Unexpected

The Roxon Corporation's Explosive Christmas Party

"That's not inconspicuous." I mumbled to myself as I followed behind Tony and Rhodes as we climbed up onto the well-lit platform of the giant oil rig. This place was supposed to be abandoned after all! They didn't care about being inconspicuous though did they? Tony made it clear in his explanation of Killian that he was all about the drama. This was supposed to be a stage for his play of power.

I flexed my fingers over my gun, holding it low in proper form as I trailed after the two men, taking up the rear guard. Rhodes had insisted on taking the lead, and considering that he had military training, I did not fight him, and since I'd been trained by S.H.I.E.L.D. I watched our backs. Tony scuttled along in the middle, trying to copy our handling of our guns. Without his suit he looked kind of small out here as we rounded huge blocks of machinery, inexperienced. Had he ever really held a gun before? He'd designed and sold weapons for years, and then went right to Iron Man's laser palms...

The place was swarming with people. I wondered for a second as we snuck closer to the center of the activity how many of these people knew what they were doing? Were they aware that they were working for the Mandarin? Were they for him? Surely they couldn't all be deluded enough to think that what was going on here was okay in any way? Though, as I thought of it, freezing up against a freight box as a sort of construction vehicle drove by, I remembered Loki's old headquarters, how it too had swarmed with people ready to take down the world and cause havoc. Some had been mind controlled, yes, but I could also clearly remember the bands of people with their eyes clear of the glowing, turquoise hold. Tamping down the righteous anger I felt building up inside my ribcage, I set my brow and followed after as Rhodes whipped around a corner again. Pepper and the president. They were had to be my focus.

Finally we backed up against a low wall. Rhodes signaled that he was going to check around the corner.

"Don't hold your gun like that." I scolded Stark in an undertone, tapping his hand for him to lower the pistol that he had pointed straight up!

Rhodes' head swung back from around our hiding spot, capturing Tony and my attention, "He's strung up above the oil tank. They're going to light him up, man."

"Viking funeral." Tony said, his still bloody face completely serious for a second as his mind worked, "Public execution."
"Yeah, death by oil." Rhodes agreed.

I breathed out heavily, shaking my head, "So this is his plan? Kill the president to make a statement? Where does Pepper fit in all of this?"

Rhodes leaned his head back against the wall for a second, "I don't know, but we can't let them turn the president into a tiki torch."

"Obviously," I agreed. Before looking pointedly at the pair, "I still think we should call S.H.I.E.L.D. This is too big for us. We need backup."

"There's no time for them to scramble the holocarriers or whatever." Tony stated flatly, eyeing the sky.

"Right then." Rhodes took another deep breath, sliding back into military mode before whipping around the corner again, gun at the ready, "Tony. Follow me. Catalyst, circle around. Keep out of sight; we need to get the president down and away from this ASAP."

I nodded, getting up and starting along the other way as the other pair disappeared around their corner. How was I supposed to get up to the president? Catching sight of a flight of thin metal stairs I scrambled up, my mind clear even as my heart hammered with my natural adrenaline. My France mission had nothing on this. What were a handful of baddies in a restaurant compared to this mob of possible super-humans? How many of these armed guards were like that one scientist at the mansion compound, a product of Extremis?