Glass Heart

Rage wasn’t exactly the proper adjective Scarlett would’ve used to describe the fury that she was feeling. After ten minutes she’d given up on getting through the door by using sheer force. Since then she’d begun to search the room for a way to get through wall to access the wiring for the security that Tony had built into the room. Jarvis had, of course, advised her against this particular method of escape since it involved disabling him, but hadn’t warned her so severely that it had discouraged her. When it came down to it, Scarlett knew there was no way for her to hack the security system from her current location and without further knowledge of the system itself. She wasn’t prepared to reveal her entire hand to Tony Stark just yet, who would inevitably come back to find out what she’d done and just what she was capable of.

After a few moments left contemplating other means of escape, Scarlett had considered giving up. What harm would it do her to simply wait in the comfortable guest room for Tony to return? It’d be something that she could hold over his head when their friendship started to get sticky, which she was sure was unavoidable. But Scarlett wasn’t the type to sit idly by and wait out certain danger while some man in a suit of armor insisted upon protecting her. It was an extremely chauvinist thing that Tony had done and while she wasn’t the sparkling example of feminism at its best, she definitely didn’t need Tony or any other man to keep her safe or to decide what was best for her. Scarlett believed she was a valuable asset in dangerous situations and not being able to help Tony in this one, particularly when it seemed to involve her, was eating her alive. Granted, she was almost positive that Tony wasn’t willing to give her a weapon to protect herself with when he wasn’t sure he could trust her with it.

Unsure of what else to do, Scarlett sat down on the wooden floor with her back leaning against the bed. She watched her feet for a few moments then stared out the window in front of her and into the ocean. The dark waves seemed far more sinister and chilling now that the sun had disappeared. How had the same thing calmed her nerves earlier in the day? A soft whirring sound overhead drew her attention away from the ocean. A panel from the ceiling slid slowly open and a tray descended on a metallic arm holding a plate of freshly sliced pumpernickel bread on it with a side of various dips and spreads. Scarlett stared skeptically at the plate now hovering next to her then after hesitating, removed it from the tray. The metallic arm quickly returned to the space in the ceiling, the open panel slipping back into place and becoming nearly unnoticeable.

She considered trying to pry open the panel to climb through it and out of the room. But what dangerous things were hidden in the walls of the Malibu mansion? It was a terrible plan and was quickly abandoned. The only other thing Scarlett could think to do was find something she could use to break the window and rappel down the cliff side. Watching the waves, she quickly realized just how dangerous it would be to do so without proper supplies.

“Well, there goes that idea.” Scarlett turned her attention away from the window and looked down at the plate of delicious smelling bread in her hand. It looked freshly baked; warm and inviting. Tearing off a piece of the bread, she stuffed it in her mouth in annoyance. She’d expected a waiter or something similar to come to the door with the bread for her to eat. When he’d opened the door she planned on breaking out of the room when the opportunity had arisen. Scarlett should’ve guessed that wouldn’t work out so easily.

“Sorry, Miss Damien but I couldn’t risk opening the door for you for more personal service.” Jarvis spoke, as though he’d known exactly what she’d been considering when he’d offered to bring her some freshly made bread.

“You’re really very clever, Jarvis.” It was hard not to smile when she realized that the damn computer system had figured out what she was planning. “I wouldn’t have opened the door for me either.”

“I’m glad you understand, considering the circumstances.” Jarvis fell silent after that while Scarlett continued to nibble on the bread. If nothing else, at least the food she’d been give was good and would help her continue to sober up.

Why couldn’t she bring herself to just sleep through what was happening? After the day she’d had and the days prior to it spent in captivity in the desert, that she was only remembering in bits and pieces at this point, she deserved more than a good night’s rest in an adequate bed. If Tony wanted her to stay locked away in his tower for the night then she might as well take advantage of the situation and the incredibly plush furnishings. Somehow it wasn’t that easy for her to take the current situation lying down. Scarlett partially hoped that when Tony returned he’d be bloody and pained simply so she could harass him about it. It would be nice to rub it in his face that if she’d been there with him then she could’ve helped him and prevented it from happening.

