First and foremost, I would like thank everyone for reading! I would also like to thank everyone who have favorited, alerted, and reviewed this story, it means the world to me. The story ended up being shorter than I had hoped, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I like to think of this story as my getting back into writing. The sequel is now posted as well, a story that I hope will be longer and better written (I am a bit critical of my own work) than this one, titled Facing Death. Enjoy!

Obadiah Stane dropped Aria in the passenger seat of his white Porsche Boxster. Her head slumped back against the head rest as her captor strode to the drivers side. He swiftly climbed into his car, reaching across the young woman to buckle her in; grazing her chest in the process. He chuckled lightly as her seatbelt clicked into position.

"You know, I could always spare your life," Obadiah suggested. "You would look better on my arm than buried next to Tony."

Aria was still paralyzed, unable to reply. Her mind was reeling at the suggestion. Chuckling, he slipped the key into the ignition and they felt the car roar to life. The car sped out of the driveway and towards Stark Industries. Ten minutes later Aria was able to start wiggling her fingers. Unfortunately for her, Obadiah had noticed her newfound movement capabilities. Aria watched Obadiah, from the corner of her eye, sling his arm around the back of her head rest. His hand held the sonic paralyzer, effectively keeping her motionless for another fifteen minutes.

Aria had the device used on her a grand total of 5 times by the time they arrived at Stark Industries. Even though her muscles had seized and refused to flex, her stomach and nerves began to feel the side effects of the prolific usage. Her right ear had a trail of dried blood that reached the bottom of her jaw and she had become sensitive to bright and loud sounds.

As the engine was turned off, she felt her seatbelt slide back into it's resting place to her right. A moment later Obadiah had moved to her car door and sang it open. She felt him lift her out of the seat like she was a rag doll, his hands lingering on her body, and kept her steady on his shoulder.

"Let's go see the suit I've been working on," he grinned, starting in towards the building.

He carried her through sector 16, placing her down in front of a damaged suit.

"Now this one, this is the suit your brother made to escape the cave he was being held in. Originally I paid them to kill Tony, but they were greedy. They wanted more money and wanted him build them weapons," Obadiah explained. "You stay here while I go change."

He quickly handcuffed her hands around a railing that was above her head. Aria stared up, trying to work out a plane of escape. She figured it'd been 12 minutes since she'd last been able to move and knew that she'd have the use of her muscles in just minutes. Obadiah's words echoed in her head I paid them to kill Tony. What ever color was left in her face drained away.

The sound of multiple pairs of footsteps approached her. Her heart filled with hope as she saw Pepper and Agent Coulson enter her line of sight.

"Looks like you were right. He was building a suit," Coulson commented upon noticing the suit.

"I thought it'd be bigger," Pepper added, before she noticed the young woman on the floor behind her. "Aria!"

"Miss Stark. Miss Stark can you hear me?" Coulson asked, crouching to her level.

Aria had yet to regain her movement back, but was able to blink out S.O.S., acknowledging him. He shot the chains connecting to two cuffs, allowing her hands to fall to her lap.

"Agent Ward, I need you to take her outside," Agent Coulson instructed.

Aria felt a pair of arms gently pick her up. She was carried outside and placed into the back seat of car. The man who carried her placed a first aide kit on the ground next to the car, taking supplies out of it. Something wet was placed against the skin by her right ear.

"You've got quite a bit of dried blood by your ear," he commented, continuing to clean the blood off her as the sound of a large vehicle came screeching to a halt near by.

"Aria?!" Happy gasped. "You're alive, you're safe. Tony is going to be relieved."

"He's alive?" She croaked, finally gaining the use of her muscles.

"Yeah and on his way here for Obadiah," he answered. "I'm going to take her to the hospital."

Agent Ward moved out of the way as happy swooped in to pick her up.

"You look like shit you know?" He laughed, causing her to smile.

"Yeah well, you endure what I've been through tonight and you'd end up looking like me," she smirked.

As she was carried over to the passenger side of the SUV, she motioned for him to set her down. The second her feet touched the ground she heaved over and emptied the contents of her stomach. Happy barely acted in time to help hold her up.

"What'd he do to you?" Happy inquired, letting her walk to the door but keeping his arm around her for support.

"Tony created a weapon that can paralyzer through sonic waves a few years ago. Didn't make it to manufacturing, too dangerous,"she feebly informed him, struggling with the car door. "I got hit with that four or five times. I can't remember."

