Chapter 13
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Happy Hogan turned around in his seat and shared a look with Pepper as they arrived at the underground AIM headquarters. “Ms. Potts, I’m not going to let them take you.” Happy said, determined. The TV screen had already switched off in the car as men in yellow jumpsuits approached their limo with strange firearms held across their chests. Virginia Potts smiled bravely.
“Happy you can’t fight them all, there are just too many.” She said. Happy growled, gripping the top of the seat.
“You want me to stand by and let them take you? I heard what that woman said; she wants to experiment on ya! I’m your bodyguard, you can’t expect me not to protect you, don’t ask me to do that!” He said, shaking his head violently. Pepper reached over the divide between him and rested a soft hand on one of his strained ones.
“I’m not asking Happy, I’m telling you. But I’ll be fine, we’ll both be fine, we just need to hold out until he gets here. And he will find us, you know he will.” Pepper said confidently. Happy looked aside.
“Of course he will.” Happy said. “I just hope he gets here soon.” Happy added, grumbling to himself unhappily. The doors unlocked themselves just before one of the men reached out and opened the driver side and then the backseat doors. The man silently motioned for them to come out while two other men kept their weapons trained on them. Pepper calmly exited the car and Happy reluctantly followed her lead, holding his hands above his head. The men searched them for any concealed weapons. Happy didn’t believe in guns, a belief that he was truly beginning to regret. They did find Pepper’s pepper spray, which they took along with her purse. Afterwards the men led them through a door to the left and down a few flights of stairs, through a hallway and finally to a cell door. They unlocked it with a code and shoved Happy roughly inside, before slamming the solid steel door shut behind him. Happy turned around swiftly and attacked the door. “Ms. Potts, Ms. Potts! You cowardly bastards! Let her go!” He shouted, fear coloring his voice as he slammed his weight against the cell door frantically. Pepper could hear Happy shouting for her but was silent as the men brought her into a laboratory where she came face to face with Maya Hansen.
“The Ms. Pepper Potts come to grace us with her presence, I hope my people weren’t too harsh with you?” Pepper ignored Maya for the moment as she studied the lab in front of her. Three examining tables were situated in the room, each accompanied by monitors, fluid bags, and trays filled with medical equipment, including needles and scalpels. They reminded her all too easily of her time with Killian, when his AIM scientists had forcibly injected her with the Extremis virus. She wrapped her arms around herself unconsciously. Maya gestured at the lab around them. “I see you’ve noticed my laboratory, it has all the most state of the art equipment, you really couldn’t be in better hands.” Pepper raised an eyebrow at Maya. “Under the circumstances, that is.” Maya added with a self-depreciating grin. Maya frowned at Pepper’s continued silence. “Nothing to say?” Pepper steeled herself to reveal her hand.
“I’ll cooperate with you if you release Happy. You have me; you’ll get your fix. You don’t need him.” Pepper said. Maya frowned in confusion.
“Happy?” She asked and then her eyes cleared. “Oh your driver? I’m afraid I can’t do that dear; he knows too much doesn’t he? And you will cooperate or your friend…well…lets just say he won’t be happy for long. We are scientists after all and we are always looking for more test subjects.” She trailed off meaningfully.
“What happened to you Maya?” Pepper asked, horrified.
“Life.” Maya said simply. She looked to the men on either side of Pepper. “Strap her to the table we might as well begin.” One of the AIM men grabbed her forearm brutally and dragged her to one of the examining tables where they forced her down and began belting straps around her legs, arms, and torso. Pepper couldn’t stop herself from struggling uselessly against the restraints; she shuddered and suddenly saw Killian standing over her, laughing manically like some villain in a melodrama. Pepper blinked her eyes rapidly and saw that it was in fact Maya Hansen who was leaning over her with a smile that didn’t reach her deadened eyes. She raised a large syringe in her gloved hand. “I am sorry about this Pepper, but I’m afraid that this is going to hurt.”
