Tony headed to the bar after leaving Harley. Before he went inside, though, he ran into a woman. She had burn scars covering half her face. She complimented his watch, he complimented her hair. That was that.

Inside, he met Mrs. Davis, who had a file. There was a picture of a man from the explosion at the theater — Taggart — in it. That, among other things, caused Tony to suspect that what Harley had said didn't actually happen at all. Someone used Chad Davis as a weapon. He was the bomb.

Mrs. Davis was there to meet someone else, which was why she had the file. Well, the person she was meant to meet actually showed up.

It was the woman.

She handcuffed Tony, claiming to be Homeland Security to the bar patrons. The sheriff argued with her, and Tony gestured to Mrs. Davis to hide the file, so she threw it under the bar. And the woman heated her fake badge up with her own, bare, fire-wielding hands, burned the sheriff's face, and shot him.

The bar was in an uproar.

People screamed and ran. Tony ran, too, trying to the lead the woman out, away from civilians. He was handcuffed, and he had no suit — he was screwed. But he was still gonna try.

And then, on the street, he saw the other man from the theater explosion get out of a car. They locked eyes, and Tony went the other way. Around him, people ran.

The man shot at Tony, but he missed. Tony had his back to him; he didn't see why — or how. He was hardly moving quickly, and it was no great distance. But he certainly wasn't complaining.

Tony, then, crashed into a nearby restaurant through the window and managed to get his still-handcuffed hands in front of him. The woman somehow acquired a shot gun and shot at him. He jumped behind the counter, into the kitchen.

She got inside without him noticing, and they fought hand-to-hand, Tony with more difficulty. She tried to burn him, but he evaded her. He managed to get the cuffs around her throat, choking her, but she melted the metal to get out of it, freeing his hands. 

He dumped out a canister of gas, streaking it across the floor, then kicked the still burning handcuffs into it, and it ignited. Fire was blocking the doorway between him and her, and she just walked right through it.

Meanwhile, Tony was putting something in the microwave. Dog tags. The ones found at the scene of the Chinese Theater explosion. He turned on the microwave, pulled out the gas pipe, and ran as the building exploded.

And that's how he found himself here, looking up at a water tower, which the man from before is slowly burning in order to knock it down.

It starts to crumple, then begins to topple. Tony turns and runs, taking cover as it hits the ground. A piece of the tower falls, trapping his foot. Water rushes out, an intense wave going over everything. Tony holds on tight to the piece of the tower to keep from getting sucked away by it. When it passes, he starts trying to get his foot free.

And then he hears a voice.

"Let me go!"

Harley.

Tony's heart drops into his stomach. The man, with Harley slung over his shoulder, mocks, "Help me, help me!" Tony begins to struggle ever harder now as Harley writhes in the man's grip. The man sits down in a chair, putting Harley on his lap. Parts of his skin glow bright, fiery orange. "Hey, kid, what would you like for Christmas?"

Harley looks at Tony, tears in his eyes, his face filled with regret. "Mr. Stark, I am so sorry!"

"No, no, no, I think he was trying to say, 'I want my file,'" the man says as Harley struggles in vain.

Tony ignores the man. "Not your fault, kid." He gets an idea, looking at Harley and hoping he still has what he gave him in his pocket. "Remember what I told you about bullies?"

Harley stops struggling and looks back at Tony, who nods minutely. He pulls out what Tony gave him, points it at the man behind him, and turns his face away as he presses the button. White light erupts, the man falling back as Harley jumps up and runs away.

"You like that, Westworld?" Tony asks. The man gets up, walking over to Tony, angered. Now that Harley's gone, Tony has a clear shot. "That's the thing about smart guys," he says, "we always come prepared."

He flips up a blaster that's been around his wrist, hidden under his jacket sleeve, and fires. The man flies back, hits the remnants of the water tower, his face black and orange, burnt where Tony hit him — and unnaturally so.

