Whitney glances at Tony. She groans and stands up.

"Tony, I have to talk to you."She whispers softly, with anxious in her voice.

"O-okay Whitney."He replies surprised and she drags him out.

In the door they bump into Pepper, who is carrying a sky-high pile of books.

"Hi Tony. Hi Whitney."She greets them absentminded.

She walks in, Tony following her with his eyes. She dumps the books on her desk, walking out to get more books. Whitney succeeds in pulling him further forward, because Tony wanna see what his girlfriend is up to.

He looks as she empties her locker on books and walks towards them again. She steps on her loose shoestring and falls. Before Tony even has the time to react, someone catches her midair. He manages to balance some books in his other hand.

"Oups, you must be more careful, Ms. Potts."He says softly and chuckles.

"Thank you James!"She says and blushes.

"Here's most of your books."He flashes her a smile and she grins foolishly back.

"How did you catch them and me? You're some kind of superhero!"She jokes with a chuckle.

"Maybe I am. See you in P.E, Patricia."

"Oh, call me Pepper."She looks dreamy at him and he walks past her.

She starts to whistle and walks light-footed into the classroom. Tony growls inwardly and follows Whitney to the empty lab.

"I am worried about my dad."She says breathlessly.

"I care about you, but not about your dad, Whitney."He groans.

"No, it's not about him like that. He just sold half of his private owned stocks and invested in Hammer Industries. Something big is going on."She says.

Tony furrows his brows.

"I think he's trying to put Stark International into weapon manufacturing again."

"NO! He can't do that!"

"I think I can get you some help to break Stark Industries away from dad's hold. But you have to find a replacement until you're eighteen. Like the board people. Just make dad lose his job."

"I've been on it since Howard disappeared."

"Good.. And Tony…?"She leans in, looking kindly into his eyes."Thanks."

She kisses him lightly and an electric sensation shoots thru his body. He's cornered. He doesn't move. She giggles slightly at his flushed expression.

"Still got it."She giggles softly."See you later, Tony."

She walks out, Tony still not breathing.

Did I just check her out? Did she just kiss me? What the he-

"ANTHONY STARK!"Rhodey bursts into the room, looking surprised and angry.

He slams the door close and looks at him.

"DID SHE KIII-"

Tony covers his mouth quickly.

"Yeah, so shut up!"He whispers."I didn't exactly like it!"

"Really?"

"Oh come on! Gimme a break here! DON'T tell Pepper."

"Fine. But if he finds out, I won't deny."

"Fine."

Tony focused the next two weeks on getting Obadiah Stane fired. That resulted in ignoring Pepper -which, by the way, ignored him too since she's too busy with school-, Rhodey and Chanel totally. Sometimes he talks to Whitney in her room, sitting and making plans. She even tried to kiss him again, but he kindly turned her down, saying:

"Pepper's my girlfriend, remember?"

She usually replied by hissing and rolling her eyes. Tony ignored it and continued on the planning.

After an especially rough and exhausting night up in her room (not like that, perverts), he walks home in the refreshing warmth of June. He stretches and looks at his watch.

11.30 pm.

Roberta is gonna kill me!

He waves in a cab and gives him the address. When he arrives, he spots two people making out on the parking lot. Tony smirks and splits up between Chanel and Rhodey.

"Get a room already."He laughs and pulls Rhodey back towards the house.

"Dude!"Rhodey growls and shakes off his hand.

"You always interrupt my fun, why shouldn't I?"

"Got me there."Rhodey shrugs and chuckles.

He kisses Chanel one last time and follows Tony into the house. Roberta sits on the couch, watching Grey's Anatomy.

"So Tony… You're home late."She mutes the tv and looks at him.

"Yeah.. Uhm, I was kinda late. Trying to fire Stane, and Whitney helps me out."

"Oh. I thought Patricia was your girlfriend."

"Roberta! She is, and Whitney is just a friend."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Oh come on!"

"Okay, I'm just checking."

"Goodnight Roberta."

"Goodnight Anthony."

He and Rhodey walks towards their rooms.

"She's starting to sound just like you."

"Who do you think I got it from?"Rhodey replies with a question.

"I hate it here."Tony groans and falls down on his bed.

I haven't seen Pepper in five weeks. He hoped the hell would be over soon.

