Author's Note: This story is continued from Excalibur #22 and Captain America #19. If you've not read them, you might want to go and check them out first!

"I'm going to the East Coast for a little while," Stark said as he looked at Carol Danvers. "There's some things I need to do over there, and it's been a bit since I popped my head in to the office."

"After everything that's happened here, I guess we could all do with a break," she said. "You want me to tell the others?"

"Yeah," said Stark. "I'll be back in a few days, so try not to need me." He smiled. "Or Iron Man."

Carol chuckled. "We'll see what we can do," she said, with a shake of her head. "Though if the CSA comes back..."

"I won't be here, so it won't be my problem," Tony said. After the events that had occurred in Mayfield, the Commission for Superhuman Activities wouldn't be coming back to visit anytime soon, but if they did they'd be in for a very frosty reception.

"Have a good trip," Carol said. as Tony left for the airport and his private jet, waiting to take him back home. It had been had been a few weeks since he had been asked to set up the Avengers West by the CSA and after the debacle with Spymaster and Ana he had agreed because he needed to get away, to focus on something other than Tony Stark.

Rhodey had been doing a great job of keeping things going and it had been announced that Mr Stark had taken a well deserved holiday, his first since setting up Stark Solutions, and as the jet flew above the clouds and across the continent, Tony looked up the things that had been going on, things he needed to know, the improvements made to security to ensure someone like Spymaster didn't break in again. That had annoyed Stark above everything else but now things looked to be under control.

He loved it out west, but he had a fondness for the east as well. That was where his heart lay. He smiled as the thought crossed his mind. His heart. It was the shrapnel that was close to his heart that had meant he needed to be Iron Man and now that was gone, he was Iron Man still. It was as if he had moved one piece of metal from his heart and exchanged it for another. There had been so many changes over the years, to the armour, to himself. He had died, several times and he had come back. He had kept coming back.

As he looked at his reflection in the mirror, he knew that he shouldn't even be here. He knew that he had died, died seeking redemption after betraying the Avengers for Kang, who it turned out had really been Immortus, pulling the strings. Those who had been a part of the Destiny War, and had eventually remembered had put him straight as to what had happened and he had known that it hadn't been his fault, but he had still been influenced. Immortus had used the neuro-web he had needed to survive to influence his mind and in doing so he had gained a hold on him, subtle in design and the master of time had altered things so that the evidence would point against him as a spy for Kang since the creation of the Avengers.

It had damned him to the others and his actions at Immortus behest had been inexcusable and he had known he was being used and in the end he had saved the team from the false Kang, at the cost of his own life. Then he had been replaced by younger version of himself from another dimension, and that version had joined the heroes in fighting Onslaught, and at the cost of their lives as well. The energy of Onslaught had been put in to each and every one of the heroes who had volunteered to contain the creature and they had known what came next.

The X-Men, in destroying the creature's physical essence and ending the threat, had summarily executed the possessed heroes. They had died. He had seen the television footage

What happened afterwards was the thing that had concerned him. He knew that Susan Richards had explained that in her last sentient moments, she had called out to her son as she died and as she did so, Franklin had reached to his mother and she had felt his presence and then she had felt no more, but Franklin had done something. He had recreated his parents, their friends, their very existence based on the memories in the head of his mother, and seeing it as a child being told a story he had altered some of the facts.

The teenage Tony Stark had been replaced by a grown up version of Stark, the way he had been before he had died. He was not the original Stark, as they were not the original heroes. They were all creations of Franklin, restored to their universe, given the memories of the past by whatever the Celestials had done. He knew this because of the test they had done to see how old the other universe had been and the Negative Zone tests had confirmed that their universe had been less than a year old and everything they had been was now called in to question.

On his return from the pocket universe as the best scientific minds had come to describe it, and those with lesser technical knowledge called the Franklinverse, he had seen the things from his life, the weaknesses, the dependencies on alcohol and his juvenile behaviour and he had been angry at himself. Never before had he seen himself in such a light and it angered him greatly that he could have done such things, been such a person and he had promised he would change, but he needed to know who he was. Everyone else seemed to be satisfied that they were the original heroes, and it had been assumed that his dead body had been merged somehow with the younger version, but that had seemed wrong to Stark and he had looked in to it.

That body was still there, and so he had been left with questions, questions he could not take to his friends and colleagues. However, since he had made so many judgement lapses, however accidental, he knew that it was on his mind. His tryout of a silver and red armour had not worked, the Illuminati had made a fool of him and Spymaster... He sighed as he looked out at the clouds.

