Hi everyone, i apologize for the long wait, but in return you got a long chapter. Plus when you have a hybrid sickness(flu-cold) you tend to get exhausted fairly easily. Plus it's been a very emotional week. But i set aside hw, took friday off from school and finally finished writing this. So i do hope you like it. Took alot of effort and energy to push this bad boy out.
Read, enjoy, Review. And thanks to those of you who do review.
Chapter 20: Taken
Rhodey sat in the black leather chair outside of his bedroom looking constantly to his gold, Rolex, watch (a gift from Tony) and back to the T.V, to watch his secret obsession that only Pepper knew about, Pretty Little Liars. It was a repeat that he had seen ten times, so he wasn't really fixated on it. "Pepper are you almost done?"
"Yeah, I just need you to tie." She called out from behind the closed door.
"Do I have to? Tony is going to go all Arnold Schwarzenegger from 'True Lies' on me and over-react." He said already getting the mental image.
He heard Pepper laugh through the door and then it opened and Rhodey felt compelled to stand up, looking at her awestruck. "Very true my War Machine." Pepper said with a smile that accentuated her beauty.
Rhodey had never thought of Pepper romantically, more a twin sister. Now though, he was pretty sure he was pushing sister with the way he was staring at her; unable to look away and Rhodey knew Tony was going to have a hard time being ground control and bouncer for all the men that would be in attendance.
"Well what do you think?" Pepper asked nervously smoothing down her dress again. Rhodey lifted a hand as he opened his mouth but no words came and he looked over her again before answering.
Her strawberry curls cascading around her face, some resting on her shoulders and others covering some of her chest from wandering eyes. She was wearing rhinestone, chandelier earrings, a sparkly neutral color eye shadow, black eyeliner, mascara, and pink lipstick. She wore a strapless, black satin, sparkly dress that opened and tied criss- cross in the back and closed back up again just above her hips and flowed openly at the bottom stopping halfway down her shiny, black stilettos. The dress allowed for a proportionate amount of cleavage to be seen. Rhodey repeatedly said in his head, 'Don't look down, and maintain eye contact.' He stammered and finally said uncensored, "You look drop dread, heart breakingly, gorgeous, Pepper. I can't wait to see Tony's face."
Pepper smiled and her heart fluttered and she kissed Rhodey's cheek in gratitude. "Thank you." She said sincerely. Her tone changed into the playful one she was used to and said, "Now make yourself useful and tie." She turned her back to Rhodey for him to tie the various pieces of cloth.
"He really does love you ya know." Rhodey piped up as he was working on tying off the second one. "He just shows it in a very Tony way."
"Like buying an island." Pepper said with a smile.
"Exactly. He won't always just come out and say it because that's not who he is, but he does love you." Rhodey finished off tying the third and final tie and asked, "Too tight?"
"No it's perfect. And I know he loves me; it's just that sometimes I wish he was like a normal boyfriend, but then I think that if he was normal then I wouldn't love him, and that helps get through the difficult times." Pepper said pensively.
The doorbell interrupted their moment and Rhodey chuckled saying, "Speak of the Devil." He glanced to his watch and added, "And late as always, what's new?" He walked to the door and opened the door an inch asking, "What's the password?"
"What are you five?"
"No I'm pretty sure that's not it." Rhodey said in mock pensiveness.
"Would you just let me in?" Tony said quickly becoming annoyed.
"That's not it either."
"Rhodey!" Tony cried exasperatedly.
"You're horrible at this game." Rhodey said with a laugh.
Tony muscled his way in the door grumbling about Rhodey's childish behavior and stopped in his tracks, mid-step as his eyes found Pepper. "Holy…you look beautiful Pep." More butterflies tumbled in her stomach and a smile graced her lips.
"Thanks." Pepper replied admiring the eye candy in front of her. Black suit, red shirt, gold tie, black pants, and (of course) Iron Man sneakers. His hair combed up in the middle and parted off on the sides. "You look very, very handsome."
Tony grinned and pulled at the lapels of his jacket playfully, "Oh well you know, more than usual." Pepper rolled her eyes and walked over to Tony taking his arm.
