Chapter 10

"Tony," his name was all she could utter for now as her brain was still processing what he had just said, seconds ago. She almost wished that he had immediately retracted his words, or at least given a hint that it had been just a simple joke but neither occurred. Tony's eyes were as serious as she had ever seen them, and she would have sworn that the grip he had on her tightened as if he was afraid she was going to run away from him any moment now.

And quite frankly, the idea of disappearing from his sight was beginning to sound extremely appealing to her. "Do you realize what you just said to me?" The ginger asked slowly, enunciating every word in her question to ensure Tony had time to understand what she was asking, and for his mind to replay what he had said himself. The inventor, however, looked unfazed and absolutely confident of his actions and words.

"I said I love you, which I do. And I said I want you to stay with me for the rest of our lives, which is also true."

"Tony, it's not just that…you-you just asked me to…to…"

"Marry me, yes. In not so many words, but yes, I guess did." He answered, now feeling even surer of himself than he had been moments before. It was as if the verbalization of his thoughts had somehow anchored his feelings for her, giving him the final push he had needed to put his frame of mind out there for her to understand. "Do you need time to think about it?" He added with a smirk.

"TONY! Listen to yourself! We're 18 years old! We can't be thinking about that! We haven't even started dating!"

"I'm not saying that I'm asking you right now, or tomorrow, or even next year, or the year after that. But I want to make sure that you see that this is not a 48-hour fling; at least not for me it isn't. And if you want to start dating, we can start right now."

"Oh, God! Please, slow down, Tony. Please, please…just…slow down for a moment."

Tony exhaled deeply but nodded, bit by bit realizing he was coming on too strong. He needed to see it from Pepper's perspective, because for all technical purposes, Pepper's life as she knew it had stopped when the Makluan Guardian had taken her away. At that point in life, she had been Tony's friend and loyal partner-in-crime. And, even though six months had passed, in all reality, only a few days had passed between the last time he had seen her, and the day she had made it to his arms in the armory. To Pepper it seemed as if he was going too fast because she had not been simmering in deep emotions and reflection for six months as he had. To him it was now or never; to Pepper it was 'slow the fuck down.'

"Fine," he relented. "I'm sorry I'm freaking you out, but that doesn't change what I said."

Pepper nodded to him, understanding what he had meant and feeling relieved that he was not taking her requests to dawdle in the wrong way. The tiredness that had accumulated over the past few hours had diminished the moment he had pressed her against the wall and kissed her, but after his pre-proposal of marriage, the tiredness had been thrown out the door. "Let's…let's talk about this, OK."

"OK." He agreed, grabbed her hand and led her back down the stairs and into the living room. They returned to their earlier places on the couch, but this time they were facing each other, legs under them, and nothing around them to distract the serious conversation that was about to take place. "Want to go first?" He offered. "I pretty much already told you everything. Unless there is something else you may want to know."

Pepper rubbed her temples, trying to straighten out her thoughts. So much information had been exchanged in the span of just a few short minutes, and while she was excited to hear that Tony had finally uttered those three little words she had been waiting for before she was taken, the situation had changed since then. She was no longer just Pepper Potts: Chatterbox Extraordinaire. Her responsibilities and experiences were way beyond the ones of the average, unintentional high school dropout, and while she would not tell him everything, he did have the right to have an overall idea of what he was getting himself into.

"Why didn't you go to MIT right away?"

"Because I was looking for you; I didn't want to give up. Everyone said you were dead, but I just knew you had to be alive."

The reason made sense to the redhead and she nodded. She would have never asked Tony to postpone his education just to look for her, but based on everything she had observed of him in the past few days, she could definitely appreciate how he had arrived at the conclusion that taking a few months off from school would be beneficial for his case. Besides, it was not as if he could not just afford to take twenty classes in college every semester, and not ace them with that wonderful mind of his. She definitely understood his rationality, but she did not necessarily agree with it. "OK. When was the last time you went on a mission?"

"A week before you returned. It's been rather quiet since most of the guys I used to fight are now dead, in a coma, or zombies; Justin Hammer included."

