NOTES: Sorry, I am kind of late. I was supposed to post yesterday and… Well, I will be honest. I forgot. Sorry again.
Thank you all so much for the reviews, and favorites. It is very reassuring. I just hope to keep the good work you deserve to read.
So, finally we are getting somewhere with this and it is time to meet Toni.
In this fanfiction Pepper and Toni used to have a relationship and now are just friends. I also made Toni a bit younger than the movies suggest.
Chapter 2
Antonella "Toni" Stark was not one to go around bragging…
Okay, actually, she was. But where is the fun in being a billionaire and a genius, if you can't praise yourself? Toni always thought that modesty was a waste of time, especially fake modesty. She was awesome, so what was wrong with letting the rest of the world know that?
And what she was about to do… Well, Toni deserved to be worshipped just for that.
Her reactor was a perfect fit in the tube with the rest of the wires. It was time to light New York up.
The Iron Lady flew out of the water, reaching into the night sky of the Big Apple and flying between the buildings. Toni made a series of acrobatic moves, just because she could.
"Good to go on this end. The rest is up to you," she singsonged.
"You disconnected the transition lines?" Pepper, always the thorough one, asked on the other side of the communicator. "Are we off the grid?"
"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy." Toni said, not even trying to conceal her smug smile.
"Well, assuming the arc reactor takes over and it actually works?" Pepper reminded her from the other side.
"I assume." Toni said with her customary arrogance. "Light her up."
The skyscraper started to light up, shining between the other buildings, the name "Stark" putting all the others to shame.
"How does it look?"
"Like Christmas, but with more… Me."
Pepper laughed. "We've gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I'm in DC tomorrow, working on the zoning for the next three buildings."
"Pepper, you're killing me." Toni interrupted Pepper's super serious monologue. She didn't know how to play! "The moment. Remember? Enjoy the moment."
"Then get in here and I will."
Stark Tower was fantastic. There is none of this fake modesty bullshit, because Toni hated hypocrisy. Even the system that took her suit off was a master piece. The only problem with having a skyscraper with your name on it, was that it became annoyingly easy for people to find you…
"Madam, Agent Coulson of SHIELD, is on the line." Jarvis voice said right next to her ear.
"Tell him I am PMSing and eating my weight in chocolate." Toni threw back, without missing a beat.
"Madam, I'm afraid he is insisting." Jarvis was starting to sound a little bit impatient, and, with his British accent, it was quite charming. Toni loved that about her A.I. as much as she loved the sarcasm.
"Grow a spine, Jarvis." She shrugged, finally free from the suit. "I have a celebration waiting for me."
Toni stepped inside her penthouse in the brand new tower. Pepper was already there, wearing shorts and barefoot, looking at the monitors and probably worrying about a million little things. It was one of the most annoying things about her, and also one of the things Toni adored the most. Pepper was always so focused and serious. The exact opposite of Toni.
Sometimes she wondered if this was the reason why they didn't work out as a couple, even though she knew – deep down inside – that it was not what happened. They mixed things up. Pepper was, and would always be, Toni's best friend, the most trustworthy person in her life – not forgetting Happy and Rhodey. They should have left that way, but they wanted to try. Toni delayed the ending for months, scared that Pepper would leave her life for good if they broke up. She should have given the other woman more credit than that. There was a good reason for the redhead to be her CEO.
Now she could see that dating had brought them even closer. The sexual tension had dissipated. But it was not like Toni had stopped flirting with Pepper. One thing had absolutely nothing to do with the other.
"Levels are holding steady…" Pepper was biting her bottom lip. "I think."
"Of course they are. I was directly involved." Toni said hugging the redhead from behind. "Which brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genius?"
Pepper rolled her eyes and batted Toni's hands away, so she could turn and look at her. "Well…" She started with sarcasm. "I wouldn't know now, would I?"
"Hey!" Toni pinched Pepper's waist, making her jump. "Come off it. All this came from you."
Pepper laughed, "No. All this came from this." She said tapping the arc reactor that Toni's shirt left in the open with her nail.
Toni looked down, seeing what could be kind of considered her heart – it was really a question of point of view – shining, then made a careless gesture with her hand.
"Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself… Twelve percent credit." She conceded generously.
"Twelve percent?" Pepper raised an eyebrow that was saying a lot on itself.
"An argument can be made for fifteen."
Pepper snorted – in a very lady-like fashion – and started walking. "Twelve percent? For my baby?" She threw over her shoulder.
"Well, I did all the heavy lifting." Toni started, "Literally. I lifted the heavy things. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you."
Pepper was giving the other woman a warning look. Toni, as usual, ignored it and kept talking. "My private elevator…"
"You mean our elevator?"
"…was teeming with sweaty workmen." Toni watched as Pepper ignored her and poured champagne into a glass. "I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?"
"Not gonna be that subtle." She warned with a sweet as pie smile, giving Toni a glass.
The brunette threw herself on the floor, right beside Pepper. "I'll tell you what. Next building's gonna say 'Potts' on the tower."
"On the lease." The redhead counter offered.
Toni pulled her glass before Pepper could toast with her.
"Call your mom. Can you bunk over?" She made a face.
Pepper made some kind of angry face and slapped Toni on the shoulder, but they were both laughing any way.