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Happy Hogan slumped against the far wall of the cell. It was a small cement block cube lit by a flickering light from above. A steel sink and toilet were the only objects in the space. Happy took out his dead phone, and desperately wished he were Tony Stark. Tony could have MacGyver’d his way out of here hours ago. He’d have saved Pepper, destroyed the bad guys, and left with a hilarious quip on his lips. But he wasn’t Tony Stark; he wasn’t a superhero, he was just plain old Happy Hogan, a washed up boxer and failure of a bodyguard, who was in an unrequited love affair with his boss. Happy managed to take the battery out of his phone and popped it back in again, hoping that maybe something that simple might work. He held the on button, but only a black screen stared back at him. God, why was he so stupid! He dropped the phone to the floor, of course that wouldn’t work; AIM wouldn’t have left him the phone after they had searched him unless it was completely hopeless. Whatever tech they had used to take over the limo and kill their cells had done its job well.
Happy heard footsteps from the hallway outside his cell, he stood up and went into a boxing stance. He and Pepper had been separated four hours ago; according to the watch Pepper had given him. She could even be dead by now for all he knew, and here he was, useless. He’d failed her…and failed Tony. He flexed his fists. If they were coming for him then he was going to put up one hell of a fight. The door swung open after the code was imputed. He was about to charge forward when two of the yellow jumpsuited men tossed a boneless Pepper Potts inside. Happy ran to catch her before she could hit the ground, landing on his knees painfully. The door was slammed shut before he could do anything else. He lowered the unconscious woman gently to the floor and began looking her over for injuries as he called her name insistently.
“Ms. Potts? Ms. Potts? Wake up, please! Oh God, be okay. Please be okay!” He found cuts and bruises up and down her arms as well as the cruel marks of straps across her body. Her chest heaved up and down through her sweat soaked beige silken tank top as she breathed shallowly. He could also feel an intense heat coming off her body. Happy went to the sink to wet his handkerchief. He returned and used it to wipe away the sweat on Virginia’s brow. Pepper’s eyes abruptly fluttered open.
“T-Tony?” She asked faintly, squinting up at him.
“It’s Happy.” He said, taking the cloth away. He took off his jacket, bunched it up and placed it under her head carefully.
“Happy?” Pepper asked, muddled. She became more alert as she stared up at him.
“Yeah.” He could feel the heat of her fever even through her clothes. “What did that bitch do to you?” Happy asked, hating how pale, sweaty, and drained she looked. Pepper weakly turned her head to the side.
“Nothing you can fix.” She said breathily. Happy slammed a fist on the cement painfully.
“We need to get you out of here now, we can’t wait this out! Those bastards are torturing you!” He snarled. Pepper chuckled raspingly.
“This? This is nothing, try going to the ComicCon with Tony, ugh, now that was torture.” She said smiling wanly through her pain, her eyes wincing shut. Happy gently picked up her heated hand with his.
“They aren’t going to take you from me again Pepper.” He promised fiercely. Pepper opened her eyes.
“You called me Pepper.” She said, amazed. Happy reached out and closed her tired eyes with a hand.
“Go and catch some sleep Ms. Potts, you’re getting delirious.” Happy got up to wet the cloth once more before kneeling beside her. He placed it on her head as he stroked her hair gently out of her face. “And don’t worry about a thing, I’ll be watching over you.”
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Tony stared off into space in a state of shock. Central Park’s visitors sidestepped around him, but Tony saw none of it. His vivid imagination came up with all sorts of possible horrors that Pepper and Happy could even now be suffering. They could even be dead; they’ve been missing for a whole day already, anything could have happened, could be happening and its all his fault. Nick Fury watched Tony’s immobilized state for a moment before impatiently throwing his newspaper in the garbage can beside him, rising, and promptly punching Tony hard in the face. Tony cried out as he was knocked to the ground, his phone skidding out of his hand and across the pavement. He raised a hand to his certainly soon to be bruising cheek, and looked up at Fury, stunned. “Get yourself together Stark, feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to help your people now is it?” Fury said. Pedestrians stared and hurried away from the pair.
