Tony walked out of the shower with steam rolling around him. His eyes were glossy and his solemn expression showed his mood. He was tired, but with good reason. After a long day of testing out his newest weapon (and effectively scaring the crap out of his Personal Assistant) and coming up with combat tactics, his body became spent and his mind drained. He grabbed a towel off a nearby rack and began to dry himself off. He rubbed the towel around his head and then wrapped it around his waist. He slowly made his way towards the mirror and began to stare at himself through his own brown eyes. He noticed the bags under his eyes and the tiresome look he's giving himself. He sighed deeply and ruffled his hair a bit with his hand.
Every superhero gets tired. There is no cure to being human. Sleep is what repairs the mind – it keeps the body going. Tony Stark loved and loathed sleeping. He loved sleeping next to his girlfriend, and watching her mindlessly cuddle up to his chest in the middle of the night. He hated sleeping when he was working through important research or calculations; the thought of hours wasted on repairing his mind or recharging his 'batteries' seemed unpleasant at particular times.
Tony walked out of his bathroom with his hand scratching the back of his head. When he looked up, he saw Pepper sitting on his bed; her legs were under the sheets and arched up. Tony eyed her white tank top, and then the hem of her red short shorts. She was constantly typing on her phone with her thumbs that she practically forgot that he was in the bathroom.
Tony's face flashed a wide smile; he immediately remembered why he loved sleeping, especially next to his Pepper. He slipped on a pair of boxers that he yanked off the dresser, threw the towel next to the hamper and slid into bed next to her.
Pepper, still typing on her phone, was instantly greeted with small kiss on her shoulder, followed by an arm slipping around her middle. She widened her grin as another kiss graced her shoulder.
"Yes?" She answered his actions with an arched eyebrow.
"Hm." He hummed against her skin before casually glancing up at her. She immediately went back to her work. Tony then gave her an upsetting frown. "I'm kissing you, and you don't even take your eyes off that infuriating phone of yours?"
"I've been trying to conjure up excuses for you all day." She tried to tell him as his grip around her middle loosened. His cheek rested against her shoulder as he skimmed the contents of her phone's screen. She glanced at his sudden closeness and smirked. "Like what you see?"
Tony first glanced down her tank top, at her phone, and then up at her. "You have no idea." A wide grin was plastered across his face. "I should make a law where phones are prohibited in the bed of Tony Stark."
Pepper rolled her eyes at his statement and began to shut off her phone. "Fine." She smiled to herself and placed her phone on the nightstand next to her. She effectively slipped under the sheets and wrapped her arm around Tony's waist. She endearingly nuzzled against his shoulder while he rested his cheek against her head.
"Besides, after tomorrow, all those excuses might have been a waste." He told her, trying to lighten the mood.
She solemnly looked down at the hem of his boxers and traced circles on his stomach. "Don't say that." She mumbled, just enough for him to hear.
"Pepper—"
"I'm not ready to lose you…" She mumbled again. "…not again."
Tony looked down at her and let out a small sigh. He first thought of his three month sabbatical in Afghanistan and then thought of the upcoming battle. He didn't know how it was going to go, to be honest. It could go either way because of any unknowns on Khris' part. His newest weapon was far superior to anything he has ever made (so far).
"Hey…" He whispered against her strawberry blonde hair. "You're not the only one that doesn't want tomorrow to happen."
"When do you have leave?" She glanced up at him. Her eyes drifted to his lips and then his eyes – those gorgeous, deep brown eyes.
"I should start prepping at noon, and then give Fury a few calls to set everything up." He responded before letting out a sigh. "I was hoping we could do something before then."
"You make it sound like you're saying good-bye." She sniffed; her fingers stopped tracing figures on his stomach. Tony wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his side. Her petite hand rested calmly against his middle and her other arm rested between their bodies.
He laid there with his girlfriend in his arms and pressed his lips together. "I don't know what you want me to tell you, Pepper."
She heavily sighed against his side. "Remember when I told you to never lie to me again?"
"Immensely, yes."
"Lie to me." She simply said. Tony furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Do you think you'll make it out alive tomorrow?"
He swallowed; He had hopes of making it through tomorrow but, soon that hope turned into a wish. He couldn't stand the thought of never seeing Pepper, Rhodey, or Happy—and maybe JARVIS—ever again. "Yes."
Pepper frowned against his side and stayed silent. He did what she asked him to do. There was no reason to cry, because there was no way around this. She had no intentions of pleading him to not go out there. She knew how he worked out his problems. Sure, he was an ass sometimes, but his pride, dignity, and duty as a superhero was important to him.