"Have fun you two and behave. I'll see you in a month!" Rhodey called out after the pair as they walked away. He quickly closed his door and ran over to his chair plopping down and pressing play on the remote with a smile. "Alright, now I can finally watch this whole baby situation with Melissa."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxFEARxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx
He thought he was going to die. An hour and a half in and already he wanted to jump off the balcony. 'I could always test the new suit.' Tony thought but quickly dismissed it. He really wanted to disappear for a month alone with Pepper, on a warm sunny island, with palm trees swaying in the cool evening breeze, and no cameras or curious eyes able to find or disturb them. No cell phones, no internet, no connection, most importantly no Iron Man. Just them…and JARVIS. Of course he'd never admit that to Pepper. He had to have T.V, there was no way he'd survive if he couldn't just stay in bed for thirty days; so naturally JARVIS was going to be his T.V because having someone find out about their secret island to install cable was not going to happen, that was non-negotiable. JARVIS was also going to be bouncing around their signal keeping them un-traceable, and thus off grid. Tony was taken from his thoughts as Pepper walked up to him arm in arm with an older man. 'He has to be older than Johnny Crockett' Tony thought with a smirk about to voice his opinion to Pepper when he remembered he couldn't. The man was wearing a tailored black suit, crisp white shirt and a navy blue tie (that Tony recognized as Egyptian Silk), and his snow white wispy hair was in no order.
"Mr. Caldwell, I'd like for you to meet-"
"Tony Stark." He said in awe in a voice that Tony had to bite his tongue not to laugh outright in the man's face. The man sounded as if he had been playing with Helium. Tony swallowed his comments and shook the outstretched hand of the Helium man, switching his scotch into his left hand. "I'm Jim Caldwell. It's an honor to meet you in person Mr. Stark. Your work with the technology on the Iron Man suit is un-paralleled. It's extraordinary really. I'd love to talk with you sometime about it."
Tony was sure of two things; one- If this man kept talking he'd burst and start laughing till his sides ached and two- Pepper had purposely brought this man over to test him. "It's nice to meet you Jim. I'll make a date with my CEO here and we'll talk."
"Great, she has my information. It really was quite an honor to meet you Mr. Stark."
"Thank you, you too." The man left and Tony began to laugh, he couldn't not laugh but he was smart enough to not say anything out loud even if that took away the fun.
"Something funny Mr. Stark?"
"Yes, very funny." He replied with a wide grin.
"Care to share?" She tempted with an innocent look.
"Hell no." He retorted sipping his scotch. "Isn't there some rule that says you can't play dirty?" He asked with a playful smile.
"I thought you liked it when I play dirty." She replied with a sexy smile. Tony cleared his throat and rephrased his question.
"I thought there was a rule that said you couldn't try to make me lose." He rephrased with a grin.
"If I'm going away with you for a month, I'm going to make you work for it. He was just the opening act." Pepper smiled with a mischievous sparkle in her eye as Tony's jaw dropped open.
"Opening act? It took every ounce for me to not laugh while he was here and say something."
"Better step up your game then Mr. Stark if you really intend to whisk me away from the world." She said placing a chaste kiss on his lips, then walked away with a smile to a group in the middle of the room by the bar. Tony took in the image given to him as she walked away and a determined smile appeared on his lips; he was getting Pepper alone on that island, one hundred percent, there was no doubt about it and no room for negotiation.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxFEARxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Half an hour later.
Tony leaned up against the bar counter waiting for the bar tender to hand him a refilled glass of scotch (for him) and an Apple Martini (for Pepper), when he was hit with a sudden déjà vu as his worst mistake came walking up to him.
"Tony, fancy seeing you here."
"Why are you here Christine? Last I checked I wasn't due to make your radar until I did something amazing with Iron Man which isn't scheduled until next Tuesday." He said annoyed.
"Oh so you do remember my name."
"Not by choice." He said disgustedly. "Pepper keeps reminding me."
"Oh, so she isn't just your latest bed mate you haven't gotten bored with yet." Every bone in Tony's body told him to rebel, to put Christine in her place and defend his girlfriend's honor but he had promised to not make a scene and get in trouble, however that also didn't mean he couldn't play the game.
"I know this may be hard for you to believe, but I'm not who I was. Pepper isn't another itch to be scratched like you were. She means something to me, something more. And I know you don't understand that, but get this; Pepper is here to stay if she'll put up with me, because she isn't just some other woman, she's the woman I love. So in the words of Taylor Swift, 'We are never ever ever getting back together.' Christine." Tony said smugly and sincerely.
