Chapter 11

Happy, Bruce and Tony sat outside the emergency room as they waited on news regarding Rhodey's health. Tony's first impression upon seeing his battered and bloodied body had been that he was dead. His fingers had dialed 911 without even looking at the screen as his other hand checked for a pulse. Once had had found one, he had taken a sigh of relief. He then had briefed the emergency services operator of what he had found at the same time he flipped the room to find signs of what happened to Pepper. When he had found that her luggage and phone were still in the room, he concentrated on Rhodey again.

Since then, Tony had forced himself to sit still –or as still as Tony Stark could ever be, as he waited for any doctor to stop by and tell them Rhodey's status. He wanted to be looking for Pepper, fearing he was going to waste time again when she could be in danger or at the mercy of some predator, but he was also worried about Rhodey. Besides, waiting to find out if Rhodey was alright and conscious –and possibly speaking to him, would also help him get an idea of what had happened to them in that hotel room, thus hitting two birds with one stone. He knew he sounded selfish to some degree, but he also believed that no one would really blame him for it at this point.

Bruce noticed his friend's patience was reaching its end. Tony legs were rapidly bouncing up and down; shaking the row of seats they all occupied at the moment, but no words escaped his mouth. He kept closing and opening his hands, eyes piercing the door of the emergency room as if his intense stare would make the doctors move faster. Banner rested a comforting hand on his shoulder, snapping Tony off his mental reclusiveness.

The kind doctor had been waiting for Tony's patience to almost run out, knowing that if he was left to his devices immediately after the discovery in the hotel room, Tony would cause more damage than good. After two hours of waiting, it now appeared to Bruce that Tony was ready to do what he did best.

"Tony, it's OK. You should go back to the Tower and the hotel room, pick up some clues."

Tony's eyes widened at Bruce's suggestion. The billionaire was dying to leap out of the hospital and do his own investigation, but he had been torn with the options. "Are you sure? I mean, Rhodey…"

"Will be unaffected by you being here or not," Banner said, taking off his hand from Tony and poking Happy's ribs to get his attention. "We'll call you the moment he wakes up. Right now, I think that energy you have is best used to find Pepper."

The look of gratefulness on Tony's face could have not been greater. His eyes traveled from Bruce to Happy, who nodded at him, encouraging him to leave. With a simple appreciative nod to his friends, Tony stood up and ran down the hall and out the hospital in seconds. When he reached the exit, he dug his hand inside his pocket and took out the bracelets that were created to control the Mark VII in free fall, preparing for such an occasion should it arrive.

Tony called a cab and boarded it immediately, tempting the driver with a big tip if he disobeyed all traffic laws and got him to the hotel where Pepper had been staying in, in less than five minutes. The cab driver, recognizing the passenger, gladly accepted the challenge and took off. As Tony avoided hitting the sides of the maniacally-driven vehicle, he took out his ever trusting cell phone, activated the Mark VII, and commanded Jarvis to send it to wait for him behind the hotel.

As agreed, less than five minutes later, Tony dropped the promised payment on the driver's seat before he sprinted out the car and ran toward the back of the hotel. Upon sensing Tony's proximity, the Mark VII opened up its front side to allow Tony to suit up. The moment the last intricate piece of machinery locked, Iron Man took off to the skies, floating in midair as Jarvis analyzed the hotel blueprints.

"The marked window leads to Ms. Potts' room."

"Have the police finished their shitty clue-hunting?" Tony asked as he reached the window and budged it open.

"Indeed, sir. They only took hair and blood samples, but left enough evidence behind for you to run your own forensic evaluation."

"Of course they did," Tony agreed, his suit already pinpointing the location of the samples. At the same time, Jarvis scanned the small room, creating a manipulative grid for Tony's use later on. Tony gathered the samples he needed before giving the room one last look, making sure he did not miss anything important. Tony had left behind Pepper's luggage which the police had already taken, but he had taken and hidden her cell phone with him before the paramedics arrived for Rhodey.

"Jarvis, break into the security cameras' feed of the hotel. I need images of who visited Pepper in the last 24 hours."

"Will do, sir. The scan of the room is complete."

"Good. Start analysis and render possible situations based on the evidence. Let's head back to the penthouse."

"As you wish," the AI responded, charting the flight path back to the penthouse. In less than a minute, Tony was walking inside the penthouse through the balcony window, stripping off the suit as he entered the room.

Tony dropped the samples on the coffee table, which by now had been replaced with a new one, before taking out Pepper's cell phone to browse its activity history. Jarvis's laser began analyzing the samples as Tony stood up, cell phone in his hands, and calling upon Jarvis to project the crime scene grid.

