Rebecca's eyes fluttered open, revealing a dark room that she had no recollection of entering. Her head was pounding with a headache, definitely concussed from the impact she had endured. She looked around the unfamiliar room, trying to gain some knowledge as to where she was. Her hand flew to her pocket where she had last left her phone, excel it was gone, probably falling out of we pocket as he climbed out of the trunk of the car .
"You weren't out long." Obadiah's voice came from across the room, and at first Rebecca couldn't even see him.
Rebecca's fear returned, stronger than ever, as she watched the man she used to trust walk over to her.
"Now, time to work." he instructed, signaling for her to get up. Rebecca stayed where she was, ignoring his requests. "Get up." It took a few more shouts for Rebecca to finally stand from her position and follow him over to the desk he had been working at.
Rebecca looked around the desk, confused as to what he wanted her to do. "What?"
"I know your dad didn't build that suit himself," Obadiah folded his arms. "I know he had some help, from you."
Rebecca knew Obadiah knew about the suit, she had caught a glimpse of the Mark I suit in amongst the files, but she shouldn't have been surprised that he wanted to do something with that information.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Rebecca shrugged.
Obadiah chuckled. "I might be an old man, Beccy, but I'm not that stupid."
"Could've fooled me." she looked up at him. "And don't call be Beccy."
Obadiah's expression changed to a more serious one, readjusting his arms over his chest in an intimidating position. "I don't particularly care about being polite to you anymore. You're a stubborn child, like your father, and just don't know when to let go. Do you know how much I had to put up with in that company because you wouldn't just hand over your dad's position? Weeks and weeks of manufacturing was just shut down, are you aware of how much money you cost me?" Obadiah asked, but didn't give her any time to answer. "Ever since you were born I knew you'd somehow get in my way some day, and here we are. I dreaded the day you're dad first showed you the weapons manufacturing, I knew you'd somehow take an interest in it, and manage to screw up all my plans. It's one thing to try and get rid of your dad, and then I had to get rid of you too."
Rebecca shook her head. "Well what are you waiting for? Did you plan all of this out just so you could explain it all to me at the end? Go on, get rid of me." she encouraged. "Do it!"
Obadiah watched on as she screamed at him, grinding his teeth with anger. "I can't say I'm not tempted," he pulled out a gun from his back pocket, looking over it, trying to scare Rebecca. "But I could use your help right now."
"You may as well shoot me, I'm not helping you." she threw her arms to her side.
It wasn't the gun that frightened her, she grew up around these weapons and she knew exactly what they did, but what frightened her was the fact that she had lost all knowledge of Obadiah's mentality. She had no idea what he was capable of anymore.
"I think you will." Obadiah have her a warning look. "A gunshot doesn't have to kill you, but it sure as hell would hurt a lot."
Rebecca called his bluff once again, pushing the boundaries of his control. "You're right it would, but I'm still not helping you."
"No?" Obadiah pulled a device out of the drawer, and he immediately recognized what it was. A detonator. "Well, that puts the beloved Ms. Potts in quite a position, doesn't it?" Rebecca didn't say anything, thinking he had finally found something to bargain with. "I've got these wired up to her car now, and if I were to guess, I'd say she'd be in it right now. It only takes a press...of...the..." Obadiah's finger went to true red circle in the middle.
Rebecca didn't care if she got shot, she didn't care if she would writhe in pain as a bullet lodged itself in her abdomen or knee, but she did care about something happening to Pepper. Knowing she was the only one who could keep her safe, the only one at this very moment who could save her life, that was what got to her.
"Don't!" she yelled as his finger hovered over the button. "What do you want? I'll help, tell me what to do."
Rhodey rushed through the front door of the Stark household, not bothering to close it behind him as he ran through to the living room. It had taken him longer to get to Tony's house than he had expected thanks to the highway detours, but he had managed to use his authority as a military man to get through quicker.
"Tony!" he called out in concern. "Man, where are you?"
Rhodey's feet picked up the pace as he ran upstairs to the bedrooms, but he still didn't manage to find Tony. The rooms were all empty with no sign of Tony even being in them for a while. Rhodey continued to call out, and had no reply. Then his mind clicked, and he felt almost stupid that he hadn't gone there first, the workshop. That was where he always was, no matter what hour of the day, if he couldn't be found in the house, that's where he'd be.
"Tony!" Rhodey yelled as he stepped through where the glass walls once were. As he continued through the room, he spotted Tony on the ground by his desk, and he didn't look good. "Tony!" Rhodey clawed his arms underneath Tony and helped him up as easily as he could, but he still had no response. "Hey! Tony!" he hit across his face, finally getting a gasp of life from the man.
Tony's face was sickly pale, and there were bloodstains from his ears trickled down his neck. His veins were clear on his face, as if he had been suffocated. The glass cube that Pepper had brought him, which contained the first arc reactor from his kidnapping, was smashed out onto the floor. He no longer had a hole in his chest, instead the first arc reactor glowed within the metal circle in his chest, keeping him alive.
