Tony and Pepper arrived at the Charity ball in a black Bentley. Happy parked the car right in front of the red carpet, and wrapped around to open the door for them. Tony was sharply dressed in his tuxedo, as well as Pepper in her beautiful black dress. They walked the red carpet as if their relationship had never existed. He had put his hand on the small of her back but that was it. He didn't whisper anything in her ear, nor did he try to sneak in a little kiss on the cheek. Their plan was to be a little separated throughout the whole entire event.
The press was there, surrounding the red carpet like a field of ants surrounding a chunk of apple. Flashes were blazing and names were yelled. After five minutes of posing and smiling for the press, Tony and Pepper began to make their way inside the mansion.
Johnson's Charity Ball was held at Johnson's own mansion. Johnson was the CEO and founder of the prestigious company known as, VG Corp. VG Corp was well known for producing specialized software that the military uses in order to successfully carry out any mission. The details are a little fuzzy in what the software exactly does.
Johnson's mansion was very elegant. The walls inside of the house were all white and most of the busts, vases, and pieces of art inside were either silver or pearl white. A lot of big shot CEOs, Presidents, and Vice Presidents were invited to the exclusive Ball. It was a six hour party complete with a DJ, a food table that seemed to stretch as a far as half a football field, and a dance floor that was big enough to fit at least one hundred people.
The event was pretty simple. Everyone was there to mingle. They'd talk about the various projects their corporations and businesses are planning, they'd make deals, and there'd be some trust bonds between businessmen. It was a very formal event.
Tony went left and Pepper went right. In a couple of sends, many businessmen were surrounding Pepper with their questions and concerns about Stark Industries. Tony was surrounded by a few important people that owned their own companies. The majority of people that wanted to talk to Tony were women. No surprise there.
Every now and then, Pepper would look over at Tony to see what he was doing. Of course, she saw the women that were scooting closer and closer to Tony, and the men that were itching to get some basic joint project plans out of him.
It was a typical benefit, but after a while, Tony started wondering what Pepper was doing. He was still surrounded by CEOs and women, but it felt right to excuse himself so he could check up on his girlfriend. He nodded to the men and woman in front of him before turning around and walking towards the crowd. He squeezed through the men in sharp suits, the women in backless and sparkly solid colored dresses before finally spotting his P.A.
Once he saw her beautiful orange hair lying gently on her shoulders, he smiled with delight. He walked over to her back and had the intense urge to wrap his hands around her waist, but due to the crowds and crowds of people surrounding them, he quickly waved it off.
"Hey." He whispered.
Pepper turned around, letting Tony see that he was interrupting a very interesting conversation between her and… Jones Hardman?
"Hardman." Tony breathes.
Pepper smiles up at him and then back at Jones.
"Mr. Stark," Jones grins at him, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "What a pleasure to see you outside of the office."
"Yeah." Tony nodded before looking over at Pepper. "Was I interrupting something?"
"Oh, no." Pepper shook her head, and shifted her gaze between the two men. "Mr. Hardman was just complimenting me on my choice of attire for this evening's event."
"Your personal assistant does know how to make the boys go crazy." Jones jokes.
"Yeah." Tony fakes a smile. "She's amazing, isn't she?"
Jones slightly nods and starts to look away. He notices the sudden silence that falls upon the three of them. He looked over at Pepper and widened his grin.
"Well, I can see when an awkward turtle rolls in." He fakes a laugh but quickly stops. "Listen, I'll talk to you," He looks over at Pepper. ", later about Project Kin. I'll call you to set up a meeting."
As Jones walks away from the pair, Tony furrows his eyebrow at his assistant. Pepper smiles at the leaving businessman before turning her head to look up at her boss. She returns the same puzzled expression.
"What?"
"Project Kin?" He starts to raise an eyebrow.
"He was talking about some project his company is working on. It was supposed to be on the down low—"
"But he felt the need to tell my assistant?" Tony interrupted her.
"He was just being flirtatious." She waves the jealous vibe off.
"Mm, I'll bet." Tony turned his head to glare back at the man, but felt something hit his forearm. He whipped his head back and felt a smile form across his face. "What?"
"Mr. Stark, if you would like tonight's activity to even happen, you'll stop it, right now." She threatened him with a fake smile.
Tony's grin grew wider. He knew she was just playing with him. It actually made him feel a little happier… for some odd reason. His hand mindlessly reached for her cheek but he caught Pepper's warning look. He quickly retracted it and awkwardly tucked it back into his pocket, hoping no one saw anything.
"I can't be the tiniest jealous?"
