A/N: I feel awful for taking this long to update. So, I reward with this really long chapter. Well, long for me.

Pepper stared out the window with a feeling of longing and looking about, she made sure she was alone, getting painfully off the bed, she examined every inch of the room she could reach before deducing that, once again, there was no surveillance equipment. Shuffling over to the window, Pepper looked out, grinning with joy upon finding that not only was she on the first floor, but there weren't any bushes or plants that she'd need to crawl over to get out. She was so close to being free. Cradling her arm to her side, Pepper slid out the window, landing softly on her feet and hurrying away from the cabin. She was starting to wonder if maybe Matthew did want her to escape.

Tony paced the room restlessly once more; it seemed that pacing was all he did as of recently. Well, he'd rest more when his Pepper was safe, and she would be soon. He was just waiting for the bug to finish triangulating the position of the computer and it was almost ninety percent completed. Rhodey sighed. "Tony, for the love of all that is holy, stop pacing, you're driving me crazy."

"How can I just stop, Rhodes? Pepper is out there somewhere, hurt and scared and alone. She needs me and I'm not there for her. I can't just sit down; I have to be doing something."

"Then get something to eat, it's been a while since you've had anything."

"I'm fine."

Rhodey rolled his eyes. "JARVIS, how long has it been since Tony last ate?"

"Seventeen hours and thirty-four minutes, sir."

Tony frowned. "Traitor."

Rhodey shook his head. "JARVIS, call in Tony's usual pizza order."

"Of course, Colonel."

Tony frowned. "I don't want to eat, I want to find Pepper."

"And you will, but that thing says it's going to be loading for a least another hour and you'll be no help to Pepper if you pass out from hunger."

Tony grumbled angrily, but agreed. He needed to be the best that he could be and starving himself wasn't going to help Pepper in the least. The pizza arrived in only half an hour and Tony gorged himself on four slices, washing it down the two cans of Coke before returning to the pacing. Only a couple of minutes later, the computer beeped. "Triangulation complete."

Tony raced to the computer, checking the screen to coordinate with the suit. As soon as he was prepared, he got into the suit and was out of the mansion before a full five minutes had passed.

Pepper walked slowly through the woods as she tried to navigate through the trees. She winced as she cut her foot on a stone, still barefoot as she had been when she'd been taken. She had no idea where she was or where she was going, but she decided the walking in potentially the wrong direction was better than stopping and chance getting caught by one of her captors. Unfortunately, from what she could tell she wasn't going to make too far before they caught up to her. She'd heard them screaming at one another for her getting away and what was worse was that she had heard a dog barking. It was a loud bark and Pepper had no doubt that it belonged to a big dog.

Hearing the barking, Pepper had immediately begun to strain her ears to listen for the sound of a river or any sort of water so she could try to lose the dog or lead them in the wrong direction. And Pepper was nothing if not resourceful. Pausing a moment, Pepper ripped a small part of her tee-shirt and made it look like she'd gotten snagged. She also wiped some blood from her nose as it still trickled a little bit and wiped that on the tree, praying it would be enough to fool then so she could get farther away. Pepper stumbled down a different path and tried to touch as little as possible. Just when she thought she was getting nowhere and it was all for nothing, she heard it. The sound of rushing water up ahead.

Moving quickly with new purpose, Pepper quickly made it to the river's edge. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and tried to find a signal again, to no avail. Sighing she put her phone back in her pocket, silently praying the phone was all it Tony had boasted it to be after he'd made it for her. "It's the perfect phone for you, Pep! It's water-resistant up to 65 feet, can survive in temperatures as low as 32 degrees F or as high as 225 degrees F, and it can resist pressure or impact up to 250 pounds. You can't possibly break it!" Pepper stepped into the water, sinking into it up to her knees before another step brought her up to her waist. She was almost across the width of the river when she heard footsteps approaching the bank.

She tried to hurry up and move but she knew she wouldn't make it. She looked over as a familiar face crashed through the brush with a Rottweiler on a leash. Pepper's eyes widened. "Christine Everheart?"

The woman smiled. "Great job, Potts, it only took you forever to figure it out." Pepper tried to sake a step to the side but Everheart chuckled darkly. "Don't move, Potts. Jimmy here has your scent and is all riled up. We wouldn't want him to hurt you, now would we?"
Pepper let the tears of frustration and pain slide down her cheeks. "Why are you doing this?"

"I need money. It's as simple as that. I don't care about that asshole that just discarded me. I don't need him."

Pepper frowned. "The fact that you brought Tony up tells me otherwise."

Everheart glared. "Shut up. I don't care about Stark. He's just an asshole. All I want is money and with either the codes or the ransom, I'll get that."

Pepper shook her head. "I'm never giving you those codes. Never."

Everheart's smile grew evil. "I'll enjoy having Mikey make you. Now, get back over here or I'll set Jimmy on you." At the sound of his name, the dog growled menacingly.

Pepper was getting desperate and was trying to figure a way out of the mess as the current tried to tug her down stream. And the idea hit her. The current was the only way. Taking a deep breath, Pepper let her legs fold under her, making her body go limp as the current dragged her away. Folding herself into a ball, Pepper kept her mouth and eyes closed, trying not to cry as she bumped into rocks under the water. When she ran out of air, she managed to get herself to the surface to take another breath and see that she was quite a bit father from Everheart and the dog, who were both trying to run after her. The dog seemed to be catching up more and Pepper let herself be dragged under again. She found herself even farther away as she surfaced again, Everheart just a small thing in the distance and the dog nowhere to be seen.

