(A/N: Ok chapter three, enjoy and review.)

Disclaimer: still don't own it

Twisted Metal

Chapter 3: Multiple Errors Found

Pepper reached out and grabbed Tony's ankle as he slide past her. He slammed into the metal pylon but the vines cushioned the impact. She struggled to keep a hold on him. "Urh, you want to talk about someone being too heavy, it feels like you're wearing a tank."

Tony reached around and grabbed another vine, then swung around so he was right side up. "Thanks, that was to close."

Rhodey climbed down to Tony. "Not to interrupt but how about we get down before something else happens?"

The vines gave plenty of hand and foot holds but they had to be cautious. It took well over an hour for them to reach the ground and by then they were all nursing sore muscles. They didn't take any time to rest though, more of the vines covered the ground and they wanted to get out from around them as soon as they could.

The vines lay so thickly on the ground that walking through them was like trying to walk through thick snow. They were working their way up and away from the largest part of the vine forest but it was far more extensive than it had looked from the lift car. Because from up there they hadn't been able to see how much ground the vines had covered before they broke the forest canopy.

As they fought their way through the undergrowth they started to snag their feet and everyone except Gene ended up on the ground at least once. Finally though they came to the end of the vines, it had taken another three hours and even though it was still early in the afternoon the sun was already disappearing behind one of the peaks and the chill was creeping back into the air.

They kept on going though since there was no good spot to rest. As dusk settled though they found a small clearing where two large trees had fallen and opened up the ground to the night. Setting down they leaned against the larger of the two trees, all exhausted from the steep hike.

"So did anyone think to bring a tent?" Gene asked in a sarcastic voice that made it clear he didn't expect anyone to have done so.

"Well we might as well check Peppers pack, maybe there's something in here." Rhodey opened up the pack and started pulling things from it. One of the first things out was of all things, a silver bag with a tents picture on it. Rhodey gave Gene a superior look but he just rolled his eyes.

Also in the pack were several mechanical tools and a metal container. "So what do you guys think this is?"

Tony took the container and rolled it in his hands. "CF-18H-9957G. Must be something from the lab."

"Maybe it's some kind of food?" Pepper asked hopefully.

"Best not to chance it." He tossed it back to Rhodey and he put it in the pack.

"Hello, what's this?" Rhodey pulled a small disk from the bottom on the pack.

"Lets see." Tony pulled a miniature computer from his bag and slipped the CD in.

A fuzzy picture came on with a man wearing a white lab coat. "This is the final record. I feel as if we've betrayed Mr. Stark. Obadiah has had us researching using natural substances as weapons. We have decided to stop though; I only wish we had done so before. Most of us have already left. I am among the last. We've gathered what helpful projects we could. We will take the ORV's near the airstrip and head for the nearest city." The video ended with a crackle and the date showing it was several months old.

"Guess they weren't shut down, they quiet."

"I don't know." Gene had a thoughtful look. "It almost seemed like he was reading a script."

"Why would he be reading a script?"

Gene just shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Well why you two figure it out I'll set this up." Rhodey pulled the tent out of its bag and had it set up in just a few minutes.

While Rhodey set up the tent Gene started a small fire. When everything was ready Gene raised his eyebrow. "Isn't the tent a bit, shinny?"

It was true; the tents silver material reflected every little bit of light. Tony just gave him a smile. "It might be shinny but it's also very warm inside. I developed the material a couple years ago. You see the reflec-"

"Yea yea" Pepper interrupted, "but did anyone think to bring any food?"

They all looked around the small fire, it appeared no one had. Then Gene pulled something from his pocket and tossed it to her. She caught the object; it was one of those health bars with the dry fruit. "Where'd you get this? You never seemed like the health food type."

"I borrowed them from the plane." He gave a side glance at Peppers jacket making it clear that he was poking fun at the incident earlier. Then he became serious. "So Stark are there any warning signs we should watch out for with Potts?"

