Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Tony's blood was pounding in his head. He was working like lightning on his computer to try and get a lock o the energy being put out by Nicole's Arc reactor. Thus far, he'd gotten nothing, and Nicole had disappeared hours before. His determination was forcing him to go on and on; he never admitted defeat.

'Come on, Nicole! Where are you?'

Tony sighed as he sat back in his computer chair. He drank a sip of his cooling coffee and growled in annoyance.

"Can I help you in any way, sir?" Jarvis inquired.

"Search for Nicole's reactor," Tony responded.

"Is she missing it?"

"No, but she's missing," Tony said. "If we find her reactor, we find her."

Nicole's world was spinning. She couldn't open her eyes. No, scratch that, she wouldn't let herself open her eyes. She had been moved, she was aware of that as she felt the cold metal against her now bare back. That wasn't the only thing she was aware of at that moment though. Everything was distorted in her mind, but she knew what had happened to her, she just didn't want to believe it. In a few hours, her whole life had changed. Everything was different now. She'd never be able to look at Tony the same way again. She might not even be able to let him touch her.

She'd been raped. The drug, along with the alcohol was supposed to make it so she wouldn't be able to remember anything, but Nicole could hear her own body screaming to tell her what had happened. Her father had used one of his old workers to shatter Nicole's entire world. How the hell was this happening?

"Feigning sleep won't change reality."

Nicole's blue eyes slowly opened. There was a sheet covering her bare body. She tried in vain to move her arms, feeling leather restraints slide along her wrists.

"You got your revenge, Ben," Nicole snarled. "You had one of your workers rape me. Now let me go."

"So you can go running to Iron Man?" Her father's face appeared over her. "I don't think so."

'Besides, if I let you go, how will I get to see your mind slowly unwind itself?'

Nicole groaned inwardly. Her mind was unraveling, that much was certain. She didn't want her father to get that satisfaction no matter what, but it seemed she didn't have a choice.

"How are you feeling?"

Nicole's eyebrow arched, "What the fuck do you care?"

"I can give you something for pain."

"I don't want shit from you," Nicole snapped. "Just leave me alone."

Ben sighed, "Always so bitter…."

"If I'm bitter, than what the hell are you?"

"You should have just stayed away from Stark like you were supposed to…."

"Go to hell," Nicole snarled.

"Oh, I'm already there," Ben smirked. "And so are you."

Nicole's anger was at a dangerous level. She could honestly say she'd never felt so angry before in her entire life. She just wanted to….

Her trail of thought was disrupted by a cracking sound. Her eyes looked up at the ceiling. Thus far, she'd been unable to actually tell where the hell her father was keeping her, but as she looked up at the ceiling, she saw it beginning to crack. Nicole squeezed her eyes shut as the ceiling came down entirely three seconds later. When she opened them, she thought for a second that her eyes had begun to bleed as all she saw was red. But then the red started to move, and there was gold as well…

"Iron Man," Nicole heard her father gasp.

Finally Nicole's distorted mind made sense of what she was seeing. She saw Iron Man moving towards her father, but for the first time in her life, she wasn't so sure she was happy to see him.

"How did you find us?" Ben demanded.

"Funny thing about Arc reactors," Tony said conversationally. "They give off a very traceable energy."

Tony charged up one of his repulsar rays as he advanced on Ben, "You've got three and a half seconds to—"

"Stop."

Tony barely heard Nicole's whisper. He turned to face her, "Huh?"

Nicole shook her head, "You killing him like this is more than he deserves, Tony. Don't."

Tony didn't lower his repulsar ray as he walked towards Nicole. Nicole's eyes could barely stay open. Tony had to question whether she was even really in her right mind.

"I'm fine," Nicole whispered as Tony's visor went up. She'd heard the question pass through Tony's mind and frankly, she'd been slightly irritated by it. She was in pain and depressed as hell, but she could still think clearly for the most part.

"Let me get you out of here," Tony said quietly.

Nicole hesitated. She really did trust Tony deep in her heart, but something about him was scaring her slightly at the moment. She tried to put it to the back of her mind as she felt the leather slide off of her wrists and ankles, but suddenly Tony was snarling.

"What the fuck did he do to you?!"

Nicole pulled the sheet close to her bare body, "Tony, not now."

Tony whirled around to face Nicole's father, only to find none other but a Stark Industries rifle pointed at his face.

"Give me one reason to, Stark," Ben Lion said quietly. "I swear, I'd love to be the one to send you to see those parents of yours in hell."

Tony fired his repulsar ray and Ben dodged it by a hair. He'd struck a nerve of Tony's that no one ever dared to think of striking.

"Stop."

Neither of them heard Nicole's voice as the sound of gunfire filled the room. The bullets ricocheted off of Tony's armor, naturally, and Tony fired back with a round of his own.

"Stop," Nicole's voice was getting stronger and deeper. Her anger was rising, something she'd been trying to control so desperately….

She snarled in pain as a bullet ricocheted off of Tony's armor and grazed her arm. Both Tony and Ben turned to see Nicole on her feet. But something wasn't right; Nicole's skin was glowing, as were her eyes. She held the sheet tightly around her as her eyes glowed blood red.

"Nicole…?" Tony said hesitantly.

"You fucking bastard…." Nicole's voice came in a deep hiss; She spoke to her father as her arm rose, taking him along with it.

'What the hell?' Nicole heard Tony's shocked mind yelling.

"Another quirk to being a ghost," Nicole hissed. She threw her hand to the side, and her father flew with it, slamming into a wall. The wall cracked and became dented, but Nicole paid it no attention. Her rage was screaming in her ears as she slammed her father into the opposite wall and then into the wall directly in front of her. She didn't flinch as the wall collapsed on top of the man she loathed. In her heart, she knew what she had done to him, and at that moment, she really didn't give a shit. Until the realization actually kicked her in the stomach.

"Oh, SHIT!"

Tony's eyebrows rose as Nicole's glow began to disappear. Nicole fell to her knees, shaking. Her jaw dropped and her eyes were wider than Tony had ever seen them. Slowly, she turned to face him.

"Tony," Her voice was barely audible. "I just killed my father!"

TBC!

AN: Hey guys! Happy weekend! So I saw The Dark Knight yesterday….AWESOME movie, but it still can't beat out Iron Man in my honest opinion ;) So, with this update, I'd like to forewarn all of you, the next chapter is probably going to be the darkest one of them all. But as Aaron Eckhart said in The Dark Knight, 'The night is darkest before dawn….' Love that quote….Till next time!