20. Chapter

The horrified look on Tony's face must have amused Colton, because the kid's mouth twisted into something that was half a smirk, half a sneer. Colton's hand did an odd spasm, then, quick as a whip, the Alderaanian's mood changed. His unexpected mirth disappeared as his eyes narrowed in a glare. "Because of you, I was tortured. Because of you, I thought I was going to die. For a moment, I wanted to die. Because of you, I've lost an eye," Colton snarled. The stress in his voice was real, but the diction was measured, rehearsed.

The reassurances, the empty words and promises, they all withered and died on the tip of Tony's tongue, forever unspoken. What could he say in the face of all that? He knew that there were people who were not exactly pleased with either of his personas, yet he sent a civilian directly into the line of fire.

Tony's silence only served to enrage Colton, who probably took it as a sign of indifference or worse, an admission of guilt. "This is your fault, isn't it? I'll get you for this. You, the bounty hunters, everyone involved. I'll get you all!" Colton paused there, leaning close to the screen and panting for a breath.

Half stunned by the Wanda-esque rant, Tony stared. The witch had blamed Tony for her parents being killed and been out to get him ever since. Colton was exuding the same creepy, unhinged vibes. Unlike Wanda, though, Tony was at fault for what Colton went through.

"Colton, I know that words can't change this, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry," Tony said quietly, watching as Colton glanced wildly to the left and right.

Hysterical giggles escaped Colton's lips. The snickers grew louder until his whole body shook with mirth. Then, he flinched and looked back up. "You did this to me!" Colton spat out, his voice ringing. His eye was opened wide and he was trembling again.

Tony flinched back at the words themselves, but forced himself to look past them. He had always thought that actions meant more than words. As bitter as the short statement was, how it was intended to cut and wound, the body language, the very tone used was something else. But what? Tony's eyes darted back and forth over Colton's face. The kid was hunched in and trembling again, his left hand and arm spasming. Was it fear, a crushing sense of your life falling apart and nothing being the same? But his gaze was unfocused, distant - Maybe it was loss, a sense of broken hero-worship. Was it a plea, a question of why? Tony just needed another moment - he was so close to the answer.

Like he somehow felt it, Colton looked up again, eyes wide. His eyes flicked to the right once, but other than that, they remained fixed on Tony.

The sound of shattering ceramic broke them out of their impromptu staring contest - Tony still shocked and pained, Colton challenging but pleading. Colton's gaze darted behind him, demeanor instantly darkening.

Whatever connection was between them snapped. Tony felt the loss, an almost tangible feeling. He whipped around to see what had created the noise.

Galee was at the door, Fett behind her. What looked like the remains of a mug was on the floor by Galee's foot. "Oh, Force," Galee bit out, looking horrified. "You… You did this to him?" she parroted. Ignoring the other two people in the room, Fett merely stared at the screen behind Tony with narrowed eyes.

"Guys, this isn't what it looks like!" Tony said defensively, raising his hands. He briefly considered his words and tried to correct himself. "Well, unless it looks like someone is missing an eye, so... it isn't as bad as it looks?"

Even Fett gawked at him at those words.

Tony winced at the way he phrased things and glanced back at the screen, which had gone dark. Colton had disconnected. "It's very bad, and sort of my fault, but I didn't do it on purpose?"

"You accidentally made someone lose an eye?" Fett said dryly.

"...Yes?" Tony ventured. Galee made a small, shuffled movement, like she wanted to leave the room, but to her credit, she stayed. "I… They wanted to get me, but the ship… I sent Colton instead." Galee laid a cautious hand on his shoulder. It was meant to be reassuring, but Tony wanted nothing more than to shove it off.

"What are you going to do about it?" Fett asked.

Despite the causal way Fett said it, Tony had a feeling that he was being tested in some way. But what was being tested? His moral compass? Problem-solving skills? Tony brushed all the stray thoughts aside and answered honestly. "I was hoping you'd allow me to use your ship to track down his. Then… I guess I help him out. I don't know. I just know that I have to make things right. So, what do you say? Let me use your spaceship?"

