AN: this chapter would have been out on Monday but my phone died, so I had to go to the mall to replace it, and I don't drive. Furthermore, it took FOREVER to get stuff set up. I got a nice new iPhone 13 though, so I'm not complaining. I would have liked the red, but they didn't have it so I got the blue.
TRIGGER WARNING: Implied sexual violence

Chapter 5 Pepper's confession

Pepper's point of view

"All right, let's begin"

I sat down on Tony's lap. He lifted my hair and whispered

"Pep, any time this gets too difficult, please let me know OK"
"Actually Tony, we have a solution that will work better than Pepper recounting her tale, but she will have to relive it." said Severus
"Go on?"
"Pensieve Stone"

"OK"

MEMORY

The girl who claimed to be "Ellen Brandt" took me to a hotel after Killian blew the house off the cliff. I knew Tony was alive. He sent me a message via the helmet of his Iron Man suit. He told me that he had to go and sort this mess out, and that I had to stay safe. 'Ellen' and I ordered Room Service. The first indication I had that 'Ellen' was working for Killian and had essentially trapped me in a 'safe place' was when our food arrived and he showed up and broke the waiter's neck. He snatched me while quarrelling with 'Ellen.' He pushed me up against the door of the room with all the force he could muster. He tightened his grip on my throat as I tried to warn him

"Tony won't help you, he doesn't believe in this stuff… he thinks it's dangerous to play God."
"Well now he has an incentive to come and find me… doesn't he" Killian smarmed.

He grabbed me by the fringe and dragged me out to an Audi A2 E-Tron. He stuffed me into the trunk and sped off. When we stopped, he pulled me out of the trunk, again by the hair and after putting my head inside a burlap sack with a drawstring which he drew tightly, barely allowing me to breathe so that I couldn't see where we were, he dragged me onto a chinook helicopter. When the burlap sack was removed from my head, I was in a storage container. There were syringes in bottles around me. I was chained to a pipe. There was a mattress nearby. A drip containing some sort of clear liquid was constantly flowing into my arm. The door opened, Killian came in, he had a huge grin on his face. He unshackled me and dragged me over to the bed.

"I know you're grieving" he began
"Tony is still alive"

"Dear sweet naive Pepper. That's what he wants you to think, when we're married I'm going to have to insist that you go back to Virginia. The wife of a CEO should never be better than him at anything. When I buy Stark Industries you will be at home, and once we're married you will raise the children. You'll homeschool them."
"I will never marry you"

He closed his hand around my throat again, till I was dizzy and seeing stars

"You will do exactly what I tell you or I will make this extremely difficult for you"
"Tony will find me and when he does, you're toast"

"We'll just see about that…"

He tried to pin me down, but I rolled onto my left side. He tried again, but I rolled onto my right side and readied my left foot to defend myself. Tony had insisted that he and Happy (and Nat) teach me self-defence.

"ENOUGH!" Killian bellowed, he grabbed my left bra strap and threw me onto my back, hard. He beat the holy living hell out of me and then he violated me for a second time.

When I came to, he was gone and there was only pain…

Next time Killian came to pay me a visit

""Hi."

"You think he's gonna help you? He won't."

"Having you here is not just to motivate Tony Stark, it's, uh... it's actually more embarrassing than that. You're here as my, uh..."

"Trophy."

"Mmm."

He moved to pin me down so that he could violate me again but I stuck my knees up hard. One hit his crotch, the other his gut. While he was writhing in pain, I snatched his gun from his pocket and ran for it.

I went to fire the gun but it wasn't loaded

"Oh Pepper, Pepper, Pepper, I thought you were smarter than this… I thought Tony had taught you better… do you think I am stupid? Of course the gun I'm carrying isn't loaded. Why would I risk shooting myself?"

I remembered I still had the gauntlet gloves on so I blasted him in the face and tried again to make my escape

"This way Ms Potts" said a voice. It was one of the suits.

"Jump in" said Jarvis's voice. "Where do you want to go?"
"Wherever Tony is"

"OK"

"You got out of there on your own?"
"Yeah… Tony… he…"

"I'm in Rosehill Tennessee, come and find me OK?"
"OK"

"Jarvis, keep her safe at all costs OK?"
"Yes sir. Just relax Ms Potts. We'll "

The autopilot control of the suit took over and sooner than I expected I was at Tony's side.

"All right, come on, we need to get to New York"

On the plane back, I told him everything. We landed at Stark Tower, the other Avengers took care of Killian while Bruce and Tony took care of me.

END MEMORY

"WOW… Pepper you were so brave"