Glass Heart

The suitcase weighed Scarlett down and slowed her pace down significantly as she headed through the hallway away from the commotion coming from the ballroom. The first few times she’d stepped on something uncomfortable in her bare feet it’d thrown her off and made her hop around comically on one foot painfully. But after the third or fourth time she learned to deal with the pain and was able to steadily run down the hall, suitcase in tow. There would be time to deal with the in pain her feet later on when lives weren’t on the line.

Stopping short at the end of the hallway, she saw a sign that would lead her to the nearest exit. Happy had told her the way back to the ballroom had been destroyed so she’d decided to search for a way around to get back in from outside instead of trying to deal with a collapsed roof. If she had to, she’d break through one of the windows to the ballroom that she spotted near the garden.

Finally having time to breathe, nonetheless think, Scarlett realized just what she held in her arms. At her fingertips was one of the coveted Mark Iron Man suits that Tony wore while he played super hero around the world. Catching her breath, mouth agape, she stared at the red and silver suitcase and contemplated opening it just to see what was inside. How could something so incredibly complex be so neatly packed into a little box? It was another example of the level of genius displayed by Tony Stark.

Why was she helping Tony anyway? If he was as vile as she’d for so long believed then why would she go running to his aid? What could possibly be wrong with her to make her do such a thing? Was she that terrible and sick a person that she finally had a shot to do some real harm to a man she should resent and be bent on destroying and instead she swoons over him and chooses to save his life? Scarlett couldn’t begin to figure out what the hell sort of mental condition she had at this point. She’d had a man who had loved her, who took care of her and had told her for years that she was heading down a destructive and dangerous path and had tried so hard to prevent her from digging the hole beneath her deeper and she’d felt absolutely nothing for him except for responsibility.

Now she was being tempted by a man who was as equally dangerous and destructive as she was and on top of that was possibly the most perverted chauvinist she’d ever met in her life and he was making her heart flutter. Temporarily distracted by her thoughts, she felt the room shake and heard shouting from somewhere behind her. She didn’t have time to sit and contemplate her next move. She had to make it to the ballroom without her complex thoughts getting in the way.
Never before in her life had she been so caught up in self doubt than she had been in the last few days. The walls shook around her, trembling and quaking dangerously. Something inside of her told her that the building could go at any moment and here she was considering what was wrong with her.

How much was the suitcase armor worth? She could sell it in other countries and make a small fortune. The thought was tempting, but only for a second. If she sold the armor under the table it would only go to someone with worse intentions than Tony and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she did that. Besides, petty theft wasn’t exactly her style. What she did had never been about the money, though it had always been a pleasant perk. The room around her shook once more and reminded her that she had things to do.

“Freud could write a book on me.” Scarlett muttered under her breath and continued toward the exit, the idea of betrayal completely disappearing from her thoughts. Tony had saved her life in the desert and now she’d return the favor. They’d be even and she could wipe the slate clean.

Spotting an exit at the end of the hallway, a horrific groan stopped her in her tracks. The light hanging from the ceiling above her head began to swing dangerously. Recognizing the sounds of some kind of structural failure, Scarlett turned around and ran, threw herself into the nearest doorway which was an adjoining hallway and held the mark over her head to protect herself from debris.

Just as she had taken cover the wall surrounding the doorway started to crumble and cave in from the shifting weight overhead. The support beams in the hall gave out and the entirety of the exit caved in and blocked any chances of leaving the building from that area entirely. Once the groaning and creaking had finally ceased, and the sound of rubble crumbling and cracking had silenced, Scarlett got up from her hiding place, hands trembling from adrenaline.

She could handle men with guns. Hell, she could handle anything with the intent of attacking her but there was very little she could do when a building started to collapse around her. There was no one to stop, no way to keep it from happening. Not being in control was more terrifying than any attack Scarlett had ever experienced. Scrambling to her feet and holding the armor close to her chest again, Scarlett took off down the hallway she’d hid in, searching for another way out or a window big enough to break through. So far most of the ones she’d found were designed with panes too small to be useful. Breaking through them would take more time than she had at her disposal.

