Notes: Sorry again for the lack of updates. And... We're finally getting somewhere!

Chapter 13: A Warning

Hollie found her way back to her room in the penthouse, only managing to fall once this time. Miserably, she flopped down on the bed and curled herself into a ball as she cried silently into the pillow. The thing was, she didn't want to leave once she'd recovered enough to function, but she had to. ...For their own safety. Steve she didn't really worry about – the mafia wouldn't want to cross the super soldier. Clint and Natasha, though... They would be as good as dead. Bruce too, most likely. But Stark, and probably even Potts, were in the most immediate danger.

With Tony and the two spies, it was personal. Dante would have them killed just to try one more time to break her. Pepper... Pepper was nothing but an obstacle to them, the queen sitting on the throne of Stark Industries – a throne they obviously planned to usurp. She'd just disappear one day, and no one would ever see her again. Neat, clean, no loose ends. Hollie had to protect them but she didn't how, or if she even could. She knew Dante and his methods well enough by now to know that it was already probably too late.

Either way, how had Stark gotten under her skin so easily? One day, she hated him with a passion and the next... Well, Hollie was trying to not think about it. There had to be a logical explanation for the way her heart beat a little faster when he touched her, or the idiotic fond smile that would play at her lips when he snarked at someone. Yes. There had to be something explainable through science or logic there, because she was not developing a school-girl crush on Tony fucking Stark.

"I am so screwed. What the hell is wrong with me? I knew better..." Hollie muttered and hid her face in her hands. "Merda. (Shit)"

"Sir, Director Fury is on line two." Tony sighed in annoyance and laid down his soldering gun. A few finishing touches, a paint job and Hollie's suit would be a done deal. He'd been working on it non-stop after she left him. When drowning himself in liquor wasn't the best option, he'd work until he passed out instead. It was a necessary catharsis, considering he felt like shit for just letting Hollie fall to pieces. He would probably be disemboweled if he tried to give her a hug or something, but damn did she need a fucking hug. ...Or something. He just wasn't quite sure how to comfort a depressed assassin, if the endeavor wouldn't be suicidal.

"Put him on speaker, Jarv." Tony told the AI as he checked over a seam on Hollie's nearly complete faceplate.

"Stark, we've got a problem." Fury said in a strained tone.

"Yeah, okay then. You might want to head to the ER if that buttplug's still stuck up there, because I-"

"Barton and Romanov have been Captured." Tony dropped his soldering gun on his foot.

"Come again?" He said weakly. Clint and Nat? Yeah, all right. He'd been suspecting it for a while now, and Hollie had seen it coming from the get-go. They'd find a way out, he was sure of that. They always did.

"Barton and Romanov are at the New Mexico Tea Party base. Get them out of there if you can, but destroying the base is your priority. That's an order, Stark." Fury said and severed the connection. Tony sat in silence for a moment, pondering what he knew. He couldn't do it alone, he knew that much. There were too many of them and they were too heavily armed. Resolutely, he picked up the soldering gun and got to work. Hollie's paint job was going to have to wait. However, he chose to ignore Fury's 'orders'. Like hell if he was going to blow up that base with Clint and Nat trapped inside.

It took him two hours to finish assembling the suit, and another hour to fully test the repulsor system and thrusters. Once Jarvis assured him that it was operating properly and all systems were online, he sent for Hollie. It didn't surprise him when she didn't show up. What did surprise Tony was the sudden power outage that occurred just as he got out of the elevator on the Penthouse floor.

"Shit." He muttered and stumbled through the semi-darkness. Luckily the city lights below and the light from his arc reactor illuminated the lounge enough to navigate. About halfway to Hollie's closed door, he head footsteps rushing up the stairs. Quickly, he hopped over the bar counter and hid in the shadows as he pulled a handgun free from its hidden holder under the silverware drawer. He covered the glow from the arc reactor as best as he could with a napkin as he switched off the gun's safety. Cautiously, he peered around the corner, and saw two men in stealth gear make their way into the lounge.

