In a dark basement somewhere on the edge of the city stood Whitney, pacing the floor. Though she hadn't shown it so far, inside her mind a war had been waged. A war between the real Whitney- a Whitney who wished never to hurt a fly, no matter how much she hated it- and a Whitney that vowed revenge on anyone who crossed her. And the reason it had started was because she was trying (and failing) to protect Tony from herself. The real Whitney didn't want to hurt Tony- no matter how upset with him she was for dating Pepper. No matter how angry she was that Tony had chosen to date a girl that was so not right for him, she knew it wasn't right to hurt either of them.

Unfortunately for her, masked Whitney would stop at nothing to get her revenge on those who had crossed her. Tony had broken her heart and he didn't even seem to care, so he deserved to perish. That's all there was to it. Both he and Pepper deserved to suffer, so suffer they would.

But he's still my friend…I don't want to hurt him!

Don't you want to make him feel exactly how he made you feel? Don't you want to make him suffer for how he's treated you? He's no better than the villains he fights. He deserves no better than them.

But just because he hurt me doesn't mean he deserves to suffer…he had his reasons…

What reasons? He has no reasons at all. He ditched every date you planned and didn't even try to make up for it. He has no excuse, he is just an inconsiderate jerk.

But he was busy being Iron Man…and he hasn't had much experience with women either. I don't want to hurt him.

What you want is unimportant, it is I who is in charge. And I say Tony Stark will suffer, so suffer he will. You have no choice but to watch.

~…~

Tony and Rhodey arrived at the school and immediately began searching the building. It had been a little over an hour since Pepper was first poisoned, and Tony was getting nervous. As each hour passed, Pepper got that much closer to death. With each passing hour she would get sicker and sicker, and her chances of survival would shrink. The sooner they got the antidote, the better. The sooner she was cured, the less time she'd need to recover to full health.

Tony searched each nook and cranny, nervously moving to the next crevice. Rhodey noticed how antsy his friend was and knew why. He couldn't blame the kid for being so nervous; his girlfriend was about 23 hours away from death, and her life was in their hands. And Tony really did care about her. Rhodey knew the young genius wouldn't last a second without her by his side. He was more in love with the girl than Rhodey ever knew was possible. He knew that even if he asked his friend in the most polite of ways to calm down a bit, it would only enrage the boy. He was very nervous and upset right now, and suggesting he calm down would only make him angry. It would only make him yell. Rhodey knew his friend, and he knew when the right time was to say things.

"Come on, Whitney, where are you?" Tony muttered as he searched the school frantically.

"Come on, antidote…come on…" He muttered desperately. He knew it had only been an hour, and he still had 23 left, but he still couldn't help but feel like he would never find Whitney, much less the antidote. So far, no matter where they searched, she hadn't turned up. Sure, she turned up in the Vault, but nothing good had come from that visit. The only thing from that visit was the realization that something was seriously wrong with Whitney.

Tony froze suddenly and turned to find Rhodey.

"Rhodey, I think I may have an idea." Tony said via the armor comm. Systems, after realizing Rhodey must be on the other side of the school searching.

"What would that be?" Rhodey asked.

"When I was in the vault I noticed something odd about Whitney…she seemed to be fighting something. Something that must be controlling her somehow…" Tony began. "and I bet it's that mask. Ever since she first put it on she hasn't been the same. I think maybe the mask's power is controlling her somehow. If we can find her and appeal to that then maybe we can get the antidote back without hurting her." Tony explained.

"Well the only problem with that is finding her. We've been doing that for an hour and it hasn't worked." Rhodey responded.

"I have a plan for that too. I'm done standing around looking for her. I'm going to try tracing the mask's energy signature like I did last time."

"Why didn't you do that an hour ago and save us all this trouble?" Rhodey asked.

"I might have been in such a panic that I forgot I can do that…" Tony admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Tony began the tracking process on his HUD, only to be stopped a few minutes later with an 'error' message.

"Wait, what? That's impossible. She can't possibly have figured out a way to fix the tracking error. She must be in some energy containment building or something…but there's only one place like that in the whole town. And I know she's still in the city." Tony explained.

"Where would that be?" Rhodey asked.

"There's a building by the pier that Stark International used to use for dangerous energy-related projects. I didn't even think she'd know to hide there." Tony explained.

"So we should check there…where is it, exactly?" Rhodey asked.

"It's on the level below the Stark International storage garage. No one's used it since the plane crash." Tony explained.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Rhodey exclaimed, finding Tony and heading towards the garage.

Okay, so I know that this chapter is ungodly short, but trust me, I have some grand ideas for this story…grand ideas indeed…*chuckles deviously*

Haha no don't worry they're epic. Plus I think you all know what I say about the right time to end things…and all that…hey, I'm pretty sure I've said it a million times. "I've said what I need to say and this was the right time to end the chapter." And all that good stuff X3

Lol but anyways review :3