WARNING: this chapter has serious themes and is quite dark in nature. I know there'll be some people who won't like it, it is quite violent. Don't say I didn't warn you, if you proceed to read, don't hold me against it!

ALSO: The Italics are Peppers POV (incase it isn't obvious)

The night was a cruel joke; I lay awake in the bed, our bed, staring up at the ceiling. I couldn't sleep, I don't know why I was even here, I should be in the workshop working on a way to find Pepper, I shouldn't be wasting time trying to sleep. For hours I lay awake, I ran through every conversation I'd ever had with her, I remembered them all. I remembered every call every smile every touch. I remember the way she looked when we first danced together. I remember how mortified she was to be just another girl, she could never be that, she was Pepper, my Pepper, the one thing in this world I can't live without. But I couldn't blame her; my actions weren't that of a man serious about a single woman, I sighed. It took me almost ten years and death knocking on my door to see what was always in front of me. I looked over to the empty side of the bed. If I lost all that now, I would never forgive myself. I sat up and swung my legs out of bed.

'Jarvis, what time is it?' I asked quietly.

'Seven past four, sir.' Jarvis replied.

'Good, get everything set up downstairs, I'm not wasting any more time.'

'With all due respect sir, you need some rest, you're not going to be of any use to anyone if you're passing out.' Jarvis interrupted.

'I'm not passing out and I'm not tired.' I retorted.

'Perhaps not sir, but your vitals indicate otherwise, because of the Extremis, your mind is not rested, your brain waves are showing erratic patterns.'

'The erratic patterns are me feeling like I'm going to kill whoever took Pepper, not the Extremis.' I argued. I couldn't believe I was arguing with Jarvis.

'The Extremis is counteracting the antigen, you may not be feeling the symptoms but your mind is experiencing them. You're beta waves are extremely high.' Jarvis added.

I rubbed my face, 'that's because I'm completely infuriated Jarvis.' I yelled.

I felt the rage creeping up on me again.

'Precisely sir, you're losing control of your emotions; this loss of control is affecting you physically. Your brain is struggling to differentiate between the Extremis and your own brainwaves.' Jarvis explained.

I shook my head, I took a deep breath, he was right, I knew it was true. More and more I felt myself falling farther into the darkness. I hit my best friend yesterday, I could have killed him if he didn't stop me, I shuddered to think what I could do without any restrictions…more importantly what someone else could do with this technology if they got it from me.

'They're going to try and harvest my brain cells and the Extremis, they're going to try and fuse it with their own.' I muttered.

'Whatever you do, you cannot connect with their systems. They will take you down.' Jarvis said.

I nodded, 'I know.'

I got dressed and made my way downstairs, I keyed in my entrance code and the workshop lit up with life. The lights came on as well as the Black Sabbath Paranoid album, Iron Man, I laughed to myself.

I sat in front of the screens for hours, skimming through endless terabytes of information; my mind flew through the data like I was reading a simple book. I felt what Jarvis was talking about, I wasn't tired, but I could feel my body fatiguing by the hour. I persevered; there was no way I was giving up now. I finally found the schematics I was looking for.

'Show me the skeleton of the building Jarvis.'

A three dimensional floor plan came up before me, I smiled, 'got you.' I looked over the schematics of the building, 'Jarvis, we need to find the best way in.'

'I suggest the rear entrance on the second floor is most likely the best option.' Jarvis offered.

I spun the three dimensional floor plan and looked it over and over.

'You're right and from what I could gather, there are three of them orchestrating the whole thing, but there are going to be guards on every floor at every entrance.' I pointed to the several entrance points.

'There's no way out of this alive, Tony.' Rhodey stood at the entrance to the workshop, he turned down the music.

I looked up at him.

'There's always a way out.' I said simply. I instructed Jarvis to turn the music back up.

Rhodey looked down at his feet, 'let me help you.'

I wanted nothing more than to have my best friend at my side, probably for the last time, but I couldn't put his life at risk.

