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As always, thanks to the wonderful MoonClaimed for fixing this guy up. Love you ;)

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Tony's blood ran cold as the voicemail ended. "Jarvis," he asked the AI, thankful he had decided to go for the neurological implant, "pull up all the records of local hospitals, 911 calls, whatever emergency service Pepper might have needed."

"I see no mention of Miss Potts anywhere, sir," the AI responded. Jarvis sounded calm, but Tony could sense his worry.

"What about someone matching her description?" the genius asked, mind racing.

"One moment." The split second of silence was killing Tony. "There are no matches."

"Where are you, Pep?" Tony muttered.

"Sir, I have located Miss Potts' mobile phone."

"J, suit. Now," he commanded.

"On its way," the AI assured.

Tony sprinted through the government building, ignoring all of the strange looks he was receiving. He made it outside and kept running, knowing Extremis would let the suit find him no matter where he was. He only stopped when he heard his name being shouted from across the parking lot.

"Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark!" Tim shouted, running across the pavement. He supported himself on his thighs, out of breath, when he finally reached his target. "You're faster than I thought you would be," he panted. "What's going on?"

"Pepper's missing," Tony replied curtly, eyes darting across the sky. Where the hell was his armor?

"Missing?" Tim's eyebrows shot up. "What makes you say that?"

"Here." Tony thrust his phone into the agent's hands as soon as he had the voicemail replaying. "Jarvis?"

"Forty five seconds, sir."

Tim was silent as he listened. "That sounds bad," he finally said once the recording had finished playing. "She might be in a hospital by now."

Tony shook his head. "No reports. I'm heading to her cell phone signal as soon as – finally!" The Iron Man armor came into view on the horizon. Moments later, it was assembled and on its creator.

"Mr. Stark, wait!" Tim cried as Tony began to fly away. "Mr. Stark!" he cried, panicked this time.

Inside his suit, proximity alarms began to ring. Tony looked down at his leg and blinked. "Damn it, Timmy, what did I say about holding onto my leg like a toddler? The repulsor is going to bun you again, and I don't want to hear about it," he sighed.

"Okay, okay, but just hear me out!" Tim shouted over the… actually, what was he shouting over? There was no other noise.

"You don't have to yell. I can hear you just fine."

"Oh," he blinked. "Right, sorry. As I was saying, you should let us help you. Find Miss Potts, I mean."

Tony frowned. "What does NCIS have that I don't? I can access any intel."

"Yes, but can you run forensics?"

"I could build my own lab in two days." Tony considered the situation. "She was in a car accident, Timmy. She needs a doctor, not a scientist."

"Just in case, you should let one of us come."

Tony considered this. It certainly couldn't hurt. "Alright," he nodded.

"Wait, really?" Agent McGee asked, surprised the other had agreed so readily.

"Yup. Hang on." Tony lifted Tim and repositioned him so he was held firmly in his arm.

"Hang on? Hang on for wha – oh no." Tony shot off like a rocket, and Tim let out a cry.

"You okay?" Tony asked a few moments later when he touched down. "You sounded a bit like a castrato there."

"Y-yeah," Tim answered, but the waver in his voice said otherwise. "That was more intense than I thought it would be."

"There's Pepper's car," Tony pointed, no longer caring knowing Tim wasn't about to faint on him. "But there's no Pepper… Jarvis?"

"I detect no life forms."

"Fuck."

"There's another set of tire tracks over here," Tim said, walking over to the markings once he had his bearings back about him. "Could be someone found her and took her to a hospital themselves?" he suggested.

"Why wouldn't they just call an ambulance?"

"Maybe they didn't have a cell phone?" Tim frowned, knowing that was highly unlikely.

"Jarvis, are you sure there were no calls about an accident involving Pepper's car?"

"There were no reports of an ambulance call to this location… Let me access all local law enforcement phone records." There was a pause that lasted far too long for Tony's liking. "It would appear someone phoned in an accident at this location, but only just recently. The car was discovered only a few minutes ago."

Tony frowned. "This isn't a major road?" he asked Tim.

The agent shook his head. "Not really. Not much on here for a couple of miles. It's mostly used for runners. Most people avoid driving on it at night. Long and winding without lights… You think they'd at least illuminate it. This is D.C." he added as an afterthought.

"Sir, take a look at Miss Potts' car. There is blood on the passenger seat and outside the car."

