Another update! Thank you to my regular reviewers. If you want to read more, don't forget to leave a review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Iron Man.

My blood ran cold when he turned around to show a large knife gripped tightly in his hand. Oh god. Was he going to cut off my fingers now? Or just kill me all together?

No, he wouldn't do that. Not now at least. He wanted to draw this out, make it last, enjoy it for longer. I just had to put up with it until dad got here.I had to be strong. I had survived Obadiah, I would survive this...I hope.

Ivan approached me, that sick smile back on his face. I closed my eyes and waited, expecting that any second that my fingers would be cut off. Instead he gripped my jaw and forced my mouth open. My eyes flew open and I tried to struggle but it was useless. Ivan had a tight grip on my tongue and a tight grip on the knife.

"Your lying tongue needs to be cut out."

Oh god no. He's going to cut out my tongue? The adrenaline pumping through my veins increased and my heart jumped into overtime. There was no way I was going to let this insane man cut out my tongue. I began thrashing in my seat, tugging at my bonds. It was having no effect but I'll be damned if I was going to sit there and do nothing as I let him cut out my tongue. I couldn't believe that this was about to happen. I would give anything for it to be yesterday, to just be back in California, to forgive my dad and tell him we'd work everything out.

All I could think as I watched the knife descending was that I would never be able to tell dad how sorry I was, how much I loved him. I felt the moment the knife first touched the side of my tongue. He dragged it slowly, obviously wanting to inflict maximum pain. Tears sprung in my eyes. He'd only gone a quarter of an inch across when a piercing beep sounded from the computers across the room.

Ivan growled as he removed the knife and stomped over to the desk. A whimper of relief escaped me. The cut he'd made was stinging and bleeding but I was just thankful to still have a tongue. I looked down to see my hands, still taped to the chair, were shaking. My heartbeat and pounding in my ears. I needed to get out of here before he came back and finished the job.

"Your father is quicker than expected," Ivan said as he typed something into the computer to cease the beeping.

Dad was here? Oh thank god. I had literally never been more relieved in my life. He certainly liked to leave this to the last minute. A couple of seconds later and I'd have been tongueless. My relief soon turned back into fear as I realized that the beeping had been warning Ivan that dad was coming, not that he was actually here. He still had enough time to plunge that knife into my chest before dad come blasting through the roof.

That's exactly what I thought he was going to do when he walked over to me, knife in hand. The knife flew down, cutting the duct tape binding my hands. I was momentarily stunned until he grabbed my hands and quickly tied them together. My feet were next. With his hands around my ankles he pulled me from the chair, knocking my head on the ground in the process, and proceeded to drag me from the room.

I wondered what the hell he was doing. Why didn't he just kill me? As he dragged me out into the warehouse, I decided to just flat out ask him. "What are you doing?" I asked after swallowing the blood in my mouth.

"Before I kill you and your father, I want the world to see him for the man that he is. He can't protect you and he can't protect them. After tonight they will see that. And after I destroy his name, I will destroy you both." His thick Russian accent echoed through the expansive warehouse.

"What-" I was momentarily confused, wondering just how he planned to ruin my father in just one night when it hit me. "The expo."

The sick smile of pleasure on his face was all the conformation I needed. The bastard was planning on doing something at the expo, something that would no doubt involve killing numerous innocent people. Oh God. Pepper, Happy and Natasha were there. I needed to warn them.

How could he do this? How could he kill people and justify it by saying it was revenge for something that happened years ago?

I had to stop him. I don't know if I could live with the guilt of knowing that people died at this madman's hands because of my family. I needed to find a way to stop him but all I could do right now was try not to cry from all the pain that was surging through me. I had to trust that dad would get here soon and stop him. He had to.

Abruptly Ivan dropped my legs and reached down to pull on a hidden handle in one of the large floor tiles. It swung up to reveal a compartment just big enough to hide a body in. How convenient.

He bent down and I instinctively tried to pull away. That was hard, considering he'd grabbed me by the front of my shirt and was lifting me towards him. One hand was removed from my shirt before it was smashed across my face. His intention had obviously been to knock me out. While it did worsen my headache and increase the nauseated feeling rolling around in my stomach, it didn't succeed in rendering me unconscious. So I played dead.

