Disclaimer: Unfortunately, Iron Man: Armored Adventures isn't mine. Not even Tony (or Gene! D:), belong to me. The rights ultimately belong to Marvel, so there. :D Don't try to sue me, got that? I'm not making even a single cent off this story.

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter, and I'm really sorry for the short wait. I hope this new update makes it up to all of you. :)


Chapter Two: Disbelief

The next thing Pepper knew, she was flat on her back, pressed up against something rough and hard. Her eyes flickered open, staring up at the twinkling stars of the night sky, and she inhaled a deep and cleansing breath. "What…happened?" she mumbled aloud, mostly just trying to wake herself up the rest of the way. Her head was aching, especially at the back of her skull, and she had no idea what had happened. The last thing she had remembered, she'd been inside the laundromat that had probably been a terrorist organization. She'd found all that high-tech gear all over the place, then…

A startled gasp burst involuntarily from her lips as the masked redhead remembered. "Tony!" she whispered in a stunned voice, eyes widening to what would have been an almost comical size, under any other circumstances. "Oh God, I found Tony."

Just saying the words gave her a burst of nearly supernatural strength, and she rolled over and braced herself with her hands and knees. Taking another deep breath, she shoved herself to her feet and somehow managed to land on her feet. Her head rushed and whirled from the sudden movement, and she staggered and nearly fell. But before she could hit the concrete again, a metallic glove touched her waist and held her up.

"Tony?" Pepper cautiously turned around, lips already curving up in an excited grin as she faced her rescuer. Then her joyful expression slipped, sliding back into the mask of graveness that was her usual one these days, as she saw the massive suit of gray armor standing over her. "Oh. Rhodey," she realized flatly. She was glad for the mask over her face, which hid the tears now sparkling in her eyes. She'd been hoping so much that this was finally over, that Tony and Iron Man had finally returned. But she was apparently wrong.

"Pepper. I got your call." Rhodey shifted uncertainly, taking his glove from her slim waist. "I was worried, so I came over. Are you…" He hesitated for several seconds. "What happened?"

"You didn't have to come. I had everything perfectly under control," Pepper snapped back at him, scowling darkly. Her bottom lip trembled, and she bit down hard on it to keep herself calm. She couldn't break down now; Rhodey would think that she was completely incapable of taking care of herself. This was completely untrue, but she would have a rough time convincing her ex-friend of this.

"I…I was worried about you, Pepper. I was afraid that something might happen to you."

"That was pretty stupid of you. I can take care of myself, especially after all this time. You should know that by now, Rhodey," Pepper stated firmly, turning away and folding her arms over her chest as she tried to figure out exactly where she was. She couldn't exactly ask him, as that would pretty much contradict her previous statement. Besides, she couldn't be very far away from the laundromat, since Rhodey had found her so quickly.

Activating her night vision, she scanned her surroundings and frowned as she realized just where they were standing. They were on the roof of the very laundromat she'd been searching earlier. The headquarters of the definite terrorist organization. The place where Tony had been held all this time, she was sure. Why else would she have seen Iron Man like that?

Unless she was hallucinating. But that simply wasn't possible. This wasn't like the last few times. She really had seen Tony, the real Tony. She was absolutely positive of this fact. Really.

Rhodey cleared his throat, sounding awkward. "So…uh…did you find anything?"

"No. Just the Iron Man armor." Pepper walked towards the skylight she had climbed through earlier, easily locating it. The glass was once more firmly back in place, and she nudged it with the toe of one of her boots. "Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. And something or someone attacked me while I was staring at it." She absently rubbed the back of her head, wondering if she was bleeding under her mask.

"What?" Rhodey exploded, hurrying up behind her. "Why didn't you mention this earlier, Pepper?"

"Because I didn't think you would believe me," she replied coldly, facing her once-friend. "As usual."

"I…I never said that I didn't believe you," Rhodey fumbled uncomfortably. "It's just that…I've been pretty busy with college and work, that's all. And War Machine has been taking up a lot of my time, too."

"Yeah. I've noticed. Time which you could be using to look for Tony." Pepper folded her arms across her chest, trying her best to make Rhodey feel guilty. He deserved it, in her opinion, and she wasn't about to let him get out of it with lame excuses like he normally did.

There were several seconds of uneasy silence, then Rhodey spoke up once more. "Are you sure that it was really Tony? Because when I got here, you were just standing up here on the roof. You were all alone. No one else was around. I came just a couple of minutes after you called."

