"Hey JARVIS." Laura greeted him while getting out of her car, as the door closed behind her, in her workshop, and the large door closed behind her.
"Good morning Ms. Congratulations on the opening ceremonies and your Senate hearing. I must say I enjoyed your performance at the Senate hearing with Mr. Stark it was quite amusing." he joked as a video of it appeared on one of her monitors and she smiled.
"I live to serve JARVIS. Proves Stern right for trying to get me to go against Tony. Plus I got a senator to drop F bombs so all and all it think it went well." she joked while walking up to her setup and AVIRA rolled up to her.
She sat down and looked over at the windmill she recently completed that took up a good chunk of her floor space.
"Hey can you let Tony know again that the windmill was suppose to be on a flatbed outta here last week. He needs to sign off on the offshore windfarm that California is waiting his signature for. You'd think it being the world's largest would get his attention." she sighed.
"He has been rather distracted but I will let him know." he said as her phone began vibrating in her pocket and she took it out, seeing "Private Number" on the caller ID.
"Have we had any luck in tracking these stupid things?" she asked annoyed.
"There has been no origin of those calls Ms." JARVIS answered.
"It doesn't make any sense. I built, what is arguably the best firewall in the world after that security breach so you'd think our network would be able to protect against robocalls?" she asked confused.
"I will run diagnostics." he offered.
"Thanks. God help me if Tony get's these." she joked.
She looked over at the TV mounted on the wall which had the Stark Expo schedule of events and just shook her head.
She brought out a pair of suit boots and thrusters and set them on a table behind her desk.
"Ok let's get to work."
"Wake up, Daddy's home." Tony walked up to his setup in his workshop.
"Welcome home, sir. Congratulations on the opening ceremonies. They were such a success, as was your Senate hearing with Ms. Watson. And may I say how refreshing it is to finally see you in a video with your clothing on, sir." he joked as a video of it appeared on a monitor and he laughed.
"And Ms. Watson has asked me for you to sign the contracts for..." he began but Tony interrupted him.
"Yeah let's double back on that. How many ounce a day of this gobbledegook am I supposed to drink?" he asked while drinking a green liquid from a glass.
"We are up to 80 ounces a day to counteract the symptoms, sir." he answered.
"Check palladium levels." he inserted his thumb in the blood toxicity kit.
"Blood toxicity, 24%. It appears that the continued use of the Iron Man suit is accelerating your condition. Another core has been depleted." JARVIS said while bringing up images of his heart on his monitor as Tony took out the arc and the core popped out smoking.
"God, they're running out quick." he stated.
"I have run simulations on every known element, and none can serve as a viable replacement for the palladium core." he said as Tony took a new one out of a chest, placed it in the new arc and put it back in his chest.
"You are running out of both time and options. Unfortunately, the device that's keeping you alive is also killing you." he warned as Tony lifted up his shirt and saw the veins coming from the chest piece.
"Ms. Potts is approaching. I recommend that you inform her and Ms…" he began but Tony interrupted him.
"Mute." he lowered his shirt as Pepper let herself in.
"Is this a joke? What are you thinking?" she asked him angrily.
"What?" he ignored her while downing his glass.
"What are you thinking?" she repeated herself.
"Hey, I'm thinking I'm busy. And you're angry about something. Do you have the sniffles? I don't want to get sick." he asked while getting up.
"Did you just donate…" she began but Tony interrupted her.
"Keep your business." he began walking around the room while messing with the holographics.
"…our entire modern art collection to the…" she continued angrily.
"Boy Scouts of America." Tony finished for her.
"…Boy Scouts of America?" she asked unamused.
"Yes. It is a worthwhile organization. I didn't physically check the crates but, basically, yes. And it's not "our" collection, it's my collection. No offence." he argued.
"No, you know what? I think I'm actually entitled to say "our" collection considering the time that I put in, over 10 years, curating that." she countered.
"It was a tax write-off. I needed that." he justified.
"You know, there's only about 8,011 things that I really need to talk to you about." Pepper tried getting his attention.
"Dum-E. Hey, stop spacing out. The Bridgeport's already machining that part." he told him.
"The Expo is a gigantic waste of time." Pepper let her opinion be known.
"Do you and Laura exchange lines with each other before you argue with me?" he asked annoyed.
"No and great minds think alike." she argued.
"There's nothing more important to me than the Expo. It's my primary point of concern. I don't know why you're…" he began but Pepper interrupted him.
"The Expo is your ego gone crazy!" she exclaimed.
"Again, really are you sure don't go over lines? Just making sure and wow Look at that. That's modern art. That's going up." he picked up an Iron Man poster off the floor.
"You've got to be kidding." Pepper said with annoyance.
"I'm gonna put this up right now. This is vital." Tony continued to ignore her while putting up the poster.
