Johnny planted his feet on the floor and jumped into the air, pulling the Extremis-riddled man up with him. Aldrich yelled in fury as he tried to keep hold of Johnny's arm, but his own weight was too much. He let go and fell to a suspended path below, leaving Johnny to head back to Pepper.
Aldrich landed in a crouch on the catwalk and looked up to see Tony waiting for him. He stood in his suit with his mask up and Aldrich straightened from his crouch with a sickly smirk on his face. The hologram of Pepper screaming and crying from the effects of the Extremis was burnt into Tony's mind, and the man responsible dared to smirk at him. The Extremis swirled under Killian's skin, his teeth glowing when he opened his mouth to speak.
'You know, you don't deserve Pepper,' Aldrich teased. 'You push her aside and let the flaming turd try and save her.'
'Flaming turd's good. I like that,' Tony's mask closed, and he raised his repulsors. Aldrich took this as a showdown and ran forward, leaping into the air to dodge the repulsors' shots. Tony looked up and put his arms up to block his attack, only to have the force throw off his balance.
While the two fought, Rhodey made it up to President Ellis. He cut one of the restraints and swung the both of them to a container where they landed safely. The president was spluttering in panic from the situation, and Rhodey tried to joke that he looked good in the Iron Patriot suit. But he would need to help with the battle, so he would need the suit back.
Sue jumped down from a container and went to leap onto another to help Johnny, when a woman dropped into her path. Extremis swam under her eyes, making them glow, and her abdomen's muscles radiated a bright amber. Her shoulders were broad, and her fists clenched, alerting Sue that it would be a combat fight. Unfortunately, that wasn't her strong point.
The woman launched into a sprint at her and Sue flickered into invisibility. She stepped to the side as the woman landed and went to run to the edge of the container, but her footsteps thudded against the metal. The woman whipped around and tackled where she heard Sue, the two tumbling down and rolling off the container.
Sue let out a grunt as her back dented the container below. The Extremis woman was quick to stand up from the fall and stood over Sue, her fist orange and heated. Sue's eyes widened as it impended for her face and she sent a surge of invisible force towards her. The woman was winded onto her back and the metal made a creak from her fall.
'Good evening, ma'am,' JARVIS's voice came from Sue's right. A suit in complete silver tackled the Extremis woman before she could attack once more. The suit took her aggravated punches and kicks, before throwing her into the ocean.
'Thanks, JARVIS!' Sue called out, the suit flying past to intercept another fight.
Sue continued her pursuit. She looked above her and saw Johnny reaching out for Pepper, who hung off a metal beam that was suspended in the air. Below them were roaring flames that were ignited by the oil tanker President Ellis was originally suspended over. Johnny reached from the catwalk, his torso hanging off the edge. He couldn't risk burning Pepper by pulling her from the beam while in flight. He had to try the normal way, but it was proving to be difficult.
'I got you, Pep! I can't reach any further and you can't stay there!' Johnny cried, his arm in pain as he forced it to stretch beyond its length. 'You have to let go and I'll catch you!'
'Are you crazy?!' she gasped. Her fingers brushed against his before the beam underneath her gave way.
'No!'
Pepper fell towards the fires and Johnny slipped off the catwalk. He free fell without his inferno and wrapped his arms around her. She cried as he caught her, clinging to him as the two drew closer to the oil tanker's inferno. Johnny turned them both around so that he would face the flames. Without thinking, he centralised his heat to his back as they were engulfed.
Sue was attacked before she could see her brother and Pepper disappear into the flames. She turned around at the shudder that was sent through the metal of the container and held her hands up to create a barrier. But Aldrich Killian's hand thrusted out and enclosed around her neck before it could materialise. Sue gasped, Killian's hand feeling all too familiar around her throat. Her airways were cut, and her eyes bulged, her leather gloves clawing at his wrist for a even a single breath.
'Such a shame...' Killian sighed before he jumped off the container.
The catwalk where Tony was suiting up again trembled when Killian swung over the railing. The Stark's previous suit was destroyed by Killian who thrust his hand into the arch reactor, leaving him bare. As he called for JARVIS, Aldrich took the time to leap to where he saw Sue, who was distracted at the time. Tony was suited up once he returned, but he halted any attack when he saw Sue in Aldrich's hold.
'You really don't deserve her, Tony,' Aldrich held Sue up high. 'I could make her so perfect.'
Tony swallowed dryly. His mask sat open, and Aldrich saw panic for the first time on Tony Stark's face. Sue let out chokes as she reached her hand out to claw at Aldrich's face, only to have him hold her higher and out of reach. Tony's stomach sunk as he saw Sue's face turn blue and her eyes begin to roll to the back of her head. He couldn't make a move as one mistep could make her neck snap. He had to watch as the love of his life choke at the hands of a man who he turned into his own demon.
'You're wrong...' Tony let out as he heard JARVIS say that Mark 42 was inbound. 'She's already perfect.'
