhanced woman exploded into pieces. Extremis may grant its users regeneration but there was no recovering from that. "Kidding gloves are off."

Iron Man was fighting against the other Extremis enhanced assassin but wasn't having as much luck. After tackling him into the pavement, Savin kicked him off and got back to his feet with agility on par with a super soldier. Iron Man fired his repulsor blasts but he managed to dodge them and close the distance. He punched the armored Avenger in the face plat twice, before throwing him into a parked car.

Tony groaned in pain as got back to his feet and threw out a punch that Savin caught. His glowing red and hot hand began to mess with Tony's armor as the internal circuitry was having a hard time processing with this new variable. Tony threw out another punch which Savin caught and crossed his arms as his Extremis enhanced strength and heat was enough of a counter for Tony's armor. He did his best to try and figure out another variable or idea that would let him win this and keep Pepper safe. Pepper was in danger and he couldn't do anything which began to kick his PTSD and anxiety into play. Savin smiled as he saw he had the mighty Iron Man at his mercy.

"Guess the world's gonna need another armored avenger." Savin mocked only for Will to come up behind him and snap his neck. Savin let go and dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes as Tony stood up.

"Unlucky for you, he's got friends." Will looked at Tony and could feel the anxiety and trauma he was experiencing with his telepathy. "You ok, Tony?"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's get Pepper and get out of here." Tony said as the two walked back to the house when Will's hearing picked up movement. He looked back and saw Savin get back up as his head snapped back into place. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Tony, Unibeam." Will told him as he began glowing blue and channeling his psychic energy into his fist.

"Catch you later, hot ones." Tony fired his Unibeam at full power while Will fired a telekinetic blast at full power and the two beams tore through the man with ease. He coughed a bit before falling face first into the pavement as Tony's suit scanned his vitals and they were indeed gone. "Walk away from that you son of a bitch."

"That's for Happy Hogan." Will took out his phone and dialed a number. "This is Agent Detmer, I need a clean and containment crew at safehouse X56A."

Line Break xxxxx

Across the country, another Mandarin broadcast interrupted television waves to deliver another message. Even the President who was traveling on Air Force One received the signal and soon enough the Mandarin appeared on the screen.

"Mr. President. Only two lessons remain. And I intend to finish this before Christmas Morning." The screen showed a man laying down at the feet of the Mandarin who had a gun at his head. "Meet Thomas Richards. Good strong name. Good strong job. Thomas, here, is an accountant for the Roxxon Oil Corporation. And I'm sure he's a really good guy. I'm going to shoot him in the head, live on your television in 30 seconds. The number for this telephone is in your cell phone. Exciting, isn't it, imagining how it got there? America, if your president calls me in the next half-minute, Tom lives. Go!"

President Ellis put on his glasses and saw that there was a number to call. "How did he hack my phone?"

"We can't allow Terrorists to dictate…"

"I have to make this call."

"I'd strongly advise against that." The Secretary of Defense told him.

"This is the right thing to do." President Ellis called the number and on screen the phone next to the Mandarin rang. After about four rings, the Mandarin raised his gun and shot Thomas Richards. It shocked everyone around the world, even the President.

"There's just one lesson left, President Ellis. So, run away, hide, kiss your children goodbye. Because nothing, not your army, not SHIELD, not your red, white, and blue attack dog, can save you!" The Mandarin shouted. "I'll see you soon."

The signal cut out after that, leaving a shocked nation and a pissed President. "Tell Rhodes, find this lunatic right now."

"Sir, we've tracked the broadcast signal. We have a possible point of origin in Pakistan and patriot is ready to strike." A military aid told him.

"Right now."

"Yes, sir."

Will had seen the broadcast in the cockpit of a SHIELD quinjet which he had used to fly Pepper from LA all the way to New York. Seeing as how those Extremis enhanced assassins were able to find them at a SHIELD safehouse, there must have been some kind of leak or something that AIM had within the agency so he couldn't risk sending her to another one. After telling the other agents he would handle everything, he, Tony, and Pepper took the quinjet to New York City where she would be staying at Avengers Tower. It was a risk but he also had the feeling that if anyone could protect her it would be Dr. Banner. And no sane person would go there for risk of messing with the Hulk.

After dropping Pepper off and making sure she would be ok, Will and Tony set course to Miami to stop AIM and the Mandarin. Tony was sitting in the passenger bay tending to the Mark 42 while Will was in the cockpit on the phone with Director Fury.

"We're on our way to Miami now, sir. ETA is about 2 hours." Will told him.

"The President is not happy with the situation, Agent Detmer. How the hell did they gain access to broadcast a signal and hack the President's phone?" Fury asked.

"AIM knew we were at the safehouse. It's possible they've got a mole in key places for whatever their plan is to work. But the lead we have is solid, sir. Have you informed the President and the World Security Council of what we discovered?" He asked.

"I did. Suffice to say that they're not happy and they need answers but your mission still stands. Find out everything you can about the Mandarin and Killian and handle them as you see fit. Are you sure you don't need backup?" Fury wondered.

"No, sir. It's best to not risk Killian and AIM know we're coming. I'll handle this." Will assured him.

"And Agent Detmer, this is off the record but the World Security Council's made their beliefs about this Extremis Serum very clear." Fury alluded and he understood what he meant.

"Sir, with all due respect that serum is dangerous and the idea of using if after everything they've learned should be the last thing in their minds." Will told him.

"I understand, Agent Detmer but this isn't a request that I can ignore. Having said that…you do what you feel is necessary when the time comes. Fury out."

"You bet I will." Will put his phone away and did a final system's check. "Everything ok, EDI?"

"Yes. We'll be arriving in Miami in two hours and 5 minutes." She told him.

"Ok. Keep the flight smooth. You have the controls." Will got up and walked to the back of the quinjet. "How's the armor?"

"A little banged up but still ok." Tony replied.

"If that's Mark 42, I have to wonder what Mark 8 to 41 were like." Will commented.

"Well, the second they're finished removing the rubble from my house then you'll know." Tony told him.

"Either way you're gonna want to move those armors to the tower seeing as how your mansion is no longer there. I imagine you'll find enough space for them there." He said. "How are you doing?"

