Rise of the Mandarin- Chapter Thirteen
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey everybody, I'm back! *big grin* So here is Chapter Thirteen. Chapter Fourteen is on it's way, but I want to see how you guys like this one before I post it. Depending on the review count, I'll either post it tomorrow or Sunday, haven't made up my mind yet on that one, so we'll see. Anyway, I don't own it, blah blah blah. Read and review!
Rise of the Mandarin
Chapter Thirteen
It took Tony about ten seconds after he read those words to actually comprehend them. The nauseated feeling in his stomach grew worse, and if it wasn’t for the fact that he was now more worried than ever, all of the contents on his stomach would’ve come back up where he sat. As quickly as his fingers could type, he responded to her message.
ARE YOU OKAY?!!! WHAT HAPPENED??!!! WHAT DOES SHE WANT?! DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE?!!!
---
Pepper sat there, anxiously waiting for his reply. If he didn’t answer, she would have to try Rhodey, or the authorities. At that moment, she received a new text message. She sighed in relief when she saw it was from Tony.
I’M OKAY FOR NOW. I DON’T HAVE TIME TO ANSWER THAT SHE MAY BE BACK ANY MOMENT. RIGHT NOW I’M IN A BASEMENT IN WHAT I’M ASSUMING IS AN ABANDONED BUILDING. PLEASE HURRY TONY!!!
---
“I’m not sure, Master,” Iron Maiden said over the phone. “I’ve gone in there twice, and both times she has claimed to not know anything about the ring.”
“Of course she’ll say that, Maiden,” The Mandarin said through the phone. “She’s obviously protecting it, so of course she would act dumb about it. Has she made any indication of Iron Man coming to find her?”
“No, Sire. And if she hasn’t found her phone by now she’s a moron,” Iron Maiden said in annoyance. She heard her master snicker over the phone.
“Suddenly taking back the credit you gave her, huh Maiden?” She cleared her throat.
“I’m going to try again with her.”
“Good, and if she doesn’t cooperate, she’ll have me to deal with. I’ll be there shortly,” he said.
“Yes sir.” With that, Iron Maiden hung up the phone, and walked back down the hallway where Pepper was being held.
---
Tony jumped to his feet, but not after stumbling off the couch, and pulling himself off the floor by the armrest. He walked as straight as he could to his computer, and fell sideways in his chair. “Jarvis,” Tony began, with his speech slightly slurring. “Is the GPS tracker in Miss Potts phone still functioning?” he asked the A.I.
“Yes Sir, it is,” Jarvis replied.
“Are you attempting to locate it?” Tony asked, getting frustrated.
“Would you like me to, sir?”
“What the hell do you think I’m asking you for?!” he yelled back to the A.I.
“Sir, I strongly suggest you try to keep your blood pressure down considering the amount of alcohol you have consumed within the past two hours.”
“Jarvis, Pepper has been kidnapped. I don’t have time for you to lecture me about my health,” Tony spat back at him.
“Then it would be best for me to locate Miss Potts’ phone, yes?”
“Duh! I don’t know why you haven’t found it yet!” Tony was, obviously, not happy with the computer right now. Tony began typing on his computer, and some maps appeared on the screen.
“It appears she is still on the west coast, Sir,” Jarvis said after a moment or two.
“That doesn’t tell me anything, Jarvis,” Tony spat at him. “Do you know how long the west coast is?”
“Sir, she is still in Los Angeles County,” Jarvis said, ignoring Tony’s last comment.
“That’s better, but I need to know more specifically, Jarvis,” Tony said, getting up out of his chair, stripping out of his clothes and putting on the neoprene under suit.
“Sir, may I ask what exactly are you doing?” Jarvis asked him.
“Jarvis, I gave you a task to do; you need to be doing it right now,” Tony said while stepping onto the platform and letting the robots assemble the suit on him.
“Sir, with all due respect, you are in no condition to be operating the suit.”
“I don’t want to hear it Jarvis. You’re supposed to be locating Miss Potts, not worrying over me,” Tony said, trying his best to hold his balance while the suit came together on his body.
“Sir, it will be at least sixty more seconds before I know Miss Potts’ exact location,” Jarvis replied.
“She may not have sixty more seconds, Jarvis!” Tony screamed at the A.I. The force of Tony’s excitement caused him to lose his balance and almost fall off the platform.
“Sir, I am searching as fast as I can,” Jarvis said defending himself.
“Then in that case, let me know when you’ve found her.” The helmet assembled on Tony’s head, and not five seconds later, he zoomed out of the garage, heading towards downtown Los Angeles.
“Sir, I should have her exact location in less than thirty seconds,” replied Jarvis. “But my sensors indicate that you are heading in the right direction.”
“Good, let me know the moment you have her exact coordinates,” he said, racing towards the city.
---
Pepper heard the doorknob turning and quickly put her phone back in her pocket. She didn’t want to risk Iron Maiden seeing it after all this time, especially after she had just made contact with Tony. She straightened her back up against the wall and watched as she walked back over to her. She had something in her hand; she kept tossing it up in the air, and down it would fall back into her hand. Pepper couldn’t tell what it was, but as she got closer she finally realized it was an apple she was tossing in the air.
Pepper rolled her eyes, she couldn’t believe this. Was Iron Maiden suddenly on feeding duty now? She grabbed a crate, and pulled it over to where Pepper was sitting. She situated the crate right in front of her, and sat down on it. Much to Pepper’s amusement, she then pulled out a knife and began cutting it; watching this woman, who was supposed to be a tough villainess, was the most hilarious thing she had ever seen.
“Miss Potts, do you have any idea why they call me ‘Iron Maiden’?” she asked Pepper. Pepper bit her lips, desperately not trying to laugh as she looked the woman up and down. Eventually she just shook her head, and thought about her next answer.
“Um, because of the suit you’re wearing?” Iron Maiden smirked and held a piece of cut apple out for Pepper to take. “No thanks, I’m not hungry.”
“It’s not poisoned,” she said sweetly. “I don’t want you dying of starvation.”
