'Alright, let's go!'

Tony went to take flight, but his thrusters let out nothing but a pathetic spark. Sue and Johnny raised their eyebrows, wondering what his plan was. Johnny wouldn't be able to fly for at least the next few minutes and Sue would obviously need to be carried.

'Ah, crap,' Tony cursed.

A rumble in the sky made the three turn and see something heading into the clouds. Red, white and blue reflected the sunlight into their eyes and they squinted up at it. Chemtrails stained the blue as it disappeared into the distance and they worked out that it was Rhodey's Iron Patriot suit. Ever since its rebrand from AIM, War Machine was now an American symbol decked in the colours of the American flag.

'Tony?' Rhodey's voice came through Tony's suit.

'Rhodey,' his answer made Sue and Johnny turn to him. 'Tell me that was you in the suit.'

'No. You got yours?'

'Uh... mmm kind of. Main house, as fast as you can. There's somebody I'd like you to meet.'

Rhodey met up with the three and they followed Tony through the building. He brought them to a room that was made into man cave for the supposed Mandarin. Trevour Slattery was asleep in his luxurious, leather chair and woke with a start to gunshots. Rhodey ushered the half-naked women out of the room and Trevour sipped from the can of beer in his hand in case it would be his last.

'This is The Mandarin?' Rhodey questioned. Trevour held up his hands in fear and Tony lifted his mask to reveal his face.

'Yeah, I know. It's embarrassing.'

'This is the guy who brought America to its knees?' Johnny scoffed. 'You're not even American!'

'Was my accent that good?' Trevour grinned as he sat up and went to go on. 'You see, there's this twang that you lot use and it really helps to-'

Rhodey gave Tony a look of disgust at the man in front of him. The Mandarin was on the U.S government's most wanted list, yet here he was explaining how he did an American accent. Tony rolled his eyes with a loud sigh and cut off the bambling man.

'Look, Meryl Streep, you tell us where Pepper is, and he'll stop doing it.'

'Doing what?'

Rhodey pressed the hot barrel of his gun against Trevour's ear. The skin sizzled at the contact and Trevour let out a yelp and spilled everything he knew. There was a plan that included President Ellis and that an ambush of his plane would be just off the coast of Miami. A speedboat was mentioned previously and Tony took the liberaty of claiming it for the trip. 

Tony and Rhodey attempted to warn the vice president, but they knew better than to trust the government.

---

The four took Trevour's speedboat and headed off the coast of Miami. Tony's was able to save the occupants of the plane that was hijacked. Rhodey drove the boat as Johnny regained his heat and Sue made sure that all the people Tony saved made it onto land. Tony's suit was unfortunately hit by a truck while crossing the bridge, taking it out of the equation for a fight.

'How are we going to get to the president without your suit?' Sue asked. Tony stepped out onto the deck and rolled his shoulders back to stretch. The clear screen he wore over his face and it displayed JARVIS's system to control the suit. 

'JARVIS?' Tony said to his A.I. 'Is it that time?'

'The House Party Protocol, sir?'

'Correct.'

Night fell and the speedboat pulled up to the shipping docks of Miami. Shipping containers were stacked on top of each other and flood lights illuminated the area. President Ellis was strung up over an oil tanker, his arms stretched out in the Iron Patriot suit. The man was like bait and Tony, Rhodey, Johnny and Sue hid behind a container as they analysed how they could get the president down safely.

'It's a viking funeral,' Tony said quietly as they crouched together. 'Public execution.'

'Death by oil,' Rhodey joined.

'Does that mean I can't do anything? One spark and the whole place could go up,' Johnny looked concerned and the three looked to him.

'You can't do anything anyway. You haven't got your suit,' Sue said.

'I can. I'll just be naked.'

'Brilliant.'

'You two are the only ones here with powers,' Rhodey pointed at them and looked to Sue specifically. 'Can you get up to the president, unseen?'

'I can, but how am I going to get up there?'

'Broadcast will commence, shortly. Take final positions,' a voice sounded over the speakers of the dock. Guards moved around the compound and made the four aware that it wasn't going to be as easy as just cutting down the president.

After some firing at guards and Tony missing almost every shot, their position was blown and they needed to move. Extremis superhumans were cautious as they moved towards the four, and Sue tried to be the one to come up with a plan. But when she saw Tony looking out to the horizon, she stopped. 

Orange dots drifted in the black sky and they seemed to be heading for the dock. Tony smirked at the House Party protocol and had waited a long time to be able to see it in action.

'Is that...?' Rhodey started.

'Yep,' Tony replied. 'JARVIS, target Extremis heat signatures. Disable with extreme prejudice. Oh, and ignore the torch.'

'Yes, sir,' JARVIS's voice rang out through the Iron Man suits.

'Thanks for the discrepancy,' Johnny scoffed.