It was one of the reasons he was going to the east coast, back to New York. He needed to tell people what he had learnt, what he had discovered. He knew the best person to start with would be Steve Rogers, Captain America. Even though Steve had left the Avengers, he was still a reserve and he had helped with the recommendations for the West Coast team. He was the closest thing he had to a friend who would understand what he was saying, and he wasn't even sure how well Steve would take it. He'd know soon enough. They were meeting for lunch tomorrow, and tonight he had a dinner date with Rumiko Fujikawa. They hadn't spoken for a while, and he had considered how much he had missed her while he had been away from New York.

He had many changes to make in his life and he would take great pleasure in doing so, becoming a new man.

"Mr Stark?" said the air hostess and he looked at her.

"Yes, Olivia?" he said, thinking she was going to offer him a drink.

"You have a telephone call, sir," she said and Stark was surprised. There wasn't a great many who knew his movements. Rumiko was in meetings and Rhodey and the others were at some development somewhere.

"Did they say who they were?" he asked.

"Yes, they said they were calling from the office of the SHIELD Director."

"Forge?" said Tony. "How very interesting. I'll take it." He was intrigued at what the man could want, as he had not spoken with SHIELD for some time. They consulted with Stark Solutions on some contracting matters for technology and equipment, but that had lessened since Forge took over. Forge's mutant power to intuitively understand technology allowed him to build, design and repair things in advance of anything Stark could come up with, but Stark reassured himself by thinking that Forge's skills were a mutant ability, while his were self taught. There was a fine line, but it made him feel better. "This is Tony Stark."

"Please hold the line one moment, Mr Stark," said the female voice on the other end of the connection and Stark waited a moment. He knew Forge from way back when he had been working with the CSA, as his designs had been used in some of Stark's later works and he'd needed Forge's help.

"Hello, Tony," said Forge. "Sorry to disturb you."

"Not at all, Forge," Stark answered. "How can I help?"

"I'm sure you've been watching the news and seen the situation in Latveria," the SHIELD Director said.

"Sentinels," said Stark, closing his eyes. The day that Bolivar Trask had ever created such things was a day Stark cursed. They were a scientific menace, and Stark had created enough weapons technology to know what that meant.

"Yes," said Forge. "However we have another problem, one closer to home."

"I don't understand," said Stark and Forge explained that the sentinel technology had been purchased in the United States and the modifications that had been made had been done on US soil.

"Tony, there are an unspecified number of prototypes in Georgetown, Massachusetts."

"My God," said Tony, understanding the potential.

"Yes," said Forge. "It makes it an official SHIELD matter and I've assigned some of our best agents to go down and check it out. But I need someone with the technical expertise, or at least instant access to it."

"You're asking me to send in Iron Man," said Tony.

"I'm asking if you'd like to send him in as back up. I have one of his friends helping us out as well on this."

"Who?" asked Stark, thinking that it would be...

"Captain America." Forge's reply matched Stark's thoughts as well. Forge had played this one well, and he had grown to suit the chair he now sat in.

"The Avenger connection," said Stark.

"Something like that. I know I can't order you and I'd be a fool to try, but I can ask." Forge was being upfront about it all, Stark thought

"Okay," said Stark. "I'll ask him, and I think he'll say yes. He's as concerned about rogue weapons in the hands of Doom as I am and if they are on our turf, it needs to be sorted."

"Thank you," said Forge. "Hopefully we'll be able to get in before Doom activates them."

"Activates them?" Stark asked. Something was going on.

"Doom's obviously got something in mind," Forge said. "Knowing him, it'll be sooner, not later." Stark couldn't tell if the man was covering, but either way it was SHIELD business and not his.

"Understood. Tell your people that Iron Man will see them in Georgetown. As I remember it's not that big so finding them shouldn't be hard."

"Thanks, Tony. I owe you one."

"No problem," said Stark and hung up. His thoughts went to Rumiko. He wasn't sure how long this would take and he didn't want to cancel their date without a valid reason. He knew what he had to do - he would visit her on his way, as Iron Man. Then he would tell her the truth.

It was time to start letting people in to his life properly.

Rumiko Fujikawa was in her office, thinking of what she was going to wear to go out with Tony at their get together that evening. They hadn't been together like this since the incident with the Illuminati. Iron Man had gone after them and he'd been humiliated by the Czar and she'd been instructed by her father not to see Stark again, until he and his staff redeemed themselves, for it would be dishonourable to be involved with such a man. She'd been furious, but she knew that soon enough that it would be forgotten, but that had been some time ago now and she had been surprised to get his call.

Surprised and pleased and she smiled as she looked out of the window as a red and gold streak hurtled through the sky. Iron Man, which meant he was back in town. Then she saw that Iron Man was coming towards the office and she tilted her head as she watched as he came closer. He landed on the balcony and walked towards her, then he stopped outside the window and gave it a gentle tap.

