Chapter 11

It had taken Tony several minutes to overcome the shock of discovering the identity of JC's brother. She had rarely ever spoken about him in the two years he had known her, and he had never seen a single picture of the man. He remembered JC telling him that the two of them had a falling out when they were children, but that had to have been nearly twenty years ago. Tony would have thought by now they would have resolved whatever differences there were between them, especially with the death of their mother the year before.

With her brother unconscious and safely tied to a chair in the living room, Tony finally confronted JC. If she was determined to kill him, he wanted to know why.

"Okay, now do you want to tell me what all that was about?"

"He took my son. That's all there is to it," she said evasively as she tried to make her way to the kitchen.

"Cut the crap, JC," Tony said as he slammed his palm against the wall making a barricade with his arm. "You are going to be straight with me for once. What the hell is really going on? You know more than you're saying, and it is really starting to piss me off. I'm trying to help you, but I can't until you come clean."

"I didn't ask for your help," she said tersely and ducked under his arm.

On the verge of completely losing his composure, Tony grabbed her by the shoulders and pinned her against the wall ensuring that she would stay put.

"You listen to me. This isn't a matter of whether or not you asked for help. We are friends and, God willing, soon to be spouses. I am giving you my help, and you will take it whether you like it or not, but I can't do anything unless I know exactly what's going on. Now, are you going to tell me, or am I going to have to pry it out of you?"

She let out a sigh and answered, "All right, I'll tell you. Just let me go, will you?"

He did as she asked and released her. She let out another sigh and went to sit on the stairs.

"I haven't spoken to my brother in almost fourteen years and with good reason. Then, about six months ago he sent me a letter. I don't know how he found me, but he did. He said that something was going to happen, but he didn't know when, and he didn't know what. A few weeks later he sent another letter with the same warning. They kept coming every two weeks until two months ago. That's when I started getting one every week, only this time he said that Darren was in danger. I hid the letters from Darren since I didn't know if they were valid or not, but he's smarter than I give him credit for. I'm sure he suspected something from the start, but I had no reason to think that something like this would happen at the time. It was when he tried calling a few weeks ago that I knew something serious was up, that it wasn't just a hoax."

"Is that why you reacted to Natalie the way you did in the ring?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered. "I thought she might be the one that was after Darren. I knew she was hiding something. I just wish I had known she was S.H.E.I.L.D sooner. I was so distracted by it that I didn't see this coming."

"So all this time, Monaco, the camping trip, it was all to protect Darren?"

"I thought that if everyone saw me react the way I did in Monaco that maybe whoever was after him would take advantage of the situation and come for him while we were away from you. I needed them to think I had lost my edge. When nothing happened that week, I came back. I had to. I still thought you were going to die. I guess I really did lose my edge. And now Darren is gone because of it," she growled, balling her hands into fists.

"But how can you be sure that Caleb is behind it? He did try to warn you. Why would he come here if he did it?"

"Because that's how he works," she said, standing up. "He is a master at manipulation. For all I know he sent those letters to get me riled up so he could make his move when he thought I finally cracked. Now he's just visiting the scene trying to act innocent and pretend to help. He's nothing but a lying sack of trash."

"How would you know? You said so yourself that you haven't seen him in fourteen years. Don't you think it's remotely possible that he's changed?"

"I've known him for long enough. People like him don't ever change."

"Look at me. You assumed I couldn't change either, but I have. You don't know that he hasn't changed. What is it that he could have possibly done to earn this much hate and contempt?"

She was about to answer when the both heard moaning coming from the living room. JC moved from her spot on the stairs to living room, a dangerous flicker in her eyes that told Tony this was far from over. Whatever her personal vendetta was against her brother, she was more than willing to see it through possibly before he could tell them any relevant information about Darren. That was what concerned Tony more.

"I see you haven't lost your touch, Sis," Caleb said with a wince. "I was beginning to forget how warm your welcomes always were."

"That's the least of what you deserved. Now," she said, grabbing the arms of his chair and invading his personal space, "where is Darren?"

"I don't know," he answered.

She reached up with one hand and grabbed his windpipe, his breath catching in his throat.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't hear you very well. Where did you say he was?"

"I…told…y-you," he gasped, "I…d-don't…know."

"Killing him now won't bring any answers," Tony said when she didn't release him.

She looked back at him defiantly but hesitantly released Caleb's throat. He gasped for air his body slumping over in the chair.

"I know that you know where he is, Caleb. Why else would you be here right now if you didn't know something?"

"Listen to me. I honestly don't know where he was taken. I didn't even know he was gone until I walked through that door," he said.

"I don't believe you, Caleb. You had to have known. You were the one that kept warning me about it. Stop lying," she growled as she invaded his space making direct eye contact with him.

"I'm not lying," he said, raising his voice.

In an instant JC knocked him over in his chair and pressed her foot on his throat.

"I've known you for a long time, Caleb. I know when you're not telling me the whole truth. You sent those letters, you made the phone calls, and now I'm more than sure that I saw you skulking around here before I took Darren away. Now, I'm going to ask you one last time, and if you don't start giving me some answers I will crush your pathetic little windpipe. Where is Darren?" she asked again.