It was already the next day. Tony had woken up before Pepper, surprisingly, and went down to his workshop to observe his new weapon. He had more faith in it than any other weapon he had ever built. About an hour later, JARVIS notified him about Pepper's awakening.
When he walked upstairs to his bedroom, Pepper was sitting up, against the headboard, with her hands in her lap. Worried that she might've gotten sick or something, he approached her with haste.
"Pepper?" He asked, worriedly.
When she looked up at him, he saw tears running down her cheeks. They were definitely not tears of joy.
"Pepper…" he breathed her name, again.
"I don't know." She shook her head.
He looked at her in sorrow. He hated seeing her cry. He had seen horrible things throughout his life, but one of the worst things on his list was seeing Pepper cry. He'd always seen her happy, frustrated, angry, and annoyed – seeing her cry always sent a spear straight through his RT.
He took her hand and gently led her off the bed. "C'mon, I know what'll turn that frown upside down."
"Please tell me you're not going to give JARVIS a feminine voice and make him tell jokes." She pleaded, wiping her tears with her free hand.
"You didn't find that hilarious?" He frowned and turned his head to look at her.
"Only you found that funny."
"But you were smiling." He pointed out.
"That's because JARVIS started giving you an attitude. It sounded a lot similar to a certain someone I know, but much more gentle." She teased him.
"Did you just call me a woman?" He heard Pepper breathe a laugh. "I'm going to cook you breakfast, and you're going to watch."
"Do I get to hold the fire extinguisher this time?" She joked and followed him down the stairs.
"Funny." He said dryly. "I'm only cooking eggs, hash browns, and bacon."
"That's what you said when you tried microwaving a marshmallow, which wasn't cooking at all." She reminded him.
"Microwaving is cooking." He tried to point out.
"No, microwaving is microwaving." She shot back.
"Fine." He groaned. "You can hold the fire extinguisher."
"And the blow torch?" She raised an eyebrow. Once they entered the kitchen, Tony turned around to face her.
"I was making crème brulee." He beamed at her. "And it was for your birthday."
She laughed at him and squeezed his hand. "One, you managed to torch everything but the crème brulee, and two, it wasn't my birthday."
"But admit it, that was some pretty good crème brulee." He grinned wildly.
"It was adequate." She said thoughtfully.
"You know, I can't be a superhero boyfriend and a chef at the same time." He pouted.
Pepper let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around his neck, shrinking the space between them. He wrapped his arms around her waist out of pure habit. The thought of what might be their last day together flew out the window in a flash. She looked down at his lips and grinned childishly.
"I enjoy the effort, Tony, and despite how cute you look when you start to panic, I think you'll have to give me this one."
"But…" He pouted. "You always cook breakfast for me."
"Not always. You did make me a burnt omelet that one time." She raised her eyebrows in thought.
"That's because I was dying, and even I didn't want to eat it." He smirked at her.
"How about we both cook breakfast?" She beamed at him.
"Mm," He hummed with a huge grin. "Sounds like that's euphemism for something."
"Only you would think that." She laughed. She felt his hands playing with the hem of her tank top. "Tony, I'm hungry—"
"—So am I." He looked down at her lips with a growl.
"I mean it." She giggled under his grasp. "I'm really hungry and I could go for some bacon and eggs right now." She began to the play with his hair on the back of his neck.
He made a frown and heavily sighed. "Why do you always have to be a tease?"
"Someone has to do the job. If you're not happy with my methods, I'm sure JARVIS can do a much better job." She slyly grinned at him.
Tony pressed his lips together and inwardly groaned. "You're mean."
She laughed at him and unraveled her arms from his neck. Pepper started to reach for the pan that hung over the stove. Tony's hands were still on her waist. When she got down from her tippy toes and placed the pan on the stove, she was greeted with very eager hands.
"We can't resume breakfast in an hour?" He furrowed his eyebrows in curiosity.
Pepper rolled her eyes at him and planted a soft kiss on his lips. She wasn't feeling particularly keen on doing the deed right then and there, so she muttered something against his lips. Tony was about take her hand and lead her to the bedroom, or at least the couch, but someone had popped up in their kitchen.
"Mm," Tony hummed before he pulled away. "Romanoff."
Pepper furrowed her eyebrows and followed his gaze. When she turned around he was met with a very well dressed, and ready for action, SHIELD Agent. "Natalie."
"Miss Potts." Natalie greeted her, and then looked at Tony. "We need to talk."
