ＩＭＰＥＲＩＡＬ ◼TONY STARK◼

ｔｈｉｒｔｙ－ｔｗｏ

"You shouldn't be fighting right now, Audelia," Natasha warned her, her eyes narrowed as they trailed down to the armor covering her stomach. "If something were to happen you wouldn't forgive yourself."

"And if Tony dies out there I wouldn't forgive myself either," Deli shot back at the woman. "If any of these people die when I'm supposed to be out here protecting them I would never forgive myself. I've got a job to do, and so do you. Link up when you get there."

For once, Natasha followed the order she was given and climbed into the car as Audelia took back off into the air.

Outside of one of the main entrances/exits of the main stage, two police cars had finally shown up on the scene as civilians ran past them in a frantic hoard. The cops took cover behind their vehicles as they shot at the two drones that had planted themselves on the stairs leading to the main doors, the drones firing back at the cops.

"It's no use!" one of the cops said to the Chief as they crouched behind the cars, the spray of bullets from the drones hitting the sides of their vehicles. "Our bullets can't penetrate their armor!"

The spray of bullets on the cars stopped as the cops heard four quick blasts before it all went quiet for a moment, shots still being fired down the road from other drones in the area. They rose up to their feet, peering around the mangled cars to see Imperial standing before them, decapitated drones lying on the ground behind her.

The Chief looked around at his men before sliding over the cars and coming to stand before Imperial.

"We've got back up on their way, ETA of five minutes," the Chief explained to the armored hero. "There's too many drones, though, and our weapons barely make a scratch. We need a plan, any ideas?"

"Leave the drones to Iron Man and I," Audelia told the Chief, looking up as the police watched the masked hero look around as on the inside of the suit, JARVIS was outlining pathways and the destruction for her. "Keep your focus on civilians, get them out and keep them out. I need a perimeter at least three miles out from the main stage where the drones are centrally located. If you run into drones aim for the reactors in the middle, it's where the suits draw their power from."

The Chief of police nodded his head, quickly holding out his hand for the hero before him. Audelia placed her armored hand in his, quickly shaking it before he pulled back.

"Thank you, Imperial,"

The police were quickly back into their mangled, bullet ridden cars as they took off down the road still full of fleeing people. Audelia watched for a moment with a smile on her face.

"Dell!" Tony's voice broke through the silence over the comms. "Rhodey said a pack just peeled off heading back to the Expo. Party is coming to you!"

"On it," Audelia said as she flew up into the air to hover, gaining a lock on the incoming drones as they all landed on the ground around the Expo lot. "Although I really don't see how this is a party."

Spinning through the air as she flew, Audelia shot down two of the drones before she gained a lock on a group of people across the lot. A man was kneeling down over a young woman, working on what seemed to be a gash on her leg as the rest of the family cowered in front of them as a drone stalked toward them.

Audelia landed in front of the family, firing at the drone and throwing it back before she flew back up into the air, hitting the drone in the knee before firing at the arc reactor as it fell to the ground without power.

As the woman turned in her suit to face the family behind her, a little girl screamed at the sight of her, cowering behind her mother's leg as the father ran over to the man tending to the other young woman on the ground, picking her up as the man attending to her stepped away.

"Hey, relax, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not like them, look," without a moment of hesitation, Audelia opened the front of her helmet, hearing the mother and father let out a gasp at the sight of Audelia as she sent the little girl a smile as she watched her calm down. "Look, I'm just like you, right? I'm not like them, I'm here to help you."

The young girl managed a smile as the mom picked her daughter up, quickly backing away as she smiled thankfully at the hero standing before her.

Audelia rose back to her feet, watching as the family ran away with the rest of the crowd around them. She turned to her right at the sound of camera clicks, seeing a group of reporters not far away, taking clear shots of Audelia in the Imperial suit before running away with the crowd once again.

The woman let out a sigh, closing her eyes for a moment as she realized this was it. This was the moment she knew would come at some point, the moment where the lives of Audelia Motter and Imperial had to become one. And strangely enough, she was okay with it.

Turning around to ask the man that was tending to the young girl's leg if he was okay, her breath caught in her throat and her heart stopped as she looked into the eyes of the man.

Nathan Porter.

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Oops, did I do that? I love torturing you all HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA