Energy

Christie and Natasha stood on the boat, the wind flicking their hair off their faces. As they surveyed the large oil-drilling platform, Natasha easily spotted the henchmen keeping watch. Christie was busy recognising landmarks and connecting them to the blueprints she had seen earlier. There were suspected innocent civilians on board, as well as the president. Fury had stressed that their safety was of paramount importance, and had given Christie permission to go wild once the innocents were safe.

“What do you think? Need us to take out a few of them?” Natasha asked, referring to her combat skills and Clint’s perfect aim.

“I think it would be best if I snuck in alone,” Christie concluded.

“Looks like the president has been strung up in the Iron Patriot’s suit, right in the middle of the platform,” Clint’s voice came across their earpieces.

“Fantastic…” Christie grumbled to herself. She only hoped that she could actually succeed at rescuing him. After all, that’s what superheroes did.

“I’m here if you need me,” Natasha commented before turning and heading inside. Christie remained on deck, focusing on the left side of the platform. There were a few less guards there, making it a good place to try to land on. After a deep calming breath, Christie’s jittering stomach stopped shaking her about, and she sent some energy to her feet. She easily propelled herself forwards, off SHIELD’s ship and towards the oil-drilling complex. Christie remained close to the water, hoping her white suit wouldn’t give her away.

She swooped up and landed on the platform, hidden by a control booth. After peeking around the corner, Christie darted to hide behind a structural beam, then shifted across to a shipping container. Before she could plan her next move to get closer to the hanging president, a guard rounded the corner, almost bumping into her. Too stunned to talk, the guard froze and didn’t even raise his gun. Christie reacted much faster and silenced him with a jolt of energy. The man slumped to the ground and Christie attempted to hide him in the shadows. The longer she was invisible to the Mandarin, the better.

Christie noticed some stairs close to her position that led to further cover. Not too far from that was the Iron Patriot suit: her first destination. With gritted teeth, Christie sprinted to them and bounced up the metal steps. Despite the patter of her boots, no attention was drawn to her. She skirted past the edge of the wall and was back in the shadows. The second she turned her head, Christie was faced with a man in a green shirt. Automatically, her hand flew to his throat and energy began to intensify in her other palm. She only hesitated from familiarity.

“Christie! It’s me!” the man hissed. After a short squint, Christie quickly let go.

“James,” she breathed. She recognised the man who was usually beneath the Iron Patriot armour from SHIELD files, as well as having witnessed Tony conversing with him over video chat.

“Christie?” At the sound of a different man’s voice, Christie’s eyes widened. It couldn’t be. She stepped to the side to see past Rhodes and her mouth fell open when she saw him.

“Tony?” Christie whispered, thinking she was hallucinating. Because she was immobilised by disbelief, Tony crossed the short distance between them and pulled her into a tight embrace.

“It’s so good to see you,” Tony said quietly as Rhodes shifted to check that they were still unnoticed. As they pulled apart they couldn’t help but share a few hurried kisses.

“I thought you were dead!” she exclaimed in a hushed voice. Christie finally took in his complete appearance, noting the scabs and exhaustion across his face. She ran a concerned hand down the side of Tony’s jaw, earning a small wince as she crossed a stinging bruise.

“Didn’t you get my message?” Tony said with concern.

“Message?” Christie questioned, brow creased.

“I called the house and left a message. It should have come up in the suit that Pepper had on,” he explained. Christie’s eyes widened as she realised why Pepper had handed her the helmet while acknowledging that Tony loved Christie now. There had been a message inside there for her, letting her know that he was still alive.

“I didn’t get the message, but wow, I’m just so glad you’re alive,” Christie breathed before wrapping Tony in her arms again. She was almost crying with joy.

“I hate to break up the moment, but more guards are heading towards the president. We have to act soon,” Rhodes informed them as he walked to their side. “What’s our plan?”

“There’re too many of them. We need back-up,” Tony admitted, his voice grim as he let go of Christie.

“SHIELD is nearby. I can call in for help if you’d like,” Christie suggested. She noted Tony was gazing off into the distance.

“Not yet. It’s personal. I need to go after Killian myself,” Tony shook his head.

“And I need to rescue the president,” James remarked. Christie looked across at Tony for advice. If the president were to be rescued then SHIELD would be happy, so perhaps she could protect Tony instead.

“Stay with Rhodes,” he told her.

“You don’t even have a suit,” she countered anxiously. Christie couldn’t possibly risk losing Tony again; it was too painful.

“Hey, I’m more than just a suit, you know,” Tony replied with a slight frown. Everyone then heard the jets coming from the sea, and turned their attention to the remarkable sight. Suit after suit flew in and came to a stop, ready for orders. “There’s my boys…” Christie grinned, feeling as though there was no way they could lose now.

“I’ll go with James,” Christie nodded at Tony. He smiled and gave her a forceful short kiss.

“Promise me I’ll see you after this,” he breathed as an Iron Man suit landed next to them.

“I promise,” Christie agreed.