Tony was going at maximum speed to try and get to Pepper as fast as possible. It was a 51 minute trip and he didn't know if he'd make it to Pepper on time.
The first call he made was to someone he really didn't want to talk to.
"Hello" said the familiar annoying voice.
"Where are you?" Tony asked.
"I'm at home. Why? Are you going to ask me for another favor? By the way that was quite a lovely film you made" Christian said as he rolled his eyes.
" Look you dipshit Pepper could be in real trouble. There was a security breach at my place and I'm still forty-five minutes away and I have no one else right now"
"You know what Tony I'm sick of doing your errands and getting nothing out of it. You and Pepper are like two chipmunks in love. I'm going to sit this one out. She's your girlfriend to protect now" Christian said as he was about to hang up.
"Someone broke into the house. I don't have any other choice. You need to listen to me"
"Why don't you just act like a normal person and call the police?" Christian said and then he hung up.
Tony was angry and he had Jarvis connect him with Pepper.
"Hi Tony. Are you on your way?" she asked.
"I'm thirty eight minutes away. What's going on over there? Where's Happy? Is everything ok?" he asked calmly not wanting to freak Pepper out.
"We heard something downstairs and Happy went to check it out. He thought it was a raccoon or something. He's actually been down there awhile. I should go check on him" she said.
"No Pepper don't. Listen to me. I don't mean to alarm you but Jarvis alerted me to a security breach. Bring up all the cameras and see if you can find Happy" Tony said.
Pepper felt her heart starting to pound harder and faster and she brought up Tony's security cameras and she couldn't see Happy anywhere.
"Tony I don't see him anywhere" Pepper said fearfully.
"Ok listen to me Pepper I want you to keep your eye on the camera and grab something you can use as a weapon and find somewhere to hide" Tony said.
Pepper went into the kitchen slowly and quietly and grabbed a knife. She tiptoed up the stairs and snuck into one of the extra rooms walk in closets.
"How far away are you?" she asked anxiously.
"I'm twenty-six minutes out. I'll be on the line with you the whole time until I get home"
Daniel just about finished setting up Tony's workshop for the big finale of his plan. He opened the workshop doors and headed up the stairs.
"Hello Jarvis. Show me Pepper" Daniel said.
"You are not on the list of authorized users for Mr. Stark's cameras. I cannot process your request" Jarvis said.
Daniel started looking around the rooms downstairs when the doorbell rang suddenly causing him to falter. He went into stealth mode and waited to see what would happen.
"Tony someone just rang the bell" Pepper said.
"Who is it?" he asked nervously.
He looked at his flight plan and he was fifteen minutes away.
"Jarvis show me the front camera" she said quietly.
"It's Christian" she said.
Tony let out a sigh of relief. He knew that if nothing else he would do everything to protect Pepper.
"Don't move your hiding space. I'm going to create an access code for him, send it to him" Tony said.
Pepper did as Tony asked and sent him the text with the access code information.
Christian typed in the code and entered the Stark Mansion.
"Pepper?" he called out.
"Ok he's inside" Pepper whispered to Tony.
"Ok put your earpiece in and keep me on the line. I'm eleven minutes away babe. Go see what he wants but keep checking the cameras" Tony instructed her.
"Hey Pepper you're ok. I saw the video this morning and I wanted to make sure you're ok" Christian said.
What a lying prick? Tony thought. Of course he didn't tell Pepper that I wanted him to go there because I was concerned.
"Ok Tony Christian is here so I'm going to go now" she said.
"Pepper wait-
The line went dead and Tony saw that he was still eight minutes away.
Pepper hugged Christian and he could feel her shaking a bit.
"You're shaking" he commented.
"There was a security breach at the house and I keep checking the cameras but I don't see anyone here. Happy went to check it out but I don't see him either" Pepper said.
"He must be doing a thorough investigation of the grounds" Christian suggested.
"Yeah that sounds like Happy" she said as she headed into the living room.
Daniel stepped out from hiding but stayed in stealth mode and grabbed Christian from behind and put him in a sleeper hold until he passed out. He dragged him over to the elevator and then he was going to go for Pepper.
Pepper sat down and realized that Christian was not behind her.
"Christian?" she asked as she got up and headed back to the foyer when she felt something she couldn't see grab her.
She struggled for a few minutes and then she passed out.
Tony was nearing the mansion and he had Jarvis do a full scan of the surrounding area and that's when Tony spotted the familiar black suit and shiny shoes.
Happy, Tony thought.
He dropped down next to his friend and put the iron man helmet onto Happy's head.
"Jarvis read vitals" Tony said fearfully.
"Concussion, broken arm and some contusions. Medical attention is recommended" Jarvis said.
Tony removed the helmet and put it back on his head and called Rhodes.
"How far behind me are you?" he asked.
"Like twenty minutes" he said.
"It's Happy he's hurt. It looks like he fell down the cliff. Call an ambulance. I need to find Pepper" Tony said as he flew up into the air.
He wasn't in the air more than a minute when Jarvis alerted him that his suit was losing power.
