Title: Operations of the Heart
Author: fading_tales
Pairing: Tony/Pepper (Iron Man)
Disclaimer: I do not own Iron Man or any of their characters.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: What do you do when you think you just lost your chance at true love? You self-destruct.
III.
The joke's on her because no one pulls a fast on Justin Hammer and gets away with it. The engagement party is as ritzy and glamorous as the best of them. Justin Hammer spares no expense, his lovely (albeit lying and manipulative) bride-to-be deserves only the best.
Somewhere beneath that expensive Armani suit and smarmy exterior, he's almost a bit disappointed. Pepper Potts had always been the picture of an upright, honest, no-nonsense woman. He might not have loved her, but he fooled himself into thinking he was fond of her. Call it admiration of the impossible tasks she deftly handles with poise on a daily basis working under the notorious Anthony Stark. She was talented, that was for sure, and quite the picture in her silk green dress and coiffed hair.
Across an ocean of lavishly dressed individuals, he sees his fiancé smiling face and is reminded again to never trust a woman.
Pepper spends the evening schmoozing with various men and women of means when all she wants to do at the moment is curl up in her bed with a good bottle of wine (or two) and attempt to forget what's going on. She sees Rhodey arrive with a tentative congratulation on his lips and a concerned look in his eyes. She can't blame him. He's caught between Tony and herself and doesn't know where his loyalties should lie. She almost wishes he would just pick Tony's side because then it'll at least comfort her to know that he has not been left completely alone. That's the thing about being a famous billionaire genius, who's also a superhero. It can get really lonely.
Rhodey presses a soft kiss on her cheeks and the smile she had on all evening starts to falter. She quickly excuses herself from the colonel's company and makes a quick run towards the ladies' room before her mascara starts running. Justin intercepts her halfway there with a seemingly endearing touch at the elbow.
"Aren't you tired of this yet, Pepper?" he whispers.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she lies.
"How about you at least try to conjure a more convincing smile? You wouldn't want our guests to think that you're unhappy, would you?"
She lays her hand on his to try to remove it, but he only grips tighter. "I need to use the ladies' room," she bites out.
Hammer smiles and drops his hand.
"Ah, well. Just hurry back. This is a joyous occasion and we can't have an engagement party without the bride-to-be."
Once she's in the ladies room, Pepper locks herself into a stall and hyperventilated a little. It's almost startling how different Justin can get within a few days' time. She had always known intellectually what Justin was capable of, but in the beginning it was sometimes hard to remember that the guy who would send her Chinese food from Mr. Chow's (her favorite) because he wanted to make sure she ate dinner could be the same guy whispering threats to her in a ballroom full of people with a smile on his face.
She realizes that she really can't keep this up anymore. In two weeks, Hammer is planning on a huge shipment of some kind (something devious, she's sure of it) and she needs to quit her sniveling self pity and get her game on before that happens. So she splashes water on her face, reapplies her mascara and marches out the ladies room with a confident stride straight towards Colonel James Rhodes.
The colonel seems to have been wrestling with internal struggles himself and perks up at the sight of her.
"Pepper, I need to talk to you," Rhodey begins.
Before Pepper could reply sounds of a commotion interrupts her. There's a shriek and a crash and soon everyone is rushing towards the hotel ballroom's entrance to see what is going on. From the center of it all, she hears Tony's voice.
Pepper manages to push herself through the crowd to find a disheveled Tony, reeking of scotch, tackling Justin Hammer into a glass wall causing it to shatter and various elderly women to scream hysterically. Several chairs are upturned and various china lie broken on the floor as the two grown men go at each other. Justin lands a good one on Tony's right cheek and the sound of it makes her wince.
So much for all that previous control and determination she had earlier.
"Tony! Stop it! Justin! Oh my god!"
Currently Tony managed to get on top of Justin and was punching him repeatedly in the face. Pepper isn't usually a fan of violence, but she couldn't help but smile inwardly that Justin Hammer was getting what he deserved.