Happy swiftly opened the door and helped her climb inside. Their attention was drawn to the building that she had just escaped from. Coulson and the four agents left inside quickly walked to their cars while Pepper took her time leaving. Happy rushed to his door and threw the car into action.

"What are you doing? We have to get Pepper before we leave!" Aria whimpered.

The agents swiftly drove off, Pepper finally walking out of the building. As Happy was about to answer the ground near Pepper started to crumble as a giant hand reached out. A suit similar to Tony's original climbed out of the hole.

"Buckle in. I'm gonna ram this guy!" He instructed Aria, quickly buckling himself in.

A loud screech filled the air as he threw the vehicle into reverse and back up quickly. Before he had the chance to shift it into drive a Tony Stark flew threw the air and slammed into the mechanical suit first.

"Just go, hospital. The one closest to home please, I'm not that bad," Aria croaked as she leaned her head back.

Happy sped of through the free way, driving with a purpose and passing most cars. Spotting something peculiar in his rear view mirror, he veered right. A large metal object smashed into the road followed by a blur that looked a lot like Tony.

"Is that Obadiah?" Happy asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, and he is much creepier than I thought," Aria answered, closing her eyes. "He basically said that he'd let me live if I married him."

Happy stole a glance at young woman next to him. He'd remembered the day she moved into the Stark Mansion, a bright-eyed 17 year old with a notebook fills of ideas to help the world. She was so young and bubbly, but now. Now she looked much older, weathered, broken.

"I hope Tony kills him. Pepper told me that he was responsible for his kidnapping," he informed her. Taking the off ramp. "Don't fall asleep on me. I don't know your condition and Tony would kill me if I let something happen to you, you know."

"But I'm tired," Aria mumbled as she saw the bright sign that read Hospital.

"Aria!" He yelled, panic setting in as he parked in front of the Emergency Room exit.

"I'm awake, don't worry," she insisted, swatting his arms away so he wouldn't carry her in. "You are blowing this out of proportions."

He wrapped his arm around her waist helping her through the door while his free hand shot into his pocket to retrieve his cell phone. Before his finger could unlock the screen, it light up with a picture of Pepper and her name.

"What's the situation?" He asked into the phone as he set Aria on a chair.

"He's alive, but just barely. He needs help. I think Aria might be the only person who knows how to fix him," Pepper explained.

Aria had leaned into Happy's arm as he sat down next to her so she could hear the conversation. She closed her eyes so the nauseous white walls and floors wouldn't make her feel worse.

"I just brought Aria to the hospital, the one by the house. Can you bring him here?" He asked, looking down at the young woman.

"I'll them to take Tony there. How is she?" The phone chirped.

"She's tired and a bit out of it, but I think she'll recover quickly. Who's there with you?" Happy inquired.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are here cleaning up the mess. They have a helicopter and are flying Tony over. I'm going with them so I'll meet you guys there," Pepper answered.

"I'll see you soon," he replied before hanging up. "You okay on your own for a minute or two while I talk to front desk?"

"Yes, I'm better than I look," Aria said, glancing around for a nearby magazine.

"'Iron Man.' That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it." Tony quipped, reading the paper in his hand. "I mean, it's not technically accurate. The suit's a gold-titanium alloy, but it's kind of evocative, the imagery, anyway."

Tony was sitting in a conference room in the main building of Stark Industries. Pepper, Aria, and Agent Coulson were in the room with him as he prepped to give a press conference. Aria had been asked to join him, but turned down the request.

"Here's your alibi," Agent Coulson informed him, handing a stack of cards to him.

"Okay," he replied, allowing Pepper to accept the cards for him.

"You were on your yacht," Coulson started.

"Yeah," Tony interjected as he skimmed through the cards.

"We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night, and sworn statements from 50 of your guests," the agent finished.

"See, I was thinking maybe we should say it was just Pepper and me alone on the island," Tony suggested.

"That's what happened," Coulson pressed.

"All right," he acknowledged.

"Just read it, word for word," Agent Coulson told him, moving to stand next to Aria.

"There's nothing about Stane here," Tony stated, rereading one of the cards

"That's being handled. He's on vacation. Small aircraft have such a poor safety record," Coulson explained.

"But what about the whole cover story that it's a bodyguard? He's my... I mean, is that... That's kind of flimsy, don't you think?" Tony argued

"This isn't my first rodeo, Mr. Stark. Just stick to the official statement, and soon, this will all be behind you," the agent stated as he turned to walk out of the room. "You've got 90 seconds."

