Chapter Two

They sat in the armory in near-silence. A couple of words that were exchanged here and there didn't do much to break the ice. Pepper still remained quieter than usual, only looking up from her homework every so often to watch Tony and Rhodey making adjustments to the suit.

"Need any help over there with the homework yet?" Tony asked, his mind still busy processing the calculations he was running for the suit.

Pepper seemed startled, "Huh? Oh, ya...I'm stuck on number three." She said absently.

"Number three?! Pepper, it's been almost an hour since we got here, and you're on number three? You should have asked for my help sooner, you'd probably be done by now." Tony sighed, finally tearing his attention away from the suit to help Pepper.

"I'm sorry, my mind is elsewhere, I guess." Pepper shrugged her shoulders, and Tony eyed her suspiciously, remembering her same expression earlier that day, walking home from school.

"Pepper, did something happen? Did Whitney say anything to you?" Tony asked, genuinely concerned.

Pepper shook her head vigorously, "No, no, of course not. Why would she? I'm just Pepper, Pepper Potts! No reason to go out of her way to talk to me! She probably doesn't like me very much anyway, so it's all good. No, everything's fine!" She rambled continuously. She realized that her stream of spoken thoughts had just affirmed Tony's question.

"Pepper, what did she say to you?" Tony asked, leaning closer to her. Rhodey glanced up from his work and silently shifted toward the door.

"Well, that...she wanted to..." Pepper's lips pinched firmly together, forming a straight line, her eyes wandering everywhere except Tony's.

"Pepper." Tony stated, slightly impatient with her unwillingness to tell him. "You can tell me." He said firmly.

Pepper took a deep breath, shut her eyes, and blurted, "She glared at me, and called me your pet, again! I don't like her, I'm sorry, but sometimes I just can't stand her! And I know she likes you, and I don't know why it bothers me. She's trying to pull you away from us-from me-and it's driving me up the wall! I feel like you're totally oblivious about it, and I try to be nice to her so that you don't get mad at me for being rude, but sometimes I just want to strike back with a mean comment like she does to me all the time and see how she likes it!" Pepper finished, taking in some more oxygen, her lungs totally depleted from her quick rant. She turned her head away, afraid that she would find a disgusted look on Tony's face.

Tony only frowned, "She called you my pet? Again? She's just really trying to milk that one for what it's worth, isn't she?" He chuckled slightly, "And actually, I have noticed how rude she is to you, and I'm glad you haven't retaliated, because you're better than that, just don't let her get to you." He finished softly, Pepper's eyes slowly met his.

The corner of Pepper's lip quirked up into a slight smile. "Thanks Tony, that means a lot." Tony smiled in return.

"So, what is it that you need help with, then?" Tony asked kindly.

By now, Rhodey had vacated the premises, leaving Tony and Pepper alone to discuss things. He didn't feel like getting in the middle of someone else's drama at the moment. Instead, he decided it was better to work on some homework, especially his upcoming history paper.

After finally completing her math homework, Pepper packed up her stuff and headed for the door.

"You're leaving already?" Tony asked.

Pepper turned, surprised, "Oh, ya. Well, I'm finished with my math homework, so...I didn't think there was much else to do." She glanced at the clock, 8:10 p.m., it read. She had spent more than half the day here.

Tony nodded, "Oh, right. Of course, do you want me to walk you home?" He asked.

Pepper smiled, "That's very sweet of you, Tony, that would be nice." She waited by the door for Tony. He finished up what he was doing and followed Pepper out.

The walk felt shorter than usual, both of them chatting and laughing. The sky was slowly growing darker, the pollution in the air creating a red-orange glow in the sky. They stopped at Pepper's door, Tony propped himself against the doorframe and smiled at Pepper. "Thanks again, for helping me with my homework, Tony. I understand it a lot better now." She stepped forward and gave him a quick hug.

Tony hugged her back, "It was no problem, I'm glad I could help."

"And thank you for walking me home. I'll see you tomorrow?" Pepper asked, hoping that he wouldn't be skipping out on school or anything of that sort.

Tony smiled, "Of course, you're not thinking I would skip class now, would you?" He teased. "Hey, but if someone is in need of help, I just might have to use a bathroom pass." He chuckled.

"You probably hold the record for 'Longest time spent in the bathroom.' Just warn us before you head off on a mission or something important like that, so we're not wondering where you are." She petitioned.

