Chapter 7: C

Long time no see. Well as all things go, I am just not having a good year. So far I have been bombarded with homework and applications for various volunteer services this summer, and then there go my grades. Now, don't get the wrong impression. I truly work hard, but just never get the grades at the end…

This story will hopefully brighten my day after I torture y'all with an ending. Wow, now I just sound like a sadist… Agh.

Disclaimer: I own only my story!

As the phaser charged, Tony ran through different comebacks in his mind. Well he was going to die, and so what could he say back? He had to make sure he ticked off his doppelganger some way.

"She doesn't love you, you know?" He said. The other Iron Man stood motionless, his arm still outstretched pointed at his chest. But the blue beam died down in the center of the palm. Tony stared back into the eyes of the boy who took away his identity. True, he was looking at the eyes of a psychopathic low life that decided to take girlfriends for a living, but still… It was worth a shot.

"She'll grow to love me then." Iron Man answered. But, the phasers didn't charge up. The other Tony dropped his hands on his sides and looked dejected, even from within the suit.

Tony used that to his advantage. He shook his head. "There isn't a way. You kidnap her and take her away? She'll only hate you, and will be reminded by you that you took her away from me." Tony said.

By now the streets were clear of any citizen. There wasn't a person in sight; in fact, the buildings remained closed and boarded up. Great, now they would think Iron Man was the enemy.

Without warning, the other Tony retracted his armor and faced Tony head on. His blue eyes darkened as they met his counterpart. "She'll. Grow. To. Love. Me." He repeated seething.

Tony took a step back. So this Tony was more temperamental and rode off his emotions rather than logic that the real Tony did. So, that would be the quality he would use against the other Tony.

"She won't. And you know it more than I do. You can do whatever you want, which is most likely taking her away to your dimension. Right?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrow. The other Tony didn't even blink. Instead his arm shot out and wrapped around his throat.

Tony panicked and began clawing at the arm, which seemed weird knowing that it was his arm. He began choking, and his vision began to blur. "If I can't get her to come with me even when you die, I'll have to do something else." And with one more squeeze, Tony crumpled against his doppelganger.

Pepper was hoping that the other Tony didn't actually mean to kill Tony. Either way, she managed to snag his phone before he left to kill Tony. Even if her hands were behind her back, it didn't keep her feet immobilized. She managed to slide her foot against the other Tony's back pocket when he came down to touch her. The bulge in the back only meant that his phone was there.

And it was.

Pepper smiled at herself and kicked her foot backwards so that the phone would slide into her hands. When she caught it she looked back at it and began typing in Tony's number. She pushed call and put the phone on speaker.

And she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Nothing. The call went straight to voice mail. She used that small time to cherish the sound of her real Tony's voice. His gentle yet silky voice that always calmed her down when she was upset, or showed his true love on their dates. Pepper bit her lip so that she wouldn't cry.

"Please pick up. Please." She sobbed. But nothing. So, either Tony was on another call, or the other Tony caught up to him rendering using his phone useless. Or…

"No! No Potts. Don't even think about it. Tony is fine. He's perfectly fine. He… He… He-" Pepper heard a slam of a door. She quickly shoved the phone into her tights' waistband. She morphed her expression to something near exhaustion to make it look as though she had been struggling and crying.

But she was not expecting another person to come along.

"My god… Tony?!" Pepper looked at the limp body in the Iron Man suit's arms. She glared at the suit. "What did you do?! What did you do to him?!" She shrieked. Pepper began kicking at the ground, throwing dust into the air. She tugged at her wrists again, pulling as hard as she could.

The suit retracted just as Tony's body fell to the dusty floor. The other Tony stood above him smiling with dark humor. "Nothing yet. But I will if you don't agree with me."

Pepper swallowed. "Just don't hurt him. Please… Don't hurt him." Pepper's face morphed to genuine concern that quickly annoyed the other Tony. He looked at her face as her brown eyes racked over her boyfriends limp body.

"Look at me! Don't look at him!" The other Tony shouted. He stepped over Tony and grabbed her chin. He made her look at him. "He is nothing! He is nothing compared to me! I can give you so much more! Make you a QUEEN! He hasn't done that for you! He never WILL!" The other Tony shoved her against the wall. Pepper cried out.

"I don't want to be a queen! I want to be loved! I want respect!" Pepper shouted back. She noticed her boyfriend stir on the floor. She quickly got the other Tony's attention.

He looked at her. "Respect? Is that what you want? What's respect, huh? Love? Friendship?" The doppelganger got down to eye level and starred at her again. "There is no respect in relationships, Pepper. There never was. I will do whatever I want with you. You are pushing me beyond my boundaries." He stood up and roughly grabbed her arm. Pulling her up too, Tony pulled her closer to his chest.

"Let me go." Pepper spat.

But he didn't.

A small smirk gathered on his lips. A small mischievous glint flickered in his eyes. And, it didn't look good.

"I forgot how beautiful you looked. And the taste of your lips. Your hair. Your moans when you let me kiss your neck." The other Tony teased. Pepper looked away disgusted. Tony drew in closer his breath tickled her ear. "Do you want me to show you?"

Suddenly the two heard a struggled shout. The other Tony looked back just as Tony swiped his legs at his doppelgangers legs. The other Tony fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Tony shouted. He jumped up and threw himself at the defenseless teenager. The other Tony instantly reacted, shielding his face with his arms and driving his knee up into Tony's stomach.