"Fine, kid." Tony replied.

"Really, because you know you can't lie to a telepath?" Will pointed out.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Tony stated only for Will to give him an eyebrow raise.

"Again, not possible to lie to a telepath. And I can feel the anxiety and mental stress you're experiencing like a Geiger counter picks up radioactivity." He told him.

"Really, you're gonna come at me like that?"

"Tony, this isn't me setting up some kind of intervention, this is me coming to you as a concerned friend. Ok, your mental issues right now aren't something you can make disappear and seeing as how they made you freeze up during the fight and almost got you killed then you need to take it seriously." Will said, coming to him very concerned. As someone who understood the works and marvels of the human brain and has been through his own fair share of trauma then his advice should be considered. "I'm not asking you to commit yourself to an asylum but addressing this might actually make it better."

"And you know for sure?" Tony asked.

"Tony, I've been in therapy. Ok and as someone who actually understands the complexities of the human brain then believe me when I tell you that unless you actually deal with this it will rule your life." He flat out told him to try and get Tony to hear what he was saying. "And I'm actually someone who understands what you're going through. I was just a normal kid before anything of this until I stumbled on that rock that gave me my powers. Then within the course of a few months I was brought into a secret government agency where I found out I not only have powers but that whatever happened also unlocked a hidden alien DNA chain in my genetics. On top of that I witnessed my parents death and then rescued my cousin from the largest sex trafficking operation in Paris before taking said operation down. Then saving my friends when we skydived onto an island controlled by the largest drug and human trafficking operation in Asia. And let me tell you something that dealing with Vaas Montenegro and Hoyt Volker is the definition of insanity."

"Ok, ok, you made your point." Tony said, getting him to stop as he was starting to experience a bit of a panic attack.

"Look, I've been in your shoes. I've had nightmares about what happened, anxiety attacks and pretty much trying to avoid everything possible that could trigger me again. It's not a sign of weakness to avoid your mental trauma, ok and we've been through more trauma then most." Will picked up Tony's trauma and decided to help him. He closed his eyes and let out a calming psychic wave that helped Tony calm down. "Look, what happened in New York changed everything. Aliens, gods, dimensions, and a full scale invasion but we stopped them. You helped saved an entire city and the entire planet. Iron Man is even more of a hero now and he stopped an alien invasion in a suit of armor only he could design. Tony Stark is one of the smartest people on the planet. There is no problem that he will face that he can't build something to overcome it. He's the world's greatest engineer."

Tony took a deep breath as Will's words and the psychic wave was helping. "Thanks, kid."

"Don't mention it. It won't be easy but nothing worthwhile never is." Will told him as he spent the flight helping Tony with his trauma. Slowly and surely, Iron Man would be back at a hundred percent.

Miami, Florida

Miami was a dream destination for many and the city called to all walks of life including the elite and rich so there were manors and mansions everywhere. One particular mansion resided by the water with a private dock and acres of ground under guard by a private security force. Said force while appearing legitimate and as a separate entity was actually a subsidiary of AIM.

Will, now dressed in his Aegis gear and armed with his compound bow and quiver monitored the perimeter of the mansion and saw guards all around so he planned his entry. Tony was sticking by the Quinjet with his armor as he was waiting as a surprise backup force. Plus, he didn't want to risk Iron Man sounding the alarm. But Tony was seeing everything as Will opened up a video link between the Quinjet and his mask so it would broadcast everything he saw.

He raced forward and jumped a wall before quickly and quietly making his way to the manor. Two guards by the main gate were hit with small knockout darts including the guard dog with them and knocked unconscious. One of the guards at the top of the patio stairs was tripped and fell face first onto the ground. The other guard quickly raised his gun only to get a flechette dart to the thigh and then a knee to the crouch. A third guard rushed him but got his wrist broken and then an elbow to the neck. He hit the ground like a brick. The bodies were quickly removed from sight before he made his way to the side entrance. There were two guards standing watch who got arrows in their backs and slumped to the ground, dead.

Aegis walked into the mansion to see it looked like either a halfway house or the residence of a coked out movie star from the 80s complete with a passed out hooker on a table. One guard was sitting at a table littered with old food, empty alcohol bottles and drugs with a woman laying on the couch next to him, definitely either inebriated or high.

"Why is it so hot in here? I told you to put it at 68." She told him only for the guard to scoff.

"My fault again. Let me tell you something, sweetheart. I am not your personal air con—" He was cut off as Aegis came up behind him and snapped his neck. The woman was put to sleep with his telepathy and he continued his trek into the manor, using his telepathic sense to pick up people on the second floor.

He walked into one room and found the Mandarin's broadcast center with the equipment needed to film everything and bypass that broadcast signal through various satellite networks. EDI and Jarvis were on the money. Upon further inspection of the room he saw makeup chairs, wigs, and costumes including some of the Mandarin's garb. There was bed there as well with two women asleep, probably hookers.

"What the…" He was cut off when he heard the toilet flush in the bathroom so he hid behind the bed. The flush woke up the women in the bed and out walked a diminutive looking man who had the same face and beard as the Mandarin.

"Whew, I wouldn't go in there for 20 minutes." The Mandarin spoke in a British accent as he walked over to his dresser which had a large bong and a bowl full of fortune cookies. "Now, which one of you is Vanessa."

"That's me." One of the girls replied.

"Ah, Nessie." He tossed her a fortune cookie before prepping his bong for another hit. "Did you know that fortune cookies aren't even Chinese? They're made by Americans, based on a Japanese recipe."

"Don't move." Aegis walked out into view with an arrow pulled back on his bow. The Mandarin immediately raised his hands up.

"Bloody hell. Bloody hell. I'm not moving. You want something? Take it. Although the guns are all fake because those wankers wouldn't trust me with the real ones."

"What?"

"Hey, do you fancy either of the birds?" He asked as the girls looked at each other.

"Ok, clearly you're not him. Where is the Mandarin?!" Aegis shouted, getting in the fake's face and ready to put an arrow through his eye. "Where is the Mandarin?! Where is he? So, help me if you don't tell me I will put an arrow through your eye!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. He's here. He's here but he's not here. He's here but he's not here." The man told him.

