A/N: So I'm going to have the parts in with Tony in captivity so it can help with the time span and what's going on with Tony while Melody is dealing with his disappearance. I'm glad you guys like the first chapter and this one should be more interesting than the last because this is where all the action happens. Enjoy!

PS: Stan Lee shows up in this chapter even though he has another scene later in the movie. Just look for "little old man in glasses" :)

The blinds to Melody's room opened, and Jarvis's voice began talking as Melody rolled over, trying to put a pillow on the back of her head. "Good morning, Miss. Barnes. It's seven in the morning." Melody kicked her feet at how early it was. "The weather today should be humid with rain expected in the late afternoon hours and all through the night."

"Why am I getting up this early?" She asked in a muffled voice from her head buried in the bed.

"Well," Jarvis began in a careful voice. "It's your birthday, Miss. Barnes, and you reminded me to wake you for your day with Mr. Barton."

"Mr. Barton." She mumbled into the bed as she felt herself falling back to sleep.

"Miss. Barnes?"

Melody popped her head up from the bed to keep from fully falling back to sleep. "I'm up!" She called. "Is Pepper still here?"

"Miss. Potts has not yet awakened."

"Damn." Melody mumbled, thinking about Pepper and her drunkenness from last night. "The girl can sleep when she has a hangover."

"I concur, Miss. Barnes."

Melody smiled at Jarvis. Yes, he was just a voice that ran the house, but he felt like a real person to her. He was a part of the family even if he didn't have feelings. "Get a note ready for Pepper and tell her that I'm with Clint." Melody began to think as she stretched out of the bed and went to her closet. "Actually, call Clint. I need to talk to him about our plans for today."

"Calling Clint Barton."

She could hear the ringing in her room as she went through her clothes, trying to figure out what she wanted to wear. "Hey." She heard Clint say through the phone.

"Hey. So, it's supposed to rain tonight."

There was a pause until Clint said, "Crap."

"Yeah." She breathed out, upset with the weather herself. "So I was thinking we change our birthday night activities into birthday day activities, we have lunch and then we go to my place to study."

"Sounds good." He spoke. "I'm actually surprised you fixed the plans so easily."

She made a little pouting face. "I thought I was a genius."

"Trust me, you are."

She smiled at his words and sighed, wanting to see him already. "I'll meet you at the pier."

"Yeah."

The call disconnected as Melody tore through her closet, trying to figure out what to wear. Since their time had changed from night to day, she couldn't wear the dress Tony had got her which was waiting downstairs in the dryer. It was more evening wear. This was going to be a day at the beach. She wanted to impress Clint. She sighed as she wished Tony was there. He always helped her with outfits and told her what looked good on her and what didn't, and when she had those days when she didn't know what to wear, he would pick something that would look great on her. She sighed as she went back to her bed and threw herself down on it knowing this was going to be one of those days. "Miss. Barnes, I suggest you get out of the bed. You know you have a tendency to fall back asleep." This was going to be a long day for Melody Barnes.

Tony stood in front of the soldiers with his new weapon ready behind him to shoot off. They all waited in anticipation, but Tony didn't care much about it. Right now because of this stupid demonstration, he was missing Melody's birthday. The demonstration didn't matter to him, but he was going to have fun with it. "Is it better to be feared or respected? Well I say: is it too much to ask for both? With that in mind I humbly present the crowned jewel of Stark Industries' Freedom Line. It's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary Repulsor Technology. They say the best weapon is one that you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree!" Rhodey rolled his eyes a little with a smile at the fact that even at a weapon's demonstration in front of all these people, he didn't act any more professional than the way he already acts. "I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once. That's how Dad did it, that's how America does it and it's worked out pretty well so far. Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain, and I personally guarantee you the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves."

He looked to the person operating the machine, giving them the signal to press the needed button. The missile began to move, aiming for the mountains far enough away from them. As the missile shot off, everyone watched except for Tony who didn't even bother turning around for it. "For your consideration," He started off dramatically. "The Jericho."

Right when the missiles landed, a booming sound bounced off the mountains and came back to them in a roar as Tony lifted up his hands, enjoying the look of being impressed on all of their faces. The wind picked up from the explosion causing Tony to stumble forward followed by everyone's applause.

