This is Phase 2 of the Iron Knight saga: Where Pepper and Tony have some adventures together.

Well, I'm a real dum dum and didn't realize there is a separate section to moderate reviews or they don't show up on the Story (smacks head loudly).

Firstly, thank you everyone for reading and for posting such lovely comments.

Secondly, I reuploaded chapter 15 since the earlier text was all HTML. Bad HTML!

Guest, Guest and Toni, thanks for pointing chapter 15 out to me.

Pepperonylove, thank you and yes, I plan to continue. The dragon just won't let me sleep.

Thank you for your comments once again. I am aiming for weekly updates as I will upload multiple chapters in 1 go.

I'm going to paraphrase RDJ's (All hail King Downey!) speech at the PCA 2017 and say, I write for you, Pepperony fans.


You have seen my descent. Now watch my rising.

Pepper decided to put the past behind her. Lord Stark, Tony, had asked her to stay at the Keep, for as long as she wanted. And she wanted to stay. She would strengthen herself and go back to face Stane one day. But for now, she wanted some peace.

For a few days, she followed Jarvis and Magdalene as they performed their duties around the house. She was determined to be useful. Tony seemed to regard her as an unofficial tailor. She was given all sorts of clothes that needed repairs and patch ups, from trousers and shirts, to his gambeson.

Then he insisted she improve Magdalene's cooking skills as the woman had a reputation for cooking tough meat. She diplomatically guided Magdalene and her improved cooking was noted with pleasure.

After a week of tailoring and miscellaneous household activities, Pepper had had enough. She decided to corner Tony in his workshop during one of his nightly tinkering sojourns. She knocked on the workshop door cautiously and hearing no reply, entered. The workshop was lit by the powerful fire of the furnace.

The Iron Knight armor was mounted on a large rack. Tony was at the anvil, hammering away at a small, circular object. He was wearing a short-sleeved linen tunic that had somehow managed to escape Pepper's notice, as it needed darning. It was well worn across the chest and arms. He was so focused on his hammering, that she indulged in some staring.

The sight of his powerful arm muscles flexing and tightening as he raised and lowered the hammer with force, made Pepper feel extremely... warm in a pleasant way. His hair was plastered to his face as sweat fell from his brow. Her heart started to hammer in time with Tony hitting the anvil. She cleared her throat loudly, to get his attention and stop herself from ogling him any further.

He looked up, startled and then smiled with pleasure, lowering the hammer.

"Pep, Pep, what brings you to my lair? Come closer, I want to show you the latest iteration of my arc, that will give me a new power."

She wryly acknowledged yet another shortening of her nickname and moved closer. The circular object on the anvil, was a steel circle with the same triangular pattern as his existing glass lid. 4 metal cylindrical tubes ran from the circle.

"It looks like a piping network."

He grinned. "You are right. I'm going to replace the glass lid in my armor's breastplate, with this steel lid. Then I will solder the tubes to the underside of the plate and add connectors on the underside of my arm rerdbrace and gauntlets, such that the pipes from my chest are connected to my arms. This will allow me to funnel the flame to my palms. The free end of each tube will be attached to the palm of each gauntlet."

She exclaimed with wonder, "That way, you can shoot bursts of the blue flame from your palms! Instead of using the switch to open the lid and firing from your chest. Tony, you are a genius!"

He preened at her admiration and she giggled.

"Pepper, would you please help me with the soldering?"

"It would be my pleasure."

"You need to hold the armor firm while I solder in the new arc."

He moved to the rack, took the breast plate and placed it on the edge of the furnace. Pepper stood to the left of the plate while Tony stood at its right and heated up the solder rod in the furnace.

She held the plate down firmly as he began to cut out the old arc.

"Tony... I want your help in... with something delicate."

He looked at her curiously.

"I want to learn how to fight... how to use a sword, how to defend myself."

She went on nervously. "I do not want to impose on you but I think you are the best person to teach me. I have seen the way you fight and I want to learn..." she paused here.

"Pepper", he said gently, "Well bred ladies do not need to learn how to fight."

"Well, Tony, I'm not a well bred lady anymore. I'm a runaway. Stane's not going to let me just disappear. He will find me one day."

She then looked down at her hands and said quietly, "I don't want to be at his mercy. I want to be able to fight back."

He finished removing the glass arc and kept it aside. Then he placed the steel arc in the cut out area of the breastplate and began to solder it in place. Pepper held the armor down firmly as he slowly moved the rod.

What was I thinking? A knight teaches his skills only to the apprentice he deems fit. Here I am a woman, asking a decorated knight to teach me how to fight.

He finished soldering and lifted the plate to the light, to inspect his work. The steel arc fit perfectly in the armor. He smiled, then sobered and looked at her thoughtfully.

"I've never had an apprentice to teach. Never wanted one. Too much responsibility."

She accepted the dismissal by nodding, trying to keep the disappointment from her eyes.

"But..." he said gruffly, "I understand your need to defend yourself. Bear in mind you cannot become a knight. You are too weak for a traditional steel or iron suit of armor. And I'm not too confident about your upper body strength. But I can teach you to fight to use a short sword to defend yourself."

She whooped with joy and impulsively hugged him, sweat and all. He was taken back and awkwardly patted her on the head like a dog.

"We will start tomorrow. At 8 am. I will prepare a training regime tonight. So go get some sleep, Pep. Tomorrow, you will be a knight in training ... well... a sort of knight. We can continue soldering tomorrow evening."