"Here is your drinks sir." The bar keep interrupted sliding two glasses to Tony. Tony grabbed the drinks and thanked the bar tender while glaring at Christine and never broke eye contact until he walked away and over to Pepper, a smile appearing on his lips as soon as he saw her. She was laughing with one of the women from Gossip Girl. He had never watched it but recognized her, Pepper loved the show. She was pretty and had it been two years ago he probably would have taken her home while shamelessly hitting on her. She had long dirty blond hair and blue-grey eyes. A strapless, red cotton, knee length dress courted her body, but compared to Pepper he thought she was insignificant. He walked up to them and handed Pepper her drink then wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her cheek.
"Aww, Blake that's so sweet. I can't believe Ryan did that. You know…speaking of sweet things out special someone's did; Tony here just bought me an island, and if he behaves here tonight that's where we'll be come tomorrow morning." Pepper said glancing from Blake to Tony and back again.
"Aww, that is sweet. You got lucky Pepper, to have been able to get him to settle down some."
Pepper and Tony both laughed at this and Pepper replied, "Far from it actually." She took a sip of her drink and welcomed the sweet burn and turned to hand Tony her drink. "Can you hold this please, I'll be right back. I need to go to the bathroom."
Tony took her drink but stopped her before she could leave and whispered in her ear, "You look gorgeous tonight Pep."
Pepper smirked and went to move but Tony blocked her and whispered, "I love you beautiful. I'm glad you're here with me and not anyone else here."
"I'm not going anywhere Tony, I'll be back in a minute, but I love you too." She replied back in a whisper kissing his cheek. Tony beamed a smile at her and finally let her leave, clutch purse in hand and was momentarily distracted by the sway of her hips. His focus was broken when he remembered he had been talking to someone.
"Sorry. So uh Blake, quick question for you." He said.
"Shoot." She replied curiously.
"Who do you think is sexier, David Boreanaz or me?" He asked seriously.
"Oh definitely you." She replied quickly.
"Thank you!" Tony cried exasperatedly.
"David has the whole good vampire-F.B.I. Agent thing going for, but you, well you have Iron Man- billionaire-genius going for you. That's a hands down winner. Plus the scruff adds to the chick appeal." Tony grinned, already beginning to love Blake.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxFEARxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx
Pepper walked down the halls of the large conference center aimlessly searching for a bathroom. The previous two she had found had been, 'closed due to maintenance.' After another two minutes she finally found one, two floors down from the dinner. As she walked out of the stall and up to the mirror to wash her hands and re-apply her makeup a hand flashed in front of her and suddenly a cloth was on her mouth. Pepper wound up her elbows and thrust it at her assailant's chest like she had seen done before so many times on T.V. The hand wavered and Pepper ducked out of the way facing her attacker.
"Emma?" She said in the moment of shock and confusion until a realization dawned on her of who this woman was associated with. "Oh god. Hammer's here." She breathed above a whisper, her brain and feet suddenly frozen in their respective places unable to move.
Emma quickly whipped out her cell, pressed a button, and said, "I need you pronto." A second later Danny Fisher came through the open entrance and beside Emma.
"We don't want to hurt you Ms. Potts but if you don't come quietly we'll have no choice and that won't be very much fun for any of us." Danny said in a calm yet threatening false caring tone. Pepper swallowed hard trying to think of a way to escape and get to Tony, to warn him.
That's when the light bulb went off and she said in the best defeated, helpless tone she could muster, "Alright, I'll go; but I need to call Tony. If I'm gone and out of his sight for more than ten minutes he'll set off every alarm and lock this place down."
Danny grinned and said, "You're bluffing."
"Look, I'm not joking here. Ever since your display in Michigan he's been crazy paranoid. He will lock this place down. Please just let me call him, it'll be a lot easier. If you don't like anything I say you can shoot me with that gun you have on your ankle Mr. Fisher." Danny shifted uncomfortably. He had told no one about his back up and he knew it was well hidden. "My dad was F.B.I.; I know where all you military types keep your back-ups." She said trying to persuade him with an innocent look in her eye and appealing to his wanting control over the situation by acting scared and helpless.
Danny was silent another moment and Emma looked to him and shot a message that he interpreted as, 'we can't afford any more trouble, let her dis-arm him.'
