So heartbreak makes it easier to write apparently! At least something good came out of it. This chapter is for Eleni because she's an awesome distraction and kicked my ass about writing again.

Tony found it extremely hard to concentrate on anything when he got home. He kept thinking about Pepper, wondering how the hell he was going to convince her to go to the police. That was the only course of action she could take, it was clear to him. She needed to get over this and one way of doing that was to make sure the bastard was behind bars. Tony had already put the paperwork through to ensure that he was fired and told Jarvis to block any call that wasn't Pepper. Work could wait for one day, she was more important.

"Jarvis, any more news on locating this bastard?" he asked his AI. He'd been working since the previous night to try and find Michael after the office had told him he hadn't been to work for three days. He'd been waiting for Pepper to call him, since he got home the previous night, and he was physically restraining himself from calling her.

"Negative, sir." Jarvis said. "Mr. Woods's cellular phone is unavailable to trace and he does not own a company car."

Tony sighed and scratched his head. "Ok, well I want you to do a full background check on him. If there's something to be found, I am gonna kick someone's ass at HR."

"Sir, doing a remote background check without the explicit permission of the law authority-"

"I know the risks, Jarvis." Tony snapped. "But I built you to be able to do all sorts of things without getting noticed, this is one of them."

Jarvis went quiet, a sure sign that he was busy doing as Tony had asked, all the while Tony was staring daggers at his phone, willing it to ring. So when it did, he jumped out of his skin, but his hand shot out immediately, but not quick enough because although it was Pepper that had called, it had only rang once. Tony flipped it open and quickly dialled her number, but got nothing but a dial tone and a service message.

"That wasn't accidental." He said. "Jarvis! You should be done by now!"

"Apologies, sir." The British voice said. "I'm re-checking my information. You're certain that I should be searching for a Mr Michael Gregory Woods?"

Tony rolled his eyes as he tried to dial Pepper's number again, cursing when he met the same result. "Yes, I'm sure. What's the problem?"

Jarvis printed out a sheet of paper for Tony to read while he spoke. "I regret to inform you, sir, that Michael Gregory Woods died in 1998."

Tony snatched the paper up and skimmed over it, shaking his head. "That's not possible. He's alive, Jarvis. Check the employment records."

"That's why I was double checking my results, sir." Jarvis said. "But I still can't make sense of it. Michael Woods was imprisoned for raping and murdering three women in 1998, served four years of a life sentence and died of heart failure. I even have the coroner's report and a body identification document signed by his brother."

Jarvis printed out the documents as he spoke and Tony stared at them, unable to comprehend what was going on.

"How is he doing this, Jarvis?" he asked, though not really expecting an answer and cursing when he still couldn't get through to Pepper. "Dammit! Ok, keep searching, I'm going back to Pepper's place to see if she's...

He stopped in the midst of picking up his jacket and a light bulb went off inside his head. "Jarvis, you said he had a brother?"

"Yes, sir." Jarvis responded. "His only living relative, Mark Harry Woods."

Tony quickly pulled his jacket on and rushed out of the workshop, still talking to his AI. "Did the coroner's report have any discrepancies with our records in terms of distinguishing marks on the body?"

"Yes, sir. The coroner's report states there was a scar on the body's abdomen from an Appendectomy, coinciding with a lack of appendix during the autopsy, yet our records show no such scarring on Mr Woods' body."

Cursing, Tony rushed out to his car and sped off towards Pepper's apartment, terrified as to what he was going to find.

Michael lunged for the phone at the same time Pepper did, but this was exactly what she was hoping for. Instead of trying to grab the phone, she dug her nails as hard as she could into Michael's forearm, drawing blood as she scratched him and bringing her knee up as hard as she could into his groin. He went down like a sack of potatoes with a grunt and without looking back, Pepper ran, faster than she could ever remember doing in her life. She managed to speed out of the broken front door and down the stairs towards the car park before she realised she was stuck. Her keys, along with her actual clothing, were upstairs. All she could do as she tried every single car in the lot was pray that someone was stupid enough to leave their keys in their car. Of course, this was hopeless, and when she reached the end of the lot and found a concrete wall, she hunkered down behind the last car, trying to calm down her hysteric breathing. She heard footsteps and hollow, angry breathing, and then Michael's voice.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are." He growled, walking slowly forwards through the lot. Pepper covered her mouth to stop a sob escaping and Michael chuckled. "I know you're down here, sweetheart. You can't run from me. I'm going to get you. If you come out, I'll make it good for you."

Finally, she could take no more, and with a burst of energy, she made a run for it, jumping out from behind the car and sprinting as fast as she could towards the other end of the lot. Unfortunately, Michael was faster. He dashed forwards and caught her around the waist, eliciting a shriek from her mouth which was quickly covered by his large hand.

