chapter xxiii.
(   iron man 3   )

bury me   in armor
when i'm dead and hit the ground
my nerves are poles that unfroze
if you love me, won't you let me know?
violet hill ─── coldplay

stark mansion
december 22, 2012
(   today   )

And so there I was: a complete and utter nimrod running as hard and as fast as I could. The gates of our Malibu mansion slowly glided open as Jarvis distantly greeted me. My Converses skidded against the concrete as I turned the corner and bounded towards the front door.

Gotta tell Dad. Gotta let him know. Gotta hurry up. The words repeated endlessly as the glass door automatically slid open for me.

I knew only a few things in the moments that took less than ten minutes ago. If Aldrich Killian's Extremis truly had been hijacked by the Mandarin, then Dad had to know before my idiocy completely ran rampant. He had to fix my screw up before it could get any worse. And it was going to get worse. It was going to get much, much worse.

The sight of not two, but three people standing in my living room was what caused me to I abruptly slide to a stop at the end of the foyer. My father with his styled up brown hair and chocolate eyes. My surrogate mother with her long strawberry-blonde hair and soft eyes. And then another woman with long dark hair and brown eyes. My eyes rounded in anger when I recognized the woman to be Maya Hansen as she was standing next to my father and Pepper.

"What are you doing here?!" I breathily demanded, resting my hands on my knees as I wheezed.

Could she be a part of this too? I mean, is it possible than she was just working on Extremis as an innocent scientist? Is Aldrich Killian even a part of this willingly? The Mandarin is powerful, perhaps he simply just stole the information or forcefully coerced AIM and that's why the Headquarters is empty? Even now, there are still too many unknowns and I can't blame anyone for anything. Not yet. Besides, as much as I don't like her, Maya Hansen didn't necessarily look threatening. Could she be like me, accidentally complicit? Complicity. Collusion. Partly to blame. At fault.

Oh God, what have I done?!

"Oh great, Lisa remembers her too!" Pepper threw a hand out to me as she looked back at Dad, speaking in a higher pitch than normal.

"She's not really," Dad nonchalantly shook his head a little, referring to the other brunette woman.

"No, not really," Maya agreed with a shrug, "It was just one night."

Oh, ew. That is something I never ever wanted to hear about my father. I knew her history with my dad, but still. I mean, I'd have to be blind and deaf to not be aware of his persona, but that does not mean I want or need to hear about it. Like I've said before, that part of his life makes me feel extremely uncomfortable and weird.

"Yep," Dad quickly said before he turned on me, "Hey! Where have you been? God, really! Does everything I say," he wildly and dramatically motioned his hands around, "just go in one ear and fly right out the other?! I'm going to kill you!"

"You might not need to," I wheezed out, trying to get him to listen, to understand.

I didn't have the chance to though because suddenly Dad was distracted by what Pepper was saying to Maya, "You saved yourself a world of pain."

Dad turned to her, pulling a deeply offended expression, "What?"

I groaned impatiently.

Maya agreed with this aggravatingly knowing expression, "I'm sure."

I gave her a dark glare.

"Trust me," Pepper motioned a hand out to her with a laugh before turning back to Dad, "We're going out of town. You, me, Lisa. We're leaving."

"Oh yes!" I pointed a trembling finger at her, still trying to pull in enough air, "Yes, yes! That's a good idea! Then I can explain everything on the,"

"Okay," Dad interrupted, "We've been through this," he held his hands together as he swiftly shook his head at her, "Nope."

"Yep!" Pepper promptly responded.

"The man says no,"

"Immediately and indefinitely," Pepper gave a firm nod.

"Honey," Dad tried.

"Both of you, come on! Please," I attempted the begging method, "We need to leave!"

"Great idea. Let's go," Maya threw a thumb over her shoulder.

"No! Not you!" I jabbed a finger in her direction, "Why are you even here?!"

She hesitantly opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by Dad again.

