A/N: Sorry for the delay!
Disclaimer: All rights go to Marvel
Read and Enjoy!
Tony walked into the conference room with an exhausted expression on his face. Bruce was in front of the wall projector looking at the first blood sample he got from Pepper. He had Steve Rogers go down to level two and tell Tony that he wanted to see him. He heard Tony's footsteps in the conference room, and then the sound of the door closing.
Tony looked up at the projector with raised eyebrows. "You rang, Doc?" He playfully asked.
"How's Pepper doing?" Bruce responded. He turned around and flashed a small smile.
Tony shrugged. "She's fine. She's got the super strength down, but that titanium armor is a tough egg to crack."
Bruce nodded. "That's good."
Tony noticed how edgy the doctor was and ultimately sighed in response. Whenever Bruce was itching to ask something, or talk about something, he would shift in his position and try to look away. "I know you didn't call me up here to have a tea party, Bruce."
Bruce gritted his teeth together. "Ehhh…." He hissed.
"C'mon. Use those big boy words we've been practicing." Tony jokingly said with a wide grin. "You can do it."
"Did Director Fury talk to you this morning?" Bruce practically blurted out.
Tony narrowed his eyes at him. "Yeah, why?"
"What was it about?"
"Whoa," Tony paused and held a hand up. "I'm not the type of person to kiss and tell, Dr. Green Beans."
Bruce became even more anxious. He pointed up at the projector with his index finger. He looked more worried than anxious now. "Director Fury approached me in the laboratory today."
"He wants you to observe the old blood sample?" Tony confusingly asked.
Bruce paused. "He wants me to create an antidote from it."
Tony widened his eyes. "Is that even possible?"
Bruce looked at the projector and pressed his lips together. "It's not impossible, if that's what you're asking. The nanobots aren't evolving as fast as we thought. It's like that tissue reconstruction the nanobots we were looking at were doing. The one in Pepper's bloodstream are acting with her body, not on their own. Given the proper amount of time, I can probably whip up something."
"But what about that titanium casing those nanobots are feeding through her skin?" Tony asked the doctor; he folding his arms across his chest in curiosity.
"That's one of the problems." Bruce noted with a frown.
"One?" Tony asked in surprise. "There's more than one?"
"The nanobots are reacting to her nerves combined with her instincts." Bruce crossed his arms. "Those things won't let anything harm her unless she can control it."
Tony already knew that part of the problem. He began to heavily sigh. "And the other problem?"
"The origin of this thing." Bruce pressed his lips together. Tony looked at him with a cold stare. Neither one of them had brought it up since Pepper had talked about the 'bug bite' she received. Something wasn't right about that situation, both of them knew that, but the consequences that come with the discovery made Tony shiver. He didn't want to see Pepper get hurt, especially from something that could go from safe to horribly wrong in a split second.
Bruce sighed. "I know you don't want to hear this, but whatever – or whoever – did this to her has to have some sort of purpose. There's no way this randomly happened to her."
"I know." Tony nodded with an unpleasing tone. "But we need to approach this thing one step at a time. We can worry about where this thing came from after we know Pepper is safe."
Bruce looked at Tony with a curious expression. He could see the amount of pressure weighing on his shoulders. He wondered, at what great lengths would Tony sustain to keep Pepper safe? The thought had brushed his mind more than once, and no doubt, if he had actually asked Tony, he would tell him he'd do anything for her.
The doctor nodded once, and began to smile. "So, is Pepper an Avenger now?"
Tony instantly breathed a laugh. "Fury won't let her."
"So, I take it the council is okay with keeping her on board until everything is under control?" Bruce raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
Tony scratched his forehead with his index finger. "They're not entirely okay with it. Fury makes it sound they spanked him for being such a bad boy, or something."
Bruce pressed the side of his hand to his mouth to hold his laugh back.
"Fury said the council won't take drastic measures unless forced to." Tony told the doctor whilst rolling his eyes.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning the council doesn't want to splash in the same kiddie pool as us until we get noodle floaters." He said with his signature joking tone.
"Noodle floaters?" Bruce furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
Tony almost gasped. "You've never had them when you were a kid?"
"What are they?"
Tony shook his head at him. "You know what; I'll get you a twelve pack of them from Walmart for your next birthday."
Bruce smiled a bit. "So, Pepper isn't an Avenger?"
"Nope." He frowned. "And I was so looking forward to putting her through the initiation."
"We have an initiation?" Bruce gave Tony a curious look.
He rolled his eyes at him. "Not that kind of initiation." He sexually implied.
Bruce widened his eyes once the rest clicked in his mind. He looked away, almost as if he were embarrassed. "Oh."
"Fury says Pepper has been marked as a scientific experiment by the council, and will be called as such until cured, but I refuse to call her that. So, right now, we're just going to call her by her proper name." Tony notified him.
"…Which would be Pepper." Bruce questioningly said before giving him a puzzled look.
"I was thinking more along the lines of Property-of-Tony-Stark, but Pepper works too." Tony jokingly added with a wide grin.
Bruce beamed at him and breathed a laugh. "Pepper would kick your ass if she heard you say that."
"She already bruised my bottom down on level two. Thankfully, her super strength didn't dent the Mark Seven." Tony said with a small smile. "Speaking of Pepper, I left her alone to spar with the Flag Captain," He turned to exit the conference room. "I hope to god she kicked his ass."
