"Hold it right there!" War Machine said as he landed in front of Virgil and Pepper, stopping Amy from stabbing them. Amy ripped her arms free of War Machine's grasp trying to move past him to kill Pepper and Virgil, but Rhodey grabbed the back of her combat suit and pushed her away from the two. Landing against a wall, sunken to the floor, Iron Man fired his repulsor at her. This stunned her momentarily.

Amy got up a moment later, charging at Iron Man and War Machine with a laser gun, firing it at them multiple times. They both managed to dodge the lasers, firing their own artillery at her.

"Pepper, it's too dangerous here, we need to leave!" Virgil said as the three of them fought on, trying to get Pepper to move; to his dismay, she wouldn't budge.

"No, I want to help!" Pepper paused, realizing the statement would confuse her father. "I-I mean there has to be something we can do! They shouldn't have to bother themselves with our problem!"

"Pepper, they're superheroes, it's their job to protect us! But they can't protect us if we're standing right in the middle of the danger! Now come on, please MOVE!"

"You go ahead if you want to leave so badly, then! I'm going to find a way to help!" Pepper said, breaking free from Virgil's grasp on her arm, running to an opposite end of the garage to find something stashed away inside that could help.

"Pepper!" Virgil called after her. He sighed, annoyed. He would've helped, if he had his array of weaponry for work with him. But unfortunately, Amy had kidnapped him when he was getting up to go to bed, so he didn't get the chance to snag it. He didn't know what he could do, so he fumbled around in his pockets to see if he had a phone on him. Luckily it was in his sweatshirt pocket, so he whipped it out and dialed 911.

Pepper, having raided the garage for something that could help, couldn't find anything, so ran back into view of Iron Man and War Machine as they managed to have her pinned down, weapon fallen to the ground.

"Pepper, grab her laser gun and throw it into the pier, or destroy it!" Iron Man shouted. Pepper ran for the laser gun, which had slid a few feet away from Amy, grabbed it and threw it against the wall. Immediately upon impact, it smashed into pieces.

"Now you're powerless! Give up, you can't beat us!" War Machine said.

"Never! I have to complete my mission!" Amy responded, trying to wriggle free.

"Who sent you after him?" Iron Man demanded.

"My boss!" She explained. "I'm an assassin, it's my job!"

"Well we're not going to let you finish the job, though. You're done," Iron Man said.

Amy, however, refused to give up. She reached down in her pocket and found one last smoke bomb and threw it at her feet. It soon released a cloud of dark smoke, which temporarily blinded and confused the two armored heroes. In an effort to clear the fog, the two released their hold on Amy to wave the smoke away. Amy chuckled evilly and snuck away from the two, suddenly grabbing Pepper. She snatched her knife from its pocket on her combat suit and held it to her neck.

As the smoke cleared, Tony caught sight of Pepper, who was now scared beyond measure.

"Pepper!" He yelled, angrily charging at Amy.

"Hold it! One more step and I cut her head clean off!" Amy yelled. Iron Man immediately stopped.

"Iron Man, help!" Pepper yelped hoarsely, tears coming to her eyes. Tony held out his hands, warming up his repulsors.

"I don't think so. Make one move and I slice her neck."

"What do you want from us?" Iron Man asked.

"I want you all to leave me alone so I can do my job!" Amy demanded. Tony stood there, frozen. He didn't know what to do. If he fired a repulsor at her, she'd kill Pepper on the spot. Anything he did would result in someone dying. He wouldn't let himself lose Pepper, but he wouldn't let Virgil slip away from them.

"Rhodey, I'm switching to internal comm. Systems, can you hear me?" Tony said from inside his HUD.

"Loud and clear." Rhodey responded.

"Good. She can't hear us this way. I need you to get Virgil out of here as discreetly as possible. I'll distract her as long as I can. Then I need you to circle back and hit her from behind." Tony explained. Rhodey immediately started inching his way back towards Virgil.

As Virgil spotted Amy and Pepper from several feet away, he called out after Pepper in a panic, trying to run over to free Pepper. He was stopped by War Machine holding him back.

"Amy, please, why are you doing this?" Virgil asked, scared.

"What happened to the Amy I knew? There's still a chance for you to turn back, you know. I'd be willing to be your friend if you're willing to start over and start leading a good life." Virgil said. Amy didn't know how to respond, so she didn't make a move. "I know you're a better person than this, Amy, there's good in you somewhere. Give up now and I'll help you find that good."

