Chapter 16
Even as a small child, Virginia “Pepper” Potts had never allowed adversity to stand in her way. She had made a long and successful career based on her quick thinking and problem-solving skills, but for the first time in many years she found herself at a loss on what to do. She’d spent the last forty minutes glued to her phone, raising hell trying to find Tony, whom she’d last seen two days ago, before he disappeared on a conspicuously ambiguous mission under the orders of one General Ross.
That same week, Tony had sent her a message asking her to keep an eye on Rhodey while he was away. The radio silence that followed that last message was unnerving. Tony rarely went under the radar these days; bad past experiences had taught him the importance of letting at least one person know of his whereabouts when going on solo missions.
Pepper’s suspicions were further raised when all her subsequent attempts at communicating with Tony where unsuccessful– an unrelated SI emergency that needed his immediate attention had prompted her to try and get a hold of him in the first place- but she was met with FRIDAY’s vague message that Tony was on a “top secret mission”. She wouldn’t have worried too much, if not for the emergency message she received several hours later, alerting not only her, but all of Tony’s closest contacts, of the man’s abrupt loss of contact with the AI.
Pepper, Happy and Rhodey had called each other immediately, trying to figure out what had happened.
“Ms. Potts, what is going on? I got a call from FRIDAY! Boss knows that specific security protocol is not to mess with! We stablished it would only be used whenever boss got into real trouble, if he’s using it again to-…”
“Happy, this is real. I got the message as well; we need to move fast! We need to find him, I have Rhodey on the other line right now…”
“Jesus fucking Christ, I’m sorry Ms. Potts! I’m on my way!”
As Pepper ended the call, she turned back to look at Rhodey’s bruised and anxious face looking at her from the display screen in front of her. The man was still recovering from his near-death experience, the reality of his new condition still looming over them all.
Before Happy’s call, FRIDAY had been debriefing them on Tony’s last known location: Siberia. And wouldn’t they all love to know just what the hell Tony had been doing there, but FRIDAY’s protocols where unfortunately still in place, and without Tony’s express authorization, she could not disclose the nature of his apparent ‘secret mission’, only his last known coordinates.
“FRIDAY, can you tell us if he’s hurt? What happened to him?”
“I have no current readings on Mr. Stark’s present stats Mrs. Potts, my last readings indicate he was under severe stress” said the AI cryptically. FRIDAY was having a hard time circumventing her own creator’s failsafe, as she tried to give as much information as she could without divulging any details from Tony’s mission.
Pepper and Rhodey shared a preoccupied glance, they were running out of time, and without the AI’s help they feared they wouldn’t be able to find Tony on time.
“FRIDAY, was Tony alone? Was he to meet with someone in Siberia?”
After a brief silence the AI answered, and Rhodey could almost hear regret in her voice “I’m sorry Colonel, I cannot disclose that information”
With a frustrated grunt, he turned back to Pepper “I’m going Pep, if he’s in trouble we need to get him out of there”
Pepper’s protests died on her lips at the look on Rhodey’s face. Her inner conflict between finding Tony and sending her injured friend out there was tearing her apart. She knew she was underestimating him because of his wounds, but he was an experienced soldier after all, and most importantly, he was still an avenger.
“I can pull some favors, ask to get clearance for an extraction mission, we’ve got some undercover people in the kremlin that could be dispatched right away, they could be there in about-”
Pepper and Rhodey’s planning were suddenly interrupted by a golden portal that materialized right in the middle of the room. Through the bright golden sparks stepped out Dr. Stephen Strange, a concerned expression on his face.
Pepper welcomed the newcomer with a heavy sigh of relief. In the months following the avenger’s breakup, the Doctor had become one of Tony’s closest allies. She knew that if anyone had a real chance of finding Tony, it would be him.
“Stephen, thank God you’re here, did you also get a message?”
“Yes, I came as soon as I could, have you found him?”
“Not yet, we’re still looking for him, he was apparently sent on a mission to Siberia by General Ross” came Rhodey’s grave voice from the screen behind Pepper, part of his hospital gown clinging to one of his shoulders.
“Stephen, can you find him?” Pepper’s pleading voice made Stephen´s stomach give a sickening lurch. He’d hoped the situation wasn’t as bad as he’d feared, but it seemed to be way worse.
“Yes, all I’d need is something to pinpoint him, can FRIDAY give me an exact location?” he asked while extracting his sling rings, preparing himself to open a portal.
“FRIDAY lost contact with him over an hour ago, we only have an approximation of his last known coordinates” said Rhodey with a glimmer of hope, propping himself a bit higher on his hospital bed.