Feeling restless, she decided to get up from her seat on the floor. Setting the plate of bread down on the nightstand, she laid down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Her leg was throbbing again. After Tony had grabbed it so roughly in the car to prove his point it hadn’t properly recovered. Reaching down to itch at the gauze covering the wound, she wondered what other neat tricks Jarvis could perform if asked. He’d delivered her food, so what else could he do for her?

“Can you at least tell me what Stark’s doing out there without me?” Scarlett asked after a moment. Coffee had been the first thing she’d considered, but instead she’d asked that. Having laid down with every intention of trying to forget about the grossly unfair situation she’d been thrust into, she wondered how the hell she’d betrayed her intentions so quickly. No matter what she seemed to try, she couldn’t stop thinking about what she was missing. Were Pepper and Happy okay? It sounded like they’d been in some kind of terrible car accident. What villain had come after them so viciously? Were the men in black Pepper described actually looking for her or was it all just a game designed to confuse Tony? He had far more enemies than she did, so what were the chances this was one of hers? How would anyone have known she was with Tony in the first place?

“Mr. Stark is searching for the site of the car accident Mr. Hogan and Miss Potts were a part of.” Jarvis responded after a moment of quiet contemplation, or processing considering he wasn’t human.

“Has he had any luck yet?”

“Miss Damien, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but Mr. Stark has advised you remain neutral to this situation.”

“You know that I can’t remain neutral, Jarvis.” Scarlett sat up on the bed, rubbing the gauze in irritation on her leg. “If these people are after me, I deserve to know what’s going on.”

“I’m sure that Mr. Stark will fill you in on the particulars of the situation upon his return.” Jarvis reassured, though Scarlett doubted that was the truth. That information would be added onto the list of things that Tony would have to hold over her head. After what had happened between the two in the restaurant, she was unsure if she could actually go through with her plan without becoming attached. Liking him had never been part of her plan. Of course, if she ended up having to sleep with him then it would at least be a nice bonus rather than something to scar her further. But what if she became too attached? She wondered if it was even worth the risk at this point. There could be other ways for her to gain his trust and manipulate him without having to put herself in emotional turmoil. Not that she wasn’t already an emotional wreck.

“You know he won’t do that, Jarvis.” Scarlett swung her legs carefully off the side of the bed and looked out the window at the ocean once more in hopes of finding clarity. Something wasn’t sitting right with her and it wasn’t just the fact that she was trapped in the guest room of the Stark mansion after all that had happened. Her stomach was churning like it did in the past when she’d found herself in impossible situations and unsure of how to escape. She was perfectly safe now, there was no reason for her to be feeling so out of it. Resting her hand over her stomach tenderly, she glanced down at her fingers. Was the upset from the alcohol she’d consumed? Scarlett doubted it. She’d feel the hangover in the morning for sure, but not at the current moment when she was still so pumped with adrenaline. The bigger scheme of her plans for Scott and MedCo would have to wait until after she dealt with her current unrest.

Something wasn’t right. Whatever was happening out on the highway with Tony, Scarlett knew she was supposed to be out there with him to help. Instead, she was trapped inside the guest room, absolutely helpless and ignorant to the situation.

“I have a bad feeling, Jarvis.” Scarlett finally looked up at the ceiling, speaking to the computer once more. Maybe she could appeal to his loyalty to his boss. “I have a really bad feeling.”

“Should I get you some ginger ale, Miss Damien? Or perhaps a club soda?” The computer took a moment to process her request.

“No, it’s not that kind of feeling. I don’t feel sick.” Scarlett stood up, pushed her unruly hair away from her face, allowing her hand stay tangled in it as she looked out the window in quiet deliberation. Grimacing she turned to look at the door again. “You have to let me out of this room. I promise you that I won’t go chasing after Tony on the highway but if you let me downstairs to access a computer then I can at least try to help from here.”

“Mr. Stark has instructed that you stay…”

“I don’t care what Mr. Stark asked you to do, Jarvis!” Scarlett shouted in frustration. Stifling her confusing worry, she bit her lip and took a deep breath. Something was terribly wrong. She couldn’t explain how she knew something was wrong, but she knew it without a doubt. There had to be a way she could help even if it was from the mansion. The computer system overhead didn’t respond. She wondered if it was wrong for her to consider that he was weighing the pros and cons of her request.

