Ok, sorry this is a bit late, but I've had LOADS to do the past two weeks. First off, I'll tell you a little bit about the thing I'm most excited about, Wing Chun. Yes, I've finally got my arse back into martial arts and whadya know, there's a Wing Chun Centre in Manchester. Now, some of you (the Downey Stalkers) may have put two and two together and are currently buzzing as much as I was when I found out, but for those who aren't as stalkerish as the rest of us, lemme tell you a few things. RDJ does Wing Chun, that's kinda what got me into the idea. Yeah, it's kinda cool I do the same form as him, but that's not all. The building I train in is called the Ching Mo Centre, and some months ago, a certain gorgeous man jumped out of one of the windows after a large French guy. Yep, I'm training in the same room that Robert Downey Jr jumped out of in Sherlock Holmes. Me and my Sifu got into a whole conversation about it, and not only did he get to meet the man himself (there's a picture hanging on the wall to prove this fact) but he also knows RDJ's Sifu personally! I gotta tell you, when I saw the picture I nearly had a nervous breakdown. Surreal much? Cannot wait until they start filming again! I really hope he comes back! Eee, anyways, I'm in sooooooooo much pain from the actual training, so it's been a bit of a lazy week. Forgive me?

Song of the Day: Black Sabbath – Iron Man

Ooh, finally, this chapter kinda jumps backwards and forwards, so have fun (Y).

P.S. I suck at Geography.

December 24th, 10:49pm

Pepper felt like shit.

She'd been trying to get to sleep for the past hour, but for some reason a little niggling feeling of guilt kept kicking her cerebellum. Not about the 'situation', she was totally justified about that, although it had taken an awful lot of willpower not to crumple when he'd been trying to persuade her that he was changing. No, she felt bad because she'd left him on his own.

Usually it wouldn't have bothered her so much that he was alone, he always had a party or seven to go to, but this year, he'd declined any and all invites and asked to spend Christmas with her. And the fact that he'd gone so far as to cook-

Oh God, the turkey! She'd probably go back and find stuffing over every surface. Pepper groaned at this and pulled the covers over her head, as if this would stop the niggler. No chance. It was now questioning her justification. Was she the right one in all of this? There was no doubt, surely. No, it was stupid to even think it. Tony Stark in a committed relationship? It was too obscure to even register.

Yes, he was charming, and handsome, and intelligent...and had an above decent body...and gorgeous eyes-

She shook her head to get back to her train of thought.

-but he had never been in a relationship longer than a few hours. Pepper doubted he would even know what to do in that sort of situation. True, he had never cheated on a girl before, but that was only because he never actually stayed past bedtime. It was also true that while he always took his flings into his 'spare room' (a room at the complete opposite side of the house to his actual bedroom), he had taken Pepper to his actual bedroom.

The niggler kicked and stamped more furiously at this. Had he taken there because it was closest? No, the largest of the two kitchens was pretty much in the centre of the house, so it was either or. He had chosen to take her there. She sighed heavily.

"You're reading way too much into things Potts." She mumbled to herself.

Or was she? Not only had he taken her to his real bedroom, he had willingly fallen asleep afterwards. She had known him long enough to know that a). she couldn't have worn him out, and b). he never went to sleep. Ever. He would always either go to his actual bed or down to his workshop. This was one of the things that had scared her slightly. Granted she hadn't minded at the time, but hindsight is funny like that.

She started to think over what she had said to him and cringed when she remembered the look on his face. She had completely ripped his feelings to shreds it seemed, but it was for the best, there could be no denying that.

...so why did she still feel guilty for leaving him alone?

"Ugh, fine, I'll go and see him tomorrow." She snapped into the darkness. She turned over and punched the pillow into a more comfortable position. The niggling stopped, departing with a smug laugh, and sleep followed soon after.

December 25th, 8:23am

Pepper pulled up into the garage next to Tony's house and shut off the engine, and then just sat there, gripping the wheel, trying to think of what she would say to him when she saw him.

"I'm just here for Christmas...I don't want to ruin our friendship if it's still there...ugh fuck it." She flung the car door open and stepped out. "Good morning Jarvis." She said as cheerfully as she could.

"Good morning, Miss Potts." Replied the AI. "And might I add, Merry Christmas."

"Oh, thanks." She said, surprised. "Same to you. Is Mr. Stark up yet?" she locked her car and began walking towards the door to the house.

"Affirmative." Jarvis said after a brief pause.

"Where is he?" she asked. Another pause.

"Mr. Stark is currently on a mission."

Pepper stopped short of the door. "On Christmas? Fury called him away on Christmas Day?" she shook her head and carried on up the stairs.

"Negative, Miss."

"What do you mean 'negative'?" she reached the top of the stairs and then turned to walk down to his workshop, which he had partly turned into a mission control room.

"Mr. Stark received a call from the Initiative at approximately 2:13pm on the 23rd December." Jarvis said.

"You mean he's been gone two days?" she asked, shocked. She keyed in her code and pulled the door open, walking over to his computer and pulling up his mission logs. "Where was he called to?"