"I'm sorry, that's a terrible idea," he quickly pointed as Maya tried to pick up the bags Pepper has packed for, apparently, all three of us, "Please don't touch the girls' bags."

"This is how normal people behave," because the Starks are totally normal.

Dad's voice was practically whiny as he said, "I can't protect you out there. I challenged,"

"Dad," I tugged on his arm, feeling like I had reverted back to my five year old self just trying to gain his attention, "Dad, the Mandarin, I think I know that,"

"Is, is that normal?"

We all turned to look at where Maya was pointing. That ridiculously huge bunny was standing in the stairwell with the creepy smile still threaded onto its fuzzy face. I heaved a sigh and dropped my aching forehead down onto my father's upper arm. He didn't move to get me off of him, but he didn't exactly move to see what was wrong either. This was getting me absolutely nowhere.

"Yes, that's normal for him," I mumbled into my father's navy blue and white sleeve.

Pepper laughed, nodding towards the bunny and then at Maya, "Sadly, yes, that, that is very normal."

Dad snapped at Maya, jutting a hand out, "It's a big bunny! Relax about it!"

The brunette woman raised her eyebrows and hands a little as she casually turned away from the three of us.

"Calm down!" Pepper stretched the words out, bending her knees down a little.

"I got this for you!" Dad argued in a high voice, lifting his shoulders slightly.

"The Mandarin," I said in a stretched out, sing-song voice.

Pepper tried to assuage him, "I'm aware of that."

"Hey guys," I interrupted, gritting my teeth, "Please kindly shut up so that I can,"

"You still haven't even told me you liked it," Dad said in that same pitch yet in a louder voice, once again stretching a hand out towards the ridiculous bunny rabbit.

"I don't like it!" she leaned closer into his face.

"I asked you three," Dad spoke quickly before he pulled back, bouncing on his knees a little and motioning one of his hands, "Ah, you don't like it!"

"A bunny! Guys! It's a bunny, who cares?! There is something," I adopted Dad's pitch and voice, quickly falling into my habit of acting like my father.

"Tony," Pepper shook her head, "We are leaving the house,"

"Guys?" Maya's voice questioned in the background.

I tugged on Dad's arm again, bumping him with my boney hip, "Hey! This is important!"

"That's not even up for discussion," Pepper continued shaking her strawberry-blonde head.

"You two are just being paranoid. I said no," Dad cocked his head to the side.

"Can we, um," Maya wiggled her hand a little, trying to catch our attention as the three of us continued to bicker and interrupt each other.

"What?" Dad asked her casually as I sent her another dark glare.

Maya struggled for words as she pointed from us to the screen, "Ah-ah, d-do we need to worry about that?"

Four pairs of eyes shifted towards the TV and I saw a very familiar house being displayed on a live news network. Huh. That was strange, well, no, I guess, no, it wasn't. Dad literally gave our address to the entire world; it would make sense if reporters would be circling us. My head confusedly tilted to the side slightly when I saw a glowing object with a smoke tail burning towards the white mansion on the cliff.

Uh oh.

Oh God.

All of the color drained out of my face and I felt lightheaded as realization dawned upon me. All of us quickly whirled around to face the glass windows and I had just enough time to see the missile slicing straight towards us.

So now here I am.

So now you see.

Now you know how all of what has happened is my fault.

How all of my mistakes have led to this precise moment.

How all of my mistakes have led to our imminent deaths.

How all of my mistakes have led to me creating a villain.

Then the missile dives into the cement of my house and my world explodes along with it. Our terrace is blown apart and its flooring is blown towards us, carrying a wave of fire in its wake. I get a face-full of glass, debris, and dust as my body is bent and lifted. My arms flail while we are all thrown off of our feet and flown back. The world is brought into a strange mix of time as we are suspended through the air; time becomes too quick for us to scream but slow enough for us to see each other. My hair flies all around my face as my eyes dart panickedly to my father. His movements are harsh and desperate as he arranges his arms, calling the suit to shield Pepper's body.

