Chapter Sixteen
Pepper lay on the floor of Stark Industries building, trying to apply pressure to the cut across her abdomen, there was so much blood. Tony had left her there only moments ago, but she was starting to fade. She could hear horns honking and a loud explosion. She feared that Tony may not still be alive, until she looked up through the glass paneled ceiling and saw two forms rise through the sky.
Pepper sighed in relief. Tony was still alive.
Rhodey made his way through traffic, trying to get to Stark Industries. He had told the commander to be on high alert, just in case Iron Man failed.
"Come ON!" He yelled, punching his steering wheel and honking the horn. He was only a few miles from Stark Industries.
"Hang on Pepper." Rhodey whispered. He wasn't sure how bad it was, but he could tell from his best friend's tone of voice, that it didn't sound too good. Rhodey took a deep breath, and whatever it was that Obadiah had created must have been a high threat to the rest of the city in order to leave Pepper in the state she was in.
Just as he thought that, he saw two forms rise above the horizon, fire spewing from their feet. "Good luck, Tony." Rhodey whispered as he pulled up to Stark Industries. He opened his door and started out running.
Rhodey got up to the door and tried the handle. Locked. "Pepper!" He yelled. He squinted through the window panes on the door, and spotted her lying on the floor, blood was soaking her shirt. He pounded his fist on the door, "PEPPER!" He screamed. Rhodey glanced up, looking for windows. Some kind of way in.
He looked around and found some shards and chunks of cement blown away by the various explosions from Tony's and Obadiah's fight. He picked one up and threw it as hard as he could at the glass doors. The glass shattered in a shower and Rhodey ran through it with his hands over his head.
He sprinted to Pepper, kneeling down next to her. "Pepper?" He gripped her shoulder, and assessed her wounds. She wasn't awake, but she was breathing. A steady flow of blood made Rhodey nervous. She was looking extremely pale.
"Pepper, can you hear me?" Rhodey asked, shaking her slightly.
Her eyes opened and she clenched her jaw, she looked around for a moment, and then smiled when she saw Rhodey. "Hello..." She breathed.
Pepper grimaced in pain, "Pepper, I've got to get you out of here. Tony's orders." Rhodey said.
She nodded and tried to get up, but her body wouldn't allow it. Rhodey picked Pepper up, one arm under her knees, and the other around her back. "You'll be fine, everything will be okay." Rhodey chanted as he headed toward his car with Pepper.
Blood was all over Rhodey's shirt by the time he got to the car with Pepper. "Oh man..." Rhodey placed Pepper in the back of the car so she had more room to spread out if she needed to. Rhodey pulled his shirt off and tore it into strips and wound it around Pepper's abdomen. "Does that feel any better at all?" Rhodey asked, hoping it would help ease the pain as well as stem the blood flow.
Pepper's face was set in a frown, but she nodded at the same time. She could hardly talk. She was obviously in a lot of pain. Rhodey pulled his phone out and was just about to dial Tony's number when he heard what sounded like metal scraping together. Rhodey stepped out of the car and looked up to see a giant mass heading straight toward them. Rhodey's eyes widened as he realized that Obadiah was about to land right on top of them. He jumped to his car and grabbed Pepper's arm, dragging her out and practically throwing her to the side.
Rhodey made a dive out of the way before he was knocked out by flying debris.
Pepper hit the ground and rolled a few feet before coming to a complete stop. She groaned in pain and sat up, seeing the giant mass of metal that was Rhodey's car crunched beneath an iron giant. Her eyes widened when she spotted Rhodey, who was sprawled out on the cement, and there was a large gash on the back of his head. It made Pepper sick to her stomach, but she leaned forward nevertheless and pulled him so he was out of the way of harm. "Rhodey, you owe me one." She panted as she pulled him away, dragging him across the ground.
Pepper heard an atrocious sound coming from Obadiah's direction. She looked up to see him standing, the metals scraping against each other. Her eyes widened in horror. For those few moments, she thought he had been dead, or at least knocked out. Maybe he wouldn't notice her and Rhodey.
The giant turned in their direction and stopped. Pepper could feel his eyes boring into hers. "So you're still alive, huh?" She heard a mechanical version of Obadiah's voice ring through the air. There was no way she could run away. Even if she did, she would be leaving her friend here to die. No. There was no way out of this one, unless Tony showed up.
Obadiah raised one of his gun-clad arms and aimed at Pepper. "Your services are no longer required."
Pepper closed her eyes and waited for the bullet to penetrate her body, but it never came. With a blast of air, Tony came rushing in. He hit Obadiah in the chest, sending him flying backwards.
Obadiah flew through the air and landed on a lower roof of the Stark Industries building. Tony followed in hot pursuit, and at the same time, ordering Jarvis to call Rhodey's cell phone. He was hatching a plan.
