The Last Chronicle Chapter 7, an iron man: armored adventures fanfic

Guest Review Responses

Toni: Nightcrawler is one of my favourite X-men! Enjoyed his scene with Pepper. 2 weeks until the battle?! Don't think they'll ever be ready :( Nor will I when this comes to an end :( - THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND REVIEW! *hugs so tightly it hurts* I don't think any of us will be ready for it. There's only one more chapter of preparation (besides this one), and it's off to Latveria with them.

Anon: This fanfic is so good! Pl update. – SO SORRRRRY TO KEEP YOU WAITING! I have no reason to earn your forgiveness, but I hope I do get it.

So, why did I take forever this time? Well, it was a combination of work, school, and I moved to another city. Quit school after finals in December (lesigh), and other less-than-pleasant things happened. BUT, here I am, ready to update and to hear what you guys have to say (and get yelled at too )

A/N: I totally forgot to add this disclaimer in the previous chapter: I do not endorse, favor or suggest any one religion (I respect the expression of any or none at all) nor do I want to harm any of the cities that got kaboomed by Doom. I LOVE EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE!

Well, except cockroaches… and Doom. I really don't like him right now. And you, my Faithful Readers, probably don't like me much either at the moment for the agonizing delay :(

BUT I STILL LOVE YOU ALL!

I'm gonna sound like the preview voice on real shows, but seeing as I took forever to update (and I'm terribly, terribly, terribly sorry for that!), here's a summary of the last chapter:

Previously, on The Last Chronicle:

The state of the world after Doctor Doom's attack is verified: cities have been vaporized, others have been bombed into submission, and countless people are dead or out in the streets without food, water or shelter. A flashback is shown to the day that Pepper had the incident in the VTR (being forced to use Extremis to pass the test Nick Fury set for her) and of how that same night she was visited by Nightcrawler when she was reloading the security protocols back into the VTR system. Pepper is shocked to be called a mutant by Nightcrawler and it messes with her view of herself, her son and Tony. Back to present time, Pepper's team is in the VTR, completing a practice sequence in the Alps and they fail it (Widow accidentally stabs Maya, an avalanche hits them and renders Nightcrawler unconscious, Bobby cuts the rope to everyone else and only he and Pepper remain until another avalanche buries them and the simulation is over). Tony gets pissed off at this and tells Iceman that he needs to get his head in the game and protect Pepper with all his got, and also tells him that he knows he's not coming back alive from the mission. Iceman is surprised to find this out, and tells Tony that he will do what needs to be done to make sure Pepper makes it to Latveria and disables Doom's power core. Another flashback is shown where Pepper asks Tony what he thinks about them being labeled as mutants by the X-Men. Tony tells her that he does not care and she decides to let it go as well. A third flashback is shown of a moment between Howard and Trish, where Howard is afraid that Trish could have been hurt after punching Nick Fury in the face. The last flashback shows how Whitney Stane got recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D. And, in the present time, Fury states that Team A will leave for Latveria in two weeks.

BTW, everyone, please welcome our new member of the Dark Side: Spicy Iron! In the time since I posted the last chapter, this Faithful Reader has READ AND REVIEWED every single chapter from The Last Month up to the start of The Fourth Year,as of this post. It might be a while before we are all caught up and on the same page, but I am happy that we have such an awesome new person joining in our little group. Welcome!

Also! I created an Armored Adventures forum here in for anyone interested to post, vent, chill and share thoughts and ideas. You can find the link on my profile :D

I'VE MISSED YOU ALL!

Chapter 7

He felt a pair of warm, soft arms affectionately surround his shoulders from behind, followed by a light weight being placed on his left shoulder and a feather-like kiss on his cheek. He closed his eyes briefly, smiled, and pressed his palm against her joined hands on his chest. He then partly hung his head to place a quick kiss to one of her hands, before he then rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms, barely holding back the yawn she did not miss.

"I brought us some coffee. Want some right now?"

"Yes, please."

Tony felt his wife's body pull away from his, so he twirled around on the stool he sat on and faced her while she poured him a cup of the liquid he had not realized that he needed. His eyes traced her unmistakable womanly figure, the present state of affairs bringing to him memories of how her current actions had been common in the past when either one of them had worked themselves to exhaustion. He had stayed up all night like this, many times before, when he was high on creative juices, building and testing prototypes for his crazy ideas and inventions. And, every single time, she had been there with him; caring for him. Making sure she tended to his needs while he worked.

How could she have not, in fact? He could not picture it being any other way: she had become his strongest and most powerful inspiration.

She had, too, remained awake throughout the night as many times as he had, either caring for him, studying, or preparing for CEO duties. These hundreds of occasions did not even take into consideration the times they had both been hard at work during the course of the night to solve crimes – him adding new weapons to the suit while she did reconnaissance for the villain in question – just as they had done so when they had prepared for infiltrating the Maggia's kidnapping scheme taking place at The Rotary.

Had it really been that long since then?

Their high school years, when the trio of friends stayed up until the early morning to fight crime, seemed both as close as yesterday and forever ago for Tony. These simpler times were missed by the blue-eyed genius, who still had a difficult time accepting that those carefree days were long gone. It was not as if he had an issue with how his life had turned out to be: he had had a long time to adjust to the changing times, and he was happy with his marriage and the existence of his son. The real issue was that he wished – more so now than ever – that he could go back in time to do things slightly differently, if only to somehow guarantee they did not end up where they were right now.

His time with his redhead was very limited, utterly at the mercy of a gradually yet quickly decreasing countdown that would cease to exist when and if the call was made for his life to be taken away from him by Nick Fury or one of his lackeys. Never had Tony Stark considered that he would become a willful acceptant of such a tragic fate even though he had placed himself in deadlier situations when he was a younger Iron Man. Yet, here he was: two weeks away from sending his redhead to Latveria, and four weeks away from personally being at the forefront of the third world war. The consequences of fighting Doom could only be told by time, and time was ticking way too fast for him.

He had not realized that his mind had yet again wandered, until a cup of steaming coffee appeared before him. His eyes focused hazily on the mug while his fingers took from her soft hands the offering she had for him. After he took a sip of the perfectly prepared drink, and before he said another word, Pepper sat on the stool next to his, her own cup of coffee in hand, and spoke.

"I was thinking about my team's simulations, and about what we did wrong, and I think we should consider using the CC-457 on everyone."

"The molar implant communicators?"

"Yeah," she one-side shrugged, the almost distracted look in her eyes portraying the development of her thought process as she spoke. "They worked well during the Maggia stakeout, don't you think? Well, until Jules punched it out of my mouth, that is."

Her tongue moved briefly over the fake molar she had had implanted a few weeks after she had left Tony that year, replacing the one that had been knocked out by the Maggia member.

"I just think that half of our issues in the VTR happen because we sometimes can't communicate when we need to. We need to start talking more and reacting less."

"That's very true," Tony briefly paused to drink from his coffee. "They did work very well, but we used the Stark 1 satellite to keep them online, and we can't do that now without tipping off Doom. If we decide to use them, we first need to find another way to keep them working, even if it's just at a short-range."

"Mmhhh," Pepper sipped from her coffee, nodded in agreement, but did not say another word.

"We could try portable wireless transmitters," Tony began. "They would probably be limited, though, to anywhere from a few feet to maybe half a mile in radius."

"That should be enough, if their purpose is just to keep us talking amongst ourselves. How would we keep the transmitter powered?"

"An ARC reactor-based battery. Just like the one we use to power the Stark Bike," Tony turned on the stool again to face the table where he had been working, grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, and then began jotting down the ideas as they came to him. "Those babies power up the bikes for two years. They can make it a few weeks in the middle of Nowhere's Land."

"It should record the conversations in a way that Living Laser can transport the data back with him wherever he goes."

"Right," Tony nodded. "And, when close to certain checkpoints along the way, it should allow us to ping our geolocation back here."

"It's hard to tell what provisions the safe houses will have…" Pepper stood up.

"So we need to make a universal device that is compatible with ours…" Tony finished her thought.

"And make sure they have it available at the safe houses…" she stared at the paper he had in his hand by looking over his shoulder.

"Before your team leaves the island…"

"In two weeks."

Her verbal reminder that he would cease to see his wife in such a short period of time, made Tony stop writing for a moment; one moment too short for the ginger to even realize it had taken place. He covered up his continued hesitation by tapping the table with the end of the pen a few times, pretending that he was allowing his mind to sort through his ideas before plastering them on the paper below his hands.

"Am I distracting you?"

"No," his face partly turned in her direction and he faked a smile. "Of course not. You're my muse, babe."

"Your aura just spiked," she tilted her head to the side.

"Mmhhh," he returned his gaze to the paper. "I don't like it that you can see that."

"I don't either," she enveloped him again in an attempt to settle the sense of fear and uncertainty that was cascading out of him. "Sometimes, I like to be lied to."

"And sometimes, I need to lie to you."

"Like when you told me you could fix the issue with Extremis so that I wouldn't worry about you?"

"Yup."

"Or when you pretended we hadn't been romantically involved to keep me safe?"

"That counts there, too, yes."

"Yeah, no. Nevermind," Pepper tightened her grip on him. "I take it back. I don't need you to lie to me."

"I won't, then."

"Then tell me what's bothering you right now."

