Let's see what I don't own: The Avengers, Apple, WALL-E, the Pentagon and JFK airport. Did I tell you I don't own the USA or NYC, too? Well, I don't.
And, in case I had updated the right chapter yesterday, I would have updated a chapter every day three days in a row. I just hope the quality of my writing didn't suffer under these conditions...
School starts tomorrow, and thus updates will become less frequent... sadly. But, let's say, one chapter every one or two weeks? Would that be okay?
It was cold around her. Too cold. She tried snuggeling deeper into the already thick blankets. The heating was cranked up, but it wasn't enough. The empty spot next to her was radiating waves of ice-cold air.
What had happened this time? What did these people want from him? Wasn't it enough now? Hadn't there been enough people who kidnapped, threatened his life or hurt him? Obviously not.
No matter what was up, or what experiment he was working at, he would always come at night. Between ten or eleven o'clock. Even if he didn't sleep. Even if he was still working with his phone. He was there. That was what was important. He was there.
But now he wasn't. And his part of the bed was empty, unused, cold.
Where are you, Tony?, she asked silently. What has happened this time?
This night, sleep was out of the question, she was sure.
So she stood up and wrapped herself in her bathrobe. With bare feet, she tiptoed to the living area. Bruce was, she knew, still in the lab, trying to make a connection, somehow, somewhere. Natasha was down there with him.
And once again, she asked herself what had happened in Natasha's past. What had made her come to know people like Stefanovka or Vladimir 'the tank'?
Slowly, Pepper sank into one of the couches.
What had this woman made to want to become a spy, an assassin, a murderer? There was no nice words for this. Not matter how decent a person Natasha was, she was a murderer. World-class assassin.
And Clint, he too.
They hadn't spoken much, he and her. Basically, he didn't speak. True, with Natasha he did talk a lot, but in english-russian. And with Tony. Apart from that, the archer stayed on his own. And he still sat on the fridge. Pepper pointed it out every now and then, but she had accomodated to this. She had accomodated to a lot.
A small movement to her right made her look around. A figure had slipped out of the shadows that were the kitchen.
"Miss Potts.", a male voice said, strangely familiar.
Clint. How often had she told him to call her Pepper? Apparently not often enough.
"Agent Barton.", she replied.
"Would you like to come down to the lab for a moment?"
"Have you found out something new?", she asked, shortly wondering how he could come from the lab when he had just slipped out of the kitchen. Then she remembered how Clint could appear everywhere. She had the strong suspicion that he used the air vent system to come and go unnoticed.
"I think you could say so.", he answered.
They didn't speak on the way down.
The lab was brightly lit up, every screen working.
"Pepper?" Natasha show up next to her. The red head shortly exchanged a glance with her partner and then led Pepper to the middle of the lab.
"I have some... sources. And I found out some interesting things. For example, the whole abduction thing was planned. The planning went so far that even the re-run of WALL-E was sync'd with Thor's arrival, Clint's and my mission and your trip to LA. We suspect a traitor really deep in the defense of the USA. Someone who must have hacked into SHIELD files, because otherwise they couldn't have known about Thor's arrival. Bruce is currently trying to hack into Pentagon, seeing if he finds something."
Pepper's eyes widened.
"And I don't think I will succeed.", Bruce said. "At least not without JARVIS."
"Why do you try without JARVIS? That makes no sense!", Pepper protested.
"He's shut down.", Natasha said carefully. "Whoever planned this whole thing was extremely cautious."
After a couple of seconds - and probably because Pepper looked like she was going to hyperventilate every moment, Natasha added: "We are rebooting him though."
Loud footsteps announced Fury coming into the lab. He had Hill on his tail.
"Found out anything new?"
Natasha shrugged, but Bruce spoke up: "Well, the Pentagon is apparently very well shielded. I won't get through, I'm afraid. Or if I would, they would probably recognize me."
"And we don't have hackers at SHIELD because we used to be able to have level ten clearance to everything."
"Why don't we have it anymore?", Clint asked.
"The Security Council decided to take it completely from us, since they found out somebody did not only abduct one world-class hacker who used to read every SHIELD-file, but also that somebody did hack into the security network. They fear SHIELD is responsible or that the mysterious gang we discovered will force Stark to reveal the secrets to them. Means that now we only have our own files, 'cause the Council thinks we ar traitors."
"Bastards.", Clint stated.
"So, what do we do?", Pepper asked.
"Miss Potts." Fury nodded towards her.