"Right," She agreed, almost having forgotten about Hammer's zombie apocalypse attempt. "It makes sense, somehow. Still no cure for that, by the way?"

"Nope. Not that neither I nor S.H.I.E.L.D. are trying very hard to find one, mind you." He was not proud that he had been putting off helping develop an antidote for the virus, but he had been devoting his attention to a matter closer to his heart.

Pepper nodded regardless of her slight disapproval of Tony's inactions to help them just yet. She knew that he had confided in many people that had eventually betrayed him, giving way to the Tony that was paranoid about placing trust on anyone other than who he considered to be his family. However, he had always come around in the end. Tony was truly a philanthropist, whether he acknowledged it or not, and inside his chest beat a heart that was filled with compassion and the need to help anyone he could that very few wealthy individuals could claim to have. "You should still try to find one, just in case. You never know."

"I know. I'll work harder, I promise."

Pepper gave him a smile. "I know you will."

The two remained silent as Pepper continued to try to organize her thoughts. Tony knew it had to be difficult to try to deal with so many things at the same time, so he patiently waited for her to be ready. After a few minutes of Pepper opening and closing her mouth, she finally sighed loudly and cleared her throat before she began.

"Six months of captivity is a lot of time to recount. I can't tell you everything that happened, but I can give you an idea. But please don't ask me to answer questions I can't respond to, alright?"

Tony frowned in disappointment but agreed. "That's better than nothing, I guess."

"Alright," Pepper began. "The Makluan Guardian, Axonn-Karr, took me to help him take back the rings from Gene. At first I refused to help him because he didn't ask nicely; he just said that I had to help him and you know I don't like taking orders from anyone." The affirmation of her rebellious attitude made him smile, and he dared to hold her hand in his, reveling when she did not stop him from doing do.

"But then he showed me what was happening on Earth with the Makluan, and I decided that I couldn't let Gene, or anyone else, use the power of the rings to do what the Makluan had been doing to other planets and what they tried to do to Earth. Once I accepted to aid him, I used my armor to help him fight Gene. Eventually the armor crapped out due to lack of maintenance, so Axonn-Karr began teaching me combat strategies and alien martial arts. I'm not an expert or anything, but it saved my butt a few times when fighting Gene. Even though Gene had all ten rings at first, Axonn and I were slowly able to take them all from him, one-by-one. Each time we got one back, the next time we encountered Gene it got easier and easier until it was no challenge at all."

The redhead took in a deep breath. She was not sure if she had somehow lost some of her ability to speak long and fast, or the conversation was just exhausting and difficult for her, but she felt the need to stop for a moment and regain her composure. "Eventually, Axonn was able to remove the Dragonseed from Gene, which was difficult to do when he still had all the rings. Our deal was that once he had all ten rings and Gene was relieved of the only thing that allowed him to wield the rings, I was going to be sent back home. However, the day I was supposed to come back –about two months ago, Gene pulled a fast one on us." Pepper sighed, the memories of the last two months of her imprisonment returning to her.

Tony wanted her to speed up her story, and perhaps add more detail to it, but he had accepted that he was going to take whatever he could from her, and leave it at that. This was the closest he was ever going to get to finding out what happened to her, and he was sure as hell he was not going to ruin it now.

"Anyway," she continued. "Gene found some sort of diadem that allowed him to control the rings from afar. Since he didn't have the Dragonseed anymore, he couldn't do much with it, but it helped him find our location and take him there. The diadem is also of Makluan origin, so it took the wearer to wherever the rings were, even if he could not use them. One moment I'm about to go home, and the next I'm pinned to the ground by Gene."

Tony bit his lips to suppress a loud growl, but he forgot he was still holding Pepper's hand. When she felt his hand tense on hers, she squeezed it back and gave him a reassuring smile when he locked eyes with her.

"Long story short: that was the first time we fought him with the diadem. For some reason, the diadem was somewhat reacting to Gene, and Axonn didn't know why, and every time we encountered him, he was better at manipulating the diadem. We fought him about two more times before he outsmarted Axonn and took us both prisoners. That's when it got…creepy." Pepper paused again and scratched the back of her head.

