A/N: I'm so glad people are interested in this fic. :) Makes my stomach all warm and fuzzy!
This chapter will introduce super power #1! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Stan Lee. Robert Downey Jr. Gwyneth Paltrow. I own nothing.
NOTE: I AM NOT AN EXPERT ON HUMAN BIOLOGY OR NANOTECHNOLOGY.
Natasha walked into the observation room. Pepper was in the room next to theirs, along with Bruce. Tony was quietly and impatiently waiting beside Hawkeye. Tony had his arms crossed against his chest, his foot was tapping against the plastic flooring, and his dark cold stare could be seen in the reflected glass. She quietly came up behind Clint and looked towards the same glass that separated them from the other room.
"How is she?" She quietly asked him.
Clint gave a small shrug. "Bruce just got a sample of her blood. The good news is, is that Miss Potts seems to be all right now."
"The pain just disappeared…" Tony quietly mumbled, but loud enough for them to hear. "…She says she's fine."
"Weird." Natasha replied, her gaze now on Tony.
"Which is why Bruce is taking a sample of her blood, and analyzing it." He replied as he still stared at the pair in the room next to them. His eyes were on Pepper the whole time.
Pepper sat on top of a metallic table. Her fingers brushed against the cold metal countless times in hopes of calming herself down. For the past two hours, she had been in pain, but now that it subsided, she only wanted to get back to her duties as co-CEO of Stark Industries. Tony then persuaded her otherwise, and after a few minutes of arguing, she grumbled against his wishes and agreed it was best to be safe than sorry.
Her long legs dangled as they were only mere inches from touching the floor. She impatiently waited for Bruce to give her the okay.
Bruce was hunched over a nearby table with a very expensive microscope. He placed the slits of glass under the big machine. He twisted a few knobs to get the right angle and sharpness.
He looked away and furrowed his eyebrows. He looked through the microscope again and almost gasped.
Tony pressed his lips together in hopes that Bruce didn't find anything out of the ordinary. It's true that Pepper Potts rarely ever got sick, but when she did, it would hit her hard. He hoped that nothing life threatening would bestow its presence in her. He vowed to protect her, and it would crush him if he couldn't keep his promise.
"Did you guys want something to eat or drink?" Natasha calmly asked, almost in a sympathetic tone.
"I'm fine." Tony brushed her off.
"I'll go with you. I'm kind of hungry." Clint responded before turning around and following Natasha out of the observation room. Once they were out of earshot, he quietly whispered to her, "I thought the silence in that room was going to choke me to death."
Natasha lightly smiled. "I've been in that situation before. I think you owe me one for saving your life."
"Please." He breathed with a smile.
Tony kept his distance, but his tendency to pace was eating at him.
"Tony." Bruce said from the intercom. He saw the questioning look from the man. "You're going to want to take a look at this."
Pepper curiously looked at Bruce before her gaze fell on the figure that entered the room. Tony quietly made over to her and brushed is hand against her own to reassure her. She flashed him a small smile in response. He made his way over to the doctor in a hurry.
"What's wrong?" Tony quietly gasped.
"I…" Bruce shook his head. He had the look of disbelief. "I… don't actually know."
"What do you—" Tony peered into the microscope and almost immediately jumped away. "What is that?" He pointed at the device. "Please tell me that's a mistake."
"What?" Pepper gasped. "What is it?"
Bruce shifted his gaze between the pair and began to shrug. "I honestly don't know what to say."
"Please tell me you accidentally looked at the wrong sample." Tony gritted through his teeth.
"Tony..." Pepper worriedly said, trying to get his attention.
"I am one hundred percent certain I didn't use the wrong sample." Bruce pressed his lips together. He kept glancing at Pepper as if he were trying to keep an eye on her. Any sudden movements she made almost made Bruce jump.
Tony gritted his teeth for a moment. "Pepper." He slowly approached her. "I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing—"
"What?" She breathed with wide eyes. "What's wrong? Am I sick?"
"Well…" He partly shrugged.
"You're certainly not sick." Bruce mumbled from a distance, making Tony glare at him.
"To put it bluntly…" Tony paused to gaze at her. She wore a worried look, one that he'd always see whenever he got back from a tough mission or an impossible battle. "You have nanobots in your system."
She narrowed her eyes at the two. "What?" She gasped with a shocking tone. "What does that mean?"
"It means there are microscopic—" Bruce got interjected by Tony.