"Madam…" Jarvis voiced from somewhere in the room. "The telephone. I'm afraid my protocols have been overridden."
Toni rolled her eyes and grabbed her phone just in time to hear Agent Super Nanny mumbling something. What Pepper saw in this guy was beyond her genius understanding.
"You have reached the life model decoy of Toni Stark. Please leave a message." She slapped Pepper's leg when she started giggling.
"Stark, this is urgent." The agent replied, looking like he was asking Heaven for strength.
"Then leave it urgently." Toni was showing no mercy to The Suit tonight.
In the next moment the elevator doors opened, revealing Agent No-Emotion putting his mobile away.
"Security breach!" Toni hollered and pointed at Pepper. "It's on you." Pepper ignored it -again!- and got up smiling.
"Phil! Come on in."
Toni was shocked to see Pepper almost skipping in the direction of the man. "Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent." She said, getting up quickly.
Pepper just carried on, ignoring Toni and gave Agent Phil a thousand watts smile. Seriously… That explained why everybody called him Coulson and he was always looking like he had sucked a lemon. "Phil" wasn't a very intimidating name…
Also, Toni couldn't understand what Pepper saw in the guy. Okay, she kind of could. He had a killer pair of baby blues and his serious way was a teeny-tiny bit sexy… But it wasn't like Pepper to be so slow to do anything. Maybe Agent Ice was not interested? Could it be he was looking for a guy of his own?
"We're celebrating." Pepper was telling the agent when Toni got closer.
"Which is why he can't stay." Toni had the biggest fakest smile possible. "And there is, of course, the fact I am still PMSing."
Phil ignored her. What was up with that? Were the stars saying today was the day? He extended his hand to her.
"We need you to look this over." He said, offering her some kind of folder. "As soon as possible."
"I don't like being handed things." She said with no regret whatsoever, looking at her nails. Ew, she need a manicure A.S.A.P.
"That's fine, cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade." Pepper declared, all sunshine and rainbows.
So, with that Pepper-way-of-being, she gave her glass to Coulson, grabbed the folder from his hands and, when Toni least expected, she had the damn folder in her hands and no champagne glass.
"Thank you." Pepper said to both of them, completely satisfied with herself, clinking her glass against Phil's.
The traitor.
"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday." Toni said petulantly, not even looking at what she had in hands.
"This isn't a consultation." Coulson said seriously.
"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asked worried, then seemed to realize what she just said "Which… I… Know nothing about."
Phil threw a glare Toni's way, and she had the great pleasure of ignoring him. Ha! Take that!
"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought," Toni said "And I didn't even qualify."
"I didn't know that either." Pepper offered quickly.
"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed and don't play well with others." Toni kept saying while she walked to the back of the room in the direction of her desk.
"That I did know." Pepper smirked.
"This isn't about personality profiles anymore." Coulson said.
Toni's answer? A very non-elegant snort.
"Whatever. Miss Potts, got a second?"
Pepper excused herself from Phil and went to talk with Toni.
"You know, I thought we were having a moment." The billionaire said without taking her eyes from the screen.
"I was having twelve percent of a moment." Pepper said dryly, making the other woman laugh. "This seems serious. Phil's pretty shaken."
"How would you know if…" Toni turned to her, "Why is he Phil?"
Pepper arched a very meaningful eyebrow that made Toni smirk.
"What is all of this?" The redhead wanted to know with her eyes going back to the images.
"This is…" Toni threw her hands up, spreading the images in holograms all around them. "This" She finished, kind of shocked.
Pepper was also without words. It was hard to understand in one go all that she was seeing. They had read the 'unofficial' reports on what happened at New Mexico and the tales that went around the internet about the green monster at Culver, but what SHIELD was showing them now…
"I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight." Pepper decided.
"Tomorrow." Toni whined.
"You have homework." Pepper reminded her, pointing at the holograms "You have a lot of homework."
Toni sighed. "Well, at least one of us can have some fun…"
"Hm?" Pepper was confused.
"Ask the Man In Black over there for a ride and then..." Toni got closer to Pepper's ear and whispered a very specific idea.
"Toni!" Pepper was blushing like a teenager, but there was a certain knowing smile on her face.
"Now, go, before I decide that I want to keep you here." Toni turned Pepper in the door's direction and slapped her butt.
Toni's eyes went back to the footage on Captain America. Her father had spoken of him very often, always remembering what a great man he had been. Toni was tired of knowing she was a disappointment for being a woman, which her father had no need to keep reminding her.
But the Captain had gone missing years ago… What did SHIELD know that she didn't?
XxX
Pepper threw a glare at Toni for the slap, but the other woman was not paying attention anymore. The CEO took a deep breath and opened a smile on Phil's direction.
"So, any chance you're driving by La Guardia, Phil?" she asked kindly.
Phil seemed to think for a second, before leaving his champagne flute on a side table. "Would you like a ride?"
"If it is not a bother to you…"
"It would be a pleasure, Pepper." He offered her his arm, and Pepper accepted very easily.
Maybe Toni was right…
NOTES: Hell yeah, I am shipping Pepper and Phil!
Hope you enjoy it.
See you all next Monday.
xoxo