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THE Stark Expo was unique to any other site (Y/N) had seen in her life. The shining lights at every corner, thousands of crowds piling up together to see whatever caught their eye, families buying food in small food stands, and so many other activities. (Y/N) had seen it all through the window of the car where she and Pepper were in, with Happy on the wheel.
When the car came to a stop by the entrance, Happy and (Y/N) quickly exited and the latter helped Pepper in opening her door out of curtesy, receiving a thankful look of the blonde.
"I'll keep the car down here, all right?" Happy said, as (Y/N) closed the door from her side.
"Thank you, Happy," Pepper replied as she grabbed her purse and smiled at the man.
(Y/N) and Pepper didn't say anything else and walked up the set of stairs that led to the entire expo itself. Couples and other sets of people were going up or down the stairs talking to themselves and (Y/N) couldn't help but overhear what the PA was announcing through the place.
". . .Justin Hammer. His presentation will begin shortly in the main pavilion."
(Y/N) and Pepper headed to the main pavilion where Justin Hammer, head of Hammer Industries, was going to give his big presentation. They both sat in the middle rows of the audience to try and blend in, applauding with the rest of the crowd as Justin himself entered the stage, dancing to Pick up the Pieces that was playing on the speakers.
"Yeah!" Justin exclaimed. "That's what I'm talking about. Thanks for coming."
Pepper gave (Y/N) a look full of disbelief, as if she couldn't believe what her eyes were seeing at the moment, (Y/N) too was on the verge of of letting out a scoff of a laugh, but she held it back.
(Y/N) multitasked on keeping her eyes on what Justin was about to say and eyeing the phone where she continually told Natasha her status, since she was told to be alert in case of an emergency.
"Ladies and gentlemen, for far too long, this country has had to place its brave men and women in harm's way," he stood behind a podium. "but then the Iron Man arrived, and we thought the days of losing lives were behind us. Sadly, that technology was kept out of reach. That's not fair. That's not right. And it's just too bad."
"Oh, Lord," Pepper mumbled under her breath.
"Regardless, it was an impressive innovation, one that grabbed headlines the world over," Justin continued. "Well, today, my friends, the press is faced with quite a different problem."
(Y/N) leaned to Pepper, trying to uplift her mood. "I bet he's about to say a joke no one is going to laugh at."
Pepper looked at her with confusion while Justin kept talking with his hands on the podium. "They are about to run out of ink," he said.
When no one uttered a single laugh and Justin was received by only awkward claps from the audience, Pepper's frown turned to her covering her mouth to muffle down her laugh since (Y/N) was right.
Justin cleared his throat and two members of the staff helped in moving the podium out of his way as he softly uttered, "Get that out of here."
He regained his confidence by clearing his throat again and placing his hands on his hips. "Ladies and gentlemen, today I present to you the new face of the United States military. The Hammer drone!"
The underground level of the stage opened up to allow a front line of drones to lift themselves up to the crowd's eye, as the screen behind them played a montage of different soldiers.
"Army!" Justin exclaimed, referring to the first line of drones.
At this, Pepper and (Y/N) shared a glance of confusion as the rest of the crowd stood up from their seats to clap in amazement.
"Navy!" Justin continued, and a same line of drones was revealed, but this time they were painted in a navy blue color and another montage was played in the screen.
"Air Force!"
Another line was lifted up and it looked similar to the other ones, just with a different shade of color. By now, there were people who stood up from their seats to applaud to Justin.
"Marines!"
Justin yelled out with much more confidence than before, signaling to the place where the drones were being lifted up, these being different from the others since they had stripes painted on them. (Y/N) and Pepper were not impressed like the rest of the crowd since they knew it was all a ploy.
"Yeah! Yeah! Whoo!" Justin cheered. "That's a hell of a lot better than some cheerleaders, let me tell you. But as revolutionary as this technology is, there will always be a need for man to be present in the theater of war."
He walked up to the center of the stage with his hands in his pockets. "Ladies and gentlemen, today I am proud to present to you the very first prototype in the Variable Threat Response Battle Suit and its pilot, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes."
Pepper's frown deepened. "What?"
The suit was lifted just like the others, and this one didn't have the same design as the drones. It had a similar helmet to the Iron Man suit, it was painted in a shade of grey and it was much bulkier than the original, and the Air Force roundel was drawn into one of the arms.
Rhodey gave a salute and the rest of the drones copied the motion, saluting all at the same time as Justin did the same when he stopped clapping.
"For America and its allies, Hammer Industries is reporting for — "
An approaching rumble cut him off and drew the attention away from all the audience, including (Y/N) and Pepper, who looked to the side to see an incoming light with smoke trailing behind. Pepper immediately returned to her original posture once she realized who it was.