Tony's head whipped to where the AI had instructed. "Timmy?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady, "I might need some of your tech after all."

The agent looked up from where he had knelt and followed the elder man's gaze. "I hate to say it, Tony, but I think someone took her."

Tony sighed. "We were having such a good month, too."

"You don't seem surprised," McGee frowned.

"Timmy, I'm a billionaire. Kidnappings and ransoms are part of the occupation." He frowned. "Though since Iron Man, they usually go after me, not Pep…"

Tim blinked at Tony's nonchalance. "Actually, I'm not sure this has to do with your company," he said after a pause.

Now it was Tony's turn to frown. "What else would it be about?"

"I'm going to call Gibbs. I think she might have been taken because of the crime she witnessed." Tony looked at him questioningly. "It's just a hunch, but the timing's a little too coincidental otherwise," he admitted. "And it's always better to be safe than sorry."

Tony chewed on his lip. He could easily take care of this himself, but he wasn't sure Pepper would approve of him blowing up another building for her. She was always talking about doing things "by the book" and "through the proper channels," whatever that meant.

"Fine," he finally conceded. "But I want Abby on it."

Tim looked at him like he had two heads. "Who else would we call?"

"Boss, I've already sent photos of the tire marks to Abby and collected a blood sample for her to analyze," McGee announced as his boss arrived on the scene with Ziva and Tony in tow.

Gibbs nodded in acknowledgement. "DiNozzo, photos. Ziva, she thought she was being tailed, right? Find out if they were seen on any traffic cameras in the area."

"Uh, Gibbs, I can't do that from here," Ziva said. "I need a computer to access…" Gibbs was staring blankly at her. "I will look for them on foot," she amended.

"I can do everything on my own, you know. Genius, remember?" Tony said, pointing to himself. He had stepped out of his armor for the time being.

"My witness, my case," Gibbs replied easily.

Tony blinked. He opened his mouth to argue, but stopped when he saw the pointed look the leader was giving him. "Okay. Your case. So what do I do?"

"You just go back to your hotel and we'll call you when we find something."

Tony stared at Gibbs in disbelief. "Do you really think I'll go back and be a good little boy?" he sneered.

"Yes," he answered simply.

"And why the hell would I do that when Pepper could be dying?" Tony growled.

"Because there isn't anything you can do right now. Could you build the machines you need? Yeah, but we've already got 'em," Gibbs countered. "Go home. Get some sleep."

"I'd do what he says," Tim said to the billionaire as he watched his boss walk over to the car to talk to DiNozzo. "If this case goes like all of our others, it's best to sleep when you get the chance."

"I was never one for sleep anyway," Tony shrugged defiantly.

"Then… why don't you go back to Abby's and help her prep for the cars? Maybe you can help her," Tim suggested.

Tony considered the idea for a moment. The idea of doing something with his hands was appealing. "Fine," he conceded, stepping back into his armor, "but the minute you find anything, and I mean anything, you call me." Tony didn't wait for a response as he rocketed out of the crime scene.

"McGee!" Gibbs called, looking at him like he was an idiot.

"Coming boss!"

Forensics, as it turned out, bored the hell out of Tony. Despite his worry and his best effort to stay invested in their research, Tony had soon fallen asleep, the workbench being an all too familiar bed for him. Unbeknownst to him, several hour had past and new information had come to light. He wasn't answering his cell, though, and Abby just couldn't bring herself to wake him.

He was so out of it that he missed Major Mass Spec alerting Abby of an unusual finding in Pepper's blood – he hadn't missed when she had confirmed that it was Pepper's three hours ago.

Abby looked up suddenly when her computer screen started flashing, and her jaw dropped. There was no way. Her fingers flew deftly over the keyboard as she double checked and triple checked the intel.

"Oh. My. God," she whispered. She stood frozen, staring at the screen in front of her before running off, limbs flailing. "Gibbs! Gibbs!"

Tony groaned, waking up to the sound of Abby's shouts as she fled the lab. He shifted, stretching his tight muscles and yawned before stretching and sitting up. He blinked blearily at the flashing screen, and blinked again, not understanding what it was trying to tell him, and then once more, not believing what it was saying.

On one side of the screen was Pepper's face. The other had Ducky's. Red capitalized font blinked over the images with two words:

MATCH FOUND