On the TV, the Mandarin speaks. It's a short speech. "True story about fortune cookies; they look Chinese, they sound Chinese, but they're actually an American invention. Which is why they're hollow, full of lies, and leave a bad taste in the mouth. My disciples just destroyed another cheap American knock-off — the Chinese Theater. Mr. President, I know this must be getting frustrating, but this season of terror is drawing to a close. And don't worry, the big one is coming — your graduation."

Happy was at that theater when the explosion occurred, and he had to be taken to the hospital. When Tony told Grace, she insisted on going to see him, and he couldn't argue with her. She wouldn't let him.

He covered her face with a jacket and held her close when they entered the hospital — there wasn't as crowd as no one knew he would be there.

They've been here ever since. Happy is asleep — he hasn't woken up since he got here — and so is Grace. She's in Tony's lap, her face tucked into his chest with his jacket covering it and most of her top half. They're in a dark corner of the room, which is why the nurse doesn't see them when she goes to turn off the TV — the one that was playing the Mandarin's broadcast.

"Hi," Tony says, startling the nurse a little. "Do you mind leaving that on?"

"Sure," she replies.

"Sunday night's PBS Downtown Abbey. That's his show, he thinks it's elegant," he says, referring to Happy. Grace stirs, and he stands, holding her. Her face is still covered. She's getting too old for him to carry, but he doesn't want to wake her. He goes to leave. "One more thing... make sure everyone wears their badges. He's a stickler for that sort of thing — plus my guys won't let anyone in without them."

The car is out front, and Grace is in his arms and well-covered. The media is outside, expecting at least an appearance. He goes out the front door anyway; it's the easiest thing to do.

"Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark!" a reporter shouts. "Our sources are telling us that this is another Mandarin attack. Anything else you can tell us?" Tony says nothing.

"Is that your daughter?!" As if that's the most important question to be asking right now. He reaches the door of the car and opens the backseat.

"Hey, Mr. Stark!" another reporter shouts. "When is somebody gonna kill this guy?"

He stops, turning. Rage is welling up inside him. He already hurt Pepper, and now Happy is hurt and might not even wake up. And that last part wasn't his fault. "Is that what you want?" he says. "Here's a little Holiday greeting I've been wanting to send to the Mandarin. I just didn't know how to phrase it until now.

"My name is Tony Stark, and I'm not afraid of you. I know you're a coward, so I've decided that you just died, pal. I'm gonna come get the body. There's no politics here; it's just good old-fashioned revenge. There's no Pentagon; it's just you and me. And on the off-chance you're a man, here's my home address: 10880, Malibu Port, 90265. I'll leave the door unlocked." He turns to get back in the car.

"But your daughter-!" another reporter starts.

"What about my daughter?!" Tony shouts. He's worked himself up now. She moves under the jacket. She's awake. He continues anyway. "My daughter — and her mother and her age and her name and anything about her that you people keep asking me — is no one's business but mine and those I'm closest to. And I am so tired of getting asked these questions everywhere I go because, by now, you should all know you're not getting answers from me. She didn't ask to be Iron Man's kid, but she is, and I want to keep her far away from danger — like you people and your stupid cameras and recorders and magazines-"

As he's talking, someone is making their way through the crowd towards Tony. A reporter, maybe. No one will seem to remember later, and Tony doesn't see them at the time.

They grab the jacket covering Grace's face and pull.

Tony takes a few seconds to realize what happened. Others don't. They watched the hand reaching for the jacket and said nothing, readying their cameras. As pictures are taken, Tony turns and Grace ducks her head, moving towards Tony's chest. He quickly puts her in the car.

He slams the door and looks back out into the sea of reporters, all silent except for their cameras, capturing the pure, unbridled rage on his face.

"If I ever find the person responsible for that..." He shakes his head, his anger bubbling over. "You just better hope I don't find you." He gets in the driver's seat and takes off, tires squealing.

"Dad..." Grace trails off.