"I told Fury I would call him at noon. I still have about three hours under my belt for actions concerning everything under my belt." He pressed his lips together in annoyance. Pepper immediately got his innuendo and lightly slapped his arm.
She gracefully slipped out of his grasp. "Why don't you two talk somewhere privately while I cook breakfast? Did you want anything to eat, Natasha?"
"I won't be staying long." Natalie quickly responded. Her gaze was now directed at Tony; her eyes were basically threatening him at this point.
"But we were—" He started to pout at Pepper, but she didn't look at him. Tony heavily sighed and began to angrily glare at the SHIELD Agent in their kitchen. He pointed at her. "Downstairs."
Khris Jorg stood on top of an old abandoned building in the middle of Cheyenne, Wyoming. He looked over the empty city with a small smile. It was the perfect arena for his match up with Iron Man. He had always hoped for something like this. Ever since his early years, he had been a very tough competitor in all activities. After Ivan Vanko approached him, everything changed.
"I don't know what you want, but I think you have the wrong person." Khris said, walking away from Vanko in a dark alley. Khris had two things on his mind, work and food. He worked at a warehouse at the edge of town in Nevada. He had worked at a robotics factory for three years. The pay wasn't high, but it was enough.
"You work at a robotic arms factory, and for what, for money?" Vanko suspiciously grinned at him.
Khris stopped in his tracks and turned his head to get a glance at him. "You don't know anything about me."
"I know about your history." Vanko started to walk towards him. "At age ten, you sent a kid to the hospital because he wouldn't back down at the final round in a karate tournament. At age fifteen, you invented a robotic arm that could attract and detract metal objects with pressure plates."
"So, you know my childhood. What does that prove?" Khris turned around to face Vanko. "Nothing."
"I know how much of a competitor you are." Vanko grinned, and shifted his toothpick in his mouth. "Tell me, what are your opinions about Tony Stark?"
"Tony Stark?" Khris raised an eyebrow at him. "Iron Man? He's an idiot." Vanko smirked and released the toothpick from his mouth. "But, I give props to the man. He has money, women, and a brain. People call him a genius. I call him well-off."
"What if I gave you a chance to show Tony Stark what a man with absolutely nothing can do?" Vanko asked him.
"What do you mean?"
"My time is up." Vanko simply told him. "Here." He handed him a roll of paper. Khris cautiously and suspiciously took it out of his hand. He looked down at it as if it were about to explode.
"What's this?"
"Read it."
Khris rolled the rubber band off the edges and unraveled the piece of paper. He skimmed the whole entire paper and raised an eyebrow.
"Does any of it make sense to you?" Vanko asked him flatly.
"It's a powerful magnet." Khris told him.
"Tony Stark has similar technology."
"Iron Man." Khris understood him.
"With this, you'll be able to compete with Iron Man." Vanko tapped the piece of paper that Khris held in his hands.
He looked down at the roll and shook his head. "You're wrong. I may be competitive to the bone, but I'm not about to go toe to toe with a superhero."
"He's not a superhero. He's a man, a man that stole everything from me – everything from my family."
Khris pressed his lips together and nearly crumbled the roll of paper. He looked up at Vanko, "What do I get out of this?"
"Satisfaction."
"Satisfaction of a good ole' competition? I'm not your dog."
"But I can teach you more than robotics. I can teach you everything. Knowledge is power."
"Knowledge is from reading books, and making mistakes. I don't need to kill Iron Man to prove myself." Khris practically spat at him.
"Your legacy is tiny. What would your father say?"
"My father is proud of me. I don't need to be famous to make a name for myself." Khris responded rather calmly.
"Fine." Vanko simply said. "No one will know who you are. No one will care. Tough way to live life." He walked past Khris with his hands in his pockets.
"Wait." Khris muttered, just enough for Vanko to hear.
Khris crossed his arms over his chest. He still didn't understand why he took up that offer from Vanko. He was his mentor, his teacher, and somehow, his friend. He wanted to prove himself to Vanko and his father that he wasn't all bark and no bite. He wanted to prove to the world that he could compete with even the toughest competitors. Vanko was right; a competitor without a name wasn't a competitor at all. A name is an identity. To compete with Iron Man gave him the motivation to pursue his dreams as someone with a purpose. For most of his adult life, he hadn't figured out what kept him from working at that robotics factory. He thought it was pure amusement.
"What am I doing?" He whispered to himself.
"Sir!" One of his men shouted from the sidewalk. Khris glanced down at him and immediately activated his thrusters. He landed in front of him with a clang.