“You know, I don’t feel comfortable with you feeding me like this.”
“I said take it,” Iron Maiden commanded forcefully. Pepper grunted, and took the piece between her lips, slowly bringing it into her mouth and chewing it slowly, ready to spit it out if there was a funny taste to it. “They call me ‘Iron Maiden’ because I have a strong will.”
“Really?” Pepper asked. ‘Could’ve fooled me,’ she thought, not daring to say it aloud, knowing the bruises up and down her side would grow bigger because of the comment.
“Yes, really,” she said. “From the time I was a small child, I had a will like that,” she began to explain as she held out another piece of cut apple for Pepper to take. She took it, and chewed it just as slowly as the first while tuning out her speech.
‘Oh my God, she’s monologuing. I can’t believe this chick is forcing me to listen to her life story,’ Pepper thought. Her focus eventually shifted down to Iron Maiden cutting the apple, and became hypnotized by it. ‘What if…’ she began to think. She looked up to Iron Maiden, who was still focused on her speech and cutting the apple, then looked back down to the knife being used to cut the apple. Pepper quickly swallowed the remnants of apple in her mouth. ‘I guess I’m gonna have to take another one for the team,’ she thought to herself, and couldn’t believe what she was about to do.
As quickly as she could, Pepper hoisted her legs up and kicked both the apple and the knife out of Iron Maiden’s hands. She jumped back in surprise and Pepper kicked the crate out from under her, making Iron Maiden fall down to the floor. Pepper acted quickly, and shifted her weight as if moving to get away. Iron Maiden began laughing, and picked herself up off of the floor. She dusted herself off, and slowly walked over to her. Pepper froze where she was on the floor. She knew what was going to happen next wasn’t going to be pretty.
“Please tell me you weren’t actually thinking you were going to escape tied up like that,” she heard Iron Maiden say, still laughing as she walked up behind her. Pepper smirked, and turned her head to look at her.
“I thought I would give it my best shot,” she said proudly. With that, Iron Maiden delivered a swift blow to Pepper’s side. Pepper gritted her teeth, feeling the pain engulf her side once again.
“It’s a shame, Miss Potts. With all the rumors of your reputation, you’re known as being a smart and witty woman. You have the ‘witty’ part down, but I’m not so sure about the ‘smart’ part.” With that, Iron Maiden turned on her heel and left the room.
Pepper waited until she heard the door close, and turned her head to make sure she was out of the room. She sighed in relief, and slowly lifted her head up. She looked down and saw the knife that Iron Maiden had been using to cut the apple. She leaned back down, picked it up with her mouth, and slowly sat back up to begin cutting the rope that bound her wrists together.
It took a little time, considering cutting rope with your mouth wasn’t necessarily easy; but eventually the rope began to break. Pepper kept sawing, determined to get free and get out of there. Each strand of the rope cut in two, and once she got down to the last strand, it cut down the middle with ease. At last her wrists were free; she shook them out and flexed her fingers, trying to get the feeling back in them. She took the knife out of her mouth, and immediately began cutting the rope that bound her knees. That took a little less time, as well as the rope around her ankles.
Once her legs were finally free, she sighed in relief, and slowly stood up off the floor. Her legs shook a little, and she hissed as the tingling feeling finally began to go away. She walked over to the window, and stepped up on a crate to see if she could see anything. She saw nothing but overgrown grass, making her theory about being in an abandoned building more plausible. She sighed heavily and jumped down from the crate. She turned around and looked at the door, realizing that Iron Maiden would be back at any second.
She looked around quickly, trying to find something long and solid, anything to use as a weapon against that woman. She would’ve used her shoe because let’s face it, you can kill a man with stiletto heels, however they were one of her favorite pairs and she really didn’t want to get blood on them. She looked around some more, and found an old broom handle, but that thing was years old, and wasn’t able to serve as a sturdy weapon. Nervously, she walked over to the door and stood behind it waiting patiently for Iron Maiden to return.
---
Tony arrived to downtown Los Angeles when he finally heard from Jarvis.
“Sir, I have Miss Potts’ coordinates,” the AI said.
“It’s about time. Where is she?” Tony asked, ready to land anywhere he needed to.
“Uh, sir, you’re going to have to shift your direction forty-five degrees to the west, and travel fifteen miles outside of the city,” Jarvis explained.
“Jarvis, cut the crap and tell me where she is,” Tony commanded through gritted teeth.
“Sir, Miss Potts coordinates indicate that she is located in an old Hammer Industries building outside of the city.” Tony’s eyes widened and it took all his strength to keep the suit flying in the air. He shifted his course, and accelerated the suit to as fast it could go without him losing control.
“Jarvis, remind me to talk to Director Fury about getting all of Hammer’s contact records subpoenaed,” Tony said, totally focused on his path.
“Yes, sir,” Jarvis replied.
“Get me on the phone with Rhodey,” Tony commanded. Rhodey’s picture appeared in front of him as the phone began to ring.
“Hello, Tony,” he heard Rhodey say.
“Rhodey, listen, Pepper’s been kidnapped,” Tony explained to him.
“What?!” Rhodey exclaimed.
“Yeah, and I’m gonna need your help. All I know is that Iron Maiden is there, and as far as I know no one else is, but we both know what happened the last time I decided to crash a party.”
“I’m on my way, man. Where is she?”
“That’s the best part about this whole thing, she’s being held in the old Hammer Industries branch outside of the city.” Tony heard Rhodey pause for a moment.
“Please tell me you’re joking about that one,” Rhodey begged, not believing this.
“I wish I was, Rhodey, trust me,” Tony replied.
“I’m coming, Tony. I’ll be there shortly.”
“Rhodey, hurry!”
---
Pepper’s heart began to race the moment she heard footsteps outside the door. ‘This is it,’ she thought as she readied herself. The doorknob turned, and the door swung open. The moment she saw Iron Maiden’s silhouette she kicked up, her foot thrusting Iron Maiden’s head back, and knocking her mask off; however the light in the background prevented Pepper from seeing her face. Pepper then thrusted her palm up into her face, coming into contact with her nose and hopefully breaking it.
