Thank you guys so much for the reviews! They made my day and also made me laugh! And before you do anything to kill me for being gone so long or whatever…. Hear me out! Wait… not the pitchforks yet!
During my Thanksgiving break many friends and family came over not letting me even near my computer.
If only you guys can see the amount of homework these teachers hand over to the student… It's pretty horrible.
And lastly, I've had so many essays during the week that I didn't even want to look at writing for a while.
So please don't kill me!:) Okay well like I promised… SHOUTOUTS!
Alyson October: Haha! You were one of the comments that made me laugh! Glob…. Haha!
Guest: Yes… Pepper is pregnant… didn't see it coming did you?
SilverPedals1402: Sorry? I'm happy you reviewed! Thanks!
xXSimplySunshineXx: aww! Thank you so much! Didn't know someone really liked what I wrote!
IloveTonyStark: Well here is another chapter!
Hinamori- chan21: Thank you! You are amazing too! I loved it when Rhodey showed up too! School is horrible I know what you mean!
Disclaimer: If I owned this I wouldn't be here… (Okay what's with the smiley faces?)
"24 hours!" Laura said looking shocked. She still continued cleaning up the kitchen before the kids got a little restless upstairs. "24 hours and poison. That's low even for Justin."
"Have you seen Justin Hammer? Laura that guys mad! He's just crazed up! I think the way Tony ruined his life must've triggered him to open up his dark side, not like he wasn't before." Rhodey said leaning against the counter as he looked at his wife.
"Rhodey… You should talk to Pepper. She's pregnant again so her emotions are magnified." Laura looked at the blood flowing down the drain and sighed. "I'll get something for Tony when he wakes up." Rhodey took the hint to go to Pepper. He sighed in defiance, stretching slightly and flinching from the bruise he got from busting through the roof of the Hammer Company.
He walked towards the guest room where he spotted Tony. His arm rested lazily across his stomach, and his chest heaved up and down peacefully. Next to the bed, Pepper held his hand and stared carefully at his face. "He'll be okay, I know he will." Pepper said softly. She looked up at Rhodey, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Of course he'll be okay. Pepper he survived a blast from Whiplash, and he lived through the most unbearable tortures imaginable." Rhodey went to fetch another chair. He placed it next to Pepper and stroked her back.
"He did this for me… and Julie. He didn't want Julie and me to get hurt, so he allowed himself to go through the experiments that were meant for me." Pepper wiped a single tear. Rhodey knew that she was telling the truth. Tony did this just to save his family. He would do the same even when the trios were together as teenagers. Everything he ever did was to save the people and not him. Tony could care less if he got killed.
"It's okay Pepper… But… I need to tell you something." The tone of his voice suddenly froze the blood in Pepper's body.
"What is it?" She kept her eyes on Rhodey's face, trying her best to figure out what his facial expression was trying to say.
"It wasn't just the bullet wound Pepper. Justin coated the bullet with one of his experiments."
"Rhodey… What are you trying to say?"
"Tony… Tony… he only has 24 hours to live." Pepper shot to her feet and extended her arms emphasizing shock.
"WHAT? Then what are we doing here! We need to go get the antidote! We need to do something! Why are we here? MOVE RHODEY!" She flipped the chair enough to have Rhodey stumble off the chair to his feet.
"Pepper… Listen to me! The antidote is at Justin's company. This is just what he wanted. He knew that we wouldn't leave Tony there. He knows we would try to find the antidote! Last thing we need is for Justin to get what he wants." Rhodey followed Pepper out the guest room. He gave Tony a quick glance noticing the small beads of sweat forming on his forehead. As well as Tony's face paling slightly. They were running out of time.
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"Pepper? I can see that Rhodey didn't do such a good job with the chatting session. Ha… Wait. Pepper? Where are you going?!" Laura tried running around the kitchen to get Pepper, but she was too slow. Pepper was gone before she knew it.
"Laura! Where did Pepper go?"
"I don't know! She just left. Do you think she went to the…"
"Armory… Oh my god! Pepper's going to go after Justin! Okay… uh… I got to… uh…"
"Are you serious? GET YOUR ARMOR RHODEY!"
"Right! What can I do without you sweetheart?" Rhodey ran towards his garage and opened up a small secret door. He ran towards his suit and slipped it on before asking the computer to track onto Pepper's tracking device. And sure enough he found a fast moving dot quickly moving towards the Hammer Tower.
"Ah… Pepper! Stop!" Rhodey steered his suit out a small hole in the roof. Soon his suit was up and away. The only thing scaring him the most was that Pepper took her own suit, Rescue, and was probably doing something super stupid. The last thing he wanted was Pepper getting hurt and then possibly killing her baby.
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Pepper knew this was a long shot and getting Justin to agree was probably just crazy. But Tony was extremely hurt and it was all because Pepper didn't object in taking the tests rather than Tony. She needs to set things right and stop Justin once and for all. There was going to be no way she was going to allow anything like this to happen after her second kid will join the world in about 9 months. Justin will pay for everything he did to this family.
"INCOMING CALL FROM JAMES RHODES." She sighed. She wanted to take the call, but she knew what he was going to say. With a lot of difficulty she said…
"Ignore. Ignore every call I get from Rhodey, Laura, and Tony. Please just make sure to let me know who calls first though."
"Request accepted." Pepper focused on the tower coming closer and closer to her. She suddenly felt nauseous. No. Not now. I highly doubt this suit can clean up the mess I make too. Okay well note to self; have Tony make something where if I am in battle during my pregnancy and I am seriously nauseous I can throw up whenever I want.
