The Mission (November 2001)

Frank was in his suit and Ava had him go down to a knee so she could kiss him profusely. She had tears in her eyes and she was telling over and over how much she loved him. Everyone was in their outfits and suits, ready to go if Loki tried something. Frank and Isabella had lots of missiles loaded up so they could take out as many satellites as they could. Bruce and Shuri would be using Tony’s Veronica satellite to locate other satellites. The suits were all black and had a stealth mode incase SHIELD tried to shoot at them or send missiles after them.

Tony didn’t come, he’d have to negotiate the stairs so Logan and Steve were talking to her and ensured her that the jet was ready to go if they needed to use it. The suits had the after burner systems on their backs and those had their own arc reactors.

After Logan and Steve left her Bruce and Shuri came over at her request. “Everything seems to check out Isabella. I think we’re ready,” he said.

Ava wished she could go with Frank, but she couldn't. She wanted him to know how much she loved him though. Bruce and Shuri had put a lot of time and effort into making the suits and Isabella knew that it was precisely what Tony would have done. She talked to Frank for a moment and told him what Tony had told her about the after burners. Then, a thought suddenly came to her. She asked Bruce and Shuri to join her in a private area where the others couldn't hear her. 

"I want to create a problem with my suit," she told them. They both looked rather shocked, but before they could say anything she continued. "If Tony thinks I am in danger it will get him out of bed...it will get him moving. Could you create a problem with the O2 levels?"

Bruce thought about that a moment. "Yeah but it wouldn't be nothing we couldn't fix," Bruce said. "We helped build the suits," he said. "Though, we didn't have any input on the after burners. If yours say...suddenly went out of control. Or was overheating, then we'd never be able to fix that without looking at the schematics first. Considering something like overheating could escalate into something very bad, that would likely work," Bruce said. "I agree," Shuri said. "But, Tony Stark is an honorable man, why this subterfuge? I don't understand," Shuri asked as Bruce opened up the cover to the after burner and began to change the temperature threshold. He didnt build it but he knew this would cause the temperature to rise past normal pretty quickly. In a burn situation he'd have to work with Jarvis to circumvent the issue. Bruce didn't even know how he'd do that.

"But I must warn you Isabella. We cant help you if he cant either," Bruce said. "You'd be putting all your faith in him being able to fix this problem or you'd have to abort your run and leave Frank alone," He said. "For the record, I do not like this deception Mrs. Stark," Shuri said.

Isabella sighed. "I don't like this deception either but Tony's fallen into such a deep depression. I've tried everything to help him. Tony needs to be needed. He needs to be solving problems. I need my husband back. I understand the risk I'm taking and if something goes wrong I will except full blame. But I have faith in him. He can do this."

"As you wish, Isabella Stark," Shuri said and stepped away with a very unhappy look on her face. Bruce watched her go then turned to Isabella. "I hope you're right about this Isabella. If you're wrong, the whole world could be at risk," Bruce reminded her but he saw determination in her eyes and he closed the panel on the afterburner.

"We ready?" Frank asked. Ava was still weepy and Kate moved to put an arm around her. He looked at Isabella who nodded at him.

"Ok, Jarvis, open the ceiling," Frank asked and Jarvis did so. "Hey, its a kind of magic," Frank whispered to Ava. It was a line from a Queen song he loved. Frank and Isabella waited for everyone to step behind the safety line. Once they were there they took off quickly up into the air. From his room, Tony watched as Isabella and Frank blasted into the sky. He had a drink in his hands and he saluted to them then took a sip.

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"Dr. Selvig, We've picked up 2 signals but we can't get a fix on them. We get them and then we lose them," the SHIELD agent said in the intercom. Erik thought about that a moment. "Continue to monitor and let me know if you get anything else," He said then went back to work.