"As cute as it is, Mr. Stark, I can't afford to see Iron Man rip formally threaten the CEO of a major weapons development company. I literally cannot afford it. The press would be all over our thing and then there will be chaos between Stark Industries and Hardman Industries—" She started to list the possibilities of consequences that could erupt but, Tony stopped her.
"Okay, okay. I get it. No threatening or pandas will take over the world." He said jokingly.
"Funny." She glared at him. "I'm being serious, Tony."
"I know."
"I mean—I know you hate keeping big secrets from the press," She started thinking about his big Iron surprise to the press last year. "but our relationship could very well be the destruction of Iron Man."
Tony looked down at her with a serious expression. He glanced over at his left and saw the massive amounts of people that were mingling near the dance floor. He pressed his lips and nodded. A sudden problematic thought started spinning in his head. Is she having second thoughts?
"Are you having second thoughts?" He whispered. In his head, he was thanking the loud classical music for covering their conversation.
"Second—second thoughts?" Pepper furrowed her eyebrows. "About what?"
"Our relationship."
"Tony, I'm not you—"
"What does that mean?" He pressed his lips together. "I wasn't having second thoughts, Pepper, I—I was just confused on how I should go… go about… our—our relationship…" His small frown made Pepper heavily sigh. "This is bad, isn't it?"
"What… do you mean by—"
"Us talking to each other like this." He interrupted her. He saw her lips press together in frustration. "I—I haven't… exactly gotten that book yet… so I don't know if this is good... or-or-or bad…"
"It's good." She nodded, quipped with a small smile.
"Really?" He furrowed his eyebrows.
"Communication is good for the relationship. There's no make-up sex if there's no fight." She said that just to make him smile like a little kid in a candy store.
He could help but widen that smile. She understood his silent objectives, and attitude. He wouldn't be Tony Stark if he didn't care about the sex. Even if it was his past, he's still got to be itching to get rid of the celibacy.
"You know exactly what to say to me, Miss Potts."
"Be thankful that I do because if I didn't, I wouldn't be running your life and your company." She grinned up at him.
"You look gorgeous, by the way." He complimented her. He stared at her light orange hair that seemed to shine brighter when under a big gigantic chandelier that looked like it cost more than the Iron Man suit.
"Thanks, Mr. Stark. I believe you already said that before we left." She held her clutch purse in front of her with both of her hands.
"Well…" He tilted his head. "You can never get too many compliments. They usually lead to bigger… and better… things." He lowered his gaze to emphasize the meaning behind his statement.
Pepper saw his eyes revert back up to her gaze, and quickly smiled. "Mr. Stark, do you ever wonder why I always used to threaten you with a sexual harassment law suit?"
"Not really."
"Would you like to find out?" She threatened him with the stare of absolute death.
Tony stood there and slowly shook his head. As turned on as he was with the way she was looking at him, he didn't want to anger her even further. It was usually the same routine. If she was mad at him, she would let him know with her threatening glares, and end up not talking to him for at least a couple days. The fact that she would tell him about his meetings through JARVIS made it even worse because it meant that she was really pissed.
"Good." She faked a wide smile.
"How can I woo my girlfriend when she always hits my ass with a sexy life threatening glare and a sexual harassment lawsuit?"
Pepper walks past him in her sexy black dress. She knows that he's watching her every move, so before she walks into the crowd of mingling businessmen, she slowly turns her head to face him.
"Be creative." Pepper says seductively.
Tony's mouth slowly gaps just as Pepper walks back into the crowd with those gorgeous long legs of hers. It felt like everything was in slow motion. Her hair was slowly flowing with the sway of her hips. The gravity would tug it down just as it reached its peak—my god, she was sexy.
He wanted to follow her around like a lost puppy. He wanted to show her how much he wanted her, and how long he's been waiting for her. He actually was about to trail behind her, but a big strong hand gripped his shoulder. Tony felt an intense shot of pain circle his back and shoulder.
"Tony Stark." A deep low voice echoed behind him.
Trying to ignore the pain, Tony turned around and saw Greg Leon, CEO and founder of Leon Industries. Greg Leon had a very strong masculine build. He was in his early thirties, clearly showing off his father's money, hence the new advanced technology business. His company built computers, aircrafts, missiles, etc. His father, Henry Leon, was very well known, but not for anything related to weapons. His father built his whole empire on a newspaper business. When Greg's father died of lung cancer, he inherited his father's fortune. He shut down the newspaper business and used that money to create his own industry. To much of the world's surprise, Leon Industries' fame was built upon his father's legacy, giving the industry an incredible head start.
