Iron Lightning; Valuable [ II ] P. PARKER

XXVI. I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
"I thought you were dead"

Jade's eyes shot open.

She was staring at the ceiling of her bedroom in Upstate. She sat up quickly once she realized where she was again.

It was weird being back but she didn't think too much about that when suddenly the Barn Door Protocol was activated, replacing every window and door with thick metal walls.

Jade's eyebrows scrunched in confusion, something's wrong.

She waisted no time, if something's wrong, she was going to help. She quickly ran to her lab station and turned everything on. It took a second for everything to boot up again but as soon as it did, Jade turned VERONICA on.

"V?" She asked. "Veronica!"

"Miss Stark?" She called, having a confused tone. "Miss Stark, is that you?"

"Oh, thank god!" Jade exclaimed. "Yes, Veronica- it's me. I don't really know what going on but we have to hurry. No time for questions- I just need you to tell me if MAX5 is ready."

"Yes, Miss Stark," VERONICA said simply. "MAX5 is ready."

And suddenly, a black suit made of metal popped up from the floor. It was an iron suit Jade had been working on ever since the whole "homecoming" incident and she named it MAX. She thought she'd keep on brand.

It's a fully black, fully decked out nanotech suit made from some of the strongest metal on earth- a little help from Shuri.

She never used it, she barely went out and did hero work so there was no use in it, until now.

Jade smiled, touching the arc reactor and the suit starting to retract into the reactor. Once done, she placed it on her chest, leaving it there for now. She checked her wrist to see if her bracelet was there- and it was- so she activated it, just in case.

Then suddenly, the compound shook, but it actually felt more like a vibration. Then the Barn Door Protocol was turned off and the doors opened slowly.

Confused, Jade ran around the compound looking for anyone. How could the doors only stay closed for five minutes?

"Where is everyone?" Jade asked VERONICA and she pulled up a map that showed people in the main lab area.

Jade ran to that room and saw everyone scatter around, she looked at everything around her and saw a large, burnt iron glove sitting off to the side. Then there were three sitting on the floor surrounding a very large person, who was groaning very loudly.

"Tony," The familiar voice of Bruce said, grabbing onto his arm, but it didn't look like Bruce.

Jade stood there frozen. She wanted to run up to Tony, tackle him into a hug, but she couldn't move.