"Sir, it appears someone is approaching your front door. I can't seem to identify them."

By now, Iron Man had fought his fair share of battles. Obadiah had been a betrayal, Vanko had been an eye-opener, and the handful of scummy terrorists had mostly been for training. In each battle, even when he was somehow emotionally invested, Tony was pretty good at keeping his cool. But as he watched the masked person stalk up to his home... now that just pissed him off.

"Pepper, get into the workshop. Grab my suit," Tony ordered. Pepper's eyes were wide, her face pale, but she darted off. Thank God she wasn't wearing those ridiculous heels at a time like this. Tony could see the person approaching, and he stepped forward. His view of the person was poor, as he looked from his brightly lit home to the dark night outside. He could see they were wearing some sort of crude welding mask, hiding their face.

Tony walked to the door, hoping to stop them before they could enter. All he had to do was stall them until Pepper was able to get the suit. Though they hadn't yet done anything, Tony could tell from the rage under each step that this person wasn't here to visit. The person reached the locked door, but instead of stopping, they swung their fist. Tony barely registered the orange glow under their skin before the glass door and its connecting windows shattered, littering the floor with broken glass.

"Shit," he cursed. Tony didn't think that level of strength was humanly possible. "You couldn't have knocked?"

"Always so funny," the person - a woman - replied as she continued to stalk forward. Her voice was warped from the mask she was wearing, but something about it felt strangely familiar.

Up close, Tony got a better view of her. She was petite - which made her strength all the more shocking. She wore simple clothes, black shirt and leggings that told Tony nothing about who she could be. The most jarring part of her outfit was the mas she wore, covering her entire head. Tony was right when he said it looked like a welding mask, though it was badly charred and dented, as if it had been in an explosion of sorts. It looked like a crudely made Iron Man mask.

"Look, I've done this before. Let's skip the whole fighting bit and just skip to the part where you tell me what you want," Tony snapped. He held his ground as the woman approached him, but he was calculating his odds against her. She was clearly strong, and it seemed like she had personal issues with Iron Man. Without his suit, Tony didn't love his odds. Pepper, hurry.

"What I want?" she repeated. Her hands began to glow orange, creeping up her bare arms. Her chest burned as well, shining through her black shirt. Tony could see a faint orange glow through the eye holes on the mask. Shit. The broken door may have been a fault in the glass, but there was no denying her power now. "I want you in the ground, Tony."

Tony ducked out of the way just as the woman swung forward. Instead of hitting him, her first tore through the stone wall behind him, as if it were drywall. He rolled away, putting distance between him and the intruder. "I see we're on a first name basis. Do you mind reminding me of your name? Susan... Carol?"

The woman roared, lunging towards Tony. While she was fast and no doubt powerful, her movements were sloppy. It was as if she had unlimited power but not enough experience of how to use it. He could exploit that - or at least keep her moving long enough for Pepper to return with the suit. "Definitely not Carol then," he quipped.

The woman grabbed Tony's arm, throwing him across the room like a ragdoll. His body slammed into the glass coffee table that Pepper always hated, breaking through and landing in a pool of shattered glass. Tony groaned, pushing himself up. His hands were sliced by the glass, and a black handprint scorched his arm... she had only touched him for a few seconds. Tony's mind was racing. If Pepper couldn't get the suit to him, then J.A.R.V.I.S would have to.

"You really don't know who I am?" the woman asked as she walked over. Tony was struck with a sense of déjà vu; someone had once said those exact words to him, though he couldn't remember who. He was sure a dozen women had said it to him at one point, the morning after a wild night. Tony could tell this wasn't some scorned woman, back for revenge after he didn't call her back. This was someone important. Whoever it was, she was taking her time, enjoying the fear plastered on Tony's face. He couldn't see her face behind the mask but he could feel the hatred radiating off her.

"Can't say I do," Tony wheezed. Then, quietly, "J.A.R.V.I.S, activate Mark VI."

J.A.R.V.I.S was clearly faster than his girlfriend, because he could hear the display case shatter below him followed by the Mark VI repulsors as it shot upstairs. Unfortunately, his attacker heard it too. She was anticipating it. Tony had his hands outstretched, bracing for the armour to slam into his body. His finger barely grazed the metal before the girl caught it, slamming her fist through the centre piece. The chest piece flickered, trying to hold onto its power source.

