New York, New York

Stark Expo

Saturday 8:06 pm

So, I’ve made peace with not being able to change everything in this universe, mainly for the fact that I have no idea what those changes will bring. So, from here on out I will only make “nudges” for the better. Take tonight, for example, I’m guessing that Fury and company didn’t exactly believe me or they couldn’t find enough evidence to shut down the expo. I could’ve just called in a bomb threat or something like that myself but then we would’ve ended up fighting Ivan at an unknown location and time. This way we at least know pretty much what’s going to happen and can plan ahead and can keep casualties down. To help with this I invited some of my X-friends to help out secretly while Jean and I take out the drones publicly.

“Ok, people it’s almost showtime.” I was on the coms giving a final briefing to the team. “Remember to focus first on getting the people out of the Expo, we’re on a timer here. This whole place is going to blow and I’m not sure if my plan to stop that part will work, so we need to get all of the people out quickly and safely.” Earlier today I borrowed/stole a bunch of security jackets earlier to help us blend in and order people around when things got crazy. “Don’t be afraid to use your powers if you have too but try not to get identified and keep moving. We’ll meet up at the RP on 3rd when it’s over. Good luck out there!”

The show was well underway and Hammer had just introduced War Machine when Iron Man showed up to crash the party. “Ok, Phoenix you get the glass, I got the drones. Guys go ahead and pull the fire alarms out there and start evacuating the people.” Ivan had started his hack on War Machine when Iron Man showed up and started targeting him. War Machine and the rest of the drones started aiming at Iron Man. “Is that you?” Tony asked Rhodey. “That’s not me...that’s not me. I’m lock up… I can’t move… Go, get out of here this whole system been compromised!!” Iron Man wasted no time jetting off into the skies and neither did the drones when they opened fire on him. Phoenix and I took off from the back of the crowd to protect them. She made a slanted Tk shield to protect them from the falling glass while I made another one too protect them from the bullets that were flying around.

While we were doing that, Ivan sent War Machine and the Air force drones off after Iron Man. I knew where the real danger was and started cutting down the army drones with laser blasts to limit the number of bombs later. “Phoenix, go!! I got this.” She gave me a nod and took off after Iron man and his group. She was going to do her best and protect people from stray shots from the Air force drones. I made short work of the Army drones and was working of the Navy, but that pissed Ivan off so he had the rest of the drones scatter and start blowing stuff up. “Guys, the clock’s running. The drones are now loose, prioritize getting people to safety but if you get a shot at one, take it.” As I was coming out of the theater, I happen to see Black Widow getting ready to go with Happy. “Hey, Nat.” She looked up me. “Told you so!” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll be by sometime tomorrow to see Fury. Good luck storming the castle!!” She actually got the reference and smirked. She gave a lazy wave and go into the car. Then happy asked her. “You know that guy?” She looked thoughtful then replied with great determination. “Not yet, but I will.” They took off for the Hammer compound.

Teasing Nat was fun but a few seconds later I felt a chill go down my back for some reason. I probably should have told her that she was on a wild goose chase but those loose ends still needed to be tied up and she wasn’t exactly geared up for a fight with a mech. (Something I was going to work on for her and Hawkeye.) Meanwhile Phoenix was steadily taking out the drones that were chasing after Iron Man. That and my quick destruction of the ground drones pushed up Ivan time table. He decided to come to the Expo in the Whiplash suit a lot earlier than he did in the film. Knowing what was coming I continued to take out drones while the X-men continued the evacuations.

“Rhodey you still locked on?” “Yeah!?” “Well drop your socks and grab your crocks, we’re about to get wet on this ride!” Iron Man got tired of being chased so he plotted a course through the metal globe, hoping to take out as many as he could. “Wait, Wait, Wait!!!” For some reason (cough Plot armor cough) all of the remaining air force drones except for War Machine got destroyed trying to go through the globe. I let them get on with the movie and their boss fight because we had other things to deal with. “Nightcrawler, Polaris and Phoenix…. Phase 2, Go!!”

By my reckoning, we only had a few minutes at most to round up all the drone’s parts scattered all across the Expo before they blew. Those three were our fastest metal movers so it was their job to collect them all. While they were doing that I was inside the theater stealing some of the knock-off Arc reactors before they blew. I didn’t really have time to do it the right way so basically, I just cut them out of the drones and made sure they couldn’t receive any signals. I was able to get five of them before Crawler popped back in to deliver them to the rendezvous point.

“Cyclops, last sweeps then bail, Storm watch over the iron duo, if you see them struggling send down a bolt or two fry Whiplash’s suit. Polaris and Phoenix on me.” “Cyclops copies.” “Storm copies, moving now.” I had Cyclops and the team looking for stragglers just in case my plan doesn’t work. Basically, the three of us are going to produce a massive EMP pulse which should fry all the drones in the expo and prevent them from exploding in the first place. “Alright, ladies just like we practice. Start building your charges and release on my count.”

