"Sir." A man walking through the building fast walked towards another man wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of grey sweats. The man turned around to face the henchman. "Khris, sir, we have news on Tony Stark."
"Is he making progress on his suit?" Khris asked, walking past him.
Their base was filled with scrap metal, various boxes that contained objects, and glowing blue sparks.
"He hasn't been working on his suit as we thought." The henchman trailed behind him while informing him. "Stark's suit has not been flown in a week."
"So, we'll give him something to fly to." Khris angrily walked off, deeper into his base that was engulfed in darkness. "Did you dispose of Greg Leon?"
"Yes." The henchman nodded. "We have already begun working on one of his weapons."
"How many more of Stark's missiles do we have?" Khris glanced over at him.
"One more, sir. Would you like us to build another batch?"
"No. Finish making the weapon from Leon Industries. Prepare a batch of men and plant Stark's missile in Nevada." Khris ordered the man.
"Yes, sir." The henchman nodded and hastily walked away.
Khris stood over one of his creations. It glowed a similar blue that of Iron Man's arc reactor. It wasn't a suit. The dark brown haired man never took a liking to a suit that encased true power. He hated the idea of concealing his identity behind a metal mask. It wasn't his style. It wasn't part of his plan.
REPAIR; CHAPTER 24
It was a bright and sunny day. Tony had just finished working on something for his suit even though his arm was still healing. He tried his best and figured out what was wrong with it, but it took up more time than he had anticipated. After working hard for a few hours, he decided to check up on Pepper, whom was sitting on the couch in the living room, next to the piano.
He strolled up the stairs and saw her sitting on the couch, leisurely working on whatever her laptop contained.
"Hey." He greeted her with a small smile.
"Good afternoon." She glanced over at him with a grin. "Get anything done down there?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "Took longer than I thought."
"Stocks are up by one percent." She stated, looking over at him to see his reaction.
He shrugged it off. "That's good, right?"
"Do you even care about your company?" She furrowed her eyebrows at him, hoping for an intellectual and actually good response.
"Isn't that what I have you for?" He walked towards the kitchen. "To keep my company running?"
"Tony…" She heavily sighed, and continued typing on her laptop. "…When you took over the company, did you even want it?"
Tony's hand stopped on the fridge's door handle. He stood there with a small frown on his face. Of course he wanted to. He wanted to continue the work his father had left him. He wanted to continue his father's work – to keep his footsteps going – to keep everything the same, as if it shouldn't change.
"Yeah, I did." He told her, opening the fridge with ease. "Do we have any sandwich fixings?"
Pepper pressed her lips together. He always had ways of getting out of conversations, but she respected his reasons. He simply didn't want to talk about it, and she didn't really feel like pressing his buttons. Delicate matters are usually the ones that don't get attention for a reason.
"Want me to make you one?" She pressed her lips together, carefully glancing over her shoulder.
"I could use an extra hand." He smiled, taking out the peanut butter and jelly, and juggling them in his hand.
Pepper set her laptop on the spot next to her before getting off the couch. She rounded the corner and saw him searching for the bread. The peanut butter and jelly jars were already on the counter. She went inside the kitchen and popped open the jars.
She was about to ask for the bread, but instead felt a strong arm wrap around her waist. Tony pressed her into his body and endearingly rested his chin on her shoulder. He pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek.
"You're a really great personal assistant, Pepper." He told her, making her blush. "When you got hired, I bet you never thought you'd be running my company, almost completely."
"When you hired me, I never thought we'd actually become romantically involved." She told him with a small smile. She felt him tighten his hold on her, as if he never wanted to let go.
"Really?"
"You were always with other women, and I never wanted to be one of those women." She pressed her lips together, almost feeling horrible for saying it.
"Figures." He smirked. "None of my sexual innuendos or flirtatious acts got to you."
"Where's the bread?" She felt another kiss on her cheek.
"I think we're out." He murmured, resting his head against her shoulder.
"What? That's impossible. I swear I bought some bread on Monday." She furrowed her eyebrows, looking around.
"I tried making a sandwich three days ago, but there was no bread." He responded with a sly smile.
Pepper angrily growled. "So, I walked over here and opened these jars for nothing?"
"Yup." He unraveled his arm from around her waist and placed one of the caps back into its jar. "I just wanted to pull you away from your work."
"Seriously?" She angrily spat at him. "I have a lot of work to do, Tony. I would actually have less if you actually gave a damn about your company."
