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THE pain in (Y/N)'s body changed from the hardly bearable to an excruciating level in less than five minutes, and her aching throat had enough of her screaming out in discomfort and she had no choice but to save it and stay quiet. Aldrich had left her and Pepper alone in the lower level of the storage room they were on, and (Y/N) flickered her eyes up and down in search for a way out for both of them.
She closed her eyes in concentration, the gears inside her head turning in order to come up with a solution. She'd been in harder situations, much more difficult missions; this had to be a piece of cake. (Y/N) allowed the faint golden glow ignite all over her body, getting used to it before balling her fists and throwing her arms out to break out of the restrains.
The metal keeping her in place dented at her escaping attempt, and she tried the same action once again in search of success. (Y/N) repeated the same process and this time, she was out of the machine and free from what Aldrich was injecting into her skin. The sound alerted him from above, and he removed himself from the spot he was before to stop her.
"Leaving so soon?" he taunted, his entire body glowing orange from the inside.
(Y/N) didn't give him a reply and instead raised her fist to fire a blast at him, hard enough to send him flying back into the wall and leaving him there in the hole unconscious. This bought her enough time to rush towards Pepper's spot and attempt in freeing her from the hot torment that was the EXTREMIS experiment.
Pepper's eyes were closed and her head was leaned forwards, causing her blonde hair to fall in her face. (Y/N) used one hand to rip part of the restrains off while the other grabbed the side of her friend's face.
"Pep," she called in her raspy voice, her desperation dripping through as she glanced back and forth between her and Aldrich. "Come on."
A groan left Pepper's lips as she bobbed her head in trying to regain her senses, blinking a few times in order to see clearly. Her eyes widened at
the sight of (Y/N) standing in front of her, and she tried to ask for an explanation.
"Come on," (Y/N) muttered to her, her eyes widening once she saw how Aldrich was regaining his consciousness. She ripped the other part of the machine with her glowing fist, and grabbed Pepper's hand. "We gotta go."
(Y/N) adjusted Pepper's arm around her shoulders since she was still weak from being trapped for too long, and tried making a run for it as Aldrich kept coming closer. She tried to fire another blast at him, but this time he dodged it just in time and chuckled mockingly at the sight of her.
(Y/N) knew she had to be faster in order to make it to the door without Aldrich getting in the way, since he was lighting up from the inside out and prepared himself to aim directly at her. Her and Pepper were easily three steps away from the door, but before any of them could react, there was an unexpected explosion that shook the entire storage room.
The impact from the explosion sent (Y/N) back, causing her to unfortunately lose grip of Pepper and get separated through the falling roof and walls of the room. The structure collapsed on top of them and (Y/N) didn't know if Aldrich had made it out too, but she was too distracted to care about him.
A sharp edge of the collapsed room was just a few inches over her head, and (Y/N) didn't find any way out without blasting something off and leaving much more damage. Pepper was somewhere buried in the rubble, loose cables dangling right above her , and sparks of damaged electric boxes flying out into the ground around them.
(Y/N) knew she couldn't wait for any type of rescue and proceeded to try and lift part of the structure over her head, but then she heard a thud a few feet away and approaching footsteps. She recognized it in a matter of seconds; the familiar outline of the Iron Man suit in the darkened room stepping into the area, the helmet scanning all over the room with its metal eyes and did the same thing as her.
"What took you so long?" (Y/N) groaned out, calling his attention instantly. The helmet snapped toward her direction and she could guess the look behind the mask.
"Well, you know, I was trying not to die," Tony replied casually. "The usual."
"Same here."
"See what happens when you hang out with my ex-girlfriends?" the face plate from the helmet got lifted up and she could see the cuts and bruises his face had, which had her frowning.
(Y/N) rolled her eyes at his comment. "I hate you so much."
"I thought we were past that phase," He extended a metal hand forward to help her out, diving through the hole where she was stuck in. "We'll talk about it over dinner."
"If we don't get out of here, there will be no dinner," (Y/N) retorted as she reached out to grab his extended hand. A groan left her lips at the discomfort all over her body as she tried to pull herself up.
"There you go," Tony exhaled as her hand clasped with his, and he used all his strength to pull her out of the collapsed structure.
(Y/N) assisted Tony in pulling, since she didn't want all of the weight to fall on him, and she let out an audible breath of relief once she was out of the hole. Tony's metal gloved hands did not remove themselves from (Y/N)'s arms as he scanned her for injuries and tried to say something else to her, but she was already shrugging from his touch.
"Help me with Pepper," she told him, and searched the area to spot the blonde laying down on the ground with the rest of the collapse hovering over her.
Tony tried lifting some of the weight off her, but Pepper's eyes snapped open in alarm and she cried out before he could do anything else. "Stop! Put it down! Put it down! Put it down!"