Sue looked up at the suits that flooded the airspace above the dock. Their repulsors held up Iron Man suits that were different in form, shape, colour and size. Every suit was specialised for every situation, whether it be to dig, fight, swim, protect or fly. She saw Tony make the suits in his workshop piece by piece, but never saw the outcome of any of them. He stored them below the house in the Hall of Armour, and Sue was too focused on Tony's mental state to know more about it. But the effort he had put into every suit was from hours of no sleep and no distractions.

Sue turned to Tony who looked up at his creations. A small smile sat on his face at the sight of them and his eyes twinkled with the lights from their repulsors. He felt her stare and turned to her, seeing her fighting back a smile. She was so worried when he spent all that time down in the workroom, but now, she couldn't help but admit that his creations were amazing.

'You really are unbelievable...' Sue let her smile show.

'I know, baby.'

Tony took Sue's hand into his and threaded his fingers through hers. Sue felt how rough his fingerpads were and how cut up his skin was. The manual engineering he did on the suit while in Tennessee had torn up his fingers. But Sue soothed over the roughness and filled Tony's heart with warm. The two looked into each other's eyes and saw their reflections stare back at them. Tony was damaged, but he was whole when he was with Sue. She was the medicine to his sickness, and he will slowly get better. His nights will finally be filled with sleep when she's with him and his suits will only be an occasional hobby.

'What are you waiting for?' Tony said to JARVIS without taking his eyes off Sue. 'Take them to church.'

The suits flew down and began to battle against Killian's Extremis minions. Men and women whose veins were flooded with the orange flare jumped across shipping containers, healing as soon as they were hit by repulsor shots. Suits of all varieties used their missiles and repulsors to burn holes through the superhumans and throw them into the ocean. Explosions and chaos ensued as fights ended in suits being dismembered, and superhumans being blown beyond healing.

'Nice timing,' Tony stood up and a suit opened its hold. It clamped onto the Stark and assembled around him, the mask falling shut and the eyes beaming white. Iron Man stood tall in Tony's place, and he looked down at the three below him.

'Oh, yeah. That's awesome. Give me a suit, yeah?' Rhodey grinned.

'Oh, I'm sorry, they're only coded to me,' Tony faked sympathy.

'What does that mean?'

'I got you covered.'

A suit landed in front of Rhodey and JARVIS's voice offered a lift. The man rolled his eyes and grabbed the suit's middle, the two taking off. Sue and Johnny looked to Tony for instructions.

'Burnout, JARVIS has pinned Pepper in that office up there,' Tony pointed up to the tower that would usually hold operators for the dock. 'I've got a suit in Mark 29 that's got your name on it.'

'You made me another suit,' Johnny stuck his lower lip forward in a pout. 'Cuteeee.'

Mark 29 landed next to him and dispensed a folded blue suit on a tray from its abdomen. Johnny took the shoulders and held it up, letting it unfold and hang in view. It was identical to the one he usually wore, except a napla-shape sat on the left breast, just like Sue's. Johnny grinned and flames encased his feet, which crawled up his legs and soon encased his body. The clothes he wore turned to cinders and floated down to the floor, the suit igniting with the rest of him.

'29 will lead you to her,' Tony said, and Johnny soared into the night with Mark 29. A small flame flickered where he stood, and Sue was left with Tony.

'Where do you want me?' she asked and couldn't see the smirk behind his mask.

'Please, don't ask me that again. The replies are endless.'

Johnny, now wearing his new suit, landed in the tower. The roof had caved in from an explosion and beams of metal penetrated through the room. Johnny put out his inferno and got to his knees, looking under the fallen frames and seeing Pepper trapped underneath. Her orange hair sat over bare shoulders and she grimaced at the ache in her limbs. The board she was tied to loosened, but the ceilings lowered as Johnny tried to pull it off of her.

'Stop! Put it down! Put it down!' she cried, and Johnny did so. He looked under again and reached his hand out, trying to grab her.

'Come on, just a little more, Pep,' he strained, and their fingers touched. Pepper whimpered from the weight on top of her but found hope in his touch. 

'I've got you! I've got-'

A hand broke through the grated-floor and gripped Johnny's arm. The creaking metal was disturbed from the outburst as Aldrich Killian appeared with his skin glowing from the Extremis. The virus curled through his body as he pulled himself out from below and pushed Johnny backwards. His hand attempted to burn through Johnny's arm, but he forgot he also had fire on his side.

'I was hoping Tony would be the one to save the day,' Aldrich chuckled, choosing to try and crush Johnny's arm instead. His grip made the Storm groan as he felt his bone weakening and begin to break. Even though Aldrich's heat wouldn't affect him, Extremis still gave him strength that Johnny couldn't match.

'Looks like we're in the same league, here,' Johnny let out through his gritted teeth. 'But only one of us can fly.'