Author's Note: This chapter title comes from Dune by Frank Herbert. Warning: after this chapter, it spirals dark really, really quickly. Read responsibly and only if you can handle it.

Chapter Six - Seek freedom (become captive)

"Is he going to die?"

Tony jerked in alarm in the seat next to her and she winced. She had to admit that, after an hour of sitting there in silence, that was not the best way to break the quiet. He glanced at her. "Of course not," he said hoarsely. He cleared his throat. "Happy's gonna be fine."

Danielle glanced towards the bed and then back down at her sketchbook. She felt Tony move next to her. "What's that?"

"Um . . . I was thinking that it would have been better if they had been able to stop his bleeding sooner, right? Reliably? So I'm just . . . trying to figure it out."

"Ah," he murmured, though his tone was tinged with pride. He fell silent when the door opened to admit a nurse.

Danielle watched at the woman with about checking his vitals, looking over her clipboard. Finally, she turned and glanced at the TV as she reached for the remote. Tony cleared his throat. "Uh, hi."

She jumped, clearly startled, before focusing in on him. "Oh."

Tony rose to his feet and gestured to the TV. "Mind leaving that on?"

Danielle pushed herself up, closing her notebook and tucking her pen behind her ear. The nurse glanced at her and nodded, setting down the remote.

"Sunday night's PBS Downton Abbey. That's his show. He thinks it's elegant."

"It is," Danielle agreed quietly, taking a deep breath at having to miss her plans to watch it with the man.

Tony glanced at her and nodded before looking back at the nurse. "One more thing. Uh, make sure everyone wears their badges. He's a stickler for that sort of thing, and my guys won't let anyone in without them." He turned, setting a hand on Danielle's shoulder and maneuvering her towards the door. She followed him quietly, watching as he exchanged a few quiet words with the security in the hallway.

Once they reached the elevator, she said, "You have that face."

"What face?" he asked, glancing at her.

"The face you always wear when you're going to do something drastic. That one." She frowned at him and bit down on her lip. "What are you gonna do?"

He swallowed thickly and slid his sunglasses on as they stepped out of the elevator into the lobby. "Something drastic." He pulled out his phone and started typing away. "I'm going to ask Pepper to pack up your things."

"I— What?"

"I'm sending you out of California."

"Why?" she asked frantically.

But any answer that he could have given was drowned out by reporters shouting questions the moment they were outside. Danielle ducked her head and pulled at her sweater sleeves, more uncomfortable than she'd ever been around paparazzi at the thought of them snapping pictures of the scars on her arms. She let Tony push her ahead and she moved around the car and slid into the passenger seat just in time to hear the question.

"When is somebody gonna kill this guy?"

She caught her breath.

The reporter sounded less sure as he said, "Just sayin'."

Tony froze and she could see him turn away from the car to face the crowd. "Is that what you want?"

Danielle bit her lip. "No," she murmured. "No, no, no. Stop."

"Here's a little holiday greeting I've been wanting to send to the Mandarin; I just didn't know how to phrase it until now. My name is Tony Stark and I am not afraid of you. I know you're a coward, so I've decided that you just died, pal. I'm gonna come get the body. There's n politics here; it's just good old-fashioned revenge. There's no Pentagon. It's just you and me. And on the off-chance you're a man, here's my home address: 10880, Malibu Port, 90265. I'll leave the door unlocked."

Something clattered against the pillar outside her door and she glanced down to see a broken cellphone laying on the pavement. She glanced to the side as Tony got in. He slammed his door and started the car, slipping his sunglasses back on. She swallowed thickly but didn't say anything as he started driving.

He dug out his phone and put it on the console between them on speaker. She glanced out at the road they were taking, all too aware that it wasn't the road back to the house. After a couple rings, the person on the other end picked up.

"Tony?"

"Hey, Steve," Tony said stiffly.

"No nickname? This must be serious."

"It is. Are you in DC? For a while?"

"Am I— I just got back from a mission this morning. It'll be a few days at least." His confusion was clear in his tone, as was his growing concern. "What's going on?"