"Stark is in complete disarray. You understand that?" she still tried to get his attention.
"No. Our stocks have never been higher." he argued.
"Yes, from a managerial standpoint. There's just Laura in charge of engineering that's it!" she countered.
"You are… Well, if's messy then let's double back." he didn't want to talk about.
"Let me give you an example." she tried again.
"Let's move onto another subject." Tony got up on the counter and removed an art piece.
"No, no, no, no. You are not taking down the Barnett Newman and hanging that up." Pepper yelled.
"I'm not taking it down. I'm just replacing it with this." he held up an Iron Man picture.
"Let's see what I can get going on here." he placed it on the wall.
"Ok, fine. My point is, we have already awarded contracts to the wind farm people." she explained.
"Yeah. Don't say wind farm. I'm already feeling gassy." Tony joked.
"And to the plastic plantation tree, which was your idea by the way. Those people are on payroll…" she reminded him.
"Everything was my idea." he said smugly.
"The wind farms were Laura's idea, and you won't make a decision!" Pepper began losing her patience.
"I don't care about the liberal agenda any more. It's boring. Boring. I'm giving you a boring alert. You do it." he proposed while getting off the counter.
"I do what?" she asked confused.
"Excellent idea. I just figured this out. You run the company." he proposed.
"Yeah, I'm trying to run the company." she didn't realize what Tony offered.
"Pepper, I need you to run the company. Well, stop trying to do it and do it." he tried again.
"You will not give me the information…" she began but Tony interrupted her.
"I'm not asking you to try…" he began but Pepper interrupted him.
"…in order to…" she tried.
"I'm asking you to physically do it. I need you to do it." he clarified.
"I am trying to do it." she argued.
"Pepper, you're not listening to me!" he yelled.
"No, you are not listening to me." she yelled back.
"I'm trying to make you CEO. Why won't you let me?" he finally got her attention.
"Have you been drinking?" she asked in shock.
"Chlorophyll. I hereby irrevocably appoint you chairman and CEO of Stark Industries effective immediately. Yeah, done deal. Ok? I've actually given this a fair amount of thought, believe it or not." Dum-E brought champagne and glasses over for them.
"Doing a bit of headhunting, so to speak, trying to figure out who a worthy successor would be. And then I realized it's you. It's always been you." Pepper sat down, still in shock as Tony poured their glasses.
"I thought there'd be a legal issue, but actually I'm capable of appointing my successor. My successor being you. Congratulations? Take it, just take it." he handed her a glass.
"I don't know what to think." she managed to say.
"Don't think, drink. There you go." they toasted and drank.
Early the next morning, Laura was still working out the bugs from her previous tests.
"Ok let's try this again shall we?" she asked while backing up with the boots, stabilizers and arc on her chest.
"Ok AVIRA camera on please." she asked as it recorded in front of her.
"Ok day 22 test 14 I'm making these up at this point ok let's begin with 1% thrust capacity." she got in stance.
The boots ignited and she hovered a few feet off the ground.
"Not bad. Not bad." she flew higher off the ground and used her feet and body to turn and moved towards her car and bike.
"Not here, not here!" she stopped herself quickly before flying over her car.
"Ok, not bad, not bad." she landed on the floor.
"JARVIS can you rerun diagnostics on that?" she asked while walking over to a platform.
"Yes, Ms." he said as she opened the door, and two robotic arms came out and began assembling suit pieces around her.
"Ms. I must strongly object to this…" JARVIS warned her, but Laura interrupted him.
"It's time JARVIS. We worked out all the bugs and glitches, have done way more testing than Tony did with his suit and besides it's 2:20 in the morning it'll be fine." she reassured him while trying to calm her nerves as her helmet came on.
"And that is why I changed my hair. It fits perfectly inside the helmet." she smiled.
"Let's do this. Bring up ATC, weather, ground control yada, yada…" she asked as all of red graphics of all the necessary information came on her HUD.
The thrusters ignited and she hovered briefly before flying out, fast.
"Whoa!" she yelled while gaining height quickly.
"Ha ha, ha, ha, ha this is amazing!" she laughed hysterically while leveling out and the streets and buildings went past her below quickly.
"I see why Tony likes this." she said while smiling.
She barrel rolled between skyscrapers in downtown and spotted the Los Angeles River.
"Oh hello, let's try something." she flew down and the flight path guided her underneath the bridges.
"Keep pushing!" she said while accelerating while flying a few feet above the water as she flew underneath the bridges quickly.
She flew out of the concrete viaduct and spotted a freeway interchange.
"Time for a real test." she began gaining speed while flying towards the stack of bridges.
Her flight path highlighted the way through as she flew between the bridges, stopped instantly, flying above a few cars on a ramp, and began flying upwards perpendicularly.
"Man this thing can haul ass. Ok let's see what this can really do what was Tony's record?" she asked.
