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A/N: I posted this also in the update for Aftermath. Sorry for the repeated message: Thank you all for your continued support, my Faithful Readers. 2016 is not done with me, so I apologize for my long absence. On top of everything I had shared with you before, the winter break has not been kind to me either. Long story short: I was pregnant – 4 or 5 weeks, to be exact. Now I am not – biology said no. Still recovering and feeling exhausted and out of it. Not sure when I'll have the chance to update again. I'm working on getting my groove back (my mood's all over the place). Been reading a lot of fics. Hanging out in TWD forums. Took a vacation. Sleeping a lot. But 2017 is around the corner. Gotta move on. I will.
I hope 2017 brings all of you love, happiness and satisfaction :D I miss you all, my Faithful Readers, so very much.
Chapter 24
Once the dismissal bell had rung, Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey had decided to walk together to the billionaire's home to hang out for the rest of the day, seeing as it was finally Friday, after all – a much better Friday than their previous one, when the redhead had spent her third day at the hospital, and Tony had still been dealing with the aftermath of his almost-arrest. Roberta was having a field day with that case, and it was very likely that the genius was not only going to get a written apology from the authorities, but also a monetary compensation for his troubles and the inconvenience of it all.
He clearly did not even need the money, but he knew of a certain non-profit charity organization that would be grateful for it.
Much to Pepper's chagrin, however, her sister had invited herself to the Friday after-school affair; and neither Tony nor Rhodey had complained about it one bit. Thankfully for Pepper, Samantha was at least keeping the conversation away from the topics the redhead hoped she did not discuss in front of her friends. Last time they had all had a resemblance of a casual conversation, Tony and Rhodey had almost found out about her mom's constant beatings. That particular instance, she had been able to nip in the bud before anything more was said in the matter – that she knew of, anyway – but she was not sure if she would be able to sidetrack said topic once again.
In fact, as far as she was concerned, if the four of them were never again in the same room at the same time, she would cut her loses and count her blessings. Or, at the very least, if she did not have to again watch her boyfriend bond with her sister, she would give up any other lucky draw of the cards.
Then again, the ginger had seriously and thoroughly considered, being around them when Samantha and Tony hung out was a better option than them hanging together and alone. Even if she was left with little option but holding back her loud sighs of disappointing inadequacy when science talk made its appearance and all she could do was nod along and smile, she would much rather put up with the blatant case of her shortcomings being exposed than to chew off her nails in her room, wondering what they could be doing if on their own. Or, in more exact terms: what Samantha could try to pull on Tony, if given the chance.
It was truly the lesser of two evils, but that did not mean that it was easy to watch. Most especially as of late, when it was clear to the redhead the level of trust that Tony had been developing with her sister – particularly now that they were spending a lot more time together planning their project for Pym Tech – and also blatantly obvious in the knowledge the brunette had of personal facts that the inventor only shared with close friends.
Just as it was the case right now.
"So, is this Extremis at work?"
"Yup," Tony replied.
"Huh."
The brunette stared curiously and in awe at Tony Stark, unsure of how to interpret what she was being a witness of. The genius was walking to her right, looking as if he did not have three extra weights on him; not even close to breaking a sweat. He had his backpack hanging from his front side, Pepper riding on his back, and the ginger had her backpack on her back as well.
"Are you getting tired at all?"
"Nope," Tony answered instantly.
"Do you even feel the weights?"
"Not at all. Or, not in a painful way. I can feel them there, but they're not heavy at all."
"Show off," Rhodey, who was walking to Tony's right, snorted mockingly.
"What? I'm just telling the truth."
"Sure you are! Admit it, Tony: You just don't wanna call Pepper fat."
"I'm not fat! Am I?"
"No, Pep."
"See? Not fat."
"How much can you comfortably carry on your own?" Sam asked, hoping to steer the conversation back to just her and Tony.
"I don't rightly know," Tony frowned, surprised that he had not taken the time to test his Extremis-given abilities at all.
"Maybe we should run some diagnostics on you," Samantha offered. "They could maybe help when designing those EM-Bugs for Dr. Pym, if we decide to use you as a test for their user interface."
"That's true. I think I may have some base levels from before I had Extremis so that we can compare."
"Maybe we can also run several tests in the next few weeks and see if the abilities have peaked or if they're still increasing."
"Huh. That sounds like a good idea. We'd have to find a way to rule out Iron Man missions, though. They could skew the results, if abnormal physical activity enhances the effects of the virus."
"But wouldn't going out on missions be considered normal, in your case?"