"Losing you," he replied almost instantly before he turned in place, heard the redhead yelp in surprise when he grabbed her by her waist, and then sat her on the table. She instinctively closed her eyes when she felt his lips and nose caress her neck, one side after the other, only to then feel butterfly kisses being placed in random places on her face.

"You know that's my greatest fear," he whispered. "It's always been the same one: losing you, Pep."

She held his face in her hands and redirected his lips to land on hers. He reacted by pushing himself between her legs, which caused her to tightly wrap them around his waist. In response, his left hand pressed against the middle of her back to force her chest to puff out, and with his right hand he began unbuttoning her blouse. Once he got to the third button, his hand slid inside her upper garment and began sliding down the straps of her bra.

Pepper moaned into his mouth. He took advantage of her receptivity to his advances by undoing the remaining buttons on her blouse. He did not pull it down completely, but he did open it up enough to be able to kiss her cleavage. As he did so, the redhead frantically, yet expertly, pulled on his shirt from the back; her actions quickly left the inventor's muscled torso exposed when he paused briefly to let the clothing item be drawn over his head. Her hands then traveled to the front of his pants, and as she was beginning to unzip them and the genius avidly tasted her left breast, the door to the lab slid opened.

"Stark! We need you in the–"

Pepper instantly covered her front with her arms, turned her face away from the man standing at the door, and pressed the left side of her cheek against Tony's right shoulder. Tony further pressed her body against his, almost in tandem with her previous actions, in an attempt to somehow protect her from the shocked-looking eyes of their unexpected guest. Gene Khan, who had instantly turned around in place after his cut off sentence, exited the lab and closed the door behind him without a single word.

"Any chance I just hallucinated that Gene walked in on us?" the ginger asked, eyes closed and her face as red as her hair.

"Nope," Tony replied as he grabbed his shirt from the floor and haphazardly put it on.

"Oh, great," Pepper mumbled sarcastically while her trembling hands adjusted her bra.

"I'm sorry, Pep," he spoke softly as he slowly buttoned up her blouse for her. "You said this might happen, and I didn't listen."

"I didn't stop you," Pepper stole a quick glance at her husband's fallen face as she rested a hand on his cheek. "And he didn't knock."

"Why would he? It's a science lab."

"In that case, we didn't do anything wrong. We were doing science… biology, specifically," she winked at him when he looked up. He smirked at her and then kissed the inside of her wrist.

"Let me go see what he wants," he straightened her blouse.

"I'll keep double-checking the routes."

"OK. Be back as soon as I can," he said before he closed his eyes and kissed her while he grabbed her by the waist, lifted her off the table, and then slowly and carefully placed her feet back on the floor. He gave her waist a tender squeeze as he pulled away from her, all the while she zipped up and buttoned his pants, before he began walking towards the door. Pepper smiled at his back when she noticed his troubled aura had stabilized once more, and she felt shamelessly proud to have helped him relax, if only for the moment.

Tony exited the room to find Gene standing a few feet away from the entrance, his normal frown present on his face but, at the moment, it was more pronounced than usual.

"What?" Tony's tone was curt as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"We need you in the power room. The ARC-powered battery you installed is showing signs of malfunction."

"Bullshit," Tony uncrossed his arms, rolled his eyes, walked past Gene, and the Mandarin reluctantly followed the inventor. "My tech never fails. But I'll humor you guys."

xxxXXXxxx

It only took Tony two days of non-stop work, after everyone received from Fury the grim news of how the world had faired after Doom's strike, for him to prepare the counterattack. He, as everyone else on the island, knew that time was of the essence, and that while getting to Latveria by normal means in normal times would take no more than a day of constant travel, given the current situation around the world, it would take them about two weeks to get to the border of the city of the despot ruler. That was, if and only if, no one stopped them, recognized them, and the means of travel he had learned were still operational remained as such; and, needless to say, if no one got lost or died on the way there, too.

He had, quite literally, not slept for two days straight since Fury had informed him and everyone else that the young billionaire was assigned the difficult task of preparing and leading the counteroffensive; an announcement that had taken place after Nick had finished showing everyone the extent of the damage around the world. That set of news had been a surprise for everyone in the room, especially after hearing the level of devastation the world had suffered under Doom's attack. For the untrained eye, it would have made more sense if Fury and his top S.H.I.E.L.D. agents called the shots, but given Tony's history with Victor von Doom, Doom's level of intelligence and technological advances, and the fact that Tony's plan during the Makluan invasion had yielded triumphant results, it was clear to the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. that, as much as he hated to admit it, Tony Stark was the best person for the job.

Two days of constant work had left the inventor exhausted due to the inability to rely on the energy and stamina surge that he had been accustomed to having thanks to Extremis – a virus within him which continued to be limited and manipulated by Maya Hansen, per orders of the one-eyed General. Yet, despite the aches and fatigue the important task caused, the payoff was worth all of it, in his eyes. Having the opportunity to lead the operation meant he had more control over whether or not Fury had a chance to kill him if the need arose. It also meant that he was even more responsible for making sure the rescue of his son was as effective and efficient as it could be. As infinitesimal the odds were that Doom would not be able to mind control the inventor into becoming a vessel for enslaving the entire world, Tony felt there was still hope that he could come out of this alive. And hope, as he had learned over time, was such a powerful driving force in people that perhaps – just perhaps – he would live to see his son grow up.

Even his beloved wife had unwillingly succumbed to slumber a couple of times while he had remained up and about, and she had fallen asleep either on a worktable in the lab or curled up in a chair in their shared quarters while he took the entire space in their small room to spread the tools he needed to chart their travel routes. Maps, laptops, electronic tablets, rulers, pencils, calculators, and a myriad of other devices, had littered the inventor's surroundings for forty-eight hours straight. But the results spoke for themselves: he had a plan – a very meticulous plan, and he was about to share it with everyone else.

Unfortunately, when the time would come for him to begin explaining the details of his strategy, he would quickly realize that the two days of all work and no sleep would turn out to be a walk in the park compared to convincing the members of the resistance to buy into his plans.

xxxXXXxxx

It felt hotter than hell in here, and that was definitely not normal for him. He was mildly aware that these types of enclosures tended to become uncomfortably warm when too much energy was being created and expended; as much as he was also aware that sometimes the combination of EMF and other airwaves interfered with the proper usage of his rings and, in turn, ended up affecting him. He had not felt this way, however, since he had accompanied the inventor to the South Pole to rescue Pepper from the submarine. If he were honest with himself right about now, he had sincerely thought that he would never experience such discomfort once again.

And yet here he was.

Tony wiped sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand as he climbed down the ladder from the topmost level of the electrical room that maintained the entire island's livability. While the infrastructure below Muir Island was remarkable, continual use and abuse of its resources without regular contact with the outside world, as well as the addition of the VTR, the replica of the Makluan Temple and the increase in the number of people living at the facility, had pushed the power supply to its limit. Fortunately for everyone in the building, the world's smartest and most capable electrical engineer and physicist had been present to quickly solve the powering issues, and he had done so by using one of his very own clean-power designs.

"Pepper had arranged for us to test powering the entire Stark Solutions building with one of these," Tony said aloud once his feet touched the floor and he turned to face Gene standing behind him. "We never got to do it, but I can guarantee you that it would've worked. I don't build second-rate inventions, Gene. There's nothing wrong with the device."

"Are you sure?" Gene inquired, his face showing how little he believed the inventor's words as he rubbed his aching forehead. "Fury said they were having trouble keeping the cafeteria's refrigerators on and also some of the medical devices in the infirmary."

Tony's head recoiled. "Fury? The fridges in the cafeteria? Medical devices? You his errand-boy now?"

"No. But it's better than you wasting everyone's time fooling around with Pepper in the lab instead of getting ready for fighting Doom," Gene's frown deepened.

"I'm not even gonna humor you with an actual response to that," Tony used the inside of his shirt to dry his face. "Besides, whatever Pepper and I do is our damn problem, anyway. Why didn't Fury come get me instead of you? "

"He said that you wouldn't even listen to him," Gene replied and closed his eyes when the room around him began spinning.

"Got that right," Tony dried his forehead with his forearm again, completely unaware of Gene's increasing discomfort. "Fuck, it's hot in here. Let's check the power cables for the cafeteria and the infirmary just in case, and then get the hell out of here."

Gene lazily nodded but did not verbally respond.

The genius maneuvered his way around the many cables, boxes and other electrical components in the room, and once he reached what he knew were the fuses and power supply monitors for the infirmary, he frowned.

"Everything looks fine to me," he shouted over the loud sounds of machinery functioning and towards Gene. "Did Fury say which medical devices were messing up?"

Tony once again wiped his entire face, this time with the bottom of his shirt, before he screamed over his shoulder as he slowly turned his head to face the other man.

"Hey, Gene! Didn't you hear me? Did Fury s– oh shit!"

He was by Gene's kneeling form just seconds before the Mandarin got on all fours; the only position in which he could somewhat hold his own weight. He was groaning loudly, breathing raggedly, and his knuckles were white at how hard he was clenching them. Tony crouched to get a better look at him, eyed him suspiciously and then spoke.

"Gene, what the hell?"

"Hurts…" he clawed at his chest, "breathe…"

Tony was taken aback. "What?"

"Ugh," Gene whimpered as his arms lost all power to sustain him, and had Tony, to both of their surprise, not just grabbed him by his shoulders and chest, the Mandarin would have hit the hard floor, face first.

"Gene? Gene?! Mandarin, what's wrong?"

