LIABILITY

1

Tony slowed his white Audi convertible to a stop at the airfield, at the same time as the doors to his jet opened up on the private airfields tarmac. Perfect timing, he thought as he smiled. He lifted his sunglasses from his face to rest on his head, holding his short hair back, before giving the kid clamouring down the jet's fold out steps a wave and thumbs up. Harley brushed the hair from his eyes as he jogged over to the car, his backpack slung over one shoulder. Kid was perhaps an understatement, Tony thought, Harley had recently turned into a teenager and seemed to be taller, stronger and more confident each time they met.

Harley opened the door and plonked himself down in the passenger seat ungracefully, and Tony was grateful he hadn't jumped over the door and straight into his seat – like last time.

"Hey," Tony said, dropping his sunglasses back down over his eyes.

"Hey," Harley said, smirking. "So, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure you were supposed to come see me this time?"

Tony shrugged. "I was busy. I had to go to a conference," he gestured down to the tailored trousers and white shirt he wore. His jacket had been thrown into the back seat. "It was a last minute thing. Unavoidable. Besides, I thought you would like taking a ride in the Stark plane?"

"It's cool," Harley said. "The ride was awesome. Kinda makes this look a little lame," he said, giggling as he knocked on the door of the car.

"Charming," Tony said, enjoying the banter. "Come on, we need to get back to the tower. I've got some stuff to show you. I think we might need to get you a haircut along the way – the Bieber fringe isn't cool anymore – even he's got rid of it."

Harley smirked and ignored the barb about his hair. "Will any of the other Avengers be there? Will, will – Captain America be there, 'cos he's so cool? Last time, they were away, and you did say next time you would try to introduce me to-"

Tony snorted, interrupting him. "Rogers is boring. Anyway, I need to show you what I've been working on. I want to hear your thoughts on the prototype for my new suit when you see it."

Harley sat forward in his seat, his face lighting up. "You need my help? … But, after that, do you think I'll get to meet any of the Avengers, at all?"

Tony playfully punched him in the arm. "You've already met the most exciting one," he laughed. "But I'll see what I can do, they're all living in the tower now, most of the time, so I'm sure one of them will be around."

"Awesome! Hey, did you say you had a prototype for a new, a new suit? I thought you weren't building any more – I thought you promised Pepper – and you-"

"Enough H, it's like I've got Jiminy Cricket on my shoulder. I'm just building one. Only one. Pepper agreed one would be wise – it's half way ready, but I want to see what you think. If I can only have one, it needs to be the best right?"

Harley shrugged.

"Do you have any enthusiasm for anything other than Captain boring America these days?" Harley started to laugh again.

"I can't wait to see the suit, or the Avengers."

"They we better get moving." Tony started the engine, and sped away. "Buckle up baby!" He yelled over the engine as the car picked up speed, their hair blowing messily against the wind.

Harley laughed again, it was more of a giggle really, and Tony smiled – he really had missed the kid.

The roads were clear and Tony sped down the long winding route, glad of the lack of traffic, he liked nothing more than pushing the speed on long empty stretches of road, which this route to the airfield was. After ten minutes or so he checked his mirrors and noticed a black minivan starting to catch them up. Tony smirked – the van was no competition for his sleek sports car. A few more twists and turns of the road and Tony noticed that the van was starting to close the gap on them.

Tony tapped his thumb against the steering wheel as he wondered if the people behind were trying to catch him up – it wasn't unusual for people to try and overtake him when he was in one of his favourite motors – it was like people were jealous and tried to beat him to make a point – not that he gave a damn – he was the one driving the beauty.

The van continued to catch up, and Tony noticed that the windows were tinted. Even the windshield had a tint – that was unusual. He felt something begin to stir in his stomach, and tried to push it back down. Paranoia wasn't new to him, he had fought it since the attack on New York, but still – this seemed unusual . Tony glanced over at Harley who was enjoying the ride, his eyes shut, his face smiling, looking carefree and innocent. He looked back in the mirror at the van behind them. Paranoia or not, he couldn't take any chances with the kid in the car.

