[The Oil Platform. Midnight.]
"Where's your backup?" Rhodey yelled, ducking behind a crate as bullets sparked around them. "You said you had backup!"
Tony looked at the empty night sky. "It's coming! It's... Christmas is a busy time!"
Aldrich Killian stood on the upper deck, glowing like a sun. "You have nothing, Stark! No suits. No friends. Just you and me."
Tony tapped his earpiece. "J.A.R.V.I.S., is it that time?"
"The 'House Party' Protocol is engaged, Sir."
The air rumbled.
Killian looked up.
Dozens of lights appeared on the horizon. Then, the roar of thrusters.
Mark 17 (Heartbreaker). Mark 35 (Red Snapper). Mark 38 (Igor). Mark 39 (Gemini).
Thirty-five suits of armor streaked out of the darkness, circling the oil rig like a mechanical swarm.
"Merry Christmas," Tony grinned. "J.A.R.V.I.S., target the heat signatures. Pick a partner, boys!"
The suits dove.
[The Dance]
Sebastian Michaelis stood on a gantry, surrounded by three Extremis soldiers. They were glowing, ready to melt him.
"Get him!" one soldier shouted.
Sebastian didn't dodge. He looked up.
"Mark 16. Nightclub," Sebastian commanded calmly.
A black stealth suit swooped down from the sky. Sebastian jumped.
He cleared twenty feet, landing perfectly on the back of the flying suit.
"Bank left," Sebastian ordered.
The empty suit obeyed instantly (J.A.R.V.I.S. prioritizing the butler's voice command). The suit spun. Sebastian used the momentum to launch himself off the suit like a springboard.
He flew through the air, his coat flapping like wings.
He landed on the shoulders of the first Extremis soldier.
CRACK.
Sebastian twisted the man's head 180 degrees. Before the body could hit the floor, Sebastian backflipped away as the other two soldiers fired streams of fire.
"Mark 40. Shotgun!"
The hyper-velocity suit zoomed past at Mach 2. Sebastian grabbed its ankle as it flew by. He was dragged through the air, dangling one-handed.
"Drop me," Sebastian said.
The suit released him directly over a group of soldiers attacking Rhodey.
Sebastian fell like a meteor. He landed with a shockwave of darkness that shattered the steel grating. He stood up, dust swirling around him, holding two silver knives he had pulled from... somewhere.
Slash. Slash. Stab.
He moved through the soldiers like water. The suits provided covering fire, repulsors blasting enemies, while Sebastian provided the surgical strikes.
It was a dance. A waltz of metal and demon.
[The Fall]
"Pepper!" Tony screamed.
He was in a suit now—jumping from one to another as they were destroyed by Killian. He landed on the lower deck.
Pepper was trapped on a crane arm. The rig was collapsing, shaken by explosions.
"Tony!" She reached out.
Killian intercepted. He smashed Tony back. "No more heroes!"
The crane groaned. The metal snapped.
Pepper fell.
"NO!" Tony dived. He reached out with the suit's hand. His fingers brushed hers.
She slipped.
Tony watched in horror as Pepper Potts fell two hundred feet into the burning inferno below.
"No..." Tony whispered.
Sebastian, standing on a high platform, froze. He had been too far away. He had been fighting five men.
He looked at Tony. He saw the light in the Young Master's eyes die. The panic was gone. The fear was gone. Replaced by a cold, dead emptiness.
Killian laughed. "A tragedy. Really."
Tony turned to look at Killian.
"J.A.R.V.I.S.," Tony said, his voice completely flat. "I need a suit."
[The Final Boss]
The Mark 42 arrived—finally returning from Tennessee. But it hit a railing and shattered into pieces.
"Close enough," Tony muttered.
Killian charged, glowing white-hot. "I am the Mandarin! I own you!"
Tony didn't back down. He pointed at Killian.
"Suit him up."
The pieces of the Mark 42 lifted off the ground. They didn't fly to Tony. They flew to Killian.
The gauntlet pinned Killian's arm to the wall. The boots clamped his legs. The chest piece locked him in.
Killian struggled, trapped in the gold armor. "What is this?!"
"J.A.R.V.I.S.," Tony said. "Blow the Mark 42."
"With pleasure, Sir."
Tony dived away.
BOOM.
The suit detonated. The explosion engulfed the platform.
Tony slid across the deck, battered and bruised. He looked at the fire. It was over.
"Sir!" Sebastian landed next to him. He looked frantic—a rare expression for the butler. "Miss Potts... I..."
"She's gone," Tony said numbly.
CREAK.
From the flames, a figure walked out.
Aldrich Killian.
He was burnt, missing half his face, glowing with unstable energy. The Extremis had saved him, barely.
"No suit," Killian rasped, walking toward Tony. "No woman. No hope."
Sebastian stepped in front of Tony. His eyes were pitch black. His gloves were gone, revealing clawed, demonic hands.
"I have had enough of you," Sebastian hissed.
He prepared to tear Killian apart.
WHOOSH.
A steel pipe flew through the air. It hit Killian, knocking him off the deck.
Sebastian and Tony turned.
Pepper Potts stood there. She was glowing orange. Her clothes were torn, her skin healing rapidly from the fall. The fire hadn't killed her; the Extremis had evolved her.
"Pepper?" Tony blinked.
Killian roared, jumping back up.
Pepper didn't flinch. She swung a heavy repulsor cannon (ripped from a destroyed suit) and smashed Killian in the face.
She kicked him. She spun, using her new enhanced strength to punch through his chest.
Killian looked at her, shocked.
"Honey," Pepper gasped, her eyes glowing. "I think... I think I understand the violent urges now."
She tossed a small explosive into the hole in Killian's chest.
"Run," she said.
Killian exploded. For real this time. Vaporized.
[The Aftermath]
The sun was rising over the ruined oil rig.
Tony, Pepper, and Sebastian sat on a crate.
Pepper's glow was fading. She looked at her hands. "Am I going to be okay?"
"I can fix it," Tony said, holding her hand. "I almost fixed it twenty years ago while drunk. I can fix it now."
He looked up at the remaining Iron Man suits circling in the sky. The "Clean Slate" protocol.
"J.A.R.V.I.S.," Tony said. "It's Christmas. Light 'em up."
"As you wish, Sir."
One by one, the suits detonated. A magnificent fireworks display of billion-dollar technology.
Sebastian watched the explosions. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, crumpled object he had retrieved from the ruins of the mansion earlier.
It was the screwdriver Tony had used in the cave in Afghanistan.
"You are destroying your legacy, Sir," Sebastian noted.
"No," Tony kissed Pepper's forehead. He looked at Sebastian. "I'm starting a new one."
Tony stood up. He took the screwdriver from Sebastian. He plucked the Arc Reactor from his own chest—the one he had refused to remove for years.
He tossed it into the ocean.
"I'm just a man," Tony said. "I'm not the suit. I'm not the reactor."
He looked at his butler.
"And you're not just a butler."
Sebastian bowed low, the morning sun casting a long, monstrous shadow behind him.
"I am simply one hell of a butler, Tony Stark."
[End of Arc 4]
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