My gosh! I finally got this chapter out! It was such a struggle to finish but I pulled through! Thank the heavens once again! It's also been a year since I posted this which is just wow. Anyway, two more after this chapter which I'm hoping to get out on time. *fingers crossed* ~Lovely

~*Special Dedication to natalianovnaromanov*~

-Infinity Heart

-Paring(s): Tony Stark/OC

-Rated: T for language, and minor adult situations

-Movie-based

-Disclaimer: I don't own Iron Man. The characters belong to Marvel Studios and Stan Lee I only own the OCs used.


Chapter Eleven:

"Betrayal"

"..I don't believe in fate
But the bottom line
It's time to pay
You know you've got it coming

This is war.."

~Escape, Thirty Seconds to Mars

The pilots in the F-22s were experienced, managing to keep up with Tony while he flipped and sharp-turned with ease. The billionaire stayed calm and focus during the chase. Tegan, on the other hand, was trying not to have a panic attack. She was regretting not forcing him to stay home. Her gut had nagged that the whole idea was a bit of a suicide mission. Those horrible flashbacks to his kidnapping now plagued her mind, causing a nauseous feeling to emerge. He could really die this time..and she would witness it once again.

"Hon?" her caregiver called suddenly, not receiving answer. "Earth to Turtle?"

"Oh, sorry..yeah?" the young woman replied in a strained voice. Stark understood her silence immediately from her tone.

"Remember our promise, Tegan. Part of my new game plan is to never break any of yours. So, just breathe." he softly reassured before commanding Jarvis to make the suit go supersonic. Hayes did as told, settling down. She could help Stark unlike last time. The thought gave her new bound strength. Meanwhile...

"T-That bogey just went supersonic!" one of the pilots told the base. Though Tony's actions somehow offered a chance for targeting. A small missile was released and caught up with him in a matter of seconds.

"Inbound missile." warned Jarvis just before direct contact.

"Use the flares!" shouted the female genius. The AI complied which worked, destroying the threat. But the blast knocked the suit off-course and almost out of the sky as Jarvis became momentarily offline. Stark's body spun in the air, letting the jets get closer before everything worked appropriately again.

"Tony, are you all right?"

"Yeah, just dizzy, heh. Quick thinking there, kiddo."

Seeing that missiles weren't doing the job, the pilots took immediate advantage of the new distance and began firing high-caliber bullets. A few hit the suit's shoulder and forearm; not piercing completely through but enough to leave visible holes. Tony knew his luck was running out and shouted out another order.

"Deploy flays!" They quickly snapped open from his back, causing him to fly backwards and in between the jets. Looking around, the pilots couldn't find him..his location was still near though.

"All right, let's take a bit of break." the older genius panted, "Relax our shoulders, breathe in and out."

"I think now would also be a good time to call back Rhodey." Hayes suggested; fed up with the possibly of her heart giving out.

Tony sighed heavily. "Right as ever.."


Said person stood quietly watching the multiple screens. And as the colonel wondered what the hell that thing was, his cellphone rang with his best friend's number.

He answered with narrowed eyes. "Hello?"

"Hi, Rhodey, it's me."

"It's who?"

"No, I'm sorry, it is me." the other man clarified, "You asked. What you were asking about is me."

"No, see, this isn't a game. You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone. You understand that?"

"It's not a piece of equipment!" Tony stressed, "I'm in it. It's a suit. It's me!" His long-timed friend became speechless and before he could respond, he was interrupted.

"Rhodey, you got anything for me?" asked the other superior with tad suspicion. Suddenly, one of the pilots' voice came through sounding shocked.

"On your belly! It's looks like a man!" On the screen for everyone to see was now a clear visual of the suit holding on tightly to the underbelly of the other jet. "Shake him off! Roll! Roll!" It did as such, rolling faster and faster while jostling Stark around. The genius had been unalert and tried desperately to hold on. But he could not completely grip onto the jet without damaging, causing him to slip off at an incredible speed. The action made a fallout as Tony's body pivot in the air uncontrollably and struck the other F-22 and removed the wing. All thought on the genius vanished then as the pilot was in peril.

Luckily, the man released himself before it explode but the trouble was not over. But the chute latch became jammed and he was plummeting to earth quick. Base could only watch and pray for a miracle..and it came in the form of Tony. Though, everyone but Rhodes believed he was still a threat.

"Sir, I've got a visual on the bogey."

"Whiplash Two, reengage. If you get a clear shot, you take it."

"Major, we don't even know what we're shooting at." James stated, trying to subtly deter him from attacking. "Call off the Raptors."

