AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey everybody, here is the next chapter. Last chapter I forgot to give a special 'High-Five' to skye3 for guessing that Damon Bradley was from Only You, another heart-warming movie with the sexy and talented Robert Downey Jr. High-five to you honey! ) Anyway, read and review! Let me know what you think...

Rise of the Mandarin

Chapter Nine

It was the early hours of the morning when Iron Maiden ran down the back alley way to the Stark Industries building. The darkness was usually the best cover whenever she was sent out on a mission. Plus doing it at this time of night meant the workers were still home in their beds sound asleep; meaning a lot less eyes she would have to avoid being seen by. She turned a corner, and a chain link fence blocked her path. She increased her speed, jumped, and swung her body over the fence. Her feet hit the ground, and she continued to run. A couple of turns later, she came to the end of the alley way, and was greeted by the electric barbed wire fence that surrounded the branch. She slowly peered her head around the corner, then quickly pulled back to hide her face. There was a moving security camera mounted on a pole attached to the electric fence, recording everything that went on around the premises. She took in a deep breath, then peered around the corner one more time. She counted the seconds of how long it took for the camera to make a complete rotation.

"15 seconds," she thought. She turned her head to the other side and looked down the fence, trying to find the next camera. She found it, but it was at least 80 feet away. "It could still catch me." She watched it closely, and realized the two cameras were synced to the same rotation cycle. "When they're looking straight ahead, that's when I can move." She moved back into the alley some feet, then began counting. "One. Two. Three." She began running again. Once she had built up to a constant speed, she jumped on the wall, then jumped to the opposite wall, getting higher and higher as she approached the fence. She came to the end of the alley, and with both feet pushing off the wall, she soared into the air, and over the fence, missing the barbed wire by centimeters. She tucked and rolled to the ground, then sprung to her feet, continuing to run to the main building. Amazingly enough, she knew where the cameras were, so she knew which areas to avoid and which areas she could walk down without being caught. She maneuvered her way between buildings and workshops. She finally saw an entrance in sight, and ran for it, however the oncoming security guard made her stop and hide behind a corner. She rolled her eyes in frustration.

"This is ridiculous," she thought. "I am not some petty mall thief, trying to avoid the mall cops." She waited and watched the guard look over the area with his flash light. He was unarmed, save for a bottle of pepper spray at his side. She smirked to herself. "Like that's gonna stop me."

"Premises is all clear, Mike. I'm coming back in," the guard said into his radio.

"Roger that," was the reply from the radio. The guard walked to the door, and swiped his card in the security lock. The door unlocked for him, and he pulled the door open, not bothering to make sure it closed behind him as he walked back inside the building. Iron Maiden ran over to the door, and grabbed it right before it closed. She opened it and walked inside, following the guard at a safe distance. She watched as he whistled and twirled his flashlight in his hand, obviously not caring about his job. Stepping lightly, she got closer to him. Once she was right behind him, she hit the crook of his neck with the side of her hand, and he fell limp to the ground, his flash light rolling at least five feet away from him. She continued on to the surveillance room, again dodging the areas she knew were swarming with cameras.

She came to the surveillance room, however there was one more guard she would have to take care of. She walked forward, thinking she would really have to cause this guy some physical pain; however her plans changed when he picked up his radio.

"John, everything okay?" He waited a moment for his comrade to respond. "John?" After another moment of waiting for his fellow guard's response, he stood up and walked out of the room, leaving it wide open for prying eyes to take a peek inside. Once the guard was out of sight, she walked into the room and went to work. She sat down at one of the computers and began searching for the date and specific time she needed. She found the file, and the video feed appeared on the computer screen.

There was the crowd standing outside the branch on the day of the opening, and to the back was Pepper Potts standing right beside Kahn's assistant. Iron Maiden shook her head and watched the feed attentively. About a minute of footage passed until she saw Mr. Yong's figure come into view. She slowed the speed of the footage, and watched his actions. His arm extended out, and sure enough, he dropped the ring into the black tote bag hanging from her shoulder. Just to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her, she rewound the footage, and slowed it down even more. She watched, eyes glued to the screen. Again, his arm extended out, the ring held between his thumb and index finger, and dropped it into the bag.

