Iron man 3 [MCU x OC] [Book 3 of the Stephanie Stark Series]

Chapter 6

The girls were finally settled in a small, remote villa. It was away from the city and surrounded by a large forest, so it was a good place to hide until they could find somewhere better. The only people who knew they were there, outside of themselves, were the housekeepers.

"What happened?" Maya repeated Pepper's question. They were all on the bed with Stephanie tucked under Pepper's arm. "Fun fact, before he built rockets for the nazis. That idealistic Wernher von Braun dreamed of space travel. He stargazed. Do you know what he said when the first V2 hit London? 'The rocket performed perfectly, just landed on the wrong planet.' See, we all began wide-eyed. Pure science. And then the ego steps in, the obsession. You look up and you're a long way from shore."

"You can't be too hard on yourself, Maya. I mean you gave your research to a think tank."

"Yeah, but Killian built that think tank on military contracts."

"That's what we used to do." Pepper tried to ease Maya's guilt. "So, don't judge yourself."

"Thank you, Pepper. I really appreciate that." A knock at the door pulled Pepper away, leaving Stephanie and Maya on the bed.

"You're not a bad person, even if the people who control you are," Stephanie told Maya. That's what I was told.

Maya stayed quiet and this strange look appeared in her eyes, something Stephanie didn't like. She tensed up and turned into Pepper who was hidden by a wall.

"Hi come on in," She was talking to someone, probably room service. Then she yelled. Stephanie jumped up from the bed, and heard Pepper yell "Run!"

Stephanie tried to, but Maya grabbed a hold of her arm, and she looked up hurt. "It's okay, shh. Hide in the closet, don't come out." Stephanie listened, Maya smiled at her with sad eyes and closed the door leaving Stephanie in the dark. She tried her best to listen to the voices in the room.

"Wanna tell me what you were doing at the Stark mansion?" It was a man's voice.

Maya responded in a pleading manner. "I'm trying to fix this thing. I didn't know you and the master were going to blow the place up."

Stephanie could hear Pepper whimpering, her breath was getting harder to catch.

"Oh, I see. So, you were trying to save Stark when he threatened us?"

"I've told you, Killian, we can use him." Pepper groaned and Stephanie heard the Killian guy mumble something. "Look, if we want to launch a product next year, I need Stark." He'd never do it, I don't know what to believe anymore. Did she tell Killian where they were? Stephanie was confused, she needed to find a way out of the closet without being seen. There's a back door, she could get out of the villa that way. But even with a planned escape route, she couldn't bring herself to move. All outcomes would end badly.

Maya continued trying to convince Killian of whatever plan she had, "He just lacked a decent incentive. Now, he has one." This was all a trap. That bitch set us up! Stephanie couldn't breathe. Is the closet getting smaller?

"He might care about Pepper, but he's smarter than that. Where's the kid?" Stephanie was just able to contain her gasp, she heard Pepper outside struggle more.

"She ran out, I couldn't grab her," Maya told him.

"You're smart but a horrible liar. Go grab her." Please don't. Stephanie heard a sigh, more protests from Pepper, and finally footsteps getting closer. Maya wasn't strong, it wouldn't be hard to get past her, so Stephanie prepared herself.

As soon as the door to the closet opened, Stephanie shoved them into Maya's body as hard as she could, knocking her back. She was able to run past Maya and out the back door, she couldn't focus on if anyone was chasing her, just on getting away. After leaving the villa she ran through the small backyard and hopped over the small fence. She was just about to run further into the forest before someone grabbed her into a tight and uncomfortable bear hug.