Three days later Phil was sitting in the waiting room off the main lobby of Stark Industries tower. He'd been informed that Mr. Stark wasn't in today but that his assistant Ms. Potts was in and on her way down to the lobby. The sound of heels on the stairs had Phil looking up. "Ms. Potts? We had an appointment, did you forgot about our appointment?" Phil tried to keep the fact that he was annoyed out of his voice.

"No. Right now, come with me." Pepper told him as she rushed to his side.

"Right now?" Phil asked as he got up.

"We're going to have it right now yep, walk with me." Pepper ordered.

"Okay." Phil replied as he quickened his stride to match hers.

"Giving you the meeting of your life, your office." Pepper told him.

"Okay." Phil glanced at the woman who usually looked very calm and collected and looked completely the opposite of that today. "Would you rather follow me in your car or if you prefer I can drive your car over to the office."

"What about your vehicle?" Pepper asked, as she spared a quick glance down at her shaky hands.

"I'll get Agent Simmons to drive the car back." Phil told her, as he gestured to the other agent. "Now where is your car parked?"

"Oh, it's right here." Pepper pointed out as she passed him her keys.

Phil started the car and waited until Pepper had buckled herself in before driving off to the field office in Los Angeles. Once they arrived he quickly pulled into the first empty parking spot in the garage and lead Pepper towards the elevator and from there they went into the conference room that was acting as his temporary office. Phil quickly put in the call to have a team ready to go at a moment's notice.

Pepper glanced around the room in confusion. "Is this your office?"

"I work out of the main office in New York; this is just a temporary office while I'm here." Phil replied as he led her to a chair and passed her a glass of water. "Now, Ms. Potts, tell me what is going on?"

"Tony asked me to come to his office and download some files onto this. I found evidence that proves Obadiah is the one who ordered Tony to be kidnapped and killed, he was trying to get rid of Tony so he could take over Stark Industries and on top of that I believe he's building a new weapon." Pepper told him as she placed the flash drive down on the table.

"Is it anything like the new suit Mr. Stark built?" Phil asked as he plugged the flash drive into his laptop.

"He's working off Tony's original design I believe."

"Where is Mr. Stark now?" Phil asked as he quickly copied everything from the flash drive to his laptop.

"He should be at home, that's where I last saw him." Pepper replied.

Phil grabbed his service weapon off the shelf behind him. "Can you confirm that?"

Pepper nodded before she pulled out her cell and tried calling Tony on both his numbers. "He's not answering his cell or the house phone."

"Okay, do you have anyone you trust enough to send over there to check on him?" Phil asked, as they headed back towards the car.

"Oh, I'll call Rhodey." Pepper quickly said as she dialed again. "Rhodey, thank god, where are you? Are you close to Tony's place? Good, I need you to go there and check on him. I found out the Obadiah paid to have Tony killed and I believe he going to make sure the job gets done himself. I don't have time to explain. I don't know, he isn't answering his phone. Please go over there and make sure everything's okay, thank you Rhodey." Pepper put her phone away and gestured for the car keys. "I know a short cut."

"Sounds good, you five follow us." Phil nodded at his follow agents before getting into the passenger seat of Pepper's car. With Pepper behind the wheel it didn't take long to reach their destination. "He's got the suit here?"

"I believe this is the place." Pepper answered as she used her key card to get them in the building. "Were looking for section sixteen, section sixteen... there it is." Pepper quickly walked over and tried her key several times. "My key, it's not working, it's not opening the door."

Phil held his hand out to one of his agents and closed his hand around the device before stepping forward and placing it on the door and activating it.

"Oh wow, what's that? It's like a little device; it's like a thing that's going to pick the lock?" Pepper asked as she glanced over his shoulder.

"You might want to take a few steps back." Phil advised as he moved forward and crossed his arms across his chest. Hearing the door open he turned and lead the way down a flight of stairs to another door. Opening it he draws out his gun and the other agents followed his lead. Using hands signals only Phil lead the way down the catwalk with Pepper right behind him. Phil stepped down at the end of the cross walk and walked up to the metal suit standing by the wall. "Looks like you were right. He was building a suit."

"I thought it would be bigger." Pepper commented.

Phil quickly signaled the agents to spread out and keep searching for Obadiah. He was further down on a lower catwalk with Agent Simmons trailing behind him when suddenly a loud scream filled the air followed by the sound of an explosion and the floor beneath them began to shake. When the ground beneath their feet stopped moving the two agents took off in the direction of the explosion. "What do we have?"

"Both Agents Markus and Reed are down but alive." Agent Erickson replied.

"Where the hell did Ms. Potts go?" Phil asked as he looked around for the woman.

"Sir you need to come see this." Agent Thompson yelled out.

Phil rushed over to the agent's side and looked up at the large hole in the ceiling.

"What on earth made this?" Agent Thompson asked as he studied the damage.

"I don't think we really want to know." Phil answered. "I so don't want to write the report on this one. Quick and easy mission my ass."

"Agent Coulson there is no sign of Ms. Potts and we're blocked off from the way we came." Agent Sullick informed him as he rounded the corner. "But there is a back way out of here."

"Okay, let's get these two men out of the building and then I want you three to concentrate on damage control and don't let any members of the press or the public too close." Phil ordered before leading the agents out of the destroyed area. They managed to clear the building seconds before another larger explosion sent them flying off their feet. Phil shook his head to try and stop the ringing in his ears but to no effect. Cursing softly he turned to make sure the other agents were okay. "Agent Simmons you're in charge now. Make sure the scene stays secure." Phil ordered before taking off towards the front of the building.


