Most fire systems sprinkled water when activated. Stark Tower, having been designed by a genius engineer and reinforced after several disasters with the help of a genius chemist and a genius nanoscientist, was different. Bruce had suggested a thermophilic insulating foam that would target sources of heat, cover them entirely to cut off oxygen, and dissolve in five seconds to leave no mess and a smothered fire. The alarms were highly sensitive, since a single burning wire could cause millions of dollars in damage. A tissue ignited by a slowly warming curling iron was more than enough.

Loki, taken aback by being blanketed in blinding foam, reared back and took his arms off Pepper in order to wipe his face. Pepper, who had been anticipating this from the start, had no such hesitation. She rolled underneath Loki and launched herself off the bed. She darted underneath it, hands scrambling for the little trapdoor built into the bottom of the bed.

Since the Chitauri invasion, Tony hadn't been the same. Despite his bluster and denials, Pepper knew PTSD when she saw it. It only got worse when he almost lost her to Killian. The man who used to be wholly absorbed in how flashy he could make his flying gun now jumped at loud noises and hated, more than anything else, the thought of real violence happening to anyone. Many men in his situation might have stocked a pistol under their bed. Tony had something else.

"Stupid ewe!" Loki bellowed. "Under the bed? Like a cowering child?"

He grabbed her protruding leg and yanked, and even though Pepper knew it was inevitable, it shook her how easily he dragged her one-handed. She would have been terrified if her plan hadn't worked.

Loki yanked Pepper out easily, laying her flat out in the narrow crack between the bed and the wall. She half-rose and bit him on the hand. He yowled and snapped his arm sideways, lifting her off the ground and tossing her over the bed, where she landed painfully on the ground near the door. She could have run right then, but she had something else to do.

She took the taser out from behind her back. There was a low, ominous electrical snap as she pulled the trigger. Three prongs shot out and embedded themselves in Loki's chest. Loki's jaw clenched and he stiffened as the electricity shot through him. He fell halfway back against the bed, vibrating and twitching. Pepper threw the taser at him, tangling the cord in his legs to further slow him down. Only then did she run for it.

Pepper sprinted down the hall, nearly overbalancing and falling flat in her haste. She was almost to the room Tony was in before she heard the enraged howl that signaled Loki's success in ripping the prongs out of himself.

"WOMAN!" came a screeching yell from the bedroom, and then something even worse: running footsteps.

Pepper shot into the lounge just as a shadow foretold Loki exiting the bedroom door. As expected, Tony was not where she'd left him. He was slumped against a panel in the wall, fumbling with an electronic lock. Pepper ran to his side and crouched beside him. He pointed at the combination lock, which was halfway filled out.

696

"Of course," Pepper muttered, filling in the other three numbers. She didn't even have to ask. Of course Tony would make the combination to his futuristic laser gun cabinet "69-69-69". As Loki's footsteps thundered down the hall, Pepper yanked the cabinet open and grabbed the first thing she found.

"Whichonesthat?" Tony mumbled.

I DON'T CARE IT JUST BETTER BE POINT AND SHOOT, Pepper thought, aiming at the door.