Tony sighed while on the boat, with Emma and Rhodey behind him. "That came out of nowhere. Wow," Tony said before he turned from his controller, and to his daughter and friend.
"Give us some good news, man," Rhodey said.
"I think they all made it," Tony said.
"You think?" Emma asked.
"Thank God," Rhodey said.
The two looked at each other suddenly, then back at Tony. "Yeah, but I missed the President," Tony said, and Rhodey walked off annoyed.
"You couldn't save the President with the suit, how are we gonna save Pepper with nothing?" Rhodey asked in the distance and Emma looked concerned.
"Daddy," Emma said and Tony looked at her. "We have to save her."
"I know," Tony said before he sighed. "Uh...Say, Jarvis, is it that time?"
"The House Party Protocol, sir?"
"Correct," Tony said.
Off-Coast Docks
That night, in one of the warehouses, was Pepper, tied up. But when she came to, she gasped heavily to see that Killian was right in front of her, staring at her like a stalker. "Hi," he said with a smile and Pepper started to breathe heavily.
"You think he's going to help you? He won't," Pepper said.
"Having you here is not just to motivate Tony Stark. It's, um...Well, it's actually more embarrassing than that. You're here as my, um-" Killian explained.
"Trophy," Pepper said sternly and Killian chuckled before softly touching her perfectly straight blonde hair.
"Your daughter has your exact hair color, did you know that?" Killian asked and Pepper yanked herself towards him, but she couldn't do anything.
"Do not touch my daughter, Killian," Pepper threatened but Killian just smirked.
"She was wrong. She has your personality," Killian said and Pepper's heart raced, not sure what he had done with her baby girl. "Mmm."
The Iron Patriot then walked in, which Killian turned to him and Pepper gasped at the sight of her friend's suit. "Good evening, sir," Killian said then the armor opened, and the President fell out of it. "Welcome aboard, Mr. President. Ever hear of an elephant graveyard? Well, two years ago, the elephant in the room was this scow."
"This is the Roxxon Norco," President Ellis said.
"And, of course, you'll remember that when she spilled a million gallons of crude off Pensacola, thanks to you, not one fat cat saw a day in court," Killian said.
"What do you want from me?" President Ellis asked.
"Uh, nothing, sir. I just needed a reason to kill you that would play well on TV. You see, I've moved on. I found myself a new political patron, and this time tomorrow, he'll have your job," Killian explained as President Ellis stared at him sternly. "String him up."
———
On the other side of the site, Rhodey, Emma, and Tony sneaked off the boat and behind some large crates. "You're not gonna freak out on me, right?" Rhodey said.
"I hope not," Tony said, then Rhodey looked over to the side, to see President Ellis in the Iron Patriot hung up above boiling oil.
"Oh, my God," Rhodey muttered before he turned back to Tony and Emma. "He's strung up over the oil tanker. They're gonna light him up, man."
"Viking funeral. Public execution," Tony said.
"Yeah, death by oil," Rhodey said and Tony sighed. "Come on."
"Wait," Tony said before he turned to Emma, who stared at him confused. "You have to stay here."
"What?!" Emma snapped.
"Don't What?! me. You're 11," Tony said.
"Don't pull the kid card on me," Emma said.
"You are a kid," Tony said but Emma rolled her eyes.
"You can't leave me out of this. Mom is inside, kidnapped, being tortured by whatever that stuff Mr. Killian guy is making," Emma said.
"You are staying here," Tony said.
"Daddy-" Emma protested.
"It's final," Tony said.
"But-"
"Emma!" Tony snapped and Emma stared up at him. "I can't rescue your mom if I'm worried about you. As long as I know you're not in danger, I can focus on just that. You understand?" Emma hesitantly nodded. "Now you stay here, wear your glasses, and if anyone, and I mean anyone, comes by, you use every single gadget on that watch to protect yourself, you hear me?"
"I do," Emma muttered and Tony smiled.
"Good girl," he said before he kissed her forehead. "I love you."
"I love you, 3000," Emma said. Tony chuckled a little before he and Rhodey ran off as Emma put her glasses on, staying put...for now.
"Broadcast will commence shortly. Take final positions."
———
Inside one of the buildings was Killian with a technician, looking at different camera angles. "Okay. That's good. Now give me cameras A through E and we'll do a full tech rehearsal," Killian told her and the technician started typing.
———
Walking up onto a bridge, Rhodey and Tony eyed their surroundings as Rhodey had a gun up. "Is your gun up?" Rhodey asked, then Tony put his gun up.
"Yep. What do I do?" Tony asked.
"Stay on my six, cover high, and don't shoot me in the back," Rhodey said.
"Six, high, back. Alright," Tony said but they were spotted.
Other men from above started to shoot at them, but the two-shot back. Tony aimed his gun towards a man above, pulled the trigger, but it shot the lightbulb next to the man instead.
Quickly, Tony and Rhodey ran behind some cover. "You see that? Nailed it," Tony said and Rhodey gave him a look.
"Yeah, you really killed the glass," Rhodey said.
"You think I was aiming for the bulb? You can't hit a bulb at this distance," Tony said but Rhodey got up, shot the bulb Tony got at, got back down, and gave Tony a look.
"All personnel, we have hostiles on east unit 12. I repeat, hostiles on east unit 12."
"I'm out," Tony said referring to his bullets. "Give me. You got extra magazines?"
"They're not universal, Tony," Rhodey said.
"I know what I'm doing. I make this stuff. Give me another one," Tony said.