"You better give me a straight answer or there will be an arrow where your left eye used to be. Where is the Mandarin?" Aegis wanted a straight answer through all this crap.

"It's complicated." The man told him.

"Then uncomplicate it. Ladies, out of the bed and go the bathroom now!" He shouted and they rushed away. After making sure to lock the door so they couldn't get out, he saw the guy try to crawl away so he fired an arrow near his head to warn him. "Are you really trying to run away?"

"I'm sorry. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Trevor. Trevor Slattery." Trevor introduced himself. "I'm an actor."

Aegis pulled out another arrow and aimed it at him. "Keep talking or this one goes in your head."

"It's just a role. I'm an actor. The Mandarin is not real." Trevor told him.

"Then why are you here?"

"Well, I um had a little problem with substances. And I ended up doing things, no two ways about it, in the street that a man shouldn't do."

"Oh, to hell with this." Will grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall before invading his mind and getting some answers. What he learned shocked him. After he got what he needed he dropped Trevor onto his ass.

"What the hell was that?" Trevor looked at the black clad man only to get punched in the face and knocked out.

"You still have a lot to answer for, asshole." Will tied him up and gagged him. "Tony you are not gonna believe this and neither is Fury but there is no Mandarin."

"What?"

"This guy's just an actor playing a role. It's all Killian. There is no Mandarin. It was all a threat he created to make up an excuse for his bombings. He's actually made a fake terrorist to trick the world into thinking there's a major threat that only he can solve. In the world of Ozymandias from the Watchmen, the greatest practical joke the world has ever known." Will explained.

"This is beyond twisted and messed up. What's Maya's role in this?" Tony wondered.

"She was to perfect Extremis and then AIM could role it out as the perfect product to fight threats like the Mandarin. This is all Killian." Will told him. "EDI, scan the perimeter. Where is he?"

"Besides the manor, there is a large cluster of heat signatures at the west end of the property underneath an old gardening shed. Satellite images show various underground levels so it's probably their lab." EDI told him.

"Then that's where I'm going. And Tony, time to go loud." Will said as he rushed out of the manor.

"Right behind you, kid." Tony replied, getting into the Mark 42.

A squad of guards stacked up at the manor entrance only for the door and part of the wall to explode and knock them all away, either killing them if not severely injuring them. Aegis rushed out of the manor as all the guards were now alerted to his presence. They opened fire at him but their bullets bounced off his Vibranium-weave jacket or he stopped them with his powers. He vaulted over some shrubbery and unsheathed his wrist mounted blades, tearing through guard after guard. One guard got the blades through his stomach and thrown into another before he threw out his Predator Shuriken. The blade threw through the air and sliced through three guards with ease before it returned to him as he flipped through the air and activated his wrist shield, bashing another guard in the face.

The roar of engines was heard as Iron Man flew into the manor and began blasting guards with his repulsors. The guards never stood a chance which is probably why an Extremis enhanced guard rushed out of the gardening shed only for the shuriken to slice his head off. A wave of his hand and the old gardening shed was pushed away like a hurricane force gale wind blew it over. A little much but it did reveal the secret entrance to the underground lab. Said entrance was busted open and Aegis entered first, taking down guard after guard with ease. Iron Man entered after and the guards and scientists were taken down relatively quickly.

The two split up as they went further down into the lower levels. Aegis found a lab where the Extremis was made which had over a dozen guards as protection. They fired their guns but Aegis raised his hand and the bullets froze before they hit him. Once they were out of bullets, he flicked his wrist and the bullets shot back at the guards. They were riddled from head to toe and no extra fuss. He walked over to a work station and plugged in a USB device.

"EDI, comb through their systems and copy it your database. Then delete everything."

"Right away." EDI replied as she broke through AIM's firewalls and began going through every single system she could. She would then copy all the information before deleting it and ensuring that no one could revive the data.

While she was doing that, he looked around the lab and looked at the files of information and data that were lying around. Killian may be a psychotic evil mastermind but his scientists aren't doing a good job at keeping things secret. He noticed one refrigerator that was locked with a special keypad and fingerprint scanner meaning it was something important. That was solved by him just ripping the door off and he saw inside were vials of an orange serum, Extremis. He took out a rack of vials and threw them onto the ground, destroying them and he continued with every single rack in the fridge until he stopped himself when he had the last rack in his hand.

He wasn't sure what stopped him. Maybe it was scientific curiosity or maybe it was seeing the regenerative effects of the serum with his own eyes but under the right minds and in control of the right people it could do some real good. But he also understood the hypocrisy of that thinking as it's probably what Maya Hansen thought when she created it. And it's probably what thousands of others thought about their ideas throughout history only for hindsight to prove them wrong. Atomic weapons, nuclear power, hell Tony probably thought the same thing as well with his Arc reactor technology. It's what brought Whiplash and those Hammer drones but Tony did use it for good. SHIELD couldn't have their hands on Extremis but maybe the Avengers could do something better. He took two vials of the Extremis serum from the rack and put them in his pocket before dumping the rest as EDI finished her job. He grabbed his USB device, unplugged a gas line in the room before walking away and throwing an explosive pellet behind him. It went off and ignited the gas, destroying the entire lab and all traces of Extremis. Will created a forcefield around himself as he walked away to protect him from the explosion. With that lab done, he had to make see if there were any other labs or traces of Extremis here.

Tony in the Mark 42 had taken down all of the guards on his level and busted down the door of the last room where he saw the Iron Patriot strung up with several engineers trying to crack it open. He blasted them both with his repulsors before walking over.

"Rhodey, you in there?" Tony tapped his faceplate as Jarvis ran a scan and saw the system was in lockdown.

"Tony! Tony!" Rhodey shouted.

"One second, buddy. I've got to reset your entire system. You see, this is what you get when you decide to rebrand War Machine with a lesser company and minds." Tony told him. He opened up an access port in the back of the head and has Jarvis reboot the entire Iron Patriot system. After a few minutes, the system rebooted and Rhodey had control. "You good?"

"Yeah, thanks. What are you doing here?" Rhodey wondered.

"Working with the kid on stopping AIM and the Mandarin who it turns out is a fake. So, there's that." Tony answered.

