Hello everyone! Welcome to my story. I do not own anything but my own characters and plot line. Thank you all for reading; I hope you enjoy it!
"Excuse me, Ms. Potts is on the line for you. She says she has something important to tell you."
"Give me 5 minutes," a second voice replied. With that, the door to the large board room clicked closed. The location: The New York Times CEO conference room. The time, 9 AM. Why was this meeting occurring?
Well, yesterday morning half of the New York City's buildings were destroyed on the west coast due to alien activity. When the CEO/Editor of the company glanced at the morning paper, the figure was shocked to find anything but the clear and apparent horror that had happened the day before.
Why? Why would such a prominent and horrible event not make it into the largest newspaper of New York?
"Can someone answer me please," the editor then said from their large, black chair. A pair of deep, cold chocolate eyes glared at the wide-eyed men and women sitting around a large oak table. Each of them stared down at their twiddling thumbs, unable to answer their boss. Suddenly, all of them jumped as their boss slammed their hands down onto the edge of the table and stood up.
"This bullshit isn't going to be tolerated any longer. I have hundreds of wonderful workers below you incompetent yes-men who would kill for your position. Now, I expect a full reprint of these stories, because the people deserve to know what the fuck happened yesterday," the figure shouted, the face flecked with anger and rage.
It wasn't fair, was it? To keep the people from knowing to save themselves from critics backlash? All of these people sitting around the table were terrified to print articles on the event, simply because they didn't want bad guys coming after them. They were all like little children. The door opened again where a small man piped up,"Ms. Lawrence, Ms. Potts insists you speak to her right now."
Rebecca Lawrence glanced behind her shoulder, nodding her head to the notification. The door closed again. The woman turned back to her employees. Her perfectly manicured nails reached forward and clutched the paper. With that, she threw it at table as the papers flew everywhere.
"Fix it. Now."
The woman stormed off.
"I have a bunch of apes working under me, Pepper," Rebecca sighed into the phone. The woman sat in her large crystal office that was the definition of beautiful. All around the central desk were large, towering obelisk bookshelves. Behind the desk itself was a clear view of Manhattan, somehow still wondrous in all of the disarray. Before her was a crystal desk with large LED screens for computers. The room itself was decorated with hanging awards and center pieces. In the center of the room were two leather sofas surrounding a crystal coffee table that had the latest New York Time editions on it.
Rebecca was reclined in her large black office chair, her feet propped up on the edge of the desk and her worries slowly fading away.
"You do what you have to," Pepper replied, her voice clear.
"You sound worried."
"Tony is recovering, that's all."
Of course. Virginia "Pepper" Potts was Tony Stark's assistance. 'Assistant' is a loose term.
"He saved the world; I think he deserves it," Rebecca laughed lightly, her smooth cherry lips widening. Pepper Potts was Rebecca's best friend. They met in college and well, grew up together. Sisters, almost. Pepper went ahead and pursued technology with her current love bug, Mr. Tony Stark, while Rebecca went off to expose the truth in the paper.
There was a hesitation, before Pepper spoke,"Tony needs to go away for help. He is going back to S.H.E.I.L.D for last minute testings and to help rebuild the city."
Rebecca huffed,"Already?"
"Yeah... He wants me to come by and stay with you," Pepper spoke, finally getting to her point,"He knows I'll be safer around you than anyone else."
The CEO nodded her head,"I get that. That's fine with me."
There was another pause as Pepper spoke,"You should tell them. S.H.E.I.L.D. What do you have to lose? You could be saving lives and-"
"No," Rebecca interrupted sharply. "That's not who I've chosen to become. I'm nothing more than I am right now. You are one thing; my best friend. I would break all boundaries to ensure your safety. Thousands of lives? My help to them is by telling them that we simply aren't alone on this Earth through text."
Rebecca heard Pepper laughing over the receiver. Her face softened as she heard her friend reply,"Yeah yeah. One day you'll see it. I'll see you tonight, around 7."
"I'll see you, Pepper."
The dial tone.
