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The Forge	By : IndigoMiko Category: Marvel Verse Movies > Iron Man (all) > Iron Man (all) Views: 1688 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Iron Man, X-Men, Avengers, or any other Marvel verse property. I also don't make any money from writing this. All I do is wile away my free time kicking things around inside my head. It's a mess up there.

Chapter List
- 19
- 20
- 21
Chapter 20: Throwing Down the Gauntlet
“There is no pain you are receding. A distant ship smoke on the horizon.” Comfortably Numb Pink Floyd
Before he left for New York Tony watched her put on the new armored under suit. It had thin plates that covered the exposed parts of her legs and hips. Thinner scale armor covered her upper body, arms, and part way up her neck. It left her hands bare and her feet unarmored though. The thing definitely needed more work, but they had run out of time.
After the under suit he helped her situate the Mark III backpack. Tony eyed her closely and then gave her a quick kiss goodbye. A few minutes later she watched him leave out the garage ramp before she headed back upstairs.
Forge would have to wait at the Malibu house another hour for a quinjet to show up. So, far she’d spent the time pacing around the living room and kitchen area in nervous anticipation. They were finally getting somewhere. It’d seemed for weeks they were at one dead end after another, and then Volek popped out of the woodwork.
The situation still smelled funky to her. She was worried about Tony.
“You seriously didn’t have one closer?” She questioned Natasha again.
The red head rolled her eyes from her seat at the bar. “Be glad it was this close. We don’t normally operate out of New Mexico.”
What was so special about New Mexico? “Do I even want to know?”
“Classified,” Agent Pretty smirked at her. Of course it was. Whatever.
Tony’s love of automation and hooking JARVIS into the house systems meant lunch was salvageable, even if Forge was no longer interested in eating it. Agent Pretty didn’t have that problem. She was two thirds of the way through her plate of pasta when JARVIS’ security alarms went off.
Forge looked over at Natasha to see the woman had dropped her fork and picked up her gun. Fuck it. Forge hit the control to activate the suit. It‘d only been half an hour since the call for the jet went out. “Too early?” Forge double checked.
“Yep,” Natasha replied. The agent slid off the bar stool and stalked across the entryway to peer out the front windows. Double fuck.
“Four?” Forge blinked at Tony’s voice in her ear. It seemed JARVIS was programmed to call him. Whether it was on activation of the suit, or the security systems, she didn’t know.
“Not right now,” she half sang. “JARVIS. What’s going on?” Forge questioned.
A window screen lit up with video feed of the grounds and surrounding airspace. “Multiple assailants approaching from the East.”
“Son of a bitch,” Forge cursed. It was obvious Tony could see the same thing she could as he swore in her ear.
There was a team of what looked like three dozen commandos coming across the lawn. She could see the gray body armor they were wearing and attempted to reach out to it with her powers. There was nothing. Whatever material it was, it wasn’t metal. Their problems doubled when JARVIS highlighted an honest to God helicopter hovering on the ocean side.
“It appears they have air support,” the AI commented.
No shit, Forge thought.
“I’m turning around,” Tony called.
He had been flying toward New York for half an hour. There was no way Tony would make it back in time to help.
Natasha broke in. “Now would be a good time for that weaponized backup.”
“JARVIS, defense,” Forge barked.
When Forge glanced back to the guys in the yard they were in the process of setting up some thing that could have no good purpose. “What is that?” She asked the question even as she watched the men finish setting it up and retreat away from the house.
“Security systems activating.”
She could hear the systems powering up and a few metallic clangs as covers fell off hidden turret mounts.
The next few moments seemed to happen at the same time.
JARVIS had enough time to inform them, “The energy signature matches the weapon sir encountered at the manufacturer in New Jersey.”
There was a high whine in the air coming from it’s direction. Forge willed the metal in the strange tripod looking thing to implode. It crunched down in to a ball but the whine continued.
Her eyes widened when the thing, crushed as it was, still seemed live. She got a grip on it with her powers and started to send it flying back. Forge managed to throw it only a few yards before there was a whump she could feel in her bones. She had a quick impression of Natasha throwing herself over the bar top in the kitchen, then the whole world shook and blinked out.
Forge opened her eyes seconds later to find herself on her back. The HUD on her suit flickered, and between one image and next she watched a split in the ceiling above her double in size. He breath stuttered in her chest as she heard the cracking sound of loosening masonry. Concrete dust rained down onto her.
“Four?” Tony called again. “Four!?”
Forge knew she needed to move. Staying still was death. “Natasha?” Forge called as she tried to roll to her side.
