So, the update took slightly longer because I went away on a long weekend and also, I couldn't get the tone right during some paragraphs... But it's fine now, I think. But hey, I still took way less longer to update than I usually do so, it still counts as a victory, right ?

Laurel is the best Beta reader in the world and I'll willingly shout it on all the rooftops of Paris. And she has the cutest dog. I'm so jealous.

For those who were worried about this chapter and Pepper's fate, know that I would never, EVER, write something like that. And I hate that is so terrible that you can't tag warnings, or in this case, lack of thereof when there's absolutely no need for them. Please enjoy.

Chapter 13

They put Pepper in the trunk. The hood on her head nearly suffocates her because of the heat of the car. She can feel the sweat dripping all over her body, making her clothes stick to her skin. Her thirst increases every minute she spends in there and her throat is so dry, she doesn't think she can speak anymore. She doesn't know how long it's been since they left the encampment and she doesn't know how long she can last in this inferno without losing consciousness. Trying to make noise to alert her kidnappers of her distress would be futile and a waste of energy. Forcing them to stop might also provoke their anger, which she is not willing to risk.

Her hands are tied to her front, for which she is slightly grateful. However, the road is full of bumps and pitfalls and it makes it impossible for her to hang on to something in order to stabilise herself. By now, any healing she might have done while she was in the cave has probably been undone. Her ribs are killing her and the arm where the bullet was is more than likely broken by now

But as much as she wishes for some fresh air or just the opportunity to get out of this trunk, she knows that once the car stops, her fate is sealed. The Ten Rings made no mystery as to the fact that she had been sold to the highest bidder. Which could mean anyone. A rogue government, another terrorist cell, human traffickers… he shudders at the mere idea of all the horrors that are probably awaiting her. She shuts her eyes and bites her lips. The last thing she wants is to give them the satisfaction of hearing her cry.

XXXX

The heat subsides and the trunk becomes cooler. She can't see outside but she guesses that the night is upon them. They've been driving for hours now. The road has become smoother and less winding, too. So they've probably left the mountains and are somewhere in the vast openness of the desert. She's starting to get cold when the car starts to slow to a halt. She hears the car doors open and close and a man's order to the others. Her heart's in her throat and suddenly, she feels a gust of air and someone's grabbing her, roughly pulling her out of the car.

"Stand! Stand bitch!"

Pepper tries to obey but her legs are jelly under her and he's holding her injured arm, which makes it impossible for her to lean on him in any way. He kicks her in the calf and she falls down. She shouts in pain:

"I can't! I CAN'T!"

She still has her hood on but there's no mistaking the sound of her cries. She's at the end of her tether. She wants all of this to stop. She wants to go home. Be with Tony. Tony… Two hands grab her under the arms and make her stand before pulling her over their shoulders. Her hood falls off but either they don't notice it or they don't care. The night has fallen. They're still in the desert. The car's headlights illuminate some of their surroundings but Pepper only sees what's behind them, not what's in front. The pain in her ribs is worst than ever. She can feel the metallic tang of blood in her mouth and she thinks she might be bleeding internally. Good. That means whoever paid for her will not have her for long. She remembers an article she once read while in the waiting room of a doctor's office. About the chances of survival of someone with untreated internal injuries. Less than 24 hours if the injury was bad. Less than 12 if the injury was very bad. Pepper doesn't want to die, but she doesn't want to live either if it's only to feel pain and degradation. The man holding her seems to be walking toward another source of light. It doesn't matter. He's talking. To her? To someone else? It doesn't matter. He finally stops. Have they arrived somewhere? She can't hear him anymore. She can't feel much of anything anymore. It doesn't matter…

She loses consciousness before she's unceremoniously dumped on the ground.

XXXX

There's a smell in the air she thinks she recognizes. It's not overwhelming but it's strong enough that when she starts to wake up, it's the first thing she notices. Slowly, she opens her eyes. She's in a bed, in a hospital. What? She hears the small beeping of the devices monitoring her vitals. Her right arm is in a sling. She can feel the bandages around her waist under the gown she's wearing. There's a silhouette on her left. It's dark outside but she can make out the form of a man in military outfit. Is it…

"Rhodey?"

