Before leaving Pepper's office, Tony looked at the city model again. Really looked at it. There was a plaque on it that said, "The Key to the Future is Here."

He looked at the center, and he got an idea.

With a few other workers' help, he got the model in his car, and he raced home. Once there, he had Jarvis scan it to make a projected image that he could manipulate.

The whole thing resembled an atom, the center of it the nucleus.

He removed the footpaths, then the landscape, the parking lots, exits, and entrances. He had Jarvis structure the protons and neutrons using the pavilions.

And there it was.

A replacement for palladium.

However, according to Jarvis, it couldn't be synthesized.

According to Tony, anything was possible.

Which is why he's now putting a hole in the wall of his lab with a sledgehammer, jackhammering a hole into its ceiling, and throwing chords down said hole. He puts a large pipe in the hole in the wall, then starts making a train of pipes outward.

Coulson walks in, Grace behind him, and sees everything. "Do I want to know?"

"I'm playing for the home team, Coulson — you and all your Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers," Tony says. "Now, are you gonna let me work or what?"

Grace walks over to her father, looking at what he's building, interested. Tony hugs her to him for a second. "Hey, sweetheart."

"What are you doing?" she asks. Tony starts to explain it to her as best as he can.

Coulson, however, is looking in the box Tony got the pipes from.

A shield is in it. It looks like Captain America's — the World War II hero — but more broken down. Like pieces were missing off its main framework. Coulson lifts it. "What's this doing here?"

Tony turns, a connector for the pipes in his hand. He stops, putting the connector down. "That's it," he says. "Bring that to me." Coulson senses the urgency in his voice and does so without question. Grace watches.

"Do you know what that is?" Coulson asks.

"It's exactly what I need to make this work," Tony replies. "Lift that coil." Coulson grabs the pipe where he gestured to — a place where two pipes connect over a large tool box. Tony wedges the shield between the pipes and the toolbox. "Drop it, drop it." He does, and Tony checks to see if it's level — his whole reasoning for using the shield at all. When he finds that it worked, he says, "I'm busy. What do you want?"

"Nothing," Coulson replies. "I've been reassigned. Director Fury wants me in New Mexico."

"Fantastic. Land of Enchantment," Tony says.

"So I've been told."

"Secret stuff?"

"Something like that... Good luck."

"Bye," Tony says, shaking his hand. "Thanks."

"We need you," Coulson says.

"Yeah, more than you know."

"Not that much," Coulson jokes. He looks at Grace, whose face fell when he said he was leaving. He smiles a little. "Catch you on flip side?"

She walks over and hugs him, surprising him. "Catch you on the flip side," she repeats. Coulson hugs her back.

Once he's gone, Grace looks at Tony, who grabs two pairs of protective glasses. He hands one to her. "If you're staying in here, you're wearing these, and you gotta stay back."

She smiles. "Okay."

Grace stands near the Iron Man suits, watching her father put a silver rectangular-shaped object into one of the pipes — one with clear glass on the sides, showing the middle. He uses a wrench to lock it into place. He puts a key in something and turns it.

The whole thing starts powering up, blue light flashing through it. Jarvis says, "Initializing prismatic accelerator."

Tony hurries over to the pipe with the rectangular object inside, turning a wheel connected to the top of it. He says, "Stay back, Grace."

"I am," she says, but she takes another step back.

"Approaching maximum power," Jarvis says. Tony starts turning with the wrench.

A blue laser shoots out from the prism, causing a small fire as it hits the wall. As Tony turns it, it cuts a line through the walls of the lab. He says, "Grace, get on the floor," though he's pretty sure the laser won't swing over her way. She gets down, not terrified in the least, but wanting to do as he says.

He stops the laser at the center of an arc reactor core he has set up directly across from the pipe. It lights up bright blue — almost blinding — and then Tony turns off the pipe machine. It still glows, but less brightly.

"That was easy," Tony says, taking off his glasses. Grace takes off hers and runs over, mesmerized. Tony uses tweezers to pick up the glowing, blue triangle.

"Congratulations," Jarvis says. "You have created a new element."

"Wow," Grace breathes.

"Yeah," Tony says. "Wow."