"What is it?" He asked flatly.
"Iron Man has been spotted at the southwest border checkpoint."
"Tell everyone to clear out. I don't want anyone getting hurt." He ordered, walking towards one of the nearby buildings.
"You don't need back up?" He asked him. Khris gave him a nasty look. "I mean… you know… if he wins…"
"I've been called many nasty things, but I'm not a cheater. And I don't aim to be one, either." He notified him.
"But you're going up against Iron Man. If you're not in it for the victory, then what do you hope to achieve from this fight?" The man stopped in his tracks while Khris kept on walking.
"A name." Khris responded without looking behind him. "Tell everyone to clear the area. Call code yellow-alpha-twenty-three."
"Y-Yes, sir." The man nodded and ran in the opposite direction. It didn't make any sense to him. A name meant nothing more to him than an identity; a gift from parents. He pulled out his walkie-talkie, "Code yellow-alpha-twenty-three."
Tony's thrusters took him through the boarder line of Wyoming. He knew when he passed the line; when he zoomed over, JARVIS picked up at least ten hostiles near the boarder, each of them with an assault rifle. He looked at the sensors that appeared on his HUD.
"Sir—"
"I know." Tony responded casually. "Agent Romanoff, there are ten hostiles at the boarder. If I'm not mistaken, I believe Khris already knows the guest of honor has arrived."
The SHIELD agent appeared on his HUD. "Noted."
"Also, keep Bart Simpson on a leash. I don't want a rain of arrows zipping past me." He smirked, referring to Agent Barton aka Hawkeye.
"Mr. Stark, you're abundantly calm for a man that's about to step into a battle with someone that effectively handed your ass to you last time." She glared at him through the camera on her end.
He began to pout. "You were the one that said you believed in me."
"And I can take it back anytime I want."
He frowned, almost feeling appalled.
"Sir," JARVIS' voice boomed throughout his helmet. "We are a minute away from entering a field of electricity that will cut off all communications."
"Keep an eye on the battle field." He told the SHIELD Agent.
"Don't screw up." She simply responded back with a serious expression before hanging up.
Tony pressed his lips together and began to sigh. There were things he never thought he could do, and then there were things he had to do no matter what. What everything had in common was the fact that he wanted to make a better place for the people he cared about. He didn't want anyone to get into harms way, especially not Pepper. No matter what he had to do, he wanted to do it for her. He's supposed to think of the well-being of all of humanity and the interests of the United States, but whenever he thought about the humanity, a mental image of Pepper would always pop up.
"JARVIS, start converting all commands to my voice." He simply said.
"Already in effect and ready." Replied the AI.
Within a matter of ten seconds, he felt the missing link between him and his Artificial Intelligence – his partner in crime. It felt weird, not hearing his voice. Right next to Pepper, JARVIS was about the only other person that he could talk to that would calm him down, despite the numerous times he's muted him.
"Okay, Khris. Let's see what you're made of." He mumbled to himself, whilst zipping through numerous buildings that have been evacuated. His heads-up-display zoomed in, and showed him a visual of Khris' body.
Khris stood there with his arms crossed against his metal skeleton cased chest. He didn't look the least bit scared. Instead of a disappointing or engaging frown, he wore a slight smile. Tony angrily looked at the visual in disgust. His smile screamed sick and twisted all over the place.
Tony took a good look at his surroundings for a minute. He noticed the old abandoned buildings, and some perfectly open spaces. He had a plan up his sleeve, and he sure didn't want it to back fire on him because of a few environmental technicalities. He landed a few meters away from Khris his knee and fist on the ground. He looked up at his opponent slowly before getting up and straightening himself out.
"You made it." Khris still had a sly smile on. "And here I thought you were going to back out."
"You're pretty spry for a guy that went from Robotics and Karate to electrical engineering and stolen blueprints." Tony angrily looked at him, despite Khris' ability to actually see his face.
He began to breathe a laugh. "So, you know all about me?"
Agent Romanoff's remote camera blinked on Tony's monitor. He was hard at work, trying to finish the weapon's specs that he had put his life on. He finished drawing out the plans and working out some calculations before answering her call. Once her face popped up on his monitor, he went back to work.
"And to what do I owe the pleasure, Natalie?" He said without looking at her.
"Director Fury dug up all he could about Khris Jorg." She informed him without commenting about his name for her.
"Anything surprising or worth spewing at him for shits and giggles?" He traced some lines on his desk and slid it across his desk. The same lines popped up on a nearby 3D holographic table. "Because we all know how much I want to piss him off."
