Chapter 29

He did not give a flying carrot that it was late at night. Neither did he care that he was essentially breaking and entering inside the Potts' residence. He needed to confront Sam about what he was certain had been her involvement in the fiasco of tonight's Breakdancing with Celebrities show – even if he had no evidence of it. He would get her to confess and then talk to Pepper about it.

He was not going to lose Pepper as a friend and a girlfriend simply because Sam and the ginger had some childhood issues to work out amongst themselves. He had hoped that time together would have helped them mend the wound, but it seemed that it had only made it worse than it had been before.

Yes. He was aware that he had screwed up, too. He would own up to that mishap all day long. However, he was certain that Pepper's decision to break up with him had also been influenced by the fact that her business had been exposed to the world in a way that had blindsided them both. Tony Stark was convinced that, had this not been the case, he and Pepper would have been able to talk things out on better terms, like they always did.

Even in the worst of times, they always made up.

This time, however, he knew that he had an uphill battle before him.

He hovered right outside Sam's window, scanning the inside of the building. The heat signatures showed that only Sam was home. It would take Pepper a while to make it back home from the Makluan Temple without her armor, and Virgil was at his dad's place. They had made a big deal about Tony and Pepper being on Breakdancing with Celebrities, partnering with Rhodey and Roberta to make a night out of it. This would inevitably leave Samantha home alone for hours.

It was best to hurry it up.

With help from his gauntlet, Tony was able to use a magnet to unlock the window to Sam's bedroom. He flew his way inside, used Extremis to turn the lights on, and then slammed shut the window after him – loud enough for the sound to startle awake the brunette.

"What the f—"

Sam's slurred words halted when she saw Iron Man standing in the middle of her bedroom, his arms crossed over his chest. She rubbed her eyes to help dissipate her lethargy and then spoke again.

"Dude, you're in the wrong room."

"No, I'm not."

"No?" Sam scratched her scalp and then tried to somewhat bring some order to her hair. "What do you want, then, that couldn't wait until tomorrow? It's almost midnight."

Iron Man's faceplate retracted. "I'm only going to ask this once: did you tell Michael about Pepper's history of abuse?"

Sam's head recoiled. "What? Who the hell is Michael?"

"Don't play games with me, Samantha."

Samantha, the brunette inwardly shivered at the threatening tone and posture that Tony was taking with her. He hardly ever used her full name unless he was upset at something she had said or done. She had never seen him look this focused and determined – not even when she had watched him work on an invention of his.

This could only mean one thing: the strings she had pulled had worked tonight. The ball she had set in motion had landed where it needed to be… and Tony blamed her for it. Seeing as Pepper was not by his side, it was also safe to say that the lovers were in the middle of another spat over her.

Sam held back a smile. She needed to play her cards right or the rest of her plan would go to hell.

"Look, man. You're the one who broke in here in the middle of the night. Why don't you calm the heck down and explain yourself? Otherwise, see yourself out before I call the cops."

Tony held back a groan, but he conceded that the girl had a point. Superhero or not, he had not been invited inside the home, and he could get in trouble for it. Besides, whether Sam was guilty or not of tonight's problem, Virgil and Pepper did not deserve their house broken into and their night disrupted by the authorities. Especially not when they had already trusted him so much by opening their home to him even before he and Pepper had been an item.

Tony inhaled and exhale hard through his nose to calm down.

"Michael is the host of Breakdancing with Celebrities. Did you not watch the show?"

Samantha yawned and rolled her eyes.

"No. Why do you think I didn't go with dad to your dad's place tonight? I don't care about that stupid show. And you know what I think about your little dance thing with Pepper. I wasn't gonna waste my time with that. Tomorrow's Monday! I'm not gonna be tired at school because of something so dumb!"

Tony narrowed his eyes at her as he processed her retort. On the surface, her argument made sense. It was common knowledge in the group of four that Sam and Pepper did not care to support one another in the other's interests. However, other than himself, Pepper, Virgil, and Pepper's mom herself, Sam was the only other person that knew about Pepper's past that would see the interview as an opportunity to bring it up to the entire world. Pepper did not want anyone to know about it. Virgil probably wanted to distance himself as much as possible from the fact that he had been married to a wicked woman. Pepper's mom herself probably did not want old dirt brought up now. Plus, since Sam had been sent here by CPS, it was highly likely that their mother had bigger problems to deal with at this juncture.