“I know you don’t trust me Jarvis because I know that Tony doesn’t trust me.” Scarlett finally used the first name of the man that she’d been avoiding so severely. He wasn’t there with her, so she didn’t see the harm in using it. “Hell, I don’t blame either of you for not trusting me. I made it so hard to find out anything about my past that for all you know I’m a serial killer in some foreign country. But, what you can know for certain is that situations like the one Tony is getting himself into are dangerous.” Half expecting Jarvis to tell her that dangerous situations were Mr. Stark’s specialty, Scarlett was surprised when he didn’t respond. Maybe he needed more convincing.

“Jarvis, if these people are after me then Tony has no idea what he’s up against because I refuse to tell him. There’s only one group of people I can think who would be after me and they would blow Tony’s brains out without hesitation if they thought it would get to me. Not to mention what they would do to Pepper and Happy…” Scarlett felt her stomach churn again. What the hell was happening to her? This guilt she was experiencing was horrendous. What happened to the vile woman with little to no conscience who traveled the eastern hemisphere doing the nasty jobs that others avoided? Ignoring the thought once again, Scarlett continued with her convincing to the best of her ability. Even if it was fruitless, at least she’d tried to talk her way into helping.

“I know he’s worried about me even if I argue that he’s not. He thinks that he’s keeping me safe by locking me up in this room so no one can find me but I can help him. Even if you just let me downstairs, I can help. I might be able to find out more about what he’s up against. I might even be able to provide some backup from here. I promise, I won’t leave the mansion and I won’t even dig around in your files for information on Tony… I just want to see what’s going on and help if I can.” Scarlett was unsure if she was talking for no reason or if the computer was really considering letting her out. “Please, Jarvis? I’m practically begging here.” Before Scarlett had finished speaking the door to her room unlocked and swung open. Mouth hanging open, Scarlett stared in awe.

The computer had disobeyed Tony’s orders. How dangerous was it that he’d created artificial intelligence that could use its best judgment in these situations? Deciding she’d take this for what it was she hurried toward the door. There would be plenty of time later to consider the dangers of robotic mutiny later.

“You won’t regret this, Jarvis. Boot up the computers downstairs if you can. At least the ones you’ll let me access to try and help.” Hurrying out of the room, she stopped abruptly and doubled back into the doorway. “I’d hug you if I could.”

“Thank you Miss Damien.” The computer responded. If she didn’t know better she would’ve thought he sounded amused by the prospect of physical interaction. Scarlett rushed through the hallway of the second floor and down the stairs to the first floor behind the ornate water fountain. Once in the living room she tried to recall the layout of the Stark mansion, at least the parts she’d been in for such a brief time. Everything from earlier in the day was sort of hazy and muddled. She damned the alcohol she’d consumed with Tony. If only adrenaline could truly filter the blood and make a person sober.

“This way, madam.” Jarvis lit up a hallway at the far end of the living room to guide her. Scarlett was relieved that Jarvis was helping her out the way he was. Still filled with urgency for reasons unknown to her, Scarlett rushed down the stairs and into the lab that she’d woken up in so many hours earlier. It seemed like a lifetime ago to her. The lab door that looked like it required security clearance with some sort of code swung open without it for her thanks to Jarvis.

“Damnit,” Scarlett rubbed her eyes when things seemed fuzzy. The alcohol had gotten to her more than she’d thought it had. She hoped the urgency of the situation would keep her level headed. Hurrying over to the desk in the center of the room, Scarlett searched around for a keyboard. Finding a blank tray in front of one of the monitors she brushed her fingers over the side of it curiously. This was not the ideal time to have to navigate her way through unfamiliar and incredibly advanced technology. Much to her surprise, a holographic keyboard appeared, glowing brilliantly blue on top of the tray she’d been touching. “This is not going to be easy.”

