The meeting started in five minutes, and Pepper Potts was nowhere to be found.
A group of professionally clad men and women sat around the long mahogany table in the conference room, quietly conversing among themselves and finishing some last minute tasks on their laptops before jumping straight into business. They had all gathered at the office to discuss potential partnerships for Stark Industries' Clean Energy Project. This was one of the company's biggest innovations to date. Stark Industries was officially "breaking away from weapons manufacturing and transitioning into the world of sustainability." Tony put in years of work, planning, and timing towards this project before handing the CEO position over to Pepper almost a year ago, during its infancy.
This was one of the few meetings Tony would attend for the entire year. Pepper had been leading and attending conferences for years prior to being appointed CEO, as Tony knew she could handle everything on her own and keep the company running without him. It was only appropriate for him to show up today, though. It was agreed upon that the company's directional shift would be making headlines, and it would leave a good impression for the man who carries the Stark Industries name to show some type of involvement in the announcement.
But what good does it do if the owner of the company was there, but not the CEO?
Tony walked into the conference room of unfamiliar faces, but very familiar names. Stark Industries had conducted business in the past with almost every person in there, but never face to face. That is how business works. Everyone in the room knew who Tony Stark was though, without having to think twice. There was a chorus of hellos and greetings as Tony took a seat at the end of the table, unbuttoning his suit jacket. It took him a second to realize that Pepper wasn't there, and he was quick to send her a text.
Where are you?
It's unlike Miss Potts to not show up to a meeting on time, or even at all. Pepper is one of the most reliable people in the company, which earned her the title and position of CEO. She's always had the best interest of not only the company but Tony as well. With the number of messes she's managed to pull him out of in the past couple of years, he was forever indebted to her. But her absence today was without warning, and Tony's reputation was riding on the coattails of her showing up. She had never done something like this before, and this was the one meeting she did not need to miss.
The whispered chatters around the room faded out as everyone began their preparations for the meeting. With still no reply from Pepper, Tony had a few seconds to decide whether he wanted to wing this entire thing himself or dismiss everyone and have Pepper reschedule this for a later day this week. Tony knew the latter option could cost the company some of the best business partnerships they could've ever had. Stark Industries prides itself on utmost professionalism, and rescheduling a meeting is not how Mr. Stark runs his company.
Tony stood up from the table, the attention shifting immediately on him. He has never been familiar with stage fright; he's always possessed strong verbal skills and knew how to put on quite the show, even when being stood up by his right-hand business partner.
"Good morning, everyone," he smiled. "Thank you all for your time in being here. I just want to take a brief second before we begin to apologize on behalf of my CEO, Miss Pepper Potts." "He still didn't know just what lie he was going to use to cover up, but he didn't have much time to sort out the details. "It... appears she had a family emergency come up and is, unfortunately, unable to be here with us today. But with that being said, let's start our meeting."
Tony stepped over to the front of the room, grabbing the clicker off the table and starting the presentation. With the lights off he quietly backed himself in the corner of the room to discreetly check his phone. He still hadn't gotten a response to his text message, and he was starting to think Pepper's absence was something more serious than forgetfulness or a random bout of unforeseen sabotage. As much as he wanted to sneak out and check her office, the video was about to end and he had an important meeting to run. On quick thinking, he texted Happy instead.
Have you seen Pepper today? She missed the meeting.
Tony emerged from the corner, a cheeky grin plastered on his face as the lights flickered back on. "As we've just seen in the video, all of you here are the lucky prospects who get to take a first glance at Stark Industries' newest movement. We're projecting ourselves into the future of clean energy production and sustainability. If you'd be so kind, please click the link that should've popped on all of your screens. Now comes the good part: technicals, and what this means for you all." Tony smiled at his audience and his back pocket began to vibrate. He waited until everyone was focused on their laptops to check his phone, trying his hardest not to come off as rude or unprofessional.
It was Pepper.
I'm so sorry I missed the meeting. Something came up. We'll talk later.
It was short and explained nothing. Tony let out a small sigh of relief in knowing that she was at least alive, but there was a sudden annoyance that came over him from being simply told that "something came up." To Tony, there was never a good enough excuse for putting him and his company's reputation on the line, especially during one of their most important meetings to date. This behavior was unacceptable from any employee, starting from the CEO down to the janitors, but he was confident Pepper had a valid excuse for pulling a move on him like this at the worst possible time. Tony's biggest concern at this point wasn't about Pepper not showing up to the meeting, but making it run smoothly without her.
Tony called for a break after an hour to give himself an excuse to run down to the lobby and talk to Happy. If there was anything she had done right for this meeting as of yet, it was ordering catering from the local bakery. It gave him enough time to step away while the others chowed down on pastries and coffee while discussing the project details.
Tony mashed the elevator button repeatedly, looking down at his watch as he mentally calculated exactly how much time he had left before he needed to come back, up to the very second. He was thoroughly convinced that the meeting was already going catastrophically but also forgets to remind himself that he is his own harshest critic. The elevator doors opened and he ran across the lobby, catching Happy by surprise.
"Jesus Christ, Stark! You want to give a man a heart attack?!" Happy leaned back in his chair, clutching his chest as he momentarily caught his breath. He was lost in his own headspace, watching videos of puppies being trained into becoming service dogs on his computer.