"That thing just took out an F-22 inside a legal no-fly zone!" his colleague reminded harshly, afterwards reinstating his order to the lone operational pilot. During all that, Jarvis had now hacked into the air base's radio wave after Tegan asked and overheard the new command.

"You've been reengaged. Execute evasive maneuver."

"Keep going!" yelled Tony, closing in on the descending pilot. Once near, he quickly found the latch and punched it which allowed the chute and man to finally eject before leaving the area fast. The other pilot saw this and informed base his partner was all right. Everyone either cheered happily or gave a huge sigh of relief. Rhodes returned to his phone call with his friend while they all were distracted.

"Tony, you still there?"

"Hey, thanks."

"Oh, my God, you crazy son of a bitch." he replied with a relieved laugh, "You owe me a plane. You know that, right?"

Stark gave a small chuckle. "Yeah, well, technically, he hit me."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure he does, Rhodey." the female genius answered cheerfully, surprising him.

"Wait, Tegan? She's involved too?" The colonel paused with a shake of his head. "When I said before to give her a small project, I didn't have this in mind, man."

"Well, to us, this is like a small project." Stark stated, "So, now are you going to come by and see what we're working on?"

"No, no, no, no," he refused firmly, "The less I know, the better. Now, what am I supposed to tell the press?"

"Uh, training exercise. Isn't that the usual BS?"

"It's not that simple."


Actually, it was. Later that day, Rhodey issued that statement and that the government had no involvement with the events in Gulmira. It seemed believable but one person watching had suspicions as they narrowed their eyes at the television screen while icing their still swollen cheek..It was time to have another talk with a certain client of theirs.


At the Stark residence, Pepper came down to the garage to start the day as usual..but while descending the stairs happened upon a very odd conversation.

"Goodness, Tony! You kept fidgeting like a child on sugar."

"Shut up!..Ow!..Ah, ah, ah!"

"It is a tight fit, sir. The more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt."

"Be gentle. This is my first time." The sight that greeted her when she walked in—the floor still covered in glass and the windows blown out—was a bit astonishing. The playboy stood on a raised platform with several mechanical arms trying to remove pieces of the suit. Tegan stood close by watching with an amused expression.

"I designed this to come off, so..Hey!" He pivot his body some to glare at his successor who burst out laughing then. "Did you tell Jarvis to be rough with me as revenge?"

"Maybe~!" she sang, grinning hugely.

"What's going on here?" Potts at last questioned, gaining the two geniuses' attention. They all stared at each other in silence for a moment.

"Let's face it." Stark responded blankly, "This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing." Tegan glared at him. If he wasn't covered in armor, she'd have slapped him hard across the shoulder.

His assistant's blue eyes widen. "..Are those bullet holes?!" Hayes hurried over to her, fearing she might faint or worse, yell.

"Uh, Pepper, you might want to take a sit. We've obviously got a lot to discuss now."


Back halfway across the world, Raza had company at his hideout and base of operation. The person arrived with two black SUVs holding themselves and security, making it seem they were someone of great importance. But were in fact, none other than, Obadiah Stane.

"Welcome." Raza greeted in anything but a friendly tone. He noticed Stane staring at his burned face. "Compliments of Tony Stark."

"Well, if you had killed him when you were supposed to," the other man stated with a smile, "You'd still have a face."

"You paid us trinkets to kill a prince."

Obadiah had little patience to deal with his snark. "Show me the weapon."

"Come. Leave your guards outside." The leader then showed him inside his tent where the crudely assembled prototype suit was. "His escape bore unexpected fruit."

"..So, this is how he did it." Stane noted, impressed as he observed the machine.

"This is only a first, crude effort. Stark has perfected his design." informed Raza, "He has made a masterpiece of death. A man with a dozen of these can rule all of Asia. And you dream of Stark's throne. We have a common enemy." He went and had a seat before resuming his conversation. As he did, the other man noticed the hole in chest plate..that was the perfect size for the reactor in Tony's chest.

"It's the source to get this working again." he thought.

His musing was interrupted by the terrorist. "If we are still in business, I will give you these designs as a gift. And in turn, I hope you'll repay me with a gift of iron soldiers." A drink was offered to Stane to seal their new deal. Said person strolled over with a small smile and placed a hand Raza on the shoulder, taking the glass. Suddenly, a high-pitch sound filled the air. It affected instantly, causing him to become motionless—it was the result of a Sonic Taser, a discontinued item by Stark Industries. Obadiah stood unaffected because of the ear plugs specially designed to block out the device.

"This is the only gift you shall receive." was told to the now helpless man in his native tongue.

