Saving Grace

Twenty Four

Trigger Warning; Tony has a panic attack in this chapter.
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Over eleven years ago, before Grace was born — before she changed Tony — something happened in Switzerland. Something seemingly insignificant at the time. Something Tony hasn't thought about since it happened.

There was a party. There was Happy Hogan. There was Maya Hansen. There was, briefly, Ho Yinsen.

And there was Aldrich Killian.

He was insignificant. He told Maya he was a fan of her work, he told them about AIM, he tried to give Tony his business card. Tony didn't take it. He was preoccupied with Maya.

But he stopped long enough to tell Killian to meet him on the roof in five minutes. He said he wanted to work with him. He had no intention of doing so.

And then Maya told him about Extremis.

He slept with her, and he left in the morning before she woke up. Now, he certainly regrets it — his whole lifestyle back then — and he would apologize if he knew where she was or what she was doing. But he doesn't.

He's about to.

~~~~

The lab is in complete disarray. Tony had been working on his new Iron Man suit — Mark 42 — and the function of each piece of the suit attaching to him separately until it formed the whole thing. It went haywire, of course.

But then the news comes on, and it gets so much worse.

The logo flashes. Scenes of this horrible, evil man, walking like a dictator in front of kneeling, suffering, innocent people plays. It makes Tony's stomach churn. A voice over begins. "Some people call me a terrorist-" behind the man as he walks away, the people are shot "-I consider myself a teacher."

Footage of America — happy children on the Fourth of July, smiling Americans, the capital — plays. "America." The man's face, his eyes covered by sunglasses, appears again. "Ready for another lesson? In 1864 in Sand Creek, Colorado, the U.S. military waited till the friendly Cheyenne braves-" their faces pop up on the screen rapidly "-had all gone hunting — waited to attack and slaughter the families left behind, and claim their land." In the next shot, the sunglasses disappear. "Thirty-nine hours ago the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait was attacked." He stuttered — not out of remorse or regret, but because he seemingly couldn't keep himself from laughing. Like it was all a joke." I-I-I did that. A quaint military church filled with wives and children, of course... The soldiers were out on maneuvers, the braves were away."

Footage of the explosion and shots of the President pop up. "President Ellis, you continue to resist my attempts to educate you, sir. And now, you've missed me again... You know who I am, you don't know where I am, and, now, you'll never see me coming." More footage of explosions and guns — attacks — appear, then the video cuts out.

"And, now that we seem to be back, let's recap some of the frightening developments we've seen," a news anchor begins. "American airwaves were hijacked. The nation remains of high alert. All attempts to find The Mandarin have been unsuccessful."

The Mandarin. That's what he calls himself.

Present Ellis appears on screen, making an address to the American people. "Central to my Administration's response to this terrorist event is a newly minted resource. I know him as Colonel James Rhodes. The American people will soon know him as the Iron Patriot."