Scarlett slid to a stop and then danced around on her feet that burned from rubbing on the carpet. She’d passed a staircase a few feet back, or at least she thought she had. Closing her eyes she could recall the balconies on the east, west, and south areas of the grand ballroom. It wasn’t her ideal way back there but it was the best plan she had right now and most likely the quickest. If her assumptions were correct about the layout of the building, the hall would lead her to the western balcony.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Scarlett moved as quickly as she could up the steps and down the hallway. Parts of the hall had been destroyed, and the closer she got to the ballroom the worse the destruction seemed to get. Bullet holes lined the walls, vases were destroyed, sculptures overturned. She had to be more than careful with the lack of shoes around that area though she made it a point not to let the decay of the building slow her down.

She could hear the familiar whirring of machinery coming from the ballroom and the warm draft of California air. Had the windows been broken? Getting closer to the balcony, Scarlett could begin to see the damage that had been done in the room below and was surprised at the extent of it. The balcony across the way had been destroyed completely and knocked to the ground, the exits had been fully caved in, chandeliers had been brought to the ground and the exquisite glass ceilings had been shattered. It was like an earthquake had taken the whole room straight to the ground.

The droning of machinery and the sound of gunfire only got louder as she approached. Much to her surprise, she didn’t hear accompanying screams to follow those sounds. In fact, she barely heard any voices at all. This worried her more than screams would have. Whatever had caused such chaos in the room had either triggered a mass evacuation or she was about to look over the edge of the balcony and find a sea of bloodied corpses on the floor. Scarlett hoped for an evacuation. She couldn’t begin to consider the amount of guilt she’d feel if the whole of the party had been murdered because of her.

Again with no time to consider the guilt she’d feel, Scarlett stepped gingerly onto the balcony, wanting to make sure that the integrity of it hadn’t been damaged in the assault below. Collapsing another part of the ballroom wasn’t likely to help the situation below. Once she was sure that the balcony wouldn’t collapse under her added weight she hurried to the edge of it and peered over the railing. She was preparing to yell to Tony who she could see scurrying back and forth below, his shirt torn and blood stained but stopped short when she saw the three robots assaulting him.

Stumbling backwards and nearly dropping the suitcase in her arms her mouth hung agape and her lungs stung with the shortened breath of the same sort of panic she’d felt days prior when working with Tony. Crouching low she forced herself to breathe deeply and try to get over what she’d seen.

The robots attacking Tony below were the same ones she’d been in the process of designing for MedCo. They were incredibly convincing copies of the blueprints that she’d been so careful to keep out of the eyes of the security cameras and to burn before she made her escape. How the hell had MedCo managed to take the ashes of something she’d created and turn it into reality? The panicked grip on her throat finally loosened when she heard Tony cursing down below, yelling loudly at the robots.

She couldn’t make out the words he was saying, but she could hear the sarcasm in his voice and this somehow helped her calm down. At least Tony was okay enough to continue joking around despite how outnumbered he was down below. Getting to her feet, Scarlett hurried to the edge of the balcony to get a better look at the robots assaulting Tony.

There was no denying they were based off of her design, but there were multiple differences that she could tell were from the inexperience of the person who had picked up on her work and continued it. Furrowing her brow she realized they were unfinished. Of course they were unfinished.

MedCo was sending her a message. She had a contract to fulfill and this was an example of what they would continue to do until she completed it. They’d take the things she created and turn them against her so they’d destroy the people and things in her life until they’d gotten what they wanted. Scarlett could almost hear the cruel laughter of the tight lipped woman, Marcia as she pitched the idea to Mikhail, the vile Russian. She’d made it a point to recall their names once they’d started trying to manipulate her.

They were messing with the wrong engineer. Once things were sorted out with Tony in Malibu she’d have much bigger fish to fry than the arrogant CEO of Stark Industries. Beneath her the balcony trembled as did the rest of the room which brought Scarlett out of her thoughts once again. There would be time to figure out her revenge later, right now she would have to help Tony get rid of the robots. If they were going to use her designs against her, she would do the same and fight back just as fiercely. Scarlett wasn’t one to be pushed around.

“Tony!” Scarlett winced when she realized she’d forgotten to call him by his last name. If they made it out alive, he’d never let her live it down. “Stark, up here!”

