Hello, unfortunate souls who decided they want to spend their time reading this fanfic. I hope it's not a complete waste. You've hopefully already read the summary so you know what you're in for. Any decisions you make after reading this are on you!
If you're not scared yet, and actually reading this…. Well, you've been warned. This is my first writing that isn't for school so… I don't expect it to be winning any honors or whatever.
Disclaimer: None of these amazingly fantabulous characters are mine.
Anyways… Ready, Set, Go read away!
Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire, former playboy, philanthropist.
Iron Man.
Owner of Stark Industries. Creator of his own AI. Founder of the newest element, Badassium.
One of the world's most renowned engineers and arguably the smartest person of his era.
So let him know why he himself, The Tony Stark, was just interrupted during an important meeting, as Pepper would say, to be notified of a disturbance in the tower's server; to be specific, Stark Towers server. Meaning potentially every confidential file, document, and secret kept in the processing system could be exposed. Or there was a glitch in F.R.I.D.A.Y's coding. Honestly, Tony didn't know which was worse. His ego certainly wouldn't appreciate the latter, but the first was definitely more serious.
After getting the message from F.R.I.D.A.Y, Tony abruptly stood up, grabbed his glasses, and started to strut his way to the door. "Tony, where the hell do you think you're going?!" shouted the pirate himself, Nick Fury. Or rather, the holographic imagining of Fury. Feigning nonchalance, Tony slid on his signature glasses, stared Fury down, and smirked, "Well, considering this meeting should have ended minus ten minutes ago, I think I'm done here. I am a very popular figure after all. Things to do, people to ignore. Anyways gotta run". "Tony, don't you dare-" Fury started, but Tony was already out the door.
The second he was out of anyone's hearing range, Tony pulled up the servers coding from his glasses and started to work.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y. What the hell is happening? Why did I just get a message stating the Tower's server's been compromised? This better be some sick joke Rhodey's playing or I swear to-".
"Boss, if I may." With a roll of his eyes, forcing as much sarcasm into his speech as possible, "Yes, F.R.I, you may".
"Sir, I was able to detect small trace proof that someone, or rather a hacker, has tampered with the Towers server".
"Oh, shit….". "Indeed sir," F.R.I.D.A.Y said, her mechanical voice laced with sass that should definitely not be there. As Tony rounded the corner and walked straight to the elevator, he yelled "Not the time F.R.I! How the fuck did someone gets past the firewalls?! What about the protocols? Pretty sure I programmed you to tell me if someone's hacking, so I can fix the issue before it becomes something bigger!", his voice raising the longer he talked.
As Tony walked into the elevator, clicking the penthouse floor button and waiting for F.R.I's response, his mind raced. Panicked thoughts fogging his mind; hands taking on a slight shake. How is this even possible? What could have penetrated F.R.I.D.A.Y? Or who?! This is crazy. This is fucking ridiculous ...Oh fucking fuck Pep's gonna kill me. She's gonna-
"Boss, The hacker seems to have disabled every program in place, turning off any alarms you set up" F.R.I.D.A.Y states, interrupting his panicked rambles. "Well double shit" Tony frowned.
"F.R.I it's time to find this punk. Begin going through the coding, I'll go start a pot of coffee. This is gonna be a long day".
Just as the elevator reaches his private floor, Tony all but runs to his lab and starts to brew coffee. "F.R.I, I also want you to pull up everything. All the coding right in front of me. I'll find the time the hacker started doin' his thing, while you go through every trace they left us. Chop, chop we're on the clock" Tony exclaims while clapping twice above his head.
Tony's been holed up in his lab for days. Nothing. They have found absolutely nothing other than the small blip in coding that proves someone hacked. Without that clue, it would be hard to believe anyone even penetrated F.R.I's coding. Whoever did this was good. Too good.
Or it could be the fact that with everything Tony's had going on, from his fifteen missed calls and thirty-five texts from Pepper alone, to Secretary Ross, who's been up his ass trying to find the Rogues, he's been too busy. Or too stressed. Or running on the three hours of sleep he got on Monday. Speaking of…
"F.R.I what time is it?" Tony calls out from his hunched-over position. "Boss, it appears to be 12:32 P.M, Thursday afternoon."
"Shit. Already?"
"Appears so sir. May I recommend grabbing some food, a shower, followed by a lengthy nap?" F.R.I.D.A.Y stated a tinge of worry somewhere in her voice.
Tony raises his arms above his head, stretching out his back, before taking a waft of his underarm. "Wow! I really do need a shower, damn. Alright F.R.I How about this. I take a shower, then a two-hour nap and grab a granola bar when I wake".
"Boss, I don't think-". "Rhetorical question F.R.I! I'm doing it anyway!" Tony shouted.
Standing up, he drops the computer mouse previously clutched in his hand, before rushing off towards the lab door. "When I finish showering, wake me up in two hours F.R.I. And I mean it. Two. Hours. I already got Pepper and Rhodes on my ass about my sleep schedule. I don't need you to. I will get more sleep when I figure this hacker thing out."
"Sir, I don't-" F.R.I.D.A.Y starts.
"Mute!" Tony calls out as he enters the elevator, pushing the button leading to his private penthouse.