She fell to the floor, clutching her face, and Pepper bolted out the door, running as fast as she could to find the exit or another place to hide. She came to some stairs and ran up them. At the top of those stairs were a set of double doors. Pepper ran to them and pulled as hard as she could, however they were bolted closed and weren’t opening anytime soon. Giving up on that set, she turned down the hallway to continue her search for a set of doors that would open.
Every single set of doors she came to were bolted shut. ‘Were they honestly worried that much about vandalism?’ she asked herself. She came to some stairs and started climbing them. When she came to the top of the floor, she pulled out her phone while searching for the next set of stairs. She scrolled down to the designated number, and began dialing it. “Come on, come on, please pick up,” she said out loud, finding the next set of stairs and beginning to climb them.
---
Tony was still about five miles away when he got the call from Pepper.
“Pepper! Are you there?” he exclaimed after answering the call.
“Oh my God, Tony, where are you?” she asked him, coming to the next floor.
“I’m on my way, were you able to get away?” he asked her.
“Yeah, but I’m still in the building. Every single door on the bottom floor was bolted shut,” she explained.
“Can you make it to the roof?”
“That’s where I’m headed right now,” she said, coming to yet another set of stairs.
“Good, make it to the top and I’ll fly in to pick you up. I’ll be there shortly.” With that they both hung up; Pepper started running faster up the stairs, and Tony accelerated the suit.
---
Back down in the basement, blood gushed out of her nose as she reached for her mask. Her breathing was hard and deep, and her entire body shook with rage. ‘No one gets a hit on me and gets away with it,’ she thought as she wiped her nose and replaced the mask in its designated position. She got up slowly, her head spinning as she did so, and turned to quickly walk out of the basement. ‘Ring or no ring, that bitch is going down.’
---
Finally, the branch came into view for Tony. He sighed in relief and continued on, but the sensors of the suit picked up on something in the distance flying straight at him. ‘I must be drunker than I thought,’ he thought to himself while blinking his eyes, trying to regain focus.
“Jarvis, can you see that?” he asked.
“Sir, if I were you, I would brace for impact,” Jarvis replied dryly.
“What are you talking about?” Tony asked him. “That doesn’t look like anything…” At that moment the object came into focus, and Tony just gazed at it in shock. “Jarvis, are you getting this?”
“Sir, I really must suggest that you brace for impact,” the AI repeated; he wasn’t kidding either. Tony couldn’t react quickly enough before the object collided with him, sending him straight to the ground. Tony landed with a loud thud, his body making an imprint in the dirt he landed in. Tony eyes tightly shut as he hissed in pain.
“Ow,” he said, coughing a little. The impact drew up so much dust Tony couldn’t see the sky above him. He slowly lifted his torso out of the hole and rolled his head from side to side. “Definitely gonna be sore in the morning,” he said to himself, and tried to lift himself up out of the hole. He braced his hands on either side of himself and tried to push up, but something heavy pressed down on his stomach, forcing him back into the ground causing Tony’s head to collide with the ground again. He coughed a couple of times, and as the dust settled down around him, he was able to make out the figure standing above him.
This suit was heavily plated, and it mimicked the style of ancient Chinese armor. It was black from the boots all the way up to the helmet; the toes of the boots were pointed, so if he kicked someone it would definitely leave a mark; the fingers of his gauntlets had claws attached to the end; and his helmet had two crooked horns sticking out of the top, as well as two glowing red eyes staring down at him. Tony’s gaze shifted down from the helmet down to the bright circle in the middle of the chest piece. Whoever was in the suit had also gotten a hold of the arc technology; and if it was anything like it was last time, this wasn’t going to be good.
“So,” Tony began nonchalantly. “To whom do I owe this grand honor to?” he asked sarcastically. He then heard the suit laugh.
“The Mandarin,” the suit said in a deep voice. Tony snorted.
“Really? What kind of Mandarin because there’s a lot of Mandarins out there: like the Mandarin language, Mandarin oranges, Mandarin chicken…” Tony didn’t get to finish his list. The Mandarin bent down, picked him up, and threw him across the field of over-grown grass. Tony yelled as his arms and legs waved in the air, then landed back to the ground with a loud thud. “Oh god, ok, was not expecting that,” Tony mumbled as got up off the ground as quickly as he could. He wobbled a little, trying to balance himself on his feet. He turned and saw the Mandarin hovering in the air, waiting for him. His eyebrows narrowed in anger and Tony flew into the air. “You wanna dance? Then let’s dance.”
Tony flew straight at the Mandarin, and ran right into him, ramming him just like he had done a few minutes ago. That didn’t seem to faze the Mandarin at all because once he regained his center, he flew straight back to Tony, turning and kicking him with both of his feet. Once again Tony struggled to regain his bearing. ‘Fighting and scotch definitely do not mix,’ he thought to himself.
“Come on and fight, Iron Man!” The Mandarin called to him, taunting him. Tony’s anger began to boil over, and flew right back to him, grabbing him at the waist, while delivering a couple of punches to his sides.
---
Pepper was almost to the top floor when she heard the commotion outside. She quickly walked over to a window and saw Iron Man fighting with scarier looking version of the suit. ‘What is going on now?’ she asked herself. She watched in horror for a few seconds as Iron Man fought this new villain. For some reason, Iron Man wasn’t fighting as well as he usually did and his reflexes seemed delayed, a lot delayed. ‘What in the whole is wrong with him?’ she asked herself again, but didn’t have time to think about the reason because she felt something hard come into contact with her temple. The force of the blow was so strong it sent her crashing face first to the floor.
She blinked a couple of times, fighting disorientation, and brought her hand up to rub where she was hit. She felt something and looked at her finger tips; she was bleeding. With a loud grunt she braced her hands on her sides and tried to push up, but she felt a foot press into her back, forcing her back to the floor.
