I found this in the depths of NOWHERE, so I will try to get this from dark pit that it's been hiding in for two years! Since it has been two years, I recommend you guys skimming through the last few chapters to get an idea for what is going on in this chapter.

Here's a little reminder from the last chapter:

Pepper and Rhodey come to Tony's rescue after he is held captive with this Princess Shelia. When Tony hears them enter, he tries to escape, but Shelia catches him before he can. So she forcefully kisses him just as Pepper enters to save him.

Yup! Okay, let's see what I can do here!

Disclaimer: I only own my story.

Pepper watched in heartbreaking horror, as Tony kissed Shelia. Her body was pressed against his, her arms snaking around his waist. "Tony…?" She said quietly. Her heart felt like it was being torn into pieces.

Tony's face was flushed as he pushed Shelia off of him. She fell to his side, gracefully landing on her hip, her legs carefully positioned in a sultry manner. "Oh dear, this is terribly embarrassing!" She covered a delicate hand over her lips. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?"

Pepper slipped her facemask into place. She screamed in rage, blasting her pulse lasers in Shelia's direction. The princess swiveled around, dodging the blast. She laughed, spinning on her heels, much like a ballerina, before getting to her feet. "I'm guessing you don't like me." She cooed.

Tony pushed up onto his elbows, "Pepper! Stop!" He yelled. He scrambled to his feet and got in front of Pepper, putting his arms up in surrender. "Pepper, please!" But she wasn't listening. Her hands were crunched into fists so hard, the metal was grinding. She pushed him to the side, and fired up her pulse blasters to take another shot.

"AH!" She screamed again. Shelia just danced out of the way, twirling and leaping in order to dodge the blasts. Her silky dress moved with her, making her look angelic instead of the selfish villain that she was.

"Girlfriend?" Shelia questioned. When she dodged another blast, she peeked over at the sizzling hole beside her. "You must be." She knew that Pepper was Tony's girlfriend, but pushing buttons was much too fun for her to stop anytime soon.

Deciding that Pepper couldn't be stopped, Tony jumped in front of Shelia his arms out in attempt to block Pepper's view. Her palms were open towards Shelia, but the pulsars powered down. "Pepper, please listen to me. Just stop. It really isn't what it looks like." He watched Pepper's knees shake as she surrendered, falling to the floor. Her armor retracted into her backpack, and her eyes welled up tears.

Her sobs broke Tony's heart. He knew this was what Shelia wanted, but watching it unfold in front of him was sickening. "Pepper…" He said walking over to her. He felt something snag his arm, and turned to see Shelia grasping it tightly.

"She doesn't love you." She said, batting her long lashes. "She doesn't love you like I do. Stay here, and help me get the jewel. I need it to be crowned the Queen, and then I will leave you alone."

Tony wrenched his arm from her grasps, his face reddening in rage. "You stay away from me! Don't ever think I will help you after what you just did." He turned and rushed to Pepper's side.

It had been so long since he actually had seen her since his accident. And He pictured their reunion to be a bit sweeter and not so painful. "Pepper…." Tony murmured. He carefully reached out to her, wanting her to come into his arms, and seeing that she wasn't about to push him away, he moved in to pull her to his chest.

"Shh…" He said as he stroked her hair. He rested his chin on her head, and kissed her flaming red hair gently. "I'm sorry." He said. "I'm sorry." When he felt her move, he looked down to see her red rimmed eyes focused on Shelia. He followed her gaze to find that the princess was standing next to them, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Hate to ruin such a sweet moment, but I need and want Tony Stark, Ms. Pepper." She said calmly. When she got no response, she bent down to grab the back of Tony's shirt and yanked him to his feet. "I need you here." She repeated with a venomous glare in her eyes.

Pepper sniffed and glanced up at the princess, her rage resurfacing. She figured that Tony didn't actually do the act of kissing, but was forced into it. That only meant that the princess was guilty of the action. She thought that by kissing Tony, she would break the relationship and have him to herself. Then she could do anything that she wanted.

But that was not going to happen.

