Pepper looked back over her shoulder again and her shoulders sagged in relief when she couldn't see the men anymore. It seemed like she been nervous for no reason and she couldn't help feel a little foolish that she'd pressed the panic button too quickly. Tony was going to use this against her in further arguments about security, Pepper just knew it. "Damn," she muttered under her breath as she looked to the front again just in time to find herself barrelling into a broad chest. Pepper bounced off the man and hit the ground with a thud. She looked up at him, still dazed from the impact and saw it was one of the men who'd been following her. Pepper wasn't sure how he'd gotten ahead of her but she knew now she hadn't been imagining things.
The man reached down to grab her and she instinctively kicked up at him, her running shoe catching him squarely in the face and there was the satisfying crunch of a nose being broken. Her assailant cried out and grabbed his face, blood coursing out between his fingers. Pepper attempted to scramble to her feet but a foot suddenly appeared and caught her in the stomach. She dropped back down to the ground, the wind knocked out of her as a searing pain ripped through her ribs.
"Grab her!" she heard a voice growl above her.
Strong hands gripped her shoulders and dragged Pepper to her feet. She flailed out wildly and raked her nails down the new man's face and he made a grunt of pain, loosening his grip on her. Pepper took advantage of his distraction and twisted free of his grasp, running for her life. She didn't look back as she bolted down the path, wishing she was heading towards the fountain but the other two men were blocking her path. Suddenly the third man was in front of her, holding a gun directly at her. Before Pepper had time to react her neck exploded in pain and then all she knew was darkness.
oooOOOOooo
Steve Rogers ran as fast as he could down the well-worn jogging path of the park across from Stark Tower, easily outstripping the other runners. They were just blurs in his peripheral vision as every bit of his energy was focused on getting to Pepper. As soon as he'd heard the phone call from the young woman, he'd started running. If it had turned out to be nothing he could have just told her that he'd changed his mind about the run. If it wasn't nothing, then Steve knew he had to get to Pepper as quickly as he could. He flashed by the fountain, quickly taking in the fact Pepper was nowhere to be seen. He ran on and came to a detour sign for runners. Steve's immediate instinct was that it was fake and simply there to make sure Pepper was going to be alone at a strategic time.
Tony's voice came to him over the communication device pinned to his chest. "Have you got her?" he demanded to know.
Steve opened his mouth to answer him when he rounded a bend in the track just in time to see Pepper's slight frame crumple to the ground and a man standing in front of her with a gun in his hand. "NO!" he yelled instinctively and threw himself at the man, crash tackling him to the ground. The gun flew out of the man's hand as Steve grabbed him by the collar and drew back his fist. The punch snapped the man's neck back at the impact of Steve's fist with his face.
Tony barked questions at him. "What's happening, damn it, Rogers, talk to me!"
"Pepper's been shot," Steve bit out, "get here, now!"
There was no response but Steve knew Tony had gotten the message. He moved to check how badly Pepper was hurt when there was a hail of gunfire at him. Steve leapt out of the way, using himself to draw their fire. He bounced up into the nearest tree and used it to swing along and get behind his attackers. They shot wildly up into the trees as Steve skilfully avoided the rain of bullets, regretting not having taken the time to grab his shield on the way out. The sound of jet thrusters came above him. Steve looked up and he could see through the foliage a flash of red and gold.
Iron Man burst through the trees, shooting at the men. They scattered as he made a bee line for Pepper's unmoving body. Iron Man landed next to Pepper, all of his attention on her.
Steve's concentration was on Pepper's attackers and even as two of them ran away, a third reached into his sweater and drew out something silver. The man drew back his arm as Steve yelled out to Tony. "Look out, he's got something!"
Tony turned around just in time to see the silver ball suspended in the air before erupting into a thousand pieces. He instinctively sheltered Pepper with his iron clad body, the metal fragments bouncing off him like rain. Steve had just managed to jump out of the way in time to avoid being hurt. He landed on the ground and tackled the third man again. This time he made sure the bad guy didn't get up again.
Thor appeared above their heads, the other two of Pepper's assailants dangling from his hands, clearly unconscious, unaware they were hovering in the air. "I have the other villains," Thor announced. "Is the maiden alright?"
Tony picked up the unmoving Pepper in his arms. "No, she's not," he said hoarsely. "Bring those three back to the Tower. Jarvis, get the medical room ready, and get the doctor here, now."
Steve threw the man he'd knocked out over his shoulder effortlessly. "Don't you think we should take Pepper to a hospital instead?"
"Stark Tower has the most advance medical facilities in the country," said Tony, his voice terse. "Do you think I'd take her there is it wasn't the case?" He didn't give Steve a chance to answer as a burst of thrusters had Tony shooting up in the air and speeding back towards the Tower with Pepper cradled in his arms.
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‼️🎈hello everyone thank you so much for reading this chapter! 🙏 If you'd like to read the full novel "The Price of Legacy", you can find it on my Ko-fi page: ko-fi.com in the store section. This fanfic will consist of 30 chapters and will also have a sequel that I'll be publishing later on. 🎈‼️
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