Chapter 36
“Carter,” Coulson bellowed somewhere above her. She lay in darkness on the concrete, bruised and battered but alive.
“I’m here,” she returned, taking stock of what her situation was. Surrounded by darkness, she seemed to lay in a pocket of rubble, torn wires, and toppled shelving, the air conditioning vent trapping her the most. Above, she could hear the scurry of feet and squealing of protesting metal as Coulson began directing agents to remove giant pieces to get her out.
“What’s your status?” he called, his voice echoing through the metal.
She considered, stretching her legs in the cramped space, sitting up slowly to move her shoulders. “I seemed to be well enough. A bit bruised. How about up there?”
“Rosby got banged up good. He’ll need medical attention.”
A set of shelves above her shifted as Cargill and Hsu peeked down, torches in hand, as she blinked up at them. With the obstruction shifted, Hsu reached a hand down to help pull her up out of the hole in the debris. The sub-basement room around them was in shambles. Peggy blinked as she counted the agents huddled around them. All seemed to be there and alive, though Rosby was indeed banged up, leaning heavily on two of the others. The space itself looked as if it had been hit by a tornado, tossed upside down, and flung about like a bull in a china shop.
“Where is Stane?” Peggy managed as she picked her way through the debris to the others, sliding her weapon back into its holster.
“He went after Potts. We’ve not tracked him.”
“We need to get to her. He likely wants to use her as bait for Stark.”
“If we could get out, I’d agree with you, but it looks like we are trapped.” Coulson flashed his light at the path they had just come out of, broken and covered thanks to Stane’s path of destruction.
“Coulson,” Lewis called, finger to his ear, listening. “Solarzano has reinforcements on the way. He also lets us know that another unknown entity has engaged with Stane. Looks like another flying robot.”
“Stark.” Coulson glanced at Peggy, who only belatedly realized she had yet to turn on her communication device. She sheepishly did so, listening to the chatter on the other end. Not much of it made sense, but she could hear that there was some sort of battle happening on the freeway not far away.
“Maybe there is another way out of here.” Peggy turned on her torch, shining the bright light into the darkness beyond. Outside of Stane’s path, the rest of the area looked like little-used cooling space for the Arc Reactor above. On the far wall, however, looked like a door to something. Catching Coulson’s eye, she moved towards it.
“A service door?” He followed as the other agents watched, hopeful.
“Looks like it.” The giant, metal door had no handle on the inside, which meant it had to open from the other side. “Think one of your special toys could open it?”
“Maybe? Specht, you have that device on you?”
A tall, gangly agent nodded, digging in his coat pocket for a small, cylindrical bit of metal no bigger than the handle of a switchblade. “You’ll want to shield your eyes.”
Peggy did so as the other agent flicked it on, a beam of light flaring, bright as an arc welder. Specht pressed the flame into the metal of the door, cutting into it, a circle that glowed in bright, molten red from the heat, smoking as he worked. When he finished, an uneven circle of metal remained, easily punched out onto the other side of the door, clattering as it fell, revealing a light source on the other side.
Peggy blinked in mild amazement. “What is that?”
“It’s called a Mouse Hole,” Coulson explained. “A pocket industrial laser.”
Specht grinned, holding up the now quiescent device. “A friend of mine, Agent Fitz, developed it while we were in training.”
“And it’s restricted to only high-level agents,” Coulson reminded him with some asperity. Specht flushed and nodded, pocketing it again before reaching one of his long, thin arms through the now cooling metal, reaching up for a handle outside.
“Senior agents?” Peggy asked, with the tone that asked how Specht got it.
“I didn’t even rate one of those,” Coulson grumbled. “A senior agent, and they didn’t give me one. Hill has one, and she doesn’t even go in the field as often as I do.”
“And how did Specht manage?”
“The secret engineer club,” he muttered as the heavy steel door opened with a creek, nearly toppling Specht as he clumsily tried to maneuver it with his arm through nearly to his shoulder. Coulson leaped forward to continue opening the heavy door as Peggy helped Specht detangle himself and stand upright.
On the radio, Solorzano’s voice sounded. “Stane is back on the roof with the unknown assailant. I’m not sure they won’t bring the whole place down.”
“Let’s get moving,” called Coulson to the others as he began waving them through the short hallway that led to another set of metal double doors.
“What about Potts,” Peggy spoke into the lapel, drawing Solarzano’s attention.
“She seemed all right. She’s back inside, though.”
“See if you can get her out.” Peggy had a feeling that if Stane and Stark were up on the roof, one or the other of them was planning on using the reactor to cause some sort of destruction.
“Time for us to get out too, Director.” Coulson grabbed her elbow, propelling her along. Peggy bit back her disgruntlement but did as asked, hustling behind the other agents into a service bay area on the back side of the building. The rest was made for the far side of the parking area, filled with a fleet of vans and trucks all emblazoned with the Stark Industries logo. On the other side was a swath of grass where they let Rosby settle, the rest looking to Coulson. He stopped in the middle of the parking lot, looking to the action above.