Shit shit shit shit shit Tony thought. He prepared himself for a crash landing on his launch pad and he fell hard. He released himself from the suit but kept Jarvis in his ear.
"Show me Pepper" Tony said as he scrambled to get to his feet and spread out his Stark tablet and have a look.
Tony was horrified at the screen in front of him. Pepper was naked and her hands and feet were tied to his workshop table. Daniel was surrounding her and running his fingertips all over her body and she was crying and thrashing to get out and off to the side Christian was tied to a chair with his mouth gagged. Tony looked around outside for anything he could use as a weapon but nothing was there. He was hoping he could find something in the garage. He slowly approached the garage and very quietly slipped inside. He looked around and was trying to think under pressure of what he could use as a weapon. Then Dum-E produced a wrench that was left out and Tony grabbed it and pocketed it.
"Good boy" he said.
He gave the room another once over and there was nothing else there. Everything he could use was in the workshop. Tony quietly entered the workshop and crouched down so no one could see him. Christian spotted him instantly and they locked eyes. They were in silent agreement that no matter what Pepper came first.
Tony continued his crawl towards the end of the shop where Pepper was tied down and he motioned for Butterfingers to cut Christians ropes quietly while he slowly made his way over to grab a pair of wire cutters to use to cut Pepper's ropes. He finally got ahold of them and Pepper spotted him out of the corner of her eye and Tony put a finger to his lips to motion for her to be quiet. He managed to get to one side of his table he cut her left foot and arm free but left it in position so he wouldn't notice it was cut and he bent down to hide until he had another chance.
"This is all going so wonderful. First I let the cameras into your house then into Tony's when you left the door open to carry the champagne and I applied this stealth mode to them like I did to my suit. I had a friend blow up that tunnel in Texas to pull Tony away so you were alone and vulnerable. Then I released your sex tape so you were distracted. I uploaded a little present into Jarvis and I got inside the house easily and I took care of that other clown. He had an unfortunate fall off the cliff. Then I got you and you this idiot down here with a sleeper hold. I'm just sad Tony is not here to see my handy work. It's really a shame that it had to come to this. All I wanted was to show you and Tony that we belong together but now the plans have changed" he said.
"Wha-what are you going to do?" Pepper sputtered.
" WHY DID YOU HAVE TO FUCK TONY? NOW YOU'RE SOILED AND I CAN'T BE WITH YOU" he screamed scaring Pepper.
"I-I'm sorry. We can still be together" she said fearfully.
"Nope, now I'm going to kill you. The question is how"
"Part of me wants to cut you up, part of me wants to strangle your pretty neck or maybe suffocate you or drown you. The possibilities" he said clasping his hands together jubilantly.
Tony was trying to sneak around to the other side and the wrench fell out of his pocket with a bang.
Daniel went to the other side and grabbed Tony by his shirt and they began to scuffle.
Butterfingers finally freed Christian and he jumped up to attack Daniel who was treating Tony like a punching bag.
"Nooo get Pepper out of here" Tony yelled.
Christian stopped what he was doing and freed Pepper's right arm and foot and he looked for something to cover her up with. He grabbed a fire blanket and started to pull her along to the back door when a shot rang out hitting him square in the back and he fell to the ground. Pepper screamed and went to help Christian when she heard Tony yelling, telling her to run. She looked back and saw Daniel toss Tony like a rag doll across the room and he stalked after Pepper. Pepper reached the door and headed outside. She was running as fast as she could not caring that rocks outside were scraping and cutting her feet. Tony was scrambling to get up on his feet. He was buried under the contents of his shelf. He was headed past Christian who was paling quickly and didn't look good. He took off his sweatshirt and told Christian to hold it down tightly against the bullet wound and he lifted him onto the table and instructed Dum-E and Butterfingers to access his medical needs and begin bullet extraction if necessary and for Jarvis to keep him informed. He couldn't in good conscious let him bleed to death knowing he risked his life for Pepper's. He took off outside and saw Pepper running in fear from Daniel who was pointing the gun at her. Tony continued to run towards Pepper.
"You whore" he said as he pointed his gun at her.
Tony jumped up quickly and tried to knock the gun from his grip. They wrestled for a few moments and Tony kicked him in the ribs repeatedly until he curled up. He kicked the gun from his reach and hurried to Pepper.
Daniel struggled to crawl his way to the gun while Tony tried to calm a hysterical Pepper. Daniel got the gun and pointed it at them.
"If I can't have Pepper no one can" Daniel said as he fired a shot at Pepper.
It only took Tony seconds to realize what was happening and he instinctively pushed Pepper out of the way quickly as the bullet entered him and he could hear Pepper screaming before she herself hit the ground. He fell to the ground and everything seemed to be in slow motion.
Colonel Rhodes landed next to Daniel and knocked him out again and tied his wrists until the police showed up. Pepper was knocked out cold from the severity of the life saving shove Tony gave her. Rhodey walked over to Tony and knelt down.
"Pepper?" he managed to mutter.
"She's safe Tony. She's safe" he said as he squeezed his hand.
Tony stared at Rhodes for a moment and then the blackness set in.