"You'd be surprised. He has a clean record." Natalie informed him.
He furrowed his eyebrows at her through his monitor. "How clean is clean?"
"Windex, clean." She responded, glancing at him. "Khris entered many karate tournaments as a kid. He was into robotics in his High School days. Was moderately popular, and attracted all the girls. Went to prom… Oh, here's something you'll find interesting."
"What's more interesting than a kid that follows the rules?" Tony sarcastically added.
"His father was a well known guy. Alexander Jorg." She looked up at Tony and noticed his lack of interesting. "Alexander Jorg was on the side lines ,but helped your father create the atomic bomb." This effectively got Tony's attention.
"So, his father lends a hand…" He shrugged it off.
"Alexander also helped other well known scientists. He helped create the logic and programming for defusing bombs, he created algorithms that helped track missiles, he also created a sticky-bubble-like explosive—"
"Okay, I get it." Tony huffed. "He was a real helper. How does this exactly help me?"
"It doesn't." Natalie responded. He pressed his lips together and flatly looked at her.
"I don't know much." Tony said through the suit with a small frown. "Your father had a real name. The only reason why you entered in so many competitions when you were growing up was because you wanted your father to be proud of you."
"We're similar, Stark." Khris started to grin. "Both of us tried so hard to get our father's attention. All of that effort was wasted."
"My father loved me in his own way." Tony gritted his teeth.
"As did mine."
"Then tell me, why are you doing this? What will you prove to the world—to anyone—by killing me?" Tony asked with slight anger in his voice.
"A name." Khris simply responded, quipped with a small smile. "Call me anything you like—crazy, even. A name is everything to me. It was everything to my father," Khris' exoskeleton suit began to power up; the strips of blue illumination that ran through each metallic piece glowed brighter than their last encounter. "And it was everything to my mother."
Tony's HUD began to glow bright read and beep annoyingly with warning. He looked in all directions in his HUD and noticed his power supply slowly lowering. "Huh, so you did make a few modifications." He immediately used his thrusters to fly him back a couple meters.
Khris slyly smiled at him. "Be honest—"
"I'm not really one for honesty." Tony shot back with a smirk. "I mean, have you seen my press conferences?"
Khris felt a surge of power coming from the RT on his chest. "Do you really think you can defeat me?"
"No." Tony stepped back and got ready for any attack he was going to lash at him.
"Then why try to even fight me?" Khris raised an eyebrow at him, curious of his answer.
"Because," Tony started out; images of Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, Fury, and even the rest of the Avengers. "They're all I have left to fight for."
"Pepper." Tony called from the top of the staircase. Pepper was still putting last minute finishing touches on their breakfast. She looked up to see him staring at her, waiting for her to answer him.
"Where's Natalie?" She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "I made a little extra bacon and eggs, in case she wanted any."
"She left." Tony quickly told her. "Do you think you could come down to the workshop with me—just for a second."
Pepper raised an eyebrow at him and suddenly wondered what he wanted. She put the plates of food inside the oven and shrugged. "I guess—What's this about?" She walked towards him nervously. "Please don't tell me you built a suit for me."
He grinned at her, storing the thought of Pepper in a suit in the back of his mind. "I need to show you something."
Pepper followed Tony willingly and even wondered what he wanted her to see. She hoped it wasn't a big diamond on a ring that said, 'I'm not asking you to marry me; this is just something I wanted to give you before I died'. When he dropped a black thin box in her hand, she disgustingly looked down at it.
She was a tad speechless and confused when she looked up at him. "Please tell me you're not pregnant and this is some sort of baby monitor."
He breathed a laugh and flicked the top of it open. It revealed a red button. Pepper immediately yelped and released it from her grasp. He caught it instantly and furrowed her eyebrows at her.
"You're acting as if it's a spider."
"WHAT is that?" She shrieked, pointing down at it.
"A button?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"To what?" She quickly responded back.
"To the bombs." He told her, holding it out to her.
"WHAT!" She shrieked again. "Don't even—get that away from me!"
"Pepper, the bombs aren't even armed yet." He tried to place it in her hands, but she refused. "If you'll just listen to what I have to say—"
"Do you realize what you're giving me?" She quickly asked him, terrified of the button.
"Pepper." He calmly told her. "Khris' father built these remote sticky bubble like bombs. Fury gave me access to the specs and the only way to defeat Khris is with this button."
"That doesn't really make sense, Tony." She shook her head. "What you're doing to asking me to kill someone – and I can't do that."
