A/N: Wow, guys, I've been blown away by all the great reviews about the last chapter – thanks so much. :D

This chapter again has a lot going on, with a lot of jumping between scenes, but hey, that's going to be happening for a while with all this action stuff, so I hope it continues to be okay to follow.

Okay, so straight into it, let's get this party started...

Chapter Sixty - One

"Pepper?" Tony's urgent saying of her name had Pepper focusing on him.

"Tony, what is it, what's wrong?" She had to play along.

"Just tell me where you are?"

Pepper didn't flinch. "I'm at the coffee shop on the corner, I felt like one of their pastries." Hammer smirked but she ignored him. "Tony, what's happening? What is going on in New Mexico?"

"We've hit a bit of a hiccup," Tony undersold the situation, "but I just need to implode the arc reactor in the Avenger's Tower and take out the relay system. I need to know you're clear, Pepper, are you clear?"

Pepper could hear the desperate concern in Tony's voice and she didn't hesitate. "I told you, I'm at the coffee shop, Tony, do what you have to do."

"And no one else is in the building?"

"No, no one else is in the building."

"You're sure Jane or Happy didn't come back?"

"I'm sure," said Pepper confidently. "The building is clear, just do what you have to do to save yourself and the Avengers," she pleaded with him. "Don't worry about me, Tony."

"That day will never come," he promised her.

"I love you," said Pepper, trying to hold back the emotion in her voice. "Keep yourself in one piece."

"I love you too, Pep. Just stay at the coffee shop and I'll have you in my arms again before you know it."

Pepper gave a sad little smile. "I'm counting on it."

"Gotta go. Stay in the coffee shop, implosion is going to be in five minutes." With that Tony quickly hung up.

oooOOOOooo

Tony felt some of the tension leave his body at knowing Pepper was safe. As long as she was, he'd be able to think straight because the thought of Pepper in any kind of danger had Tony going crazy. "Jarvis, initiate countdown to implosion."

"Five minutes and counting, sir," replied Jarvis. "It's quite fortunate that you had your priceless art collection moved after that training incident with the Hulk, sir. Many great treasures have been spared."

"They're only things," said Tony dismissively. "The only thing I'm worried about are the people I love, who can't be replaced."

"Of course, sir, I didn't mean to imply otherwise."

Fury's business-like voice was in his ear. "Stark, is the countdown good to go?"

Tony glanced at the countdown on the screen in front of him. "T minus four minutes, thirty-six seconds and counting," he relayed.

"The heli-carrier is on the way to you," Fury informed him.

"But you're not going to get here before the army does," said Tony flatly, as he spied a line of dust off in the horizon which had to be the approaching military force. "And I'm guessing the government told you to stand down anyway."

"I didn't get any transmission along those lines," said Fury calmly, "but we've been having trouble with our phone lines lately, a lot of static."

Tony smiled despite the seriousness of the situation. "You know you get me a little bit hot when you bend the rules, right?"

"Don't make me regret trying to save you, Stark," countered Fury dryly.

Tony glanced at the clock. "In less than four minutes, we can save ourselves," he said confidently.

oooOOOOooo

Agent Coulson was hunched over his desk, all of his energies focused on the CCTV footage in front of him. The video was of on high speed as Coulson trolled as fast as he could through all the vision of every visitor Hammer had received during his ten month incarceration. There was no way something this complicated and grandiose could have happened without some kind of communication going on between Hammer and his cohorts and if he could just find some footage of one of them, it was going to be a place to start. His eyes narrowed as he watched the speeded up version of multiple visits from Hammer's lawyer, a couple of journalists and the prison chaplain. The images were starting to blur in front of Coulson's eyes, but he refused to give up. He had a hunch and his hunches were rarely wrong, so he continued in his frantic search, very well aware of how many lives hung in the balance as he did.

oooOOOOooo

Pepper glanced at her watch, less than five minutes to implosion. That wasn't a lot of time. She lifted her head at the sound of slow clapping. Pepper gave him a cold look for his enjoyment of the whole situation.

Hammer finished his slow clap and stood up, a self-satisfied look plastered all over his face. "Very noble of you I'm sure," he observed, "but now I get to enjoy the expression on Tony's face when he realises that he's killed his precious Pepper by his own actions."

"Aren't you forgetting you're in the building too?" she asked him icily.

Hammer grinned. "Aren't you forgetting I can walk out of here anytime?" he returned sweetly. "I do have control of this building, unlike you, honey. All I've got to do is get downstairs and cross the street, I'll have time to order a coffee while I wait."

"You're not going to win, you know that, right?" said Pepper bitterly.

Hammer made a show of looking confounded. "Actually, Pepper, I'm pretty sure I did just win. Try and pay better attention, won't you? At least for the next, say, five minutes? My intel tells me that's how long the self-destruct sequence on the arc reactor is set for."