Iron Maiden closed her eyes and sighed. "Great, this is just great," she thought. "On the bright side we know where the ring is." She closed the video file, left the computer the way it was, and exited the room. "Now he's gonna want me to travel to the States, I just know it." She exited the building, avoiding the cameras, knowing that tomorrow would bring new challenges, not to mention severe jetlag for the next couple of days.

Tony laid on the couch in his workshop, desperately trying to get some sleep. He knew he laid there for a couple of hours, just staring at the ceiling.

"Jarvis," Tony began. "What time is it?"

"It is 9:30am, sir," the AI replied. Tony sighed. During the entire time he had been home, he had gotten probably less than an hour's worth of sleep. He rose up and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Huh, mid-morning and we haven't heard from Miss Potts," he said.

"Miss Potts asked me to inform you, sir, that she would be going straight to the office this morning for a meeting with Accounting." Tony's back straightened even more as that got his attention.

"A meeting with Accounting and she didn't tell me?" he asked.

"She felt it was best that you get as much sleep as you possibly could," Jarvis replied dryly. Grunting, he pushed himself off the couch and walked up the stairs to his bedroom. He picked out a suit and quickly got dressed. He walked back down the stairs to the basement while tying his tie. He grabbed the keys to the Audi off his desk and got in the car. He made up his mind right there he was going to have a little chat with his assistant about letting him miss important meetings, especially ones that involved her.

About fifteen minutes later, Tony arrived at the branch. He made his way through the hallways to his office. Just about everyone would nod or say 'Good Morning' to him out of courtesy, considering he was the man in charge, and he did have a very powerful weaponized suit that could destroy the entire building and the people in it. He came to the floor of his office and the elevator doors opened. He began walking towards his office until a certain redhead came into view. She was standing alone by the secretary's desk, signing paperwork of some sort. He froze in his tracks as a wicked grin formed on his face. An idea formed in his head; an idea for revenge.

"Stealth of a hippo, huh?" he thought to himself. "I'll show her just how stealthy I can be." Proceeding forward he stepped lightly, slowly making his way to her. She looked good today; she was wearing a black pencil skirt with a silver short-sleeved top that accented the curve of her hips. For a moment he was distracted; he loved admiring her from the back. "Focus," he thought while shaking his head. He continued on, careful not to make his shoes squeak on the tile floor. Once he got about two feet away from her, his thrust his arms out to grab her sides, but the next thing he knew he was being flipped over, and his face met the cool tile floor, while one of his arms was being pinned painfully behind him. It was then he heard a sharp intake of air above him.

"Tony!" Pepper exclaimed. Immediately she rose off of him and let go of his arm, settling it back down to his side. "Oh my God, honey, I'm so sorry!" She carefully flipped him over, not wanting to hurt him (or his ego) anymore than what she already had. He breathed in and blinked a couple of times, then looked at her. The expression on her face was pure horror, being that she had just man-handled her boyfriend. "Honey, I am so sorry. I didn't know it was you, I thought it was someone else. You're usually not that quiet," she explained, almost freaking out.

"Yeah, well, I was trying to prove a point," he said dizzily, while trying to move the arm that was almost broken off.

"Tony, please," Pepper began, almost worried. "Whatever you do, please don't tell Happy." The moment those words left her mouth, the expression on his face went from pain to disbelief.

"Wait a minute," he began. "I'm the one on the floor with a possible concussion and you're worried about Happy?" he exclaimed. Sure that was probably the narcissist coming out in him, that her attention should be focused on nothing else but him right now; but the fact that she almost broke his arm, and head, and immediately went to worrying over his body guard was crossing the line just a little. Nervously, she began wringing her hands as she opened her mouth to explain herself.

"A few months ago, he offered to teach me how to box; and I didn't want to hurt his feelings and I didn't want to seem rude so I let him teach me how to box," she explained in one breath. Tony just stared at her with a blank expression on his face. "Please don't tell him, he'll be so embarrassed, and I don't want to do that to him. So can you please just keep this between us?" she asked. Tony blinked, then a smirk formed on his lips.