Tony watched with wide eyes as the girl tore upwards, ripping through the suit as if it were paper, slicing it in half. Metal dripped from the side, wherever her skin touched. Mark VI fell to the ground in two pieces. With a single punch, this stranger had destroyed his latest Iron Man suit. She had ripped it in half. Tony was screwed.

"Tony!"

They both turned at once, to the redhead standing by the staircase, clutching a brightly coloured briefcase to her chest. Pepper's eyes flitted to the destroyed Iron Man suit on the ground and the woman standing in front of it. Pepper had missed the display of pure power - if she had, she wouldn't have attempted to slide the briefcase towards Tony. He rushed forwards, but didn't make it more than a few steps before she gripped his shoulder, throwing him back and away from the case.

"Cute, your girlfriend is trying to protect you," she seethed, stalking towards the briefcase. She reached down, picking the case holding Mark V. She looked at it for a second, almost curious about the weaponry. Then, the girl held up her hand, watching as it warmed, glowing like wildfire. Then, she placed her hand almost gently on the case as it began to smoke and melt around her. Within a second, she had burned a hole directly through the titanium case, destroying the suit inside. The woman tossed the damaged case to the side, having had enough fun.

Tony felt his gut sink as the girl turn her head, not to look at him, but to Pepper. He could handle a fight, he could take a beating. But not Pepper... he never wanted her to be caught in the middle of this. "Leave her out of this."

The woman glanced back, positioning her body towards him. "You're lucky, Tony. Unlike you, I don't kill innocent people."

"Tell me who you are," Tony demanded, positioning himself in front of the side table beside his couch. He kept his gaze locked on the small holes in her mask, internally praying that she'd be too focused on him to notice his hand slipping back, gripping the half-finished wine bottle on the table.

She began walking forward, picking up speed before she was full-on sprinting towards him. Just before she reached him, she jumped, her fist raised and ready to crash down on Tony. A second before she could, Tony swung the wine bottle, hitting it against her helmet and slamming her down. The mask rattled when the glass made contact, almost toppling off her head when she hit the ground. Red wine and shards of glass were spilled on the floor around her, like the scene of a bad murder mystery.

"That was a $15,000 bottle of wine, you know. I was saving it for a special occasion but I guess hitting you over the head will do," Tony said, stepping back slightly as he watched the woman sit back on her knees. With two hands, she twisted the mask, correcting its positioning.

Leaving burning handprints in her wake, the woman pushed herself to her feet. Tony gripped the broken bottle by the neck, holding out the sharp side to his attacker. He felt like an idiot in a bar fight, rather than the superhero he was. He could hear her laughing under the mask when her eyes landed on the broken bottle. She held no fear when she reached towards him. Tony didn't even bother stabbing her. He knew it was useless. Her fingertips seared Tony's skin when they brushed, pulling the bottle from his hand.

He expected her to stab him - to end it, then and there. Instead, he watched in horrifying fascination as she dug the broken glass into her own stomach, burrowing it deep into her skin until blood dripped from her body. The blood poured through the inside of the bottle, down the neck, and out of the uncorked end before finally spilling on the hardwood floor. Then, she threw the bottle against the wall, shattering it once and for all.

For five seconds, Tony though he'd just watched someone attempt to kill themselves in front of him. He waited for her to drop to the floor and bleed out. But that moment never occurred. Instead, as the nausea grew in his gut, he watched as the flaps of skin sewed themselves together, the scar healing over with an orange glow and a billow of smoke.

Tony gulped. He'd usually have a witty quip, but his humor was a thin shield that this woman would be able to tear through with ease. He leveled his gaze with her, looking through the narrow slits of her mask... the mask that somehow felt just as familiar as her voice. "Just... tell me what you want. You want to prove that you're stronger than me? Fine, you've done that. But it's time to stop playing games and end this."

"I don't have to prove anything to you, Tony." The woman started walking away from Tony, holding out her hands as she brushed her fingertips against the furniture. The leather couch warped and melted under her touch, the lamps dripping into a pool of liquid metal and broken glass. The first thing to catch fire was the quilted blanket Pepper had been snuggling under less than thirty minutes ago. The woman tossed it to the ground, letting the fire spread. Only once the fire had caught onto the wooden floor did she turn around. "Do you feel that? Do you feel the heat?"

