The Arrival (Open to Avengers)
-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.
-Now, Times Square, Earth 616-
A bright light flashed above the New York skyline, then quickly descended toward the Earth. Many of the onlookers were too transfixed to realize that the falling object was headed toward them. The ones who figured it out fast enough had a head start on the panic and running.
Justin was barely conscious as he went through a series of passcodes in his armor, bringing all the systems on line, and tried to ignore the fact that the ground was rushing up to meet him faster than he liked. By the time all of his systems were online, the readouts were all bad news. His heart monitor was in the red, he was at forty percent power, and he was currently about five-thousand feet above the ground. Time until impact: 30 seconds.
“Tony, divert all power to thrusters, get me out of this nosedive, now!” Justin commanded, trying to turn and right himself in mid-air so as not to become an Iron Pizza in the middle of…
Where was he?
The closer he got to the ground, the more he recognized this city, but something was wrong with it. The were undamaged buildings, lights and from the look of things…lots and lots of people.
Living people.
Where the hell am I?
-Thirty Seconds Later-
“When I get home,” Justin muttered, “Dad and I are going to have a long talk about mid-battle surprises.”
He climbed out of the wreckage of the Stark Enterprises truck (he’d find time for the irony later) and tried to right himself. His left arm was numb, and his chest hurt like hell, but he didn’t have time to worry about it. He had to get off the streets and get somewhere safe.
“Are you okay, War Machine?” a little boy asked, the first person of a crowd of people who’d found their way to his location. He held a War Machine plush doll under one arm.
“I’m…I’m good.” he panted. “Thanks. Hey, where did you get that?”
Before the little boy could answer, there was another flash of light, this time from ground level, and a metallic voice spoke into the night.
“JUSTIN ANTHONY RHODES. You are hereby charged with one count of unlawful dimensional travel, 672 counts of fleeing from justice and 1,992 counts of aiding in a terrorist rebellion against the rightful government of the United States of America.”
Justin and the little boy both looked at the NIMROD Sentinel at the same time; the boy stood frozen in fear and Justin’s eyes narrowed underneath the helmet.
“Kid, go back to your mother. Right now. Tell her to tell everyone here to go home now.” Justin said.
“You can beat ‘im, War Machine.” the boy said before he ran off.
I’m glad one of us thinks so.
“How do you plead?” the Sentinel asked.
“Guilty as charged. Get to the sentencing portion.” Justin said.
“You are found guilty under United States Penal Code 21832.673. The punishment for your actions is death. Prepare for sentencing. You may speak your final words.” the robot said,
“Uni-Beam.” Justin said, diverting power to his chest plate. The beam lanced forth and slammed the Bio-Sentinel through the glass window of the Sach’s department store thirty-five yards behind him. Luckily, the place wasn’t opened yet, so it could be damaged without cost to innocent bystanders.
“EVERYONE GET OUT OF HERE NOW!” Justin yelled, waiting for the Bio-Sentinel to make its move.
