A/N: Ug, so I wrote and wrote and wrote with this chapter and felt like I was pushing molasses up a hill the whole way. . It just wouldn't come to an end and turned out to be huge. So, now I've split it in two and feel a whole lot better about it, the next chapter is already done and I can relax a little bit.

I don't know if the Hapony works in this chapter, kind of lost objectivity somewhere between trying to wrestle this scene onto the page and sealing my slate patio floors. Yes, I'm a multi-tasker. :D This maybe the xylene fumes talking, but I honestly couldn't picture this scene before I wrote it, which is a bit unusual for me, hence the uncertainty about it I guess.

Anyways, it's done now, and hopefully it'll make sense and set up the next chapter nicely... or at least adequately. Now I'm off to clean windows... yes, my life really is that thrilling.

Thanks for reading as always and your comments are always welcome and enjoyed, probably a little too much if I'm honest... :D

Chapter Thirteen

"Are you sure this is going to work?" fretted Happy as he grimaced against the noise of Tony belting some metal into submission.

"Absolutely," said Tony between hitting the hapless piece of metal with this hammer.

"What are you basing that certainty on?" Happy quizzed him.

"The fact that I'm never wrong."

"You were wrong about those twins not being worried about finding out about each other at the last New Year's party," Happy reminded him. "That got real ugly, real quick."

"I meant I'm never wrong about science," said Tony, now wrangling the metal onto the side of a metal sphere with bits of wire poking out of it.

It looked to Happy like he was making a one of those old fashioned mines you'd see bobbing in the ocean during World War II. "That's not a bomb, is it?"

Tony spoke around the screwdriver in his mouth. "It's an energy generator."

Happy wasn't reassured. "Bombs generate energy."

Tony was screwing the plate together now. "Not ionic energy. This is perfectly safe."

"Really?"

Tony looked over at him. "Do you want to feel better or do you want the truth?"

Happy didn't hesitate. "Feel better."

"Then yes, this is perfectly safe."

Happy grimaced. "I'm not going to lie, boss, I'm kind of nervous right now."

Tony finished screwing down the plates. "Every time I see you, you're always nervous." He dismissed his concerns.

"Yes," said Happy, giving him a pointed look, "perhaps those two things are related?"

Tony looked up from what he was doing, forcing his brain to slow down so he could reassure his friend. "Happy, have I ever put you in danger before?"

Happy stared at him. "Yes."

"I mean wilfully put you in danger."

"Yes."

Tony made a frustrated noise. "I'm trying to reassure you here, Happy, can't you meet me halfway?"

"I'm already in Crazy Town, Tony," Happy exclaimed. "What more do you want me to do, run for Mayor?"

"That job's taken," said Tony straight-faced.

Happy rolled his eyes. "Of course it is." He looked around at the spiked orb and pulled a face. "Okay, tell me what we're doing here, maybe that will make feel better."

"I've already told you what we're doing," said Tony in frustration. It baffled him why Happy couldn't keep up, it all seemed perfectly straightforward to him.

"How about this time you do it in English?"

Tony pointed to the metal orb, trying to make it as simple as he could. "This is an ionic energy generator. The next time Pepper appears, I'm going to use it to enhance the ionic energy bridge between her space and ours and then simply pull her through."

Happy seemed to be considering his explanation carefully. "And that'll work?"

"That's the most likely outcome."

Happy's eyes narrowed. "What are the other outcomes?"

Tony avoided looking at him, picking up some wires. "It'll generate a white hole."

Happy hesitated. "What's a white hole?"

Tony was back to examining the orb, checking on all the connections. "The opposite of a black hole."

"So, they're a good thing?" Happy asked hopefully.

Tony pursed his lips. "Well, it's unlikely to increase property values around here, if that's what you're asking."

"I'm asking if white holes are safe."

Tony laughed. "Oh God no, we'll all be die screaming if that happens."

Happy's shoulders slumped. "Can we go back to you lying to me now?"

Tony grinned at him. "It's always worked for us before." He paused, seeing Happy was still nervous. Tony walked up to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "I have to get her back."

"I know," said Happy quietly.

"And I'm not planning on losing one friend to get back another," said Tony determinedly. "I'm doing everything I can to keep you safe, Happy, but I need you right now, Pepper needs you. That ionic bridge is weakening, each time she was appearing it was for shorter amounts of time. I don't know how many more times the link will hold. I have to do this and I have to do this now, otherwise Pepper is going to be stuck in that space forever."

"I'd do anything for Pepper, Tony, you know that," said Happy, meeting his gaze unflinchingly. "I want her back just as badly as you do, but if you could not seriously maim or kill me in the process, I'd be pretty happy about that too."

Tony winked at him. "We'll call it your Christmas bonus."

"Well, that will be better than last year's bonus," Happy noted.

Tony's brow crinkled in thought. "What did I get you last year?"

"Malaria," said Happy flatly.

"Oh, that's right, I gave you that trip to Thailand."