"I'm sending Danielle to DC."

"What?"

"What?"

Danielle and Steve asked the question simultaneously and Tony just groaned in frustration. "I need you to keep her safe. Just for a bit. I may have just threatened a terrorist."

"You what? Tony—"

"Save the lecture for later. Can you or can you not keep her safe for me?"

There was a beat of silence. "Of course I can."

"Great. I have them prepping the jet now and she's leaving within the hour. I'll let Fury know that she'll be landing on their airstrip in about six hours, okay?"

"I— Yeah. Okay. I'll be there."

"Great." And then Tony hung up before anything else could be said. "Pepper's getting your things."

"Dad—"

"Dani." He glanced briefly at her as they pulled up to the hangar. "I need you to be safe. Okay?"

She swallowed thickly. "Yeah," she rasped. "Okay. I love you."

"I love you too."

"Alright, I think I grabbed everything you brought with you, and then I put in some extra sets of clothes and such for when you're in DC," Pepper said, patting down the suitcase. "Also, I brought you some dinner in the mini-fridge and there's—"

"Pepper."

The woman stopped short, blinking. "Yes?"

"I'll be fine," Danielle said, smiling tensely.

Pepper sighed and her shoulders slumped. "I know. Oh, look you. You're so big now!" She dragged Danielle forward into a hug. "Where's the little tiny girl Tony introduced me to all those years ago?"

"Pepper!" Danielle squeaked, flushing. "Stop," she whined.

"Oh, am I embarrassing you?" Pepper asked knowingly, pushing her out at arm's length. But her smile faded fast. "Be safe," she whispered. "Tony's going to deal with this mess he made and then the three of us will be back together and we'll work everything out, okay?"

Danielle nodded, throat curiously dry. "Yeah," she croaked. "Okay. You be safe too."

"I wouldn't dream of anything else." Pepper pressed a kiss to her forehead before pulling back with a sigh. "Alright. I'm going to go yell at Tony, now."

Danielle watched as she left the jet and the door was closed behind her. The door to the cockpit opened and the pilot glanced out. "Are you ready, Miss Stark?"

Danielle sank into one of the chairs and leaned down to open her suitcase. "I'm ready, George. Go ahead."

He nodded and ducked back into the cockpit, door closing behind him. The plane started to rumble and move and Danielle busied herself with her designs. She went through almost a quarter of her notebook redrawing ideas and scrapping them and improving them before she finally groaned and snapped it shut. She shoved herself to her feet and moved to the mini-fridge. She frowned at the chicken fried rice waiting for her and selected a water bottle instead. She unscrewed the cap as she closed the fridge with her foot and then turned.

Her heart jumped up to strangle her throat and the row of windows off to her left shattered. A cry of alarm ripped itself from between her lips. Danielle threw herself backwards, water dropping to the ground forgotten in front of scrambling away from the stranger standing in front of her.

"Who are you?" she demanded, feeling the plan jerk at the sudden rush of wind into the cabin. The lights turned red and started flashing. Danielle's back hit the wall and she heard a yell from the cockpit and a pounding against the door. "George!" she screamed, gaze flicking towards the cabinet where she knew a gun was. "Who are—"

She hadn't even seen him move. One moment he was several feet away, and then he was looming over her with a hand closing around her throat with no warning but a mild flash of silver. Danielle gasped and scrabbled at the fingers. He lifted and she felt her feet leaving the ground, her body tugging downward in a way where she felt her spine popping. She gasped brokenly for air and clutched at his arm. No, metal. She was clutching at metal.

His other hand lifted and she struggled through the tears burning her eyes to try to see what he was holding. A syringe. She renewed her struggled, seeing spots.

Blue burned in her vision and pain stabbed itself into her head in the form of the sound of crunching metal. The grip on her throat clenched tighter and she tried to scream. Her lungs were burning for air and her shriek was voiceless. Something cold and sharp pressed into her neck. The black was devouring her vision, now. She tried to say something, anything.

She couldn't even feel her body anymore to say it.