Snow in Tennessee. Warm breeze in Florida. Funny things to think about while landing on an oil tanker. Their lives had always been on the side of crazy and it wasn't getting any better. They had the very life of the president of the United States in their hands right now. No pressure. Just another Tuesday really. The life of a superhero was not a boring one to say the least. They wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Somebody had to do it and they had the power to do so. For all their so-called knowledge of everybody's affairs, Shield was nowhere to be found. Protecting the world might not include saving heads of states. Each one set their own priorities.
One armoured man, one magic user. Each team on their side of the structure. It was clear to everyone that their enemy had nothing to lose now, making him even more dangerous than before. They would never underestimate an enemy. That kind of attitude would be dangerous for them but more importantly for the innocent bystanders. Rhodey and Agatha would go straight away for the President. Tony and Loky were looking for Killian but both teams would take any possibility that would come their way. Only the result was important.
Rhodey was untying Ellis with Agatha having his back. She was also ready to cast a spell to avoid the President the long fall. Nobody was trying to stop them. Everything was way too easy to their liking. That only meant worse would happen later.
"Tony, Tony, Tony.... Always late to the party." Killian said, walking toward them.
"I like to make an entrance."
The time of the platitude was long gone. Killian could have told him how Tony was always too late and in return, the genius would promise to stop him whatever the cost. That was so cliché. Killian was already turning fiery orange and Loki had his blades out. Despite the formula being unstable, the mad scientist had tried Extremis on himself. This was a disaster waiting to happen. The battle would push his body too much. The man wanted to use his fire power on an oil tanker. Fucking perfect. Killian was ready to die and would do his hardest to take everybody down with him. He didn't care about targeting the president because he would die anyway if the tanker was to explode with him.
Of course, Killian wasn't alone. He wasn't that stupid. Three men, one woman, all enhanced. They would also fight to the death. There was a theme there. Who were Tony and his team to go against their will? A catastrophe was imminent. They needed to try and avoid most of it. Tony wasn't really protected by his armour this time. Nor was Rhodey. Metal was conductive. The enhanced could overheat the gold platinum quite easily. This was something Tony should think about fixing for the next generation of armours. Perhaps also some research about the other extreme. Great cold could be just as dangerous.
"Jarvis?" Asked Tony through the coms, his voice wouldn't be heard outside the armour. "How long will it take to send an armour here?"
"ETA six minutes for the lighter ones. Eight minutes and a half for the bulkier ones, Sir."
Tony had crazy coping mechanisms since his kidnapping in Afghanistan. He knew that all too well. He felt an urge, a profound need to improve his armours. Each time he was about to die or was otherwise betrayed by someone close, the genius would go in his workshop and just build new and improved armours. Those things were happening a little bit too often these days. And now that Rhodey had one suit of his own, Tony frantically needed to make sure his best friend was as safe as possible. He might or might not have built a purple one for Agatha and a silver with emerald green accents for Loki. They had often let him play with their powers, letting him scan them when they were using their magic. The armours were totally compatible with that part of who they were. Tony just didn't have the time or courage to give it to them.
