Rise of the Hero

3: 06

Ivan was in a cell. A guard dropped a tray of food. Someone had left a note about enjoying the potatoes. A man entered, dressed like Ivan, down to the number. Ivan escaped. A guard noticed that he was escaping and wanted to stop him and said in French, "Hé prisonnier! Arrêtes toi! Que fais-tu?" and Ivan broke his neck. There was more French shouting. Ivan got knocked out. He awoke somewhere else.

"Hey," Justin greeted. "There he is. There he is. What an absolute pleasure. Welcome. Oh goodness gracious. Can we get the handcuffs off my friend here? Forgive me, I'm sorry. I'm such a huge fan of yours. I didn't want to make a first impression like this. He's not an animal. Come on. He's a human being. Thank you."

A henchman said in French, "Je te laisse pas avec lui."

(I am not leaving him with you.)

Justin replied in French, "Laisse-nous."

(Let us.)

"Je te laisse pas il est ouf."

(I am not leaving him, he is crazy.)

"Oui, oui. We're fine. My name is Justin Hammer. I'd like to do some business with you. Please sit. Dig in. What do we have today Jack?"

"We have some salmon carpaccio," Jack said.

"Salmon carpaccio. Anything you want here, we got it. I like my dessert first. I had this flown in from San Francisco. It's Italian though. Organic ice cream. I got a sweet tooth. Apparently you do too, for Tony and Maritza Stark. What I saw you do to Tony Stark on that track, how you stepped up to him in front of God and everybody that was... Wow. You spoke to me with what you did. And I know that you knew that I'd be listening. This is why I couldn't bear to have you shipped off to God knows where. It would have been such a waste of talent. But if I might make a suggestion, you know, you don't just go and try to kill the guy and girl. I think, if I may, you go after their legacy. That's what you kill. You and me, we are a lot alike in a lot of ways. The only difference between you and I is that I have resources. I think, if I may, you need my resources. Someone behind you, a benefactor. I'd like to be that guy."

Ivan spoke in Russian. "Если меня убьют, не буди меня. Лучше умереть, чем жить в своем мире."

(If I'm killed, don't wake me. It is better to die than to live in your world.)

"Okay. Do you speak English? Because I can get a translator. I don't know. Have you been understanding everything I'm saying?"

"Very good, man."

"Very good, man."

"Very good, man."

"Hey!"

Ivan clinked his bottle with Justin's glass. "Hey."

"Yes?"

"I want my bird."

"A bird? You want a bird?"

"I want my bird."

"I can get you a bird. I can get you ten birds."

"I want my bird."

"Well, okay. Nothing's impossible. I could... Are we talking about... Is this a bird back in Russia?"

---

Pepper, Maritza and Natalie were back in Malibu.

Pepper was on the phone. "Yes, but the fundamentals of the company are still very, very strong despite the events in Monaco."

Natalie was also on the phone. " Yes, of course." She said to Pepper and Maritza, "The AP wants a quote."

Pepper covered the speaker. "Don't tell them. Fax them..."

Rhodey entered and asked, "Where is he?"

"He doesn't want to be disturbed," Natalie said.

"He's downstairs," Pepper and Maritza told him.

A news reader said on television, "But what happened in Monaco?"

"Yes, but..." Pepper trailed.

"But his continuing erratic behaviour may lead many people to ask themselves, "Can this man still protect us?""

"Iron Man never stopped protecting us. The events in Monaco proved that."

TONY'S WORKSHOP

Tony was sitting in a car in his workshop looking at holograms.

JARVIS said, "Query complete sir. Anton Vanko was a Soviet physicist who defected to the United States in 1963.However, he was accused of espionage and was deported in 1967. His son, Ivan, who is also a physicist, was convicted of selling Soviet-era weapons grade plutonium to Pakistan, and served 15 years in Kopeisk prison. No further records exist."

Rhodey entered and said, "Tony, you gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now. Listen. I've been on the phone with the National Guard all day, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door and taking these. They're gonna take your suits, Tony, okay? They're sick of the games. You said nobody else would possess this technology for 20 years. Well, guess what? Somebody else had it yesterday. It's not theoretical anymore. Are you listening to me? Are you okay?"

"Let's go," Tony replied as he got out the car and fell.

"Hey, man. Hey, hey! You all right?"

"Yeah, I should get to my desk." Rhodey supported him. "See that cigar box?"

"Yeah."

"It's palladium."

Tony removed the Arc Reactor as Rhodey asked, "Is that supposed to be smoking?"

"If you must know, it's neutron damage. It's from the reactor wall."

"You had this in your body? And how about the high-tech crossword puzzle on your neck?"

"Road rash. Thank you." He replaced the Arc Reactor and started drinking green liquid again. "What are you looking at?"

"I'm looking at you. You wanna do this whole lone gunslinger act and it's unnecessary. You don't have to do this alone."

"You know, I wish I could believe that. I really do. But you've gotta trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I'm doing."

QUEENS, NEW YORK

Justin said, "This is where we do it. This is my humble abode. You can work in absolute peace. Must be fun to be dead, right? No pressure. Here they are. I'm very excited. They're combat-ready. I may have done a few miscalculations and rushed the prototype into production. Sue me, I'm enthusiastic. Go ahead, take a look around." Ivan put on glasses and headed towards a computer. "You don't wanna do that. You'll be able to access that as soon as we generate some encrypted pass codes. Can we generate some encrypted pass codes? Get some of those encrypted pass codes, Jack. Never mind, I... Wow. Okay. Good stuff."

Ivan said in Russian, "Твой софт говно!"

"Sorry?"

"Software shit."

"Well... You're good. You really blasted in past the firewall there. Let me show you where you're gonna be working primarily. Go ahead, take a look. Get a good look at that. That's something, isn't it? You know, those are really just for show and tell. They're $125.7 million a pop, so... Wait!" Ivan pulled off one's head. "Oh gosh. Jesus Christ. Get somebody up here. That's where the pilot goes. I'm having a tough time finding volunteers. I'll take care of that, just leave it."

"What you want them do?"

"Well, long term, I want them to put me in the Pentagon for the next 25 years. I want to make Iron Man look like an antique. I wanna go to that Stark Expo, I wanna take a dump in Tony Stark's front yard. You know what I'm talking about?"

"I can do that. No problem."

"Yeah? Hey, fabulous! I love it. Hey, this is our guy. Didn't I tell you? I had a feeling."