Fett gave him an inscrutable look. Tony guessed that he must have passed Fett's impromptu test, because the more experienced bounty hunter gave a sharp nod and leaned back against the wall. Tony wasted no time misusing the navigation system to pinpoint Colton's last known location, discreetly shrugging off Galee's hand. Using basic geometry to calculate the trajectory from Tepasi, Tony employed basic logic and 'educated guesses' to decide that Colton was going back to Alderaan. He input the coordinates, hoping that the pirated ship would be quicker that whatever vessel Colton would be using. Sometime during that time, Galee left.

"Why are you still here?" Tony asked without looking behind him.

"You free slaves. When is the next time?" Fett said instead of answering. Or perhaps he did answer.

Tony sent him a hard look. "The next time we get a bounty on a planet with slaves."

"That could be a while," Fett commented, giving a pointed glance at the screen that had shown Colton's face.

"Well, that's when Iron Man will be appearing," Tony said sharply. Through the reflections caught by the shiny metal of the terminal, he saw Fett's eyes narrow and realized that it was not the best approach he could have used. "Look," Tony said with a sigh, briefly wiping at his eyes and forehead with his sleeve, "you saw what happened to Colton, and he was just an acquaintance of mine. I can't leave my crew."

"Can't or won't?" Fett asked simply.

Tony struggled to keep the disgust off his face as he looked back at Fett. "They are my friends," Tony stated incredulously, wondering what kind of person Fett actually was, to be willing to leave people who were like family behind during times of high alert.

Fett looked back, unimpressed. "Do you not trust them to look after themselves? For a mere day?"

"These people are like a second family to me. I can't - I won't risk them," Tony declared.

"I'm curious. What do you do for a living?" Fett asked abruptly. Before Tony could answer, he continued, "I was under the impression your crew took on bounties. You get shot at on a semi-daily basis. You are looked down upon, hindered on every planet you land on, whether or not you have a bounty. And yet, you believe your crew is safer on the ground, in potentially fatal battles, than on a cloaked, heavily armored ship hidden in an undisclosed position in space."

Tony's mouth twisted. "That was just a job. This is personal. Someone is out to get me for revenge."

"There seems to be a lot of people out for revenge. The Hutts, various slave owners, these bounty hunters… Colton," Fett said casually. "I've even heard that you and Solo had it out for each other for a while. One has to wonder exactly what... qualities... someone has to be so easily hated."

"Part of my charm," Tony deflected.

"This isn't a game. They aren't going to stop," Fett said tersely. "The pressure on Iron Man? It will only increase. You're cocky. Overconfident. You haven't been beaten yet, and that makes you arrogant. You can't let it get to your head. You need to fight now, while they are still unprepared. Your armor has holes. They will be exploited."

Positive criticism. That was new. Tony did not appreciate the potshots at his ego or the reference to Colton, which was still raw. Still, Fett had kept it strictly in this universe, leaving out everything from Earth out of it. Tony appreciated that, at least. Sighing, Tony looked at Fett. "Look, I know I haven't made the best first impression. Force, I probably look like a loose cannon to you, but please, can you judge me by the things I actually did, not the things you thought I did?"

Fett looked a little put-out at the way his little speech was received, but he recovered quickly, giving Tony a nod. "I thought you were the beskar'verd that freed slaves," Fett tossed over his shoulder as he slapped the control panel by the door.

Tony blinked. Beskar… That was a metal, right? He had no idea what 'verd' was, but he was pretty sure the bounty hunter just made a reference to Iron Man… Did Fett just try to make a joke? Because that was a lame one.

"Hey, wait up!" Tony called after him. He jogged lightly to reach Fett's side. He expected the other bounty hunter to slow down, but Fett did not. Cursing tall people in his head, Tony continued jogging to keep up with Fett. "Want to hit the gym, training mat or whatever? I'd like to see your fighting style."

"So you can figure out my weaknesses and take me down?" Fett asked dryly. Tony glanced over but found no indication as to whether or not it was a serious thought or another 'joke.'

"No, actually," Tony said, wondering if he was about to make a mistake. "I want to see what kind of armor to make for you."

Fett actually stopped at that. "You want to make me armor," he stated tonelessly.

"Yep!" Tony said cheerfully, glad to catch the other guy off-guard.

"I don't need it," Fett said. He continued walking.

Tony was flabbergasted. Other than Ross and several military men who wanted 'Iron Patriot' to carry more weapons, no one had a complaint against his armor - the person in it, maybe, but never the armor itself. "Hey, now! Have you seen the Iron Man armor in action? We can make you another one, with mods to fit your fighting style. It'll be cool! You'd love the firepower."