The demonstration was followed by a drink, a call from Obadiah and Tony being rude to Rhodey as he got into the vehicle to escort him back to the airbase. As they drove back, Tony pulled out his phone, knowing it was Melody's birthday in Malibu. He knew she was probably doing a lot for the day, but he had to call her. It was her birthday.

He pulled out his phone and dialed her number as everyone else in the car was completely silent which made Tony slightly uncomfortable. "Hey, this is Mel. Leave a message after the beep." He smiled at the way she imitated a beep at the end of the message. "Happy birthday!" He told her excitedly. "Twenty-two!" He exclaimed. "Damn you're old." The young soldier next to him cracked a smile which made Tony slap a hand on his back. "Oh my gosh. I cracked the silent soldier." He said into the phone. "Anyways, I hope you have fun with Pepper and Obi and Happy and your little boyfriend if you're even hanging out with him today." He gave himself a sad smile, still upset that he was missing her birthday, but knew she understood why. "Love you, Melly. I'll be home soon. Promise."

As he hung up the phone, he looked over to the young soldier next to him who was no longer smiling, but looking at him without trying to look at him in wonderment. Tony sighed as he looked to the front of the vehicle. "I feel like you're driving me to a court martial. This is crazy. What did I do? I feel like you're gonna pull over and snuff me. What? You're not allowed to talk?" He looked over to the soldier next to him, rolling his eyes at their silence. "Hey, Forrest."

"We can talk, sir." He stuttered out nervously.

"Oh." Tony responded casually. "I see. So it's personal."

"No." The woman up front who was driving told him. "You intimidate them."

"Good god!" Tony exclaimed, not realizing. "You're a woman. I honestly couldn't have called that. I apologize," He began, realizing how she could take offense to that statement. "But isn't that what we're going for out here? I thought of you as a soldier first."

"I'm an airman." She corrected.

"Well, you have excellent bone structure there. I'm kind of…having a hard time not looking at you now. Is that weird?" Everyone laughed which eased Tony down. It didn't feel as formal anymore. "Come on, it's okay. Laugh. Hey!"

The young soldier at the front of the car looked back to him with a curious stare. "Sir, I do have a question to ask you."

Tony nodded at him eagerly. "Yes, please."

"Is it true you went twelve for twelve with last year's Maxim cover models?" The woman looked over at him, giving him a stare with a smile like it didn't surprise her that he had asked that question.

"That is an excellent question." Tony said before sipping his drink. "Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately the Christmas cover was twins." They all smiled as Tony looked around at the rest of them. "Anything else?" The young soldier next to him gave him a slight raise of the hand, causing Tony to look at him like he couldn't even believe him. "You're kidding me with the hand up, right?"

"Is it cool if I take a picture with you?"

Tony gave him a slight smile and then a nod. "Yes. It's very cool." He pulled out his camera excitedly and gave it to the other soldier in the passenger's seat. "I don't want to see this on your MySpace page." Tony told him jokingly. The man pulled out his hand into a peace sign as Tony shook his head. "Please, no gang signs." The man shyly put his hand back down, thinking he was serious, causing Tony to throw his hand in the air. "I'm kidding." The man put his hand sign back up with a bright smile.

The two men began arguing about the camera as Tony waited for the picture when the car in front of them was blown up. Tony had to blink a couple of times, not being able to fathom what he just saw. "What's going on?" He asked nervously, hoping it was just nothing. Hoping it was some malfunction. The woman jumped out of the car, to be shot down instantly. The man in front instructed the man to stay with Tony for his protection as Tony continued to look around with the same panicked expression. His heart was pounding in his chest as the man pushed his head down.

Tony looked up just in time to see the man in front of the car get shot, sending him up from shock. He had never witnessed someone die before, let alone get shot. The man who was sitting in the back of the car with him got out to quickly get shot, leaving Tony completely alone and defenseless. He had no idea what to do, but he knew he had to get out of there.

He hurried out of the car as his breath quickened from his level of fear and his heart felt like it was going to jump out of his chest. He dove behind a rock and pulled out his phone, beginning to find Rhodey's number, being the only one who could help him in that situation when a Stark Industries missile landed right next to him. His eyes widened as he tried to get up to run away from it, but it was too late. The missile blew, sending him flying back onto the sand. Tony felt unbelievable pain spread through all his body and when he looked down at his shirt, he saw blood was already seeping through.