"Gene was convinced that Axonn had bestowed me with the Dragonseed, but I kept telling him that he hadn't. I was just there to get the rings back, not to play Makluan. Axonn did give me some Makluan powers, though, but nothing that would allow me to wield the rings in the way Gene thought I could. Though, in retrospect, I see how Gene didn't believe that I didn't have the Dragonseed."

"What powers did he give you?"

"Nothing I could use against him: strength, speed, agility. Things I could use to fight off Gene, but not enough to free myself from the dimension I was trapped in with Axonn. He never actually hurt me, and he always made sure I had something to eat and wear, and a place to sleep but it wasn't a 5-star hotel, that's for sure. And when we weren't fighting Gene, he would talk to me about the universe and how it worked and tell me stories about his travels to Earth and other planets. Towards the end I kinda grew fond of him, to be honest with you. He had his heart in the right place, but I guess he had been left with no choice but to recruit my help to stop Gene from taking over the world."

"Do you still have those powers?"

"If I did, I would've flung your butt off me at the cab." She said with a chuckle Tony echoed. "No. This is why I think Axonn didn't make it out of the blast. As soon as Gene sent me back here before the blast reached me, I lost all of the perks. It actually drained me; that's why I was so beat up when I found you at the temple."

"What caused the blast?"

"Gene, the rings, the diadem and Axonn. Some Makluan energy cluster fuck, I guess." They both laughed at her choice of words. "I can't think of another way to describe it. Axonn taught me a lot of things, but he was very careful not to teach me much about his race. I guess he was afraid I would turn on him just like Gene did with the rings."

"So, when Gene captured you and Axonn, what happened during that time?"

"Nothing and everything, at the same time. We spent most of the time locked up. I wasn't sure if we were on Earth, another planet or another dimension. It was always dark and cold. The only times I would come out of my cell was when Gene wanted to convince me to marry him. I'm pretty sure I spent most of my time in there asleep or in stasis. I don't remember eating much, or being very much aware of my surroundings."

"Why did Gene want to marry you?"

"Well, it goes back his belief that Axonn had given me the Dragonseed. Apparently, his stepfather – whatever his name was – had been able to somewhat wield the rings because Gene's mom had accepted co-responsibility of the rings from the man who would had been the next Mandarin if he hadn't died young."

"You mean Gene's dad?"

"Yup. So, in Gene's mind…"

"He thought that if you guys got married, he would be able to wield the rings again."

Pepper nodded with a sigh.

"But, if you knew you didn't have the Dragonseed, why did you agree to marry him, anyway?"

"Because…because he threatened Axonn-Karr…and you…"

"Me?" Tony pointed a finger to his chest. "Pepper, don't tell me you got married to that jerk to protect me?"

Pepper's silence was the only response he got to his question.

"Dammit, Pepper! What the hell were you thinking? You know that I can take him on! Especially if he didn't have any rings. His martial arts don't stand a chance against repulsor technology!"

"Oh, I knew that," Pepper agreed. "So at first I told him to go to hell."

"But?"

"But then he got smart."

"How so?"

"Well, the diadem is not only a way to locate the rings; it can also transfer someone's consciousness to somebody else."

"OK?"

"So, Gene said that if I didn't marry him, he would transfer his consciousness to Axonn and go find you and kill you, then kill Rhodey, and everyone else I cared about."

"Well, he could have done that anyway to get the rings without having to marry you, right?"

"No. The rings respond to the consciousness, not the body. Even if Gene transferred his mind to Axonn, it would still be Gene and the rings would have not responded to his command unless I married him and agreed to share responsibility of the power, IF I had had the Dragonseed in the first place like he thought I did. But Axonn was very careful never to do that to me. I guess he knew Gene would try to pull that off from the very start."

"But you still married him. Even if you had no power over the rings, you still married him."

"Yes."

"Because of me."