Tony hovered in midair in front of Rhodey and Justin for a few seconds before shutting down the jet boots in the suit and landing with ease. Just like that, the audience broke into a loud cheer, rising from their seats and clap for him.
(Y/N) could sense something was not right. She saw how Tony walked up to Rhodey and waved the crowd off like nothing, but it looked like there was a whole other meaning to why he was here.
"Hey, all right!" Justin tried to keep his cool and try to ease the crowd. "Yeah! Huh? Yeah!"
(Y/N) and Pepper kept their eyes set on Tony as he left Rhodey's side to walk up to Justin in the center of the stage.
"Where is he?" Tony asked straightforwardly.
"What?"
"Where's Vanko?"
Justin acted clueless. "Who?"
"Tell me."
(Y/N)'s eyes flickered over the two men, deciding if it was time to reach out for the phone and dial Natasha. Pepper did the same, trying to fit the missing piece to her puzzle.
"What are you doing here, man?" Justin questioned, trying to defuse the tension.
Before Tony could ask anything else, the back gun from Rhodey's suit activated and it aimed towards Tony. The rest of the drones behind them took a defensive position and aimed at the crowd, startling (Y/N), who was reaching out for her purse.
The entire crowd as well as Justin ran for their lives out of the main pavilion, as Tony fired the boosters of his suit again and took out into the sky, escaping through the ring on the roof.
The drones and the suit immediately fired in the direction where Tony had flied off, the bullets making the glass roof collapse and break into thousand of small pieces that fell down towards the crowd, who shrieked once they realized.
(Y/N) had to leave the pavilion quickly but she recognized that she had to protect Pepper too, so she grabbed her carefully by the arm and the two began to run as fast as they could towards the back of the stage and avoid the glass falling on them.
Rhodey took out in the air with a group of drones with him, and the rest of the drones started to walk on their own and fall down from the stage and follow the running crowds.
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"What's going on? What's happening?" Justin rushed to the man in the computers and his assistant, who were panicking just as much as he was.
"The software's been overridden," the man in the computer told him as his assistant was dialing people on the phone.
"What? What do you mean it's been overridden?" Justin questioned. "What does that mean?"
"I think he slaved the drones."
"That's impossible," Justin turned to his assistant. "Call the guards."
"All the phones are down, sir," he informed him with worry lines on his face as he faced his phone.
"Well, then call their. . ." Justin hesitated. "Call their cells."
"Their cell phones are not working either, sir."
"He's locked us out of the mainframe."
"Who's locked you out of the mainframe?" Pepper questioned what she just heard as she and (Y/N) walked towards the three men.
Justin placed himself in front of the man in the computer and raised his hands in defense to stop them from moving even further.
"Please, please, go away. Go away," he said impatiently. "I got this handled."
"Have you now?" Pepper snapped.
"Yes, I do," Justin replied with the same aggression. "In fact, if your guy hadn't showed up, this wouldn't be happening. So please, now go away. Thank you."
He was about to turn back to the other two when he realized the glare he was receiving from the two so he turned back. "Now, put on a smile, you don't look pretty with that face."
Pepper was ready to retail when (Y/N) placed a hand on her arm and stepped forward, extending her hand forward towards him.
"I'm sorry, I'm not sure we actually met, I'm (Y/N)," she said with a fake smile, and grabbed Justin's hand once it was close enough, ignoring the look of confusion in his face.
(Y/N) shook her hand with his as an innocent action at first, but the smile then washed off her face and squeezed his hand with her strength. Justin's face turned into one of discomfort and pain, letting out a strangled yell as he fell down to his knees, slightly noticing a faint glow in her hand. Pepper gasped at the action before her and didn't knew how to react.
"Here's a proposition for you," (Y/N) began. "You're going to tell me who's behind this and where to find them, and in return, I'm gonna let you keep your hand."
Justin exhaled a breath but the grip on his hand was growing tightly. "Ivan. Ivan Vanko. He's at my facility."
(Y/N) dropped his hand like nothing happened, and she offered the same smile. "Put on a smile, will you?"
With that, she stepped back to the other woman's side as Pepper reached for her cell phone and placed it on her ear. "I need NYPD, please."
"No, no, no!" Justin groaned, still not feeling anything in his hand.
Pepper ignored him. "Command Central."
"No, no, honey," he continued. "Don't call the authorities."
"Okay. Right away. Right away," Pepper removed the phone from her ear and walked forward, but Justin placed himself in front of her to stop her from moving.
(Y/N) took a threatening step forward, "Need another handshake, Hammer?"
Justin stepped back automatically and Pepper was able to lean over to the man in the computer. "Tell me everything you know. Go."