"Hey Harley" Tony called over the noise of the wind. He eased off on the accelerator slightly as he spoke to the boy. "Do me a favour, will you? I need you to lean forward in your seat, towards the foot well, like the crash landing position on a plane."" He tried to sound nonchalant, but something in his voice made Harley respond seriously, whereas he would have normally made a joke. He spun around in his seat, eyed the van, and then looked back at Tony suspiciously.

"It's probably nothing," Tony shrugged, "but I want you to get down. And call Jarvis – you still have the phone that I programmed for you, right?"

Harley nodded, pulled the phone from his jeans pocket before leaning forward in his seat, now out of sight, even with the roof down on the car. Tony was watching Harley do as he asked, keeping one eye on the kid and one on the road ahead, and so he didn't notice the man that appeared from the minivan, his head and shoulders poking through the vans sun-roof, gun in hand. A shot grazed the side of the convertible, smashing through the driver's side mirror. Tony swore. Harley dropped his phone.

"What was that?!"

"Stay down," Tony ordered, "and call Jarvis now! Tell him protocol 69, he'll know what to do."

Another shot pinged off of the car, this one smashing the windshield, and Tony put his foot down on the gas, hoping to outrun the van – surely his car would be faster. He hit the gas as hard as he could, and felt the vehicle begin to pull. He checked his mirror as he saw the gunman take aim again, and ducked as the shot went wide. The gunman disappeared back down into the van as Tony's car began to gain speed and pull away. Tony wished he had the roof up – they were too exposed, even as they gained speed and increased the distance, Harley was still in danger.

"I called Jarvis," Harley yelled from the foot well, crouched in his seat, his head out of danger. "He said to keep to line open. What's going on?"

Tony shook his head. "I don't know."

The road continued to twist and turn but there was a long stretch of nothing before they would hit the highway and a more populated area that would eventually take them into New York. Tony looked in the mirror; it appeared the van was gaining speed. The gunman was visible again, half in the van and half outside again, holding what looked to Tony to be a bigger weapon than the one he had just fired. He didn't know what it was, but for a second he feared they would be shot off the road.

The car was now doing 120 mph, how was the van even visible, never mind keeping up? It should be lost behind a cloud of dust. Still, the gap was slowly opening up, that was something. Tony glanced down at Harley. He had to get the kid out of here – whatever was going off – the kid needed to be as far away as possible. A few more sharp bends, Tony took them carefully, and then another long stretch. He had to do something before the van had a long enough stretch to fire that thing at them.

"Harley, listen very carefully." He glanced down and saw Harley nodding, focused on Tony's words. "In a few minutes I'm going to pull up. You see the woodlands up ahead on the right? I want you to run to that area as fast as you can, and hide. Keep your phone line open, and Jarvis will find you."

"What about you?"

Tony smiled." I'll be fine. I'm going to lose these guys. I just need to make sure you're safe first, okay?"

Harley nodded. The road was stretching out. A few more bends and then they would hit the straight stretch that was usually Tony's most favourite part of the journey. He glanced in the mirror; the van was a minute behind, maybe two. The bend was coming up. "I'm going to stop very sharply, very soon. Brace yourself and get ready to jump out of the car and run. Hide in the woods, and don't make yourself visible to anybody until Captain America himself shouts your name. You hear me?"

Harley nodded again, looking worried. Tony was half way around the bend. He held himself back against his seat and slammed the brakes on, the car screeched to a stop. Harley undid his belt, jumped over the door. He clamoured across the road, and climbed up a slight muddy embankment, then headed towards the trees. They were about five hundred feet away – he should make it. The kid didn't look back. Tony turned the ignition back on, now needing to make up lost ground. He hit the gas and the car pulled easily away, he drove through the rest of the bend, onto the straight road, and didn't let up on the gas pedal. A few hundred feet down the line and the van appeared back in his mirror. Good. It meant they hadn't seen Harley – they hadn't stopped the van – they had no reason to think he wasn't alone.

