'You okay back there? Why am I asking, I can see your fine. Heartrate's a little fast, though.'
The wind rushed past Sue's ears. She tried to keep her eyes closed as they would dry out from the rushing winds at the high altitude. She gripped the middle of Tony's suit and kept her gaze on the middle of Tony's back. Her thighs clung to the sides of Tony's waist and her ankles linked at his abdomen. Her muscles ached after having to hold on for the flight over multiple states and she was thankful New York was less than five minutes away.
'I don't appreciate the constant analysis of my body's functions!' Sue yelled over the wind. 'Can you fly a little lower, please?! I can barely breathe up here!'
They flew above Pennsylvania and the city lights looked beautiful, but Sue didn't dare look down. Tony made sure to lower his altitude to make sure she wasn't suffocating from the lack of air. This was the only way to get them to New York in time for Justin Hammer's presentation that was destined for disaster.
'Didn't you go into space in a rocket? How is this any worse?' Tony said as he watched the constant rise and fall of Sue's heartrate, body temperature and other vitals.
'This is much worse!'
Tony let out a laugh and decided to do a spin. Sue let out a shriek and tightened her hold on his suit. He wasn't worried about her as he made sure that her suit was almost as good as his for flying conditions. It retained warmth and could withstand a fall into bodies of water from great heights. Although it didn't protect her neck and upwards, Tony would never let her drop.
At the Expo, Justin Hammer danced out on to the stage and babbled on about America's safety. Pepper and Natalie, or Natasha, sat in the crowd. They weren't impressed by Hammer's presentation and the constant jabs he made at Tony. But they had to be there as representatives for the company and for the press photos, but they weren't happy about it.
'Ladies and gentlemen, today, I present to you the new face of the United States military! The Hammer Drone!' Hammer pointed to his right and a part of the stage opened to ascend a group of robots. The American national anthem played as the crowd began to clap at the man that pointed to different parts of the stage.
'Army!'
Camouflage painted drones appeared.
'Navy!'
'Air Force! Marines!
The groups of drones stood tall around Hammer as he indulged in the applause. Pepper and Natalie rolled their eyes but had to admit that it was impressive.
'But as revolutionary as this technology is, there will always be a need for man to be present in the theatre of war. Ladies and gentlemen, today, I am proud to present to you the very first prototype in the Variable Threat Response Battle Suit and its pilot, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes!'
James Rhodes was risen to the stage in a black, bulkier version of Tony's Iron Man suit. A large gun was installed on the back and the arms were bulked with missiles and weapons. The arc reactor that powered the suit glowed white instead of Tony's iconic blue, and Pepper sat with her jaw open at the sight.
'For America and its allies, Hammer Industries is reporting for-'
Justin was cut off from the noise of something coming from a far. The audience looked over their shoulders as Tony let Sue slip off his back and drop to the floor as gently as he possible could. Landing on the stage, the audience roared and stood to their feet as Tony stood up in all his glory.
'We got trouble,' Tony said as he walked to stand next to his friend.
'Tony, there are civilians present,' James sighed, Tony waving to the crowd with his arm around the suit that was stolen from him. 'I'm here on orders. Let's not do this right now.'
Sue's landing wasn't the smoothest. She had been able to activate her powers as Tony dropped her to the side of the audience and wasn't seen falling thanks to her invisibility. The suit helped cushion the fall, but her knees weakened as she tried to land standing up. A soft thud was heard from her fall and a few heard, turning there heads, only to see nothing there.
While the crowd applauded for Iron Man, Sue got to her feet with a groan and took the time to look at the drones on stage. She looked around for any sign of Ivan, but gave up when Tony's voice came through the earpiece he had given her.
'Sue, I need you to start getting people towards the exits,' he directed. 'I'm sure Ivan's watching all this. I don't know what his plan is, but it can't be good.'
'Right,' she answered before making herself visible again. She turned to the left and tapped the man closet to her on the shoulder. 'Excuse me, sir.'
'Jesus Christ! Where the hell did you come from?!' he jumped in his seat and the four people sitting next to him turned their heads at the commotion.
'Hey! You're Susan Storm, The Invisible Woman!' another said and pointed at her with a large grin.
'Yep, that's me,' she nervously smiled. 'Now I need to get everyone out of here. Mr Stark has told me to-'
The crowd halted their applause and Sue turned her gaze to the stage at the sudden pause. Tony took steps away from James as the gun on the black suit's back took aim at him. Sue watched as the head of James' suit turned to Hammer who stood forgotten behind him, showing that he wasn't in control anymore. She knew that this was Ivan's doing and saw Tony take flight, heading for the ceiling to lead the fight outside.
The drones aimed their own guns and fired after him, James' suit doing the same. The bullets hit the glass ceiling and shards rained on the audience. Screams erupted and people attempted to cover their heads as they scrambled to get out of their seats. Sue put her hands above her and produced a forcefield over the people closet to her, doing her best to cover as many people as she could.
'Go, go, go!' she yelled at the people that hunched over to cover themselves. She looked to the stage and saw some of the drones fly with James in the front, while the others thudded towards the end of the stage. They jumped down and Sue saw the true monstrosity of the drone as they stalked through the aisles.
Retreating her forcefield, Sue took steps backwards after the people that ran and screamed. The drones were at least seven feet tall and reached a width of two and a half metres. Their singular glowing eye terrified Sue and she almost let out a shriek when one of them turned their robotic head towards her.
The navy blue drone locked on to her and raised its arm, aiming the knock-off repulsors at her frame. In the panic, Sue disappeared in her place and the drone stopped its pursuit. Its eye looked around, even activating its infrared vision to see where its target had disappeared to. As it went to turn around, a chair to the right suddenly wobbled. The mechnical noise of its head turning in Sue's direction made her stomach drop and she attempted to run. The drone fired a shot to the left of the chair and the blast sent Sue flying across the stadium.
Chairs collapsed as Sue's invisible form collided with them. Her body flashed into view and the drone stalked towards her, its arm raised once more and ready to fire. Sue groaned as she pulled her head up from the floor and pushed away the chair legs that dug into her sides. She had almost made it out of the stadium when her hip clipped the chair that gave her away. At least she was near the door, but more than one drone had clocked on to her from the flattening of the chairs.
After she pulled herself up and found her way out to the front of the stadium, she saw the chaos that was outside. People ran and screamed as drones fired their missiles and shots after them. The police were throughout the crowd trying to do their best at taking them down, but their bullets were no use against the military grade weapons. Sue ran down the stairs that led to the wide pathways and saw a drone gaining on a young family.
The mother of the family screamed and cradled the baby that was in her arms. The father took the little boy that was trying to run beside them into his own arms and pleaded for his wife to pick up the pace. Sue felt the chill run through her veins without her request and she eyed the drone that raised its arm at them. She saw the spark of the repulsors prepare to fire and she shot her hands up, barely knowing what she wanted to happen.
As the family turned and went to accept their fate, the drone's body began to twitch and convulse. The abdomen started to expand and its arms stuck out by its sides. The family backed away as the chest of the drone exploded and a force of sheer blue broke free. Robotic pieces landed metres away with its head landing with a loud clang on the pavement, the blue disappearing into the air.
'Woahhh...' the little boy in the father's arms cooed. 'I didn't know The Invisible Woman could do that.'
'Neither did I...' Sue breathed and pulled back her hands to look at them with wide eyes. She wasn't certain, but she thought she had created a forcefield from inside the drone.
'Thank you! Oh my god, thank you!' the mother of the family cried before her husband hurried her away, drones still loose among the crowd.