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ALDRICH reached the catwalk that Tony was on, distracting him from his process on trying to understand what he just witnessed. The hairs in the back of his neck were standing up, and Tony allowed the chill to run down his spine since he didn't know what else to do.

"A shame. I would've caught her," Aldrich told him in a monotone voice.

Tony didn't give him a response and instead began walking down the catwalk and gaining speed. Aldrich copied his actions and ran forward too, waiting to meet up with him in the middle and aim a punch at him, but Tony easily slipped underneath him and entered an open suit that was waiting for him at the other edge of the catwalk.

He turned around just in time to block Aldrich's punch and threw some of his own, both aiming several blows at the other. Aldrich used his strength to rip part of the armor off and hissed in pain when one of Tony's punches hit him hard in the arm that it popped out place. This angered Aldrich and he pushed Tony out of the railing and jumped right after, pining him down to the ground before preparing another punch.

Tony knew what was coming. "Eject."

He slipped right off the armor and left a confused Aldrich behind, sliding down to the air and nearly hitting the ground if it wasn't for another one of his suits that caught him right in time. Tony flew back up and grabbed a hold of Aldrich and took him in the air, but he easily slipped away from his grip.

Tony landed on the ground and watched how Aldrich now stood a few feet away from him with no shirt on, dragon tattoos in his chest as the orange flame ignited from the inside. He tried firing at him with his boosters, but Aldrich dodged them with ease.

He sliced through the metal of the suit and Tony backed away before he could cause any other damage. Blow after blow, neither of them seemed to back down, and it wasn't until Aldrich caught a grip of Tony's suit leg before slicing it off him that he started gaining advantage as he beat Tony with it.

He flipped Tony in the air and he tried to defend himself by firing again, but Aldrich grabbed the metal hand and squeezed through hard enough to make him groan.

Aldrich smirked. "Well, here we are on the roof."

The familiar orange heat sourced through Aldrich's hand, preparing to deliver the final blow against Tony, but he slipped away from the suit just as Aldrich sliced through the metal. Tony's back harshly collapsed against the hard ground that was underneath him, barely cushioning his fall.

Tony groaned and tried to stand up, but something caught his attention from the corner of his eye and he couldn't look away. Aldrich heard it too, and he glanced to see for himself.

"Mark 42, inbound," JARVIS's voice announced.

"I'll be damned," Tony mumbled under his breath. "The prodigal son returns."

The gold and red armor flew closer to where he stood, and Tony rolled on his back to stand on his knees, waiting for the suit. He locked eyes with Aldrich, who couldn't help but lean back and watch what was going to happen with a hint of amusement. Tony extended his hand back and expected the suit to envelop him, but instead he heard a crash from behind and he turned to see how the armor had crashed against the side of the structure and broke into pieces.

"Whatever," Tony rolled his eyes in disappointment.

"You really didn't deserve (Y/N), Tony," Aldrich spoke again, smoke coming out from his body. "It's a pity. I was so close to having her perfect."

He jumped from the higher point where he once stood, and met up in the same level as Tony. The abrupt action made Tony jump back in surprise, backing down from him as he saw how Aldrich was glowing orange.

Tony placed a hand in front of him. "Okay, okay, wait, wait, wait! Slow down! Slow down!"

"You're right," His shoulders sagged in grief. "I don't deserve her in my life. Here's where you're wrong. She was already perfect."

Tony moved his arm toward the pieces of his armor and they moved from their spot, flying toward the direction he was pointing with his hand. The armor clasped itself in Aldrich's body, lifting him off the ground as he let out a strained yell.

"JARVIS," Tony called his AI. "Do me a favor and blow Mark 42."

"No — "

Aldrich's yell was cut off when the face plate covered him and Tony jumped off the level just in time as the suit exploded and ignited a cloud full of fire. He slid down the side of the structure and jumped in the air to meet up with one of his remaining suits, parts of it wrapping around his body as he watched the fire explode through the air. He couldn't just take off and fly away since his suit wasn't complete, so he had to hold on to the railing and watch how the structure creaked and lost its balance, one side of it growing heavier than the other.

Tony's grip on the railing was still strong but the structure collapsed and fell into the ground, and he let go of it and tried to cushion his fall at the ground with one of his leg boosters, but it quickly gave up and he crashed in the ground as the remains of the exploded suit fell over him.

Flames were surrounding part of the level he was on, but his attention was on the helmet that had fallen from the sky and how it was consumed by fire just a few feet away from him. The metal grew hot from the fire and Tony expected to see Aldrich's head inside it as the face plate opened, but there was an empty space.

He scoffed, but there was a creaking noise that made his head snap up and see a weak figure in between the flames. Tony's eyes widened and saw how Aldrich's burnt yet regenerating figure was limping over to him, and he tried to stand up.

"No more false faces," Aldrich groaned, charcoal covering the majority of his body and face, a deep orange scar crossing part of it. "You said you wanted the Mandarin. You're looking right at him. It was always me, Tony. Right from the start. I am the Mandarin!"

Aldrich's form was thrown back into the air by a yellow, glowing light, and Tony's eyes drifted to where (Y/N) stood catching her breath. Her tank top was burnt from the edges and part of her hair was glued to her neck because of the sweat, but other than that, Tony thought she looked absolutely breathtaking.

He stood there flabbergasted. "What took you so long?"

(Y/N) let out a weak laugh and dropped her fist, her head gesturing to someone to come forward. Pepper walked to Tony's sight, holding a metal tube in her hand as her eyes and body glowed orange just like the rest of the EXTREMIS soldiers. She only acknowledged Tony before smacking Aldrich's still weak body with the metal tube like it was a baseball bat.