Gene throws the ring into the ancient wall.

"WHY DO YOU NOT WORK?"Gene screams furiously.

Howard smiles for himself and examines another ring.

"WHAT IS SO FUNNY, STARK! YOU'RE JUST LIKE YOUR SON! ARROGANT!"

"The three new rings haven't worked at all, maybe you're not the true-"

"Don't even say it! I AM THE TRUE MANDARIN!"

"Your mom fed you lies before she died."

"Stop insulting my family!"

"You insult mine."

"That's different! Every living thing is scum, dirt under my shoe, just waiting to be washed off. When I'm done with finding and activating all the rings, I will rule the world. And finally get rid of you and your son."

"Hehe., but I guess you'll spare Pepper?"Howard laughs amused.

"I don't have time for such a dumb and naïve child."

"But you're still a child yourself, when you fall so hard for her."

"Quiet! I am not a child!"

"You're a confused, immature teenager, who seeks power instead of friendship. You know nothing but taking advantage of people and controlling their every move."Howard says and examines a piece of rock."Your father messed you up."

"And I suppose I should give you the father of the year award?"Gene snarls.

"Hehe, I guess not."

"How long we're you supposed to wait before telling Tony you were dating someone?"

"It's definitely over, I haven't called in over a year."Howard chuckles.

"So.. You and I are even."Gene smiles a little.

"I think so."

"Now, I have to get some sleep. See you tomorrow Stark."

"Goodnight, Temugin."

Howard thinks of his son. And hopes that Gene won't do anything wrong to Patricia. Tony doesn't need his heart broken again. And Pepper isn't needed in heaven.

Pepper pushes the last book into the backpack. No more studying for the summer. The last test finished. Almost aced them all. Her mom comes into the ultra modern kitchen and pats her shoulder.

Pepper and Marie Jessica Potts is very much like each other. They both have red hair, a couple of freckles on each cheeks, the same talkative ways and the same way of laughing. But one thing separated them. Marie's eyes are icy blue, Pepper's is bronze, dark brown.

"Congrats hun!"She hugs her tightly.

"Thanks mom!"

"You better run over to your friends and celebrate!"

"Where are you going?"

"Got some CIA work to do, sorry darling!"

"Fine. I'll go celebrate with Rhodey, Chanel and Tony."

"So… Anything interesting happening with Tony? A little adult… fun?"

"OH GOSH MOM! YOU'RE SO GROSS!"

"I'm your mother, I wanna know if you're putting yourself in any danger!"

"Danger? Mom!"

"You know, I don't want you running home heartbroken because he broke up with you."

"Tony's not like that!"

"I'm glad to hear that you trust me so."Tony chuckles from the doorway.

Rhodey and Chanel laughs behind him.

"You called them over?"

"Of course! You need your friends, I haven't heard anything about them for five weeks! Now I have work to do, so see you soon!"She kissed her daughter on the cheek and leaves the apartment.

"Your badge!"She reminds her and throws it to her mom.

"Thanks sweetie! What would CIA do without you?"

"Probably burn up!"

Marie laughs and closes the front door.

"How much did you all hear?"

"Pretty much everything."Rhodey laughs."You're mom is hilarious!"

"Oh god. Just ignore her. She doesn't know anything about anything."

"She got her mind set straight."Tony chuckles."I like the words she used. Adult fun…? I could sure get onboard with that!"

He kisses Pepper and smiles sly.

"We thought you'd like to watch some RDJr movies."

"You bet your sweet ass I wanna! The rest of this week, I'm just gonna enjoy myself!"

"Let's go then!"Rhodey and Chanel walks out the door.

"And you bet you're a very important part of some fun."She looks serious at him."I'm tired of waiting!"

"I couldn't agree more."Tony smiles warm towards her.

These last few days, Pepper really enjoyed herself. She swam in the Rhodes's pool –No boys allowed-, she shopped with Chanel and ate nice. She started to enjoy work again, since she actually blew Fury off when he complained on her work. She was told she was lucky not getting fired by Chanel, Rhodey, Fury and her mom. Tony on the other hand, praised her for her anger against the grumpy SHIELD leader.