"I, well…I couldn't let him harm you, Tony. I couldn't have lived with myself if I had."

"And, how am I supposed to live with myself knowing I'm responsible for you having to marry Gene Khan?"

"I don't regret what I did, Tony. I didn't suffer much through it, if that's what you're worried about. It was worth it if it spared your life."

"And what about your life?"

Pepper shrugged. "It worked out in the end, right? I'm here, aren't I?"

"You are, Pepper, and I'm so happy that you're here but…I…I have to ask. Did Gene try to…? Did you two…?" Tony could not finish his question but he knew Pepper would understand what he was getting at.

"If he did…and succeeded… would that change your mind about us?"

"No," Tony responded immediately. "But that will get me started working faster on the zombie cure so I can revive his ass and kill him slowly, especially if you tell me he tried to take advantage of you every day you were there."

"Not at first," she admitted and instinctively hugged herself as she looked away from Tony's guilty and angered expression. "The first month after we got married he thought that just marrying him would suffice, but the more days that passed by and he didn't regain power over the rings, the more frustrated he became. When the last month began, he tried to talk me into making it…consensual…but I just couldn't do it."

Tony gulped, bracing himself for what she was about to say. He could tell it was not easy on her either, and certainly much more difficult than it was for him to hear, so he stood up from the couch, walked up to her, picked her up in his arms, sat on the couch himself, and placed her on his lap in a similar position he had done so the first night she returned and he had taken them both inside his shower. Pepper surrounded his neck with her arms and rested her head on the side of his.

"The last three weeks I was there, he tried to…force his will on me. Sometimes I was able to fight him off and sometimes I just couldn't, but he actually could never bring himself to do it. There were several times he had me where he wanted, but instead of taking the final step, he would stop. He would then apologize profusely to me and run out of the room, but he would then return the next day and it was another day of playing tug-o-war. It was as if his guilt of the day before had never existed at all. I'd always try to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't listen and return the next day when he was unsuccessful. The last day I was there, however, was the one day he didn't stop."

Tony closed his eyes and pulled her even closer to him even though she thought it was not possible. "He's lucky he's dead, Pepper. I would've neutered the hell out of him."

"He didn't stop… he almost did it…but he didn't get to…finish…"

"What do you mean?"

"Axonn figured out what he was doing, and when he knew Gene was in my room, he escaped his prison somehow and came into the room right on time to stop him. That's when the blast happened, and Gene used the power of the diadem to send me back home." Pepper closed her eyes and her mind wandered off to that last moment between them.

"I have enough of you, Gene Khan," Axonn-Karr spat to a hardly dressed Gene. When he had walked in on them, Gene had had just enough time to throw on his pants, and to Pepper he threw the blanket to cover her nude form. "You have done enough terrible things to this female, and to this world. I will stop you today."

"You still don't understand," Gene responded. "I want to make the world a better place! It is my birthright to rid the world of evil!"

"By becoming its absolute ruler?"

"Of course! There is no other way."

"So, your birthright entitles you to abuse this woman every day?" The Makluan Guardian pointed to Pepper who was still on the ground where Gene had thrown her to protect her from Axonn-Karr's surprise attack on them. "Is this the way to become the great Mandarin your ancestor once was?"

"I have no choice! If you'd just give me the rings and hadn't given her the Dragonseed, I wouldn't have to resort to this."

"If you had been worthy of the rings, I wouldn't have had to take them away from you."

Pepper was still recovering from the shock of the attack, clutching the blanket closer to her body. Gene had been so close to getting what he wanted, or what he thought would get him what he was seeking. She did not want to think what would had happened if the Makluan had not walked in when he did.

Her shock dissipated, however, when she felt another blast land close to her. Axonn had taught her to be independent from his protection and always seek a way out, but she was so dazed and confused, perhaps Gene's doing, that she was having a difficult time telling which way was left and which was right, let alone where the damned exit was located.

"Not gonna make it anyway," she mumbled when another blast hit near her. She knew how fiercely Gene and Axonn fought, and right now she had nothing to protect herself with. Hell, she did not even have any clothes on.