Tony lifted his eyes from the phone screen when he saw no phone calls or text messages had been sent in hours, and concentrated on the image before him. He remembered Rhodey's body had been lying face down on the floor, by the foot of the bed. The bed sheets were halfway down the bed, giving him the impression that Rhodey had tried to hold on to them to prevent his fall.

"Jarvis, how is the feed task coming along?"

"Almost complete, sir."

The lamps set on the nightstands had been shattered against the wall, posing to him the possibility that whatever had attacked Rhodey and Pepper have had to put up with resistance from the latter. The opposite wall to the bed –where the lamps had been shattered on, showed scratches on the wallpaper, and the chair that had been resting against it was torn in two.

Rhodey must have tried to attack whoever snuck up on them, and then Pepper might have tried to help by throwing things at the intruder, Tony mused to himself, but still not entirely convinced the story pieced well together. Who would sneak up on the both of them in such a confined room without either of them noticing well in advance? Who would be stupid enough to take on an armed and uniformed Air Force General, and the girlfriend of Iron Man?

The same idiot who would release a fake tape to the world. Unless, the guy didn't sneak in. Maybe he was let in, posing as a hotel employee?

"Jarvis, I need that feed."

"Loading it now, sir."

Tony redirected his attention to the replaced screen in front of him, showing in fast motion the feeds of five cameras. One camera showed the entrance surveillance; a second camera showed the elevator feed; a third camera displayed the hall where Pepper's room was; a fourth camera showed the parking lot; and the fifth feed showed images from the reception.

After a few minutes of observing the feeds, he found Rhodey arriving at the hotel. He watched as the General walked inside the building, spoke to the attendant, and made his way upstairs. He exited the elevator and headed to Pepper's room, knocking on it and eventually going in. The hotel hall feed remained uneventful until Tony's image came upon the screen. Tony noted the timestamps on the cameras, and cursed his luck for deciding to beat up Derek. Had he not bothered with him, he would have arrived only minutes after Rhodey had gone inside the room.

So, the attack came from inside.

"Jarvis, do we have any feed from the side of the building, perhaps showing the window of the room?"

"No such streaming exists, sir."

"Dammit!"

After determining the cameras were useless, Tony returned his attention to the projection. "What do the samples show?"

"Blood sample analysis returned a match for General Rhodes and Miss Potts. Hair sample analysis returned a match for Miss Potts, only."

"Did you find any other matches?"

"I'm afraid not. Based on these samples, Miss Potts and General Rhodes were the only ones present in the room."

Unless the attacker was smooth; wanted to remain anonymous and came inside through the window -somehow.

"Jarvis, run a black light scan on the room for other possible fluids left behind."

The grid glowed red as a laser ran through every inch of the projection. Once the analysis was complete, Jarvis spoke again.

"Sir, an unidentifiable substance was left behind under the bed."

"What do you mean unidentifiable?"

"My database does not contain a match for it."

"Lift the bed."

The projection of the bed was immediately removed, leaving behind the rest of the room intact. Tony walked toward the space, focusing on the glowing marks on the rug. The marks were defined whilst sloppy, as if done with haste.

"What's 404-507-3520?" Tony asked as he read aloud the markings on the rug. He doubted the numbers had been placed there with an invisible substance just for the heck of it. Whoever had taken Pepper was leaving clues behind; clues that they knew only Tony could find.

"There is no phone number registered as such, sir."

"Maybe it's not a phone number."

"What else could it be?"

"Perhaps a serial number?"

"Running analysis for serial numbers."

As Tony waited for the analysis to be completed, he sat on the couch, covering his eyes with his hands and thinking of possible meanings for the numbers Jarvis had found: A social security number, perhaps? It was one digit too long, but hell; he did not even know his own number so the limit could be that great by now. A military code? It was not one he was familiar with, but perhaps Rhodey would know about it.

Rhodey. Tony took out his phone as if willing it to ring with good news about his friend. He stared at it for another second before the unexpected ringing caught his ears.

However, the ring was not coming from his phone, but Pepper's.

Tony scrambled his hands inside his pocket, again taking out Pepper's phone and staring at the number on the screen. It read 404-507-3520.

"What the hell? I thought the number was not registered," he mumbled to himself as he pressed the button to pick up the call.

"Pepper?"

A light chuckle was heard from the other end of the line, and somehow Tony knew that what was about to follow was not going to amuse him.

"Anthony, Anthony, Anthony –when will you learn not to assume you know everything?"

"Who's this?"

"Why, I'm insulted! It's only been a few years and you've already forgot about me, your best pal?"

Tony narrowed his eyes, his heart beating faster every second. Only two people in the world had ever called him by his full first name, and one of them had died a long, long, long time ago.

