Chapter 8: Dreams
I am done with this story! It has gone downhill very quickly and I am despising the fact that I am actually UPDATING it still. I'm surprised I have the stomach to actually finish this!
Anyhoozies… This will hopefully be great! If not… terrible. Either way, thanks for putting up with this pathetic excuse for a story!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my story.
"NO! NO NO NO!" Pepper quickly urged herself forward, hoping to get to Tony's side as fast as she could. But she was instantly thrown back, as though she had hit an invisible force field. She pounded her fists on top of it, screaming Tony's name.
Tony was still inside, alive. Pepper knew from the scans. He was breathing but was highly unstable. The blood loss had set him close to a coma. And by the way he was bleeding he wouldn't last long.
Pepper's eyes blurred with thick tears. She was so close and yet so far. Rhona was close to him, a large gun in her hands. Right behind her, Andy and a dozen other mechanical creatures. They slowly inched their way forward, hesitating for Rhona's command.
"You have a guest Tony." She purred softly. "She will be the one that will see you die. How exciting." Her smile vanished as she brandished the weapon. She cocked it once.
"Rhona! NO!" Pepper screamed hysterically. Where was Rhodey? Was he okay? She sent out that beacon eons ago!
Rhona took a moment to acknowledge Pepper. "Rhona yes. He ruined my life. I'm about to ruin his. I gave him disturbing memories Pepper, thanks to my lovely brother Andy." She looked over her shoulder to her brother.
Andy bowed. "I exist to make you happy my dearest sister." Rhona grinned at that. She then lowered the gun to Tony's back.
"This is my newest weapon. I call it the Backstabber. It does what it sounds like. It is one of the greatest too, of course because I made it. If I pull the trigger, a blade, coated in poison, will pierce right through this lover boy's heart." Rhona's eyes glinted darkly. She almost looked hungry to impale Tony.
Pepper was thankful for her suit. She quickly began thinking of various options that could stop Rhona, or at least remove the shield that was blocking her. The suit hid her expression of shear desperation. Rhona would've quickly finished Tony if she saw Pepper's expression.
"Computer, hack the system. I want the shield down." Pepper said through a muted system. She pounded her fists on the dome just to keep Rhona's attention on her and not on Tony.
"In process…" The computer responded. Pepper watched every move Rhona made. She watched her eyes twitch, in madness most likely, and how her hands shook. Pepper was grateful for her spy ability, her father's job frequently rubbed off on her.
Rhona needs to go back to her madhouse, Pepper thought. She was still surprised how Rhona even escaped! That prison was top notched, unless someone broke her out. It made sense that it must've been one of Rhona's creations.
"Rhona! Please… Please don't hurt him!" Pepper poured every ounce of desperation into her voice. She saw Rhona falter a moment. But it was quickly replaced by her madness.
Suddenly her computer beeped. "Process complete. Dome successfully eradicated." That was all Pepper needed to hear.
She quickly did another distraction. "Rhona… Is your brother alright?" She acted alarmed as though Andy was a ticking time bomb.
And thankfully, Rhona fell for it. She spun around to look at Andy. In that brief second, Pepper floored her jets and shot forward. She grabbed Rhona around the waist and shot her into the wall opposite from her.
Rhona landed with a thud, her weapon flying out of her hand. Pepper shot her repulsor beam at the gun, disintegrating the weapon instantly.
All the robots were programmed to protect Rhona. Seeing that their master was now unconscious on the wall, they rushed forward to help their master.
Pepper sped forward again, grateful for the attention being taken away from her. She bent towards Tony. She noticed a huge gash that ran from the top of the armor's shoulder blade and wrapped around his ribs. It was huge.
She suddenly perked up when she heard another repulsor sound. Looking behind her, she saw War Machine come down next to her, making sure not to get any attention from the robots swarming Rhona.
"Rhodey, he's hurt badly. We need to get him out of here." She gently rolled Tony onto his back. His faceplate was destroyed, half of the metal melted away, exposing Tony's closed bruised eye.
Rhodey's hand shot forward, and pulled Tony's helmet off. The whole time, the duo kept a close eye on the androids. They were surprisingly concentrating on Rhona, not even paying attention to the teens behind them.