"You must have just missed him," Pepper enunciated in a voice that was as hard as nails. "Because I know that it was him, Rhodey. I wouldn't not recognize him. We were inside the laundromat. Only it's not really a laundromat, like I suspected. There's nothing in there, just tons of camera and retinal scanners. Not a washer, drier, or basket of dirty clothes anywhere."

The metal helmet of War Machine bobbed up and down once. "Fine. We'll go inside, and you can show me where this happened." Rhodey didn't even dare to hope that she had actually found their best friend. It was too much to hope for.

"Fine. Just let me move this glass." Pepper bent over and gripped at the edges of the sheet of transparent glass, feeling it cut through her gloves and into her fingers. She strained, pulling with all of her strength. It was obvious that whoever had replaced the glass after tossing her to the roof had sealed it back on pretty tightly.

"Here," Rhodey offered generously, leaning forward to help her out. "Let me–"

"No!" Pepper snapped, shoving him away from her. She stared angrily at him, face full of rage beneath her mask, until he slowly backed away. "I can do it myself. I always have," she mumbled, turning back to the task at hand.


The Mandarin stood silently on the roof across from Press 'N' Wash Laundromat, watching through the eyeholes of his helmet as Rhodes landed besides Pepper and caught her from toppling over just in time. He found an unreasonable pang of jealously as he stared at the glove lingering on Potts' waist for several seconds' time as they exchanged clipped words between one another.

Pepper turned and walked a few steps off from Rhodes, focusing her attention elsewhere. She was obviously fine, as feisty as ever. Well, as feisty as she could be anymore. She'd been more like a zombie than the girl he had used to know, ever since Stark's disappearance. A zombie dressed all in black who enjoyed infiltrating terrorist organizations all across the state.

Gene abruptly turned away and clinked over towards the edge of the roof that he had been standing on. There was obviously no need for him to be here. Pepper hadn't found anything of interest, and neither she nor Rhodes seemed to need or want his help. Not that either of them even knew that he was also the Mandarin, instead of just ordinary Gene Khan, but it was the principle of the thing.

Reaching for the glistening golden ring that encircled one of the clawed fingers of his glove, he prepared to summon the energy from inside its powerful orb and transport himself back to the Tong headquarters. But before he could, a shining streak of red and silver blasted past the edge of his vision, just out of sight.

He spun around, eyes rapidly scanning the surrounding darkness and muscles tense for a fight. He couldn't have imagined seeing whatever he had just seen. He was the mighty Mandarin, and he did not imagine things.

…Did he?

Something flashed past again, behind him this time. Gene reacted instantly, whirling around with surprising speed and readying his set of rings to fire upon the threat at hand. Yet before he could make even a single move to defend himself, a red and silver arm made entirely of metal shot out of the darkness and slammed forcefully into him.

Gene flew backwards in the air, unable to stop himself from spinning helplessly. He crashed into the ledge that encircled the very edge of the roof, and concrete crumbled into a pile of debris under his heavy suit. This violent action reduced the protective barrier to almost nothing, leaving the all-powerful Mandarin vulnerable.

He scrabbled frantically against the loose concrete, struggling to get his body into an upright position. The sound of passing traffic in the street below sounded much too loud as he imagined plummeting to the ground below and being run over by a passing vehicle. He cried out as the armor scraped and grinded against the concrete, nearly sending him over the edge.

Barely managing to regain his balance, he got back to his feet as fast as possible, taking deep breaths to calming his racing heart. That had been way too close, and he wasn't really in the mood to die right then and there. He had better things to do, and several appointments that he needed to keep.

None other than the missing Iron Man stood before him, blue circle in the center of the armor gleaming brightly from the darkness. The color theme was a little different now, after two whole years, but Gene definitely knew the hero when he saw him. "Iron Man," he uttered in his deep voice, eyes involuntarily widening behind his helmet. She's done it. Potts has actually found Stark.

Instead of answering, the suit of armor flickered with blue light, kind of like static electricity, then vanished. The stunned Gene heard a set of running footsteps heading away from him, then the sound of the suit of armor speeding off into the night sky. Some sort of stealth technology. Impressive, he thought privately, staring wordlessly at the spot where Iron Man had once been standing.

Well. So Potts has finally discovered where Tony Stark has been hiding out these past few years. The media would just eat this up if they knew. Especially if I told them that he and Iron Man were one and the same. Gene looked back towards where he'd last seen Rhodes and Potts, but both had seemingly vanished. But I don't need to tell them. Yet. I can probably use this to my advantage, he told himself, almost believing that this was the real fact that he had decided to keep the information to himself.

The Mandarin vanished in a flash of yellow light, back to the Tong base to contemplate his next move.


