An Assassin Never Tells

F I F T E E N

May 26, 2010

Pepper said she could handle looking after Tony if I could go into the office for her. Sort of like a job switch. As far as I knew, the main threat to Stark had to be neutralized, so to say, so I could breathe easy and take it slow. I thought that I wouldn't be seeing Pepper until later that evening. Boy, was I wrong. She walked into the building looking very shaken, so I knew better than to worry her more by telling her; her troubles were present to the world. I remembered a few minutes after her entrance that today was her meeting with my dad, so I assumed she had forgotten and thought she was late. Wrong, once again. I then saw my father walk in, so I sent him a little wave and a thumbs up, so his meeting would go well. I wasn't even a minute later when he came back with Pepper at his side, looking even more worried.

"Pepper," I exclaimed, "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, yes, absolutely, but you need to come with me," she rushed.

"Alright, where are we going?"

"Agent Coulson's office."

"Oh, alrighty then. Is Mr. Hogan with Tony?"

"Yes. Sent Happy there just before I left."

We hopped in the car, and Pepper immediately started calling Tony. I was driving, with dad's directions, of course, though I doubt Pepper would notice that I knew the way in her frantic state.

"Tony," she said right after he picked up. There was no answer, "Tony, are you there? Hel-" The line cut out.

"Pepper?"

"He hung up. I'm trying Rhodes."

Thankfully, Pepper got Rhodes on the line and explained the entire situation frantically, of course. We were now walking through the parking garage at SI with five other Agents. We're on our way to find and arrest Obadiah.

"What do you mean, he paid to have Tony killed? Pepper, slow down," said Rhodes. Pepper had to put the phone on speaker and pass it to me, as her hands were shaking, "Why would Obadiah...Okay, where's Tony now?"

"I don't know. Tony's not answering his phone. Please go over there and make sure everything's okay. Thank you, Rhodey," She took the phone from me and hung up before addressing my dad, "I know a shortcut."

We pulled up at the site and walked inside, looking like a badass group from an assassin or superhero movie.

"My key's not working. It's not opening the door," panicked Pepper before an agent handed my dad a small bomb of sorts to break the look, "Oh, wow! What's that? It's, like, a little device. It's like a thing that's going to pick the lock?"

I stifled a laugh as dad warned, "You might want to take a few steps back."

We all turned around as the bomb exploded, opening the door. When we went in, dad passed me a gun and led the group through Section 16. "Looks like you were right. He was building a suit."

"I thought it'd be bigger," breathed Pepper before we continued onward. We walked for thirty seconds until Pepper let out a bright scream. A large metal thing, for lack of a better word, rose and bolted towards us. Our bullets were no use against it. I was surprised I hadn't sensed it sooner, considering how large it was. I tried to manipulate the metal, but I couldn't because I knew that there was a person in there, and no matter what anyone has done, I will never be the one to kill them. Severely injure? Sure, but kill, highly unlikely. It wasn't a shock when I told dad and uncle Nick, but it shook Nat and Clint. They were trained to kill, not hurt. They trained me first to injure, next if necessary, kill.

At some point during our blind fire, Stane got away. Dad turned to me and said, "Your shield and suit are in the car. Grab them and go."

"Got it," I called as I raced up to get them. I slipped into my suit quickly and snatched my shield, which now bore the S.H.I.E.L.D. Logo, from the trunk, and ran. I found Pepper just before something flew in yelling. Said thing grabbed Stane and took him.

"Pepper," I said, grabbing her shoulder with my non-shielded arm (AKA my right arm), "Hey, are you okay?"

We watched as the thing that took Stane and Stane took off into the sky.

"Yeah, yeah. But Tony's not."

"Where is he?"

She just pointed to the sky. I wiped my hand down my face, 'this is gonna be one hell of a mission report.'

"Wait is that," she asked, pointing at my shield.

"Agent Rosemary Coulson of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, a pleasure to meet you. Mr. Stark can't know."

"Why?"

"Our job is to protect from 'strange' threats. What happened to Tony could've been one of said threats, and so we needed to acquire intel to prevent something like that from happening again."

"I-" Pepper's phone began ringing, and before she could hear a word out, a voice yelled, "Potts!"

"Tony," she exclaimed. I breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh my God, are you ok?"

"I'm almost out of power. I've got to get out of this thing. I'll be right there."

There was a large thud as someone by Tony said, "Nice try."

Tony didn't hang up, though. We could still hear him talk into his AI. "Potts," he whispered.

"Tony!"

"This isn't working. We're going to have to overload the reactor and blast the roof."

"Well, how are you going to do that?"

"You're going to do it. Go to the central console, open up all the circuits. When I get clear of the roof, I'll let you know. You're going to hit the master bypass button. It's going to fry everything up here."

Pepper nodded her head toward the building before walking in, I followed her. "Okay. I'm going in now."

"Make sure you wait 'til I clear the roof. I'll buy you some time."

Pepper and I started flipping levers and switches. I let Pepper do all the work at the main control panel because I didn't want to mess up and risk Tony's life. "It's ready, Tony! Get off the roof! Tony!"

Bullets were fired at the glass ceiling above, and Tony's body was dangling in the center. Pepper and I dodged the glass that rained down. Stane droned on about some random crap about irony or something.

"Pepper...time to hit the button!"

"You told me not to!"

"Just do it!"

"You'll die!"

"Push it!"

And she did. We rushed away from the reactor. Sparks flew out in every direction; the sight was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. I heard it shot a beam of light high into the sky that illuminated the area for miles. Stane's suit came crashing down and broke everything it came into contact with. A massive fire erupted in the building, but Pepper and I made it out just in time to not get hit.

"Tony," Pepper yelled. I manipulated broken pieces of the building into stairs up to the roof just as the agents came into view. I honestly don't know how or when they got out, but they did. Pepper and I found Tony lying on his back, arc reactor still glowing brightly in his chest. I checked for a pulse.

"He's alive," I called out.

A/N: Hey guys! First of all, I just want to say thank you for 555 reads!!!! Oh, my gosh!! I cannot tell you all how much this means to me!!! When I started writing this, I never thought that I would get this many reads!! I love you all so very much, and I cannot thank y'all enough!! I hope you're all having wonderful days!! :) <3