(2) Bring Me Home (T. Stark)

Chapter Forty-One

Spencer, Coulson and five dark-suited Agents walk with urgency towards two sedan cars. Spencer is on her cell phone to Rhodey, trying to get him to go over to the house to check on him and Pepper, seen as neither of them are answering their phones. Pepper likely has hers on silent so as not to disturb the kids. She's also trying to tell Rhodey what happened, what Stane has done.

"What do you mean, he paid to have Tony killed?" Rhodey asks her. "Why would Obadiah do that?" He adds and then seems to pause. "Where is Tony now?"

"I left him at home" Spencer answers. "But he's not answering his phone. And neither is Pepper...Will you just go over there and check on them?"

"Of course I will" Rhodey assures her softly.

"Thanks, Rhodey" She whispers and then hangs up. The Agents pile into the black sedans, and Coulson holds a door open for Spencer, but she instead beelines for her parked car. "I know a short cut" She admits and climbs into her car. Coulson looks at the Agent behind the wheel, then back at Spencer.

"I'll ride with her" Coulson hurries over, jumps in and the car races off. The sedans try to keep up with her.

........

Tony, on fumes, pulls himself up a shelving system. It topples, spilling items -- including the Lucite-encased heart that Spencer gave him. He lets out a groan and struggles to keep moving. Then he hears little footsteps. Tony looks up and finds Trinity watching him, holding the encased heart in her tiny hands.

"Give it to Daddy" He begs of her, holding out his hand to her. She looks at the heart and then back at Tony. "Princess" He pleads. She moves closer to him and sets it in his hand, he lets out a relieved breath and then smashes it against the floor, away from Trinity. She moves to it though when he can't reach it, picks it up before returning to Tony. He holds out his hand for the device but she ignores him, instead, she does it for him, placing the heart back into his chest. Tony touches her cheek and she smiles brightly at him. "Where's Pepper?"

"Here" Pepper answers as she moves towards them. "Jarvis locked me the nursery with the twins before I could grab her" She looks down at Tony and then around at the mess. "What happened?" Tony pushes himself up.

"Obadiah happened" He answers. "I need you to take the kids and get them out of the house and the city, just find a motel...just till I deal with this," He tells her, Pepper looks at him weirdly. "If I die...Spencer gets my shares in the company for the kids until Trinity turns eighteen...if Stane wants the company, he needs to go through them....so please, will you..."

"I'll take them" Pepper stops him, understanding that he doesn't want his kids caught up in this.

"I need to find Spencer" Tony adds, stumbling away from Pepper who picks up Trinity.

........

Outside of the ark reactor building at the Stark Industries headquarters, Spencer, Coulson and the Agents stand outside the locked door to the sub-basement pipe room. An Agent finishes laying the detonator cord around the door hinges. Spencer lets out a breath as she nods to herself.

"Clear" They take cover and the Agent hits the trigger on a small device and the door is blown off its hinges. The agents move in followed by Coulson and Spencer. Spencer pulls her gun from the back of her trousers and Coulson gives her a look.

"What?" She asks him. "Like you don't know who I am" She offers. "Feds always know" Coulson shrugs a little but nods. "Well..." She starts and then shrugs herself. "Can we get on with it?"

......

Rhodey's car pulls up outside of the Stark house just as Pepper is strapping a wiggling Trinity into a car seat. The two of them share a look as he climbs out of his car before he rushes inside to check on Tony.

............

Rhodey rushes into the living room and finds traces of blood on the floor. The collapsed shelving unit. Tony staggering to stay on his feet. Rhodey moves to his friend quickly.

"Tony..."

"Where's Spencer?" Tony asks.

"Don't worry, she's with the Feds. They're on their way to Stark Industries to arrest Obadiah" Tony doesn't particularly look happy about that answer. Knowing his wife is out there with only Feds to protect her against whatever Stane is up to.

"They're going to need a lot more than a few Agents. Give me hand" Tony asks of his friend who is instantly at his side and helping Tony stay upright.

.........

The door of Tony's workshop swings open and Tony and Rhodey enter. Rhodey stops shocked, his eyes playing over the hall of armour. The hanging Mark II suit. The weaponized battle-ready Mark III. Components, rows of helmets, boots, gauntlets and future design prototypes littered everywhere.

...........

Spencer, Coulson, and the Agents drift through a metal jungle of vats, machines, armoured limbs and guts hanging from tethers. Utility pipes run along the walls. Spencer keeps her gun at her side, ready. They come upon the Mark I armour stand but it's empty. Spencer glances around, an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach. She saw those designs. She knows the monstrosity that Stane was intending to build. Spencer lifts her gun, more alert now as she moves on, heading through the room. Coulson and his team fan out too. Suddenly, an agent is yanked out of sight.

...........

Rhodey helps Tony rivet the last panel in place, then tosses him the Mark III helmet. Tony lowers the helmet. Blasts off through the hole in the ceiling, knocking it even wider. Rhodey stares after him, impressed as hell. Then he sees the Mark II, beelines for it. Considers taking it, then shakes his head. He moves for Tony's car collection. Likes the R8. Hops in and fires her up before it screeches after Tony.

............

Wandering the fringes of the room, Spencer tries to make a call on her cell but it flashes no signal. She slides it back into her jacket pocket and goes back to having a look around. She feels like he's here. Somewhere. Through the pipes and girders, she spots what may be a pair of glowing eyes. The whirr of hydraulics and grinding metal. She raises her gun and starts shooting at it but her bullets ricochet, hitting pipes instead. Spencer thinks. If shooting it isn't going to work, she needs to come up with something else. She backs up, slowly, because she knows it's watching her. A piece of metal zips at her head, cutting pipes before it embeds itself in the cement above her. She looks up at it and then back into the shadows. She knows the damage Tony's suits can do, she also saw the designs for Stane's suit, she knows he's made modifications. Her eyes scan the room, quickly, what she can see, trying to figure out a plan here. She moves, heading for the stairs. But she can hear him behind her, pursuing as the agents open fire. The armour is too big for the stairwell and crashes into it in a shower of debris. It gives way under Spencer, she jumps and grabs onto a dangling chain above her. Dynamo reaches up for her, but Spencer swings herself out of the way and then releases the chain, landing on a platform across from her. There isn't a lot of room to manoeuvre in here. She needs to draw him out. Up and out. Her head snaps around to the exit and she pushes herself off, heading that way.