Sorry for the semi-long wait. I've been busy and I had wanted to write a happier story (and I did). So I've returned to this story. :) And I'm going to try something new. Replies at the beginning!

Someone (Guest): Heh...Sorry about that...Thanks for your very angry sounding review! :) Did I update soon enough?

PercyJacksonLover14: Sometimes you scare me...but thanks for reminding me how horrible of a person I am. Because its true :P I'm so horrible, I got you to threaten me in a review! Yippee! Just kidding, I'm not that horrible right?

Disclaimer: IMAA is not mine, it belongs to marvel/nicktoons.

Her eyes had been closed, not wanting to see the beam of the repulsor meeting with Tony. Not wanting to even open her eyes to see the ending result of her action. With her eyes clamped shut and her breath locked in her chest, she waited. She waited for a signal that she could open her eyes again. She was waiting for the impossible. For reassurance that she had not just first the repulsor at point blank straight at Tony, and that he was actually still standing before her as if nothing had happened.

But all that followed was silence. The air rang eerily in silence, not even a single breath broke the silence. The silence stretched on and on as if it was being stretched by the hands of time. It left an uneasy feeling in her stomach that ached just to be released.

Her eyes snapped open to the sound of the armor clicking and sliding back and away from her body. The cool wind from outside the comfort of the heated armor wrapped around her body. At first she had feared that Tony had figured out how to use Extremis to his advantage, and silently prepared herself for the attack.

But that was when she realized two things. First off, the repulsor had never been fired. Tony had never been hit by the blast, like she had feared he had. Second of all, Tony wasn't standing in front of her anymore. Instead, he was crouched down in a fetal position, his hands gripping at his face in horror.

"Tony?"

She was hesitant to approach him, but after a few small steps, she was standing at his side. She crouched down next to him, her eyes wary as she reached a hand out to his shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" Tony screamed, slapping her hand away.

Pepper's hand recoiled back and she hugged it against her chest, her breathing heavy. "Tony, please, I want to help."

Tony shook his head, moving himself farther away from her. He was mumbling something under his breath over and over again, but they weren't coherent enough for Pepper to understand. She felt hurt that he didn't want to be near her; that he didn't want her help.

"Tony," Rhodey spoke from where he stood, slowly approaching his friend, "what's wrong?"

Pepper reached her hand out again, persistent in trying to offer some comfort to her boyfriend. After all, that's what girlfriends do. But she wasn't just his girlfriend. She was his friend. And she was determined to help him.

But he was determined to shove all help away.

Her hand had barely touched his shoulder, but that was all that was needed to push Tony away even more. He shoved her hand away not-so-kindly, and practically growled out, "Leave me alone! Go away!"

But she was more determined.

"Tony, I'm not going anywhere," Pepper promised him, once again reaching a hand out, "Not until I know you're okay."

Again her hand was easily shoved away, but Pepper kept pushing. Rhodey warned her that this might not be wise at the moment, but she ignored his warnings. Instead, she kept reaching her hand out to Tony, offering any and all comfort she could. No matter how many times Tony screamed at her to go away and to leave him alone, she kept pressing forward.

"Stay back," Tony warned her again, this time gripping her wrist tightly, "I don't want to hurt you anymore."

Pepper sighed. She didn't want that either. Despite knowing the fact that Tony didn't mean any harm, not even when he first walked into the armory, she still feared that the part of Tony that was willing to attack his friends would appear at any moment. But she wasn't going to let that fear over take her will to help Tony. This time, it was her turn to protect and save Tony.

"You won't," she stated, a small smile on her lips, "I know you won't, Tony."

She dropped down to her knees, ignoring the sting to her skin. She crawled closer to Tony, trying to get him to meet her gaze. She could tell that he was breathing harder and quicker than normal and his heart was probably beating erratically in his chest. His eyes were wide and disbelieving and overall just horrified. She didn't let his out of it expression deter her, instead she used that as her motivation to keep trying.

"Pep, no," Tony protested, but giving no resistance when she pressed a comforting hand on his back, "I'll hurt you…"

She shook her head. "You'd never hurt me."