Tony was already on his feet preparing to step in incase she decided to carry out her threat.

"I…d-don't know…where they took him, but…I k-know…who took him," he gasped.

JC cocked her brow with interest. Now they were starting to get somewhere.

"J-just…let me up."

JC complied and put him right side up allowing him to catch his breath before continuing.

"A.I.M. has him," he finally said.

"Aim? What is Aim?" she asked.

"A.I.M.," Tony said, "is Advanced Idea Mechanics. They're like the Ten Rings except they make the weapons instead of stealing or buying them, and most of their stuff is a hell of a lot worse than some of the stuff that came out of my factories. What does a group of terrorist want with a kid?"

"They don't want the kid. They want leverage," Caleb explained.

"For what?" JC demanded. "What do they think they can get from me by taking my son? I'm not a weapons expert or anything. What do they gain?"

"Listen, I don't know. I wasn't exactly the guy they went to to bounce ideas off of. I just heard rumors, okay?"

"What other rumors did you hear, Caleb?"

"They're building something, something big. There was word going around that they couldn't finish it for some reason. Something about a computer or a processor, I don't know. It was something technical."

"A computer? JC wouldn't have anything like that, not the kind that it sounds like they want," Tony thought aloud.

He looked to JC for a sign of confirmation, but the look on her face was perplexing at best.

"JC?" he asked when she didn't deny it.

She looked away.

"JC, what aren't you telling me?" Tony asked when she refused to look at him.

"Come with me," she said when she finally did look up at him again. She led him away from the living room towards the kitchen and down the hall that led to her art studio.

"Hey, what about me?" Caleb called. "Are you just gonna leave me here?"

"Shut up, Caleb," she called back as she reached for a door in the hallway that Tony assumed was just a small closet or pantry.

She opened the door to reveal a larger metal door with a series of panels that looked like a hand print and a number pad lock. This had to be the secret room that Darren had talked about. JC put her hand on the scanner and entered in the number code. Then a computerized voice asked for a password.

"Darren Caiden Stark," she said to the machine. Several beeps and whirl later the door unlocked and the computer gave its approval along with a welcome.

JC pulled the door open to reveal a flight of stairs that led down in to darkness. She motioned for him to follow and led him down eerie corridor. When they reached the bottom, a row of lights began to turn on and showed the extent of the room. The secret room was more than just a room. It was at least the size of Tony's garage equipped with a shooting range, an arsenal of JC's usual weapons including a few that he had not seen her use, an area that looked like it might have been meant for some sort of training, and taking up most of one wall were multiple screens that Tony could only assume was a computer. This wasn't just some secret room. He felt as if he had just entered JC's version of the Bat Cave.

"What is all of this?" Tony asked as he was still trying to wrap his head around it all.

"You have your base of operations, and I have mine," she offered as an explanation.

"I can see that, but what is it for? I mean, how did it all get down here? No offense, but I doubt work as a security guard for even the richest guys brings in enough money for this kind of stuff."

"It was after one of my first security jobs after I left the military. The Japanese equivalent of you hired me for a job. I impressed him enough to earn a very large favor. He gave me the equipment to keep training in the privacy of my own home as long as I was available for any job that he needed. That's what that is," she said pointing over to the area Tony had assumed was for training.

It was a large square with posts at each corner. Inside the square was a circle that took up most of the area in the square.

"It's a virtual training area, and every year I get an upgrade for it. New simulations of varying difficulty and equipment I'm allowed to have with me. The visors show me the environment and the circle is a moving floor so I can walk, run, do whatever I need without having to worry about running out of room. It's still in the developmental stages, but they're working on barriers similar to force fields in the sci-fi movies so that I can interact more with the environments. I come up to a wall or desk or other object and I can lean against it as if it were there. It's still a few years away, but I get to be their beta for it," she explained.

"It's all impressive, but what about that computer?" Tony asked knowing that they were there for more than a look at her favorite toy.

She took a deep breath and walked over to the computer. It booted up from its sleep and showed off all the things JC had been working on. Some of it Tony recognized as mission information from some of his more recent exploits as Iron Man. Some of it wasn't so familiar.

"This is my JARVIS. It can do everything JARVIS with very few exceptions," she said, sitting down in the computer chair.

"What kind of exceptions are we talking about?"

"It doesn't have the human quality JARVIS has. JARVIS can do everything short of thinking for himself. He has a logic, a type of reasoning, an ability for adapting that can only be described as human. This computer can't do that. Other than that, it could theoretically challenge JARVIS in a way that no other computer could."

"And you think that this is what A.I.M. is after?" Tony reasoned.

"It's the only thing I can think of. But I don't understand why me, why Darren? It makes more sense to just take the tech from the company that gave it to me or just take it out when they tried to take Darren. None of this makes any sense."

"What makes you think they didn't try to take it? Maybe they just ran out of time. Taking something like this out of a room like this wouldn't exactly be a short job," Tony reasoned.

"Maybe we can get a few answers from the kidnapping," she said and started typing commands in the computer.

"What do you mean?"