I made sure to control my features and relax my body, which was hard to do when he unceremoniously shoved me into the compartment. My instinct was to break my fall but I forced myself to remain motionless and take the brunt of the impact of my side. He slammed the lid shut and a moment later I heard his heavy footsteps retreat.

I waited for a few minutes, straining to hear any sounds in the warehouse that would tell me if Ivan was still here. How long would it take him to get to the expo? And what exactly did he plan to do when he got there? He was going to kill people no doubt, but how? I couldn't imagine him running around with a knife stabbing people. He had to have a plan, something that I wasn't seeing. Had he rebuilt the electric whips he had used in Monaco? Maybe.
Whatever he was planning to do tonight, why tonight? The expo had been open for weeks. He could have done something days ago. But instead he chose tonight. Nothing special was occurring at the expo. The only presentation tonight was Hammers'. Oh crap. Ivan had been building suits for Hammer, which Hammer was no doubt presenting tonight. I'd bet everything I had that Ivan was going to use those suits in his plan. He had built the suits, so it wouldn't be too hard for him to wire it so he had control over them.

Dad better get here soon. He was the only person who would be able to stop Ivan.

I listen, waiting to hear any sounds in the warehouse above me but there was only silence. I maneuvered myself onto my back and began bashing my bound feet against the lid. I was beginning to make some progress and see some light coming in through the gaps when I heard heavy footsteps above. I held my breath, hoping Ivan hadn't come back and decided to finish what he'd started. The footsteps neared and I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the gun or knife that would kill me. The lid was thrown open.

"Morgan!" That one word was filled with fear, happiness, relief and hesitance.

I opened my eyes and through the blinding light could see my father, clad in his Iron Man suit, standing above me.

"Dad!" He threw his helmet open and I knew the relief on his face would be mirrored on my own. I wanted to cry from happiness but I knew dad would think I was crying for another reason so I contained myself. "I have never been so happy to see your face." He reached down and slid one arm around my shoulders and the other under my knees. Gently lifting me from the compartment, he lowered me to the floor and ripped the tape from around my hands and feet.

"Are you okay?" He helped me to my feet and immediately began assessing me for injuries. "I'm going to kill him," he growled as he looked at my face.

"I'm fine," I said as I brushed away his hands. Unfortunately this act only increased the pain in the fingers, causing me to wince. "Ok, aside from the broken fingers, I'm fine."

"What?" He looked at my fingers and saw how swollen and unnatural they looked. "Okay, now I'm really going to kill him."

"Yes, okay, well then go kill him. He's already gone. You have to go stop him. He's going to the expo."

"I know. He flew off as I got here."

"Flew? Does everyone have a suit now?! You have a suit, Ivan has a suit, Hammer has a suit!"

Dad frowned. "Hammer has a suit?"

"Hammer has OUR suit," I corrected him. "Rhodey gave it to him."

"Oh man, and I thought we were buds."

I resisted the urge to point out that it was his fault Rhodey had taken the suit in the first place. "You can figure it out and be BFF's later. Right now you need to go to the expo and stop Ivan. He said he wants to destroy you. That's why he left me alive. He wanted us to watch him destroy your name before he kills us both. He's going to use the suits he designed for Hammer."

"First you need to go to the hospital."

"What? No. You need to go!" I pushed against his metal chest, hiding the pain in my broken fingers which would only increase his determination to take me to hospital. "Dad, Pepper's at the expo." I saw the flash of concern in his eyes but also his determination. "You're wasting time."

"And we're going to keep wasting time until you go to hospital."

"Fine!" I sighed in exasperation.

Dad smiled in victory before he lifted his hand and shot out a portion of the roof across the room. I was annoyed until I realised where we were. "Hammer's going to love that." I resisted the urge to ask dad to do a bit more damage to the warehouse before we left. The sooner we got out of here, the sooner dad could go to the expo, find Pepper and stop whatever the hell was going on. I let him pick me up bridal style and reached up with my good hand to flip his face plate shut (with more force than was probably necessary).