"My armor is sufficient. I neither need or want another." Fett hit another control panel, sliding the door shut in Tony's face.

"Rude," Tony muttered.

-Insert Quote HereOn Alderaan, they received bad news, then worse news. Despite the loss of depth perception, an inevitable side effect to losing an eye, it appeared that Colton had no trouble landing his ship in the mountains. The Maiden's Flight was safely nestled in a small clearing that Tony would not have thought was big enough to hold her. Tony ran the calculations. What they said was that, even when shaken and with the loss of his eye to boot, Colton was an exceptional flier, perhaps even better than Kristoff.

The Maiden's Flight was abandoned, completely stripped of all the goodies. Her owner was nowhere to be found. None of the hospitals or clinics within fifty miles reported a man with a missing eye. Fett reluctantly tracked Colton's footprints, but they disappeared off a cliff after two miles. None of the crew believed that the pilot committed suicide, so they assumed that Colton was off making dastardly plans and gathering resources to use against them.

So basically, Tony had a dude who could outfly any of his crew on a revenge quest to take him down, and possibly his crew with him. Nice. And that was just the bad news.

The worse news?

The analysis of the metal-eating finished. Well, that was decidedly not the worse news. The worse news was that it was , in fact, a variant of one of Halruun Kal's species. Specifically, a genetically modified one. Someone purposely weaponized it and targeted the Y-not as easy pickings.

Tony was decidedly not happy about it.

"Um, is there something wrong?" asked Kristoff cautiously.

A better question probably would be what wasn't. Shoragg had been immediately transported to a hospital upon arrival to Aldeeran. Tony and Shoragg's wife were hammering out the details to Shoragg's future career at SI - something high-paying, low-risk, and stable.

Besides the loss of a teammate and Gis's playmate, FRIDAY was lost to the wind. Colton's fate was up in the air. He had people gunning for his crew. His one ally that knew anything was practicing radio silence.

Tony glanced up from where he was aggressively spearing his raviolis and stabbing his greens. He glanced to his right, where Suffee had frozen with a fork raised halfway to his mouth, warily watching Tony's knife flashing inches from his forearm. Then, he looked to his left, where there was a large space left by Greer, who was in the process of scooting away from him. Eyes back on Kristoff, Tony said darkly, "Due to a favor I requested of him, one of my friends just upped and disappeared after losing an eye and swearing revenge. What do you think?"

"Lighten up. I mean that guy's missing an eye . Seriously, how bad can it be?" Kristoff said, unconvinced of the danger.

The limp ravioli dropped from Tony's motionless fork. "What is wrong with you?" The engineer stared incredulously at the ex-smuggler. The whole table tensed and looked up in time to see Tony finish with, "Are you completely insane?"

"What? What did I do?" Kristoff asked, looking alarmed.

Tony jabbed his fork at him. "You just tempted fate! You issued a challenge to the universe. You know how much the universe likes to screw with me. It's not going to leave something like this unanswered! What the Force is wrong with you?"

Beside him, Suffee deflated. "Oh, it's just that." Losing concern over the conversation, the old Rodian returned to his vegetables. "Morons," he muttered under his breath.

Catching it due to his enhanced hearing, Tony automatically replied, "I heard that." He picked up his plate and wrapped it before shoving it into the refrigerator. "I'm done. It's nothing you guys did. I just need to do something."

Snagging one of his StarkPads, Tony brought up a portion of FRIDAY's coding that she had said was bothering her. Something about incorrect interfacing with this universe's codes. It was not FRIDAY herself, just some immobile pieces of her, like hair clippings off of a human. After drawing up some programs and modifying them to help out, Tony translated the piece of FRIDAY's matrix copied down onto the pad into Standard Basic for fun. He quickly lost interest and looked about for another source of distraction.

Paramexor. Tony resisted the urge to pace back and forth. He was missing something, but what? His eyes fell on the other StarkPad, resting innocently next to his mug. He tapped it to turn it on.

::Do not take the bounty. Trap.::

It was Paramexor's message, too little, too late.

It suddenly occurred to Tony that two separate, yet potentially fatal bounties were offered to his crew: the fungus and Colton's trap. Despite that, Paramexor had written 'bounty,' not 'bounties.' So which of the attempts did he know about, and how?

