Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, their lives, the actors, their lives, the movies, the comics. Zilch. I do own a great amount of impatience and anxiety, which I'm afraid, will drive me insane waiting for IM3.

Author's Note: Now before you read this chapter, I took some initiative in determining the name of Tony's enemy in this story (let me explain). I researched what I could (since I warned you guys I never read more than two comics), and found that this enemy has various aliases aside from the one EVERYONE knows him by. I chose one that I liked and made it his favorite to use. Don't be upset if I'm wrong. Please. Creative purposes led me to it. I might be off, but in the end, it's all in good fun. Also, expect more frequent updates since I have written about seven chapters now! This one is a bit longer than the first two. Sorry for any mistakes. Enjoy! AN2: I really hope that you guys have all seen the trailer for Iron Man 3. It looks…amazing, awesome, mind-blowing, epic. May will take forever to get here I'm sure. Until then, I shall resort to reading fics, writing them, and watching the trailer over and over.

His body was burning from the inside out. His head was spinning and his hearing was diminished as the blood rushed in his ears. He could feel everything, and he wished it would stop. The hairs on his arms stood on end as a wave of painful shivers made its way down to his toes. It was excruciating. Not even having his chest ripped opened without anesthetics hurt this intensely. He was dying, he was alive, but he was dying, and all he could hear was the faint sound of Pepper yelling out his name.

Tony shot up in bed. Sweat beads ran down from his forehead as the sheets clung to the rest of his soaked body. He smoothed his two palms over his face in an effort to relieve his tension. After he took a deep breath he glanced over to his left to reassure himself that Pepper was safely next to him. A heavy sigh escaped his mouth as his eyes took her in. She was facing him in her sleep with her left hand tucked safely under the warmth of his pillow. She always did the same thing in the middle of the nights, as if his warmth helped sooth her in her sleep with the fact that he was just as safely next to her.

He let out a small groan of frustration when he realized he would not be able to fall back to sleep. Pepper stirred slightly and burrowed herself deeper into the blankets. A small smile crept on his face and he leaned down to kiss her forehead. Satisfied in knowing that she would be alright, Tony walked toward his sanctuary.

"Wake up, Jarvis." Tony snapped his fingers to light up his multiple smart screens.

"Good morning, Sir."

"What time is it?" Tony asked his artificial friend while he sat back in his chair and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"It is currently four twenty-eight, sir." Tony sighed and sat up with his elbows on his workstation. "Sir, I detect high levels of stress."

"I'm fine, Jarvis." He paused to gather himself. "Pull up file NTHT0503, please."

"Right away, Sir." The display brought up the folder he had been looking through a couple of days ago. He read and re-analyzed the information in front of him. Everything he was seeing made him nervous.

Tony read a file of notes written by Fury. The government officially and openly supported the labs that were working and experimenting with nanotechnology. Four labs were currently under their financial aid. One of those labs, Truezdail Incorporated, was operating out of El Segundo, California. Each lab had a sophisticated website that detailed their programs and gave some insight on their progress. Truezadail, however, had a smaller website that only outlined their scientific goals and described other research they were a part of. No mention of their work in nanotech.

Tony sighed. His assignment could take longer than he expected. "Jarvis, run a trace on this website. I want to know the location of the IP address and the databases that are being used."

"Yes sir. Might I also suggest looking into the latest accessed date?"

Tony nodded absentmindedly as he stared at the latest file of information. "Good idea."

"What's a good idea? Especially at four in the morning." Tony jumped a bit at her sudden yet obvious intrusion. "Wow, if I startled you then something is really wrong." She walked towards him.

"Uh, I didn't see you come in." He scratched his head.

"You do realize that's a glass wall, right?" She smiled sleepily pointing over her shoulder.

He smiled softly at her. "What are you doing awake, Pep?"

She sauntered over to stand beside him with an arm around his shoulders for support. "What are you doing down here awake at this time?"

"I wanted to finish my homework early?" He grinned and she shook her head. "I had a…uh…nightmare."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Pepper ran her hand through his hair to sooth him. Tony shook his head and turned his attention back to the screens. "Alright." Pepper sighed. She looked to the screens as well. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the words in red. "Nanotechnology? You're reading about nanotechnology instead of snuggling in bed next to me?" She faked a hurt look.

"Yes. No. It's more than just nanotechnology." He backpedaled.

"But it is nanotechnology…like your god awful Nano Ball?" He laughed at her. "I hate that thing. Did I ever tell you that I hate that thing?"

"Why do you think I always throw it to you? But no, this is a bit more complicated than a nano ball."

Pepper looked curiously at him and scoot a chair beside him. "Go on."

Tony sighed. "You should be sleeping."