Oh well, Tony. He had become a closed book lately. You thought you knew how he would react to different kind of situations, but he was totally unpredictable. He could suddenly just ignore everything and go fight crime in the middle of the night, even mugging or kicking some purse-snatching slime's ass. Or he could be totally opposite; He could just ignore Whiplash to watch tv, or inventing at the armory. Rhodey often stepped in, sighing slightly irritated everytime he met Tony afterwards.

"I'm sorry, okay?"

That was Tony's usual response, and Rhodey just shrugged and returned to whatever he was doing before. To Rhodey, he had become a real pain in the ass. He often had to take time from his airplane engine study time, since Chanel had been very strict about setting out time for it. For two reasons mainly: She wanted him to be well prepared and really shine in Military School. And she hated when he turned her down to study on this subject, so she wanted him to have a certain time for it, so she didn't expose herself to turn downs ever again.

On one hand, he got that she is upset, but on the other, he thought she was a little selfish. But he thinks its okay, since that is signs of love and not wanting to let him go. When he thinks of it like that, he kinda likes that she's a little pissed at him. But Tony interrupts his temporary peace with Chanel, since he has to study on free time. Which made his girlfriend even more pissed.

"That Stark boy is going to be very aware about his existence!"Chanel growls as they walk down the muddy downhill road, towards the abandoned Makluan Temple.

"Okay, you're really not going to hit him, right?"

"No, even better."She smiles evil.

"What?"

"Hehe, you'll see.. Just play long and Pepper is in on this."

"Okay. I like it already."

They enter the armory, Tony working on his Space Suit.

FKG: Thanks, I totally forgot about the space suit! Thank you! :D Going on…

"TONY!"Chanel yells and looks terrified.

"What is it?"He looks up from the suit, looking surprised.

"JUSTIN KISSED PEPPER AGAIN!"

"WHAT? OH HE'S IN A WORLD OF HURT!"Tony runs into the pod and flies out.

"When are you gonna tell him the truth?"

"When he crashed into Justin's Office."

"Nice."

Tony throws the cab the Hulk threw at him aside.

"Somebody has to calm him down! He won't listen to me!"Tony yells and Hawkeye tries to shot some stun-arrows at the green monster.

Shadowcat and Nightcrawler helps each other fending off the approaching AIM henchmen.

"You're not gonna take him away again!"Shadowcat growls."He's like totally nice! You startled him!"

"Rhodey, Logan, get to the AIM ship and try to keep it on the ground. And everyone else, help me pin this big guy down!"

"Got it!"Logan growls and attacks the vehicle with Rhodey.

They all got into this mess when Tony made a run for Justin. Before he even reached the office, someone shot him in the back. And the Hulk grabbed him and slammed him down to the ground. He weakly assembled the Avengers from the giant crater he lied in. So now he has to step into the role as leader, since Storm was away in Japan.

"Go Go Go Go!"He yells and boosts up into the air.

Gotta call Pepper and ask her to help out here. We need all the help we can get.

"Pepper?"He yells into the intercom.

"Yeah, what?"

"Take the Hulk Buster Armor and meet me in Bronx. AIM and the Hulk down at the train station!"

"Got it, on my way."

"Thanks, I love you!"

"Love you too, Tony!"

He hangs up and crashes into an office, located on the top floor of the skyscraper. The floor is clear, so he sits down against a wall. He needs to let the suit recharge for a minute. Then he flies towards Bronx.

Pepper stands unsuited on railway. Tony sighs and lands softly infront of her.

"Okay. Where's the suit, Pepper?"

"I figured he liked me the most, so why not give it a shot?"She smiles.

"I'll take you to the crime scene, but you have to wait for the suit to arrive."Tony lifts her up bridal style and takes off before she even has time to protest.

"Hey big guy!"Tony tries to lure the Hulk away from the passed out Janet.

"HULK DOESN'T LIKE METAL MEN!"He roars and stomps towards Iron Man.

"Oh crap."Tony says the second before the Hulk knock him down with a city light.

He elbows his way up, trying to reignite his dead jetboots.

"PEPPER DON'T!"Hawkeye yells and Pepper runs out in the street.

"Bruce!"She says.

"Bru… ce?"The Hulk looks surprised."How redhead know Hulk's name?"

"Don't you remember me?"Pepper asks softly.

"Pepper…"The green muscle lump remembers and smiles a little."You save me."

"Yeah, I kinda saved you…"

"You prettier than Hulk remember."

