A/N: After viewing a fanart on deviantart by the very talented circusmayer, I couldn't help thinking of how different the Avengers storylines would be with simple gender-swaps. I blame Tumblr for most of this, and I apologize to my regular fans who have author alert and are probably expecting my anime works to be updated, only to find... well, this!
Either way, I hope you enjoy! And to my old fans, if you feel like stalking me/pestering me to work on my old stuff, I have a tumblr now! It's in my profile; and there's a much more apt description about this possible series posted there.
These will be a series of one-shots based on scenes from the Avengers' respective movie franchises: Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America and Thor. Today's entry is the introduction to the spunky Toni Stark with a scene from Iron Man.
Art by circusmayer (can view via my Tumblr, ' .com') Iron Man is owned by Marvel and it's respective movie companies and most definitely not me; this is simply a fanwork and no copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter One: 'Completely Harmless'
It was evening by the time the doorbell rang.
Miss Stark's personal assitant stared up from his laptop only to direct attention to the touch-screen coffee table. He leaned forward, taping his security code into the keypad to see the CCTV for the front door; Obediah Stone had arrived, fresh from New York.
"Come on in, Mr. Stone," he spoke into the microphone as he tapped the code to unlock the front door. He set his laptop down and hit the button that sent a buzzer through the intercom system in his employers workshop. Then, acting professional as ever, he stood up, buttoning his black suit jacket, brushed his ginger hair back and stood up straight to greet the guest.
Obediah walked in with a pizza box in his hand. He smiled. "Mr. Potts. How's everything on the home front?"
Potts put on his automatic smile. "Depends how they are on the business front, but I'll let you and Miss Stark hammer that out." Who still wasn't upstairs yet, he noted; he leaned down to activate the touch-screen and buzzed the girl again.
Obediah put the pizza on the table and wandered over to his favorite place in the living room, the baby grand piano, and sat down. "You know how she gets," he said, as if he read the PA's mind. "I can wait."
With a sigh, Potts stood, smiling apologetically in the CFO's direction before making his way to the stairs. Waiting there was a package, a manila envelope and coffee he had made earlier for his boss. He scooped them up and balanced them as he walked down to the workshop, already a bit put-off. The girl really liked to run her own schedule, regardless of other people. Obediah just got back from New York City, an eight hour flight in good weather, and she was keeping him waiting. Sheesh.
At the same time it wouldn't be a normal day working for Toni Stark if she didn't get on his nerves at least once.
Down in the shop Toni Stark flipped the casing over her forearm, creating a skeletal sleeve of wires and iron. It fit snug like a glove and in spite of the unforgiving outside frame, she could still flex her muscles quite easily. Now just to tighten up the joints a tad...
There was movement out of the corner of her eye; with an exaggerated huff she blew some of her short wavy hair out of her face to see who it was. Ah, her personal assistant. Hmm; he probably wouldn't approve of what she was doing, but she was already strapped in and her sleeve was hooked up to the arc reactor glowing on her chest, so there was no way to hide her new project now.
Potts stared through the glass doors and spotted her after a moment of gazing around the vast space. In all fairness, Toni was petite, and most of her assisting machines that filled the space were the same height (if not taller) than she was. But there she was, in her usual dirty khaki shorts, black camisole that was far too tight and low—not like she ever wore it in public anyway—with her short brown hair falling over her hazel eyes... and strapped into some sort of device. After frowning momentarily at her setup, Potts punched his code into the security box at the door and let himself in.
"I've been buzzing you; didn't you hear the intercom?" he called out as he approached.
"Yeah, everythings—what?" Toni said absentmindedly, reading the touch-screen before her more than she was listening to her assistant.
Potts set down the box, papers and coffee on a side table. "Obediah's upstairs—"
"Great, great, I'll be right up, Pepper," Toni cut him off, hoping the dismissive point in her voice would get him to leave.
"—back from the New York meeting," Potts said, voice trailing off into a sigh. He glanced away and even blushed a bit. "I wish you'd call me Corbin, at least, Miss Stark."
The nickname is quite stupid, and the more Toni called him by it, the harder it was to tell the story about it without losing a little dignity. It was the first day on the job, and Obediah had brought Potts to the Stark Mansion. It took twenty minutes for Toni to come out of the shop, although it was obvious she had come upstairs for sustenance, not introductions. Covered in soot and grease and wearing the same ratty shorts and tanktop (a look that Potts would eventually come to know as her most comfortable, don't-bug-me-I'm-working-on-science getup) proved she had been in her shop probably the entire night, and hunger was starting to take over her work ethic. Toni started making herself breakfast while Obediah chatted, and she listened absentmindedly before suddenly demanding someone to pass her the pepper. Potts did it; and that's when she noticed him for the first time (although he'd been standing there from the start). She had done a double-take, looking him over, setting his nerves on fire as those eyes attached to that genius brain of hers judged every inch and evaluated him. From his thin stature, ginger hair, light dusting of freckles on his nose—mostly hidden by his square, thick-rimmed glasses—and his sharp suit, he shook from head to toe until she finally asked what his name was. He told her, only for her to inform him, "Yeah, I'm going to call you Pepper."