Rhodey gave him a little shove. "Does the word sensitivity mean anything to you?"

"What? If there are signs we should all know them, Potts included."

"Relax Rhodey; he's right I should know them too." She turned to Tony.

"There are signs, hyperactivity, extreme talkivness, dizziness, randomly jumping from thought to thought."

Gene raised a questioning eyebrow. "You do realize you just described the way she normally is don't you?"

"I guess we just watch out for anything out of the ordinary then."

"Speaking of which how are you feeling?"

"Fine, the same as always, hungrier though, defiantly hungrier."

"Well we can't do much about the right now, come on we better turn in for the night so we can get going early tomorrow."

They all got up and climbed into the tent, and while it did fit all of them it was a tight fit and Pepper ended up between Gene and Tony. There was a small part of her that was ticked that she was just crammed in with them. Didn't they realize she was a girl? Not that she wanted them to treat her any differently but still a little consideration would have been nice.

She looked over at Gene; he was lying so still with his hands folded neatly on his chest that he almost looked dead.

Then she looked over at Tony, he was laying on his side with his back to her. She scooted a little closer to him until her shoulder was lightly resting against his back. If she ignored why they were all out there the whole trip was actually pretty fun.

At some point during the night Tony rolled on to his back. When Rhodey woke up he found pepper resting her head on Tony's chest and Tony with an arm around Peppers shoulder holding her close to him. Since Gene wasn't in the tent Rhodey figured he must already be up and went outside to check, pausing long enough to snap a picture of Tony and Pepper.

Outside Gene was sitting on a log poking at a fire he'd started to fight the morning chill. "Stark and Potts still clinging to each other?"

"Oh yea, got a nice picture of them though." He held up his phone and showed Gene.

Gene took out his own phone and showed Rhodey a similar picture. "So which one do you think will wake up first?"

"Who knows, but whichever one it is it should be entertaining."

As it turned out they didn't have to wait long. Just a few minutes later there was a muffled shrike of surprise from the tent and Pepper came running out with a blush the color of boiled lobster. It didn't stop with her face though; the blush went down her neck giving a nice off set to the green of her jacket. She froze when she saw the looks of Rhodey and Gene's faces. "The first one to say anything dies."

They were both fairly sure she was exaggerating what she'd do but neither one wanted to test it.

Tony woke up with a long stretch, he was used to waking up with ideas for new inventions but this morning he had a strange feeling of contentment that he'd never had before. He was sure it must have been from a dream but he couldn't remember what it was.

When Tony stepped outside he found everyone else was already up and warming themselves around the fire. Rhodey could barely keep his composure. "So Tony, how'd you sleep last night?"

"Really well, I think I had a dream but I can't remember what it was about, it was defiantly good though."

Rhodey and Gene traded knowing glances and Pepper tried to hide her blush. It only took a few minutes to get the tent back in its bag and they were ready to go. The hiking was harder now as the land sloped more and more. They took several short breaks to try and keep their bearings which was becoming more difficult as they got closer to the gather cloud line.

It was right after one of those break, as they walked in ever decreasing sunlight that Pepper noticed Gene was eating something. "Ah you had food? You've been holding out on us?!"

"No I just picked these."

Rhodey grabbed one of the nuts Gene was holding. "You can't just go around eating things you find, what if they're poisons?"

"First off it's perfectly alright if you know what you're eating. These are complete safe." To prove his point he popped several more into his mouth.

Pepper and Tony each reached out and took a nut, they tasted surprisingly sweet. They decided to stop and pick some, partly as quick break but mostly because they were all starving. Rhodey Pepper and Tony all start picking the nuts off of the tree. Gene watched a minute then sighed. "You're all wasting too much time."

Rhodey was getting tired of Gene's superior attitude. "Oh and I suppose you have a better way?"

"Of course I do." He reached up and broke off a large branch with several dozen nuts on it.

Pepper reached up and tried to break off a huge branch as thick as her waist. But only ended up hanging from it. The three boys tried to hide their entertainment. Tony reached up and broke off a smaller one. "Why don't you try something a little smaller?"

