Authors' Note: I own nothing you recognize.
--
Once he had his suit on they didn't stand a chance. He knew that well, after seeing the destruction of Gulmira, and various other places. Stark was good, very good in the suit. But without it, oh that was a whole different ball field. Without that gold and red suit he was on the same level as himself. Without the suit he was as mortal as any man could be.
That was the plan to take him down while he wasn't in the suit. Sweet and simple. Though it would be almost impossible to get him this way, it wasn't as nearly as hard as it would be by taking on Ironman in all his glory and that suit with all its little gadgets and weapons.
Sneaking into the mansion was out, his security system was the top of the line, probably better then any one else could buy. He designed it himself, of course. Taking him out at a press conference or anywhere else he appeared in public was a big no-no, all that exposure was not good. The best course of action would be while he was on his way to this and that in that black bentley. Make it look like an accident, and no one will suspect a thing.
Yes, the plan was set, now to get one of his little pawns who through their life away because he 'promised' them the good life, only after they proved themselves worthy of his cause. The great Tony Stark was going down this time, and staying down.
--
"Mr. Stark, Your reunion thing at MIT is coming up in August, they want an RSVP, yes or no?" Pepper asked, paraphrasing the messenge from the blackberry in her hand. Tony groaned unceremoniously.
"Thats like five months from now Miss Potts..." He huffed.
"I know, but they want to know..." Pepper returned.
"Let's just put it off until tomorrow." He was excellent at avoiding things such as this.
"How about lets focus on the task at hand, this art opening thing we're going to be arriving at in less then a twenty minutes." Tony said straightening his tie for a second as the car slowed down for the stop light.
"Um. Yes, the art opening..." She trailed off as her facial expression turned to that of a horrified one. That was the last thing Tony saw.
They had moved into the intersection as a large blue SUV plowed right into the side of the car, into Happy and Tony's side. Everything happened so fast, the SUV shoved the black bentley they were riding into the car next to them, and consquently into the car next to the other one. The momentum caused the two cars on Peppers' side of the vehicle to spin out of the way as they hit the curb and tipped over into the ditch. The black car turned over five times before ultimately landing on its roof at the bottom of the little hill into the grassy ditch. What was left of it looked like it was compacted and thrown into garbage disposal system that spit out small boxs of the condensed waste.
--
Happy was the first to come around. He opened his eyes to find himself hanging upside down in the car, his head pointed towards the ground. He groaned at the headache and other bruises from the seatbelt he was wearing, holding him up. It dawned on him that both his passengers weren't wearing seatbelts as he quickly jerked his head and to view the back of the vehicle. It was then he also noticed he had a severe case of whiplash going on, and at least a minor concussion.
The sight he was met with was horrid, Miss Potts, Mr. Stark's personal assistant was leaning against the frame work of the door, her head against her chest so he couldn't see her face, but she appeared to be unconcious. Her arms were flaired in ackward positions, one of her legs was underneath her and the other was outstretched. The ankle looked horribly bruised, possibly broken.
"Miss Potts!" He tried to get her attention. "Pepper." He tried the nickname that Tony had given Pepper when he hired her.
--
He opened his eyes at the sound of Happy's voice, calling for Pepper. He groaned, and apparently it was loud enough for Happy Hogan to hear him.
"Mr. Stark!" His voice was unbearably loud. He would have covered his ears if he could move, but he seemed to be pinned in place by the surrounding area.
"What..." He tried to speak but his voice was muffled by whatever his face was leaning against. He tried to lift his head a little. He saw Pepper infront of him, out cold, and quite possibly badly hurt. "...Shit." He groaned resting his head on the metal roof once again. He couldn't do a damn thing except for fall unconcious again.
--
She awoke to a dull throb in the back of her head and a sharp pain in her right ankle. She then heard the sirens blaring loudly near by, as it finally came back to her as of what had happened she panicked, opening her eyes to see the trashed insides of a car as the EMTs were pulling Happy out of the drivers' side. The door was pried off of that side as they were taking the driver out. He was having a fit, saying something along the lines of he wasn't in the worst condition of the three and he could stand sitting upside down while they got his good friends out.