Peggy turned, seeing the horrific suit of Stane’s up there, clearly looking for something.
“We need to get back to the front.” Peggy tugged on Coulson’s sleeve, dragging him along with her.
Coulson barely had a chance to call back to Cargill that he was in to see over the team before he took off, back towards the building and a small plaza that had a cut-through to the front of the immense campus. Peggy’s steps pounded on the pavement as she made for it, as up above, the sounds of fire could be heard. She rounded the corner to the main front area, with Coulson hard on her heels, just as in the distance, she could see the lights of emergency vehicles coming through the drive.
“Cavalry has arrived, at least,” Peggy gasped, looking toward the Arc Reactor building. Glass and rubble covered the square, as did a giant hole that seemed to have been formed by something burrowing up from underneath the earth. Solarzano stood outside of the well-lit doors. Inside, Potts was at the controls, pressing buttons and staring up at the roof above. From up above, another volley of shots rang out, sending glass from the glass panels above raining down on the control panel and Potts standing below it.
Without a second thought, Peggy tore through the broken glass already scattered on the ground to get through to her. Coulson yelled Peggy's last name. Peggy ignored him as bullets and shattered windows rained down, covering her head as she made for cover in a doorway, looking for the means to get to the platform that controlled the reactor. A single set of stairs led up to where Potts crouched. She looked up, staring in fear as through the ceiling, a figure in battered, red armor dangled dangerously over the reactor.
“Tony,” Potts screamed as Peggy could see the man holding on to a beam for dear life, glancing back down at her in terror.
Up above, Peggy could hear Stane’s voice, dark and amused. “How ironic, Tony! Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever!”
“Pepper,” Stark bellowed, calling for his assistant down below.
“And now,” Stane shouted, winded and threatening. “I’m going to kill you with it.”
The entire building rumbled with the force of an explosion on its roof. Dust and glass particles flew as Peggy ducked and Potts shrieked. Peggy waited for it to settle before heading across the destruction to the stairs, hoping to grab Potts and make a run for the doors and safety.
“You ripped out my targeting system,” Stane admonished above, even as Stark continued to dangle, holding on for dear life. Potts had her eyes only on him and didn’t even notice Peggy coming up to where she stood.
“Time to hit the button,” Stark called down to Potts.
She flailed an arm in mild confusion. “You told me not to.”
Stane was unconcerned with their spat. “Hold still, you little prick.”
Another rumble shook the building, nearly sending Peggy skittering over slippery shards.
“Just do it,” Stark screamed his command, desperate.
“You’ll die,” she wailed back.
Another shot managed to hit the girders, nearly breaking through and sending Stark tumbling to cling with one arm.
“Push it,” he roared down to Potts, who did as she was asked. She slammed the flat of her hand down on the controls, immediately starting a reaction in the Arc Reactor. Electricity crackled, bluish-purple, sending sparks all around the ring shape. A corona of energy surrounded it, and Peggy could see the systems overloading. Potts let out a yelp as she stumbled down the steps, her shoes sticking and nearly sending her sprawling face-first into the diamond-sharp shards below. Peggy reached out for her, grabbing her arm and righting her as best she could to get her down the stairs.
“Come on,” she yelled over the growing noise as Potts stopped to stare desperately at Stark up above.
“It will kill him!”
“We haven’t got time,” Peggy insisted, yanking her with her. The other woman barely kept up as they rushed out, even as the reactor spun and overloaded, building energy so bright it was nearly incandescent. They had yet to make it to the door when the reactor exploded its surfeit of electricity upwards, shooting it up through the building and into the air, like a lightning bolt in reverse.
Potts tried then, once again, to pull her arm away, as if she could do anything to help Stark now, but Peggy held on, refusing to let go. With a tug, she got Potts moving again, even as sparks flew around them, the light blinding as Peggy squeezed her eyes tightly shut, hoping to make her way outside. There was a boom, then silence.
Peggy had rather hoped that would be the worst of it. But there came a sound of creaking metal, as from somewhere above, the of it tumbling down, banging loudly into metal and glass. Peggy glanced back to see the very large body of Stane and his machine fall through the roof and down towards the Arc Reactor itself, like a bullet straight into the delicate machinery. Realizing what would happen, she desperately hauled the more unstable Potts behind her, yanking her forward through the open doors. No sooner had they made their way across the threshold and out than the world exploded again, this time in golden fire, shaking the entire building and sending them flying to where Coulson and Solorzano waited. Coulson wrapped himself around Potts, hauling her to the ground protectively, while Solorzano did the same to Peggy, surprisingly agile for a man so large. The lot of them tumbled to the concrete, the wind knocked out of them with force.
It took Peggy a long moment to get herself back together, blinking her suddenly light-blown eyes, trying to adjust. She raised herself off of Solorzano’s bulky figure, checking him out. “You alright?”