“You know, the elevators shafts are still in good condition. Good enough to travel in between floors, instead of wasting precious energy on climbing the stairs,” Iron Maiden said to her. Pepper had to laugh at that.
“Good to know. How’s your nose by the way?” Pepper asked her. Iron Maiden then lifted her foot to kick Pepper’s side again, but as her foot came down Pepper shifted and grabbed her foot, pulling her down to the ground and using both her feet to kick her backwards. Pepper swung her feet down and jumped up, quickly turning around to ready herself for whatever Iron Maiden was about to dish out to her.
Iron Maiden ran back to her and thrusted her fist forward, ready to punch her lights out. Pepper shifted her weight and dodged the punch. Iron Maiden threw another one, and Pepper again dodged it. While defending herself, Pepper realized something. Iron Maiden was covered head to toe in metal armor, and what did she have on? The suit she went in to work with this morning. Pepper knew the odds were against her, but she wasn’t about to give up; this was her life she was defending, and she wasn’t about to go down without a fight.
‘Think now!’ she yelled at herself. ‘There are always kinks in the armor, you just have to find them.’ The more Iron Maiden would throw at her the more Pepper would shield herself against, and the disorientation wasn’t making it easy. For a few more seconds, she was able to protect herself, however she miscalculated and Iron Maiden sent her crashing down to the floor again.
“You know,” Iron Maiden began. “You’re tough. Believe it or not you actually lasted longer than Black Widow. Poor girl didn’t stand a chance.” Iron Maiden walked over beside Pepper, and kneeled down beside her. Pepper didn’t say anything, she couldn’t say anything. She was out of breath and her head was killing her. “I’m sure with the proper training you would’ve been a worthy opponent, but you’re an amateur compared to me. So, why don’t you just stick with what you do best: being a bitter business woman keeping the business a float for your spoiled and selfish rusting tin can of a boss.”
Had Pepper been able to move she would’ve shown her just how amateur she was, but she couldn’t. She was unable to move, at all. She felt Iron Maiden’s hands on her, lifting her up off the ground. Iron Maiden grabbed her by the arms, and hoisted her up in the air. Pepper heard her sigh and watched her shake her head.
“Such a pity, all that wasted beauty.” With that, Iron Maiden thrusted Pepper back. Pepper felt something collide with her back as she heard glass shattering. Then she realized what she felt on her back was window glass. She saw Iron Maiden slip farther and farther away from her, until she realized that she was falling.
---
Tony knelt on the ground, trying to catch his breath for a moment.
“Had enough?” the Mandarin asked him. Tony laughed.
“Not even close,” he said, then lifted the gauntlets and fired at him. The Mandarin took off before he was hit, and Tony chased after him. Once he was close to him, Tony heard glass breaking in the distance and turned to see what it was, only to see Pepper falling out of a window on the top floor. “Pepper!” he screamed, starting to go after her, but the Mandarin grabbed him and pinned him to where he couldn’t move. “Let me go! Now!” Tony screamed at him.
“Oh no, you get to watch her die,” the Mandarin growled at him. Tony struggled and struggled trying to get loose from his grip.
“Flares!” Tony commanded, and multiple flares were discharged out of his suit, blinding the Mandarin causing his grip on Tony to loosen. Tony kicked him back, and then began racing towards Pepper, but the Mandarin caught up to him and gripped him tighter.
“You’re next after she goes,” the Mandarin said to him again. Tony watched in horror as she kept falling.
---
Pepper was scared. All she knew was that she was about to die after being thrown out a window. She closed her eyes and covered her face, not wanting to watch as her death quickly approached her. But then she felt herself being jerked up, and two bulky mechanical arms hoisted her up.
“I got you!” she heard the person say. She opened her eyes and saw the War Machine mask looking at her.
“Rhodey!” she said, tears of joy forming in her eyes.
---
Both Iron Man and the Mandarin watched as War Machine swooped in and saved Pepper.
“No!” screamed the Mandarin. Tony thrusted his head back, and collided it with the Mandarin’s head. The Mandarin’s grip around him broke, but Tony became just as dizzy as he was and thought that maybe the head butt wasn’t such a good idea. The Mandarin’s anger grew, and flew straight at Iron Man. Tony didn’t react quick enough, and the Mandarin grabbed him, and pushed him down to the ground, not stopping until he buried Iron Man six feet under.
---
War Machine flew down to the ground and took Pepper over to where the ambulance was waiting for them. They heard a loud bang and watched as a cloud of dirt engulfed the air, then watched as the person who Iron Man had been fighting flew off into the distance.
“Tony!” Pepper screamed, trying to get away from Rhodey to go over to him.
“Pepper stop! These people need to take you to the hospital,” Rhodey said, keeping a firm grip on her.
“No, I’m fine. Let me go, I need to see if he’s okay!” She almost screamed at him, her concern for Tony overshadowing any concerns for her well being.
“Pepper! You need to go to the hospital!” Rhodey said more forcefully, practically dragging her to the ambulance.
“No I don’t! Tony!” She screamed as Rhodey pushed her into the ambulance, and two EMT personal grabbed her to hold her in the ambulance as the doors shut and took off.
Rhodey sighed as he watched it take off towards the city. He had alerted the authorities as he made his way over here, and he was glad he did. He watched as several police officers unbolted the doors and rushed in the building to see if they could find anything. He turned and hurriedly flew over to the spot where Iron Man was thrown down to. From the air he saw the lifeless form of the Iron Man suit and landed right beside it.
“Tony!” Rhodey called to him while kneeling beside him. “Tony! Talk to me, are you okay?” Rhodey grabbed him and pulled him out of the hole that was made around him.
“Oh God, Rhodey?” he heard Tony say. Rhodey smiled, glad to hear that his friend was still alive.
“Oh man, are you okay?” he asked him, helping him to his feet. Tony then grabbed his arms forcefully.
“Where’s Pepper?” he asked worriedly. Rhodey sighed.
