After Tony had rebooted JARVIS, he scanned the letter into his system and the AI was comparing it to anything that had been handwritten and scanned into a computer. Tony was back to pacing the room while he waited when the computer dinged and Tony turned to it. "What is it, J?"

"Ms. Potts phone is online, sir."

Tony froze. "Can you track it?"

"No, sir, it would appear there is something blocking the signal."

"Can you call her?"

"Yes, sir, but I would not suggest it as we are not sure if it is Ms. Potts that is in possession of her cellular phone."

"Work on getting past whatever is blocking the signal and let me know when you get an update. How's it going with the note?"

"I have no matches yet."

"Keep me posted."

Tony went back to pacing and Rhodey sighed as he entered the room. "You're going to wear a hole in the carpet."

"I'll stop when I know if Pepper's okay."

"Okay. Anyway, the police are here to talk to you."

Tony nodded and went to talk to the police chief.

Pepper scrolled through her contacts, trying to find Tony's number. She knew that she didn't have enough of a signal to make a call, but she could send a text and let Tony know that she was okay, but didn't have a clue to where she was, only that she had been in a vehicle and seemed to be in some sort of underground room at the moment. The message was short and lacked her usual Harvard level grammar, using a lot of texting lingo, but she needed to get it done fast so it would send. As she hit the send button and silently begged her phone to get the text out, the door slammed open, and Pepper whirled around, her phone dropping behind the couch as another man in a mask entered the room. "What the hell are you doing?"

Pepper's immediate response was to say 'nothing', but she suspected that would only anger the man so she stayed silent. When she didn't reply, Pepper saw the man's eyes narrow behind the mask. "I asked you a question."

"I wasn't doing anything."

"You were holding something. What was it?"

"Nothing."

The man was next to her a moment later, yanking her down from the couch, making her fall to the concrete floor. "I don't believe that for a second."

The air was knocked out of Pepper's lungs from the fall and she gasped, trying to breathe in. The couch was pulled away from the wall and Pepper's eyes turned to the door. The man had left it open and his back was to her as he dug around behind the couch for whatever she had dropped. There was a small noise as the man accidentally batted her phone and the device slid out from underneath the couch, stopping a couple of inches from Pepper's hand, though the man didn't seem to notice this.

Pepper moved slowly, afraid of alerting the man and lifted her phone from the floor, the 'message sent' icon making her want to cry with relief. She quietly got to her feet, edging her way to the door and as soon as she was in the hall, she ran up the stair as quietly as she could, doing her best to remain silent. Pepper shoved her phone back into her pocket and could see the door, was almost to it, when it was flung open and the other man entered the room, a press badge clipped to his shirt, naming him Matthew Andrews, a reporter for the same newspaper Christine Everheart worked for.

Shock played on Matthew's features for a moment before he dropped the cups he was holding and grabbed her around the middle, trapping her arms by her sides as she struggled to get free. The other man was up the stairs a second later, his fist raised and Pepper turned her head to try to dodge to blow, but failed. Looking out the window, Pepper took in her surroundings noting that it seemed she was in a cabin in the forest somewhere. Then her head snapped back from the impact of the fist and stars danced in front of her vision, stunning her and making a cry force its way from her mouth.

Matthew glared at his brother, hatred in his hazel eyes. His jaw set in anger. Virginia was limp in his arms, gasping as she recovered from her almost escape and Michael's punch. "Why would you do that?! She wasn't doing anything; we could have just put her under again and put her back! You didn't have to hit her! You said we wouldn't hurt her!"

"She was going to escape. If she did, we'd big in deep shit because you know she would have run back to Stark and told him everything, including who we are."

"Are you kidding me? She doesn't know who we are."

"She does now; she's not stupid, she probably read your name from you badge."

Matthew looked down at his chest. "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that."

"That's what I though. Now, go downstairs, tie her up, and move that stupid couch out of the room, she dropped something in it or behind it, I'm almost positive."

Matthew frowned at Michael. "But where's she going to sleep?"

"She can sleep on the floor, Matt. She's not a princess and she's not here for a sleepover; we need to tape her and list our demands so we can get the cash. You know just as well as I that if we don't do this soon, bad things will happen to all involved, including your precious Virginia."

Matthew frowned as the woman in his arms groaned and tried to lift her head, her face scrunched in pain. Matthew shook his head. "Did you have to hit her so hard?"

"Yes, I did, now get downstairs and tie her up so we can finish this thing."

Matthew sighed and led Virginia downstairs, binding her wrists tightly behind her back and shoving the couch out of the room. He couldn't help but feel guilty as he noticed the black eye blooming on her lovely face and he wondered just how far his brother might take it when his temper was tested.

Tony felt an enormous wave of relief as the text appeared on his phone from Pepper, stating that she was okay and in some unknown location. He desperately wanted to call, to hear her voice for himself, but, as JARVIS reminded him, Pepper might get hurt and/or found out and he couldn't allow that. As Tony sat at his desk, trying to decide how to get Pepper back, an e-mail popped up on his computer. Clicking the link to the video message, a screen popped up, a man on either side of a terrified and gagged and bound Pepper. The men demanded three million dollars to be transferred to an untraceable account and Tony watched the video three times, taking in every detail before any of it actually sunk in.

Tony's breaths started coming in short, quick gasps as he began to wonder for Pepper's safety, not for the first time. In an effort to calm himself down, Tony focused on the facts. Fact: Pepper had more than one captor. Fact: Pepper was in danger with them, if the black eye she had was any indication. Fact: Both the captors in the video were men. Fact: There had to be at least one more person in the room from the way the camera panned and occasionally zoomed in on Pepper. Fact: He had twenty-four hours to come up with something because he knew that if he just handed over the money, Pepper would never let it go. Fact: Tony was in love with Pepper and would do anything to get her back. Fact: Whoever had hurt her was going to pay.

A/N: So, any thoughts? I am entirely open to suggestions and a very large thanks to all those who reviewed, especially the guest(s) that I got six reviews from in a row. It's nice to know you guys like this story.