“Yeah,” he grunted, gingerly blinking and wincing, fingers flying to the back of his head. He likely cracked it on the concrete. He pulled his hand away and there appeared to be no blood. He would survive with little more than a nasty headache. Beside him, Pepper pulled up off of Coulson, who himself looked slightly battered, helping the other woman to sit up and gaze in fearful awe at the destruction around them.
“Tony,” Potts screamed, pushing herself up to rush back inside.
Peggy snaked a hand to grab her. “Let the medical team go in.”
“He could be dead!”
She wasn’t wrong. “All the more reason for them to find him.”
Potts shook her head, tears streaming. “If he’s hurt, I need to find him!”
Peggy glanced to Coulson, who nodded. “You go with her. I’ll get the fire and medical inside.”
The Arc Reactor was a smoking ruin, fire burning in the main room. Potts rushed for that first, seemingly determined to run after Stark into the flames, but Peggy stopped her, pointing to the roof.
“He didn’t fall,” she explained, pointing back to the blaze. “Stane did, but Stark didn’t, else we wouldn’t have gotten out.”
Potts, dazed and tear-stained, took long moments to process that. “Then...then he may be on the roof!”
Before Peggy could reason through it, Potts was to the stairs they had taken earlier, going up instead of down, pounding her way up in her dainty shoes. Peggy followed, breathless as they finally made their way to the roof above. Potts busted through the door leading out, looking towards the blown-out glass roof and to a particular figure huddled on the side, lying on his back, unmoving.
“Tony,” she cried, rushing forward as Pepper followed, pulling at her lapel.
“We found Stark on the roof, over.”
“Roger that,” Solorzano below replied. “What’s his status?”
“Injured at best. Send a medical team up.”
“Sending a medical team up now.”
Potts was bent over Stark, smoothing back his dark hair and frantically tapping at the dimly lit panel in his chest. “It’s flickering. I...I don’t know what to do if it’s flickering.”
Peggy quietly blinked in awe at the entire sight before her. Tony Stark lay in a suit of red armor trimmed in gold, the blue light dancing like a guttering candle. It was more like something out of a comic book or fantastic story, but this was real, and Howard’s son had created it. Not only that, it had saved his life. Shaking herself, she gently pushed Potts aside to lean over Stark, reaching for his throat which was nearly covered by the armor itself. While his skin was clammy, his heartbeat could still be felt, strong if rapid. Peggy glanced at the shuddering light in his chest.
“If that stops, will it kill him?”
Potts pressed her lips together hard, eyes welling, but her voice calm as she held herself together. “Um...no, not immediately, but he will go into cardiac arrest soon. Something to do with the electromagnetic and the impulses controlling his heartbeat and the shrapnel. I’m not sure, I just know it has something to do with pacemakers.”
Peggy got enough of the gist to know that he would need help sooner rather than later. “Right, we may have to cut him out of this.”
Potts understood but grimaced all the same. “He’s not going to like that.”
“Well if he lives, he can register a formal complaint with SHIELD, care of Margaret Carter.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Potts joked, wetly, as from up the stairs a medical team raced over. Even they stopped, staring at Stark in his suit, blinking in mild amazement at what they saw.
“Jesus, how do we get it off?” One of them muttered, bending immediately to tend to Stark.
Peggy thought of Agent Specht and his convenient little device. “Agent Solorzano, do you copy? Could you send Agent Specht and his Mouse Hole up to the roof? I’m afraid we’ll need to get Stark out of his suit and it will take a bit of work.”
“Mouse Hole?” Potts eyed her with no small amount of worry.
“I’m afraid Mr. Stark is most certainly not going to be happy with us,” Peggy muttered, as the medical team tried to work around his suit, marveling at the circle of blue, weak light. “But he’ll live, so I imagine he’ll get over it.”
Potts only quietly nodded, filled with worry as she turned, bending to look down into the reactor below. The fire was being put out, fumes and acrid, black smoke poured out, smelling of burnt plastic, causing her to cough as she squinted below. Peggy joined her, more to ensure the woman didn’t topple down herself than to see the ruins below her.
“Do you think…” Potts faltered where she began. “Do you suppose he’s…”
“Dead?” Peggy nodded, unable to see Stane in the ruin. “Most likely. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“I’m not!” Potts muttered, low and angry, her jaw fixed as she blinked below. “We thought he was family. He was a monster.”
Peggy couldn't help but feel sorry for her and for Tony in that moment. The full weight of the betrayal had to be devastating. She knew that sort of feeling well, the realization that someone you knew and trusted was not who you thought they were. All she could do was place a hand on Potts’ shoulder, comforting. “I understand, more than you realize. But Tony is alive. He didn’t succeed.”
“Thank God for that,” Potts breathed as she turned back to where the team worked. Specht had made his way up with his Mouse Hole and they were using it to strategically remove Stark’s armor just to get at him inside. “I better go help just so they know how to get him out.”
Peggy nodded, watching as they gently and carefully removed each piece, thinking with no small amount of fond, dry humor that it shouldn’t surprise her that Howard’s son would cause this amount of trouble with one of his inventions.