Tony throws the blaster off and pries himself free, then takes the car keys from the man's pocket.

~~~~

He meets Harley back on the street, where people have begun cleaning up the wreckage of the fight. Harley has his hood up. Tony is flipping through a newspaper.

"You're welcome," Harley says sarcastically, expecting a, "Thank you."

"For what?" Tony asks. "Did I miss something?"

"Me, saving your life," Harley replies.

"A, saved yours first, B, thanks — sort of — and C, if you do someone a solid, just play it cool. Otherwise you look grandiose."

"Unlike you?" Harley asks as Tony unlocks the man's car and starts to get into it. He makes no reply, so Harley continues. "Admit it: You need me. We're connected."

Tony looks at him. "What I need is for you to go home, be with your mom, keep your trap shut, guard the suit, and stay connected to the telephone — because if I call, you better pick up."

Harley just looks up at him. "Is this how you talk to your daughter?"

"No, not usually," Tony replies, getting in the car.

Harley reminds him of her, yes, but he's come to realize their differences. He cares about the kid — he even likes him — but his personality differs from Grace's. Grace, while strong, is more sensitive. She doesn't want to, but she wears her heart on her sleeve — less now than when she was younger, but still.

However, she'll argue. When she wants something, she's determined, even when she knows Tony will say no. But, when given a good reason, she'll back off or negotiate a compromise. Where she got that last part from, Tony doesn't know. Probably from watching Pepper.

But Harley doesn't work the way she does. He doesn't understand. Tony doesn't have enough time to explain things to him, and Harley can't detect Tony's reasonings merely by his expression or tone of voice. Not like Grace can.

Tony starts the car. He sighs, then looks over at Harley. "I'm sorry, kid. You did good."

"So, now you're just gonna leave me here, like my dad?"

That gives Tony pause for a moment, but then he sees something in Harley's expression. "You're guilt-tripping me, aren't you?"

Harley pulls his jacket around him, dropping his chin into the collar. "I'm cold," he says in a whining voice.

"I can tell," Tony says. "You know how I can tell? Because we're connected." Tony steps on the gas, and the car takes off.

Harley straightens and sighs. "It was worth a shot."

~~~~

Tony finds papers in the car, a familiar set of three letters on the top corner: MIA. That's what was on the papers in Mrs. Davis file. But Tony notices something else. He turns the paper over.

AIM.

He calls Rhodey.

"Hello?" Rhodey says.

"You ever see a chick glowing from the inside out — kind of a... bright orange?" Tony asks.

"Yeah, sure — who is this?" Rhodey replies.

"It's me, pal," Tony says. "Now, last time I went missing, if I remember correctly, you came looking for me. What are you doing?"

There's a pause, then Rhodey says, "A little knock-and-talk, making friends in Pakistan. What are you doing?"

"Your redesign, your big rebrand, that was AIM, right?"

"Yeah."

Only then does Tony answer his question. "I'm gonna find a heavy-duty comm sat right now, I need your login."

"It's the same as it's always been: WarMachine68."

"And password, please."

Rhodey sighs. "Well, look, I gotta change it every time you hack in, Tony."

"It's not the '80s, Rhodey, nobody says 'hack' any more. Give me your login."

He hesitates, then finally says, "'WAR MACHINE ROX,' with an 'X,' all caps." Tony laughs, just as Rhodey expected. "Yeah, okay-"

"That is so much better than Iron Patriot," Tony says, hanging up.

He passes a high school, all of the lights on and a hundred cars in the parking lot. He makes an abrupt U turn and pulls in, parking a ways away from everyone else.

He picks up a cowboy hat and a coil of cords, slinging them over his shoulder so he fits in with everyone — news crews and reporters, mostly — outside. He sees a man exit his news van and heads over, quietly slipping inside.

He takes off the cowboy hat and drops the cords, then gets on the computer. It has a slow connection speed. "That ain't gonna cut it."

