Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the MCU, that right belongs to Stan Lee and Marvel Studios. I only own my character and the plot that I made up.
By nine am the next morning Happy had driven Pepper and I to the Edward's Air Force Base in California where we would meet up with Tony. I had given the excuse that I was an old friend of Pepper's so that Happy wouldn't act all suspicious of me.
Pepper and Happy waited outside the car but I stayed inside, perched on the edge of the leather backseat. Now that I knew Tony was alive and I was going to see him in mere minutes, I had no idea what to do. Do I hug him? Give him a handshake? Just stare? It was all so damn confusing.
An ambulance waited nearby for when Tony arrived. Pepper had insisted on having one on hand but I knew Tony wouldn't allow himself to be driven to the hospital. I knew I wouldn't.
When the Air Force plane finally arrived I hesitantly got out the car and stood next to Pepper. I watched as the plane taxied on the runway before stopping, the rear door opening moments after the engine was switched off.
I held my breath as the figures of Tony and Rhodey appeared with Tony sitting down in a wheelchair, right arm in a sling. He looked absolutely terrible, but at least now he was wearing proper clothes.
Tony stood up from the wheelchair, Rhodey guiding him off the plane.
"Watch it, coming up here," Rhodey grinned.
"Are you kidding me with this?" Tony said, indicating towards the waiting ambulance as paramedics rushed forward with a stretcher. "Get rid of them." I had to hold back the urge to roll my eyes. It was just so Tony.
He walked down the ramp to Pepper and I, a smile on his face. "Your eyes are red," he said to Pepper, "A few tears for your long-lost boss?"
Pepper smirked, "Tears of joy. I hate job hunting."
"Yeah, vacation's over."
He then turned to me, reaching his left hand out to me, which I gingerly reached for with my own. The moment our hands touched I was pulled into a bone crushing hug. "Thank you for rescuing me," Tony whispered softly into my ear before pulling away, a look on his face that meant he could have said anything to me.
After regaining the capacity to breathe again I met his eyes briefly, conveying my thoughts that we would talk about it later. I was not ready to explain everything while in the presence of other people, never mind actually telling Tony.
"Ready to go?" Happy called from the driver's seat of Tony's Rolls Royce. Pepper went to go sit in the passenger seat while Tony and I made ourselves comfortable in the backseat. "Where to, Sir?"
"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy," Pepper interjected before Tony could say anything.
"No," Tony responded immediately in a forceful tone.
"No?" Pepper questioned incredulously, "Tony, you have to go to the hospital."
"No is a complete answer."
"The doctor has to look at you," the older woman argued.
Tony met her gaze evenly as I shrunk myself into the corner of the seat, not wanting to get into the middle of something. "I don't have to do anything," he said firmly. "I've been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do: I want an American cheeseburger, and the other-"
"That's enough of that," Pepper sighed.
"-is not what you think," Tony continued. "I want you to call for a press conference now."
"Call for a press conference?" She said dubiously, "What on earth for?"
Completely ignoring her question, Tony leaned back into the leather seat, giving me a grin from the side of his mouth. "Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first."
And so Happy drove us to the nearest Burger King Restaurant where Tony ordered enough cheeseburgers to feed an army and a half, though he did offer me one which I declined. Pepper had forced me to eat a whole breakfast that morning and I felt like I wouldn't eat for a week. It was a nice thought though.
By the time we reached Stark Industries' factory Tony had eaten all but one of the burgers which I considered to be a feat on its own. I could see Obadiah and a crowd of people waiting outside to welcome him home, and quickly donned a pair of shades. It had become a habit now whenever people were around.
Obadiah rushed to the car door, practically pulled Tony out of the car and hugged him tightly. "Look at this!" He boomed loudly, "Tony. We were going to meet at the hospital."
"No, I'm fine," Tony responded somewhat stiffly. I climbed out of the car, ready to diffuse any situations if they arose, though I wasn't sure how Obadiah would react to me interfering. He had tried to call me at least five times after I yelled at him, all of which I ignored. On second thought that probably wasn't the best call.
"Look at you!" The older man continued as if Tony hadn't shot him down. "You had to have a burger, yea? Well, come on. You got me one of those?"
"There's only one left," Tony said somewhat possessively, "I need it."