“She’s fine, Tony. She’s on her way to the hospital in an ambulance.” Tony let out a shaky breath and let go of Rhodey. “Tony, you need to go to the hospital too.” Rhodey tried to grab him, but Tony was already airborne before he could do anything. “Tony!” Rhodey called to him, but he wasn’t listening.
Chapter Fourteen
Rise of the Mandarin
Chapter Thirteen
It took Tony about ten seconds after he read those words to actually comprehend them. The nauseated feeling in his stomach grew worse, and if it wasn’t for the fact that he was now more worried than ever, all of the contents on his stomach would’ve come back up where he sat. As quickly as his fingers could type, he responded to her message.
ARE YOU OKAY?!!! WHAT HAPPENED??!!! WHAT DOES SHE WANT?! DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE?!!!
---
Pepper sat there, anxiously waiting for his reply. If he didn’t answer, she would have to try Rhodey, or the authorities. At that moment, she received a new text message. She sighed in relief when she saw it was from Tony.
I’M OKAY FOR NOW. I DON’T HAVE TIME TO ANSWER THAT SHE MAY BE BACK ANY MOMENT. RIGHT NOW I’M IN A BASEMENT IN WHAT I’M ASSUMING IS AN ABANDONED BUILDING. PLEASE HURRY TONY!!!
---
“I’m not sure, Master,” Iron Maiden said over the phone. “I’ve gone in there twice, and both times she has claimed to not know anything about the ring.”
“Of course she’ll say that, Maiden,” The Mandarin said through the phone. “She’s obviously protecting it, so of course she would act dumb about it. Has she made any indication of Iron Man coming to find her?”
“No, Sire. And if she hasn’t found her phone by now she’s a moron,” Iron Maiden said in annoyance. She heard her master snicker over the phone.
“Suddenly taking back the credit you gave her, huh Maiden?” She cleared her throat.
“I’m going to try again with her.”
“Good, and if she doesn’t cooperate, she’ll have me to deal with. I’ll be there shortly,” he said.
“Yes sir.” With that, Iron Maiden hung up the phone, and walked back down the hallway where Pepper was being held.
---
Tony jumped to his feet, but not after stumbling off the couch, and pulling himself off the floor by the armrest. He walked as straight as he could to his computer, and fell sideways in his chair. “Jarvis,” Tony began, with his speech slightly slurring. “Is the GPS tracker in Miss Potts phone still functioning?” he asked the A.I.
“Yes Sir, it is,” Jarvis replied.
“Are you attempting to locate it?” Tony asked, getting frustrated.
“Would you like me to, sir?”
“What the hell do you think I’m asking you for?!” he yelled back to the A.I.
“Sir, I strongly suggest you try to keep your blood pressure down considering the amount of alcohol you have consumed within the past two hours.”
“Jarvis, Pepper has been kidnapped. I don’t have time for you to lecture me about my health,” Tony spat back at him.
“Then it would be best for me to locate Miss Potts’ phone, yes?”
“Duh! I don’t know why you haven’t found it yet!” Tony was, obviously, not happy with the computer right now. Tony began typing on his computer, and some maps appeared on the screen.
“It appears she is still on the west coast, Sir,” Jarvis said after a moment or two.
“That doesn’t tell me anything, Jarvis,” Tony spat at him. “Do you know how long the west coast is?”
“Sir, she is still in Los Angeles County,” Jarvis said, ignoring Tony’s last comment.
“That’s better, but I need to know more specifically, Jarvis,” Tony said, getting up out of his chair, stripping out of his clothes and putting on the neoprene under suit.
“Sir, may I ask what exactly are you doing?” Jarvis asked him.
“Jarvis, I gave you a task to do; you need to be doing it right now,” Tony said while stepping onto the platform and letting the robots assemble the suit on him.
“Sir, with all due respect, you are in no condition to be operating the suit.”
“I don’t want to hear it Jarvis. You’re supposed to be locating Miss Potts, not worrying over me,” Tony said, trying his best to hold his balance while the suit came together on his body.
“Sir, it will be at least sixty more seconds before I know Miss Potts’ exact location,” Jarvis replied.
“She may not have sixty more seconds, Jarvis!” Tony screamed at the A.I. The force of Tony’s excitement caused him to lose his balance and almost fall off the platform.
“Sir, I am searching as fast as I can,” Jarvis said defending himself.
“Then in that case, let me know when you’ve found her.” The helmet assembled on Tony’s head, and not five seconds later, he zoomed out of the garage, heading towards downtown Los Angeles.
“Sir, I should have her exact location in less than thirty seconds,” replied Jarvis. “But my sensors indicate that you are heading in the right direction.”
“Good, let me know the moment you have her exact coordinates,” he said, racing towards the city.
---
Pepper heard the doorknob turning and quickly put her phone back in her pocket. She didn’t want to risk Iron Maiden seeing it after all this time, especially after she had just made contact with Tony. She straightened her back up against the wall and watched as she walked back over to her. She had something in her hand; she kept tossing it up in the air, and down it would fall back into her hand. Pepper couldn’t tell what it was, but as she got closer she finally realized it was an apple she was tossing in the air.
Pepper rolled her eyes, she couldn’t believe this. Was Iron Maiden suddenly on feeding duty now? She grabbed a crate, and pulled it over to where Pepper was sitting. She situated the crate right in front of her, and sat down on it. Much to Pepper’s amusement, she then pulled out a knife and began cutting it; watching this woman, who was supposed to be a tough villainess, was the most hilarious thing she had ever seen.
“Miss Potts, do you have any idea why they call me ‘Iron Maiden’?” she asked Pepper. Pepper bit her lips, desperately not trying to laugh as she looked the woman up and down. Eventually she just shook her head, and thought about her next answer.
“Um, because of the suit you’re wearing?” Iron Maiden smirked and held a piece of cut apple out for Pepper to take. “No thanks, I’m not hungry.”
“It’s not poisoned,” she said sweetly. “I don’t want you dying of starvation.”
“You know, I don’t feel comfortable with you feeding me like this.”