"Hammer?"

"Ding, ding, ding, ding, DING! I knew you couldn't have just forgotten about me! I'm much too memorable."

"To what do I owe the displeasure of your call?" Tony asked, rubbing his forehead with his fingers. "Aren't you supposed to be, I don't know, picking up bar soaps from the prison's shower floors?"

"Very funny, Tony. I've actually hired someone to do that sort of stuff for me, I'll have you know. In fact, you might know her. She used to work for you."

Tony's eyes widened, instantly understanding Hammer's words. "Where is she?"

"I think you already know. Either way, I have a business conference to tend to, and you're certainly invited to come. We'll be waiting for you; this is a meeting you don't want to be late to."

Tony swallowed hard as he heard the click that symbolized the end of the call. He eyed the phone's screens as it blinked three times to show the final length of the call. He already knew the call had not been long enough to trace.

"Jarvis?"

"No serial numbers associated with it. The call Miss Potts' cell phone received was made from an encrypted virtual line."

"How long until you can skip trace it?"

"At least an hour."

"I don't have an hour – Pepper doesn't have an hour. Jarvis, was Hammer released from prison?"

Tony waited the few seconds it took his AI to scan the open records and news to find any mention of Hammer breaking out of jail.

"No official records exist in the open database; hacking into private servers to continue search."

Despite the grim circumstances, Tony could not help to smirk at his virtual butler's illegal approach to gather information. Even his AI was beginning to become accustomed to his unorthodox methods.

"Talk to me."

"An official document has been found granting early release to Justin Hammer."

"When?"

"It is dated a year ago."

"Who approved it?"

"Former Vice President Rodriguez."

"That mother…Jarvis, send the information to Happy and Banner, and let me know the moment Rhodey is out from surgery."

"Will do, sir. What about the location of Miss Potts?"

I think you already know. Hammer's response replayed in Tony's mind. It was obvious to him that Hammer was directly involved with Pepper's abduction, and he clearly wanted Tony to be part of the show. How Hammer had managed to take Pepper under Rhodey's watch was still incredible to him. Hammer's plans had never had so much success before.

Tony stared at the numbers on the projection once more, forcing himself to keep his head cool. If he wanted to help Pepper, he needed to set aside all emotions until he had a plan –something he was not used to doing. The phone number was not a phone number, yet a call was received from the number itself. When was a phone number not a phone number?

I think you already know…business conference…

"Jarvis?"

"Sir?"

"What are the coordinates for Queens, New York?"

"40°45′0″N 73°52′0″W , sir," Jarvis responded as he placed the numbers on the screen. Tony walked closer to the screen, altering the coordinates so that the degree and minutes and seconds symbols, along with the cardinal point indicators disappeared, leaving behind only the numbers themselves.

"404-507-3520…that's it, Jarvis! Hammer has Pepper in the old Hammer Industries warehouse in Queens!"

"Setting path to location," Jarvis responded, programming the Mark VII as Tony suited up. "ETA is 15 minutes."

"Make it ten, J."

xxxXXXxxx

From all the places and things Tony thought he could have been going to or doing tonight, breaking into an abandoned warehouse located on Hammer Industries' property was certainly not one of them. The location had been left to its own devices since Justin's arrest during the Stark Expo, and it showed that without the man's influence, the Board of Directors of Hammer Industries had no interest in keeping the company alive.

Without the company's well-being and status holding him back, Hammer had been able to sneak out of prison without being noticed at all. Who would give a damn about a broken man? A criminal at that, who had helped another criminal fake his death? Besides, with the news of Pepper coming back, giving birth to twins and being in an apparent sex tape…

Shit! Distractions! That's what these have been!

Tony cursed himself for not seeing the connection before. Who would want Pepper's reputation destroyed? Someone who had their own reputation destroyed by Pepper! Who would have wanted Stark Industries to struggle with renegotiations? Someone who could not renegotiate their own company! It was so obvious to him now that he felt like beating himself against a wall.

The seemingly out-of-place single light on at the main entrance of the warehouse told Tony he was in the correct location, but he was not about to just waltz in through the front door. He ignited his thrusters and hovered in front of the second story windows, trying to determine if he could get a head start on whatever Hammer's plans where. When his analysis did not prove fruitful, he used his right hand's repulsors to break open a hole for him to walk into. As soon as he entered the building, a bright light illuminated the middle of the room, inviting the hero to land in the middle of it.

"The business standards have really lowered 'round here, haven't they? Where's the sign-in sheet?" Tony asked, staring at the partially illuminated catwalk hanging in the air a few feet away from him, and knowing someone was hiding behind the shadows due to their presence being picked up by the suit's heat sensors.

