A/N: several things to address: 1st of all, thank you all who've reviewed, and a special shout out to Special Agent Ali for continued support! 2nd of all, there's been some questions about Pepper, and, guilty as charged, I have avoided bringing her in, but that changes in this chapter. Don't worry, pepperony fans, I'll have part of this chapter be from her perspective, and although it doesn't look good between her and tony right now, I can guarantee that they'll be together in the end. :) Also, I'm bringing in Rhodey soon to help the team. I find that he's someone other than Pepper who would know more about Tony when he was traumatized right after being captured.
Disclaimer: The Avengers will be mine… when the world ends. Unfortunately, the Mayans were liars, and the avengers will make sure the world doesn't end anytime soon. Darn it!
The sun was bright through the window, and light was the first thing that Tony saw when he woke. The plane had arrived at one in the morning, and he had spent most of the day sleeping. Even when he got up, he was tired, not for lack of hours spent letting his body recuperate, but the draining feeling he always got when he was depressed. Emotions sucked the life out of him more than any wound or sleepless night could. Still, Tony twitched. Started with his fingers, tapping them to the chords of Beethoven's first symphony, then his arms, raising them to the ceiling, stretching higher, higher, until his hands felt like helium balloons. Then his feet, moving side to side to keep the beat, and his legs, so heavy they had no choice but to slide to the floor. One jerky movement that felt like it would tear his body apart, and he was up.
Breakfast was a cup of coffee and a piece of toast. The toast was tough and unappetizing, the coffee bitter but strength-filling. "Jarvis, open the roof and lower the ladder." His voice was soft and drowsy, almost imperceptible, but the panel slid back and a ladder slid down, an automatic system he had built many years ago, though he could never remember why. Slowly, Tony climbed, feet gripping the cold metal bars as he continued until his head spun. Damn, he needed to wake up. He was up, and the freezing wind battered at him, penetrating his silk pajama bottoms and cotton T-shirt while the sun gave him a warm glow in comfort. The seas howled at him, churning and pounding against the cliff the mansion was built on. In the other direction, it was bare for miles and miles, no sign of life except for the plants and the whispers of animals and wildlife. Tony sat, glad that the lower he got, the less the wind shook him, and just thought.
It was nice, having a morning alone from everyone else, but his mind kept straying. Pepper was the first name that came-god, he missed Pepper. How long had it been since he had last seen her? She had been in a long term 2 week CEO meeting in Europe, and when she had gotten back, he was ecstatic. And not only a week later, he had screwed it all up…
"Tony, I'm trying to help you!" Pepper had yelled. Everything was hazy. "Maybe I don't need your help." There were tears, everywhere, and he couldn't tell whether they were his or hers. "Find someone else, then." And she was gone.
No, remembering hurt too much. Where was the scotch? Did he have the strength to get down and get it? He closed his eyes. Tony was tempted to ask Jarvis to run the security tapes to see how everyone else was doing, but forced himself not to. It wasn't like he was going to talk to them, and it would only make it harder to isolate himself. They didn't understand, that he wasn't the sort of person you wanted to be around, and overall, Tony was scared to trust another person again, and he had come so close to doing just that. Should have known better, should have distanced myself away from the team, I should've learned after Obadiah he berated himself, but the present was the present, and Tony told himself that he would keep away from the rest of the team, at least until he figured out what to do. Mind drifting again, the billionaire continued to soak up the sun, feeling as if he was drifting off to sea, where no one could find him, and within minutes, he was asleep.
PPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGEEE EEEEEEEEEEE BBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEAA AAAAKKKKKKK
Her heels made crisp, sharp clacks as she strode through the Hotel lobby in a professional manner, making her way to her room. Pepper was always cool when anyone was around, especially when on a business matter, but nobody was in the elevator with her, and her composure started to crumble. The truth was, although it had been she who left Tony, she still loved that crazy, irresponsible man, and being away from him for so long had made her anxious.
That night, she had found Tony drunk and raving, and as much as she liked to believe she was fine with that, that she could be patient, Pepper found that seeing Tony sink into his past despair had been too much to handle. And even though he was obviously drunk when he said it, she had snapped, the relief of being home at the tower at last swept away from her in those few moments. Pepper had supposed that he had had a flashback, or a nightmare, and it was obvious that the past was taking toll on his judgment, which made her even more guilty for leaving him in that state, but she had needed distance, some time to think and then some patience to forgive and help him through whatever he was going through, so Pepper had stepped back, scheduled to join a board meeting in Arizona even though she hadn't really needed to go to it.
Now she wondered whether she should've stayed. But Tony had the team, and Pepper took comfort in the fact that Tony had been connecting with the other team mates, especially Bruce, who she knew could control him and listen to him at the same time. The elevator doors opened at the floor her room was on, and she pushed back her anxieties, keying open the door with the pass card and sitting on the bed taking off her heels and rubbing her slightly sore feet. The phone rang, and she dug through her purse and answered it with a manicured, "Hello, who is this?" she instantly recognized it as Steve as he replied, "It's me, uh, Steve."
"Oh, of course, what do you need? How are you doing?" despite her pleasant, conversational tone, Pepper was worried. Whenever he called, there always seemed to be something wrong with Tony. "I'm fine, Ms. Potts. I was wondering if you might be able to help us with a code."