Soon security guards and one Colonel James Rhodes manage to pull the two men off of one another. Tony is now sporting a big ugly bruise on his cheek and a few cuts on his forehead. Her first instinct was to rush to him, but Justin catches her eye and says her name. As if the sound of her name had awoken him from his red rage, Tony looks up and sees her.
"Pepper…" he whispers.
The previous anger and fury in his eyes soften to something much more devastating. She silently shakes her head at him and from the corner of her eyes she sees security making their way through the crowds.
"Get him out of here!" Hammer screams and the men in uniforms quickly rush to oblige.
She could see the guests already beginning to murmur and gossip amongst themselves, sending her judgmental sideways looks that make her blood boil.
"Pepper," Justin beckons.
Tony shoots her one last apologetic look when security hoists him up, but she turns away to attend to her fiancé's new black eye. Hidden from the public's view, Justin looks up at Pepper with one squinted eye and smirks. Pepper struggles to suppress the urge to make a matching twin for his new black eye.
Security hauls Tony away while the media has a field day. The party is ruined and so is her life. Rhodey attempts to talk to security, but they're having none of it. He sees her and jogs on over.
"I'm sorry for this, Pepper. I didn't know he was coming."
"It's not your fault, Rhodey."
He looks like he wants to say more, but is hesitant.
"I better go look after him," Rhodey sighs, turning to leave. Pepper touches his shoulder before he goes and he looks back at her expectantly.
"Hey, I need to talk to you. But I can't right now… Can you meet me at the café on Heathercliff once Tony is asleep? Say, at 4 am?" Pepper requests.
Rhodey is puzzled by the request, but silently nods in agreement before running off to find Tony and Pepper goes on to try and salvage what is left of her engagement party with a smile besides her dubious fiancé.
"I didn't send Tony an invitation," she insinuates underneath her breath, in between the apologetic smiles she sends her guests.
"He's your boss, of course I should invite him to your engagement party," Hammer returns.
"What did you say to him? Did you arrange all this?" she demands in hushed angry whispers.
"Now, now, Pepper. You're letting your imagination get the best of you. I'm not nearly that devious." She'd be willing to bet he's probably ten times more devious than he'll let on. "Tony can get so emotional sometimes. I guess it finally hit him that his beloved CEO was getting married."
He leaves her with a final smirk despite the split in his lip. More than ever, Pepper is resolved to get herself out of this mess and knock Justin Hammer down several pegs. If it weren't for the hundred or so guests as witnesses, she would've liked to shove Hammer through the other glass wall.
It is 3:35 am in the morning and Pepper finds herself sitting outside the closed café, hugging herself against the cool early morning breeze. She's jittery and anxious and half an hour early, sitting in the cold because she couldn't sleep all night from worrying about Tony's stupid bruised face. Did Rhodey get him home okay? Did he disinfect and bandage his cuts correctly? These were the thoughts that constantly ran through her mind, disabling her from getting any sort of rest whatsoever.
Eventually the clock strikes four and Rhodey arrives right on the dot. He's strolling towards her in running pants and a pullover and Pepper realizes she has never seen the colonel in civilian clothes. It makes him look almost ordinary and not the upright, disciplined war machine that he is. He pulls up a chair beside her, the sounds of metal grating against the concrete feeding the pounding in her head, and sits himself down.
"How is he?" she asks immediately.
There's no need for clarification, they both know she's referring to the big ole idiot who got himself in a fist fight and then dragged away by security.
"He's fine. A bit scratched and bruised, but it's mostly his ego that got deflated."
"I see…" she replies calmly. Her calm seems to irk the colonel whose mouth twitches involuntarily.
Colonel Rhodes studies his long time friend and ponders to himself how is it that she always managed to look so damn calm despite everything. It is a trait he alternately admires and admonishes. The façade of tranquility was Pepper's defense mechanism, her way of coping and her way of distancing people, she uses it well.