"Where is Will?" Rhodey asked when they heard shouting and saw a man get tossed down the hall. Will stepped into view and looked at them.

"What are you two robots standing around for? I know where Killian's main base is. Let's go." He told him before throwing another explosive pellet at the computers and equipment in the room. Iron Man, Iron Patriot, and Aegis left the base carrying anyone still alive before Rhodey fired a few rockets down below, destroying everything and causing the lower floors to collapse on themselves.

All of AIM's goons and cronies were tied up and Will went through the entire area with a fine tooth comb and destroyed every lab and server he found. He didn't want to risk any remnants of Extremis sticking around or falling into the wrong hands. When he was sure he found everything, he called in backup and they secured the area and took the Mandarin actor into custody along with everyone else. Rhodey wasn't quite sure how to react when he saw the actor guy but he was out of their hands for now.

"All right, kid. Where's Killian?" Tony asked, his and Rhodey's face plate were lifted up.

"He's off the coast of Pensacola on the Roxxon Norco. His staging ground for his plan but we're gonna ruin it." Will told them.

"Knowing he's got a whole bunch of other Extremis enhanced guys there we could use some backup." Rhodey pointed out.

"I think I've got that handled. Jarvis, I think it's time."

"Do you mean the House Party Protocol, sir?"

"Correct." Tony replied.

"Will, what is Killian's plan?" Rhodey wondered.

"Complete control of every war to come by ruling behind the scenes. He gave the world the Mandarin to cover up for his Extremis fails and give everyone a target. Then he controls the way to counter that by unveiling Extremis as the one thing that can stop him. Normally, that wouldn't be possible but his plan also included kidnapping and killing the president and replacing him with the Vice President who is working for him. So, there's that." Will told them.

"Jesus. This guy really has lost his mind." Tony muttered.

"He'll control the most powerful leader of the western world in one hand and the world's most powerful terrorist in the other and control the war on terror, making himself the ruler of everything." Will finished.

"How did you find this out?" Rhodey asked.

"Lucky for us, Killian likes to boast to his subordinates. Geniuses have enormous egos that can be exploited. And I for one would like to celebrate Christmas by taking this asshat down. So, shall we?" Will flew into the air as Rhodey and Tony followed him over to the oil rig.

At the Roxxon Norco oil ship and yard, AIM and Killian had turned it into his staging area for the final part of his master plan if everything went according to plan. Unfortunately for him, that plan went off the rails the second he blew up Tony's mansion. He had retreated to the ship and shipping yard with nearly all his scientists, engineers, guards, and all his Extremis enhanced soldiers.

"Make sure everything is loaded onto the transports to move to our secondary sites. Tell Tarleton and Rappaccini to head there immediately. If things work out right then they can start working by the time I'm there." Killian told his men when one of his technicians picked up three signatures closing in on the radar.

"Sir, we've got three contacts closing in fast."

"Stark. Get your brothers and sisters out there and kill him. If he leaves here alive then you don't." Killian warned his guard who quickly left to stop the intruders. An alarm was sounded and all guards and Extremis enhanced soldiers readied themselves. Many had guns but several of them took stringer missile launchers and once they had a lock on the targets closing in, they fired. Six stinger missiles flew through the air but when they got close, they were thrown off course and crashed into one another, exploding. The guards fired another round of stinger missiles but Iron Man and Iron Patriot had closed the distance and flew by. They released flares so the stinger missiles veered off course and exploded.

Iron Man flew by and blasted some guards with repulsors, taking care of the non-Extremis ones as the Iron Patriot flew around the cargo lifter and blasted the turret placements with his heavy mini gun. Various AIM scientists and engineers got into cars, vans, and trucks with equipment and sensitive information and drove away only for said escape vehicles to flip over, crash into one another or get crushed into pancakes. One armed APC drove away as fast as it could only for Aegis to land right in front of it and punched the ground. His telekinesis ripped the ground apart, trapping the APC in its place. One AIM guard opened the top hatch and got onto the attached .50 caliber machine gun before firing at Aegis only for the bullets to deflect and bounce off his forcefield. The bullets ricocheted around, even bouncing back and hitting the APC with one round killing the guard on the turret. Aegis just lifted his hand and the APC was pulled into the air, turned upside down and then crashed back down with the tires blown out. It wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Several guards on the catwalks of the cargo bay fired down at him but he just stopped the bullets and pushed them back, killing the guards with their own bullets. An Extremis soldier jumped from the walkway to land on him but he rolled out of the way at the last second. He grabbed the soldier by the arm and threw him into a cargo container, breaking it in half as another Extremis soldier charged at him but he unfolded his shield and bashed him in the face. He did it again, definitely breaking his nose before throwing him into the air where Tony blasted him as he flew by.

"Nice set up, kid." Tony commented, flying by, and blasting another soldier with his repulsors before he fired his unibeam and a soldier on a gangway and blasting him in half.

Rhodey flew by and using the minigun on his shoulder and the guns on his arms he riddled the Extremis soldiers with bullets. "Not so tough when it's a fair fight, huh?" He kept firing when he saw the woman who had captured him and the suit in Pakistan. His left shoulder socket opened up and four tiny missiles fired out and hit her, blowing her to bits. He flew up and blasted a few more guards when he saw several fast moving glimpses of light in the distance. "Guys, we've got incoming."

"That would be backup." Tony told him and soon over thirty Iron Man suits flew into the area. House Party protocol? Assembling all Iron Man suits for battles and with Mark 8 to 41, AIM didn't stand a chance. "Jarvis, target Extremis heat signatures and disable with extreme prejudice."

"Yes, sir." Jarvis replied.

"And Jarvis, have a few of the suits man the perimeter. We can't let any AIM scientists or Extremis soldiers to escape." Will told him as he flipped over another Extremis soldier and stabbed him through the heart with his forearm blades before slicing his head off.

"You heard the kid, Jarvis. Take them to church!" Tony said as the suits began flying around and engaging the AIM forces while several flew around the perimeter and kept watch for any fleeing guards.