Melody pulled into a parking spot at the beach. It was fortunately still light out when they got there, no signs of bad weather any time soon. She smiled to herself as her phone began ringing. She rummaged through her tote bag to see that it was Tony calling. She knew it was to wish her a happy birthday, but she didn't want to get wrapped up into a long conversation when she had to meet Clint. With a sigh, she turned off her phone, put it back in her bag and then got out of the car.

She made her way to the pier to see Clint looking out at the ocean with his sunglasses on. He looked at the sun on the horizon, thinking about what to do. As her shadow agent, he was supposed to get close to Melody. Really close. But this was getting too close. He had never gotten this close to an assignment before. He didn't want to lead her on considering once he had gotten what he needed from her he had to leave her and now he didn't want to leave her.

Melody leaned on the pier right next to him, their arms touching. She looked to him, but he was still looking out at the ocean, trying to think of something to scare her away. Anything. "What are you thinking about?" She asked him, noticing just how quiet and how focused his stare was.

"You." He answered blandly. He hated lying to her, but knew he had to. He turned to her with a smile. "Just how we're going to make your birthday special."

She smiled at him as she bumped her hip into his. He gave her a warm smile, making her heart melt. "Not a lot of people are at the beach." She told him, still taken away with the feelings she had for him, staring at him the way she hadn't stared at anyone before him. "With the rain later today and all."

He smiled at her, moving away from the wood he was leaning on, taking her by the hand. "Then let's get to the beach. I can teach you how to surf."

Melody broke away from his hand with a worried look on her face. "Are you sure? Sharks go after surfers."

He rolled his eyes at her and grabbed her hand, dragging her off the pier. "You'll be fine."

They had rented surf boards from a local surf shop and after a few hours, Melody finally got the hang of surfing. She was still bad, but she wasn't a total train wreck like she was in the beginning of the day. Clint didn't mind it though. He had even more fun with the fact that she didn't know how to surf. That's when he noticed just how much of the Stark genes were in her. He saw her drive and her desire to master everything she ever learned.

They stopped and got lunch where he thought it would be the best time for the birthday present he had gotten her. He reached into the backpack he had and pulled out a jewelry box. "What is that?" Melody asked him as she held her shrimp po' boy in her hand.

"Your birthday present." He told her as he slid it across the table to her.

She looked to him with an annoyed smile as she put her sandwich back down on her plate and wiped her hands with a napkin. "I told you not to get me anything."

"I know what you told me." He told her with a wide smile.

She rolled her eyes with the smile still on her face as she picked up the box, noticing that it was from her favorite local store. She pulled the top off the box to see a bangle bracelet resting inside. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of it. There was a Captain America shield on the front of it. She looked up at him with a smile as she took it out of the box. "Oh my gosh." She began to put it on her wrist and then admired the look of it. "This is amazing! I love it!"

She looked up at him, noticing Clint was smiling at how much she loved the bracelet. She leaned across the table, kissing him on the cheek to show her affection in some way. She noticed that he was blushing which made her smile grow even more. He was tough on the outside, but was honestly a huge teddy bear. "I remembered you telling me something about how your family was connected to Captain America and I thought you would like it." He explained like it was no big deal.

"You, Clint Barton, are amazing." She couldn't take her eyes off the bracelet. She truly did love it. When she looked up at him, he was slyly handing the waitress his credit card to pay for the meal. "Hey!" She yelled at him while hitting his arm as the waitress walked off.

"Ow!" He grabbed his arm and stared at her with a smile.

"What the hell was that?"

"You don't pay for anything on your birthday." He told her obviously. "That's like a rule that's set in stone for the backbone of our society." She rolled her eyes at his excuse and crossed her arms at him. "Pouting isn't a good look on you." She stuck her tongue out at him which he did back to her causing a bubbly laugh to rise out of her throat and drift off, filling the restaurant with a melodious sound making Clint panic even more about what to do about this entire situation.