"I promise I will not tell Happy that you can kick his butt just as easily as Natasha can." Pepper rolled her eyes and smacked his shoulder.

"Tony, I'm being serious."

"So am I. Wait a minute," he began, placing a hand on her arm. "You mean to tell me he gave you private boxing lessons? Where the hell was I at?" he asked, genuinely trying to look angry.

"If I recall correctly, busy saving the world," she said dryly. Tony snorted.

"Don't say it like that; you make it sound boring and dull." She shook her head then placed a hand on the side of his face.

"Seriously, Tony, are you okay?" she asked, leaning over him a little more. His eyes rolled up to think about it, then looked back to her.

"I will be as soon as you kiss me."

"Tony, we're at work," she said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I can't feel my legs, Pepper. I think you may have to call Happy…" Pepper's lips slammed down on top of Tony's, not letting him finish that sentence. "Mmm," he moaned against her lips. She continued to kiss him for a few more seconds, then slowly rose up and looked at him.

"Better?" she asked. He nodded.

"Much. I think I can feel my legs now," he said, a smirk growing on his face.

"Of course you can." She began to rise up, but Tony stopped her by placing his hands on her arms. She looked down to him. The look of concern once again appeared on her face. "What is it?" He swallowed nervously.

"You just man-handled me," he stated. She nodded slowly, anxious to see what he would say next. "Would it be weird if I said I was a little turned on?" he asked as serious as he could. Pepper couldn't take it anymore, and began laughing as the tension drained from her face. Her forehead fell to his chest as she tried to regain her composure. "Good, you're laughing. My deed is done for the day."

"You're unbelievable, you know that?" she asked once she was able to lift her head from his chest.

"That should not be news to you." She shook her head and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Come on, let's get you off the floor," she said, helping him rise. He placed a hand on the floor and pushed up allowing his torso to come off the floor.

"For what it's worth, I'm glad this happened. I know now not to mess with you." She snorted.

"Yeah, that's another skeleton in my closet. I know how to defend myself," she said. Tony paused and looked at her with wide eyes.

"You're not a SHIELD agent, are you?"

"Oh no! No, no, I am 100% Pepper Potts, assistant to Tony Stark. There is nothing secret about me," she said, assuring him. He sighed in relief and rose back to his feet.

"Good, I can handle only so much SHIELD inference in my life," he said bitterly. She giggled and began to help him straighten out his suit.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked, looking him in the eyes.

"My head hurts where you slammed me against the floor, but nothing too drastic. I'll survive," he said as he winked at her. A soft smile came to her lips as she dusted him off.

"Well, since you're here, I might as well tell you there is an emergency meeting with Hong Kong in 30 minutes."

"Yeah, speaking of meetings," he began, sounding like his usual hard-ass self. "Why was Jarvis told about the meeting with Accounting and not me?" She glared up at him.

"Because Jarvis isn't sleep deprived," she said bluntly. Tony snorted.

"Like that helped. I didn't sleep much if you most know."

"Mmm, side effect of jetlag. That'll wear off soon, I hope," she said, focused on adjusting his tie.

"Of course it would wear off quicker if you stayed with me." The death glare returned and he held his hands up in defeat. "I know, I know. I'm working on it." She nodded and her hands dusted of his lapels.

"Much better."

"I look presentable now?" he asked.

"Oh yeah. You actually look like a CEO." He smirked and turned to enter his office.

"Alright, so Hong Kong has been open less than 24 hours and already there's an emergency meeting scheduled. What's going on?" he asked as he sat down at his desk.

"Apparently there has been some confusion over the blueprints of a specific part they're set to start production on," Pepper explained.

"Oh God," he grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Anything else I need to know about?"

"Rhodey called, he said he needed you to call him ASAP."

"Really?" he asked. Pepper looked at him then nodded her head. "Huh. Did he say why?"

"No, but he did say it was very important that you get back to him as quickly as you could."

"You know what this is? He found something wrong with the suit and needs me to help him figure it out," he said.

