This chapter is probably one of the darker ones I've written, it's quite sinister, but you know that I will look after you all eventually, let me know what you think of it :)
The musty smell of old carpet and plaster stung my nostrils. I strained my eyes to see where I was, all I could make out were stains on the walls and the floors. Dark, dried up pools made my heart sink; they couldn't be anything else but blood. I'd seen these kinds of stains in crime shows, when they pull up the carpet and find the underlay marked with someone's life long gone. I quickly turned my attention away from that and looked around trying to make out any details which may help me in identifying this place later, if I ever got out.
There was a small round window to my left, it was dark outside, so we must still be in the same state, this was a good sign. This wasn't going to be a long term thing. I tried to focus on the other aromas in the area, any obvious trees or plants, or factories even, nothing. All I could smell was the stench. I had to fight hard to keep from throwing up. The bile in the back of my throat was building up, the stench was unbearable.
I felt my own blood sticking to my clothes; I didn't know where I was bleeding from, nor how bad it was. Everything was numb, my arms felt heavy as the ropes cut through my skin, I felt the burn as the wounds were healed and reopened every time I moved. I tried to shut out the pain, there was no point in dwelling in it, it was there and that was a fact. The best I could do was focus on something else, anything else. Tony, his voice, I got to hear his voice. I closed my eyes, I tried to hold on to the sweet sound.
'So you got to speak to dear old Tony, now it's your turn to give me what I want.' The man said with a sadistic grin on his face.
'I would rather die.' I spat at him, a mixture of saliva and blood hit him in the cheek.
The grin didn't leave his face, instead he took a tissue from his pocket and wiped the spit off his cheek calmly and pulled a chair closer and sat in front of me. He crossed his legs and sat looking at me. He considered his words carefully.
'Now you know that can be arranged, don't tempt me, Miss Potts.' He said calmly.
I glared at him, 'who are you?' I muttered.
'I'm Tony's reckoning.' He whispered back.
My heart sunk, 'what do you want from him?' I whispered.
'I want what he has, money, power, fame and the girl of course, in other words Miss Potts, I want his life.' He smirked; he ran his finger across my cheek.
I turned away from him; I felt the onslaught of tears, a helpless feeling which threatened my sanity. I wouldn't cry, not in front of this sadistic bastard. The grin on his face made me sick. I closed my eyes. Breathe Pepper, in then out. I opened my eyes and faced him again.
'Even if you have all that, you'll never be like him.' I managed.
He leaned back in his chair, he sighed, 'you don't get it.' He said simply donning a mock look of hurt.
'Enlighten me.' I muttered.
He stood up and walked behind me, he ran his fingers up and down my arm, I felt like I was going to be sick.
'I want to touch you the way he does, I want to be respected the way he is.' He trailed his fingers across my shoulders, stopping at the thin straps of my dress. He traced lines along them before pushing them aside. I felt the straps slip off my shoulders. I mentally thanked the designers at Chanel for the inbuilt front support of their dresses.
I felt the tears threatening to escape my eyes.
'I want everything he has.' I felt the palm of his hand against my chest; he traced the skin above the dress.
I tried to hold in a gasp, I thrashed against his touch, 'don't touch me.' I finally screamed.
He laughed and knotted his fingers through my hair and pulled my head back to look up at him, the cruel look in his eyes terrified me, I knew he had nothing to lose; he was crazy and completely fearless. I forced back the tears, I wouldn't cry, I would never give him that satisfaction.
He lowered his face so it was inches from mine, he moved closer to my ear, 'I will get what I want one way or another Pepper.' He whispered.
I turned away, his breath was sickening. He pulled my face toward his, he licked my cheek, I felt the vomit threaten to escape.
'Leave her alone.' A voice beamed across the room, two men walked in. One wore a black suit, and the other a grey one.
He stepped away from me, 'just having a little fun.' He said with a grin.
'You can have your fun when we get what we need from Stark.' The black suit spoke.
They came toward me, the grey suit sat in the chair, 'my name is Rommel, this is Rick,' he pointed to the black suit, 'and this is Mark.' He pointed to the first man.
'So, has my friend told you what we're all doing here?' Rommel asked in a sickly sweet tone.