Tony glared at Fury before picking himself up and reclaiming his phone a few feet away. His eyes narrowed as he raised his phone to his ear, never turning his back to Fury. “JARVIS buddy, you there?” Tony asked softly.
“Yes, Sir.” The A.I. replied.
“Can you reach them?” Tony asked.
“I have tried Sir, but I’m afraid I can’t even turn their mobiles on remotely.” JARVIS said, sounding frustrated and worried. “Its as if Mr. Hogan’s and Ms. Potts phones have been utterly destroyed.” He concluded grimly. Tony put the phone in his pocket before speaking to the man in front of him.
“Right, what were you saying about leaving someone in my lobby Fury?” Tony asked, remembering what Fury had said a little while ago. Fury turned and threw out a hand to Avengers Tower in the distance.
“Go and see for yourself, if anyone can find them, it’ll be her.” Tony looked at Fury suspiciously before he took out his flask. His suit swirled around him as onlookers took pictures and videos with their cellphones. Tony left Fury behind and flew from the park, landing a minute later at the Tower and entering the lobby. A woman looked up from her phone as he entered in the suit and nodded at him professionally.
“Good Morning Mr. Stark, believe it or not I’m actually here to look for a job, but considering the information that was just sent from our mutual friend I think that can wait. I’ve dealt with these kind of situations before, please let me help.” The woman said earnestly. Tony studied her through the armor’s HUD.
“Maria Hill, come with me.” He said mechanically as he led her up to his workshop. Maria followed Iron Man into to the shop. She barely glanced around before getting to business.
“Mr. Stark? Could you please tell me everything you know about the situation?” She asked. Tony lifted up the faceplate.
“I was just told that Pepper and Happy did not reach their scheduled flight yesterday afternoon. The last time anyone saw them was when they left this very building yesterday a 4:00pm. No one has been able to get into contact with them since including my very sophisticated A.I. I personally tweaked their cells; those batteries would never die on their own. So either the phones were completely destroyed or someone with some fancy tech has done something very sneaky.” Tony said seriously. Maria Hill nodded.
“Which do you believe to be the cause?” She asked.
“I don’t know, do you really believe you can help?” He asked.
“I do. You haven’t received any ransom calls?” Maria questioned. Tony shook his head.
“No.” He said.
“And I have to ask this, they’ve been missing for 24 hours, do you want to contact the police?” Maria asked. Tony thought for a moment.
“I can’t see what they can do that we can’t do better and faster. And they might just make things worse, so no, or at least not yet.” Tony said.
“Okay. Can I borrow your computer and A.I.?” She asked. Tony gestured to the entirety of the workshop.
“Go ahead, do whatever you can.” He said. The doors swooshed open as a disheveled Dr. Banner entered. He moved over to Tony, wringing his hands nervously.
“Tony?” Bruce asked. Tony waved him off as he stood behind Maria’s shoulders.
“Not now Bruce.” He said dismissively. Bruce ducked his head.
“N-no, I’m just, JARVIS told me what’s happening, I’m so sorry Tony, if there is anything I can do, please tell me.” Bruce said sincerely. Tony turned to face him.
“Thanks Bruce.” He said meaningfully. Bruce stared at him.
“What happened to your face?” Bruce asked, seeing how red and swollen the left side of Tony’s face was. Tony turned back to the holographic screen that Hill was using, watching as Maria and JARVIS checked all the CCTV footage between the Tower and the airport.
“I fell, its not important.” He said absently. Banner moved a little closer and placed a hand on Iron Man’s cold shoulder.
“Are you okay?” Bruce asked. Tony glared at the holographic screen in front of them.
“When we find them, I will be.” He said, before leaving Maria Hill alone in his private workshop to go and find the other Avengers and ask them for their help.