Pepper was gone. Tony had fought her captors the moment they came and took her, but they got her anyway. He nonstop searched, and he was now laying on his back in his suit in the snow. He stared up at the sky which was leaking small snowflakes, and then he finally took off his faceplate before it just fell off on its own. His face was covered in blood from a cut on his cheek near his nose. The arc reactor was flickering. The suit was out of power. Pepper was gone. Tony let out a strangled sound, the pain was unbearable, no words could describe it. His body was beaten up, but that was not the source of his pain. The one thing he truely loved in life was gone. Pepper. If there was no Pepper Potts, he decided there would be no Tony Stark. No Iron Man. He couldn't live with the pain of her being gone. With knowing that he could have kept her safe if not for his drunkin state at the time. Post tramatic stress disorder. PTSD. Thats what he earned from being an Avenger. He couldn't sleep, and when he did, he had nightmares. He woke up screaming. And Pepper would comfort him. Keyword: would. She was gone. Tony Stark was not clingy. But when your father treats you like nothing your whole childhood, your parents die before you're fully an adult, you get held captive for three months, a family friend tries to kill you, you almost die from the thing keeping you alive, and you end up with PTSD from flying into space through some magic portal after fighting aliens, this could seem like the last straw. Pepper stood by his side from day one. Yes they had their ups and downs, their arguments and flirty moments, but she had always been there for him. And now she was the last thing on his mind as he lost conciousness. Deja Vu.
Someone was shaking him. Was he in Hell?
"Tony?" breathed a panicked voice. "Tony, come on. Wake up." Tony listened and opened his eyes, took in the red-white-and-blue figure leaning over him, and then closed his eyes tight again. Yupp. Hell.
"Thank God" breathed none other than Captain America. Steve tried to help Tony up, but Tony's thoughts from before he lost conciousness came back, hitting him like a truck.
"Pepper" he whispered. Steve had never heard Tony so broken, seen him so vulnerable.
"We're going to find her Tony. Just stay awake until we get you on the plane" said Steve, referring to the quinjett about twenty feet away. Tony let Steve help him to his feet and over to the quinjet, all the while he just stared blankly. Why was he still awake.
"Get the suit off him" commanded Steve as he helped Tony lay down. Apparently Steve wasn't the only one trying to help. But Tony didn't care who else was there, he just wanted to be unconcious. And Tony Stark always got what he wanted.
Tony awoke, yet again, feeling slightly more alive than before. He quickly realized what was different. There was a different arc reactor in his chest. He sat up, realizing he wasn't in his suit anymore either. He looked around the empty room, realizing where he was as he took in the emblem on the door. He was in a SHIELD base.
"What the hell" he groaned, standing up and walking over to the door. He went through the door and down a hallway, which led him straight to a room with a large table and plenty of chairs filled by framiliar people. He stopped when he entered the room, all pairs of eyes turned to him.
"Damn" he heard Clint Barton whisper in shock.
"You're up" stated Director Nick Fury. "Take a seat." Tony didn't respond with a sarcastic response as he usually would, he just did as he was told and took a seat silently. The Avengers weren't used to seeing Tony like this.
"Your reactor stopped working. I put in a different one that you left here durring New York" stated Natasha, breaking the silence.
"I noticed" Tony replied simply.
"We've been trying to track down Pepper, and so far-"
"I don't want your help" Tony said, interupting Bruce Banner.
"But Tony" started Steve.
"Especially you" snapped Tony, with a bit of aggression. "Ive had enough of Captain America. Do you think I enjoyed my father being all over you when I was a kid? Do you think I enjoyed the fact that my father didn't want anything to do with me?" he continued, remembering his life growing up. Howard Stark had become obsessed with this super soldier, and had completely forgotten about his own son. Even when Rodgers was believed to be dead, frozen at the bottom of the ocean, his father still never told Tony 'I love you'. Not even, 'I like you'. There Tony was, earning degrees and making breakthroughs no teenagers, and most adults, would ever be able to acomplish, and his father was still obsession over Captain America.