Rhodey dropped through the hole and landed on his feet with a sturdy clanging sound of metal against metal. Pepper peered down into the darkness after him, his hulking shape orange in the blackness, thanks to her night vision goggles. She tensed, preparing to leap through after him, then froze.

Unexpectedly, the sound of a deep shout echoed to her ears, sounding somewhat muffled. She moved in a slow circle, scanning the rooftop stretching out around her. What the heck was that? she thought suspiciously. Tony?

"Pepper?" came Rhodey's questioning voice, magnified by the helmet of the War Machine armor.

Pepper shook her head, blinking rapidly as she turned back towards the hole. It shouldn't matter if someone else was in trouble. She had to convince Rhodey that she had seen Tony, and find him again. That was all that mattered right then. Rhodey would believe her before the night was over. She was definitely going to make sure of that.

Flattening both arms to her sides, Pepper dropped through the hole, landing silently on the balls of her feet. She ignored the stinging of her feet and aching of her legs from the long drop, then hurriedly intensified her night vision scannings. "See, Rhodey? If this is a laundromat, then I'm Whitney…Stane…"

Pepper trailed off in shock. Gone was the long corridor stretching out with nothing inside it but particles of dust. It was now tidily filled with washing machines and several coin-fed driers. Metal racks protruded from the walls, the plastic bags that were dangling down, full of neatly-pressed suits and dresses. "But…none of this was here before," she whispered with horror, trying hard to keep breathing.

Rhodey clanked over to her. Even when he was wearing the armor, she could tell from his body language that she'd already lost him. He didn't believe her. "Pepper, you must have–" he began uncertainly.

"I didn't imagine all of it, if that's what you're thinking!" Pepper shouted, spinning to face him, hands planted firmly on her hips. "None of this was here earlier; there was just a long hallway with a bunch of cameras in it! Then I went down another hallway, and found this metal staircase! And then I tried to get through a door with some retinal scanner, and–"

"Pepper," Rhodey said gently, putting one massive hand on her shoulder. "I know that Tony's disappearance has really torn you up, but you can't keep–"

"Can't keep what?" she screeched back at him challengingly. "Looking for him? Actually trying to find where he vanished to, if he's still alive? Because that would be a heck of a lot more than you're doing, Rhodey!"

Rhodey visibly flinched under the mammoth armor, taking a step away from her. "Pepper, I am trying. I've still got that website, and I go out every single night in the War Machine armor. Isn't that enough for you?"

"No. It isn't," Pepper growled furiously, clenching both hands into tight fists. "If you really cared about Tony, you'd be doing something. Like I am."

"Oh, really? Like breaking into laundromats and getting myself knocked out in the middle of the night? And like running away from my family without telling them anything, leaving them worried about me for two whole years? I don't really see how that's helping anything," Rhodey ground out in a rigid voice.

Pepper was shaking, eyes so full of tears that she could barely even see. "I hate you," she snarled viciously, in a dangerously low voice. "And I never want to see you again!" She threw herself up through the hole in the roof, grasping at the edges of it with her gloved hands. Agilely swinging her body upwards, she landed in a smooth crouch, ignoring the sound of Rhodey calling out her name.

Taking off across the rooftop, she threw herself over the ledge. She was suspended in midair for several breathtaking seconds, then landed hard on the roof across from the laundromat. The impact shook her to the core, but she ruthlessly kept going. She momentarily noticed the broken ledge, but quickly forgot about it as she launched her body onto the next roof.

Behind her, a lone suit of armor stood the roof she had left behind, silhouetted by the moon, shoulders slumping.


Stepping out of the closet, Rhodey listened to the comforting sound of the hidden door sliding shut as all its powerful locks clicked together. Heaving an enormous sigh, he shuffled wearily to the bedroom door and pulled it open. Stark exploded into the room, tail wagging frantically and long tongue lolling out. The young hero spared his dog an exhausted pat on the head, then slumped onto his rumbled bed.

The small dog whined at him, turning and wandering sadly back into the rest of the apartment. Rhodey didn't spare his neglected pet a second glance, sagging onto the worn blanket and closing his eyes. He normally would have gone after Stark and given him dinner, maybe sitting down to check on his website, but he was feeling too drained to do anything, both mentally and physically.

How had things with him and Pepper gotten so bad? True, they'd had that big fight two years ago, the one that had driven the painful wedge between them, but it hadn't ever been this bad. She had never told him that she hated him. But the real question was, did she really mean it? He really didn't hate her, that was for sure.

But if she really did never want to see him again, then there really was no help for the two of them as friends.