“Here,” the woman coughed from across the room.
A tug on Forge’s left boot got her attention. It was pinned under chunks of concrete. Before she could consider a way to free herself there was a creaking groan above her.
Forge’s eyes widened as the crack in the ceiling unzipped further. With a resounding snap a piece of the ceiling broke away and headed straight for her face. She felt like her nervous system had been hit by lightning as the piece grew closer at ridiculous speed. Instinctively she threw a hand up and blasted the falling masonry with the repulsors. Bits of concrete pinged across her upper body and a chunk thudded to the right of her head.
Glass smashed from somewhere in the house and a steady hiss sounded. Natasha cursed and more sounds of collapsing stone were heard around her. Exposed wires from the ceiling sparked and Forge tried to free her boot again, kicking on the repulsor.
She shot free and rolled a few feet across the floor, landing on her stomach. There were more snapping, crumbling sounds from above and around her. A fist sized chunk landed on the back of her left thigh and Forge hollered in pain.
She knew if any of the larger concrete chunks hit her exposed legs, armor or not, it was going to be ugly. With a thought the metal coffee table she’d casually nudged so long ago flew over to cover her exposed body. More pieces fell, clanging off her shoulder armor and the coffee table. There was a squeal of bending metal in the din and Forge grunted when a particularly heavy piece landed on the right side of her ribs. It knocked the breath temporarily from her lungs.
What had, in reality, only been a handful of seconds, seemed to stretch to minutes as bits of the house rained down around her. She knew she was in serious trouble when the light started to dim and the echoing sound of rock falling became slightly muffled. Forge tried to move when the noises died down, but found she was stuck fast. Even with the suit she couldn’t budge the material above her. It was dark under the pile and her breath shortened as she started to panic. She was pinned down, could barely breathe. The phantom smell of oil swum around her head.
Gun shots rang out from across the room and they saved her from completely loosing her head. She knew Natasha was still in the fight. More breaking glass sounded from the front of the house and that hissing sound she’d heard earlier grew louder.
JARVIS’ voice finally stopped fluctuating long enough for her to hear. “Seven percent power. There is no longer enough power to enact the Reel In protocol. Chest armor integrity at thirty five percent.”
Finally the words Tony had been jabbering in her ear made sense. He’d been trying to have JARVIS remote activate the protocol. A sweet smell replaced the oil from memory and with a sinking feeling of dread, Forge guessed gas. She needed to get out now or she wouldn’t be able to get out.
She stretched her senses around her and decided that the coffee table would have to do. It was a risk to move it, as it was bracing part of the rubble pile, but it was the quickest way.
“Full power to thrusters JARVIS,” she demanded.
With a thought the coffee table was no longer covering her legs but flattened and shoved up with explosive force. The pile of masonry bits flew outward and toppled around her. A few more pieces clanged across her back and she shot forward on her side through the remains of the television and into the front of the couch.
Her escape took precious seconds, and by the time she was free the gas was thick in the room. A white haze filled her vision and she couldn’t see where Natasha was. Forge choked and tried to think.
Shadowy figures were moving through the dust and gas in the entryway. Then the muzzle flash from Natasha’s pistol came from over by the kitchen counter. One woman against thirty men was not going to work out. Forge needed to get back in the fight.
A moment of concentration on her part pulled the silverware from the drawers in the kitchen. She flung it at the encroaching shadows with extreme speed. Unable to aim without a clear view she went with the strategy of bombardment. Several of the men went down screaming, but not all.
Gun shots rang out in return to Natasha’s volley and Forge took control of the bullets, sending them back into the group of men forcing their way into the house. The gun’s she exploded in their hands. Shrapnel ripped back into their arms and faces.
Forge’s vision started darkening around the edges and she coughed. She needed air. There was grit in her mouth that tasted like rock and her nose was clogged with the sickly sweet gas smell. In desperation she abandoned the fight with the men in the front and rolled across the floor. Her repulsors activated and she slid toward the ocean side windows on her belly. Forge could feel a few nicks open up on her cheek from the broken glass. In her disorientation she misaimed badly and rammed her side against a remaining steel window brace. She flipped sideways and then she was outside, blinded by the sudden sunlight and falling.
Tony was yelling in her ear and ordering JARVIS to take over the flight controls of the suit. Several yards down the cliff side Forge finally got herself right side up in time to hear JARVIS announce, “Four percent power.”