"Infinitesimal, actually." He corrected him.
"…Infinitesimal…" Bruce rolled his eyes. "Really, really, really, tiny devices are latching onto your molecular structure."
"Oh my—" Pepper stopped short.
"It doesn't mean that you're going to die or anything like that." Tony tired to calm her down. "I think…"
"Actually, we really don't know what these nanobots are doing with your molecular structure." Bruce walked back to the microscope. "They're actually latching onto your muscular tissue as well, so they could be doing an infinite amount of things." He looked back at the pair. His words weren't exactly cutting the string of pure shock that Pepper had been feeling.
Tony placed his hand on top of hers to reassure her. His thumb brushed against her wrist almost lovingly. "It's not as bad as it sounds."
"Well, it's actually pretty bad—" Bruce stopped when he got a hard glare from Tony. He immediately back tracked, "Um… what I mean is that we don't exactly know what it is doing in your system, or what its purpose is."
Tony looked back at her. "Did you eat anything weird lately, or get injected with anything?" Pepper slowly shrugged before back-tracking. "I mean, if you've been taking drugs, I won't be particularly mad at you. Everyone needs to wind down every once in a while."
Pepper's hand whacked his arm. "That's absurd." He responded with a wide grin. "I remember getting bit after I left the Stark Tower, but it was just a bug bite."
Bruce and Tony looked at each other in doubt. The doctor furrowed his eyebrows and pressed his lips together, "I don't think it was a bug bite."
"It was only a half an hour later until you felt sudden aches and pain." Tony told her.
"But…" Pepper's mouth gapped.
"Unfortunately," Tony spoke up again. "Until we figure out what those things are doing in your system, you're going to have to stay under close observation."
"Meaning?" She eyed him.
He placed a reassuring hand on her thigh. "Meaning, you'll have to stay in here."
"So, I can't work?"
Tony shook his head. Pepper gave a sharp look at Bruce, but he shrugged in response. "Tony has a good point." The doctor spoke up. "In the event of something going horribly wrong, I'd rather be in close proximity."
Tony furrowed his eyebrows at him. The doctor's words sounded like an advancement towards Pepper, so his territorial instincts kicked in. "My girlfriend, not yours." He bit back.
Bruce tried not to grin, but instead rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."
Pepper heavily sighed. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. In all of her years being close to the best technology in the world, she gets involved in the uncanny event known to man. And what's worse was that she was confined from working, something she was looking forward to once she complied with Tony's wishes. The weird combination of work and his presence oddly increased productiveness on both sides. "Can I at least get something to drink?"
"Yeah." Tony nodded with a small smile.
Pepper slipped off the table and felt his hand squeeze hers. When she looked back at him, all she could see was that reassuring grin on his face. Bruce was the first to notice the change in Tony's entire being whenever Pepper was near him. He was pretty sure everyone else knew it too, but he was always the one to be dangerously exposed to their relationship thanks to Tony referring to their partnership as, 'The Science Bros'.
Pepper placed her hand on the knob of the door, and twisted her wrist to open it, but when her arm swung it open; the whole entire door flew off, making a loud crunching sound. Her eyes widened as she lifted her arm with her hand still holding the knob. The entire door was in her hand – her single hand.
Pure shock warped through her body as she slowly turned to face the other two. Tony looked like a bucket of water had just been dumped on him. Bruce was the only one with a confused look, which made sense since he wasn't easily surprised with things out of the ordinary.
"Huh." Bruce looked at the scene in front of him with an intrigued look.
"Holy shit." Tony gasped as his eyes grew as wide as saucers.
"Um…!" Pepper tried not to panic as she looked at the disconnected door.
"Uh…" Tony couldn't stop staring. "Why—What—How—"
"I don't know!" She exclaimed, trying to get away from the door as if it were poisonous.
While the two were individually panicking, Bruce was the only one that moved towards the detached door. "Does it feel heavy?"
"I—" Pepper shook her head hastily. "I don't know—it doesn't feel like anything."
Tony's eyes were still wide. "Holy shit…" he repeated.
Bruce looked at the hinges on the door way and then at the door itself. "Call me crazy—"
"I think that already flew out the window." Tony spoke up, still looking at Pepper.
"—But I think these nanobots are altering your molecular structure and muscular tissue to give you some sort of advantage." Bruce turned around to look back into the microscope on the other table.