"If you want his help, you're gonna have to take me too." Pepper said getting to her feet. "You're not keeping him, because he is not an object to keep. He's my boyfriend."

Tony looked with awe at Pepper. He felt her arm snake through is, and held onto the hope that Pepper didn't believe in the kiss that just happened minutes ago. "I agree." Tony said quickly, supporting his girlfriend's decision. "I will only help you, if she gets to come along. If she can't, you can take me over my dead body."

Shelia's hand on Tony came loose as she eyed the couple in front of her. She wasn't a bit jealous, but did have a hard time understanding how the handsome teen found the redhead prettier than herself. The girl had no curves, looks, or color. She was as plain as a glass of water. What was it that Tony found in the girl?

But that didn't matter at the moment. Tony had agreed to come, in one condition, which she had no problem with succumbing to. "Very well." She said at last. "I'll allow it, but if you so much as betray me, the girl dies."

…

Tony and Pepper followed Shelia loosely. They didn't stay too close to her, wanting some privacy of their own. But with a Princess like her, even being a mile away isn't enough distance to keep them hidden. As Pepper watched the long toned legs march down the hallway, she suddenly remembered her friend that she left in order to find her beloved boyfriend.

"Tony! Rhodey- he's here looking for you too." She said, tugging Tony down to whisper in his ear, urgently. Her grasp was like iron around his bicep as Tony's eyes widened. He pulled away, looking at her in bewilderment.

"And you're telling me this now? Where is he?" He peeked up at Shelia, making sure that his voice didn't carry up to her. "Did you split up from him?"

"Yeah I did. I had a lock on your signal, and Rhodey was fighting off Shelia's goons. So I had to leave in order to find you." Pepper explained in a quick hush. "Trust me, if I had the choice, I would've been there by his side."

Tony was skeptical. He remembered how Jana ran out of the room, as though there was a major emergency. And that emergency couldn't have been anyone but Rhodey, and if Rhodey had to fight Jana… the odds were not that good.

"No, I think you had the choice. You should've stayed with Rhodey, trust me."

Pepper looked incredulous; almost insulted that Tony was ungrateful for his saving. "Excuse me? Well, you were the mission. And I'm sure Rhodey would've agreed too. It was either him or me, and since I found your signal first it was me."

"Well, just saying, you didn't do much saving." Tony murmured noticing Shelia's side-glance at him. He felt his anger bubble inside him, but managed to keep his cool.

"Oh, you did not just say that. Tell me I did not just hear that." Pepper released Tony's arm and crossed her arms across her chest. Tony bit his tongue, mentally slapping his cheek multiple times.

"I'm just saying. I was kissed. You were just a pawn on the board. She wanted you to see that. I wasn't in any real danger." Tony said, quickly trying to repair the damage he just caused. And it looked like it worked, because Pepper's face softened.

"I just wanted to help. I'm kinda new to this whole hero thing you know."

Tony smiled softly. "Yeah I know." But when he looked at Shelia, his brain quickly connected back to Jana. " Hey Pepper, did you happen to see a guy that was tall? Dressed in black? Like, did you see him as you made your way to find me?"

Pepper shook her head, rolling her eyes. "No, Tony. No one else was dressed in black. No one else was tall! No one was a guy!" She hissed sarcastically. "Everyone is dressed in that same uniform here, Tony. Your dude is probably a needle in the haystack."

"I was just asking, Pepper. Jeez."

"Don't jeez me."

"Well I just did."

"Excuse me?"

"Excuse you…"

"Tony!"

Shelia whisked around in frustration. "Shut up! Both of you! You two are so annoying!" Tony and Pepper cringed, but both chuckled softly. They had been apart for so long they had forgot how annoying they actually were. They always drove Rhodey up the wall with their "fights", which really was just them trying to one up each other.

Suddenly a body flew past in front of Shelia, sending debris flying into the air. A cloud of dry wall dust clouded up around their feet, making them cover their mouths and cough up what they inhaled. Shelia blinked, as she stared in horror at the body on the wall to her left. "Jana?"