Pepper kept her head above the water as she floated slightly down the river, but was shocked when she heard a splash right behind her and the neck of her tee-shirt catch on something, almost choking her as she dragged back to shore. After being pulled onto the bank, a furry face got up in hers and two paws were on her chest as the dog she had thought had gotten lost growled at her, as if telling her to stay down or else. Pepper found that she didn't have it in her to do anything else, all her energy gone with her capture. As the dog got off of her, Pepper curled into a ball on her side, shivering slightly, but not moving, not even when Everheart finally got to them and told her to get up. Not when Michael made it to them and told her to get up, threatening her. Not even when Matthew showed up and begged her to stand up. She'd lost hope.

Tony flew as quickly as he could to the cabin at the coordinates his bug had come up with. He busted into the cabin, throwing open the- surprisingly- unlocked door, murder in his eyes. Only to find the cabin empty. Tony frowned, walking around and trying to figure out if he was in the right place. There was a computer in the corner that was definitely the source of the coordinates. Tony found a flight of stairs that he went down and through there he found a room that made him want to puke because he had no doubt that it was the place Pepper had been held. There were a few strands of her hair on the floor by the far wall that the suit's enhanced vision caught, but what made Tony the most sick was the chair that sitting in the middle of the room with blood stain rope hanging on the arm rests and something red in two small puddles next to the chair. Tony took a deep breath. "JARVIS, it that…?"

"That is indeed blood, sir."

"If it were Pepper's would she still be okay."

"Yes, sir. The blood loss is not significant. It is quite low, actually."

Tony nodded, freezing as he heard the door to the cabin open and people start to argue. He heard Pepper's name, both her Christian and her last. Backing against a wall where he doubted anyone would go near, he pressed himself up against it. "JARVIS, activate stealth mode."

Tony smiled as he saw the suit disappear, making no indication that he was there. His amusement was cut short, however, when he saw three conscious people enter the room with an unconscious Pepper. He recognized all three. One was a cop he'd seen arrest a prostitute, the other was a reporter that he'd seen at press conferences and he vaguely remembered being connected to Pepper in some way and the last made him the angriest. Christine Everheart. The cop said a couple, ahem, rude things to the reporter about his IQ and Christine seemed to agree. The reporter ignored them both and waited until they were gone to gently set Pepper in the corner. It was obvious this was the stalker that had sent her the pictures. No one else would treat her with such care. Pepper was dripping wet and shivering in her sleep. The reporter sighed. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. I'm sorry."

The man left the room and Tony figured that this was the good guy- er better guy- of the trio. As soon as the man was gone, Tony turned off the retro-reflective panels. "Can you scan her, J and tell me her injuries?"

"I cannot at this moment, sir, there is not enough power left in the suit. It is, after all, just a prototype."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Let me out of this thing." The suit folded up into a suitcase and Tony stepped over it towards Pepper. She was curled into a ball, shirt ripped and soaked to the skin. Tony frowned, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Pep? Come on, Pep, you've got to wake up." Pepper stirred slightly, eyes opening. "Tony?"

"Yeah, I'm here. You need to get up. I've got my suit, I'm going to get you out of here."

Pepper seemed to wake up a bit more and threw herself into his arms, sobbing while cradling her left arm to her chest. She couldn't seem to get any actual words out and seeing her in the terrible state she was made a couple tears slip down Tony's cheeks as well, though later he'd deny it until he was blue in the face. Pressing a kiss to her wet hair, Tony helped her stand, still holding her closely to his chest. "It's okay. I'm here now. They can't hurt you anymore."

Pepper nodded, sniffling and Tony positioned her as far away from the door as he could before getting into the suit and blasting to door right off his hinges. Going upstairs in his suit with Pepper trailing silently behind him, Tony saw only two people in the cabin. The reporter got on his knees immediately, putting his hands on his head in surrender. Tony looked to the cop and he tried to pull a gun, but Tony all his weapons on display and he seemed to realize that it wouldn't be a good choice. Cop tossed his gun away and got on his knees. Reporter seemed upset. "What are we going to do about the money you owe now, Mike?"

Mike rolled his eyes. "There was never any money, idiot! It was the only thing that would get you to act on that sick fantasy of yours. I just wanted the money."

Reporter looked hurt. "What? You used me?"

Tony was watching the pair with interest when he heard a muffled yelp behind him. Turning suddenly, Tony saw Christine with a gun pressed to Pepper's head, her eyes were dark and cold. "Let Mikey go or she gets it."

Tony was conflicted, not wanting to endanger Pepper but not wanting to let her captors get away either. Pepper looked at him, shaking her head slightly, telling him not to do it. Not let them get away. Tony's targeting system aimed for Christine and Tony did what he needed to do. He took the shot.

Christine fell with a shout of pain and a bullet in her chest and Mike screamed from behind Tony, lunging forward to grab the gun he'd dropped, aiming it forward. Seeing this, Reported screamed at Mike and tried to wrestle the gun from him, but it went off and everything went silent as Pepper's scream sounded a moment before she fell to the floor.

A/N: Annnddd, cue cliffhanger. Please review and don't hate me.