Tony never paid much attention to the newspaper, but when Pepper told him that Leon Industries was second in Forbes' list, his ears couldn't help but perk up in acknowledgement. Greg had brown short hair that didn't look like it needed to be combed, he was the same exact height as Tony, and he wore an elegant black tux with a very dark green tie.
Tony smiled back, mentally slapping the man silly for interrupting his action. "Greg Leon."
His hazel green eyes were so gentle, and calm. They were nothing like the businessmen surrounding them, stressed, panicky, and ambitious. "I didn't know you were invited to this Ball."
"Yeah, well, not inviting Tony Stark is pretty much considered a crime these days." Tony replied with a big gigantic smile.
Greg tucked his hand in his pants pocket and held his wine glass by the stem. "Word is, is that Iron Man is no longer conquering the skies."
"What makes you say that?" Tony furrowed his eyebrows. Does he know…?
"Well, usually there are reports of Iron Man flying in the sky, saving human beings, and what not. But for the past couple days, there have been news of Captain America and Spider Man." Greg studies Tony's facial expressions and quickly smiles. "Surely, the kids are wondering where their faithful Iron hero is."
Tony reacts to his last statement with a small smile. "Even heroes need a break."
"Kids look up to you, Mr. Stark. It's only wishful thinking that you reciprocate with the acknowledgement of their existence."
"You obviously haven't paid attention to the news, have you?" Tony started to smirk.
"Contrary to popular belief, I probably pay more attention to the news than you."
"There are times when you need to work on more important stuff—"
"It's kind of interesting, really." Greg started to swirl the contents in his wine glass. "You make your personal assistant – who at one time was your boss – do everything for you."
Tony narrowed his eyes at him. What is he getting at? "And you don't?" Really, Stark? Is that the only come back you can think of?
"I do my own laundry, I take my own notes, I make my own coffee, I build my own mechanical prototypes, I go to my own meetings, I attend meetings in general, and I do my own calculation."
Tony started to chuckle, but with a confident smile, he said, "And you wonder why Leon Industries is second to Stark Industries?"
Greg takes that insult to the heart and starts to smile. Being the good sport that he is, he starts to nod. "You take everything for granted, Tony."
"You don't know me." Tony calmly snapped back. If he had the power to burn something just by glaring at it, Greg would be on fire in an instant.
"But I know your intuitions as a part time CEO of what used to be a weapons manufacturer." One edge of Greg's lip was tugged upwards. "You have suits and technology everyone is craving. As time continues to pass, you start thinking about the future, thus creating newer and better technology than the previous. No matter how powerful you think you are with those suits of yours, hatred will always exist. Even if every nation gets their hands on your technology, war will still continue to make this world bleed. No matter how protected you think you may be, the people you care most about will always be in danger. Your P.A, your military friend, and even your computerized butler, they are all in danger because Tony Stark exists."
Tony's eyes slightly widened. He gazed at Greg for what seemed like a few minutes. His whole entire lecture was spreading through Tony's mind like wild fire. He's right. He was right and Tony knew that he was just trying to get into his head, but deep down, he was actually right. There was technology in this world that he, himself, created for the purpose of helping one nation destroy another. Time passes, which means that adaption and advancement is necessary in order to progress into a higher and sensible world. As long Stark Industries continues to advance their technology, everyone Tony is linked to is in danger, one way or another.
"Food for thought." Greg whispered, right before he walked past him, brushing his shoulder roughly against Tony's.
Tony stared into space for a while before turning his head to glare at Greg's back. He hated it when that man was right. If he didn't have the suits, then none of his friends would be in danger – Pepper wouldn't be in danger. Tony gritted his teeth before his fists turned into tight balls.
With a heavy sigh and glance around the crowd, he left his spot in search for something else to do, so he could think of something else. He walked towards the bar and leaned against the table. He waved down the bartender and asked for a glass of water on the rocks.
"That isn't like you at all, Mr. Stark." A woman told him.
Tony whipped his head around and widened his eyes once he saw who it was. "Natalie – Natasha?"
"I didn't know you were striving to become permanently sober." She leaned against the bar, facing him. Her auburn curly hair danced gracefully on her shoulders.
"I'm just keeping Pepper happy." Tony responded. The bartender placed a tall glass of ice water in front of him and Tony immediately took a sip of it. He held the glass in his hand and furrowed his eyebrows at the SHIELD agent. "What… exactly… are you doing here?"
"Didn't Fury inform you of my appearance?" Natalie slightly furrowed her eyebrows at him.