Meanwhile on the other side of the Expo. Iron Man and War Machine were getting their butt kicked just like in the movie. Except this time because of how I change the end of the birthday party. He didn’t give that lame “want to be a hero” line, instead Iron Man threw out a “cross the streams” ghostbuster reference. They both hit Whiplash at the same time with a beam and crushed him in his suit. Unfortunately, just like Thor, later on, they didn’t aim for the head so Whiplash was able to set off the explosives. “You lose!” Whiplash smirked. Beep…… Beep…. Beep… Beep.. Beep. “All these drones are rigged to blow! “We gotta get out of here man!!” War Machine screamed. “Pepper!!!” They both took off in an instant but Iron Man went flying after Pepper. Neither noticing Storm right behind them.

When the drones started beeping, I knew that was our cue. “Now ladies, release!” A massive globe of electromagnetic energy burst away from us and as it traveled it knocked out all forms of electricity in the area. As well as doing some physical damage. Pepper who was still in front of the theater was knocked down but not badly hurt. Can’t say the same for Ironman and War machine. Their suits were already badly damaged so were no match for the EMP. So, they ended up getting shut down and locked up as they started falling out of the sky. Lucky for them Storm was still following them and was able to catch them with a strong wind updraft.

I saw Pepper still on the ground when I came out of the theater so I went over to help her up and also gave her a quick heal while I was at it. “Ms. Potts, how do you feel?” She looked around at all of the destruction. “Why do I have this feeling like this all would have been a lot worse if you weren’t here?” She was staring at Tony by the end of her sentence. “Because you are an incredibly smart and perceptive woman? Ah don’t worry too much about him. Most of the last couple of months was him just dealing with the fact that he was dying and he “the smartest man in the world” couldn’t find a cure so his ego took a hit.” She raised her eyebrows at that. “What? He’s not dying anymore. He took his lumps and learned some things but he still has a lot of growing up to do.” She rolled her eyes. “Now that this is all over, I’m sure the Tony you know and love will be back in no time.” Pepper chuckled. “He really does believe its charming. I don’t have the heart to let him down.” We both laughed. “Well I’d better go get them out those suits or they’d be suck in there until SHIELD showed up.”

Tink. Tink. Tink. I knocked on Iron Man’s faceplate. “See Stark this is what happens when you only listen to half the message.” I chuckled as I hit the hidden manual release. “Funny, you can go now I’m going to finish my nap.” I grinned at that as I did the same for War Machine. “Don’t mind him he’s just hangry.” “You two should be on SNL. How’s Pepper doing?” I looked up and saw them coming our way. “Not a scratch on her. She’s coming over now with my better half.” Tony let out a sigh of relief. I gave Rhodey a hand up and he crawled out on his own as they walked up. “Gentlemen I’d like to introduce my partner, Phoenix. Phoenix, Tony Stark and Col. James Rhodes.”

“Hi guys, glad you’re ok. Nighthawk everything inside is secure and Shield is 2 mins out, we gotta move.” I gave a nod of thanks. “That’s our cue then. Hey Stark you might want to think about some sort of emergency system, in case something like this ever happens again. Imagine if one of you had been a bit higher when you fell, you could’ve broken you back or something.” He got a thought look while Rhodey paled a bit. I started floating away with Phoenix. “Later folks, oh and don’t forget to invite us to the wedding!!” “WHAT WEDDING???” Both Tony and Pepper shouted! “Oops!” You could hear our laughter long after we took off.

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Manhattan, New York

Rooftop on 3rd

Saturday 9:21 pm

“Cyclops give me a sitrep.” Phoenix and I had finally caught up to the rest of the crew. “Mission accomplish with no injuries and little to no exposure.” Needless to say, I had a very big smile. “Well done guys, very well done. I know for a fact we couldn’t have pulled off this save so well, without all of you out there backing us up.” I gave Cyclops a pat on the shoulder while looking over the team with pride. “Alright party time back at our place let’s celebrate!!”

We all raced off and headed back for my HQ for a party that would last the whole night. Although this wasn’t the X-Men’s first mission, you couldn’t tell it by the way everyone was partying and celebrating. I didn’t hold it against them because we did a good thing tonight and it was good practice for what’s to come. From here on out, I’m going to have them practice on crowd control and fighting a mob army when outnumbered. We still have some time before the 1st Avengers movie but practice never hurt nobody. As for me I turned in early because I wanted to fresh for my meeting with Fury in the morning. Metakind had a lot riding on this meeting and I didn’t want to screw it up.