"PEPPER!" The sound of her name made her look up to see an energy blast nearing her. The impact never made it to her, though, since Gene ran up to her and tackled her so that she lay flat on the ground. "Pepper, get out of here! You're in danger in here," he told her.

"You mean almost getting taken advantage of by you is not dangerous?" she spat back, having a difficult time believing the man that had just tried to take her by force was now trying to protect her. "You're in the wrong here, Gene. I don't have the Dragonseed, and the rings no longer belong to you."

Gene's scowl grew wider but when another energy blast headed their way, he picked her up from the floor, blanket and all and jumped away from where a crater now lay. He landed them both carefully away from Axonn before he returned his attention to the girl. "I'm sorry, Pepper. I really am. I wish it didn't have to be this way. It's hard for me too, you know? The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you, but like I told you before, nothing will stand in my way to become the most powerful being in the universe."

"The universe is a big place, Gene. Those rings are nothing compared to what else is out there."

"They are all I have of my mother, Pepper. I'm not stopping now."

Yet another blast headed their way, and Gene stood in front of Pepper before he used one of his weapons to bounce it right back. He then ran toward Axonn to continue the fight while Pepper carefully avoided any attacks as she began looking around for her clothes. She was not sure how she had done it, but in a matter of minutes she was all dressed up, but it was then that she felt something hit her squarely in the stomach, taking the air right out of her.

Her back hit the wall behind her, and when she looked down she saw it had been Gene who had hit her. Axonn had hit him hard enough to send him flying off toward her, and while he had tried avoiding slamming into her, the blast had been too strong to fight back. Both teens landed on the ground with a thud, and Pepper thought Gene was out for the count until he wobbled his way up. He only made it halfway up before he collapsed on the floor again, and Pepper held on to him as he began standing up once more.

"I'm sorry, Pepper." He gritted his teeth, eyes closed. "I'm sorry for what I put you through. If Stark knew about it, he would tear me apart. I'd deserve it, though, and I now wish I hadn't gone that far. Please forgive me, Pepper. Please forgive me before I die."

Despite the woes he had put her through, Pepper's heart still went out to him. She held him tightly in her arms and it was then she noticed he was bleeding profusely from his back. "Gene, you…you're bleeding."

"Please, Pepper! Please tell me you forgive me."

"But…"

"Please!"

Pepper lips' thinned but she nodded. No one had ever done such terrible things to her, but she doubted any other person would have apologized for them. "I forgive you, Gene. Now stop this before you die."

"It's too late, Potts," he said as he opened his eyes and gave her a weak smile. "Axonn and I are dying here, but I'm not letting that happen to you."

"What? Wait, Gene…we can still fix this…we can…"

"No," he shook his head, slowly caressing her face with the back of his hand. "You're the best friend I could've ever asked for, even if I didn't appreciate it until now. I love you, Pepper, and I'm sorry it ended this way."

Gene's lips landed on Pepper's forehead for an instant before she heard him scream a battle cry. A bright light then followed, blinding her for a brief moment and the next time her eyes opened she was in a dark alley next to the Tomorrow Academy. It was starting to rain and it was late at night, and she stayed on the ground for a long time, wondering and thinking about what had just occurred.

"Gene," she whispered as her legs moved of their own accord and sent her on the starting point of finding those she had left behind.

"Gene," Tony heard the redhead mumble near him. She had fallen asleep at some point during their conversation and he had just brought her upstairs to rest on her bed. As he had bent down and kissed her on the forehead she had uttered the other man's name, and when he cupped the side of her face with this, she spoke again, leaning into the touch. "Gene, I'm sorry. I love you, too."

A single tear fell down from her closed eyes and with its path it carved a wound in the inventor's heart. He took a step back and stared at the girl for a minute as his mind realized that while he had said he loved her, she had never actually said it back.

A/N: OK, here is another chapter because you all rock, and because I won't upload one for a few days. I gotta get to work on my real-life projects, so please sit tight. Thank you for review and reading :)Until then!