Rumiko was confused and she went to the window.

"What is it?" she said, fearing the worst.

"I need to talk to you, Miss Fujikawa," said the Armoured Avenger. "May I come in?" Rumiko nodded and opened the patio door.

"You need to talk to me?" she said. "I don't understand. Is there something wrong with Tony?"

"Not quite," he said and behind the mask she could see the eyes moving. "Just a moment, please." There was a high pitched noise for a moment and then it was gone. "That's better," he said.

"Better?" she said, not sure of what was going on. "What's better?"

"I deactivated the security system, so we could have some privacy."

"How dare you," she said, anger in her eyes at what the man was intimating. "I'm dating the man you protect."

"I know," said Iron Man. "That's why I feel safe doing this. Now." He seemed to hesitate a moment and then he removed the face mask. "Rumiko." His voice was no longer masked by the technical wizardry, and she could see a few beads of sweat on his forehead.

"Tony?!" she said, in amazement, wondering how she had never guessed and more than that how was it not more evident. "You're Iron Man?"

"Yes," he said. "I'm Iron Man. I always have been, well almost always. Rhodey was in here for a short time as well, while I was out of action."

"You're Iron Man," she said again, and Tony smiled.

"I needed to tell you," he said, "because I'm tired of running out on you, I'm tired of a lot of things and I want to clear the slate."

"You're not going to make tonight," she said, seeing the truth in his words and he nodded.

"I'm sorry, but something's come up, something for the attention of Iron Man. Now you see why I turned the security system off." She nodded.

"You're going to have to tell me how, why..." she said.

"When I get back," he said, and he held her hand, and though it was cold steel, she felt a warmth there as if it were his bare hand in hers. "I'll tell you everything." He looked in to her eyes. "I love you." She flushed and he lifted her face up with the lightest of holds on her chin and he kissed her.

"Wow..." she said, amazed at what had just happened and not sure what to work with first and while she paused he replaced the mask and the high pitched whine came again and she knew the security system was back in place.

"As I was saying, Mr Stark sends his apologies and he'll call you... the first chance he gets."

"I'll be waiting," she said and Iron Man nodded and headed out to the balcony and lifted off in to the air. "Wait!" she said, coming out after him and he hovered there. "Tell him it's mutual." He nodded at her and then he shot off across the skyline. "I love you too," she whispered and then she went back to her desk.

However there was no way she was going to get any more work done today.

Stark flew from New York, across the state towards Georgetown. He couldn't stop smiling, which was a change as when he was going to see her he couldn't stop shaking. Rumiko had joined an elite group of people. The Avengers knew who he was as did his closest staff, and now she was one of the people he trusted with his greatest secret.

Aside from the fact he wasn't the original Tony Stark, and he would deal with that another time. If he got chance to speak with Steve he would, but now it was time for business. He approached the small town and almost instantly he could detect an amount of signatures emanating from an area and he could see the readouts across his eyes as the scanners told him what was going on, and what Doom had been up to. He could also detect the frequencies of the SHIELD vehicles in the area and he knew he was on the right track and as he flew over he could see them speaking with a local law enforcement official.

That was more Cap's area than his, and this was where Iron Man came in to his own as he looked over the immediate area. There were cloaking devices, laser weapons and a lot of other high tech artillery in the area as well as the remains of people and animals that had inadvertently discovered what was going on. Their intrusion had incurred the wrath of Doom and they had died without knowing why, and with their murderer never knowing of their existence.

"Damn you, Victor," said Stark softly, but he rechecked his logs and he knew he had enough to work with and put in a call to Stark Solutions, requesting back door codes for certain products he'd made and the competition had made as well. Doom had to have bought these things in from them, and that would have to be addressed later as well.

"There's got to be a way in though," said one of the agents Stark recognised as Maverick, which meant that the other SHIELD agents had to be X-Force. Who better to deal with sentinels than the people who'd had the most experience in their ways. "The sentinels are in that cave and we've got to make sure they stay there."

"Perhaps I can help," Stark called and they turned to see him land as close to them as he could with causing any problems for them. "I was in the area and Tony Stark got a call from Forge, requesting assistance."

"Glad you could make it, Shellhead," said Cap and the two Avengers shook hands.

"You think you can deal with the tech?" asked Maverick, looking at the Avenger.

"Oh, I think it's possible," said Stark with a smile. He didn't want to give too much away about his identity. He knew Cap knew who he was and he believed that Sharon Carter did as well, but he didn't know about the others and that was good enough. He'd revealed enough for today. "I did a quick overhead survey and I could see where the cloaking technology extends from."

