Summary: What if Tony escaped the cave a few days faster than the original timeline? Therefore, when he treads through the desert, Rhodey didn't find him first, Rose Potter did. Rose, who was taking a vacation from her dimension, stumbles upon a dying man. So what does she do? Save him. Curse her saving people motto. FEM Harry! (MOD)
Disclaimer: Ichigo0-0Rose does not and will never own Harry Potter or Marvel in any way.
Ichigo0-0Rose: Hey guys! Thank you so much for your reviews! I love to reading them to get your input on my story. It makes my day. So we finally hit the first arc of the movie Iron Man. Can't wait! So, without further ado, on with the chapter! :)
Chapter 5- Press Conference
The car ride to the press conference was awkward in Rose's position. Rhodey and Pepper were having a silent conversation over Tony and Rose. Tony being Tony, just ignored them and kept eating his lunch. All the while, Rose just ate her chips by nibbling on them. Oh how she wished the car ride would go by faster.
As if her thoughts were heard from the heavens above, Happy called out, "Sir, we have arrive at our destination."
Rose could see the people outside clapping as their car approached closer to the press conference building. "Perfect timing." Tony said as he bunched up his cheeseburger wrapper and drank some soda. "I just finished everything." He peers into the bag. "Rose, you didn't even touch your burger."
Rose shook her head. "I wasn't as hungry as you thought I would be." Tony looked in thought. "Hmm…I'll eat it later then."
Everyone in the backseat looked at Tony. "You're still hungry?" Was everyone's thoughts.
Tony sighed, "I haven't eaten a really good meal like this since I was rescued. My body needs to readjust to food being in my stomach." Rhodey and Pepper's eyes moved down to their lap at his statement.
Rose's eyes soften and had a hint of pain in them. "Tony, we understand. However, eating more than the stomach is used to after all that time will cause you to become ill." She touches his shoulder for comfort.
Tony sighed. "I know, but I also know my body limits. I think I can fit another burger into my system. That will be all until the late night. Promise." He gives her his award winning press smile. She shakes her head and chuckles.
The door on their right opens. A man came running up to greet Tony as he exits the car. "Look at this!" He hugged him as if they were lifetime friends. "Tony! It's good to see you alive. Why aren't you at the hospital?"
"Don't need it at the moment Obadiah." Tony responds. Happy, carrying the to go bag, walks up to Tony. Tony then grabs another burger in the bag and starts to walk towards the building. "I'll be needing this."
The man, now named Obadiah, jokingly asks Tony, "Did you get me one of those?"
"Ah sorry, this was actually Rose's. It's mine now though." Tony responds.
"Rose?" Obadiah asks. Tony uses his head to point towards Rose's direction. Rose, Pepper, and Rhodey were getting out of the car at that moment. "Her. I'll introduce you to her later after this is all over."
As they continued walking into the building towards the press conference room, people were clapping left and right. Rose was shocked. Tony must be seriously important to gain this much attention.
Tony being Tony, just rose his hand as if to say hello to everyone. Walking in with such power and confidence, she would have been shocked that he was even injured. However, deep wounds to the face and broken bones take time to heal, even with the health boost coming from magic. She turns to Pepper. "Is he always like this?"
Pepper lets out a smile as she gazes back to Tony. "You get used to it." They both watch as Tony and Obadiah walk towards the stage.
"Ms. Potts." A man says suddenly next to them. Rose clutched her heart in surprise.
Pepper, as if used to this, turned to address him formally. "Yes." She says.
"Can I speak to you for a moment?" He replies.
"Um…I'm not…I'm not part of the press conference." She waves her hand in a circle horizontally to emphasize the room they are in, and how she is in the back, not the front. "But it is about to begin right now." She turns away and gazes towards the stage. Rose kept quiet and tried to stay out of site of the man's vision. Something about the way he talked and stood sent a little warning bell in her mind. She subtly inched away every time the man wasn't looking at Pepper. He came here on a mission, and she didn't want to be a part of whatever he was planning.
"I'm not a reporter." He says. Yup, her intuition is right. Inch away Rose, inch away. "I'm Agent Phil Coulson with the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate." He pulls out a business card as he said the name.
"That's quite a mouthful." Pepper replies as she took the card.
"He's an agent!" Rose thought. Alright, definitely not being a part of this! She had now strategically set herself away from them both, and seemed as if she was part of the conference crowd. She casts a nonverbal Notice-Me-Not Charm when she knew both of them were looking at the card he handed Pepper. Now they wouldn't notice her, and she was still in hearing distance. She'll pop back up when that agent leaves.