Once again her throat feels sore but her thirst has abated. She forgets about it instantly when the man sitting next to her wakes up with a start.

"Pepper? Pepper, are you awake?"

She nods. Her throat feels constricted all of a sudden and the tears fall freely on her cheeks.

He takes her hands and kisses her on the forehead. Oh god, human contact. Human warmth. Rhodey says something to her she doesn't understand and rushes out of the room. He comes back a few seconds later with a nurse. The nurse examines Pepper as Rhodey takes her hand in his once again.

"Ms. Potts? How do you feel Ms. Potts? Do you know where you are?"

She's distracted by Rhodey' hands holding hers, the idea of being back in the civilised world overwhelming her. Is it a dream? Is she going to wake up screaming in pain somewhere else?

"Ms. Potts? Ms. Potts, look at me."

It's the nurse again. She continues:

"Ms. Potts, do you know where you are?"

This time, Pepper answers:

"Hos-hospital."

Her throat still hurts and Rhodey immediately presents her with a plastic goblet and a straw. She sips on it, fresh water easing the dryness. She drinks all of it and the nurse goes on with her questions.

"You're in Germany, Miss Potts. At the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. This is a military hospital. We retrieved you just outside of the Helmand region, in Afghanistan and had you medivac to a military base where you received surgery for your internal injuries. You had three broken ribs, from C3 to C5 and a perforated lung. You were extremely lucky that we got you on time. The military surgeon at the base successfully mended your lung and retrieved the small part of broken bone that had caused the injury. We also set a cast on your arm after repositioning your shoulder that had been dislocated as well as disinfected and stitched your bullet wound again. When the doctor deemed you fit enough to travel, we put you in an C-130 and had you transferred to this hospital. Do you understand what I've just said?"

She nods.

"Good. Don't worry, if you have any questions later, myself or the doctor will be more than happy to answer them. Your vitals are good. Do you feel any pain or discomfort?"

She shakes her head. "No, I'm fine. Thank you."

Rhodey squeezes her hand.

"We'll keep monitoring you until the doctor can come and examine you in the morning. Right now, I suggest you rest. Lieutenant Colonel, please do not tire my patient or I'll have you removed from this room. Is that clear?"

"Crystal clear," Rhodey says, "thank you Nurse Wellington."

The nurse leaves before casting a last glance at Pepper. One of Rhodey's hands wipe some of her tears. She smiles at him:

"Am I really here?"

Rhodey concurs: "Yes, you are. I can't tell you how much we were all worried about you. How much I was worried."

He stops talking for a second and Pepper knows what he's not saying. What he's not asking.

"He was with me. Tony. His injuries were more serious than mine but he received… he received treatment."

She almost says surgery but she knows she can't call it that. And tonight, she doesn't have the strength to get into details. "He was alive when I left. He… He was getting better. But I didn't get to talk to him. He was unconscious while I was there."

She hears Rhodey catch his breath. She knows it's only the years of military training that prevent him from showing all of the distress she's been experiencing for the past few days. Which brings her to her next questions:

"How long was I gone for? How long have you had me? How did you get to me?"

Rhodey sighs and sits back in the chair next to her bed without letting go of her hand.

"You were missing for ten days. We've had you less than 48 hours. The medics gave you a shot of morphine as soon as we got you and the medical team kept you under the whole time. They said you would have been in too much pain if you woke up. They told me they were impressed you held out that long. Not that I'm surprised. I knew you were a fighter."

Pepper slowly shakes her head.

"I'm really not a fighter. In the end I just wished for a quick death. They didn't tell me who paid for me though. I thought they were handing me to someone even worse."

Rhodey lowered his head at that statement.

"Yeah, about that Pepper… There's something I need to tell you."

Pepper stiffens a little at the tone of his voice.

"What is it?" She asks.

Rhodey exhales. "We're not the ones who got you out. The military, I mean."

Pepper tries to make sense of what he just said but cannot.

"Yes, I didn't think they would. So what happened? Who got me out?

He rubs his hands over his face.

