Tony awoke with groan, his head lolling as he tried to pick it up. It was so heavy and he was sure his nose was broken. The last thing he remembered was turning around to find the guy from Tennessee behind him and then everything went dark.

Trying to lower his arms, the bed he was fastened to rattled violently and he looked up to find zip ties secured around his wrists. "Okay..." He muttered, trying to free himself one more time. Looking around at the place he was in, he discovered that he appeared in what he believed to be a furnace room but he could hear the quiet buzz of computer software around him.

"Just like old times, huh?" He looked up just in time to see Maya slowly turn around in her chair. Pursing his lips, Stark didn't even want to look at her. Traitor.

"Oh, yeah. With zip ties. It's a ball." He muttered, still refusing to look at her.

"It wasn't my idea..." She insisted quietly.

"Okay. So, you took Killian's card?" Tony asked, hurt once more. After all this time, he had actually believed that Maya had been on his side. Guess he was wrong.

"I took his money."

"And here we are thirteen years later in a dungeon..." Tony said as he looked around at the dark room.

"No."

"Yeah." He insisted.

"No. You're in a dungeon. I'm free to go..." She stood up from her chair with a sigh. "A lot has happened, Tony. And I'm close. Extremis is practically stable-"

"It isn't! In the street, people are going bang. They're painting the walls, Maya. You're kidding yourself!" Tony said, trying his best to get through to her. He needed to get out of this situation one way or another.

"Then help me fix it..." She held up a name tag that he had written on in Switzerland at New Year's in 1999. She turned it over to reveal a complex equation on the back. Tony faintly remembered leaving a name tag for Maya the morning he left her alone. But, he wasn't entirely sure. He was never sure about the morning after.

"Did I do that?" Stark asked and hurt shone in Maya's eyes.

"Yes."

"I remember the night not the morning!" Tony insisted, covering his own ass. "Is this what you've been chasing around?"

"You don't remember?" She asked again, not believing what she was hearing.

"I can't help you..." Stark said quietly as he tried to free himself once more. Alright. He had to go with Plan B. Guilt. "You used to have a moral psychology. You used to have ideals. You wanted to help people. Now, look at you! I get to wake up with someone every morning who still has a soul..." Maya was silent as she contemplated his words. They stung deeply and Tony could see this. "Get me out of here. Come on!" But before she could say another word, a second person entered the room.

"You know what my old man used to say to me? One of his favorite of many sayings. The early bird gets the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese!" Both of the scientists looked up to see Aldrich Killian walking down the stairs into the room.

"Not still pissed off about the Switzerland thing are you?" Tony called back to him.

"How can I be pissed at you, Tony? I'm here to thank you! You've given me the greatest gift anyone has ever given me! Desperation. If you think back to Switzerland when you said you'd meet me on the roof top, right? Well, for the first twenty minutes, I actually thought you'd show up! The next hour, I considered taking the one step short cut down to the lobby. If you know what I mean..." Killian continued to pace about the room before Tony who was still attached to the bed.

"Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out what happened to the first mouse..." Tony murmured, just trying to pull on Killian's strings.

"But as I looked out over that city, nobody knew I was there. Nobody could see me. No one was even looking. I had a thought that would guide me for years to come. Inanity, Tony. Thanks to you, it's been my mantra ever since, right? You simply rule from behind the scenes. The second you give evil a face, like Bin Laden, Qaddafi, the Mandarin... You hand the people a target!" Aldrich went on to explain.

The Mandarin had only been a cover up so that Killian could do his work without getting caught. Sneaky bastard.

"You're something else..." Tony muttured, completely disgusted.

"You have met him, I assume?"

"Yes, Sir Lawrence Obliviey!?"

"I know he's a little over the top sometimes. It's not my fault. He's-He's a stage actor... Anyway, the point is, ever since that big dude with a hammer fell out of the sky-"

"Thor." Tony corrected, knowing that if Sam had been there, she sure as hell would have corrected him. It always pissed her off when people couldn't remember his name.

"-Thor... fell out of the sky, subtly has kinda had its day..."

"What's next for you and your world?" Tony continued to prod, knowing that he needed to find out Killian's plans if he wanted to stop him.

"Well, I wanted to repay you the self same gift that you so graciously imparted to me!" Killian held his hand up, revealing the three little balls in his fist. Rolling them across the floor, he clicked a button on a remote to reveal a holographic image of Pepper strapped to a stand. "Desperation. Now, this is live. The body will decide to accept Extremis or just give up. And if it gives up, I have to say... the detonation is quite spectacular! But until that point, it's just a lot of pain..." Tony's eyes flickered back to the projection of Pepper before he felt like something was entirely missing and as he looked around.

"The girl that was with me? Where is she at?"