Tony slid on the ground, next to one of the tables. The room was empty now, outside of him and the robots. Thankfully Pepper had finally listened to him and had worked on getting people to safety. Leonard, having started to throw up, had definitely helped convince her how dire the situation was for those in harm’s way. When he heard Scarlett calling to him from above he thought he was hearing things. There was no way she’d be calling him by his first name and how would she have gotten onto the balcony in the first place? Not to mention, he highly doubted that she would go running into a firefight simply to help him.

But when he heard her calling him again and this time by his last name he looked up, temporarily distracted from the robots. Much to his astonishment, she was actually on the balcony and looked rather worse for wear.

“What are you doing up there?” Tony yelled, frustrated that he’d have to protect yet another person but also secretly glad to see she was okay. The robot closest to him made a mad grab for him. Barely getting out of the way, thanks to the distraction of Scarlett, he grabbed a handful of wires on the wrist of the robot he’d narrowly escaped and tugged, making an annoyed sound when he received a shock in response to his pulling. “Like a bug zapper, every time!” Tony shook his hands out and started across the room again for cover. He would keep the robots away from the balcony that Scarlett was on so she wouldn’t take any damage on his behalf.

“Stark! Stark, listen to me!” Scarlett shouted again, aggravated that Tony was practically giving her the cold shoulder. She was sure he was just trying to keep her safe, but she was there to help him not searching for a savior.

“You need to get out of here; it’s not safe for you! Help’s on the way but you’ve got to keep laying low okay?” Tony shouted, not bothering to look up at Scarlett as he dodged back to the safety of the overhang created by the collapsed eastern balcony that had once housed Pepper and Leonard.

“I’m not running away! Stark, would you listen to me for a second?” Scarlett’s panic, confusion, and anger faded away into annoyance with the stubborn man on the floor below.

“Get to safety!” Tony shouted again, peeking his head out from behind the rubble. The robots seemed to be getting frustrated with him and were starting to smash the few hiding places he had left.

“Would you at least look at me for two seconds?” Scarlett held the suitcase over her head and waved it the best she could for him to see. It was pretty heavy, considering how much was actually hidden inside of it. Tony gaped at Scarlett, his eyes wide. What had happened to his driver? Was he okay? Had Scarlett taken it from him and left him there to die? Shaking the doubt from his mind, Tony figured that it was more likely that Happy had given it to her and told her to get somewhere safe.

“How did you get that?” Tony made his way from under the rubble and started across the room so he could retrieve it.

“Is that really what matters right now?” Scarlett scoffed, laughing under her breath in disbelief at how obstinate he could be at times.

“You’re right. Throw it to me!” Tony signaled for her to do so and then made the motion like she should toss it to him.

“You’re too far away! Come over here!” Scarlett pointed over the edge of the balcony to the floor below. Tony dodged another blow from a drone, fell to the ground and crawled behind a table just in time. “Look out!” Scarlett yelled then ducked as she found that one of the drones had noticed her and started shooting in her direction.

“Throw me the suitcase!” Grunting as he stumbled to his feet, Tony ducked to evade a hasty grab from the robot in front of him, stumbled, then grabbed more wires along the arm of the robot and tugged.

“That is going to get you nowhere, Stark! Stop it, you’re just electrocuting yourself!” Grumbling, Scarlett tried to judge how far she could throw the suit. Considering the weight of it and how high up she was, she didn’t think she could throw it very far at all.

“It’s all I’ve got until you throw me the suit!” Tony grumbled, shaking off the electrical jolt again. Scarlett inwardly panicked at the idea that the electrical defense mechanism the robots were displaying would short out the reactor in his chest. Shaking off the fear she groaned in displeasure.

“Why? So it can be smashed or grabbed before you can get to it. No, Stark! Stop trying to get off on those jolts of electricity and get over here so I can save your ass!” Scarlett shouted, trying to keep the humor thick in her voice. Her mind was in overdrive considering all that it’d taken in the last few moments.

“It’s not that easy Scarlett!” Tony shouted in disbelief. As irritated as he was by the situation at hand, he was incredibly relieved to see that Scarlett was okay, particularly okay enough to continue giving him a hard time as he’d grown so accustomed to. His mind had been so distracted by worry for her and Happy that he’d had a hard time keeping his head in the game.