“Mr. Stark has stopped responding.” After five minutes of working through system files she’d been granted access too, Jarvis had interrupted her train of thought. She’d started to search for familiar GPS signals that Tony had obviously included within his computers. If she could narrow down the signal for the Audi they’d driven to the club she might be able to pinpoint the location of the car crash and go from there.

“What?” Scarlett hadn’t realized the severity of what Jarvis had said, having been so determined on getting into the computer system. She touched the screen in front of her and hoped to expand the maps that had appeared with the signals clearly beaming on them but instead they appeared as a hologram to her left. Astounded by what was in front of her, she listened to Jarvis responding and this time with more urgency.

“Mr. Stark has stopped responding. The Mark VII is offline.” If a computer could sound panicked, Scarlett was sure Jarvis did.

“What do you mean?” Scarlett stared at the maps in front of her, unsure of what to do or what Jarvis was implying. “Jarvis, can you get me video from the Mark VII or try to patch me through to Tony?”

“The Mark VII is offline and communication is impossible, I can provide very little for you.” Jarvis brought up screen captured images of what Tony must have been looking at on the highway before the suit had gone offline. One of the images showed blood spattered over the helmet of the suit. Covering her mouth to stifle a gasp of surprise she closed her eyes and tried to consider what to do next. After a moment taken to talk thoughts out of the idea of Tony being dead, she looked at the timestamp on the photo and realized the blood must not have been his since there had been images that followed.

Taking deep breaths to calm herself and not bothering to consider why the bloody image had frightened her so severely, Scarlett mulled over the odds of Jarvis letting her use one of the suits to go help Tony. It wouldn’t have mattered if he gave her access. There was no way she’d be able to figure out such a complex piece of technology that wasn’t built for someone her shape and size. It was possible the suits lined up in glass cases against the far wall wouldn’t respond to anyone besides Tony anyway. They were likely safe guarded in such a complex way, that by the time Scarlett could hack them it’d be too late. There had to be another way.

“Jarvis, I need you to download all of the data from the Mark VII that you can access before it crashed for me, okay? I need to see all of it, even all the data that may seem irrelevant to your systems.” The screen in front of her flickered, turned black with a white cursor blinking for a few seconds. Only a moment later streams of data started to download. Holding her breath she waited for it to download then slammed her fist on the desk after a few moments past. “Damnit this isn’t fast enough!”

“I’m patching a call through from Miss Potts.” Jarvis suddenly spoke, nearly making Scarlett jump out of her skin. Before she could request it be answered, a holographic video appeared to Scarlett’s right. Pepper’s face appeared, blood dripping down her forehead. Happy was nearby holding a cloth to her forehead that looked a lot like a piece of torn t-shirt to try and stop the bleeding. Pepper swatted his hand away and looked around the lab, apparently surprised to have been brought up on video chat considering Tony wasn’t there.

“Jarvis! Jarvis, what are you doing?” Eyes wide, Pepper realized Scarlett was accessing the computers in the lab. Much to her astonishment, Pepper didn’t seem incredibly alarmed that Scarlett was probably tampering with vital information to Tony’s empire. “Tony isn’t responding! The suit’s dead!”

“What happened, Pepper? And I mean exactly.” Scarlett stood up, feeling like it was more appropriate to answer the video doing so. The knot in the pit of Scarlett’s stomach was tightening and worsening after hearing Pepper’s assumptions about Tony. She’d wanted the situation to go awry for Tony, but only enough that he’d come back safely so she could say she told him so when he suffered a massive headache or something similar. If he’d died already and while trying to protect her, what was she going to do? Why did she care? It would be what she wanted in the first place, right? Revenge. But it wouldn’t be at her hands. Did that really matter in the scheme of things? Deciding she could later spend her night tossing and turning to contemplate what she was about to do, she turned her attention to Pepper again.

“His reactor is still glowing!” Pepper immediately assured Scarlett, apparently thinking the woman looked rather panicked. Did she? Scarlett wasn’t sure. Maybe that was why Jarvis had given her the access he had. Was her worry written all over her face? There was no way she was that good of an actress.