He looked at her with doubt in his electric blue eyes. She could feel his gaze going to the swelling bruise that called her cheek home. She lightly grazed her free hand across it. "I already did."

Pepper gave a shake of her head. "No, Tony, that wasn't you and you know it."

He looked over to Rhodey, who was standing not too far away, holding his side. Tony shook his head. "No, it was me. I'm the one who hurt you and Rhodey. I was too weak to fight it off. It's my fault."

Heat rose across Pepper's face in anger as she whacked the back of Tony's head. He gaped at her in shock. "Shut up!" Pepper snapped. "I don't want to hear about how it's 'your fault'! I don't care whose fault it is right now! You just need to get it in your big fat head that we don't blame you for what you did! The only thing we're mad about is why you didn't come to us sooner! We could have helped!"

Her shoulder moved in sync with her heavy, angry breathing. Angry tears formed in her eyes, but she ignored them. "I tried to be understanding and supportive without prying too much in your business. I tried giving you your space when I thought you needed it. But you hadn't even paused to think about how you not trusting us would affect us. I mean, how selfish!?" Now she was just getting herself worked up and angry. "Aren't I your girlfriend, Tony? Couples are supposed to share everything with each other, but since I knew you were having troubles, I let it slide. You're lucky I love you because if I didn't, then this wouldn't have lasted this long and I wouldn't have been so understanding." Pepper huffed out another angry breath, before groaning in frustration. "I swear! I'm so angry right now!"

Both boys before her, silently gaped at her with their jaws hanging. "Um…"

Pepper blushed and crossed her arms with a "humph" as she looked away.

While Tony just looked like a kicked puppy at her words, Rhodey found himself bursting out in laughter, even if the act caused pain to his ribs. Pepper stared at him as if he was crazy. "What?"

Rhodey attempted to control his laughter to allow himself to speak coherently. "You sound like an angry wife!" Rhodey erupted into another painful fit of laughter, only to control himself once more before Pepper could protest angrily. "And you said that you love Tony!"

Any objections Pepper had to his previous words, dissipated as soon as she thought of them. Her face flared up a burning red, she was sure showed from her toes to her scalp. Sure, Tony and she had been dating for some time now, and she already knew that she loved that blue-eyed dork, but prior to today, the words have never been spoken aloud.

"So what if I do!?" Pepper demanded, angry, but embarrassed. "It's not funny!"

Surprisingly, even Tony gave a chuckle to Pepper's wild reaction. Both of his friends silenced themselves instantly.

The smile that had momentarily set on Tony's lips faded and he gave a thoughtful look, that didn't really look too depressing anymore. "I'm sorry I blamed myself, Pep. It's just…" he paused, trying to find words to say, "that I know I'll never forgive myself for hurting you guys. My fault or not, it was my hands, my body that caused harm to the two closest to me. I just feel that I could've done something to prevent it from happening. What if it happens again?"

Rhodey was the one who answered this time. "We'll just have to hope that it never does happen again. Because, I have to admit, your kicks hurt." He gave a light laugh, hoping that Tony would see that there wasn't any hurt feelings between them.

"I'm serious Rhodey, what if it does happen again? What if I'm not able to come to my senses in time and something happens?" Tony questioned.

Rhodey sighed. It should be Pepper and him mad at him and fearing that this would happen again. Except it was the other way around. "Let's not dwell on 'what ifs' Tony. Because I like to think that things will get better and if it does happen again, we'll figure out what to do then."

Tony was still unconvinced, but gave a sigh in defeat. He had to hand it to them, there were just as stubborn as he was. He looked up to Rhodey, who was now offering him his hand. The three of them stood up and gave a collective sigh.

"So, what now?" Tony asked, unsure.

"Well," Rhodey said, gesturing to his side, he has yet to release from his grip, "I plan on getting this checked on. Seriously, I think you may have cracked a rib."

"I'm sor—!"

"Nope," Rhodey interrupted Tony, "I will hear none of that. I told you, we're fine."

"But,"

"No, but's," Rhodey insisted.

Tony pouted. "Yes, mom."

