Pepper has no idea how long she has been walking for, she feels like it's been weeks. Of course that's an exaggeration, it's merely been days. It's getting harder to walk in a straight line and her vision keeps on going blurry. She found a stream a few miles after she started walking. Suddenly, she hears the branches snap and the trees rustle. She stops panic stricken. It could be them, coming back to hurt her, perhaps it was a wild animal? What if it was Natasha coming back? Before she can even make up her mind about moving she realizes that the ground is a lot closer than it was a few moments ago. Before her vision goes blank she looks at all the cuts on her body and comes to the sad conclusion that she's going to die due to the fact that her wounds are infected. After everything she has ever been through, she is going to die from an infection. She'll rot away and no one will ever find her. Natasha and Tony would never see her again . Before she succumbs to unconsciousness she sees a figure standing over her with a gun. 

She knew who had her. She knew she had been hurt. She knew that Pepper was scared. She just didn't know where they were. She'd been doing her own research, She watched the video at least  ten times; getting Jarvis to see if he can get a location on it. She knew that it was pointless; that these people were not stupid and finding a lead was damn near impossible. The panic attacks had been getting unbearable. Each time she thinks too hard about the whole situation her throat closes up at the thought of it. She hopes that they haven't hurt her anymore. She hasn't done anything. She wonders if Pepper knows who has her, or if she's just sitting their being strong. She wonders if Pepper knew who had her, if she'd to fight them back. Pepper had always said that she didn't consider herself a violent person but promised Natasha that if she ever saw any of the men from the red room and she had the chance to kill them she would take it in a heartbeat. Natasha hopes she doesn't know who has her. People from the red room knew exactly what they were doing. They knew how to defend themselves and how to kill people. Pepper was no match for them. 

Pepper was confused when she woke up, she didn't know where she was. Whoever had her had tried to tend to her wounds. She had bandages on them put some blood had seeped through. Her head still throbbed and things seemed to be moving at a slower speed than normal. She's warm and she has socks on.

"I tried me best" The deep voice boomed in the small room making Pepper cower.

"Who are you?" Her body tensed, she was scanning the room in order to find her best escape route.

"Was huntin' about an hour before I saw a deer. It was peaceful, thought I'd found my dinner. Then I heard this loud crash; the deer ran off and behind it I saw you. You were covered in blood and I could see that you weren't very stable on your feet. Before I got chance to ask if you were alright you passed out."

"Where am I? Am I still in California?" 

"Just outside of Malibu" 

"Really?" Why had they let her go? What had made them do it? What if it was a trap? What if Natasha was hurt? "Could I make a phone call?" 

______________________________________

Tony ran into Natasha's room. She was sat on the bed staring at nothing in particular, she looks up a little bit confused. A phone is thrown at her

"When you left us Natalie, we were worried we would never get you back. At last, we can get you back. You for her. The address will be sent to you. I hope we see you tomorrow morning" The phone went dead, she looked up at Tony trying to way up her options.

"You can't go. We'll find another way" 

"This is the safest way. They want me and they wont stop until they get to me. What is the point of risking agents lives when I can just go and get myself out of there?" 

"What if you don't get out? You ran away from the red room you don't know what else other people would have learned whilst being in there"

"I need Pepper safe. As long as they have me they wont care about her, they'll let her go" 

"Nat, please tell me you don't honestly believe that? You think they care about her life? They'll kill her. All Pepper is to them is bait. Once they have you there is no stopping what they could do to you or Pepper" 

"You're right. I know you are, I just want Pepper back. I'm gonna go back to our apartment that we sometimes went. I think it might bring me some closure" 

"Nat, you've got to bear in mind that she might not even be alive" She'd known this. Been preparing for seeing her dead somewhere, but Tony saying it out loud was like getting stabbed all over again. 

"I know" Walking away from Tony she felt kind of bad. Natasha has been dealing with this awfully but she didn't even ask how Tony was dealing with all of this. Pepper was one of Tony's first true friends, they dated for Christ sake. 

Walking into the apartment that her and Pepper share whenever things get too much for either of them. It had originally been Pepper's apartment and looking around she can see the books that Pepper had read. The monotonous DVD's that she kept neatly underneath her TV. The sheets that she made before they left. The overpowering smell of Pepper and her perfume is enough for Natasha to realize how weakly she'd been acting. She saw the way Pepper handled it, not breaking down until everyone was gone. Not showing any weakness. After hours of being tortured she didn't even bat an eyelash. And what was Natasha doing? She was crying herself to sleep every night. How is it that after years of practice and torture she had to endure herself, that is was nothing when your trying to protect the one you love. 

She checked her phone. It had the address where Pepper was, driving towards she felt a pang of guilt realizing she had lied to Tony.