The metal pieces immediately obey, covering her piece by piece. Dad's eyes skate to mine and I'm not sure what it is that I see lurking behind his brown eyes.

Worry?

Regret?

Apology?

I, once again, can't tell.

There doesn't seem to be enough time for that either.

The world finds its natural rhythm of time again and quick, sharp pain fills every ticking second. My body collides hard into the cement wall behind me as the back of my head slaps against it like paper against rock. A loud shriek exits my lips as I then drop down to the trembling ground below. All seems to dim away in those few seconds that feel like a millennia.

I was a child, only three years old. There was blood drenched all over me as my baby fingers carefully stroked Maria Stark's blonde head. I could barely reach her from where I was strapped into my car seat, but, even if I couldn't get myself out of it, I wasn't going to be stopped. My little voice could be heard humming as my mind struggled to grasp just what had happened. I just wanted to ease their pain, and Grandma and Daddy always sang to me when I was in pain. Make it better, that was all that I wanted to do. But I wasn't making it better. Grandma wasn't breathing and neither was my grandpa. The name 'Grandpa' tasted better on my lips now; I couldn't understand why and I still wouldn't for a very long time. A fire was still raging at the front of the crushed car and the cold night air broke through the heat of it, making goosebumps on my skin. The sound of a motorcycle could be heard in the distance, growing louder and louder and louder.

"Please wake up," it was barely whisper, "Please, please, please wake up!"

Ocean blue eyes met mine and a voice screamed in my head, "Remember!"

"Get out, please, get out of my head, out of my head, get out, get out of my head," I beg in a deranged and whispered tone until I realize that I'm only talking to myself.

Smoke hovers around me like a thick cloud and I find myself resting on my elbows at home. Or, at least, what's left of my home. I let out a relieved breath and try to stir into action before a sharp pain shoots down my spine. The world is fuzzy and tears are surrounding my irises when I next open my eyes. A soft moan exits my lips. I'm covered in a thick layer of dust, and I feel blood dripping down my neck and running down my back. I can't seem to get my body to actually move until two hands grab underneath my arms and heave me to my feet. I can feel the agony of the disease rushing through my arms and chest. I feel my wrists open from where the burn is reaching past my muscles and veins and up into my flesh. My legs crumble out from under me and then my body is being pushed into someone's side.

"Lisa, come on!" Dad calls out loudly, breaking into my clouded trance.

I look up into his eyes as he looks around wildly for an escape. He didn't save me. He didn't choose me. I feel bitter betrayal sink deep within my chest, but I do my best to swallow it back.

Now's not the time, Lisa, now's not the time.

I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay.

My feet drag slightly as he tries to get us to follow after Pepper who is fully clothed in the suit. I nod only barely in response before three more missiles dive into my house, causing a blast that sends Dad and me flying back. As we yell out, our bodies twirl until we land hard behind the once white couch. Dad hurriedly clambers up, dragging me with him as I swim in and out of consciousness.

"Move!" Dad shouts to Pepper, throwing the both of us over the back of the couch, "We're right behind you."

My feet stumble off of the couch seat and my hands push quickly at the floor before I have the chance to fall. I do my best to help him move me, throwing both of my arms around his neck as I force my legs into a run. We chase after Pepper until suddenly the floor less than a foot in front of us caves in. I see the workshop, the place more of a home to me than any of the other rooms in this house, crumbling down beneath our feet. My eyes widen and Pepper gasps in. Dad and I both desperately swing our arms in an effort to not fall in. He quickly pulls me back, keeping me behind him as he looks up to meet Pepper's eyes.

"Get her," he quickly motions a hand to Maya, trying hard to sound nonchalant so not to panic Pepper.

She turns and tries to balance herself as she watches us.

"I'm gonna find us a way around," Dad tells her, holding tightly around my waist while I continue to sway.

Pepper looks up at him with wide, reluctant eyes. More debris falls all around us as the helicopters that sent the missiles still linger and hum outside. Fire rages and the ground shifts harshly underneath our feet.

