Kyra stood at the window, her hand pressed against the glass, cold from the rain falling outside. Somewhere between the raindrops, Stephen's sports car sped out onto the wet road. Anger overtook her for a quick second and she slammed a fist into the glass, denting it, but then she collected her cool and walked away.

"Fine. Don't listen to me. Your funeral," Kyra mumbled to herself and tossed the keys.

She changed her mind before the keys landed. "No. No, please come back!" Her voice broke, and she patted her pocket to get her phone, but it wasn't there.

"Damn it! Not now!" Kyra cured, figuring she'd dropped her phone somewhere on her haste here. Stressed, she scanned the penthouse and found a mobile landline outside Stephen's bedroom.

Christine was on speed dial, but the doctor took time answering it.

"Stephen?"

"It's a trap!"

"Kyra? Slow down. What's-"

"The party. They're going to kill Stephen. They're going to make a hit on him tonight. He's gonna die!"

"Oh my god!" Christine gasped. "Okay, I'll try to see if I can reach him. I-I think Dr. Li's there as well. I'll loop him too."

"You do that. I'm gonna hang up and come over," Kyra hung up and held on to the receiver a minute too long. Some savior she was. Suddenly, that got her thinking, and she took the phone again and dialed a new number.

"Must be some strange night..." Tony began, but Kyra cut him off.

"The gala, it's poisoned! Stop it!" She said in almost one breath.

"Hey, calm down. It's New York, there's gotta be like a hundred across town."

"Black tie. Medical society. Stephen Strange."

"Got it. On it. What's the target?"

"It's in the champagne," Kyra relaxed a bit, Tony's confidence rubbing off on her.

"Aw man! Okay, I'll call you when I get there. Later," Tony hung up and Kyra finally put the phone down.

She then went out to the balcony, deciding to freeze glide over to the hospital. The rain helped fuel her abilities and it took a while to get there, but she trusted it better than apparating. Eventually she arrived at Metro General and ran in to find Christine.

Tony suited up in a tux and rode a suit to the fancy gala. He couldn't believe he was helping Strange, but hey, heroes can't be choosers. He hovered across the building, using special visions to spy through the party. Too many guns for a normal event.
He tapped into their comms and found out more about their plans for the night. Strange wasn't the only target.

Neat trick, Tony thought. Fish in a barrel.

He hovered to the awning and stepped out on to the blue carpet in his Armani shoes, fixing his tie as he saluted the valets. No doubt he'd set off alarms. Tony set off his own alarms, inviting ambulances and poison control to crash the party.

Gala goers turned their attention to him as he joined the party uninvited. Tony Stark walked around as if he was instead the host, chatting up rich people he was familiar with, and shaking hands with whoever wanted to. He took a glass of drink off a passing tray, but then immediately put it on the next one and grabbed an appetizer instead. He noticed sharks starting to circle the prey and kept a wary eye on them as he called his own backup.

"Tsk tsk!" Tony chided as he came up behind the person he concluded was the host of the feeding frenzy.

The man turned around, facing Stark with a smirk.

"A party, and you didn't invite me! How dare you!?" Tony stole the man's drink and pouted before downing the bourbon. "Actually, this sounds familiar. Curses on your drinks. Everyone out, unless you wanna sleep for a hundred years. And I am not kissing anyone."

Hydraman laughed, unimpressed. "Tony Stark, the invincible Ironman. So glad you could join us. What is it you think I've done wrong? I'm only trying to prevent future atrocities. Isn't that the goal of any true medical officer?" he asked his guests, who seemed to agree.

"Those who try to shape the future before it happens, tend to end up on the wrong side of history."

"But isn't that what you do?" The man went to get himself a new drink, as some of the guests started to regret their own. "What your father did?"

Tony wasn't smiling anymore, and it wasn't for the panicked screams around him. Poison control was almost here.

"HYDRA is not so different from yourself, Mr. Stark. We are both, visionaries. I shall extend the same invitation to you, as my predecessors did to your father. We can put aside our differences, and build a better, safer, controlled future."

"I'm having a vision about your future. It's not very long," he threatened, and immediately tried to prove his statement, reaching out to attack the Hydra agent.

The villain was not only adept in martial arts, but had some sort of mutation going on for him that helped him keep the armored avenger engaged in a lengthy battle.

The agents surrounding the hall started shooting in the air, easier to just kill off everyone than having to pick out the needles in the haystack. Soon, more iron suits crashed the party, programmed to engage the armored agents in the building. Some suits fought the criminals, while others simply encased them and locked their captured target inside the suits.

A long time later-by the opinions of the guests- police and other protective agencies finally joined the party. Ironman meanwhile had managed to pin down the leader, and held him like a troubled kitten as he flew the criminal to the S.H.I.E.L.D van.

"Delivery," he announced as he dropped his opponent a few feet down to the ground.

"Thanks, Ironman. We'll take it from here," the lead agent said as her crew picked up the Hydra man.

"Yeah, just be careful with that one. He..." Tony was about to warn the agent about the prisoner when said man's eye exploded, killing him instantly.

"...'s dead."

"HYDRA must be employing new failsafes," the agent tapped the body with her foot.

"Yeah, maybe some of the others can help. Excuse me, I have a call," Ironman stepped aside to answer Kyra's call.

"Did you get him?" She asked immediately.

"Hell of a party, but no strange sightings," Tony confirmed by taking a quick scan of the area.

"What do you mean he wasn't at the party!? He left ages ago! I don't get it, he was gonna die there!"

"Well, Princess. Your boyfriend's not here."

"Tony, please!" Kyra pleaded. "You gotta find him. He can't die. Not today, not this year," her voice was starting to get heavy.

"His cars!" A new voice jumped in. "They're unnecessarily gadgetized."

"I can track that. You breathe. I'm on it. Let you know what I find," Ironman was already in flight.

JARVIS accessed all information of vehicles registered to Stephen Strange, and tapped into the GPS systems of his modified sports cars. One of them was nearby, and Ironman pushed faster as it wasn't at an ideal location.

"Damn!" Tony said as he flew down to the mangled car. He could hear sirens in the distance.

"Strange!? You alright in there?" He asked aloud while beginning to rip off the car.

Stephen didn't respond as he was unconscious, head and hands smashed against the steering wheel. Ironman ripped the seatbelt from the car wall and tied the belt to the chair, securing Stephen before yanking the seat out.

As Ironman flew Strange to the nearest emergency hospital, which happened to be Metro-Gen, JARVIS scanned his vitals and administered some treatments that would keep him stable enough to reach the hospital. Ironman landed outside the ambulance entrance and helped himself inside.

"Uh, can I get some help here? Code blood red!"