Happy was Tony's driver and bodyguard, so of course he would put Tony's life above his. It was then that Pepper turned her attention away from Happy arguing with the two EMTs that were pulling him out of the wreck to where Tony had been sitting, across from her.
All she could see was darkness at this point, no sign of life, just a heap of wreckage that use to be a very expensive car. It wasn't until closer inspection that she saw the top of his head, he was pinned between the roof and the crushed in seat. She couldn't tell if he was even breathing at this point.
"Tony." She called to him, and went to reach for him when an ache in her side forced her to stop. The other EMTs noticed she was awake and peered through the rear window at her.
"Don't try to move, we are getting the jaws of life in here to get you two out." He assured her. She half wondered how many there were around here.
--
Happy watched from the sidelines as the one EMT was stitching up his forehead. The car was completely demolished, especially after the jaws of life tool got to it. Pepper was the first one to be pulled out. She was put into a stretcher and moved to the back of the ambulence where Happy was currently sitting. She was awake.
"Hey." He greeted her with a weak smile.
"Hey." They had a mutual bond with each other, a good friendship with the underlining fact that they both worked for Mr. Stark.
"Have they got Tony out yet?" She asked him, her voice filled with concern. Happy looked up as they were still prying the car apart to get to the last man in the car. He shook his head a little.
"We need to get going." The one EMT spoke up, the one who was examining the injuries on Pepper.
"I want to wait until I know Mr. Stark is out of the car." Pepper protested.
"Miss, You have injuries that require immediate attention. I assure you that your friend will be in the next ambulence and not far behind you." The EMT replied.
"I'll stay." Happy spoke up. Pepper looked to him and smiled a little bit.
"Sir, We are fairly certain you have a concussion, a doctor needs to look at you too." The second EMT protested.
"And they will, I'll just be on the second ambulence." Happy asserted as he slipped off the back of the ambulence and staggered over to the ambulence that was on the other side of the wreckage. The EMTs didn't follow him, and simply closed the door and left him to the other two EMTs that were working on getting Mr. Stark out.
This was the first time that Happy had gotten a good look at the surroundings. It was dark by this time, he didn't know what time it was but the moon was high in the sky and the night skies engulped the area surrounding. There was smoke coming from top of the hill, probably from the other car. There were at least two more ambulences there, four cop cars, and a fire truck. All their lights flickering and lighting up the area around.
As he made his way over to the ambulence a stretcher with his boss appeared from the car. He looked nearly unrecognizable. His hair disaray, a large gash on his face stretching from his hairline on the right side diagonally down across his nose to his jaw on the left side. He also had a deep gash on the left side of his throat, his right arm was clearly broken. The expensive suit he was wearing had been reduced to rags, as there were several cuts everywhere on him. Blood covered his once white shirt and there were a few dark marks on his pants and suit coat, assumed to be blood as well.
The EMTs wasted no time in placing a neck brace on him and loading him into the back of the second ambulence. Happy climbed in and they were off. The driver and one of Tony's closest friends next to Pepper and James Rhodes watched with sadness as they intubated his boss and put him on a ventilator. They tore the remainder of his shirt up and gapped at the arc reactor shining a blue light at them.
"It's an expensive pace maker." Happy told them, not knowing the full details surrounding it, aside from what Pepper had told him. That it was there to keep his heart safe. Happy knew there was more to it, but didn't pry. He was just the driver/bodyguard anyhow.
--
He saw the aftermath of the wreckage on the nightly news, smiling to himself. There was no way the great Tony Stark could survive that. The black bentley was crushed into an oblivion. He swung a fist upwards in victory. With the Ironman out of his way he could do whatever he pleased.
Just like he had thought, Ironman was nothing without his precious suit.
TBC - Tell me whatcha think please?