A/N: I know this is a really really short chapter and I am so sorry about that. It's been such a long day and I need sleep or I will go crazy. I just wanted to give you a little something to tide you over. I hope you all enjoy it.

Everything wildly spun out of control as Pepper opened her eyes. She felt, for a moment, like she was going to throw up. Her first thought was to move her hands and push herself up but when she tried it was no use. Pepper looked down to see that her hands and feet were tied up and the scratchy rope was digging into her ankles and wrists making them bleed if she struggled. Her mind quickly raced trying to remember what had happened.

There was a strange man in her home. That was all she could remember and then of course there was Tony. As Tony flashed through her mind she began struggling like crazy at the ropes, biting back the pain.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah. I wouldn't do that if I were you. It will just tear up that beautiful, delicate, porcelain skin of yours."

There was that deep unfamiliar voice again. Pepper let out a gasp and instinctively folded her body up to protect herself from any harm.

Kearson laughed. "Oh you don't have to do that, Miss Potts. I'm not going to hurt you... for now anyway."

"Who are you?" Pepper demanded.

"Let's just say I'm you're savior or your destroyer. You decide, Miss Potts."

Pepper struggled harder not caring about the stinging pain or blood. "Where am I? Where is Tony?"

Kearson bit back a snarl at hearing Tony's name. He grabbed Pepper by the arms and lifted her up off the floor, slamming her back against the wall. His body was pressed against hers, tightly, and his nose was touching hers.

"That liar! That thieving son of a bitch!" Kearson took a moment to collect himself and then let out a breathy laugh. "Your beloved Anthony Stark will most likely be here soon if he knows what's good for him," Kearson pressed his lips against Pepper's making her clamp her mouth shut and dig her head, futilely, against the hard wall. "and you. But it won't matter. None of it will matter. I'm going to make him watch you suffer," Kearson whispered into her ear, "and then I'm going to tear him limb from limb and take what is righfully mine." His hands unclamped from Pepper's arms and she fell to the ground, her eyes shut tight. She listened to the sound of Kearson's footsteps as he walked away.

"Please don't come, Tony. Please." Pepper prayed, silently to herself.


Tony flipped over tables in the workshop and grabbed a tire iron from the corner. He began beating in the windows of his "precious" cars. Tony had, had Jarvis run every check on the video but NOTHING came up. The man in the video was a virtual ghost. A virtual ghost who had Pepper and could be doing anything to her at the moment. Tony beat the vintage car in even harder. The image of that man pressing his lips against Pepper's temple and touching her only fueled his rage. He slammed and beat at the car until he collapsed backwards, out of breath, breathing raggedly. The invinceble Iron Man felt like he was slowly being crushed to death.