"How long will it take?" Natalie asked. Her arms were crossed against her chest and her impatient expression burned a hole in Tony's calm barrier.
"JARVIS just said it would take another ten minutes. Jeeze, you're more impatient than when Pepper tells me I have to get ready for a meeting in ten minutes." Tony was hunched over his desk, in front of his two monitors. He glanced at her a few times before feeling her glare burn a hole on his forehead.
"Fury expected this to be done by last night, but seeing as how generous I was, I said we'd get it done today." She reminded him.
"And I'm truly happy about that." He flashed a small smile.
"Your ass is on the line if JARVIS doesn't get this done quick."
"Whoa, whoa, JARVIS is doing everything he can do. Why does it have to be my ass? Why can't it be yours?" Tony straightened his back and furrowed his eyebrows.
"Your ass is the easiest target." She returned a cold glare.
"My ass is the easiest target." He mocked her in a high pitched voice. "My ass is what makes me a target."
"Oh, don't be so full of yourself." Natalie said in a deep tone before rolling her eyes.
"C'mon, admit that I'm handsome and I have a cute tush." This time, Tony's lips formed a full grin.
"I thought you had a girlfriend." She asked coldly.
"I do, and she thinks I'm handsome and has a cute butt." Tony widened his smile.
"Then you'll find that I have no problem using you as a punching bag until JARVIS is done." Natalie calmly spat back.
"Why do you always have to be so cold?" He did a short side step away from her and tried to focus on the task at hand.
"Because it seems to be the only way to get you to focus." Natalie responded. She turned her head once she heard the glass door behind her click open.
Pepper walked through the door with a cup of coffee and the newspaper. She flashed a small smile at Natalie before walking over to Tony's side. She nudged his shoulder and carefully handed him the cup of coffee. She laid the newspaper on his desk and glanced at his monitors.
"How is everything?" Pepper curiously asked.
"Speedy and frustrating, right, Natalie?" Tony faked a smile at her and she just angrily stared at him.
"Sure." She breathed.
"Oh god, what time is it?" Pepper looked down at her watch and felt Tony's hand rub tiny circles on her back. "Crap, I have a meeting to go to in twenty minutes."
"Are you seriously thinking about going to the meeting?" Tony raised an eyebrow at her.
She looked up at him, dumbfounded. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?"
"I told you last night, your life is in danger. You shouldn't be running around willy nilly, right now." He tried to explain to her. He really didn't want to her to go to those meetings for two reasons. One, her life was in danger and two, he wanted her to stay in kissing range.
"Willy nilly?" She narrowed her eyes at him. Natalie stood there, practically continuously rolling her eyes at the couple.
"I'm trying out new words, so sue me." He playfully added. "You are not going to that meeting."
"Tony, it is just a meeting, and it's only a five minute drive from here to Stark Industries." She tried to tell him.
He glanced up at Natalie and then back at Pepper. "Fine, you can go to the meeting only if Natalie accompanies you."
"What?" Natalie and Pepper both shouted at the same time.
"I do not need a body guard." Pepper pressed her lips together and glared. "I certainly do not want questions regarding Natalie's outfit to arise in the tabloids."
Natalie stood there and quietly observed their conversation. Tony was somewhat right. If Pepper was going to travel from one place to another alone, then there definitely was ample time for the guy to get his hands on her.
"I do not want him to get his hands on you, Pepper." Tony told her in a very endearing tone. "If he was able to capture Leon, then he's certainly capable of capturing you."
"I'm not that fragile, Tony." She crossed her arms across her chest.
"Yes, I know—"
"Happy will be with me—"
"What if he knocks Happy out with a pipe or something?"
A pipe? "Why would he be carrying a pipe?" Pepper folded her arms across her chest and huffed.
"I'm just thinking of the worst case scenario." Tony rolled his eyes.
"The worst case scenario would be a nuclear missile."
"Oh my god… Pepper, I just don't want anything to happen to you."
"It's only a five minute drive."
"There's no guarantee that he won't try and grab you while you're inside the building." Tony pressed his lips together. His hands gently gripped her shoulders in reassurance and comfort.
"He's actually right." Natalie finally spoke up. All eyes were on her. "This man is very dangerous and assuming he's after Tony, he'll be after you, too."
Pepper heavily sighed. "What about the tabloids? They're going to think I'm hiring strippers as bodyguards."
"Don't worry. I'll be out of sight." Natalie responded.
"Heh." Tony chuckled. "You called her a stripper."
Pepper's bottom lip stuck out while she pressed her lips together and rammed her elbow into Tony's ribs. A painful 'ow' from him meant that she was successful in shutting him up.
"That actually hurt." Tony rubbed his ribs while flashing a small frown.
"There's more where that came from if you keep it up, Stark." Pepper scolded him.
