Pepper sat at her desk in her office at Stark Industries. She was hunched over, looking over various contracts, files, and folders. It was basically her job to look over everything. She only asked Tony for signatures of she deemed the contracts worthy enough for it. She was about to look over the last contract that was in her 'in' box until the front desk called in.

Pepper looked up at her phone and saw the beeping yellow light. She pressed the button next to it and went back to reading.

"Yes?" She answered.

"Hello, Miss Potts, there is a Mr. Hardman that would like to see you." Kelly informed her.

Pepper did a double take with her mouth gaping. Jones Hardman? She only though of him as the man that was assumed to be associated with Leon's disappearance… or something like that. She couldn't remember what Tony had told her. She remembered him mumbling something about him before she drifted off to sleep last night. He was probably telling her to be careful around him. If I avoid him, he'll surely be suspicious… but if I say yes, he has the chance to kill me—he wants to kill me, right? Well of course! You're personally connected to THE Tony Stark…

"Um, yeah. Send him in." She responded, biting her bottom lip.

Jones Hardman, dressed up in a white dress shirt, purple tie, black dress pants, and shoes, walked through the glass door of her office. His lips formed a small smile, one that made Pepper cringe.

"Hello, Miss Potts." He greeted her, sitting down in the chair that was in front of her desk.

"Hi, Mr. Hardman." She greeted back with a fake smile. She looked over at her clock and noticed the time. It was half past 5PM and Tony hadn't even called her yet. Did JARVIS even tell him—of course he did, JARVIS is JARVIS…

"I wanted to continue our conversation about my project." He leaned over the table, resting his elbows on the desk.

"Oh?" Pepper raised her eyebrows and pretended to be interested. "I believe you were talking about that during the charity event."

"Yes, I did." He nodded and breathed a laugh. "My team and I have actually completed the project already. I was wondering if you wanted a sneak preview." He pumped his eyebrows up and down. "It's probably better than whatever Mr. Stark shows you."

"He doesn't really show me much." She pressed her lips together to form a small and tight smile. Thinking back, Tony showed her most of his inventions because she caught him working on them without eating anything. He never really told her what they did unless she asked. But she was never that curious about his inventions. She only cared about his health.

"Well then…" Hardman reached into the space next to his chair and pulled out a small silver box that looked like a block of solid metal. The edges glowed red while the center of each side glowed white. He placed it onto Pepper's desk and slid it towards her.

"Wow!" She exclaimed, staring down at the small object. "What is it?"

"It's a small device that holds a lot of power." He widened his smile. "Go on, pick it up."

Pepper looked up at him and faked another small smile. She picked it up with her index finger and thumb, and raised it up to her face. She looked at it intently and widened her eyes. She could feel the small the device hum in her hand. It was a very silent and tamed vibration—it reminded her of Tony's arc reactor in his chest. Whenever she rested her head on his chest, she could feel his arc reactor hum against her ear. It was soothing, and relaxing.

"It's really interesting." She widened her smile and placed the device back down on her desk.

Hardman picked it up and breathed another laugh. "You know what the best thing about this is?"

"Hm?" Pepper hummed, looking over at him suspiciously. "It's just a cube that holds a lot of energy, right?"

"Actually…" Hardman slowly looked up at her. "…It's much more than that."

At that single moment, Pepper's finger hovered over the red button that was underneath her desk. Tony had it installed a while back when his Iron Man announcement was made. He wanted Pepper to be able to contact him if anything ever happened to her in the office. The button was a way around the obstacle that is her Blackberry.

But she didn't even need to use the red button. At that moment, someone pushed open the glass door, making it swing open and crash against the wall next to it. Pepper's eyes trailed up and saw Tony standing there, panting heavily.

"Tony…" Pepper breathed, feeling the edges of her lips curl upwards.

"Mr. Stark." Jones Hardman whispered, still looking at Pepper.

"Stay away from her." Tony threatened, pointed his index finger at him.

