This chapter would have been so much cooler if the bulleted list HTML my BFF coded for me would work on here -_-
Things had been going well; the revelation that Toni and Steve were now dating came as a surprise to no one. Not even Fury had anything bad to say about the relationship, other than it better not interfere with the pair doing their job. Clint tried to make a joke; he suddenly got a piece of duct tape applied firmly to his mouth and no one is quite sure how that happened. The scream he let out when Natasha none-too-gently ripped the tape off was hilarious.
That was two weeks ago. Of course, now was when everything was going to go straight to hell in a hand basket.
It was her own fault and Toni knew this. Two weeks without incident shouldn't have been enough to make her go out on her own, but wanting the White Chocolate Caramel latte and Orange Chocolate Chip scone she wasn't able to get due to a giant robot attack and not wanting to share the location of her secret caffeine hideout, she went anyway. Granted, she had Castiel with her, but the pup was barely ten weeks old and as eager as he was to protect his mistress, it didn't take much for someone to pick him up and toss him in a dumpster after Toni was knocked on the back of the head and dragged into a waiting car.
She was blindfolded by her captors, her wrists tied rather tightly; had she been less dazed by the blow, she would have struggled. Instead, her mind was racing. Someone had the gall to kidnap Toni Fucking Stark off a street in New York City in broad daylight. Her suspect pool was narrowed down slightly. If she were to couple this information with what she already knew, she might be able to figure this out before the car stopped. She probably should have tried to do this sooner, but hey, she had been getting kissed and cuddled by Captain Steve Rogers on a daily basis for the past two weeks, her priorities were slightly skewed.
The facts sheet she brought up on her mental LED screen ran something like this:
Suspect has knowledge of electronics
*Able to pixelate specific images on a live video feed that not even Nick Fury knows about
*Remember this to rub in Nick's face at a later date
Able to bypass Jarvis, making it look like they weren't even there
*Jarvis' New York systems were not as high quality as his systems in Malibu
*Probably could have been bypassed by a kindergartener with a netbook
*I should really fix that
Suspect knows me
*Voice familiar
*Attempted to disguise; didn't completely fail, but failed enough.
*Knows I can't swim
**And that really pisses me off.
*Knew where I was in the house and on a random trail in central park
**Could be explained by electronics knowledge
Other points of interest
*Suspect had me chained to a pipe and all he did was feel me up
*Had plenty of time to rape me; didn't
**Implies personal vendetta, not a need for sexual gratification
*Action taken possibly to throw me off
**Theorize that I had a stalker rather than someone who wanted to kill me
**Who have I personally pissed off lately that isn't dead.
As she went over her list, the names of possible suspects slowly disappeared until there was only one.
"I should have known it was you." She wasn't in a car anymore. She was in a cold metal chair that wasn't comfortable to sit in, but it's not like it was meant to be. She could hear the footsteps of her captor around her. It wasn't the person who kidnapped her off the street; this was the puppet master, the man who set it all up. "Really," she continued, "all the signs were there, weren't they? The trick with the cameras, getting past Jarvis… but the thing that should have made it clear to me was what completely threw me off." She was still blindfolded, but she looked up towards where she heard the footsteps stop. "You called me 'Toni' when you've never called me anything but 'Antonia'… isn't that right, Justin?" Justin Hammer chuckled as he ripped the blindfold away from her eyes, pulling a few hairs out of her head as he did so. "How did you get out of prison?"
"Money can buy many things, Antonia," he said, that stupid, not endearing grin on his face. "Even the keys to your prison cell." Toni raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure you used money for that, or was it something else?"
Toni has been told that most people have a sense of self-preservation; their lives must be incredibly boring.
She would say that Justin Hammer hit like a girl, but she could hit harder than he did. The fact that her lip was bleeding shouldn't be taken as a testament of pain, just that he managed to hit her in just the right spot. She spit blood at him, managing to splatter it all over the front of his suit.