"INCOMING CALL FROM ANTHONY STARK." What? He was okay!
"ACCEPT! COMPUTER ACCEPT!"
"Granted."
"Tony? Tony! Is this you? Is this really you?"
"Pepper? Are you crazy... arg… Pepper please don't do this."
"Tony… I can't. You're really hurt, and I can find you the cure!"
"Oh Pepper… Pepper… Pepper…you are very gullible. Your precious little Tony Stark is close to death in about 15 hours you know."
"Justin? How did you get Tony's phone?"
"It depends on how you put it. Want me to sugarcoat it or just give it to you straight?" Justin said adding a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Hello Tony! I can see you're finally awake…" In the background Pepper heard Tony moan. And she heard something like…
"Don't you dare hurt her… Leave Pepper alone." Pepper started to tear up. Then it hit her.
"Wait… You're at the RHODES HOUSE?"
"It took you this long to find that out?"
"GET OUT! GET OUT! I will kill you! Leave Laura and the kids alone!" She instantly regretted ignoring Rhodey's call.
"I will only leave if you come here now. I will give Tony the antidote if only you come to the Rhodes house… ALONE." The call was cut and a ding sounded, saying that Justin hung up. She knew what she had to do. Pepper steered Rescue towards the direction she came from, dialing Rhodey as she did.
"Pepper? Oh thank god! Are you stupid?! You're freaking PREGNANT! Does that mean anything to you? You…"
"Shut up Rhodes! Justin's at your house right now. He has Tony, Laura, and the kids! We need to make a plan… I'm on my way to your house because Justin's doing his whole threatening scheme again. I need you to do this." Pepper explained her plan the best she could considering the fact that her heart was beating about 16 miles per hour. "Okay? Alright, see you then!" She hung up quickly and increased her thruster powers on her jet boots.
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Tony was aching all over especially his side. He groaned before opening his eyes. His electric blue eyes focused on a figure. "Pepper?" He asked Hope in his voice.
"Nope! I'm sorry young chap… but your precious little girl isn't here at the moment. In fact… I'm going to call her on your behalf." Justin dialed the number and focused on the distraught Tony's face. When he heard her pick up, he pretended to be Tony acting as if he was in pain.
"Don't you dare hurt her… Leave Pepper alone." Justin smirked and instructed Pepper, telling her to come back in order to save his life. Tony didn't want to become a liability. But suddenly something dawned on him. Where was Laura?! Since Justin's back was on him, Tony took that opportunity to look around the guest room he was in.
There were two nightstands next to the bed he was sleeping on. In the left corner there was a small four-legged table with a small candle in the middle. Someone must've sat next to him while he was out because two mahogany chairs were evenly spaced. But something that surprised him the most was that Laura was right next to him on the bed, she was out cold and she looked like she put up a fight. A big red welt was on her forehead, and billions upon billions of scratches covered her body. Her red t-shirt was torn and so were her pants.
Tony growled. He gingerly covered up Laura so that she was under the white sheets. "Oh I see you have seen your friend. She should be fine. But it's not about her it's about you. How do you feel Stark?" In honesty Tony felt terrible. His body felt as though it was melting. His eyes stung in pain and his body ached. Tony wanted to die right then and there, too much pain. He groaned.
"It hurts doesn't it Stark? Well how do you think I feel?" Justin said angrily, at the same time he pointed to a scar on the right side of his face. "YOU DID THIS TO ME! RUINED MY LIFE! MADE ME A LAUGHING STOCK!" Tony was bewildered, but he wasn't about to have Laura get hurt. He got out of bed and nearly fell face first on the carpet. Moaning he walked up to Justin.
"You want me don't you? That's why you experimented on me. To show me the pain that you felt. Justin… I'm so sorry. I just…"
"I know Iron Man…" Tony froze. His eyes widened.
"You… You… You know?"
"Of course you fool. I figured it out when you first were so interested in the company I took over from you Tony." Suddenly a big bang from the front door silenced the two.
No. Pepper… Tony thought to himself. He couldn't let his own wife get hurt. Then once again he had a whole life flashing in front of his eyes. The kids were in the house too.
"Tony? Justin? Where are you?" Justin got a glimpse at Tony's face and smirked.
"Pepper… There you are. And you're also alone. Wonderful." He gestured for Pepper to enter the room. She saw Tony and ran into his arms.
"Tony… I thought you were about to…"
"Pepper… why are you here? You need to leave. I can't let you get hurt…" Pepper looked shocked.
"What? No! You have it all wrong Tony! I… I..." But she stopped mid sentence when she heard laughing.
"Cute! CUTE! CUTE! No wonder you two got married, beautiful couple I have to say."
"SHUT UP JUSTIN! Give Tony the antidote! He's dying… that's even low for you! Please Justin." And without a moment of hesitation Justin pulled out a needle and stuck Tony on his forearm delivering a blue substance with stopped the spread of the venom.
"What? You just gave it to me?"
"Of course. I mean after all Pepper came here didn't she?" But there was something off about the way Justin said that. Behind his hand another needle was filled up with green liquid. This was the only experiment without an antidote. Tony took the only thing that mattered the most to him, Stark International. So to fix that and make the balance even, Justin was about to take out the only thing that mattered most to Tony.
With that in mind Justin lunged towards Pepper.
This chapter didn't make sense at all in my case. Another thing. I apologize for being so demanding with the reviews. I keep annoying y'all probably more than usual. I am so sorry for that. But please do what you would like and thank you for reading!