Tony didn't remember exactly what had happened to him, but he remembered that he was screaming in pain. When he finally woke up, he found he was strapped to a rickety bed in a dark room. He looked over to a small table where there was a canteen of water. He coughed out, realizing how thirsty he actually was. He reached out for it, but then saw a man not far from him, shaving his face. He turned over trying to get the canteen when the man finally spoke. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Tony's eyebrows furrowed, but then he looked behind him to see what was tying him to the bed were wires connected to something in his chest. His heart raced in fear as he began to tear his shirt to see what they had done to him. From what he could tell, there was something metal right in the middle of his chest, connected to wires, making it go. He had no idea what was happening to him, causing his breath to quicken from the fear.

Melody and Clint didn't know how long they were holding hands, but they were walking down the pier as the sky got an even darker shade of grey giving more and more people the want to leave. They continued to talk about everything and nothing, just enjoying each other's company.

There was something Melody loved about today. She assumed it was the lack of people, giving them a chance to be pretty much alone. They were laughing when something only a few feet from them caught Melody's eye causing her to gasp at it. "Photo booth!" She shouted excitedly. "We have to!" He smiled as she pulled him by the arm to the photo booth. Laughing at her simple excitement.

She got in first, pulling him close to her and pressing the button to get the machine going. "What are we doing first?" Clint asked her.

"Um," She thought as the countdown had gotten to two. "Normal."

He put his arm around her quickly as they both smiled and Melody leaning into him without realizing it. When they were done with that picture, he yelled out, "Monster picture!"

She immediately barred her teeth and put her hand out as a claw. Clint imitated her just as the camera flashed. "Two left." She warned. Clint put his lips to her cheek as she made a shocked face, putting her index finger to her other cheek. When the camera flashed, she turned to him and in that moment, he leaned forward and kissed her. Melody was shocked, but Clint pulled away before she could do anything about it. He looked at her, shocked with himself and the countdown was on five. "I'm sorry." He told her quickly.

"No." She told him as she started shaking her head. "Don't be." They both leaned into each other before she pulled him in for another kiss just as the camera flashed. Their photos were done, but they kept kissing like their lives depended on it. Melody was now climbing on top of him as he ran his hands up her soft, golden thighs.

They both had no idea what came over them. Clint never wanted this for her. He never wanted her to fall in love with him, knowing what it would mean when she found out that he was a SHIELD agent even if she didn't know about the government agency yet. Melody had never felt this way about anyone before. She had boyfriends before, but she had never felt such deep feelings and so quickly before.

"Hey." They pulled apart to see a little old man with glasses watching them with the curtain pulled back. "Take your make out session somewhere else so other people can take pictures."

The two laughed into each other before Melody climbed off of him and got out of the photo booth, followed by Clint. "Sorry." He apologized with a wave before the man got into the phone booth with a young girl.

Melody moved into Clint's ear. "You think they're gonna make out in there?"

Clint put his arm around her shoulders, leading her away. "Shut up."

Melody then pulled away from him with the excited face of an idea. "You want to see the best place in Malibu?"

Tony had a hand held mirror in front of him, studying what was resting in his chest as the man in the room with him was making some type of food. "What the hell did you do to me?" Tony asked in almost an angry voice.

"What I did?" He asked as if he was slightly offended. "What I did to save your life?" Tony looked back to the mirror, studying the thing in his chest even more. "I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there's a lot there and it's headed into your atrial septum." Tony shut his eyes, knowing how bad that was. Knowing he would probably never keep the promise of him being home soon. "Here. What to see?" Tony looked up as the man pulled out a container with the shrapnel in it. "A souvenir. Take a look." He handed the container to Tony who just studied it blankly. "I've seen many wounds like that in my village. They call them the walking dead. Because it takes about a week to reach a vital organ."

"What is this?" He finally looked back at the man who had now stopped stirring the food to look at Tony.

"That is an electromagnet hooked up to a car battery and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart." Tony self-consciously zipped up the jacket that was on him, hating the way the thing looked in his chest. He then noticed there was a camera hanging up on the ceiling, watching his every move. "That's right." The man said, taking away the attention he had on the camera and back to the man. "Smile."

