iron_hide:

-One Minute Ago, Washington DC, Earth 1222-

 

Justin Rhodes swore he’d never leave his suit unattended again after today.

 

He lay on the floor of an abandoned house and struggled against his unresponsive armor as he looked up at his father, Iron Man, who was checking the windows for any sign that they were followed to this safehouse. Most of Washington DC was on fire tonight, courtesy of the Avengers, but James Rhodes was never one to give up a fight as long as he had back up

 

Today was different for both of them.

 

“Justin, I’m sorry it had to happen like this. I knew you wouldn’t do this if I asked you, so it came down to this. You’re going to live, whether you want to or not, Justin. Your mother made me promise that I’d find a way out for you if this war went south for us; it has, and I did. It was her condition for letting you put the armor on in the first place.” Jim said, a tear sliding down his cheek.

 

“Dad, we can still win this! Just turn my armor back on and I can help you! You can’t cut me out like this!” Justin yells. He can’t believe his father is doing this to him now, of all times. He thought they were friends, a team. He even thought they were equals, once upon a time.

 

“I’m your father, Justin; I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it, which I’m doing now. I’ve always been proud of you, son. No matter what happens after today, your mother and I will be always be proud of you. You’re getting a second chance…make something out of it.” Jim says, slipping the Iron Man helmet over his head.

 

Tony- Cooridinates E-616, Sector 1211. Self-destruct upon arrival.

 

At that moment, the NIMROD sentinel bursts through the wall of the house the pair have been hiding in over the last hour, and Iron Man turns to face it.

 

“Tony, get him out of here, now!” Jim barks, lunging at the first cyborg he can see.

 

The last thing Justin sees before the world folds in upon itself is his father tearing the head off of one Sentinel and blasting another with his repulsor rays.  He doesn’t need to see how this ends, because he and his father both knew what was happening the moment he’d called retreat in New York after Captain America went down. It was all over.

 

In a way, it was over for him as well.

 

 

 

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burnwithlight:

As soon as Giovanna and Andrew had a free moment together and she could get him alone, she did so. "Something happened when you had to handle that other stuff this afternoon. We need to talk about it."

pop_trash_hero:

He's not interested in parties this year and with things being "interesting: with Syd he's not going to spend this night doing what he normally does. There's already people asking about the "hot young blonde" he's been seen out with. He wanted to shelter Grace from most of Hollywood's oddness, but the clock is ticking and tonight everyone will be on their best behavior...mostly...because the cameras are on.

"Grace," he knocks on her door early in the morning. "It's Dad." He's so going to get used to sayin that at some point. Really.

uneasy_rider:

There's some inborn sense telling her where to go, and she rides like she's never ridden before. Fully possessed, truly angry, and driven for revenge. Nick is back there keeping up with her, but as she cracks her 21st demon head and crashes through another set of gates leading down to Mephesto's deepest dungeons.

Most of what she picked up in church and reading the Bible was right. There was a lake of fire and souls suffering up demon rules, but this level is something else all together. This is where the Devil puts thought into tormenting the people that really pissed him off. These structures are meant not to torment so much as break and humiliate. One woman screams as she is gang raped over and over again. A proud man is surrounded by faces laughing at him, belittling everything he ever stood for. Another is kept with demon-pigs and forced to eat from a trough. Over and over, people - good people - are made to suffer. Both demon and rider snarl and press forward until they reach a strange quiet place in the middle of this insane place. A house - one of those big, fancy rich places looms in the distance like something from a late night movie. that's when she finally pulls over.

"Ah don't know how ah know," she says to Nick. "But Johnny's in there."

Gates crash closed behind them.