Ironman 3 (Charlotte Stark)

Ch. 15 Merry Christmas

"I'm out. Give me... You got extra magazines?" Tony  asks me as he flies down towards us.

"They're not universal, Tony." I tel him and he rolls his eyes.

"I know what I'm doing, I make this stuff. Give me another one. One of yours."

"I don't have one that fits that gun." I tell him.

"You've got, like, five of them. Here's what I'm going to do. Save my spot, ready?" Tony asks. Then he flies up to see how many hostiles we're dealing with.

"What'd you see?" Rhodes asks him.

"Three guys, one girl, all armed." Tony informs us.

"God, I would kill for some armour right now." Rhodes huffs out.

"You're right. We need backup." I chime in and look to Tony. "Where's your guys?"

"On their way. Should be here any minute." He pauses and looks up. He smirks at us and I follow his gaze. I see multiple suits flying in.

"Is that..." Rhodes starts to ask.

"Yep." I say.

"Are those..."

"Yeah. Merry Christmas, buddy." Tony says, placing a hand on Rhodes shoulder.

"Jarvis, target EXTREMIS heat signatures. Disable with extreme prejudice." Tony tells his AI.

"Yes, sir."

"What are we waiting for? It's Christmas. Take them to church." I tell the boys and they send a smile my way. I run towards Brandt.

I start firing my weapon at her, which slows her down, but not by much. When I reach her, I go in for a punch, but she dodged it with ease. She kicks me in the gut and I'm sent flying back, almost falling off the rod iron bridge we are on.

I get up, and charge toward her again, jumping up, using the railing as a boost and wrap my legs around her neck. I then do a backflip off her shoulders, which takes her down with me, flipping her into her back. I pull out a knife and strap her through her shoulder.

She melts the knife with her glowing hand and gets back up quickly. I try to kick her but she grabs onto my leg and twists it, causing me to fall to the ground. She then leans down and grabs me by the neck and lifts me high, over her head.

"You are just like your brother." She says to me.

"Thank you." I choke out. "Just kill me already. You know you want to."

"So eager to die." She smiles. "You will be begging me to kill you before I'm done with you."

Brandt's right hand began to glow. It pulsed with energy until it was white-hot. But just as she was about to deliver the killing blow, something knocked her down, hard. No, not something, someone. Pepper Potts appeared before the two of us, exhausted from having charged into Brandt at full force. I stood staring at Pepper, thankful that she was alive, and thankful that she had saved me.

Before we could speak, Brandt was back on her feet and charging at Pepper. As a rogue Iron Man suit joined the battle, Pepper grabbed an Iron Man gauntlet from one of Tony's destroyed suits and put it on her hand. As Brandt reared back, Pepper let loose a mighty repulsor blast from the gauntlet. It knocked Brandt across the ship and over the edge, where she was swallowed by the Atlantic.

"Thanks, Pep." I let out, trying to regain my breath.

She just stares at me and jumps down to Tony. I look down and see that he needs help too. I follow, but I use the stairs.

Forty feet above the main deck, Rhodey was about to do his best Tarzan impression and swing from a chain. Holding his gun in his hand, he took a leap of faith and swung toward the President. As he did, he fired with expert precision at the chains holding up the President.

The gunfire had done the trick. As the chains broke, the Iron Patriot suit, with the President still inside, began to fall toward a lower level. At the same time, Rhodey let go of his chain and fell on top of the suit.
Rhodey commanded the suit to open, and it ejected President Ellis and encased James Rhodes. Now Iron Patriot once more, Rhodey grabbed the President and flew him away from the tanker to safety.

I smile at Rhodes and continue down towards Pepper and Tony. When I look over, I see Pepper dangling above the fire on the ground, Tony tries to catch her, but fails. She falls to her death.

"No!" I scream and rave over to Tony. When I reach him I give him a hug, but we're interrupted by Killian.

"It's a shame. I would've caught her." He says. We both turn around. Tony steps out of his suit and walks over to Killian. "Look at us, here on a rooftop."

"Sir, Mark 42 is inbound." I hear the AI say.

"I'll be damned. The prodigal son has returned." I say and it latches on to Tony. He then grabs me and flies me down to the ground. Before we get too comfortable, I notice Killian land near us.

"No more false faces. You said you wanted the Mandarin. You're looking right at him. It was always me, Tony. Right from the start. I am the Mandarin!"

Just before Killian can grab ahold of us, Pepper steps out and pushes him into the fire, killing him.

"I got nothing." I say. I'm in awe of the woman standing in front of me. Then a suit flies down and gets ready to shoot at Pepper.

"Jarvis, subject at my 12 o'clock is not a target, disengage!" Tony yells. The repulsive powers up but Pepper lunges towards it and destroys the suit. She looks over to Tony and I. "What? Oh, what, are you mad at me?"

She grunts again and grabs the gauntlet of the suit she just destroyed and hits another coming at her with full force, sending it into the fire.

"Pepper?" I question, starting to stand back up.

"Oh, my God. That was really violent." She lets out.

"You just scared the devil out of me. We thought you were..."

"I was dead. Why? Because I fell 200 feet? Who's the hot mess now?" She asks.

"It's still debatable." I say glancing at Tony.

"Probably tipping your way a little bit. Why don't you dress like this at home? Hmm? Sport bra. The whole deal." He says to her. I roll my eyes.

"You know, I think I understand why you don't want to give up the suits. What am I going to complain
about now?"

"Well, it's Tony. You'll think of something." I say to her and Tony and I walk over to her and reach out our arms.

"No, don't touch me." She pulls away. "No, I'm gonna burn you guys."

"No, you're not. Not hot." Tony says as he taps his fingers on her arm. We pull her in for a hug.

"Am I gonna be okay?"

"No. You're in a relationship with my brother." I say to her. They both laugh.

"Everything will never be okay. But I think I can figure this out, yeah. I almost had this 20 years ago when I was drunk. I think I can get you better." Tony reassures her. "That's what I do. I fix stuff."

"And all your distractions?" She asks.

"Uh... I'm going to shave them down a little bit." Tony tells her. "Jarvis. Hey."

"All wrapped up here, sir. Will there be anything else?"

"You know what to do." He tells the AI.

"The Clean Slate Protocol?" I ask.

"Screw it, it's Christmas. Yes, yes." Then he pulls Pepper and I back into a hug and the suits around us begin to explode, looking like fireworks.