“Good! That’s very good. We can assume he’s still alive in that case.” Scarlett looked over at the data that had finally loaded on the computer screen. “What happened? Did you see what happened to him? Why isn’t he responding?” Scarlett started tapping away at the keyboard, searching through the data for some sort of an anomaly. Maybe if she could pinpoint the moment the Mark VII had gone offline she could use the code to get the machine back online and running if it hadn’t been completely destroyed.

“One of the men used some kind of strange weapon! It fried Happy’s phone while he was trying to communicate with Jarvis! My phone was trapped in the Audi and doesn’t seem to have been effected but I couldn’t tell you why! Scarlett, he’s dead weight out there. The machine won’t move and he won’t talk to us. I don’t know if the thing is broken or if he’s just unconscious in there! The eyes on the suit aren’t glowing though, if that helps.”

“Can you get him to safety? Or is he too big?” Scarlett didn’t bother to look at the screen anymore as Pepper spoke. She pulled Tony’s computer chair closer to her and sat in it, getting herself familiar with the coding of the Mark VII. It was like nothing she’d ever seen before in her life. “Jarvis, highlight that, set it aside.” The computer followed her orders without argument, leaving the highlighted code on a second screen to her left.

“No we can’t! Not for lack of trying though. The machine is just too heavy. We could barely drag it a few inches before they started firing at us.” Pepper seemed panicked and kept looking away. Scarlett guessed she was likely checking on Tony. “They’re shooting up his armor, Scarlett. They’ll break through it eventually!”

“I know, I know.” Scarlett shook her head. “It looked like they used something electronic to shut it off. I can’t get to anything after that moment… But it looks like it took them a few tries.” Scarlett reread over the data that had come in right before the Mark VII had stopped responding. “They had been hitting him with some sort of electromagnetic pulse prior to this, but I don’t think Tony realized what it was. He’d felt it, because it’d nearly dropped the armor both times… but hadn’t made an effort to avoid it.” Scarlett whispered under her breath. It seemed unimportant to refer to him by his last name at this point.

“What can we do? Tony can’t handle much more of this and we can’t do anything while they have guns! It’s only a matter of time before they find us and kill us.” Pepper had tears streaming down her face steadily now. “We have to do something!”

“I know! Just give me a second, Pepper! I’m trying to think.” Scarlett cursed and looked around the room in search of something, trying to figure out what she could do to save Tony. Even if Jarvis let her leave by the time she got to the site of the crash, which the computer had located for her, it would be too late. The titanium alloy of the Mark VII would only hold up against a barrage of bullets and whatever electromagnetic weapons they’d developed for a short time before it caved and left Tony vulnerable.

“There’s blood, oh god, there’s blood! Hurry! We don’t have a second for you to think!” Pepper was in hysterics at the sight of her boss bleeding. It was lucky that Scarlett understood her at all amongst her sobbing. Happy suddenly came on the screen, allowing Pepper to cry against his shoulder.

“There’s blood seeping through the suit, you’ve only got a minute left before something worse happens.” Happy’s voice was trembling but he was far calmer than Pepper was at the moment.

“Jarvis!” Scarlett walked back over to the computer. “Jarvis, can I access the Mark VII mainframe remotely?” Cracking her knuckles, she decided to ignore Pepper who was talking to Happy anyway and yelling at him for telling her to calm down and trying to ease her nerves.

“Yes, Miss Damien.”

“If you let me into the mainframe of the Mark VII I can get it back online. Bring it up on the screen for me. Save the data you extracted but replace it with the Mark VII and keep the highlighted information on the next screen.” Scarlett tapped the screen and was surprised when Jarvis refused. “Jarvis?”

“I’m afraid that you don’t have access to the Mark VII’s mainframe.”

“What?” Scarlett and Pepper both yelled in surprise.

“Jarvis, let her in! She’s trying to save Tony!” Pepper’s tears dried up momentarily, replaced by anger.

“Only Mr. Stark is allowed to access and alter Mark encryption.” The computer responded.

