Next chapter, this time it's a little more exciting. Please let me know what you think! And you're right, it was Spiderman who showed up in the previous chapter. Any idea who Group C was that was mentioned in the SHIELD reports? I forgot to ask you about that. And thank you so much for the reviews!
I don't own the characters or places!
"So you finally looked at her papers." Pepper said when they sat down in his office.
He nodded. "Some of them are for you, actually." Tony informed her.
At that, Pepper's eyes narrowed. "For me? She's your assistant."
Tony rolled his eyes. "On paper, she might be my assistant." He agreed. "Doesn't mean that I like it." The sceptical look on her face told him that she didn't believe his words. He decided to ignore it and handed her the papers. "Makes it easier for you to answer questions about our new employees."
Pepper looked at the papers for a few moments, before she nodded. "This could be useful." She admitted and didn't sound happy about it. "And what about the other things?"
"One was an invitation for a charity gala." Tony told her. "I said she should get rid off that. I've had enough of those events for the next years." The evening was still weighing heavily on him, even if he tried to ignore it as good as possible. He sighed.
When he mentioned the invitation, Pepper had raised her eyebrows and her expression was a mixture of anger and disbelief. "What's wrong?" Tony asked with a frown.
"Oh it's nothing." Pepper said and tried to sound carefree. "Just something Maria and I talked about earlier."
So they talked about more than the papers he had to sign the previous day? No wonder Pepper was annoyed by Maria Hill. She could be very exhausting sometimes. He cleared his throat. "Pepper, whatever she said to you, just ignore it. I already tried to get rid off her in the past weeks, but she always said that it looks better if she's really doing something for SI than just being employed in the reports. And on some point, I just stopped arguing, she's not doing that much for me either way. Mostly she stops by, I sign something and she walks away again." Did that explain his relationship to Maria Hill? Probably not, it still sounded too nice.
Pepper was still looking sceptical. "Your conversation earlier didn't sound like you wanted her to go away."
He groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "What's wrong?" He repeated his question.
Pepper shook her head. "Nothing. As I said, everything's fine. Should we come to the reason why I'm here now?"
She just changed the subject! What was her problem with Maria Hill? He still didn't understand… But wait. Was Pepper jealous? Pepper? But why on earth should she feel like that towards Maria Hill?
"Just give me the damn papers and I'll sign them."
Pepper handed them to him and he skipped through it. "I thought you ordered the material for the new reactor last month? JARVIS informed me about that." He muttered while he was reading.
"I did. Nevertheless, your signature has to be on the papers. Otherwise, the delivery will never arrive. And then the companies can't start with their work. And when they can't work, there'll be no building in which you can built the reactor." She explained slowly and Tony knew that she rolled her eyes right now. Weren't they past this point in their relationship? Everything had been fine until they arrived here…
He signed the papers and sighed. Pepper took them and stood up immediately.
"Pepper, wait." Tony said when she turned around to leave. "Don't just walk away. We agreed to talk when something's wrong, right?"
Slowly, Pepper turned around to look at him again. "Yes, we did. But nothing's wrong."
"To me, it seems as if something's terribly wrong." Tony argued. "Ever since we came back to New York, you're acting strange. At LA, everything's been fine. So tell me where the problem lies. When this is about Maria –"
"Why should this be about Maria Hill?" Pepper asked loudly, now she sounded angry. Or frustrated?
He sighed. "Maybe because you're always acting strange when she's around? Or when I mention her?"
"That's not true. I have absolutely no problem with her being your assistant. When you think that –"
She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence. "Sir, I decoded more of the data you found on the servers of Hydra. Maybe you should have a look at it, I have already shown it to Captain Rogers and Doctor Banner." JARVIS interrupted her.
Tony glanced at Pepper. She was looking really angry now. "What's going in, JARVIS? Can't that wait?"
"Unfortunately, it is very urgent, Sir. It seems like Hydra is planning an attack on a base of the army in Texas. They are storing weapons there."
Tony sighed. "I'm on my way. Get the suit ready, seems like I'll not be taking the new one this time. Damn stabilizers." He smiled at Pepper, though it was forced. "Seems like we need to talk later, I've got to leave now."
He walked past her towards the door. He was already out of the room, when she called after him.
"Tony, please be careful."
He looked over his shoulder without stopping. "I always am."
"Tony, are you ready?" Steve's voice sounded in his ear. They were in Texas now and ready to stop Hydra's attack on the base. The plan was easy. Tony would distract them and the others would come from behind and stop the Hydra agents. The soldiers of the army were already informed about the attack and would help the Avengers as good as possible.
The building wasn't as bis as expected. Probably because most of the storerooms were underground. Behind the base, there were mountains high enough to shield it from that direction. On the other side, a forest made it difficult to get to the base. There was only one road. On the tower, Tony could see soldiers waving at him, signalling that they were ready.
"Of course I am. And our friends in the building as well, they just gave me the sign. Do you see the troops of Hydra?"
"Yes, we're following them through the forest. They'll be at the gate soon."
"Then let's say hi to them, shall we?" Tony asked and with a grin, he flew towards the base. They had built a line of wood and other things in front of the gate that were easily flammable, so it wasn't a problem for Tony to set them on fire.
The Hydra agents were carrying heavy weapons and started to shoot at Tony and the military base. Apparently, they'd already expected an attack. "Seems like they knew that we'd come." Tony muttered.
"And they're not happy to see us." Clint's agreed.
