A Gift of Iron Soldiers
A shiny pair of black stiletto heels can be seen carefully but smoothly making their way down a flight of concrete stairs. The glass windows to the workshop are still blown out, and there's a distinct sound of machines working from below.
“She’s going to find out now isn’t she?” smirked Bruce. Tony grunted in response.
There comes a quick, "Hey!" from below as the camera pans out to reveal the owner of the heels to be none other than Pepper Potts, clad in a black dress appropriate for a workplace.
"It is a tight fit, sir," Jarvis replies, almost as if exasperated with his creator. There's another grunt before the AI adds, "Sir, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt."
Clint sputtered, which quickly followed by a cry as Natasha hit his shoulder disapprovingly. But she was smirking so Clint didn’t really pay attention
Pepper, who was frowning down at the remains of the glass doors to the shop, looks up at that statement.
"Be gentle," Tony grumbles, the whirring sound of machines still prominent, "This is my first time."
“Must you make everything sexual?” sighed Rhodey.
“It’s an instinct.” insisted Tony as everyone, specifically the males in the room held back laughter.
The strawberry blondes features are beyond incredulous at this point, when the view finally switches and reveals Tony, clad in his damaged- but overall functioning- suit of armour. He's surrounded by the same robotic arms that had originally encased him in the suit, though it appears that undoing the process is proving to be a bit more difficult.
“Thank god I fixed how I got it on.” Tony grimaced.
“You went from that to Nanotech in 10 years?” T’challa questioned surprised.
“I would have done it faster if I wasn't held back by you guy’s constant need for my awesome equipment.” Tony poked Rhodey who smirked.
"I designed this to come off, so-," there's a loud clang and a blurted, "OW! Hey!" from the genius. "I really should be able to..."
"Please, try not to move, Sir," Jarvis reprimands, although the request is clearly ignored.
Pepper steps cautiously into the room, staring at her boss like he's grown a second head, "What's going on here?"
“Well, obviously I’m just getting out of my highly weaponized suit of armour I built to fight all the baddies in the world.” Tony instantly answered.
The robotic arms, no doubt controlled by Jarvis, all pause in their work, like a child being caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar, as Tony reluctantly turns his head back to look at Pepper.
“This is really reminding me of how Aunt May found out.” groaned Peter.
“How did she?” asked Bruce curiously.
“She walked in on me taking off my mask,” muttered Peter.
“I still have the footage of that.” Tony sighed wistfully. “KAREN made extra care to send me it. I believe her exact words were ‘What the f-’” Tony was silenced as Rhodey calmly placed a hand over his mouth.
“You two are eerily alike,” Quill noted. “Are you sure you’re not related?”
“Yes,” Peter said immediately.
“Pur-lease Peter.” Rhodey rolled his eyes dramatically. “You are Tony’s son in everything but blood. I don’t think I ever have seen him become more attached to anyone in such a short span of time.”
Peter went bright red and began to stutter unintelligible phrases.
“Damn right.” Tony ruffled Peter’s hair, ignoring the speechless expression on his face.
“Slow down Stark. You might just give him a heart attack.” laughed Shuri.
There's a moment of silence before Tony finally decides on, "Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you've caught me doing."
“That definitely isn’t ominous.” Natasha grimaced.
At this point, her jaw has dropped open, and there's nothing she can truly say to that besides a breathless, "Are those bullet holes?"
“No they’re decorative.” deadpanned Stephen.
The monitor shows armed men walking around what appears to be a base camp. There are tents and cheap vehicles scattered around, though the cover of night mixed with the dust floating in the air makes it difficult to pick out any specific details.
At the change in setting Tony instantly froze, his eyes widening and fist’s clenching. Rhodey put a hand on Tony’s in comfort as FRIDAY immediately began to murmur comforting words in his ear.
The men start conversing with one another when a short line of large, black SUV's pull up, kicking up dirt in their tracks. Some of the men move to stand behind their leader, while others stay off to the side and watch for suspicious behaviour from their guests.
“Three guesses to who that is,” Loki said calmly.
“Stane, Stane, and Stane.” Rocket spat on the ground which got him a glare from T’challa and Shuri who he ignored.
Raza is standing in wait for whoever occupies the lead SUV, two men on each flank. They each hold a gun across their chest, but Raza appears, for the most part, unarmed.
The driver of the SUV steps out first, followed by both the occupants in the front and back seats of the passenger side. When the doors close, none other than Obadiah Stane is revealed, clad in a pristine black suit and tie that leaves him looking rather out of place, given his current location.
“Asshole.” snarled Tony venomously earning him several startled looks at his murderous tone.
He stalks forward, his own men mirroring Raza's but managing to look much more intimidating. He stops a mere step short from the man, sizes him up, and then stands in wait.
