Chapter 20

Tony's eyes were alternating between staring at his Advanced Mechanics professor while he lectured by the front of the class and down at his pod on his desk to look at the time. He had to literally run out of the class as soon as it ended if he wanted to make it to his tuxedo fitting for the Homecoming Dance in Berkeley this weekend. The tailor had told him he could have the job done in twenty-four hours, and since the Game was in two days and he still had to run down one more rehearsal with the school's marching band tomorrow, he only had today to get the fitting done.

He had also been rehearsing in his mind his plan to put an end to Sandra's torturing of Pepper ever since he had come up with it the day he had been reminded he owed people some huge favors, and that attending the Homecoming events in Berkeley were going to be part of his settlement.

He knew his timing needed to be precise. One wrong move and no one would buy into what he was planning on doing, which meant a longer torment time for his girl; his girl who had surprised him with the knowledge that she was a high-ranked martial artist.

At first he had thought Pepper was just pulling his leg, but the longer the training lasted, the more it began hitting home. She was the daughter of an FBI agent, after all, and she was always looking to be part of the mission's action. And while she had never been given the chance to really show it, she did display skills of a martial artist – most of which had not really stood out to him until now. Sadly, the enemies and situations she had encountered since the day they had met had not been normal by any stretch of the imagination, and thus she had not been able to share her unknown talent with him.

Rhodey knowing about it, however, was another story. I can't believe he never told me, Tony groaned silently, promising to chew off his so-called best friend the next time he saw him again.

"How the heck do you think I sneaked out of my apartment when Mr. Fix was after me?" Pepper had pointed out to Tony and Jay during training, and Tony had admitted that he had attributed her escape to simple good luck and Iron Man's much-needed intervention. The other occasions in which Pepper had needed rescue had not been commonplace, and her martial arts skills could only do so much against automatic guns, Makluan Guardians, highly-advanced robots, aliens and, most recently, armed terrorists.

Besides, after joining Team Iron Man and then getting her armor and Tony Stark's version of a Swiss army knife – her pod – why would she need to resort to the old-school use of fists?

I guess she can defend herself, Tony figured, feeling somewhat guilty for giving her a hard time about her abilities. He had not been aware than in order for her to use her talents of the arts to defend herself she would have to warn the attacker that she possessed twelve years of training and would not hesitate to use lethal force*, and the ginger was yet to see the need to execute this request. If she did not warn an assailant of her advantage, she would get arrested…again.

Tony chuckled remembering how Pepper always told anyone who would listen about the time she had been arrested but that the charges has been dropped. She had apparently beaten the living crud out of a boy in middle school that had tried to go too far with her, and had forgotten to tell the unlucky bastard that she was certified to break his bones. Fortunately, due to her age, clean record and the fact that the punk had tried to do something atrocious to the little girl, the family of the boy had gone easy on Pepper, and she had gotten away with a warning.

That'd be the day, Tony smiled. 'Hey, I'm Iron Man and I possess unregistered weapons technology, and I'm not afraid to use it.' He shook his head.

Tony's eyes landed on his pod again and saw that he only had thirty more seconds of class to go. If he timed it correctly, he would be out of the classroom in a flash, run down the hall to the nearest exit, put on the suit and fly off to the tailor who was fifteen miles away from campus. He knew if he flew there it would be much faster, and since the suit was being flown to the hotel where he had to stay with his college peers while in California, he did not have to worry about beating the traffic on Friday morning to try and pick it up before their plane took off.

The next couple of days were going to be extremely frantic, and the only relief he had in all of this was seeing Pepper again. Hopefully, if everything went as planned, they would no longer have to hide their relationship or the fact that she was Rescue, and if everything went even better than planned, Pepper would be told the truth and with any luck she would understand the reasoning behind what he had done to her…

Or, for her…depending on how his actions were scrutinized by the ginger.

The bell that his crazy professor always rang to signify the end of the class resounded in the room, and Tony was the first one out the door. He went around the other students that had also just gotten out of class in the same building, uttering apologies and warnings as he sped down the hall. He finally saw the corner that would lead him to the exit he was looking for, and as he rounded it faster than he thought he could, something caught him by surprise.

In retrospect, it had not really been something that had surprised him, but someone.

He groaned when he bumped into her, and before he could make out what had happened, he was being dragged inside a service closet. He felt his back hit the wall and he almost tripped on the bucket and mop behind him, but he quickly regained his balance and pushed himself to a standing position. "What the…"

The rest of his question died in his mouth when he felt lips pressing against him, and he was shocked out of his wits for an instant until he felt a hand rubbing against his crotch.