"Look, I would have done everything in my power to get you out Pepper. And I'll do the same with Tony. But the American government does not negotiate with terrorists. Nor does it pay them when they ask for ransom."

A chunk of the conversation she had with the leader of the Ten Rings come back to her. He did say that they had refused to pay…

He continues: "And it's illegal to fund terrorism. Even if it's to pay for ransom. Even to save a life."

He pauses and Pepper starts to dread what he's about to say next.

"Pepper, Aurelia Wannamaker is the one who got you out. She somehow got wind of the auction and she made the highest bid. She then hired a private paramilitary agency and had them retrieve you. They're the ones who got you to the military base in Afghanistan. Pepper… she's in military custody for financing a terrorist cell."

XXXX

The next few days are both slow and a bit of a haze. Rhodey left an hour or so after telling her about Aurelia's situation. He has visited a couple of times but his superiors keep asking him back to attend debriefings and strategic meetings. Everything is being done in order to find Tony. At least, that's what Rhodey says. Meanwhile, Pepper tries to remember as much as she can every time the military officials come to ask her questions. From the number of men there was to the shape of the mountains she saw during her brief time outside the cave, everything is discussed and analysed. She's even considering hypnosis to help her remember things more clearly but her doctors are advising against it. At least as long as she convalescing. Rhodey gave her a notebook and a few pens, just in case she remembers anything and doesn't want to forget. A sketch artist comes to take the leader of the Ten Rings' likeness but cross-racial identification is notoriously difficult and what she remembers is flimsy at best. She also gave them Yinsen's name in the hope of contacting his family but they never told her whether or not they found the whereabouts of his family.

Pepper is getting more and more restless. All she can think about is Tony, the state of his health and what their captors have been doing to him since she's been gone. Her heart breaks at the mere idea that they're hurting him. That they might kill him. What if his condition has worsened? Will they execute him? Or will they sell him to someone else like they did with her? Pepper wants to think the military will find Tony before anything worse happens to him but she keeps having nightmares. The doctors have been giving her some antidepressants to calm her and help her sleep but with little success so far. They still come every day day to check her recovery. She's come to dread the day she'll leave the hospital because it means getting even further away from Tony and from the people with the information and the means to find him.

Also, she keeps trying to wrap her head around the events of the past week. It all seems so strange. Her life doesn't make any sense these days. Last month, she was making plans to open a hospital. Almost two weeks ago, she had finally rekindled her relationship with Tony. Last week, she was in a cave, injured, exhausted and watching Tony fighting for his life. And now she's in a hospital, thousands of miles away from that cave and from Tony. Aurelia is in prison, somewhere in the US. She tried to make a phone call to John but the military wouldn't let her until she's been released from the hospital. Pepper bitterly thinks they're also holding Aurelia hostage, in a way. But in their case it's legal and she can't do anything about it. She even tried to coax Rhodey into getting her a phone but he wouldn't. She can't fault him for obeying orders, but he should understand that getting Aurelia out of prison is an emergency. Instead, Pepper's stuck in a hospital bed, waiting for the doctor to clear her while dreading it at the same time.

Her salvation comes in the form of one relieved bodyguard.

"Happy!"

The imposing man enters the room with an armful of wild flowers.

"Hello Ms. Potts. I'm so glad to see you well."

She can tell his relief is sincere. While it's true that they haven't interacted much, she's always thought well of him, particularly because Tony trusted him entirely. Trusts him entirely. Keep the hope alive, she tells herself.

They talk a little. Rhodey has filled him in these past few days so Happy already knows a lot about what happened. He's here to accompany her back to California. He says it's Obadiah who sent him but Pepper can tell he would have come anyway. She's touched by his concern.

"Mr. Stane told me to take the jet here as soon as possible but truthfully, I don't know how long it's gonna take to get you home, Ms. Potts. The doctors and the Air Force wouldn't tell me much about when you can get out."

Pepper sighs. "I know. They won't tell me either. I'm effectively in their custody until the doctors say that I can leave."

"Yeah," Happy agrees, "They can be touchy on procedure around here."

