Early the next morning Tony, Pepper and Happy Hogan settled on a partially crowded plane ready for take off. Tony stared out the window with a half-full glass of scotch clutched in his right hand while his left hand rested a little too close to Pepper's elbow.
Pepper sighed as she once again wondered how she allowed Tony to get her to sit directly next to him when she, Tony and Happy were the only ones in first class. She shook her head slowly for the umpteenth time, unaware that Tony was watching her from behind his purple tinted sunglasses with an amused expression on his handsome face.
He leaned forward, dangerously close, looking extremely smug. "Uncomfortable, Ms. Potts?"
Pepper nearly jumped out of her skin when the velvety smooth voice spoke near her ear, the full pink lips expelling warm air against it. The tiniest of peach fuzz hair on her now extremely pink ears tingled at the sensation.
Schooling herself quickly, she half-turned to face her employer with a smile and claimed, "Not at all, Mr. Stark."
Tony arched an eyebrow and puckered his lips, completely amused still. Instead of replying, like Pepper expected him too, he shrugged and resumed staring out the oval window. Pepper sat back and pondered over what just happened as the captain came over the PA system.
"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking-"
"No shit," Tony murmured to himself, causing Pepper's lips to quirk up once again.
"And," the captain cleared his throat, a disgusting sound that grated on Pepper's nerves, "Barring any unforeseen issues, we should have a relatively safe and enjoyable flight."
Happy grunted from where he sat alone, the far right side of the plane, his nose buried in a magazine. Pepper noticed that he too had sunglasses on. Suddenly her head snapped up as the captain's words finally dawned on her. She choked on a mixture of laughter and a scoff as she spluttered, "'Barring any unforeseen issues, we should have a good flight?'"
Without turning to face her, Tony chuckled softly in agreement. It was quiet once more, save for the clashing of ice against glass every few minutes.
Pepper cast Tony an odd look. He was acting slightly lethargic, and wasn't making jokes and commenting on nearly everything like he would have before. Pepper inhaled sharply, glad that neither Tony or Happy heard it. Afghanistan. Gradually Pepper began recalling all the minor changes, or major depending on how you looked at Tony Stark's life.
The women? Null and void, the pompous Christine Everhart the last to "grace" Tony's satin-sheet covered mattress.
The gambling? No longer existent since the only thing on Tony Stark's mind was his new devotion...the Iron Man suit. However, Pepper wasn't so sure she was entirely too happy that Tony was completely immersed in something so dangerous...but then again, that was how Tony was.
The alcohol...Pepper listened to the glass-against-ice sound that Tony controlled. Well, the alcohol was much less often downed in the past few month, but it was still there.
Tony himself? Well he was the same handsome, intelligent, driven man as before...with a new purpose in life that Pepper also continuously questioned. She couldn't help but be proud for Tony, it was hard not to be. But she also couldn't help the brain-fogging, jaw-clenching, stomach-dropping fear that overwhelmed her every time he took off in his suit on a new mission.
Pepper's felt her face warm up with embarrassment when she felt Tony's eyes on her, she turned to see him watching her curiously. He took off his sunglasses and hooked them on the neck of his shirt before turning to face her once more. "What are you thinking?"
The red-headed woman turned her precious Blackberry in her hands repeatedly, unwilling to tell her boss that she was thinking about him. Tony's head dipped forward, as if he was urging her on. He bit his bottom lip and cocked an eyebrow, "Is it that bad?"
Pepper shook her head. "No, it's just," she grinned, "None of your business." She could get away with saying things like that every once in a while with Tony Stark.
Tony nodded appreciatively. "Touché, Ms. Potts."
"Thank you, Mr. Stark."
Tony opened his mouth to chastised her for not calling her Tony, although he had called her Ms. Potts first. Before he, or anyone else in close proximity could utter a word, the plane shook violently.