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Frank loved the feel of the velocity. This suit could lift 90 tons and he'd be able to smash through a satellite if he wanted but today they were going to use rockets. After the desired altitude had been reached, he was slightly behind Isabella do to the extra size and weight, their afterburners kicked in. Isabella felt an immediate increase in speed and pressure. When Frank's kicked in he howled in delight. "Wooohoooo!" He howled. "Yeah baby!" He said.

Isabella hoped she was right too. She waited for Frank to step away from Ava. Ava was upset and Kate did her best to comfort her. The ceiling opened up and they waited for everyone to step to a safe distance. They then both took off into the air. Isabella weighed considerably less than Frank and Tony and thus was able to move faster in her suit. She monitored the readings on her HUD and when they reached the desired altitude she felt her afterburners kick in. She had never flown this high before. The further up they went the colder the air temperature outside became. She knew that the problem Bruce created was going to kick in soon. She just prayed that Tony would be able to fix it.

It came as an alert in yellow on her HUD. after she told Jarvis about it he directed the system to monitor the heat levels directly. As she and Frank continued to ascend they picked up more and more speed. "Mrs. Stark, the coolant system in your after burner is malfunctioning. I've tried to add more pressure to the system to offset it but it has had no effect,," Jarvis said just as the alert moved into Orange. The alerts started in yellow, went to orange then red. Red meant that a drastic failure was imminent.

"Isabella, we're reading an orange coolant alert here. Shuri and I are looking at the schematics for a fix, ok?" Bruce said. Tony had long since patched in using his wrist comm. Everyone else were watching as well and knew something was wrong but they didn't know exactly what. "Whats going on? Is something wrong?!" Ava asked in a panic. She wasn't a scientist but she knew trouble when she saw it. "They're on top of it Ava," Steve told her. Logan and Natalya watched as well with concerned faces as Bruce and Shuri thumbed through the schematics. "I don't know why this is happening," Bruce said in dramatic fashion. He did know and he was a terrible liar but he sounded convincing right then. And he was worried, he couldn't fix what he did.

"My scans show the heat is rising Mrs. Stark, you will not reach the shut down before your system overheats," Jarvis warned her but Isabella told him she was going to continue. And then the Alert went to red.

Isabella saw the yellow alert come on in her HUD. The system began to monitor the heat levels and as she and Frank continued to ascend they flew faster and faster. She kept going as Jarvis attempted to correct the situation. However, nothing he did worked. As the alert level reached orange she heard Bruce on her comm. She didn't know if Tony was doing anything yet, but she hoped he was. She kept on going, not wanting to leave Frank on his own, when suddenly alerts began to sound in her helmet as it went to red.

Tony fell as he hit the last step. Steve rushed over to help him up. "Tony, what the hell are you doing!?" He asked angrily. "Trying to help, what does it look like!" he answered in obvious irritation. He hobbled over to the view screen. "Jarvis, is the coolant system functioning?" he asked. "Only at 45% efficiency," Mr. Stark," Jarvis said. Isabella would be able to hear Tony's voice. "Jarvis, open up port 24 beta on the after burner and 14 echo on Isabella's suit. "Isabella, it's going to get cold in your suit but only for a few seconds," Tony said. "Auto shut of is eminent," Jarvis said. "We know, just shut up!" Tony told him. Bruce and Shuri rubbed their hands in worry as they watched. "Release coolant from line 6 alpha at 16 percent pressure," He said. "releasing coolant sir," Jarvis said. Suddenly Isabella's suit felt like a freezing meat locker. Worse. It was like ice was touching her flesh and it began to hurt.

Isabella suddenly heard Tony's voice as he began to talk to Jarvis about her suit. A wave of relief came over her. Tony sounded like his old self as he began to call out commands. However, her relief was temporary as she began to worry that it wasn't going to work. She prepared herself for the drop in temperature, but she hadn't realized just how cold it was going to get. She felt like she had been plunged into Arctic cold waters. Her lungs burned as she tried to breathe. Her body began to shiver and her teeth began to chatter. "Tony...how much longer?"