Pepper took the branch Tony offered her and started to eat the nuts as they continued on their way. Their next pause came at a small field that appeared to have been cleared by a landslide a few years earlier. It was here that Gene started to feel uneasy, something was about to happen.

The feeling was coming from a portion of the forest layered heavily in shadows. His voice was calm but commanding. "Everyone, something's coming."

He held up his branch in a defensive position as several pairs of eyes reflected in the darkness. A pack of gray wolfs slowly stepped into the clearing, their fur was matted and their ribs were clearly visible. Unconsciously Tony stepped between them and Pepper. "Relax guys, there's never been a case of wolfs killing someone in North America."

"Tony, in case you've forgotten were not in North America anymore!"

"Oh right." The wolfs prowled forward, heads down and ears back. They moved incredibly fast, getting in between the group and driving Tony Pepper and Rhodey into the forest.

Tony ran through the woods, he just needed a few seconds to grab the gloves from his pack and he'd be able to take care of the wolfs. Then he'd be able to find Pepper and Rhodey and help them. But judging from the sounds behind him stopping for even an instant would bring them down on him.

Three of the wolfs from the group were following Tony, though two had fallen back letting the first keep pace with him. Only one idea came to Tony, and it wasn't one of his better ones. He needed to time it right though because one way or another there wouldn't be a second time.

There was no point in waiting so Tony stopped and spun around, shrugging off his heavy pack bringing it around and slamming it into the side of the first wolfs head as it lunged at him.

The wolf had jumped, mouth ready to taste Tony when it saw him pause. The sudden force hitting its head had dazed it and sent it rolling several yards to the side. The other two wolfs paused, tony had looked like easy prey to them but now they weren't so sure.

Their confusion was all the time tony needed to put on one of the gloves and fire at the wolfs. It sent them reeling back and then they ran into the woods hoping that the rest of the pack had had better luck then they had.

He was about to head back to the clearing when he heard Pepper screaming from somewhere to his right.

Gene stayed in the clearing, holding his ground as the wolfs circled him. He waited a moment to insure that the others wouldn't be close enough to see him before he pulled out the makluan rings. "Sorry but I can't let you interfere."

In a split second he was covered in the black armor. None of the wolfs were particularly smart but one incredible stupid one actually bit his armor covered forearm. He looked down at the creature and almost felt sorry for it. There was flash of light as a ball of energy formed around him and spread out hurling the animals across the clearing. They stood on shaky legs and ran into the forest yipping with fright.

Gene slipped the rings back around his neck. He briefly wondered why he had held back and not simply killed the wolfs. He told himself it was just because the bodies would have been too hard to explain. Speaking of explaining he looked down at himself, if they were going to believe that he had fought the wolfs he needed to look it.

There was a small gully next to the clearing. He sighed, the lengths he had to go to keep suspicion off of himself. He rolled down into the gully receiving several light scratches and quite a bit of dirt and leafs.

Only one wolf had followed Rhodey but it was a very determined one, it wasn't content to just chase and wait for a chance. Instead it wanted to end things fast. With a burst of speed it leapt at Rhodey and sank its teeth in, they went down and rolled over each other a few times before the straps on the pack ripped and separated them. It gave the pack an experimental shake to make sure it wasn't something it could eat then dropped it and turned its attention back to Rhodey.

There was little in the way of weapons available to him and running wasn't an option anymore without the little protection the pack had offered. Fighting barehanded wasn't much of an option either; his best advantage was his brain, which right then wasn't giving him anything he could work with. Then off in the distance he heard Pepper screaming but he was too far away to do anything and he was doubtful he'd manage to get out of this alive.

The wolf began to approach him slowly backing him up against a tree. It was its rush though that saved Rhodey. More than half starved it wasn't paying attention to its surroundings or it might have noticed the figure that had appeared behind the tree.

