Author's Note: There is really nothing to say. If you're glad to see that I'm continuing this, you can thank my pushy roommate who begged me to finish this. If you are like GOD NO THIS SUCKS, then you can blame her as well. Just know that I have a much better idea where this is going than I did two years ago (I also hope the writing has improved). This is the last chapter I had written, and from now on it's all new. It's not going to follow the second movie, although I will be stealing aspects from it. If there's still an audience for this, please let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: Don't own it.


Pepper still couldn't see very well, but narrowed her eyes at the voice.

"A proposition?" she spat back, angry and confused. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"We are not at liberty to say," the voice replied silkily. "But it would be prudent to stop moving and listen."

She stopped trying to step on the guy's feet (she had learned from experience that stilettos could do serious damage) behind her when she felt the cold barrel of a gun pressed into the soft tissue just below her ear. The redhead gulped. There were two men, as far as she could tell – one behind her, his arm like a steel trap around her chest, and the other a shadowy outline standing in front of her. She didn't dare move a muscle.

The man continued on, unperturbed. "Our business with you concerns the great Tony Stark. You know him, yes?"

Pepper sucked in deep breath. She should've seen this coming. In fact, she was surprised that it hadn't happened earlier. She decided not to try and lie – the gun shoved into her flesh was an unwelcome reminder that they meant business.

"Of course I know him," she snapped. "If you wanted to make a deal with him, you should have gone through the correct legal channels instead of-"

The talker backhanded her emotionlessly, stopping her sentence short. His voice didn't change a bit. "My employer has tried to reach him, but Stark believes himself to be invincible. It's time for more…aggressive action."

"What do you want?" she whispered, gnawing on her already swollen lip anxiously.

"Information on the arc reactor that keeps Mr. Stark alive. He has decided to keep this industry-changing knowledge to himself. Obadiah Stane had the right idea."

"Obadiah Stane was insane," Pepper shot back, her jaw throbbing. "Tony doesn't want it to be turned against the people he's trying to help. He'll never give you the technology for any amount of money," Pepper argued, hating the man's mocking, arrogant tone. She was nothing if not loyal, and no one would call her boss foolish or stubborn in front of her.

"Which is why," the man said loudly, over her protestations, "You are going to help us."

The silence was deafening. Pepper could see the stillness of his stocky frame by the weak light coming through the closed shades.

"Y-you want…me? To help you, what, steal from my employer? I don't think so. What did you think you would bribe me with? Money?"

"You are close with Mr. Stark."

Pepper's throat closed up. Suddenly, she knew where this was going. "I have working relationship with him," she said cautiously, the pressure across her chest really starting to hurt.

"You called him Tony," the voice pointed out dispassionately.

Damn, Pepper though. To slip up now of all times…Thanks a lot, Tony. This is your fault.

"I've been working for him for a long time," she scrambled to cover her tracks. "He insists that I use his first name sometimes."

"You wouldn't want to see him harmed, would you?"

Pepper didn't like being threatened in such a vague manner. "Get to the point."

"What if I told you that I have 10 men surrounding his house, 5 of them in position to shoot him the minute he steps outside on his own deck?"

"Impossible," she rasped, her supply of air finally gone. "Jarvis would-"

"We are very good at what we do, Ms. Potts," the man said, holding up a disk for her inspection. Sure enough, it was a portable version of Jarvis, the replicate program saved on an external hard drive. They had obviously done their research thoroughly. "And we know he was outside with you earlier today."

She was lost for words the second time today. "How did you…This can't…You can't kill Tony Stark…!"

"I assure you, we can. Mr. Stark has tread on the feet of very powerful people for far too long. My employer has decided to take matters into his own hands, for the good of his country."

"Who are you working for?" Pepper whispered, her mind buzzing into overdrive.

The man shook his head. "Not important. Will you cooperate, or will Iron Man," he said the name contemptuously, "be silenced forever?"

She took her time. "How do I know you aren't bluffing?"

"Very well then." The man pulled out a handheld radio and started speaking into it, the terse, clipped words unrecognizable.

"Wait!" Pepper nearly screamed, despising the way her voice cracked hopelessly. "I'll get you the information. You just…have to give me some time. Don't hurt him, okay?"

The shadowy figure nodded to the man holding her, and she took a deep breath as the iron band disappeared around her chest. She stood still, breathing hard, as he moved around her.

"It was pleasant doing business with you, Ms. Potts. Until next time-"

"How will I…contact you?"

"You will see me again soon enough."

And she stood there, shaking, in the dark. What the hell… They wanted her to betray Tony Stark. At his most helpless. She couldn't do it. Not to mention specific information on the Iron Man suit in the hands of mercenaries like that…No. She had to do it. She couldn't let Tony be hurt. Come on, Pepper, her subconscious wheedled, choose. Tony or the world?