When the door opened again, it was another one of Killian's men, one Ana hadn't seen before. Thankfully, unlike Savin, he didn't seem interested in her. In fact, he was a bit bored, by the look of it. Without a word, he cut her free, grabbed her by the wrist, and dragged her out.

They were in a hallway when a gunshot echoed in the building. Ana's heart almost stopped. What if that shot was… No, Maya had said they needed him alive.

When they entered a room in the basement, she saw that her dad was still alive, although he was bleeding, bruised, and tied to an old bed frame. She successfully managed to hide her relief from Killian, who was also here, and from the guy who was dragging her. Upon seeing Ana, her dad started to struggle against his restraints desperately. She wished he didn't. She knew how much he loved her, and could imagine how scared he was—she was scared for him, too—but why did he let the enemy see his desperation?

She was thrown at Killian's feet. Killian gestured the man to get lost. He did.

Her dad stopped struggling. "Let her go. Then we can negotiate the terms."

Killian laughed. "Oh, so you're willing to negotiate now… It's touching, Tony, it really is." With a violent move, he pushed the metal table behind him out of the way, revealing the dead body of Maya Hansen. "Look," he ordered Ana.

"What is this supposed to do, scare me? This is hardly the first dead body I've seen," she said in a perfectly neutral tone that wasn't hard to maintain at all. She was indeed indifferent to Maya Hansen's death, if not pleased.

Killian smiled like he had just been proven right about something. "I know," he said, and slapped her so hard that she was knocked on the floor. The bed frame was rattled again, this time even more loudly. She could taste the warm blood in her mouth, so she kept her head down. She didn't want her dad to see that she was bleeding.

"I wasn't going to hurt Pepper! I was going to make her perfect. But you…" Killian kicked her so hard that a gasp escaped her lips. "You stole her from me!" He kicked her again. This time, the crack of a rib was heard.

"You son of a bitch," her dad hissed.

"Now you're beginning to understand," Killian continued. "Desperation, I mean. But then, I don't think you truly can, not with that pretty face of yours." He went to him and started examining his face closely. "You can't know what it's like to be a freak. To be looked at with pity and disgust all the time. Neither can she. But I can change that."

He stepped away from the bed frame, and came up to Ana again to squeeze her face. A faint glow was visible beneath the skin of his hand.

"No!" her dad cried frantically. He was struggling against the ties so hard that Ana feared he would cut himself. "No! If you want to burn a face, burn mine! She's done nothing! She wasn't even in Bern! It was me! Just me..."

Killian stopped, and his eyes darted between the two Starks for a moment, his hand still glowing menacingly. Then he laughed. "Fatherhood must be so… bizarre, right? I could burn you alive right now, and you wouldn't even make a sound if that was what it took to keep her safe. I can see that in your eyes, Tony. It's crazy… I mean, we're talking about a guy like you."

No jokes, no witty comebacks, no threats from her dad. He seemed too scared to say the wrong thing, and that was probably a first. For some reason, Killian put the hand down, and the glow faded.

"No, I think I'll let Ana keep her face. Savin quite fancies her. He's a loyal man, deserves a proper reward after tonight."

Ana wished Killian had just melted her face instead. It couldn't be worse than getting a subtle rape threat in front of your father.

"Until then, we have things to do. Come on." He grabbed Ana and led her away. She didn't resist. She just wanted to get away from here so that she could be miserable without her dad witnessing it. The burning, throbbing pain in her torso made everything hazy. With a broken rib, even breathing hurt.

They went upstairs. Savin was waiting for his boss. "Once we get the Patriot installed, it will take me 9-10 minutes for the takedown," he reported.

Did they have Rhodey, too? Shit…

"Good. All we have to do is to get the Colonel out of it. With her help, of course."

Indeed, they had the Iron Patriot chained, and were trying to cut it open. Her suit was here, too, but it had been dismantled. They were probably hoping to use its parts to repair Rhodey's suit afterwards.

"Now, now. There's no need to damage such a fine piece of tech," Killian said calmly, and his men stopped. "Hello, Colonel." He let her go, and she fell on her knees, for her legs were shaky with pain.

Rhodey remained still, but his scared voice came from inside the armor, "Ana?"

She gathered enough strength to say, "Whatever he does to me, don't get out of your suit."

"I wonder which comes first for the Iron Patriot: His country, or his friends." Killian shed his jacket, and studied Ana for a moment. His gaze lingered on the dried blood on her arm. He ripped the sleeve open, and stuck his finger into the wound Maya had patched up quite nicely. When he did, whatever determination Ana had to stay impassive went down the drain, and she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Which immediately resulted in Rhodey leaping out of the suit and punching Savin in the face. Killian let go of her, his face started glowing and he… breathed fire at Rhodey. Despite the searing pain, Ana forced herself to stand up and tackle him to get him out of Rhodey's way.