As the wolf leapt again mouth open and nearly choked on a rock that suddenly slammed into its mouth breaking several teeth. In its surprise it twisted in mid air and crashed into the ground. It was quickly back on its feet looking for whatever had cost it the meal it had been moments from enjoying.

Gene stood beyond the tree another rock in hand. The wolf got ready for another try at a meal but more rocks hit it. Rhodey had caught onto Genes plan and grabbed several stones from the ground. The wolf would have kept trying though if it wasn't for a strangled howl. It gave a last lingering look at Rhodey and Gene before running off towards the noise.

"Thanks for the save. " Rhodeys look though showed he had mixed feeling about owing Gene.

Gene seemed to read his mind and put his hand on Rhodey back. "Relax, it's not like I'm going to have you kill someone to pay me back."

He had meant to sound friendly but it hadn't come off quiet right and Rhodey was really starting to worry about what Gene would ask him to do, and he was sure he would sooner or later.

Two of the predators were chasing Pepper but so far she had managed to keep a lead on them. Some part of her wondered what the record was for having to run for your life because she was sure she was getting close to it.

She wasn't sure how long she would be able to out run them though, then opportunity presented itself. A flattish boulder was just ahead; she ran up it and jumped towards a tree. Her out stretched hands just managed to grab onto a branch but as her full weight came down on it there was an alarming crack, luckily it held.

It felt like her arms were being pulled from her shoulders but she quickly scrambled up into a crouching position. Below the wolfs circled the tree waiting. "ok Pepper calm down and think, how do you get out of this?"

One of the wolfs, the smarter one, suddenly stopped and tilted its head as if listening to something before darting away. That left just one wolf for her to deal with. She looked around and found a good sized branch that had fallen some time ago and been caught just above her head.

She reached up and grabbed it, it had a good weight to it and she smiled as an idea came to her. The wolf was watching her and she gave it a smile, something it found disturbing coming from its food. "Ok Mr. big bad wolf, time to meet Little Red Riding Hood."

She winced, that had sounded so much cooler in her head. With a scream she jumped from the tree branch held above her head. It came crashing down on a very confused wolf stunning it. The wolf staggered a moment before slumping to the ground. "Sorry I was always more of a cat person."

There was a growl from behind her and the first wolf that had left revealed itself. It had simply been hiding, waiting for her to get down. "Uh, when I said I was always more of a cat person I didn't mean that I have anything against wolfs. In fact, I uh, think wolfs are like super cool."

It took a step towards her, teeth bared. Clearly not afraid of her stick. She raised it defensively in front of her preparing to fend off the predators attack. When it leapt she moved the branch like a baseball bat and managed to knock it away but it wasn't deterred and began to circle looking for another opening.

When the predator found its opening it attacked, mouth open, but it wasn't aiming at Pepper this time. It wanted the branch. Pepper wasn't expecting that and the force of the wolfs bite was enough to pulled the branch from her hands. It now looked at the defenseless Pepper and she swore she saw it smiling at her.

Before she could even turn to run it had her pinned to the ground. She could see right into its mouth, nothing but yellow and black teeth. Its breath was sickingly warm and smelled like spoiled meat. Its tongue slid out and lightly brushed along her cheek, slowly moving up her face. Some part of Pepper knew this wasn't how a normal wolf would act.

It moved its mouth down to her neck ready for the kill. Then a beam of light came from the trees and hit the wolf in its side knocking it off of her. She turned and saw Tony rushing towards her, glove raised ready to fire again. "Pepper are you ok?"

She jumped up and hugged him so hard he almost fell over. "Oh thank you thank you, I knew you'd show up!"

"Pepper, breath, need."

"Oh sorry." She let him go and he took a deep breath. The wolf he had hit had disappeared into the forest.

"Come on lets go find Rhodey and Gene." Tony lead in case any other wolf decided to try and jump them with Pepper following close behind.

"You ok Tony? You haven't recharged in awhile."