"I know it's your life, Pepper. But he's a total mess and I just don't buy it that you would–"
"Rhodey, please-" She begins, but he doesn't let her.
"No! You're my friend, but so is he! And I just think you're making a mistake getting married like this!"
If there were any two people who were so wrong for each other that they made a complete 360 and were completely right for one another, it would be Pepper and Tony. Rhodey had always imagined that one day they'd stop all the nonsense, get together, bicker some more and live moderately happily ever after.
"I'm not getting married!" she bursts out.
The colonel's face was suddenly still with surprise.
"You're not?"
"No… well… yes. I mean!" She doesn't even know how to begin.
She meets Rhodey's eyes and the colonel merely raises one neatly groomed eyebrow at her. Despite the sweatpants, James Rhodes looks every inch the intimidating military man that he is.
"I'm way over my head here," she sighs finally.
"That's the most sense I've heard out of you all week."
He reaches across the table and squeezes her cold hand comfortingly. She manages a small genuine smile for the first time in weeks and starts think that not everything is quite as unsalvageable as she had originally imagined, just for a brief second.
"Rhodey… I think I'm in big trouble."
She tells Rhodey everything, how she had found those stolen specs on the reactor and the Mark V suit. How she got in too far too fast. The colonel doesn't say a word until she finishes spilling her guts.
"I just thought if I could get close to him…"
"That you would find out what he was going to do with all that stolen technology?"
"It wasn't just about stealing from Stark Industries. As great as the arc reactor technology is as a good clean source of energy… in the wrong hands…"
"'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,'" Rhodey replies.
"Exactly. We've already been through this once before. I'm sick of sitting by the sidelines, Rhodey. I'm tired of just waiting for him to come home, hopefully with all body parts still intact. I didn't want to tell him and have him jettison off again. I… I wanted to protect him."
Pepper doesn't notice when it was that a tremble had started to enter her voice and she coughs to try and regain her composure.
"As noble as that is, this is too dangerous."
"I know that. Don't you think I know that? But I thought I could get Justin to trust me. It's too late now."
"You need to just tell him."
Him being Tony who was absolutely the last person she could ever tell.
"And what's he going to do? Try tacking Justin Hammer through a glass wall again?" she snarks.
"Well what are you going to do about it then?"
"I need proof. Solid, undisputable proof that Justin Hammer and Hammer Industries is double dealing with terrorists in the black market. Once I have that I can expose him for the bastard he is."
"And how are you planning on achieving that?"
"He has a shipment going out soon, but I don't know what yet. If I could find out and intercept it-"
"Stop right there, Pepper. I don't like the sounds of this. You're just one person, you can't do this alone."
"I'm not doing it alone. This is why I asked for you. I need to know that you'll have my back."
"You're not trained, Pepper. From what you told me, Hammer is already on to you, what happens if he catches you? If things go south…"
"If things go south then I'll send out an S.O.S. signal."
"And if I can't get to you fast enough?"
"It's just a risk I'll have to take."
"This is insane!"
"You risk your life for your country everyday! How is what I'm doing any different?"
"Yeah, but I also have backup that consists of more than a single colonel. I have tanks and trained soldiers and sufficient firearms and bulletproof vests! We have to at least tell Tony."
"No! You can't! I don't have that option right now. Hammer threatened to makes things very difficult for Stark Industries and you know we're already walking on thin ice with the government. One wrong move and they'll take everything away. How would Tony be of any help then if his suit is gone? I'm already risking a lot talking to you like this."
"He won't let them take it."
"I don't want him involved," she repeats. "I'm not going to have him save me like a damsel in distress. This is my mess and I'll clean it up myself. If you're not going to help me, then I'll do it on my own."
"No, no. I won't let you do that," the colonel sighs. Despite his gut telling him that everything about Pepper's fool-hardy plan was exactly that, fool-hardy, he agrees. "Fine, I'm in."