"Stop stopping," he orders in a snapping tone, "Get her. Get outside," Pepper still doesn't move, her eyes dancing from me to him so he barks, "Go!"

Pepper turns and stumbles on with the suit, pulling a nearly unconscious Maya to her feet. Dad and I glance around quickly, trying to find around the big hole in the floor. We stumble to our right only for another missile to hit. I scream as the house further collapses, sending larger chunks of cement down on top of us. I hear Pepper yell for us and then another missile smashes into the cement. Our bodies slowly and dreadfully begin to careen back as the house leans and moans down towards the ocean below.

"Dad!" I scream, desperately gripping onto him as we both start to fall.

We roll head over heels as the world that I've lived in since I was a little girl goes flying past me. Then we're roughly sliding on our stomachs towards the edge of the house with only the glass window separating us from falling down the cliff. Dad suddenly wraps his hands around a metal beam, slightly flipping his body around before he quickly reaches down to snatch onto my ankle. I scream bloody murder at seeing only glass and then the ocean below.

"Oh God!" my eyes are rounded like saucers as I see my paintings and my bed, along with the rest of my bedroom, plummet from above and into the crashing waves.

"Your hand!" Dad demands in a snapping tone, "Come on! Lisa, now!"

I painfully reach back until his fingers wrap tightly around mine. His grip on my ankle releases and then I'm flipping into a more upright position. Our bodies jolt and completely swing around then, causing our feet to smash through the glass. I feel the awful tug of gravity on me as we fight to pull ourselves back up. My free hand panickedly snatches at the edge of the metal beam, but my fingers keep slipping and my hand keeps falling back. Dad grunts and groans, holding tighter onto both the beam and me.

"Lees!" Dad raggedly yells as he continues to struggle, "Now would be a really good time for you to power up your thrusters!"

I can't get out an answer as I heave for air. With another loud grunt, he finally manages to get us both up onto the beams. He presses his back against the metal and pulls me onto his lap, trying to hide us from the helicopters flying behind. I cough and gasp, hardly being able to pull in any air at all. My hair falls into my eyes and I irritatedly shake it away, trying to see my surroundings so that I can at least try to help. Dad rests the side of his head against the beam, peering over the edge of it to see our attackers.

"Sir," Jarvis' voice suddenly fills my ears, "Ms. Potts is clear of the structure."

A relieved look passes over my father's face as I let out a sigh of the same emotion. He suddenly pushes me forward, throwing out his hands before drawing them quickly back into himself.

"Climb!" I shriek, making a dive for what used to be the floor as I use my hands and knees to crawl.

Gunfire resonates all around us and it collides into the cement floor that we drag ourselves up.

"Lees! Your thrusters!" he demands, "Use them now!"

I shriek as a bullet lands a little too close and I respond to his yell, "I can't!"

Dad shoots me a nearly angry look before he pushes me further down as another wave of bullets crashes down upon us. They dig into the floor, making chunks of cement shoot up and hit me in the eyes.

He keeps a hand on the back of my head, yelling, "Stay low! Stay low!"

The bullets seem to get closer and closer to penetrating our bodies with each round that comes. Metal pieces appear over the horizon of the broken floor. The suit then begins to slowly connect with my father's body, one piece at a time. Dad flips and whirls as the metal collides into him, probably rather painfully, but I'm glad all the same. If we have the suit, we can fight. If we have the suit, we can survive. We finally reach the broken horizon of our home where I look up to watch, I think, Mark 42 completely encase him, ending finally with the mask clamping down over my father's scowling face. When his eyes glow white, a wave of relief washes over me and I nod with a gasp.

Good, this is good. This is good.

He turns around, completely glowing amidst the dust and debris, just when another missile hits. I can feel the entire house break further from its foundation and the house begins to pull closer and closer down into the rocks and sea. Both of our feet skid across the torn floor and I wave my hands around wildly, trying to find something to hold onto. A large chunk of the ceiling plummets down onto Dad's head and back, but he hardly shifts as it hits the metal suit. My eyes widen as I watch the helicopters creep closer, whirring the machine guns attached to the side of their metal bodies.

