Aurora let out a sharp gasp, trying to keep her grip on the wall out of fear of falling onto her back. Great. Back to this.

"We warned you to watch your tongue." He hissed at her. "Say something like that again and you'll end up like you did in the alleyway."

"I think you already accomplished that..." She slowly moved down the wall, trying not to move her back too much. She continued to run her hand along the wall on her way down.

"Not nearly as many as last time though." He pointed out. "You went down a lot faster this time."

"Maybe it's the fact you sent me through a whole freakin maze before this, jackass." She seethed out, placing her feet firmly on the ground.

"And explored 95% of it." He laughed a bit. "It was quite hilarious, really."

"Sure, I bet it was. But at least I was saved from your girlish voice whining in my ear. I'm considering going back just to keep my ears from ringing." She snickered.

"That might be hard since the door is closed." He noted. "And you probably can't move much."

Once again, she flipped the bird to the empty room. He was unfortunately right, the blade in her back causing her to have some immobility.

"You're very mature." He replied flatly. "You know, this would be much easier on all of us if you just cooperated."

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you? Freakin perv." She snickered again, regretting that small action. "Although, I guess if I'm not moving around, you can't really set off your little booby traps."

"Technically I still could trigger them. It's just more fun when you do it."

"Riiight. Because you all are doing this for fun." Aurora rolled her eyes, glancing around the room for anything of interest. "Told you, you'd be better in a circus. Tons of fun there."

"Alright, tell me then, I'll amuse you, what would my circus name be?"

"Something stupid, I'd assume. You'd be one of those attractions not a lot of people would go see, tucked in some back alley, behind the clown tent." Aurora responded. Her back ached but she was tired of sitting there, so she moved once more, feeling the walls.

She dodges the knife that flies at her but only barely.

"Oh look at you! Still moving! We can fix that-?! What the hell?!" Suddenly she heard loud crashing and fighting and the man swearing at somebody before it just went to static.

A moment later, a door opened, revealing a way out.

She was about to smart off again, when the sound of a struggle resonated through the room. Unsure if it was another trap or not, she warily made her way towards the door. That cursed knife in her back was making things a lot harder than they had to be, but she managed.

It seemed to actually lead out into the real hallways, a small staircase to her left.

Aurora glanced around before heading for the staircase. She gripped the railing tightly and headed upwards.

When she got up there she found the knife guy, unconscious on the ground and a silver, slimmer, Ironman suit standing there.

They turned to her and the face plate slid up, revealing Pepper. "Interweb?" She asked, a bit relieved to see her but also noticed she was hurt.

"How can I help get you where you can get out of here?" She asked.

"Pepper?" Honestly, Pepper wasn't the one she had expected to come to their rescue. Actually, she really hadn't expected anyone.

"Just up to the roof might be enough, or down to the alleys. But I don't know where they're keeping Tony, and they took vials of my blood and my mask-" She began to spurt out what had happened.

She shook her head. "I already dealt with Tony. He's with Happy a block down from here." She reassured her.

"I did find this," she handed her mask back to her. "But I haven't seen any vials..."

Aurora breathed a sigh of relief knowing Tony was safe. As she felt her brave facade slip away, she felt like she could break down right then and there. "We really need to find those. I don't know what they'll do with them-"

"I'll look for them but first, I'm getting you out of here. Alright?"

"Are you sure you'll be okay here? They deactivated Tony's suit earlier." Aurora mentioned, trying not to break. She'd be glad to get out of there, but she also didn't want Pepper to get in the same situation she was just in.

"Oh, I've already cleared half the building." She replied. "My suit isn't nanotechnology like Tony's." She explained.

Aurora blinked a couple times. Pepper had made it sound so easy... "Oh." She turned, jutting her thumb towards her back. "Just um... could you be a little careful helping me out of here?"

She saw the blade and winced. "Do you want me to try to remove it or-?" She offered her.

Aurora winced at the thought and shook her head no. "I don't know how deep it is or if it's hit anything. I'd better wait."

She nodded. "Can you walk okay with it or do you want me to carry you?"

"I might be able to walk with it for a little bit, no guarantees I'll stay on my feet though." She tried to joke. "If you can get me to the street and point me in the direction of Tony, I could probably make it from there."

She nodded and led her out of the building, letting her piggy back as she did and went ahead and just brought her to Tony who was relieved to see her.

"Oh, Thank God, you're alive..." Tony visibly relaxed with a shaky sigh.

"Come on, you can't kill me that easily." Aurora replied tiredly. At this point she was damn near collapsing. "Though I'm sure they would've tried to if I pissed them off anymore than I already was.." She admitted.

"How many times have you been stabbed?" Tony asked her a bit flatly but she could tell he was happy to see her.

"Once, maybe twice." Aurora motioned to her back again. "I didn't take it out yet cause I didn't know how bad it was. A dude with a metal arm crushed my arm too." At this point, she realized she had probably been working on adrenaline.

He sighed. "Get in the car so we can get out of here. Pepper is going back in to get any extra information and lock those guys in their own cells-"

Aurora frowned, and leaned against the car. "They took some blood after I woke up from whatever gas they filtered into that room."

"Shit... I'm sure Pepper will see what she can find." He told her.

"Okay." She turned sideways and slid into the back of the car. She avoided leaning against her back, instead leaning her shoulder against the back seat.

Tony joined her and leaned back with a sigh. "Sorry that went so sideways..."

"Don't apologize. You couldn't have known they'd take your armor like that, or that trap." She shrugged, but swiftly regretted that action.

"Still, that's the second time this week you've been attacked with knives..."

"I know." Aurora said quietly. She didn't like it one bit, but it was true. "It was the same guy no less." She leaned her head against the seat, finding her exhaustion was finally catching up with her, and her adrenaline was waning.

"I'm sure Pepper beat the shit outta him. But just rest if you can, alright?" Tony told her. "Happy, go ahead and take us to the tower, I have full confidence Pepper can handle this."

"What about Kasey and the.. the glitching?" She had trouble finding the words for it, but glitching was the only way she could describe it.

"I checked and I still have all the data. I should be able to make something at the tower." He replied. "They didn't have anything we could just... take over."

"Oh. That makes sense." Aurora said simply. She didn't have the strength to quip or ask more questions. "I think... I'm gonna sleep now-"

"Okay kid... I'll be right here." He told her, moving to sit next to her.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for her to completely pass out.