Lockhart and Stark

Where are you?

Victoria was in a room surrounded by screens, different satellite images of the area in Afghanistan, in which Tony disappeared in.

"How come we can't track them?" Victoria asked intensely.

James Rhodes stood right next to her. He looked at a replay satellite video of the attack on another screen.

"We don't have a clear image of any defining clues at the moment, they don't even have license plates." James said.

"Who are they anyway?" Victoria asked.

"I don't know, but they probably have something against Tony, otherwise why would they take him." James replied.

"Or maybe, since they took him and didn't kill him, maybe they want him for something." Victoria suggested.

"Any ideas?" James asked.

"No, none in the moment...How does Tony handle intense stress?" Victoria asked.

"Uh, he usually just gets a drink and a girl." James hesitantly said.

"I would expect no less from Tony Stark" Victoria said sarcastically.

"However, he stopped all that a long time ago." James said.

"What? He did?" Victoria asked in surprise.

"He stopped after a big CEO meeting in November of last year. He said that a certain woman changed his look on life. He didn't say who it was, but what he did tell me was that he fell in love with her, so in love." James said.

Both of them were silent for a couple seconds.

"I didn't believe it at first...I mean I have known Tony for a really long time and I didn't think that he would stop all of his old habits for one woman, but...as time went on I saw a genuine change in him." James concluded.

"After a CEO meeting? In November?" Victoria asked.

"He also told me that he shared a dance with her last year at a Christmas Party and he enjoyed it very much, I think that he said the song was, Put your...uhh, face on my arm?" James said.

"Put your Head on my Shoulder?" Victoria corrected.

"Yeah, that's it.... wait are you her? The woman that he fell in love with?" He asked.

Victoria stood silently and almost in shock. Tony never told her that he loved her, why didn't he? Deep down, weeks after their dance she had seriously reconsidered the old theory of love at first sight, or in her case, love at first dance.

"I-I guess so, no, I know that I am the woman that you are talking about. I ran away from him that day... I was so afraid that I would fall in love with him and that kick started my fight or flight response. I feel horrible now." Victoria said.

"Victoria, no offense to Tony, but if I was in your situation I probably would have run to..." James said.

It was clear that James wanted to say something, but it was like he was embarrassed to ask.

"Do you want to ask me something Colonel?" Victoria asked.

"Oh, I was going to ask you, if you enjoyed it...the dance I mean." James asked sheepishly.

Victoria smiled and walked towards the main screen.

"I enjoyed it very much." Victoria replied.

James smiled and walked to a control panel on the other side of the room. A soldier walked in with a small vanilla folder. Victoria turned around and walked to the man.

"Any news soldier?" Victoria asked.

The soldier placed the folder on a table right in front of him.

"This is all that we have on the subject." The soldier responded.

"That's depressing." Victoria said.

"We actually have an idea about who might have done this. And all that we know about them is in this file." The soldier said.

Victoria raised an eyebrow and grabbed the folder from off of the table.

"The Ten Rings?" Victoria asked.

"Yes, apparently they are a terrorist organization. We can never find them, and they haven't made an official attack or even a threat to the USA, so we don't pay much attention to them." James said.

He walked over to where Victoria and the soldier were standing. Victoria looked at James confused and almost slightly offended.

"You knew this and you didn't tell me?" Victoria asked James.

"It was a theory, and still is a theory. We have no hardcore proof that it is them." James replied.

"But it's a theory that we could have expanded on. If we started this at the beginning of our search-" Victoria started.

"It would have done absolutely nothing, like Sargent Buford said, we know almost nothing about these guys. It would have given us nothing." James interrupted.

"I could have done something." Victoria said.

She put the file down and walked over to the main screen. It was scanning in a hundred mile radius from where Tony was kidnapped. She stared at it and then she put her head down.

"Tony, where are you?" She asked herself.

"Hey Victoria, we are going to actually physically search in our helicopters. Want to come?" James asked from behind.

Victoria ran her fingers through her auburn hair and sighed. She turned around to face James. She walked over to a chair and she grabbed a black leather jacket that she brought in the car, along with some other clothes.

"Yeah, I'll come." Victoria replied.