The Mark 37 AKA Hammerhead flew in and knocked one soldier off the catwalk before landing in the middle of three other Extremis soldiers. It blasted one with his unibeam and elbowed the other. It was soon overwhelmed with the Extremis soldiers punching through the armor and ripping its head off. The suit flew away as a safety measure with one soldier holding on where it crashed to the ground and exploded, taking the soldier with him. The Mark 41 AKA Bones flew by, disassembled into its pieces, and knocked several soldiers off the catwalks before reassembling and flying away. The Mark 38 AKA Igor stomped through the shipping yard, barreling through containers and equipment with ease. It bashed and swatted soldiers away as the Mark 17 AKA Heartbreaker flew by to assist the Mark 35 AKA Red Snapper who was overwhelmed.

Will crushed another Extremis guard's head when he saw the Mark 39 AKA Gemini and Mark 40 AKA Shotgun fly by and blast several more guards. "I guess I got my wish to see Mark 8 to 41. Geez, Tony you don't take it easy, do you?"

"Well, everyone needs a hobby." Tony replied, flying beside the Mark 33 AKA Silver Centurion as they flew up to the main control area and busted through the door. The guards opened fire but the two suits of armor took care of the guards with ease. The Silver Centurion blasted the last guard out of the control room with the unibeam when Killian charged in and punched through the chest piece, rendering the suit unable to function. Killian threw the armor at Tony before tackling him out of the control and the two fell onto the gangway below.

Tony got back to his feet as Killian looked around and saw everything he had worked for crumbling around him. "You know, I had this whole plan for you. Plans for you, Pepper, and everything but you just had to go and ruin it like you always do. But you know what. I don't care. I was going to offer you a position. Extend an olive branch but now I'm just gonna kill you. And I'll take my time. And I promise that when I'm done with you, Pepper will have my undivided attention."

"Just stop talking." Tony charged forward and engaged Killian in a bare knuckle brawl. He fired a repulsor blast but Killian dodged it as he knocked off a piece of the shoulder armor and then ripped off a piece of the side. Tony managed a backhand before forcing Killian onto railing when he pushed away. The two connected punches with part of Tony's left arm coming apart and Killian breaking his arm but it quickly healed as he charged Tony off the gangway. Seeing as how the Mark 42 was damaged, he ejected mid-fall and the Mark 40 flew to him and encased around him. He flew up, tackling Killian and crashing through part of the top walkway before dropping him and landing on the ground. Killian stood up and removed his ripped shirt as his Extremis formula had already healed him.

Dodging several repulsor beams, Killian closed the distance. He blocked Tony's punches and tore off parts of the stomach armor when he was thrown up against a pulley spindle. Tony fired duel repulsor blasts but Killian ducked and then twisted his wrist so his next blast hit himself. He was knocked backwards but the back engine stopped him from falling and let him recover. He blocked Killian's punch, kneed him in the stomach then in the face and landed a vicious backhand before throwing out a kick only for Killian to grab his leg and bring his other hand down to cut it off. Tony disengaged the armor around his leg, saving it but losing that piece of the armor as Killian used it as a club and bashed him in the head.

Tony grappled Killian to the ground but Killian landed on his feet and threw Tony onto his back. He struggled to his knees and raised his gauntlet only for Killian to move it aside and crush the metal. "Well, here we are on the roof." Killian commented as he channeled heat into his free hand and brought it down, bisecting the armor but Tony ejected at the last second and fell onto his back. "And there you are. All your armors and yet you can't stop him. Its really a pity. I'll be sure to tell Pepper this when I go get her and you know, you never deserved her."

"You're right. I don't deserve her but neither do you." Tony thrusted his hand forward and the Mark 42 flew in, encasing itself around Killian. "Jarvis, do me a favor and blow Mark 42."

"NO—" Killian was cut off as the helmet latched on and the armor began glowing. Tony jumped and slid down a railing as the armor and Killian exploded, destroying the part of the cargo loader, and bringing it down. Tony slid down the railing before jumping as Aegis flew in and caught him.

"I got you." Will flew them to the ground and created a forcefield around them as the burning wreckage came down. Once it was clear, Will pulled his hood down and deactivated his mask as he looked at the destruction. "That's one way to celebrate Christmas."

Tony looked at the helmet of the Mark 42 and when it fell apart to reveal nothing inside, he breathed a sigh of relief only to hear metal creaking. Will and Tony saw a figure step out of the burning wreckage and it was Killian, somehow still alive but horribly injured and burnt.

"No more false faces. You want the Mandarin? Well you're looking right at him. It was always me, Tony. Right from the start. I am the Mandarin!" Killian shouted only to get blasted by a unibeam from the Iron Patriot which landed next to Tony and Will.

"I owed you that." Rhodey commented. Killian got back to his feet and charged them only for Will to pick up a pole and whack him across the face, sending him flying back.

"Jarvis, give me a gauntlet!" Will shouted. The Mark 41 flew down and separated itself with the left arm attaching itself onto Will. He began glowing blue and fired an telekinetic energy blast with his right arm while firing a repulsor blast with his left. The two beams of energy hit Killian and began tearing through him bit by bit as he screamed in anger. "No sequel for you. Happy trails, Hans."

He increased the power and Killian blew up in a huge explosion of fire. The head of AIM and only other person who knew the full formula and process of Extremis was dead. Will removed the gauntlet from his arm and looked at the burning mess that was once Aldrich Killian.

"He's not getting up from that." Tony muttered.

"No, he isn't. EDI, are we done here?" Will asked.

"I believe so. All remaining AIM personnel have surrendered and all Extremis enhanced soldiers have been disabled." She told him.

"Better late then never. Feliz Navidad." He said as the battle of the Norco ended with the good guys winning and the bad guys losing.

Line Break xxxxx

January 2013

That Christmas night, Will was able to report to Director Fury and the President that the Mandarin threat was over. Killian was dead, all AIM personnel and scientists were arrested including Maya Hansen and the actor was going to jail for his part in all of this. All research and information on Extremis was pretty much destroyed so the World Security Council was not happy about that but the world was safe yet again from human bombs so what are you gonna do. Tony, Rhodey, and Will would be honored for their jobs in stopping the Mandarin threat and Tony was actually taking Will's advice to heart. Even going as far as to have the pieces of shrapnel removed from his chest and his Arc reactor. Will was there with Pepper and Rhodey when Tony went for the operation.

