Chapter 4
Tony POV
Why did Pepper have Makluan energy? She could have only got that from one person…
"Gene. She got that necklace from Gene" I say angrily. Why would she be involved with Gene? He had betrayed us, lied to us!
"Are you sure? Why would she be involved with Gene" Rhodey asks tensely. I could see this affected him a lot too.
"I don't know what she's doing. She seemed in a rush to get out of here which makes me think she knows about Ultron. Likely because of Gene" I say calmly.
I head to the computers and begin trying to detect where the Makluan energy had gone. After waiting a few minutes the computers find nothing, no sign of where Pepper had gone. I let out a sigh and change patterns to find Pepper through the Rescue suit. I could tell she hasn't turned off her tracker.
"I can't find her. Wherever she is has blocked the signal of the Rescue suit" I say sighing. Rhodes looks at me and frowns obviously running out of ideas.
"What can we do man?" Rhodes asks, I simply run my hand through my hair unsure how I could find her. She was obviously in some area with Gene or he had done something to block the signal himself. I think about how I could find them and remember the phone number Gene gave me shortly before he betrayed us. I look through the desk and find the post it note with Genes phone scribbled on it.
"Do you really think he still uses it?" Rhodes asks. I merely shrug, we didn't really have any leads and Gene had become very good at staying hidden. I decide to just call the number rather than try to locate it as I figured Gene would block any form of signal detection.
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Pepper POV
I flutter my eyes open and sit up. I was grateful for at least a few hours of sleep. I had been struggling to get to sleep with Dad being away for so long. I leave the bedroom and see Gene tinkering away at the Rescue suit with not much luck.
"Ugh, stupid suit" Gene shouts angrily. I can hear him constantly groaning and wincing as he tries to open up the suit. He hasn't seen me yet but I can see that he is overly frustrated.
"Can I help?" I ask softly as Gene turns around and shakes his head.
"I doubt it. Tony obviously made it impossible for anyone else to alter the suit other than him. My Makluan energy just bounces off it" he says angrily throwing a bolt across the room.
"Relax Gene. We can call Tony to help us" I say casually.
"No Pepper, we don't need the suit anyway. I'll just find Ultron myself and you stay here" Gene says placing his hands on my shoulders and motioning for me to sit down.
"And how do you plan to locate Ultron then? You say he is smart. He would just be in human form and impossible to find. You really aren't as smart as you think Gene. Only good at betraying" I say. Gene looks taken aback and sighs.
"Fine. Come with me then. I'll protect you" Gene remarks. I merely just shake my head.
"I'm not some damsel in distress Gene! I want my suit to work! So get Tony otherwise I'm not going with you and you'll never find Ultron" I say crossing my arms. No way in hell was I letting anyone fight for me. Gene just sighs.
"Fine! I'll call Tony to help. You are so stubborn!" he says angrily.
I then hear a phone rumbling coming from across the room and I look at Gene quizzingly. He looks at me and leads me towards a desk and opens up the draw which is full of burner phones and one of them is lighting up. Gene grabs it and answers it.
"Hello?" He says obviously having no idea who if could be.
"Gene it's Tony. Where the hell is Pepper, and what the hell is attacking her? Do you have something to do with who is after her?" Tony says over the phone. I roll my eyes, while Gene had definitely betrayed us surely Tiny knew better to think that it was because of Gene.
"I know you hate me Stark but I had nothing to do with this. I was planning to call you actually. I need your help" Gene says sighing. I knew he saw Tony as some type of competition to him and hated to admit defeat. Tony was probably smiling to himself knowing that Gene actually needed his help.
"Yeah fine, send me the details and I'll be there" Tony says. Gene hangs up the phone and begins texting the details to Tony. I go back to the couch and take a seat whilst Gene pulls down the security levels so Tony can actually get into the place.
"Was it so hard to admit you needed Tony's help?" I say looking over at him. He merely shakes his head angrily.
"I just would rather not involve Stark and Rhodes. They are just going to get in my way. You know how to make things difficult Potts" he says walking off. I look over at him and see that the old Gene had returned. The one who betrayed us to begin with. Tony really did bring out the worst of him I thought. I leave Gene to cool down as I hear a shutter opening near the back of the cave. I head in the direction and see Gene already greeting them. Tony looks me in the eye and gives me a lopsided smile. I look over at him and smile and run over giving them both hugs.
"I'm glad your both okay! I'm sorry for leaving you behind. Gene told me to use it in emergencies and that the robot would leave everyone else alone. I was scared it hadn't" I said wrapping my arms around my two best friends. I see that Gene had changed into his Makluan suit and was no longer the normal Gene as he leads us towards the couches. We all take a seat and I look over at Gene sadly. I wish that he could just be good, that he would realise that none of us were his enemy only his friends.
"I suppose I should start from the beginning" Gene says sighing. We both looked at each other curious to hear the whole story.
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