"Sorry about that," she lied. He chuckled as he removed a handkerchief from his pocket, using it to wipe away some of the blood before returning the cloth to where he'd got it from. Then, in a swift motion that she'd never think him capable of, he backhanded her, knocking her and the chair she was sitting in to the floor. She landed hard on her right side, thankful that she didn't hear anything break. Her thankfulness didn't last long; the assault continued with Hammer repeatedly driving his foot into her ribcage.
"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this, Antonia," Hammer said, grabbing her by the hair and pulling her and the chair back to an upright position. "You ruined everything, you and that redheaded bitch of yours." Pepper; Toni's blood ran cold for a moment. Pepper was with Natasha and Natasha was a fucking ninja. Pepper was the safest woman on earth.
"That's what this is about then?" Toni asked, breathing hard. "Revenge?" His grip on her hair tightened, causing a whimper of pain to escape her lips.
"Partially," he admitted, grinning at her. "I'm going to destroy you, Antonia."
"Are you now?"
"Oh yes. By the time you're found, everyone will know all the details about your little 'stalker'. They will assume that he, whomever he was, killed you in a fit of rage. The media will probably blame that senator you pissed off and the world will mourn the loss of the great Toni Stark." He chuckled a little putting a gloved hand over her throat and squeezing. "Except me; I'll be picking up where you left off, my creations will be the new StarkTech and no one will be able stand in my way."
"Hell of a plan, Justin," Toni admitted as she gasped for air. "But you've forgotten one thing…"
"Oh really?" He tightened his grip. "What?"
"To tie my legs." Before he could respond, Toni brought her right leg up between his, hitting him as hard as she could in the groin. He doubled over, releasing his grip on her hair and throat, allowing her to use her left leg to shove him off of her. She got to her feet and started to run.
Hammer had taken her to one of his own warehouses; she was really close to thinking that he'd actually planned this out carefully. Now wasn't the time to be taking cheap shots at Justin Hammer, no matter how easy he was making it for her; she needed to get her wrists untied before Hammer caught up to her.
There are no sharp objects in sight; clearly, this is the reason he's lived this long.
"Antonia!" For the first time in her life, the shiver his voice sends through her is brought on by fear rather than disgust. It's a sickening feeling, being afraid of dying at the hands of Justin Hammer, but she is quite aware that in her current state—fractured and bruised ribs, possible sprained shoulder, bloody lip and hangover caliber headache—it's a definite possibility.
She may have no sense of self preservation, but she does not want to die.
Toni ducks down behind a counter and works on flexing her wrists; she watched The A-Team a lot as a kid—which, really, should surprise no one—and she kind of remembered a magician's assistant telling Murdock that if one flexed their wrists when getting tied up, it would be easy to escape. Toni spent much of her childhood testing this; sometimes it worked and sometimes she had to holler for Rhodey to come untie her. The times it worked convinced her to train herself to flex her wrists any time she was getting tied up. As the rope dropped to the ground, she was glad that she had.
It was time to get out of there. Toni raised her head just above the top of the counter to look around; Hammer was nowhere in sight. Hopefully he was searching for her on the other side of the warehouse and she could find a door with relative ease. Then she'd go find her dog. Poor Cas, he must be terrified. Looking around cautiously, Toni stands up and starts back the way she came, hoping that with his current track record of stupidity, he actually kept her near the door…
"Gotcha!" She feels Hammer's arms wrap around her from behind, one around her waist and the other around her throat, pulling her close to his chest. "End of the line, Antonia," he whispers in her ear as he starts choking her.
The time Toni felt her weakest was after she announced to the world that she was Iron Man. She was a superhero in a flying suit made of the same titanium alloy that was used on NASA satellites and she felt weak. She was probably the strongest woman in the world, maybe even the strongest person… but only when she was in the suit. Outside of the suit, she was nothing and that made her feel weak. Shortly after, she hired a self-defense instructor, a nice woman name Marcie who probably used to be a professional wrestler. She helped Toni work out. She told her that there will always be times when she'll get knocked down; she just has to make sure she gets back up and keep fighting. But the most important thing Marcie ever told Toni was than when you get the chance to attack, you take it.