The blue-eyed genius led Gene to lay on his back on the floor and then watched in confusion as Gene took sharp breaths. Tony searched around himself for blood, a weapon or some unknown assailant nearby; anything that could clue him in as to what was forcing the almighty Khan into a hopeless state. When he saw nothing was out of place near them, he stared back at Gene, whose hand was now placed over the necklace of rings under his shirt, and held the man by his chin to force Gene's blank stare towards his questioning eyes.

"Gene, what happened? Tell me! Point towards it! Gimme something!"

Gene eyed Tony with the desperation that came from someone who was seeing his life flash before his eyes, until he was finally able to make a retort.

"R-rings…"

xxxXXXxxx

Tony had been the first one present at the meeting room, if only to make sure he had all the tools he needed to present his plans to the team. Not even his wife knew of the details of the counterattack, and he had done so on purpose because he had wanted to protect her from the backlash he knew would result from the information he was about to share with everyone else. He was not sure why Pepper always had to receive the bulk of the blame for his actions, even when she had no significant influence on his decisions, but it never failed to occur. Even when they had attended board meetings or when something had gone wrong with Stark Solutions, the fingers always pointed to her before they pointed to him. He hoped against hope that, if just for this one time, no one glared at her when he gave orders to his team.

Sadly, he would be proven wrong about it, yet again.

The members began coming inside the meeting room in waves, the first wave composed of Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, Gene, Whitney, Bobby, Gambit, Maya and Agent Hill. Tony was sitting at one end of the long rectangular table, signifying that he was in charge of the meeting. Pepper sat to his immediate left, and to Pepper's left sat Gene, Maya, Maria and Gambit. To Tony's immediate right sat Rhodey, and to Rhodey's right sat Happy, Whitney and Bobby.

After this group was settled, the remaining members of the resistance and all accompanying family members entered, taking the remaining seats at the table or standing behind the seated members.

Tony spared them all a glance to thank them for their presence, and as he was wrapping up the final details of the presentation he was going to use to explain his plan, a loud cackle coming from Happy Hogan made him stop. Everyone's eyes landed on the former jock as he wiped tears from his eyes.

"What's the deal, Happy?" Rhodey asked and the jock repeatedly slammed his palm on the table.

"Dude, I just thought of the funniest joke ever!"

"A joke?" Gene frowned from his position across the table. "Right now?"

"Yeah!" Happy nodded and cleared his throat. "With Tony's entire dating history sitting here in the same room, it's just meant to be! So, listen: Tony Stark dates a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead–"

"Happy," Tony gritted his teeth. "Shut. It."

"And-and the redhead WINS the joke!" Happy replied almost instantly, and begrudgingly so, at seeing that his perfect joke had been interrupted before it had even actually started.

"That's right, she did," Bobby made an obscene shake with his hips.

"Mouths aren't the only body parts I can make disappear, Drake," Gene's warning and glare made Iceman melt in his tracks.

Everyone else remained awkwardly silent as the uncomfortable moment dissipated between them while the rest of the team began to arrive. Within minutes, the other members of the resistance found themselves either sitting or standing around the room, all looking towards the inventor's stern face. Tony scanned the room to make sure everyone was present, and before he turned on the projector, he began the meeting by stating his first command.

"We leave in three weeks, so I need everyone to listen up."

xxxXXXxxx

"The rings?" Tony frowned. "What the fuck is wrong with your rings?"

The genius pulled the front of Gene's shirt and tried grabbing onto the necklace that held the agents of Makluan power, but a shock of electricity coming from them on contact forced Tony to retract and shake his hand.

"W-w-wav-v-ves…"

"Waves?" Tony repeated with a frown. "What waves? You better not be playing here, Gene, because if you are, I swear I'll–"

Tony's words were cut short when he saw Gene's eyes roll to the back of his head and he ceased to breath.

"GENE!"

Tony shook the unconscious Mandarin as hard as he could before he stood up and ran towards the door. His hand landed on the handle, tried twisting it, but he soon discovered that it was locked.

"What the fuck?"

The doors to maintenance rooms, such as the one they were currently in, locked only from the outside to prevent anyone from hiding inside them. He was sure as hell that he had not locked the door upon arrival, so it made no sense whatsoever that they were now trapped inside – unless Gene had accidentally done the deed. He patted his pockets to see if he had brought his short-range radio with him, but he soon remembered that he had unclipped it from his jeans to allow it to charge.

Son of a bitch!

Tony desperately pulled and twisted on the handle a few more times, pounded on the door with his fists, and then kicked the door when he realized they were stuck. Hardly anyone ever came down to the main electrical room. With the doors and walls made out of thick and, sometimes, sound-proof materials, it was very unlikely that anyone would hear his screams. If he still had possessed his Extremis powers, he would have already called for help by using his mind to send a text. If he had had Extremis, he would have already pulled the handle off its track.

Unfortunately, he did not have Extremis activated – or at least not at its full capacity, so he would have to find another way out.

He turned around to worriedly stare at Gene, who was still lying on the floor, face up. He was glad to see that he was at least now sharply gasping for air every few seconds or so, so the Great Mandarin was yet to be taken down for the count. Tony stared left and right, and then held his head between his hands, willing his brain to work faster than it already was. When the last word Gene had uttered to him returned to his mind, Tony snapped his fingers and began canvassing the room, inch-by-inch.

Where is it? Tony's desperation was obvious in his frantic search. Where the fuck is it coming from?

Whatever device was affecting Gene so greatly had to either: be big enough to be easily noticeable; or be small enough that it needed to be attached to something that allowed it to amplify its power. Opening the door was not possible for him at the moment, and even if he turned off the power in the entire building to catch someone's attention and force them to come down to the maintenance room, not only would this slow down rescue efforts: by then, it would be too late for Gene. The best chance Gene had right now was for Tony to find and destroy the disruptive device himself, and leaving the discovery of the culprit of this issue for later.

Taking the rings off him won't help,he ducked under a thick and wide electric pipe and surveyed its surroundings. He's been exposed to their power for so long, and he's absorbed so much of their energy, that he's just a walking and talking, Makluan energy storage unit!

Tony's last train of thought made him stop in his tracks. He stood up straight, looked towards Gene, and then huffed in surprise.

"But that also makes him a giant-ass, Makluan energy interference source detecting machine!"

A worthy breakthrough, at last!

Tony crawled under the pipe once more, briefly checked on Gene's breathing status, and then, despite knowing that once the Mandarin was back to his normal self, he would never hear the end of what he was about to do, Tony lifted Gene from the floor and loaded him, face down, on his right shoulder.

"Alright, Gene," he readjusted his weight on his shoulder, "Tell me when it feels like you're dying."

The genius walked towards the side end of the large electrical room, Gene in tow, by either ducking or walking over the countless obstacles in his way, while simultaneously stealing glances at the weakened Mandarin alter ego and checking the structure for signs of the offending device. When the duo reached the South-end of the room and Tony noticed that Gene's breathing patterns were becoming more regular, the young billionaire snarled.

"Dammit! You're getting better! That doesn't help!"

In his haste to return to the area where the negative frequencies appeared to be the strongest, Tony failed to account for his extra mass and height while walking over a fuse box, causing Gene's head to accidentally, yet violently, hit a metal box that hung from above.

"Fuck! Sorry!" Tony ran his hand through Gene's hair to check for signs of injury, and when found that some blood was already pouring out, he flinched.

"Shit! I mean: you're good! You're fine! It's not internal bleeding. Shake it off!"

The North-side of the maintenance room yielded the same results as its south: Gene was able to take in larger breaths, although not open his eyes or move freely just yet, which prompted Tony to race towards the East-side of the room, located at the far back of the structure, away from the front door – and right where his ARC-powered battery was placed.

"Well, I'll be…" Tony mumbled when he noticed Gene's breathing stop.

The inventor returned the Mandarin to the South-end of the room, sat him on the floor, rested his back against the wall to hold his own weight, and then gave his head injury one final look.

"I found it. Stay here. It'll be over soon."

Tony turned around, quickly made his way to the bottom of the ladder he had just climbed down from moments ago, and began a rapid trek back up towards the reactor core. He knew that the reactor, by itself, was not dangerous at all; not even for Gene Khan. It had been designed to be a source of clean, renewable energy: the releasing of harmful fumes and/or airwaves was not part of the schematics. Or at least, not part of his schematics.

Where is it?

Tony gave his invention a closer look, one that went beyond checking for correct usage and running basic diagnostics. But it was not until he forced his hand inside the narrow space between the reactor core and the wall, and that he ignored the scraping and scratching said feat had on his skin, that he found what he was looking for.

And it burned his hand on contact.

"Ugh!"

He dropped the small, barely two-inch in radius, and cylindrical-shaped device from his high-altitude position on the ladder. The disruptor barely made a noise when it hit the ground, but it did shatter in a dozen pieces upon contact with the concrete flooring, instantly ending the hell it had put Gene through with its augmented functionality.

Tony groaned when he stared at his bloodied and scratched right hand. Without Extremis, it would take weeks for it to heal properly and, while it did, it would slow down his typing, prepping and fighting efforts. He did not have weeks for it to heal – his team was leaving for Latveria about nine days after Pepper's did.

"Gene?" the billionaire yelled as he took his time climbing down the ladder, slowed down by the fact that he now only had one available hand to hold himself onto it. "Gene! Did you die?"

