Oh yes, you liked my little cliffhanger, didn't you? So, anybody excited to know what's coming next? Here we go!

Chapter 11

Pepper felt her cell phone vibrating in the inside pocket of her jacket. Tony, she thought, but she couldn't possibly answer the call now. One of the robbers had gone into the back room with one of the saleswomen; the other one had the second employee storing away the jewelry from the showcases into a sports bag. The third man had locked the entrance door and waved his gun in front of the customers' noses.

To the customers passing the shop, it just looked as if this area had already been closed. Outside, nobody noticed what was going on or became suspicious.

While the saleswomen were still packing jewelry and valuable watches, the third man seemed to get bored to only watch the clients.

"By looking at you ladies and gentlemen I can tell you can make a little donation, too. Jewelry and wallets in here, please!" He took out another bag and held it out to the first couple he was approaching. Shaking with fear, the young woman removed her necklace and put it in, while her husband brought out his wallet and dropped it also into the bag. Pepper stood still by the opposite wall, paralyzed; there were four other customers between her and the robber. Her cell phone's vibrating had stopped in the meantime.

After repeated dialing tone, Tony heard the message from Pepper's voicemail, and he hung up. How strange, it isn't anything like her to not answer the phone, Tony wondered. Well, maybe she's in a changing room at the moment and hasn't a free hand right now. He admitted it reluctantly, but he was a bit disappointed that Pepper wasn't there right then when he had finished her cure.

Real bad timing, but that can't be helped, he thought. Then maybe I'll take a nap until she's back, he pondered what to do now to pass the time until her return.

Right beside Pepper, an elder lady stood with a young girl, probably her granddaughter. When the robber requested throwing her gold chain, with a ring hanging on it, into the bag, she burst into tears.

"Please, this is the wedding ring of my deceased husband," she begged.

"Well, then he won't need it anymore," he replied sarcastically. "Go, get it in!"

"Please grandma, give the jewelry to him!" the girl caved.

"No, I can't…"

The man grabbed her rudely by the arm, and with the other hand he was holding the gun in he tried to rip the chain off her neck. But in that moment, he received a hard blow against his chest, and he stumbled back.

"Leave her alone!" Pepper yelled furious at him. The masked man looked puzzled at his scorched jacket first, then at Pepper. Next, he raised his gun and fired! One bullet hit Pepper into the shoulder, a second into the chest. The people around her screamed out, terrified. Pepper was thrown against the wall by the bullets' impact, and she felt a burning pain where she had been hit. Immediately afterwards, she felt the heat welling again, this time stronger than the times before. And she was angry, very angry!

"Okay, J. Wake me up when Pepper's back again."

"Sir, I'm afraid your attention is required."

"What's the matter?"

"I allowed myself to hook up with Bloomingdale's security cameras. I fear that Miss Potts is in an awkward situation."

"Cameras? Since when are you playing Big Brother without my instruction, Jarvis?"

"Well, you gave me order to keep an eye on Miss Potts a few days ago. I assumed the order would refer to possible stays outside Stark Tower as well, Sir."

"Okay, what do you have for me?" Tony asked with a worried expression.

Jarvis projected a holographic video wall in front of Tony, and one of the security camera's live stream appeared on it. And Tony didn't like at all what he had to watch.

"You shouldn't have done that," Pepper hissed towards the shooter. Said man raised his weapon one more time and fired again and again until the magazine was empty, but Pepper just laughed and drew closer to him with every single shot, until she stood directly in front of him. Her skin flared like a torch, tiny flames seemed to bustle on it. Pepper took the gun from his hand, and the heat of her touch made it melt within seconds into a clump of metal and plastic. The second robber behind the counter was paralyzed with fear for a second. But when he realized what Pepper had done to his companion's gun, he recovered himself and started to shoot her on his part.