He places it into a new arc reactor that he had sitting on his desk. Jarvis begins running diagnostics.

~~~~

Later, he and Grace sit in the lab, Grace drawing on the floor. It reminds Tony of that easel he still hasn't bought.

Before he can make a note of it, Jarvis says, "Incoming call with a blocked number."

Tony perks up. "My phone privilege has been reinstated." He answers the call. "Coulson — how's the Land of Enchantment?"

The voice on the other end fills the lab. It's not Coulson's. "Hey, Tony, how you doing?" Ivan Vanko, the man on the other end, laughs. "I double cycled."

"What?" Tony asks, his heart dropping. Grace looks up at him, fear in her eyes. She has no idea who the man is, but her father looks scared, and if her father is scared, it must be bad.

"You told me double cycle's more powerful," Ivan replies. "Good advice."

"You sound pretty sprightly for a dead guy," Tony says. He'd been lead to believe Ivan was dead.

"You do, too."

Tony mutes the speaker. "Trace him, Jarvis."

Ivan laughs, continuing. "Now, the true history of the Stark name will be written."

"Jarvis, where is he?"

"Accessing the oracle grid," Jarvis says. Then, a few seconds later, "Eastern Seaboard."

"What your father did to my family over 40 years... I will do to you in 40 minutes," Ivan says.

"Sounds good, let's get together and hash it out," Tony replies, though Ivan still can't hear him.

"Dad?" Grace asks. He can hear the fear in her voice.

"Tri-State area. Manhattan and outlying boroughs," Jarvis says.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Tony assures her, though he doesn't really know that.

"I hope you're ready," Ivan says, hanging up.

Then, Jarvis states, "Call trace incomplete."

"Dad, who was that?" Grace asks.

Tony sits up, panicked. "The guy who attacked me at the racetrack, remember him?" Grace only nods. "Yeah, that's him." On the computer beside him is an advert for Justin's presentation at the Expo — In Defense of Peace. Tony turns again, looking at the new arc reactor.

Grace pales. "Dad-"

"Hurry and go pack a bag. I'm calling Happy to come get you."

"But-"

"Go."

As she hurries to her room, Jarvis calls Happy and Tony quickly replaces his old arc reactor with new one. When Happy answers, Tony asks, "Where are you?"

"On my way back from dropping off Pepper and Natalie at the Expo-"

"Come get Grace. Take her somewhere safe. Hurry."

"On it." He hangs up.

Tony stands, breathing hard. "Jarvis, you want to run some tests, run them. And assemble the suit while you're at it."

Jarvis protests. "We are unclear as to the effects-"

"Put it together now. I don't want to hear it Jarvis." The reactor starts gaining power, glowing brighter and brighter. Tony coughs. "That tastes like coconut... and metal."

When the reactor calms back down, Tony puts on the suit. Happy calls him back. "I'm here, I've got her. Go save the world."

"Will do."

He hangs up, then leaves the mansion, heading straight for the Stark Expo.

~~~~

Justin Hammer danced onto the stage to present his new army of drones, made with the arc reactor technology. He had an army, a navy, an air force, marines. Then, the icing on the cake — James Rhodes in the Variable Threat Response Battle Suit, armed to the teeth.

They all saluted as the crowd went nuts.

Now, Tony has arrived.

He flies in, landing in front of Rhodey, his back to the crowd, who cheers. "We got trouble," he says.

"Tony, there are civilians present," Rhodey replies. "I'm here on orders. Let's not do this right now."

He stands beside Rhodey, looking out at the crowd, and lifts his hand. "Give 'em a wave."

Meanwhile, Justin pretends like everything's fine. "Hey, all right. Yeah..." He talks to the crowd as Tony talks to Rhodey quietly.

"All these people are in danger," Tony says. "We gotta get them out of here. You gotta trust me for the next five minutes."

"Yeah, I tried that, I got tossed around your house, remember?"

"Listen, I think he's working with Vanko," Tony says, gesturing to Justin.

Rhodey is surprised. "Vanko's alive?"

Tony doesn't respond; he walks up to Justin. "Where is he?"

Justin turns to face him. "What?"

"Where's Vanko?"

"Who?"

"Tell me."

"What are you doing here, man?"

Rhodey suddenly says, "Whoa, whoa, whoa," panicked. The gun positioned on the shoulder of his suit powers up and aims at Tony.

"Is that you?" Tony asks.

"No, no- that's not- I'm not doing that. That's not me. I can't move. I'm locked up." The panic in his voice rises. "I'm locked up!" All of the drones behind him take aim, ready to fire. "Get out of here! Go! This whole system's been compromised!"

The crowd screams, Justin runs, and Tony shoots up. "Let's take it outside." The drones shoot at him as he leaves the stadium, missing the civilians entirely. The glass ceiling breaks, raining down, but that's the worst of it.

Pepper and Natasha are in that crowd, panicked and running.

Suddenly, Rhodey's suit shoots up to follow Tony. "No, no!" Rhodey shouts.

"Jarvis, break in, I need to own him," Tony says.

"Yes, sir," Jarvis replies.

Rhodey and the drone come up behind him. Rhodey says, "Tony, Tony, I'm locked on. I have target lock."

"On what?"

"On you!" The suit starts firing, and Tony moves to avoid the shots. "Tony, on your six!"

They fly by a building with a wall of windows, and the suit shoots into it, breaking the glass. Then, they race back through the outside of the Expo center, the suit still shooting at Tony. "How are we doing Jarvis?" he asks.

Jarvis replies, "Remote reboot unsuccessful."

Below, the drones that weren't built with the ability to fly exit the Expo center, looking for Tony. They fire into the crowd, the ammo being fireworks. People scream as they desperately try to run away.

A few drones plant themselves on the main steps, locking into place on the cement. They aim their guns at Tony, who's still being chased by Rhodey and the Air Force drones. The drones on the ground accidentally hit one of the Air Force drones as Tony dodges.

He loops around the building, losing Rhodey and the drones for a few moments. Down in the crowd, other drones are searching for him, and everyone is running away.

Except for one person.

Tony gets closer and sees a little boy, probably around Grace's age, wearing an Iron Man mask and blaster gloves. He's staring down the drone, who's locked on to him because it recognizes the mask as a threat. The little boy bravely raises his hand.

Tony hurriedly flies down and blasts the drone before it can fire, destroying it. He turns to the kid, who jumps back at little. "Nice work, kid."

Underneath the mask, the boy smiles, watching Tony as he flies off. When he can't see him anymore, he turns, looking for his aunt and uncle. He lost them in the crowd, but he's not worried.

Even now, he's stupidly brave.

Even now, he wants to save people. One bad guy at a time.