Scarlett was about to respond about just how easy it was when one of the drones grabbed Tony around his middle. Gasping in surprise, Scarlett was about three seconds from finding her way off of the balcony to help him when the robot tossed Tony like a rag doll across the room. He crashed into one of the tables, continuing to protect his head as he’d been doing on various other occasions where he’d been assaulted. Opening his eyes and groaning in misery he glanced up and realized he had landed only a few feet away from the balcony that Scarlett was standing on.

“Never mind.” Tony griped and then sat up. Before he could instruct her too, Scarlett tossed the suit over the edge of the balcony. It landed with a crash below her, cracking the already destroyed marble floor beneath it. “Thank you!”

“Just put on the damn suit already, will you?” Scarlett couldn’t help but smile down at him. Tony mocked blowing her a kiss but stopped short when he saw shadows moving across the cracked walls behind her.

“Behind you!” He shouted before watching her very suddenly disappear from the edge of the balcony. Hands had grabbed onto her shoulders and tugged her away from the railing, then proceeded to lift her up and toss her back into the hallway. Yelping in surprise she covered her head and slid into an overturned end table. “Scarlett?” Tony shouted, not willing to pick up his suit until he was sure she was alright. She’d been so focused on saving him that she had forgotten to take care of herself and be on her guard.

“I’m fine…” Scarlett spoke under her breath as she sat up. She blinked her eyes to clear her vision that had blurred slightly from hitting her head even though she’d tried to protect herself. She hadn’t been fast enough when she’d been taken by surprise so she wasn’t able to properly guard herself in the heat of the moment. Realizing Tony couldn’t hear her whispering, she shouted louder for a second time, “I’m fine!” Clearing her throat and dusting herself off, Scarlett dodged the man who had had thrown her as he tried to kick her while she was down. Grabbing his foot, she twisted it hard and caused him to fall onto his back.

Tony hesitated when he heard Scarlett call to him, but knew he couldn’t do much to help her without his suit regardless of how well she was doing. Dizzy from the last blow he’d taken he turned over the suitcase and clicked the latches. Opening it, he triggered the release of the Mark V armor that he’d recently revamped. For awhile he’d gone without it but the need for a portable Mark had forced him to reconsider.

At his command, the red and silver titanium alloy of the Mark V started to surround Tony’s legs. Reaching down into the suitcase, Tony slipped his hands into the gloves and pulled hard on the handles hidden within them. Standing upright, the suitcase manipulated and changed, hugging the form of its creator until finally it had covered him entirely from head to toe in the portable Iron Man suit.

“Mark V is now online, sir.” Jarvis spoke to Tony through the helmet, the various icons of the Mark’s capabilities flashing through the screen of the helmet as it booted up. Before Tony could respond one of the drones was on top of him. Easily stronger than the drones in the Mark V, Tony powered the repulsors in his palms, grabbed onto the arm of the drone then swung it around. Tossing it to the side, the drone landed on its back with a crash. Tony aimed his repulsor and shot at its chest. Much to his surprise, the drone absorbed the damage of the repulsor and whirred back to life.

“Jarvis, what just happened?” Tony dodged a blow from the drone as it retaliated, holding up the arm of the Mark V. The metallic glove of the armor fanned out to shield the rest of the Mark from the gunfire. Now that he was protected by his suit, Tony wasn’t afraid to stay in the line of fire.

“It seems to have absorbed the blow, sir.” Jarvis responded easily. “It’s good to see you’ve survived thus far. I was mildly concerned when the line went dead.”

“Thanks for your utmost confidence in me, as always.” Tony gritted his teeth and ordered the thrusters of the Mark V to turn on. He’d altered the suit a few months after its creation to be flight capable. It had initially been something he’d left out of the suit to keep it from being as cumbersome as the others but unfortunately the need for it had been greater than he’d expected. After having been grounded during battle one too many times, he had compressed and lightened the thruster design so he could fit it into the Mark along with a few additional features he’d developed for it.

“You’re very welcome sir. Have you located Miss Damien yet?” Jarvis continued on casually with conversation, while Tony launched himself at one of the drones, knocking it to the ground with his boot and skidding with it along the ballroom floor. Grabbing onto the arm of the drone that held the machine gun being used to fire, he pulled and eventually tore it from its metallic socket. The result was an electrical explosion that knocked the Mark V onto the ground and flat on its back. The metallic arm went flying from Tony’s hand and into the opposite wall, the force of the explosion sending it straight through it. The building shook in response to the continued damage to the structure.