'You know the odds of walking away from this are slim, if not completely non-existent, we have a better chance of getting to her if we go together.' He explained.

His logic was sound, 'I know that.' I couldn't come up with a valid argument.

'You know I can look after myself, the War Machine does a good job of that.' He added.

I looked away from him, it would be better to have another set of eyes on the location. 'Ok, but we're doing it my way.'

He nodded, 'of course.'

He sat down beside me; I spun the image around for him.

'This is our best shot at getting into the building,' I showed him the rear entrance on the second floor, 'if you take the permitter it'll give us a vantage point.'

'How many of them are there?' He looked at me.

'Three running the show, and based on the amount of entrance points and floors, I would estimate at least seven or eight guards.' I bowed my head, I looked at him sideways.

'We've taken on worse than this together.' Rhodey said confidently, 'remember the Hammeroid attack?'

We both laughed.

'Yes, that was a pain in the ass.' I said with a smirk.

Rhodey nodded, 'completely asinine.'

I laughed, 'well, this time is a little different.' I said more seriously.

'What are we up against?' Rhodey asked.

'My weapons; Starktech.' I ran my fingers through my hair.

I still shuddered whenever I thought about how close I came to falling at the hands of my own creations.

'In a way it's a good thing, at least you know what to expect, you can count on them to not malfunction.' He grinned again.

I laughed, 'yes, that is a valid point.'

He spun the projection around and looked at me, 'if we take out the power box here, it'll shut down the power to the majority of the block, that way we can get closer to the actual building, take out the guards and get in and out unnoticed by anyone on the upper floors.'

'That's a good plan, but we'll need to go solo, no suits on this one.' I explained.

'Exactly, and who can telekinetically call upon their suit if things get messy?' Rhodey grinned.

I nodded. I knew that was exactly what they wanted; they knew I would be able to work out what was waiting for me. They counted on it. I knew there was no other way around it. As soon as I locked into their system, they would take me out. There was nothing I could do to stop it.

'See, easy, in and out.' Rhodey added.

I smiled weakly, 'couldn't be easier.' I lied.

'What's the deadline?' Rhodey asked.

'Eight, tonight.' I looked at my watch, 'twelve hours to go.'

I leaned my elbows on the desk and rubbed my face.

'We'll get her back.' Rhodey clapped my back.

'I have no doubt.' I said. Getting myself out however, that was another matter entirely.

I felt myself slipping in and out of consciousness, my mouth was dry and it hurt to breathe. The rope burns were extremely prominent in my mind now. The throbbing pulsated throughout my whole body. My neck ached from the position in which I was forced to sit. My head lulled forward. From what I could work out, I had been here for more than eighteen hours.

'Hurry, Tony.' I whispered into the dark.

I was blindfolded now; I guess that was to keep the element of shock whenever they did something to me. I'd already seen their faces, and heard their names. I highly doubted they would let me leave now.

I heard the door swing open, and shut gently, a new sound made my heart drop, a key. He turned the lock. The footsteps came toward me. I kept my head down; I had neither energy nor desire to fight him.

'The time is nearing Miss Potts.' The first man, Mark, spoke.

I swallowed hard, his voice terrified me.

He ran his fingers across my back again. I felt his breath on my cheek. With a swift movement he jammed a cloth in my mouth and tied another over it, gagging me. I instinctively tried to scream, only gagging myself more. I felt tears streaming down my cheeks. There was no controlling the feelings which enveloped me.

'Now, no one can interrupt us because no one will hear you scream.' He breathed against my ear.

I was shocked when a powerful hit connected with my face, the force was so hard that it knocked me down with the chair. I fell in a heap on the floor, my head slammed into the thinly carpeted floor, the chair and my weight on it crushed my arms, I tried to yell. Instead I felt my own vomit suffocating me. Hot tears poured from my eyes.

Through the screaming in my head and the pounding of my heart I heard his laugh, his heavy breathing.

He cut away the ropes which bound me, he turned me on my stomach, and pressed himself against me.