His heart leaped into his throat as he saw one of them reach for Hollie's door handle. Holding his breath, Tony made a split second decision. He stood up, took aim and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, he was a shitty shot with handguns – and it was dark. Fortunately, the would-be assassin hunched over in pain from a blown kneecap, and the other one fell to the floor with a hole between his eyes. Tony blinked and looked in the direction the other shot would had to have come from. Sure enough, he saw the tell-tale faint blue glow of Hollie's reactor behind the couch. She looked at him for a moment before firing another (completely silent) gunshot into the back of the wounded man's head.

"What the fuck kind of silencer do you have on that thing?" Tony asked. Hollie just snorted and reloaded it before putting back into a hip holster.

"At least I can still shoot." She mused and stumbled over to the dead men. Tony followed, his gun still clenched in a sweaty palm.

"Are they mafia?" He asked, crouching down beside her. With some difficulty she knelt and rooted through the nearest man's pockets. She found a small Swiss army knife and an extra magazine for his gun. Shaking her head, she turned up the collar of his jacket. There was a small gold lapel pin of a fox with tiny emeralds set in its eye sockets.

"Yes. They are mafia. This pin – it is the signet of a special group of Sicilian assassins. They are called the La Volpe la Zampa. It means The Fox's Paw. I was the first of their group when it was created, and they called me La Volpe – the fox. Though none of them have ever seen my face – Only Dante. At one time, all them were under my charge, and obeyed my orders without question or hesitation. Dante leads them now. This is a warning. If he had meant for us to die tonight, we would be dead already." Hollie said flatly as Tony rifled through the other assassin's pockets. He took out a small scrap of paper and read it aloud.

"We have your spies. If you want them to live, you must go to Time's Square and take your own life in full view of the public at noon in one week's time." Tony crumpled the paper up and threw it over his shoulder in disgust.

"I thought the Mafia was above shit like this." He commented and looked at Hollie who was ashen faced. "Don't you fucking dare consider doing it! They'd still keep them hostage if they're still alive. We're going to save them – right now! Your suit's done. We have some serious ass to kick; let's go!"

Hollie didn't even get a chance to protest as Tony grabbed her under the arms and more or less threw her over his shoulder. She was small and light enough for him to carry relatively easily, though it was anything but dignified. Hollie ranted a string of curses and empty death threats as Tony activated Jarvis' emergency protocols. The engineer was panting for breath by the time they made it down the many flights of stairs. He unceremoniously deposited Hollie in the office chair by his desk as he made a beeline for the manual releases for the Mark 42 and Hollie's new suit. She straightened her clothes, a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt, and hobbled over to him as best as she could in the dim emergency lighting.

"Stand there, and just stay still." Tony said, pointing to the spot where the robots usually assembled his suits. He slipped a wireless earpiece over her ear and stepped back. Hollie stood still as she was told, and gasped as the machines came to life and assembled her suit around her. The metal felt cold against her bare skin, and fit together tightly leaving no extra room between it and her skin.

This thing... is going to be my coffin, she thought in a panic as the faceplate closed over her head and she was swallowed by total darkness – her second greatest fear. But a couple seconds later, a hologram display illuminated the inside of the helmet, and she had a full infrared view of her surroundings. Looking to Stark, the display showed his name, date of birth, estimated heart rate, blood pressure and mental stress level. She turned her gaze to one of Tony's cars (a black corvette). It's VIN, license plate number, and a hologram of Tony's driver's license popped up as well as some basic stats for the car's average performance levels.

"That's... awesome." Hollie whispered in spite of herself, and nearly jumped out of her skin when Jarvis' voice came through her earpiece.

"Welcome to the Mark 43, Agent Steel. As you have already seen, this suit is equipped with state of the art environmental sensor technology. I will do my best to inform you of any potential hazards, malfunctions or major damages. I can also be accessed for my full range of normal functions. This suit was constructed for your own personal use, and will respond only yours or Mr. Stark's voice commands. When you are ready,we will begin the test flight."

"Test flight?" Hollie squeaked, and Tony clapped a metal-clad hand on her armored shoulder.

"Gotta run before you can walk, remember?"