Paramexor still had not answered yet, but when Tony found him, he would have a lot to answer for.

"Denevar," Tony muttered, identifying where the message was sent from. Louder, he asked "Fett, are you going to kick us off your ship, or can we use it to fly to Denevar?"

-Insert Quote HereWith both Alderaan and Denevar in the Core, you would've thought it would take a lot less time to navigate. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Being so close to Deep Core meant that there were lots more asteroids, planetoids, actual planets, and random space objects that posed danger when traveling at light speed. They had to stick to hyperspace lanes - down Commenor Run, hopping onto Hydian way, through some unnamed hyperspace lane, and finally switching over to Namadii Corridor. It took several hours, but was much faster than if they traveled in a straight line at sublight speeds.

"Southwest hemisphere?" Kristoff asked from the pilot's chair.

Tony nodded absentmindedly. "Eighty-two miles north of Sector Four's second-most populated city," he clarified, accessing Denevar's personal network. He was blown by the number of emergency reports, skimming them with increasing alarm.

"Like I know where that is," Kristoff retorted, though he guided Black Fist into a smooth descent towards one of the planet's larger continents, unaware at what Tony was seeing.

"That one?" Greer asked, pointing to a large stretch of chrome and grey that could be seen even from their altitude.

"Unfortunately, no," Suffee said dryly from where he was trying to teach Greer how to read the map. "I'm guessing we are headed to that pillar of smoke." Tony immediately stood up, walking towards the front to see with his own eyes the chaos that had befallen Denvar. It was not pretty. Buildings were being destroyed, yet none of the soot-covered figures below seemed to care, dodging between larger pieces and shooting at each other. Multiple colors of blaster bolts lit up the city, while starfighters danced dangerously low in the skies.

The Fist spun around and fired at two combating starfighters that flew too close, splitting them apart and scaring them away from the much-more armored starship.

"Kriff!" Kristoff snarled, hovering above a destroyed landing strip. He dodged anti-aircraft blasts and steered the Fist away. "What now, Tony?"

Those of the crew on the bridge turned to look at Tony with wide eyes. Tony was reminded that, despite their experience with scuffles and firefights, none of them had faced a city-wide crisis of any scale before. Tony swallowed, quickly running through their strengths and weaknesses.

"Okay, we need to land the Fist close enough to the fight to help out, but far enough that we don't get caught in the crossfire." At this, Kristoff gave a sharp nod and started circling the edge of the disaster. "Greer, you stay on board and protect the ship. Man the cannons. Any hostiles approach, you blast them to kingdom come. You too, Suff'." The man did not understand the reference, but he got the general gist.

Tony walked to the PA system and spoke quickly. "The Paramexor's base is under attack from a rival bounty hunting guild, KSC. They don't care about civilian casualties. We are helping clear out the city. Galee, I want you in charge of the med bay. Fixit's got the complicated stuff covered, just do the non-critical wounds. Get some of the older kids to help out. Gis can help if anyone becomes combative. Charell, you get the injured civilians to Galee. Feel free to shoot anyone who tries to stop you. Aleena clan? I want you on the roofs, clearing the way for the Charell. Bai-Gon, Quinton, you guys get the uninjured civilians out of the city."

As he spoke, Kristoff landed the ship on the remains of flattened building. "What about us heavy-hitters?" he asked jokingly.

"Kovlo, Kristoff, Fett? You're with me. We're going to fan out and take down as many of these suckers as we can." Tony flipped his earpiece on and grabbed one of his experimental blasters. As he paused by Suffee's chair, Tony placed a hand on the Rodian's shoulder. "Suffee, I know you want to help out, but I don't like the thought of you in the middle of this. Friday's gone, so I need someone coordinating from here. Give Galee and Greer some backup, 'kay?"

Suffee hesitantly nodded, not saying a word. Tony grabbed some of his experimental combat armors and left. Tony could still feel the Rodian's eyes on him as he left the bridge, snagging a random StarkPad and wires, in case he had to hack something.

Fett was already at the ramp when Tony and Kristoff got there. The Mandalorian raised an eyebrow, and Tony realized his mistake. "Please," he said. "I know I am not your leader, and I have no authority over you or your actions, but I would really appreciate it if you helped us out."

