I am....Ironman

Chapter Ten-Ironman 3

"You're a crazy son of a bitch" Pepper said, panting with adrenaline. 

Ironman held her tightly as National Guard took away A.I.M cohorts. 

"They didn't inject you did they?" Ironman asked, holding her in his arms, checking her over.

 "No, Maya distracted them long enough till you got here with back up.....where's Kilian?"

 Ironman didn't answer at first, seeming to form an answer. 

"Killian had extremis, and it went faulty, he exploded in his home this morning". 

Pepper nodded, "And the President?" she asked softly.

 "Elis is safe, and the vice is in custody, no one got hurt" he added breathlessly. 

Ironman released her, bowed slightly and flew off. 

Later that day, SI released a press conference about AIM, and although SI put in funding into a few of it's projects, they claim to have no knowledge why the company has gone down in flames.

 "So....Stark Industries is a weapons smithy?" Loki asked as the conference ended. 

"Aye, they make weapons for the government" Thor supplied from his spot next to Loki on the couch. 

"Almost stopped making them too", Clint said from the kitchen, drawing both brother's attentions.

 "Tony Stark, son of the founder, Howard Stark. He tried to shut down the weapons division about five, six years ago. Would have worked, but someone had the idea of running a mental check on him, since he had been kidnapped for about three months in the middle east at that point".

 Thor crossed his arms, "Why was he kidnapped?"

 "He, well, SI was the weapons manufacturing plant at the time, top name brand so to speak, everyone wanted Stark weapons because they always worked. A terrorist group kidnapped him so they would have a source of weapons" 

Clint shrugged, "Anyway, when the results came back, turns out Stark had a boatload of problems, PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, you name it, he probably had it. But what was always a head scratcher was there is no way three months of anything can give a person that much trauma". 

Loki tilted his head, "PTSD?" he asked confused, the acronym was confusing him.

"Warrior's memory Loki", Thor placed a hand on his shoulder, "they only see the past and have fear". 

Loki nodded, pursing his lips slightly, turning back to the screen where two pictures of Tony Stark appeared. 

"Is that him?" Thor asked, looking from the two pictures.

 "Yeah, that's him, he was quite the player in his day, and I mean, how can he not be, he had the look and the money to have everything he wanted". 

"Yet he tried to stop that...does anyone know why?" Loki asked confused. 

Clint shook his head, glancing back at the pictures, "Ya know, those are the last current photos of him".

 The two in question were older, less quality to them. 

One was Stark sitting at a bar, a day before his final weapons demo, with a full tumbler glass of untouched scotch in front of him.

 "He just...disappeared?" Thor asked confused, looking to Clint for answers for the an to only nod.

 The voice over stated that it was about a week before the demo that Stark began to act off. 

The following picture had the brothers raising their eyebrows. 

A picture was taken of Stark and another man, at a gathering of sorts, but Stark looked murderous.

 But it was a buried fury, and he seemed to be tense and stiff to the man in the picture. 

There was something about Stark's eyes, Thor noticed, that just rubbed him wrong, but he didn't mention it. 

The newscaster continued on, "On more exciting news, Ironman helped the government apprehended the self acclaimed 'Mandrin' early this morning, as well as offer support in rounding up AIM remnants who were involved in mutation experiments and terrorist actives ", surprise evident in the broadcaster's features. 

Silence engulfed the three of them as the words rang in their ears,

 "I'm sorry.....what?" Clint asked, tapping his ear where his shield given hearing aid was, just in case it wasn't working again. 

"Did he just say Ironman helped to catch a terrorist??"

 Loki tilted his head and crossed his arms, trying to understand why a villain would stop a threat like that.

 "Enemy of my enemy is my friend perhaps?" Thor shrugged. 

Clint shook his head in thought, "Maybe..."

 Loki said nothing, a crease in his forehead. 

It was quite the conundrum.