AN: Hey guys! I know it's been awhile but I promise I'll come back with more asap. Enjoy!
Chapter 13: Pepper and Rhodey
A few days after Rhodey's visit, Pepper stopped by to take care of Tony's work while he's down in the workshop avoiding society and the press as suggested by Obadiah. She and Eddie were sitting in the living room taking calls while Jim Cramer was on the screen trash talking Tony.
"Stark Industries! I've got one recommendation! Ready? Ready?" Sell, sell, sell! Abandon ship! Does the Hindenburg ring any bells?" Pepper sighed at the crude host while Eddie rolled his purple eyes.
"Let me show you the new Stark Industries business plan!" Cramer then broke a coffee mug with a bat, "Look, that's a weapons company that doesn't make weapons!" His words were cut off when Tony called Pepper.
"Pepper. How big are your hands?"
Pepper lowered the volume to focus on her boss, "What?"
"How big are your hands?" Tony asked a second time.
"I don't understand why..."
"Get down here. I need you." Pepper gave a confused look at Eddie who nodded that he would take care of her work down here.
As soon as she entered the workshop Pepper was shocked at the circular device that was in the center of Tony's chest. Nine and Rani were right next to him presumably for moral support while Claw was eating an unknown machine and Z was connected to a computer for his daily codes.
"Hey." Tony was in the chair holding another similar looking device, "Let's see them. Show me your hands. Let's see them." Pepper proceeded to show her hands.
"Oh, wow. They are small. Very petite, indeed. I just need your help for a sec."
"Oh, my God, is that the thing that's keeping you alive?" While Tony was explaining the Mini arc reactor to Pepper, Nine turned to Rani to ask her about their master's state.
"So you were there when he had that…thing inserted in him?" The fox asked.
"I wasn't just there I helped put it in him." Rani answered much to Nine's shock.
"How did you do that?"
"Very carefully" They both stopped when Tony asked Pepper for a big favor.
"I want you to reach in, and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out."
"Is it safe?" Pepper asked worriedly.
"Yeah, it should be fine. It's like Operation. You just don't let it touch the socket wall or it goes "beep.""
Pepper didn't understand the reference, "What do you mean, "Operation"?"
"It's just a game, never mind." Tony started telling Pepper what to do, "Just gently lift the wire. Okay? Great. Okay." Nine and Rani stood nervously as their master left his life in the hands of his assistant.
However, Pepper had doubts and took her hand back, "You know, I don't think that I'm qualified to do this."
"No, you're fine." Tony reassured Pepper, "You're the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met. You're gonna do great." Nine and Rani shared a knowing glance over how Tony complimented Pepper, "Is it too much of a problem to ask? 'Cause I'm..."
Pepper decided to do it after all "Okay, okay."
Tony finished his sentenced, "I really need your help here."
"Okay." Pepper put her hand through the tiny hole and was disgusted when she felt a gooey like substance, "Oh, there's pus!" While Pepper and Tony were busy, Nine wanted to know more about the device in her friends chest from Rani.
"So that mini arc keeps the shrapnel out of his heart?" Nine asked.
"That's right, Yinsen and I used a car battery the first time to power it but then Tony ma-" Rani stopped short when a buzzing sound startled them both.
"sides when you're coming out!" Tony yelled in pain.
Pepper apologized, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"That's what I was trying to tell you before. Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, you don't...There's a magnet at the end of it! That was it. You just pulled it out." Rani panicked and climbed onto the chair as she knew what happens when the magnet is pulled out.
Pepper heard the beeping and panicked too, "Oh, God!"
"Okay, I was not expecting..." Pepper tried putting the magnet back in, "Don't put it back in! Don't put it back in!" Rani filled a syringe with adrenaline and inserted it into Tony to keep him alive long enough to instruct them.
"Okay, what do I do? What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest" Tony said sarcastically instantly alarming Pepper and Nine.
"Put the magnet back in!" Nine yelled at Rani.
"It won't do any good!" Rani yelled back, "We have to insert a new arc reactor."
"Well hurry!" Nine said hysterically.
"We gotta hurry. Take this. Take this." Tony handed the tiny lit up device to Pepper and Rani, "You gotta switch it out really quick."
"Okay. Okay." Pepper grabbed it and tried reassuring Tony, "Tony? It's going to be okay."
"What? Is it?"
"It's gonna be okay." While Pepper was talking Rani grabbed the mini arc wire and set it to enter Tony's chest hole, "I'm gonna make this okay."
"Let's hope. Okay, you're gonna attach that to the base plate." Rani attached the wire while Pepper held the top, "Make sure you..." there was a buzzing followed by Tony screaming, when his heart rate turned to normal Pepper, Nine and Rani let out a breath.
"Was that so hard? That was fun, right?" even after a heart attack Tony makes quips, "Here, I got it. I got it. Here. Nice."
