"I don't believe Director Fury is one to follow a supervillain's lead."
"Har de har har. For the record, I totally called this. The minute I saw that thing's file, I knew it was going to reactivate. Alien tech always does. Haven't they ever seen a sci-fi flick?" Tony clicked his tongue. "See, this is what happens when people don't let me play with their toys."
"I was under the impression this is more similar to what happens when they do."
"JARVIS, you sarcastic little shit, don't you ever change." Tony grinned, swooping in low.
The smoke inside was thick and billowing; the sprinkler system had been disengaged somehow. He double-checked his gauges, but the suit's filtration system was holding steady. Scanners indicated there were nineteen people still in the building, mostly working on evac, and Tony picked out Rhodey's suit, Cap's bulk, and Widow's lean curves over by the Destroyer. Hawkeye was likely with the evac teams, the smoke too dense for his talent to be useful.
Cap was trying to punch his way through it, no surprises there, while Rhodey blasted indiscriminately and Widow attempted to get it to deactivate again through the use of EMP cables. They'd been designed with the sleek, human-sized Iron Man armor in mind though, and weren't doing much for the Destroyer.
Honestly, these guys were supposed to be a team?
"Widow's got the right idea, wrong implementation. JARVIS, give me a weak spot analysis."
Five targets popped up on the display: the eye slit, a small area just under each shoulder, and the back joint of each kneecap. Each was a pretty small target…but large enough for an arrow, Tony would bet. He just needed to get Hawkeye some leverage up above the smoke so he could get a clear shot. He left the Cap Squad to their ineffective work, picking his way through agents until he found the one he wanted.
"Hawkeye, you're with me." Tony snatched him up by the back of his uniform. Hawkeye gave a disgruntled shout as his feet lifted off the ground, and he squirmed in Iron Man's grasp.
"Hey, what—aw, c'mon, you? Now, seriously?"
"Calm down, this isn't an attack, it's a rescue." Tony shushed him. "Got any of those EMP arrows on you?"
"You aren't supposed to know about those yet." Hawkeye narrowed his eyes.
"Well clearly that cat's out of the bag. Got em or not?"
"Yeah."
"If I carry you above the smoke and paint you a target, can you hit it while we're on the move?
"Don't insult me."
"Then shoot where I shoot." Tony instructed, flying up above the smoke.
He grasped Hawkeye by the back of his shirt with one hand, waited for Hawkeye to draw his bow and level an arrow, then shot off a repulsor at the Destroyer's eye slit; take out the main power first. The arrow followed a split second later, and the Destroyer rocked backwards as the EMP went off. The rest of the Cap Squad turned to stare at them in surprise.
"Man, do you know how much paperwork I'm going to have to do to explain I'm not your fucking groupie now?" Hawkeye complained.
"Focus, hotshot. Take out the killer robot trying to destroy your facility first, complain about my help later."
"You bet your ass I'll complain later." Hawkeye grumbled, but docked another arrow. "Where next?"
In answer, Tony shot off two repulsors, one after the other at the weak points under the Destroyer's shoulders. Hawkeye's arrows were just seconds after, and the Destroyer's arms spasmed as its power there was disengaged. Tony swooped behind the Destroyer, but before he could point out the final two targets it swung back around faster than anticipated. Tony had no time to dodge and would've knocked him right out of the air if Widow hadn't shot forward first. She released her EMP cables again, wrapping them around the Destroyer's arm and yanking it back to keep it from smacking into Tony.
Tony took the provided opportunity, shooting off the marks for Hawkeye, who followed up with the arrows that sent the Destroyer to its knees.
"Tell Widow I owe her one."
"Don't kid, she'll take you up on it."
"As long as she doesn't want my mask or my head, consider it a deal."
He dropped Hawkeye back down on the ground, flying up towards Rhodey instead.
"Hey copycat." Tony announced with a sloppy salute. "Wanna help me haul this thing out before it blows?"
"You're under arrest, hands where I can see them—" Rhodey raised both hands out, warming his repulsors.
"Oh stop, you're just insulting us both." Tony snorted. "The Destroyer's got maybe thirty seconds til it overloads and blows this whole facility to bits, you gonna help me carry it out or not?"
"Why the hell would I belie—" Rhodey paused, probably as his own JARVIS relayed the truth of Tony's calculations. "Fuck, yeah, okay, where do I grab it?"
"Pick an arm." Tony swooped down to grab the right one while Rhodey took the left. "Don't worry about its firepower, it's shorted out for the moment. Through the roof?"
"Yeah."
They managed to get it out, took it far back behind the facility before they had to abandon the area and let it blow. It was close enough that it took out some of the back wall, but there were no injuries so Tony counted it as a win.
Rhodey, bless his law-abiding heart, tackled Tony the second the Destroyer was down for the count.
"Oof!"
"You're coming with me."
"Persistent, aren't you?" Tony grumbled.
He managed to twist in the air so that when they hit the ground, he came out on top. They wrestled briefly before Tony was able to get back into the air, but Rhodey just took off after him. Thankfully, Tony had made sure War Machine wasn't half as fast as Iron Man—Rhodey had wanted so many bulky weapons Tony probably couldn't have made War Machine as fast even if he'd wanted to—and Tony was eventually able to turn a swift corner, duck under an overpass and press up against the wall. Rhodey blew right by him.
It probably helped that JARVIS "couldn't pin down Iron Man's signature".
Good old JARVIS.
Tony started to head home, before changing his mind; he could use a good fly. He looped through the air lazily and without direction, rocketing himself up as high as systems would allow and spiraling out, observing New York in all its nighttime glory. He'd miss this, when it was all over. There was so much good in the suit, so much potential, it'd be a waste to let it just sit in storage somewhere.
He let himself wonder if Captain America could be right.
Could his image really still be redeemed? He'd worked well with the Cap Squad just now, surprise of surprises. Other than the part where Rhodey chased him halfway across town, of course, but that could be rectified easily. Rhodey'd be pissed for a little bit, but of all of them, he'd come around easiest, for sure. Tony was starting to see it; he wouldn't have to run away soon as the law showed up, he could stay, could do even more good than he was already trying to, he could…
He could be a superhero.
Steve would like that.
Tony couldn't fathom why, but Steve seemed eager to believe the best of him. That belief in and of itself made Tony want to be better; maybe Steve was naïve, or just too optimistic, but that didn't change how desperately Tony hoped he might be right. If someone like Steve could see good in him, there had to be some, right?
Which begged the question: what would Steve think if he knew the truth?
Would he support Tony's desire for revenge? He'd been awfully sympathetic earlier, and he hadn't even known the worst of it…he wasn't the kind of person to agree with murder though, no matter the circumstances. He'd want to have Stane brought up on charges, make him face justice in a court and a jail cell, not with a repulsor through the face.