"Okay," Rhodey muttered.
"Give me one of yours," Tony said.
"I don't have one that fits that gun," Rhodey said.
"You've got, like, five of them. Here's what I'm going to do. Save my spot, ready?" Tony asked before he jumped up from their hiding spot to look what was coming, but not a second more he was back down.
"What'd you see?" Rhodey asked.
"Too fast. Nothing. Here we go," Tony said before he jumped back up again to see four of Killian's soldiers jumping from crate to crate, heading towards them. Tony got back down and cleared his throat while Rhodey looked back at him.
"Three guys, one girl, all armed," Tony said.
Then Rhodey and Tony slowly got up, just to see across the way that the soldiers were pointing their guns at them. "God, I would kill for some armor right now," Rhodey said.
"You're right. We need back up," Tony said as Rhodey kept his gun up.
"Yeah, a bunch," Rhodey said.
"You know what?" Tony asked and Rhodey looked at him. Tony then nodded at something in the distance, which Rhodey looked to see two lights, coming right for them.
"Is that-" Rhodey started.
"Yep," Tony said.
"Are those-" Rhodey asked.
"Yeah," Tony said.
One by one, each and every Iron Man suits flew over, hovering everywhere at the docks. "Merry Christmas, buddy. JARVIS, target Extremis heat signature. Disable with extreme prejudice," Tony said.
"Yes, sir."
Tony looked at Rhodey who just looked taken back by everything. "What are you waiting for? It's Christmas," Tony said before he put his arms up. "Take them to church."
Tony and Rhodey saw as each and every suit started to attack all of the Extremis, while they screamed and grunted in pain.
One of the arms of the torn suits flew towards Tony and Rhodey, who gasped. "Incoming!" Tony yelled and they ran to the side, out of the way. "Jarvis, get Igor to steady this thing."
"This is how you've been managing your downtime, huh?" Rhodey asked with a smile.
"Everybody needs a hobby," Tony said before he looked up to see Extremis soldiers had attacked one of the bigger Iron Man suits. "Heartbreaker, help Red Snapper out, will you?"
Another suit went and helped the suit, but in doing so, it smashed into a large crate, causing explosions, everywhere. Then a suit dropped down by Tony, who got inside it quickly. "Nice timing," Tony said and Rhodey got up.
"Oh, yeah. That's awesome. Give me a suit, okay?" Rhodey said but Tony just stared at him as Rhodey put his hands out.
"Oh, I'm sorry, they're only coded to me," Tony said and Rhodey eyed him.
"What does that mean?" Rhodey asked.
"I got it covered," Tony said before the faceplate closed and Tony flew off. Then another suit dropped down and walked up to Rhodey.
"Good evening, Colonel. Can I give you a lift?" The suit grabbed Rhodey, who looked annoyed.
"Very funny," Rhodey muttered before they flew off.
———
In the air, Iron Man was flying about when JARVIS came on comms. "Sir, I've located Ms. Potts."
"About time," Tony said before he zoomed off to the location JARVIS showed him.
Inside the cluttered building, Iron Man walked around, searching for Pepper, but when he found her, he saw that she was under a pile of metal rods, struck down from the explosions. He tried to lift up some of the rods off of her, but the others moved as well. Pepper gasped and eyed the Iron Man suit heavily. "Stop!" she snapped and Tony froze. "Put it down. Put it down. Put it down."
He lifted the rods down, then leaned down, staring at her as his faceplate lifted up. "See what happens when you hang out with my ex-girlfriends?" Tony asked sarcastically before he reached out his arm from her to take.
"You're such a jerk," Pepper said.
"Yep. We'll talk about it over dinner," Tony said, then Pepper started to reach over to him, but she couldn't move. She started sobbing as the metal around them started to creek.
"Come on. A little more, baby," Tony said and Pepper reached further and further, finally touching his hand. But right when she started to feel relieved, and safe, a lava-like hand reached up and shoved itself into Tony's suit, burning it. Tony fell backward, onto his back, when Killian jumped up from below and looked at Pepper.
"Is this guy bothering you?" Killian asked but Pepper scoffed. Killian got up and hovered over Tony, smirking to himself.
"Don't get up," Killian said before he started to burn Tony's suit more. "Ooh. Is it hot in there?"
Tony glared up at him as Killian stared down at him satisfied. "Stuck? Do you feel a little stuck? Like a little turtle, cooking in his little turtle suit," Killian said.
"Oh, Tony," Pepper softly said and Tony looked over at her.
"She's watching," Killian said and Tony looked back up at him. "I think you should close your eyes."
But Tony kept looking back at Pepper and Killian. "Close your eyes. Close your eyes. You don't want to see this," Killian said before he lifted his arm up to stab his lava-like arm through Tony's chest, but Tony's suit popped a blade out, cutting Killian's arm. Killian got up groaning, as his arm sunk into the ground.
"Yeah, you take a minute," Tony said. The arm burned through the floor, and Pepper fell through it as well. Tony got out of the burned suit and stood up, hovering over the burnt down floor, to see Pepper on her back, half her body yanked over. But the area she was in, started to move away, and Tony followed it out.
———
Running out onto a bridge, Tony followed Pepper, trying his best to get to her before anything bad happened. "Jarvis, get me a suit right now!" Tony ordered before he jumped out off the bridge, where a suit was waiting, but right then, the suit got destroyed by an Extremis. "Oh, come on!" Tony jumped onto the next bridge, almost tripping over, but kept on running.