"I nearly died."

Tony waved a dismissive hand at him as he went back to the orb. "No one dies from a little mosquito bite, Happy."

Happy threw up his hands. "Hundreds and thousands of people die from it every year!" he exclaimed.

"Why do you have to be such a drama queen about every little thing?"

"I still can't see great out of my left eye at night," complained Happy.

"Come and hold this," Tony instructed him, picking up a length of cable.

Happy walked over and held onto the cable while Tony busied himself with final checks. "I mean, it wouldn't have been so bad only it happened at the beginning of my holiday and all I saw of Thailand was the inside of a hospital room for two weeks. Turns out hospital food in any country sucks and I-"

Tony wasn't really listening anymore to Happy's ramblings, his attention focused on making sure he'd checked and doubled checked everything. There were going to be no second chances with this. "You might want to hang onto something," said Tony distractedly as he flipped some switches and the orb floated up into the air, starting to spin.

Happy turned around in mid sentence. "What?" A whoosh of air ran past him and almost knocked Happy from his feet. He grabbed a nearby concrete column just as the wind really picked up and he was suddenly lifted off his feet, and left hanging onto the column for dear life.

Tony was also swept off his feet, hovering parallel with the ground as he hung onto his work bench. He shouted over the noise of the howling wind. "I SAID, YOU MIGHT WANT TO HOLD ONTO SOMETHING!"

"WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?" Happy screamed at him.

"I'M CALIBRATING THE ORB!" Tony shouted, straining to hold on as well. Loose items were shooting all around the room, caught up in the mini-hurricane going on inside the lab. They bumped and banged against the two men as they dangled in the raging winds. Just as quickly as the wild winds had started they were gone and the orb dropped back down to the ground. So did Happy and Tony as the wind left the room. Happy collapsed on the ground in an untidy heap, while Tony neatly landed on his feet and hurried over to the orb, crouching over it. "It worked!" he declared happily. "Jarvis, run diagnostics."

"Very good, sir."

Happy was face down on the floor and pushed himself up. "That was it working?" he asked unsteadily.

Jarvis answered for him. "The orb is now calibrated, sir. All the parameters are within acceptable boundaries."

Tony felt a wave of relief at hearing that. "Now we just have to wait for Pepper to appear." Tony couldn't contain his excitement at the thought of having Pepper back by his side. He looked over at Happy. "So, if you need a bathroom break, now's the time to take it."

"After that little scene from 'Gone With the Wind' it's no longer an issue," said Happy flatly. "You've got to give me more warning when you're going to unleash a tornado indoors, Dorothy."

"I warned you."

"As it happened, that's not the same thing. A warning by definition happens before an event, not during."

"Calm down, Toto," said Tony with a cheeky grin, "no houses landed on you."

"The house landed on the witch, not the dog, haven't you seen 'The Wizard of Oz'?"

Tony scratched his cheek. "No, guys in animal suits freak me out."

Happy arched an eyebrow. "I did not know that about you."

"Why do you think I've never been to Disney Land?"

"That restraining order the Disney Corporation took out against you after that incident at the Disney resort in Orlando?"

"Oh yeah, right, that," said Tony thoughtfully. "All I can say is that Disney has a very narrow world view on what constitutes the happiest place on earth."

"You destroyed the foyer," Happy reminded him.

"No, technically the monkeys destroyed the foyer," Tony corrected him.

"The monkeys you somehow managed to steal from the local zoo."

"I didn't steal them, I just figured they'd like a night out and as it turned out, they did."

"I can't have this argument with you again." Happy stood up and ran his hand through his hair. "I'm going to get a soda, do you want anything?"

"No," said Tony, attention back on the orb.

When Happy returned, it was to discover Tony had donned his Iron Man suit. He gave him a worried look. "Should I be wearing some kind of protection as well, boss?"

"I need the suit so I can have the strength to pull Pepper through," Tony explained, the suit whirring as he moved about the lab. "I just need you to push a button when Pepper appears and that will activate the orb and then push another one when I've got her. We'll just make sure you're in a safe place while you do."

Happy looked around the lab. "Where?"

Tony pointed an armour-clad finger at the yellow flammable's cupboard in the corner. "There."

Happy's brow creased in concern. "Is there a chance something is going to burst into flames?"

"Only about a sixty-four percent chance," said Tony offhandedly, "which is why the flammables cupboard is perfect. You've got an hour before any flames can penetrate that metal."

"So, I get a full hour to enjoy the fact I'm going to be burnt to death?" asked Happy, sounding less than impressed. "Boy, that sounds awesome."

"You're being melodramatic again."

"I'm being melodramatic because I don't want to be burnt to death?" As Happy said the words, his breath suddenly came out in frosty clouds.

Tony's eyes went wide. "The link is opening up again." The adrenalin surged through Tony's body. "Show time," he announced excitedly, knowing they were only going to get one shot at this and he wasn't going to get this wrong.

Failure was simply not an option.