This had to be one of Stark's schemes. Ever since he found out about Rebecca's abilities, well, he's been performing tests. He's been trying to figure out what she is and where all of this energy that she emitted came from. Stark has actually been quite a bit of help, teaching her how to control what she did and even helping her unique qualities flourish. Pepper knew about Rebecca's uniqueness since college, but Pepper couldn't resist telling her lover.
And now, whenever Stark went away, he would only trust Pepper with Rebecca. Only Rebecca. If they went to a military base, Rebecca came too. That's why Rebecca had such little supervision over the paper by the time that crap report came out this morning. She had left with Pepper.
Now, she had lined up outside her office door the soon-to-be deceased. Rebecca fixed herself up for a moment. She slid back on her black pumps that matched her black pencil skirt and sat up straight. She smoothed back her chocolate hair in its nice, high pony tail that defined her even-toned face and high cheek bones.
The first woman walked in. She was fair skinned with bright auburn locks. She timidly sat down in small black chair. The CEO played with the cuffs of her white buttoned shirt, twisting it almost as if she hadn't a care in the world. "Um, you asked to speak to me ma'am?"
Rebecca was pretty intimidating, especially when her cold eyes shifted up to meet the girl's. Rebecca simply whispered,"You're fired."
"13 people. Are you crazy?" Pepper laughed, her blond locks sleek and hanging by her shoulders. Rebecca entered the room wearing a pair of long black yoga pants and a large t-shirt, her brown locks cascading down her back in large curls. The editor plopped down on her bed with Pepper, handing her a glass of champagne.
"They can get jobs cleaning rubble," Rebecca snorted, a smile twisting up at the edge of her mouth as the glass a came to touch her lips. Yes, Rebecca fired 13 of her employees who directly refused to write articles on the demolition. She was tired of those who refused to write quality work out of fear.
The woman leaned back onto the headboard of her bed as she flashed her teeth,"I'll give my position to you in my will and you can deal with them."
Pepper shook her head, reminding of herself of her best friend's sometimes horrible personality with others. It often reminded her of Tony. The two did not play well with others, just in general. But, Rebecca was always organized and on top of things. Everything she touched turned to gold.
The two women were in a large black and deep gold-colored bedroom. All along the wall were black stones holding small orange flames, contrasting with the rich golden walls. The bed was dark and velvety, and across the room were more bookshelves, a desk, and more floating screens. The on-suite was also a few feet away from the two women. Yes, they were staying together at night.
The girls often chose to sleep in the same bed and relish in one another's company. It was just like the old days. Rebecca placed her glass on her nightstand, before sighing,"It's weird. To know that all that happened and now it's simply done. The Asgardians have left, the city is already responding... This event is going to change history."
Pepper nodded her head solemnly,"I'm worried about that."
"Stark?" Rebecca questioned.
"More work, more time developing... More fighting. I had him for less than a night before he left again..."
Rebecca slowly sat up, worry etched on her face. She extended her arms, only for Pepper to fall into her friend's embrace. Pepper was so scared. She knew that Iron Man was a powerful, and somehow death-defying super hero. His armor was an incredible feat and provided such a tantalizing form of weaponry. But, that is what made Iron Man special. An army of Iron Men? Who knows what the government would do to get that! If it was intergalactic war, the Avengers would not be enough and other measures would need to be taken.
Nothing would be enough. The Tesseract was key to saving humanity, but it wasn't the right way. Was there even a right way? Was there any way to save the human race at this point? Rebecca knew everything; she was in the loop. But, while she was aware, she had the clear outsider's perspective. Now, Earth declared itself as a country that could defeat an intergalactic foe. What would that say or do?
Suddenly, a phone ringer chimed. Pepper mumbled for a moment before slowly releasing her grip on her friend. She smiled for a moment before grabbing her phone. With red eyes, she glanced at the caller. "Tony," Pepper said aloud, before answering it.
"Hi, how- What?"
Rebecca's face watched Pepper's morph into something indescribable.
"What do you mean?" Pepper said again,"I don't understand. Here? Now?" Her voice now had a tone of urgency. Her body language was rigid and her face was in complete horror. "Tony where are-"
And with that, the bedroom exploded.
Please read and review! It helps me write the next chapter *cough and post cough* quicker. Like, I might already have chapter two waiting...