"Welcome," Raza greets, although there's no indication of genuine friendship.
In response, Obadiah tilts his head to get a better look at the burned half of Raza's face, raising his eyebrows at the man.
"Compliments of Tony Stark," the terrorist explains, gesturing to his wound.
“If only I had killed him.” Tony narrowed his eyes.
Stane smacks his lips, then speaks in a condescending tone, "Well, if you'd killed him when you were supposed to, you'd still have a face."
Tony flinched and closed his eyes betrayal burning through him. Everyone else glared at the screen and at his betrayal.
"You paid us trinkets to kill a prince," Raza replies, nearly a growl.
"Show me the weapon," the older man demands, clearly not up for a debate.
“Weapon?” Steve looked confused. Loki groaned.
“They mean the suit he used to escape.” Loki glanced briefly at Tony. His mind supplying him with irritating thoughts about how similar they were turning out to be.
"Come," he says, then, after glancing at the business man's men, he adds, "leave your guards outside."
Obadiah nods and waves his men off with a flick of his wrist before he follows Raza into one of the tents. Inside there are supplies and weapons crates, along with a red flag with ten rings overlapping and arranged in a circle; within that circle are two swords, crossed like an 'X.'
Tony rubbed his temples ferociously. Ignoring the pitying looks being sent his way.
However, the first thing Obadiah sees upon entering isn't the flag or the crates, rather, it's the Mark I; the original Iron Man armour.
“Oh, brother.” Thor sighed. “You just had to be right didn’t you?”
“I am quite good at that,” Loki smirked.
"His escape bore unexpected fruit," Raza explains once he enters, walking over to a table that seems to be covered in blueprints.
Stane makes his way over the suit, crossing his arms over his chest so as not to appear too eager, "So this is how he did it."
"This is only a first crude effort," the other man continues as Obie makes his way over to exam the suit closer, "Stark has perfected his design. He has made a masterpiece of death." He looks longingly at the Mark I, his expression almost matching Obadiah's, "A man with a dozen of these can rule all of Asia. And you dream of Stark's throne."
Obadiah looks over his shoulder at the terrorist leader, his glare holding disbelief of the fact that Raza thinks he'd just give him a dozen of these suits.
“Yeah, like Stane would even leave him with the plans.” hissed Tony.
"We have a common enemy," Raza decides when the businessman turns his attention back to the armour, running his fingers thoughtfully along the hole in the chest plate; where the arc reactor belongs. "If we are still in business, I will give you these designs as a gift." He pours some liquid into a cup and looks to the older man, who still hasn't said much at all, "And in turn, I hope you'll repay me with a gift of Iron Soldiers." He smiles a bit smugly as he offers the freshly poured glass to Obadiah.
Stane approaches, but rather than take the glass, he leans over the leader of the Ten Rings, holding what appears to be a silver contraption shaped almost like a flash drive. He pulls down on the silver bit and the thing starts to glow red, just as a high pitched ringing comes screeching out of it.
Recognizing that noise Tony froze, eyes widening as his breath started to speed up again. Swiftly, he popped open the bottle of anxiety pills and swallowed one. Closing his eyes he ignored Rhodey, Peter, and Bruce’s suspicious and worried eyes as he rubbed his neck where he remembered the pain all those years ago coming from.
Raza tenses, but Obie, who clearly has earplugs in, simply stares him down and allows the ringing to continue.
Raza's breathing speeds up and his head snaps forward as a cascade of blue veins appears on the side of his head like webs.
Rhodey’s eyes widened, having not known exactly what had happened that day he looked at the panicking Tony in horror.
“Tones.” he murmured.
“Don’t” Tony choked out, “I don’t want to hear it.” Rhodey obliged but continued his worried glances.
"This is the only gift you shall receive," Obadiah says in Raza's native language. He straightens up, gazing down at the man who seems to be having difficulty moving. "Technology," he says, turning off the device and pocketing it, "it's always been your Achilles heel in this part of the world." He reaches up to remove the earplugs and puts them away with the device.
He glances back at Raza's worried face as he starts making his way towards the exit, "Don't worry. It'll only last for 15 minutes," he says, rubbing his hand over the terrorist's head as he walks out, "That's the least of your problems."
When Obadiah steps outside, his men have rounded up all of the terrorists, who are kneeling with their hands over the heads. "Crate up the armour and the rest of it," he orders them. Making his way back to the SUV, he calls back, "Alright, let's finish up here."
The last thing heard before Stand gets into the vehicle and slams the door is the sound of gunfire.
No one said anything. Unsure if they should or shouldn’t be celebrating the death of these terrorists.
"Set up sector 16 underneath the arc reactor, and I'm gonna want this data masked. Recruit our top engineers. I want a prototype right away," he says into his phone as he's driven out of the camp.