"Three point eight miles south-east of Baghdad. Dr. Banner required some assistance."

Pepper tapped a few keys to attempt to bring up his current position, but was met with a message stating that 'the connection has been lost'. Her heart jumped into her throat.

"Jarvis, com-link please."

"I'm afraid I cannot perform that task."

"Why not?" Pepper's voice shook slightly.

"The Iron Man suit is offline, it is without power." He said as if this information was of no importance.

"What do you mean he's offline?" Pepper's voice raised. "What happened?" there was yet another pause whilst Jarvis gathered some information.

"I do not know exactly. Amongst the most recent unfriendly weapon assessment, there was a form of electro-magnetic pulsar gun. An explosion destroyed the weapon but a blast emitted from it. If the blast reached Mr. Stark, this could have caused the loss of power."

"What would that do to Tony?" she was near hyperventilation by this point, frantically tapping on the keyboard for some kind of positive information.

"I do not know exactly." Jarvis repeated. Pepper closed her eyes, there was after all a limit on the amount of information Jarvis could give her, however she was hoping on something more.

"Give me a run down on everything that happened from the time he set off til now." She began pacing whilst Jarvis spoke to her.

"Mr. Stark received the call at 2:13pm, he suited up and left the house at 2:46pm, heading for the co-ordinates given to him by the Initiative. He met with Dr. Banner at approximately 7:37pm, and the last voice command was received at 12:09am yesterday. The connection was severed at 12:14am on the 24th December." Jarvis brought this information up on the large screen on the wall that Pepper was pacing in front of.

"What was the last voice command?" she asked curiously.

"Code 5253-7."

"And what is that?" she had never heard of this code.

"I am not permitted to reveal that information."

"Ugh fine." She threw herself down on the couch opposite the large screen and buried her head in her hands.

She definitely shouldn't have left him on his own.

23rd December, 2:10pm

Tony was trying to distract himself, and failing miserably. He was usually able to do it with expertise when he was bored. He would just find something to fiddle with, usually something on one of his cars, and tedium averted. This time, however, he wasn't trying to beat boredom, he was trying to rid the deep feeling of…of…he didn't even know what it was, but he knew it was all Pepper's fault. His stomach was in knots and he felt like he was trying to breathe from the very top of Everest, his lungs aching from the need of more oxygen than was currently available. He was about three seconds from caving and pouring himself a stiff drink when his private com-link rang.

"Thank God." He threw the ratchet spanner he was wielding onto his tool desk and rubbed his eyes. "Who is it Jarvis?"

"The call is coming from the Avengers Initiative, sir. Mr. Fury."

"Put him through." Not the person he had wanted to be calling him, but work would be better than sitting and stewing. "Fury, what's this? Early Christmas greetings?"

"In a sense." The voice of Nick Fury boomed at him in surround sound. "I need you in Baghdad an hour ago. We sent Banner in to assist Initiative scientists in the region but some of your weapons were fired over the research facility they are operating out of."

Tony scrunched up his eyes. "My weapons? I thought we got them all? Don't tell me we've got another mole in the company."

"No, these are last year's models, but still, Banner's having a hard time fighting them off by himself. The research he's trying to protect is extremely important to us. There isn't time to fill you in properly, just get there asap." The line went dead and Tony sighed, cracking his knuckles and standing up.

"Ah well, back to work." He stepped over to the platform to suit up. "Jarvis, have we got info?" the robots began piecing his armour together.

"Affirmative, sir." Jarvis replied. "The co-ordinated are logged, less than four miles from Bagdad. A partial list of Stark Weaponry has been fed through by Dr. Banner."

"How's the Green Machine doing on his own?" Tony grinned as the faceplate came down over his head and locked into place.

"Dr. Banner is still fighting well, although signs of fatigue were reported. I suggest urgency."

"Duly noted." He said, kicking off from the ground and zooming up through the hatches he had made from the holes in the roof.

Tony's House, 25th December, 5:18pm

Pepper was going slightly insane. She had ransacked everything she could think of in the mission log, traced back to Tony's last known co-ordinates and tried several different methods to get the com-link working, even resorting to calling him on his cell, only to find it was unavailable, meaning it was either dead, turned off (which she doubted) or completely destroyed and currently lying in a smoking pile of broken metal and bones. She prayed it wasn't the latter, but her brain wouldn't let her think otherwise. This was the same part of her brain that was screaming at her to call either Rhodey or Fury. However, the common sense side of her brain was screaming back that Tony had previously been on a mission longer than two days in the past, and there was no point worrying Rhodey, and after all, if something had happened to either Tony or Banner, Fury would know.

So there was nothing to worry about…

Right?

Baghdad, 23rd December, 7:37pm

Tony dodged a random missile as he blitzed through the sky towards the huge green figure on the ground ahead of him. He watched as the Hulk punched another missile out of the way and ripped the head off a third, throwing it back at the machine that had fired it, sending it up into a ball of flames and explosions.

"Doesn't look like the big guy needs my help after all." Tony commented.