Tony eyed her, slowly making his way towards the stairway where Pepper stood, hands behind her back. He stepped between his love and his attacker, putting as much distance between the two as he could. He waited, listening to the crazed rant, but not saying anything.

She walked forward, fire erupting in the steps behind her. "I'll tell you what I want. I want you to watch everything you love burn to the ground. I want you to feel the same hopelessness and despair that I once felt. I want you to wake every day, praying for the nightmare to be over. And only once you stand in the ashes of your old life, then you'll know who I am... then you'll know what you did to me."

Tony let out a breath, watching the flames creep along the floor, just as the fire alarm started blaring. The sprinklers on the ceiling sprayed water onto them, but it did little to smother the flames. She just created a new fire every time one burnt out. From his peripheral vision, he could see the flashing red lights of the approaching firetrucks and police cars. He hadn't needed to order J.A.R.V.I.S to notify them. "Yeah... That's not going to happen."

If the intruder was paying more attention, maybe she would have seen Pepper creep towards the broken Iron Man suit on the floor, picking up the metal hand and hiding it behid her back. While saying a silent 'thank you' to his girlfriend, Tony lifted his hand, now coated with Mark VI's armour, and fired a repulsor blast at his attacker. She raised her arms to protect herself, but the blast blew her left hand clean off. It exploded, leaving only a small pile of ash on the floor. The girl screamed, stumbling back. Tony was aware of the embers burning from the stump at the end of her wrist; he was aware that her hand was growing back in front of his eyes. He couldn't focus on that though... he just had to keep firing.

The girl seemed to realize while dodging blasts that she was backing herself into a corner. She wouldn't be able to rush past Tony to get to the front door, and even if she did, the driveway was blocked off by firetrucks and officers. With the floor to ceiling windows, she could clearly see that all that awaited her was endless miles of ocean and rough waves. There was no way out.

"Not so tough now, hey?" Tony asked. His voice was cold; if he was pissed before, he was livid now. How dare she come into his home. How dare she make Pepper feel unsafe with the one person meant to protect her. He didn't care if he had somehow wronged this person in the past... he wanted her gone.

Tony fired again, barely missing her but causing the window behind the woman to shatter. They both knew what she was about to do before she did it. Tony held back his next attack, waiting for her to do something... to say something to finally explain why she was there. She clearly wanted him dead, but he wanted to know why. He didn't need to ask her, she seemed to know what he wanted from the look on his face.

"You gave me hope just to rip it from my hands," she said, her voice almost a whisper. "I deserve peace."

Before Tony could fire off another blast, she tipped backwards, falling out of the broken window and out of view. All Tony could do for a moment was stare, before cautiously stepping forward, his armoured hand protectively pointed towards where she fell. Finally, he peered down at the water far below him. In the dark, he couldn't see anything. "J.A.R.V.I.S?"

"It appears she survived the fall. Would you like me to send a drone to track her?" J.A.R.V.I.S. answered.

"No," Tony said firmly. With her powers, she'd be able to melt any drone, even from a distance. He had a feeling she'd show back up in his life again... He would be prepared when she did. "Let's get out of here."

Pepper was waiting by the front door, staring at Tony with those wide, pleading eyes. A police officer had his hands on her shoulders, trying to guide her away. The entire first floor was up in flames, but firemen were already starting to rush in to put out the blaze. Tony knew they'd be able to salvage the home, at the cost of a large renovation bill. Still, even once the floors were replaced and they managed to get the smell of smoke out of the walls, his home would always be tainted in a way. Maybe the woman hadn't killed Tony, but she still left lasting damage.

Once out of the house, Tony pulled Pepper to the far corner of the yard, where she could no longer feel the heat from the flames. "Tony, who was that?" she asked, immediately. Her eyes flitted down to the handprint burned onto his arm.

Tony shook his head slowly. He had been running through the (many) woman who many have felt slighted by him, but they all felt wrong. He had made a lot of mistakes, hurt a lot of people, but none of them so severely as this person. "I don't know. She felt familiar... I thought I would have remembered an angry fire monster hell-bent on revenge but-"

"Tony," Pepper said evenly. A calm warning to be serious.

Tony let out a sigh, pulling Pepper in for a hug. What mattered was that she was safe; he would figure out the identity of his attacker later. "I don't know who she is. We'll figure it out though, honey. She won't attack us here again."

"How could you promise that?" she asked, face pressed into Tony's chest.