“I said take it,” Iron Maiden commanded forcefully. Pepper grunted, and took the piece between her lips, slowly bringing it into her mouth and chewing it slowly, ready to spit it out if there was a funny taste to it. “They call me ‘Iron Maiden’ because I have a strong will.”
“Really?” Pepper asked. ‘Could’ve fooled me,’ she thought, not daring to say it aloud, knowing the bruises up and down her side would grow bigger because of the comment.
“Yes, really,” she said. “From the time I was a small child, I had a will like that,” she began to explain as she held out another piece of cut apple for Pepper to take. She took it, and chewed it just as slowly as the first while tuning out her speech.
‘Oh my God, she’s monologuing. I can’t believe this chick is forcing me to listen to her life story,’ Pepper thought. Her focus eventually shifted down to Iron Maiden cutting the apple, and became hypnotized by it. ‘What if…’ she began to think. She looked up to Iron Maiden, who was still focused on her speech and cutting the apple, then looked back down to the knife being used to cut the apple. Pepper quickly swallowed the remnants of apple in her mouth. ‘I guess I’m gonna have to take another one for the team,’ she thought to herself, and couldn’t believe what she was about to do.
As quickly as she could, Pepper hoisted her legs up and kicked both the apple and the knife out of Iron Maiden’s hands. She jumped back in surprise and Pepper kicked the crate out from under her, making Iron Maiden fall down to the floor. Pepper acted quickly, and shifted her weight as if moving to get away. Iron Maiden began laughing, and picked herself up off of the floor. She dusted herself off, and slowly walked over to her. Pepper froze where she was on the floor. She knew what was going to happen next wasn’t going to be pretty.
“Please tell me you weren’t actually thinking you were going to escape tied up like that,” she heard Iron Maiden say, still laughing as she walked up behind her. Pepper smirked, and turned her head to look at her.
“I thought I would give it my best shot,” she said proudly. With that, Iron Maiden delivered a swift blow to Pepper’s side. Pepper gritted her teeth, feeling the pain engulf her side once again.
“It’s a shame, Miss Potts. With all the rumors of your reputation, you’re known as being a smart and witty woman. You have the ‘witty’ part down, but I’m not so sure about the ‘smart’ part.” With that, Iron Maiden turned on her heel and left the room.
Pepper waited until she heard the door close, and turned her head to make sure she was out of the room. She sighed in relief, and slowly lifted her head up. She looked down and saw the knife that Iron Maiden had been using to cut the apple. She leaned back down, picked it up with her mouth, and slowly sat back up to begin cutting the rope that bound her wrists together.
It took a little time, considering cutting rope with your mouth wasn’t necessarily easy; but eventually the rope began to break. Pepper kept sawing, determined to get free and get out of there. Each strand of the rope cut in two, and once she got down to the last strand, it cut down the middle with ease. At last her wrists were free; she shook them out and flexed her fingers, trying to get the feeling back in them. She took the knife out of her mouth, and immediately began cutting the rope that bound her knees. That took a little less time, as well as the rope around her ankles.
Once her legs were finally free, she sighed in relief, and slowly stood up off the floor. Her legs shook a little, and she hissed as the tingling feeling finally began to go away. She walked over to the window, and stepped up on a crate to see if she could see anything. She saw nothing but overgrown grass, making her theory about being in an abandoned building more plausible. She sighed heavily and jumped down from the crate. She turned around and looked at the door, realizing that Iron Maiden would be back at any second.
She looked around quickly, trying to find something long and solid, anything to use as a weapon against that woman. She would’ve used her shoe because let’s face it, you can kill a man with stiletto heels, however they were one of her favorite pairs and she really didn’t want to get blood on them. She looked around some more, and found an old broom handle, but that thing was years old, and wasn’t able to serve as a sturdy weapon. Nervously, she walked over to the door and stood behind it waiting patiently for Iron Maiden to return.
---
Tony arrived to downtown Los Angeles when he finally heard from Jarvis.
“Sir, I have Miss Potts’ coordinates,” the AI said.
“It’s about time. Where is she?” Tony asked, ready to land anywhere he needed to.
“Uh, sir, you’re going to have to shift your direction forty-five degrees to the west, and travel fifteen miles outside of the city,” Jarvis explained.
“Jarvis, cut the crap and tell me where she is,” Tony commanded through gritted teeth.
“Sir, Miss Potts coordinates indicate that she is located in an old Hammer Industries building outside of the city.” Tony’s eyes widened and it took all his strength to keep the suit flying in the air. He shifted his course, and accelerated the suit to as fast it could go without him losing control.
“Jarvis, remind me to talk to Director Fury about getting all of Hammer’s contact records subpoenaed,” Tony said, totally focused on his path.
“Yes, sir,” Jarvis replied.
“Get me on the phone with Rhodey,” Tony commanded. Rhodey’s picture appeared in front of him as the phone began to ring.
“Hello, Tony,” he heard Rhodey say.
“Rhodey, listen, Pepper’s been kidnapped,” Tony explained to him.
“What?!” Rhodey exclaimed.
“Yeah, and I’m gonna need your help. All I know is that Iron Maiden is there, and as far as I know no one else is, but we both know what happened the last time I decided to crash a party.”
“I’m on my way, man. Where is she?”
“That’s the best part about this whole thing, she’s being held in the old Hammer Industries branch outside of the city.” Tony heard Rhodey pause for a moment.
“Please tell me you’re joking about that one,” Rhodey begged, not believing this.
“I wish I was, Rhodey, trust me,” Tony replied.
“I’m coming, Tony. I’ll be there shortly.”
“Rhodey, hurry!”
---
Pepper’s heart began to race the moment she heard footsteps outside the door. ‘This is it,’ she thought as she readied herself. The doorknob turned, and the door swung open. The moment she saw Iron Maiden’s silhouette she kicked up, her foot thrusting Iron Maiden’s head back, and knocking her mask off; however the light in the background prevented Pepper from seeing her face. Pepper then thrusted her palm up into her face, coming into contact with her nose and hopefully breaking it.