"I know, we're working on it."
"You know, we have already been approached by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA, the..." Agent Coulson interrupted her.
"We are a separate division." He pauses as if for emphasis. "We are the more specific focus. We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape."
"Bloody hell." Rose thought.
"I'll put something in the books." Pepper replied calmly with a business smile. "Shall I?"
"Thank you." Agent Coulson said. Pepper nodded and drew her attention back to the stage, as if trying to hint to him that the conversation was over. Agent Phil got the memo, as he too turned towards to the stage. Right when the press conference was about to start.
Pepper tried to nonchalantly look over the crowd with her eyes, trying to spot where Rose might have disappeared too, but didn't take too much effort, as an agent was right next to her. No need to seem shifty. Agent Coulson just stepped away from her and slowly mingled in with the crowed. Pepper let out a sigh of relief, before bringing her now full attention to the stage.
Obadiah begins to speak. "Uh…" He looks down his podium to see Tony still sitting instead of standing.
"Hey." Tony says. "Would it be all right if everyone sat down?" He pulls out Rose's burger. "Why don't we just sit down." He motions for everyone to follow what he's doing.
Without even looking at the crowd's faces, Rose knew everyone was looking at him as if he was nuts. However, she knew they would follow what he says, as they did come to hear to ask specific questions and hear him talk.
"That way you can see me, and I can see you. Little less formal then." He takes a bite out of the burger. Obadiah too sits down and smiles at the press. However, Rose knows that he is probably thinking, "Tony, what the hell do you think you're doing?"
Rhodey pops up next to Pepper. Both of them starting to sit down. "What's with the lovin'?"
"Don't look at me. I don't know what he is up to." She replies. Rose, although no one noticed her, was sitting down as well.
"I never got to say good bye to my father." Pepper's, Rhodey's, and Rose's attention were brought back to Tony as he spoke to the crowd. "There are questions that I would ask. I would ask how he felt about what this company did." He pauses when he finally swallowed the last part of the burger. "If he was conflicted. If he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels."
Rose looks at him with empathy. From the playful attitude he had displayed since she was in his presence, he had a serious one as well. She knew this was hard for him to let out.
"I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them."
Obadiah looks at him with this strange look with a frown. "Where are you going with this?" He thought.
"And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability." Before he could continue his speech. The press had to interrupt.
"Mr. Stark?" A male and female reporter called out almost at the same time.
"Hey Ben." Tony points him out with his eyes and a small nod.
"What happened over there?" The reporter asks. Rose closes her eyes, remembering the conference at the end of their war in the wizard world.
"What happened on the battlefield Rose Potter?" One female reporter asked, quill ready to take in her answer.
"Death. That's what happened." Rose replied.
"How did you feel afterwards? You must have felt a bundle of joy when you killed You-Know-Who and ended the war?" A male reporter asks.
"No one feels joy after killing another human being. Even if it was Tom. War gives you a victor and a loser. You would think the victor came out with hugs and relief." Rose gave him a hard stare. "You're wrong. I came out with something I didn't want. A burden that has no needs to be on the shoulders of others." Rose says tiredly. Her friends, Hermione and Ron, each holding a hand on one of her shoulders for support. "With that, I think I'll leave for today. No more questions." Rose stood up and walked off stage to find the closest Apparition point or Floo Network, ignoring all the calls for 'Ms. Potter, Ms. Potter!'."
She was brought out of her memories when Tony spoke. "I had my eyes open." He suddenly stood up, and walked towards the podium. "I came to realize I had more to offer this world than just making things to blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapon's manufacturing business. Starting now…"
He never got to finish what he was saying as the press went wilding, calling his name. Obadiah stood up and gripped Tony's good shoulder. Pepper's mouth dropped in astonishment. Rose nodding with understanding.
"Till such a time as I can decide…" Tony tried to continue as if he wasn't interrupted. Obadiah holds him close in a shoulder hug and pats his side. He looks at the crowd with a smile. " What the future of this company will be." Tony still going on.
Obadiah jumps in to say, "I think we're gonna be selling a lot of newspapers."
"What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with." Obadiah slowly trying to edge Tony off the stage. Tony kept going until he was finished with his statement. "And is consistent with the highest good for this country as well." With that, Tony escapes Obadiah's hold and walks off the stage.