Tony leaned over the counter, regaining his composure. "Did you get my text?"
"Did you get my reply?"
Tony pulled out his phone from his back pocket. "No, I was in the meet- emOh./em Didn't read that."
Happy chuckled to himself. "Yeah, like I said. She came in this morning around eight, and that's the last I've seen of her. She definitely hasn't left."
"Are you sure about that? 'Cause I doubt you'd be aware of anyone coming in or out if you're watching puppy videos." Tony pointed at the screen.
"I need something to get me through the day, Stark."
Tony rolled his eyes. "Listen, I only have a couple of minutes before I need to go entertain these clowns upstairs again for another hour- Can you pull up cam footage from before the meeting and see where she went? Just check the thirty-second floor, I doubt she even went down to the conference room."
Happy spun around in his chair, quickly typing away as various windows playing different videos simultaneously flashed all around the screen. "She stepped into her office around seven past eight, and she hasn't stepped out since."
Tony's eyebrows furrowed together. There was something unusual going on, but Tony appeared to be completely oblivious. He tried to remember the last time he spoke to her... Last night she came home late from working at the office because she was putting together some last minute preparations for the meeting today. They engaged in some small talk, but everything appeared to be fine.
So why didn't she show up?
"I gotta go, but if you see her, just tell her to call me. I'll be dealing with the press after the meeting."
"Okay, Boss," Happy called out as Tony sprinted back across the lobby and ran into the elevator.
The rest of the meeting went much smoother than expected. Tony left with many more partnerships than anticipated, after fully convincing himself that the Clean Energy Project was over before it even started. It wasn't long after the meeting was over that the first wave of media flooded the lobby downstairs, and Happy and the rest of the security team were on crowd control.
"Everyone, calm down, Mr. Stark and Miss Potts will be down here soon to conduct all scheduled interviews and answer all your questions." Happy looked over at his security partner. "Hey, can you page Tony and see if he's done with the meeting already before these people stampede us?"
Before his partner made it over to the desk phone, the elevator doors opened. The one and only Mr. Stark stepped out, causing the frantic journalists and cameramen in the lobby to practically run Happy to the ground. "It's okay, everyone," smiled Tony. "I'm here now. Let's take this outside."
After putting on a fake smile for the press and dodging the much-asked question of "where Miss Pepper Potts is," Tony met Happy back in the lobby. He knew Pepper not showing up was going to garner more media attention than they could've asked for, and now he had a separate mess to deal with. The media loves a good scandal, and the people will be more interested in knowing whether one of the country's wealthiest business owners and his girlfriend/CEO are still together. They'll wonder what that means for the company itself, instead of clean energy initiatives. Tony added that to the long mental list of things he still needed to worry about. His biggest concern right now was investigating why Pepper was hiding from today's meeting.
"Why the hell would Pepper stand up the meeting today?" He said to himself, walking back into the lobby.
Happy overheard the one-sided comment and piped in. "Is she sick? Did she say anything to you before?"
Tony shrugged. "No, or at least I don't think so. She didn't say anything to me, so whatever it is, it's something I don't know about." Tony walked to the elevator, giving the button a hard press. "I'm gonna go figure out what's going on."
Happy could feel Tony's energy from across the lobby. He was not a happy camper. Happy, of all people, knew the temper Tony had at times, and how it sometimes got the best of him.
"Hey Tony, just stay cool, okay?"
Without saying a word, Tony stepped into the elevator.
Tony managed to build up enough anger during the elevator ride up to make his blood pressure skyrocket. He was hot to the touch and his face was hot-rod red. He had grown accustomed to feelings of betrayal, as he's had many people come in and out of his life who have let him down before, but he never expected this from Pepper. He appointed her CEO of the company just because he knew she was the only person he could ever trust. Or so he thought... He had feelings of anger, hurt, and frustration brewing inside of him, and he didn't know which one was going to confront her with first.
He arrived on the thirty-second floor and immediately bolted down the hallway. It was quiet except for the sound of angry footsteps. Straight down the hall were the mahogany double doors that led into the Office of the CEO. Tony was steps away from bolting in just before he stopped himself in his tracks. Something told him he needed to be cautious about his approach. This wasn't the time to let his emotions get the best of him. He needed to be rational and careful with his words and his actions. Unfortunately though, for someone who's managed to fully convince himself that he doesn't have a heart, he seems to act more impulsively on emotion than reasoning.
He knocked on the door, which sounded almost like a pounding.
"You know why I'm here, Pepper."
Silence.
Another hard knock. "Pepper. This needs to be discussed. Put whatever feelings aside that you have and talk to me as your boss."
Silence.
"Listen, I'm not going to sit outside of your office all day until you choose to talk to me. You've already made enough of a mess earlier today by standing me up at the meeting, and now the press is about to have a field day making up rumors as to why you weren't down there for the interviews."
He waited a few seconds for an answer before letting out a strong exhale. "Alright, when you feel up to acting like a professional and telling me what's going on with you, come see me at the lab."
Tony stormed back down the hall, catching up to a Human Resources Rep who was also taking the elevator. Just as the doors closed, Pepper slowly poked her head out of her office, revealing her tear-stained face and how her once-bright green eyes were now red and swollen.
If only Tony knew.