"Basically", he started explaining. "we have a some puzzle pieces, but we don't know what the picture is about, nor have we any that match. We know there is a group who abducted Stark and Rogers. We know that Stefanovka and Vladimir 'the tank' are involved. We suspect that Vladimir doesn't know much. We suspect further that Stefanovka is a spark plug. We don't know why exactly Rogers and Stark have been abducted, but we know that our enemies wanted to have exactly them. Why? Maybe because Stark is world's best technical engineer, knows the secret to the Iron Man suit as well as the ARC-reactor. Also, his father was involved into the super soldier project. Steve's DNA will hold a code to unlock Erskine's original formula. Stark is a genius, he might figure it out. Furthermore, Stark Industries is world's leading weapon manufacturing company. The systems are nearly inerrable, they are intelligent. Everybody who holds the latest Stark weapons can hold the key to world domination. Also, world's currently leading superhero team are the Avengers. Rogers is the captain, but Stark is his second-in-command. And, a fact that probably everybody who has accomodated himself with the topic knows, the Hulk is mainly controlled by Rogers. No offense, doctor, but it is the truth. Without Rogers and Stark, the Avengers are mainly disassembled. Next, Stark is rich and can afford a lot of money to buy freedom."
"That won't work, sir.", Natasha said. "When Stefanovka is involved, Stark would have to give away his whole fortune to buy freedom. I also think that there is an even higher boss, higher than Stefanovka, one who wants to stay anonymous."
"Sir, I don't quite understand.", Hill intervened. "Why should they, whoever they are, want the Avengers disassembled?"
"Since the Fantastic Four have stepped back two years ago, there hasn't been a superhero team. The only one you hear from occasionally is Johnny Storm, but just because of his motorbike events. World didn't hear or see them, but world didn't need them. Then, a new superhero team saves Manhattan and archieves world fame. They walk around having 'I will protect America with my life' litterally written on their chests. Especially Rogers. If there is a group of people who don't like America as it is, the Avengers are a threat for them. Disassembled, they aren't anymore."
"You mean it could be something like the Rio de Janeiro-happening?", the female agent asked.
"Exactly."
"But isn't 'world domination' a bit too much... science-fiction?", Pepper asked.
"I mean, groups who want to archieve dictatorship over the whole world appear in every other movie!", she added.
Fury nodded.
"True.", he said. "But, where do you think Hollywood has this idea from? Just because nodody managed to dictate the world doesn't mean nobody tried. Loki is a wonderful example for that, but there have been other groups who tried it in a different way. In most cases, the american security services can prevent it, only sometimes things really happen. Like 9/11."
Turning to everybody again, the director continued: "A group wanting to archieve world domination is of course just a wild guess. Maybe they just want a very good scientist in their rows, and Rogers is just an additional bonus."
A screen blinked up, followed by a short series of beeps.
"We found Steve's phone.", Bruce said and moved over. "A garbage can at Kennedy Airport?"
"So they are out of the country. Or at least out of the city.", Hill said.
"Or they at least want us to believe that.", Fury said, starting to reach for his communicator.
"I want every surveillance video of JFK airport and surrounding fom the last forty-eight hours checked for Stefanovka, Rogers, Stark and other anomalies."
He stormed out of the room and continued to bark orders: "I want a full blockade and five recon teams in there. No, I don't care what the council says. This has top priority right now! Nobody is allowed to leave the airport, all flights are cancelled until further notice! The list of private planes departure and arrival of the last week, every person's name who has set foot there for the last two weeks. And I need criminologist Dexter at base ASAP..."
Pepper sank on a chair. It was all too much. Terrorists, abduction, world dominance, blocking JFK ariport... and Tony gone.
"Hey." Natasha said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be alright. Sta- Tony is strong, he's intelligent, he'll be able to figure out. And we're on it, too. An abduction in which SHIELD was involved was always cleared without any casualties." The last one was a lie, but Natasha didn't intend to tell Pepper that.
Pepper bit her lip. She didn't want to cry. Not in front of all these people.
Hill had stayed and was working with one of the computers, too. Barton was next to her, and Natasha and Bruce...
She swallowed. Everything is going to be alright, she reminded herself and sat up more straight.
Pepper cleared her throat. "Right.", she said. "Everything is going to be alright. I'm afraid I'm not of much use here, but I have the feeling you have been in the lab the whole night. You must be hungry; I'm getting you something. What do you need?"
"Oooh, food.", Natasha sighed, giving her own best to lighten the mood up. "I'm starving... would you make pancakes or something? And coffee?", she added hopefully.
Pepper smiled. "Sure. Anything else, anyone?"
"Lots of coffee.", Clint, who had moved over to another computer and was furiously typing, said.
"Or tea.", Bruce added with his Concentrated Voice. "And waffles – I would litterally die for some waffles now."
"What about you, Agent Hill?"
"I think coffee would be great. And, yes, pancakes also, if it's okay."
"Of course. I'll be back as soon as possible!", Pepper assured them, glad she could do something and keep her mind occupied.
Halfway out of the door, Hill called her back: "Miss Potts, would it be okay if I would gather some more SHIELD-agents in the lab? Computers here are way better than at base."
"Sure, no problem."
As in the kitchen, Pepper witnessed the first time that she had to switch the light on manually in Stark tower. It was nowhere near unpleasant, it was just switching on the light. It was just unusual. It reminded her of Tony's abduction.