“You know, this crush of yours is getting out of hand, Jarvis.” Tony exhaled deeply then got back onto his feet in the suit. Arms spread to either side he targeted the three drones quickly the fired miniature bombs at them, hoping they would do more damage than the repulsors had done.

“I have no idea what you’re referring to sir. I am not programmed to feel or crush.” Jarvis somehow sounded sarcastic, though Tony was sure that was in his head. The miniature bombs went off on impact and knocked all three of the drones to the ground. Tony took to the air again and waited for the smoke of the bombs to settle before analyzing what was left to handle. “The damage done was superficial sir, would you like me to reevaluate the situation?”

“Your circuits burn for her.” Tony responded, ignoring Jarvis’ attempts to interfere in the battle at hand. The wires that he’d been pulling on had come so easily undone, had they been a distraction from the actual way to destroy the drones? Had all his pulling and tugging been for nothing? If so, then why had the first robot malfunctioned so horribly when he’d pulled on the wires? Had that been a ruse as well? If it had been, then the designer of the defense system for the robots had to have been terribly clever. Perhaps the first robot had malfunctioned on its own, even. Jarvis had said earlier that the drones had been based upon unfinished technology so there was a chance they wouldn’t always work as intended.

“It appears the drones are recovering quite quickly, sir.”

“I see that, captain obvious.” Tony decided the only thing that seemed to work to destroy the robots would be to rip them apart piece by piece. But if they simply kept getting up and attacking then it would take a long time and a huge effort to tear all three of them apart. Not to mention if every limb was rigged to explode when disconnected from the main body of the drone then the damage done to his suit would add up and eventually become critical. “Jarvis, scan the drones. Take in as much data as you can. See if you can come up with some way to destroy them that doesn’t involve them exploding in my face.”

“I can’t promise anything, sir.” Jarvis responded. Tony chuckled then dove at the drone whose arm he’d ripped off. From within the drone some kind of ticking had started up. Unsure of what it meant, Tony could only hope it didn’t mean more explosions. He was tired of being thrown around like a rag doll.

Grabbing at the drone, Tony tore at the other arm. Before he could pull hard enough to rip it off a second drone came from behind him, picked him up and threatened to throw him. Seeing this move coming, Tony turned in the armor and punched his metallic fist into the drone’s head leaving a dent in it. Powering his thrusters he planned to use the force created by them to send the drone flying but much to his surprise the drone grabbed onto him before he could launch him across the room.

The force he’d created with his thrusters sent him and the drone backwards into the wall next to the western balcony. They flew through the wall and into the room behind it. The drone smashed its remaining fist into the ground next to the Mark V which had narrowly dodged the blow. Grabbing onto the fist that had been lodged into the ground with the force of the punch, Tony swung the drone around and threw it through the hole already created in the wall.

Flying through the same hole in the wall Tony went to attack the drone again but heard a horrific creaking sound before he could. The structural integrity of the building had finally taken been compromised. Drywall cracked and crumbled, support beams started to fall around the room. If Tony didn’t think fast then the whole building would fall to the ground. With a groan of metal creaking, one of the larger beams from the ceiling that had been supporting the chandeliers threatened to bring down the entire roof.

Aiming overhead, Tony fired his repulsors at the metallic beam. Just as he’d hoped it tore apart from the remainder of the ceiling structure and swung dangerously downward. Firing another blast of his repulsor it detached from the wall and went crashing straight into the edge of the balcony nearby.

“Scarlett!” Tony switched on the loudspeaker function of his Mark. He could only hope that the damage done to the balcony was superficial enough to keep it from tumbling down like the eastern one had done.

On top of the balcony, Scarlett had managed to get to her feet and was doing her best to concentrate on avoiding blows from the two men who had come after her. She hadn’t expected them to follow her so quickly so the fact that they were on her tail worried her. Had they simply murdered Happy and come after her? She would never forgive herself if that was the case. Happy had been a good man and had gone out of his way to try and protect her even when she’d made it clear she could take care of herself.