"Shouldn't you ask Tony? He's more of the hacker…" this added to her suspicions. He knew that Tony would be the one to ask, why would he chose her to help?
"Well, it's kind of Tony's lock. We need to get it in without him knowing, so he can't help us, and Jarvis can't do it either."
"Well, I'll try to help. What is the lock for? Sometimes he'll share his passwords with me."
"It's panel on a panel behind the mirror of the bathroom in the lab, we don't know what it does yet."
"I've never heard of that one. Captain, tell me the truth, is something wrong with Tony?" she asked. He hesitated, and her heart sank. "Just a second." He told her, and there was a rapid whisper between him and several other people that she couldn't make out. It was Natasha who was on the line now, and Pepper demanded to know what was going on, panic bleeding into her voice. "Ms. Potts, the truth is, we don't know where Tony is. He's perfectly alright, and left of his own will, we can tell that much, but we need to find him, and finding that code is essential." Blood roared in Pepper's ears, drowning out any noise. Tony was missing, gone. Although he was alright, Pepper knew that if he had ran away, it had been through emotion, and that meant that he could be anywhere, drowning in his misery, and that it was important that they found him soon. He was always reckless and unstable when he became depressed, and that was extremely dangerous. "Ms. Potts?" Natasha asked, and Pepper forced words out of her dry throat. "I don't know. Me and Tony weren't exactly on the best of relations early this month, and I haven't heard of any code for something like that. I'm scheduling a flight to New York right now; I should only be there in a couple hours."
"Of course. Ms. Potts, is there anything you can tell us that would be of help? Or anyone you know who might know something?" She was about to say no, but a different thought hit her, "Actually, there's Tony's friend, Colonel James Rhodes. He might know something more about it. I can text you his number."
"Thank you." Natasha sounded sincere and reassured, "I'm sure Tony's fine." Although Pepper would never admit it, her hands were shaking as she ended the call and quickly sent Rhodes's contact information. But as Pepper packed, called for a flight and drove out to the airport, she knew one thing; that she would get Tony back in one piece no matter how much it took.
PPPPPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEE BBBBBBRRRREEEEEEEAAAAKKKKKKK KKK
Natasha hung up after her quick conversation with the Colonel. She was surprised that Tony was friends with a military man, but could see why when she recognized that Rhodes was extremely loyal (she could tell from the alarm in his voice at the news and his eagerness to come off duty and help) but also level-headed in such a situation.
Bruce staggered out of the kitchen, clinging to a cup of coffee as if it were a life preserver. He had been given the task of searching through all of Tony's files to where he might've put down passwords, but by looking at the look on Banner's face, she could guess that it was a lot of tiring work with no promising results. It hadn't been long since Tony had disappeared, but she felt like every minute that passed was another possibility of him getting farther away or doing something foolish. It was clear that the billionaire hadn't been stable when he left, and there was almost no chance that he would be lucid or safe wherever he was.
It seemed like everyone blamed themselves; Clint had a self-doubt in his eyes, obviously blaming himself for letting Tony slip away while under his watch, Bruce looked like he was going to hulk out at any minute, Steve thought it was his fault that Stark had gotten so upset, Pepper sounded distressed over the phone, especially at mentioning that she had had a fight with Tony not so long ago, and even the normally energetic Asgardian was down, upset that he couldn't find any trace of the missing man. And even Natasha felt guilt weigh her down. She had had a strong voice against Tony when the team had argued, and, stuck in the search, she felt absolutely useless. It shocked her, but Natasha found herself missing the sarcastic, egoistic man, no matter how annoying she claimed him to be. The tower seemed to be devoid of life because of Tony's absence, and any energy that they complained that he took from them was scattered to the wind.
Natasha stood wearily and went up to the roof, remembering her panic at seeing Tony so close to the edge, a panic she hadn't felt since she was little, and wondered how the mere sight of a team-member in mental pain could elicit that reaction from her. When she stepped out into the sun, so bright for a place that had such a dark memory, she found that Steve was up there as well, though it was not a surprise. The big city continued to rush about below, like nothing had changed, and it made her feel as if Stark was going to pop out of the lab, laugh at them for being so down and take them to eat shwarma. It had been good that day, a little awkward, but even though they were all battered and tired, they had had a good time, and it started a connection that had grown into them being a family. But now Tony was gone, and the team was splitting apart, becoming worn without him to lighten the mood.
As Natasha approached the captain, she saw that he held a sketchbook as a charcoal pencil, but before she could comment, he flung the pencil over the edge, venting his frustration. It soared out of sight and he let out a frustrated sigh. It was different, seeing him emote in such an instinctive manner. The events of the past few days had even affected the cool-headed team leader, it was plain to see, and despite the fact that all the two men had done was argue, frequently and heatedly, sometimes no one could come as close to caring for Tony as Steve. She sat down next to him and although neither of them said a word, the softness of their faces but the determination in their eyes said that without a doubt, nothing was going to get in their way of finding their team-mate.
Kay, school's starting tomorrow folks, and I might be able to post more, but I will have homework and projects and stuff, so accept that I've given you 4 chapters over 3 days and understand that things will slow down for a little bit. I'll still try to keep up, and remember reviews do actually help a lot. This was slow going, but I feel good about the way this is turning out so far, so I hope you enjoy! Also, tell me if I'm OOC on Pepper, it's pretty hard writing from her perspective, and some feedback on how I could improve on her would be appreciated! :)