"So should you. Explain. Is this part of your next mission?"

"Yes." He looked down to his hands. "Fury wants this dealt with right away. We have enough to suspect foul play."

"What exactly is the assignment?" She yawned quietly before looking at him in the eye.

"We think that someone in the government is running a lab where they are conducting human trials."

"Human trials? For research on Nanotech?" Pepper's eyes widened. "I'm guessing it's not research with a nano ball."

"Not likely. We're not entirely sure what exactly the trials are. Or which of the four labs is the culprit, but I have an idea. I'm having Jarvis trace the website to a specific lab here in Southern California."

"What makes you think it's that one? There are three other labs."

"Yeah, but none stood out like this one. They might as well wear red in crowd of white." He sighed and took her hand into his.

"I can see your worry lines." She smiled.

"Worry lines? I don't have worry lines." He subconsciously went to smooth out his forehead with his fingers. "I can't believe you said I have worry lines. Not cool."

Pepper grinned and moved closer to kiss his cheek. "So by when will Jarvis have what you need?"

"In an hour or so. You should go to bed, though."

It was Pepper's turn to sigh. She looked at the screens and back to her superhero boyfriend. He smiled as she took his face in her hands and brought their noses close together. "We should go to bed. You can look at this later, after you've had some sleep."

"Pepper…"

"Don't 'Pepper' me. I know exactly what will happen if I leave you down here. You'll fall asleep with your face on the table only to wake up sore as hell in the morning. And you know who will have to fix that?" He nodded with a smirk. "That's right…ME. And I won't be gentle about it."

"I like it when you talk dirty to me. Besides, I hear it's better when both parties are good, not gentle. I think I would prefer that." Tony laughed and moved to kiss her, but she backed away.

"You won't like it when I have my knee on your neck."

"Hmm. Dirty and Flexible. I'm the luckiest man alive." He moved to kiss her again as she reprimanded him with her look. "Ok, ok." Tony took Pepper's hand in his and stood to walk out of the shop. "Jarvis, run the analysis. I'll be down in a few hours."

"Yes, sir."

"So can we test that whole flexibility thing right now?" Tony turned his head to ask Pepper who was smiling from ear to ear. "Or the dirty thing? Your pick."

Pepper laughed softly as she unlaced her fingers from his and walked out the shop door first. "Why not both?" She made sure to use the same grin he wore when he tried to seduce her. She realized it had worked, because as she walked up the steps Tony stood fixed in place trying to even out his breathing.

Truezdail Inc.

El Segundo, CA

The computer engineer sat at his desk with a cup of coffee in his hand as he typed lines of code with the other. His eyes constantly drifted from the computer screen before him and the security measures screen to the left. It had become second nature for them to glance at that screen every fifteen seconds. It was what they were good at, and it was what the boss expected of them.

Arash set his cup of coffee down on the table top and wiped some sweat off his forehead. He squeezed his eyes shut once to refocus his vision. The lines had begun to blur together and that was never a good thing when code was being written. He typed his last line and was about to save and close the command prompt screen when an alarm flashed on the security measures screen.

"What the hell is that, Arash?" His partner slammed the door to the room open as he made his way towards him with his coffee in hand.

Arash worked frantically to open several windows to locate the intrusion. "I don't know. We have a security breach in the ghost server."

"Well find it!" He sat down at his own computer to assist. "How the hell could anyone get into that server?"

They both typed furiously, but to no avail. "I can't trace it. No signal. No IP. Whoever it is, they must have highly sophisticated software." Arash wiped at the sweat that made its way into his eyes.

"Bastards. Whoever it is…we'll find them. We have to. Kahn will want us to stop at nothing to track this intruder down."

Arash stopped typing to look at his partner. "When Kahn finds out, he'll kill us before we get the chance."

Back at the mansion, Tony concentrated on his upgrade of the Mark VII in the short amount of time he knew he had. He worked well under pressure, preferred it actually, but lately it seemed his patience was running thin and his stress was on the rise.

As he tightened a mechanism from inside one of the gauntlets, he contemplated his options. He could go in guns blazing, something he particularly liked to do. Or he could be cautious about the situation and work at it from all possible angles. He hadn't decided which of the two was best, but he was positive that in the end, it would take everything he had to get to the bottom on it.

After Jarvis ran the trace on Truezdail's website, Tony confirmed his suspicions about the California-based lab. They had spent a lot of time and a lot of money to secure private files within in order to avoid accidental viewing by anyone who wasn't them. Hidden in one of their servers was a heavily encrypted folder that contained a number of hidden files.