“God damnit, Jarvis if you don’t let me do this then Tony is going to die!” Scarlett slammed her fist hard onto the desk next to the keyboard as she’d done earlier. Pepper was sobbing again on the other line of the video chat, apparently having given up hope. Closing her eyes, Scarlett contemplated hacking Jarvis so she could save Tony. If she hacked Jarvis now then his defenses would be patched up and she would likely not be able to get the information she wanted from him in the first place when she attempted to hack him a second time. How would she ever answer the question of whether or not Tony was responsible for what had happened to her in Africa? Even if he’d only had a small hand in funding the company, she needed to know.

The computer started to process information. The noise brought Scarlett to her senses. Jarvis was letting her into the mainframe of the Mark VII, much to her surprise. Sitting in the chair again, she started typing immediately at the keyboard, searching for where the error was occurring in the mainframe. She knew that Tony had to have anticipated electromagnetic interference in the suit being a possibility someday beforehand.

“Thank you Jarvis!” Scarlett spoke while she typed away at the keyboard, scanning through the data that appeared in front of her. Time was limited and her fingers were trembling, but she had to do everything she could to become familiar with this complex system before Tony was murdered for simply trying to protect her and his friends. Holding her breath she typed away and found what she was looking for. It was the same repeated anomaly that had occurred the first few times that Tony had been fired upon with the electronic weapon that had stalled his systems but not overtaken them.

“Hurry!” Pepper was so close to the phone that Scarlett was shocked when she glanced back over at them. “I can’t watch…” Nearly pulling out her hair as she tried to figure out the coding that was far too complicated for a woman who’d drank nearly an entire bottle of scotch on her own at the time, Scarlett felt like she might be making some progress.

“Got it! Got it!” Scarlett jumped up from her seat but kept typing at the keyboard. She’d found a way to manually reboot the Mark VII remotely. It would take only a few more seconds. “He’s back online! He’s back! Pepper? Happy?” Scarlett was looking for confirmation and was surprised when the view from the visor of the Mark VII appeared in front of her in place of the screen she’d been typing data into. There were men standing in front of the Mark, firing at it relentlessly. Was she too late? She could see a rush of radar and data pop up in front of the visor, getting a brief look into how the Mark VII worked.

“Power chest repulsor.” Tony’s voice echoed through the room, sounding surprised but prepared to get back to work. Scarlett exhaled, not having realized she was holding her breath while waiting to see if Tony was still alive.

The Mark VII jumped to life, the repulsor centered around the arc reactor glowing. Pepper was nearly screaming with excitement and relief. After a second of charging, the chest reactor fired, knocking two of the men firing at Tony backwards and presumably mortally wounding them. Tony, who had been trying to find a way to reboot the machine manually when he’d been trapped inside of it, jumped to life. His shoulder was aching and bloodied where the Mark VII’s protective armor had been worn away from the onslaught he’d withstood.

Without speaking, Tony was able to dodge the next few blows from the two men who were left firing at him. They were escaping, running for cover on the highway. Marching forward in the armor to pursue them, clearly Tony was mad enough to do some real damage.

He fired the repulsors in his gloves straight at the man closest to him and watched him fall to the ground. “Thrusters.” Lifting off the ground, Tony shot into the sky then turned off the thrusters mid-leap. The machine came crashing down, Tony grabbing onto the last man who had been attacking him and slamming him hard enough into the gravel to render him unconscious. Kneeling on the ground, Tony caught his breath and tried to figure out what the hell had happened. There were sirens approaching. The police had clearly managed to make their way through the confusion Jarvis had caused in their systems and were heading that way.

Getting to his feet, Tony turned to face Pepper and Happy who emerged from their hiding spot beyond the trees to see if he was alright. “Jarvis, full system report.” The computer started rattling off statistics inside the helmet of the Mark but Tony was barely listening. What had happened? He’d spent the last twenty minutes bracing himself for gunfire and trying to find what had gone wrong with his suit.

“Tony! Tony, are you okay?” Pepper ran toward her boss, wanting to see proof that the man was alright and that Scarlett wasn’t simply controlling the Mark VII from the lab at home. Scarlett had stopped working on the Mark VII entirely and was simply watching the chaos unfold through the system’s visor, hovering just above the computer chair. It hadn’t quite sunken in yet that she’d actually managed to hack the Mark.