The fight was going very well, until there was an explosion right next to Tony. "What was that?" He asked and tried to get out of the way of the next shot.
"They're using a new system with a tracker. You should try to get way from here fast, Sir. When one of those warheads hits you, the damage might be fatal." JARVIS answered his question.
Tony already expected something like that. "Can you detect the source?"
He rounded the base and tried to see who was firing on him, but it wasn't easy while avoiding being hit. "Does someone on the ground know who's causing me that much trouble?"
"I can see them, I'll try to get there." Steve said and Tony noticed that he sounded stressed.
"Deal with your own problems, I'll be fine." He said, not wanting Steve to get in more danger for him. Maybe this was a good time to land and help the others on the ground. He rounded the base again, when something hit his suit. Luckily, it wasn't a warhead.
"What was that?!"
"A stone, Sir." JARVIS said.
"Who the hell is throwing stones at me?"
Nevertheless, the distraction did it. Suddenly, something else hit Tony's suit and the explosion caught him off guard. He tried to fly away to avoid most of the damage, but he forgot that he was flying towards the tower of the base. Then there was another explosion and he fell – right into the military base and the tower. Which crashed down on him and the others who were fighting on the ground.
Pepper sat down in the kitchen and looked out of the window. The Avengers had left soon after JARVIS informed them about the attack. That had been nearly five hours ago. Since that, there was no sign of them.
The bits she'd heard of Tony's conversation with Maria Hill echoed through her mind again. They'd teased each other in such a light tone… Back then, she wouldn't have noticed that Tony doesn't like that woman.
But did he really not like her? Or had Tony just said those things to make her calm down?
However, Tony would never lie to her. That wasn't like him at all. Yes, he could be stupid sometimes and thoughtless, but Tony hated lying.
That didn't change in the months they'd been apart, did it?
"Stop thinking about it, Pepper." She muttered to herself. "Tony would never cheat on you. He said that he doesn't like Maria Hill and then it's the truth." Maybe she was really worrying over something stupid. After all, Tony was lying in her bed at night. And he always looked at her like there was nothing better in this world. And when they were together, he looked so carefree. And he didn't to that when he was with Maria Hill, did he?
Last evening, when they'd met her at the elevator, he didn't look happy to see her. And today, when she heard them talk, his voice sounded strained. So maybe she was worrying over nothing?
He'd been right, they needed to talk. However, she didn't plan on just telling him all her worries. He had to figure out what was wrong on his own.
Suddenly, she heard a phone ringing. Pepper frowned and went to look for the source. She knew that ringtone, it was Tony's. After a few moments, she saw it lying on the counter. Apparently, he'd forgotten it there when they left in a haze. 'Rhodey' said the screen and it showed a picture of Tony and Rhodey, grinning together. It had been taken a few years ago, before Tony had been captured…
Should she answer this? He wanted to talk to Tony, after all. But Pepper could just tell Rhodey that Tony was on a mission, then he wouldn't have to call again.
She accepted the call. "Hey Tony, finally you're answering. I already tried to reach you a few hours ago, there's something you must know –"
"It's Pepper, Rhodey." She interrupted him quickly. Rhodey sounded serious, what was going on?
"Pepper? Where's Tony?" Rhodey sounded confused.
"He's out on a mission with the Avengers." Pepper explained.
"Oh, not good." Rhodey muttered. "I really needed to talk to him."
She frowned. "What's going on?" She asked without thinking about it. "Of course you don't have to tell me, I shouldn't have asked, I'm sorry." She corrected herself quickly.
"Why shouldn't you ask about this? It's about government business, Pepper. Nothing exciting. I just heard something that might be interesting for Tony and the others. Apparently, someone tried to hack into their servers. And I thought Tony could find out who it was easily." Rhodey explained.
Could that be Hydra? Or just someone else? "I bet he'll be excited to hear that." She said slowly. "Should I tell him to call you back when they return?"
"That would be great, I also left him a message. How are you, Pepper? Now that you're back in New York?"
She forced back a sigh. "Everything's fine, I started working today. I haven't been here for some time and need to control everything for the company."
"And besides that? How are things with Tony?"
"We're good." She lied. "Still getting used to each other again."
"When something's wrong, you can tell me, you know that?" Rhodey asked seriously.
Pepper smiled, even if he couldn't see it. "Thank you, Rhodey. I appreciate that."
Suddenly, she heard someone else talking to Rhodey. "I've got to go, I'll stop by at NY soon."
"Goodbye." Pepper whispered, but Rhodey had already ended the call.
She stared at the phone in her hands. Now it showed the picture of Tony and her on the charity gala a few days ago. He looked at her with so much love, it made her smile. She thought of that evening again, all those terrible things Anna said to Tony. And how desperate he'd been after that. Her words were still weighing heavily on him, Pepper knew that. Even if Tony tried to hide it. He was carrying a heavy burden and she really wished that she could make it easier for him. But she could do that, right?
However, now it seemed as if she wasn't making anything easier for him. He'd looked tense back in his office, even insecure. As if he didn't know what to do around her when she was angry at him. And all because of Maria Hill, who was his assistant now. Who liked Tony. She called him 'Tony' behind his back, not 'Mr. Stark'. Maybe Tony didn't even know about her attraction towards him? Yes, they'd teased each other, but Tony was like that around everyone… Did she interpret everything wrong and it wasn't Tony who liked Maria, but Maria who had a crush on Tony?
Suddenly, Pepper was determined to clear the air. She wouldn't let Maria Hill get between herself and Tony.