“That would suffice, I only need…” Stephen lost track of his words as he felt a sharp flash of heat coming from inside his robes. With slightly trembling hands he fetched a small pendant that hung over his chest, it’s once bright emerald light was now black, and its material seemed charred. Sudden realization hit him, as he hurried to open the portal. Focusing all his energy on sensing the traces of magic coming from the other half of the now destroyed pendant.
An abrupt gust of gelid wind hit the room as the portal opened. Several muffled gasps where heard at the scene beyond the magical gateway: Tony’s unmoving form laying on top of Captain America’s shield, covered in a pool of his own blood, his lips a sickly blue, his skin a deathly pale.
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Pepper felt like a caged animal. With nothing left to do except waiting for news on Tony’s surgery, she had restored to pacing the compound's long halls back and forth, phone in hand, trying her best to track down General Ross, the last known person to have contacted Tony before leaving for Siberia. So far, her efforts had proved fruitless; the General refused to answer her calls, leaving her no option but to call in a few favors to try and find out what had happened in that bunker.
As CEO of Stark’s Industries, Pepper had gathered an ample assortment of contacts, and she was willing to use each and every one of those to make General Ross acknowledge her rage. She knew it was unlikely someone would disclose any top-secret information to her, but she was more than willing to put as much pressure as she could on the general, make it known that he would not get away with using Tony and his position on the Accords with such impunity.
Roger’s obvious involvement and presumably that of the winter soldier were another rapidly growing concern; the implications of one of America’s most iconic superheroes siding with a presumed terrorist could potentially bring about the end of the already disbanded avengers and everything they represented, it could even have repercussions on Tony´s current leverage over the impending legislation of the Sokovia Accords.
Tony had known for quite a while that things in the congress where simmering, he’d been telling Pepper as much for the past couple of years (now, most people wouldn’t believe it, but the man had a real knack for politics). According to him, it was only a matter of time before the government came up with an excuse to police all enhanced individuals, and Sokovia had given not only their government, but many others around the world the perfect opportunity to cry out for these (in their opinion) long due regulations to be implemented.
And so, much like the mythological prophet Cassandra, Tony had been doomed to try to convince others around him of the future he had predicted, only to be dismissed as a lunatic, specially from those closest to him. Pepper felt her blood boil, she had known for the longest time the sort of relationship Tony had with the former superheroes, knew of the constant clashes Tony had had with them over the years, but this? This was outrageous! If Pepper managed to find out what had happened in that bunker, she would not rest until she made sure the culprits got what they deserved, preferably delivered by her own hand.
This blinding rage on behalf of Tony made Pepper stop cold in her tracks, after all, she and Tony had mutually decided to take a break and had been respectively seeing other people for the last couple of months. After Sokovia and Ultron, their relationship had suffered a major blow that had brought Pepper on the brink of cutting all her ties from Tony, from her job and her close friends and family. But deep down, Pepper knew Tony was such an important part of her life that she could not simply turn her back on him, so, as unlikely is it had seemed, they had managed to remain close friends.
Her introspection was cut short by a small sound coming from behind her. Turning around she saw Vision floating down the hall towards her, a frown marring his otherwise impassive face.
"Mrs. Potts are you all right? I got a message from FRIDAY telling me Mr. Stark had been injured"
Pepper felt overwhelm, she took a couple of seconds to compose herself before looking at the android. "We're still not sure what happened to him Viz… all we know is he went to a high security prison called “the Raft” under orders of General Ross. Apparently, Sam Wilson told him where to find Steve and the Winter Soldier. When FRIDAY lost contact with him a couple of hours ago, she put in motion one of her emergency protocols""
“I see” was all the android said, more intimately familiar with all of Tony’s protocols than any of them could ever be “How is Mr. Stark?”
Pepper could only shake her head, unwilling to break down. Taking a deep breath, she managed to find her voice again “Not good, Viz, we’re still not sure if he’s going to make it”
The android seemed startled by the news “I am terribly sorry Mrs. Potts. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Thank you Viz, but I doubt there’s anything any of us can do to help right now” she said with a watery smile. They both stood in awkward silence for a moment before the android spoke again.
“Mrs. Potts pardon me but, you mentioned Captain Rogers. Would it be safe to assume he might know what happened to Mr. Stark?”
Pepper’s enraged face must’ve been answer enough for Vision, who simply nodded his understanding.
“Perhaps I should make myself useful after all and investigate on my own. FRIDAY sent me a set of coordinates in Siberia, is that where you found Mr. Stark?”
Pepper nodded tiredly “Yes, Stephen found him in some sort of bunker there, he said the place looked very damaged...Perhaps it’s not such a bad idea for you to investigate Viz, please keep FRIDAY updated on anything you find”
“I will certainly do so Mrs. Potts. Would you be so kind to keep me informed on any news from Mr. Stark’s recovery?”
“We’ll tell you if there’s any change Viz, I promise”
The Android inclined his head, before turning around and floating back the way he had come.