"Where are they?" Tony grasped Rhodey's collar, pleading. "Where's Bec? Pepper?"
Rhodey helped Tony sit up straight. "Pepper's fine, she's with special agents, they're going to arrest Obadiah."
Tony gave him a look of grave concern when there was no mention of Rebecca. "Where's Bec?"
Rhodey sighed, lowering his gaze. "We don't know...she's been taken."
"No," Tony whimpered. "No, no, no, not Beccy!" his hands clenched the metal desk and Rhodey helped him to his feet. "I gotta find her, I gotta get her back."
"Look at yourself, you can't go out in your condition-''
"I am not sitting around here while she's out there! Like hell I will! That's my daughter, and I'll be damned if I'm not the one bringing her home." Tony almost shouted, well in fact he did, but his voice lowered at the end of his words. "I swear, if I find them...who done this...who took her, I'm going to..." his voice trailed off, but Rhodey understood what he was getting at, and it pained him to see his best friend so shattered by the very thought of losing his daughter, his heart ached at the sight of the man he always knew to be so strong.
"I get it Tony, and I understand, this is your job, she's your little girl, I just don't want you passing out or dying before you get to her." Rhodey nodded, still helping Tony over to the middle of his workshop. "You just...you look like crap."
Tony scoffed. "Yeah, well, that's better than the way I'm feeling."
Rhodey helped Tony get his suit ready, even though he had no idea what he was doing, he just followed Tony's instructions and jumped at all of the robotics that made their way up from the floor. Tony stood in the centre of whatever was being created, and soon enough the suit was assembling itself around him and attaching.
"That is the coolest thing I've ever seen." Rhodey gawked at the red and gold suit.
"Not bad, huh." Tony smiled before his expression changed completely. He kept shaking his head, and he squinted his eyes shut. "If anything's happened to her...I-I don't know what I'll do, I honestly don't."
Rhodey didn't know what to say, he knew how dangerous the situation was and he had no clue himself as to whether she would be alright. "Just find her. I'm gonna follow up with Pepper and search as well. Is there anything you need me to do?"
Tony walked over to the clearing in his workshop, blasting one of his battered cars out of the way, and stood below that same hole in the roof he had been using for exits and entrances.
"Just keep the skies clear."
With that, Tony flew off into the skies above the city, heading straight for his first hunch.
Rebecca's face was covered in oil as she ducked her head back under the monstrous metal suit that Obadiah had created. He needed her to set up all the attachments and connect the arc reactor to all of the components. She didn't want to do it, she knew what he would use it for, but it was the only way she could save Pepper and her father. If anything happened to them, well, she didn't even want to let her mind consider that possibility. It hadn't been long that she was working on it, but it felt like hours, she needed to do something.
"This isn't right." she muttered loud enough for Obadiah, who was working on the computer, to hear. "Won't work." she muttered again, the metal of her tools clanging against the outer suit. "Nope, no way."
Obadiah dropped his gaze from the computer screen. "What are you talking about?"
"You wouldn't have a clue what I'm talking about." she pushed herself out from underneath the suit. "See these little wires?" she held them up, talking slowly as to insult his intelligence. "They won't work. They haven't got the capacity that the arc reactor requires to run the power to the components. You do know how powerful that thing is, right? It's pretty obvious."
Obadiah let out a frustrated sigh and walked over. "Show me."
Rebecca stood up, gesturing a had for under the suit. "By all means."
Obadiah glared at we before bending down and ducking his head below the suit, looking around in the area Rebecca was talking about. He must've found it since he pulled out a screwdriver and took the matters into his owns hands. Rebecca took a few careful steps back, sure to not make any recognizable sound as she made her way over to the desk.
On the top of some files lay the hand gun, and she found the detonator as well, hiding it within another drawer in case Obadiah felt the need to press it. Quietly, she lifted the gun, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Obadiah was still otherwise engaged, and gently lifted it back to check it was loaded. Once that had been taken care of, she held the gun firmly within her grip and held it to Obadiah's back, waiting for him to turn around. Hopefully, someone would show up in time for no one to get seriously injured.
"Just what do you think you're doing with that?" Obadiah's cold voice brought her back from her thoughts, all her focus now on him.
"I like to pretend I know what I'm doing." she answered, keeping her eyes on him as he stood up straight.
"You're not gonna shoot me." he chuckled.
"Probably not, but it's always fun to play around with the idea." she shrugged her shoulders. "Besides, an eye for an eye, right?"
Obadiah smiled, nodding his he's at her attitude. "Oh wow, it's crazy how much you sound like your father when you're trying to be tough. All it does is come across cocky, and no ones gonna take you seriously."
Rebecca pulled off the safety on the gun as he stepped closer. "Maybe that's what I'm going for."