Tony could have explained that he would double the security at his mansion, add an extra security detail to Pepper at all times. He'd make his Iron Man suit more accessible, easier to summon to his body so he could fight her off quicker. Hell, he'd build an army of suits if it meant keeping Pepper safe. Despite all the ideas racing through his head, Tony remained silent. No matter what he did, it would take time to rebuild the safety he'd lost.

As he continued to hold Pepper, he looked around the yard, wondering if she was out there, watching him. He had a feeling that burning his house down and causing him some pain wasn't enough for her. She wanted revenge... she wanted him dead.


"Fuck!"

Aubrey threw the original Iron Man mask against the wall of an alley way, kicking her foot against the brick wall. She didn't cry out as the bones broke under each kick, quickly healing once more. The pain in her body was nothing compared to the trauma and grief bubbling to the surface. To say she was disappointed with the outcome was an understatement.

It had taken her months after leaving Killian to travel to Malibu, constantly planning out the attack every day. She had neglected her training though, naively believing that Extremis would make her strong enough to beat him. She should have been fighting, she should have been pushing herself to the extremes. It was all a massive mistake.

She'd destroyed a few of his precious suits and it would take time for the house to be fixed, but in a few months time, it'd be like she was never there. Tony had already fought foes stronger than her. She was probably nothing more than a nuisance in his eyes. She should have at least burned him more while she had the chance... why hadn't she? Why had she been so weak? All he had was a single burn on his arm to remember her.

Aubrey's goal hadn't changed. Seeing him there, seeing that he didn't even recognize her, only cemeted it in place.

But, she wasn't a fool. To try to attack him again would be stupid. It'd have the same result, if not, a worse one. Tony wouldn't be leaving anywhere without the Iron Man suit on hand. If he defeated her with one hand, how would she face up against the entire suit? No, she needed a new plan. She needed to get stronger somehow; she needed to train so her abilities were matched with Iron Man. She needed resources.

Aubrey just wasn't sure where to find those.

Aubrey let out a breath, slumping against the wall and slowly sliding down. She picked up the mask, holding it in her hand and staring down at it. She ran her fingers over the fresh dent at the top, from whipping it against the wall. As she stared, she focused on bringing slow breaths into her lungs. Aubrey was a scientist; she was smart and analytical. Her experiment had failed and it was time to think through the process before making adjustments and trying again. Her element of surprise was gone - for now. She was sure if she even gave it a year, the attack would slip to the back of Tony's mind, and she could try again. One to two years felt ages away but it would give her time to hone her abilities before trying again.

Step one: get out of Malibu. Hell, Aubrey had to get out of California. She was too close to Tony, Stark Industries, and anyone who might recognize her. It was all too risky to stay. She had essentially no money left to her name, but she could camp out somewhere for a few days until she scrounged up some change. Step two... she would figure that out later. She couldn't exactly go back to Killian, but staying on her own felt too difficult.

For now, she just had to focus on leaving.

Aubrey pulled herself to her feet. She was still soaking wet, but with a quick flare of her powers, it vaporized from her body. She turned from the alley, facing the city street in front of her. She still had the truck she'd stolen from A.I.M before leaving, and she was sure she could siphon off gasoline somewhere. She could be in Arizona by morning.

With her mask still in hand, Aubrey left the alley with a plan in mind. Next time she saw Tony Stark... she would kill him.


"No current DNA matches to the sample, Sir."

Tony let out a sigh, leaning back in his chair. He was sitting in his workshop, in the process of putting together an upgraded Iron Man suit, since someone had gone and destroyed two of them. He swivelled in his seat to the display case that he had only recently begun filling with all of his suits, including a replica of his first suit. The two most recent additions were an eyesore, to say the least. Mark V was littered with holes throughout the armour while Mark VI was two halves, held up with wire in the shattered display. Mark VII would have to come faster than he was planning.

That girl, even though she had barely harmed Tony, had torn through those suits like they were nothing. Like she was tearing through linen rather than armour. He could add extra layers to the suit, add some sort of heat protectant, but even then, Tony wasn't convinced it'd be enough to stop her. The main question that came to mind was always, who is she? followed quickly by, how did she get those powers?

He'd been hoping the answer to the first question would be obvious from the DNA sample he'd taken from the blood on the broken wine bottle. Someone with that much anger had to have a record, right? No. Whoever she was, she was a ghost. Or, at least not a criminal.

