Author's Note: This chapter kinda goes along with one of the chapters I'm working on for Great Responsibility. I own nothing.
How Pepper Found Out
Someone on one of the lower levels of the tower watched Spidergirl swing away and shook her head, long strawberry blonde hair falling into her face. Pepper brushed her hair back pulling a rubber band off her wrist and pulling her hair back before she turned back to the tablet in her hands. Pepper loved Piper, she absolutely adored the kid she really did but the teen was horrible at keeping secrets, she really was.
Pepper had met Piper when she was only eleven fresh out of the latest tragedy life had thrown at her, the death of her last living relative her Uncle Ben. She'd taken an instant liking to the little girl in the thick glasses. She'd helped convince Tony that it would be a good idea to take her in, though after a closed doors discussion with one of the social workers he hadn't needed much convincing. She'd taken Piper shopping and ensured that Tony bought out the Parker estate so Piper wouldn't lose any of her things and could, in her own time go through the rest of her families' things. The girl had warmed up to Pepper quickly and Pepper came to think of Piper as her daughter as well as Tony's. None of that had changed even after the battle of New York, after the well-publicized move in of the Avengers. Pepper didn't notice a change in Piper until a few days after she got back from a school trip to Oscorp.
Pepper had been in the kitchen making up another grocery list when someone had cleared her throat behind her. She'd turned and gasped. Piper was standing there looking sheepish. Her once nearly waist length hair was now jagged and cut around her shoulders in an uneven fashion. In one of her hands was a pair of scissors in the other was a braid that had once been attached to the rest of her hair. They were silent for a moment then Piper spoke, looking down at her feet.
"I… um… I tried one of those online beauty tutorials. It didn't really work out for me. Could you help me?" Pepper nodded and sat Piper down at one of the kitchen stools. She ended up having to trim Piper's hair into a short bob but she seemed to like it. She hugged Pepper and helped her clean up. But from that moment on Pepper took more notice of Piper's odd behavior. She asked Jarvis to keep an eye on Piper and let her know if anything odd happened.
The first time Piper snuck out her thirtieth floor Pepper had a heart attack. She had been in the kitchen when JARVIS had informed her that the window of Piper's room had opened and she was climbing out of it, and that was a bit odd wasn't it. Pepper had dropped the plate she'd been holding and raced for the elevator. She knew she wouldn't get there in time if Piper was already climbing out of the window but she was damn well going to try. She raced into Piper's room to find it empty. Tears welled in her eyes as she made her way slowly to the still open window. She took a deep breath as tears began to flow and looked down expecting to see a crowd gathering and a splatter painted on the sidewalk outside but there was nothing but the regular New York foot traffic. Pepper sighed in relief and then frowned. If Piper hadn't splattered on the sidewalk then where was she.
"JARVIS, are any of the armors in use?" The British AI responded immediately.
"Mister Stark has the Mark 50 in operation to test the new repulsors in the shooting range." Pepper frowned.
"Are there any others in operation right now."
"No Miss Potts." Pepper's frown deepened.
"Can you locate Piper for me?" JARVIS spoke again.
"According to my sensors Miss Parker is in the same room you are in Miss Potts." Pepper frowned looking around it was clear that the teen was not in the same room as her. Someone, likely a brunette teen, had tampered with JARVIS. Pepper stepped out of Piper's room and thought for a moment. Something clearly wasn't right. Pepper went back down to the kitchen to clean up the mess she'd made, no one was there or seemed to have noticed. She cleaned up her face, getting rid of the tear stains on her face. Then she made her way back up to Piper's floor. She worked on her paperwork in one of the rooms adjacent to Piper's and easily heard something heavy slip into the room and land easily on the floor. She stood and quickstepped over to Piper's door. She tapped on the door and heard Piper swearing behind it.
"Piper? It's Pepper, I'm coming in." There was a loud thump and then the sound of something large flying through the air and bedsprings creaked as Pepper opened the door. She found Piper nearly buried under her blankets on her bed. She was trying to look nonchalant but Pepper had known Tony long enough to know when someone was hiding something.
"Hi Pep, what's up?" Pepper raised an eyebrow. Piper was spectacularly bad at this. Her face was messy and she had a scratch on her cheek. Her hair was an absolute nightmare. But what caught Pepper's eye was the line of what appeared to be spider webbing hanging outside Piper's window and the corner of a red and black mask that was sticking out from under Piper's pillow. She pretended she didn't notice as she smiled at Piper.
"The team's out on a mission right now so I was thinking we could have dinner together. Maybe talk about school and the like?" Piper nodded and smiled.
"I'd like that. Uh… let me get dressed and I'll meet you in the kitchen?" Pepper nodded and left the room. As she closed the door behind her she heard a sigh of relief. Pepper chuckled, the kid might be as smart as whip but she was really bad at keeping secrets.