Rhodey was baffled. "Y—you breathe fire? Okay…"

Savin slammed him against the wall, knocking him out immediately.

Killian smiled. "It's a glorious day, Savin. This time tomorrow, I'll have the West's most powerful leader in one hand, and the world's most feared terrorist in the other. I'll own the war and terror. Create supply and demand for you, and for your brothers and sisters… And Pepper was supposed to be by my side. What a disappointment. I blame you for it."

He glared at Ana one more time, and slammed her head against the wall, just like Savin had done to Rhodey.

…

"All personnel, Stark is loose somewhere on the compound. Repeat, Stark is loose somewhere on the compound."

Well, they were certainly not talking about Ana…

"Sweetie?" Rhodey was shaking her gently.

Ana pried her eyes open. "Hey… You okay?"

"Yeah, you?"

"I'll live. Damn it, Rhodey, why did you get out of your suit?"

"Did you really expect me to watch while you get tortured?" he asked softly, stroking her hair.

"What now?"

"We gotta find Tony. Can you walk?"

"You go on ahead. I have a broken rib. I'll just slow you down."

"Sweetie, I can't just leave you here. Come on, I'll carry you if I have to."

With his help, she managed to sit up. Her injuries weren't getting any better. When she scanned the room, she realized her suit wasn't here anymore. "No, you're going to need your hands free. I'll keep up."

He looked at her with pity. "Are you sure?"

To answer his question, she scrambled to her feet. "Let's go. Dad must be worried sick."

"Yeah, I hope he doesn't freak out on us."

"If he does, just let him get it out of his system. Trust me, it's better that way."

He cocked an eyebrow questioningly.

"He needs a break, Rhodey. He can't keep pretending to be invincible forever."

Rhodey nodded in understanding. They didn't see anyone until they went out to the garden. The damn place was huge, and every step she had to take sent another wave of pain through her body. She could literally feel the tip of the broken rib poke her lung. Honestly, if it weren't for Rhodey and her dad, she would just give in and let Killian's men do whatever the hell they wanted with her.

When they saw a guard, Rhodey ambushed him, took his gun and phone. He called her dad. In the meantime, they saw Rhodey's suit flying away.

"Tony..."

"Rhodey, tell me it was you in the suit?"

"No, you got yours?"

"Ah, uhm, kind of… Have you seen Ana?"

"Yeah, she's with me."

"Oh, thank God… Main house, as fast as you can. Somebody I'd like you to meet."

They started walking again. She focused on taking deep breaths, but she wasn't sure how long she could keep going. As they approached the main house, they saw that Trevor Slattery was being protected by a bunch of guards. There was going to be a fight. He made her sit down on a bench nearby, for which she was grateful. At least she could stay still now.

"Wait here. I'll send Tony to get you, okay?"

"Okay."

He left, and shortly afterward, Ana heard gunshots. A few minutes later, her dad appeared, in Mark XLII, with a car battery charging it. The faceplate was open.

"It's not as bad as it looks," she said upon seeing the tormented look on his face.

"JARVIS says you have a fractured eye socket, moderate concussion, and a broken rib." He sat down next to her.

"Well, you know you've done a good job when the bad guys are mad at you… What do you think Killian would've done to Pepper? He said something about making her perfect."

He gingerly sat down beside her. "I don't know, maybe inject her with Extremis? That's his idea of perfection."

"Now I'm even more glad that I crushed his dreams."

He flashed a small smile. "You did good, kid. The police will be here soon, and you'll be going to the hospital right away."

"What about you?"

"Depends. Rhodey is questioning Trevor."

"My suit is gone," she remembered.

"I'll make you a new one… if you want."

She chuckled. "If we survive this, I'm going to overcome my acrophobia."

"You sure?"

"I'd always thought I'd be fine as long as it didn't stop me from flying on a plane, but clearly, I was wrong. Things here would've gone very different if I'd been able to fight in that suit."

"You were right, kid. I should've just taken it myself."

"You didn't want to leave me unprotected."

"And how did that turn out?"

"Dad, don't do this. You can't foresee every single outcome of every single decision."

"You know what? Maybe family therapy isn't such a bad idea. After this—"

"Tony!" Rhodey interrupted, running towards them. "I got a location!"

"Well?"

"We gotta warn the Vice President. They're going to use my suit as a Trojan Horse, and take President Ellis, too. To the Roxxon Refinery. We don't have any transportation, man. What are we going to do?"

"Yeah, about that..." He turned to Ana. "Wasn't he talking about a lovely speedboat earlier?"

"Well, good luck you two." Ana knew she couldn't join them even if she wanted to. She was done for today.