Tony left the seat, being drawn to the display case. He didn't want to look at the destroyed suits. Instead, he looked back fondly at the first four. With each progression, the suits became more powerful. His process became more refined. Tony stopped in front of Mark I. The original suit that had been born out of desperation and saved his life - now just a replica since Obadiah destroyed the original. Well, Tony and Pepper destroyed the original with Obadiah still in it.

As he looked, Tony felt a sense of nausea in his gut. Maybe it was his subconsciousness who recognized it first and was trying to warn him to stop prying. Tony's frown deepened as he continued to stare at the Mark I replica - specifically the heavy duty mask. He had made it by hammering the metal over an welding mask. His thoughts were jumbled at first, before he slowly began to string together his theory. It was like his thoughts were different voices, arguing against one another.

S.H.I.E.L.D has Obadiah's suit. It can't be the same.

She could have stolen it from S.H.I.E.L.D.

No... When I battled Obadiah, he had a different helmet. What if there had been a reason for that?

As the memories from his most recent attack filtered back to him, he was able to clearly see the mask. It was blackened, the metal dented and torn in spots. It had looked so different than he remembered, but it was his. Somehow, this girl had gotten her hands on the Mark I mask and some hellish superpowers. Was wearing the mask some sort of statement? Was she someone who had been hurt in some way by Iron Man? Tony didn't know. But now, answering his question was all the more urgent.

Who are you?


Nick Fury tossed the manilla folder on the table in front of Alexander Pierce. His friend, and head of S.H.I.E.L.D, looked up slowly, pulling his glasses from his face.

"What is this?" Pierce asked, pulling the folder towards him. He flipped it open to look at the contents. It was thin, with only a few pages of types notes and a blurry security camera photo.

"Stark was attacked last week in his home. Said a woman with inhuman abilities was trying to kill him," Fury explained. He leaned heavily against the desk, watching as Pierce looked through the folder.

Pierce picked up the photo, putting his glasses back on to examine it. It was blurry, but he could see a person wearing all black and a - was that a welding mask? He then skimmed the written statement from Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. He'd thought Fury was talking about another super soldier, but this was different from anything he'd seen. Starting fires with the lightest of touches, super strength, healing wounds within seconds, regeneration of limbs... "Remarkable."

"We don't have any idea of who this person is or how she got her powers," Fury explained. He paused. "Or, what the hell she wants with Stark."

Pierce snorted, shaking his head slightly. "It is Stark. Even I want to kill the guy sometimes."

Fury smiled - the closest he came to a laugh these days. Still, while Tony was somewhat of an acquired taste, breaking into his home to murder him felt too personal to be anything but premeditated. "I want to send STRIKE Team: Delta to find her."

Pierce looked up, not surprised by Fury's suggestion but instantly disliking the idea. "Romanoff and Barton?"

Fury's eyebrow quirked. "There a problem with that?"

Most people wouldn't speak to their superiors like that. Of course, Fury wasn't most people. Pierce relaxed back in his chair, maintaining an easy demeanor. Fury had always been an excellent field agent - telling when someone was lying came easy to him. But Pierce was an expert at deception; he wouldn't have been leader of HYDRA for this long if he couldn't think on his feet. "No, but I had a different plan for them. I want to test the security of the Helicarriers before their launch. Who better to do test it than Delta team?"

Fury considered it, crossing his arms over his chest. "You think that's a better use of their skills?"

"I think they're the best agents we have and I want those Helicarriers to be a steel box before launch. I'll send Rumlow and Rollins to find this woman," Pierce decided. Fury wanted to argue - of course he did - but he also knew to pick and choose his battles. He couldn't send Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton into every mission, despite having every reason they should be on this one. Natasha knew how to keep things cool, to manipulate a person into getting information from them. Clint... well having the best long-range shooter in the country up against a woman with fire powers seemed to be a given.

Fury didn't like Jack Rollins and Brock Rumlow's brute approach to missions. If this woman had the powers that Stark claimed, their guns and hand-to-hand combat would do nothing to stop her. They needed someone who could bring her in quietly, while still being skilled enough to stop her if she refused. Pierce knew this too, but sending in Romanoff and Barton would be such a waste, from his perspective. They'd either recruit the girl to S.H.I.E.L.D or kill her - no other option.

Pierce had grander plans for this girl... She would make a very useful weapon for HYDRA.