All the Makluan rings were found….or so Tony, Rhodey and Pepper thought. One more ring was still out there….but it wasn't meant for the Mandarin.
Thursday afternoon, Tony, Rhodey and Pepper were doing their own thing. Tony was sitting on the controller chair while Rhodey stood by him while Pepper was just sitting there bored out of her mind. She sat on a chair and spun around until she got dizzy. "Probably shouldn't have done that" she said looking like she was about to throw up. Tony looked at her and smiled. "Hey Rhodey I remember Happy telling me something about meeting him at the diner down the block? He said it was important" Tony said. Rhodey groaned. "Probably history homework he wants to "work together on" said Rhodey with quotation fingers.
He left the armory and Tony jumped off the chair. Pepper switched to sitting on the counter by his work station looking at his armor parts. "You did that on purpose" she said smiling but still looking at the armor. "You bet" he said. Tony came up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her closer while she was sitting on the counter top. She put her arms around his neck and he lifted her down but still with his hands fixed on the same position. They made out when Rhodey decided to peek through an air vent he crawled into. "You coulda just said so" he said whispering but chuckling softly.
"Hey I'm gonna go get some ice cream around the corner want something?" she said with her arms still around him. "hmmm…ill take vanilla" he said. "okay" she said smiling. She gave him one last big kiss before she left. She left with Tony watching her leave looking love struck. He hummed as he went back to his chair. Rhodey walked in through the door like if he saw nothing. "soooooo…uh what did Happy need?" Tony asked. "You could've just told me you wanted to be alone you know" Rhodey said like he knew what happened. "What you want me to tell you, Hey I wanna make out with Pepper go do something outside!" he said sarcastically. "Couldn't have said it better myself" he said. Tony playfully punched him in the arm as they laughed.
Pepper was walking back to the armory when suddenly she was teleported somewhere. "What the hell?!" she said. "Hello Ms. Potts, very nice to see you" the unknown person said. The person should himself but….it wasn't a person at all, it was one of those lizards! "Who are you?" she said confused. "My name is Xerox and I've brought you here to take the position of being the Mandarins partner" he said. "Huh?!" she said. "Well in the human term it is "wife" he said. "NO WAY AM I DOING THAT" she yelled. "It is the law that of what the earlier Mandarin established" Xerox said. "I'm not gonna marry that backstabbing Gene !" she said. He put a violet colored Makluan ring on her. "Is this a Makluan ring? But I don't have lizard DNA okay so I can't be the one"she said. "Indeed, this was meant for the companion of the Mandarin and you do not need our DNA in this case as the ring only requires the purest" he said.
"I said I'm not marrying him!" she said trying to take the ring off. "The Mandarin gains more power from the partner and he also agreed to whoever it could be." He said. "I said no! and why won't this thing come off!" she yelled. "It has been locked on you and forever it shall stay until your death" he said. "The Mandarin will be here tomorrow at noon to claim his partner" he said. "Claim?! I'm not some give away toy!" she said. "For now you shall remain here" he said. Xerox disappeared. "But I love Tony…." She said dropping to her knees.
It's been hours and Tony started to get worried. "Rhodey she was supposed to be in and out it's been 2 hours!" he said. "I know man maybe we should look for her" Rhodey said. "Computer locate Pepper" Tony said. "Searching…location not found" said the computer. " Where the hell did she go?" he said. Tony armored up. "I'm gonna look for Pep stay here if she comes back" he said. Rhodey gave him a salute. Pepper tried calling Tony and Rhodey but the connection could not reach. She banged on the walls crying for help until she got tired and eventually fell asleep.
The next day Gene came. Xerox introduced her to him as she was sitting on the floor looking down. "Pepper?!" he said. "Seems you are acquainted with her" said Xerox. "She can't be the one this is a mistake" he said. "My lord she is the purest of them all" he said. "Now let's start the test" Xerox said. Pepper looked up."What test?" she asked. "The test to activate the ring" he said. Pepper looked back down again. "You must take the test with the Mandarin" he said. Pepper stood up giving off a sad look as she walked next to Gene. "When I agreed I didn't expect it to be you alright" he whispered to her.
She didn't say a word. They were teleported to the test site, there were two injured samurais with swords crossing. Two tiles where right in front of them with Chinese symbols. "What do those say" she said in a gloomy voice. "Heal and Fire" he said. The symbols had two orbs over the healing and two red orbs over the fire. She stared at it thinking. " Easy its fire" he said. He took a step but Pepper grabbed his wrist. "It's not" she said. "Healing is nothing the Mandarin can heal himself fire is destruction of the evil" he said. "it's not" she said in a louder voice. Gene didn't listen and grabbed the orb of fire and the test activated. The two samurais came to life and both ran to attack Pepper.
She ran to find a weapon. She found a sword and started waving it at them. Gene used his red ring to create fire and shot at the samurais, but they didn't even flinch. Gene teleported in front of Pepper protecting her, he grabbed an axe and sliced both of them. They said in a weak voice "help me" Pepper understood what needed to be done as she made her way to the two orbs at the healing , grabbed them and set one on each of the samurais. They were instantly healed and disappeared. "How did you know?"Gene said. "Only the pure would heal" she said almost smiling. The violet ring activated but she did not transform. The Mandarin felt himself stronger as he was getting the strength of the ring. Xerox the ceremony will begin at once. Pepper looked confused. "The makluan's do a marriage ceremony too" Gene said. Pepper looked at him with shock. "I will not marry you Gene I love Tony!" she yelled. "I know but you're doing this for the greater good" He said.
(weeeeeelll I hope that wasn't too bad xP this was requested from Just a Crazy-Man this was a little difficult to write but I did it XD dun worry chapter two is coming)