Tony remembered one of the videos that he had come across. It had been captured during one of the very first human trials. The images on his smart screen had disturbed him and stayed with him in the back of his eyes. One particular subject was injected by a scientist as several suits watched the event. As the solution spread, the man's body became engulfed with a black film that seeped through his skin. The layer hardened, crushing his bones and killing him instantly. Another case showed a female patient, similarly built like Pepper. Her body stiffened once the solution was introduced into her body, she convulsed violently, and the same black sludge oozed from her eyes, nose, and mouth.

Tony cringed as he shook the vision from his mind. And as he inserted his hand into the gauntlet, he narrowed his eyes on an invisible target on his wall. Success. A perfect circle was blown out from where the ray hit the solid surface.

"Sir, you have an incoming call from Director Fury." Tony rolled his eyes.

"Alright, J." Tony took off his gauntlet and picked up the other hand. "How can I help you sour patch?"

"Stark. What have you got for me?"

Tony rolled his eyes again at Fury's quick query. "No time for hellos, huh."

"Stark…" His voice sounded irritated and Tony laughed at his accomplishment.

"You were right. One of the four labs is running secret human trials."

"We suspected as much. Had the pictures staring us in the face. Which one?"

"Truezdail Inc. In El Segundo."

"We need to infiltrate. We need you in there."

"My thoughts exactly."

"What else did you find out?"

Tony set his tools down and looked up at the file that was showing on his screen. "We were wrong. It's not someone from the government. The government is funding them, but for what they believe to be simple nanotech experiments. Like nano balls and such. But someone from the outside is running that lab. I can't pinpoint who yet. But whoever is behind it and keeping the funds is based somewhere in China. "

"Did I hear you correctly? Did you say China?" Tony could swear he heard Fury's mind processing the information.

Tony nodded to himself. "Records in one of the files show that the transactions for the finances have been completed in China. Someone named Gene Kahn has signed for the deposits. I can't seem to find anything on this guy. He has no records, no driver's license, no social security number, nothing. Not here and not in China." Tony rubbed his face in frustration.

"Hmm." Fury's curiosity and concern could be heard on the line. "Let me worry about that. I will have my people dig further. When can you get out to the facility?"

Tony reclined back in his seat with a sigh and straightened out when he saw Pepper make her way down the stairs. "I'm upgrading the armor as we speak. I'll be ready to go as soon as Jarvis finishes the software update."

"Alright. Keep me posted, Stark."

The line disconnected as Pepper caught the last of the conversation. She smiled at Tony and made her way to the brown leather couch in the room.

"Hey gorgeous." Tony spun around in his chair to look at her.

She smiled softly before she sighed. "Hey."

"Uh oh." He got up and walked over to sit next to her. "What's wrong?"

She shifted to look at him. "Nothing. I need you to sign this." She handed him a manila folder.

Tony whistled under his breath when he saw the label and took the papers from her. "Official legal medical documents. Nice." He looked up to find her staring sadly at him. "Oh come on, Pep. This is nothing. It has to be done. We signed yours six years ago. I can't believe we waited so long to do this." He rubbed her shoulder gently. "Besides, I'm Iron Man. What could possible go wrong?"

"A lot?" She smiled gloomily.

"Well…in that case… it's good to be doing this then. This way my life is in your hands." He grinned and she shook her head.

"No pressure." She rolled her eyes playfully.

"Nope. None. You can let me go if you want." He laughed.

"Tony…sign so I can get out of your hair."

He took the pen she offered him and scribbled way. "What if I don't want you out of my hair?" He handed the file back to her. "Here, your turn."

Pepper took her turn at signing the documents. "I have things to do. I will be upstairs if you need anything."

"I need you." Tony stopped her in her tracks with his words. She spun around slowly and smiled sweetly at him.

"You have me." He got up from the couch and walked closer to her. Just a few inches of space separated their bodies.

Tony nodded with a grin. "Lucky me." He wrapped his arms around her waist. "Care to stay down here for a while, Ms. Potts?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Pepper didn't want to smile at his comment, but she did. It frustrated as much as it excited her when he began a conversation as the sweet Tony and ended it with his customary playboy talk. It often surprised her when he took her out to dinner or for a long walk on the beach and he behaved like a proper gentleman the whole way through. She liked those days, but Pepper would not deny that when he…got out of line…it made her heart flutter with pride. Pride at knowing that out of all her female species in the world, Tony only wanted her. Openly and wholly.

So she kissed him. She closed the gap that separated them and connected their lips in a painfully passionate kiss. "How long is a while, Mr. Stark?" Pepper asked in between their kissing.

He quickly turned them around and walked them carefully back towards the couch. "Forever?" He smiled against her lips before he moaned at the sensation of her hands in his hair.

"Sounds good to me." Their bodies landed on the couch when Pepper pulled Tony closer to her.

To be continued…