"Hm. Technology." Stane said, pocketing the object now. "It's always been your Achilles' heel in this part of the world. Don't worry. It'll only last for fifteen minutes." He uttered his last words while leaving. "That's the least of your problems." Outside, his guards had managed to rounded up the other terrorists and held them all at gunpoint now.

"Crate up the armor and the rest of it. And let's finish up here." he ordered and returned to his vehicle. Gunfire immediately released then.


Tony tightened the cord connected to the top half of the Mark III. Since returning, he worked on fixing the suit—especially the top because it had taken the most damage during the onslaught. But it was a bit hard to do so when a heavy feeling brewed behind and settled over him. Not able to take it anymore, he sighed and turned towards the source. Hayes sat in his desk chair with her feet up, staring nowhere with a furrowed brow.

His dark eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the bit of skin showing on her. She wore an over-sized sweater that tended to slip off one of her shoulders. The side of her neck all the way to the curve of her left shoulder showed nothing but smooth flesh speckled with a few freckles. No bra strap laid in the way, summing that either there was none or a just strapless. Even so, Stark moved to stand behind her and placed a chaste kiss there, not caring that she was brooding. The action made her jump before calming when realizing it was him.

"What's the matter, Teg?" her caregiver questioned softly, "You were zoning out."

"I just have a bad feeling I can't shake off." the young woman explained, "Maybe we shouldn't ask Pepper to do this. It's too risky."

"We don't have anyone else. She's the only one who wouldn't arise any suspicion of being in my office."

"Even so, Stane isn't as dumb as I make him to be. He might figure it out right away."

Tony shrugged. "We can only hope for the best, Turtle. Finding those weapons are our main goal."

"Haah, you're right." the female genius sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "But that still doesn't settle my anxiety."

"Well~! I can help with that." Before she could ask how, her head was tilted back and soft, smirking lips pressed against hers. Tegan grew warm instantly from the closed-mouthed kiss. The small endearment caused such a fire to burn in the pit of her stomach which made her long for more. But she couldn't. Not as long as she was still in a relationship with Joven. So, Hayes pulled away first with flushed cheeks.

"You arse. I told you no kissing until I talked to Joven."

Stark met her gaze with his heady one. "I was doing a service. Anxiety is a serious problem and I had no sinful pleasure from it."

"Bollocks." she deadpanned. A cheeky grin spread across his face. Tegan rolled her grey eyes but smiled as well. Just then, the door where the elevator was opened and Pepper stepped inside. Blushing, the female genius quickly turned away, busying herself with what was currently on the computer screen. Meanwhile, her caregiver casually greeted his assistant.

"Hey. You busy? Mind if I send you on an errand?" The other woman hadn't answer but Tony continued anyway. "I need you to go to my office. You're going to hack into the mainframe and you're going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests."

Hayes rolled over in her chair, handing a flash drive-like device to Potts. "This is a lock chip. This'll get you in. It's probably under Executive Files. If not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading."

"Wait, shouldn't you be doing this?" Potts asked her with a raised brow.

"Yes, but I've recently been issued a restraining order because of my little payback at the charity event." the younger woman grinned, clearly pleased than upset by the result of her impulsiveness.

"And what do you two plan to do with this information if I bring it back here?"

"Same drill. They've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them." Stark responded simply, "I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them."

"Tony.." Pepper trailed off, giving a scoffed laugh before continuing. "You know that I would help you with anything, but I cannot help you if you're going to start all of this again."

"There is nothing except this. There's no art opening." He angrily confronted her. "There is no benefit. There is nothing to sign. There is the next mission and nothing else."

"Is that so? Well, then, I quit." Tossing the lock chip back on the desk, she made to walk away but stopped and directed a question towards the female genius. "How can you be okay with this?" Hayes had her gaze downcast and didn't reply. "When you thought he was gone, you fell into such a deep depression. For God's sake, you have severe anxiety because of it! Now, it could happen again and you're not trying to stop it?"

The younger woman stood abruptly, slamming her hands on the desk. "It's different this time! He's not alone! The reason I worked with him on the suit was to ensure no harm came to him." Her voice wavered while tears formed in her eyes. "Tony won't die. He can't—" A gentle, familiar touch appeared on her arm and calmed her panic right away. She didn't need to glance over and see the man she cared deeply for stood beside her once again. With a heavy sigh, she sat back down, letting him speak.

"You stood by my side all these years," the man told Potts, "While I reaped the benefits of destruction. And now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out?"

"You're gonna kill yourself, Tony." the other woman reasoned, "I'm not going to be a part of it."

"I shouldn't be alive..but it was for a reason. I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it's right." Pepper stared at the two who were like family to her after so many years. Decision made, she picked up the chip again.

"You guys are all I have, too, you know." she stated softly before leaving to do what they asked.


