Well, here's something I've been working on! I was going to wait to post this, but i had told myself that i had to have at least 5 chapters done before i posted it. So, today, I MET that goal! 5 CHAPTERS ALREADY! Aren't you happy! So, if it gets lots of positive reviews, I can post another chapter sooner! They aren't the longest, yet they aren't short. I know the second chapter is pretty long!

WARNING: first chapter is pretty boring, but it gets a WHOLE lot better... and in future chapters there IS some swearing... O.O I'm normally against them...but well, i couldn't find out words that fit better than the swear words...so be warned!

Disclaimer: IMAA is not mine. NOR will it ever be!

Once upon a time there was a fire. A great fire. The fire was said to have lasted for almost a whole twenty-four hours before the last flame died out. It took three fire trucks to put it out. The cause of the fire is still unknown. Some say it was because of a terrorist attack. Some say it was because of a malfunction in the kitchen. Others say it was because of some kind of lab experiment.

A total of 13 people were killed in the fire. 16 were injured.

The fire was at, none other than Tomorrow Academy.

The fire was sudden and gave little time for students to escape before the entire school was engulfed in flames. The origin of the fire is still unknown. Many crucial facts to the fire, are unknown.

You might know a few of the victims to the fire: Pepper Potts, was injured in the fire, receiving rather large scars on her left arm and leg from severe burns. Happy Hogan received burn scars on his back from rescuing Pepper Potts. Then James Rhodes received a concussion, a few burns, and near suffocation from searching for his friends.

You might be surprised to hear, but sadly, of the 13 people that were killed…Anthony Stark was one of them.

Not even a body was left behind.

Two years later

Pepper gazed at her left arm, unconsciously running her fingers over the scars that remained on her left arm. She thought of how she received them. That fire. Those flames. That day. That day where she lost him. She could hardly look at her arms and not think about that fire.

Even though the officials said he was gone, he was dead, she didn't believe them. She said, "No body, no proof." She wasn't about to accept that her best friend was dead. Rhodey even had his doubts. He said, "It is strange that there is no body." After all, the other twelve that got trapped in the fire still had bodies when they were found.

When they brought the matter to the genius's father, he'd even agreed that it was strange. Unless he'd been holding a flammable chemical, there should have been at least something left behind.

So, for the past two years, she and her friend searched high and low for their lost friend. Surly he'd have to be somewhere. Whether or not he wanted to be found or if he was actually still alive, they didn't care. They were set on finding their friend.

She flinched as the doorbell to her house rang, bringing her out of her thoughts. She stood up, letting her sleeve fall over her scar. She walked to the door to see who it was, since she wasn't expecting anybody.

She opened it to find Howard Stark standing at her doorstep, Rhodey not far behind. She raised an eyebrow as she invited the two inside.

"Howard, what are you doing here?" Pepper asked, honestly surprised. They hadn't really talked in a while. He was a busy man after all.

"I got Rhodey here, to show you guys something I found." Howard said holding up some papers. "Something that might lead you to the whereabouts of Tony."

Both she and Rhodey's eyes widened. So, he didn't know yet. "Really?"

"I think so." Howard said as Pepper led them to the dining room table.

"So what is it?" She asked as she took a seat next to Rhodey. Howard sat across from the two teens.

He unclipped the paper clip from the stack of papers and put the first two papers in front of them. Pepper noticed it was a short biography and a picture of a middle aged man. The two teens read through the paper, about the man.

Simon Greyson, a scientist who studied in the science of the supernatural. Anything that seemed out of the ordinary, he studied. Portals, different dimensions, time travel, ghosts, those types of things. He was about 35 years old, he had faded brown hair, grey eyes, and pale skin. In his early years he'd succeeded in making a hologram that could only record messages, but still, the first working hologram. In his attempt to make a portal to teleport humans to some place like work, or a different state, it failed and killed a man. In desperation, saying he'd fixed the problem he'd forcefully shoved a fellow scientist into the 'portal' and killed him. He'd been sentenced to five years in prison. Somehow, he managed to escape 1 year before he'd be released.

"So, you think he has something to do with Tony?" Rhodey asked.

"I think, he'd succeeded in making a portal and somehow teleported himself to the school and set the fire, to hide the kidnapping of Tony." Howard replied. "Then teleported himself and Tony back to his lab."

"Where's his lab?" Pepper asked.

"Minnesota." Howard said, simply as he passed some more papers towards.

"Minnesota?" Pepper and Rhodey both questioned, confusedly as they read the papers.

"Yes, he used to have a lab here in New York, but after he got arrested all his equipment was taken to a storage facility in Minnesota where his father lived, who was also a scientist."