"You know how bad I am with contracts, e-mails, and all things that don't pertain to Iron Man suits or repulsion rays." He widened his grin at her, almost expecting to get slapped on the arm.
"Let's make it a date then."
"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows, and carefully watched her.
"Help me with my e-mails and some contracts, and we'll count it as a date." She leaned against the counter with one hand on her hip and the other on the counter.
"That's so unfair." He pouted.
"It's your loss, boss." She devilishly grinned at him. "If you actually took my offer, you would be one more step closer to seeing me in sexy and half naked, Iron Man lingerie." Pepper rounded the counter to sit back down on the couch.
Tony's mouth gapped. "So… unfair…" He grumbled, trying to shake the thoughts out of his head. She knew he couldn't resist her, nor the idea of becoming closer to date twenty. It was his fantasy to see her in Iron Man lingerie, right next to the Princess Leia and the gold bikini.
"Sir, I suggest you watch the channel two news." JARVIS suddenly announced.
Tony furrowed his eyebrows and immediately looked at Pepper; she looked back at him with a slight shrug and a hint of worry.
"Turn on the news, JARVIS." Tony watched as one of the glass panels in the living room lit up.
"—many reports of the U.S government military strolling through Nevada." One of the news anchors announced. "Our news chopper has caught sight of their target, and it seems like there are missiles in the deserts of Nevada. There is no further news as to how, or why, it is there."
The other news anchor spoke up. "The police are warning all citizens of Nevada that they are in danger until the missiles have been defused and cleared as safe. Police and the U.S military are not answering any questions at the moment. They just want everyone safe and out of harm." Their news feed slowly cut to a sky view of the missiles that their news chopper had recorded earlier.
Tony immediately knew what type of missiles those were, because he built them himself. Those are… He hastily walked towards the stairs as his teeth grinded together in anger.
"What—" She slowly looked over her shoulder and saw that he was no longer there. She instantly looked over at the stairs and noticed his movements. "—Tony, where are you going!"
"To take care of those missiles." He angrily grounded out. "JARVIS, prepare the suit."
"Right away, Sir, but I'm afraid the suit will be much harder to handle given your current condition." The AI responded.
Pepper completely ignored "Fury has you on strict surveillance, and he suspended you from all missions. Do you actually think he'll just let you go—"
"Those are my missiles, Pepper!" He turned and yelled at her, before he pointed at the screen. "That bastard planted them in Nevada to taunt me."
"Think about this rationally, Tony." She tried to calm him down. She knew how he felt about this situation. He was hell bent on destroying every single duplicate of his missile that touched the ground. He felt like it was his responsibility, but he was putting the missiles before himself – before his health and well being. "You need both hands to fly. You're in no shape to be operating that suit right now."
Tony stopped at the first step and glanced over at his arm. She was right. He was in no shape, but he couldn't just leave those missiles there. "I have to take care of it. It's my responsibility to keep my weapons from hurting innocent people."
"Please—" She tried to convince him, but even she couldn't finish her sentence. A split second later, a swarm of shield agents stormed the room. They all pointed their assault rifles at Tony, and even further enhanced their threat by using their laser sights.
Tony angrily turned around and saw Agent Coulson standing there, with a small smile on his face.
"Mr. Stark, you're under strict orders by Director Fury to stand down." The agent informed him.
"Wha—" He tried to speak up but was shot down, instantly.
"Your services aren't needed in this matter, and I believe Director Fury suspended you a few weeks ago." Agent Couslon looked at him.
Tony glanced at the SHIELD agents and noticed their trigger finger lingering across the bottom. "It's my responsibility to take care of—"
"It's your responsibility to heal, strengthen up, and prepare for whatever battles await us. It would certainly insult Director Fury and myself if you carelessly flew out there just because of those missiles." Coulson kept his hands behind his back. He was always the informant. Tony saw him much more as Fury's errand boy. Fury would never approach someone, in person, for such a measly message. It angered Tony that he was being slapped around like a harmless fly.
As Tony glanced over at his personal assistant, he saw the same message in her eyes. She didn't want to him to fly out there in his condition.
"Tell me something, Coulson." He started out, carefully choosing his words. "Is SHIELD responsible for the protection of my suits?" Seeing Coulson front and center made him think about Rhodey's news about Senator Stern backing off.
Coulson simply smiled at him. "Director Fury likes to protect his employees when, and if, the moment arises."