Pepper had to admit going to Stark Industries that time around felt completely odd. She was on edge, thinking anything and everyone was watching as if knowing what she was about to do. Inwardly, the woman scolded herself on how silly she was acting. She didn't have to do much; just place the chip in, wait, and sped out of there before being noticed.

Luckily, the floor to Tony's office was empty, making it easy to slip inside. Taking a seat, she acted quick and plugged in the lock chip. The geniuses had been right. It took care of getting inside and finding what was needed..and more. A ghost drive been found filled with files from shipping documents to an extremely hush-hush project.

"Sector 16?" uttered Potts, curious while glancing over blueprints of a greatly-armored suit similar to Stark's. "What are you up to, Obadiah?" Clicking a new file, low-quality video popped open showing Ten-Ring members holding a person hostage—Tony. One of the members was speaking in their native tongue, so the assistant had it translated by the high-tech computer.

"You did not tell us that the target you paid us to kill was the great Tony Stark. As you can see, Obadiah Stane.."

"Oh, my god."

"..Your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up." Hearing enough, she initiated for the chip to copying everything.

"So—" Potts startled, looking up to discover Stane in the doorway. "What are we going to do about this?" She said nothing and watched him stroll over to the small liquor bar that was a bit away from her. Luckily, the man still couldn't see the computer screen from that angle.

"I know what you're going through, Pepper." He lifted the bottle of aged scotch with a sigh of approval. "Ah, Tony. H always gets the good stuff, doesn't he?" The woman feign an agreeing smile before stealthy covering the chip with a newspaper when he glanced down to pour. Then acted fast by clicking on the screen saver to shield the evidence found; all the while with an air of casually innocent. She held in her smirk from nervousness when noticing his subtle disappointment as he stood beside her. p

"I was so happy when he came home. It was like we got him back from the dead." Obadiah stated calmly, sitting on the table. "Now I realize..well, Tony never really did come home, did he? He left a part of himself in that cave. Breaks my heart."

Pepper finally spoke, "Well..he's a complicated person. He's been through a lot. I think he'll be all right. Tegan's helping him too, from what I can see."

"You are a very rare woman. Tony doesn't know how lucky he is." he complimented.

"Heh, thank you." With another easy smile, the assistant stood and gathered her belonging along with the concealed chip. "I'd better get back there." It seemed like he didn't suspect her of anything as she was halfway out the room when..

"Is that today's paper?" A mentally curse was given before she replied with a yes. He came over to her to take it. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all." Potts handed the folded paper over, keeping the chip hidden inside her fist. She hoped by do so he would just believe it was her car keys.

Stane grinned happily, "Take care." With that, she left the room, wanting nothing more than to run out of there. Once Pepper was safe in the elevator, the older man rushed to the computer and saw all his incriminating evidence had been indeed discover. Now in the lobby and almost to freedom, Pepper was greeted by a saving grace—Agent Coulson.

"Ms. Potts? We had an appointment." he reminded, not noticing her hurry yet. "Did you forget about our appointment?"

"Nope, right now. Come with me. We're gonna have it right now!" she told quickly, still speed walking. Phil hurriedly stood; a bit bewildered by her behavior but going along with it. Peering over her shoulder briefly, Stane stood at the second floor railing, watching the two leave with a menacing glare.


Over in Sector 16, a group of engineers were talking amongst themselves as Obadiah came bursting into the area. The others scattered when observing the angry that seemed to radiate off the man, leaving the head of the project to deal with him.

"Uh, Mr. Stane, sir, we've explored what you asked us, and it seems as though there's a little hiccup."

A stiff reply was given. "A hiccup?"

"Actually..yes, to power the suit, sir," The engineer said his next words carefully. "The technology actually doesn't exist. So it's—"

"Wait, wait, wait. The technology?" Stane interrupted before pointing to the original Arc Reactor. "William, here is the technology. I've asked you to simply make it smaller."

"Okay, sir, and that's what we're trying to do, but honestly, it's impossible."

"Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave! With a box of scraps!"

"Well, I'm sorry." William said a tad boldly. "But I'm not Tony Stark." His boss turned away in frustration while he quickly added, "Also, the only other person I can think of to do that as well is his successor."

Obadiah slowly faced him again. "Say that again."

"Uh, his successor, Miss Hayes, could do it too..possibly."

"Oh, it's no possibly." he smirked while fishing out his cellphone. A new plan had blossomed in his mind. "She's only half of the answer."


The epic finale-Iron Man vs. the Iron Monger is next!

Alert, Review, & Fave if you want more of Infinity Heart

(Check my profile for music playlist to IH, updates, & etc.)