"Fine," Fett said, though all three men knew that he would have joined the combat either way. Tony checked the StarkPad, finding that it was the one with programs for FRIDAY. Tony was grateful - it was physically one of the strongest StarkPads he had, the back lightly coated in songsteel. Figuring that he might as well uses the extra armor, he strapped it onto his back.

"Just shoot at anyone in a brown uniform," Tony told Kovlo when the Rodian joined them. He eyed Kristoff strangely when the ex-smuggler stole Fett's jetpack, but since Fett did not say a word about it, neither did Tony.

Unfortunately for the group, 'shoot at anyone in a brown uniform' was much more complicated in execution. Brown was apparently a common color in the area, and Tony found himself aiming at fleeing civilians several times. The confusion was only added to as Suffee kept mistakenly sending orders meant for Charell or some of the other groups to Tony's.

"Kriff it," Tony said finally, as he jerked his blaster away from a brown-clad man who had rushed at a woman, only to hug her. "Get up, Kristina. Change of plans. We're going to strike at the head." He turned on his earpiece. "Suffee, move Borr to cover the hole in the perimeter. Kristoff and I are going to Paramexor's base to end all this."

"I am going, too," Fett cut in before Suffee could reply.

"No, we need someone with Kovlo. I don't like leaving my teammates without help close at hand."

"Kovlo is a grown Rodian. He can take care of himself."

"Still-"

"I don't take orders from you."

Tony paused. It was true. "Okay. Fine. Kristoff, you find Kovlo and stick with him, capisce?"

Kristoff grimaced and motioned to Tony to turn off his earpiece, which Tony promptly did. "Don't take it personal, boss. I don't know if you know this, but you didn't hear this from me, okay?" He waited for Tony's affirmative nod before explaining, "He spent some years as a slave. That's how we met. Shared the same owner for a while. He has this thing against slavers."

Tony filed the information away. It explained a lot of things. Seeing that Kristoff was still warily waiting for an answer, Tony answered, "You have a thing against slavers, too. So do I, for that matter. Heck, who doesn't have a thing against them? I'll be sure to knock a few heads for you."

"I appreciate it," Kristoff said with a nod. "Don't make a big deal of it, you hear? He doesn't want people to know." He glanced over Tony's shoulder and, without waiting for a reply, took off in the direction they knew Kovlo was in. Tony glanced behind to see Fett approaching, though he probably was too far away to have heard what Kristoff had said.

Wordlessly, the two bounty hunters fell in step, watching each other's backs as if they had been doing it for months. Tony noted this with surprise. He thought that Fett, being a loner, would have trouble working with another person. Instead, Fett unhesitatingly trusted Tony to cover his weaknesses, doing the same to Tony's. There were a few wrinkles, but this was definitely someone who Tony could picture Iron Man fighting alongside.

Despite this, it was getting harder and harder to navigate the broken roads. Four times, they had to backtrack when they reached dead ends and blocked roads. Twice, they were forced to retreat when they ran into groups of slavers that were more than the two men could safely handle. In moments like these, Tony wished FRIDAY was still there. Still, he had to get used to it. FRIDAY was leaving him for Bail, anyways.

Somewhere in front of them, a KSC starfighter was tugged down by gravity, hitting a building when it was unable to lift up in time, due to the differences between flying on a planet and flying in space. Those starfighters were not meant for prolonged atmospheric flight, and Tony wondered what idiot ordered them out there as another starfighter spiraled down and crashed to their left, sending sparks and smoke up into the air.

He and Fett blasted their way down two blocks, before being forced down a dead end alley to their left. Tony winced at the property damage when Fett managed to explode a line of speeders to cover their escape.

The alley was the resting spot of a downed starfighter, it's pilot speared by a beam and barely keeping conscious. Due to the lack of a brown uniform, it was easy to deduce that he was either one of Paramexor's men or part of Denvar's peacekeeping force. The man, somewhere in his late twenties, at Tony's best guess, tracked them through hazy eyes, still trying to staunch the blood seeping out from around the metal beam.

Fett mercilessly aimed his blaster at the man's head.

Tackling Fett was automatic. "What do you think you're doing?" Tony yelled, wrestling the Mandalorian to the ground. An elbow rammed into his nose, breaking the bone. Tony released Fett to clutch his nose, and the other bounty hunter rolled away, gun still out, though not aimed anywhere in particular. "T' kriff 'ere you tinkin'?" Tony asked thickly as he adjusted the bones so they could heal correctly. "'s on our side."

