Hours had passed and I moved back to Neil. I had showered, been patched up and was dressed in some jeans, things called converse and a giant jumper with a hood over my green tee. Miah and the other girls fixed my hair without cutting it all off. I thought I'd feel better being back and warm. But my head hurt, my chest hurt and I felt weak still. Neil had executed a plan and so far it was going well. Except Miss Potts abuse occasionally.

Miah was there holding a gun. She hated it, but it was to convince Miss Potts. I ran the computer and it made various noises and it was received and the line answered.

"Yes?" Neil said.

"Is Pepper ok?"

"She's still breathing if that is what you mean. You can mend everything but breathing right?" He mocked him.

"Don't you dare harm her." I looked to Pepper and I felt a wave of illness come over me.

"I didn't dare Mr Stark. Like I promised. But it isn't me who did dare."

"I'll kill her."

"I'm sure that threat is supposed to have the desired effect Mr Stark. I forget for a genius you always underestimate those you are up against."

"I'll kill you all."

"I'm sure Mr Stark. Do you want to keep threatening us while we have your commodity here? Or should we just skip the negotiation and see how serious your threat is?" It went silent at his threat and I almost felt sorry for this Stark. It was something I didn't feel comfortable with. But we hadn't hurt her. We just needed Loki back. "Wise decision. I thought an old dog couldn't learn tricks, but proof here that Mr Stark can indeed learn to behave." He chuckled. "You are in luck. Miss Potts is awake." We all looked to her. She shook her head and Miah clicked her weapon back. She pressed it against the side of her head. I knew Miah was capable, but I didn't want to put it to the test. My fight was with those that won't give back Loki. Not Miss Potts.

"Tony," She said quietly. Desperation was in her voice and I actually felt guilty. It didn't sit well with me.

"Pepper," he answered just as softly. I heard his pain. And I vowed this wouldn't be done again.

"Tony, please, just, please." She begged.

"I'll come get you Pepper." Steel determination right there.

"You shall get her." Neil spoke. "At seven thirty at Time's Square tonight."

"That's in forty minutes."

"I see nothing surpasses you." Then he clicked off.

"Very good Miss Potts." Miah said to her. She was fastened to the chair in the centre of the room. "Very convincing." I felt it again, the sharp pain and the sudden lack of energy. I realised I was running out of time. Since the attack I was surprised I lasted this long. The fall out the plane must have held it off. Or covered the extent of my pain.

"He's going to kill you." She threatened Miah. I held my hand out for a knife from Neil, he gave me one without hesitation. I advanced to Pepper and she flinched. I bent down, cutting through the ropes around her ankles and then behind her for her wrists. She rubbed her wrists looking at me as I handed the weapon back to Neil. He knew my violence level was in the minuses. I was capable; but willing? Now that was something I was rarely willing to ever test.

"Will someone get Miss Potts some shoes?" Nil asked. Jacqueline ran off. We had used the information Stark had allowed me when hacking through my system of the warehouse to hack into Stark Tower and steal Miss Potts from her home. She was wearing jeans, a tight tee but no shoes. Her hair, the shiny blonde just hung around her face in soft waves. She was pretty.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Somewhere safe Miss Potts."

"Why?"

"Would you rather stay here?" He asked.

"No. But you kidnapped me, and threatened me, for what?"

"To get Loki back Miss Potts." He said softly. "We were never going to hurt you. We just needed that one line from you and that was it. Now you can go."

"Why go to all this trouble for Loki?"

"That is not on anyone's level of understanding it seems." I spoke calmly considering that little fact nibbled at me. It annoyed me that they did not see what Loki was attempting. I had read up on him. I had read up on them all. I knew of them. Why did they not see that Loki's mistake was just wider acknowledged than each of their mistakes?

"What does that mean?"

"It means Miss Potts that for all the talking people do, they never do grasp anything from the relentless questions they ask." My tone was sharp.

It went silent around me. Then she stood up. "Then try me."

"As nice as that is, you were a hostage and now you can go."

"Tell me. You seem to have all the answers, you kidnap me and frighten Tony and I want to know why."

"Loki made mistakes. People make mistakes. Some can be forgiven if penance has been paid. He is trying to pay penance." I had seen scars cover Loki's skin too. He kept them well hid; but the one on his neck was visible most of the time. The ones on his fingers and knuckles were only seen by the keen eyes that watched as he flicked through pages of information at my lab. Or when they picked up my precious wires and metals and screws and held them aloft in the light. It made me think he had already paid penance and nobody tried to see the vulnerable side. "But he cannot atone for mistakes if in some distant land jailed. He just wants to be left alone. He just wants to ask me to make devices that will alert the authorities if someone has collapsed. He wants me to make infinite power to fuel houses, so nobody goes cold again. He just wants me to make weapons that do not kill anyone, simple stuns them so nobody has to die. He just wants to be left alone."

