Okay guys, here we are with another chapter. I apologise profusely for the delay (yet again) who knew have a child would be so demanding?! Anyways, here is the next chapter. I reiterate that this story will NEVER be abandoned, it will never be put on HIATUS. Chapters are just slow because having a baby apparently takes up what time you had free!
As always, the characters in this are the property of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I make no money from this story and no copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter Twenty-One – The Search Begins
Tap, tap, tap, tap…tap, tap, tap, tap…tap, tap, tap, tap. Pepper gave a growl of frustration as the tapping of nails on the desk got on her nerves, made worse by the fact it was her own nails making the noise.
She anxiously looked at her watch for the sixth time in as many minutes. Tony had requested a meeting with her that morning and she was nervous what it could mean. Had something gone wrong? Was the planet in danger again? Was Tony in danger again?
Her thoughts race a mile a minute, desperate for the SI owner to come to her office, but also dreading it with a lead ball in the pit of her stomach. Finally, her doors opened, and Tony's face appeared.
"Am I late?" He asked, no doubt seeing the look of annoyance on her face.
She smoothed her expression. "No, more annoyed at myself for drumming my nails."
Tony laughed easily and she gave him a warm smile. "How are you?"
She rolled her shoulders in a shrug. "Perfectly well until you asked for a meeting."
"Yeah, sorry, I couldn't put what it was about, but I'll explain all."
She watched as he scanned her room with a device, a frown marring her face while he muttered to his AI. "Tony, what the hell is going on?" She groused, fed up with the suspense.
"Alright, thanks, FRIDAY," he mumbled then turned to Pepper. "Right, yeah, sorry. Okay, short version is someone hacked FRIDAY and set off her emergency protocols and managed to get Bruce to Hulk out. He's fine, no harm done really. A few broken ribs, mine, not his, but anyway, moving on, I found out where the hacking was done, but not by who."
Pepper blinked at him. "What?"
"Someone hacked FRIDAY, they set off her emergency protocols and a high-pitched whine was emitted that cause Bruce to Hulk out. Hulk, not liking loud noises especially with his sensitive hearing, when berserk and put me and Bucky Barnes through a wall. He broke my ribs, but I'm all good now. I traced the hacker back to SI, but I can't see who's log ins it was."
Pepper's face darkened. "Wait, so you're telling me that an employee of SI has hacked your AI, despite it being the best on the planet, and you have no idea who it was?"
Tony nodded and shrugged. "Long and short of it, yeah."
"Motherfucker!" She shrieked.
His gobsmacked expression made her pause before she started a tirade. She smoothed her skirt, straightened her blouse, then asked FRIDAY to ensure no one disturbed them. The AI responded to her and darkened the windows so no one could see in.
"I sincerely hope you're not about to murder me," Tony asked.
Pepper shot him a murderous look that formed into a sinister smile. "Oh, no, Tony. But you are going to tell me everything you have found, and I am going to murder the bastard who thought he could fuck with my company!"
"Erm, my company, Pep, but yeah. I'll fill you in."
She shot him a withering look but listened intently as Tony explained everything in more detail. It seemed that his search had indeed led him back to Stark Industries, but the log ins had been wiped somehow, so while it left the trace of the hacking having come from within SI property, linking it back to an individual was impossible.
Pepper then understood why Tony had not been specific in his email about why he had needed the meeting, she recognised that if someone could hack the most intelligent and advanced AI in the word, then it was perfectly plausible they would be able to see emails that came and went in SI.
This left Pepper with a problem, and a very serious security breach. Every employee was carefully screened by herself, and she considered herself an excellent judge of character. Which meant someone had managed to slip in under her radar. Every employee had a file, and when she asked FRIDAY to check for anything missing from them, the AI returned with nothing. Each file held all the relevant checks, financial status', background information and everything else Pepper required of each employee. Every reference was checked out thoroughly, and if she smelt even a whiff of something off, they were not employed. She never employed anyone until the checks were complete, so it was a personal insult to her that this had happened.
"Okay, what do you want me to do, Tony? I check everyone we employ, I don't know how anyone dangerous could have slipped in."
He squeezed her hand. "Pepper, I'm not blaming you in any way, I promise. I'm more concerned why this person has hacked FRIDAY. She's as good as JARVIS was, and he was impenetrable. So, this leads me to question why? Why FRIDAY? Why now? And lastly, why did they take a file that Barnes had?"
Pepper looked at him blankly. "What kind of file?"
"Remember the night of the fundraiser?" Pepper nodded. "Well, the goons who burst in weren't really your typical HYDRA agents, and that seemed to get Barnes thinking on why. He'd been looking into how it was found out about the fundraiser when it was short notice."