"He did… but I didn't think you would show up at this—were you even invited to this Ball?" Tony tilted his head to the side in doubt.
"For your information, I was." Natalie turned around and walked towards the crowd. Tony reluctantly trailed behind her, placing the glass back on the bar table.
"Really?" Tony hummed to himself. "We're you invited, or did you invite yourself?"
"Does it matter?" Natalie angrily asked him, becoming annoyed with his actions.
"It depends." He slightly smiled. "Are you here to tell me important information or are you just here to mingle with the crowd, scope out the area and do some damage? Honestly, I can't get a read on you."
Once Tony was done talking, Natalie abruptly turned around to face him, almost making him bump into her chest first. He stopped in time with a bit of distance between them.
"Fury doesn't want you to know about the status of your stolen weaponry."
"I already know—"
"Two major campsites containing your weaponry were found in Russia." Natalie cut him off, revealing essential information.
"What?" Tony's eyes slightly widened; his breath hitched.
"It's under control, don't worry."
"Then why—"
"When SHIELD contained the area, they didn't find him."
"I thought Fury said that he was in South America. Captain America—"
"Captain American thought he had captured him, but when he brought to headquarters, it turned out he was a duplicate." Natalie looked up at him, watching his every facial expression.
Tony looked away, in shock and fear. After a few seconds, he looked back at her with a serious expression. "He's trying to confuse us."
"He's taunting us, Tony."
"No," He shook his head. "He's trying to make us think that we don't know what he actually looks like. He's trying to make us paranoid." Tony pressed his lips together and angrily looked away. "What the hell is he doing…?"
"Don't beat yourself up over this—"
"How can I not?" He snapped back at her. "I put my ass on the line to get Vanko and Hammer in jail. Again, I'm doing everything I can to catch this son of a bitch, but he's using my weapons—my weapons—to hurt innocent people. The people I'm supposed to be protecting."
"Tony, stop." She sternly told him. "SHEILD is doing everything they can to help—"
"I should be the one out there, searching for him, and making sure he doesn't create more chaos." Tony looked around, hoping anyone wasn't eavesdropping. He looked back down at her with a hurt expression. "I'm in here… talking to businessmen I don't give a damn about, and intently ignoring my girlfriend because we aren't ready to go public."
"You're really stubborn, you know that?" Natalie glared at him.
"Natalie—Natasha—SHEILD agent—whatever… do you realize that… that if I hadn't had developed these weapons in the first place, all of this chaos would've never happened."
"What are you trying to say?"
Tony heavily sighed and pressed his lips together. "If I wasn't so egotistical, and self indulged, none of this would have ever happened. And more importantly, Pepper would be safe."
"Tony, Pepper is safe."
"No." Tony shushed her. "Fury said that you said that she wasn't safe."
"To be honest, no one is safe in this world."
"Now you're just being ridiculous." Tony had grown impatient.
"Pepper is safe because you're there to protect her. She will be in danger if you let her." Natalie explained to him.
"But—"
"Tony." She breathed. "Without the technology, your textbook narcissism, egotistical self and your ability to be an ass, none of this would even exist. Pepper wouldn't be in love with you, you wouldn't have built the suits, and you would have never learned that there is more to life than just women, sex, and money."
Tony stood there, staring at the woman before him. She actually made sense. Everything in his mind started to jumble up and thrash against the walls of his skull. He hated it when Greg made sense and he hated it when Natalie made sense. He especially hated it when Natalie used Pepper to make perfect and absolute sense.
"Excuse me." A man breathed, edging his way to the other side by squeezing in between Natalie and Tony.
"Why do you always have to—" Once the man successfully interrupted their conversation and traveled to the other side of the crowd, Natalie seemed to have disappeared with him. "—make sense?" Tony furrowed his eyebrows and looked left and right. He even looked up at the ceiling.
Natalie disappeared, leaving Tony to ponder about her final words to him.
A/N: I called her Natalie because Natasha was too 'Secret Agent' like. I'm sorry if you think it should be Natasha or Natashalie. I'm sorry I took so long to post the next chapter. College got in the way and my Computer Science class is kicking me in the butt. Studying is a pain but it's the only way to graduate. I am truly sorry for the grammatical errors, as well as any spelling errors. When I read it, it sounds fine, because I know what I mean. It's partially why I ask my friends to proof read my essays, but fanfiction is a whole different story. They know about my Robert Downey Jr obsession. For some reason, I'd also be a little embarrassed if I asked them to proof read my fanfic. Good night everyone, TGIF!