Defeating Whiplash
The first thing Rhodey felt when his consciousness came back to him was a splitting headache. It took a moment for him to figure out where he was until he saw Tony standing above him, knocking on his faceplate. Then it hit him.
They’d fallen. He’d been chasing Tony until the genius outwitted the crazy Russian, and they’d crashed into the Oracle garden area. Now, the surrounding area was quiet except for his friend’s voice.
“Snap out of it, buddy. I need you.” Tony’s faceplate was up, and he was scanning the sky. “They’re coming. Come on, let’s go…get up.”
Groaning, Rhodey looked at him. “Oh, man, you can have your suit back.”
“You okay?”
The military man paused. “Yeah, thanks. Tony, look—I’m sorry, okay?”
“Don’t be.”
“No, I should have trusted you more.”
“I put you in this position. Forget it.”
“No, it’s your fault, I just wanted to say I’m sorry.” Rhodey pressed and looked at his best friend sternly.
“Thank you. That’s all I wanted to hear. Partner.” Tony quipped. “They’re coming in hot. Any second. What’s the play?”
“Well, first of all, where the hell is our backup?” Rhodey asked, more into his comms than to Tony.
“I’m a little busy!” Kara shouted back at them. “While you guys were kissing and making up, I was saving people lives out here!”
The men both rolled their eyes. “Just get here.”
“So?”
Rhodey sighed and looked around. “We want to take the high ground. Let’s put the biggest gun up on that ridge.”
“Gotcha.”
Both men started to walk forward and then stopped, confused.
“Where do you want to be?”
“Where are you going?”
“You have a big gun. You are not the big gun.” Tony said quickly.
Rhodey shook his head. “Tony, don’t be jealous.”
“No, it’s subtle. All the bells and whistles…”
“It’s called being a badass.” Rhodey retorted.
“Fine.” Tony relented. “Alright, you go up top. I’ll draw them in.”
“Don’t stay down here. This is the worst place to be.”
“Okay, you got a spot!”
“It’s the kill box, Tony. This is where you go to die.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, they heard glass shattering and turned to see an army of Hammer Drones flying in. In seconds, they were surrounded. They dropped their faceplates immediately, and without a thought, started firing into the crowd of drones.
“We could really use some help here!” Tony yelled.
A moment later, a blast of heat came through and took out some of the drones approaching Rhodey. “Yeah, I can see that.”
“Supergirl, be careful! We can’t control where the bullets are flying.” Rhodey warned her with concern.
She laughed. “You didn’t tell him?”
“Didn’t really get the chance,” Tony muttered as he took out another group.
“Tell me what?”
Kara flew landed next to them and grabbed a drone by the arm, ripping it apart. The bullets bounced off of her as she did so.
“Oh great, now she’s bulletproof.”
Tony blasted three drones at once and mocked Rhodey. “See that?”
“Yeah, yeah. Nice.” The other man responded.
It was Kara’s turn to roll her eyes. “Seriously, guys? Comparing hardware now? Grow up.”
“I don’t see you pulling out any big guns or weapons,” Rhodey said back to her.
“Get down!” She yelled, and the second they did, she turned her heat vision on and spun in a circle at hyper-speed.
They all watched as the drones stopped and then fell in unison.
Then Kara turned to Rhodey. “You don’t need a weapon when you were born one.” Then she paused and put her hands on her hips. “Also, for the record, I’m the big gun.”
“Heads up, you got one more drone incoming.” Natasha’s voice said over the comms. “This one looks different. Repulsor signature’s significantly higher.”
Kara’s head whipped up before her sentence was over, and she watched as the suit entered the garden. “It’s him.”
“Yeah, I know,” Tony whispered, trying to formulate a plan.
“Good to be back,” Vanko said the moment his faceplate lifted.
“Oh, this ain’t gonna be good,” Rhodey stated.
Vanko pulled out his whips again, and all three superheroes knew they were in trouble.
“You know those won’t work on me!” Kara told him, reminding everyone of the incident in Monaco.
“Oh, really?” Vanko responded and lashed out at her.
The whip coiled around her body, and as she fought it, he threw her hard against a rock, keeping her down. Between the reactor energy and the head wound, she was out.
“No!” Tony yelled, watching his sister’s body go flying.