"Not as of late. It's been kind of quiet since the Makluan showed up."
"You mean: it's been kind of boring," Pepper interjected with a sigh and rested her chin on Tony's right shoulder, earning her a smirk and a wink from the inventor himself. "Figures the bad guys decide to take an extended vacation just as I finally get my armor."
"I don't think they were waiting for you to get your armor, Pepper," Rhodey smirked, a glint of mischief in his eyes. "They just don't want to come out because they saw War Machine in action during the Makluan fight. They're probably scared out of their minds just seeing me show up. All big and bad."
Pepper narrowed her eyes at Rhodey and Tony held back a laugh. He could see the early signs of banter starting between his two best friends, and he was glad to have a front row seat for this particular show. He just hoped he was not caught in the middle of it.
"Very funny, James. But you're right, though: War Machine is a big armor, huh? What exactly are you trying to overcompensate for?"
Tony was barely able to swallow down a guffaw.
"Geez, I don't know," Rhodey shrugged, not at all threatened by Pepper's obvious attempt at jabbing at his masculinity. "Why don't you ask Tony and the Hulk Buster armor, huh?"
"As if," she rolled her eyes. "Tony doesn't need to compensate for anything."
"Oh, really?" Rhodey's smile widened. "And how exactly would you know that?"
The armored romantic couple immediately stiffened at the question; both barely being able to contain a blush.
"I-I-I…" Pepper stuttered, trying and failing to cover her obvious embarrassment.
"You, what?" Rhodey arched a single eyebrow and smiled smugly.
"Drop it, Rhodey," Tony interjected without looking away from the path before him, knowing that Pepper could lose control of her mouth when made uncomfortable. "It was just a comeback. You won. Now leave Pepper alone."
"Trying to hide something, T?"
"Of course not," Tony was not sure how his response had come out sounding so sincere. He was sweating bullets inside.
"Are you sure? Because I think you're hiding something from us."
"I'm not hiding anything from you."
"From Pepper, then?" Rhodey prodded, poking the fire, unable to let the glorious opportunity pass him by. Making the genius or Pepper nervous and uncomfortable always made his day. They were both his best friends and he loved them very much; yet, having the chance to rile them up every once in a while for his personal amusement was a sweet reward for all the effort he put into reigning them in when their adventurous minds got away from them.
"That's what it sounds like to me," Samantha added, wondering if the playful conversation could turn into a possible lover's spat without much effort on her part. She had heard the duo argue the night she had been stuck inside the Rescue armor when attempting to try it on. For all that attraction and understanding they claimed to have for one another, they sure could scream their lungs out at each other.
"Think whatever you want. I don't care. I have no secrets from Pepper and you know it," Tony adjusted Pepper on his back, if for no other reason than to have something to do to calm his nerves.
"Oh, yeah," Rhodey snorted. "You so do."
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do."
"Do I now?"
"Yup."
"Name one."
"Jake. Vaughn."
"What about Jake Vaughn?" Pepper looked left and right between Samantha and Rhodey after she felt Tony's shoulders tense up.
"Nothing," Tony immediately said.
"You doing this again, man?" Rhodey snickered. "You know what I'm gonna say now, don't ya?"
A groan from Tony was his only response.
"Uh-uh! I know, I know!" Samantha cleared her voice. "I believe the last time Tony said 'nothing' in reference to Jake, Rhodey said, and I quote: Yeah, he offered you nothing, alright. He offered to have nothing on while with you."
"WHAT?"
Pepper's shriek made Tony flinch.
"Don't listen to them, Pep."
"Don't listen to what?"
"Oh, nothing much," Sam said with feigned disinterest. "Just about Jake Vaughn asking Tony if he wanted to sleep with him."
"HE, WHAT?!"
"You heard it," Rhodey replied.
"How? When? Why?"
"Last week, after PE class… while in the boys' locker room."
"W-What?"
"Tony kept staring at him while Jake was showering. He claims to have been daydreaming, which he totally does, but…"
"Jake offered not to tell you about it, Pepper, if it's any consolation" Samantha snickered.
"Drop it, people, alright?" Tony growled.
"Why? You said you had no secrets from Pepper. But she doesn't appear to know this particular one," Rhodey teased.
"FORGET YOU BOTH!" Tony yelled. "You both stink! Pepper, don't listen to them, OK?"
"Not much she can do about it," Sam scoffed. "Besides, everyone at school knows that by now. I'm surprised she didn't know already."
"The whole school knows?!"
"Yup," Rhodey laughed.
"How does the school know?"