He did as he was told and (Y/N) extended her hand over for Pepper to grab, since this was the only way to free her out without making the weight of the structure fall on her. The distance between both of them was too close yet too far, causing only the tips of their fingers to touch. (Y/N) watched how Tony knelt down to help too and extended her hand once again for Pepper to grab, this time being successful.
(Y/N) tugged hard and did her best to pull Pepper out with Tony stabilizing her in case it was needed, but the quietness was interrupted when the hand of Aldrich Killian broke free from underneath and grabbed a hold of Tony's arc reactor.
The orange glow of Aldrich's hand was enough to cause a hot damage on the armor and on Tony, throwing him back a few feet. He ripped the ground where he was trapped by melting right through it before turning to an almost freed Pepper.
"Is this guy bothering you?" he questioned, and Pepper only closed her eyes in response.
Aldrich put one leg over Tony still on the floor, "Don't get up," he ordered, one of his fingers gaining much more heat before he touched the armor. "Ooh. Is it hot in there?"
"Stuck? Do you feel a little stuck?" he pouted mockingly. "Like a little turtle, cooking in his little turtle suit."
(Y/N) balled her fist but Aldrich saw this coming, grabbing a hold of her arm before she could do anything, and letting his hand gain heat too. The sizzling sound of burning flesh was enough for (Y/N) to let out a hiss, and she did her best to shrug herself off him. Why was he so strong?
"Do you enjoy watching her get hurt? I do," Aldrich asked Tony, who still couldn't move on the ground and could only move his eyes back and forth. "I think you should close your eyes. Close your eyes. Close your eyes. You don't want to see this."
(Y/N) tugged to free her wrist and looked over at Tony, an understanding flashing between his eyes. She already knew that he had something under his sleeve, so she waited for his subtle nod before she twisted Aldrich's arm the best she could, causing him to cry out and unknowingly letting go of her wrist. Tony took this as an opportunity to pull out a dagger from his suit and use it to slice right through Aldrich's arm, the hand dropping to the floor.
Aldrich, in pain, stood up from his kneeling position, and stared at the remaining part of his arm. The end of it was rock brown and lava like, and this meant it was taking time to grow back.
"Yeah, you take a minute."
Aldrich groaned in pain and cradled his sliced arm, losing his balance and falling back. Meanwhile, the cut hand glowed orange and melted right through the metal floor, causing it to collapse and drag Pepper down with it. She landed in a container, dangling upside down and didn't have time to move before it creaked and stared moving from its spot.
(Y/N) cursed under her breath and looked back to see Tony jumping out of the suit he was in, and they waisted no time in bolting toward the direction that the container was headed.
(Y/N) took a look to her surroundings and noticed that several of the the Iron Man suits were soaring through the sky, taking out some of the EXTREMIS soldiers that were in the area. She and Tony ran through levels of the industrial area, but (Y/N) knew they wouldn't make it in time with this rate.
"I'll try and see what I can do," (Y/N) told Tony in a loud voice due to the loud explosions and gunfire that was surrounding them.
He knew what she was referring to and nodded in agreement. Tony watched how (Y/N) jumped over the edge of the yellow railings and gained altitude in the sky, her golden outline leaving a trail as she headed for Pepper.
(Y/N) impulsed herself to fly faster since she saw the look of fear Pepper had written on her face, and followed down the trail the container was going. She didn't have to look back to confirm that Tony was running behind her, but she didn't concentrate on that and instead focused on her friend.
She landed in a small structure that was standing right below the container Pepper was dangling from, knowing this was the only way to help her out. (Y/N) thought this was a better alternative from doing it in the air, since it would be harder to stabilize herself and Pepper's weight in midair.
"Hey, it's okay," (Y/N) tried to calm her friend. "Relax, it's okay."
Pepper groaned and extended her hand as long as she could. The container shook violently and she barely could keep herself stable. (Y/N) climbed on top of the railing to get herself closer to her, if this didn't work, she'd have to risk it.
"Look, Pep, I can't reach further from here and I can't leave you there," (Y/N) explained, and extended her hand further. "You have to let go."
A look of horror flashed in Pepper's eyes, and (Y/N) knew she'd never erase it from her mind. All she could think about was Tony's whereabouts, and why wasn't he there yet.
"I'll catch you," she reassured. "I swear to you, I'll catch you."
(Y/N) got an inch closer and their fingertips barely touched before the container creaked again and shook abruptly, this time hard enough to throw Pepper off into the air. A yell escaped her lips and she tried to hold on to something as she fell down into the ground. (Y/N) didn't waste no time in jumping after her with no hesitation, not caring if she was descending into the flames down below along with Pepper.
Tony watched from a few meters above, his feet frozen to the ground he was on as he watched how (Y/N) dived down to Pepper's aid. He observed how she got a weak grip at Pepper's hand, but it seemed like it was too late.
They both got lost in the flames and there was no sight of them anywhere.