“Pepper, I’m fine. I just couldn’t move a damn thing. This suit is heavy when the hydraulics aren’t working. The whole thing just crashed to the ground suddenly. I couldn’t even open the helmet to try and talk to you to tell you to take cover. I assume it was you two who were tugging at me and trying to get me up.” Tony spoke through the suit. “Cut the visor feed, Jarvis. Communicate with the house computer.” There was anger and frustration thick in Tony’s voice upon realizing what must have happened. “What the hell was that Jarvis?” Instead of simply speaking to the computer as he’d intended to do, he was surprised when a video feed of Scarlett in his lab appeared in his visor.

The suit had never gone offline like that before. How had they managed to get past his system’s defenses to render the suit completely useless? The left shoulder of his suit was completely shattered and would need extensive repair. Not to mention the damage that had been done to his car and his body.

“What the hell are you doing in my lab?” Tony nearly snarled at the sight of Scarlett hunched over his computer. He wasn’t sure why it had filled him with such rage to see her there and looking rather disheveled.

“You’re welcome.” Scarlett looked astounded to see the anger in Tony’s eyes. She’d expected him to be grateful. “They fired some sort of electromagnetic pulse. If you can retrieve the weapon they used before the police do then we can find out exactly what it was.” Scarlett was relieved to see Tony’s face on the screen, but felt wounded that he was so nasty to her when she’d just saved his life. “It wasn’t completely offline.”

“Of course it wasn't offline.” Tony cursed under his breath. “Jarvis, what did you do? What did you let her into?”

“Sir, there was no other way to get the Mark VII responsive again.” Jarvis responded quickly.

“There’s always another way.” Tony spat then looked over to Pepper. “You’re going to the hospital.”

“What?” Pepper looked surprised. She was still holding onto her cell phone and transmitting the feed into the lab. Access to the Mark VII completely disappeared off of the computer as did the feed from Tony’s visor. Scarlett cursed and tried to stop the computers from locking her out but it was to no avail. The rest of the data she was accessing was still on screen if nothing else.

“You’re bleeding.” Happy reminded her, holding up the torn piece of his shirt that he’d been using to keep the blood from dripping into Pepper’s eyes.

“Oh, but what about you Tony? You’re bleeding too! I can see it on the outside of your suit.”

“I’m fine.” Tony popped open the helmet of the armor and allowed it to retract as far as he could. “Hold up the phone.”

“Tony, she saved you. Don’t be so harsh.” Pepper tried to reason with him, but had very rarely seen her boss as angry as he was at that moment.

“What did you do?” Tony spoke into the phone, ignoring Pepper’s argument. He’d never been so angry with himself. Scarlett seemed like the perfect scapegoat. She’d caused him far more trouble than she was worth. It was her fault he’d been made vulnerable to an attack.

“What did I do? I found out what had happened to the suit. The pulse was repeating in your systems and causing the suit to malfunction, Tony! If I hadn’t gotten into your computer and remotely rebooted your system via the Jarvis in your lab then you would’ve been killed.” She repeated.

“How the hell did you get into my lab in the first place? What are you doing out of the guest room?” Scarlett could hear Pepper arguing in the background about keeping her held captive once again in the guest room. Scarlett was glad to see that Pepper seemed to be back on her side, if nothing else. She’d gotten the impression that Pepper thought she was up to no good when she’d called Tony earlier to report what had happened.

“Is that really what matters right now? If I hadn’t gotten down here then you would’ve died.” Scarlett was surprised to see the anger Tony was exhibiting toward her for what she’d done. She’d expected him to be grateful that she’d saved him. He hadn’t trusted her to even leave the room while he’d been gone and instead of taking advantage of having free reign in his lab she’d gone out of her way to save his life and the lives of his friends. Head spinning, Scarlett blinked her eyes and forced herself to focus on the video call with Tony.

“I would’ve been just fine, thank you very much. I told you to stay put.”

“Oh right, because lying on the ground deadweight while being pumped full of lead was all part of your master scheme. I told you to let me go with you! I could’ve helped you. If you would’ve just let me come and give you a hand then this would’ve never happened!”

“Yeah it’d be your blood instead of mine, Scarlett!”