The kitchen was a rather special place. When Steve still lived in the tower, he had sometimes been hit by the baking fever, a totally adorable character trait, Pepper thought. And the cookies or muffins or even cakes and pies sometimes had been delicious.
And then there was the food-miracle, as she called it. She had never questioned it, but every now and then, tasty food would appear in the fridge. Sometimes noodles, sometimes salad, even shawarma every now and then, but whatever it was, it was always handmade and delicious. Tony could be excluded, he couldn't cook (well, he called microwaving a frozen pizza or getting take-out cooking).
The rest of the night was filled with carrying thermos flasks full of strong coffee down to the lab and bringing the empty ones to the kitchen again. And of course preparing bowls of cookies and plates of waffles and pancakes. Mostly it was just microwave products.
Hill had commanded ten SHIELD-agents to the lab. They were using every accessible computer, and since Pepper knew every password, they were able to use every computer. JARVIS still hadn't finished rebooting, so they were on their own. That was the problem with a supercomputer like him: was he ever shut down, it took extremely much time until he was rebooted.
At some point, Jane had showed up in the lab as well, accompanied by Thor and Darcy.
Thor was a nice person, but he still didn't understand what so special about glowing glass was, except that you could play Fruit Ninja there (he loved Fruit Ninja). They couldn't use him during the research. And Darcy was no computer wizard, either.
The moment Jane had spotted Pepper, she told both of them to help Pepper. That had been quite a good idea, since Pepper was rather stressed. With her two new-found helpers, they went on supplying the researchers with coffee and food.
When they ran out of coffee, Darcy and Thor were sent for the next 24h-store.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
At eight in the morning, Fury called for a conference to discuss what they had found out so far.
The results were frustrating.
Steve's mobile had been found, screen broken, dead.
There had been exactly seventeen private planes departing and five coming in at JFK airport in the last week. Eight limousines had been driven from there. Five of them returned. Six were rented by several more-or-less important people.
Apart from that, threehundred russians had been at the airport, and a total of more than two thousand people who already had a criminal record, those who had been caught with petty crimes included. All others were rather unknown to SHIELD, mostly businessmen and –women, some scientists, families, students, older people, travelling groups.
Also the surveillance videos didn't prove to be useful. They were few, of a bad quality and nothing extraordinare could be spotted.
The personal at the airport hadn't anything useful, either.
The only thing that was different was that there had been an unusual amount of big pieces of luggage. One super-rich, a Mr Al Abugajar, had sent some cars for his son, who was studying in New York. One had been a Bugatti with a pure gold cover.
One scientist had travelled with some of his instruments.
Then a whole orchester had taken their instruments with them, and three Steinway pianos were shipped to New Zealand.
Also, several dead bodies had been transferred.
The Security Council still didn't allow SHIELD to access the files, and Fury was in rather big trouble for blocking the entire JFK airport for ten hours.
"We don't know a thing.", Fury ended.
"And", he added as an afterthough. "if we aren't careful, the Security Council will consider SHIELD a threat and maybe shut us temporarily down."
"So, they don't believe us. They believe Tony and Steve just vanished on their own.", Pepper said, stunned.
"No.", Fury said, turning towards her. "They don't believe it is more than a simple case of abduction or backstreet murder. We should either wait for a ransom demand or for their dead bodies to appear."
Turning to his whole audience, which consisted of everything that was left of the Avengers, plus Pepper, Jane, Darcy, Hill and fifteen other SHIELD-agents, he continued: "The security council was never very warmhearted towards the Avengers. A group of freaks, they called them and wanted every single Avenger under constant supervision. I have never agreed with them, in my whole career as director of SHIELD, and often enough I have bypassed them. I am afraid with blocking JFK airport tonight, I went too far."
"If they shut SHIELD down, they will have to deal with some not-so-amused Avengers.", Natasha said dryly. "At least me, because I don't like being an unemployed criminal, and I think Clint would support me. But, if I understand correctly, the council bans us from researching the whole problem further?"
Fury nodded, his gaze dark. "I think you understood correctly, Agent Romanov. I am not allowed to use SHIELD-equipment, agents or money to research this."
Pepper frowned. "Director, what if a private person had a certain interest in continuing the research?"
"I don't see a problem there, but which private person has enough money for doing so?"
"And what if a company was interested in it?"
"I don't see a problem there, either."
"Well, I as a private person and as Co-CEO of Stark Industries have both the interest and money to have the research being continued. Could I employ a variety of persons who are, even if already otherwise employed, interested in this research? Because if I could, I would like to draw a number of contracts."
Fury didn't exactly smile, but he looked friendlier and nodded.
"Then, Miss Potts, you should start to work out the conditions."
Okay, I sorta loooove the ending. Don't ask me why.
And what about you telling me what you think of this chapter with a review? :3 Pretty pleaseeeee...
Because reviews is what keeps me writing :D So, if you want the story continued, you should review. ;)
Pepperony is one hell of an awesome pairing!
*~This is the edited version of the story. It contains minor changes but does not change the general happenings.~*