"Plenty of witnesses," Rhodey supplied.
"Are you going to senior prom with him?" Samantha nudged Tony's ribs with her right elbow.
"Ugh," Tony groaned. "Pep, a little help here, please?"
"I never thought you would two-time me, Tony," Pepper replied. "And with Jake Vaughn? I can't compete with him! He's so hot!"
"Oh, come on, Pep!" Tony sighed in exasperation at hearing his girlfriend take the teasing side. "Not you too! I just defended you!"
"I know. Sorry, Tony. Couldn't resist," she replied with a small giggle and then held on tighter to his neck.
"I guess you… Wait, did you just say you think Jake's hot?"
"Let's just say I wouldn't blame you if you left me for him."
"Son of a…" Pepper closed her eyes and laughed aloud at Tony's groan. "Keep it up, Pepper, and I won't resist dropping you."
"You wouldn't," the redhead replied with confidence.
"I might," Tony taunted.
"Psh," Rhodey scoffed. "Yeah, right. Like you could do that to her."
"I could!" Tony narrowed his eyes at Rhodey. "Why don't you believe me?"
"Because you're a wuss who does whatever your girlfriend tells you?" Samantha suggested with a roll of her eyes and a dismissive wave of her right hand.
"He's not a wuss," Pepper's eyes snapped open to glare at her sister, if just for a quick moment. "He's just caring."
"Wuss," Sam repeated with a condescending tone.
Pepper opened her mouth to insult her sister with whatever first offensive word came to her, but when she realized that it was not worth playing her game, she simply smiled, hugged Tony's neck and then pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"But he's my wuss."
"Geez," Tony smirked, "Thanks, Pepper."
"You're welcome, Tony," she returned the playful smirk and added a wink before she returned the left side of her head against his upper back and closed her eyes once again.
"Careful, Pepper," Sam began. "He might become Jake's wuss."
"Ugh," Tony rolled his eyes.
"That's OK," Pepper replied without opening her eyes or shifting her position. "I don't mind sharing, as long as I'm his number one."
Huh, Samantha inwardly smirked. We'll see about that.
xxxXXXxxx
Sneaking out at night had been a tad trickier than she had expected it to be. Not so much so because she was new to the city, but because Tony, Pepper and her father had been watching a movie in the living room for quite some time now. Using the front door to make her exit had not been an option, so out her window and down the emergency stairs she had gone.
The taxi cab driver had not even flinched when his new fare had been a teenage girl, wandering the streets alone at nearly midnight. Tomorrow was Sunday, anyway, so it was likely that it not being a school night had worked in her favor in that regard. Besides, this was the Big Apple. No one cared about anyone else other than themselves. People here were just trying to get by; earn their next cheap buck to pay for their next overpriced meal. The city, as a whole, was not kind. But she knew all about unkindness and how to manage it, all coming from her own kin.
Moreover, the money she had taken from Tony's wallet without permission had also helped her buy the silence of whomever saw her leaving the city, aiming for a destination far, far away. The inventor had been so infatuated with teasing his girlfriend while playing Cards Against Mankind with her that he had not noticed Samantha's sleight of hand. It was not as if her stealing from him would leave him without lunch money for the rest of the week. In fact, he would probably not even notice that some of his money was gone.
Who walked around with nothing but $100 bills, anyway?
Tony Stark. That's who.
It had taken her a long time to get to where she now was, but if her plans went as expected, it would all be worth it. It would take her another two hours to get back home, and risk being caught, but if she found what she was looking for, she would count herself lucky. If she was able to put to the test something she had learned from reading Pepper Potts' diary, then this long trip would place her even closer to winning over Tony Stark.
"Well, this can't be right."
The outer perimeter of the middle of nowhere she had come to denoted the area was clearly abandoned – perhaps infested or leaking radioactive waste. No one with a small amount of sanity would set foot here, let alone by themselves. The entire scene, in one word, screamed: death.
Then again, in the grand scheme of things, this was perfect. No one would dare set foot in a place like this and, as such, it became the most logical place for a treasure to hide.
Samantha turned on her flashlight and took deliberate steps towards the imposing-looking structure embedded in the earth. From afar, the building looked like nothing more than worthless ruins. Yet, upon closer inspection, she could see it was more than that – way more than that.
"So this is the Iron Man Armory, huh?" Sam nodded in approval. "Let's see what else we've got."
After pulling out from her backpack Pepper's diary and her notes about what she had stumbled upon in Tony's home lab while working on the Pym Tech project together, Samantha Potts prepared to execute the next step in her plans.