Tony recoiled, gasping for air, as a fist neared his jaw. With a sickening crack, Tony fell backwards onto the ground. Blood spurted into his mouth and dribbled down his chin. "That hurt." He remarked coldly. Tony got up, wiping at his mouth, and eyes his doppelganger. He could faintly see Pepper cowering in the corner, shielding her face with her shoulder, unable to use her hands that were behind her back.

"Tony, Tony, Tony…. Girls are not just your friends or girlfriends, they are your pets." The other Tony said with a smirk. "You can do whatever you want to them, and they will love it." His eyes glanced over to Pepper.

Tony kept a close eye on him, anticipating every move. "Is that how you broke up with your Pepper? She got too much?" Tony shot back. The other Tony's eyes darkened. Tony could've sworn he saw guilt and angst creep onto his face.

"She's dead, Stark. Meaningless villains are what to blame. I could've had a life with her. A life with my angel, my beautiful Angel." The other Tony's arms fell to his side in defeat. "You don't know how it is to lose someone you love forever."

Tony let his guard down for a second. So that was the reason why this Tony was after Pepper. He wanted to have another chance at love, to do what he would've done to his real girlfriend. He didn't know if he should cringe or feel sympathetic.

"You're probably thinking of what you should be thinking of me. A psychopath? Or a poor boy who lost a chance at true love." The other Tony said. He glanced up at Tony's eyes. "I'm neither anymore. The moment Pepper died in my world was the moment my life fell apart. Everyone hated me. Everyone blamed me. Everyone thought the worst and made me who I am today."

Tony swallowed. "And what would that be?"

The other Tony's eyes darkened again. "A killer, Tony. A cold-blooded killer." He paused, heaving in a deep breath. "I wasn't like this before you know. Pepper always brought out the kind side of me. The moment she died, though, I just snapped. For a week I went on a killing rampage and killed every villain that had a connection with her death."

From behind Pepper gasped. The other Tony chuckled in response. "I know right? How evil. How vile! I ended up ending the villain streak in Manhattan, only to become one myself. Look at me. I can kill a man in two strikes." Tony looked at him. There was nothing different about him and the real Tony. The same hair, eyes, face, but it was different with the behavior. The other Tony was much more dangerous.

"Then why here? We are happy! This dimension is happy, leave it the way it is. Don't mess with it!" Tony said. The other Tony laughed, halfheartedly.

"You think I care? I want happiness back home! I could care less about the happiness here! I want happiness! I WANT LOVE! I WANT TO BE HAPPY!" The other Tony bellowed. This red grew red with rage. His only spark of kindness disappeared from his eyes, getting replaced by pure hate. "And I'll do anything to get what I want."

Tony stood petrified as the doppelganger seized Pepper's arm and hauled her to her feet. With one look in his direction, the other Tony quickly landed his lips on hers in a brutal kiss. Pepper squealed between her teeth, her eyes darting helplessly on her boyfriend. Tony, however, was frozen in shock.

The other Tony let go, his eyes were closed and his mouth still open from the kiss. "I really do miss you." He whispered at last. "And I really missed having a kiss like that."

Pepper bit back a tear and snarled angrily at him. Tony caught the hint of disgust in her eyes, and he couldn't help but he proud of his girlfriend. "I will never love you. I will never be your dream Pepper. I will never ever be who you want me to be." Pepper said through tight lips.

The other Tony growled. "Then I'll have to make you. I will do whatever it takes for you to come with me." He turned towards Tony and thrust out his hand. The hand caught the real Tony Square in the throat, instantly cutting off his oxygen. He panicked, throwing his arms up to his neck. He began to hyperventilate, gasping in large amounts of oxygen.

"THEN WHY ARE YOU HURTING HIM?!" Pepper shrieked. "You've done everything else against my will! Why not just take me?!" Her desperation poured out of her mouth.

The other Tony looked back at her, his hands balled into fists. "Because, I want at least something that will be done in your acceptance. That way I have a reason to take you." Looking back at Tony, he threw his legs back and drove it into Tony's ribcage, as though he was kicking a soccer ball.

A loud scream filled the air.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Pepper shouted.

"Say yes." The doppelganger screamed back without taking his eyes off of Tony.

"I—I-" Pepper looked at Tony on the ground that caught her eye and sent a plea of denial. He doesn't want me to go. Pepper thought. Even if it will kill him. "No."

The other Tony shrugged and drove his foot into his ribcage again. Tony let out a groan, but didn't scream. "Oh, you're holding in your screams? I don't think so, Stark. I don't think so." From behind his belt, the doppelganger pulled out an object. It was bounded in a thick plastic, like a handle. And when the other Tony flicked it, a small silver blade sprouted open.

"No…" Pepper said in shock. The other tony laughed, a maniac laugh that echoed around the dark room.

"This can all end Pepper. You're making me do this." The other Tony looked down and saw that Tony was breathing hard his eyes were tightly closed. "Looks like my twin is already expecting it."

And, as though in slow motion, the other Tony lifted his arm, the blade glinting in the only light available. And quickly, the blade flew towards Tony's back.

And once again... I tend to be quite evil. Oh well… So I am once again stressed. So many tests and applications that need to be finished. So… Please review and tell me what you liked and stuff. Feel free to call me evil! I got used to it!

Have a fabulous week!

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