"You're going somewhere safe with Pepper," he says, and that's it.

~~~~

Tony gave Grace Savior when they got home last night, just in case she needed it. At the moment, it can be compressed into a bracelet, but Tony hasn't had a chance to work out some of the kinks with the other technology yet. She loves it, though, even if she's still upset and shaken about Happy and what happened at the hospital.

Tony researches the Mandarin with Jarvis while Pepper and Grace are upstairs packing. Pepper is angry with him, but she hasn't exactly yelled at him yet because she's upset over what happened with Grace, too.

Tony is going over the explosion with Jarvis. There were no bomb parts found. Happy, in the reconstruction, is pointing at dog tags on the ground. But there were no military victims.

Taking away all Mandarin attacks and factoring in three thousand degrees, only one incident remains. Rose Hill, Tennessee. A use of a bomb to assist a suicide, according to Jarvis. The heat signature is the same as the Mandarin attacks. Jarvis creates a flight plan for Tennessee.

And then the doorbell rings.

"Are we still at ding-dong?" Tony asks, walking towards the front door. "We're supposed to be on total security lock down. Come on, I threatened a terrorist. Who is that?"

"There's only so much I can do, sir, when you give the world's press your home address," Jarvis replies. Tony puts on his Iron Man suit as Jarvis opens the door for the woman standing outside. She steps in, looking for Tony.

"Right there's fine," he says, walking in. "You're not the Mandarin, are you?"

The woman laughs dryly. "You don't remember. Why am I not surprised?"

Tony waves her off. "Don't take it personally, I don't remember what I had for breakfast."

"Chocolate chip pancakes, sir," Jarvis reminds him.

"That's right," Tony says, remembering; he made them for Grace this morning, and he had some, too. At the same time, he recognizes the woman. The event he met her at was already in his mind; it was where he met Killian.

"Okay, look, I need to be alone with you," Maya Hansen says. "Someplace not here — it's urgent."

Tony sighs. "Sorry, but I'm in a committed relationship. It's-" Three bags are thrown off the balcony next to Tony abruptly. "With her."

"Tony, is somebody there?!" Pepper shouts.

"Yeah!" Tony shouts back, stepping out of his suit. "It's Maya Hansen. Old botanist pal that I used to know — barely."

Maya cuts right to the chase. "Tony, I need your help."

"What?" Tony asks. "What for? Why now?"

Pepper and Grace walk around the giant bunny sitting at the bottom of the stairs (Pepper, hearing that Tony was friends with Maya, figured it'd be okay if she saw Grace). Grace has a bag on her back and Savior on her wrist. Her eyes have bags under them, and all she wants is to go to sleep — preferably in her home, though she knows that isn't an option.

"Because I read the papers, and, frankly, I don't think you'll last the week," Maya replies to Tony.

Tony shakes his head. "I'll be fine."

Pepper smiles, walking over to Maya, Grace pretty much following on autopilot. "I'm sorry. With Happy in the hospital, I didn't know we were expecting guests-"

"We weren't-" Tony replies.

Maya starts, "No, I-"

"- and old girlfriends," Pepper finishes.

"She's not really," Tony says.

"No, not really. It-It was just one night," Maya replies. Grace looks up at her, searching her face.

"And what year was this, may I ask?" Pepper says, her arm instantly going around Grace.

"Ninety nine," Maya replies, glancing down at the girl in front of her, wondering if she was born before or after Switzerland. Her face may be all over the news, but her age isn't — unless you count the fact that her face looks young.

But Pepper is relieved. "Oh. Well, that's... that's a little bit better."

"Yep," Tony says simply.

Pepper sighs, looking at Maya. "You have saved yourself a world of pain."

Maya nods. "I'm sure."

"What?" Tony asks.

"Trust me," Pepper says before turning back to Tony. "We're going out of town."

"Nope," Tony argues.

"Yep!"

"The man says no."

"Just come with us!" Grace exclaims, tired of the bickering. Pepper already packed his bag.

Tony still argues. "Sweetheart-"

"Great idea," Maya butts in. "Let's go. I'll-"

"I'm sorry, that's a terrible idea," Tony says as Maya walks over to the bags on the ground. "Please don't touch the bags-"

"Tony, this is how normal people behave," Pepper says.

"Honey, I challenged-"

And then Maya notices the bunny. "Is that... normal?"

Grace sighs. "Unfortunately, yes."

"It's a big bunny, relax about it!" Tony shouts — not at Grace, mostly just in general.

"Calm down!" Pepper shouts back.

"I got this for you-"

"I'm aware of that-"

"You still haven't even told me that you liked it-!"

"I don't like it-!"

"I asked you three- You don't like it?!"

Maya turns, looking at the nearby TV. It's turned to the news, playing footage the helicopters hovering outside are getting. She notices something. "Guys-"

"Tony, you are leaving the house!" Pepper shouts. "That's not up for discussion!"

"I said no!"

"Just stop fighting, and come on!" Grace shouts.

"Guys!" Maya butts in. They all look at her, and she points to the TV. "C-Can we, um, do we need to worry about that?"

There's a missile heading straight for the mansion.

"Grace, put on Savior!" Tony shouts, already reaching for his bracelet. Grace hurriedly presses the button on the side of her own bracelet just as the missile crashes through the window.

The glass shatters. Everyone is thrown backward, the suit attaching itself to Grace hastily. Tony commands the Iron Man suit to go onto Pepper. They hit the ground hard, but Grace and Pepper are okay. That's all that matters. Tony sees Maya on the ground, hopefully just unconscious.

More missiles are coming.

Grace and Pepper get up, and Pepper runs to shield Tony from falling debris. Grace hears Sai's contrastingly calm voice talking in her helmet.

"Hello, Grace. I am awaiting instructions from your father," she says. She's not entirely finished yet, but she's almost there.

Grace looks to Tony, who says, "Protect her. Keep her with Pepper if you can."

"Of course."

Another missile crashes through the window. Tony is flung across the room, over the couch. He gets up, looking at Pepper. "Move! I'm right behind you!"

She runs towards Maya and the exit, Grace directly behind her. Tony goes to follow, but the next missile hits the floor in front of him.

"Get her, I'm gonna find another way around," Tony says. Grace runs over and manages to pull Maya up, aided by Savior's strength. Pepper takes her as she begins to wake, and they all go running outside.

More missiles hit. The building begins to collapse. "Tony!" Pepper shouts.

"Dad!" Grace tries to run towards the house, going to save her father, but Sai prevents her, following Tony's commands.

"I can't let you go in there. I've been instructed to protect you," she says.

Grace starts to argue, but then the Iron Man suit flies off Pepper, going back to the mansion -- to Tony. Grace stops struggling.

People begin shooting into the mansion as the suit forms itself around Tony. More missiles are launched into the mansion. Tony struggles. "Jarvis, where's my flight power?"

"I'm working on it, sir," Jarvis replies. "This is a prototype."

The blasters come on and Tony takes out a helicopter. "That's one."

"Sir, the suit is not combat-ready."

However, as more shots are fired, Tony takes down another helicopter. "That's two."

And then the helicopter falls, spinning down towards the mansion. Tony realizes and turns to run, but it crashes into the floor, and Tony falls through.

More missiles are fired, everything is destroyed, and Tony is sucked into the ocean below, the debris falling on top of him.