"No." He slowly shook his head. "I'm not asking you to kill him. I modified the bombs. They won't kill him."
"But the electric field—"
"That's what I need to do first." He told her, slowly placing the device in her hand. He closed the cap to it and covered it with his hands. He brushed his thumb against her fingers and smiled down at her. "I trust you, Pepper. It's why I'm not giving this to anyone else."
"But Natalie—"
"Isn't you." He interjected her with a wide grin. "I trust you more than Rhodey and Happy combined – and I think that's saying something."
She looked down at their hands and felt his thumb softly stroke her hand. She looked up at him, almost curious. "How will I know when to use it?"
Khris kicked up his thrusters and lunged at him. "Arrrgh!" He screamed at him.
Tony widened his eyes and quickly boosted himself up a few meters. Khris stopped at the spot and looked up to see where Tony went, and was greeted with a boot in the face. Khris stumbled backwards and brushed off the blood on his lip.
Tony's thrusters skipped him back. "Shit…" He cursed to himself. "…Eighty-five percent power left. "At least three meters that electric field… That gives me—" A repulsion blast to his arm cut him off. He stumbled backwards and turned his head back at Khris to get a good look at his position, but another repulsion ray hit his head.
"Damn it…" Tony cursed again. He booted up his thrusters and shot up into the sky. He hovered in the air for a few moments and got a good view of his surroundings. He looked in the southwest direction and took a moment to calculate a few measurements. Red warnings went off in his suit, causing him to look down at his opponent.
"Giving up already?" Khris yelled up at him, and shot his arms up. Thick coils ran out from the forearms of his exoskeleton suit and zipped up towards the ankles of Iron Man. Khris sent jolts of electricity across the coils and pulled down, dragging Tony down in the process.
Tony quickly shot the coils with his repulsion rays, making Khris grin with excitement. "Thanks for the power."
Tony angrily gritted his teeth together and activated his left arm's laser. He effectively sliced through the coils and flew back up. He looked down at his seemingly untouchable opponent, "Vanko had better weapons than you." He flew towards the southwest boarder.
His taunt didn't go unnoticed. Khris bolted after him with twice the power in his thrusters. Tony looked at his HUD's sensors and saw that Khris was gaining on him. He looked back and saw that sly smile on Khris' face. Before Tony could get a good look at the measurement from the border to his position, a repulsion ray hit his back. Tony tumbled downwards for a few seconds before recovering.
"Shit—" Tony looked at his position whilst trying to avoid Khris' repulsion rays. "That's too far."
"This isn't much of a fight, Stark!" Khris yelled at him before firing a few more repulsion rays.
"I'll shoot some flares up." Tony rested his hands on Pepper's shoulder and grinned down at her. "It'll be like Christmas. It'll be fun."
She tried not to smile, but his were always contagious. "It's not fun if the person you love is going into battle, and his only hope of survival is a button."
"You've been in tougher spots before." He made a point with her and brushed his thumbs against her shoulders in efforts of comforting her. "You'll do fine."
"Tony." She breathed, trying not to smile up at him. He saw a flash of worry in her eyes. Of course she was worried. It was a button that controlled some sort of bomb that he had built. He hadn't even told her what it did, so the list of consequences quickly piled up in her mind. "What if this thing doesn't work?"
"It'll work." He quickly told her, trying to calm her down.
"But what if it doesn't?" She looked down at the bright red button that was staring right back at her. "I don't even know what this button does? If it doesn't go ka-boom, then what exactly does it do?"
"You're asking way too many questions, Pep."
"I only asked three." She rolled her eyes at him.
"Stop panicking." He told her. "It's easy. See flares? If yes, press button, if no, then don't press button."
"Tony, you're not—" She stopped short and thought about her next words. The only thing that she could do to get him to understand where she was coming from was with an analogy. "—What if I told you I was pregnant?"
This made Tony's eyes go wide… very wide.
She kept on going, despite his bug eyed facial expression. "It's an important decision for you to either keep it or not. It's life changing – it's not something you're used to hearing… it's—"
"Are you?" He gasped, looking down at her with his still-wide eyes.
"Am I what?" She furrowed her eyebrows at him.
"Are you…" He took a second to swallow. "…pregnant?"
"No, I'm not." She quietly told him. "We only had sex once and I'm on the pill—"
"I'd keep it." He quickly answered her question. "Without even thinking, because you're… you." He slowly beamed at her. "Sure, I'm the last person in the world that would even consider conceiving a child due to my previous adventures, but you're… you're just… you."