"Are you okay?" Pepper asked while Rani leaped down and went back to Nine who looked relieved.
"Yeah, I feel great. You okay?" Tony laughed earning a scowl from all three of them.
"Don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again."
"I don't have anyone but you…I mean human wise" Nine and Rani took that as a cue to leave the room.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you." Nine said as they headed upstairs.
"It's ok, I can tell you care a lot about Tony, he feels the same way about you."
"I love him like he's my own." Nine explained, "I was his father's master when he was born and since then I watched him grow up. I was there when he said his first word, I was there when he took his first steps, his first invention, his first college degree, I was there for all of it." Rani could tell that this Pokémon has a motherly sort of love for Tony that goes beyond how an ordinary Pokémon feels about their master.
When they reached the living room Rani asked, "Tony told me that his father ignored the both of you and sent the two of you away is that true?"
Nine looked down on the floor in sadness, "Howard was a good man at the start but after Steve's death, he became obsessed with his work and hardly paid attention to the things that mattered. It got to the point where I found time with Tony more pleasing than having to wait for Howard to come back from work. It wasn't until Tony got accepted into MIT that I went off with him. What's ironic is that Tony is so much like Howard was when he was younger, they were both so full of life and always wanting to be the center of attention. I was afraid that he would go down the same path that he would push everyone who cared about him away, but then he came back and I can see I worried for nothing. I don't know what happened in that cave, but I can tell it changed Tony, I'm hoping that it's for the better." However Nine was still worried, "Are you sure that having that thing in his chest is safe? I mean what if someone finds out about it and tries to yank it out? or what if he gets a bullet in that thing is he gone for?"
Rani turned aorund to ease the fox's worries, "I can't promise that the device is 100% safe for the time being but I can promise you that I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure that that device stays in his chest and protect Tony from people who want to take it from him and based on what I've seen you'll be there along with me to make sure that Tony stays safe."
Nine considered this and nodded, "I hope your right."
Rani nodded, "So do I."
Claw and Z entered the room with Eddie.
"Where's Pepper?" Eddie asked.
"Downstairs trying to recover from a traumatic event." Nine answered.
Eddie cocked his head questioningly, "Don't ask." Rani said, "Is it just me or do Tony and Pepper like each other?"
"It's not just you!" the others said in unison.
Rhodey was walking the rookies around the air force base along with Charlie and Scizor giving a speech, "The future of air combat. Is it manned or unmanned? I'll tell you, in my experience, no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever trump a pilot's instinct, his insight, that ability to look into a situation beyond the obvious and discern its outcome, or a pilot's judgment."
"Colonel?" Rhodey turned around to see Tony and Z walking towards them, "Why not a pilot without the plane?"
"Look who fell out of the sky. Mr. Tony Stark."
Tony took the opportunity to embarrass Rhodey, "Speaking of manned or unmanned, you gotta get him to tell you about the time he guessed wrong at spring break. Just remember that, spring break, 1987. That lovely lady you woke up with.
"Don't do that!" Rhodey tried stopping him to no avail.
"What was his name?" The rookies laughed along with Z, even Charlie and Scizor grinned.
"Don't do that."
"Was it lvan? They'll believe it."
"Don't do that."
"Okay."
"Don't do that."
"Pleasure meeting you."
"Give us a couple minutes, you guys." The rookies left leaving Tony and Rhodey alone along with their Pokémon, "I'm surprised."
"Why?" Tony asked.
"I swear, I didn't expect to see you walking around so soon."
"I'm doing a little better than walking."
"Really?"
"Yeah." Tony wanted his best friend to join his future crusade, "Rhodey, I'm working on something big. I came to talk to you. I want you to be a part of it." He was met with a smile from Rhodey.
"You're about to make a whole lot of people around here real happy, 'cause that little stunt at the press conference, that was a doozy." Rhodey was under the impression that Tony was making weapons again.
"This is not for the military. I'm not... It's different." Tony was hoping that his friend would accept his new lifestyle but Rhodey was stubborn when it came to the military and the safety of his men.
"What? You're a humanitarian now or something?" Charlie and Scizor sensed that an argument was about to begin.
Tony tried persuading his friend, "I need you to listen to me."
Rhodey interrupted, "No. What you need is time to get your mind right." Tony grinned at Rhodey's bull headedness, "I'm serious."
"Okay."
Although Rhodey was glad that Tony came out of that cave, he worried that whatever happened to him caused him to lose sight of the men and Pokémon that will have to defend themselves without his help, "It's nice seeing you, Tony." Rhodey walked away along with Charlie and Scizor.
"Thanks."
Charlie and Scizor then gave their master a disapproving glance over his treatment towards his best friend, "Don't give me that look." Rhodey said annoyingly.
AN: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned cuz the next one's gonna involve Tony making the iron man suit!