Lydia Del Ruiz nodded and she went over to speak to Iron Man. "Agent Del Ruiz," she said introuding herself, and nodding to the other gentleman who was there. "This is Agent Raven."

"Thank you, I know," said Stark. "I was sorry to hear about what happened with Wisdom and Shadowcat."

"We'll get them back somehow," Raven said and Iron Man nodded.

"Of course," he said.

"The tech's in advance of anything I've seen," said Lydia. "The weapons fire as soon as anything goes past the cloaking field and it's thanks to my powers I was able to ensure I didn't, or if I did I could move out of the way in time."

"It's a very sophisticated system," Iron Man said. "Doom's made something impressive from a combination of things, and nobody would ever know what was being built. However, I think I can sort this." He was silent a moment, as he configured a panel on his gauntlet, using the data being supplied from Stark Solutions. "And that should do it."

He unleashed a pulse from his gauntlets that hit the cloaked area and shut it down and there was a the dying of a low pitched hum as the weapon systems were all taken off line.

"Now that was cool," said Raven as he looked about and Iron Man smiled.

"Not really," he replied. "Doom needed to get the tech for this from somewhere and I know some shutdown codes. Just took a little time to figure which ones were which."

"Let's go," said Cap and he led them in to the cave. Iron Man felt a shiver go down his spine, and he though how natural it felt to be like this, following Cap's lead and he wished he could have persuaded him to join the West Coast team, but he had declined, citing his daughter as the main reason. Then there was a warning alert on his LCD but before Stark could say anything, Cap was struck by a repulsor blast that threw him back. Tony winced as he saw the look on Steve's face as landed on the shield. It may have absorbed impacts, but Steve's body did not. The question was where had the blast come from, and then he realised.

"What an interesting group of Avengers," said Doom. Doom wasn't being read on any of the sensors of the armour, but Tony could see his gauntlets were glowing, primed with energy waiting for a release. "Please don't make a move. Consider yourselves prisoners of war..."

"Like hell!" said Maverick and shot at Doom with a kinetic blast of his own and the dictator was struck in the face, but Doom still stood and he laughed, as Stark took advantage of the disruption to the armour to do a scan of the man before them and what he got confirmed his suspicions.

"Is that all you have?" Doom said as Iron Man made his scans and he fired his own weapons, making the heroes scatter.

"Doombot," said Iron Man, thinking that the shot should have blinded the Latverian Dictator if nothing else, and his readings confirmed what he had seen. It also meant that they could use lethal force against it.

"Understood," said Cap. "Take him down!" The heroes fired their weapons, Lydia and Agent 13 using their side-arms, with Marcus putting some extra force on the shots with his telekinetics as Maverick used his bio-kinetic blasts, Iron Man used his repulsors as Cap threw his shield and the Doombot's head was taken clean from it's shoulder and the headless Doom staggered and fell to the floor under the assault.

"He doesn't make them like he used to," Iron Man said, looking at the robot.

"Very true," the head of Doom said, "I make them better." A signal flashed past Stark's eyes on the display and he reacted quickly to negate the signal but he wasn't sure if he'd done it in time and then they all heard the noises, the gears and machinery coming to life as the sentinels awoke.

"Oh hell," said Iron Man. "I'm reading approximately a dozen sentinels coming to life..."

"This is bad," said Maverick and he fired his energy blasts at the robots, and they had no effect. "This is very bad."

"No time for negativity, son," said Cap as he threw his shield towards one of them and the sentinel caught it and tossed it aside.

"Mutant energy signatures detected. Metahuman signature detected. Enhanced human signature detected."

"Gigs up," said Raven. "Now what do we do?"

"We fight!" said Cap and the heroes went to work, trying to find away to ensure they weren't killed in the process of shutting these monsters down. As Stark fired repulsors blasts and his unibeam, he was working at finding a way of shutting them down. He could try an EMP but these things had taken that when Onslaught had unleashed his powers, so he wasn't sure that would work and to do so would leave himself helpless.

There had to be a way, something he could do, and he promised he would find a way. Doom had left him the tools, it was up to him to find a way around it and he put in a call to SHIELD. Forge had left a number at Stark Solutions to contact him and see if they could work on the problem together.

"Forge," said the voice.

"This is Iron Man," he said, the external speakers disabled. "I could do with a hand here. I'm not having a lot of time for ideas, and anything you have would be appreciated."

"Understood. I need an uplink, to see what you're seeing," Forge said and Iron Man obliged. "Thank you," Forge said.

"Can your powers work at this range?" said Stark.

"We'll find out," Forge replied and then alarms started going off and Stark could feel the armour being squeezed. He'd been caught by one of the sentinels and it was slowly crushing him and there was nothing he could do to get free!