She could only hope that they’d heard the crash in the hallway and had come running to investigate and had seen her hightailing it through the hallway in search of Tony to give him his suit. When the room had started to groan, Scarlett had attempted to run back into the hallway to try and get out of the way if the ballroom was going to cave in. She was sure that Tony could withstand the blow as long as he kept his suit on, but she was unprotected and would likely die if she remained on the balcony. But one of the men had pulled her back onto the balcony and nearly tossed her right off the edge. If it hadn’t been for the railing she would’ve fallen and likely broken a few bones at the very least.

When the man came closer to her, Scarlett kicked him hard in the groin. Hunching over from the pain, Scarlett wrapped her leg around his neck and pulled him closer to her. She shoved the heel of her palm into his nose and broke it sending blood dripping down his face and onto her. Coughing and gagging at the blood that spilled on her she used the leg she had wrapped around him to turn him over and knock him to the ground. She was flashing him in all sorts of awkward ways, but it hardly seemed important in such a dire situation.

The second man grabbed her hair and pulled her off of his comrade. Howling in annoyance at the sting of her hair being pulled Scarlett’s eye twitched with irritation.

“Real mature.” Scarlett attempted to try and get away without her hair being pulled out of her head but was having a hard time doing so considering what an awkward position she was now in. Seeing Tony blast up at the ceiling to loosen the metallic beam that was getting ready to fall, Scarlett knew she had to think fast. If Tony wasn’t able to stop the building from collapsing then she was going to have to find somewhere to hide from the blow that would surely come. The man holding her hair tugged her back and she allowed her full weight to crash into him instead of trying to steady herself.

They flew to the ground in the hall as the beam smashed into the end of the balcony, sending the railing crumbling down below. The beam precariously balanced against the wall above the balcony and the edge of it before sliding down with a crash onto the balcony but not destroying it entirely. The man whose nose she’d broken had narrowly scrambled out of the way as it came from overhead. Scarlett was surprised by the reflexes of a man who was surely blinded by pain and having trouble breathing without inhaling blood.

The three on the balcony laid back and caught their breath after the crash. Even though they were her enemies, she figured they were likely as surprised as she had been by the devastation to the ballroom.

“Scarlett? Scarlett!” Tony was about to take to the air to make sure she was okay when the drones came at him again. He was tackled to the ground and grunted in annoyance. “Jarvis can you see if she’s okay? She’s not answering me! Stubborn…”

“Sir, there are three heat signatures coming from above but none of them are moving very much.” Jarvis responded while Tony pounded on the robot that had tackled him to the ground and flipped it over onto its back. When the continued blows did nothing but dent the robot and cause surface damage, Jarvis continued. “Isn’t that like, what is the phrase… beating a dead horse, sir? If I am in fact using the saying correctly.”

“You are, Jarvis but what else am I supposed to do? I rip off their arms and they keep getting up and coming after me.” Tony griped, hitting the drone beneath him hard enough to knock it back into the ground. Predictably it got back up and started after him.

“What about shooting them in the head?” Jarvis compiled a list of suggested attack strategies and flashed them on the screen to the right of Tony’s line of sight.

“They’re not zombies so that won’t work. Why don’t you try to locate the receiver like you told me I should do earlier, huh?” Tony managed to kick a robot off of him and then yelled again for Scarlett who was dazed on top of the balcony. Her ears were ringing from the vibration of the metal when it’d smashed nearby. “Scarlett, answer me or I’m going to keep calling you until you do!”

Sitting up slowly, Scarlett held her head to try and get the ringing and spinning to stop. Before she could respond or get to her feet her right arm was grabbed and tugged hard behind her. She could hear the jingling sound of handcuffs and assumed that the man behind her was trying to take her into custody without causing her any further damage. Twisting away before he could cuff her wrists, she elbowed him in the face and scrambled to her feet. Hurrying to the edge of the balcony to survey the damage and to check on Tony she saw him struggling with the robots below. Cursing under her breath she saw the arm torn off of one of them and started to panic.

“I’m okay!” Scarlett choked after finding her voice again and waved to Tony down below. He wasn’t going to get anywhere at the rate he was going. She had no doubt that he could destroy the drones she’d designed easily, but if he didn’t do it the right way it would backfire on him.

“You couldn’t have said that when I called for you the first time?” Tony shouted to her.