Pepper smiles. "That they are." She pauses. "You wouldn't… You wouldn't have a mobile phone that I could use, would you?"

Happy fishes the small device from his coat pocket with a get well card. "Actually, I went by your office before coming. Some of the Foundation employees wanted me to give you a card and your assistant gave me your other phone, so that you could text them in case you needed anything."

Pepper has never been so glad to see her phone.

"Oh thank you! They didn't see you with it, did they?"

Happy frowns.

"The hospital staff? No, I don't think so. Why, is it against policy?"

Pepper starts to type in John's number.

"I don't know and I don't care. Would you keep an eye on the door? I need to call John Wannamaker and I don't want them confiscating the phone before I do so."

Happy complies without asking any question and goes to stand by the door.

The phone rings. Pepper realizes it's probably early in California but this cannot wait any longer. She might not be able to help Tony at the moment, but she'll be damned if she doesn't do everything in her power to help get Aurelia out of prison.

"Hello?"

"John? It's Pepper."

"Pepper? Are you-"

"John, I don't have a lot of time, I need you to listen to me very carefully. Do you have anything you can take notes with?"

XXXX

Happy cannot stay past visitation hours and leaves two hours later. She keeps the phone on silent mode under her pillow, just in case. But now it's mostly in John's hands. As she suspected, he had no idea why the military police had arrested his mother or why their accounts and all the Wannamaker properties had respectively been frozen and seized by the government.

She had given him all the information she had, which wasn't much but had still shocked him, then given him the numbers of one lawyer in L.A. and another in Washington, as well as a few numbers of some congresswomen and senators she knew who could help Aurelia. She just hoped her contributions to Emily's List had been generous enough over the years to garner enough gratitude from those women. That night, she slept very little, checking her phone for any update. But none came that night.

In the morning, her doctor finally tells her she is well enough to travel back to the US, but that she has to keep the appointments he has made for her at the hospital in Malibu. And sure enough, the military officials come in as soon as the doctor leaves.

As far as she can tell, they haven't not gotten wind of her call to John and her attempt to get Aurelia out of prison. They debrief her one last time for an hour and a half, mostly asking her the same questions to see if she has remembered anything new. She can't tell whether they think she might be lying about what went on in the mountains or if they doubt the accuracy of her memory. She sincerely hopes it's the latter.

As she exits the hospital with Happy and Rhodey, she feels a pang of guilt, as if she were abandoning Tony although she knows he's miles and miles away, on another continent. She has done everything she can, but still, she is the one who got out and he hasn't. Part of her feels she is betraying him by putting even more distance between them. But right now she can't do anything more for him from Germany. She needs to go back to California and regroup. Make a plan of action for Aurelia and for Tony. As the plane leaves the airfield, she makes herself a promise.

She'll go back. She'll do everything to find Tony and bring him back.

XXXX

Tony finally extracts the last of the palladium from the missiles and hands it to Yinsen.

"Careful. Careful, we only get one shot at this."

Tony is trying not to hover and failing. This is his only chance to build the reduced version of the arc reactor and finally unplug himself from the car battery that is quickly becoming the bane of his existence. That and the fact that he is being held hostage. And the thought that Pepper might not be alive anymore. Or worse, she could be - Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Just focus on getting out of here. FOCUS!

"Relax. I have steady hands," the engineer replies, "Why do you think you're still alive?"

Tony would chuckle if the situation wasn't so critical. He knows he would likely be dead without Yinsen. And going crazy with worry. The man is a calming presence in a place where everything is designed to make him lose his mind. He hears her voice in his sleep, when exhaustion finally gets the better of him. She's always screaming his name. Always calling him from the darkness. His nightmares are made almost entirely of the sound of her voice. He needs to get out. Kill them all, destroy his weapons and find her. That's his sole objective.

Yinsen successfully pours the palladium into the circular recipient of the future arc reactor. Perfect. He's got some work to do.

TO BE CONTINUED.


I mean, did you really think I was gonna hurt my best girl more than necessary? Tss... Ye of little faith. REVIEWS ARE LOVE. AND FUEL. AND EMOTIONAL BRIBE.