"Well, aren't you going to help him?" Tony couldn't believe that she would actually ask him that.

"Of course not," he said.

"Tony, come on, would you please grow up?" she said, getting a little frustrated by these childish games he still insisted on playing.

"Me? You think it's me? He came in and stole my suit, Pepper. Yes, my suit."

"With good reason, Tony; you can't say that you wouldn't have done the exact same thing." Pepper glared at him, as if daring him to say another word on the subject. Tony huffed and turned to his computer.

"Anything else on the schedule?" he asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Director Fury called. He said he needs to speak you about some new developments." Tony grunted loudly and dropped his head onto his hand.

"This day just keeps getting better and better," he said sarcastically. She placed a hand on his shoulder and looked at him sympathetically.

"The day will be over before you know it," she said softly. He reached up and placed his hand on top of hers and squeezed it. She sighed as she turned her hand and squeezed back. She felt bad for him; he was trying to get back into the mainstream of things, but being both CEO and Iron Man sometimes took its toll on him. After thinking about it, she shouldn't have been surprised to find the sleeping pills in his bag. She knew he could go days without sleep (granted that was caffeine assisted), and when his body finally crashed, it would crash, hard. And now, she supposed, it was finally catching up with him; hence why he went behind her back and got the prescription, hoping to keep that to himself so not to worry her.

"Maybe I should move in with him," she thought. "At least then I could monitor what he consumes."

"No, stupid!" her conscience began. "You move in with him because you want to; not so you can be his mother! He already had one of those, he doesn't need another one."

"Is there anything else on the schedule, Miss Potts?" he asked, breaking up her internal dispute.

"Um, no, that's it for today, Mr. Stark."

"Good." He let go of her hand and stood up. "Let's get the day over with then, shall we?" She nodded, and together they left his office and traveled two floors down to the conference room.

"Okay, so now are we all on the same page?" Tony asked, after almost an hour and a half of going over misprinted schematics on one of the blueprints.

"Yes, sir, Mr. Stark," Mr. Kahn said through the television screen.

"Great. Now, how do you propose we get the new set of blueprints to you?"

"I shall send Miss Vostokoff for them, along with the incorrect blueprints."

"Alright, let's try to avoid this confusion next time," Tony said dryly.

"Yes, sir, Mr. Stark, it won't happen again," Mr. Kahn said assuredly.

"Let's hope." With that, the video conference ended and the screen went black. Tony huffed out a breath and slumped in his chair. He waited until everyone else had filed out of the room before opening his mouth. "Remind me to look those blueprints over when they get here, and fire whoever decided to put bogus measurements on it," he said agitated. Pepper placed a hot cup of coffee in front of him.

"Noted, Mr. Stark," she said in her 'assistant mode' voice. Tony narrowed his eyes at her. She began typing something on her phone, then felt his eyes staring at her. "Yes, Mr. Stark?" she asked, not taking her eyes away from the phone.

"You know, it's just us in here now; you don't have to be professional right now," he said, then taking a sip from the cup.

"Like I said earlier, we are at work; and I've already told you that we are to be professional in the workplace." Tony snorted.

"Oh yeah, you were definitely professional earlier with your lips on mine while I was lying on the floor." Pepper slammed her hand on the table in front of him.

"I did that to shut you up. And for your information, Mr. Stark, if I wasn't more than just your assistant, you would have a very massive sexual harassment lawsuit pending against you," she said glaring into his eyes. A wry smile came to his lips as he leaned closer to her face.

"That's why I promoted you in the first place, to avoid matters like that." Pepper rolled her eyes and leaned back up, her focus back on her phone. "One of these days I'm gonna throw that thing out the window just to spite you."

"Tony Stark, I swear if you even lay a finger nail on my phone I'll key the Audi, then your suit," she growled. Tony stared at her wide eyed.

"You wouldn't dare?" Pepper smiled wickedly.

"I'll have Jarvis record it, start to finish." Before Tony could respond, Pepper's phone began to ring. She sighed. "It's Rhodey," she said. Tony quickly stood up and waved his arms in front of her.