"Hey, look who's here!" Obadiah said with a large grin on his face when he noticed Pepper and I, though I'm not sure if I imagined it or not, but I swear his look darkened when his gaze met mine.
We quickly made our way through the throng of people to the building. Pepper and I stood near the back while Tony, Rhodey and Obadiah made their way to the podium at the head of the room.
Within seconds of us entering the building a professional-looking man in a suit and tie approached us. Well, more specifically Pepper, but he did glance briefly at me. I tried my hardest not to stare at him, but I could glance at him through my peripheral vision thanks to the shades.
"Miss Potts?" The man asked carefully, folding his hands respectfully in front of him.
"Yes?" Pepper turned to the man.
"Can I speak to you for a moment?" He queried, giving me another glance. I pretended to be busy watching the three men talk amongst themselves at the head of the crowd.
"I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now," the older woman informed him.
"I'm not a reporter," he quickly replied, "I'm Agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." I perked up at the mention of Agent.
"That's quite a mouthful," Pepper commented idly.
"I know. We're working on it," Agent Coulson sighed.
"You know," Pepper began, turning to face Agent Coulson again, "We've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA-"
"We're a separate division with a more specific focus," he quickly interrupted. "We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape."
Now I couldn't hold back my interest and turned my head to look at him. So he knew something about how Tony escaped his hostage situation. Interesting… But before I could say anything Pepper spoke.
"I'll put something in the book, shall I?" She said with a smile.
"Thank you." And with that Agent Coulson sidled away, leaving me with quite a few unanswered questions.
Pepper and I both turned to face the front as Obadiah stood at the podium, looking as if he was about to say something. However, he paused when he noticed Tony wasn't standing next to him.
"Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?" Tony asked, sitting down at the base of the podium. "Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can… A little less formal and…" his words trailed off as the crowd of reporters all lowered themselves to their knees. Pepper and I, however, both stayed standing at the back of the room where Rhodey crept up next to us.
"What's up with the love-in?" He asked softly.
"Don't look at me, I don't know what he's up to," Pepper replied. Rhodey looked at me and I simply shrugged my shoulders, fully aware that he had no idea who I was or that I was the one who alerted him to Tony's situation and that I should most likely tell him sooner than later.
"Good to see you," Tony said to Obadiah.
"Good to see you," the older man repeated, smiling.
"I never got to say goodbye to Dad," he said softly to him before addressing the crowd.
"I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels."
He paused for a moment and the air became suddenly silent, no one even daring to breathe. "I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability."
"Mr. Stark!" A young male reported suddenly called out.
"Hey, Ben," Tony said after glancing at his nametag.
"What happened over there?"
"I had my eyes opened," he replied softy before stepping up to the podium. "I came to realize that I have more to offer this world that just making things blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be-"
Tony was cut off as all the reporters jumped up to their feet, shouting out questions. Obadiah immediately moved over to the podium to try and take control of the situation, but Tony continued speaking.
"-What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well."
Obadiah finally managed to hurry Tony away from the podium and take back control of the conference. "What we should take away from this is that Tony's back! And he's healthier than ever," he quickly said. "We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up."
Tony left the room, Pepper and I swiftly following after him as to not get mobbed by the still shouting reporters. The older woman directed me back to the car, but Tony continued along the parking lot, Happy walking behind him like a bodyguard.
"That wasn't good, was it?" I asked Pepper as we buckled ourselves in.
"No, not really," she responded quietly, a soft sigh escaping her.
"What do you think the stock drop is gonna be?"
"Very bad."
We sat in complete silence until Happy and Tony arrived, the latter a frown on his face. The drive back to Tony's place in Malibu was also in complete silence.
Tony and I stood outside his mansion, watching as Happy pulled the car out of the driveway to take Pepper back to her place. I had promised to make sure Tony was doing alright, but I knew she'd come back tomorrow to check up on the both of us.
The place was completely dark inside, showing no signs of life. We entered the front door without saying anything, Tony tapping the computer access panel in the hallway. The lights flickered on.
"Welcome home, Sir," JARVIS greeted.
"Thank you kindly, JARVIS," Tony responded as we walked down the hallway to the huge glass window looking out to the vast ocean beyond.
"It's been a long time," the British AI continued, almost sadly. "Based on news reports Miss Callahan and I calculated your safe return at zero point two five percent."