"That was cute… and heartfelt, despite the lack of sense it made." She grinned up at him. "But do you get what you're asking me to do?" She gestured towards the device in her hands.
He began to nod. "Yes." He honestly couldn't stop thinking about a little Stark running around the house and drawing on the walls with crayons. "I trust you with my heart, Pepper. Literally, actually." They both began to laugh. "Please." He covered the device in her hand with his palm. "Do this for me. I've got no one else."
Tony felt a repulsion ray hit the base of his thrusters. After he recovered again, he converted 70% of his power into the thrusters. He sped through the sky in hopes that he got to a green zone. "Just ten more miles…" He mumbled to himself.
"If you won't attack me…" Khris took some of the energy he absorbed from the energy cube and used it to boost him to Iron Man's position. "…Then I will!" In a split second, he used the energy he was absorbing and converted it to the strength increase in his arms. He threw a hard smack at Tony's back.
Tony grunted in pain and felt the pressure from the hit screw up his flight path. His thrusters stopped as his body tumbled down towards the ground. Thankfully, he recovered before hitting the ground. His feet slid across the gravel on an abandoned street before activating his thrusters again. He threw himself forward and kept on flying. "Two more miles…" He grounded out.
"So, all I need to see is flares…" Pepper asked him in verification.
Tony nodded with a small smile; his back was turned to her as he was focusing on his newest weapon, which was encased in a secure glass box. "Yup, but there are a few things I need to do before I can send you the signal."
"Such as?" She furrowed her eyebrows at him, and walked to stand next to him. They were both gazing down at the bubble like bombs.
"These puppies will only work at a certain distance." He told her.
"Tony—" Her voice was filled with panic.
"Don't worry." He turned his head to face her; a small smile graced his lips. "I have a plan."
"C'mon, Stark!" Khris landed on the gravel in attempts to pursue Tony. "You can't run forever!"
Tony turned his head to look at Khris' form and gritted his teeth again. He's right; he won't be able to run forever, but he just needs that distance to finally put his plan into action.
Khris raced after him yet again and began to shoot repulsion blasts at him.
From the boarder, all of the men Khris had sent to keep an eye on the boarder line had been knocked out. SHIELD agents were scouting the area and taking the men into custody. Agent Romanoff stood on top of a convoy with a pair of binoculars.
"See anything?" Agent Barton appeared behind her with his bow around his chest, and his quiver resting against his back.
"Stark is trying to close the gap." She told him quickly before lowering the binoculars. "When he does, I don't know how he's going to get that cube off of Khris' suit."
"What do you mean? Sounds like an easy grab-and-pull type of situation." Clint began to furrow his eyebrows.
"Once Stark enters the critical point of that electric absorption shield, the rate at which his power will be sucked up…" She stopped short, trying not to be the bearer of bad news.
"So, in other words, he's got one shot at getting that thing off him."
When Tony finally reached the green zone his HUD had set up, he cut his thrusters and landed on a baseball field where it was nice and open. Khris landed about four meters away from him.
When he stood up from his hunched over form, his lips formed a sly grin.
"Finally stopped running?" Khris raised an eyebrow at him.
"I just didn't want to ruin all those nice buildings." Tony casually told him.
"I'm going to enjoy beating your face into the ground." Khris angrily grounded out.
"Just play ball." Tony spat back at him.
Khris threw a few powerful repulsion blasts at him with ease. Tony shielded his face with his forearms until one of the blasts hit his stomach. He grunted in pain and felt his legs slide across the dirt. The suit already looked like it got mangled and beat up, and that was just from his repulsion blasts from their one-way flight chase.
"This is going to be difficult." Tony murmured to himself, and notice the suit's power level; 79%.
"C'mon, Stark!" Khris yelled. "Fight back!" He threw three more repulsion blasts at him.
Tony gritted his teeth together and used his thrusters to throw himself forward. He lunged at him, trying to ignore the pain Khris' repulsion blasts were giving him. Within a second, the power level of Tony's suit was decreasing rapidly.
Khris widened his eyes as Tony entered his electric force field. Alarms were going off and red had spread throughout Tony's HUD while the distance between he and Khris was reduced to a single meter.
What the hell? Khris thought to himself as Tony's arm lunged at him. He had thought that his electric field would keep Iron Man away from him. He had thought it was his own advantage; he had never thought that Tony would get so close.
Tony's arm wrapped around his side and quickly grabbed for the cube that was inserted into a slot on his back. He wrapped his fingers around the cube, and some of Khris' suit, and pulled the device out. Before Khris could properly react, the cube was already out.