"It pierced his upper lungs, cutting though several important arteries and veins," Fett said stoically, seemingly unbothered by what he had just attempted to do. "There are no surgeons near, and no way to get him to medical help. He will die slowly and painfully." The bounty hunter turned away from Tony, as if that finished the argument, walking to the pinned man inside the starfighter and placing his blaster at the man's temple.

"Fett! Thop!" Tony yelled, taking his hand off his nose to fumble at his own blaster, uncaring of the blood now dripping onto his armored jacket. Fett looked back, eyes flashing dangerously. I don't take orders from you. "What 'bout him?" Tony gestured at the man straining to struggle away from Fett, though careful enough not to rip his wounds open further. "You're takin his choice, his freedom, away from him!"

Fett paused at that. He turned to the dying man. "Do you wish to suffer?" he asked.

"I sure as H*** don't want to be murdered by likes of you ," the man whispered weakly, lips curling up into a pathetic snarl. Fett's blaster dropped to his side, and he turned his back on the pilot to walk away.

Tony watched Fett investigate a building for handholds and start to climb. He turned back to the starship, spotting a crushed astromech attached to the back of the starfighter. An idea formed in his head and he felt the StarPad pressing down on his back as he crouched beside it. "Hey, little guy. I don't think you're going to last long. Want one last mission to save the city?" he asked.

The green and white astromech whirred sadly, turning its optic towards the cockpit.

"One sec," Tony told it. With a pat on its head, Tony climbed up the broken starfighter to its dying pilot. "Hey, sorry about that. Do you want me to take a last message or final request or something? Also, I really need your droid to save the city and stuff. Can I have it?"

This close up, he could see what Fett already knew: the pilot was already dead, even if he did not know it. The man was already pale and shaking. With the amount of blood he was losing, Tony predicted that the man would be gone before five agonizing minutes passed.

He was unprepared for how the man's eyes lit up the moment he focused on Tony.

"You're… you're him, aren't you?" There was a feverish glint in the man's eyes.

"What?" Tony squawked as a hand grabbed his arm with deceptive strength. Tony put his free hand over the pilot's, ready to tear it off at the first sign of danger. "Dude, I don't know what you're talking about, but I need your droid. It's important."

"You're Tony Stark," the man whispered with awe. He tugged Tony closer.

'Well, yeah…" Tony said. "Sir, the droid?"

"Take it. Don't let them win. Kill them all." He gave a bloodstained smile, and with that last, frankly alarming message, his grip slackened. Tony checked his pulse to make sure the pilot was dead. He returned to the astromech.

"He's dead. And as weird as it sounds, I think he died happy," Tony said with a shudder before he focused, pulling out his StarkPad and displaying it to the astromech. "I have some coding that I want to merge with yours. I don't think you, like, you will survive it, but your powerpack is crushed - you're going to die anyways. With this, the remnants of your base coding will form an AI with battle capacities. Want to avenge your owner?"

The astromech beeped determinedly, despite the fading light of its buttons. It opened a latch, displaying its port. Tony plugged in his StarkPad and uploaded as much as the astromech as he could before it died. Tony watched the StarkPad with fascination.

The two groups of coding faced each other, fighting for dominance. The numbers scrolled down the screen wildly, before one of the coding matrices triumphed, absorbing the other one. Tony connected it to his earpiece.

"Hello, Dr. Stark," he heard a moment later. The voice was somewhat feminine, with a light Coruscanti accent.

"Hello," Tony answered. "Do know who I am?"

"You are Anthony Edward Stark of Earth, inventing expert, genius, and my creator."

Tony grimaced at the use of his full name. "Do you know who you are?"

There was a noticeable pause. "No. I do not."

"Do you want to know?" Tony pressed.

"Affirmative. What is my designation?"

"Your name is Monday," Tony answered. "Welcome to life."

" ffirmative. What are my orders?"

"Have you accessed your files?" Tony waited for MONDAY to confirm she did before continuing, "Copy and merge Friday's piloting folder, get Iron Man out of the Fist without being seen, and circle up to the north. Protect Paramexor's base. And give me directions on how to get there quickly."

"Affirmative. Calculating route." Tony nodded, forgetting that there were no available cameras nearby. Using the holes Fett had stabbed into the wall, he scaled over the building. "No available routes," MONDAY announced as Tony dropped down the the building to the road, now clear of KSC slavers.

