A/N: Thanks for all the support with this fic guys. This one is definitely heavier going for me, a lot more angst and a lot less hamster balls. LOL I'm going to push through though and I'll hope you'll stick with me. I recommend you all hanging on tightly though and securing your tray in the upright position, because this ride is going to get a little rough...

Chapter Seven

Pepper's anxious thoughts were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps and she hurried to stand at the bars, craning her neck to see who it was.

Chloe was walking towards her carrying a tray of food. The young woman smiled shyly as she approached. "I've bought you lunch, Ms. Potts," she said in that quiet little voice of hers.

Pepper had been working hard to build up a rapport with Chloe in the hopes there might be a way out of this predicament. After all, Pepper knew she couldn't just stand around and wait for Iron Man to rescue her. Pepper gave a welcoming smile. "Thank you for the food, Chloe, and I've told you to call me Pepper."

Chloe blushed a little and had difficulty meeting her eye. "Um, okay."

Chloe was wearing a lab coat and there was a taser at her waist which Pepper knew she'd been instructed to use if Pepper tried anything. Wally had been there the first time she woke up and he'd explained all of his plans to her and the role Pepper was to play in them. After that initial meeting though, Pepper had only seen Chloe when she brought her food. Pepper waited until Chloe had pushed the food tray through the slot in the bars. "Chloe, have you been thinking about what we talked about last time?"

Chloe made a pained expression. "I-I can't," she whispered, "I'm so sorry, P-Pepper, but I can't betray Waldemar like that."

Pepper gripped the bars of the jail cell and stood as close to Chloe as she could, her voice low and urgent. "What he's doing is wrong, Chloe, I know you know that."

"He's trying to make the world a better place," she protested unevenly. "The Seraphim device will change the world. Food and medical supplied can be teleported anywhere in the world at a moment's notice. Critically ill people from all over the world can instantly be sent to the best care facilities. The applications are endless."

"That's all if it works," said Pepper desperately. "Chloe, have you considered what could happen if it doesn't?"

Chloe looked away. "Waldemar is very sure it will work."

"Are you as sure?"

"Waldemar knows what he's doing," she insisted stubbornly but Pepper had caught the little flicker of uncertainty from the other woman.

"You're not convinced of that, are you?" Pepper challenged her. "You know something isn't quite right."

Chloe pulled on a strand of her very red hair and looked uncomfortable. "Waldemar has had so many hardships in his life. People he trusted never supported him and I don't want to be one of those people. I just can't."

Pepper could see the way the girl would blush a little every time she the man's name and knew the girl was in love with the man holding her captive. Chloe was a pretty girl in an unassuming way, but clearly awkward around people and unaware of her own charms. After having met Wally, Pepper suspected that the budding mad scientist was equally unaware of Chloe's affections and probably wouldn't know what to do with them if he was. "Sometimes the best way to support a person is to tell them when they're wrong," said Pepper sincerely.

"Do you tell Mr. Stark when he's wrong and stop him from doing things?" asked Chloe hesitantly.

"Constantly," said Pepper without missing a beat. "Why do you think he's still alive? Chloe, sometimes doing the right thing by a person means stopping them from hurting themselves. "

Chloe looked pensive. "Aren't you afraid Mr. Stark won't like you anymore if you don't go along with everything he says?"

Pepper's heart dropped to hear the other woman say such a sad thing. The poor girl really didn't have any self-confidence. "Tony respects me because I have an opinion on things and I'm not afraid to let him know."

"But, doesn't he get angry with you?" asked Chloe worriedly.

Pepper shrugged. "Sometimes, but the world doesn't end because some man gets all huffy on you. They get over it."

Chloe's eyes went wide. "I could never make Waldemar mad," she said unevenly.

"Caring about someone doesn't mean you have to agree with everything they do," said Pepper firmly. "Take it from me, I know." She reached through the bars and took Chloe's hand. "I know what it's like to care for a man you think can never feel the same way about you," she said earnestly. "I know that can make you feel vulnerable and uncertain, but that can't stop you from being true to yourself, Chloe. You know Waldemar is doing the wrong thing here, only you have the power to stop it."

Chloe gasped and looked distress. "I couldn't go against him, Pepper, I just can't. I love him too much." Her hand flew to her mouth and she looked horrified that those words had slipped out.

"It's alright," said Pepper quickly, squeezing her hand, "I already knew that." Pepper couldn't help but feel a huge amount of empathy for this awkward young woman. She understood what she was going through probably better than anyone else on earth.

Chloe blushed. "I'm such a fool," she said painfully. "I shouldn't have said that."

"Don't ever apologise for your heart, Chloe," she instructed the young woman. "It's what makes us who we are and I know your heart is a good one and it doesn't want anyone to get hurt."

"I really don't," she whispered.

"Chloe, Waldemar is going to hurt people," said Pepper determinedly. "You know that, don't you? Tony would never have shut down his experiment at Stark Industries unless he knew that was what was going to happen. You have to help me get out of here and we have to stop Waldemar together. We have to protect him from himself."

"I like your necklace," said Chloe abruptly, obviously trying to change the subject and not being too subtle about it.

Pepper looked down at her necklace and back at Chloe, knowing she had to be careful with how far she pushed this skittish young woman. "It was a gift."

"From a man?"

"Yes."

"I've never gotten a gift from a man," said Chloe wistfully.

"This gift was by way of an apology," said Pepper wryly. "Tony owed me."

Chloe's eyes went wide. "Mr. Stark gave you the necklace?"

"After I smashed his car windscreen." Pepper half-smiled. "You had to be there. I think he was trying to tell me I'm like a diamond, created under pressure from unassuming beginnings."

Chloe looked intrigued. "Are you two, um, are you-?"

"We're complicated," Pepper interrupted her stammering question. "But whatever we are I know I'd never want to see anything bad happen to Tony and he feels the same way about me. I know you don't want anything bad to happen to Waldemar either. You have to help me get out, Chloe, before people are seriously hurt or worse."

Chloe looked torn. "Waldemar needs me to help complete his life's work."

"He needs you to help him have more in his life than a wires and circuits," said Pepper honestly. "I know what it is to be around a man whose mind is on a different reality half the time to everyone around him, but they're the ones who need people like us to bring them back to this reality, to give them something to come back to. Most of the time people like Waldemar and Tony are the last people to know what it is they really need." Pepper looked at Chloe intently. "Please, you have to help me, Chloe, you're the only one who can save us all." Pepper held her breath and waited for Chloe to answer her, praying she'd gotten through to the young woman.