"Oh yea I'm fine. As long as I don't use full armor I can go a pretty long time without having to recharge."

"Phew that's good to know." It didn't take them long to find Rhodey and Gene, Tony quickly slipped the glove back into his pack before Gene could see. They didn't waste time with trading stories, which suited Tony and Gene just fine. Instead they started right back on their way up. Gene found a few long thin sticks and they each took one.

As night drew closer it became clear they'd have to camp out again, and they were all starting to get sick of the nuts. Another problem quickly became obvious when they stopped to make camp. When the wolf had bitten into Rhodey's pack it had ripped the tent beyond use.

"Well this won't do us any good." Rhodey threw it to the ground.

Gene picked it up and examined the fabric. "Maybe It will. There's enough intact of it that we should be able to make some large blankets from it. Not as good as a tent but better then freezing."

Luckily Tony had a pair of wire cutters in his pack and they each soon had a good sized silver blanket. They also built up a large fire and agreed that they should have someone on guard in case the wolfs came back, even though Tony was sure they wouldn't try anything again.

Pepper had volunteered to take the first watch and the night passed quietly. Between the blankets and the fire which they kept built up they had a relatively comfortable sleep. Tony had the last watch just as the sun was rising.

Gene of course was up early and was watching the fire as it died down. "Looks like you were right stark. They didn't come back."

Anything tony might have said back to him was cut off by Peppers screaming. "Gene! I'm going to kill you!"

They both turned to where Pepper had been sleeping near the fire, she was still there in her blanket, but now vines wound tightly around her. "You said these things wouldn't try to eat me! Ow, when I get out of here."

Tony and Gene rushed over to her, they could actually see the vines wiggling along her body. Tony knelt and started pulling the vines away. "Tony hurry, I think they're getting into my clothes."

While Tony ripped the vines away Gene brought the heel of his boot done on the thicker part splintering them. All the commotion had woken up Rhodey. "What's going on?"

"These perverted plants are trying to eat me!"

He quickly joined Tony ripping the vines from Pepper, soon they had enough gone for Tony to pull her out of the cocoon they had been forming. They fell back onto the ground. Rhodey tossed one of the vines into the forest. "Ok new rule, no sleeping near the vines."

Pepper walked over to Gene. He took a step back, there was something more threatening about her then the trials for the rings. He was saved though when Tony put a hand on her shoulder. "Pepper, calm down. There wasn't any reason to think the vines were anything more than just vines. Come on we're almost to the lab."

They were all more than ready to be done with the trip and walked in silence for most of the morning. Around noon though they reached the cloud line which was like a ceiling of fog just above their heads. As soon as they walked into it they knew they'd be blind.

Rhodey had an idea for that, there was still a good deal of fabric left over from the tent and he strung it all together to make a long rope that they each looped around their waist. They'd go up in single file, Gene Rhodey Pepper and Tony.

It was a good thing from their makeshift safety line because as soon as they were in the fog they all started to go in different direction. Gene seemed to have the best natural senses though which was why he was leading them.

There was about seven feet between each of them and as the fog worsened it became so they couldn't even see one another. At one point Pepper slipped on some damp stone and Tony nearly stepped on her as he came out of the fog. "Sorry, you ok?"

"Yea just slipped." She accepted his hand as he helped her up. Then her head shot up, something wasn't right. She grabbed the rope that should have connected her to Rhodey, except it wasn't connected to anything. "Tony?"

She held up the severed end for him to see. He looked it over quickly, there was a distinct cut and several burned threads still attached to the end. "It was cut."

"But why? And who? I thought we were the only ones out here?"

"We should have been. How long ago was the last time you saw Rhodey?"

"I don't know, awhile."

So there they stood, separated from Rhodey and Gene. Someone had cut the rope and deliberately separated them from the other. They could be just feet away and Tony and Pepper wouldn't even be able to see them. And what if they had already got Gene and Rhodey?

(A/N: Hope you liked that, let me know what you think, see you all next chapter.)