"Always the joker, Anthony. But, this time, the joke is on you," the voice of Justin Hammer said as he walked closer to the edge of the catwalk, resting his weight on the rail. "Welcome to your grave, Tony Stark."

"Sure, hey! Why don't we make this easier on you and hand over Pepper right now before I blow your head off."

Hammer shook his head. "Tony, Tony, always so…impatient. Honestly speaking, we both have something the other wants. Why don't we establish a trade?"

"Trade? What the hell do I have that you want?"

"Well, a few things, but one in particular. At this very moment, some of my new business associates are deliberating with a handful of the members of the board of Stark Industries, inviting them to revoke your controlling interest in the company as the renegotiation takes place. Your media coverage has not been the best, I must say."

Tony did not respond, but had Jarvis send the information to his own attorneys for investigation. When Tony did not respond, Hammer took his silence as an invitation to continue his bartering speech.

"My offer, Tony, is that in exchange for your whore, you sign over your company to me."

Tony chuckled, carefully avoiding showing any anger towards Hammer's reference to Pepper. "Do you think that the Board of Directors is going to choose you –a felon, over me, the fucking brains behind the inventions of the company? What did you smoke when you were locked up, uh?"

"They will have no choice when their CEO dies, don't you think? Think about it, Stark. You can either transfer your company and keep Potts; or, you can fight about it, die, and lose Potts and the company in the process. I'm being extremely generous, given the circumstances, if you ask me."

"Generous, my ass," Tony said as he lifted his hands and aimed them at Hammer. "You've got about 5 seconds to release Pepper before I incinerate your –UGH!"

Tony's face hit the floor below him, the intensity of the surprise attack making him slide across as the suit scratched the floor until the friction stopped its movement. Iron Man used his arms to lift himself up, slowly turning around to see another light had been activated to reveal a similar catwalk on the opposite side of the one Hammer was standing on.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Tony. I don't fight my own fights. I've got people to do that for me," Hammer said as he pointed to the other catwalk. Tony's eyes darted from looking at Hammer to staring at the empty catwalk until the voice of the newcomer made his skin crawl.

"Maya was absolutely right, Tony. Your formula was the key to fixing the Extremis flaws. I should've probably told her I had already figured out how to perfect the Extremis before she reached out to you. It would've spared me the year I wasted trying to recover from you blowing me up.

"What?" he continued. "Didn't you stop to think that if Pepper had survived, maybe so did I?"

"I didn't waste my thinking about you, Killian. Now, where is she? Or do I have to blow you up again?"

"Tony, didn't you hear my business partner? We don't fight our own fights, anymore. It's too counterproductive."

"That sounds to me like you're both too chickenshit to fight me," Tony said as he aimed his repulsor at Aldrich but was again stopped by a hit on his back.

"Dammit! Who the fuck keeps doing this?" Tony mumbled as he looked around himself. The darkness around him was all he saw until a quick movement to his left caught his attention, prompting him to blast the glowing target. The target was faster than his hit, and it moved rapidly to its left. Tony aimed another hit at it, but said target moved to its right and began zigzagging when Tony increased his attacks.

After a quick blink, the attacker had jumped from Tony's right side to his left, and repeated the same zigzagging pattern, avoiding all attacks Tony sent its way. Jarvis began extrapolating the attacker's movements until an algorithm was created to predict its next move.

Dammit, he's got a freaking army of furnaces in here, I'm screwed. I can't call Rhodey. I could call Bruce but…

"Gotcha!" Tony said as one of his hits finally hit the target by using Jarvis' algorithm. The impact slowed down the attacker as it limped its way to the light. Tony did not waste any more time and sent a large attack toward his enemy, watching with happiness as a severed arm flew every which-a-way, parts of it landing a few feet away from Tony.

"Want some more?" Tony asked as the form came to view. Tony's eyes widened and he lifted his faceplate to make sure his eyes were not deceiving him. Standing before him was Jack Potts, in the flesh –sans an arm he was quickly reforming. Tony's eyes flew to face Killian and Hammer as they gave him smug smiles.

A noise to his left caught Tony's attention, only to realize that Joanne Potts was coming into the light as well. A second later, to his right, Greg Potts stood proudly, eyes glowing orange.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Behold, Tony," Killian said from above. "My four successful prototypes of the Extremis 2.0."

"Four? I only see…" Tony's sentence was interrupted by a hit coming from behind. He closed his faceplate and turned immediately, dreading what he knew he was about to see. When the fourth prototype came to the light, Tony exhaled in short breaths, feeling the world –his world, crumbling under his feet.

"Pepper?"


A/N: THE END….Just kidding! Who's interested in the next chapter? Anyone?