Khris eventually snapped out of it, and angrily grabbed Tony's head plate. He crushed it ever so slightly before throwing him off of himself. That's when he noticed what Tony was holding in his hand. His eyes widened as he saw sparking wires and bits of the back of his suit, and Project Kin, in Tony's own hand.
Tony glanced at the remaining power his suit had; it had been reduced to 6%. "Shit…" He cursed to himself.
"If I'm not mistaken," Khris started out. "You're probably almost out of power." He slyly smirked at him. "My RT is still at full power, thanks to Project Kin."
"Unfortunately for you," Tony crushed the cube in his hand. "I have a secret weapon up my sleeve."
"Please." Khris huffed. "You're nothing without power. Admit it," He held up both of his repulsors. "I win."
Tony held up one of his arms to the sky and let a flare out.
Khris looked up in shock, thinking it was some sort of weapon, but all he saw was a flare. He looked back down at Tony, recovering from the short duration of panic. "That's it? A flare is your secret weapon?" Khris warmed up his repulsors and angrily shook his head. "Enough—"
Agent Romanoff looked up from her binoculars and turned her head to look over at Pepper. Pepper looked up at her and watched her nod. Pepper bit her bottom lip and looked down at the button.
Khris was about to throw a few powerful repulsion blasts at Tony, until his suit suddenly shut down. Khris' eyes widened as his suit was no longer glowing light blue. He looked down at the Arc Reactor and saw it's grey state; the state of nothingness. "What the—"
"Before you pushed me off, I shot something at your RT." Tony interjected him. "Your father built these sticky bubble like bombs. I merely modified them. The only thing that I was concerned about was your cube. If I had put the trigger in my suit, your stupid cube could've screwed up the transmitting signals, so I gave the trigger to the only person I trust."
"What the hell did you do to me!" Khris angrily spat him.
"When the sticky bomb explodes, the goop I had put in it spreads like wild fire. It immediately cuts off all transitions of power coming from the Arc Reactor. Leaving you useless." Tony began to walk towards him.
Just then, three SHIELD issued convoys stopped right in front of them. Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton both got out one of the vehicles, as well as a few SHIELD agents. They all pointed their guns at Khris, while Agent Barton aimed an arrow at him.
Khris angrily looked at the armed people surrounding him, and immediately, but slowly, held up his hands in defeat.
"Nice work, Stark." Agent Romanoff stood right next to him and watched as the rest of the agents led Khris into one of the covoys. The Arc Reactor was taken out of Khris' suit and placed in a small briefcase. "Director Fury is worried about the Arc Reactor."
"He isn't the only one." Tony pressed his lips together. His helmet was under his arm and in his hand. The suit was still running on reserved power, but he knew it wasn't enough to fly home. "I may need to hitch a ride with you guys. I'm low on fuel."
"I'll see what I can do." Romanoff walked away from him and towards one of the leading convoys.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Pepper walk up beside him. He turned his head to face her and beamed. "Nice job, Peps. You really knocked him out of the park."
"Oh, please." She looked up at him and rolled her eyes.
"Felt like a homerun to me." He smirked, looking up at the setting sun.
"See." She murmured, making him turn his head to face her, again. "I knew you could do it."
"What?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "You practically said good-bye to me this morning."
"I did not." She huffed.
"That breakfast you made practically screamed, 'Good-bye you handsome, energetic, cute, adorable, lovely—'" He was cut short.
"Oh, don't get so full of yourself. And it was either a proper breakfast or lighting the house on fire." She pressed her lips together and looked up at him.
"You said you'd hold the fire extinguisher." He remembered. "The house would've been fine."
"Assuming I'm quick enough."
"I'm sure you have cat-like reflex – I mean, taking care of me for ten plus years – you had to have developed ninja like skills." He exaggerated, wrapping his iron clad arm around her shoulder.
She rolled her eyes at him and sighed. "I'm just glad you're okay." Her arm wrapped around the middle of his back.
He winced in pain. "My back is a bit sore from that hit he did on me. Maybe you could give me a full body massage tonight?" He waggled his eyebrows, giving her a dirt image.
She shook her head at him and whacked his stomach, knowing full well that he couldn't feel it, but he laughed at her reaction nonetheless.
A/N: All that's left is the Epilogue, and this fanfic is done. :)
Thanks to everyone that's been reviewing and supporting this fic, no matter how crazy or weird, or OC, things got! Love you guys!
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