As a result, Pepper was distracted from her original aim, and she jumped with a single leap, she jumped over the counter towards the surprised man. He went down with a well-aimed punch. The other customers around her huddled against the walls of the salesroom and glanced scared at her. Attracted by the noise, the third robber came back to the front of the shop. Before he saw what was happening to him, Pepper sent him to the land of dreams as well. She looked back to the entrance's direction. The guy, who had shot at her first, had taken the opportunity and had escaped out of the shop.

Pepper undressed from her jacket that hung in scorched rags from her body. The rest of her clothes underneath didn't look much better either, but she didn't pay attention to that. She glanced at the people around her and said: "Somebody better call the police. And the fire department."

She then went hunting….

"Shit!" Tony shouted. "Suit, now!" This just couldn't be true. The past days had passed off so pretty calm, and now, of all times, Pepper got into a fucking robbery! He stuffed the ampoule with the serum into his pants pocket and slipped into the armor that Jarvis had already initialized. He ran as fast as possible to the outer platform of the building. When he stood up there, ready for take-off, suddenly a feeling of dizziness overwhelmed him and cold sweat broke out. The memory of the events a few months ago was more than ever present up here.

"No, not now! An anxiety attack is the last thing you need at the moment. Get hold of yourself! Pepper needs you. Go!"

He took a run-up and ignited the repulsor beams. Few minutes later he reached the department store. In front of the entrance and around the building several police cars, fire trucks and ambulances had already stationed themselves after the emergency call had come in. Tony landed in front of them and approached the entry. From the store department he heard shots and screams. A person in uniform stopped him.

"Stop, you can't go in!"

"Yes, I can and I will. Unlike you, I know what's going on inside. And tell your men to stop shooting! That makes everything worse. I'll handle it!"

With these words, Tony left the police officer behind and ran into the building. Flying was out of the question; it was too narrow and too many people were running uncoordinated and panic-stricken around him. After having entered the department store, he saw first the shattered glass panels and smashed pieces of furniture, then the policemen that were aiming on something with drawn weapons. It was Pepper! She was on a gallery above them, bending over a lifeless body. Her own body seemed to be on fire, and even from this distance Tony could see the blaze in her glance that darkened her sky-blue eyes.

Pepper rose and moved slowly towards a staircase when the first cop lost his head and fired. When she was hit, Pepper screamed like a wounded animal, and the shots' echo resounded within the building. With a precise shot from his repulsor, Tony fired at the policeman's hand to get the gun out of his hand and yelled at him: "Stop it!"

Without caring about the cop's protest, Tony soared the short distance onto the gallery to Pepper and faced her. She didn't seem to recognize him, but rather sensed him as threat as she was running towards him now, looking angry at him. Tony raised his hands soothingly and opened his mask that she could see him.

"Sweetheart, it's me. Whatever happened here, it's over! You can stop it… please!"

She seemed to recognize him now, stopping her steps and slowing down until she approached him hesitantly. The rage in her eyes fumed away, literally, and made her see clearly again. Her body's glowing came to an end. The policemen standing below and the remaining customers were warily eying the happening.

"What have I done?" she asked quietly and looked around distraught.

"It seems you played cops and robbers. But it's about time to go home now. I've completed the remedy, Pep!" Tony opened his armor far enough to get a hold of the ampoule and showed it Pepper. A short smile flashed over her face.

"You must administer it to me, now!" she begged hoarsely.

For a second, Tony looked undecided, then nodded and removed the needle's cover. Carefully, he held tight Pepper's upper arm and pushed the fine point into her muscle. With a faint hissing, the discharging mechanism depleted the ampoule's content within few seconds. Pepper looked at Tony relieved, then suddenly her eyes clouded and she passed out. Tony caught her before she touched the ground. He closed his visor, raised Pepper's lifeless body into his arms and flew, regardless of further damages, out of the building and back to Stark Tower as fast as possible.

To all the German and German speaking readers out there: Don't miss the sequel "Verschollen". Chapter 2 is out, too!