The man was still half out of the sun-roof, and Tony watched him as he drove. The man seemed to be aiming, despite the distance between them, and Tony swerved his car onto the other side of the road. A large blast knocked into the area he had just vacated, and the car shook. Tony clung on to the wheel, fought not to lose control. A second explosion, and Tony jerked the wheel, back on to the right side of the road, his heart hammering in his chest – he was going too fast to be driving like this. He had slowed down as he had avoided the two blasts, allowing the van to catch up. He sped up again, pushing the car as much as he could. He glanced in his mirrors again and saw a second guy hanging outside of the passenger window, a weapon in hand.

"Crap," he muttered, not knowing what else he could do. There was still miles left to cover on the long stretch of road. The passenger began shooting, and Tony could only duck down in his seat, praying he wouldn't get hit, as he kept an eye on the guy with the bigger weapon that appeared to be taking aim again. But it didn't matter; the passenger had hit his mark, a rear tire exploded, sending Tony's white Audi skidding across the road. Tony again fought with the steering wheel, and slowed the car down, scared he was going to flip it as it bounced along the road. The van was getting closer, two men were firing at him, and he was going to crash the car. What would be the worst outcome? Tony wasn't sure. Either option seemed pretty deadly.

Feeling cornered, Tony decided to try and do what he had instructed Harley to do. He suddenly slammed his breaks on, and the car screeched and shuddered to a stop – the back wheel groaning as he did so. The van was breaking too now, so as not to hit the car. He undid his belt and took off running; the road was lined with steep muddy hills on either side that would lead to the forest area. He ran, pumping his arms as a shot thundered off of the concrete ahead of him, making him jump as he ran. The sloped embankment was getting closer, and Tony tried to ignore the sound of the van's engine revving as it almost caught him up. A second shot slammed into the ground to his left. Tony refused to look back, he kept running, his feet jarring against the concrete road beneath his white sneakers. He reached the slope and was leaping up it when the bullet impacted against his left shoulder, making him yelp in pain - he lost his footing and fell, rolling back down the slope and onto the road.

He hit the floor hard, shouting out in pain as his shoulder jarred against the hard surface. He tried to roll into a crouch, his right hand now pressed firmly against his throbbing shoulder as he struggled to get up, to keep moving. The van overtook him, screeched to a stop just ahead, the side door slid open and four masked men got out. Tony turned around; ready to start running back in the direction he had come from, away from the men, even though he knew it was hopeless. Before he could do so, one of the men shouted out to him.

"You come with us now, and we'll forget about the boy hiding in the woods."

Tony stopped, turned back to face the four men as they began to fan out around him. They had seen Harley in the car. He needed to buy time.

"How do I know I can trust you on that?"

His voice came out haggard, he was out of breath from the desperate run, and his shoulder was on fire from the bullet that had hit him. He had never been shot before, and it hurt more than he thought it would. He looked at the men, trying to think of a way out. There was nothing, he just had to hope that Harley was well hidden and the team would find him soon.

"You don't." One of the masked men said, as another brought his gun up, slamming it into the back of Tony's neck, the force of the hit knocking him out. Two of the men swooped in to grab their captive before he had even hit the ground. They carried him into the back of the van where he was quickly gagged, blindfolded and restrained, before they checked his pockets and searched him. They van started back up, turned around and headed the short distance back to the sports car Tony had abandoned. One of the men got out of the van, carrying a can of petrol. He doused the car before throwing a match at it and running back to the van. The minivan sped away, and was almost at the end of the long stretch of road when they heard the explosion in the distance.

Hi everyone!

This is my second Iron Man fic, and will feature the Avengers too - although its focused on Tony :)

Please, please, please, please, please (!) review!

I hope to post an update in the next day or so x