"Hang on babe, hang on," Tony said as coolant was released from her suit into the after burner. Those ports were right across from one another. It would have taken Bruce and Shuri alot more time to find them and trhink to use the suit's coolant system. Tony knew the suit and the after burner extremely well. "Ok Jarvis, cut off coolant flow in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" Tony said and Jarvis closed the ports. Isabella's suit was still uncomfortable but slowly it was warming up. Her alert went back down to orange just as she began to pass into the upper atmosphere. "Shut down in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" Jarvis said and her after burner shut off. Franks did soon after and they passed into outer space. The earth was a huge, glowing, blue ball underneath them.

"Oh my god, its so big!" Frank said. "That's what she said," Logan said in a chuckle. "Well....she does!" Logan said when several sets of eyes looked over at him.

Isabella was floating now and it was a beautiful sight, the earth below and the stars and constellations. This was the first time she had ever been up this far.

"Patching coordinates to your first target now," Jarvis said

Isabella breathed out a sigh of relief as she saw the alert level descend. The alarms in her suit shut off just as she and Frank passed into the upper atmosphere. Jarvis counted down the after burner shut off and as it shut off Isabella looked down at the Earth below her. She had never felt as small as she did right then. She felt a few tears come to her eyes as she thought about Tony. She knew that she had her husband back. "Tony...it's beautiful up here."

"I know, I've seen it," Tony said. Steve was the mission leader and he gestured to give tony the head phones and he refused them. Steve nodded then put them back on.

"Ok guys and gals, we have a mission to finish, your hud will show you the direction to the first target. Now the missiles will be on a delay. They will attach to the satellites then explode once your on your way home. Just incase their monitoring the satellites. They wont know whats happening until they're all exploding," Steve said. They used the suits rockets to propel them to the first target and they both each, fired a rocket. It flew right onto the body of the satellite then stuck onto its hull.

They repeated the process, they did not know how many times. "Isabella, I'm detecting something just east of your location," Bruce said. "Its intermittent but now that you're up there, our scanning resolution is much better now," He said. Isabella didn't see anything until Frank said something. He was flying to her right. "Hey, what is that?" Frank asked. "Its...blocking several stars from my view," he said and when Isabella looked again, she did think something was there. It was black though.

"You're O2 levels are at 12 percent," Jarvis said.

Isabella and Frank got to work. They were able to coordinate their moves. They worked as quickly as possible. They only had a certain amount of oxygen and a limited time to get this done. Suddenly, Isabella heard Bruce speak up and alert her that there was something just east of her location. Isabella looked, but she didn't see anything. However, when Frank spoke up and said that whatever it was was blocking several stars from his view she looked again. She thought she saw the outline of...something. It was all black though and difficult to see. At that moment, Jarvis alerted her that her O2 levels were at 12%. Isabella had a feeling though that whatever this object was that she and Frank needed to deal with it. She decided to fly closer and as she got closer she saw that it was another satellite. "It's another satellite. It's a stealth SHIELD satellite."

Tony got back on this time. "If there's one, there's likely more. That's why Loki seemed so unconcerned, they have a plan B. Issabella, I need you to go to the satellite and take some video so i can see it. I need the body, not the panels so you'll have to get in close," Tony said. "Don't touch it though, incase its got a defense mechanism. It still might but you two are stealthed as well.

"Tony, they don't have the O2 for this," Steve said. "I got it Cap, this will be quick," He said. When she agreed and did it he saw what he needed to see. A panel on the side of the cylindrical body.

"If we can get inside the panel, we can find out their transmission frequency.," He said and then Bruce chimed in. "Oh yeah, right right right. You'll be able to see the others if we can feed the frequency back to your suit," Bruce said. "But they don't have the oxygen," he said. "Frank," Tony said. I want you to give half of your remaining O2 to Isabella then start back immediately," Tony said.

