Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 16 of Iron Maiden. I want to thank those who have left a review for this story. It truly does mean a lot to me for writing and it helps me keep on going. I hope that you guys continue to enjoy this story. I hope that you guys enjoy this story. Without further ado Chapter 16. ENJOY!

Chapter 16

Pepper and Abigail hurried down the dimmed main hallway of Stark Industries. Pepper looked around nervously back behind her.

"Pepper, you need to take a breath." Abigail said softly as they walked. "No one will notice you're here by going into Tony's office." She led Pepper into Tony's office and towards the computer.

Pepper carefully plugged the hacking device into the computer. She watched the computer screen carefully as everything began to reveal itself to them. She watched the items scroll up from Obadiah's harddrive. The Jericho missile orders, shipping manifests. "Make a copy of everything-"

More schematics and blueprints came up for a section of the suit that he had been working on and the pipe room under the arc reactor.

Abigail looked at the screen with her brows furrowed. "What are you doing, Obadiah?"

Pepper glanced towards the door, thinking she had heard something.

The two women waited and nothing came through the door.

A new icon appeared, with Arabic text underneath. The icon was a video clip.

Pepper double clicked it to watch it.

Abigail leaned over Pepper's shoulder slightly concerned.

A grainy video clip opened. Tony, half-dead tied to a chair. Raza and his henchmen behind him. It's the decapitation tape made in the cave months ago.

"Translate-" She said, clicking on the translate button.

"Obaidah Stane, you have deceived us… the price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up…"

Abigail gasped softly moving away from the computer quickly composing herself.

Pepper shell-shocked gaped at the monitor. She looked up from the monitor and saw Obadiah standing in the doorway. She nearly lept out of her skin.

Abigail bit the inside of her cheek as she looked at Obadiah with a neutral look.

"What a nice surprise." Obadiah said coming into the room.

"I...just wanted to get some of my personal stuff." Pepper nodded to the monitor. "And my resume. In case." She grinned. "You know how I love job hunting."

He circled around the desk and Pepper quickly changed the screens, replacing the download indicator with google. "How's Tony?"

"Honestly...I don't know. He's shut me out."

"You and everyone else. Including his own sister if I'm not mistaken."

Abigail looked down, pursing her lips together into a thin line.

Obadiah circled Pepper, picking up a photo on the desk of Tony.

Pepper stiffened, flicking a glance at the hacking jump drive protruding. "This...thing between you, it's hurting him. You're the only real father Tony ever had. It would mean so much if you could just talk -"

"Tony's imploding - it's unfortunate. You should consider whether you want to take that ride with him."

""Unfortunate?""

"You know I love Tony - but this is business. We can't save him, but we can save his legacy."

Her eyes drifted down to the screen seeing 87% completed.

"It's tragic, but...Tony never really came home, did he?" He circled behind Pepper again looking closely at the screen. "This company has a bright future, I'd like you to be a part of it." He smiled, touching her cheek.

Pepper shut off the computer.

"Tony doesn't understand your value. He never did."

"Are you...offering me a job?"

"Think about it. Come on, I'll walk you out." He said as he took her box of personal effects waiting for her.

As she passed the computer she snatched the jump drive out, palming it hoping that Obaidah didn't see her take it.

Abigail followed quickly to Pepper's side and walked with her towards the door to Obadiah. She walked with them towards the steps. "I'll take her things, Obi." She said, offering the man a smile even though her insides were turning in distaste.

Obadiah carefully handed her Pepper's items.

Abigail walked down the stairs with Pepper as Obadiah hovered above on the balcony railing watching the two of them go down the stairs. Abigail's eyes wandered over to Coulson who was arguing with the security guard. She steered Pepper towards Coulson.

Pepper linked her arms with Coulson and dragged him towards the door.

Abigail quickly followed the two of them out of Stark Industries.

"Miss Potts, did you forget our appointment?" Coulson questioned as he walked with her.

"No. Of course not. I've been very much looking forward to it. Let's-" She looked over her shoulder. "Why don't we do this somewhere else?"

They went outside quickly.

Abigail took a breath as she carried Pepper's things to her car quickly putting them into her car. "Meet you at the base Agent Coulson?" She questioned going right into the professional mode that she needed to be in.

Pepper blinked a few times, her brows furrowing in concern. "Abigail…"

"Yes, Agent Stark. You will be taking Miss Potts with you."

"Affirmative." She looked at Pepper. "Hurry into my car Pepper." She said as she quickly got into her car watching Coulson getting into his black SUV.

Pepper got into the car and looked at Abigail with wide eyes. "Agent?" She questioned softly.

Abigail cleared her throat. "Not the best way to say that I'm part of Shield." She said as she started her car up.

"You're… you're part of Shield?"

"Yes. have been since I was 18." She said as she began to drive. "I knew something hinky was up when Obadiah had Tony go overseas… I just didn't think that he would stoop this low to kill my own brother."

"You were undercover this entire time?"

"Not the whole time, but I made sure that I kept notes of everything that I saw. I guess the agent side of me wouldn't go away after my short leave from them while running the company and trying to get Tony better."

"Does Tony know?"

Abigail shook her head. "No he doesn't know and it's best that he doesn't know. I don't want him to think the worst of me. I'm trying to keep him and myself protected."

Pepper took a breath and then nodded her head.

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This is the end of Chapter 16. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. I tried my best with writing this chapter out. I hope that it turned out well. We finally see that Pepper now knows that Abigail is part of Shield. I promise you that this story title will make sense. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Reviews help me keep going when it comes to writing. I hopefully will update this story soon with a brand new chapter. Until next time.