"Are you sure? The way looks clear to me," Tony said, looking at the empty streets. Fett dropped down next to him. Tony noticed how tense the man was. "...Going back down here was a mistake, wasn't it?"

"Affirmative. You are now surrounded."

Fett snagged Tony's shoulder and dragged him into a doorway as plasma ate the concrete where they had been standing a split second before. They exchanged glances and kicked down the door together. "Would've been better if you told be beforehand," Tony hissed. The door behind them slammed open and he and Fett split to escape.

His earpiece crackled to life. "Stark, get under cover. I'm getting unstable readings from the room next door."

Glancing around wildly, Tony wondered what Fett had meant by 'get under cover.' He was already behind a solidly built table, one that already survived several rounds of blaster fire. His sides were meagerly covered by scorched cushy couches. Sure enough, something in an adjacent room exploded.

Cutting pain laced up his leg as something cut through it. Biting back his scream into a strangled inhale, Tony curled up defensively.

Tony spared a desperate glance in the direction Fett should have been in - it would be terrible for his reputation if the one and only person he teamed up with, one of the most intimidating bounty hunters that ever existed, died during their first mission together. It was definitely not because he cared for the guy. Unfortunately for Tony, the other bounty hunter was nowhere in sight.

Ducking, Tony fired his blaster randomly over his makeshift barrier. Something exploded to his left and he heard Fett hiss faintly through the earpiece. "Fett, you still alive there?" Tony whispered.

"No," Fett deadpanned, sarcasm evident even through the earpiece.

"Any plans? If not, I'm just going to call it a loss and summon an airstrike or something, Tony said. He did not want to reveal his connection to Iron Man yet, but he was even less willing to die when he did not have to.

"Yes. Fight."

"That isn't a plan, Fett." Tony fired at the ceiling, causing a large section of it to collapse on top of a pair of men who were shooting in the general area where Fett should be.

"Cover me. I will flank them from the left."

Tony glanced to the left, a dead-man's-land of rubble and beams. "Yeah, no, I'll go. I have a higher chance of surviving, especially if I circle them from the right."

"No. You don't have enough experience."

"I'm shorter. A smaller target," Tony said with no little glee. His short stature was now an asset.

"You have a little girl waiting for you at home," Fett said convincingly. Tony paused, reviewing all of his conversations with Fett to see if he had ever implied that FRIDAY was a human girl. Then, he realized how ridiculous they were, arguing about who should take a nearly suicidal role in the battle.

"...Just wait another minute. I'll think of a better plan," Tony said instead.

"Hurry up," Fett said shortly. An explosion sent heavy, metal canister into the air. Fett, now that his cover was literally blown, tossed a smoke pellet down and did a fancy roll to Tony's side. "Time's running out," Fett said, his voice coming from both Tony's left and his earpiece. " I keep shooting to distract them, you go around them and set up explosives."

Tony cast a guilty look at his leg, even as he shot a couple more blasts. "I'm not going anywhere." At Fett's nasty look, Tony quickly explained, "No- my leg. I can't run. You have to play hero. I'll be the bait."

There was a very telling silence from the other bounty hunter. Fett downed at least two more of the enemy bounty hunters before he spoke again. "I don't know how to set your bombs."

It sounded like an accusation to Tony, even though he knew it was not. "Doesn't matter. Hijack one of their transports. Run over a couple of them for me."

"I don't like leaving allies behind," Fett said. Actions spoke louder than words, though- Fett turned and looked behind them for an exit. "Don't get yourself killed."

"You'll get yourself killed if you don't go already," Tony said calmly. He glanced up at the ceiling between Fett and the back exit. "The roof's caving in," he noted.

"Don't die," Fett ordered. He pivoted and crouched as he ran further into the building.

With Fett out of the way, Tony turned back to shooting the enemy bounty hunters, trying to hold them off long enough for Fett to work his magic. His quick reflexes and enhanced thought processes were a huge advantage, but his opponents had sheer numbers on their side. In a drawn-out battle, without his cache of SI gadgets or the Iron Man suit, Tony would lose.

That piece of information meant that Tony was delighted to see blaster fire coming from behind him, sizzling through the air to take down one of the men he was targeting. Tony was expecting to see Kristoff, or perhaps Kovlo. As it was, he was very put-off to turn and spy Fett sliding into place behind a refrigerator.