Nope. No one had anything to gain from what had happened tonight other than Samantha Potts.

He had not known the girl for long, but he was not stupid or blind. His years fighting crime and being a businessman had taught him much; especially when it came to people lying to his face to get what they wanted out of him. He knew a schemer when he saw one, and he was most definitely staring at one. It took one to know one, after all.

Tony relaxed his face a tad and uncrossed his arms.

Two could play at this game, as long as it needed to last, if that was what it took to get the truth out of her, at the right place and time.

He was not going to lose Pepper over a childhood grudge. More importantly, he was not going to let a stupid unresolved issue ruin the life of the woman he loved.

Tony softened his tone of voice. "So, you didn't tell Michael about Pepper?"

Sam rolled her eyes and laid down on her pillow again. "I told you: I didn't even know who this guy was until you told me. And what did he say, anyway?"

"He asked Pepper about her mother's abuse."

Sam widened her eyes and her mouth went agape. "He what?"

Tony had to give it to the girl. She knew how to act.

"Yeah," he shrugged. "He didn't even give us a heads-up about the interview. He just asked us to stay for another segment and then dropped that on us."

"Live? On TV?" It took all of Samantha's willpower not to smile at her good fortune. She would need to look for a clip of the interview tomorrow. It was just too good to ignore.

"Yup."

"Did he say who told him about it? How did it even come up?"

"Apparently, the family of the doctor that reported the abuse came forth with the information."

"Huh," Samantha tapped her chin with her right index finger. "That sounds weird. And random. Why would they do that, after all these years?"

"That is what I want to know."

"You gonna try to find out?"

"Of course. Pepper didn't deserve that."

It was brief, but Tony was able to see the split second look on her face that told him she believed otherwise.

"Sometimes, people don't get what they deserve. Sometimes, people get the exact opposite of that."

"I couldn't agree more." Tony said with finality, forcing his true feelings in the matter from coming out. "Anyway, I need to head out. Virgil and Pepper are probably on their way back, and I'm sure they don't want to see me here."

"Why wouldn't Pepper want to see you? It wasn't your fault that this Michael guy said those things."

"No, but she figured out I knew about it before tonight. About the abuse, I mean."

"What? How?"

Tony held back a groan. "Because I made a comment about it, answering a question from Michael. It gave it away."

Despite her best efforts to look surprised, the brunette's eyes lit up. "So, is she mad at you now?"

"Yeah."

"How mad?"

Tony looked away from the girl, the scene of just a short while ago in the Makluan Temple replaying in his mind. "She broke up with me. That level of mad."

"Oh," the single word was all Sam trusted herself to say to not give away the thrill she felt inside.

"Yeah. Oh."

"That blows," she bit down her tongue. "Maybe she'll change her mind tomorrow, who knows?"

"Maybe," Tony said before he replaced his faceplate. "Sorry I woke you up. See you tomorrow."

"Sure. Don't do it again. See you tomorrow."

The iron hero turned off the lights and left the same way he had arrived, leaving Samantha Potts to bask in the glory of her success.

She was now ahead of schedule; her step of tonight reaping even better results than she had anticipated. Tony, inadvertently, had seen to that by letting it be known that he knew about Pepper's past, on national television, no less. Her patience and carefully planning were finally paying off.

Yes. It was all coming together quite nicely. The timing could not be better for her.

Prom was this coming Friday, and she doubted that Tony and Pepper would be successful in patching things up by then – not if she could help it, that was. Tony appeared to have bought into her innocence charade, and she doubted Pepper would do anything about it just yet other than mope around. Besides, even if he had not, he would be hard-pressed to find evidence of her involvement in the revelation of Pepper's past on the show. She had been extremely careful, had not used her real name, and had sent a good sum of money to the family of the doctor for their silence in the matter. A sum courtesy of her contract with Tony Stark himself nonetheless, for the EM-Bugs for Pym Tech she had helped him land.

In essence, Tony Stark had paid to bribe the family that caused his breakup with Pepper Potts.

It just did not get any better than this for her.

Samantha smiled widely, took in a satisfying breath, and then went stoic again.

It was time to give an old ally a call.