Surprise!

Chapter 10

Autumn walks alone down the sidewalks of New York. Well, not really alone with everyone else bustling around her; but everyone else is back at the tower. She's on her way to John's apartment to have a Pixar movie marathon on this mid-August afternoon. The two teens are both very excited; they haven't watched a Pixar movie together since Brave came out in June. Watching these movies together has been a tradition the two started one day when Autumn got really sick and had to stay out of school for a week. John had come over after school that day and stayed up the whole night watching the movies with her. That was the first time she laughed since she had gotten sick.

Since her destination is someplace she's been countless amounts of times before, Autumn isn't paying much attention to where she's going. Opting for playing some game on her phone instead. If she was paying attention to where she was going and the people around her, she would've noticed the masked man in leather that's been following her since she turned the corner. But the game she's playing is too addicting for her to stop now so she doesn't notice.

When she's finally someplace with less people- less witnesses- around, he advances on her. She's finally beaten the level she's been stuck on since she downloaded the damn thing so she turns her phone off and pockets it. Only it's too late for her to put it away now. The man already has wrapped an arm around her waist and a knife to her throat. Autumn begins to scream but he gags her with a chloroform soaked rag. She chokes on the taste and thrashes around in his hold, trying to hit anything to get him to stop.

He moves to tie her hands behind her back so she starts running. The man gives her a few seconds before he shoots at the ground by her feet. Startled, she turns to look at him. He advances on her and ties her hands up before throwing her in an old tattered bag, throwing her over his shoulder. She moves around in the bag as he heads back to the van. Her movements only last a little while longer before the chloroform takes its effect on her an knocks her out. The man smirks behind the mask.

~~~

When Autumn doesn't show up, John grows worried. She's always been early, sometimes exactly on time, but never late. Her mother used to have a saying: "arriving early is being on time and arriving on time is being late" and Autumn has always lived up to that saying. So when it's almost been two hours since when they agreed to meet, John takes measures into his own hands.

He grabs his phone from the other room and dials the only number he can think of that can and will do something to find Autumn. The phone rings for a few seconds until it picks up.

"Hello?"

"I think Autumn's been kidnapped."

~~~

It is a slow day at Stark Industries so Tony decides to leave early. Pepper understands and lets him go, saying that if anything comes up she can handle it for him. The brunette smiles to himself as he begins collecting his things. He's almost to the door when his phone rings. Letting it ring a few times, he eventually turns back and answers the phone.

"Hello?" He asks. Honestly he didn't bother with checking the number; not that he would've known who it was anyway.

"I think Autumn's been kidnapped." The voice replies on the other end. The phone slips through Tony's fingers. "Hello? Tony? Hello?!" John shouts but it's muffled by the floor. Swiftly, Tony grabs the phone again and presses it to his ear.

"How- Why- What makes you say that?" Tony breathes out. His grip on the phone strengthens. "Look, John, if this is just some-"