Obadiah moved swiftly to the side of the room, keeping his eye on Rebecca as she kept her eyes on him. It was obvious she wasn't fling to shoot, she was trying to threaten him, but he as worked far too long on this plan for the tables to be turned on him by a sixteen year old girl. In a movement that Rebecca didn't even have time to react to, Obadiah pulled out an even smaller hang gun and shot it straight toward her. It hit Rebecca's knee, causing her to fall backward onto her back.
"Ahh!" she screamed out. Her movements on the ground proving just how much the pain was affecting her. She honestly didn't think he would be so low as to actually shoot her, but this was a testament to just how crazy Obadiah had gotten. At least it wasn't her chest, at least it was only her knee.
"I told you, it sure would hurt." Obadiah walked over, kicking the gun from her hand. "Don't ever think that you're ready to hold a gun to me."
Rebecca bit down on her lip as she held in her groans of pain, not wanting to show Obadiah how much he had hurt her. She tried to get up, but she just couldn't, a mixture of pain and exhaustion. As she held back her cries, there was an obvious sound of running footsteps coming through the outer corridor, people approaching the sector. Obadiah's face mirrored the panic he was feeling and he walked over to the suit, clicking a button to begin getting it ready for use.
"You're going to get what you deserve." Rebecca spat at him, stopping him in his tracks and causing him to walk over.
He leant down beside her, putting to small blue earplugs in each side. Then, he took out a small device and clicked it upwards, letting out a brain splitting noise that rendered Rebecca completely paralyses, her whole body going limp and her skin fading to a pale, almost white complexion as she felt her head was going to explode. Her hands fell from her knee as her body went dead still, letting the blood flow freely now from her ghastly wound.
Obadiah pulled the earplugs away and three them onto the desk along with the device. He had done the same thing to Rebecca as he had to Tony in order for him to get into the suit. He didn't. Red Rebecca wailing on the floor screaming as whoever it was came in looking for her or Obadiah. This way, she would have no choice but to sit behind the desk, undetected, and completely paralyzed.
"I don't think so Beccy. You see, right now, your dad's wasting away on the living room couch, that little arc reactor over there, I took it straight from his chest. I don't think he's got long, if he's made it this far at least, so don't expect your daddy to come and save you this time."
Obadiah then moved away quickly, making his way to the suit to get ready. Rebecca wanted to cry so badly, and that was about all she could do in her condition, so the tears began to wet her cheeks. Obadiah had ripped Tony's life away from him, and was about to tear apart Pepper's, and there Rebecca was on the floor, useless, and bleeding heavily from her knee. She just hoped with every inch of faith she had in her, however limited it was, that her dad was still alive, and that somehow he would be there. Somehow.
Pepper walked as fast as she could through the many corridors this place offered, glancing at each door in search of Sector 16. The gents followed swiftly behind her, trusting her guidance through the building.
"Ah, Sector 16." Pepper pointed frantically, and then rushed over to the door. She pulled out her pass key, which gave her access to any door in this building, but somehow it wouldn't work. She continue to swipe it, but the door just wouldn't accept the key. "My key's not working, we can't get in!" she spoke, panicked.
Agent Coulson turned to the other agents and nodded, stepping over to the door to place a small device onto it.
"Oh, what is it? It that some sort of...device that's gonna unlock to door, like a lock picker?" Pepper wondered.
"You may want to step back." Coulson advised, gesturing for her to stand in front of them as they turned their backs to the door.
A few seconds later, a tiny explosion was heard, and when Pepper turned around she could see the door swinging open through a cloud of smoke.
She followed the agents down the stairs, letting them take the lead now they were close, and they pulled their guns out at the ready when they reached the final door. When they walked through, the room was so dark they couldn't see properly, but the computer screen in the middle of the room assisted them, barely.
"Oh my god," Pepper breathed as she looked over at the metal scraps that were out together to form a suit.
"Well, you were right, he was making a suit." Coulson stated.
"I thought it would be bigger." Pepper mused, looking over the small suit.
As the agents continued searching the room, Pepper walked over to the clearing that held hanging chains, sensing something off about the areas due to the small clinging of metal he kept hearing. The darkness of the room hid Rebecca's presence, and the device that had caused her short-term paralysis stopped her from being able to move or even talk to let them know where she was.
Pepper moved in closer, staring at something as it was glowing, and slowly realized what it was. She had helped Tony replace his arc reactor not long after his return, and although that was a terrifying ordeal for her, she could recognize what it was anywhere. The glow because closer, and he realized what she was standing in front of.
"Oh my god!"
Eeeeek, I'm so sorry if this isn't a very good chapter, I had lots that I wanted to write and there was so many things I wanted to get out there. Obviously, I've made Obadiah a much more darker character than the movie, a bit more cold and heartless as you can tell. I know there hasn't been much Tony/Iron Man in this chapter or the last, but I promise there will be next chapter. I just wanted to create what was happening for the whole time Tony was still paralysed, so I needed theses chapters to do so. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I didn't disappoint. Please continue the reviews, I really do enjoy reading them and hearing your thoughts on the story, so thank you all very much!