"And you never stop attacking."
Toni drove her right elbow into Hammer's stomach, feeling the air she forced out of him brush against the back of her neck. She doesn't like the feeling and showed him just how much she doesn't like it by knocking his face away, her left elbow connecting with his jaw. She followed the elbow with a right hook, left uppercut, right jab to the ribs, left to the abdomen; he bent at the waist and she drove her knee into his skull, raising her fist to punch him again.
"Toni!" She stopped. She blinked. Twice. She lowered her fist. "Honey, you can stop now…"
"Steve?" She turns around and the entire team is there. They're all decked out in their battle gear and they look ready for a war and for some unknown reason, Clint has a few weird scratches on his arms… but they're all there and Toni can't help feeling glad to see them all. "Hi guys…" She feels herself start shaking and there's that weak feeling all over again.
"Christ, Stark," Clint says, an amazed look on his face. "What the hell did you do to him?" She's confused until she looks back to Hammer, who is lying on the floor in a puddle of his own blood.
"It was him," she manages to reply, aware of how her voice is cracking. "He did everything, the stalker, the kidnapping, he admitted to it all, maybe there are cameras or voice recordings in this place somewhere, we should…" Steve quickly strides over to her and hugs her close to him, smoothing her hair. She feels herself stop shaking almost instantly. "…Steve, I think he needs to go to the hospital."
"Yes," he replied, chuckling slightly. "And so do you."
"How about I go home and you can bring a doctor to see me? It doesn't even have to be Matt Smith, I'll settle for David Tennant."
Toni gets her way and she goes home and straight to bed. A doctor comes in and fusses over her, bandaging everything that needs to be bandaged and telling her that she needs to be on bed rest for at least a week maybe longer. There's an interesting story about what happens two days in and the team discovering a hobby of hers, but that's really a story for a different time.
Hammer goes back to jail; Toni doesn't press charges because she doesn't want to have to go through the whole court thing because the last time she went to court, she called the US Government a bunch of ass clowns and she honestly didn't want to go through all that again. Besides, she'll be ready for him if he gets out again; she'll make sure of it.
After the doctor—who is not Matt Smith or David Tennant, which is a shame—left her alone, she sat in bed with Castiel; Clint had been the one to save the dog from the dumpster, which accounted for all the marks on his arms. She scratched the dog's ears lovingly, unable to hold back a smile. The team had told her the rest of the story, how Hammer didn't pay his lackeys enough to keep their mouths shut when they were being threatened by Captain America and they told him everything. Her heart flutters when she hears what Steve did to find her and she doesn't even bother hiding it.
"Can I come in?" Toni looks up from her tablet, which she's allowed to have as long as she only uses it for peaceful activities, and smiles at her captain.
"I wasn't aware you had to ask," she replied, patting the bed beside her. Steve climbs into bed next to her, carefully putting an arm around her shoulders. Castiel looks annoyed for a moment, but then decides to climb into Steve's lap and fall asleep. Toni decides to count that as a win for Steve.
"What are you playing?" Steve asks, looking at the tablet in her hands.
"Angry Birds," Toni replied, snuggling into his embrace. "It's therapeutic, saving eggs from evil pigs by shooting birds at them." He was silent for a moment.
"The twenty first century is really strange." Toni laughed.
"Tell me about it." They're both silent until Toni starts playing again; the little red cardinals sound so happy as they soar out of the slingshot to their deaths and they both erupt into giggles. Steve kisses the top of her head and she smiles.
"Are you okay?" She's been waiting for him to ask that. She's been waiting because she's been working up the courage to tell him the truth.
"No," she replied, continuing quickly when she feels him tense. "I'm better than I was, now that it's over, you know? But… I think I need to go home, to Malibu. When I'm allowed to travel, just to get away from here for a few days. I miss warm and the beaches and…" She looked up at him, smiling a little. "And I'd really like it if you came with me."
Steve responds by kissing her and she thinks that's the best answer ever.