"What about the missiles? The United States government can easily tell where that missile came from—"
"Like I said, Director Fury likes to protect his employees." Coulson quickly said.
Tony began to glare at him. "And what about the missiles' protection?"
"We have another man on the scene."
"And who's that, because calling Natalie a man is a bit insulting."
"I doubt Captain American would like being called a woman."
Coulson touched one of the agent's guns, making all surrounding units lower their weapons in response. The agent turned around with the rest of the squad trailing behind him. Tony already knew that he was stuck inside his house. He didn't have a chance, what with Agent Coulson and his men lurking around the perimeter.
Pepper pressed her lips together in frustration and cautiously walked towards him, unsure of his feelings about the situation. "Tony—"
"I'll be downstairs." He simply told her. He didn't even look her in the eyes. "You don't have to worry about me. Coulson has the house surrounded. There's no way I'll get out."
She placed her hand on the railing and gripped it tightly. She couldn't help but watch as Tony walked down the stairs, and through the glass door that led to his workshop. It wasn't easy seeing his services rejected by the very people that hired him. But Coulson, and JARVIS, were right. He was not much use in his current condition. She couldn't understand why Tony didn't see it earlier. To hear Tony even talk about responsibility made her do a mental double take.
Pepper decided to walk down to his workshop and talk to him. If anything, it probably would help to hear his side of the conversation. She felt like walking away and letting him ride it out, but what kind of girlfriend, and personal assistant, would she be if she did that?
She looked through the glass door and saw him sulking in his seat that was in front of the holographic imaging table. He was staring up at the old plans he had of the Mark I.
Pepper punched in her access code and warily walked through the workshop.
"You okay?" She asked him, hoping to get an answer. Anything was better than just a nod.
"Depends on how you look at the situation." He glanced over at her before changing the holographic image to something less upsetting, and something that had less horrific memories – a picture from one of Pepper's old modeling job. "I like this one, by the way."
She tried to keep a smile, but failed to do so when she saw the disappointing look he kept beneath that fake grin of his. He switched it to something less inappropriate and more memorable; a picture of Pepper and him. It was one of those things that calmed him down.
"I know you hate it when I take a side that isn't yours…" She started off, but he already knew what she was trying to say.
"I understand, Pepper." He murmured, staring up at their picture. "Do you remember when Rhodey took this picture?"
She squinted, trying to get a better look at the picture that floated in front of them. Savoring the moment, Tony wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her towards him. She returned his endearing gesture by holding his hand against her waist with her own. The picture featured a grin from Tony, but an angry and furious expression from Pepper.
"Ah, I remember this picture." Her lips formed a small smile. "It was when I was mad at you for missing all three meetings that morning. I almost killed you."
"Why Rhodey took a picture of the moment, I will never know." Tony breathed a laugh.
"It's cute." She added, rubbing his hand with her thumb. "We should frame it."
"We could hang it on the wall, and label it as: The Wrath of Pepper Potts." He grinned up at her, feeling delighted to be in her presence.
"Or, we could label it as: Tony Stark Misses Meeting 106." She playfully grinned back at him.
Both of them took the moment to share a laugh, because it felt like the day wasn't quite going to be jam packed of them.
"I know you feel like it's your responsibility to take care of every single duplicate of your weaponry…" She started out; she felt him squeeze her waist. "…but sometimes…" She paused. "… You just need to let it go."
"What—" he blurted out, trying to make her understand his feelings about the matter, but she abruptly cut him off.
"—What I mean, is… you need to think first."
"…And by that you mean…?" He questioned her, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Were you really going to fly that suit with your arm like that?" She worriedly asked him, hoping he would say no.
"Yeah." He pressed his lips together.
"And how were you going to accomplish that? Your shoulder is still healing."
Tony shrugged. "I was going to have JARVIS fly it."
"And what if you got hit – or worse, what if the missiles targeted you?"
He sat there, thinking about the situation for a moment. "That's impossible, Pep. The missiles weren't designed for specific targets. They were—"
"You know what I'm asking, Tony." She grounded out.
He paused for a moment, as if he were carefully choosing his words. "I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying… I would… I would much rather try and make a difference than just sit here, doing nothing."
At that moment, Pepper realized where Tony's actions came from. He was tired of sitting back behind a brick wall, impervious to standards of wealth, worries, and all the hazards of being a normal person.
A/N: Less fluffy, sorry. :(