A loud curse cut through the air as the lights overhead blinked then blacked out, and Tony could faintly hear protests and whimpers of fear from the other parts of the plane. He reached to unbuckle his seat belt, but a milky-white hand stopped him. He looked up to meet Pepper's eyes, and could barely see her shaking her head.
"I want to know what's going on," he stated, although he made no move.
"I'll go, sir," Happy offered, making a move to unbuckle his own seatbelt in the dark.
Tony shook his head vehemently."Nah, Happy, I'm going." He turned to face Pepper and added, "I wanted to stretch my legs anyway."
Happy sighed heavily and settled back into his chair.
Tony's hazel eyes didn't leave Pepper's icy blue ones. Pepper finally relented when she saw that he had already unbuckled his belt and perched on the edge of the seat. She too sighed and waved at the captain's door. "If you must."
He grinned down at her and winked. "I'll be back."
Tony adjusted his tie as he made his way up to the cockpit. He paused before rapping on the door in three, quick successions. He waited a minute before repeating. There was another sudden lurch of the plane, causing Tony to stumble and hit the opposite wall. He grunted in pain, causing Pepper to call out worriedly and pull against her seatbelt, "Tony?"
Tony cursed under his breath before calling back, "I'm fine, I'm fine...but that damn pilot won't be when I'm through."
"Alright, sir?" Happy asked.
"Yuh huh," Tony responded before he felt his stomach drop and his heart leap into his throat. He knew that feeling...the plane was slowly, but surely, going down all too soon.
Pepper and Happy could feel it as well, and from the worried and frightened sounds from the back, so could the others. Tony began banging on the cabin door. "Hey! What the hell is going on!?"
The door was suddenly thrown open by a panic-stricken co-pilot. He was young, tall, and lanky...and scared shitless. He clamped Tony's shoulders tightly as he exclaimed, "It's all going wrong, someone help! The cap...the ca-captain is dead...he had a heart attack, I couldn't save him!" The younger man sobbed against a very shocked Stark before continuing, "I can't do this! I can't fly this plane! I didn't want to be a pilot, I can'-" he fell down in a faint.
It was quiet for a beat before Tony's wide eyes flew to an open-mouthed Happy and a terrified Pepper. "We're going to crash!?"
Screams could be heard from the few other people on the plane before Tony shook his head, "I'll...I can...I'll try..."
He couldn't speak, so instead he opted for running into the cabin and grabbing the wheel. Happy had, by now, joined him breathlessly. "Do you know how to fly?"
Tony glanced up, fear in his dark eyes as he rhetorically asked, "Do you?"
Happy shook his head slowly, "Shit!"
The plane continued its descend towards the ocean, land at least an hour behind them. Tony looked around frantically at the beeping buttons and glaring lights, "Fuck, Happy!"
Tony grabbed Happy by the larger man's tie and pulled him roughly towards the door. "To the back! Now, now! Back of the plane!"
Happy obliged, confused, as Tony leaped over a few seats and ran to Pepper. He frantically began fumbling with her seatbelt. "Back of the plane, Pep, now!"
Freed, Pepper stood up and shouted over the roaring of sirens from the plane, "Why?"
"Now!" he roared, pushing her from behind as gently as he could in their frantic hurry. Pepper screamed and ran as fast as she possibly could.
Tony remembered the young man and with a loud curse he turned back, and nearly flew through the air as the plane's nose began dipping. He grabbed the kid's hand and dragged him as best he could, grabbing onto the back of the chairs to pull himself along.
"Tony!"
Pepper's scream could be heard from the back of the plane.
"Pepper!" he shouted back, before the plane made contact.
There was a split deafening silence until the world around Tony collapsed in a sound of ripping, screeching, twisting metal as water immediately began filling up the plane as he continued to delve deeper into the ocean.
Tony was thrown backwards before his head made contact with the plane's console with a sickening thud, quickly muffled by the rapidly rising water. And darkness enveloped him.
TBC...
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