"No," Gene's response was barely audible over the electrical buzzing, but he was at least now walking on his own and headed towards where he had been standing before everything had headed south for him.

"Did it stop?" Tony asked once he reached the ground and faced a partly dazed, yet swiftly recovering, Gene Khan.

"Yes," he pressed his right palm against his chest and glared at the broken device by his feet. "What the hell was that?"

"I'm not sure," Tony crouched by the pieces and began randomly inspecting the remnants of the gimmick. "Didn't get a chance to analyze it. It burned the hell out of my hand when I touched it."

"What's it doing here, anyway? I've been in this room before. This had never happened until now."

"Beats me. I don't recall seeing this on the blueprints for this place," Tony shrugged before he stood up, his eyes fixed on the dispersed chunks. "I'll take the pieces back to the lab and–"

Gene's gaze lifted from the floor to briefly stare at a suddenly stunned-silent Tony Stark. He then followed the genius' line of sight towards the door, and when Gene returned his attention towards the scientist, Tony spoke once more, yet in a tone that became graver and graver by the word.

"You said Fury sent you to get me?"

"Yeah."

"Did he tell you to come with me, too?"

"Yes. He said I had to, to make sure you did your job," Gene replied, almost absentmindedly, but then his back straightened out when his mind began piecing together what Tony's brain had already started figuring out, seconds ago. Tony watched as Gene walked towards the door, and as soon as his hand landed on the doorknob, Tony spoke again.

"It's locked."

"Why?" Gene rattled the handle and then took a couple of steps away from the door. "Why is it locked?"

"You didn't lock it?"

"No, Stark!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Why would I want to be locked up with you in a place like this?"

"You wouldn't," Tony swallowed hard.

"But Fury would," Gene stated, and just seconds after Gene's last words were uttered, both men ran towards the door and voiced, in unison, one final word.

"Pepper!"

xxxXXXxxx

The first image that would aid him in the unveiling of his plan came into view, and everyone's eyes shifted from staring at him to staring at the wall opposite to where he stood. The picture displayed a map of Europe with several markings of different colors all over it, but four particular dotted lines stood out from it: four dotted lines that originated from their current location on Muir Island and ended at Latveria's northwest borders.

"As you all know, the reports regarding transportation options aren't very promising," Tony began, "If this was any other day, we could have, at the very least, gotten on a boat or a ferry to get off the island, and then on a train or a plane once on the mainland, and be in Latveria by nightfall. But that's not how it is. Given the circumstances, and several other factors that I've already analyzed, considered and that I won't bore you with, we'll be traveling to Latveria using other means, in groups, and mostly on foot."

"Groups?" Scott inquired and Tony nodded.

"When it comes to going against Doom, and in normal times, high-caliber weapons and an army yield the best chance of even making it to his borders. But we all know what happened to the last two armies that tried to walk up to Castle Doom. We can't afford to do what they did," Tony remained silent to allow everyone to recall the grim details of the soldiers and revenge-seeking civilians that had perished in the blink of an eye at the hands of Doctor Doom, while trying to stop the evil ruler.

"That was thousands of heavily-armed men and women, Tony," Rhodey said. "We're not even large enough to fill up this room."

"I know," Tony nodded. "But it was also ten-thousand aliens with advanced technology and a fucking spaceship, and only ten of us."

"So, we're doing strategy over numbers. Cool! What are the groups?" Bobby Drake shrugged and tried his best to ignore the awkward and almost disheartening silence that had befallen everyone present.

"I've split us into four groups of five people each," Tony changed the image on the projector to show a calendar that rotated days as he spoke, "Team A will leave at the end of this month, in exactly three weeks. Team B will leave four days after Team A leaves. Team C will leave three days after Team B leaves, and Team D will leave two days after Team C leaves."

"Why the day difference?" Whitney asked.

"The paths I've charted for each team are all different, but they also all add up to two weeks of travel in total. Some paths are longer than others, and that's why we aren't all leaving at the same time. Team A has the longest and most isolated path. Team D has the shortest but also the most public one."

"So, you're hoping that we'll all stick to the paths and that we all make it to the border, at around the same time?"

"Yes," Tony nodded at Gene. "I know it sounds sketchy and full of if's, but taking separate routes will make it less likely for our presence to be detected until we reach the final rendezvous point. We'll have other people here at the island, supporting us on our way there, and we'll also have the Living Laser keeping tabs on us through power and phone lines."

"So, Arthur's not going with us?" Pepper asked.

"No," Tony replied, already knowing what she was about to ask next.

"Then, how did you come up with the number twenty? Who's in each team?"

Tony began his response by changing to a different slide to show the names of the first team as he read them aloud.

"Team A consists of Pepper, Maya, Bobby, Kurt and Natasha," he looked towards Professor Xavier and then at each of his people. "I know you X-Men are a tight-knit group and you're used to working together. But, in order to use the abilities of this resistance to its fullest, we're going to have to mix it up a little. I'm sure you'll be able to handle it," he nodded to Kurt and Bobby specifically before continuing. "Natasha will be the leader of the team, and Bobby will be second-in-command."

Pepper could feel the eyes of everyone on her, all waiting for her initial reaction to the shocking news of who her team members were, and that she was not even in charge of the team she was placed in, despite having outranked them all in the tryouts at the VTR. The looks were heavy enough to make anyone uncomfortable, but she ignored them all. She then lifted her head, eyed Tony with a serene face, and then silently and firmly nodded once to show her acceptance of the role and his command.

For his part, Gene's eyes traveled from Pepper to Tony, and both men had yet another silent conversation. Gene's concern, Tony knew, sprouted from the fact that neither he nor the inventor were going to be part of the team that the redhead was a member of. And also that, on top of it all, Bobby Drake, the man that had been harassing the ginger ever since he had met her, was going to be one of the people Pepper would have to report to.

Gene broke eye contact with Tony only when he felt Pepper's hand on his right knee, under the table, and away from everyone's prying eyes. After she gave it an inconspicuous light squeeze, all the while her neutral face never faltered, the Mandarin finally decided to let the issue go for now.

"Alright," Tony said and changed to the next slide. "Now, let's talk about Team A's path."

xxxXXXxxx

The discomfort caused by the bone-chilling cold and the humidity was what eventually woke her. She slowly opened her eyes, blinked them hard a few times to let them adjust to her surroundings, but when everything continued to be dark and silent around her – even after almost ten seconds of waiting – the redhead's body stiffened and she inwardly gasped.

What… where… how…

She remained still for an instant, trying to determine where she was by either touch or smell, but her efforts were for naught. She could not conclude where she was, and she could not remember where she had been before. All she could immediately discern was that, wherever she was, felt cold, damp, dark and was quiet; and that she was on the floor of whatever this was.

My… head…

A spike of pain hit her right temple when she sat up, so she rubbed the area fervently with one hand as her other hand traveled down her body. She felt relieved when she confirmed that she still had clothes on, and that all four limbs were in their rightful places. As she made the effort to stand up, however, a loud noise made her halt on the spot.

Light partially flooded the middle of the room when a door she had not been aware was there, opened up. She narrowed her eyes, looked away and used her right hand to minimize the impact the sudden light had on her corneas. When the spots dancing before her eyes started to fade away, Pepper stood up, tried to walk towards the light, removed her hand from her face, and was then punched in the nose.

"AAH!"

She fell to the floor with a thud and her hands flew to her bleeding nose. The pain was excruciating at first, but when she remembered that someone had just attacked her without notice, rhyme or reason, and that she had no idea where she was or how she had gotten there, she quickly stood up, took on a defensive pose, ignored the fading pain on her already bleeding nasal septum, and then gasped when she saw the face of the person that had pounced her.

"Whitney?"

"Hi, Pepper," the blonde smirked before Madame Masque's mask covered her face. "I'm surprised that you lived through your first sentence."

Pepper frowned, took a step back when Whitney continued to walk towards her, and a feeling of déjà vu began creeping up in her.

"First sentence?" Pepper shook her head at the familiar words and lowered her fists for a moment. "What the hell are you talking about, Whitney? Where are we? What are we doing here? And why the fuck did you punch me in the face, you bitch?"

"Still asking too many questions at once, I see," Whitney shook her head in fake disappointment. "And here I was hoping you'd shut your mouth, for once."

"What the–"

The blonde surprised the redhead by suddenly speeding towards her, pushing her down to the ground, and then sitting on her stomach so that Pepper could not move. Whitney then pressed her left hand around the redhead's neck, and used her right hand to keep Pepper's hands above her head by digging her fingernails into her wrists.

"Can't breathe, can you?" Whitney whispered in Pepper's right ear as she applied even more pressure on her windpipe. "Do you feel like your life is ending? Do you feel a burn in your lungs, a void in your chest? Good. That's how I felt when Tony stole my father from me. That's how I felt when he chose you over me!"

What? NO!

Pepper's eyes widened in shock when she finally realized where and when she had heard Whitney utter those same words to her before. They were not new. They were not unique. And they were most certainly not ones she thought she would ever hear again.

It can't be! How… is this… it's… It's happening! It's happening again!

xxxXXXxxx

"The Alps?" Natasha's tone was all but one of acceptance or credence. "You expect us to go through the Alps?"

"Not exactly through them. There's a path that people who want to climb them take. Your path is pretty close to it," Tony replied.

"But… it's cold," Maya whined, not missing at all the subzero temperatures that were common in Latveria and that she had had to put up with for years.