She fell to the floor, clutching her face, and Pepper bolted out the door, running as fast as she could to find the exit or another place to hide. She came to some stairs and ran up them. At the top of those stairs were a set of double doors. Pepper ran to them and pulled as hard as she could, however they were bolted closed and weren’t opening anytime soon. Giving up on that set, she turned down the hallway to continue her search for a set of doors that would open.
Every single set of doors she came to were bolted shut. ‘Were they honestly worried that much about vandalism?’ she asked herself. She came to some stairs and started climbing them. When she came to the top of the floor, she pulled out her phone while searching for the next set of stairs. She scrolled down to the designated number, and began dialing it. “Come on, come on, please pick up,” she said out loud, finding the next set of stairs and beginning to climb them.
---
Tony was still about five miles away when he got the call from Pepper.
“Pepper! Are you there?” he exclaimed after answering the call.
“Oh my God, Tony, where are you?” she asked him, coming to the next floor.
“I’m on my way, were you able to get away?” he asked her.
“Yeah, but I’m still in the building. Every single door on the bottom floor was bolted shut,” she explained.
“Can you make it to the roof?”
“That’s where I’m headed right now,” she said, coming to yet another set of stairs.
“Good, make it to the top and I’ll fly in to pick you up. I’ll be there shortly.” With that they both hung up; Pepper started running faster up the stairs, and Tony accelerated the suit.
---
Back down in the basement, blood gushed out of her nose as she reached for her mask. Her breathing was hard and deep, and her entire body shook with rage. ‘No one gets a hit on me and gets away with it,’ she thought as she wiped her nose and replaced the mask in its designated position. She got up slowly, her head spinning as she did so, and turned to quickly walk out of the basement. ‘Ring or no ring, that bitch is going down.’
---
Finally, the branch came into view for Tony. He sighed in relief and continued on, but the sensors of the suit picked up on something in the distance flying straight at him. ‘I must be drunker than I thought,’ he thought to himself while blinking his eyes, trying to regain focus.
“Jarvis, can you see that?” he asked.
“Sir, if I were you, I would brace for impact,” Jarvis replied dryly.
“What are you talking about?” Tony asked him. “That doesn’t look like anything…” At that moment the object came into focus, and Tony just gazed at it in shock. “Jarvis, are you getting this?”
“Sir, I really must suggest that you brace for impact,” the AI repeated; he wasn’t kidding either. Tony couldn’t react quickly enough before the object collided with him, sending him straight to the ground. Tony landed with a loud thud, his body making an imprint in the dirt he landed in. Tony eyes tightly shut as he hissed in pain.
“Ow,” he said, coughing a little. The impact drew up so much dust Tony couldn’t see the sky above him. He slowly lifted his torso out of the hole and rolled his head from side to side. “Definitely gonna be sore in the morning,” he said to himself, and tried to lift himself up out of the hole. He braced his hands on either side of himself and tried to push up, but something heavy pressed down on his stomach, forcing him back into the ground causing Tony’s head to collide with the ground again. He coughed a couple of times, and as the dust settled down around him, he was able to make out the figure standing above him.
This suit was heavily plated, and it mimicked the style of ancient Chinese armor. It was black from the boots all the way up to the helmet; the toes of the boots were pointed, so if he kicked someone it would definitely leave a mark; the fingers of his gauntlets had claws attached to the end; and his helmet had two crooked horns sticking out of the top, as well as two glowing red eyes staring down at him. Tony’s gaze shifted down from the helmet down to the bright circle in the middle of the chest piece. Whoever was in the suit had also gotten a hold of the arc technology; and if it was anything like it was last time, this wasn’t going to be good.
“So,” Tony began nonchalantly. “To whom do I owe this grand honor to?” he asked sarcastically. He then heard the suit laugh.
“The Mandarin,” the suit said in a deep voice. Tony snorted.
“Really? What kind of Mandarin because there’s a lot of Mandarins out there: like the Mandarin language, Mandarin oranges, Mandarin chicken…” Tony didn’t get to finish his list. The Mandarin bent down, picked him up, and threw him across the field of over-grown grass. Tony yelled as his arms and legs waved in the air, then landed back to the ground with a loud thud. “Oh god, ok, was not expecting that,” Tony mumbled as got up off the ground as quickly as he could. He wobbled a little, trying to balance himself on his feet. He turned and saw the Mandarin hovering in the air, waiting for him. His eyebrows narrowed in anger and Tony flew into the air. “You wanna dance? Then let’s dance.”
Tony flew straight at the Mandarin, and ran right into him, ramming him just like he had done a few minutes ago. That didn’t seem to faze the Mandarin at all because once he regained his center, he flew straight back to Tony, turning and kicking him with both of his feet. Once again Tony struggled to regain his bearing. ‘Fighting and scotch definitely do not mix,’ he thought to himself.
“Come on and fight, Iron Man!” The Mandarin called to him, taunting him. Tony’s anger began to boil over, and flew right back to him, grabbing him at the waist, while delivering a couple of punches to his sides.
---
Pepper was almost to the top floor when she heard the commotion outside. She quickly walked over to a window and saw Iron Man fighting with scarier looking version of the suit. ‘What is going on now?’ she asked herself. She watched in horror for a few seconds as Iron Man fought this new villain. For some reason, Iron Man wasn’t fighting as well as he usually did and his reflexes seemed delayed, a lot delayed. ‘What in the whole is wrong with him?’ she asked herself again, but didn’t have time to think about the reason because she felt something hard come into contact with her temple. The force of the blow was so strong it sent her crashing face first to the floor.
She blinked a couple of times, fighting disorientation, and brought her hand up to rub where she was hit. She felt something and looked at her finger tips; she was bleeding. With a loud grunt she braced her hands on her sides and tried to push up, but she felt a foot press into her back, forcing her back to the floor.
“You know, the elevators shafts are still in good condition. Good enough to travel in between floors, instead of wasting precious energy on climbing the stairs,” Iron Maiden said to her. Pepper had to laugh at that.