"Let's get out of here." Rhodey said. He placed his hands under Tony's arms and legs and straightened up. "I got you buddy, hold on." And then together, the two flew off.
…
Moments after they left the room, they heard an inhumane screech. It sent a shiver down Pepper's spine as she glanced back. She saw the androids swarming out of the room, crawling on all fours.
Pepper screamed.
Rhodey flew ahead, concentrating on keeping Tony in his arms. "Pepper!" He shouted back to her. "Quickly! Do a quick distraction!" Pepper nodded and began shooting repulsor over and over at the androids.
Many of them quickly combusted and turned to dust, but only more took over. Pepper looked at the walls either side of her. And then, without thinking, she shot the walls, raining huge chunks of debris on the robots.
She started doing that. She would randomly shoot the walls bringing chunks of it down on the robots. It went from three-dozen robots to only about six, and that included Andy.
Knowing Andy, Pepper knew that he was relentless. If his sister gave him any instruction he would be the first one to implement it. And as if on cue, Andy snarled at her.
Pepper continued doing this until she was outside with Rhodey. She sealed the door, and then melted the metal frame on itself. This would only hold back those demons for a while.
In the meantime, Pepper flew up and joined Rhodey. "I set up detonating charges inside the dome." Rhodey murmured. Pepper could tell that he wasn't so happy with that idea. Rhona was still in there, and she was still human.
Pepper looked at him. "It's your choice Rhodey. Just remember, Rhona will always come back." Pepper felt Rhodey's discussion was suddenly made. He looked at her once and then a large boom blasted in front of them.
Broken android parts flew out in all directions. Pepper used the stealth armor to quickly push a shield on top of the blast.
She could swear she heard Rhona's angry screams. And on top of that: Pepper knew Rhona would come back. She just knew.
But at the moment Tony was finally safe.
…
(A Week later)
Tony's eyes cracked open. His whole body ached with the after effects of the incident. His mind was still blurry with the haunting memories. His mind constantly floated back to the times he was in captivity under "Sam." But eventually he was finally rested.
It took about a half a dozen surgeries to get Tony back to normal. He suffered severe blood loss, which put him through a couple of days of blood transfusions. His armor protected the initial cut that was on his back, so that wasn't a big deal. The gash was concentrated on the upper parts of his back, but thankfully that quickly healed.
Rhodey and Pepper were at his sides, watching the small TV that was mounted on the wall. Pepper's hand held his, and Rhodey's arm was on his leg. Tony put on a smile thankful for his friends.
Tony twitched his leg, startling Rhodey. He jumped out of his chair and instantly leaned forward. "Hi Rhodey." Tony croaked. His voice sounded like a dead frog. Pepper screamed in delight, and without thinking, threw herself onto Tony.
A pain shot up his back, but was quickly gone when soft lips crashed onto his own. Tony's mind turned to mush as his pain and worries disappeared into the kiss.
The nurses and doctors rushing into the room were pushed to the back of his mind as his arms held onto his now girlfriend.
"Don't you ever leave me Tony. You hear me? EVER." Pepper said through a thick voice. She had red puffy eyes, and the worry lines had been completely disappeared from her face.
The doctors did quick checks and said that Tony was all right. In fact, he would be able to leave that evening after a couple of therapies.
It was after the nurses left that Rhodey and Pepper told Tony what had happened. He was silent the entire time, absorbing the information. After Pepper finished up the blast he looked up.
"You do know that you guys are the best friends I never had right?" Tony asked. Rhodey smiled softly. He squeezed Tony's ankle.
"You couldn't do anything without us." Pepper agreed.
The nightmare had ended. No more haunting dreams, no more fears or scares. Tony went home that night and fell onto his soft bed, of course after the careful observation under Roberta.
And that night, Tony didn't have a single dream. He was finally home.
I didn't think I would end this story. BUT I DID! I don't know what else I would write after this story. I mean… It was bad from the beginning. I'm so happy another story has been COMPLETE! YES!
Thanks so much for putting up with this dreadful tale of Tony's not-really-at-all dreams! Can't wait to update any of my other stories!
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