"You're not going to win because you're not a winner," Pepper finished off coldly. "You fail at everything you do, Hammer, and this is going to be no different. Tony is going to win out in this little game of yours and he's going to do that because he's better than you in every way." Pepper watched a muscle in Hammer's cheek tick wildly as his face tightened in anger and she knew she'd hit a nerve.

"I think today has proved that isn't true," said Hammer tightly. "I'm Tony's arch nemesis, the man who is ultimately going to bring the big man down to his knees before killing him and leaving the better man standing, once and for all."

"You think you're Tony's arch nemesis?" asked Pepper in disbelief. She looked him over in disdain. "Tony thinks you're a joke, Hammer, when he thinks of you at all."

"He's thinking of me now!" Hammer threw back at her, losing control for the first time. He looked away, obviously trying to get himself in check. Hammer drew in a long breath as he smoothed back his hair and looked back at Pepper. "He's thinking of me now," he repeated, more calmly this time. Hammer forced a smile and waggled his finger at her. "I know what you're doing, Virginia Potts, you're trying to get me mad so I lose track of time and share you're fate." Hammer snorted. "Not going to happen. You and Tony have always underestimated me and now you're going to reap what you've sowed. Enjoy your martyrdom, Pepper," said Hammer snidely. "It couldn't have happened to a nicer person." He then went to triumphantly sweep out of the room but the door was locked. Hammer fumbled with the door for a moment, refusing to look back at Pepper as his big exit was ruined. "Jerry," he hissed, "open the door."

"I can't, sir," said Jerry regretfully.

"Of course you can," Hammer ground out, "you have complete control of the building."

There was a nervous clearing of the throat. "Ah, about that, sir…"

Pepper watched the changing emotions on Hammer's face with interest. Clearly this wasn't part of the plan.

"What?" bit out Hammer.

"Umm, there's been a slight change of plans, sir," said Jerry apologetically. "I'm sorry, but you're no longer in control."

"If I don't have control, then who does?" he ground out.

"I do."

The confident female voice coming over the building PA system was a new one to Pepper and she frowned.

Hammer turned around and looked concerned. "Ghost? What are you doing? This isn't part of the plan."

"This was always part of my plan," she returned coolly. "You've outlived your usefulness to me, Justin. This is where we part ways."

"What?" gasped Hammer in horror. His face flushed in anger. "Jerry, I'm your employer, I plucked you from obscurity and set you up like a king! I don't care what this crazy bitch is offering you, I can double it, triple it, just open the door!"

Ghost's reply almost sounded amused. "I'm offering Jerry his life, aren't I, Jerry?"

Jerry's reply was very stressed. "There's a gun pointed at my head right now, so, umm, yeah, I'm feeling like Ghost is making the better offer right now. Sorry, Mr. Hammer."

"You coward!" Hammer raged.

"I can live with that," replied Jerry simply.

Hammer changed tactics. "Why are you doing this, Ghost?" he pleaded with her. "We had a good thing going on."

Ghost's reply was incredulous. "Did you really think I was planning on being your lackey forever?"

Hammer thought about that. "Yes," he said at last, "yes I did. It's a good gig. Tell her, Jerry."

"It's a good gig."

"Shut up, Jerry," snapped Hammer unreasonably, "you're getting me killed."

"Again, I'm real sorry about that, boss," said the ever apologetic Jerry. "Truth be told, I don't want anyone to die." He paused. "Especially me."

Pepper folded her arms and gave Hammer an unimpressed look. "Is it just me, or are you making a habit out of collaborating with people more insane then yourself and then getting shafted in the process?"

"That isn't what this is!" he shouted at her defensively.

Ghost was on Pepper's side. "This is exactly what this is, only I'm not insane, Ms. Potts, just highly motivated about getting what I want."

"But what you want is insane," Pepper threw back at her. She scowled. "Why would you want to kill so many people?"

"It's not a matter of want, it's a matter of necessity," countered Ghost. "I've never been one to sweat the little things."

Pepper was horrified. "Millions of people's lives aren't little things!"

"It's all about perspective," said a dismissive Ghost. "Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have a war to oversee."

"Ghost, you stop this right now!" Hammer ordered her but there was no reply. He looked up desperately. "Jerry? Jerry, answer me!"

Pepper shook her head, almost amused at how quickly the suave, in control persona of Hammer had given way to this sweating mess. "They've hung up. We're on our own."

Hammer was wide-eyed as panic started to set in. "We have to get out of here!"

"I take it back," said Pepper sarcastically. "I guess you are a genius." She watched as Hammer frantically tried the door again, but it still wouldn't open.

"Stand back!" he ordered her. "I'm going to kick the door down."

Pepper knew that wasn't possible because the door was specially reinforced and designed to stay intact even with a close range detonation of an incendiary device. She didn't bother to tell Hammer that, instead she derived some grim pleasure of watching him attempt to kick the door down and nearly break his leg in the process.

"Oh God!" he howled, hopping around and clutching at his leg.