Hardman turned around in his chair and widened his grin. "For what reasons? I'm not a threat—"

"I know what you've been up to, Hardman." Tony pressed his lips together in anger.

"Really, now?" He smiled up at the super hero and got up from his seat. Pepper looked past him and saw Tony's angry expression.

"You tried to get resources from Leon Industries." Tony started out. Pepper sat there, her eyes started to widen in shock. "You tried to get full access to Leon's systems because he had the solution to Project Kin."

"I don't think breaking and entering into someone's home is part of the job description of a superhero, Mr. Stark." Hardman smiled, tucking his hands into his pants pockets.

"Project Kin was originally Leon's idea, and when he came to you for your opinion, you took his idea and his resources. All you needed was for Leon to disappear for a while so that you could go in and take his resources. But you couldn't get a hold on Leon because he was always heavily guarded. So you attacked his place head on and stole his solutions."

"Actually…" Hardman's lips formed a wide smile. "… you're half right. I stole his Project Kin and used it for my own personal gain, but I didn't attack his facility, nor did I steal anything else from him."

"Then—" Tony furrowed his eyebrows and felt something in his chest tighten. He widened his eyes and stumbled backwards into the wall behind him.

"Tony!" Pepper shouted and abruptly stood up to help him but Hardman stopped her.

"If you move another inch, I'll make sure your boss doesn't live to see another day."

"…What did you do to him?" Pepper grounded out, glaring at him intently.

Hardman moved towards Tony's body and breathed a laugh. He looked over at her and smiled intently. "You people are so easy to kill."

Pepper watched his actions closely, but eventually, her eyes trailed to her boyfriend. He looked like he was trying to move. His eyes were set on Hardman.

"This device does hold energy." Hardman took the device out of his pocket and held it up. "Project Kin was originally a device that would harness energy and be able to power buildings at least fifty stories high. But I used his device to paralyze the Iron Man himself."

Hardman moved next to Tony and kicked him hard in the ribs. Tony's eyes shut close as a small groan came out from his mouth. He felt every ounce of pain that surged through his body, but he couldn't budge.

Pepper's gasped in fear and widened her eyes in surprise. She had to do something. Her phone was in her purse but her purse was under her desk, and there was no way that he would let her call anyone, let alone use her phone in general.

"This device sends vibrations through Iron Man's arc reactor that's powerful enough to paralyze his whole entire body." Hardman kneeled next to Tony's body and widened his smile. Tony sat there, glaring back up at him.

"How did you—"

"Know about the arc reactor? Some of Leon Industries' files contained Iron Man surveillance footage. I rummaged through some of Justin Hammer's files and noticed the same details. The suit is powered by the man that designed it. At first I thought it was self powered, but then that wouldn't explain why the glowing center didn't move when the chest piece moved. I came to the conclusion that Mr. Stark himself contained the arc reactor. Based off of that assumption, I modified Project Kin. I took a wild swing, so to speak, but it turns out, I was right." He tapped Tony's chest and felt a smooth surface underneath his grey cotton t-shirt.

"Please… Don't hurt him anymore." Pepper begged, pressing her lips together.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill this son of a bitch." Hardman spat, turning around in his place. He glared at the woman that stood behind the desk.

"He never did anything to you. You have no reason to do this to him—"

"I have a lot of reasons to do this to him." Hardman turned back to Tony and angrily kicked his head from the side, making Tony grunt in pain again. His body dipped to the side, making his head crash into the floor next to him. "He killed my brother."

"Tony would never kill an innocent person." Pepper practically shouted.

"How do you know?" Hardman yelled back. "My brother was in Pakistan for a couple days to cover a story about the recent bombings. He was killed when Iron Man blew up two saw factories nearby."

Both Pepper and Tony widened their eyes.