Monday rolls around and Pepper exhales loudly before entering the Hammer Industries headquarters. Justin had replaced his old assistant with a new burly male who looks more suited to be a body guard than a secretary. Pepper's guilty conscience reminds her that it was her fault that the previous assistant had been fired and she adds that to the list of casualties her stupidity and bravado had resulted in.
The new assistant, the name tag clipped on his Hammer Industries issued polo reads Hank, sits at his desk furiously concentrating on typing up a document and with some difficulty Pepper notices. She flashes him a smile which he doesn't return.
"Mr. Hammer is not in right now," he states plainly, but Pepper already knew that.
She fakes surprise and embarrassment.
"Oh! But I brought him coffee and everything. I was hoping to surprise him… I had a sudden meeting cancellation and only have an hour free today and I know he works late tonight."
Hank merely looks back at her blankly. This was harder than she originally thought.
"Ah, well… would you like to have his coffee instead? I'm sure it has been really busy lately and I know how hard it is to be an assistant. I do work for Tony Stark after all."
It seems her smile and offer of some free caffeine finally managed to break Hank's cold exterior and he offers her a grateful smile as he reaches for the paper coffee cup in her hands.
"Thank you, Miss Potts."
"No, thank you for all the hard work you've done."
She waits until Hank takes a generous gulp of the coffee she laced with some strong sedative. Sure enough, Hank's eye lids soon grow heavy and his head rolls to one side as he falls asleep, his mouth hanging open a little as a snore escapes it. She quickly pushes him aside, although she pauses long enough to close his mouth for him, and uses his username and password to logon to Justin Hammer's personal schedule.
After wading through numerous corporate meetings and social events she sees that there's a suspiciously vague three hours allotted to 9-12pm tonight at the docks. It's already 6:45pm and the dock is at least a good hour away. She programs the rest of Hammer's schedule into her PDA and hightail it out of there before Hank could utter another snore.
On the way to the docks she emails the bulk of information she got off of Hank's dismal computer access to the colonel as well as a text that informs him where she's heading.
The sun has already set by the time she reaches her destination. She takes off her Manolos to avoid making unnecessary noise as she tiptoes over to the large warehouse that was the location described on Justin's schedule. She breathes a sigh of relief when the lock on the door is electronic and whips out the keypad hacker she borrowed from Tony's little electronics collection the last time he tried to lock her out of the Stark Industries office in an effort to try and make her play hooky with him. That was five months ago and she would trade anything to go back in time.
Brushing her hair out of her face and pushing aside unnecessary thoughts, Pepper manages to break into the dark warehouse. It is completely dark in there and after stumbling for a while, she manages to find a light switch along the right wall.
After the initial blindness that happens when light suddenly illuminates an otherwise pitch black room, Pepper is faced with a frightening sight. Before her eyes were rows upon rows of what looks like Mark V suits. They all stood there like the terracotta warriors in Shi Huang Di's tomb. The implication of this scene was the stuff of Pepper's worst nightmare.
Overcoming her initial shock at how much Hammer had managed to achieve with the stolen Stark Industries tech, she quickly tiptoes to large work station located in the middle of the large assembly line of intimidating metal warriors. She can't help but feel as if the silent suits of armor were somehow slumbering and should she make the tiniest noise they would wake. After acquiring access into the mainframe and digging through technical jargon, Pepper finds what she was looking for. Before her the screens lights up with stolen Stark technology blue prints, but what put fear into Pepper's heart was the modifications. Those sleeping suits of armors weren't suits. They're androids.
Large, powerful, conscienceless weapons of mass destruction if there was ever any. And Hammer planned on shipping over a dozen of them to North Korea.
"Oh my god…" she whispers.
"I really wished you didn't just see that."
Pepper whips around at the sound of Justin Hammer's voice behind her. She thought she was being careful and he wasn't supposed to be there until at least a couple of hours. She takes a deep breath and allows herself to meet his eyes, her expression a mask, her right hand clenching into a fist.
"I'd say I'm surprised to find you here, but we both know that's not true."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Justin."