Isabella blinked at what Tony was suggesting. Ava immediately became concerned. "What? Will he have enough oxygen to get back safely?"

Kate was worried about Isabella being left out there by herself, but she said nothing. It sounded like they didn't really have a choice.

Tony didn't have time to answer her. "If we debate this we lose this chance," Tony said. "Heading over to her now," Frank said. Frank made contact with Isabella and he pulled out his transfer hose and plugged it into her access port. His O2 reserves flowed into her suit. "Don't take any chances, ok?" Frank said. Though that alone was kind of silly. They were in space after all. "Ok, I got 4 percent," Frank said as he unplugged. He fell away from her and they looked at one another a moment before he shifted his body and flew quickly down toward the planet. "Ok, 20 percent, we can work with that," Tony said.

As Isabella made contact with the satellite, she had to maneuver around to the access panel. She had hardly ever used the omni tools in the suit but she used the HUD to cycle through the one she needed, a philips head screw driver. She used the power drive and opened the panel. The panel came free and she tossed it to float away behind her. "Hook up your diagnostic leads in your right wrist to the frequency receptacle," Tony said. It took Isabella a little bit to select the right kind of lead and precious oxygen was running low as she plugged it in and set it to read the frequency. The moment she connected with it though, the satellite suddenly came to life.

"Isabella, I'm reading a power build up," Jarvis said. "Shit, disconnect, disconnect!" Tony yelled into the mike. Just as she did her suit received a jolt of feedback electricity designed to burn out whatever device was tampering with its system. However, Tony had designed the suit with overload inhibitors and absorption abilities. Her power output increased to 250%. "Mrs. Stark, I detect a weapons signature on the satellite," Jarvis warned.

Isabella had never been this nervous in her entire life. The fate of the world rested on her shoulders and she couldn't screw up. She was completely alone out here. This was all on her now. She listened carefully to Tony's instructions and did precisely what he told her to do. However, as she plugged the lead into the frequency receptacle the satellite suddenly came to life. Her HUD displayed a power build up in her suit. She heard Tony and she began to panic. She immediately unplugged the lead, but she was jolted suddenly by feedback electricity. Thankfully though, Tony had designed the suit with overload inhibitors. Isabella knew she needed to get out there and fast. The satellite had done one thing for her though. It had provided her with the power output she needed. She turned and activated the thrusters on her suit. She shot through the air faster than she had ever flown before. Behind her, she saw the missiles following after her. However, they became further and further away as she accelerated towards Earth. In fact, she was flying so fast that she actually passed by Frank, although she didn't realize it at the time.. Warning systems went off as she neared the ground. She was flying too fast and she needed to slow down. She managed to slow herself down just in time, although she still landed pretty hard. Everyone rushed over to her to make sure she was ok. She looked around.

"Where's Frank?"

At that moment Frank landed and Isabella realized that she had passed by him. She looked over at Tony. "Did we get the frequency?"

Tony looked at her as she opened up her face mask. He was speechless with worry over her. Bruce chimed in though. "We got it...nice work," He said. There was alot of clapping as Frank and Isabella got out of their suits. Just in time as Ava flung herself at Frank. She wrapped her legs around him and they fell backwards with her kissing him profusely. That brought smiles to alot of faces.

Tony now knew how it felt to sit on the sidelines as the person you loved, more than anyone else in the world was risking their life. And he knew he didn't like it. Not one bit. He stood with his cane and as Sarah came up he bent to pick up Serena. he pointed at Isabella and spoke into her ear. Serena smiled at her mother as T'Challa and Shuri shook her hand and kissed her cheek and congratulated her. "Look Serena, your mama is a hero today," Tony had told her. Serena called to her but her voice was drowned out by all the other voices in the room.

