In the large, elegant Miami manor there was a small, windowless room with a single dim flickering light hanging from the ceiling. The door, made from a heavy metal material, locked from the outside. The walls were spotted with a damp, furry looking black substance. In the center of the room were two simple, wooden chairs. On the ground lay a vent cover, a pair of slightly smoking shoes, and a pair of halfway melted handcuffs. Save for the chairs, the mold, and the strange items strewn across the ground, the room was completely empty.

However, in the air vent was Calico, sweating anxiously and crawling to what she hoped could be freedom. Certain spots in the vent creaked when she crawled over them, but after a few of these occurrences she was sure that she wouldn't fall. It was almost nothing for the small woman to jump and climb into the vent after breaking off the cover. She'd have thought it was a setup if Aldrich hadn't established that he found Calico incapable of taking care of herself.

Oh, she'd had just about enough of Aldrich Killian's presence, and made a mental note to complain to Tony about his flirtatious behavior. Calico refused to be any man's trophy. Killian was a terrorist on top of being a murderer and a kidnapper, and Calico was enraged. He would see justice for each of his heinous actions if Calico had to deliver it to him herself. But for now, simply escaping would be fine enough. She was weak from Extremis, slightly thirsty, and in dire need of a haircut (the ginger locks tickled the bridge of her nose).

"Cliche..." she mumbled, taking a moment to appreciate the fact that she was escaping from a criminal organization via air ducts. She felt like a co-star in an action movie. It was strangely hot, but after taking a glance at her slightly red hand she realized she was the reason, and tried to calm her rapidly beating heart.

At the end of her path she found an opening (in all honesty, Calico had no idea where she had been going that whole time and quite possibly could have been going in circles) that seemed to lead outside. She sped up, taking great care not to make too much noise, and peered outside.

It seemed safe enough. Aldrich wasn't roaming, nor were his guards, so Calico grabbed onto the cover and struggled for a moment to pull it off. Once she'd managed to clear the opening, she tossed it into a patch of grass so that the metal clanging on the brick ground wouldn't attract any attention.

The action would be in vain, however, because once she began to crawl out and was hanging by an arm she realized that she was a few stories above the ground. Her hand was too slick with sweat to crawl back up and when she tried, she slipped and hit her chin. Calico fell to the ground with a high pitched wail and fell flat on her back. She squeezed her eyes shut, began groaning in pain and rolled around holding herself, trying to recover.

Once she'd adjusted, she began to run through the unfamiliar place. It was surprisingly empty, save for a few collapsed guards and some palm trees. Calico slowed down to a walk once she remembered that she had no idea where she should go. A sound from above had her looking up uncertainly, and she saw the Iron Patriot flying away. She didn't have time to dwell on her confusion, however, because a familiar voice had begun calling to her.

"Calico!"

Calico's large grey eyes widened, and she held her breath. She stopped, turned, and was faced with Tony (Technically it was his Iron Man suit, but Calico wasn't in the mood for technicalities) standing a few paces to the left from her. Her plump lips pulled into a smile that seemed to split her face in half. As she approached him, she became suddenly aware of the fact that she was dressed in a much more revealing manner than what she was used to, and her hair was slightly dirtier than what was usual. Her skin also held a slight red hue in certain places, but that could most likely be mistaken for sunburn.

Tony didn't seem to notice anything strange, however. He pulled her into a tight (slightly painful) hug, and began to pepper Calico's face with kisses. She giggled and curled her arms around him, relaxed for a moment in the faint familiarity of his actions.

"I thought you were being experimented on." Tony said, releasing her

"I was, but I'm pretty much okay now. I thought you were dead?"

"I should have been, and it's a long story. Rhodey was captured but he's fine now, and it's this whole mess. Listen, this suit's basically dead. Me and Rhodey have to charge it at least a little because there's a plane full of people that are about to be blown out the sky in a few hours. Killian hijacked the Patriot." Tony summarized. Calico listened attentively and nodded.

She ran behind Tony to keep up with his lengthy strides. He seemed tired, but if the suit had been dead for a while then that meant that he and James had to have taken care of the knocked out guards by hand, which would explain it.

Regardless, Calico was glad that everyone seemed to be okay.

"Take this." James instructed the moment she and Tony step foot in their escape boat. Calico eyed the weapon somewhat fearfully.

"What if I melt it...?" she asked. Tony placed one of his hands of her shoulder.

"Look, you aren't burning me. The gun should be fine." he said.

James thrust the gun into her lap and began to drive the boat. Calico scrunched her nose and froze as if the slightest movement would set it off. James rolled his eyes and shook his head, fighting back a smile.

"You've spent too much time around Tony, because he did the exact same thing."