Gene Khan was immensely frustrated. No matter how hard it was to admit, no matter how much he had been ignoring it, it had come to this.

He needed help. He needed help finding the sixth, seventh, eight, ninth, and tenth Makluan ring. When he first saw the map, he had thought it would be easy. But he was soon proven wrong. The map was one of the most frustrating things he had ever come across. The land masses on the map at first had appeared to look similar to the ones on the earth today, but that was one of the problems. The Greenland map for the third ring, had looked exactly like Greenland.

When Gene would think that he had figured out the location of one of the rings, he would wake up the next day, look at the map, and go,"What was I thinking!?! That cannot be the location!" Sometimes, he couldn't tell whether he was looking at a body of water or a continent. One time, he had actually thought he had figured out one of the shapes to be North America. But then a few hours later he looked at the map again and realized that there was no South America attached! It was as if the map would change every time he looked at it! The marked places where the rings were even sometimes looked as if they were moving around!

Gene was currently in a hotel in Queens, checked in under the name,"Michael Borwick". He had gotten a fake ID from some dealer in Bronx and had gotten himself a credit card. Ever since he had turned thirteen, he had started an emergency bank account in case he ever needed to run away. He had been moving from hotel to hotel, borough to borough for the past two months in case his step-father or Stark was looking for him.

He would be able to decipher the map. But of course, Gene was not about to go to Rhodes's place, knock on the door and say,"Hey Tony! Rhodes! Pepper! How have you guys been? I was just wondering if Tony here would help me find the next five rings! Ohh, and sorry about trying to kill you guys and everything..." Yeah, that would end badly. He knew Stark could figure out the map though. But how could he convince him to do it?

Tony Stark lay in his bed, staring up at his ceiling with a frown on his face. One of the few lights in the room was the dim pulsing coming from the implant in his chest. He glanced over at the alarm clock in his room.

2:34 AM it read. He sighed. Roberta would kill him if she knew he was up so late on a school night. He had been staying up this late for the past couple of month's now though so he was kind of used to it. Tony got in a comfortable position on his bed and tried to fall asleep, but it was no use. Plans for new armors, for finding Gene, getting his Dad back, they would keep racing through his tired mind, refusing to let him go to sleep.

Tony's face suddenly twisted in anger as he thought of Gene. Tony had never thought a human being was capable of something like that, that kind of betrayal. The way Gene had hurt them, it was horrible. He had practically taunted Tony with the fact that his father was alive. He had tried to kill Rhodey, several times. And Pepper...

Another sigh escaped Tony. Poor Pepper. She had been a walking graveyard for two months. Doom and gloom followed her wherever she went. She would still talk to Tony and Rhodey, hang out with them and everything, but she was different. Instead of running up to Tony and or Rhodey like she used to, she would calmy walk up to them and say,"Hey..." or "Whats up?" She wasn't as nearly as hyperactive and talkative as she used to be. She wouldn't start conversations anymore, she would join them. She didn't come to the armory nearly as much as she used to. Maybe once, twice a week if Tony was lucky. Her smile was different too. Instead of the pure happiness and joy it usually radiated, it was usually a fake smile, or just one that said,"Yeah, okay, im happy. Deal with it."

As much as Tony hated to admit it, Pepper had liked Gene. A lot. She had liked him more than just as a friend and he had turned around and betrayed her trust. He had broken Pepper's heart. And in the process of breaking Pepper's heart, Gene had broken Pepper. But in the deepest, darkest depths of Tony's soul, some twisted part of him was smiling. He knew that Pepper didn't have feelings for Gene anymore, that's why.

Tony shook his head. Pepper was his best friend, and that was that. He didn't care who she liked/disliked. There was no romantic, well, anything going on between them.

As Tony drifted off to sleep, one thought went through his mind.

Or is there?

Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper sat inside in the cafeteria during free period in silence. It was mid December, and it was snowing out so they didn't sit on the roof. Tony was eating lunch, Rhodey was triple checking some history paper (loser), and Pepper was doing what she had been doing a lot of lately, silently listening to her iPod.