Tony sighed, "All right, if you say so. Pepper Potts just can't seem to stay away from an adventure with Team Iron Man." Tony whispered as he came to the end of his sentence, being careful that no one was listening in on their conversation.

Pepper giggled, "Well of course I love to be involved!" She whispered loudly, she sighed and looked down for a moment, "I guess I should head up to bed now, it's getting a bit late." She seemed to be looking at a non-existent watch on her arm.

Tony sighed dramatically, "I can't keep a woman from her beauty sleep. Heaven forbid!" He gave her a winning smile and watched as she pulled out her house key and opened the door. Tony turned to go, stopped for a second, and looked back, "Good night, Pepper." He said quietly.

"Good night, Tony." She whispered, watching him turn to walk back home. She shut the door, leaning her back against it, eyes closed, and smiled.

"So...you didn't call to tell me how late you were going to be." A voice said from the doorway to the kitchen.

Pepper's eyes shot open, "Dad! You scared me! I thought you would be in bed already." She breathed, trying to recover from her surprise.

"Pepper, it's only 8:30." He said, puzzled at her outburst.

"Well...I thought you had an early morning or something. I guess I wasn't paying attention to the time, thought it was later than 8:30..." She trailed off. Her dad's eyebrow went up a quarter of an inch on his forehead.

"You thought it was later? Well, then all the more reason to have come home even earlier." He said with a slight smirk on his face. "What was it that you were doing, anyway? You're hanging out with that Stark kid a lot." He questioned.

Pepper rolled her eyes, "Dad, it's not JUST Tony that I hang out with, it's Rhodey too. And besides, Tony helped me with math today. He's a pretty good tutor, if he remembers to dumb it down for me." She added.

Her dad chuckled, "Ah, I see...Well, now that you're home, I'm going to get to bed, and you should do the same. You have school tomorrow, young lady." He teased. Pepper once again, rolled her eyes.

"Okay, I'll go to bed." She said, yawning. Even though it was only 8:30, it felt like it had been a long, tiring day. Maybe an early start to bed would be a good idea this time. She trudged her way up the stairs to her bedroom. She plopped herself down on the bed, not caring to change out of her dark skinny jeans (A.N.-I know, I know! I love skinny jeans, though! What can I say?) and light pink sweater top. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she dozed off into a light sleep, she slept like a baby for about an hour, waking promptly when her phone buzzed. Her head shot up, and she felt around for her phone until she found it by her pillow, she squinted her eyes from the glare and realized that she had gotten a message from Tony saying, "I'm still at the armory and I've picked up some weird activity going on a couple of blocks from your place, let me know if you notice anything. Be safe, good night." Pepper responded slowly, her fingers feeling for the buttons while her eyes drooped dangerously. "Thanks Tony, I'll let you know if I see anything suspicious. What kind of 'weird' was it? Any details?" A couple of minutes later she received a text, "Different witnesses called in reports of seeing something like long strands of glowing material that showed up every now and then." Pepper couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, she texted back, "Okay, thanks for letting me know. Good night, Tony." She yawned and put her phone next to her pillow, snuggling in to her blankets.


Mr. Fix watched as Tony and Pepper walked to the Potts' home. Waiting for the ideal moment to send Whiplash. He hadn't told Whiplash, or anyone else the identity of Iron Man quite yet, he wanted to wait for the opportune moment.

"Whiplash!" He called, waiting impatiently. Whiplash entered the room, a slight hiss coming from his direction. "I want you to leave for the Potts' house in approximately one hour and fifteen minutes."

Whiplash nodded his consent, "What about the other girl?" He hissed.

Mr. Fix clenched his teeth, "I sent some of my men to pick up the Stane girl and take her to the location. You don't need to be worrying about that part of the plan, I just want you to worry about your part." He sneered.

Whiplash shrugged, "Fine. So what do I do? Just knock the girl unconscious? Keep her awake?" He asked nonchalantly.

Mr. Fix thought for a moment, "Hit her hard enough so that she'll wake up after she's in place." He said thoughtfully.

Whiplash seemed exasperated, "I'll do my best..." He lashed out his whips, testing them, the long thread-like veins glowing in the darkness of the room. "I'm ready."


Don Don Don!! What will happen next, you ask? Well...keep reading to find out! Oh, and I totally forgot that Whitney lost her memory! So...just ignore that episode, if you will.