"Gah!" The inventor pushed the would-be aggressor off him and rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth only to see bright red lipstick smeared all over his skin. "What is your deal?"

"Tony," he heard a whisper coming from the dark of the small room. He then heard shuffling close by and his eyes widened when the single light bulb hanging from the ceiling was turned on and he saw a blonde dressed in a rather scanty outfit walking up to him. "I've been waiting for you."

Tony used the inside of the front of his shirt to remove the remainder of lipstick off his mouth and narrowed his eyes at the girl. "Who are you?"

"I'm your date, of course."

"My date? What are you talking about? Why did you bring me in here? I have somewhere I have to be."

"Oh, I'm sure you're very busy right now with rehearsals and such, but there is something we need to rehearse, too."

"Again, who the hell are you?"

The girl snickered. "My name is Sandra. Sandra Saunders; and I'm going to be your date during the Berkeley Homecoming this weekend."

Oh. CRAP.

"Look," the inventor began, trying his best to keep his knowledge of who this girl was out of his words. "I'm sure you're busy too, being…you, I guess, and all, but I really have to go."

"No, wait, not so fast" she said and blocked his only exit with her body. "Before you leave, let me give you a preview."

"A preview of what?"

"Me," she answered and slid down the zipper of her tight dress to display the even more revealing undergarments she was wearing underneath. "We can start with this unless there is something more you'd like to see…or touch…"

"I think I'm fine, thank you," he said and tried to go around her but she pressed herself against him again and her hands once more roamed around an area on him she had just tried exploring seconds before.

"Tell me what you want," she purred. "And I'll give it to you."

"What I want?" he asked and pulled her hands off him, keeping them away from his body by holding them by her wrists and in between their faces. "I want you to let me get out of here. Now."

"Why? The team can rehearse without you," she reasoned. "But I can't."

"I'm not interested, OK? I don't want to hurt you, but I will push you out of the way if you don't move. What are you doing here, anyway? Aren't you supposed to be in California or something?"

"My duties as future Homecoming Queen of Berkeley excused me from class today."

"Really? Well, why don't you go back to whatever it is that you need to do? I have to go," he said, let go of her hands and took a step around her, his left hand almost reaching the door knob.

"Not yet," she said in an angrier tone. "Not until you let me show you want I can do for you. What I could give you if we start getting to know each other better."

"Did you just not hear me say I'm not interested? Now, this is the last time I say this, Sandra. Let me get out of here." He retorted, only now seeing that Pepper's description of how stubborn the girl was did not do any justice to the reality of it.

"I love the way you say my name. I want you to make me say yours."

Tony flinched, unsure of whom this girl's lines reminded him of, but he was certain they were both lame. "Uh, how about 'no'."

"How about 'yes'," she said to him with a look that Tony thought it was supposed to be sexy but it was actually coming out everything but.

"OK, that's too much of that. I'm leaving now."

"No!" she spat. "If you try to leave, I will scream and claim that you tried to take advantage of me."

Now he knew who the girl's actions reminded him off, and it was not his redhead he was thinking about.

"Really?" Tony crossed his arms over his chest. "You think people will buy that with the way you're dressed right now? Besides, if you make a big deal out of nothing, neither you nor I will get to go to Homecoming, and you won't be the queen anymore, is that what you want?" he pointed out to her, not really caring if the woman was crowned or not, and actually just trying to buy his ticket out of the small enclosure and as far away from her as humanly possible.

When the blonde growled and opted to zip up her dress, Tony felt relieved. However, his victory was short lived when Sandra kissed him again, taking advantage of his crossed arms, and this time shoving her tongue down his throat. The kiss did not last long but it was enough for Tony to want to gag.

"There's more where that came from, Tony. Keep that in mind."

Tony winced and did not move as he waited for the girl to rearrange her clothes, stared at her pocket mirror to make sure her face and hair were fine, and then opened the door of the closet. "I'll see you Friday, Tony."

"I'm sure you will," he replied before a devious thought crossed his mind. "Oh, wait, one more thing," Tony said despite his need to see her be on her merry way out of his and brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. "There, now you can go."

The girl smiled, believing her actions had been somewhat successful, but they had actually not. Later on that day, when she had gotten to the airport to fly back to California, she would stop by a mirror only to see her hair was standing up in every direction, courtesy of the static shock hit Tony had given her by using a minor Extremis electric attack.

A/N: *This is an urban legend but it served the purposes of my story :) Anyone still interested on how this will turn out? What do you think Tony's plan is?