"I'll give you some credit, Pep." He mumbled, his mouth pressed to her ear. "You've got spirit. I can't wait to break it."

He kissed her cheek and then dragged her towards one of the cars, popping the truck and throwing her inside before getting into the driver's seat and speeding off.

"Fuck!" Tony yelled and kicked at the coffee table in Pepper's abandoned apartment. She was gone, Michael had taken her. He was too late and she was going to pay the price. He pulled out his phone and activated Jarvis. "Get me the brother's address, Jarvis. Now!"

He scouted around for a few more seconds before storming out of the building and back to his car, Jarvis beaming directions to Mark's house through the inbuilt unit in the car.

"Jarvis, get the cops there." He barked as he swerved around traffic, foot welded to the floor. "Because if I get there first, he's dead."

Half an hour later, Michael was dragging Pepper by the arm into his house, slamming the door and locking it behind them.

"Now, isn't this cosy?" he asked, tossing the keys into a bowl on the table by the door, as if he hadn't just kidnapped her. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Go to hell." Pepper hissed, eyes casting around for an escape route but finding nothing. Michael tutted, an amused smirk playing on his lips as he stepped forward.

"That's not very nice is it?" he asked, chuckling as she matched his steps with backwards ones until she was against a wall. "I'm just trying to be a good host."

"You're a bastard." Pepper spat, setting her jaw and raising her chin. She would keep hold of her dignity this time. She wouldn't let him know what he was doing to her. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of noise or movement. "You know Tony's on the way here right now, don't you? You think he's going to let you get away with this?"

Michael's smile dropped a little but he quickly pulled it back and leant forwards, pulling his jacket open a little to reveal a holstered gun.

"I'm counting on it." He hissed, anger flaring in his eyes. "You think you can go behind my back with that scum bag and he won't be punished for it? You think you're gonna get off scot free?" he brought his hand sharply up to her cheek sending her flying into the wall, her head connecting sharply with the skirting board. "No, you're going to watch him die. Slowly. You're gonna learn your lesson, and then we'll go where no one can find us."

Pepper stared up at him, her vision going blurry as a small trickle of blood flowed from a wound where her head had hit the wall. She barely registered him tying her hands up in front of her before he turned the lights out and she blacked out, her last conscious thought hoping that Tony at least had the sense to wait for backup.

He couldn't see any sign of police as he skidded to a halt outside Michael's house, but he threw himself out of the car anyway and sprinted to the front door, launching himself at it and hitting the wood hard with his shoulder. Again and again he threw himself at the door, hitting and kicking at it until finally the frame splintered and breached, allowing Tony entrance to the dimly lit building.

"Pepper?" he hissed, stepping forwards. He heard a small groan come from his left and immediately stalked towards it, squinting in the dark until he saw the feint outline of Pepper's body on the floor, propped up against the wall. He dropped to his knees and cupped her face in his hands, smoothing her hair back and gasping when he felt a hot, sticky trail of blood seeping from a wound in her head. "Jesus, Pepper, we gotta get you out of here."

Pepper whimpered and mumbled something that Tony didn't catch before she fell unconscious again. Tony shook her shoulders and inclined his head. "Pep, what? Pepper?"

"She said 'gun'" Michael said, and Tony just had time to spin around and stand up before a bullet caught his shoulder and sent him tumbling back onto the floor. The light came on and Michael stepped into the room, chuckling to himself, a pleased look on his face. "I figured you'd work it out." He said with a sigh. "I bet you had your AI do a background check, huh?"

Tony grunted from his position on the floor, grasping at his shoulder which was pouring blood. He gazed up at the other man, registering his gun and the slightly crazed look in his eyes and he nodded. "You're not Michael. You're Mark." He panted. "You...you framed your brother."

Before Tony could blink, Michael – or Mark, had sent another bullet through Tony's opposing thigh, bringing a howl of pain from his lips.

"I loved my brother!" he yelled at Tony, spit flying from his mouth. "I loved him, and he loved me. He took my place. He...he said he had less to lose. I didn't know what it meant at the time, I was only sixteen at the time, and he was twenty, but we looked so much alike. We could have been twins if not for the age gap." Mark fidgeted with his gun and smiled sadly. "He fessed up to what I'd done, he went to jail for me. He gave me a second chance to have a life, made me swear to do right, and he died. He had a heart problem. I didn't know."

"Why the hell did you pretend to be Michael?" Tony grunted, trying to stem the flow of blood from both wounds. "You could have gotten away with it forever without this."