“I was a bit busy thank you very much! You could’ve at least warned me you were sending part of the ceiling crashing down on me!” Scarlett yelled. The men on the balcony were looking at her, surprised that she’d turned her back on them and remained unguarded. Nose still broken and dripping blood, one of them came toward her and tried to use her lack of defense to his advantage. He grabbed her shoulder but she instinctively turned around and smashed the palm of her hand into his nose again, hearing it crack a second time.

When he reached to strike at her wildly in retaliation, Scarlett grabbed his arm and spun him around, but forgot that the railing to the balcony and part of the floor had been destroyed. So instead of crashing into the railing, her attacker went tumbling off the edge and smashed into the floor. Wincing at the discomfort that he must have been feeling if he was conscious after that, Scarlett turned her attention back to Tony. She’d have time to deal with what she’d done later, right now she needed to guide Tony in destroying the drones that were attacking him without killing them both in the process.

Though it occurred to her now, how often she pushed things that made her unsettled to the back of her mind with the promise of dealing with them later. Then she realized how very little time she’d spent actually dealing with them as promised.

“I didn’t think it’d land there I was trying to keep the building from, you know, collapsing.” Tony hollered, ripping the helmet off of one of the robots, only to find that the drone didn’t need it to function and to be thrown across the room as revenge.

“I thought you said they weren’t zombies, sir.” Jarvis spoke sardonically in Tony’s ear.

“It was worth a shot.” Tony shrugged, getting back to his feet.

“You’re never going to get anywhere trading punches with those things!” Scarlett shouted and furrowed her brow. “Listen to me, okay?”

“Kinda busy right now. You can tell me what it is I’ve done wrong later after I save us.” Tony artfully flew between the robots, avoiding blows and gunshots.

“Save us? You’re going to get us killed! Listen to me you stubborn ass!” Scarlett couldn’t think of how else to get his attention so she picked up a small piece of rubble and chucked it at the suit. The rubble hit his backside with a small thud but did no damage.

Tony grunted as he flew back into the air and shot up toward the balcony so he could get a better look at Scarlett. “What is it? Daddy’s busy.”

“Don’t you get all condescending on me.” Scarlett scolded wiping the blood off of her face from the man whose nose she’d broken. “Look, there’s a panel on the lower back of these things. It looks completely ordinary. It’s no different than the other panels around it but it’s definitely there. When you pull it open, you’re going to find a large heavy duty black wire. This connects the satellite receptors to the power cell and will completely disable the robot when pulled.”

Tony had started back toward the ground to go after the robots when Scarlett had started to reprimand him but stopped short when he heard her speak like she knew far too much about the robots to be joking. He turned to look at her, in awe of the information she was spewing at him.

“What?” If he’d had his helmet open, Scarlett would’ve seen his mouth hanging agape in shock.

“Look, even the one on the ground over there that looks disarmed is still dangerous. If you attack them any other way than this you are initiating a self destruct sequence. The empty spaces within the drones are packed with explosives. When you disable the other wires on the outside that shock you’re feeling is triggering the explosives. I don’t know how long they’re set before they go off but you need to pull the wire on all four of them or drones and men in black suits are going to be the least of our worries.” Scarlett could feel the confusion radiating off of Tony, but didn’t have time to reassure him that she knew what she was talking about.

The man remaining on the balcony took advantage of her distraction and grabbed her around the waist. She dug her feet into the ground to try and get her footing so she could push him back but felt something sharp dig into her foot instead. She’d forgotten she hadn’t been wearing shoes in all the confusion.

Instinct kicked in and forced her to bend her leg which ached from the strain she’d put on the chemical burn that was still in the process of healing. Through the slit in her skirt she could see that she’d broken the scab over the wound that had started to form and it had started bleeding through the wrapping. She didn’t have much fight left in her and if they didn’t get a handle on the situation soon, she’d be finished.

“How the hell do you know that?” Tony asked, trying to absorb the information that Scarlett had given him. Jarvis had begun to scan the devices in search of the panel she spoke of without being told to. On the screen to his right he could see that Jarvis had pinpointed the panel and the wire hidden beneath it and confirmed the existence of explosives within the drones.

“Because I designed them!” Scarlett shouted with a grunt, managing to twist around in her attacker’s arm and head butt him hard enough to knock him away from her.