Rhodey only sighed with a shake of his head. Maybe it would take some time, but he could tell that Tony was going to be alright. He was shaken and shocked and maybe still a little terrified of what he could become, but he was still Tony Stark. He was still Iron Man. He would make it through this obstacle as he has every other one he's had to face. Rhodey just had to believe in that fact.

…

Later that evening, the trio plus Roberta were at the hospital waiting to get Rhodey's rib looked at. The room was almost filled with patients waiting for their turn to be called in. Several children played with toys in one corner of the room while their parents and the other adults read books or magazines. Roberta was busy with two tasks. Filling out some paperwork for Rhodey's visit to the hospital and asking many questions on how this had happened in the first place.

"James, you better not be lying to me," the lawyer stated, "I want the truth."

"Mom," Rhodey complained, trying not to draw attention to himself from the crowded waiting room, "I am telling the truth, Tony and I were just messing around. It was an accident."

"If it was an accident, then why is your neck also bruised?" Roberta said, tugging down at the collar of Rhodey's sweater to reveal a bruise. "It looks like someone was choking you! Do I need to find whoever it is that attacked you?"

"We were pushing each other around, mom," Rhodey said, before the woman could demand anymore questions. "Tony tripped and fell on me, his hand landed on my neck on accident. And his knee hit my ribs. It was an accident."

Roberta looked at him skeptically, not truly believing her son. But sighed. In cases like this, she knew she was likely to never get the truth that she wanted. "Fine, if you don't want to tell me, so be it."

Rhodey mentally sighed in relief and glanced over at Tony. Tony hadn't wanted to lie to Roberta in the first place. He said that it didn't feel right lying to the woman again, especially when it was himself who hurt Rhodey. At first, Rhodey had opted to tell his mom that he was attacked by a thief who wanted his money, but both Pepper and Tony protested to that idea. They said that it would worry the lawyer too much.

Although still adamant on telling the truth, in the end they managed to agree that they'd say it was an accident while messing around. After all, it wasn't too unbelievable that two male teens were wrestling and pushing each other around. But he could tell that Tony wasn't too happy about that decision.

Tony sat beside him with Pepper on his other side, looking closely at the television in the upper corner of the waiting room. Rhodey couldn't tell if that was Tony pretending that he wasn't listening to their conversation, or if that was him tuning them out and using the news that played on the television as a distraction. He looked concentrated enough for the latter to be true, so Rhodey glanced up the screen.

As he looked up, Tony suddenly shot up out of his chair to stare intently at the screen in shock. Several pairs of eyes locked in on Tony's tense form, as he was the only one besides the staff that was standing up.

"What is it, Tony?" Rhodey asked, glancing back to the television that Tony still had his eyes locked on.

The news reporter was saying something about a mysterious death of a man outside of an abandon lab in New York City. Rhodey couldn't figure out why that was so shocking, because it was New York after all. As sad as it was to say, deaths mysteriously happen all the time.

"Tony?"

Now both Roberta and Pepper were getting concerned. Tony gaze never left the television as a picture of a middle aged man entered the screen, not even when Pepper placed a hand on his shoulder and in his hand. Anyone could see that the teen genius was getting paler by the second, his fingers shaking ever-so-slightly.

"I know that guy…" Tony breathed out just loud enough for Pepper to hear. "That's him…"

Dun Dun DUN! *Dramatic voice* Okay, so this chapter is giving me mixed feelings. I don't know if I should be proud or disappointed... I don't think it's bad, just missing something. But in the end it still ended as I planned, so I will complain no more.

The summary will(has) change(d) from the original to the new one. Not many people voted on the poll, which is closed now, but it's been a while. It's time to close it. And the new summary won. :)

Fun Fact: In a family party, I'm the person who's always in the corner reading, writing, or drawing. Especially when it's part of the step family. I don't know half of those people...and they all act as if they've known me forever.

Hugs and Love, SilverPedals! :D

P.S. If I were to start a contest for the Christmas/Winter season would anyone participate? It doesn't even have to be Pepperony this time around! Something new for a change. :) PM or tell me in your review if you would participate if I made it.