Mark shook his head and walked around Tony to Pepper, hauling her to her feet and dragging her over to a chair facing Tony, propping her up as she came around. "There, now she can see the show." He said before answering Tony's question. "I wanted to clear his name." He said. "See...I'm not right up here." He tapped his head with the gun and smiled. "No one would let me confess. I had to do something major to get people to believe me. Don't you see? This was the only way. But you got in my way. I could have done this with Pepper, but you had to get between us. So now you have to-." He stopped talking as the sound of sirens came from the distance. Mark dashed over to the window and cursed as he saw police cars speeding towards the house. He turned to Tony, glaring at him. "You called the cops?" he hissed. "Not cool, man. We were gonna have fun and now you've ruined it."

Tony could only lay there and watch as Mark stalked over to him, kneeling down practically on Tony's chest and pressing the gun hard into his cheek, his free hand around his throat. Tony fought to get out of Mark's grip but with the amount of blood he'd lost it was futile. Mark grinned and shook his head, pulling back the hammer of the gun.

"I want the last thoughts that float through your brain to be that you couldn't save her." He whispered. "I can probably have her once more before the cops get here."

"Sick fuck!" Tony spat, glaring at Mark. "I'll fucking kill you."

Mark laughed and sighed. "Goodnight, Tony."

"No!"

The sound of Pepper's voice startled Mark, but not as much as her full weight being thrown at him, knocking him off balance and sending him flying into the wall. Pepper had woken full and jumped at Mark, and in the chaos, the gun had gone skidding across the floor. Pepper didn't waste any time, stumbling after it and grabbing it in her bound hands, pointing it shakily at Mark as he righted himself, smirking at her.

"You gonna shoot me, Pep?" he asked, laughing a little. "Nah, you don't have it in you. You don't have the guts, just like you didn't have the guts to stop me taking you. You liked it, didn't you? That's why-"

The gun went off, and Tony thought Pepper had missed as Mark still stood there, until a band of red started spreading along his white shirt. Another pop sent another bullet into Mark's chest and he crashed to his knees, followed by another shot and another. Pepper emptied what was left of the magazine into Mark's chest, staring at his dying body and still pulling the trigger though there were no more bullets to fire. Mark coughed once, looked at Tony, and the insanity left his eyes.

Tony breathed a sigh of relief and looked over at Pepper who was still in the same position, firing an empty gun and tears streaming down her cheeks. Somehow, he managed to drag himself across the wooden floor, leaving a trail of blood as he crawled towards her and laid his bloodied hand over hers, breathing ragged.

"It's ok, Pep." He whispered as cars screeched to a halt outside of the house. "It's over. You did it."

His words mixed with the sounds of shouting cops seemed to jog Pepper out of her trance and she dropped the gun, gasping at the sight of Tony's injured state.

"Oh...oh my God, Tony!" she quickly pressed her hand to his thigh wound which was bleeding heaviest and Tony groaned in pain.

"I'm ok." He lied, his face white. A dozen police officers stormed into the house and a few secured both Mark's body and the rest of the house while others attended to Tony, gently dragging Pepper away and untying her hands.

"Don't you dare die!" she snapped, and Tony chuckled, coughing slightly as paramedics loaded him onto a gurney.

"I'll...try my best." He mumbled before blackness engulfed him.

Tony jerked awake from the worst nightmare he'd ever had. It had seemed so real. Even the pain had seemed real. It still did...it hadn't been a dream.

He was in a hospital bed. His shoulder and leg were throbbing all too realistically, and he could practically smell the gunpowder still. He groaned and tried to sit up, but a hand shot out of the darkness and lightly touched his good shoulder.

"If you try to get out of bed, I'll finish off the job that he started." Pepper mumbled, and Tony smiled, easing back down and grabbing hold of her hand.

"Wouldn't dream of it." He whispered, coughing slightly. "You ok?"

Pepper's other hand moved and flicked on the small light by the side of Tony's bed, revealing her fully dressed and sitting in possibly the least comfy looking chair he'd ever seen, but she nodded and smiled a little at him.

"As good as can be expected." She said. "How about you?"

Tony made a face and then winked. "I've still got all the bits of myself I started the day with, so I'd say result." He said. "And I didn't die, so points for keeping my promise please."

Pepper tutted and squeezed his hand. "You didn't promise, you said you'd try your best, that's not the same."

"Now why doesn't that excuse work when you want me to attend meetings?"

"Tony..."

"Ok, alright." He chuckled and smiled up at her. "Some day, huh?"

She nodded again and shrugged. "He's dead now, it's in the past."

Tony studied her face for a second before raising her hand to his lips and kissing her knuckles. "Well, I'm gonna be with you every single day until you actually believe that." He said softly. "And that is a promise."

Pepper smiled a little wider and stood up, waiting until Tony had scooted over a little before climbing under the covers next to him and snuggling close, wrapping Tony's arm around her.

It was going to be a hard road to go down, but Pepper was sure that with Tony's help, she'd make it. They'd come out fighting, just like they always did.

The End.