Her vision flickered again, and this time it wasn’t the HUD’s fault. Forge shook her head and forced herself to stay alert. She focused on gaining the altitude she had lost in her tumble. The main supports for the house were above her at this point. With a quick burst of power she was roof level again.
Behind her she could hear the bass thrum of helicopter blades. She twisted in the air and her first thought upon seeing the machine through her cracked HUD was a rather woozy ‘Whoops. Helicopters are metal.’ She didn’t stop to think before ripping the rotary blades off it and flinging them over the top of the house at the few men remaining on the lawn. The ones that fell short slammed with a splintering sound into the concrete roof of Tony’s house.
The low whine of the descending aircraft almost drowned out Tony yelling at her to land. Before she could make a move to do so the gun on the chopper barked and Forge could sense the approach of multiple metal projectiles. She kicked her repulsors higher as anger flashed through her, hot and thick.
Apparently the fact their transport was crashing was enough to have the gunner switch to live rounds. Unfortunately for them her gut reaction to being shot at by the falling helicopter was to crush it like a tin can. It didn’t shoot again.
“Two percent, we are now running on emergency back up power.”
One of the repulsors on her feet gave out and she dropped suddenly. Below her the wide white roof of Tony’s Malibu house rolled out in all directions. She briefly contemplated landing on the roof but from inside the house she could hear more gunshots going off. Natasha still needed help and if Forge was going to do anything she needed to get closer to the front and see what was going on.
Forge leaned forward and limped her sputtering suit over the roof. She overshot and when she was about ten feet above the front lawn the power gave out completely. The cracked HUD went dark and she dropped straight down, stomach in her throat. Somehow she managed to roll into the fall but was temporarily blinded by the inactive video screen. A spray of something that was not metal pelted her back. Fuck. She’d landed in the middle of a group of them.
Unable to see Forge ripped the visor off and tossed it in the direction of whoever was firing at her. She heard a choked yell as the sharpened wedge she‘d willed it into impacted with her attacker. With her vision back she could see there were still a good dozen men on the lawn. There was still a fire fight going on in the house as well.
Knowing the suit wasn’t going to do her any good with no power, she started ripping pieces off of it and throwing it at the people trying to take her down. In between she high jacked bullets from in the house and spun them out at the people surrounding her on the yard. A twist to the left, and three pieces of the suit went through the gap under the arm of the torso armor of one man. Forge slid her feet to the right, and another piece went through a man’s neck. Then Forge made the mistake of throwing one of the gauntlets.
Eleven men down the last one got lucky. Forge stared down in horror to see a dart sticking out of her uncovered hand. She had enough time to rip it out before the combination of gas and injected sedative overwhelmed her. Her world went dark. She didn’t even register hitting the ground.
……………………………….........................................................................
When JARVIS called him he’d only been in the air for thirty minutes.
“Security alert at the Malibu home, sir. Miss. Maddix has activated her suit.” That woman really need to stop getting into trouble the minute he left her alone.
“Four?” Tony called. He could see a live feed of what she was seeing through her HUD.
“Not now,” she sang back.
Only a few seconds later the house was hit with a weapon similar to the one he’d encountered in New Jersey. Tony‘s heart jumped to his throat. He knew how much she feared being pinned underneath something and that weapon had taken out several stories of office building. His house would slide off the cliff into the ocean under that kind of power. When her HUD flickered back on she was amazingly still in a mostly intact living room. But then, these people wanted to kidnap her not kill her.
After that brief moment of relief the ceiling started falling on her. He watched, as though he was the one lying there, as a large slab of concrete closed in on her head. Then, even when she escaped being crushed, she was still buried. Her HUD flickered in and out again.
Tony called out for JARVIS to initiate the Reel In protocol but it was already too late. Her suit didn’t have enough power. She used more of the dying energy in her suit to free herself from the rubble and the gas filled house. By then Tony could tell she was disoriented and he was scared she wouldn’t get control before she crashed into the cliff side or the Ocean.
Tony was forced to watch, knowing he was too far away to do anything, as Four once again fought off the assholes after her. He’d been yelling at her the whole time but it was clear she was already partially losing consciousness. He was damn proud of the way the woman took out the helicopter though.
When JARVIS announced four percent power he started screaming for her to land. He could see the roof top of his house below her but then the HUD cut out. JARVIS announced the Mark III backpack had shut down and Tony was left to fly the rest of the way back to Malibu unable to contact anyone at the house.
Only a few minutes out JARVIS announced the GPS signal from the chip in Four’s hand was on the move. Tony didn’t know if that movement was voluntary or not.
- 19
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- 21
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The Forge