Obadiah, trying to say the face of the company, speaks and gains the reporters attention away from Tony leaving. "What we should take away from this, is that Tony's back, and he's healthier than ever! We're going to have a little internal discussion, and we'll get back to you with the follow-up."
The press conference ends there, and Obadiah walks up to Tony. "We need to have a chat."
"No can do. It's my day off." Tony replies heading towards where Pepper, Rhodey and Rose should be.
"This is an important decision that needs to be thought carefully!" Obadiah replies as he chases after him.
"I'm not in the office right now, but please do leave a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Or in most cases, when Pepper can. Either way, I think it can wait till tomorrow."
"I don't think so Tony! The stock market and investors won't think so by high noon! I don't think you really know how serious your statement is!" Obadiah says angrily.
"Hmm…don't know, don't care. Bye." Tony does a backwards wave, leaving Obadiah standing still in shock.
"This isn't over Tony! I'll be by tomorrow morning to discuss this again. Maybe then you'll be awake to reality!" Obadiah says.
"Looking forward to it." Tony says in order to have the last words of the conversation.
"Well guys, time to go home!" Tony says cheerfully to Pepper and Rhodey. "I seriously need some R & R here. Where's Rose?" He looks around to see if he could spot her.
"She disappeared for a few seconds before you got on stage. She had the right idea when someone came to talk to me." Pepper replies.
"Oh, anyone important?" Tony says questioningly and suspiciously.
"None of your concern at the moment." Pepper says with a business smile.
Tony stares at her before letting the conversation fall, but not forgotten. "Alright, but it will be my business eventually. Now to find my angel."
Happy came up to the group right after Tony said this. "Sir, Rose just wanted to let you know she is already in the car. Apparently, she wanted to avoid the chaos with the press after you made that statement. Something about warning bells going off earlier. I'm afraid she was muttering that part sir, so I didn't get the whole sentence."
"Aw, but she missed the best part of the whole conference. Ah well, Happy, take us home. I need to show her the temporary home she will be living for awhile."
"She's staying with you?" Pepper said in surprise. Usually when Tony brings a girl home, the girl only stays the night then is "gently" let out by Pepper in the morning. Then again, the girl did save Tony's life, so it is kind of understandable that Tony would keep her longer.
"Oh, didn't you guys get the memo? She's my lovely nurse until I feel 100% better. I thought I told you guys earlier on the way here." Tony says.
"No Tony, you didn't. I think you were devouring cheeseburgers more than updating us on this." Rhodey said.
"Well, she's staying with me until then. So let's head home." Tony says finally and heads out the door to his car.
Pepper glances at Rhodey and Happy in exasperation. Rhodey shrugs. "You know you missed that attitude of his." With that he and Happy left towards the car as well.
Pepper lets out a shaky laugh and shakes her head in affection. "I did indeed." With that, she follows the guys out. Unaware of the agent watching them from a distance.
Short Interlude:
"Give me the good news Agent Coulson." Director Fury demanded when he answered the phone.
"I have made contact with Ms. Pepper Potts sir." Agent Coulson replies.
"And how is that good news? I thought I specifically said to get in contact with Stark not his secretary."
"I know sir. I just scheduled one for tomorrow with her." Agent Coulson replies back cheekily.
Director Fury frowns. "I hope you get the answers we're looking for by tomorrow. According to the team we sent out to Stark's retrieval spot, they lost the signal before they got a clear read. However, we can assume it's the same as last time. I need good news by tomorrow."
"Yes sir." Agent Coulson responds.
"Good." Fury said. "Oh, and one more thing Agent."
"Yes sir?" Agent Coulson asked confused.
"We're not paying you to flirt on the job. Keep that in mind for tomorrow when you meet Ms. Potts again."
Agent Coulson chuckled. "Will do sir."
"Good." And with that, all he heard was the phone's dial tone.
Author's Note: Good gracious. Listening to the audio from the movie and trying to get every word is harder than it looks! Anyways, hello everyone. So sorry that I didn't update sooner. I was actually out of town for awhile and totally forgot my laptop at home. Whoops. Either way, thank you so much for those who reviewed, favorite, and followed the story. This chapter should have been done at least a month ago, and I'm sorry you guys had to wait this long. I hope to do better in time deadlines I set for myself in the future, but if I don't follow though, please be patient. Until then, I'll see you guys in the next chapter! :)