"I don't care about the cold," Bobby shrugged. "Bring it on!"

"And that's why," Tony pointed towards Iceman, "It's your individual mission to make sure that Pepper makes it to Latveria, no matter what."

"What?!" Happy shook his head. "You want Mr. Horny Hothead to watch Pepper's ass? I mean: back?"

"Happy, please–" Pepper began, but was interrupted by Gene.

"Actually, Pepper, I'm with Happy on this one. Iceman is just one case of you-tying-your-shoes away from taking advantage of you."

"HEY!" Bobby pointed towards Gene. "Red's ass is really nice and all, but I resent that statement: I don't really like doggy style."

"Why not? It's the best one," Pepper snapped back and Tony had to hold back a smile at hearing the tone she had just used to address Iceman. He immediately recognized the nature of her voice as the one she had used, many times before, during heated and particularly difficult board meetings, especially when speaking to Mitch Richards, and he was curious as to what else his wife had in mind for a response.

Surprisingly so, Bobby appeared to be a tad uncomfortable with the sudden turn of events and with the way Pepper was staring at him at the moment. He opened his mouth a few times to attempt a snarky retort, but it was quickly evident for everyone that the self-proclaimed Sex God was at a loss for words.

"Oh, let me guess," Pepper tapped her chin with her index finger, stared towards the ceiling for an instant, and then returned her gaze towards the man. "Is it because that was your mom's favorite position? Or did you tend to drop the soap that much during gym class?"

"I… I didn't take gym class," Bobby replied, crossed his arms over his chest and rested his back against the chair, all obvious indicators that he was trying to retreat from an argument that he had not foreseen he would start. So far, all of his mockery and flirting efforts towards the ginger had been thwarted by either Tony, Gene or any other male contender that had been present during these situations. Although she was certainly grateful to them all for bearing that burden for her, Pepper had not once taken the ropes for defending herself in any obvious way, shape or form… until now.

"Oh, I know that, too," Pepper smirked and rapped her fingers on the table. "As I also know what happened on March 13, 2007. And unless you want everyone else to know about that, and about what happened afterwards, I suggest that the next time you try to boost your testosterone by the use of those low shots you take at my femininity, that you remember that: I'm a happily married woman; that my husband, who happens to have far more mature and desirable masculine qualities than you, by the way, is standing right there; and that we have a son. What kind of cold, heartless son of a bitch would put down an honest woman – an honest family, like that? Would a real man, do that? Or is it that you just get a kick out of breaking the Mutant Code, if it comes down to harassing women?"

The lowering of Bobby's gaze was his only reply.

Pepper continued watching him intently with a hard stare that many of the members present at the meeting had never seen on her before, and when Iceman continued to avoid her gaze and his mouth remained shut, Pepper's neutral face did not denote her internal happy dance at her victory.

"So," Tony changed the current slide when no one else dared to speak after Pepper's response. "Let's talk about Team B."

xxxXXXxxx

No sooner than they reached the still locked door of the electrical room they were both trapped in, Gene grabbed Tony by his sleeve and teleported them inside the Makluan Temple replica. Both men looked left and right, frantically called the redhead's name, but they soon realized that she was nowhere to be found.

"Our quarters!" Tony grabbed Gene's shoulder before the duo vanished in a ball of light.

xxxXXXxxx

"N-n-no," Pepper choked out.

"Shut up!" Whitney spat before she pushed herself up from Pepper's body, but only to kick her hard in her left side with her steel-toed boot. Pepper felt the little air she had just gathered leave her again as spots flashed before her eyes. "I know that you two are together now! I know that he asked you to be with him! I KNOW that he loves you!"

Pepper both coughed and gasped for air as she slowly got on all fours. One of her hands flew to her burning neck and the other to where Whitney had just kicked her. The pain and confusion she was experiencing was almost crushing, and all too eerily familiar, but she was aware enough to barely dodge yet another kick from the blonde by rolling away from it on the cold floor. The evasive move left Pepper on her back, breathing harder than before, and her teary eyes glued to Whitney's leisure walk towards her.

"Don't deny it, Groupie. I saw you two together. I saw him pressing your hand to his chest when you hugged him from behind! I saw it when he kissed you… and I saw you kissing him back!"

Pepper shut her eyed hard, pursed her lips, breathed hard through her nostrils a few times, and then fisted her hands.

No, she bit on her tongue. This isn't real. This can't be real. I got out. I escaped. Tony and Gene, they saved me. I… I made it out! This is a dream. Just a dream. I have to wake up!

Whitney's hands around her neck once more made Pepper's eyes snap open. This time, however, when the redhead tried to set herself free, Whitney responded by lifting her by the neck and slamming the back of her head against the metal floor.

Metal? Pepper was hardly able to think straight. Metal… floor?

"You will die here, Pepper," Whitney slammed her head against the floor again. "You will die in this submarine."

xxxXXXxxx

"Team B is composed of Cyclops, Gambit, Fury, Whitney and Rhodey. This is your path."

It took all of Rhodey's military and S.H.I.E.L.D. training not to roll his eyes or glare at Agent Stane, and to keep his eyes on the map Tony was now presenting them.

"Nick will be the team leader. Scott will be second-in-command. Since Team B is composed of highly-tactical and combat-ready individuals, you'll act as a scouring group as well. Your path places you near the location of other allies, so your secondary mission is to gather more intel for us on your way to Latveria."

"So, in other words," Scott began, "Our disposal doesn't really affect the mission. But our aid makes things easier for everyone."

"Correct," Tony replied. "I hate to sound grim, but that's why I put all of you together instead of blending you with the other teams. You," Tony pointed towards Scott and then towards each person as he called them by name, "You already lead the X-Men on the battlefield. Fury tells S.H.I.E.L.D. agents what to do. Whitney is the lead of the spy team when Widow's not around. Gambit's stealth and people-skills are perfect for gathering intel. And Rhodey has an annoying habit of analyzing all possibilities before acting. You're the Dream Team of Tactics, I guess you can say."

"Annoying?" Rhodey arched a brow. "Saved your ass plenty of times."

"Didn't say I didn't appreciate it, Rhodey. But it still annoys the fuck out of me."

"You're welcome, jerk."

"Whatever, James," Tony smirked, shook his head in a joking matter, and then returned his attention to the screen. "Alright then. Team B: let's talk about the details of your path. I hope you like sleeping outside."

xxxXXXxxx

"Not here," Gene said, his eyes closed, palms against the wall holding his body's weight, before Tony even opened the door to his and Pepper's room. "She's not here either."

"Are you sure?" Tony unlocked the door either way and rushed inside the small room to confirm what the Mandarin had just stated. The room was not only empty and silent, but also intact. There was not much space in the quarters to hold many objects, but even then, Pepper insisted on having the place tidied up.

"Where else can she be then?" Tony ran his hands down his face. "Where did she go?"

Gene clenched his eyes, rubbed his temples with his fingertips, and then shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"I'm still a little off," he began, "but it's starting to level out. I can sense she's still in the building, but I don't know where. I'm trying to find her. Just, give me a second."

As the genius waited for Gene's powers to balance out and aid them in their search, Tony's mind wandered off, trying to recall if anything had been out of place with his redhead before he had left. There had been no indication that she was planning on getting ahead of the timeframe of the mission, but it would not be unlike her to do what she thought was best. Then again, this was too elaborate to have been orchestrated by just one person and, as far as Tony could tell, Gene was not in on the plan. This left Tony with the bitter possibility that wherever Pepper currently was and whatever she was doing there, it was probably against her say and will.

"Found her," Gene's announcement was accompanied by a frown.

"Where is she?"

Gene's angry face only deepened before he replied.

"The VTR."

xxxXXXxxx

"The next team, Team C, leaves three days after Fury's team does," Tony changed the slide. "Team C is composed of Agent Hill, who's gonna be the lead. Hawkeye, second-in-command. Happy, Beast and Jarvis."

This time, Pepper was not able to hold back.

"Jarvis?" her eyes shifted from Tony's to Jarvis and then back towards her husband. "Jarvis, Jarvis?"

"Yes, Pep," Tony nodded curtly. "Jarvis."

"Tony…" Pepper shook her head in denial, now finally realizing who the twentieth person was. Her eyes then landed on Bambi's glistening ones, and she sighed. "But… but…"

"Yeah, what gives with that, Tony?" Happy inquired. "I mean, I like J," Happy smiled at the man in question and gave him a thumbs-up, "But that's not right that you want to send him off to battle with us."

As Happy was saying this, Tony stood up from his seat, smirking and slightly shaking his head. He walked over to where Maria Hill sat and reached down to her boot where she kept a short combat knife at the ready. Ignoring the agent's questioning glare, he straightened up and walked over to stand behind his family butler's sitting form, all the while the doubts regarding the older man's involvement continued.

"I agree," Rhodey stated. "I mean, yeah, I know that we're short-staffed and all, but everyone here is either… magic, I guess, or has been trained in combat. We can't just be throwing everyone here into the field."

"Jarvis," Tony said in an even tone, and then immediately made a stabbing motion towards the back of the butler's right shoulder with Maria's knife.

Faster than anyone expected, Jarvis reached back over his shoulder with his right hand, catching Tony's wrist in a firm grip and twisting it away from his body, causing Tony to grunt in pain and drop the knife, which Jarvis quickly caught with his left hand. He then released Tony's wrist and thrust his right elbow back, over the back of the chair, straight into Tony's solar plexus. As Tony bent over from the hit, Jarvis forcibly righted his arm from horizontal to vertical, catching the inventor in the face with a closed fist.