Pepper nodded again. "Well, it was rather last minute. I got the email just hours beforehand and had to get all of you ready very quickly."
"See, that another thing. Since when have we had fundraiser requests come by email?"
"Well, normally we wouldn't, but it was for a great cause and it seemed like a good opportunity to have the Avengers appear as a united front."
"I see why you thought that, don't get me wrong, but it's still dodgy as fuck, Pep. Anyway, Barnes found out one of the traffic cameras had been pointed at the tower entrance. Things started falling into place, that we were being watched, either for someone, or something. But it went further," Tony continued, a light in his eyes Pepper hadn't seen for some time. "Bucky did more thinking about it, noticing that if they were actually looking for him, HYDRA that is, then firstly, why didn't they take him? And secondly, why did they back down so easily? Bucky and Bruce realised very quickly that it had never been about getting hold of Bucky, it was all about getting everyone out of the tower. When I'm using FRIDAY then I can be aware of everything that's going on, someone hacking while I'm there would have been impossible. But while I'm out? FRIDAY shifts into a sort of watch mode for the tower while she's active in either my suit, or with me in my ear piece when I'm away from the tower."
Pepper rubbed her temples when a headache started to form. "Right, so hacking FRIDAY had to be done while you weren't there, so they faked a fundraiser to get you all out? But, Tony, that begs the question if all they wanted was the file Barnes had, then why did they make Bruce Hulk Out?"
He shrugged and threw his hands in the air. "Fuck if I know, Pepper. Vision made a good point about when Loki was here, and his attack on helicarrier causing the same thing. Dissension among the ranks, Vis said. Maybe it's the same idea, causing us all to turn on one another so we can't focus on who this is."
Pepper made a noise of frustration. "I don't know, Tony. If that was the case, then it wouldn't be very difficult. Your relationship with most of the team is tenuous at best, given the events of Siberia. While that's not public knowledge, what happened at the UN meeting is. Captain Rogers being a war criminal was also public knowledge, though how no one has reported their return to Ross is beyond me."
"Well, it's not as if the fundraiser wasn't televised so if Ross hasn't come for them by now, I very much doubt he will do."
"Right, well, moving on. What do you want to do about this?"
Tony smiled. "At the moment, I don't want you to do anything. If we come down too hard, they're going to stop, and that means we leave ourselves open to attack later down the line, and I'm not prepared to do that. I want you to carefully and quietly start looking into each employee again. Re-check financial records, email accounts- both personal and company, phone records, and so on. There must be something there, you don't just wake up one morning and say 'I'm gonna go hack Tony Stark's AI for the fun of it'."
Pepper agreed, and she began making a lit of what to check- on paper. She was aware not to make any sort of checklist on anything that could be hacked. With that written out and a plan started to form in her mind on the easiest way to get through everything without arousing too much suspicion, Pepper turned her full attention on Tony.
"With the work stuff out of the way, since when did you start calling Barnes 'Bucky'?" She asked innocently.
Tony spluttered indignantly. "I don't! Not much anyway, he comes with Cap and the rest of the ingrates, so it was bound to happen eventually since no one else calls him Barnes."
Pepper raised a perfectly neat eyebrow. "Right…you might be able to bullshit other people, Tony. But this is me. I can read you like a book and I literally know you better than anyone, except maybe Rhodey."
She smirked when his cheeks heated, and he shifted in discomfort. "Pep, come on, there's nothing there. He killed my mom."
Her smirk died and she winced. "Tony, I'm sorry. You're absolutely right, it was crass to make a joke."
"Nah, Pep, it wasn't. I mean, if he hadn't murdered my mom then maybe I'd have looked at him. I mean, he is ridiculously attractive, and that arm is any mechanic's wet dream, but he killed her, Pep. You, of all people, know how much I loved my mom."
Pepper nodded and laid her hand over his clenched one. "I know, Tony, I know. But, and I only mean this in the best way, maybe it's time to try and move past it. I know he killed her, and that must hurt in a way I can't even begin to imagine, but he wasn't Barnes. He was programmed to do something that HYDRA wanted him to do, he had no choice, no say in it. And if it's hard for you to see him, stop and think how it must be for him. I'm not saying he has it worse, because he doesn't. But he has to look at you every day and know that he is the reason your mom didn't get to see you become the man that you did."
She watched Tony swallow several times before he was able to speak. "Pep…I can't. I just…can't. My mom was the most important person in the world to me, and the last time I saw her I was fighting with my dad- again. She died with a hand over her face stopping her from breathing, she died alone, with no hope of anyone coming to save her. He snuffed out her life like she was nothing."