Happy woke up from his coma which was great and the world was told the truth about Killian and AIM. All of his conspirators were arrested, including the Vice President which was a bit of a black eye to the presidency but you give the people a win to overshadow the huge PR nightmare. While Will patted himself on the back for a good job done, it still wasn't over. AIM had international offices and secondary sites off the radar so SHIELD was going to be working on making sure they were shut down. But like cockroaches, they don't die.

Switzerland: Underground Lab complex

In one AIM facility in Switzerland, two of AIM's head scientists George Tarleton and Monica Rappaccini were meeting in one of AIM's secret labs hidden underground. Despite Killian's death there were still many scientists whose moral compass was skewed and fostered by AIM's lack of oversight or lack of caring about the repercussions and ethics of science. Those secret facilities were still functioning but with what happened to Killian some new direction and orders were needed which is what Tarleton and Rappaccini were discussing.

"Killian's own ego and need for power ruined our plans. We're going to be setback years now that we have to evade SHIELD." Tarleton commented, moving his more sensitive data onto a hard drive.

"Actually, it could prove to be for our benefit. With Killian dead, the spotlight is off us. They think AIM is done for and while they think that we make new plans." Rappaccini told him. "Killian's whole idea of super soldiers was laughable. Hansen's Extremis formula was flawed from the start. He should have handed it to me and I would have fixed everything sooner and we wouldn't be in this mess. But with them dead, it gives me time to work on perfecting it and work on a few of my own alterations to it."

"And what do you plan to do with these advancements? There's no way we'll be able to market any of our breakthroughs." Tarleton said.

"Depending on who we market them to. Science doesn't discriminate and neither should scientists. I'm sure there are plenty of people we can find who would fund us for our experiments and you can finally make headway on your Snythoid and Adaptoid projects." Rappaccini pointed out.

"So, what now?" Tarleton asked.

"We continue working but from the shadows. For now, AIM goes dark but we will be back." Rappaccini sent the word out to any remaining AIM scientists to regroup and go dark. Killian was dead but what he started now had a life of its own.

Washington D.C.

Will was dressed in his most formal suit as he and Director Fury were meeting with the President. For their work in stopping the Mandarin and Killian's plans along with uncovering the Vice President's involvement in everything, there was going to be a small ceremony private ceremony. Will stood next to Director Fury as President Ellis handed him a medal of honor.

"Thank you for your service, Agent Detmer. You have the thanks of a grateful nation for your heroics in stopping the Mandarin and getting to the truth." President Ellis told him.

"No thanks necessary, Mr. President. I'm just doing my job." Will replied as President Ellis smiled and pat him on the shoulder.

"Be that as it may, well done. You're a credit to SHIELD agents everywhere." President Ellis told him.

"Thank you, sir but the job is not done yet and there will be other threats. But I'll be ready." Will assured him as President Ellis smiled at Fury.

"You have a good agent here, Fury. Keep up the good work." President Ellis shook both their hands before they were escorted out of the Oval office.

Will looked at the medal of honor in its display case and smiled. This was a huge honor even though no one would know about it. "I had a moment of pause after I received my medal. They do that to you." Fury told him.

"Don't worry, sir. This won't distract me. There's still some clean up to do on the AIM situation. Many of their European facilities have gone dark and been cleared out. Killian may be gone but what he created can't be undone. Romanoff and Barton are investigating leads with the information I managed to copy." Will informed him.

"Good work. And Extremis?"

"I destroyed everything I encountered at the labs on the manor grounds and at the Norco base along with deleting everything but we have to assume that the sites that went dark have knowledge about Extremis and the possible means to recreate it. Lucky for us that Extremis Enhanced soldiers are easy to detect so I have EDI informing the engineering department to create countermeasures to make detecting them a lot easier." He replied.

"Well done, Agent Detmer. And the council's off the record request?" Fury asked.

"On the record, no sir and off the record, nothing I found will be turned over until I'm sure it's stabilized." Will told him.

"I trust your judgement on this, Agent Detmer but be careful who you trust with this." Fury warned him.

"Don't worry, sir. I know who to trust." Will assured him as he left. Fury was less then optimistic but Will's instincts were right. And after uncovering the AIM mole they had in SHIELD, keeping this with the Avengers might prevent a worse case scenario.

Avengers Tower, New York City

Will met with Dr. Banner at Avengers tower to tell him what he wanted to do with the two vials of Extremis serum he took from the AIM lab. If there was anyone he trusted with figuring out the serum and removing the explosive side effects it was Dr. Banner. He did tell Tony that he had the serums and what he wanted to use them for and he agreed to help but it was going to be a secret between the three of them.

Dr. Banner had taken a small sample of the serum and was analyzing it under heavy duty electron microscopes and various other readers. He looked at the serum under a 1000times magnification and it was interesting for sure.

"This serum is both elegant and a mess. This Maya Hansen was smart but there are numerous issues with his serum." Dr. Banner noted as he jotted down some notes.

"Yeah, I figured that. I think the idea of genetic manipulation to her was so great that she didn't understand that she was playing with Pandora's box." Will commented.

"And you'll find me curious to why you have two vials of it. You did go through all that trouble to stop AIM and destroy their research." Dr. Banner pointed out.

"That's a fair point, Dr. Banner and I understand. Dr. Hansen's work and Killian's alterations to it turned it into a dangerous weapon that turned people into living human bombs. But I've also seen it do some pretty extraordinary things. Now, I'm not saying we completely replicate Extremis exactly like they did. No. I would never suggest that. I was just thinking that if there is anyone who can rework this serum into something good without explosive side effects it would be you. Being able to heal injuries and even regenerate limbs could help a lot of people but I'm not willing to risk that if it costs people blowing up like a pack of C4." Will explained. "Even if we have to strip Extremis down to its bare bones code and start from scratch to prevent the exothermic side effects then fine. And if at any point we agree we shouldn't be doing this then we destroy everything. I promise."

"Good to know." Dr. Banner replied. "And it's a noble goal. I'll do what I can and take a look at it."

"EDI can help you with that. She downloaded all of AIMs files but this stays with us. I didn't even hand over any of the serum to SHIELD. I hate to think what the World Security Council or other scientists would do if they got their hands on this." He shuddered at the thought.