“Aren’t you the least bit grateful to not be dead, Tony?” Hands still trembling with adrenaline and fear of the situation that she’d been in with Tony, Scarlett made them busy so it wouldn’t be noticed and untangled her curly hair to the best of her abilities.

“Now you know how it feels to save someone’s life and be shown absolutely no gratitude.” Tony spat in annoyance but his heart was racing. She’d broken out of her room and gotten into his computers. Instead of digging through his files and sabotaging him the way he’d expected her to she’d dug into his Mark VII files and saved his life. On top of that, she’d called him Tony at long last. In fact, if he wasn’t mistake he thought she sounded worried. And if he didn’t know better he would think she looked shaken up. Had he scared her? There wasn’t any time to be soft or to taunt her. The police would be on the scene at any moment. Anger and confusion were still bubbling through Tony’s thoughts.

Scarlett didn’t dignify his rash words with a response and instead turned away from the video. Tony continued speaking but not to her.

“Jarvis, patch me into the police. I’ve got to clean this mess up and Pepper’s got to get to the hospital.” The robot did as he was told to. “Scarlett?”

“What?” She didn’t turn to look at Tony the screen. Her mind was reeling. Why had she saved him? Why had she been so scared that maybe she couldn’t? Now that he was so ungrateful, why was she so disappointed?

“You sit your ass in that chair and you stay right there. Jarvis, make sure it happens this time and if you don’t then I’m going to disable you entirely when I’m not there.” Tony snarled. With that the computers shut down in the lab, even the lights turned off. Emergency lighting came on, lining the floor so that Scarlett could at least move around without tripping on something.

“Disconnect the damn call!” Scarlett shouted in frustration and watched as Tony’s face disappeared from the video chat screen. The room was dark and felt cold without the sound of Jarvis overhead. Looking around to gather her bearings she was unsure of why she felt so emotional after all had been said and done. Scarlett clenched her fists hard enough to make a mark in her palms with her nails.

Turning around she grabbed the desk lamp next to the computer screen. Disconnecting it from its power source with a quick tug, she angrily threw it as far as she could manage, yelling at the top of her lungs. The lamp smashed into the classic convertible nearby, leaving a large dent in the hood and scraping the paint off of it. Cursing under her breath she kicked over the computer chair before crouching down on the floor and grabbing onto her hair. She was trapped once again in Tony’s lab with little but her confusing thoughts for company.

This time, Jarvis offered her no condolences and she wondered if the computer regretted letting Scarlett access his mainframe. Now that she’d done so, the opportunity to get the information she needed had passed. Why had she bothered to save Tony at all when he’d been so ungrateful and rude? Was she clinging to the hope that something during dinner she’d experienced had been the real Tony? How incredibly foolish, she thought.

Either way, she was stuck now. Her leg was throbbing uncomfortably from the effort of kicking over the heavy computer chair. Sitting on the floor she leaned against the desk and closed her eyes, lost in thought.

She could’ve let Tony Stark die. She could’ve saved the world from the corruption of Stark Industries and the vile man who had provided the world’s villains with the finest weaponry imaginable.

But instead what had she done when given this valuable opportunity?

She’d let some confused guilt in the pit of her stomach allow her to save his life. Slamming her fist on the ground again, Scarlett wished more than ever that she could be reunited with the bottle of scotch she and Tony had left at the restaurant.

The guilt churned in her stomach again. Guilt for Scott and for having betrayed him because of a fleeting romantic moment with Tony Stark in a restaurant that had been nothing more but hormones, romantic music and alcohol.

“You are in way over your head.” Scarlett glanced at the bandaging on her arm and saw the light patches of blood seeping through. The effort of either helping Tony out or having thrown his lamp in anger had caused the scab to pull and bleed.

Finally getting herself off of the floor, she righted Tony’s chair and searched for the first aid kit he’d used to help her out when she’d woken up. After finding it, she started to change the dressing on her arm.

The best thing to do was to numb herself to what had happened, just like she had before taking the job at MedCo. But something had changed while she’d been held captive and trying to save Scott’s life as well as her own. No matter what she did, she couldn’t turn herself off to the emotional nightmare her mind had become.