"I've got nothing," he muttered.

The sound and the sight of another Iron Man suit flying in alerted the three of them, and Tony's eyes widened as he saw how it directed its attention on Pepper.

"JARVIS, subject at my 12 o'clock is not a target, disengage!" Tony panicked, but he touched his ear to realize that his comms had fallen out.

The suit fired at Pepper and she moved out of the blast's way, eyes having an orange hue as she growled and looked back at Tony.

"What?" Tony visibly paled. "Oh, what, are you mad at me?"

Pepper only ran in his direction and boosted herself up in the air at the same time that the Iron Man suit flew by, her hot fist melting through its core and crashed it down to the ground. Once she was satisfied at how it didn't move, she looked back at (Y/N) just as she scooped one of the suit's gauntlets and used it to block Aldrich's sudden attack at them.

Aldrich was thrown back by Pepper's smack with the gauntlet, and (Y/N) didn't give him time to stand up before she used both hands to let out an energy blast. Pepper caught sight of a missile rolling down in the ground near her feet, and she kicked it in the air before (Y/N) blasted it off in Aldrich's direction and let out an explosion.

There was no sign of Aldrich anywhere, and the glow and anger in Pepper's eyes was beginning to disappear. (Y/N) gave her friend a light touch in the shoulder, calling her name softly as she turned back to face the two.

"Oh, my God," Pepper gasped. "That was really violent."

"Not bad for your first fight," (Y/N) complimented with a teasing tone.

Tony was still sat on the floor with an amazed look. "You just scared the devil out of me. I thought you were — "

"I was dead," Pepper cut him off as she limped forward. "Why? Because I fell 200 feet? Or because of (Y/N)'s lame attempt of rescue?"

(Y/N) seemed offended. "We're here now, are we not?" she scoffed. "I don't hear a thank you."

Pepper brushed the hair out of her face, sweat still covering her entire body and silence filling the atmosphere between the three. (Y/N) was still dirty with the smoke and grime from the explosions, but her eyes were focused on Tony's sole figure.

An understanding flashed between Pepper and Tony's eyes, and she nodded in approval. She saw the way he was staring at (Y/N) like she had placed the moon on its spot just for him, and she removed the metal arm from her body before trying to walk back and excuse herself.

"Where are you going?" (Y/N) saw the way Pepper was beginning to back up.

"I'll see if I can call for help," Pepper weakly excused, her limp still obvious. "You know, to get us out of here."

(Y/N) didn't understand why she didn't just offer for all of them to go along too, knowing how paranoid Pepper is and how scared she'd be of being left alone after this experience. Tony still didn't move from his spot, and (Y/N) sighed out loud before turning back to face him.

She crossed her arms and locked eyes with him. "Who's the hot mess now?"

"It's still debatable," Tony replied, standing up from the ground. "Probably tipping your way a little bit. Why don't you dress like this at home? Hmm? Tank top. The whole deal."

"You know, now I understand why you love these suits so much," (Y/N) told him as she gestured to the remains of his suit on the floor. "I need to find another thing to complain about, right?"

"Well, it's me," he shrugged. "You always think of something."

She wished she had a clear memory of what he was referring to, but she swallowed down that thought and asked instead, "Are we going to be okay?"

"No," Tony shook his head. "You live with me. Everything will never be okay. But I think I can figure this out, yeah. I almost had this 20 years ago when I was drunk. I think I can get you and Pepper better."

(Y/N) took a step closer to him, her eyes trailing down to all the different bruises he had from this fight and previous ones. She did not know why she couldn't rip her eyes away from his face or his brown eyes, but she didn't complain about it.

"That's what I do," he knocked her out of her thoughts. "Fix stuff."

"And all the distractions?"

"Um. . .I'm going to shave them down a little bit."

Tony was now the one to take another step toward her, and couldn't take his eyes off her. He tapped his ear and called for his AI before saying anything else. "JARVIS, Hey."

(Y/N) couldn't hear what the AI was saying, but the look in Tony's face meant it was something that was going to cause havoc, and he would enjoy every second of it.

"You know what to do," he ordered JARVIS without his eyes moving from (Y/N)'s figure. "Screw it, it's Christmas."

(Y/N) looked up to the sky and saw how the flying suits surrounding the area began exploding like they were fireworks, one by one. She let out an impressed laugh with her eyes still fixed in the sky, and she didn't realize until it was too late that Tony had pulled her closer by the waist so they could be inches apart.

(Y/N) suddenly felt nervous under his gaze, shyly looking down like a schoolgirl. Tony didn't like that she avoided his eyes and lifted her chin up.

"You had me scared back there," he whispered, since she was too close to hear him.

(Y/N) cocked an eyebrow. "Did I?"

Tony hummed. "Promise you'll never pull something like that again."

"Only if you promise the same," (Y/N) proposed, since she recalled how scared she'd been after not finding a trace of him back at the house.

"You got my word, Vaughn."

She let out a small chuckle and pulled Tony into a well-deserved hug, melting under his embrace and still watching how the suits exploded in the sky. Tony leaned his chin on her shoulder and (Y/N) could feel how he pressed his lips against her hair, an action that brought confusion but not discomfort.

(Y/N) felt safe in his arms under the moonlighted sky, the constant feeling of anxiety from her every day life suddenly disappearing when she was with him. And she didn't know exactly why. . .well, then, at least.

i'm soft for them and i feel bad about their ending. sorry not sorry :)
this is not the end to act three, more moments are yet to come, brace yourselves.

-see you soon, bex