"Yet you trust me." Banner pointed out.

"Of course, Dr. Banner, I trust you. And I know you have a clear moral compass. I know you'd make the right decision." Will told him. "We take our time and we do it for the right reasons."

"Agreed." Dr. Banner shook his hand when the intercom dinged.

"Sorry to interrupt but Mr. Stark requests your presence in the lounge, Mr. Detmer." Jarvis told him.

"Wonder what for." Will commented as he headed towards the lounge and what Tony needed…was a therapist.

Tony laid down on a chair as Will sat next to him with a notepad and pen. He was a superhero/secret agent, not a therapists or councilor. He wasn't sure why he agreed to it.

"A famous man once said we create our own demons. Who said that? What does that even mean? Doesn't even matter. I said it because he said it. So, now he was famous because I said and it's basically getting said by two well-known guys. I don't, uh…I'm going to start again. Let's track this from the beginning. It started in Bern, Switzerland. 1999. The old days. I never thought that they would come back to bite me. Why would they? So, why am I telling you this? Because I had just created demons and I didn't even know it. Yeah, those were good times. Then I moved on. After a brief soiree in an Afghan cave, I said goodbye to the party scene. I forgot that night in Switzerland. These days I'm a changed man. I'm different now. I'm…well, you know who I am." Tony started recounting everything about what happened with AIM and such including the first time he met Maya Hansen and Aldrich Killian. Then the story diverged to what he was doing at his manor when it was still around and he was building armors. It did have a funny moment with Tony getting knocked on his ass from a helmet that flew around.

"I guess 72 hours is a long time between siestas. I didn't think it could get any worse. Then I had to go and turn on the TV. That's when he happened."

Tony then began to recount everything with the Mandarin bombings, meeting Rhodey for lunch and Happy telling him about Killian's meeting with Pepper. Then Pepper coming home to the giant stuffed rabbit/bear thing, Tony confessing what was going on and then him meeting Will at the hospital after Happy survived the explosion. The story continued on as Tony recounted everything and Will was starting to drift.

"And so, as Christmas morning began, my journey was at its end. You start with something pure. Something exciting. Then come the mistakes, the compromises. We create our own demons. As promised, I got everything sorted out and anyone Killian infected was back to normal. But then I thought why stop there? Of course, there are people who say progress is dangerous, but then I bet none of those idiots ever had to live with a chest full of shrapnel. And now, neither will I. Let me tell you: that was the best sleep I'd had in years. So, if I were to wrap this up tight with a bow or whatever, I guess I'd say my armor, it was never a distraction or a hobby, it was a cocoon. And now, I'm a changed man. You can take away my house, all my tricks and toys. One thing you can't take away…I am Iron Man." It was a great speech only it was for himself as Will was asleep in his chair.

"You know and thank you by the way for listening. But something about just getting it off my chest and putting it out there in the atmosphere instead of holding this in. I mean, this is what gets people sick, you know. Wow. I had no idea you were such a good listener. To be able to share all my intimate thoughts, my experiences, with someone, it just cuts the weight in half, you know. It's like a snake swallowing its own tail. Everything comes full circle." Tony said with his eyes closed. He thought Will was listening but in fact he was asleep, leaning his head on his right hand while the pad of paper was on his lap. The pen fell from Will's hand and fell on his lap, waking him up as he quickly rubbed his eyes.
"And—and the face that you've been able to help me process…"

"Sorry." Will told him.

"Are you with me?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, I am. We were at, uh…"

"What are you actively napping?"

"I was…I…I drifted." Will said.

"Where did I lose you?" Tony asked as Will cleared his throat.

"Uh…Mark 42 testing."

Tony frowned as he gave the kid a disapproving look. "So, you heard none of it."

"Well, I did go through it with you." Will pointed out. "I'm sorry, Tony. I'm not a doctor or a therapist. It's not my training. I usually break minds. I don't have the-"

"What? The time?" Tony asked.

"Temperament."

"You know what? Now that I think about it. Oh! God, my original wound. 1983, all right. I'm 14 years old, and I still have a nanny. That was weird." Tony recounted only for Will to throw his head back in exhaustion. Dealing with criminals, evil science groups and supervillains is easy. Being Tony Stark's therapist, not so much.

End of chapter 9

1). X-men Jean Grey and Scott Summers played by Sophie Turner and Tye Sheridan, respectively. Young versions of the X-men like in X-men Evolution.

I hoped you guys like the chapter. It's shorter than I originally planned and I cut some stuff out but I like how it turned out. Again, it really deals with Iron Man 3 and with Will's involvement a lot of those events are altered so I hope everyone like how it turned out. AIM is dealt with and Killian is dead along with his Mandarin façade but it's not over. AIM still has players out there and they'll come back.

Next time, Will hangs out with Dr. Banner and meets his cousin Jennifer Walters. A smart lawyer and kind of a polar opposite to Bruce. An unfortunate work related issue puts her in danger and as a result something sensational happens. After that, Will has a mission that puts him on the radar of a group called the Hellfire Club and they're not normal. At first, he thinks they're like him but they're not and after meeting with Director Fury he meets a world of people that he'll become very close with and open his eyes to just how uncanny this world can be. Until next time.

Again, hoped you guys like the chapter. We've got some X-men easter eggs which will play itself out after next chapter along with meeting a sensational new ally. Also, Will saved two vials of Extremis which will come into play in the future. And I know a lot of people have been asking when the Agents of SHIELD arc is going to start and I understand that you guys want it soon but I've followed the timeline of the MCU and it doesn't start until September 2013. But I promise you guys that after the next chapter, the Agents of SHIELD arc will start. I'm altering things so they start earlier and they're will be more missions. So, don't worry. It'll start soon.

Also, I've been looking into the She-Hulk series and I found conflicting articles stating that Actress Tatiana Maslany is casted as Jennifer Walters but then there are articles stating she has debunked these casting rumors. So, out of curiosity who do you guys think is going to be She-Hulk.