Tony glanced back at me with a raised eyebrow to which I merely shrugged in response. "Yea, I missed you too."
While I leaned against the wall, he bent down at the table and picked up a box that held a fancy looking watch inside, complete with a note that could only be from Obadiah as a welcome home gift.
There was silence for a few moments before JARVIS spoke again. "You have one thousand seven hundred and thirteen new voice messages. How shall I categorize for you?"
A hologram popped up showing all the messages, and I watched as Tony flicked through a couple of them.
"Delete all," he said monotonously.
"I am detecting the presence of electromagnetic energy in the house," JARVIS said curiously.
"Mhmm," Tony replied, "Boot up the scanner will you?"
"Right away, Sir."
"Electromagnetic energy?" I asked curiously, following Tony down the steps into the workshop. "Please tell me you didn't bring a miniaturized version of the sun into the house?" I added somewhat as a joke, needing to diffuse the atmosphere somehow.
Tony merely grinned at me. "You could say that." He sat down at the desk, spun the chair around to face me and begun one-handedly unbuttoning his shirt, revealing a circular object that glowed a gentle blue smack dab in the center of his chest. And I mean in the center. It looked like it had been shoved right into his chest.
"What is that?" I breathed, eyes glued to the slightly pulsating object.
"How did you rescue me?" Tony countered, spinning on the chair to face the computer monitors.
I sighed internally. Even after all he'd been through he was still doing the same antics as usual. "Answer mine and I'll answer yours," I finally said, leaning a hip against the desk so I could continue staring at the object.
"It is a miniaturized arc reactor," he grinned again, tapping away at the screen with nimble fingers. "Your turn."
My gaze lifted up to meet his eyes, both eyebrows raised as high as they could go. "You built that in a cave?" I said incredulously.
He didn't even glance my way. "I believe it's still your turn?"
I barely held back my very slight annoyance at him. "I tracked you using satellites. Your turn."
"Yes I did. It took a while, and I had some help, but I got there in the end." Tony leaned back in the chair, allowing JARVIS to run a scan on the uncovered part of his chest. "So what have you been doing these past three months?"
"Doing my best to find you, and it worked."
"You didn't leave the workshop, did you?" He finally glanced at me.
My mouth thinned slightly. "It's my turn to ask a question Stark." He simply raised an eyebrow at me. "No," I finally admitted. Tony sighed softly in response. "But I didn't just sit here in the chair and stare at the screen. I was productive."
"Oh really?" he responded with a smirk, buttoning up his shirt when the scan was complete. "And what is it that you did?"
It was my turn to grin. "You could say I built something too. Something that rivals even your greatest inventions." His head cocked to the side curiously. "Say hello, AEIMS," I continued, my eyes never leaving Tony's.
"Hello Mr. Stark, it is a great pleasure to finally meet you," AEIMS said obediently, and I watched as Tony glanced around the room.
"…That's not JARVIS," he said slowly, his gaze coming back to look at me.
I shook my head, grinning even wider. "Nope. I created my on AI, ingeniously name AEIMS, short for Artificial Engineering Intelligence Mainframe System, for the sole purpose of finding you." Tony looked taken aback.
"You did that for me?" He said softly. My grin quickly morphed into a simple smile, one that conveyed purely gentleness and maybe just a touch of melancholy.
"Of course I did Tony. I'd do anything for you."
We stared at each other for what seemed like minutes, and I felt the familiar flutter return to my stomach. I swallowed, my eyes quickly moving so I was staring at the floor.
"Uhm, I should probably leave…" I murmured quietly. "You need rest, so…" I turned to leave but felt his hand wrap around my wrist.
"Wait," Tony said, and I glanced over my shoulder to stare despondingly into his eyes. He seemed at a loss of what to say, and after a few moments he slowly let go. "I just wanted to say thank you, again. For everything." His voice was unlike anything I had heard before. Instead of the usual snark or playfulness it was deadly serious and solemn.
I simply smiled in response before swiftly walking out of the workshop, practically feeling his eyes burning holes into my skin.
There was a dull ache in my chest, and I had no idea what it was… and maybe I didn't want to find out.
Merry Christmas everyone! :) Here's my present to you guys for this year, I hope you enjoyed it. Please remember to favourite, follow and review if you did.