"Thanks!"She shines like the sun."You look good too!"

"No, Hulk is ugly and stupid, like beehive man say."

"No! He's just plain dumb! You're one of the brightest, most beautiful men I've ever meet! You're Bruce Banner, the scientist with an IQ of 189!"

"You.. know Hulk's history?"The Hulk asks, looking a little happier.

"Of course! I envy you! I would never pass up a man who's been on Area 51 and studied gamma-rays!"

"You… like Hulk? You my.. friend?"

"I have always been!"Pepper touches his arm lightly.

Every Avenger looks in awe how Pepper calms the big guy down. The Hulk kneels and smiles widely.

"Pepper nice. Bee men bad."

"Yeah, so will you please stop fighting? We are the good ones! Not the bee men!"

"Pepper friend. Hulk knows."The Hulk says.

"So will you please stop fighting?"

"Hulk save Pepper! Hulk protect Pepper! Metal man weak, Hulk strong!"He flexes his muscles and Pepper laughs amused.

"Hey! I could whoop his ass anytime!"Tony tries to defend himself.

"Yeah, sure!"Hawkeye laughs, standing next to him.

"Hulk take Pepper somewhere safe!"The Hulk picks up Pepper.

"Eh… What are you doing?"Pepper asks panicky.

"Hulk protect Pepper like a man. Not like weak metal man!"The Hulk begins to run.

"Woah!"Tony flies infront of them, forcing the green man to stop."I'm fully capable to protect my girlfriend! Last time we met, I was brainwashed!"

"Metal man can't protect redhead. Hulk protect properly."He throws him to the ground and continues to run.

Tony blasts his jets on max and stops them again.

"You doesn't seem to get it-"Tony says, a little pissed."Hand her over."

"Metal man in the way of protecting Pepper! Out of Hulk's way!"

"Hand. Her. Over."

"Out. Of. Hulk's. Way."

Tony attempts to get back Pepper, but gets slammed down the East 123rd street, the left exit of the crossroad. He continues to run, every single Avenger after him.

He makes a left turn, and in the middle of the Park Avenue, he jumps up on a building on the right side, climbing up. He jumps on the buildings, making his way towards Central Park. Why Pepper knows that, is because she can see it from up here.

He crashes down on the street and continues to run. He runs down the East 102rd street, crossing fifth avenue. He jumps long and lands in the park. He sprints over it, Pepper sitting quiet. No idea worrying Tony by screaming. She isn't in real danger. Yet.

They pass some baseball fields. The players looks surprised when a green muscle man runs thru the park with the well-known Avengers after him. He runs down the Central Park West road, towards SoHo. Pepper wonders how he didn't get tired of running from Bronx to Central Park. Well well, if you got muscles, you do.

She also wonders if Tony's okay. He continues to jump and run thru New York. He stops in the middle of a crossroad, looking around. The Avengers seems to had lost them, which is pretty odd since he's a green giant. And people screams in fear.

Before she even could think of what her boyfriend was up to, he rammed them into the street. The Hulk forms himself to an very uneven ball and protects Pepper as he rolls down the street. A great trail, about five feet deep, runs after them, getting deeper by every inch. Tony lands casually next to them.

"Sorry I had to do that, Bruce, but you need to-"Bruce bitchslaps him right into an alley, like he tries to get rid of a fly.

"Hulk protect Pepper just like he said he would."

Pepper smiles lightly blushing towards him.

"Thanks."

"You treat me good. You just like Rick."

"We're kinda alike. Now, would you stop hitting my friends?"

"Oh, Hulk sorry!"

"Yeah, you should be."Tony stands next to them with crossed arms.

"Oh stop it, Tony."Pepper chuckles and jumps off the Hulk's chest.

The green man stands up and Pepper stands next to Tony.

"And I can protect her. Don't say anything else."

"Metal man sucks."Hulk chuckles and Tony sighs irritated.

"Don't push your luck!"He warns.

"You really think you could beat him down?"

"Yeah. If I could test his maximum strength so I could build a stronger suit."

"Very manly."Pepper laughs and climbs up on Iron Man's back."Take me home."

"Hulk not fight bee men without Pepper."

"Can I stay?"Pepper murmurs, knowing she already won.

"Fine."Tony sounds pissed.