While Tony stumbled away from the butler, Jarvis flung the knife from his left hand directly towards the digital projection of the European map – without hesitation and without even taking the time to aim – leaving the blade to embed into the wall on the exact spot where Latveria was projected.

As Tony took in deep breaths and rubbed his face against the necessary but temporary pain he knew he would receive from the demonstration, eyes bulged and jaws dropped all around the room. Jarvis then stood up in place and held his hands behind his back. His face was stoic, yet his eyes had a small glint of amusement.

"Wing Commander: Edwin Jarvis, former member of Her Majesty's Royal Air Force."

Jaws dropped even lower at that.

"What the… Well, shit!"

James Rhodes had a new idol in life.

xxxXXXxxx

"What is she– Whoa!" Tony's question was interrupted when he bumped into what he believed would be the doors to the command room of the VTR, but was instead the standing and confused form of Bobby Drake. The genius took a step back, eyed Gene with the same expression of perplexity the man was staring back at him, and then they both narrowed their eyes at the X-Man before them.

"Move," Gene's simple order earned him a simple response from Drake.

"No."

"No?" Tony scoffed. "What do you mean: no? Pepper's in there. Get out of my fucking way, Bobby."

"No."

"No?" Gene asked.

"Did I stutter?" Bobby replied.

Before anything else was said, Tony silently placed his left hand on Gene's right shoulder, and the latter teleported them both inside.

"Dammit," Bobby mumbled as he turned around in place and unlocked the doors. "I forgot he can do that!"

Not half a second after Bobby made his way inside the command room of the VTR, he was slammed against the entrance doors by a fuming Tony Stark. His still bloodied-and-in-pain right hand was pressed around his neck, and his left index finger pointed behind him and towards the computer dashboard.

"Why is the control room a block of ice?! Where. Is. Pepper?"

Behind Tony, Bobby could see that the lack of patience that was currently bubbling out of the inventor was also scarce within a glowing Gene Khan. Iceman's eyes traveled all around the room that he had practically converted to an ice cave with his powers, and when he returned his attention to a furious billionaire, he simply shrugged.

"Technically, it's an igloo."

"DRAKE!"

"OK! FINE!" Iceman scoffed. "I don't see what the commotion is, anyway. I'm just following orders."

"Orders?" Tony shoved Bobby's back against the entrance doors before he finally released the X-Man and took a step back. "Whose orders? What is going on?"

Bobby's head recoiled in surprise as he straightened out his clothes, groaned when he saw that Tony had left what appeared to be a blood stain on his favorite shirt, and then walked over towards the frozen solid control panels, leaving his back towards the large control console. He briefly stared at Tony up and down, waited for a second to see if Tony would come to his senses, and when only a mix of confusion and rising anger continued to be the only reaction he was getting out of the genius, Bobby scrunched his face.

"What do you mean whose? Yours and Fury's? You and Fury agreed to test Pepper against one of the possible attacks Doom can use on her. Did you forget that?"

"What?" Tony shook his head left to right in a rapid motion. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Dude, really? YOU wrote the memo!"

"What memo?" Tony closed the distance between him and Drake. "I didn't write any memo!"

"Are you sure?" Gene asked the inventor after reading through Iceman's aura that, as far as the X-Man was concerned, he was being honest and truthful with his reasoning and response.

"What do you mean: 'are you sure'?" Tony stated in a mocking tone of Gene's voice. "Did the Makluan energy disruptor cut oxygen supply to your brain for too long? OF COURSE I'M SURE!"

"Really?" Iceman said incredulously. "I mean, the task is in line with what you told us may happen in Latveria. Especially to Pepper, since she can't be mind-controlled by Doom's machine. Are you sure you didn't just forget you did?"

"I don't forget anything related to Pepper," Tony deadpanned, highly insulted by Bobby's implication, and then his head snapped towards Gene. "Unless," Tony slowly walked towards his evil counterpart, eyes narrowed, "Someone made me forget. Again."

"Calm down now, Stark," Gene retorted, not one sign of culpability reflecting from his posture. "I haven't messed with your mind since Pepper asked me to make you forget about you two being together."

"Really?" Tony was not buying what Gene was selling.

"Really," Gene glared at Tony. "I can tell that Drake is telling the truth, anyway. But you? You don't sound so sure. You probably did write that memo and just forgot you did."

"I forgot? Really, Gene? You, of all people, should know that I wouldn't just mysteriously overlook anything important I say or do. Most especially, anything that ties in to this mission!"

Gene's signature frown and the crossing of his arms over his chest displayed that he was not yet convinced of Tony's innocence in the matter – and that he was starting to suspect that his little incident of just now in the electrical room could have been orchestrated by the genius himself, in an attempt to test a new invention of his that would aid him in keeping Mandarin under control if needed.

Gene would not put this past him, either. Tony had been targeting everyone's weaknesses as of late, exploiting and analyzing them, claiming that it all was part of preventative training efforts – and Gene had declined being part of it all. The thought of being one of Tony Stark's lab rats against his will made Gene's blood boil.

"Save it, Stark. And drop the fucking act."

"What act, Gene?" Tony spat, upset and shocked that the situation had been turned around on him. "I didn't write any memo about Pepper! I would remember if I did!"

"Maybe you would've remembered, if you had been paying attention to what you write and say, instead of fooling around with Pepper in the lab when you're supposed to be working!"

Tony's fists and jaw clenched, and his tone of voice turned condescending and cold as ice with his response.

"You mean instead of me being a husband to my wife? Is that something you don't approve of now, Gene?"

"Wait a second! Were they doing it in the lab? Like, on one of the tables or against the walls?" Bobby chirped in, honestly curious about the adult-rated action he had apparently missed. "Oh! I bet it was a good fuck, too! I bet Red was very cooperative and bendy!"

The incredulous looks Iceman earned with his response did not faze him, but they did inform him that he had about half the time it took for smell to travel half a foot to further elaborate on his words.

"What?" he shrugged. "I'm just saying! I'd be surprised if they weren't doing it way too often and way too hard since we all got here. Or right after they thought their kid died."

"What?" Tony blinked several times, his quarrel with Gene suddenly forgotten, the oddness of the comment temporarily throwing him off track. "We didn't… but… and... how would you even… and… what?"

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Dude, it's not news to me, alright? I'm a professional, remember? I'm a psychologist, OK?"

"No, you're not!" Gene spat.

"Well, I COULD be one, alright? And it's a FACT of human cognitive and behavioral psychology that when two people that share a strong bond also share a strong loss, i.e. their kid being in Doom Land right now, these people will resort to non-stop sex to release the pent up frustration and remorse," he then turned to Tony. "And, more often than not, not planned at all, if I may add. Perhaps the best sex you and Red have ever had, huh?"

"I really don't want you thinking about my wife like that."

"Too late," Bobby deadpanned without remorse and then turned to Gene when a previous conversation related to the subject at hand returned to his mind.

"Hey! Was it doggy-style?"

xxxXXXxxx

"Finally," Tony began. "The last team to leave the island is Team D. And as you can already tell, Team D is made up of Jean Grey, Bruce Banner, Rogue, Gene and me. I'm first-in-command, and Jean Grey is second."

"Really?" Jean looked around and pointed towards herself, "I am?"

"Really," Tony held back an amused smile.

"Why?" the redheaded mind-reader asked.

"As we all know, when it comes to multiple abilities and pure strength, Gene and Hulk came out on top during the VTR trials. Bruce only gets stronger the madder he is. And Gene has the ability to use AND mix-and-match powers that the rest of us only have via enhancements or in limited supply. Now that Hulk has evolved from its gray form to a combination of it and its green counterpart, Bruce has more control over the Hulk and can make even better decisions on how to use his power, as long as he's not blindly mad. Gene and his rings can do a boatload of things: attack with ice, fire and electric blasts; allow for mind control, teleportation, and sending people to The Void; the ability to see and control energy along all electromagnetic spectrums; use impact, vortex and disintegration beams; and matter-rearrangement abilities that allow him to control reality. If Doom wasn't Doom, and if he didn't have the upper-hand with his version of the Mainframe, we could just send the two of them and be done with this."

"But," Jean began, "If they, or even you, Tony, were to go out of control under Doom's mind regulator, then we're all in trouble."

"Right," Tony nodded. "That's why you and Rogue are with us. If anything gets out of hand, Rogue can suck the life out of us. And you can force Rogue to take a nap if the energy intake is too much for her."

"Checks and balances," Fury said with a hint of astonishment. "That's part of how you set up the teams, wasn't it? You made sure that the abilities of the members of each team cancel each other out. Even if we all lose it, and Doom takes control over all of us, we'll probably just attack each other until we all take each other out."

"And Pepper gets to do her job while we kick the shit out of each other," Rhodey said, also in disbelief at how intricate Tony's planning had been.

"A scientist, a strategist, a stealth agent, a strength-filled individual…" Widow listed the profiles of the members with her fingers, "Every team has one of these…"

"What's the fifth one?" Whitney asked.

"Voice of reason," Tony replied. "Nightcrawler, Rhodey, Jarvis and Jean Grey: they're Voice of Reason."

xxxXXXxxx

"NO!"