The man in black groaned from his perch as gravity dragged him to the floor. He landed with a thud, eliciting another groan, as he moved to get back on his feet. He looked up, a rage burning in his eyes as he reached for something on his belt.

"Jana!" Shelia shrieked. She ran up to him and placed a delicate hand on his back, staring up at where her most decorated warrior was looking at.

Tony had his arms around Pepper, blocking her from any harm he thought would fall on her. He saw a clunking armored footstep through the hole on the right side wall, and then an armored hand. When he saw War Machine's face appear, he wasn't sure if he was relieved or worried.

Shelia rose to her feet, reaching for her waist and pulling off her skirt. The detachable garment fluttered to the ground in a shimmering sparkly light as she stood in front of Jana. "War Machine…" She hissed.

War Machine paused mid-stride to look at the Princess, most likely in awe. "Wow." Tony heard the suit say. "Look, Miss, I suggest you move to the side or-" Sheila's fist rammed against the armored face so hard, a ping was heard as War Machine flew backwards.

Tony pulled Pepper towards him, noticing that Jana was still down and Shelia was occupied. "Come on!" They ran down the hall, following it in order to find a place to hide. They heard Rhodey's shout, and it was hard not to turn back to go help their friend.

"Get your suit on." Tony instructed, as he pulled Pepper into a side room. He peered back into the hallway that was empty. No one had followed them.

Pepper pushed the center of her backpack and let the armor wrap around her. Once she was covered, she turned to Tony, naturally waiting for further instructions. "What now?"

"I can't use Extremis here. I can't get any signal out. It's like the building is dampening any technological interfaces that could disrupt the tech in here." Tony said quickly, scanning the room that they were in. "They really want this place secret."

It looked like a lab, with three high topped tables littered with all sorts of metal and gadgets. Tony didn't know if it was anything of use, but it didn't matter. Even if it were something helpful, he wasn't sure how he could make it into a weapon quickly enough.

"Okay, and? You're just blabbering. I need to know what to do." Pepper said. She was bouncing from one foot to the other, her hands clenched and unclenched with the adrenaline coursing through her veins.

Tony had no idea what to do.

"I—I don't know. You gotta help Rhodey. Shelia won't stop until he is dead or she gets something…. out of him."

Pepper stopped. "Tony, she beat him up with her bear hands. I've never seen any Princess do that. She can't be human, so how the heck do you expect me to stop her?"

"You don't need to stop her, you need to distract her. I have to get out of here, and get my suit. I have to go outside. The longer you distract her, and Jana, the more time you'll give me to get my suit too."

Rescue's head shook back and forth. "I don't like it."

Tony wrung his hands in the air, frustrated that his girlfriend, who wanted them in the first place, was questioning his only idea. "You don't have to! I'm trying to think of something, and this is the best I got! Just go out there and help Rhodey." Pepper backpedaled, and nodded before going invisible. Tony felt a small gust of wind as Pepper flew off on her air jet boots.

"Okay, think Stark, think." Tony said, thinking out loud. He surveyed the room, finding that it was a scientifically based room. There were chemicals on either side of the wall, and the hooded vents on the wall towards the back.

And a small window: big enough to get a man outside.

…

Pepper heard Rhodey before she saw him. His turrets were going crazy as he tried pinpointing the moving targets. Pepper activated her invisibility shield and decided on a silent approach.

As she neared the corner she saw Jana and Sheila on top of War Machine's fallen body. Shelia had his faceplate in her right hand, staring down at Rhodey's face. "So you are Tony's best friend?" She looked at the faceplate and then back at Rhodey. "I apologize for the… injury."

Pepper screamed as she saw a mental beam sticking out of Rhodey's chest.

There you go! I know I haven't been updating as often, or even reviewing y'alls wonderful stories. I haven't had the chance… because my new college is devastating. It is such hard work, and actually this story had been written for a month, but I hadn't finished until now.

This is the best I can do… so I apologize if this chapter sucks. But I still do hope you kinda like this chapter… and just please bare with me! I promise I am working my best to update as often as I can and review y'alls stories. Sorry if I haven't… I will make the time to soon!

Love- PercyJacksonLover14