Tony dove for cover, heading around the corner of the house, away from the window where he had seen Ava so she wouldn't accidentally end up getting shot. He heard the metallic clink that accompanied each bullet that met its target: him.

Jarvis spoke without being prompted. "Sir, I believe that you are currently being shot at."

Tony growled. "Yeah, I think I pretty much figured that one out on my own!" He froze in surprise when he saw that there were what looked like two giant rocket launchers pointing at him from the ground. His suit could take a lot, but he wasn't really looking forward to the risk of it getting damaged beyond repair, and being unable to protect him.

There was nowhere else for Tony to go; if he went back the way he came, he would be facing the shooters, and if he kept going forward, he would be facing rockets. So he propelled himself up, shooting up faster than the gunmen could keep up with, and as he went, he blasted the rockets with two giant fireballs.

In retrospect, that probably wasn't the wisest idea, since it lead to a giant explosion that worked to force him up quicker, but he had no way of seeing whether or not the explosion spread far enough to injure Ava.

Tony sighed. "Jarvis, what was the blast radius of that explosion? I want to know that Ava's alright."

Jarvis responded hesitantly. "Sir? I have just spoken with Ava, and she says that she never saw you fly by her window, and that there are no shooters or rockets nearby, and certainly no explosion. She would have heard something if there had been so much going on near her, which leads to only one conclusion: She's not here."

Tony frowned. "But that's impossible. I saw her in the window, remember? And she asked me to clap? I mean, that was only five minutes ago, it's sad that your memory has already gotten so bad. Maybe you have mad cow. It would affect people similarly to alzheimer's."

There was the sound of a frown in the AI's voice. "Sir, I am not a human being, I do not have the organ that can be affected by diseases such as mad cow or alzheimer's: the brain. Or any other organs for that matter."

Tony scoffed. "I know that, Jarvis, I know. But the point is, I saw her. So if that wasn't her in the window who was waving, then who was it?"

Jarvis pulled up pictures of the window that the girl had been seen in, and showed them on the display in front of Tony's face. Jarvis zoomed in on his own, without being asked, and Tony frowned. Now that he could see up close, it was obviously not Ava that he had seen. This woman was slightly older than Ava, and her eyes were brown, and she looked close enough from a distance, but up close it was clear that it was a different person.

Tony groaned. "Great, so I guess we're back to square one. We still don't know where to find Ava. Hey, did you try asking her if she happened to see an address on her way to wherever she is right now?"

"No, Sir. I believe that Ava would have the common sense to inform us if she was already aware of her exact location. But if you want, I can specifically ask her."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Remind me to work on your personality when we get home." He looked around as he slowed the suit to a stop, and realized that he was already much higher up than he had planned on going.

He sighed, and began to descend again, looking down at the thick cloud of gray smoke that was now obscuring the area. It's not like he needed to see anything around the mansion anyways, now that he knew it had been a dead end.

Tony frowned again. He knew it was a bad habit, and his beautiful face would get permanent wrinkles if he kept it up, but he couldn't help it. "Jarvis? Why did you suggest coming here? I mean, what exactly prompted that conclusion?"

There was a pause before Jarvis replied. "Ava suggested it. She said that it was as good a place to start searching as any. She also mentioned that before she lost her freedom, she had explored the house she's being held captive in, and she saw a container in the gym that looked identical to one that she found in the memory of you two fighting in the gym beneath Obadiah's house. She said that seemed like a dead give away."

Tony swore under his breath, and began to fly back to the tower. Once they were back, Tony stepped out of his suit, and began to pace back and forth in the master bedroom. This was all so crazy, and part of him was questioning why he was even going so far just to get Ava back in the first place. He had only known her for a little over the year, and she was a pain in the butt most of the time, and she was always intent on jumping out from behind corners and scaring him, and she was too clever for her own good sometimes, and she could actually understand him when he went on and on about his latest projects, and she worked so hard on making that mural for his birthday… Tony cleared his throat. Okay, so he did know why he wanted her back. He just had no idea how to get her.

Ava watched as the door to her room opened, and Obadiah's smug face was staring in at her. "Thank you very much for your help."

Ava frowned. She hadn't like the sound of what Jarvis had been saying, about explosions and shooting and stuff. "What are you talking about?"

Obadiah laughed. "Before I sent you back to the tower after your encounter with Tony, I made sure that I wasn't going in blind. I connected my computers, and did a lot of fancy footwork, so in the end, the point is, I can see anything you see, and I can hear anything you hear. So of course I was able to hear your conversation with that friendly AI that Tony keeps as a slave. And from there, it wasn't too difficult to have my men waiting at the location that you sent the poor, defenseless Iron Man to."

Ava didn't even think about it, some instinct forced her to leap forward, snarling like some kind of wild animal or something. It was strange, but it felt so right to try and attack Obadiah. He just chuckled and shut the door, allowing the teen to slam into the thick wood. She slid to the floor with a grunt of pain.

Ava pounded on the door, even though there was no way that that was going to do anything to help her situation. It felt good to at least try something, rather than curling up in a ball and crying like a baby.

This wasn't helping. But that didn't stop her. Ava swung her arm at the door, and wished she had a good ax or something, to help her smash the thing off its hinges. To her utter surprise, mid-swing she saw that ax that was in her hands. It was see-through, but as it made contact with the door, it sliced right through, forcing splinters on the otherwise plain surface.

Ava let go in shock, and the ax immediately disappeared. Ava looked around, like that would help her locate the missing weapon, but it was definitely gone. Ava frowned, and closed her eyes. She concentrated on how wonderful it would be to have that ax back, and then she felt the gentle weight in her hands.

She swung again, cracking the metal blade against the door, until it was broken enough that she could reach through and grab the doorknob on the other side, and click the lock. She retracted her arm, ignoring that splinters that managed to stab into her, and pushed the newly unlocked door open. She was free, and she had a weapon in case any of those thugs thought that they would be able to get away with trying to stop her from leaving.