"So... You guys wanna grab some pizza tonight?" Tony asked lamely. Pepper and Rhodey both looked up, more than a little surprised. They hadn't done anything more exciting than hang out at the armory, not talking of course, ever since they battled Fin Fang Foom. Tony waited impatiently for an answer. After a few seconds, Rhodey broke the awkward silence.

"Uhh, sure. Why not?" Tony fely a little bit of relief wash over him. He looked over at Pepper hopefully.

It was obvious what Pepper wanted to say, and that was "No". Pepper was a shell of her former self. When Pepper looked up at Tony to give some excuse as to why she couldn't come, she stopped. She saw the hope in his eyes. Pepper didn't want to disappoint Tony, so reluctantly she agreed.

"Okay." She answered in a small, frail voice that had replaced her high strong, confident voice. Tony exhaled with relief.

"Okay, so we'll meet outside after school."

"Sure."

"Kay." The bell rang, signaling the end of their free period.

Pepper Potts walked home that evening with a funny feeling. She felt, well, happy. Something she hadn't really felt in a long time. Eating pizza with Rhodey and Tony, it was so normal. So... ordinary. She had been pretty surprised when Tony had asked her and Rhodey to go. When she had been eating hanging out with them, she had almost completely forgotten about Gene.

Gene. A shiver went down her back when she thought of him. Pepper wasn't sure if she had ever felt more betrayed in her life. Every time she thought of him a wall of emotions would crash into her. One was anger. Pepper was mad at herself for being tricked, but she was also furious at Gene. Gene had tried to kill Tony and Rhodey!

Another was sadness. She wasn't sure she had ever felt such a strong emotion before. When Gene had fought with Tony and Rhodey, and had revealed himself as the true Mandarin, he had broken her heart. When he had disappeared from the temple, he had taken it with him. Like breaking a child's favorite toy, showing them, then never letting them see it again. Or like the last time you see a person when they are horribly sick or injured, sometimes that's how you remembered them. And that emotional wall of sadness, led her into another strong emotion.

Embarrassment.

Pepper had liked Gene. Like, liked Gene. She had thought he was so foreign and cool. But she had been wrong, way wrong. She had clung to Gene like a parasite. She had thought he was so awesome.

"...You got Tony and Rhodey, and you've got me..." Pepper remembered saying those words to to comfort Gene (comfort Gene!) and her face turned bright red. It turned red with, embarrassment and anger. Pepper shook her head and pulled out her iPod, she listened to sad songs or rock songs to vent her feelings. Pepper knew one thing, her feelings for Gene, they were gone. Completely shook her head up and down as if she was answering someones question (the question being, "Are you sure they're gone?"). She then got a cab, tired of walking in the December cold and went home.

Gene had finally caved in. He needed Stark's help. He just didn't know how to get it. Gene sighed in frustration and rested his face in his hands, sitting on the side of the hotel bed. He snorted, he obviously wouldn't be using money, Tony was richer than he was. Power? He could tell him that if he helped him get the next five Makluan rings Gene would give him some power. Something told Gene that would work just as well as telling him he'd give him a Coke.

He could always use Tony's Dad to bribe him. But Howard could still be useful to him every once in a while. Then Gene's train of thought switched gears. He could use Rhodes! But, wait, Rhodey had his own armor now and who knows, it could come out of a backpack like Stark's. Whitney? No. Definitely not. Her father currently owned a multi-billion dollar weapons company and, well, you can see where this is going.

"C'mon, who else is there?" Gene asked the wall.

Potts. Gene stood up and started pacing. Pepper was one of Tony's best friends. Gene knew deep down inside, that he had liked Pepper. Not the way she had liked him. But the way Gene had felt about Pepper was that she was sorta his friend.

But imagine the way Stark feels about her. The evil voice in the back of his mind chided. Gene thought about this for a minute. It would be easy. Just secretly follow Potts around after school until shes alone. Gene thought back to the temple of sacrifice, the look of horror on Tony's face when the dragon was circling Pepper. Or when Zhang had threatened to kill Pepper. Right when Gene had told him he would kill her, Tony didn't hesitate at all to go into the temple.

An evil smile spread across Gene's face and he crawled into bed.

Hoped you like it so far! Thats chapter one and this is my first fanfiction so when you push the little button down there give me constructive criticism but dont push my buttons!