'I'd like to see you fight this.' He hissed in my ear. He ripped my already tattered dress; I felt the cold air attack my skin, his rough hands felt like knives. Every fibre of my being was screaming. I tried to fight against him; his weight on me was immovable.

He ran his hand up my thigh.

I tried to fight, I knew it was impossible.

He pulled my arms behind my back and held them with one hand while he ripped apart the clasp of my bra.

No, god no, please, anything but this. I squeezed my eyes shut. I blocked out everything that was happening, instead I thought of Tony, his eyes, his warm smile, the way he looked at me when I laughed, the way he touched me to say I was only his. I felt the tears continuously flow. I prayed to whoever was listening for this to be over, for me to somehow black out and not be present.

Someone must have been listening because a loud bang in the background jolted my mind back to the present. My heart raced. Was someone actually here to help me?

'Tony, I'm covering you, get Pepper.' Rhodey yelled toward me.

The house burned around us, and the dust cloud made it impossible to see, I followed his voice, I couldn't risk using the Extremis. If I did, we'd all be dead.

Rhodey fired at the guards, he took them out one by one, I sprinted through the falling debris.

Communicating the old fashioned way was difficult; I pushed the earpiece as I ran blind, 'Rhodey, where am I going? Which way?'

'Right, turn right, the room at the end of the hall, hurry she's in trouble.' I heard Rhodey yell in my ear.

The system hack through the power box was a breeze; Rhodey had eyes on every room in the house without me having to resort to using the Extremis at all.

'Hurry Tony, she needs you.' He yelled again.

I felt myself speed up, I was running on pure adrenaline, and infuriating anger, I spotted the door at the end of the hall. I threw all my weight against it and it came clean off the hinges; I shielded my eyes from the dust which continued to fall over the room. A man a few feet away from me jumped up and turned toward me, pure rage flooded my body when I saw the grin on his face and Pepper on the floor. I clenched my fist, without even thinking I ran toward him. I swung at him. My fist met his face, then his stomach, over and over and over. I didn't even realise he was limp until his gargled screams finally stopped.

Whatever fate found him was justified.

I tried to calm my breathing down; I struggled against the noise in the background but made my way to my knees. I peeled away the blindfold from my eyes and removed the gag, I crawled away from the noise; the dark was cruel to my eyes, I couldn't focus, I couldn't see. I felt around for what was left of my dress and covered myself.

I dropped to my knees beside her, I took off my jacket and wrapped it around her body, her tattered dress was stained with her dried blood. I brushed her hair away from her face. Sweat and blood drenched her body. I wrapped my arms around her as gently as I could. She froze under my touch. I was so angry I couldn't even talk, I couldn't even comfort her. The lump in the back of my throat restricted everything. I only felt my own tears as I saw her. She relaxed once I pulled her closer to me.

'Tony.' I breathed.

He didn't speak, I felt his arms around me, pulling me tighter against him. I felt his arms under me, he picked me up. I instinctively lay my face against his shoulder and he silently carried me out of the room. My nostrils picked up the scent of grass and wet leaves. We were outside. My lungs gasped and thanked me for the air.

I ran outside shielding her from the debris and the firing, I cradled her in my arms, the bruises and dried blood on her face was a cruel contrast against her pale skin.

I made it outside to the waiting car, Happy opened the passage door, I gently sat her in the seat and slammed the door.

'Drive, get her out of here.' I heard him yell.

The anger in his voice was evident; I was terrified for the men responsible. They deserved everything that was coming to them.

So there we are...I hope I haven't angered everyone and lost all my readers! I promise there'll be happiness soon! As they always say, it has to get really bad before it can get better! I hope the changes of view weren't too jarring to the flow.

Either way, good or bad, please let me know how you found this. I do like to know whether I'm pushing the boundaries to unacceptable lengths, or whether people are ok with the dark themes.

Looking forward to hearing from you! On a happy note, it's almost halloween! Ahhhhh SO excited :) candy candy candy!