"Who are you talking about?" Aldrich teased, raising an eyebrow.

He held his hand up again, showing three more of the projector balls. He rolled them across the floor and clicked a second button. A second holograph appeared and Tony felt pure rage fill his entire being.

Sam's head was hung to the side as it rested against the metal brace beside her. She was strapped down onto a gurney like Pepper was except for the fact that her restraints were a lot thicker and greater in number due to her inhuman strength.

Hardly any clothing covered her body as she lay slumped on the metal brace. All that remained was a sports bra and a pair of black spandex shorts.

"Oh, do you mean her?" Killian teased Stark as he pointed at the unconscious female. Tony watched as she groaned in pain and Sam picked her head up and she was breathing deeply and he realized she must have been heavily drugged to have her as calm as she was.

"Alright, Mr. Stark..." Killian began as he paced back and forth before the billionaire. "I'm afraid you have to chose! Now, they can hear and see us..." He pointed back at the holographs and Tony watched as the two women both turned to look at the man speaking. In Sam's eyes, he could see a pool of rage beginning to boil yet she said nothing, probably too weak to speak. "And you can only chose one, Tony..."

"What do you mean chose?" His voice shook slightly.

"It means exactly how it sounds. One gets Extremis. One doesn't." Looking up from where he had been looking at the ground, Stark looked at the two women who mattered most in his life.

Sam finally had come around from unconsciousness and she was looking at him through the connection. Tony Stark never thought, that in his entire life, his heart stopped longer than it did in that one moment.

He had to chose between Sam and Pepper. Again. This was just like the argument in Malibu all over again.

"I-I can't chose! What kind of sick joke is this?" Stark stuttered as his eyes flickered back to the two women on the screen.

"Tony, if you don't chose then we will chose for you..." Aldrich said, a sly smile coming over his face. Once again, Tony looked over at the two women, Pepper was struggling against her restraints and Sam was just looking at him. And the look in her eyes changed from rage to one of hopelessness in a matter of seconds.

Sam knew. She knew that he would choose Pepper over her. He could see it in her eyes that she knew.

She let her head droop back down in a defeated manner, knowing what was going to occur in a few seconds. He would choose Pepper all over again, leaving her just as empty and cold hearted as she was before.

"I... I can't... I-I can't choose." Tony's lips quivered slightly and he could no longer look at the two women. He shook his head before letting it slump down, much like Sam's was. Killian nodded to the scientists on the other side of the connection.

Tony looked up upon hearing a gasp and watched as a man approached Pepper with a large syringe in his hand. Killian looked back to Stark to see his eyes glistening with unshed tears. His mouth opened and closed a few times and he couldn't watch the woman he loved get infected with the deadly genetics.

"Stop!" Tony looked up upon hearing the quiet voice. Sam had her head drooped but she slowly raised it and was looking at the scientist with the large syringe. "Leave her alone!" Sam defended the redheaded woman and Tony felt his heart drop again.

She struggled in her restraints, her strength nearly returning as the drugs wore off.

"I volunteer to take the drugs!" Sam then looked back at Tony, her eyes once again cold but unshed tears glistened in her now dark blue irises. They were full of bitterness and hate.

At first, Tony thought he had been getting to her. She had started warming up to him again. He shook his head in disbelief as he looked at her. She had made the hard decision for him.

But, no.

He had to go and fuck things up again. But that was Tony Stark for you. He was always going to go and make the worst decisions possible.

And now, Tony wondered why he had to go and throw everything he ever cared about into the inferno.

He watched with amazement as if her hair darkened even more, the blonde streaks being absorbed into her scalp, leaving her with a full of head of chocolate locks. Her eyes also seemed to darken to a deeper color.

But he didn't care about that. He only cared about the hurt swimming in her eyes.

"Sam..." However, Tony didn't get to continue as he watched a scientist approach his best friend. Two other men grabbed her arms and forced the needle into her arm. He watched as her holographic form suddenly hissed in pain before spasming slightly.

With terror in his dark pools, Tony watched as heat from the Extremis radiated across her visible skin and her back arched in pain.

Tony again struggled against his restraints, trying his hardest to get out of the zip ties just so he can kick the shit out of Killian. What they were doing was terrible. This wasn't reconstructing DNA.

This was torture.

"YOU ARE A SICK BASTARD!" Tony yelled as he tried to rip his hands free. He just wanted to fucking strangle him. He would make Killian pay for everything he had done.

For everything that he was going to do. For making him choose between Sam and Pepper.

Back in Malibu, Tony hoped that he would have never had to make the decision between the two girls again.

And he just did.