Pepper cringed and slowly lowered her arm. She wore the most disgusted look when she tried her best to lean the door against the wall. Tony couldn't only stare in what looked to be pure shock and amazement.
"Advantage?" Pepper scooted away from the detached door.
"Super powers." Tony breathed before smiling immensely. "God, Pepper, you have no idea how turned on I am right now."
Pepper shook her head at him. "So, what, these nano-thingies are giving me super powers?"
Bruce looked away from the microscope and shrugged. "In a way, yes, but in a very technical way, they're actually giving your muscular structure the boost it needs to perform unthinkable tasks, such as lifting heavy objects." He gestured towards the door.
"But the door ins't even heavy." Pepper gave a furrowed look.
"Well, that goes without saying." Bruce tried to tell her. "What I mean is that, we rely on our muscles to do everyday tasks; opening doors, lifting objects, and even sharpening pencils. These nanobots are merely giving you a certain benefit."
Pepper sighed. "So when I want to do anything in general, these nanobots are going to give me a 'boost'?"
"My hypothesis is, is that they're completely controllable." Bruce tried to reassure her. "With practice, you might be able to control how they act. It's your body; they're just merely tools."
"And when I do sharpen a pencil…"
"At this stage, you'll probably accidentally shove the whole entire pencil in the machine, thus making the machine launch itself into the air, and crashing into the nearest object, which will most likely make a huge dent, or just keep crashing into things until it stops." The doctor replied with a small smile.
Tony blinked a few times. "What if she can't control these things?"
Bruce began to sigh. "There are too many variables to incorporate into that scenario."
"We actually don't know if these things can destroy her from the inside out." Tony shifted his gaze between his girlfriend and the scientist. "Sure, they're giving her muscular tissue a boost, and probably doing unspeakable things to her molecular structure, but what if they start eating at her?"
"Well…" Bruce gave a displeasing look. "…You have a point."
"Yes, this is very, very cool, but I'm more worried about her safety here." Tony turned his head to gaze at Pepper. "I know you're probably more than freaked out, but we need to get those things out of you."
"Wait, so I don't get a say in this?" Pepper furrowed her eyebrows. Did she actually want to keep these things in her body? It made her feel like she was able to do anything. That feeling of success and not having to worry about anything that could harm her gave her a smidge of hope. Half of her wanted to keep these things for the sake of her own well being, but the idea of it destroying her from the inside said otherwise.
Tony narrowed his eyes at her in shock. "You actually want to keep these things in your body?"
"Well…" Pepper slightly shrugged. "It kind of feels nice."
"Pepper…" Tony knew the feeling of power, and how good it felt, but he wasn't about ready to let Pepper let those things possibly destroy her.
"Hear me out." She tried to tell him. "I could actually do some good. You don't have to worry about my safety. I could probably help you guys on a mission… or something."
"No." Tony responded without a beat; he began to shake his head. "I know that feeling, Pepper; the feeling of being able to do anything… the feeling of a god. It isn't worth all this trouble. And if it does end up killing you…" His eyes turned a softer shade of brown, as if he were trying hard not to think about the consequences.
She looked at him with a gloomy expression and sighed. He was right. The feeling of being this powerful would eventually get to her head. Later along the road, it might even cloud her judgment.
"Fine." She mumbled.
"The real question is," Bruce paused, narrowing his eyes at Pepper. "How exactly do we get those things out of her?"
Tony pressed his lips together. "Well, it's certainly not impossible."
"I'm sure if I can get a current blood sample, I can get to work on the antidote as soon as possible." The doctor looked between the two.
Pepper looked completely shot down, almost as if she had just gotten rejected to join the Softball team. Even if she did keep her 'powers', her entire life could change. The way she'd run the company (if she could still run the company in her condition), and just her life style in general would be altered. She wasn't even sure how she'd handle her relationship with Tony and their habitual ways of affection.
"How long do you think it would take to create a cure?" Pepper curiously asked.
"With Bruce's speedy brain, I place my bets on a day." Tony beamed at Pepper, and then at Bruce.
Bruce chuckled in flattery. "Um, probably a little over a day – it depends on how complicated things get." He gestured towards the unattached door. "And right now, it's a whole mess of complications."
"Hopefully Fury won't get mad when he finds out about the door." Tony took a gander at the damage.
"He bought that story about the rats, didn't he?" Bruce raised an eyebrow at him. Tony could only chuckle in response.
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