Bullets begin flying once more, shattering what's left of the windows. Dad hurriedly picks me up and pushes me around in front of him, trying to get us to climb back up once more. I can hear the bullets pinging off of his suit and I hurriedly try to make my body even smaller so not to get hit. When we reach the broken horizon once more, Dad turns and raises his hand only for absolutely nothing to happen. This low groaning and rumbling breaks through the chaos. My head snaps to the side to see my very large and very heavy grand piano sliding towards us. The keys make a loud cacophony of noise as hard cement crashes down onto it.

"Look!" I hoarsely yell, making him turn towards it.

He gives me a rough push out of the way before he releases his hold on the broken ground and slides down the floor. He then quickly raises his thrusters, blasting the piano away from the house and making it crash directly towards the first helicopter. The instrument is blown utterly to bits, successfully making the helicopter spin out of control.

I wince and grumble quietly, forgetting the situation as I see the second of the two pianos he's bought me be decimated.

By who?

Oh right, him.

We both look up through a large hole in the ceiling to see one of the other helicopters flying above our heads. My brown hair whips all around my face as dust is breathed down into my lungs. I let out an irritated, tired breath and I struggle to get back to my feet. Dad quickly bangs down on the arms of his suit, cocking his head to the side in annoyance.

His white eyes fly up to me and he points a long metal finger towards what may or may not be the exit, "Find a way out! I'm on my way!"

I reluctantly obey, knowing I'm only more of a hindrance than I actually am a help. My Converses scuff and slide as I try to work my way towards the front door where I can see Pepper and Maya waiting panickedly. Pepper hurriedly waves her hands towards me, beckoning as she tries to run towards the house with Maya holding her back. My feet suddenly slip and I go tumbling back once more, hearing Pepper shout for me.

Dad mechanically runs through the building before throwing and setting off a missile of his own, taking down the second helicopter. I roll up onto my back to watch the helicopter sway right slightly and my lips flick up into a triumphant smirk. It then suddenly begins to twist around and around, heading straight for the building where Dad and I simply wait for it to kill us. Wonderful. He just manages to turn and get three steps in before the helicopter hits and explodes. My father flies forward, landing on top of me and then dragging the both of us off of the newly made ledge.

Our bodies hit down hard onto the next floor, making the both of us groan loudly. Dad quickly rolls up, grabbing both onto me and onto whatever's around to keep us from falling farther. My eyes snap in a circle and I see Dummy and You twitching and whirring nearby, broken and dying. The ceiling caves in as sparks fly and the hazy golden sky flickers through the crumbling workshop. The floor continues grinding against the cliff our house was built upon, and I know we don't have long now.

"Dad!" I scream, my fingers trying to bury into his metal suit.

"Hold on!" he yells lowly, holding me tighter as I feel the ground tug and shake.

Missiles and gunfire continue to rage for us, and we're helpless to stop them. Large explosions to the right catch my attention and I feel my heart drop. Each and every one of the Iron Man suits in the cases become a burst of fire and metal in continual chaotic explosions.

Once.

Twice.

The one from New York.

The one from Monaco.

The mockup from Afghanistan.

And it goes on and on.

And then the world completely and utterly slips out from underneath the last two remaining Starks. The sportscars go over the ever crumbling ledge and then Dummy falls over and then there is only sky. The world once again seems to the slow for a moment. I can feel the warmth of the sun against my skin and I take in a deep breath.

The peace is shattered when Dad panickedly shouts, "Lisa! Your thrusters!"

And then we're falling.

"No, no, no," my words are caught off by a mouthful of water.