"And we haven't even talked salary yet!" Killian approached Tony, grabbing his throat and chocking him. The hologram of Sam whimpered in pain, drawing Tony's attention away from the man before him. Tony also heard another cry of pain and his eyes widened as he watched Pepper become injected with Extremis as well.

"No!" Sam hissed in pain as she tried lunging towards the men, only for her body to be forced down by more restraints that the men had placed over her.

"So, what kind of quirk package are you thinking off?" Stark's eyes widened as he watched the man before him glow with heat, signaling that he himself had used Extremis.

"Let him go." Maya said and Aldrich sighed through his nose before releasing the billionaire.

"Maya-"

"I SAID LET HIM GO!" She commanded, holding a syringe of medicine up to her neck. Sam groaned again before huffing heavily through her nose but she was ignored for the moment.

"What are you doing?" Aldrich asked.

"1200 CCs. A dose half of this size and I'm dead." Maya explained, silently threatening her boss as she held the sharp needle to her neck.

"It's times like this that my temper is tested, somewhat..." Kilian murmured back to Tony who was still struggling to get free of his bonds. "Maya, give me the injector."

"If I die, Kilian, what happens to your soldiers? What happens to your product?" She taunted, glancing at the two women writhing in pain on the other side of the holographic connection.

"We're not doing this. Okay?"

"What happens to you? What happens if you go too hot?" Kilian seemed to think this over a bit before turning around to face Tony. Without even looking, he raised a gun up and fired, hitting Maya. She dropped to the ground, her mouth agape with pain.

"The good news is a high level position has just been vacated!" With a whimper, Maya collapsed to the floor and Tony shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe what just happened. This man was sick. This man deserved to die. He was worse than the Mandarin.

"You are a maniac."

"No, I'm a visionary! But I do own a maniac and he takes the stage tonight!" He called back to Tony as he walked away, leaving Stark alone with his thoughts. Looking to the space where Sam's hologram was last seen, he sighed heavily through his nose.

Sam sacrificed herself for him again. God, he was such a dick.

A few minutes passed before a couple guards entered the room, leaving Tony guarded in case he did somehow escape. Minutes must have passed and it must have hit the hour because Tony's watch started beeping.

Tony raised his head from its hung position, his emotions and thoughts churning angrily in his mind.

The two guards exchanged a look, slightly annoyed with the persistent sound. The one seated closest to the watch picked it up, chuckling slightly to himself upon seeing the Dora the Explorer watch.

"Careful there. It's a limited edition." Tony warned quietly and the man began to shake the watch, wondering how to get the noise to shut off. It was really pissing him off. "Hey, ponytail express? What's the millage count between Tennessee and Miami?"

"832 miles."

"Very nice!" Tony complimented, slightly figuring the time it would take to travel that distance.

"I'm good like that..." The ponytail man told his friend who had stood up and failed to shut the watch off. "Can you stop that?" He motioned to the watch with his gun.

"You break it, you bought it!" Tony protested. The man dropped the watch on the ground before stomping on it with his shoe, successfully silencing the vile little thing.

"I think I bought it..." The other man said, smiling with triumph.

"Okay, that wasn't mine to give away! That belongs to my friend's sister and that's why... I'm gonna kill you first!" Stark threatened.

"What are you going to do to me?" The man taunted back.

"You'll see."

"You're zip tied to a bed."

Moving his hands in the zip ties, Tony hopefully motioned for Mark 42. "This." Nothing happened. Tony tried it again and the bed frame shook. "That." Nothing happened and awkward silence filled the air. The two henchmen stood in preparation for what was to come, taunting Tony. "Trust me. You're going to be in a puddle of blood on the ground in five. Four. Three. Come on! Two..." Tony threatened but again nothing happened.

"How did we get this shift?" The first guy turned to his partner who simply shrugged.

"Alright. I'm going to give you a chance to escape! Put down your weapons and tie yourselves to those chairs! I'll let you live. In five. Four. BANG!" Tony yelled, shaking the bed slightly again. Nothing happened.

"Wow that was cool..." The ponytail guy taunted, glancing around the room.

"You should be gone by now. You should have already been gone..."

"I'm just beyond terrified..." The ponytail man said sarcastically, still causally standing there. He was actually kind of having fun listening to the billionaire make threats on his life.

"Here it comes. Three. Four-"

"Shut up." Ponytail warned.

"Five. Four. Three. Two. One!" Tony counted down rapidly and the without warning, one of the gloves belonging to the suit burst in through the window, hitting Ponytail in the face on the way by. It latched onto his hand and he glanced over at the other guy. "Told ya!" Firing the thruster at the man, it spun the bed around but Tony was able to catch himself and he used the glove to rip his other hand free.