"We should leave right now if you want to get to the meeting on time." Natalie spoke up, making the couple turn their heads to face her.
"Okay." Pepper nodded. She looked up at Tony and gave him and chaste kiss on the lips. "I'll be back later, okay?"
"Be careful." He whispered. He watched as Pepper walked towards the glass door with those sexy high heels of hers. His eyes slowly trailed up, taken aback by those legs of hers. Just when his eyes were about to hit her upper thigh, his vision was blocked by Natalie's body. He looked up and saw her roll her eyes at him.
"How much more time?" She dryly asked.
"Uh." Tony shook some mental images out of his head before turning to the monitors. "A little more than five minutes."
"After the information comes through, I want you to analyze it and give any, or all, information to Fury. He'll know what to do with it." Natalie walked toward the glass door and raised her hand to grip the door handle. At the last second, she paused and slightly turned her head. "I don't care what that information holds. You are to do exactly what I told you. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Just make sure Pepper comes back safe." He waved her warning off.
"Keep me updated." She finally said before opening the glass door. Tony waved his hand, dismissing her last words.
Once her presence left the workshop, he sat back in his chair with his hands folded behind his head. "How many more minutes, JARVIS?"
"Two, sir." The AI announced.
"What does it look like so far?" Tony sat up in his chair and rolled over to his Iron Man suit.
"Analyzing has discovered that two files were transferred to a portable USB drive the night of the attack." JARVIS responded.
"Anything on Leon's disappearance?"
"So far, no."
"Okay." Tony slightly nodded and stared at his suit for two seconds. "We'll have to focus on the files at were stolen the night of the attack. Maybe it can give us a clue on Leon's whereabouts."
"What about Project Kin?" JARVIS asked.
Tony furrowed his eyebrows and swiveled around in his chair. "What?"
"Project Kin was the most accessed file in Leon Industries' system."
"But… According to Pepper, at the night of the Charity Ball, Jones Hardman was the one that mentioned Project Kin." Tony lightly brushed his hand against the hairs of his goatee.
"The files are done analyzing, sir."
He rolled his chair back to his desk. "Start recovery system 225 and pull up the last back up before the attack."
"Done."
"Pull them up on monitor one and keep the file that contains Project Kin on stand by." Tony told JARVIS. He scanned the files that flew onto his monitor and quickly skimmed them. Most of the content made sense to him since the files was mostly weapons based.
"Leon Industries' system is starting to retaliate, sir."
Shit. "How many minutes until their system overrides?" His desk started to glow blue as the illuminated touch keyboard appeared. Tony's fingers immediately got to work once JARVIS announced the bad news. If their system started to retaliate then there wasn't enough time to look over the files at that moment.
"The rate their virtual security is working, I estimate at least ten minutes."
"At least it's enough time to copy everything." Tony pressed his lips together in frustration. He slid his index finger across the table in the direct of the other table a few feet away. "Transferring the files I wanted copied to sever three."
"Preparing files." The AI announced. "Would you like me to store these in your private server?"
"That would be nice, thank you, JARVIS." Tony slightly nodded to himself. He looked up at the monitors and caught sight of the Project Kin folder. With a swipe of his index finger, the folder was transferred to the other table. He got up from his chair and walked over to the table with his arms crossed against his chest. The table lit up, upon his approach. A holographic 3-D image stood up, showing all three folders. A bar at the bottom slowly ran to the right, indicating the progress of the files being copied.
"Hm…" Tony hummed to himself and brought his hand up to his chin. Suddenly, his eyes widened in shock. "JARVIS." He breathed and immediately looked up.
"Yes, sir?"
"What kind of meeting is Pepper going to, today?" He started to panic. Everything started to add up in his mind but he was jumping to various conclusions that could not be supported by evidence.
"She is currently meeting with KTA and ROM."
KTA… why does that sound so familiar? "Do you have the roster for that meeting?"
"Yes." JARVIS responded immediately.
"Pull up the roster." Tony commanded. At an instant, the hologram shoved the three folders to the side and slid up a small list of people that attended the meeting. He skimmed the list, and found Jones Hardman along with Pepper Potts. Shit!
"Sir, I've successfully copied the three folders and moved them into your private server."
"Thanks." Tony gritted his teeth together and closed his eyes. If Hardman was the one that created Project Kin, then why does Leon have it? Either Hardman and Leon are working together or Hardman found out that Leon stole the files from him and put a hit on his whole system, OR the attack wasn't in relation to Hardman but once he found out about his files in their system, he kidnapped and killed Leon. "Send the two folders that were transferred the night of the attack to Fury. Keep Project Kin."
"Right away, sir." JARVIS agreed.
Tony slid the roster aside and stared at the folder labeled 'Project Kin'.
A/N: Going back to college tomorrow. One week was not enough of a break for me. But good news! I get Fridays off! :)