Although I was being held in cold, hard metal arms, it surprisingly wasn't painful and didn't aggravate my injuries. Dad cradled me gently as he fired the repulsors in his boots. We ducked through the newly created hole in the roof and flew towards the closest hospital, which ,thankfully, was only a few blocks away. The cold night air whipped around us, stinging the cuts on my face. Despite being in pain, I was still able to enjoy the amazing view. This was the first time dad had taken me on a flight (despite my persistent begging) and it was only strengthening my understanding of why dad climbed into the suit almost every day. The feeling I was currently experiencing was beyond words. Flying above the city, with the wind whipping my hair about as I gazed down at the tiny people on the street, was exhilarating. Yet I couldn't completely enjoy it because of everything else that was currently happening. Thousands of people were in danger at the expo and the only person who could stop it was flying me to a hospital because I had a couple of broken fingers. Bit of an overreaction. It's not like I'm dying.

Oh my god. The nagging feeling in the back of my head suddenly leapt forward as I remembered my earlier conversation with Ivan.

"So in between breaking my fingers, Ivan and I had an interesting conversation." I noticed his head move a fraction of an inch down towards me, indicating he'd heard me and was no doubt interested in what I had to say. "He mentioned that you were dying from palladium poisoning. Wanna talk about that?"

There was a pause, in which I was wondering just what the hell was going on in my father's head, before he finally spoke. "Sorry, can't hear you over the wind!" he shouted through his mask. I gave him a look that clearly said 'bullshit'.

Since aversion was another way dad said 'yes', that pretty much confirmed it. My stomach sunk as I thought about him dying.

As much as I wanted to scream and shout and demand that he talked to me about what was going on with him, it needed to wait. I didn't know how much time he had but it was looking like the people at the expo had less time. They had to come first. That didn't stop every fiber in my body worrying about him. I had so many questions running through my mind. First of all, why the hell didn't he tell me what was happening to him months ago? His behavioral changes, the drinking, the girls and the recklessness, had all started months ago. He had plenty of chances to tell me, and Pepper, that he was slowly being poisoned. But he didn't. And I get that he wanted to protect me but he was doing a lousy job at it. How was letting me walk into the garage to see his dead body protecting me?

He should have told me sooner. I could have helped him research palladium and possible substitutes. No doubt that's what he was doing when he spent 14 hours on his computers every day. I may not be as smart as him, but two heads were always better than one. I could have helped. I would have helped. And besides, telling me sooner would have given me more time to process that my father was dying, instead of it being dropped on me like a bomb days before he might die.

What was I going to do without him? I couldn't image my life without him in it. He was the only person in my life who had always been there for me. He raised me all by himself, refusing to hire a nanny. Whenever I had come home in tears because I had been teased at school, he'd always found a way to make me smile. When I was sick he'd try to cook me chicken soup, fail miserably, order some instead and we'd watch reruns of Friends episodes all day (his guilty pleasure). He taught me everything I know about cars and always supported my decisions and dreams. I don't know what to do without him.

It's hard to imagine that this time next week he might not be here. I already went through the heartbreak and grief of losing him once, when he was lost for months in Afghanistan. I don't know if I could go through that again.

We started descending and I realized that we'd already reached the hospital. Dad gently set me on my feet outside the emergency doors. A few people making their way inside stopped to gawk at Iron Man and wonder what he was doing there.

"Now go inside and get checked out," Dad said as he ignored the staring people. He turned and readied himself to take off again but I grabbed his hand and pulled him back to face me.

I knew I was wasting time but I couldn't let him go without asking and getting an answer. "Just tell me...are you dying?"

I could hear a sigh from inside the suit before he placed his hands on my shoulders and leant forward. "I'm not dying...anymore."

"Wait, what?" I frowned as I looked into the glowing eyes of the suit. "So you were dying but now you're not?"

"Yes. It's a long story. I have to go. Promise me you'll go inside."

"Ok, I'm going inside." Dad removed his hands from my shoulders and took a few steps back. "Be careful!" I yelled out as he took off. As I watched his retreating figure, a small glimmer of hope flared inside of me. He wasn't dying. Somehow he had found a cure for his palladium poisoning. He was going to live.

Or, he had just been telling me what I wanted to hear and he really was still dying. I chose to believe the former. He was going to be fine, he had to be.

Thank you to everyone who left a review for the last chapter: ZabuzasGirl, NicoleR85, Lollypops101 and 88dragon06.

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