Chapter 530

People liked to say artificial intelligence was incapable of thinking outside its programming.

Tony Stark was beginning to think they had a point.

He had always believed JARVIS was different. He had designed the system himself, after all. Surely an AI built by Tony Stark could do more than blindly follow instructions.

Apparently, he had been wrong.

When his mansion came under attack and the entire structure began collapsing, Tony had shouted at JARVIS to get him out of there as quickly as possible.

What Tony had meant was, Get me out of the house.

What JARVIS had apparently heard was, Execute the last flight plan.

So instead of carrying Tony somewhere safe, JARVIS promptly flew him to Tennessee.

There was just one small problem.

The armor hadn’t finished charging.

Tony’s arrival outside the little town he had selected as his destination could best be described as a landing only in the most charitable sense of the word.

He hit the ground.

Bounced.

Hit it again.

Bounced a second time.

Then, somehow, managed a third.

When he finally came to a stop, Tony lay there for several seconds, staring blankly at the sky.

At least nothing seemed broken.

His internal organs, on the other hand, felt as though they’d briefly been introduced to one another.

Unfortunately, the middle of nowhere was not exactly known for its convenient charging stations. Tony was a brilliant scientist, but even he couldn’t recharge a suit of armor by rubbing snow on it.

So he improvised.

Using scraps of cloth, bits of rope, and whatever other garbage he could find, Tony bundled up the disabled armor and started dragging it toward town.

The sight should have looked pathetic.

A billionaire genius stumbling through the wilderness in battered clothes while dragging a giant metal suit behind him was hardly the image of Iron Man.

Somehow, Tony still managed to walk with enough swagger to make it look intentional.

He maintained that dignity for roughly an hour.

Then he finally reached town.

His first priority was finding a pay phone.

He needed to call home and let everyone know he was alive.

Unfortunately for Tony, he was already several steps behind.

Evenson had informed Pepper that Tony was fine and had merely flown off to Tennessee. He had also promised that he was heading there himself to make sure his favorite paycheck remained alive and functional.

That had been enough to calm Pepper down.

She had subsequently driven away with Maya Hansen, Holmes, and Watson.

Which meant Tony’s call should have gone unanswered.

He was already preparing to leave a message when the phone suddenly clicked.

A woman’s voice came through.

"Tony? Is that you?"

Tony froze.

Then he shrieked.

"Ah!"

He nearly dropped the receiver, hurriedly caught it again, and stared at it as though it had personally betrayed him.

"A-Aunt Peggy? Why are you there?"

Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers had rushed over the moment they heard that Tony’s mansion had been destroyed. They hadn’t even stopped to finish dinner.

When they arrived, however, there had been no sign of Tony.

Only wreckage.

Police were already combing through the remains.

The absence of a body had left Peggy deeply worried.

Then she’d noticed something half-buried among the debris.

An Iron Man faceplate suddenly lit up.

She’d picked it up.

And the phone call had come through.

"Tony..."

The moment Peggy confirmed that her nephew was alive, the knot in her chest finally loosened.

Unfortunately for Tony, that didn’t mean she was going to let him off the hook.

"What you did was incredibly reckless," Peggy said sternly. "But that’s all right. Young people make mistakes. What’s important is learning from them."

Tony visibly relaxed.

"Right. Exactly. I knew you’d understand."

His mansion had been blown apart. He was stranded in Tennessee. He’d nearly been killed.

Surely he was the victim here.

There was no possible reason Peggy would still be angry.

Then her tone became frighteningly calm.

"When you come home, I’ll teach you exactly how you’re going to correct those mistakes."

Tony’s expression went blank.

Click.

A thousand miles away, Peggy crushed the Iron Man faceplate in her hand.

Inside the phone booth, Tony somehow felt the impact anyway.

His brain practically rang.

When this was all over, perhaps he should just buy a house in Tennessee.

Maybe he’d retire here.

Maybe he’d never go home again.

Tony stepped out of the booth and stared mournfully at the moon.

Even the moon looked dimmer.

"Done with the call?" Steve approached Peggy. "How’s Stark?"

For all his teasing and grumbling, Steve genuinely cared about Tony. They were comrades, after all.

"He’s fine for now."

Peggy tossed the mangled faceplate aside.

Then she suddenly frowned.

Her head turned toward the darkness beyond the ruined mansion.

"What is it?"

Steve followed her gaze.

There was nothing there.

Just a wall.

But Steve knew better than to question Peggy’s eyesight. After everything she’d been through, her vision was far beyond ordinary human limits. Mattresses, shoe insoles, hidden compartments, objects tucked inside vases or drawers, false backs in wardrobes... very little escaped her notice.

"Steve," Peggy said quietly. "There’s someone over there. Something isn’t right."

She stepped outside.

Steve followed.

They headed toward the cliff overlooking the darkened landscape.

Far below them, a half-naked man was desperately climbing upward.

His shoes were gone.

His trousers were shredded, one leg missing nearly to the knee.

Every few seconds, brilliant orange light pulsed beneath his skin.

The man wasn’t some thrill-seeking extreme athlete.

It was Savin, Killian’s bodyguard and the leader of the assault on Tony’s mansion.

As Savin neared the top of the cliff, he glanced back.

The memory of what had happened moments earlier still chilled him.

Someone had been able to detonate the Extremis subjects at will.

That alone was terrifying.

Fortunately, that person hadn’t attacked Savin directly.

Most likely, whoever it was had assumed Savin had been caught between two massive explosions and reduced to ash.

They would have been wrong.

At the last possible moment, Savin had thrown himself from the helicopter.

The fall and explosions had cost him dearly.

One arm.

Both legs.

All gone.

But Extremis had its advantages.

His body was already rebuilding itself.

He only needed time.

Still, he had to report what had happened to Killian immediately.

Once he reached the top, he’d call his employer and tell him everything.

Savin’s hand finally closed around the edge of the cliff.

He pulled himself upward.

Then something clamped around his throat.

His body jerked off the ground.

"Put... put me down!"

Savin’s eyes widened.

A woman wearing sunglasses was holding him by the throat with one hand.

Her arm looked slender.

Far too slender to possess that kind of strength.

Savin kicked and struggled, but he couldn’t move her even an inch.

And somehow...

She looked familiar.

His gaze shifted.

Then he noticed the man standing beside her.

A man carrying a shield.

Savin’s eyes narrowed.

Wait.

That shield looked awfully familiar, too.

...