A/N. Hi guys! I'm back :) Sorry, I've been kind of busy the past few days. Also, if you all check my profile you can see that I posted a oneshot prompted by one of my reviewers that takes place in SAACSWCA after Tania gets mugged. It's basically an argument between Tania and Pepper. Interested? Go check it out :) Has anyone gone to read my trailer scripts? I'm just curious. Anyway, hope you enjoy chapter 3 :D
Disclaimer - I don't own the Avengers and I never will. But maybe one day MARVEL will own this story... but not right now ;)
CHAPTER III
As Steve and Tania descended back into the lounge for lunch, downstairs, Pepper was in her office trying to strike what might be Stark Industries' biggest deal yet.
She nervously twirled the cord of the phone in her fingers as she listened to the CEO on the other end of the line to respond to her proposal. When he did, she frowned. "No, Sir, I don't understand. Stark International is offering you a huge deal and an equally huge sum of money for-"
She was interrupted by the man on the other end of the line. She rolled her eyes and clacked her fingers against her desk as she stared at the perpetual motion machine on her desk, swinging around and around and around forever. She'd gotten it to replace her last one from the destruction of the Malibu mansion and was glad she did – it was oddly calming in times like these.
She sighed and began rubbing her temples. "Fine. We'll meet in person." She pulled out her Stark Phone and began scrolling through her calendar. "I am available on Friday the fourth at seven a.m. Is that alright with you?" She paused, waiting for his answer. "Okay. See you then. I-" He interrupted her to ask some useless question and she rolled her eyes again. "Yes, of course I will bring the head of each SI department. That is to be expected from the merging of two companies. Anyway, I am a very busy woman as you can understand Mr. Greene, and I must be going. Have a nice day and I will see you on Friday."
She slammed the phone down before he could ask any further questions. She sighed and dropped into her chair, rubbing furiously at her eyes. Ever since the whole Mandarin fiasco, she'd been extremely behind in her duties as co-CEO of Stark Industries. It had only been set back further by her "medical condition" as a bad ass woman on fire.
Once Tony had gotten rid of her newfound powers, she had set immediately to work on bringing the company back up from the ground from which it was sinking. It had been a lot of work and it was still only a few days later. She had at least a week's worth of papers to sort through and dozens of phone calls and hundreds of emails and at least ten meetings to attend to within the next couple weeks or she knew she'd never catch up.
Stark Industries had recently expressed interest in branching out and funding schools in less developed countries and Arrow Incorporated did just that. In short, Tony wanted to buy Arrow Inc. It was a long shot because Arrow was one of the biggest companies out there outside of SI and it was completely successful. But whatever Tony wanted, Tony usually received.
In order to buy Arrow, Pepper knew she'd have to do a LOT of convincing and bargaining and compromising. It was going to be hard but if Stark and Arrow "merged", all the bad press about Tony might just be buried for long enough to focus on the progress their company is making.
AI headquarters was unfortunately in Philadelphia, which was only a half hour flight away, but it was still far enough. Evens so, in order to have a full business meeting with two businesses, she'd need the head of every department she had on flight with her. That included Public Relations, Human Resources, Finance/Accounting, Sales, Production, Maintenance/Operations, Legal, Research, Security, and so many more. Among those departments was Marketing and Advertising. The head of said department was none other than Tania herself.
Pepper sighed in relief. Maybe the meeting wouldn't be so bad. She could use a little get away anyway. She'd barely left her office for the past few days and with everything that went on with Tony as well as Bruce and Betty's wedding… it was just so exhausting.
Meetings as large as this one usually took several hours with minimal breaks in between. With any luck, the meeting would only take one day but the SI team could find a hotel and stay the night. Sometimes, if a CEO or two were really stubborn, these meetings could take up to a week.
At that thought, Pepper groped around her desk blindly for her travel mug filled to the brim with Orange Pekoe tea. She sipped it and relaxed slightly. She could already the feel the muscles in the back of her neck forming into knots and she did not want to have to deal with them right now. She had calls to every department to make. But first, as a little break of sorts, she had to go visit Tania, seeing as she wasn't actually in her office.
Upstairs, Clint and Natasha were tag teaming for lunch and making sandwiches of all different kinds piled high on a giant platter in the middle of the counter. It didn't get very high before Thor started shrinking it in record time. After all these months of living together, Tania still couldn't get used to how much the God ate. Clint was right when he'd said that the guy was even worse than a bottomless pit.