Pepper jolted awake the next morning, having trouble remembering where she was. She blinked several times, then her eyes slowly focused on the interior of the armory, ablaze with brilliant lights she had forgotten to turn off the night before. She frowned groggily up at the ceiling, tangled in her blankets, trying to figure out what had woken her up. After going out on late night missions, she generally didn't wake up until after noon. And it had to be much earlier than that, if her instincts were right.

Then she realized what her wake-up call had been as her cell phone shrilled merrily. Someone was trying to get a hold of her. It had to be Rhodey, since he was basically the only one who knew her latest cell number. And she wasn't about to talk to him, after their fight last night. But she really needed to silence it, so she could slip back into blessed sleep…

Fumbling around on her bedside table, Pepper grasped blearily at her cell phone, pulling it close to her eyes. She squinted at the tiny numbers and letters that were displayed on the screen, then groaned under her breath. "Khan, Gene calling. 322-4775." She'd completely forgotten that he also knew the new number, thanks to Rhodey. And knowing him, he was probably going to keep calling every single day until she finally answered.

Heaving a sigh, Pepper flipped the phone open and pressed it to her ear. "Hello?" she asked grudgingly.

"Potts. Get ready, and meet me at that café down the street from the Tomorrow Academy."

"What?" Pepper demanded. "Why should I?"

"Because I'm going to take you out for breakfast." Gene said this as though it was common knowledge, like she was stupid for not figuring this out.

"And why should I say yes?" Pepper sat up, smoothing absently at her wild hair, which was sticking up crazily from the crown of her skull.

"Because…I have something to tell you. Something that could prove to be important," Gene said, in a tone of voice that sounded actually sincere for a change. "It's about…well, it's about Stark."

Peppe felt as though the breath had been torn from her lungs, and her hands shook numbly around the phone. "Wh…what?" she managed to choke out, clearing her throat to speak better. "Are my ears failing me, or did you just say that you know something about Tony?"

"The café. Out front. Ten minutes." The line went dead, buzzing faintly in Pepper's ear. As they always did on TV, she actually pulled the phone away from her ear and gawked at it. Was this really happening? Or was it only a cruel dream conjured up by her twisted imagination? Something created to taunt and torture her mentally?

"But if this were my imagination, I definitely wouldn't have Gene Khan as the one with all the answers," she acknowledged aloud, throwing back the covers and climbing to her feet. She didn't bother changing out of the rumpled t-shirt and jeans that she had dressed in the night before, pulling on a pair of white tennis shoes.

Seconds later, the door leading out of the armory was swinging slowly back and forth, quietly knocking against the wall.

Several more seconds later, the forgotten cell phone resting on the bedside table rang, sounding loud in the heavy silence. The caller ID read, "Rhodes, James calling. 549-2332."


Exactly twelve minutes later, Pepper raced breathlessly up to the café just down the street from her former school. Gene, of course, was already sitting at one of the wire tables, looking coolly annoyed. His elbows were braced on the surface of the table, fingertips touching lightly in a temple before him. As she dropped into the seat before his, smoothing back her wild tangle of hair, he cleared his throat, slowly lowering his hands. "You're two minutes late, Potts," he announced serenely. His dark eyes bored uncannily into hers.

"I had to run most of the way here. No money to catch a cab," she admitted apprehensively, still trying to catch her breath. "Now, what do you know about Tony?"

"Do we have to get into that right away?" Gene raised a single hand, signaling a waiter.

"Yes," Pepper ground out crossly, thinning her eyes into dangerous slits. "That's the whole reason I came here. I'm not just here for my health, you know."

"Really? I thought you came here for breakfast." Gene turned in his seat to face the waiter. "I'll have two egg, bacon, and biscuit platters, and two glasses of orange juice," he said importantly.

"Coming up right away, sir." The waiter nodded, then hurried away into the café to report the pair of orders.

Pepper crossed her arms over her chest as Gene faced her again. "Who told you what I wanted?" she demanded hotly.

"No one. But everyone likes eggs and bacon, so I assumed that you wouldn't mind a free meal very much," he said pointedly, not seeming to notice the fire in the eyes of the redhead sitting across from him. Or maybe he did, but he didn't really care. Either way, Pepper wasn't very fond of his arrogant attitude.

"Okay, Khan. I've had just about enough of this. Either tell me what you know about Tony, or I'm leaving," Pepper snapped threateningly, making a move as though to get out of her chair.