Ponytail got up from the ground and tried to attack Tony which resulted to a gloved fist to the face but it hardly deterred the brawny man. Both of them were matching in strength until one of the suit's legs came flying through the same window, latching onto Tony's leg. With a swift kick to the gut, the man went tumbling away.

He then claimed the man's gun before pointing it into the empty air before looking back at the window, wondering where the rest of the suit was. It should have been there by now.

"Where's the rest?"


It was also at that exact moment that Harley heard a commotion coming from the garage and as he looked outside, he watched as the garage doors rattled as if something was trying to get out.

Taking a key outside, he quickly undid the lock before jumping out of the way as the suit broke open the doors and flew off into the sky, much to the kid's amazement.

There was also a loud whirling noise coming from inside the garage and Harley had to really look for a second before he could see the other suit move but it was difficult due to the retroreflective panels lining the outer layer or armor.

It also flew off into the sky before it disappeared from sight and Harley couldn't help the large smile that pulled his lips up. Tony and Sam were at it again.


Hearing more footsteps coming down the hall, Tony fired a thruster at the men coming who yelled in surprise before ducking out of the way.

Thrusters suddenly engaging, Stark flew up into the air and was caught off guard, accidentally firing the machine gun in his hand while he spun wildly in the air due to the fact that he only had one thruster on each half of his body.

Catching himself on a wall, he was able to propel himself across the room and he continued to fire at the men who were coming after him. Firing the machine gun, he quickly discovered that he had run out of ammo and his gloved hand was the only weapon that he had.

Rolling out into the open, he fired upon two other guys. The force from the thruster caused him to fly backwards but using the suit's leg, he caught himself before he could smash into the wall.

Landing beside the other gentlemen, he used their own weapons against them and filled one of their guts with lead by using the other man's gun. Also trying to disarm the second man, the first man got up from the ground but Tony used the shotgun from the second guy to rid himself of the first guy.

Kicking his booted leg out, he smashed the guy behind him into the wall, knocking him unconscious.

He now had one gun in his hand, the other a thruster, and sensing another man below him, Stark held both weapons out, prepared to gun down the man should he make a move. To his surprise, he held his hands up in surrender.

"Honestly, I hate working here. They are so weird..." He dropped the gun in his hand and Tony wriggled the glove's fingers at the man who then took off. Tony let him live.

As he turned to walk down the hall, he was tackled from behind and was about to panic when he realized that it was only Mark 42 and the rest of the suit was catching up.

"Ah! Better late than never!" The suit continued to envelop him until he was nearly complete, leaving only the face plate left. The little piece of metal came flying at him. "Not the face!" Tony tried as he caught it before attacking it to the helmet that covered his head. "It is good to be back! Hello, by the way..."

"Oh, hello, sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. greeted him as the suit finished setting up its display screen. Hearing a sudden commotion overhead, Tony looked up to see a large helicopter fly overhead.

He also watched as the Iron Patriot flew off but little did he know that Rhodey wasn't inside.

After listening to a warning broadcast across the PA system about how Stark had escaped, Tony decided that it was time to go. Getting a running start, he tried to take off. "And let's go!" He cried but the suit did not even lift off the ground. "Aw, crap..."

Stark was about to proceed down the stairs when he heard the tell tale signs of a suit and he looked over to see Mark 0 land in the courtyard below him.

"Oh, it's nice to see you that you decided to tag along!" He called to the suit who didn't have a single scratch on her. It just looked up at him with it's glowing eyes, awaiting a command from its maker.

Stark began walking away, completely forgetting the suit for a moment as he tried to walk down the stairs which were about three sizes to small for his booted feet.

"Well, come on!" He called to the black suit which raised its head upon hearing a command. Quickly joining with its brother suit, the black suit simply walked down the stairs without another care in the world. Tony could only shake his head in disbelief. It was like it was a robot or something.

Suddenly, Stark had an incoming call.

"Tony!"

"Rhodey, please tell me that was you in the suit!"

"No..." He panted, just having fought off a couple of guards. "You got your's?"

"Um... Kind of. Main house as fast as you can. I've got somebody I'd like you to meet." Stealing the gun from the man he had just beaten, Rhodey ran off towards the place where Tony directed him.


Alright. So, Sam is now infected. Pepper is now infected. Everyone is infected. Woo hoo. I'm sorry that this chapter might be a little sloppy. I didn't really have time to edit it a whole bunch but I'll probably edit it later.

But anyway, this chapter was necessary. I'm now considering a relationship between Tony and Sam but you'll have to wait and see if it will really happen.

Another really emotional chapter for Tony. Things will only continue to get harder for our billionaire so stay tuned for more!

Thanks to all who favorited and reviewed!

Love,

Blue

P.S. Did anyone see Loki crash Comic con? It was awesome! If you haven't, it's on YouTube. Go. Watch. It.