"Fine." Danny growled not liking the situation. "Make it quick."
Pepper nodded and pulled out her phone, and quickly, expertly, dialed Tony's number while keeping her eyes on Mr. Fisher and Emma.
"Put it on speaker." Danny said.
Pepper relented and held out the phone so they could hear. He picked up on the first ring, "Pepper? Is everything alright?" Pepper heard his voice quickly become on edge and she spoke back into the receiver calmly.
"Yeah yeah, everything's fine. I just wanted to let you know I'll be gone a bit longer. I didn't want you to freak out and over react because I was out of your sight for longer than you'd like. I bumped into Ryan and we're up on the balcony talking, with his dog fluffy. He's adorable. I'll see you soon. I love you Tony, bye." She quickly hung up her phone and when she looked into the eyes of her kidnapers she watched Emma walk up to her with the same piece of cloth in her hand and pressed it back onto her face, covering her mouth and nose, and this time without Pepper's resilience.
Within seconds the drug had taken its effect and Pepper dropped her purse and began to collapse when two sets of arms caught her. "Emma get her purse, we can't leave anything behind." Danny said holding up Pepper as Emma bent down and snatched up Pepper's purse. She wrapped an arm around Pepper's waist and put one of Pepper's arms around her neck like Danny had done, and they walked out of the bathroom, rushing. They looked like a concerned friend and somebody who had been around to help. They saw a group of people in uniform come rushing toward them and they began to sweat thinking they had been discovered until the boys in blue ran right past not paying any attention to the trio. That's when Danny thought to himself, 'That bitch tipped off her boyfriend. Shit.'
"We need to hurry Emma, she tipped off Stark."
"What?! How?" Emma asked incredulously.
"They had a distress signal." He said bitterly. "I'll explain later, we need to high tail it now." Danny stressed. Emma nodded in response. Together they sped up and made it to the car where they placed Pepper in the back (who responded with a moan) and took off, making sure to only go five over the speed limit.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxFEARxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tony's heart practically stopped. He wanted to say 'I love you too', but his mouth wouldn't work, his whole body shut down for a second as an initial reaction. His face paled so much Blake began to shake his shoulder when his stare was blank and he didn't respond to his name. That's when something in Tony snapped and he left Blake, quickly walked over to the microphone and ordered the D.J. to stop.
"Everyone listen carefully. Pepper Potts has just been taken by Justin Hammer less than a minute ago. We need to lock down every exit and send a team to every bathroom to look for something that could possibly help locate her."
As soon as he stepped down from the mic cops started barking orders into their hidden earpieces and radios. Tony broke into a sprint for the stairs unable to handle taking an elevator up two floors and not be able to burn his nervous energy. Once he reached the roof he quickly slipped on his metal bracelets and slipped in a Bluetooth.
"JARVIS, you there?"
"Online and ready sir."
"Deploy the Mark VII to my current location immediately."
"Sir Terabytes of calculati-"
"JARVIS NOW!" Tony ordered his Al.
"Suit deployed. Estimated time of arrival, one minute and counting."
Tony began the countdown in his head while simultaneously looking over the edge of the building and calculating how long he could fall before he hit land. Once his mental countdown reached fifteen seconds he backed up to other side of the roof and ran before jumping off and spreading his arms and legs like a skydiver would do. Three seconds into the fall he felt the suit forming around him and had to allow a small smile on his face. The basic function of his suit he had been working on for weeks worked. Now he just needed to add all the bells and whistles. Tony flew supersonic back to the mansion and immediately started a trace on Pepper's cell. He was not going to let Hammer take away the only good thing in his life. That's when he saw in the corner of the screen in the suit he had an email. Tony opened it and the words written chilled his heart. 'She's mine'.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxFEARxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx
phew, done. Boy am i tired but very excited. My BFF just enlisted in the Army today. He's a private now so yay! Thnaks for reading guys and for all the favorites and alerts but most importantly for clicking that button underneath and consequently giving me a smile. So i'll hopefully see you all soon with the next update not sure. Midterms are coming fast and of course that means big packets for each class.
110 DAYS TILL IRON MAN 3! i started the countdown January First on my new Avengers Calendar and you'd never guess who is may and november. Yup Iron Man and Thor so they coincide with their movie premieres.