"He tried to destroy New York."

"As I understand it, he didn't." I said. I wandered back to my computer area, seeing the men have new screens hauled in. Cables were being linked back up and the systems were rebooting. I'd built a communications destroyer. I had built a few walls. There was a shield made. It built up like a cube, not strong enough for a hammer, but strong enough for everything else. As long as Thor wasn't behind it. I had about twenty minutes to finish working before I had to go get Loki.

"You're very determined." Peter Waters stood next to me smiling. "Is this Loki special to you?" I frowned at him playing with my screens, running diagnostics and trying to salvage something. By the looks of it everything was saved. That made me relax slightly. "Don't go silent on me now. I like the sound of your voice."

"Well I don't." I said to him, blowing things up on my big screen.

"You're very smart." I nodded, glad he had noticed the very thing everyone had noticed. I should find that sticker chart Miah threatened Pauline with and give him a bronze one.

"Enya, Miss Potts won't leave." Rolling my eyes I pushed away from my desk and Warren followed me.

"I'm not leaving." She snapped to me, folding her arms. "I'm not playing your games."

"Then don't." Neil said softly. "We don't want you to play our games."

"Did you mean what you said?" She ignored him and looked to me. I nodded. "I'll go with you to this transfer. I'll go with you. It'll pause them enough that you can get Loki out of there. If you mean what you say." I raised my eyebrow smiling. I didn't see Tony taking that every well. "He'll be glad you haven't hurt me. I can explain then."

"We don't need people to explain." Neil said. "We weren't hurting people."

"But they think you hurt me."

"We don't actually care." Neil said.

"They do." I shrugged at her in response and looked to Miah.

"I don't like it either. If she gets hurt our heads will be on a stake. We can't take the risk of angering them anymore we have." I frowned at her. "Of course I am helping." She answered my non spoken question. "You saved all our lives. You kept us out of prison. This deal you made, your sacrifice, meant we were safe, we were free. We lived in warmth, we ate good food. We can cook, and dance, and read. We can get jobs. We earn money and go out their living real lives. We haven't died of the cold. If you hadn't saved me in that alleyway I'd be dead. And Pauline would be fighting for herself. If you didn't risk your life stealing our food, making us heaters to keep us warm in the cold, stealing us blankets, we all could have froze. This winter some of us would have. But you sacrificed it all. To help some strangers. I am helping you." I looked to Pauline. "Pauline understands. She has a job interview next week. She is going to it, and she's going to get the job. She's going to earn money and she's going to live."

"I put your lives in danger." I picked up a small ball from the desk. One I had given Neil. He had seen them before. I moved closer to Miah.

"Loki did. If you were with us, you wouldn't have got caught, you would be fine too. Now we have to get Loki and rebuild." The girls came closer too. They'd all help if they could. And they couldn't right now.

"They won't let us after this. You all need to leave, take what you can and go, find somewhere new to start over with. I'm going to be on the run for a long time."

"No. You aren't. You don't run anymore. Remember." She was right. I was done running over a year ago. I nodded. Then I dropped one of my bombs next to them. They all looked to it before it exploded and a gas leaked out. In seconds they dropped like flies as they all collapsed. Pepper gasped in horror.

"Put them in the wing. Take Miss Potts with you." I told Neil. I had things to do, and not much time to do it.

"The wing?" She asked frightened. Was I really this imposing? Pepper could easily stand up against me. She was the same height and had some steel determination.

"It's where we live. It's safe. As are they. It's a device I invented to knock those out. They'll awake with no symptoms, no headaches. It stops danger before happening. I can't have them in danger. Nor you. I don't need casualties. I just need Loki." I spoke softly as men arrived from the offices across the hall. Neil led Miss Potts away, and each of the other men hauled up each of the seven women and took them away. I moved further into my technology office and grabbed another ball. I bent down to Warren and kissed his head. "Go with them." Warren whined. I gave him the ball. "Go." He sulked but he took the ball and ran after them. He'd not drop that ball until someone would take it. It was something I had noticed in him immediately. I hoped I saw him again. I didn't see any other reasoning behind it.

Once Neil was back we nodded and was off to Time's Square. He handed me a baseball hat and an elastic band. I wrote a note for Miah, knowing she'd find it on my tablet. By the time we had arrived I had managed to put my hair up into this elastic band, place the spare hair through the gap of the baseball hat and tuck it under my hoody so it couldn't be seen. We were late but that did not matter. I leaned against the underground entrance to fight the pain wracking my body. I saw Spangles a mile off. Even with his normal clothes. Neil handed me a knife and disappeared into the darkness.