Pepper's sudden cry of defiance surprised Madame Masque, but not as much as the ginger's next move did. She lifted her legs, arched her back, gained momentum, wrapped her legs around Whitney's upper body, and then used her knees to force Whitney to release her. Pepper's left knee dug into Whitney's back while her right leg aimed to her face and neck, causing the blonde to diminish the grip she had on Pepper's neck. As soon as the redhead felt the slight hesitation on Whitney's part, the agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. was pushed off Pepper, thrown over the ginger's head, and then landed on her back, a few feet away from where Pepper had laid on the floor.

"I don't know what's going on, but I'm not holding back, Whitney. Stay away from me or you'll regret it," Pepper warned the blonde as she stood up from the ground, her gasps helping her regain some of her balance and strength.

Whitney slowly stood up as well, appeared to not be deterred by the redhead's words and actions, rested her right fist on her waist and then chuckled.

"You can't hurt me, and Tony's not coming to save you," the blonde spat. "No one knows you're here. He left you at the Temple. He didn't care that you wanted him to stay!"

Before Pepper could reply, Whitney once again dashed towards her, but history did not repeat itself this time around. Pepper sidestepped enough to stop Whitney's incoming kick in its tracks by grabbing her leg, half twirled with it in her hands, and then sent the blonde flying off and away from her. Pepper's victory was short-lived, however, as thanks to the abilities she gathered from the mask, Whitney was able to better maneuver the landing of the throw.

Pepper took a step back, still recovering from the lack of oxygen by the taking of deep breaths. Despite the screaming pain in her ribs, nose and the back of her head, she readied herself for another punch or a kick. Unfortunately, Whitney's next order of offensiveness was neither of those. She instead grabbed a gun, aimed it towards Pepper, and took a direct shot.

Pepper had expected, and had somewhat mentally and physically prepared for, a laser beam or a bullet to come out of the firearm. Instead, she was surprised to realize that it had been just an extremely bright light that had been targeted her way and nothing more. The unforeseen move, however, had yielded the anticipated results: Pepper was blind as a bat and stumbled her way to the floor.

Dammit! The redhead patted all around her. I'm done! I'm done! I can't see!

In her desperation, and while trying to gauge Whitney's current position by the sound of her heels drumming against the metal floor beneath them, Pepper took hasty and uncoordinated steps to stand up from the ground and to walk backwards, all the while her eyes began fluctuating between showing her pitch darkness and random, bright spots.

"It all ends here, Pepper," Whitney said before she hit the back of Pepper's legs in a swiping motion that sent the redhead to her back once more.

"Ugh!" the air was expelled from Pepper's lungs for a third time.

"To be honest with you, I really thought you'd last longer. Then again, I only hoped for that so that I could have more fun with you before I let you die. I will tell Tony how you desperately begged for your life. I'll tell him how you waited for his help, until your last breath, and he never came."

"No," Pepper blinked several times when she saw that the blurry shadows her eyes were processing were now taking some type of a shape. "I won't… I-I won't d-d-die here!"

Whitney mockingly chuckled when Pepper slowly and clumsily rolled on the ground and tried to get on all fours again to stand up. The blonde did not hesitate to hit the redhead on the same sore spot she had been kicked by her, just moments ago, sending Pepper to practically kiss the ground beneath her. The pain that ran through her muscles and nerves made Pepper choke back tears, but she refused to ask for mercy or for Whitney to stop. She knew this was exactly what the deranged woman wanted to hear from her. She would not give her the pleasure of knowing that she had gotten Pepper Potts to beg for her life.

As she tried to get up again and again, Whitney repeated her kicking actions over and over, until Pepper's body refused to move anymore. The redhead ended up on her side, tears streaming down her temple and nose, dreading to breathe in or out as either attempt left her with screaming pain shooting up and down her back and chest. Clear vision was finally returning to her, but she doubted it would help any if she could not even force herself to blink.

"Say goodbye, Pet. Your time has come."

And it would have, had Pepper not seen a shiny object on her left hand that made her realize where and when she was.

xxxXXXxxx

"A recreation of the submarine incident? A RECREATION OF THE SUBMARINE INCIDENT?!"

"Yes," Bobby furrowed his brow, not at all understanding why Tony was practically pulling out his hair. "I thought it was odd, too, but this is what it said. See?"

Tony snatched the paper from Bobby's hands, skimmed through the contents of the letter (with his perfect signature included), and then shook his head before he crumpled the memo into a ball and threw it towards Gene to catch.

"I didn't order any of this," he said firmly and walked over to the frozen console, his hands hovering over the controls he knew would stop the sequence in a flash. "I didn't do this. Stop the simulation. Unfreeze this shit so that I can stop it right now!"

"Uhm…"

"Uhm-what?" Tony's head snapped towards his left to stare at Iceman scratching his right cheek.

"I… I kinda can't…"

"What?"

"I mean: I can. I could. But, I can only thaw the ice and it's gonna fuck up all the circuitry in here. Besides, I wasn't supposed to remove the ice from the console when the sequence was done. That's Gene's job. I'm just supposed to keep it cold so that it doesn't liquefy."

"What?" Mandarin rushed to where the other two men were standing. "My job?"

"You got a memo, too, didn't you?"

It was Tony's turn to try to melt Gene's flesh by just using his eyes.

"I…" Gene's eyes shifted left and right. "No! I… I didn't. Fury only told me to ask Tony to check on the power source. He didn't say anything about a test on Pepper. I didn't know this was even taking place or that I was supposed to be part of it. This is just insane!"

"Huh," Bobby slowly nodded up and down as he processed the information just given to him. "Well, this is awkward. You didn't order this," he pointed at Tony. "You didn't get a memo," he pointed towards Gene, "And I'm the idiot who got conned into putting Pepper into a bullshit and dangerous simulation with Whitney, when my job is to keep her safe. Yeah, sure. Why not?"

"Whitney?" both Tony and Gene spat. "Whitney's there with her?"

"Yeah," Bobby's right index finger extended a thin spear of ice that reached the manual power button of one of the monitors in the room and pushed it on. "See? That's not a Whitney simulation. That's her."

"That bitch," Tony mumbled, anger seething out of him at the familiarity of the situation, but before he tore apart the entire system to stop the sequence, he and the other two men were shocked by what suddenly happened on screen.

xxxXXXxxx

This is not real, Pepper thought with renewed spirits as her eyes fixated on her engagement and wedding rings on her left hand – the single clue she had needed to focus her mind. This is over. I'm not in the submarine anymore. I made it out. I'm in Muir Island now.

"With Tony," she managed to say, her eyes looking up to stare at Madame Masque, "Doom has my son. And I'm tired of your games!"

Behind the mask, Whitney's eyes narrowed at Pepper's words. It appeared as if Pepper had finally come to her senses and had figured out what was truly happening around her.

The real fight was about to start. And Whitney was more than prepared for it.

Or so she had thought.

"So, what if you're tired of my games? What can you do about it?" Whitney challenged. "Even with Extremis, I still outranked you in the trials using my mask. You can't take me on, Pet! You cannot beat me like this!"

"You're right," Pepper slowly rose from the ground, her recently fully-evolved Extremis at last operating at lightning speeds to patch up the injuries received by the blonde, now that the effects of the serum Whitney had used on Pepper to delay her innate healing abilities had ran out. Once fully standing, and feet away from the agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Pepper smirked with her next reply.

"I can't beat you. But I know of someone who can."

Leaving no time for Whitney to process her words or actions, Pepper raised her arms, crossed them in front of face, tapped her wrists together twice in a fast motion, and then stretched her arms to her sides. The explosion that followed her physical command was the only thing that Whitney was able to make sense of for a second too long.

xxxXXXxxx

"Nevermind," Tony said when he saw the motion of Pepper's arms, a small smile on his face. "Let Pepper finish the job."

"What?" Gene grabbed Tony by his collar. "Are you crazy? This is cruel and pointless! Stop it now or I'll destroy the damned machine myself!"

"Don't!" Tony replied. "Whitney has this coming. Let Pepper show her why she shouldn't have pulled this stunt."

"What do you mean?" Bobby pointed to the screen, now realizing this issue was greater than the sum of its parts. "Pepper doesn't stand a chance against Madame Masque – Extremis or not!"

"I know," Tony's eyes landed on the screen. "But Rescue does."

xxxXXXxxx

The hidden compartment in the wall behind Pepper slid open with a bang. The suit of armor unfolded itself from its backpack form as it flew towards the redhead's back, easily molding to her body on contact, as if it were nothing more than a second skin. The moment the armor locked together around Pepper's body, only for the ginger to then disappear from view thanks to its stealth mode, was when Whitney knew she was in for a rough ride.

Rescue reappeared behind Whitney and kicked her hard in the back. The force of Pepper's attack was so great that Madame Masque hovered away from the armored heroine, but only for her flying trajectory to be once again painfully redirected when Rescue appeared in front of the blonde to upper cut her square in the stomach, sending the agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. shooting straight up. Pepper did not allow Madame Masque to get too far up, however, and grabbed the agent by her left ankle. After securing a strong grip on her, Pepper rapidly twirled several times, Whitney in tow, and then sent the woman to smash against the back wall of the submarine, denting it with Madame Masque's body shape.

All in all, the complex attack took no more than a second, and when Whitney's body slid to the ground and her face hit the floor, the safety features that were embedded into the VTR kicked in.

"Sequence aborted. User: Madame Masque is in distress."

