Yelling was a once a constant on the compound. But now Rhodey missed the noise as he slowly wheeled himself across the large structure. He could imagine all his friends chilling around the tv and on the sofa. His gut wrenched just thinking about the past.

He did not regret on his decision. He believed that the Sokovian Accords were right. But sadly He also knew nothing could be the same anymore. He was a physical proof of that. Even with the help with Tony’s technology it would be near impossible for him to get inside War Machine.

The sounds of a bitter laugh bounced off the empty hall. He really had loved War Machine. He watched hours in awe when Tony first introduced Iron Man. He could still feel the excitement he had felt the first time he saw his own armor. The first time flying it. Heck he even endured jokes from Tony about his username and Password. After all that was how much he loved being War Machine.

No he did not regret his decision. He was a soldier. He knew the risk. But Tony…

Tony wasn’t a soldier. He was a scientist. When he saw Tony come back from Siberia he knew something had been wrong. He had gone to the Raft so that he can help the Cap and his brainwashed Buddy. But Tony was brought back, with the help of the King of Wakanda, all battered up. He had tried to ask his best friend about it but Tony shrugged off the question like he always did.

Rhodey knew his best friend very well.

He really hoped Tony wasn’t wallowing himself in work like he did last time. Rhodey thought all the new suits Tony built were cool. But when he had heard from Pepper he felt extremely guilty for not noticing his best friend’s anxiety attacks. Tony had been smirking and being his douchey self when they met. How was he suppose to know the fear in Tony if Tony never talked about it?

Maybe Rhodey did not know his best friend as well as he thought?

Rhodey wheeled himself off the elevator and towards Tony’s lab. He stopped when he heard the yells. Yells? Who the heck was with Tony? Vision? But that didn’t make sense… If it was Vision there would be no yelling. The closer he got the louder the sounds became. Realization hit him hard when he could not recognize the voices. Fearful for his best friend, Rhodey willed his wheel chair to go faster.

But as he finally got close enough to see the mirror entrance to the lab, he was confused.

"Stark! Are you trying to blow us all up! Get that thing away from there!" An old man, Rhodey thought kinda looked familiar, yelled at Tony and angrily waved him away from the Bunsen burner.

"Mr. Stark! I think I got the surge in correctly!" Was that a kid inside the lab?

"Great! Lets see!" And Tony pushed a button.

The sound of explosion boomed through out the lab. Rhodey cringed but was very glad no one seemed hurt.

"OMG! I’m so sorry I must have done…"

"Well that was no go…"

"You idiot! What did you do?..."

Rhodey watched in shock as the three people in the lab yelled and laughed at each other. Then he noticed Tony’s face. He was laughing. Not smirking. Laughing.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Rhodey smiled. Yup, He did not know his best friend at all.

XXX

"Your trying to make a device that will stop mind control?"

"Why is everyone so shocked at the notion? If you can control someone’s mind you can bet your ass there’s a way to stop it." Tony sighed very loudly to show his fake annoyance.

"Isn’t that so cool! When I looked at the schematics for the device it seemed like a dream! I mean who knew about that blank area of the brain? That’s something High School doesn’t teach about."

"Wait, hold on kid. Blank space… in brain… what?"

"Aldrich Killian’s research." Tony said flippantly.

"Like a Stark to steal other’s research." Hank grumbled.

"Well would you call it stealing if I improved it when I was drunk 20 years ago? And perfected it again last year?" Tony got up from his stool to get a cup of coffee. It was only when he brought the cup to his mouth that he noticed he was smiling. When he relaxed his face muscle he realized how tired they were. How long had he been smiling? He shook his and… there he goes again! He smiled.

"Mr. Stark can I get a cup." Peter said as he looked up from the microscope he was inspecting.

"None for you. You are way too hyper as you already are. Go get some rest boy" Hank replied for Tony.

"But…"

"Not buts. You were in the lab for 19 hours. You need food and rest. Go!" How long has it been since he mentored a kid that young? Hank felt a little twitch in his heart as he remember his formal Protégé. They were both so eager to learn. To create. To become better. Where had he gone wrong with Darren?

Peter pouted and looked longingly at Tony in hopes he would allow him to stay longer. But he found no support from him as his hero shrugged and nodded towards the exit of the lab. The teen sighed as he went slowly out.

As soon as Peter left an awkward silence filled the room. Hank decided to break it by asking what was in his mind until now

"So Stark. What’s next. You already had multiple design for this device. You didn’t need to call me or the boy for help. You would have solved all the problems yourself." The older Scientist looked towards the younger scientist.

Tony sighed again.

"Well you aren’t wrong about that. I would have solved it without either of you." Tony took a breath before he continued. "I need your help in stopping magic."

While Rhodey sputtered his coffee out of his mouth, Hank silently studied the man.

“Magic… What the heck do you mean?" Rhodey choked out as he wiped his mouth.

"It’s exactly what I mean. Magic. Or from what I inspected very advanced tech. When Loki attacked us He used multiple Magic like things. But when Bruce and I was able to study the Stone on the scepter it was much more like an AI. Here I have the schematics." Tony swiped his hands and the area around them lit up blue.

"It’s… like a brain… Is it thinking?" Hank walked around the hologram. It was beautiful. It was definitely looked like Neurons firing. But it was also not a human brain. Or any type of brain Hank had examined before.

"Yes. This is just the recording or it. But with this, our goal was to create Ultron. An AI who could think for himself and protect peace in outer space. But you know how that turned out." Both man listening scoffed.

"But even now, I have no idea what happened to kick start Ultron. Up until he miraculously came to life everything we did ended in failure."

"But you created Vision…? Isn’t he alive? How did you create him?" Rhodey asked

"We didn’t really create Vision. In the ended we just imbedded the stone directly. I believe the stone is like our brain for him. Vision is not thinking because of my programming. No it’s much more closer to say the Stone itself is Vision."

"You won’t be able to replicate the experiment again." Hank stated. Something like this. It was much more advance than he would have imagined.

"But that’s not all we have to worry about. After Loki’s attack I researched any other alien sighting all around the world. While many of the sightings are hoaxes some of them…"

Once again the area lit up with different holograms of newspapers and clips dating all over the place. Rhodey caught of glimpse of a Missing poster of a kid name Peter Quill.

"You mean we are behind in Technology."

"Doctor Pym. We aren’t just behind in technology. From what I witnessed we are in the stone age compare to them. Nothing in our arsenal will match up to theirs. All we have is brute strength. Even then most aliens I witness had strength that surpassed even our most strongest." The image of the aliens going hand to hand with the Cap ran through both Avengers mind’s.

Hank thought grimly of the consequences. "You are not suggesting on making more super soldiers are you?"

"God no! All the trouble we had happened because of the super soldier program. No, what I’m proposing is we make a defense system. Something that would be called the ultimate defense."

And one last time the area lit up.

"Are those nanobots?"

"What’s this Tony?"

"Gentlemen this is the Extremis 2.0"