After his shower, rest, and granola bar, Tony found himself on his way back to the lab. Just as the elevator opened, he was greeted with the stern, yet lovely face of one Miss Pepper Potts.
"Pepper! Love! Darling! What are you doing here?" Tony peeped. His most innocent face plastered on.
"Don't you darling me! Tony, come on. Where have you been?! I've been calling and texting and- I even resorted to asking F.R.I.D.A.Y, who finally told me you were sleeping up here. Now as glad as I am, you're finally resting, I need to know why you've been ignoring me. Rhodey. Even Happy for god's sake!" Pepper exasperated.
Tony, not wanting to lie but also not wanting to tell Pepper about the hacker issue says, "Well Pep. You see I've been maybe a tad bit stressed. What with Ross and the Rogues" he snipped. Pepper just glared at him, recognizing the sarcastic tone of his voice.
"Look sorry, I'm sorry ok!" Tony says, running a hand down his face. "I just needed some time in the lab. Help's me de-stress a bit you know". Not a complete lie, Tony thinks.
"Honey I get that. Truly. But you can't keep siccing me with all the hard work while you tinker. I need you on top of Ross-" Pepper starts, the common speech about getting work done on the tip of her tongue.
"But Pep, I'm already on top of you," Tony says in his most innocent voice; however the act is broken by the sly smirk itching its way onto his face.
"Tony!" Pepper shouts.
"Fine! Fine. I got it. How about a compromise. I go back down to the lab, tinker a bit longer. 'Bout two more days? Then I promise I will call Ross back".
"Tony…" Pepper says, a look of exasperation crossing her face.
Holding up his pinky finger Tony says, "Full conversation with Mr. Secretary. Pinky promise", smiling widening once he knows he's won the argument.
Muttering under her breath, something sounding akin to 'It's like dealing with a child', Pepper straightens her back, slaps away Tony's pinkie, and says with a straight face "Fine. But if I find out you didn't call back Ross, I'm going to tell F.R.I to lock you out of your lab for the next week. And I mean it. I know there's a protocol in there for situations like this. Your lovely Christmas gift."
"Yeah, yeah. Promise. Know I gotta go. Buh-bye Pep!" Tony shouts already maneuvering his way around her and into the elevator. "Work to do".
"Yeah. Work." Pepper says, a look of disbelief crossing her face, but Tony's already gone.
The two-day deadline is almost up and Tony still has nothing. His fingers have been moving a mile per minute for the past day and a half. At this point, he's sure they're about to break off, but a second before Tony's about to take a quick break and stretch, a message pops up on his screen.
It reads ' J∆ƒ ʓƒ∆Ǥ∆ʓ ∆ ɲI∆ʓ ɳ ∆ʓɲI∆ɳ ∆ƒʓI ʓ ∆ƒǤ Ǥ∆ I ∆I ƒǤǤ∆ƒ''.
"Now what the hell is this?" Tony mutters.
"Boss, I believe it's some sort of encrypted message-" F.R.I.D.A.Y starts.
"Hey. Hey! Yeah, I got that! Got it!" Tony interrupts. "God I really need to teach you the art of rhetoric", spreading a hand in a jazz-like movement, emphasizing the art.
"Finally we got a lead," Tong said, whispering "...only took about a week" under his breath.
Two more hours of lab time and three cups of coffee later, he figured it out.
"Seems like our little hacker has one hell of a sense of humor" Tony mused.
The following decrypted message read: "Heyyo Mr. Stark! Really sorry about the hacking and whatnot. Not to be ominous, but I had to find something. Don't send an Iron Man after me! Sorry again! :) - pp3fe-man".
"What the fu-" Tony starts.
Alright, Everyone! For anyone who actually read this much of the fic, I thank you from the deepest part of my heart.
Also, the ending can be given credit to the ending of Spiderman Homecoming. Once I saw the opportunity I had to take it.
Anyways, the Christmas quip Pepper says is just a joke. He gave her an override protocol that basically allows her to do whatever. She's supposed to only use it when necessary. Kinda gives the readers a view of how much Tony actually trusts Pepper. Anyway, I may write a one-shot about that if you want. Now that that's explained, in this story, if you couldn't guess already, Pepper and Tony are dating (not married! ...yEt lol).
Also, the username for the hacker (hopefully you can all take a guess as to who that is) was supposed to say pp 'heart' fe-man, but the 'heart' changed to a 3 when I wrote this, and I'm too lazy to figure out why so I'm leaving it. If any of you have any ideas on how to change it let me know.
OK ok, I think that's all I wanted to say. Hope you enjoyed this! I wrote most of this when I was probably supposed to be doing school but… what can ya do. Also if you don't like the story or my writing… well sucks for you just go find another fic. I don't know when my next chapter will be posted but, I will try not to leave y'all hanging.
If any of you have CONSTRUCTIVE criticism please, dear God, comment. I could use all the help with my writing as I can get. Seriously. Right now my Grammarly checker gave me a 65. However, if you want to be an ass and comment on something annoying… well there's not much I can do about it but, don't cause that's just a dick move.
Also sorry for the terribly un-creative name for the fic. I am tired and too unmotivated to change it right now, but if I come up with something better, it will change. Or if you guys have any opinions.
Alright, enough of my rambling. Hope you enjoyed, yada yada. Bye now!