Tony looked down, only wanting to be home. Only wanting to be with Melody, Pepper, Happy, Rhodey and Obadiah. They were his family and he wanted them more than anything in this moment. "I met you once before." Tony looked back up at the man, only wanting to be let go. To go home. To forget about all of this. "At a technical conference in Bern."

"I don't remember." He whispered blandly.

The man chuckled. "No, you wouldn't. If I had been that drunk I wouldn't have been able to stand let alone give a lecture on integrated circuits."

As he spoke, Tony was looking around, not having one clue about where they could be, but it kind of looked like a cave. "Where are we?"

There were noises from some type of door, alerting Tony and obviously the man. The man at the door was speaking in some foreign language. "Come on," The man in the room with him told him in a hushed whisper. "Stand up!" Tony stood up without question. "Do as I do." He whispered before the door opened. "Hands up."

Tony put his hands behind his head, doing the same as the man when he noticed there were more men coming into the room with guns. His guns. "Those are my guns. How did they get my guns?"

"Do you understand me?" He hissed. "Do as I do."

The man began talking, but the only word Tony could make out was his own name. After he was done talking, the man who was in the room with him began translating for him. "He says, welcome Tony Stark. The most famous mass murderer in the history of America."

The man talked again and he translated again. "He's honored."

"He wants you to build the missile." Tony's eyes widened now realizing why he was really taken. "The Jericho missile that you demonstrated." He then handed him some piece of paper which he showed to Tony. "This one."

It was the same missile from the weapons demonstration. Tony looked at the man standing in front of him. He was big and had a short beard. He knew this man was some type of terrorist and even though he would love to get back home quickly, he also had no desire to help these terrorists and knew that was something Melody would understand. "I refuse."

Melody was dragging Clint to a gated golf course as the sky was getting a darker grey from the threatening storm. Melody threw her bag over the fence. "Mel," Clint began in a panicked tone. "What are you doing?"

"Trust me." She called over her shoulder as she began to climb the gate.

She made it over and looked to him pointing her finger seductively at him and curling it. "The things I do for you." He commented before climbing over the gate and following her.

"Okay," She started as they began walking. "I used to come here a lot when I was a teenager when it was closed because of how peaceful it is."

Clint's eyebrows furrowed. "You came to a golf course?"

She shrugged. "I kind of just accidentally stumbled on it and I've loved it ever since."

She got down on the grass, crossing her legs and Clint joined her. "So what do you do here?"

She laid down at the grass as Clint looked back at her. He had never seen her like this. She looked so peaceful and content. Relaxed beyond belief, and he laid down on the grass next to her, not able to take his eyes off of her. "I just look at the sky." The clouds were getting to a dark grey, just threatening for the rain to fall with every minute that passed. "I like to go here to think." She turned to look at him with a slight smile, not expecting him to be staring at her the way he was. "It's kind of relaxing, isn't it?"

"Yeah." His voice filled with the same wonderment on his face.

Melody then shook her head, wanting to get everything cleared up right here and now. "What are we?"

He smiled at her. "We're two people who really like each other and deserve to be together."

"So…you're my…boyfriend?"

Clint nodded, his smile growing even wider. "Yeah. I guess I am. If you want me to be."

She bit her lip while nodding. "I would like that very much."

He leaned forward, taking his time to be close to her and once they were only centimeters away from each other, he kissed her slow and passionately. Melody felt a small rain drop on her cheek, but she didn't care one bit. She wanted to stay in this moment forever. It made her heart pound and the new born butterflies in her stomach felt like they were going to burst. But with one rain drop comes ten and then a hundred and then quickly a thousand.

Clint pulled away once he realized they were getting soaked as the rain which threatened them all day finally fell. "We should get out of here." He laughed out while helping her up.

"Hurry!" She called out as they began to run to the gate they jumped over, their hands held tightly despite the rain running down their arms and into their hands.

The terrorists took Tony and began dunking his head in water and then pulling it back out. This went on for at least ten minutes until they got tired of it, put a sack on his head and dragged him outside. When they removed the sack from his head, he was almost blinded by the sunlight he hadn't seen in what felt like years. He was holding onto the car battery that was giving him life as he looked around and followed the men. It had to be some kind of base of operations or a compound. When he looked around, he noticed that all their weapons were Stark Industries' weapons. He was placed in front of the terrorist who told him to make the Jericho missile and the man he had awoken to in the room. "He wants to know what you think." He translated once the man began talking.