Bruce smirked as he watched him leave the room. He looked up at the projector and noticed the whimsical movements of the nanobots. It was almost a waste to see such nanotechnology go to waste. The scientific side of him wanted to keep them for further research, but the Avenger side of him knew he had to get rid of them. And then there was the mystery about the origin of it. Who was smart enough to create this type of nanotechnology? It was baffling what mind, or minds, could've produced this.
…
Tony walked down the stairs to level two in a quick pace. If there was even the slightest chance he got to watch Pepper take down Captain America, he'd be there in a flash. He opened the door to the practice area that was specifically designed for the Avengers, and noticed Steve standing there with his back to the door.
Tony began to sigh. "Please don't tell me Pepper already kicked your ass. Damn, I missed it." He frowned. Tony walked up to Steve and stood beside him; he noticed his gaping mouth. Tony furrowed his eyebrows at him. "I swear to god, if you're ogling my girlfriend, I'll turn your shield into a Churro maker—" He slowly turned his head to the open area and abruptly stopped.
Tony's eyes went wide as the scene in front of him unfolded. A flash of black passed him more than once. His hair flew in the same director, and when Pepper stopped in front of him, his mouth nearly fell open.
Pepper was grinning wildly at him in her black sweatpants, blue t-shirt, and tennis shoes. She almost couldn't contain her laughter as her mind just wrapped around the fact that she just discovered that she could run as fast as lightning.
"Super speed." Steve said with his mouth still wide open.
"Wha—" Drool began to leave Tony's mouth. "Oh my—"
"I know, right!" Pepper exclaimed with a wide grin. "This is so cool!"
It was weird, Pepper reacted to the liquid titanium alloy and the super strength as if a spider had just crawled down her back, but the super speed was somewhat dazzling. It felt like water to her; the movements were fluid, and the motion of such incredible speed tantalized her taste buds. She enjoyed it a lot; she enjoyed the vast freedom of her new super power.
"And to think," Tony began to grin. "I'm actually dating you." He pumped his eyebrows at her. "Are you as turned on as I am?"
She rolled her eyes at him.
"We were… um…" Steve began. "I threw my shield at her, and I expected the titanium suit to bounce it back, but it hit the wall behind her and she disappeared."
"Faster than the speed of light." Tony mumbled with a smile. He crossed his arms across his chest; he couldn't contain the excited seven year old boy inside him.
Pepper began to frown. "But I still can't control the nanobots. They're not exactly a woman's best friend."
"Well, you've nailed your super strength down, and I'm guessing the super speed really isn't that hard to control." Tony noted, his gaze riding up and down her body.
"Are you sure I can't keep these things?" Pepper almost pouted.
Tony shook his head. "As much as it's really turning me on – no, you can't." He heard her heavily sigh. "Pepper, I want you to keep these things. We could keep the world safe together, but these things are like ticking time bombs. If they're feeding titanium alloy through your skin, there's no telling what else they could do."
She pressed her lips together and gave him a sorrow expression.
Steve gaze shifted between the two of them. He looked up at Pepper and noticed that familiar look. When he was injected with that super soldier serum, he had to adapt to his new body without question. His new body gave him the option to save tons of innocent lives, and sometimes much more than that. He noticed how quickly Pepper had adapted. The thought of going back to being a regular stick in the mud shattered his universe; having to go back to being a regular Joe would be devastating.
"I'm going to go and tell Bruce about this. Maybe he can explain how these nanobots are doing this." Tony quickly said before backing out of the room. Pepper couldn't help as he completely stared at her in amazement. He pointed at her with his index finger and sexily looked at her, "We're going to do something about all this tonight, okay?"
She breathed a laugh. "What ever you say, Boss." She watched as he left the room.
"You really want to keep these powers." Steve noted.
Pepper gazed up at him and slowly nodded. "But I can't."
"It must be hard to even think about it." He mumbled, gazing down at her.
"Think about what?" Pepper knew what he was talking about. She just wasn't sure she was actually thinking about it herself.
"In the near future, or when you can control the bots, these super powers will be gone. You'll be a regular woman working hard for Stark's company. You'll be answering phone calls, taking regular transportation, and asking Stark to open a jar of salsa for you." He noticed her sorrowing expression deepen. "I know how you feel."
"Did you ever wonder how you'd feel if you weren't a super soldier anymore?" She curiously asked him, trying to hide her sadness.
He nodded with compassion. "Yes." He tried to smile. "I don't know what I'd do. Being a regular guy doesn't really suit my tastes anymore."
"You don't have to worry about me, Steve. I know these things are dangerous." She tried to tell him with a small smile.
He wasn't buying it. "I know you know that these things are dangerous, but it doesn't change the thought that you might not want to get rid of them. Letting go of something this valuable is hard."
"I'm not going to betray Tony's wishes, if that's what you're trying to say."
Steve sighed. "I just don't want to see you make the wrong decision."
He watched her walk to the center of the room, ready to give another go at controlling the nanotechnology swimming in her body. "I know." She simply replied before relaxing her muscles.
…
The man walked into his apartment with a small smile. As he turned in the lights, all of his lab equipment, wall decorations of small newspaper and magazine clippings of nanotechnology, and a few pictures of his family were illuminated. He walked over to his computer and typed in a few lines of command codes.
"Progress check." He said out loud.
"Procedure is at one hundred percent." The computer responded back to him with a deep animated voice. "Proceed to final phase?"
The man reached over to the table next to him and flicked on one of the devices. Green lights flickered on at the same time. The computer spoke again, "Final phase in progress: Thirty hours in counting"
Reviews are fuel!