"Are we really going to keep up this charade? I'm going to have to ask you back away from my prototypes, Pepper. They're worth a lot you know… wouldn't want you to accidently damage anything," he says in a tone that was menacing despite its light content.
He takes an intimidating step towards her and she takes a nervous step back.
"Pepper," the bespectacled CEO warns.
"I'm calling the police."
She knew she wasn't going to get any help from the police, but she did have enough time to speed dial the colonel. She used the emergency phone he had had given her and any call from that would signal to Rhodey that she was in distress, that the plan had gone sour.
Rhodey picked up after the first ring and she had managed to form half of the word "help" before Hammer had his muscle wrestle it away from her and smash it underneath their steel toed boots.
"Pepper? What's going on in there? Pepper?" The only sound that answered Rhodey was static and he slams his hands against the steering wheel of his car. "Dammit!"
Back at the warehouse, Pepper wishes she still had on her shoes so that she can slam their heels into one of the body guard's eyeballs.
"Let me go!" Pepper screams futilely as one of the large men hoists her up and throws her over his shoulder as if she were a sack of potatoes.
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Justin says with a condescending frown. "Gentleman, if you could just secure Miss Potts to the chair and lock down the building…" The way he says it sounds as if he was merely going through protocol. As the large men tie up her hands and feet, Pepper imagines Hammer Industries doing routine drills for subterfuge and covert illegal activities.
Quickly and efficiently, Pepper finds herself secured to a chair and the guards sent off to patrol the building, leaving her alone with the villainous white collar criminal. Justin paces back and forth in front of her, pressing two forefingers against his mouth in that particular way he does when he's thinking.
"You're stupid if you think you can get away with this."
Pepper is hoping that she can goad him enough that he'll be distracted and she can reach that small knife in her pocket that Rhodey made her take since she had refused his gun. For a high tech company, Hammer's security had used simple rope to bind her hands and feet and she thanked God for that little blessing. She wouldn't have known what to do if they had handcuffed her to the chair.
"Double dealing? Not very original of you. Obadiah Stane already pulled that stunt."
"Yes, well I'm not really going for originality here. Just chasing the black. Hard times you know? Besides, with Stark Industries going the superhero route, all but abandoning the military defense market, there's a void to be filled. And so Hammer Industries will step up to the plate."
"There's still time. You don't have to go through with this."
She's pleading now.
"You love him that much, huh?" he states a little sadly. He almost sounds human and it throws Pepper off.
"Please, Justin."
"You know… you're a better actress than you look. Let me guess… drama major before you decided to go the finance route? You had me fooled for a good while, but I think you should stick to your day job."
He moves over to perch himself on the desk near her.
"Tell me, Pepper. How long has it been exactly that you've been playing undercover for Tony? Truthfully I'm surprised he would let his beloved Miss Potts do such a thing-"
"I wasn't doing anything for Tony. I did what I did for the millions of lives that would be lost because you're bent on making an extra buck."
An hour away from the docks, Rhodey struggles between the choice of betraying Pepper or saving Pepper the best way he knows how. In the end the latter wins over and he makes a sharp U-turn towards the direction of the Stark mansion.
After incessantly ringing the doorbell, Tony answers his door smelling as if he hasn't showered in days. Rhodey pushes himself past the disheveled billionaire and makes quick strides to the workshop down below.
"What do you think you're doing, Rhodey?" Tony calls after him.
Rhodey doesn't bother listening, but instead commands Jarvis to get the Iron Man suit ready. Jarvis is reluctant to comply and Rhodey slams his fists against the computer board.
"Hey! What's going on here?"
"I'm not supposed to tell you, but this is out of my hands."
"What is it?"
Tony has never seen the colonel so flustered before and it puts a bit of fear into his heart.
"Pepper needs you."
A/N: So sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I was hitting some serious writer's block. I hope you enjoyed it and please ignore all the massive plot holes and absurd reasoning. _ Thanks for reading!