Relief filled Isabella's eyes as Bruce told her that they got the frequency. Not only that, but the other satellites had exploded as they had intended. There was a lot of celebrating. Bottles of champagne were broken out and as Kate filled glasses and handed them out, Isabella walked over to Tony and Serena. She looked deeply into her husband's eyes and smiled warmly at him before leaning in and kissing him. Serena said "ewww" and covered her eyes. Isabella slowly pulled back from the kiss and then took Serena into her arms and kissed her.

It was a celebration but there was still work to be done. That and the chance for reprisals. Loki was an arrogant...creature and he handled anger like any other god with extreme prejudice. For that reason the tower was on full alert. Tonight Logan and Natalya would remain up on Loki watch. And Tony put Jarvis on alert as well incase they tried to hack him. This left Steve and Kate, Frank and Ava and Tony and Isabella a bit of downtime. Tony did not partake in the champagne. He knew he had been drinking way too much of late and he also knew he had been horrible to Isabella. She needed him, both of his ladies did, he had he retreated into himself instead. He was still worried his leg would never be the same though. T'Challa and Shuri were happy to be part of the festivities. They were able to see, at east in some ways, that the Avengers were working hard to take Loki down.

Tony lay with his back against his pillows. He was bare-chested and he had the covers up to just above his waist. He had a book in his hands as he patiently waited for Isabella to come out of the bathroom. She was wearing her usual nightwear and she rubbed cream on her hands. The coolant that had been released into her suit had dried her skin, especially her hands, badly and she had been putting creams and ointments on her flesh all evening to bring back her skin's usual suppleness. When he saw her Tony lowered the book then set it aside.

"So you're an astronaut now, how does that feel?" Tony asked her. "Still thinking about how different everything was way up there?" he asked.

Isabella was extremely worried that Loki would strike back...and hard. The Tower was on full watch and lock down and Natalya and Logan would be staying up all night to keep a watch out for him. Isabella had put Serena down for bed herself that night. She had remained with her daughter until she had fallen asleep and then she had retired to Tony and her room. Isabella's skin had been effected by the coolant. It had dried it badly and so she had been using creams all over to counteract that. She washed her face and brushed her teeth and hair and then changed into her silk pajamas. It was cold out that night and she was looking forward to getting under the covers. 

She walked out and saw that Tony was already in bed. She climbed into bed beside him and looked over at him.

"I still can't get over how...small I felt. I kept looking out into the inky blackness and I kept wondering where it ended and how far it all went. It was beautiful...and also extremely lonely. I've never missed you and Serena more than when I was up there."

Tony shivered when he felt her next to him. "You are cold, freezing," He said and he took her hands and cupped them then blew his warm breath onto them and rubbed them. "With people in my ear, I never really feel alone. You were moving really fast on re-entry," he said. He put her hand onto his warm chest and let her lay her head against him. Her right hand felt his thigh, it was warm too and Tony made a sound but didn't flinch away from her chilly touch. It was not going to take long for his body heat to warm her up. She also noticed he was completely naked under the covers.

Isabella was still cold from the coolant, but her body was warming back up. "Well my power output increased to 250% from that satellite and I had to move fast to out run those missiles that it fired at me. I will admit that I had no idea I was going to go that fast. The ground came up really quick," she said with a little laugh and then curled up next to him. She quickly noticed that Tony was naked under the covers. She smiled a little at him. "So...you're feeling better?"

Tony smiled and shifted her right hand to his member. Her hand was still a little cool but she was warming up. "I don't know, how do I feel?" he asked her. He wanted Isabella right then but knew there was only one way that this was going to work. He would not be able to move his legs so she'd have to all the moving. That was if he could coax her into anything tonight. He knew she had to be exhausted. But this was one way they had to come together. It almost always worked when they were fighting. He knew she was not going to let him off the hook this easily but they still had each other. And the Tower swelled with people to help them.

"I was thinking about that coolant leak," Tony said as if half in thought and Isabella would know she'd need to distract him quickly to put him off of that before he worked out how it happened.