She stole a half sandwich for herself and began munching. Clint had a talent for food that none of the Avengers could deny. The archer was sometimes (often) arrogant about it but Natasha usually kept him in his place. Besides, he was usually only teasing that he was the head chef. It was nowhere near the level to which Tony took his arrogance.
It was in this position, with all the Avengers sitting around the counter in the lounge eating sandwiches that Pepper came in looking somewhat frazzled and extremely stressed. Tania turned around on the bar stool to regard the woman walking towards her and swallowed her food.
"You okay Pepper?"
She nodded and waved with one hand nonchalantly while clutching her tea with her other hand so tightly that her knuckles were losing colour. "I'm fine. Listen. I need you to come to Philadelphia with me this Friday for a business meeting."
Tania furrowed her eyebrows and turned all the way around to face her friend. "What kind of business meeting?" She was in work-mode now. The Avengers might as well have disappeared into thin air.
"Arrow Incorporated and Stark Industries are going to be discussing a merge at their HQ at seven a.m. on the fourth."
"A merge?" she repeated with shock. "That's huge news!"
"I know. That's why I need all heads of all departments there with me to back me up and brainstorm ideas and all together just being ready because I am going to seal the deal even if I have to sell my own soul."
"Wow Pepper that's great!" She stood up and hugged the red head fiercely. "That's going to be a lot of work though, are you sure you're up to it?"
"I have to be. Stark Industries stocks are plummeting and I need something big to make them rise again. This is exactly what we need. I know a merge will put a lot of pressure on the Marketing department and I'm sorry but we need this."
"Don't worry. I was starting to get bored anyway."
Pepper laughed dryly and without humour. "Well, be prepared for what might be an entire week of boredom in Philadelphia because Hun, we're going on a business trip."
"Awesome. I'll start packing-"
"Hold your horses." Pepper stepped in front of her friend before Tania could wander off. "The meeting isn't until Friday. We have a bit of time."
"I know, but even so I like being prepared. Plus, I have to go tell my department about the big news."
"I can do that-"
"Don't be ridiculous! Just because I'm on my day off doesn't mean I can't visit my own office. You have plenty of other departments to handle, I'll handle my own."
Pepper sent her a grateful smile. "Thank you." She reached over and grabbed a sandwich before marching off toward the elevator with Tania in tow. "Thanks Clint!" she called over her shoulder before pressing the button on her blue tooth and speaking rapidly into it to the Human Resources department.
The elevator doors closed and the Avengers just stared at them for a few seconds. It was Betty who broke the silence. "What just happened?"
"What you just witnessed was the rare occurrence of when the Business Partners bring their work home with them," Tony replied easily and sipped his lemonade.
"Business Partners?" Betty queried.
He nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I figured that since Bruce and I are the Science Bros and you and Jane are the Science Sisters that I'd make a nickname for the them as duo as well."
"And the best you could come up with was the Business Partners?" Natasha asked with a raised eyebrow, obviously unimpressed.
Tony shrugged. "You, Pepper, and Jane are the Red Hots."
That earned glares from both Clint and Thor. Tony raised his hands half in a "peace" gesture and a "don't hurt me" gesture. "Steve and Thor are the dumb blondes."
More glares. "I'm a blonde," Clint deadpanned.
"But you're not dumb," Tony pointed out.
"Excuse me," Steve started, obviously ready for another spat. Before a fight could break out, however, JARVIS interrupted them.
"Avengers, it may interest you to know that Director Fury is on line one."
"Put him through," Tony ordered.
Nick Fury's face was projected above the counter with a neutral background. He looked the same as usual: all black gear, eye patch, no expression.
"Avengers," he started, moving his head with his words, "there's been," his gaze flicked over to Betty who was sitting at the counter next to Bruce and drinking her Peppermint tea quite innocently, "a situation," he mended. "We need Captain Rogers and Agent Barton here for debriefing ASAP. The rest of you are dismissed."
"Yes sir," Steve and Clint chorused in perfect sync. Having both been soldiers, they were eerily able to predict the other's tactical strategies and adjust to them accordingly on the battlefield. It was not unlike the way Natasha and Clint could read each other's minds on missions, but with the two blondes, it was more just a likeness in strategy than anything else.
Once the two of them had gone to suit up, Tony pointed at the exit which they took. "Them? They're the projectile buddies." Natasha threw a sandwich at his head.
