Tony stared at the finished arc reactor in awe. He'd actually rediscovered a new element, and used it instead of palladium. After Coulson finished yelling at him for giving Izzy a suit and letting her go, of course. He'd never seen the agent angry before, and didn't particularly want to again.

He popped the palladium into his chest.

The phone rang. He picked it up. "Hello?"

"Tony?" It was Izzy.

"Hey Izzy. Where are you?"

"She's with me."

A chill ran down Tony's spine. "Vanko." He pulled the phone away from his ear slightly. "JARVIS, trace the call."

"I just thought you might want to know what happened to her," said Vanko. "So you won't worry about her." Then he hung up.

"Sir, call trace incomplete. And I cannot locate her. It seems power to her suit has been removed."

This couldn't be happening.

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Vanko pulled the phone away from Bella's mouth.

"What are you going to do now?"

The Russian didn't answer, but walked out of the room, laughing.

Bella had a feeling that, whatever his plan was, it probably involved hurting Tony. "I don't him very much," said Bella.

"Neither do I," said Agent Barton, who was handcuffed to the wall. "Well, any ideas on getting out of here? I'm a bit short on them."

Bella's gaze roved around the room. It was absolutely empty, except for the camera on the wall that monitored them. "If I could just restore a little power to this..." You're a genius, Bella. That's literally the only reason you exist, the reason you exist, to be a genius. Think. "We need to get to the security camera. We'll have to do it quickly, because they'll see what we're doing. But I have a plan. I'm going to use the electricity that's supposed to be filling the camera to power the suit. The suit is designed to absorb the energy and use it as power. It's a built in feature in case of emergency. If Tony's arc reactor were to stop, he'd die, so he added this, just in case." She hadn't spent a great deal of time studying the Iron Man suit's design, but, from what she could remember, it seemed probable that her idea would work.

He stared at her.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," said Bella. "The suits are designed to be incredibly energy efficient, at least, this one is, and the electricity won't last long, but before anyone shows up I should be able to absorb enough for a few minutes. Can you get your hands free, do you think? I'll need you to drag me over to the corner with the camera quickly. After that, pull the camera out and follow my instructions."

He nodded, probably not interested in wasting time and figuring that, since she was proposing a plan as crazy as that, she probably had some idea what she was doing. Or, at least, since he didn't have any better ideas, hoping she had some idea. "Got it."

000000000

"Coulson, you've got to have something!" Tony would never have imagined he'd be pleading with anyone from S.H.I.E.L.D. But here he was, pleading with Coulson for any information S.H.I.E.L.D. had.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but we have nothing," said Coulson.

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Bella hated just lying there on the floor. She tried to lift an arm. It was useless. Were Tony's suits this heavy? Then again, she was still recovering being in a coma and hadn't been particularly strong before that. That would have to change.

It seemed to take Agent Barton an eternity to free himself. Of course, it wasn't an eternity, but it felt like it anyhow.

"Got it," said Barton. He ran to Bella and dragged her toward the corner, then pulled the camera out.

"Lift me onto my feet, you want me to be as close as possible to the camera." He obeyed, leaning her against the wall. "Okay," said Bella. "Blue wire. There. Put it into the hole were the reactor was, push it into the tiny hole in the center."

He obeyed.

"Okay, now the red wire. Put it and the wire next to it into the holes on the sides."

He grabbed the ends of the wires. Footsteps sounded in the hall. "Isn't there a chance I could electrocute you or something doing this?" he asked.

"Oh, yes, quite a good one. Push it in a little further, I don't think that's quite enough."

The doorknob started to rattle.

"Back in a minute." Barton set her face first against the wall, her forehead resting on the cold cement. The suit seemed to be vibrating as the electricity rushed through it. She lifted a hand carefully. It was difficult, but she was moving.

"All right," she said. "JARVIS, you there?"

Not enough power. Well, she was lucky for this much. In any case, there would be more guards coming soon, and they shouldn't wait. She yanked the wires out and turned.

Agent Barton stood in the doorway. Several guards lay around him. "Miss Stark? We should get moving. I'm not sure how many guards Hammer has."

"Hammer? As in Justin Hammer?"

"Yes. They seem to be his." Agent Barton pulled a nametag off a guard's uniform.

"He's been helping Vanko… oh, great." That explained things. He'd probably broken Vanko out of jail and supplied him with what in needed to build the drones in some sort of attempt to embarrass Tony.

She followed Agent Barton into the hallway. "Which way?"

He considered for a moment. "Right seems as good a way as any."

"Well, let's go. I don't know how long the energy I put in here will last, don't think I should push it."

They took off at a run.

"If we find a phone, I can call Tony," said Bella.

Running footsteps sounded nearby and someone wearing a dark blue outfit slammed into Agent Barton, knocking him to the ground. Bella yelled and was about to attack when they both suddenly stood up, grinning.

"Natalie?" said Bella. "What? What are you –"

"Vanko's unleashed a lot of drones on Stark Expo. Miss Stark, where's your arc reactor?"

"Vanko took it. I need to get out of this suit or get it back."

Tony's driver appeared around the corner, panting. He stared at Bella in shock. "Miss Stark?"

"Yes, Happy, it's me." She addressed Natalie. "We need to find my arc reactor and call Tony to tell him I'm alive." Where would Vanko have put her arc reactor?

"Vanko's not here," said Natalie. "Hammer was building drones – don't know what he was planning on doing with them, but they're all at the Stark Expo, destroying it. The man who borrowed Tony's old suit is there too."

"Where's Vanko?"

"I don't know."

Thank you all so very much for your suggestions on Bella's superhero name. I don't have one yet, but I'm working on it. It probably won't come up until much later, though, in any case.

As always, please read and review.