Aldrich lurched forward as Mark 42 opened its hatch and encircled around him. His grip on Sue loosened as the suit rendered his arms out wide. Sue fell over the railing, JARVIS sending a suit to catch her just below the catwalk. Tony glanced over and made sure she was okay, seeing Mark 39 lowering her to the ground safely.
'JARVIS? Do me a favour and blow Mark 42,' Tony smirked.
'NO!-' Killian was cut off by the mask attaching to its helmet.
Tony jumped over the rail as Killian exploded. The edge of the explosion flared against the back of his suit, malfunctioning the system inside. His boots were able to support his fall and collided with the concrete, the suit taking the fall into its knees. The explosion left flames along the catwalk and pieces of Mark 42 dented containers and flew into the sea. Tony's own suit ejected him from its hold and powered down, the neck glitching and jerking the head from side to side. Sparks shot out from the wires and Tony stepped back to let JARVIS handle the dismantling.
The sound of repulsors made him turn to see Mark 39 lowering Sue to the floor. It cut its thrusters and Tony walked forward as JARVIS sounded through his ear,
'Sir, Miss Storm's vitals are stable. There may be a light case of hypoxia, but I'll do an analysis of her brain activity to be sure.'
'Thanks, buddy.'
Sue stumbled out of Mark 39's arms and Tony made sure to have his hands by her sides in case she fell. Her eyelids hung low, and she put her hand to the side of her head. She felt lightheaded and her neck was sore, but she was coherent. Tony's eyes raked over the woman who he thought for a second he would lose.
'I'm getting too old for this,' Sue groaned. Her head ached and the use of her powers fatigued her.
'Maybe its time to retire,' Tony chuckled and went to lean down to plant a kiss on her lips, when the container behind them creaked. They turned and the green metal was pulled apart, revealing a disfigured Aldrich Killian.
'No more false faces...' Killian's skin tried to reform itself from the fourth-degree burns. The Extremis cracked through the blackened mass that was his face. His eyes glowed as he advanced towards the two, seething at the way they held each other.
'You said you wanted The Mandarin,' Aldrich raised his arms and Tony pushed Sue behind his unsuited form to take the hit. 'You're looking right at him. It was always me, Tony. Right from the start. I AM THE MANDARIN!'
A metal beam collided with Aldrich's head and sent him back into the shipping container he emerged from. Sue and Tony turned and saw Pepper, her skin crawling with Extremis. Her breathing was heavy, and she dropped the metal beam that weighed four to five tons. Tony and Sue felt the vibration from the dropped weight through the floor and stared at the woman in disbelief.
'I got nothing...' Tony shrugged with no snarky remark. The sound of Iron Man suits powering up around them alerted him and he looked up to see them circling the new heat signature.
'JARVIS! Subject at my twelve o'clock is not a target! Disengage!'
A suit landed next to Pepper and attempted to fire its repulsor, but she planted her fist through its middle. She ripped through its side and grabbed its shoulders, throwing it into Aldrich Killian who was beginning to heal in the container. The suit blew up and Sue shielded her eyes at the bright cloud of fire. The dock went silent as the CEO of AIM was finally destroyed, and containers that simmered, spat and bent from the blazing infernos.
'Jesus...' Johnny appeared beside Tony and Sue, who looked between him and Pepper with wide eyes. He emerged from the inferno in worry for Pepper, but was surprised to find her absent. But when he saw her lifting a five ton metal beam, he understood that the Extremis had taken hold of her.
'Oh my god... That was really violent,' Pepper gasped and cupped her mouth with her hands. She acted on her impulse when she saw Aldrich approach Tony and Sue. The Extremis dissolved from sight under her skin and Johnny stepped forward to hold her shaking hands.
'It was,' Johnny grinned. 'It was cool.'
'No, don't touch me!' Pepper shrunk away. 'I-I could burn you!'
'Really? Burn me?' Johnny scoffed and threaded his fingers with Pepper's. 'See? Nothing. You're okay. I'm okay.'
'No, no, am I going to be okay? What did he do to me?!'
'I think I can figure this out,' Tony piped up. 'I almost had it twenty years ago when I was drunk. That's what I do. I fix stuff.'
'You know, I think I understand why you don't want to give up the suits,' Sue ran her hand over the arc reactor in his chest. 'What will I complain about?'
'Well, it's me. You'll think of something,' Tony smiled, and Sue let out a laugh.
Johnny and Pepper took the time to indulge in each other's company, and Sue and Tony did the same. Sue stood on her toes and pressed her lips against his, relieved to be in his arms again. His hand stroked the small of her back and he closed his eyes at the bliss from Sue's soft lips. Sue felt Tony's facial hair scratch her cheeks, but the caressing from his hand on her back was enough for her to ignore it.
'All wrapped up here, sir,' JARVIS's voice made the two pull away. 'Will there be anything else?'
'You know what to do,' he said without looking away from the beauty in front of him.
'The Clean Slate Protocol, sir?'
'Screw it. Yes, yes.'