"Tony-" started Steve, but was then interupted by Tony.
"Im done Rodgers" said Tony sharply. He stood and walked out of the room, muttering, "they should have left you in the ocean" before walking out and down the hallway, back to the room he had regained conciousness in. His suit was in pieces in the corner, someone probably had found the emergency dismantle button on the inner thigh. Probably Natasha or Bruce. Hopefully Natasha, taking the location into account. He took his cell phone out of his pocket, and turned it on. How did that little piece of shit stay intact when everything else around him was destroyed?
"Jarvis, you there?" Tony spoke into his phone. Jarvis was installed in almost any electronic Tony had, including his cell phone.
"For you Sir, always" the AI responded.
"Call Happy. Have him arrange a jet to come pick me up. I wanna go home."
"As you wish Sir." Tony walked over to his suit and spread all the pieces out on the floor. He treated it as a puzzle, putting all the pieces in the correct spot. At somepoint Bruce had walked in the room and sat down on the small bed. Tony had noticed him enter, but didn't acknowledge him. After a while of watching Tony piece the broken suit together, Bruce finally spoke gently.
"Tony. Talk to me."
"Theres nothing to talk about" Tony replied, still not looking at Bruce.
"Theres plenty to talk about." They both fell silent for a moment. Bruce was patient. Tony finally gave in with a sigh.
"I have PTSD from the whole fiasco in New York" he started, and Bruce just nodded encouraging Tony to continue.
"My dad was a founding member of SHIELD. He helped create the super soldier serum. He helped turn Rodgers into what he is. He lost interest in me. Ive been through too much shit. I could have kept Pepper safe. But I was drunk. And now the one important thing in my life is gone." As he was saying all this out loud, he realized something. If he didn't want to live without Pepper, the shrapnol in his chest could help him out. Tony turned away from Bruce and looked at his suit fir a moment, before reaching up his shirt and taking the arc reactor out of his chest.
"Tony!" exclaimed Bruce, who ran over and knelt down, twisting the arc reactor back into place. "We need you. Pepper needs you. You don't need to do that."
"Help me track down Pepper" said Tony. "Just you. And then Ill go home, get my suit, and fly out to get her."
"Alright" Bruce agreed.
Bruce had gone back to the meeting with the rest of the Avengers after talking to Tony. He explained that Tony had PTSD and was going through some stuff, not getting into details. He informed them that Tony didn't want all the Avengers to help. Fury agreed to let Bruce alone help Tony find Pepper. He had also decided after Tony's outburst that the team needed some group bonding when Tony was back to his normal self.
Tony and Bruce now stood on oppsite sides of a small SHIELD lab, working on computers. They were close to finding Pepper. A computer in the center of the room started beeping, and Tony was infront of it immediatly. He just stared. Bruce came up behind him a moment later, and looked at the screen.
"We found her" Tony said, a small smile forming.
Tony had gone back to Malibu immediatly after finding Pepper. He didn't stay home long though. He suited up and flew out into the night, letting Jarvis take over the suit until they reached the coordinates Bruce had helped him discover. When he landed, he had immediatly started shooting at anything in sight, the only exception being Pepper. Tony didnt care who had taken Pepper anymore. He was pretty sure whoever it was had been killed by the time Tony entered a room and found Pepper.
"Tony" breathed Pepper in shock, eyes wide and hands covering her mouth. He walked over to her and embraced her.
"Im here. You're okay" he whispered, trying to sooth her. She wrapped her arms around his metal encased body. His lips met hers, and for a moment, everything seemed to be okay again.
Author's note: Hi guyss... So I was in a terrible mood when I started writing this. But Im okay now, Ive calmed down, just incase you're wondering. Haha. But I'm just gonna throw a disclaimer in here, I own nothing Marvel related! I hope you enjoyed this little oneshot! Thanks for everything!