"Agent Coulson? Pepper called out. "I just wanted to say thank you very much for all of your help."

"That's what we do. You'll be hearing from us," he informed her.

"From the Strategic Homeland," Pepper started.

"Just call us S.H.I.E.L.D.," Coulson interjected, smiling at the woman.

"Right," she acknowledged.

"Let's get this show on the road. You know, it's actually not that bad," Tony commented

"And now, Mr. Stark has prepared a statement. He will not be taking any questions. Thank you," Rhodey announced to the group of journalists in front of him.

"Been a while since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time. There's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop," Tony read, actually following the request to read from the cards.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard

in a suit that conveniently appeared, despite the fact that you," a blonde woman in the front said, interrupting Tony from being responsible.

Tony stared at the woman, now having to improv, "I know that it's confusing. It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I'm a superhero."

"I never said you were a superhero," she stated.

"Didn't? Well, good, because that would be outlandish and fantastic. I'm just not the hero type. Clearly. With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public," Tony rambled, digging himself into a hole.

Due to Tony's ramblings, Rhodey stepped on stage, "Just stick to the cards, man."

"Yeah, okay. Yeah. The truth is I am Iron Man," Tony admitted, causing the reporters to go in a frenzy.

Aria had been standing in the back of the hall with Pepper and Agent Coulson.

"Oh no," Aria sighed. "They've helped him inflate his ego. I didn't think that was possible for him."

"I don't know what I'm going to do with him," Pepper commented, shaking her head. "We'll miss you."

Pepper had now turned and pulled the young woman into her, holding her tight.

"I'll be gone for three months, it's not that long," Aria replied, embracing her friend.

"It's a year when you're working for Tony," Pepper laughed as she pulled a away.

"Trying being related to him," Aria smirked.

"I might be to busy to also be your assistant. Now that he's told the world who he is, he's going to be even more trouble," Pepper informed her friend.

"Thanks for the heads up," she said. "You ready Phil?"

"Let's hit the road," He replied.

"Nice car," Aria commented, eyeing the red convertible.

"Her name is Lola. I've had a few S.H.I.E.L.D. engineers work on her to make her special," Coulson replied, climbing into the drivers seat.

"As in bullet proof, machine guns, slick oil?" Aria grinned as she placed her bags in the backseat.

"Everything but making her fly," he smiled.

"Now that, I may be able to help you with," she winked.

"I think we may have footage of your father's original flying car from the 1942 Stark Expo. If you'd like, I can see what I can find of your father's for you," Coulson offered.

"I've only heard a few things in passing about dad's Stark Expo. What do you know about it?" Aria curiously asked him as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"I remembering going to the 1942 Stark Expo and seeing his flying car, the super suits, the futuristic technology. For a twelve year old it was the most influential thing I could have experienced. And then a week later Captain America took its place," he described in an almost dream like state.

"Are you telling me you were born in 1930? No, I don't believe you," she narrowed her eyes.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. has made many breakthroughs in genetic engineering. I might have volunteered for a project that was similar to the Super Soldier program," Coulson sheepishly admitted. "I would prefer it if you didn't tell anyone about this though."

"I'll take it to the grave," Aria promised. "I can't wait to make this beauty airborne."

"That's good to know," Coulson acknowledged.

"So, you're a fan of Captain America then?" She asked as Coulson pulled onto the freeway towards Edwards Air Force Base.

"Are you kidding me? He's my hero. I wanted to be him when I was a kid. I have a complete collection of Captain America trading cards in mint condition that I've collected. There is slight foxing around the edges of a few of them, but other than that, they're perfect," he grinned. "How did you become a fan?"

"When I was eight, I was at this boarding school in the UK; the only American. One day this new girl shows up, an American. I was so excited because I was bullied all the time and I felt that I could finally have a friend. Even though she was a year younger we clicked, Alexis. She brought her collection of Captain America comic books with her," Aria explained, her excitement getting the better of her. "We played together, she would be Captain America, mainly because she was blonde and I was Bucky. Being Captain America and Bucky helped us stand up to our bullies and gave us confidence. It was the highlight of my childhood."

"Sounds like a memorable childhood," he laughed. "What happened to your friend?"

"She was killed by a drunk driver when I was at MIT, I was 16," Aria lamented. "It hit me hard. Her mom gave me her old Captain America comic books."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Coulson apologized, quickly glancing over at her.

"Thank you, but i've been able to move on. We'll always have the Captain though," she smiled.