"Mr. Stark managed to achieve 93,000 ft. before the buildup of ice." JARVIS answered as it came on her HUD.
"We won't have an icing problem will we?" she joked.
"We won't Ms. we learned from our mistake." he joked back.
"Yeah, we did. Let's see what this thing can do." she flew upwards quickly.
The height on her HUD climbed quickly as she past 95,000 ft.
"Broke Tony's old record." she said smugly as she stopped and looked down at Los Angeles far below.
"Nice view." she began flying again.
"Ok broke the height record time for a speed test." she said as Supersonic Flight engage came on her HUD.
"Punch it!" she yelled as she went supersonic, causing a boom.
Her graphic on her HUD continued to climb instantly as Mach 3 came on her HUD.
"Keep going!" she tried maintaining her breathing as her speed past 2,300 mph.
"Ok, ok JARVIS that's enough." she slowed down to a cruising speed.
"Well, that went well, and I broke some records tonight. Let's go over some tests as we fly back at…" she checked her HUD which showed 490 mph on it.
"490 mph ok that works." she shrugged her shoulders casually.
She flew back to her workshop and landed on the platform.
"Well, that was awesome. Can you do a matte black on this?" she asked as she got out of her suit.
"Gold and Hot Rod red doesn't suit you Ms.?" JARVIS joked and Laura smiled.
"God no this is supposed to be stealthy and Tony's suit is the opposite of stealth." she said as she saw the render on a monitor.
"And do a red glow for the eyes." she suggested as the final render appeared.
"That looks bad ass. Paint it, fabricate it." she asked as she checked her watch and saw "4:30 am" on it.
"Man, I completely lost track of time. I've got my workout with Happy later this morning." she sighed.
"AVIRA you're in charge make sure this gets done." she told her and got in her car and drove away.
The next morning, Laura was in the boxing ring in Tony's gym, exchanging punches with Happy.
She turned around as Tony walked in and Happy punched her.
"Ow!" she yelled while clenching her shoulder.
"What the hell was that?" she asked annoyed.
"Rule number one never take your eyes off your opponent." he explained but Laura punched him multiple times with force quickly, causing him to stumble backwards.
"Rule number two no sneak attacks." she joked and Happy rolled his eyes.
"When did you drop in?" Tony asked her.
"Earlier why?" she asked.
"What are you doing and why are you dressed like that?" Tony asked about her boxing gloves, padding, shorts and t shirt drenched in sweat as he climbed into the ring.
"What? I'm working out with Happy." she said, and Tony gave her a look of disbelief.
"What? Happy how long have we doing this?" she asked.
"Too long." he muttered, and Laura put her fists up at him in a mock threating manner.
"I've never seen you in here before that's why." he explained.
"You act as if I was fat." she crossed her arms.
"I never said that, but you also have never been a gym or health nut before either." he stated.
"Well this is the new me. The new physically fit and active me." she jogged in place.
"First the hair… now…" he gestured his finger at her dramatically.
"…this… there's something going on with you. I'm not sure what but I'm going to find out what is." he said confidently as they stared at each other.
"Whatever." Laura grabbed her water bottle and got out of the ring.
Later, Laura was sitting in a chair, replying to an email, as Tony and Happy boxed while Pepper walked in.
"The notary's here! Can you please come sign the transfer paperwork." she asked Tony.
"I'm on Happy time." he ignored her as Laura got up to hug her.
"Congrats on the promotion Pepper. You've already been doing his job anyway, seriously you deserve it." she told her as Tony punched Happy in the face, getting their attention.
"What the hell was that?" he asked unamused.
"It's called mixed martial arts. It's been around for three weeks." Tony joked.
"It's called dirty boxing, there's nothing new about it." Happy argued.
"That's called payback Happy." Laura smirked at him and he rolled his eyes.
"And thank you…" Pepper said while giving her a look.
"What I've been working out with Happy." she said unconvincingly.
"Why does everyone find that hard to believe!" she exclaimed.
"Well, you should go running with me. FYI they're long runs." Pepper offered.
"I've already been running. Hate running. My short legs work against me the faster I go but I'm in the best shape of my life. I feel like Rocky taking on Apollo Creed." she mock dodged some punches and punched the air.
"Only except I win." she added quickly as a woman with red hair walked in.
Tony and Happy were staring at her as she walked over to Pepper.
"I promise this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company." Pepper told Tony as the notary brought out the forms for her to sign.
"I need you to initial each box." she explained as Happy tapped Tony in the back of the head.
"Lesson one. Never take your eye off…" Tony kicked and punched him into the corner of the ring.
"That's it. I'm done. What's your name, lady?" Tony asked.
"Rushman. Natalie Rushman." she introduced herself.
"Front and center. Come into the church." Tony wanted her to get into the ring.