"You've got a lot of my weapons." Tony said as he kept looking around at the place.

"He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile. He wants you to make a list of materials." The man began talking again and even though he was translating for him, Tony couldn't take his eyes off the terrorist, making sure to watch his every move. "He says for you to start working immediately and when you're done he'll set you free."

Tony leaned forward with a smile on his face, shaking the terrorist's hand, knowing the promise was bullshit. "No he won't

The man nodded while looking at the terrorist trying to make his fake smile as convincing as Tony's. "No he won't."

Melody and Clint ran into Melody's house still soaking wet from the rain that was still falling. She let out a bubbly laugh as he shut the door after her, locking it and leaning up against it. Clint grabbed her waist, pulling her closer to him. "That was fun." He told her as she put her hands on his chest, looking up into his bright blue eyes.

"That was really fun." She whispered back as he leaned in for another kiss.

Right when their lips touched, they heard Pepper call out, "Melody?" Melody closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "Is that you?"

"Yeah." She called back, leaning away from Clint.

"Can you come into the kitchen, please? I need to talk to you about something really important."

Melody's eyebrows furrowed from the sound of her voice. She sounded nervous and afraid, and Melody had no idea why. She grabbed Clint's hand and followed her into the kitchen where Pepper, Obadiah, Rhodey and Happy were standing by the counter. "Clint." Pepper tried to say in a cheery tone, but didn't come out too cheery. "It's so nice to see you again, but I really need to talk to Melody alone."

Melody looked over to Clint and then shook her head as she turned back to Pepper. "I feel safer with Clint here." Melody answered honestly, moving closer to him, afraid of what they were going to say. Pepper let out a big breath and then nodded. "What's going on?" She asked with a now nervous voice.

"Melody," Rhodey began, moving closer to her.

She then looked around, realizing something was missing. "If you're back then Tony should be here. Where is he? Is he down in the workshop?"

She moved away from Clint to go towards the workshop, but Rhodey caught her arm. "No, Mel. Tony isn't down in the workshop."

Melody felt her heart began to pound. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew that it was making her really nervous. "Then where is he?" She asked him impatiently.

"He's…missing, Mel."

Melody felt her heart in the ground in that moment. She didn't even really know how to process those words. They were so foreign to her. Tony couldn't be missing. He was the only person who was always there. The one person who had always been there and now he was gone too. Now he wasn't the only person who had always been there. "I know," Pepper began as she walked forward. "That this is very hard to comprehend-"

"Find him." She said simply as she looked over to Rhodey.

"Melody," Obadiah began like what she was saying was ridiculous.

"No." She said turning her head to him. "He's missing so all you have to do is find him."

"He could be anywhere in Afghanistan by now." Obadiah told her, trying to reason with her. Trying to get her off his back.

"I don't care!" She yelled. "He's missing. Not dead. Find him. I don't understand why this is so hard for all of you to process." She turned to look at Rhodey. "What the hell are you even doing here then? He's missing. Find him. Why did you waste the time you could have spent looking for him coming here when you could have easily told us on the phone?" Melody's breath was quick, feeling a panic attack beginning to settle in her chest.

"Melody," Rhodey told her calmly. "You're my family. I would never tell you something like that over the phone."

"Well that's exactly what I want." She bit back. She knew she was being a brat, but she didn't know how to react to this news. This was her uncle. The one person who was there for her after everything bad had happened. "I want him found."

"And I will search all of that country until he is found." Rhodey promised her as he put his hands on her shoulders. "Okay?" She nodded with tears beginning to fall out of her eyes. "Come here, Melly." He pulled her in for a tight hug as she cried into his shoulder.

Clint watched her, feeling so sympathetic. He wanted to take away all that pain somehow if that was even possible. He also felt this sense of guilt though, knowing that he would have to report this in. He was her shadow agent. It was his job to report in everything that happened to her and this was something major. He had to. He didn't want to, but he had to.

A/N: I probably won't be able to update in the next few days so sorry about that, but I hope you all liked this chapter. Next one will be pretty emotional with Melody trying to deal with everything happening. Thanks for reading!