"The hell she is!" Pepper snarled, not halting her attacks on her despite the lights coming on and the simulation ending. She picked up Whitney from the floor, held her up by her neck and then ascended until they were both above the ground, and then began crushing her windpipe with enough force to hurt her, but not kill her. Whitney was not down for the count, however, and she responded to Pepper's action by attaching a grenade to Pepper's suit, which exploded almost instantly, sending both Rescue and Whitney towards the floor.

The impact had been equally distributed amongst the two women, but Pepper was able to recover faster than Whitney did thanks to Extremis and the suit. In a flash, Pepper was up and about again. This time, Rescue pinned down Madame Masque against the ground, held her hands above her head with each of hers, and pressed her armored knees against Whitney's stomach and chest, restricting the inflow of air in the same manner she had experienced herself a little while ago.

"I knew you'd never change!" Rescue screamed, "I knew you'd never let it go!"

"Pepper, stop!" Whitney said between gasps of air. "It's not what it seems!"

"Lies!" Pepper snatched Whitney's mask from her face and threw it away from them. "All you tell are lies!"

"P-P-Pepper…" the blonde could hardly speak. "Not… not me…"

"Oh, this isn't you?" Pepper all but growled. "Who are you gonna blame for it? Who are you gonna try to cheat now?"

"Please…"

"Please, nothing," Pepper replied. "I forgave you, Whitney! After everything you did to me and Tony, I forgave you! I advocated for you with Gene and S.H.I.E.L.D., and this is the thanks I get? This is what you do me the second I turn my back?!"

"No… Training…"

Pepper scoffed. "Training? This was just training? Sure didn't feel like training when you were beating me up!"

The redhead's anger-filled words were followed by the quick charge of the unibeam on Rescue's chest, all of the suit's energy swiftly transmitting to the strongest weapon in its arsenal. Whitney's eyes widened when it became obvious what Pepper's plan for her was: when the bright light on the small, yet fully charged repulsor aimed at her face.

Desperate and scared, she began to thrash.

"Pepper, no! Stop this! Fury sent me here!"

"Bullshit! I'm not buying into your lies!"

"He did! He did! PLEASE! Pepper, stop!"

"You didn't stop when you were hurting me!"

"I was doing my job, Pepper … Just my job! Please, stop… Please, I beg you… Don't kill, please!"

Unexpectedly, against all odds and after Whitney's words left her lips, Pepper gasped.

The redhead pushed herself away from Whitney, as if the blonde had suddenly scathed her armor, sat on the floor, and began hyperventilating. She barely recognized the sound of the door to the VTR opening, and she practically did not catch Tony grabbing her head in her hands and calling her name. All the ginger could think about right now was how close she had come to pulling the trigger on Whitney – how close she had come to murdering an ally and former friend.

Just as Tony had murdered Rhona Erwin, long ago, in cold blood, in a fit of rage.

"Pepper, look at me," she heard Tony whisper to her. "Come on, baby, look at me. Focus, Pep. Focus."

Rescue's faceplate retracted and her eyes locked with his. She was breathing hard, though not of exhaustion; and she was shaking, though not in anger. Her eyes were glistening. Her lips were dry. And the feeling of dread that was pooling in her chest at realizing what she had almost willfully done, pushed her to tumble into his embrace.

Tony glared at the recovering blonde that was being tended to by Iceman while Gene eyed the woman up and down with contempt.

"You're gonna be fine," Gene told her after he checked her for major injuries using the electromagnetic spectrum ability of the rings. "Bruised as heck. But fine."

"Sorry, Whitney," Iceman said. "I thought they all knew."

"They didn't?" Whitney questioned, her hand rubbing the soreness on her neck.

"No. Gene didn't get the memo. And Tony didn't write it."

"But," Whitney licked her lips, "But, Fury said that–"

"Do you really expect me to believe that you weren't the one to set this up, Whitney?" Tony spat, a silent and shocked Pepper still clinging to him. "How stupid do you think I am?"

"You think I'm stupid enough go against Pepper in her suit?" Whitney whined. "She wasn't supposed to use it or have it around!"

"And you're not supposed to kidnap people and leave them for dead in the South Pole. And yet…"

"Tony," Whitney shook her head. "I don't know what happened here. All I know is that Fury told me to run a simulation of what happened in the submarine with Pepper. He said… he said that we all needed to be ready to relive our worst times. He said that Doom can and will do that to us. He said you agreed. I… I relived the death of my father… and got over it. Pepper was supposed to get over her time in the submarine. And she did. That's all I know."

"And you agreed to this?" Gene asked.

"The memo had Tony's signature on it, and the simulation was scheduled on the VTR's logs under Tony's username and master key. I thought it was real."

Even though he was now partially convinced of Whitney's innocence, Tony still glared at Whitney one last time as the woman was helped up and held up by Bobby Drake. To Tony, both Iceman and Madame Masque looked repentant and confused with what had just taken place – what they had apparently been asked to do while thinking they were serving him. The inventor could think of a few ways to make sure everyone involved got a piece of his mind and that the incident never repeated itself, but he was also painfully aware that, this late in the game, injuring each other and turning against one another would only hinder their common cause.

Seeing nothing else that he could do for the moment, the genius stood up from the ground with a dazed Pepper in his arms, began walking towards the door with her in tow, and then briefly stopped only to verbalize a final musing to everyone present.

"I don't give a shit what you thought you were doing: don't ever try it again. And, for the record, if I ever wanted Pepper injured or dead, I'd do it myself."

The look of shock on all three members of the resistance army did not go away, even long after Tony had walked out on them.

xxxXXXxxx

He stood by the door to the main office, his hand on the knob as he was about to open it, only to then be hit on the cheek with all the force Tony could pack in his fist. The impact was great enough for the one-eyed man to fall to the ground, and as he shook his jaw left and right and rubbed it with his right hand, Tony towered over him and pointed an accusing finger towards him.

"You know damn well why I don't kill you right now, Fury. But I will deal with you later. And, I promise you: I won't be the only one not coming back from Latveria, you double-crossing son of a bitch."

The inventor did not give the fallen man time to retort before marching away, but he knew there was nothing else to do or say. The deed was done and the mission had been a success. Everything had panned out the way they had expected it would. All that was left to do now was using the new information they had gathered from the experience to adjust their plans and to make sure their efforts were not in vain in postwar times.

The General stood up from the floor, opened the door, entered the office, locked the door behind himself, and then smiled at Nick Fury sitting in his chair across the room.

"Got what you wanted, Agent Stane?" the seated Nick coolly asked while he witnessed Madame Masque shapeshift away from looking like the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. to looking like herself again. It did not matter how many times he had seen it happen before his eye; the powers of the mask never ceased to amaze him.

"Yes," she sat in the guest chair across from Fury's and then nodded towards him and Maya Hansen – the latter standing near Fury, a syringe in her hand. "The serum works on Pepper. The disruptor works on Gene. And our suspicions that Tony and Pepper have experimented on themselves are true. Tony embedded the suit-activating wristband technology into Pepper's body. She can now call on the suit in a similar manner that Tony's Extremis can."

"Anything else?"

"Bobby bought into the memo issuing. And I can fake Tony's signature very well, or so it seems."

"I see," Fury said, eyed Maya Hansen for a second, waiting for her to inject him with the cancer-retardant nanobots he was due to receive, and then sighed when the brunette shook her head at him.

"He's good for another dose, Maya," Whitney told her. "As long as he makes good on his promise, he can stay alive… for now."

"And I will," Fury assured them once Maya injected him with the nanobots. "As long as you don't hesitate on your part."

"I won't. After this, Tony and Pepper will trust me more than ever. There's no way I'll fail. They won't know it's me coming after him."

"I hope, for your sake, that they don't, Agent Stane."

"And I hope, for your sake, that you make sure I'm the only one to take a shot at Tony Stark. He is mine."

Seeing his hands were essentially tied in this matter, all Nick Fury could do was nod.

"I guess the blonde will win this particular joke, in the end," Fury said in a jesting tone, not truly expecting a response from Whitney, but the blonde still replied.

"Of course I will: the redhead always comes last."

A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR, MY FAITHFUL READERS!

Again, sooooooo sorry for the delay, but here's another sneak peek to a future IMAA story I have in the works. Hope to see you there too!

For his part, Tony was satisfied neither with her answer nor with her pensive look and defeated pose. She was not even staring towards him – her head was partly turned away and her eyes blankly stared towards the wall.

"Pep?" his whisper was not what caught her attention this time around. It was the fact that her eyes now faced his, all courtesy of his left hand tenderly placed on her right cheek. The first and only time that he had done something remotely similar to this, she had been inside the suit and on the ground, and he had been checking on her after one of the Makluan lizards had sent her flying away.

That time, she had been unable to see his eyes. Today, she was unable to hold his truth-searching stare.

"I'm fine," she looked towards his feet. "Just waiting on you."

He regarded her for another brief instant, one in which he glided his thumb up and down her cheekbone. She closed her eyes at the welcomed gesture, but when she continued to just stand there without saying a word or moving an inch, he dropped his arm, sighed quietly and dejectedly, and then walked away from her. The redhead followed suit behind him, almost mechanically so, and did not stop until she reached their destination in the middle of the room.

"You're gonna love this," he decided to let the mysterious unspoken issue be for the time being, and he waltzed over to the wall opposite to where she had been sitting just now. "Once you get the hang of it, I promise you're gonna wanna do it whenever you can."