"His father lived in a storage facility?" Pepper asked.

Howard chuckled. "No, he owns the storage facility."

"Kind of like Tony did." Pepper said, more instinctively than anything else, mentioning the armory Tony had before it blew up.

Howard looked down, a sad look in his eyes. "Yeah."

It got silent for a bit, but Howard then looked up a bit hopeful. "I thought, maybe you two would like to accompany me to go see the lab. I'm assuming, that's where Simon would run off to. Since all his studies were there and all."

Pepper couldn't help but smile. "You'd bring us with?"

"Well, I thought since you guys are so close to Tony, maybe if he was there, he'd want to see you guys as soon as possible."

Pepper smiled. "I'd love to go."

The next week

Howard, followed by Pepper and Rhodey, stepped into the hotel that they were staying in for the time being as they stayed in Minnesota. Since the storage facility, and house of the father, was closer to the capital of Minnesota, they stationed themselves in a hotel nearby.

"So, here we are." Howard said, switching on the lights.

The first thing Pepper did was drop her stuff of at one of the queen sized beds, and lay face first into one of the pillows. Rhodey sat on the same bed, his stuff by his feet. He sighed, relived to be off the plane.

"I think I need a nap." He said.

"Rest all you want, we won't do anything today." Howard said situating himself on the other bed

Pepper couldn't help but feel awkward. She'd just went on a trip to Minnesota with Howard Stark, who managed to clear his schedule for at least a whole two weeks. Who was the father of Tony Stark, the person she's been looking for, for years. Of course it was always awkward when it was someone else's parents that you would be staying with in a hotel. At least Rhodey was there.

Rhodey laid down next to where she was laying and she could have sworn she'd heard him snoring after only about 20 seconds. She hadn't realized just how tired she was until she heard him snoring peacefully next to her.

So, she closed her eyes to sleep.

…

She was awoken when it was time for dinner. They ordered room service and she and Rhodey shared a pizza while Howard got his own thing. After they ate, Pepper and Rhodey channel surfed on the TV for a while. That is until Pepper got bored.

"I know we came here for a whole different reason, but can I go to the pool?" Pepper asked Howard, since he was the adult.

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not stopping you, just be back before the pool closes."

Howard couldn't help but feel upset, because he remembered the times he went to hotels his wife and Tony. Tony always asked to go to the pool. So now, he looked at Pepper and he saw Tony. Even if he wanted to say no, he would definitely have a hard time saying no.

Pepper smiled and practically dragged Rhodey behind her as she grabbed hers and his swimsuit and ran out the door.

The following day

The next morning, they were situated in the rental car Howard got, and were heading to the storage facility.

Pepper, being the curious person she was, questioned Howard on what the plan was, because after all, storage facility's had locks and security and it wasn't like the father of Simon Greyson was going to let them in easy-peasy.

He replied, saying that he was going to question the man a bit while they waited out in the car. He hadn't really specified what the plan was, but Pepper had suspicions that Howard would either bribe or threaten with his political power. She giggled at the thought.

It wasn't a long drive, but the thoughts running around Peppers head, made the ride long. She was excited to see the end of this. She was finally going to see Tony after two long years. But she was worried about what they would find. Would he be in a good state, a bad state, or dead? Was he even there? Would he be traumatized by something? She didn't even notice that they had arrived at the home of the father.

Well, until she heard the door slam shut. She looked up to see Howard stepping out of the car. They were parked in at the side of a house that was painted an ugly shade of yellow that was on the corner of the block. It was pretty small, and there was a rather large garage in the back. There was a small garden by the fence that separated the two houses.

Before she could investigate the area further, she felt a burning sensation as it seemed like the world was spinning.

Then there was a flash.

Then Nothingness.

So, how'd it go? Was it any good? Do you want to see the other chapters!?

I've been sick for a while, as some of you know, and frankly I still am. I've been stuck on my bed all weekend and I had to suffer tasteless Dairy Queen T.T I couldn't taste the YUMMY treat! It sucked, especially since we only go to Dairy Queen on special occasions, and the ONE time my mom was craving Dairy Queen, i had to be too sick to taste it :'(

Fun Fact: I have a unhealthy attachment to one of my homes we moved away from. My dad used to live at this house near this really AWESOME park with bike trials, a waterfall, an ice cream shop, and hiking trails, that you could go to for free. There was many other awesome places there too! It's called Minnehaha Falls. Then we lived next to a light rail and a movie store. Sorry, now I'm rambling...just look up some pictures. the place is beautiful.

I hope you liked the story! It was fun to write and it's supposed to be pretty short, so I'm actually almost done with it so yay! Well, REVIEW and lots of love and I guess as some would say, Virtual cookies to all!