"There is no way out of this office," said Pepper completely unsympathetic to his plight. She glanced at her watch, just over a minute to go. "Even if we could, we couldn't clear the building in time." Pepper had said the words but they didn't seem quite possible that in one more minute, she was going to be dead. A strange calm settled over her as she knew her sacrifice was going to save Tony's life and that was all that mattered.

Hammer was now hobbling around the office, still in panic mode. "No," he babbled, "I can still make it, I'm not going to die this way." He grabbed Pepper's chair from behind her desk and before she could stop him, threw it at the large glass window which covered half of her wall. The bullet proof glass, especially designed by the overly cautious Tony intent on protecting Pepper from any conceivable threat, did its job. The office chair bounced off the glass like it was rubber and promptly slammed into Hammer's face, knocking him to the ground.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "My last minute on earth and I get to spend it with one of the Three Stooges, brilliant."

"I think I broke my nose," said Hammer weakly from underneath the chair.

"Oh right," said Pepper in annoyance, "I'll get right on that, shall I?"

oooOOOOooo

Jerry's stomach tightened as he saw the video feed footage from the garage and the blonde man climbing out of the car. "Oh crap," he said weakly.

The heavy set man sitting on the chair behind him, gun pointed at his back now. "Problem?"

"No, no," said Jerry hastily. He swallowed hard, knowing he'd have to tell Ghost. The woman scared him more than Hammer did. At least Hammer had moments of humanity, Ghost didn't even have that. "Ah, ma'am, ah, Ghost?"

"What is it?" came the terse reply.

"It seems I accidentally left the garage door open," said Jerry fearfully, "and someone has driven in." He couldn't stop his hands from shaking. "Please don't kill me."

Ghost didn't seem too concerned. "Lock the garage down."

Jerry leapt to do her bidding, still extremely conscious of the hardness pressed between his shoulder blades. "Yes, ma'am." His fingers tapped on the keyboard, activating the heavy gate of the garage to drop from the entrance way ceiling, closing down the only exit/entrance to the garage. Jerry's eyes went wide as another car speed up to the gates from the outside, racing to get inside before the gate dropped completely down. It didn't look like he was going to make it, but at the last moment, the black car scrapped in, the top of the car catching the bottom of the gate and scraping all along it. The car sped into the garage and spun around, in an impressive display of control. "Oh crap," said Jerry shakily.

"What is it now, Jerry?" asked an impatient Ghost.

He winced and braced himself. "Another car just got into the garage," he confessed.

"It's of no importance, activate the security on that level."

"Yes, ma'am, doing it now," said Jerry, eager to please if it meant not ending up dead. "Security activated."

oooOOOOooo

Happy climbed out of his car, scowling at the scratched and buckled painted metal which used to be his roof. "Man, I just got through detailing it." He glared at Lewis, who'd rushed over to see if he was okay. "Why did you close the gate?"

"I didn't," said Lewis, looking concerned.

Happy blinked at that information. "That's not giving me a warm feeling inside."

"We have to get to Pepper," said Lewis determinedly. "Something about this isn't right."

Happy didn't argue, just immediately went to follow him. They'd only taken a few steps towards the elevator doors when the security sensor was activated and they were being fired upon by lasers. The two of them leapt out of the way, Lewis skidding over the top of his car and sinking down to hide behind it. Happy had gone the other way, bolting over the top of the Rolls Royce town car and hunkering down behind it. "Lewis, you okay, buddy?" he called out.

"No, now I'm kinda pissed," came back the reply from behind the other car. "I hate it when things try to kill me."

"I feel your pain," agreed Happy. "We need to get to Pepper, this isn't good. I think she's in danger and there is no back up coming with Cody and John, now that the garage is locked down."

"Any ideas about how we do that?"

Happy hesitated. "Give me a minute, it'll come to me."

oooOOOOooo

"Thirty seconds to go," said Tony triumphantly as he watched the clock tick away. He was itching to get into this fight and also keen to avert going to war with the US military forces. They were on the same side and none of the Avengers would willingly take innocent lives, which was what was going to happen if he didn't get them out from under the control of the nano-bots. "Come on," he muttered under his breath, willing the countdown to go faster. "Let's do this already."

oooOOOOooo

Pepper ignored the tangled, whimpering mess which was Justin Hammer caught up in office furniture and went to sit on her favourite chair in the room, the one she'd bought with Tony on a rare shopping trip with him. She'd argued the art deco chair was beautiful but Tony had said it was ugly and looked like people used to be executed in it. Tony said he'd rather sit on the floor then have something that ugly in his building, but when she'd walked into her office the next morning, the very expensive chair was sitting there waiting for her. Pepper settled back into the white chair, imagining it was Tony's arms around her as she closed her eyes and pictured Tony's face smiling at her in her mind's eye. "Tony," she whispered, a hot tear escaping one closed eyelid as she accepted her fate, "Tony, I love you."

10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5...

A/N: And oh yeah, it's another cliffhanger... I recommend you all get used to that for the next five or so chapters. ;)