“Good to know. How’s your nose by the way?” Pepper asked her. Iron Maiden then lifted her foot to kick Pepper’s side again, but as her foot came down Pepper shifted and grabbed her foot, pulling her down to the ground and using both her feet to kick her backwards. Pepper swung her feet down and jumped up, quickly turning around to ready herself for whatever Iron Maiden was about to dish out to her.
Iron Maiden ran back to her and thrusted her fist forward, ready to punch her lights out. Pepper shifted her weight and dodged the punch. Iron Maiden threw another one, and Pepper again dodged it. While defending herself, Pepper realized something. Iron Maiden was covered head to toe in metal armor, and what did she have on? The suit she went in to work with this morning. Pepper knew the odds were against her, but she wasn’t about to give up; this was her life she was defending, and she wasn’t about to go down without a fight.
‘Think now!’ she yelled at herself. ‘There are always kinks in the armor, you just have to find them.’ The more Iron Maiden would throw at her the more Pepper would shield herself against, and the disorientation wasn’t making it easy. For a few more seconds, she was able to protect herself, however she miscalculated and Iron Maiden sent her crashing down to the floor again.
“You know,” Iron Maiden began. “You’re tough. Believe it or not you actually lasted longer than Black Widow. Poor girl didn’t stand a chance.” Iron Maiden walked over beside Pepper, and kneeled down beside her. Pepper didn’t say anything, she couldn’t say anything. She was out of breath and her head was killing her. “I’m sure with the proper training you would’ve been a worthy opponent, but you’re an amateur compared to me. So, why don’t you just stick with what you do best: being a bitter business woman keeping the business a float for your spoiled and selfish rusting tin can of a boss.”
Had Pepper been able to move she would’ve shown her just how amateur she was, but she couldn’t. She was unable to move, at all. She felt Iron Maiden’s hands on her, lifting her up off the ground. Iron Maiden grabbed her by the arms, and hoisted her up in the air. Pepper heard her sigh and watched her shake her head.
“Such a pity, all that wasted beauty.” With that, Iron Maiden thrusted Pepper back. Pepper felt something collide with her back as she heard glass shattering. Then she realized what she felt on her back was window glass. She saw Iron Maiden slip farther and farther away from her, until she realized that she was falling.
---
Tony knelt on the ground, trying to catch his breath for a moment.
“Had enough?” the Mandarin asked him. Tony laughed.
“Not even close,” he said, then lifted the gauntlets and fired at him. The Mandarin took off before he was hit, and Tony chased after him. Once he was close to him, Tony heard glass breaking in the distance and turned to see what it was, only to see Pepper falling out of a window on the top floor. “Pepper!” he screamed, starting to go after her, but the Mandarin grabbed him and pinned him to where he couldn’t move. “Let me go! Now!” Tony screamed at him.
“Oh no, you get to watch her die,” the Mandarin growled at him. Tony struggled and struggled trying to get loose from his grip.
“Flares!” Tony commanded, and multiple flares were discharged out of his suit, blinding the Mandarin causing his grip on Tony to loosen. Tony kicked him back, and then began racing towards Pepper, but the Mandarin caught up to him and gripped him tighter.
“You’re next after she goes,” the Mandarin said to him again. Tony watched in horror as she kept falling.
---
Pepper was scared. All she knew was that she was about to die after being thrown out a window. She closed her eyes and covered her face, not wanting to watch as her death quickly approached her. But then she felt herself being jerked up, and two bulky mechanical arms hoisted her up.
“I got you!” she heard the person say. She opened her eyes and saw the War Machine mask looking at her.
“Rhodey!” she said, tears of joy forming in her eyes.
---
Both Iron Man and the Mandarin watched as War Machine swooped in and saved Pepper.
“No!” screamed the Mandarin. Tony thrusted his head back, and collided it with the Mandarin’s head. The Mandarin’s grip around him broke, but Tony became just as dizzy as he was and thought that maybe the head butt wasn’t such a good idea. The Mandarin’s anger grew, and flew straight at Iron Man. Tony didn’t react quick enough, and the Mandarin grabbed him, and pushed him down to the ground, not stopping until he buried Iron Man six feet under.
---
War Machine flew down to the ground and took Pepper over to where the ambulance was waiting for them. They heard a loud bang and watched as a cloud of dirt engulfed the air, then watched as the person who Iron Man had been fighting flew off into the distance.
“Tony!” Pepper screamed, trying to get away from Rhodey to go over to him.
“Pepper stop! These people need to take you to the hospital,” Rhodey said, keeping a firm grip on her.
“No, I’m fine. Let me go, I need to see if he’s okay!” She almost screamed at him, her concern for Tony overshadowing any concerns for her well being.
“Pepper! You need to go to the hospital!” Rhodey said more forcefully, practically dragging her to the ambulance.
“No I don’t! Tony!” She screamed as Rhodey pushed her into the ambulance, and two EMT personal grabbed her to hold her in the ambulance as the doors shut and took off.
Rhodey sighed as he watched it take off towards the city. He had alerted the authorities as he made his way over here, and he was glad he did. He watched as several police officers unbolted the doors and rushed in the building to see if they could find anything. He turned and hurriedly flew over to the spot where Iron Man was thrown down to. From the air he saw the lifeless form of the Iron Man suit and landed right beside it.
“Tony!” Rhodey called to him while kneeling beside him. “Tony! Talk to me, are you okay?” Rhodey grabbed him and pulled him out of the hole that was made around him.
“Oh God, Rhodey?” he heard Tony say. Rhodey smiled, glad to hear that his friend was still alive.
“Oh man, are you okay?” he asked him, helping him to his feet. Tony then grabbed his arms forcefully.
“Where’s Pepper?” he asked worriedly. Rhodey sighed.
“She’s fine, Tony. She’s on her way to the hospital in an ambulance.” Tony let out a shaky breath and let go of Rhodey. “Tony, you need to go to the hospital too.” Rhodey tried to grab him, but Tony was already airborne before he could do anything. “Tony!” Rhodey called to him, but he wasn’t listening.
Chapter Fourteen