"No. You're seriously not gonna ask…" Pepper asked but Tony interrupted her.
"If it pleases the court, which it does." he ignored her.
"It's no problem." Natalie reassured her.
"I'm sorry. He's very eccentric." Pepper apologized.
"Yeah, you learn to ignore it." Laura added as Natalie stepped into the ring.
Tony drank from his bottle while they stared at each other.
"Can you give her a lesson?" Tony asked Happy.
"No problem." he said as Tony got out of the ring and sat in the same chair as Pepper and gave her a look.
"What?" she asked.
"Who is she?" Tony asked.
"She is from legal. And she is potentially a very expensive sexual harassment lawsuit if you keep ogling her like that." she warned.
"I need a new assistant, boss." Tony proposed.
"Yes, and I've got three excellent potential candidates. They're lined up and ready to meet you." she replied.
"I don't have time to meet. I need someone now. I feel like it's her." he suggested, and Laura rolled her eyes.
"No, it's not." Pepper denied.
"You ever boxed before?" Happy asked Natalie.
"I have, yes." she answered.
"What, like, the Tae Bo? Booty Boot Camp? Crunch? Something like that?" he mocked.
"How do I spell your name, Natalie?" Tony asked.
"R-U-S-H-M-A-N." she answered as Tony brought up a touch screen on the glass table between he and Laura.
"What, are you gonna google her now?" Pepper asked unamused.
"I thought I was ogling her." he brought up her images and credentials.
"Wow. Very, very impressive individual." he complimented while going through her images.
"You're so predictable, you know that?" Pepper asked annoyed.
"She's fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Latin. Who speaks Latin?" he asked.
"Nobody speaks Latin, Tony." Laura interrupted them.
"It's a dead language. You can read Latin, or you can write Latin, but you can't speak Latin." Pepper clarified.
"Did you model in Tokyo? Cause she modelled in Tokyo." Tony joked.
"Well…" she began but he interrupted her.
"I need her. She's got everything that I need." Natalie looked over to Tony, Pepper and Laura on the chairs.
"Rule number one, never take your eyes off your opponent." Happy attempted to punch her but she grabbed his hand and flipped him over, legs over his head with ease and slammed him on his back.
"Oh my God! Happy." Pepper gasped.
"That was awesome!" Laura said while smiling and getting up.
"That's what I'm talking about." Tony complimented and Laura rang the bell.
"Natalie 1. Happy 0." she used her arms for numbers.
"I just slipped." Happy denied while stumbling up.
"I should be learning how to fight from her not you Happy." Laura joked, loving the smugness wiped off of him.
"You did?" Tony joked.
"Yeah." he lied, looking like he was in pain.
"Just… I need your impression." Natalie asked Tony.
"You have a quiet reserve. I don't know, you have an old soul." he rambled.
"Really, Tony?" Laura said dramatically.
"I meant your fingerprint." she clarified while holding out the forms.
"Right." he began fingerprinting them.
"So, how are we doing?" Pepper asked.
"Great. Just wrapping up here. Hey. You're the boss." he joked.
"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" she asked.
"No." he answered.
"Yes, that will be all, Ms. Rushman. Thank you very much." Pepper ignored him.
"Here I will walk you out. I need to swing by my workshop anyway." Laura offered.
"Can I get a ride? I rode up with Ms. Potts and I need to drop these off." Natalie asked.
"Certainly, Ms. Rushman." she nodded.
"Call me Nat, please." she asked, and Tony and Pepper watched them walk out but Laura turned around.
"And Pepper for your first executive action can you please sign off on the wind farm." she asked and Pepper smiled.
"I will get right on it." she gave Tony a smug look.
"Thanks boss." Laura joked and they watched them walk out.
"I want one." he asked.
"No."
"Thanks for the ride." Nat thanked her as they drove back to Stark Industries.
"No problem." she shrugged her shoulders.
"So, you and Mr. Stark seem close." Nat stated.
"Yeah, I've known him for… wow nine years." Laura said amazed at how the time flew by.
"Well nine years is a long time to be working for the same person." she replied.
"Yeah, well it's more than just work. He, Pepper, Happy and Rhodey we're like a family honestly." Laura said as they pulled up to outside of her workshop.
"Thanks for the ride. It was nice to meet you." Nat said while getting out.
"Likewise." Laura nodded back as Nat began walking across the path that went parallel to her building to the quad, towards the main building as she walked inside her workshop.
"JARVIS how we doing?" she asked about her suit.
"Paint is rendered and the Blackbird Mark ll is complete." he said as Laura put it into a "suit case"
"Wonderful as always JARVIS." she walked out, and Nat watched her while hiding around a corner of an adjacent building discreetly.
She saw Laura put a black case into the frunk of her car and drive off and raised an eyebrow curiously.