It was a bit unmanning every time she said it.
Toni didn't reply to his request; she liked calling him Pepper. She was the only one who did, and after seven years the habit officially stuck and there was no changing it now. Instead she lifted her arm, sleeve and all, off its base, holding the glowing round emitter in her palm.
Curiosity got the better of Pepper and he stepped forward, eyeing the sleeve warily. "I thought you were done making weapons," he asked, obviously confused.
"I am," she said, grunting a tad. Geez, this arm was heavy—guess if she made a whole suit there had to be extra power support itself to some extent; no way would she be able to walk around carrying all this weight herself. Toni held her palm out, aiming the emitter in her palm towards empty space. "This is a flight stabilizer," she said.
Because that explained everything. Pepper tilted his head and narrowed his gaze, practically pouting at her, as he was obviously not convinced.
Although she wasn't looking at him, Toni knew what he was thinking. "It's completely harmless," she told him with great confidence, just before she slapped the activation button on her workbench.
The sleeve began to emit a whirring noise as it started up, and her palm glowed more brightly—she felt the pressure against her palm, felt the power and force, this was awesome, she could see the air bending a bit around the flight stabilizer, and with a sudden shot and bang the force grew so strong so quickly it threw her backward off her feet and into the wall.
Pepper jumped, covering his ears at the sound of the blast before turning back.
Toni groaned. "I didn't expect that," she said in her own defense.
"God, Toni," Pepper hopped over the fallen equipment quickly, reaching for her. She allowed herself to be pulled up by her arms, because yeah, she was kidnapped a while ago and was over most of her injuries, but getting thrown ass over backwards certainly isn't good for the healing process. Once on her feet she was already thinking about what needed to be tweaked—the power distribution to the stabilizers from her reactor had to be controlled, not allowed to flow on full-force—but noticed that Pepper had kept his arm around her body for a moment.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his professional tone disappearing for the moment. He sounded genuinely worried.
Toni stared at the hand that was on her bare skin before looking back up at Pepper—quite a bit up, since he was more than a head taller than her—with vague amusement on her face. Pepper saw the look and realized how close he was holding her (and not to mention what an ample shot of her cleavage she had from here, even though the new arc reactor kind of interrupted the view) and abruptly let go, which, damn it, only made the grin on Toni's face widen. Nerdy as she always considered her Pepper to be, he was cute and the way she could make him blush so easily was adorable.
"Yeah, I'm good," she told him, walking past him easily as she started to take the sleeve off. She had her moment of teasing him; her mind went back to her sleeve.
"Right, right," Pepper said, watching her walk away, the subtle swing of her hips in the low cut shorts—he stopped himself and cleared his throat. "Um," he fumbled momentarily, walking back to the doors. Toni noticed the way he rebuttoned his jacket; her regular, crisp, all-business-and-professionalism-here Pepper was back.
"These are the final release papers from the army," he told her, gesturing to the papers. "He needs those tomorrow, but come upstairs, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Toni said, waving him off as she set the sleeve back down. "Gimme a minute." She didn't watch him leave but heard the slight hiss of the hydraulics of her shop door open and close.
Toni unhooked her arm, stretching a bit once she was free and then idly touched the reactor on her chest. This thing really could have enough power to make a full suit function, even one much more advanced than the one she made in Iraq. The idea was a bit humbling; her finger lightly traced over the circle.
She knew her desire to create was getting much farther ahead than her logical part of her brain. I mean, for gods sake, she already had boots and sleeves ready, and once the flight stabilizers were ready, the actual body of the suit would be a cinch. And what exactly was she going to do with it once it was ready?
Well, hopefully make sure no one would need another weapon in this world.
Toni sighed, knowing the longer she stalled the more likely Pepper would come back downstairs like the nagging mother she was sure he really wanted to be. Time to put those thoughts and worries aside right now and see what Obie's been up to.
She walked past her sleeves and spotted the coffee Pepper had brought down, scooping it up as she passed, but paused at the Post-It it revealed when she lifted it. FROM PEPPER.
Toni grinned, a bit amused. "You complain about your nickname so much..." she muttered to absolutely nobody, but that was besides the point. She put her coffee aside and looked at the package the Post-It was attached to. Small, square, easily wrapped in brown packing paper; with a quick tear she found a glass display case. Her smile disappeared for a moment when she saw it held her old arc reactor, the original that she replaced only a week ago. She had told Pepper to get rid of it, and in an almost sweet voice he had asked, a bit hurt, why she didn't want to keep it. And Toni simply said that nostalgic is not a trait she possesses.
Well she may have to change her mind on that.
Surrounding the reactor was a metal ring with words.
PROOF THAT TONI STARK HAS A HEART
After a moment she bit her lip to try and stop the grin that was taking over her face, but the mission was futile. She smiled, staring at it fondly.
"Well, now I have to keep it," she muttered.
A/N: So? Whadja think? Pretty long for such a short scene, but I love the idea of Pepper being hired as a babysit for Toni. Creates a whole big-brother complex that intrigues me.
Next up will probably be something Claire/Nathan (aka Clint/Natasha) related. Please review! Tell me if I should even bother with this, lol.