'Don't patronise me.' I hissed.
Rommel smiled, 'Not at all, such an intelligent woman deserves a lot more respect than that.' He took a tissue from his pocket and wiped my cheek, 'much better.'
He pulled out a small silver device and smiled at me, 'leave us.' He ordered the other two men.
They both grinned and left the room.
'So you're going to torture me now?' I asked. I knew it was inevitable, I only hoped I could hold out long enough to see Tony's face one more time.
'I wouldn't dream of it.' He held the device closer to me so I could see. It was smooth and silver, small buttons dotted one side, the other side had the familiar logo of Stark Industries etched into it.
I looked at it, curiosity crept into my mind. This was bad, Tony's weapons were always the most feared and sought after. Whatever this was, it was deceptively innocent looking.
'Do you know what this is?' He spoke calmly.
'No.' I answered as calmly as I could.
He nodded, 'well, let me explain.' He pulled the chair closer to me, he leaned in so that his was inches away from me, 'this little creation here is Starktech, one of Tony's finest creations, it was never approved for military use because it's a little unorthodox.' He pushed one of the buttons; it emitted a low humming noise. 'This is a neuron stabiliser, it temporarily paralyses a person, how temporarily depends on how long you press this button.'
I remembered back a few years ago, Stane did this to Tony; he paralysed him to steal his reactor right out of his chest. My heart sunk. I knew exactly what it was. It was powerful and sickeningly simple.
'So as you can imagine, back then Tony was a lot stronger than he is now, now his mind is a little off the rails, wouldn't you agree?' He smiled at me, 'oh come on Pepper, you know what I'm talking about.'
'You're crazy.' I whispered.
He laughed, 'that is a matter of opinion.' He cleared his throat, 'anyway what I'm getting at, is that now that his brain is a little, compromised, this little baby here,' he held the neutraliser up, 'will neutralise him, permanently.'
'You'll never get close enough to use it.' I hoped that proximity mattered.
Rommel grinned, 'actually, Pepper, proximity has nothing to do with it.'
The look on my face must have portrayed how disheartened I was.
'You see, my friends and I created and worked the Extremis, it wasn't as good as Tony's reworked version, but that only means that we have something to use against him we wouldn't have had otherwise.' He explained.
'You, you're from the restaurant the other night?' Everything clicked in my mind.
'Now we're seeing the true brilliance of Starks assistant.' He laughed.
'The reporter?' I muttered.
'Yes, she was one of ours, lovely girl, Veronica.' He cleared his throat, 'so you see, it's rather simple.' He began, 'bring him here, get him to patch into our systems and bam, we've caught ourselves an Iron Man.'
'No.' I breathed.
'Yes, it's brilliant, he wrote his own death.' He laughed. He got up and made his way back to the door.
'Don't,' I heard myself say.
He turned around, 'don't?'
'Don't do this, he can do anything you need, don't do this.' I said as firmly as my voice allowed.
He walked back over to me and spun the chair around and sat down again, he sighed, 'Pepper, Pepper, Pepper, I wish there were another way.'
'There is, he can write the Extremis again, you know he'll do it to save me.' I tried to bargain, my voice shook. I was pleading.
'Yes, that's true, but you see, we can't use the Extremis, there's only a small percentile, a miniscule percentile of people who can sustain the Extremis virus, and Tony is the only one who can.' He explained, 'we don't just need the Virus, we need his blood, his mind.'
My jaw dropped, they weren't bargaining for his work, they weren't bargaining for anything at all, they needed him dead, 'oh my god.' I breathed.
He touched my knee and stood up, 'sorry kiddo, I'm a huge fan of Disney; it's a shame you won't get your fairy tale ending.'
He left me to myself, I finally let myself cry, I broke down, I screamed and I yelled. I pulled as hard as I could to free my arms. Only the sound of my screams and the pain throbbing in my head kept me company. The blood flowed freely, I cared not how much it hurt, or how much blood I'd lost. Because tomorrow my heart would stop, tomorrow Tony would be gone; tomorrow the pain of these bleeding wounds would be a welcome change from the true suffering which was coming at me fast, like a freight train.
So there we are...something for the angsty lovers, hope you're still on board with what's going on!