In the Marketing and Advertising department, Drew and the others were slacking off and eating Thai food for their lunch break. Tania came in moments later dressed in her casual clothes – something which none of her coworkers had seen except Peter, who'd bartended that party back when she first moved into the Tower.
"Good day everyone," she greeted. The employees all looked up at her with mild surprise. She ignored it and walked over to the head of the desk and plowed on. "So Miss Potts has just informed me that Stark Industries plans on buying Arrow Incorporated."
This, of course, caused uproar of shock and some protests. Tania managed to calm them down relatively fast and popped the cap off a red dry erase marker before popping it back on to the other side of the utensil. She turned to the board and began to draw a graph.
"This graph shows how much the stocks for SI have gone down within the past two weeks." She grabbed a blue marker and started drawing another line on her picture. "This blue line shows the possibility of how much the stocks can raise if the two companies come together to create one large business. Or rather, one larger business."
A few chuckles echoed throughout the room as they observed her graph. The blue line zigzagged upwards and went through the roof of the graph. A new intern raised her hand and Tania called upon her. "Um, excuse me, but where did you get those numbers?"
"I made them up. But that's beside the point. The point is that with Arrow Inc. we have a chance to raise SI to a higher position that where it is slowly dropping right now. I came here to tell you all that I will be taking a trip to Philadelphia with the other heads as well as Miss Potts and maybe even Mr. Stark to discuss the matter with Arrow themselves. When I come back, you can assume that Arrow has been bought and start making preparations for the giant merge we are going to have to work on. I need giant brainstorms and ideas being written and thrown out there by anyone and everyone. Questions need to be asked and answered and I want this to be in the back of everyone's minds until I return. I will be coming back into work tomorrow to help move the brainstorms but after that you will not see me until the meeting is over. Are we clear?"
"Crystal," the room answered together. She felt a small sense of pride in that she'd taught them that. It felt much less like school and work that way. She smiled.
"Great. Spread the word. I want the whole Tower to know by the end of today. I will be upstairs making a few phone calls to book hotels and help Miss Potts in any way that I can because I am still on my day off and I will not be spending it in my office. Any questions?"
"When do you think you'll be back?" asked the same intern from before.
Tania shrugged and capped the markers. "I don't know. These things are unpredictable. It could be the same day or it could be a week. No more than that though."
"By how much do you think the workload will increase?" Drew wanted to know.
"More than marginally. In other words, a lot. Next."
"Can I come?" That was Peter.
Tania laughed. "Sorry. Only the heads are allowed to go."
"Damn. I've always wanted to go to Philadelphia."
"I know Pete, I know. Is that everything?" No one said anything else. "Perfect. I will see you all tomorrow." She erased her horrible sketch of a graph and replaced the erasers before marching out of the department with a smile and a wave. She was in professional mode. She had to go change into her business suit.
She arrived on her and Steve's floor and changed inter a black pencil skirt, white blouse, and black blazer with a red, white, and blue ascot – a present from Tony and Pepper for Christmas. The scarf covered her pocket watch necklace, but she knew it was there and that was all that mattered.
She grabbed her Stark Phone and began typing furiously as she walked through the hallways. "Jarvis, where's Pepper?"
"Miss Potts is currently en route to Public Relations."
"Could you please let her know that if she needs anything at all to please come to me."
"Yes Miss Banks."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"Oh, and could you also tell Steve that I'll be busy all day and probably all week?"
"I am sorry Miss Banks, but Captain Rogers is not in the vicinity. He and Agent Barton were sent on a mission not too long ago."
Tania stopped in her tracks. A mission? What kind of mission? How dangerous was it? How long would he be gone? He and Natasha had gone on a week-long mission once and she'd nearly gone insane the whole time. Her only comfort had been Clint, who could sympathise but wasn't nearly as worried as she was. Now she supposed her only comfort would be Natasha.
"Details?"
"I'm sorry, but Director Fury has asked that I not divulge any SHIELD secret and Miss Potts considers any and all missions as such."
"Okay." The disappointment was evident in her voice and if JARVIS weren't a computer, she would have assumed that he heart it and had taken pity on her.
"However, I can tell you that it is predicted to be only a few hours long."
She smiled a little. "Thank you Jarvis. You're the best."
"My pleasure, Miss Banks."
A/N. BTW sorry if I messed up any of the business talk. I don't know how exactly things like this work so if you see any mistakes, please let me know :)