"There are cameras installed in the house. Maybe we can get a look at the guys who did this, see if they even tried to get in here," she said as videos began to pop up on the screens. From the angles on the cameras, there was one on the door to the room, one that covered the hallway to the bedrooms, the inside of the bedrooms, the kitchen, art studio, two in the living room, the front door, and several more that covered the perimeter of the house.

"Okay, let's start from the time I left at eight and fast forward from there," she said as carried it out. It didn't take long before they found the moment the kidnapping started. "Here at eight thirty this van pulls up to the front door," she said pointing to the courier van. "Two men exit and after what looks like an attempt to get Darren to let them in, they just break through the door."

They continued to watch as Darren ran towards the kitchen looking for an escape only to be cut off by two more men.

"Where did those guys come from?" Tony asked looking to the other cameras.

"Hang on, I'm looking," JC said impatiently as she typed in commands and scanned all the screens. "There, at the studio window. I can't believe I left that unlocked," JC fumed. Tony put a hand on her shoulder trying to keep her calm.

"I'm fine. Let's just get this over with," she said tersely as she continued with the video.

The video continued playing. One of the kidnappers grabbed Darren from behind and failed to restrain him. Darren grabbed the man's arms for support and pulled himself up to kick the other two assailants in the chest before breaking the man's grip and pushing him away. The fourth man attempted to get a hold on him but was stopped by Darren's elbow in his face, and Darren ran from the kitchen to the living room. The other three men got to their feet and gave chase and cut him off. They started to throw punches in another attempt to subdue the boy, but Darren quite skillfully blocked and countered their attacks. With the four men on the ground again Darren ran back towards the kitchen which seemed odd to Tony since the front door was less than ten feet away. Why did he run to the back?

Darren just about made it to the back when one of the men came running in and all but tackled him. Darren shrugged him off and started looking around frantically before grabbing the first weapon he could from the countertop: an ice pick. He jabbed out at the man several times in warning, but the man did not back down. He lunged out at Darren trying to grab the ice pick, they struggled, and the man fell to the ground.

JC gasped and covered her mouth. Tony was just as shocked. The man was on the ground with the ice pick protruding from his chest. The man wasn't dead yet, but he was certainly terrified as he stared in disbelief at the sharp object now lodged in his chest. Darren looked just as terrified and let his guard down long enough for the three other men to get a hold of him and one of them stuck a needle in him. In seconds he stopped struggling and went limp.

"Get the kid in the truck," the leader ordered and one of the men carried Darren away while the other went to check on their fallen comrade.

"Come on, man, you gotta get me to a hospital. I don't wanna die like this," the man on the ground pleaded.

"We don't have time to take you to a hospital. Take him out back, finish the job," the leader ordered. The other man looked at him in defiance for a moment before grabbing the fallen man and dragged him toward the back door.

"Oh no, please, no, no," the man pleaded frantically.

"Gag him before he wakes up the neighbors," the leader snapped and made his way to the front door.

"The boy is in the van. Do you want me to start working on that door?" the other man asked when he had returned from the van.

"You dolt. We're not here for that piece of crap. We need Stark's," the leader said gruffly.

"Why when we have one here for the taking. Why do we even need that kid? He's useless," the other man complained.

"You honestly think we could just break in to Tony Stark's home for his JARVIS when he's got his girlfriend guarding him? No. That kid will be more than enough for Stark to just hand over the JARVIS program. You'll see. In twenty four hours that program is as good as ours."

The third man came in from the back and reported to the leader that the other man had been taken care of. With several final remarks they all walked out the front door and left in the van.

JC stopped the video and just stared at the screen. Tony wasn't sure what to say. He wanted to comfort her, but he was sure that she wouldn't accept it, not now.

"We're going to find him, JC. I promise," he said, gripping her shoulder.

"He…I can't believe he…" she trailed off and covered her face with her hands.

"JC, look at me," Tony said, kneeling down in front of her and took her hands in his. "It wasn't his fault that man died. He defended himself, and that man might have lived. They killed him, not Darren. You taught him to fight and defend himself, not to kill."

"Tony," she said shakily, trying to keep a hold on her emotions, "I didn't teach Darren how to fight. I didn't teach him any of that."

"You didn't? Well, then who did?" he asked.

"I don't know. I'm starting to think I barely know my own son anymore."

"Listen to me," he said. "We're going to find him, and when we do, we're going to find out what's been going on, okay?"

She nodded but didn't look convinced. Tony knew what she was feeling, because in a way he felt the same thing. She thought she had let her son down by not protecting him better. Tony knew he had let Darren down by not being there for his mother, by not being the man he should have been when he needed to be. Well, that was about to change.

"Let's go back up stairs. I'm sure your brother has more answers for us that he's not telling us."

AN: I'm SO sorry that I haven't updated sooner. College has been eating away my life right now, so I haven't had a lot of time lately. Hopefully the length of this one will help to make up for the lack of updates, and I will try to get another update done soon. To those of you who have not given up and have been waiting very patiently, thank you very much. You guys are awesome! And to those of you who leave me those wonderful reviews, you are double awesome!