Amy couldn't stand it anymore. She hated how he constantly said that to her. It wasn't true, she thought. I'm not good, I kill people for a living. That's not what good people do.

"Stop trying to understand me! I'm not good, you're lying!" Amy shouted, releasing Pepper and charging at him.

"Tony, what are you doing? Are you insane? You're going to let her get away with killing my dad? How could you—"

"Pepper, relax, no one's dying today. I have a plan. Just go with it, okay?" Tony explained.

Before War Machine flew him out to safety, Virgil caught a last glimpse of Amy.

"If you wanted to know, I actually did love you. For real. And I hope one day you'll be able to realize you should have too...but it's too late for us now. So goodbye."

As War Machine flew out, Virgil watched Amy's expression change from disappointed to angry. With that, he knew it was over.

Before Amy could move past them to get to Virgil (who was now not there anymore, courtesy of Rhodey,) Iron Man fired his sonic disruptors at her at the same time as Rhodey snuck up from behind her and fired his own repulsors at her. Amy fell to the ground, completely passed out from the crossfire.

"She's going to be knocked out for a while. We better get her to S.H.I.E.L.D. fast." Tony said.

"You get Pepper and bring her to her dad, I'll deal with getting Amy to jail." Rhodey said, scooping up Amy in one arm and meeting the police outside.

Tony approached Pepper calmly.

"Pepper, are you okay?" He asked.

"I think so…" Pepper responded. Tony wrapped his arms around her securely before taking to the skies to find her dad.

~…~

Virgil had already found the police when they had arrived, and was already discussing Amy's expected sentencing with the police when War Machine brought her out.

Iron Man and Pepper soon joined in on the conversation, discussing Amy's prison sentence for a while until the ordeal was settled and Amy was being shipped off to a high-security prison. Pepper found her dad as the heroes discussed with the police.

"So, you okay?" She asked. Virgil sighed and placed a hand on Pepper's shoulder.

"I think I will be, eventually." He answered.

"I'm sorry Amy ended up trying to kill you."

"Oh, honey its okay, you tried to warn me, after all. I probably should've listened to you. But I was too caught up in the excitement of being in a relationship. I guess I'd just forgotten what it's like to have someone to love like that." Virgil said.

"Well, it's not your fault. You didn't see it coming, none of us did. And hey, you've always got me." Pepper said with a smile.

"I guess you've got a point there," Virgil said, chuckling as he wrapped his arm around Pepper's shoulders.

"Hey, dad?"

"Yes, honey?"

"I-I don't mind if you want to start dating again. I understand it's been a long time since you and mom split, and I don't blame you for wanting to date again." Pepper said.

"Aw, you don't have to worry about that for a while. After this relationship I've realized that maybe I'm not so ready for that kind of thing yet. I think one little lady in my life is enough for me," Virgil said with a smile, poking Pepper's nose. Pepper laughed at her father's motion, pushing him playfully.

After they were done talking to the police, Rhodey decided to take Virgil home so Tony could take Pepper home. Tony grabbed Pepper and flew her home, landing on the roof of her apartment building. He retracted his armor as they sat down, legs dangling off the edge.

"I'm so glad I can always count on you to be there for me, Tony…what would I do without you?" Pepper said with a sigh, resting her head on Tony's shoulder. Tony wrapped his arm around her as he responded.

"I wouldn't want it any other way, Pep. I don't think could imagine my life without you, and I hope I don't ever have to." Tony said. "The only thing I want is for you to stay in my life for a really, really long time."

"Well then I think your wish has been granted, because there's no way I'm leaving. I love you, Tony, so much…" Pepper responded.

"Pepper, I love you more than you can imagine." Tony whispered into her ear as she drifted off to sleep. Tony smiled, carefully laid her back so he could stand and armor up, then proceeding to take her home.

As he approached her window, he landed on the emergency landing, carefully sitting her down for a moment so he could armor down and crawl the two of them through her window.

He laid her on her bed, pulling her sheets over her comfortably. Before he departed for home, he kissed her forehead gently.

As he crawled back out the window, he caught one last glance of her sleeping peacefully. He smiled.

More than you can imagine…

Well, I don't know how exciting and action-packed that turned out to be, but hey, I tried my best. I really did. I'm fairly confident that I finished this story successfully…thoughts? Reviews?