Tony and Jax were flying through the sky.

"If he's right about the location, we're 20 minutes from where Pepper is," Tony told him.

"But we also have to figure out this vice president thing, right?" Jax asked.

"Right," Tony answered. "Rhodey and Ana should be taking care of that right about now."

    🚀      

Rhodey and Ana were on a speedboat, riding through the water, speaking over speakerphone.

The vice president was at a Christmas party, answering the phone. "Hello?"

"Sir, this is Ana Romanoff," Ana told him.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," the vice president told her.

"Thank you," Ana told him. "We believe you're about to be drawn into the Mandarin campaign. "We gotta get you somewhere safe as soon as possible."

"Miss Romanoff, I'm about to eat honey roast ham, surrounded by the agency's finest," the vice president told her. "The President's safe on Air Force One with Colonel Rhodes. I think we're good here."

"Sir, this is Colonel Rhodes," Rhodey told him. "They're using the Iron Patriot as a Trojan horse. They're gonna take out the President somehow. We have to immediately alert that plane."

"Okay, I'm on it," the vice president told them. "I'll have security lock it down. If need be, they can have F-22s in the air in 30 seconds. Thank you, Colonel."

"Rhodes and Romanoff out," Rhodey told him.

The vice president hung up.

A guard walked toward him. "Everything okay, sir?"

The vice president smiled a small smile. "Couldn't be better." He walked toward a little girl, kissing the top of her head. "I love you, baby."

The little girl was in a wheelchair. She was missing a leg.

    🚀      

Ellis was walking aboard the Air Force One airplane.

The Iron Patriot landed on the crowd nearby, walking closer. It was inhabited by Killian.

Ellis saluted. "Colonel Rhodes. Glad to see you could make it, son. I feel safer already."

Killian saluted.

They walked onto the plane.

    🚀      

Tony and Jax were flying through the sky. 

The speedboat Ana and Rhodey were on was sailing smoothly, shortly behind.

"We gotta make a decision," Rhodey told them. "One of you is gonna have to go after Pepper, and the other's gonna have to go after the President. We have to save both."

Jarvis: "I have an update from Malibu. The cranes have finally arrived, and the cellar doors are being cleared as we speak."

  🚀 

On the plane, Killian watched at the time clicked 5:00. He walked toward where two men were standing.

Man 1 looked at Man 2. "Oh, here he comes. Here he comes. Get a quick picture."

"Sure," Man 2 told him, pulling out his phone.

Killian pushed both men into the room with the other passengers, closing and locking the door. He let the glove pull off his hand to melt the door handle, closing the glove, walking into the room with Ellis at his guards.

"Everything all right, Colonel?" Guard 1 asked.

Killian picked up a trophy, throwing the sharp point into Guard 1's chest, killing him.

Guards 2 and 3 drew their guns, firing at Killian.

Killian walked closer, pushing Guard 2 into Guard 3, making them fall.

Guard 4 shot at Killian.

Killian shot Guard 4 in the chest with a light ray, killing him. He grabbed Guard 5, pushing him into the ceiling, throwing him onto the table, picking up his gun, shooting Guards 6 and 7 in the chest, killing them.

Ellis and Guard 8 hit under the desk.

Killian pulled Guard 8 out of hiding, snapping his neck, killing him, letting him fall.

Ellis saw a gun on the floor, picking it up, standing, trying to shoot Killian. 

Killian caught his wrist, gripping his throat, pushing him against the wall. "It is an honor, Mr. President."

"If you're gonna do it, do it," Ellis told him.

"Whoa, cool your boots, sir," Killian told him. "That's not how the Mandarin works."

    🚀 

In the Air Force base, a computer guy looked at a soldier. "Sir, Air Force One has been compromised. Internal shots, temperature spikes."

The solider walked closer. "Get me eyes on it now."

"Image coming through now, sir," the computer guy told him.

They saw Killian in the Iron Patriot suit flying off the air plane with Ellis.

The soldier frowned in confusion. "Was that Rhodes?"

    🚀 

Savin walked through the airplane, making sure that the passengers didn't get free from the locked room.

A man banged on the door from the other side. "Is anyone there?"

"Let us out!" a woman called.

Savin saw something outside, looking out through the airplane window.

Jax flew in through the windows, shooting Savin in the chest with a light ray, making him fall to the floor. He flew closer, grabbing Savin from the floor, pushing him against the wall. "The President. Now."

"He's not here," Savin told him, grabbing Jax's wrist, red passing underneath his skin to indicate heat, disabling Jax's glove functions. "Try the jet stream? Speaking of which, go fish."

Savin held up a bomb button, pressing it.

    🚀      

The back of the plane burst open.

The 13 passengers in the back of the plane were sucked out of the back of the plane, making all of them scream.

    🚀      

On the plane, Jax tried to punch Savin with his other arm. Savin was glowing brightly with red, grabbing Jax's other wrist, heating the suit up enough to disable it momentarily.

Jax used the arc reactor in the chest of his suit to shoot the light ray through Savin's chest, killing him. "Walk away from that, you son of a bitch."

    🚀 

Jax flew out of the plane, seeing the falling passengers in the sky. "How many in the air?"

Jarvis: "Thirteen, sir."

"How many can I carry?" Jax asked.

Jarvis: "Four, sir."

Jax flew toward the falling passengers, catching a flight attendant. "Slow down. Slow down, relax. What's your name?" He looked at her name tag. "Heather?" Heather was screaming. The airplane exploded. "Listen to me. See that guy? I'm gonna swing by, and you're just gonna grab him. You got it?"

"What?" Heather asked.

Jax flew closer to the man. "I'll electrify your arm, so you won't be able to open your hand. We can do this, Heather." They reached a man. Heather grabbed his arm. "Easy, see? Eleven more to go." Jax flew toward the other falling passengers. "Remember that game called Barrel of Monkeys? That's what we're going to do."

Jarvis: "18,000 feet."

"Come on, people," Jax told them. "Everybody, grab your monkey." Everyone grabbed each other's hands. "Nice."

Jarvis: "10,000 feet."

Jax grabbed another man in his other arm.

Jarvis: "6,000 feet."

"Come on, people," Jax told them. The man on the other side of Jax grabbed another man. "Come on, come on, come on!" The other man grabbed a woman below him. "Yeah!"

Jax took them closer to the river toward the last falling man.

Jarvis: "1,000 feet."

The man continued to fall, screaming.

Jarvis: "400 feet. 200 feet, sir."

"He's a chunky monkey," Jax told them. "Let's get him." They got close to the man. "Hello."

The woman at the end grabbed the man.

Jax strained to carry all of them above the ground toward the river.

People from nearby buildings were watching.

Jax carefully laid the passengers in the water, continuing to fly, turning back to back sure they were all okay.

The passengers all started to cheer.

Jax smiled. "Nice work, guys. Excellent. Good team effort all around. Go us."

"Nice job, Jax," Tony told him. He was still flying. "But it's only half-done. We've still got to get Pepper and the President. I'm almost there now. Rhodey and Ana are right behind me."

Jax turned around, flying through the sky. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Don't start the party without me."

"Say, Jarvis, is it that time?" Tony asked.

Jarvis: "The House Party Protocol, sir?"

Tony nodded. "Yes."

    🚀      

At the remains of the Stark mansion, the rumble was being cleared away.

The storm cellar was opened.

Everything that was inside came flying to the outside.