Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 3 of Iron Maiden. I want to thank those who have left reviews for this story. It does mean a lot to me that you guys are enjoying it. I've been trying my best when it comes to writing out these chapters. I hope that this next chapter will make you guys happy. Without further ado Chapter 3. ENJOY!

Chapter 3

Bad News

Abigail sat in front of her computer typing a paper for her class that was due. Her brows furrowed together into a thin line as she typed. Her thoughts kept drifting off to her brother who had called her before he had left the States alerting her that he would call once the test was over and back on the base with Rhodey, but she hadn't heard anything out of him yet. Her heart pounded in worry. Why was it taking so long for her brother to get in touch with her?

She reached across and grabbed her phone to look at the time. Her brows furrowed in concern. Tony never backed off from a call to let her know that everything went okay, but it had been a long time since he last called. That was worrisome to her. She got up to her feet forgetting to finish her paper and began to pace back and forth in concern. What if something had happened to him?

She ran her hand through her dark hair as she looked out the window with worried eyes. The only thing that she could do at that moment was to try her best to remain calm and hope that her brother would call her in the next hour or so. Her head shot over to the side when she heard it ringing. Her feet made quick work over to the table and she quickly picked up the phone to see it was Rhodey calling. Her heart dropped, having a bad feeling about this. She quickly answered it. "Hello?"

"Abs…" Rhodey's voice came out shakily which concerned her even more.

"Rhodey…" Her voice came out soft like she was a child again. Something had happened to Tony, and she just could feel it in the pit of her stomach.

"I'm sorry, Abs. There was an ambush."

"An… ambush?"

"They took Tony…"

Abigail sunk into her seat letting out a soft gasp of agony. What if they couldn't find Tony? What would that mean for her? She wasn't like Tony when it came to running the company. She was just a 21-year-old who didn't know much about the family business. Did that mean that she would take over and have Obadiah help her run the business?

"I promise you, Abs, we'll find him. We'll bring him home."

Abigail took a shaky breath, closing her eyes as tears formed. She needed to form the right words to ask Rhodey what would happen next. "What should I do in the meantime?" She asked softly, taking another shaky breath as a few tears slid down her cheeks.

"Run the company to the best of your ability." He told her softly, taking a breath. "I know you think it will be hard, but you are Tony's sister. You're very capable of doing this job and doing it well."

"And what do I tell Obi? Tell him that I'm interim CEO until Tony is found." She asked softly wondering if that would even be a smart idea. She didn't know much about the business, but she was willing to learn.

" I know you don't want to do that, but you'll need to do it. Just until we can find Tony."

Abigail closed her eyes in thought knowing that she needed to do this and do this right. She couldn't fail her brother or make a mess of their name even though Tony did have a big reputation for sleeping around. She couldn't taint her reputation by doing what Tony did. She knew that she needed to move the company forward and go from there. But right now she didn't know what the choice would be. "Okay." She softly agreed to what Rhodey had said. "Just, please… Rhodey bring my brother home."

"We'll have him back in no time, Abs."

"Call me with updates please." She said softly, her voice getting even softer knowing that her heart was breaking a little as she talked. She wasn't about to allow herself to think that her brother was dead. Tony was too stubborn to die let alone leave her alone to try to figure out how to run this company on her own.

"Call Pepper. I am sure that she'll help you through everything."

"Thank you again Rhodey." She said softly.

"Be careful. And I'll update you soon."

Abigail heard the click of her phone and she took a breath closing her eyes. She knew that her studies needed to go by the wayside and that was just going to have to be the way it was going to be for a little until they found Tony. She carefully began to search her phone for Pepper's number. She knew that Rhodey had probably called her about the news as well. She brought the phone up to her ear after pressing the call button for her brother's assistant.

"Abigail." Pepper's voice rang out through the line giving the young 21-year-old comfort.

"Pepper…" She said softly, her voice cracking a little.

"Rhodey told you…"

"Yes." She said softly, taking a breath trying to calm her nerves. "And he told me that I needed to become the interim CEO for Stark Industries."

"I will be there every step of the way," Pepper said soothingly trying to calm the young woman.

"Has Rhodey told Obadiah yet?"

"I do not know if he has…" Pepper admitted softly. "But I know he won't be pleased with this happening."

"You got that right," Abigail said softly.

"Tomorrow we'll go to the office and let Obadiah know you're to take over until Tony returns."

Abigail swallowed the lump in her throat. "He won't be pleased." She said softly knowing Obadiah wouldn't feel right with her running the helm. "Obi knows that my views on what the company does aren't the same as his and Tony's."

"I know. But you must do this."

"I know, for Tony's sake."

"I will see you tomorrow… Happy will bring you in."

"Yes, I think he already knows to come and get me."

"I alerted him earlier that you would need to be brought into the office."

Abigail hummed a little knowing that Pepper was on top of things and that was a good sign.

"Try to rest tonight."

"I will." She said softly knowing that sleep would be hard for her to come by that was for sure. Tomorrow will be a long day for sure. She slowly hung up her phone, taking a shaky breath and running her hand through her black hair. She could only hope that she was going to be able to do just that. She needed to get rest even though it would take too much to handle knowing that Tony was out there somewhere alone if not worse dead.

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This is the end of Chapter 3. I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter. I tried my best with trying to write this out. I hope that it turned out well. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Reviews help me keep going when it comes to writing out these stories. I enjoy my time writing these and it gives me time to unwind from life that has been rough lately. I don't want to go into details on it unless the person involved in these problems that have made things rough is alright with it. Enough of my ramblings I hopefully will update next week with a brand new chapter. Until next time.