“I got something special for this guy,” Rhodey told him. “I’m gonna bust his bunker with the Ex-Wife.”
“With the what?”
A small compartment opened on his chest plate to reveal a small explosive device. He shot it at Vanko, and all three men watched as it hit the Whiplash armor and fell into the water, dead.
“Hammer Tech?”
Rhodey sighed. “Yeah.”
Tony nodded. “I got this.”
He blasted multiple explosives at the armor as well, but those also failed. Smiling, Vanko rushed forward and smacked his free whip into the ground between them. His other was still around Kara’s unconscious body.
Jumping out of the way, the men started shooting at him together, hoping to weaken his defenses. It seemed, however, that Vanko was two steps ahead of them each time they tried something.
Vanko yanked the whip from around Kara, sending her body rolling into the water. Finally, having enough, Tony looked at Rhodey as the whips came around their necks. “Rhodes! I got an idea! You want to be a hero?”
“What?”
“I could really use a sidekick!” Tony yelled at him, hoping he’d get the message. “Put your hand up!"
He did. “This is your idea?”
“Yep.”
“I’m ready!” Rhodey shouted. “Go, go, go!”
They both powered the thrusters to maximum capacity and waited as Vanko panicked between them, unsure of what was happening. As the power became too much, everything exploded, sending all three men flying and the glass on the dome breaking.
Standing, Tony walked over to Vanko as Rhodey knelt over Kara. Staring him down, Tony waited as the man opened his eyes and breathed slowly in pain.
“You lose.”
Tony was confused until the reactor on the front of the Whiplash suit flashed red and started beeping at an accelerated rate. Looking around, the drones followed the lead of the main suit.
“All the drones are rigged to blow,” Rhodey told him and grabbed Kara in his arms tightly. “I got her. Go!”
“Pepper!” Tony’s voice roared as he took off into the sky.
Rhodey held onto Kara as tightly as he could as he followed. Below them, the drones exploded, and Rhodey could feel the intense heat even from his suit. Flying away, he found an empty rooftop and landed, laying Kara on the ground.
Kneeling over her, he tapped her face a few times. “Come on, Supergirl. Time to wake up.”
Groaning, Kara’s eyes fluttered open. “Do you ever shut up?”
Grinning, Rhodey laughed. “Nice to see you too.”
With the aid of Rhodey, Kara stood up and looked around at the explosions. “Holy shit. What the hell happened?”
“Long story,” Rhodey told her. Then he smacked her on the head.
“Ow! What the hell was that for?”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were bulletproof?”
“It never came up in conversation!”
Rhodey was about to retort when they heard a loud bang and turned to see Pepper and Tony land on the other side of the roof.
“That’s it; I can’t take this!” Pepper shouted.
“You can’t take this?” Tony asked. “Look at me!”
“My body literally cannot handle the stress.” Pepper reworded her previous statement. “I never know if you’re gonna kill yourself or wreck the whole company!”
“I think I did okay!” He yelled back as something else exploded behind him.
Pepper sighed. “I quit. I’m resigning.”
“What did you just say? You’re done?” Tony walked over to her. “Surprising. No, actually, it’s not surprising. I get it. You don’t have to make any excuses.”
“I’m…I’m not making any excuses.”
“Well, you actually were just making excuses.”
“I wasn’t. I’m actually very justified.”
“You deserve better,” Tony told her. “You’ve taken such good care of me. I’ve been in a tough spot, and you got me through it.”
“Thank you,” Pepper said quietly. “Thank you for understanding.”
“Yeah, let’s talk clean up,” Tony told her.
“I’ll handle the transition…”
“Okay, but what about the press? Because you only had the job for a week.”
“Well, with you it’s like dog years!” She told him.
“I know.” Then he pulled her in for a kiss.
When they pulled apart, they smiled. “That was…”
“Weird.”
“No, it’s not weird.”
“It’s okay, right? Run that by me again.” He leaned in to kiss her again.
“I think it was weird.”
Kara turned to the man next to her. “Rhodey!”
“You guys look like two seals fighting over a grape.”
“Oh, Rao.” Then she shoved him off the side of the roof.
Looking at the couple, Kara shrugged. “So sorry. Carry on. I’m going to go now.”
Then she mock-saluted and dropped off the roof.