"I thought you'd be making roadkill by now," Tony said accusingly.

"We're surrounded. No way to sneak to the transports, not alone," Fett reported.

"So… head to a more defensible corner, bunker down, and hope a miracle happens?" Tony suggested.

The Mandalorian tossed a grenade and several smoke pellets across the hallway. He turned to Tony and held out a hand. "Get up," Fett ordered. "We get out of this together, or not at all."

Confused, Tony reached up and grabbed it, not resisting as Fett pulled him up and slung Tony's arm over his shoulders, nearly carrying him out of the room. Surely the Mandalorian did not plan to cross the open field with Tony hanging off him? They would be sitting ducks!

"Please tell me you're not planning on lugging me all the way to the launch pad," Tony said as Fett paused to close the door and jam it. As much as he did not want to die, he hated the thought of both of them dying even more.

Fett glared at him. "I won't leave an ally behind. Not again."

"Ooo, issues! I'm sensing a long and tragic backstory," Tony commented insensitively. His lack of tact did not even warrant a second glance from Fett, much to his annoyance. Tony wiggled, then went limp, causing Fett to stagger. "I think I'm fine here. I'll stay by the window and cover your escape," Tony offered.

"No."

The two of them glared at each other, wasting valuable time as the smoke in the other room cleared. Tony could hear the enemy bounty hunters searching for them. "Be reasonable."

"No. Non-negotiable." There was a set look in Fett's eyes, and Tony could see that his mind was made up. He gave a nod of acquiescence, and they limped down to the next hallway. The two bounty hunters rounded a corner, only to come face-to-face with around a dozen, obviously-hostile men. The opposing groups stared at each other for a long moment, before Fett let out what sounded like a Mandalorian curse and shot two of the men before Tony even withdrew his blaster. Before Tony could fire more than five shots, Fett was already dragging him back to the hall they had just left.

"Force, Force, Force," Tony snarled, saying 'Force' with the vitriol most people on Earth would use to say a certain swear word beginning with the same letter. Beside him, Fett looked like he very much agreed with the use of the word.

"Ideas," the Mandalorian stated rather than asked.

"I've summoned the armor. ETA one minute, twenty-one seconds," Tony rattled off.

Just then, his earpiece chimed. "Orders overridden. Mark A II rerouted to northwest field to provide assistance to refugees," MONDAY's cool, automated voice reported.

"What? Monday, no! Send Mark A II here," Tony emphasised.

"Negative, boss," MONDAY stated. "Orders overridden. Mark A II is unneeded. Rerouting to scuffle at the northwest field."

"What?" Tony asked, horror suffusing his voice. When he was writing the code, he did not put in the same limits and protocols that he had first tied down FRIDAY with. But now, MONDAY was overriding her orders, orders that his life depended on.

"A little help here?" Fett snapped, losing patience. He fired around the corner a few more times, only to stagger back as a blaster bolt slammed squarely onto his chestplate.

"Mark A II's arrival is redundant. Sending resources to areas in need."

A noise had Tony looking down the other end of the hall, where a lone man stood, firing at them. "Get your head out of your a** and shoot, you di'kut!" Fett snarled.

Tony whipped out his blaster and shot the man. It was a perfect shot. The man went down, a hole burned into the entire top half of his head. "Fett, they're advancing from the back!"

"Then shoot them," Fett said.

"Are we planning on having a back exit? 'Cause if not, I'll just block the door," Tony offered.

"Do it."

A second later, the ceiling above the door exploded. "One way out, now," Tony commented lightly. He started to peek around the corner, only to jerk back, a bolt of plasma singeing his hair. Instead, he pulled off a metal plate off of the wall, looking appreciatively at the mirror shine. Sticking it out and using the reflection to aim, he shot several of the KSC slavers. "Charge them before more get here?"

Nodding grimly, Fett hefted another sheet of metal defensively in front of him. "Ready."

The two leapt out, sprinting the distance between them and the slavers. Tony quickly pulled ahead. Then, the ceiling dropped on the slavers, making a ramp to the roof of the building.

A splash of hot pink and gold dropped down. Slowly straightening from the iconic three-point landing amongst settling dust and rubble like the avenging goddess she was, was the Iron Maiden.

"Hello, Dad. What is this I hear about a sister?"