"Health stats report that the Hulk form of Dr. Banner is reaching maximum fatigue. He will more than likely return to his normal form in a matter of minutes." Jarvis countered. Tony sighed.

"I guess this is where I come in then." He said as another missile and a heard of bullets made their way towards him. "Divert power to weapons, bring up the targets on the HUD and get to it Jarvis!"

Tony's House, 28th December, 1:48pm

"Pepper, calm down, he'll be fine." Rhodey tried to reassure the frantic woman sat beside him. Pepper had finally caved and called Rhodey that morning in floods of tears. Unable to decipher what she was trying to tell him, he had only discovered the story when he had entered Tony's house and calmed her down enough for her to speak coherently.

"But what if he's not?" Pepper hiccupped. "What if he's really hurt? Oh God, the last thing I said to him was so harsh, Rhodey, what if I never get to apologise?" tears began forming in her eyes again, but Rhodey grabbed her by the shoulders roughly and gave her a sharp shake.

"Pepper, listen to me, ok?" he looked her straight in the eyes. "What did I tell you when Tony was kidnapped? When you came to me like you are now?"

"That he couldn't be dead because if he was his ghost would come back out of spite to annoy the living shit out of us?"

"Exactly." He smiled and a corner of Pepper's mouth lifted, but her eyes were still sad.

"Rhodey, this is different, he volunteered for this, he walked into danger." She got up off the couch they were seated on and walked over to Tony's mini drinks cabinet, pulling out a horrendously expensive bottle of scotch, pouring herself two fingers and downing it in one gulp. She started to pour another one but Rhodey's hand stopped her.

"Look, just trust me, he's fine. We would have heard something by now if he wasn't." Pepper snorted and shoved his hand away, downing another glass. Rhodey took the bottle off her. "You know, he's gonna be pissed when he comes back and finds his best scotch all gone."

"He hasn't drunk that stuff since he came back." She swirled the few droplets left in the bottom of the glass.

"That doesn't mean you should catch him up." He said softly, placing the bottle down on the cabinet and putting a comforting arm around her shoulders. "If we don't hear anything by New Years Day, I'll go after him." He nudged her and brought her away from the cabinet. "Now, there's a turkey in the fridge upstairs that's about two days away from putrefaction, and I'm absolutely starving."

Baghdad, 24th December, 12:09am

"Banner, wake up!" Tony yelled over the sound of several loud explosions going off at once. The now human form of Bruce Banner was lying a few hundred feet away at a safer distance than Tony, who was just applying the finishing touches to getting rid of the current threat by firing time delayed bombs at the four Stark Industries 77650-FGH Missile Units that were causing the major problems. Everything else would either be taken care of in the ensuing explosion or could be easily dealt with after, but the other issue was getting Banner to a safer distance. Tony's bombs had a range of about half a mile, and he had three minutes to cover that distance as soon as he activated them.

"Bruce! Get your skinny Hulk-less ass out of sleepy land and move the fuck away!" he yelled as Banner groggily raised his head. "Jarvis, activate the bombs, now!"

"Sir, I have detected the presence of an electromagnetic device approximately a mile away and moving rapidly towards you. By my calculations, the device will be destroyed in the blast but will emit a blast of its own which could cause problems for the suit." The AI informed him.

"Great." Tony grumbled through gritted teeth. "We don't have much choice Jarvis, just activate the bombs…and initiate Code 5254-7." He fired at a large calibre bullet heading straight for him, destroying it instantly, and sped towards Banner.

"Yes sir. Good luck."

Tony grabbed a wobbly Banner and kicked off from the ground.

"Banner, you with us?" Tony shook the semi naked man and his head lolled.

"Just about." Bruce said gruffly. "Is the fight over?"

"Nearly." he picked up speed as Jarvis' warning of 90 seconds sounded in his ears. "I need you to listen to me, in about a minute and a half, and explosion is gonna eliminate those S.O.B's, but it also might fuck me up to. I dunno what's gonna happen, but I'm assuming it's gonna involve a lot of falling for the both of us, so tuck and roll, gottit?"

"I got it." Bruce said. "I think I'm getting my strength back…slowly."

"Thirty seconds. Ok, when you come round, assuming I'm still alive, you need to get me out of the suit, there's a release button under the third left rib plate, push that and it'll loosen the fixings to get me out. I should come round pretty soon after that."

"Ok, but what should I do if-"

"It's been taken care of, just remember what I-"

An astonishingly loud boom sounded in the distance, followed by a flash of yellow-orange light, and then a flash of blue which mushroomed out rapidly in all directions. The HUD flickered and died in front of his eyes, and then Tony's world went black.

TBC

Wow, that went on for a hell of a lot longer than I thought it would. I'll post the rest hopefully early next week. My internet's still down at the minute, but if all else fails I'll have to pop to the library in the week…or wait til Friday so I can steal my Nan's interwebz. I did mean to post on Wednesday, but I only finished this tonight. My bicycle got nicked on Wednesday so I had very little incentive to write. Hope this was worth the wait.