Running a hand through her long hair, Pepper sighed heavily. "Oh, Tony, I wish I could make that all better for you, I really do. And I absolutely understand you're furious with Nat and Captain Rogers for keeping this a secret from you. But, sweetheart, I want to see you happy again. I want to see the Tony I knew before he found out his parents were killed. I want the Tony who used to be full of sarcasm and smiles, the man I fell in love with."
Tony's breathing hitched. "Pep…I don't know if I can be him again. That was one of the reasons we split up."
Pepper smiled at him sadly. "No, Tony. Of all the reasons I split up with you, the death of your parents affecting you was not one of them. It was the danger, Tony. I couldn't live with constantly scouring the news for information on a battle you were in, desperate to catch a glimpse of the red and gold of your suit, terrified that one day, I'd be watching as you died."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh. That was on me, Tony. You shouldn't have had to change yourself to suit my needs. I'm not cut out to be the girlfriend of a superhero, I want a peaceful life with someone who works a regular job where the only concern I need to have is if they get in a car accident, or don't look both ways crossing the road. I love you, Tony, I'm always going to love you, but I can't be with you, and I think that, in all honesty, you've been happier since I wasn't around as much."
She saw his cheeks flush red with guilt, his eyes sad. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Tony, it's okay, you don't need to look so miserable. We were good, the sex was amazing, and your gifts were legendary. But that part is closed, and I think that it's time you closed the door on your anger at Barnes. Give him a chance to try and somehow make amends for what happened. I know he can never take back what happened, he can never bring your parents back, but he can attempt to show you how apologetic he is over it all."
Tony nodded and huffed a shaky breath. "Yeah, maybe. You know he defended me?"
Pepper frowned. "Against what?"
"Not what, who. I overheard Rogers whining about me, again, about how I am with him. Bucky actually defended me."
"See? Give him a chance, Tony. And as for the rest of the Avengers? Maybe it's time they heard some home truths- Clint excluded I guess, and Vision. But Wanda, Nat, Rogers and all? They need to really think about what they did when they abandoned you. I couldn't even help pick up the pieces because we were in the middle of splitting and I was running SI."
"Nah, it's fine, seriously, Pep. Keeping SI going is what I pay you to do."
Pepper laughed and nodded. "Indeed, you do. Will that be all Mr. Stark?"
Tony grinned. "That will be all, Miss Potts."
-oo0oo-
Once Tony had left, Pepper rubbed her temples and sighed. She had so much to do, and she had to be certain that the way she did it wouldn't arouse the hacker's suspicion, which meant that she couldn't just ask FRIDAY to scan through the employee files for anything out of sorts. Which then meant she was going to have to pull files manually, a bit at a time, and search them all by hand.
Thankfully, SI kept backup records on paper, so she could just take files home and sort through them manually. It would be painstakingly slow, annoying as hell, but she would be able to do it without anyone knowing. So, Pepper decided to spend the remainder of her day sorting through her emails, attending a board meeting, and silently stewing over one of her employees having the audacity to attack her best friend.
That, for Pepper, was a no-no, and there was no coming back from it. She didn't care if it was someone who had a family under threat, a sick loved one, just for damn fun or whatever. Pepper had a heart, but she could be as ruthless as a murderer when it came to protecting Tony.
Just as she was logging off for the day, someone knocked on her office door. A headache thundered behind her eyes, she was tired and pissed off. "Enter!" She barked.
The door opened and a nervous looking Irene entered. "I'm sorry to bother you, Miss Potts, I just needed you to sign off on my son's hours for the month."
Pepper sighed. "I'm sorry I snapped, Irene, I'm just tired. Please, come on in and I'll sign that for you. Has Josh settled in alright with his team?"
Irene nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yes! He's been having an amazing time. He only needed a day or two to shadow before he had the tasks under hand and was even taking over some of the smaller duties. He's so grateful!"
Pepper smiled warmly. "That's great, it always pleases me to hear that someone is settling in well and enjoying their work. If there's anything that I can do for either of you, please don't hesitate to ask. Tony holds you both in such high regard, he's taken a real shine to your son."
The other woman grinned and took the signed form back. "That's so kind of you, thank you. Mr. Stark has really lifted us out of a dark place, I wish there was some way that I could repay his kindness, really. I can't remember the last time I saw Josh so enthused by something, especially since…well, just in a really long time."
Pepper smiled again and waited until Irene had left before she sighed and went down to records, she had a long night ahead of her, and no idea where the hell she was supposed to start, only made worse that she had no one to return home to, just an empty house and shitload of records to wade through.
