Big Reputation [An Iron Man FanFiction | Pepperony] - COMPLETED

Avery

Damnit, Stark, a frantic Pepper Potts thought as she downed her fifth shot of espresso and swiped through more coded files. She tapped on two video cameras she had going that were scanning the outside of the house. It was going on nine hours since the TV reports first came in, which meant it had been a sleepless night for her; she hadn't kept track of the time since she dove into Tony's hard drives.

The last time he had gone missing, it had been for three months, and she was damned if she let that happened again. Before, Tony was stuck somewhere in another country, with war surrounding him, but this time, he had to be somewhere close to her still, even if it was across the country. If she had to, she'd have Jarvis ready the jet to take to DC, but she wanted to give him time to fly back if he was on his way. Pepper honesty just refused to accept that something had happened to him...not this time. Plus, Tony Stark was Iron Man; before, he was just Tony Stark. If anyone would keep out of harm's way, it would be him...right?

"Jarvis," she spoke, closing out of another window. "I know we already went through the video files, but is there any audio? Any voicemails or journals from recently?"

"One moment, Miss Potts," the AI told her as the computer screen brought up a list of recordings.

She had gone through his data files, his projects, his written memos and his video logs. She'd even done her research on Hammer to make sure this wasn't his doing. Nothing was coming up with useful information, so she was hoping it was just an accident that happened on the East Coast.

"While you're loading these, I think I need to take a shower..." she mumbled, realizing she needed a break before her head exploded. "Can you please try to connect Tony again? And keep tabs on those two suits."

She needed to prepare herself if she was going to head out to DC herself, and since she hadn't and couldn't sleep, a shower would be the next best thing. She also made a mental note to try Rhodey again when she was done; her first couple of calls had gone straight to voicemail and he wasn't picking up in the suit he had, which made sense if they weren't using them.

Tony, please be okay, she prayed as she slowly pulled herself up the stairs and away from his workshop. Then, she added out loud, "don't forget, you're all I have, Stark..."

She sighed as she checked her phone again when she reached the top of the stairs and it still showed no new messages...only more articles popping up under Tony's name; everyone was assuming he had something to do with it after the paparazzi had caught he and Rhodey going into the casino.

Then, Pepper gasped as she nearly bumped into something...or someone...and looked up at her company.

"Rhodey!" Pepper exclaimed, never happier to see the military man. "Where's Tony? Is he okay?"

She approached him, flipping her light hair, which was now let down, over her shoulder. Analyzing him, she noted he looked...pretty good for potentially having been in an explosion. Had he left before Tony? Impatiently, she waited for an answer.

"Pepper," he greeted, though it sounded more like a question.

She stared at him, waiting for any kind of information. His eyes looked cold; darker than usual, and he didn't smile.

"Where is he, Rhodey?" she repeated, feeling her heart start to race. "Weren't you with him in DC?"

"I just had the military fly me back. Pepper I need you to sit down," he ordered, trying to guide her to the couch, but she shook his hand off of her arm.

"What happened," she demanded, clenching her phone tighter in her hand.

"Pepper, I don't know how to tell you this..." Rhodey told her, looking at the floor as he did so. "Mr Stark didn't make it."