My body jolts back upon itself and I feel like my spine nearly snaps as we collide into the water and concrete that has fallen there. My head flies up out of the water, flipping the dark mess of my hair out of my eyes. A hoarse, strangled scream exits my lips and I hear Dad's surprised grunt, making me blindly reach for him. We stay above the surface just for another second before the hands of the water and broken metal roughly drag us under. Blue rushes up into my eyes and nose, and the water overtakes everything. It twists and tumbles me around until I can't tell up from down anymore. The salt burns my eyes as I once again try to find my father through the chaos. My lungs are already burning and my chest constricts from the pain of it. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. Oh God, why didn't I take a breath?!

Hard metal fingers clasp around mine, forcing me to still as I continue to tumble. I finally see Dad for a just a moment before a long metal wire catches around his throat. My eyes widen in horror as the wire yanks him down away from me. He eagerly releases his hold, trying to not let me be dragged down with him. His hands desperately tear at the wire and his glowing body slices through the blue until I can't even see him anymore.

I scream in the water, trying to swim for him until a large object crashes into my side. A gargled scream exits my lips as one of our work tables' metal edges and corner digs into my exposed flesh. Red mixes with blue and I bang my fists against the table, trying to be freed. Spots appear in my vision and my head begins to grow fuzzy and my lungs are screaming from the lack of air.

In one last ditch effort, my hands limply try to push the table away as it pins me against the wall. I sink deeper and deeper, stuck inside my childhood house that is going to drown me. And then I feel everything jolt forward, something hard hits my head, and then all goes black.

"It wasn't a dream."

"Yes, Lisa, it was."

"Is this a dream?"

"No, Lisa, this isn't."

"How can you be sure?" my fingers curled around the armrests of the chair, "You say the things in my head aren't real, so how do I know that all of this isn't in my head too?"

I was so lost and so confused. The world seemed to be constantly swimming around me and time dragged along with it. Shadows felt scarier and dreams were nightmares and my mind was a dangerous place to be. My room was full of dark, horrifying paintings of what I saw in my head. The monster's eyes. Loki's smile. The gems. The colors taking over the earth. My father's frightened expression. But there was something else; something much more sinister. I couldn't remember much except for torn pieces of it: screams, whispers, a pair of eyes, a fire, a hum of an engine. December 16th. I was told that all that I was seeing, every bit of it, was just a dream.

And I knew that reality wasn't a dream, of course, but there were so many doubts.

If this was real, then what was to stop the visions and the torn pieces from being real? Tons of other crazy weird crap had occurred, so why not this?! Loki gave me the memories and he told me that the visions were real and I somehow knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wasn't lying. The things inside my head were real, even if no one believed me. No one could ever understand.

Dad and Pepper were worried, especially after the whole 'touching the Tesseract' incident. I suppose I did talk to myself sometimes, but it was only ever to reassure myself that I was okay or to tell the visions and pieces to leave me alone. On numerous occasions, I could be found sitting in the corner of my room, huddled up as I quietly hummed and rocked myself gently. I knew what all of that had looked like to everyone. It had been three weeks since the Battle of New York and two different psychologists had labelled me as "mentally disoriented" and a third one even went as far as to say that I was "insane". Maybe I was disoriented, but I wasn't insane. I hoped I wasn't insane; it wouldn't take me long to realize that maybe I was.

"Your family."

My eyes flickered up to the woman's face and I weakly whispered, "What did you say?"

"That's how you know this is reality," Doctor Harding informed me with a small, comforting smile, "Whatever it is that you see, whatever it is that you think happened that night, whenever you begin to doubt, you look at your father. He's your reality. Okay?"

..... So... what did you think? I hope I did the scene justice! What did you guys think? Did you guess that Tony was going to choose Pepper? And that look in his eye when he looked at Lisa (it was a reference to I think last chapter), what did you think of that? And then those flashbacks? We are getting closer to her remembering here, People! And then that last flashback, I really wanted you all to see really how "crazy" and changed Lisa has become as well include some cute father-daughter comments, especially considering next chapter that is not so fun for those two. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Vote, COMMENT, and, hey, give me a follow!

Future Spoiler From Ma Story:

The end credits scene for this book is INSANE! I think ti's gonna blow your minds... What do you think is going to happen?!