William Alexander Detmer/Birthname: William Alexander Danvers

Born: September 8th, 1988-Currently 24

Moniker= Aegis (means something under protection from a benevolent source/Shield of Zeus and Athena)

SHIELD Status: Level 7 Agent / Special Operations, Tactics and Defense Specialist (SOTD) Serial number: NE616IN

Member of the Avengers

Appearance: Stephen Amell from Arrow, Season 1 build.

Aegis Combat gear: Earth X's Dark Arrow Vibranium jacket and pants with retractable full-face mask colored Black and Blue. Eye covers in mask are colored blue as well. Improved design resists more damage and certain atmospheric pressures.

Shoulder strap pellet holders. Combat gloves and forearm guards with weapons and equipment.

SHIELD gear: Combat boots, black combat pants, with form fitting dark blue long sleeve athletic shirt. SHIELD Tactical combat vest.

Shoulder strap pellet holders. Combat gloves and forearm guards with weapons and equipment.

Casual Outfit: dark blue or black sneakers, jeans, blue or black t-shirt and either a zip-up hoodie, jacket, or button up over.

Weapons:

Signature Guns:

Modified Heckler & Koch P30L handgun with custom grip and compensator or suppressor attachment. Spare firearm Glock 17.

Modified Knight's Armament SR-25 Sniper rifle with modified scope, bipod, and suppressor.

Modified M249 Mk46 Light Machine gun with a modified barrel, magazine insertion well. Equipped with adjustable buttstock, 100-round magazine drum, deployable bipod, red dot sight, flashlight, and laser sight attachment.

Modified TDI/KRISS Vector-.45 ACP with modified barrel, stock, grip, extended magazine, red-dot sight, flashlight, laser sight, and silencer attachment.

Modified Remington 879 MSC Masterkey 12-gauge compact shotgun.

Custom collapsible Oneida Kestrel Compound Bow and quiver of special arrows.

Others:

Right forearm guard wrist mounted retractable Vibranium/alloy blades.

Left forearm guard wrist mounted small retractable Vibranium Shield & touchpad computer.

10 dark blue flechettes/throwing arrows wrapped around his ankles.

2 Vibranium orbs that Will is able to manipulate.

Natural Language Modified Artificial Intelligence program EDI.

Predator Combi stick/spear

2 Predator Shuriken

4 Laser net devices

Predator knife

Personal Vehicles: Red and Black 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS, Red and Black 1970 Harley Davidson Titan V-Rod motorcycle,

Notable talents: Genius level intellect potential, self-defense military training from Harold Detmer, knowledge, and training in 15 types of martial arts, gun knowledge and expert marksman trained by Clint Barton, espionage and spy skills trained by Natasha Romanoff, SHIELD tactics and medical training from Coulson and SHIELD trainers, well-crafted knowledge and understanding of psychology, knowledge, and experience with engineering both mechanical and electrical, fluent in dozens of languages.

Personality: Kind, caring, composed, attentive, intelligent, and driven. Can be a bit of a smartass.

When insulted, angered, or in a serious situation, focused and relentless. Considered dangerous and unforgiving in these types of situations.

Uses powers sparingly in the field unless absolutely needs to.

Pairing: Will x Skye/Daisy Johnson x Crystal

Powers:

Rakyat Tatau: Mystical tattoo that enhances speed, strength, stamina, intelligence, instincts, healing speed ad metabolic function to absolute human peak potential. (Captain America Level Super Soldier)

Telekinesis, the ability to impact objects through the direct influence of mental power or other non-physical means

Power Level=Advanced: level 4 out of 5

Binding-to keep an object/being from moving

Levitation-to lift an object

Orbital Field-to makes objects and energy orbit around user

Telekinetic Shield-to create a shield of telekinetic energy around user or others/strength of shield depends on mental strength and focus of user

Psionic Speed-to augment user's physical speed

Psionic Strength-to augment user's physical strength

Telekinetic Bullet Projection-projecting telekinetic energy as bullets

Telekinetic Choking-to strangle someone with telekinesis

Telekinetic Grip-To grasp an object firmly in place

Telekinetic Maneuver-to alter an object's directional course

Telekinetic Pull & Push-to pull or push objects away from user

Molecular Manipulation-to manipulate matter at molecular level. Can accelerate, slow down and adjust spacing of molecules.

Limited in use. i.e.. manipulating Vibranium orbs and reshaping them

Telekinetic Aura/Sense-To sense one's surroundings with telekinesis

Telekinetic Compression-to crush or compact an object

Telekinetic Blast-to emit telekinetic energy as a blast of blue energy

Telekinetic Destruction-to make an object explode into dust

Telekinetic Flight-using telekinesis to fly

Psionic Explosion-to create/discharge psychic energy across a wide range

Telepathy, mentally receive or transmit information

Power Level=Advanced: level 4 out of 5

Mind Reading-ability to read the thoughts of others

Memory Reading-the ability to read the target's memories

Psychic Communication-the ability to secretly converse with others

Telepathic Speaking-to speak aloud using the mind

Telepathic Projection-to project images or memories into the physical plane

Download-the ability to process/download information of another person (If used in a violent or angry mood, can harm the victim)

Knowledge Replication-the ability to replicate learned knowledge and skills

Knowledge Projection-the ability to project knowledge to another

Rapid brain activity-the ability to process and understand information at incredible rates

Mental Inducement-The ability to put the targets mind into the wanted state

Mental Hallucination-the ability to cause mental hallucinations

Mind Link-the ability to develop a permanent mental bond with any person

Mind Walking/Melding-to enter another's consciousness

Precognition awareness-six sense awareness of imminent danger

Telepathic Prediction-the ability to know a person's moves by reading their brain waves

Astral Projection-to separate one's mind from their body and explore physical plane

Cannot use telekinesis in this state. If separated from body too long, very dangerous.

Telepathic Surgery-the ability to perform neuropsychic surgery, healing and/or damaging the mind

Memory/Mental Manipulation-the ability to manipulate a target's memories and mind

Clairvoyance-the ability to gain direct visual information through non-physical means

Triggered only by serious events

Foresight-the ability to foresee possible future events and observe what may happen

Needs certain triggers to activate

Disclaimer: I don't own Agents of SHIELD or any Marvel Properties, they belong to their respective owners, I'm just a fan.