Tony laid there, thinking back to that very day. No… that can't be possible. JARVIS said there were no civilians nearby… I didn't—I swear I didn't—

Pepper pressed her lips together. "Even if it was Tony who did it, it was an accident. Accidents happen—"

"And what if he 'accidentally' blew up half a continent?" Hardman angrily, and sarcastically, growled. "There's no telling what this man will do to get what he wants: Power. The power to do anything he so well pleases."

"Tony isn't selfish. He isn't someone that would kill people on a whim. His intentions are good and—" Pepper was abruptly cut off.

"I don't care if he saved thousands of lives by killing thousands of people in the process. He killed an innocent man. He killed my brother, and I swore I would avenge him." Hardman reached for Tony's right arm and stood up.

"What are you—" Pepper felt her palms begin to sweat. She knew what he was doing, but she couldn't do anything about it. He would kill Tony either way…

"I'm going to destroy Tony Stark from the inside out." Hardman placed his foot on Tony's side and yanked really hard. In an instant, all hell broke loose. Tony cried out in pain for several seconds. He was paralyzed but he could still feel the nerves in his arm throb in pain as his arm was dislocated. His cry in pain rang through Pepper's ears. She felt her eyes water as the sound of Tony's voice softened.

Pepper felt a sudden instance of worry wash over her. She moved away from her desk and lunged herself towards them. "Tony!—"

Hardman used the palm of his hand to shove her onto the ground. Pepper felt her butt hit the bottom of the floor hard. As pain washed through her, she looked up and saw Hardman stand over her with a knife.

"This used to be my brother's knife. He loved African rainforests. He never once spent a day without his knife. But now his body will finally rest in peace, knowing that his knife was used to kill the people that ended his life." Hardman raised the knife above his head and was about to plunge it into Pepper's stomach, but something lunged at him from behind. An arm snaked around his neck, which made him stagger backwards.

Hardman dropped the knife just as his hands reached for the forearm that was trying to choke him. He used it to his advantage and kept a tight grip on the forearm. He fell backwards and hard into the wall behind him.

Tony cried out in pain as his back came in contact with the concrete wall. His body slid down in a loud thud. Hardman turned around abruptly stepped on Tony's right arm. He cried out in pain again, feeling his dislocated arm throb over and over.

"So the device finally wore off?" He licked his lips in rage. Tony noticed how angry he was through his eyes. They were a darker shade of brown. It looked like he was out for blood.

"Stay away from Pepper." Tony finally grounded out. "She's not the one who killed your brother—"

"You're right." Hardman grabbed Tony by the collar of his cotton shirt and hoisted him up and against the wall. "You are." He breathed, and was about to strike Tony in the ribs but a loud crash came through the window behind them.

Pepper turned around and saw War Machine hovering behind them. His arm was pointed towards Hardman and Tony. A small gun was attached to it, ready to fire.

"War Machine—" Pepper breathed.

"Put him down." A voice came from the space next to Hardman. Pepper and Hardman looked to their left and saw Natalie standing there in her Black Widow outfit with a gun in her hand.

A few seconds later, ten men rushed through the glass door wearing SHEILD outfits, and surrounded the entity of the office. War Machine peered down at the man that held Tony against the wall. When he finally let Tony go, Rhodey noticed that Tony was favoring his right arm.

Hardman looked around and reluctantly raised his hands above his head. He angrily glared at the man in front of him – the man that killed his brother. The man that got away.

In an attempt to get his revenge, he lunged for the knife on the floor and reached for Pepper's hand. Pepper widened her eyes in fear as the blood thirsty man was about to thrust the knife towards her.

Tony widened his eyes in horror. He tried his best to move. Why can't I move? He sat there, staring at his girlfriend that was about to get gutted like a fish. His arm throbbed again, making him wince in intense pain. I can't even save my own girlfriend from something that Iron Man caused…

At that moment, a shot rang out from the side. Natalie pulled the trigger of her gun and shot Hardman's right shoulder, making him instantly drop the knife. He fell forward, screaming in intense pain.