Then, the door opens, and man with a phone to his ear says, "Excuse me, sir. I don't know who-" Tony turns, revealing his face to the man as he shushes him, a finger to his lips. The man's mouth opens wide, and Tony smiles. Into the phone, the man says, "Mom, I need to call you back; something magical is happening." He hangs up. "Tony Stark is in my van. Tony Stark is in my van-"

"No, he's not," Tony says.

"I knew you were still alive," the man whisper-shouts.

Tony motions him inside, "Come in, close the door."

The man scrambles into the van, closing the door behind him. "Does your family- your-your daughter know that you're-?"

"Oh, yeah," Tony replies, waving him off. "They know. She knows. It's fine."

The man takes a deep breath, relieved and amazed. "Can I just say, sir... I am your biggest fan."

"First — is this your van?" Tony asks. "Is anyone else gonna come in?"

The man shakes his head. "No, no, no, just us."

Tony stands. "Great. What's your name?"

"Gary," he replies. Tony shakes his hand, and Gary is so overwhelmed he can hardly breathe. Tony smiles. "I get a lot of this, it's okay."

"Oh, good," Gary replies. "Can-Can I just say..." Tony nods, so he continues. "I don't know if you can tell, but I have, like, patterned my whole look after you." Gary takes his hat off. Then, he turns apologetic. "My hair's a little-"

"It's fine-"

"It's not right 'cause there's no product in it."

"Right."

Gary puts his hat back on and switches gears. "I don't want to make things awkward for you, but I do have to show you..." He pulls the sleeve of his flannel shirt up, revealing a tattoo. "Boom!"

"Hispanic Scott Baio," Tony says. Gary laughs a little, then Tony realizes. "I'm sorry, is that me?"

"Yeah," Gary replies. "It's- I mean, I had them do it off a doll that I made, so it's not like it's off a picture... So it's a little bit-"

"Gary," Tony interrupts, putting his hands on Gary's shoulders. They're running out of time. "Listen to me, okay? I don't want to clip your wings, here — we're both a little over-excited — but I got an issue. I'm chasing bad guys. I'm trying to grab a little something from some hard-crypt data files, but I don't have enough juice. I need you to jump on the roof and recalibrate the lSDNs, pump it up by about forty percent."

Gary nods once. "Got it."

"Alright? It's a mission."

"Yeah."

"Tony needs Gary."

"And Gary needs Tony."

"Be quiet about it. Go."

Gary nods and quickly gets up onto the roof. Tony waits until he hears Gary hit the roof, then taps back twice. After that, he enters Rhodey's login and begins digging.

He finds videos. The first, an interview with a young man. He mentions an injury, deciding not to let it beat him. Then, Tony sees the woman he fought. Her hair is longer, and she's missing her left arm from the elbow down.

"Please state your name for the camera," someone behind it says.

"Ellen Brandt," she says.

"Okay, so, the injections are administered periodically." The view changes, showing the man behind the camera — Killian. "Addiction will not be tolerated, and those who cannot regulate will be cut from the program."

Tony finds another video. It's still Killian, but in a different, darker room, talking to people not in the shot. "Once misfits, cripples — you are the next iteration of human evolution."

Tony clicks on another video — test phase one. There's four shots. All of them show the test subjects being led into a room by scientists, likely the same one Killian was in in the last video. He's still talking. "Hi, everybody — before we start, I promise you, looking back at your life, there will be nothing as bitter as the memory of that glorious risk you so prudently elected to forgo. Today is your glory. Let's begin!"

The subjects were strapped in to a standing restraint, IV bags hung next to them. Then, the injections began. The subjects started glowing orange, sounding as if they were in pain. Ellen's arm started growing back, looking like molten lava. She screamed, and Tony flinches.

The man next her looks much worse off, and he screams much louder. Killian shouts, "We gotta get out of here, we gotta get out of here!"

The camera shows orange erupting from the man's open mouth, and then he explodes.

"A bomb's not a bomb if it's a misfire," Tony says. "Stuff doesn't always work right, does it, pal? It's faulty, but you found a buyer. Sold it to the Mandarin."

Tony knows exactly where he's going now.