"But you just got here. Surely you don't want to spoil your whole day before breakfast by prematurely leaving my company." Gene nodded his thanks as their waiter sat down twin glasses on juice, then hurried on again. "Besides, if you'll just have breakfast with me, I'll take you home in my ride." He gestured towards the black limo parked illegally on the corner. Strangely enough, no one seemed to really care about this fact.

"I don't want you to take me home," Pepper told him firmly. The truth was, she would have loved a ride back to the armory, and in a limousine no less. But she couldn't afford to let Gene see the old Iron Man armory. Not only would he wonder how she got such a place to stay, but he would know where she lived, and come to bother her at all hours of the day and night. Or so she believed. And it was probably true.

"Oh. Hmmm. You like your exercise, I suppose." Gene raised his glass and took a sip of juice, never taking his eyes from her. There was something sparkling in their stormy depths, something that Pepper wasn't sure she liked. It was like he knew he knew something she didn't, something important. And there was something else there, which she couldn't quite figure out.

To give herself an excuse to hide from these all-knowing eyes, she quickly followed his example and sipped from her glass. "So…did you make up whatever it was you 'know' about Tony, or is it actually true?"

"What, you think I lured you here with some clever ploy?" Gene looked wounded. "Why on earth would I do that?"

"I know...to try and trap me into telling you everything I know or something? Or maybe Rhodey paid you to get information from me, to try and make me forgive him." As she spoke the harsh words, a pang of guilt twisted within her. Rhodey had only been trying to help her, and she had been the one to shout at him. He really didn't need forgiving; it was her who needed the forgiveness from him.

"Don't be absurd." Gene's lips curved up into his specialty: a smug smirk. "And did you and Rhodes have a fight or something?"

"That's none of you business," she answered frostily.

Gene shrugged. "Fine. I suppose you're ready to know what I know?" he inquired indifferently.

Pepper nodded abruptly, hands shaking as she clutched at her glass.

Leaning forward in his seat unceremoniously, he affirmed quietly, "I saw Iron Man."

Pepper gasped, face turning ashen. She wasn't crazy! Someone else besides her had seen Tony last night! Then she realized what she had just confirmed for Gene: the fact that there was some connection between Iron Man and Tony. She forced herself to take a sip of juice, choking on it as it went down the wrong pipe.

"Are you all right, Potts?" Gene asked with some concern, looking like he might climb from his chair and come around to give her CPR.

Pepper hurriedly waved a hand to discourage him from doing just this. "Fine, I'm fine," she managed to wheeze out.

"What happened there?" Resuming his blasé air, he leaned back once more and locked his eyes on her. He studied her carefully as though she were a fish swimming around in a glass bowl.

"Just went down the wrong pipe, that's all." Coughing, Pepper cleared her throat and put her glass down. She suddenly wasn't feeling very well, especially because of the way Gene was looking at her. "What?" she demanded accusingly.

"What do you mean?" Gene questioned, arching a brow.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

Gene resumed his temple of fingers at his chin, resting his elbows on the tabletop. "I was just wondering why you didn't seem more excited. I told you that I saw Iron Man yesterday."

"Yeah, I know," Pepper said carefully, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "But…I thought you called me here to talk about Tony."

Gene snorted. "Oh, please. I know that Tony Stark is Iron Man. I'm not stupid. Besides, it can't be a coincidence that both Stark and Iron Man vanished at the exact same time."

"Keep your voice down!" Pepper hissed, glancing around furtively.

"That's what I thought." Gene sounded all too pleased with his own intelligence.

"How long have you known?" Pepper wanted to know, though she still didn't feel too comfortable with this conversation.

"A while," Gene admitted offhandedly.

"And exactly how long is that, in Gene time?" Pepper continued to prod at him for answers.

Before he could even answer, the waiter was back, placing two steaming plates before them. "Here are your orders. Enjoy." He sauntered away, supposedly leaving them to enjoy their meal. But Pepper didn't really want to eat at the moment. She still wanted to know just how long Gene had known Tony's secret. She felt kind of like she was betraying his memory by talking about it with someone outside the trio of friends that she, Tony, and Rhodey had once been.

"The perfect breakfast, I'd say. It'll keep us going most of the day," Gene stated conversationally, picking up his fork.

Pepper rolled her eyes, about to make an annoyed reply. But somehow, out of all the people strolling past on the sidewalk outside the café, she noticed that one figure clad indifferently in a red shirt and jeans. Her eyes widened in shock as they ran over the familiar spiked brown hair, dark blue eyes, and perfect lips that looked like they might smirk at any moment.

It was Tony.


Please review, and I'll try to update much sooner this time! And believe me, I've got a whole lot planned for the next chapter… ;)