Chapter Nine

Natasha and Grace entered the Expo together. They took their seats and music started playing on the speakers. Grace looked on in slight disgust and slight amusement as Justin Hammer danced onto the stage. "That's what I'm talking about. Thanks for coming", he said. "Ladies and gentlemen, for far too long, this country has had to place its brave men and women in harm's way, but then the Iron Man arrived, and we thought the days of losing lives were behind us. Sadly, that technology was kept out of reach. That's not fair. That's not right. And it's just too bad". "Oh, lord", Grace sighed.

"Regardless, it was an impressive innovation, one that grabbed headlines the world over. Well, today, my friends, the press is faced with quite a different problem. They are about to run out of ink"

Scattered applause could be heard and two people came and took his glass podium away. "Ladies and gentlemen, today I present to you the new face of the United States military", he continued. "The Hammer drone! Army!" Music started playing and many suits rose from the back of the stage. Grace and Natasha shared concerned looks. "Navy!" he exclaimed, as more suits rose up. "Air Force!" More suits. "Marines!" More suits. He cheered confidently as the audience clapped. "That's a hell of a lot better than some cheerleaders, let me tell you", he said. "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". "What?" Grace said, exasperated. James rose up into the middle of the stage in an iron suit. He raised his hand in a salute and so did all of the suits and Justin. "For America and its allies, Hammer Industries is reporting for...", Justin said but stopped short when he saw something in the distance. Tony was in his Iron Man suit and flew towards the stage. "Oh, here we go", Grace muttered. Tony landed on the stage and the audience stood up and cheered. Justin pretended to play along and waved to the audience. "Where is he?" Tony asked him. "What?" Justin said, playing dumb.

"Where's Vanko?"

"Who?"

"Tell me"

"What are you doing here, man?"

Suddenly Rhodey's suit pointed his gun at Tony. "I can't move. I'm locked up. I'm locked up!" he exclaimed. Suddenly, all the machines pointed their guns at Tony. "Get out of here. Go! This whole system's been compromised", Rhodey yelled. Tony flew up and out of the building as the suits shot at him. Everyone screamed and ran out as glass fell on them. Rhodey and all the suits followed Tony.

Grace and Natasha made their way to where Justin and some of his workers were at the command controls. "He's locked us out of the mainframe", one of the men said. "Who's locked you out of the mainframe?" Grace asked. "Please, please, go away. Go away", Justin replied. "I've got this handled".

"Have you now?"

"Yes, I do. In fact, if your guy hadn't shown up, this wouldn't be happening. So please, now go away. Thank you"

He went over to the man at the command. "Listen, we got to get these bitches out of here", he whispered. Grace came up behind him and bended his arm behind his back. "You tell me who's behind this. Who's behind this?" she said. "Ivan. Ivan Vanko", he groaned.

"And where is he?"

"He's at my facility"

Grace let him go. "I have to make some calls. Get to the facility", she said to Natasha. "You know what to do". Natasha nodded and left. Grace dialled a number and put the phone to her ear. "I need NYPD, please", she said into the phone. "No, no, no!" Justin exclaimed.

"Command central"

"No, no, honey. Don't call the authorities"

"Okay. Right away. Right away. Step aside. Step aside"

Justin put his hands up and stepped aside. "Ok. Tell me everything you know", she said to the man at the command.

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