"I'm not here," he quickly said, trying to back up to the door. Pepper rolled her eyes and answered her phone.

"Hello? Hey Jim. Yes, he's right here," she said, then handed her phone to him. Tony grunted.

"I told you to tell him I'm not here," he whined.

"Tony, you need to talk to him," she said. He took the phone and placed it to his ear. She pointed a finger at him and looked deeply into his eyes, not in the good way either. "I meant what I said." Tony swallowed nervously and nodded his head. She really was scary when she was serious, and the last thing he wanted was to return home to find he needed to repaint his suit. He took a deep breath, and focused on the caller.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Tony. It's Rhodey," Tony heard him say.

"I know who it is, Pepper told me the moment you called," he said. He heard Rhodey clear his throat before he continued.

"Look, Tony, I need a favor."

"Here it comes," he thought.

"Can you please come and take a look at the suit for me?" he asked, hesitantly.

"Yep, I knew it!" He smiled triumphantly.

"Give me one good reason why I should help you? You stole it, remember?" Tony sat back down in his chair and starting twirling in it. Pepper rolled her eyes at both the comment and his actions; she knew he acted like a child on purpose, and she knew he did it to get on her nerves.

"Tony, how long are you going to be playing that card? I already apologized, remember?" Rhodey said, defending himself.

"Just give me one good reason?"

"Because if it wasn't for me, your ass would've been sliced by the Russian." Tony paused to consider his response.

"Alright, fair enough. What is wrong with it anyway?" Rhodey sighed.

"Everything is wrong with it."

"I thought it was fixed when Natasha hacked into it."

"Apparently not. Please, Tony, I'm begging you, please come take a look at it. I promise I will never, ever, steal another one of your suits ever again if you just do this one thing for me." Tony went silent a moment and stopped twirling in his chair; he wouldn't admit it but he was getting dizzy.

"Okay, fine. I'll do it. When do you want me to come take a look?"

"Today, preferably. Tony, you have no idea how much I appreciate this, man," Rhodey said, sounding relieved.

"Yeah, well, my Christmas present better be good this year," he said, snobbishly. He got off the phone with Rhodey and handed the phone back to Pepper. She took it and smiled down on him. He just stared into space for a moment when he realized she was just standing there. Slowly, he looked up to her. "What?" he asked.

"I'm proud of you," she said, still smiling. Tony rolled his eyes and got up off the chair and walked towards the door.

"Let Fury know I'll reschedule our meeting when I feel like it," he said, the hard-ass back.

"Yes, Mr. Stark," she said as she followed him out the door.

Mr. Kahn sat as his desk rubbing his temples. Melina sat beside his desk, facing him, looking at him kindly.

"It wasn't you fault about the mix up," she stated.

"I know." He looked up to her. "But now we have some parts that will be delayed because of this mistake." Melina patted his hand.

"I will be on a plane this afternoon to pick up the corrected blueprints, and then we can get production back on schedule." Mr. Kahn smiled and gently grabbed her hand.

"I don't know what I would do without you," he said.

"Neither do I," she said, grinning. Mr. Kahn laughed at the comment and turned back to his paperwork.

"Oh, one more thing, Mr. Kahn," she began.

"Yes, Melina?" he asked, still looking at the papers.

"About the inquiry of certain supplies going missing," she continued. Mr. Kahn ceased his reading and slowly turned his head to look at her. "It is confirmed on who took it," she said, timidly. Mr. Kahn leaned back into his chair and just starred at her for a moment.

"Then you know what you have to do," he said calmly. She nodded quickly.

"Yes, sir." They sat there a moment and said nothing to each other. "Will that be all, Mr. Kahn?" she finally asked.

"That will be all, Miss Vostokoff," he said, leaning back up to the paperwork. Quickly, she got up off her seat and walked to the door of his office. His eyes followed her to his office door. "Melina?" She turned just as she was walking through his door.

"Yes, Mr. Kahn?" she asked, eyes wide, ready for whatever request he had this time. Instead of a request, a small smile grew on his lips.

"Good luck," he said. She smiled at him.

"Thank you, sir." With that, she turned and closed the door behind her.