Chapter Text
(If you are reading this on any PAY site this is a STOLEN WORK, the author has NOT Given Permission for it to be here. If you're paying to read it, you're being cheated too because you can read it on Archiveofourown for FREE.)
Pepper hadn't been looking for anything in particular on Tony's computer in his office at SI. It was just a way of feeling a little closer to him. Just a little. She couldn't bear to talk to Jarvis, because that would be too close, but the desktop computer had no personality. It was just a piece of standard office equipment, one that she and Obie often used because Tony was seldom actually in the office.
She slipped in the lock chip she'd found in Tony's workshop, and began idly checking out the ghost drive. She didn't like the name. It made her think that ... no, Tony was missing, not dead. Before he'd been knocked unconscious by flying debris, Rhodey had seen Tony leave the humvee. Tony'd been able to run, he was fine. Knowing Tony, he was probably holed up in some Afghani town whining about the lack of modern communications and charming everyone around him by fixing their cars. Or maybe he'd got drunk and thrown in the local jail. Pepper was pretty sure alcohol was illegal in Afghanistan, but that wouldn't stop Tony. They'd let him out eventually. Two months in jail might even be good for him. Maybe he'd invent something to make life more interesting for the inmates.
She froze when the video she clicked on out of random curiosity began playing. It was a nightmare. It couldn't be real. Hastily she ordered the computer to translate. "Oh, my God. Obadiah..." She put in a flash drive and copied everything, mind whirling. What could she do? If she confronted Obadiah, he'd have a story, he always did. Or maybe he'd just try to kill her, too. She couldn't turn Obadiah in to any authorities; the kidnappers might hear about it and kill Tony. Rhodey? No, Rhodey was searching for Tony, let him stay where he was. Pepper would handle this, handle Obadiah. She would fix everything. She was the best damn P.A. in the business, she wasn't going to fail Tony now.
"Jarvis, wake up." Pepper strode into the workshop and looked around, reassessing it in terms of her half-formed plans.
"Yes, Ms. Potts," Jarvis replied. The lights brightened as Pepper went over to Tony's work console. She didn't know Tony's systems like he did, of course not, but she knew them better than anyone else on Earth. She sat down and fed the flash drive into a port. "Access all the data on that drive, Jarvis. Correlate everything. Find out where Tony is being kept, and help me formulate a plan to get him back."
Jarvis was silent for several seconds, an eternity compared to his usual response. "Is Mr. Stane's survival a requirement?" Jarvis sounded more human than ever. It wasn't nice.
Pepper smiled. That wasn't nice, either. "No, Jarvis, it is not."
"In that case, you may wish to recruit Mr. Hogan to provide physical assistance."
"What's the matter with you two?" Obadiah shouted once the effect of the sonic paralyzer wore off. Shouting was all he could do, since he was held between a dozen of the huge assembly grapplers in the middle of Tony's workshop. They held his arms and legs and even his head immobile. The robot Tony called You was positioned in front of him, far enough away that the camera You held captured Obadiah's full-length image as well as that of Pepper standing calmly beside him. Pepper didn't reply to him, but Happy turned and looked at him.
"I never liked you, Mr. Stane, even before you tried to kill Mr. Stark." Happy looked at Pepper. "Do you want me to do it? I mean, I was in the ring, I'm used to blood."
"No, Happy, but thank you." Pepper patted Happy on the arm. He nodded and walked out of camera range and stood, watching. "Jarvis..." she said.
Obadiah said, "Now, just wait, wait a minute here, what's all this about trying to kill Tony? I love him like my own son! I would never..."
"Play it, Jarvis. Audio only," Pepper said, and the translation of the Afghani spokesman complaining about Obadiah not paying enough to kill Tony Stark filled the room.
"No!" Obadiah protested. "That's a fake! A trick!"
"Jarvis," Pepper said clearly, "is the connection still feeding to the Ten Rings?"
"Yes, Ms. Potts. Do you wish two-way live-feed now?"
"Yes, please, Jarvis." Pepper looked at Obadiah. "Be quiet, or I'll have Happy gag you." An image appeared in one of the monitor frames, showing the same cave/room as in the previous video. This time there were only a few men in view, all of them looking furious. One began speaking, a rapid-fire stream of words that Jarvis translated to English in real time.
"How dare you insult us by using a woman as your go between, Obadiah Stane!"
Pepper shook her head. "You misunderstand. Mr. Stane has nothing to do with these negotiations. He is merely here to demonstrate my sincerity when I tell you that if you do not release Tony Stark, unharmed, at a place of my choosing, within six hours, I will destroy you."
The man sneered and rattled off more abusive sounding language. Jarvis undoubtedly cleaned it up in translation. "You can do nothing! You may have seduced Stane into contacting us, but words are feeble weapons!"
"That's true. However, I have more than words. I have the Jericho." Pepper gave another bone-chilling smile. "I have your location." She didn't even glance down as she recited the coordinates Jarvis had gleaned from Obadiah's records and confirmed via satellite. "Camouflage nets and caves will not hide you. I will bring the entire mountain down around you."
"You are bluffing! You would kill Tony Stark as well!"
"I would rather not do it, but a swift death is better than leaving him in your hands."
"What do you know of death? You, with your clean hands and expensive clothes? A woman would never get her hands dirty in such a manner!"
Pepper smiled and reached down to take off her shoes. "Money doesn't mean that much to me. You have my man. He bought me these shoes. They're Louboutins. See the trademark scarlet soles? This pair cost two thousand dollars. Let me show you how little I care about them, or about getting my hands dirty." She grasped one shoe firmly, with the stiletto heel pointing upward, turned and swung with all her strength, driving it into Stane's right eye and twisting it viciously. He screamed and convulsed in the robot's grip, blood spurting out to spatter all over her. She watched until he stopped twitching, and hung there, limp, with the shoe sticking out of his face.
Then she turned back to face the camera, raising her gory hands to display them. "The dress was expensive, too." The men were silent. "I'm going to clean up while you bring Mr. Stark to the camera. I want to speak with him before you release him, and you know, a woman likes to look her best for her man."
Happy came over to Obadiah. Dummy was trailing him with another camera. Pepper said, "I'm going to switch you to another camera, so you can watch Happy dispose of the trash. Mr. Stark's cliffside home makes that convenient. The sharks are very efficient."
Happy grunted as he dragged the corpse out of the garage, with Dummy following.
"We want cheeseburgers," Tony said as he followed Yinsen and Pepper into the limo while Rhodey walked off the tarmac to report back to duty. They all looked tired. Pepper had even cried a little bit, which she never did, but then, Tony was all she had and she could have lost him.
"Cheeseburgers?" Pepper said dubiously, looking at Yinsen, who smiled and shrugged. She had liked him from the moment Tony had said he wouldn't leave without him, and on seeing him in person, she liked him even more. "Shouldn't you go to the hospital, Tony?"
"No, I've been in captivity for two months and there's two things I want to do, one is eat an American cheeseburger, and the other..."
Yinsen smiled and touched Tony's arm. "I should like to visit an American hospital."
Tony frowned, and then shrugged. "All right, hospital first... but we get a cheeseburger on the way. Drive, Happy."
Pepper smiled. Good, Yinsen was on her side to protect Tony, which was just as well. She really was a little out of practice. She hadn't killed anyone for Tony since the last piece of garbage who tried to blackmail him. She took her duty as personal assistant very seriously.