Pepper could hear a familiar ringing noise coming from somewhere next to her. She looked around, then realized the noise was coming from Rhodey. She checked his pants pockets and finally found his cell phone unharmed and...ringing.
"Hello?" She answered. Like this was really a good time to be answering a call. She could barely talk, and she could taste bile and blood mixed together in her mouth.
"Pepper?" Tony asked.
"Ya. Rhodey's down." Pepper wheezed.
Tony whacked Obadiah over the head, trying to focus on keeping himself alive as well as talk to Pepper.
"I need you to get into the building and overload the reactor and blast the roof." Tony said, dodging a missile from Obadiah.
"How am I going to do that?" Pepper asked, she looked up at the Stark Industries building and peered at the eerie blue glow of the arc reactor.
"Go to the central console, open up all the circuits. When I get clear of the roof, I'll let you know-" Tony took a hit to the abdomen by Obadiah, sending him flying through the air. He hit the floor of the roof, leaving an indent.
"Tony?" Pepper yelled, grimacing as the exertion of yelling sent her head spinning.
Tony shook his head, trying to get himself back up and working. "Pepper, you're going to hit the master bypass button. It'll fry everything up here." Tony said through clenched teeth. He wouldn't be able to go up against Obadiah for much longer.
Pepper slowly made her way toward the building, which was only about fifteen yards away at the most, but with her wound, it would take longer, and be quite painful.
Tony fought Obadiah, hitting him with everything he could. He was running out of options, and he knew he had to buy some time for Pepper. He hoped she wouldn't pass out on the way to the building.
Tony hopped over a piece of cement and leaped onto Obadiah's back, reaching in and pulling some wires, "This looks important!" He yelled, yanking the wires.
Obadiah reached up and grabbed Tony around the waist, pulling him off of his back and throwing him down. Tony let out a painful gasp and rolled over before Obadiah could stomp down on his chest.
Pepper was almost to the main entrance, she had crawled across the asphalt to get there. She finally got to the doors, about to lean up against the glass to push it open, only to realize there was nothing there. She had forgotten that Rhodey had smashed the glass door in order to get to her. She was incredibly thankful that she didn't have to use up more energy just to open a door. She crawled through, feeling the glass clawing into her palms. She took out Rhodey's phone from her pocket and lifted it to her ear, it was still on the line with Tony. "Okay, Tony, I'm in." She said, heaving herself up and over a couple of steps to the huge platform that the arc reactor sat on.
Tony crouched on the ground, ready to fly as the arc reactor's explosion went off, but before he could signal Pepper to push the button, he was grabbed around the waist by a giant hand, pulling him upward. He was pulled around and came face to face with Obadiah. Well, mask to mask. Obadiah squeezed as hard as he could, laughing as Tony roared in pain.
"You finally outdid yourself, Tony! You'd have made your father proud!" Obadiah yelled, Tony pounded the metal on Obadiah's wrist, but before he could get at anything, Obadiah's other hand came up and ripped the mask off of Tony's face. No protection.
Tony had to get away, or he would be a dead man. "Flares!" He yelled, and flares shot out, obscuring Obadiah's sight. He threw Tony across the roof, who came to rest right above Pepper.
Pepper pressed a few buttons and pulled a few levers before picking the phone back up, "Tony get off the roof! It's ready!" She glanced up to see Tony fly across the glass paneled ceiling. "Oh no..." She said quietly.
Obadiah shot a few bullets at Tony, who threw up his arm to protect his head from the whizzing bullets. Some of them blew past Tony and hit the glass he was kneeling on, sending him into a free fall. He grabbed the beams between the glass panes and hung on. "How ironic, Tony! Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever!" Obadiah yelled, opening his suit up and revealing the upper half of his body. "And now I'm going to kill you with it!"
Tony's mind was reeling, he had to come to grips with the fact that he could very well die right here and now. "Pepper!" He yelled, signaling her to press the button, no matter the cost. "Press the button!"
"You'll die!" She cried.
Obadiah fired a few more shots, all missing Tony, "You ripped out my targeting system!" He yelled, frustrated. He was so close to getting rid of Tony, if only he could aim...
Tony's hold was slipping, he couldn't hold on for much longer. "Press the button!" He yelled. Pepper looked up at Tony, meeting his eyes, "But-"
"Trust me, Pepper. Press it!" Obadiah was standing close enough that the arc reactor would surely kill him.
Tony heard the arc reactor heating up, signaling him that Pepper had pressed the button. He looked up to see Obadiah firing a missile right at him, and in that moment, he let go.
Don don don! What's next? You'll just have to read! Reviews would be awesome!
