The Mechanic and The Clown (Robert Downey Jr/The Joker)

Chapter 11

I didn't care about what happened to the two Bruces, the only thing on my mind was my wife. Pep was my priority as if he had taken then I wasn't going to hesitate to take any measure to get her back. Pep was all I had, the one good thing in my life and truthfully? I didn't deserve her but she stuck by me. She was there through my worst and by my side in my best. And no homicidal clown was going to remove her from my life.

I left the desolate building well in need of a major renovation, without a word except for one, "Pep.." and just drove, I drove away from the site, there was only one place I wanted to be. With Pepper. She is the one constant in my life and to be honest I don't know what the hell I'd do without her. And of course the press had to play a role somewhere didn't they? Can't a guy go to check up on his wife at the hospital without a dude with a camera and no respect for personal space chasing him all the time? The cops were there too, of course they were - it's all a part of the charade they always play, none of them knew what they were doing. Ha, that was obvious. The never do. But the least the losers with the cameras could do was back away so I could enter into the hospital instead of standing right in front of me. I mean, haven't they heard of personal space. You'd think they'd learn from that last press encounter when I sent a message to the Mandarin. That was fun actually, I broke some paparazzi's phone. I still haven't got a bill for that, looks like he saw sense to just stay the hell away from  me. 

"Mr Stark, Mr Stark," the whole crowd just targeted me like a pack of vultures, but I wasn't going to be anyone's prey that's for sure. 

"Mr Stark have you heard the news about your wife?" One idiot had the audacity to question. Wasn't it obvious? I swear these guys are in dire need of common sense. "Yeah," I replied, keeping my cool, my voice smooth, "Ask yourself why else would I be here?" I left them to digest that challenge. Sometimes I wonder if they want to be treated like that, what with how they do their job and everything. I saved the world from an alien invasion amongst many other things, I think I'm entitled to privacy, don't you? Talk about playing your part in National Service, I'm an Avenger for crying out! But if I managed to do all that, why am I finding it difficult to track down The Joker. He's just an ordinary man. He's insane and ridiculous at the same time. But he was clever. But so am I, even moreso. 

The moment I walked through the hospital doors, that's when the cops came into action, pulling the press away and stopping any over eager ones from following me in. There was a part of me that wished that I wasn't too late, I couldn't lose Pep, not now, she keeps me sane - well as sane as a can be. And I finally managed to do right by her, she was my wife. I never once pictured me getting married, the very idea repelled me. That was until I realised I couldn't go on without Pepper in my life. There's no other girl in the world like her. The guilt for all those times I caused her worry when I put myself in danger, the many occurences when I would do something that would downright annoy her, ate at me to the very core as I read the faces of the nurses while I walked to the intensive care unit. They all knew, what happened was now public knowledge. My girl had been taken from me. And I was going to get her back because no rip off, psychotic clown was going to keep her out of my reach. In sickness and in health, till death do us part was what I vowed on our wedding day. A promise I intended to keep. The Joker was not going to cause Pepper's death any time soon, not on my watch. I was after him and he knew that. All my wife was to him was a tool to get to me, and I don't take too kindly to threats. 

I remember my wedding day, that was undisputedly, and at the risk of sounding cliche here, it was the best day of my life. Pep was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my entire life. She insisted on a small ceremony with our close friends and her family seeing as I don't have any left. I just became so panicked, not knowing whether it was the right thing to do, I didn't want to be tied down. But then I realised Pepper already had my heart and there was no one else I wanted to be with, she helped me become a better man. I've always loved her. Even though the ceremony itself was small, the reception was amazing, I did everything I could to impress her. I had gotten the band 'Boy meets girl' who I've known she's always been a fan of and they performed their most famous track 'Waiting for a star to fall,"  (which I think summed up our relationship) as we walked down the stairs and we danced to it with everybody watching us. It was perfect. It gave my life the stability I lacked throughout all my years, and there was nobody else I would have prefferred to be with. You can't fault Pep, she knows how to handle my eccentricities and sees through the facade that goes unnoticed. I love her. And that was why I was going to find her, she means to much to me to lose.

Anyway, back to the hospital, the intensive care unit was out of bounds to all but me. Bed number 14, Pepper's bed was empty. She wasn't there. And that's when it sunk in that I had put her in harms way yet again. "How could you just let anyone take her?!" I let out at the head nurse who had accompanied me, "It's a hospital, is this how you care for your patients?"

"Mr Stark, we thought you had sent word to collect Mrs Stark to take her to a private care institute," the nurse explained, I frowned as she told me this, why would I move my wife to a different facility when she was in such a fragile condition? The hospital was the best place for her, or so I thought, maybe I should have taken her somewhere else. Somewhere safe where The Joker wouldn't have found her. But what the nurse said next grabbed my attention. "The people who came to collect had all the paperwork and ID badges, we had no reason to doubt them, until our camera footage showed otherwise." This must have been an inside job, someone who knew me. But Happy was on vacation, and Rhodey was missing in action. Funny, anyone would think that was a coincidence, but coincences don't tend to happen to me. None of this added up, the top three closest people to me had been pulled from me one way or the other. If Rhodey had been wearing the Iron Patriot  armour like they said he was, he wouldn't be missing right now, and what a time for Happy to be taking a break, he rarely took vacations. 

The nurse left, merely a request of mine to be left alone to gather any of Pepper's things. And that's when I noticed it. I couldn't help but look around the room to find some sort of clue as to how to find Pepper. My search led me look beneath the bed to discover a white square envelope with my name on it, hidden away out of sight, waiting for me to find it. "He's giving me cards now?" I remarked with a roll of my eyes a I quickly tore the envelope open to find it's contents to be a Joker playing card, only this one had an elecronic chip at the back of it, "This is new.." The Joker must have upped his game since the last time. "The guy's not working alone," he must have recruited a team. And that was another question. Who was he working with? 

(( AUTHORS NOTE: Hey everyone, sorry it took so long to update, we had a death in the family.

i hope you enjoyed this new chapter, please comment what you thought of it and any theories :)

thank you))