"Tony, Tony! Answer me god dammit."

"Ms. Potts." Phil ran up to the woman's side and frowned as he glanced down at the still form of Stark.

"Tony had me blow up the arc reactor while both he and Obadiah where on the roof." Pepper explained.

"Where is Obadiah now?"

"In there." Pepper replied as she pointed to the collapsed and on fire building behind them. "He landed in the arc reactor just before it blew."

That's one thing taken care of then, Phil thought as he leaned down and searched for a pulse, it was slow but steady. Then he glanced at where the soft glow of light should be. "Okay, from what I understand, that not working is a very bad thing. Did Tony make a backup at all?"

"I… no I don't think so." Pepper replied as she glanced up at the sound of a vehicle approaching.

Phil stood up with his hand by his gun until he realized who was driving the car. "Colonel Rhodes, I'm Agent Coulson." Phil said as the man in question got out of the car.

"Agent Coulson, please tell me that son of a bitch is dead." Rhodey said as he stepped up to the agent, having not seen Pepper or Tony yet.

"Ms. Potts informs me he was killed when the arc reactor exploded." Phil explained.

"Where are Pepper and Tony?" Rhodey asked as he glanced around.

"Over here but the arc reactor in Mr. Stark's chest is no longer working. Please tell me you know something else we can use."

Rhodey quickly turned back to the car and popped the hood up. "Tony told me that before he made the arc reactor for his chest a car battery was used to keep the shrapnel away from his heart." Rhodey quickly went about removing the battery and plugs from under the hood. "It should do the trick for now until Tony can make another mini arc reactor."

Phil glanced at the battery in the other man's hands as he led Rhodey to where Tony was. "Are you going to be able to hook that up and get it to work?"

"I better, because if I don't my best friend will die." Rhodey muttered softly not wanting Pepper to hear.

Phil just nodded in reply before reaching in his pocket for his cell phone that suddenly started beeping like crazy. Glancing at it he swore softly when he realized that he had several missed calls along with a voice message and multiple text messages. He glanced at the time and realized that it would be almost two in the morning over in New York but knowing Clint wouldn't sleep until he heard from him, Phil quickly dialed the other man's cell.

"Phil, thank god are you okay?"

"I'm tired and ready to come home but other than that I'm fine." Phil quickly reassured his panicked fiancé. "But how are you feeling, is the baby still kicking up a storm?"

"I'm thinking we should put her in gymnastics when she's old enough but even with all her moving and what I'm pretty sure is a couple of bruised ribs I actually spent most of the day sleeping, so I'm feeling good."

"Well it wouldn't hurt for you to get some more sleep. I should be home by tomorrow night; I just have one last bit of business to take care of."

"You promise?"

"Yes Clint I promised, now get yourself to bed and I will see you tomorrow."

"I love you Phil."

"I love you too." Phil told him before disconnecting the call and turning to study all the damage caused by the battle between the two suits. With a deep sigh, he dialed another number. If he was going to be up all night trying to contain this disaster and on top of it write a cover story for what happen and for Stark's whereabouts tonight, then he wasn't going to be alone on this. "Director, its Coulson. Sorry to call at such a late hour but we need to discuss the situation over here right away. Also, I'm coming home tomorrow so the fun part is up to you."


Phil stayed for the start of Coronel Rhodes press conference before heading back towards the room off to the side.

"Iron Man, that's kind of catchy, it's got a nice ring to it, I mean it's not technically accurate the suit's a gold titanium alloy but it's kind of proactive the imagery here anyway." Tony was saying to Pepper as he read the paper.

"Here's your alibi." Phil told him as he handed over the cards he had finished working on only hours ago.

"Okay." Tony replied as he took the cards.

"You were on your yacht." Phil decided to quickly go over what he had written to insure that Stark understood that he needed to say what was on those cards.

"Yeah."

"We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night and sworn statements from fifty of your guests."

"See, I was thinking that we should just say it was just Pepper and me, alone on the island." Tony told him as he grinned over at Pepper.

"That's what happened." Phil told him, keeping the grin off his face when Pepper just scoffed at her boss.

"Alright." Tony sighed, before quickly reading through the cards.

"Just read it word for word." Phil decided that beating around the bush was most defiantly not the way to go with this man.

"There's nothing about Stane here." Tony pointed out, looking up at Phil for the first time.

"That's being handled. He's on vacation. Small aircrafts have such a poor safety record." Phil shrugged.

"What about the whole cover story, that it's a bodyguard? He's my body… That's kind of flimsy don't you think?"

"This isn't my first rodeo Mr. Stark. Just stick to the official statement and soon this will all be behind you. You've got, ninety seconds." Phil told him before heading towards the door, more than ready to put this place behind him as soon as humanly possible.

"Oh, Agent Coulson. I just wanted to say thank, you very much for all of your help." Pepper told him as she followed him to the door.

"That's what we do. You'll be hearing from us."

"From the Strategic Homeland…"

"Just call us SHIELD." Phil interrupted her as his cell phone started ringing.

"Right." Pepper smiled.

"Sorry, I have to get this." Phil told her as he caught the name on the call display.

"Oh, please, go ahead." Pepper told him, taking a step back to give him privacy.

"Coulson."


A/N: So again, shamelessly stealing words from Iron Man! Thanks again to everyone who read the last chapter and sorry for the delay of getting this one up. Just when I think I've gotten this cold beat it knocks me back down but at least it's a long weekend and I don't have to go anywhere or do anything for Thanksgiving so it will just be a ton of writing for me! So thanks again everyone and to my fellow Canadians Happy Thanksgiving!