Disclaimer: Not mine.
AN: Thank you guys so much for the follows and faves on Under My Skin Under Your Skin. I was so happy that you all enjoyed it! It made my efforts to make it all gushy and sexy all the more worth it. So here's the next chappy for this baby here. I hope you are all still interested! I am!
Sorry for any and all mistakes...which are ALL mine.
Pepper sat with her legs crossed on the leather couch. Her tablet suspended on her knees while she thumbed through the web. A small smile graced her features.
"Who are you flashing that for?" Tony questioned as he lifted his gaze from his hologram table. "That smile is reserved for one person and one person only."
Pepper rolled her eyes and looked up at him. Amazed that he could tear himself away from his work long enough to catch her smiling. "Of course it is." She grinned. "But it's nobody you know." She teased and smirked at the reaction she got from him.
He pouted. "Not funny, Potts."
"You guys make my teeth hurt." Rhodey mocked them from his spot behind Tony's smart screens.
"Shut up, Sourpuss." Tony continued to manipulate the image before him.
Rhodey shook his head obvious enough for Tony to see out of the corner of his eyes. "A sweetly jealous Tony Stark is not something I'm used to."
Tony shrugged. "What can I say, she brings it out of me." He lifted his head slightly to wink up at Pepper.
Pepper attempted to suppress the chuckle that escaped her. "Ok. I think I'll go upstairs. I'm obviously a distraction."
"You see what you've done, Platypus?" Tony straightened to cast a look at his friend. "If she leaves, you leave." He warned with a half grin. "And if you leave, that means you work on this on your own…or worse…with Fury."
The airman's hands shot up from behind the glass in a mock surrender. "Alright, alright. Pepper, don't leave me alone with this guy. I'd rather sit here listening to your gushing than listen to him ramble about…"
"Can it, Rhodes." Tony warned as Rhodey laughed. "That is top secret."
Feeling a little playful, Rhodey decided to keep teasing. "You mean she doesn't already know?"
Pepper set her tablet down beside her on the cushions before she laced her hands over her knees. "Know what?" Her eyebrows knitted.
Tony straightened again to glare at Rhodey. "Nothing." He shook his head at him.
"Oh you know…" Rhodey continued as he looked at Pepper through the glass screen. "He can't live without you." He smiled at Pepper. "And he lets me know it every single second where silence permits him to open his mouth." He chuckled and looked at Pepper's reaction.
Her brows relaxed as she smiled at Rhodey. Slowly she uncrossed her legs and allowed her hands to push her up off the couch. "Mr. Stark…" She began as she walked towards him. Her hips swayed a little more than usual.
"Yes, Ms. Potts?" Tony asked bashfully as he tapped his fingers on the hologram table.
Pepper came face to face with him before she cupped his face in her palms. "Who would have thought, Mr. Stark?" She knew the need to clarify what she meant was not necessary, because he knew what she was trying to say.
He swallowed slowly before he cleared his throat. "Certainly not me." He shrugged ever so slightly.
The redhead nodded in agreement before she kissed him softly. Tony's arms immediately encircled her waist in an attempt to pull her closer.
"Or me…" Rhodey interrupted as he looked down and coughed. "Now stop fondling each other so we can get some work done." He shook his head at the couple.
They smiled at each other, and with a final wink from Tony, he unhanded her so he could go back to work. "As a warning…" He turned towards Rhodey. "If you aren't prepared to see us make-out, then don't start the conversation."
"Whatever you say, Tony." Rhodey grinned.
Pepper situated herself back on the couch, as Tony continued to tap his fingers on the table top. "You know man…it would help if I knew the function of this thing." He scratched his head as he spun the holographic image.
"I told you…" Rhodey sighed. "We're working on that."
"I can't help you make it more effective and compact if I don't know what this thing here..." he pointed at a random piece that magnified as he exploded the view. "Does when this crap here…" He spun the image and highlighted another area of the contraption. "Is switched on."
Rhodey shook his head at his friend before he rolled his chair over to him. "You know man, if you're going to mock my…thing…I'd rather work on it with Fury."
"Your thing?" Tony raised his eyebrows at Rhodey. "You don't even know what your thing is!" He chuckled. Rhodey glared at him. Sensing that his friend had become irritated, he chose to push his buttons some more. "You know what, I dare you to go back to Fury right now and tell him you've discovered absolutely nothing about your thing." He raised his finger in the air as a gesture of having stumbled upon the greatest idea ever. "In fact, mention that you don't have a thing. That your thing is a thing that looks like a thing but isn't."
"Play nice, Tony." Pepper spoke with her eyes glued to the tablet. A small smile on her face.
He rolled his eyes a bit before they got to work.
It could have been hours later when Jarvis announced there was a visitor at the gate. Both Tony and Rhodey sighed as they rubbed their tired eyes. "Let her in, J." Tony murmured. "And save the updates to this file before you send it to Rhodey's server." He shook his head. "A little progress goes a long way?" He shrugged as he caught Rhodey's questioning glance. "I'm tired. Let's call it a night."
Pepper stood after she closed her email inbox. She walked slowly towards the men and flashed her Shellhead a small smile. "Do you want me to order in?" She spoke softly at him as she combed her fingers through his hair.
With closed eyes he nodded slowly. "Your choice." When her fingers dropped from his hair, he looked at her.
"Would you like to join us, Rhodey?" She turned to him, but Tony kept his eyes poised on her.
"Sure. If you don't mind." Rhodey turned to Tony.
Tony chuckled as he kept staring at Pepper. "Of course I do mind."
Immediately he regretted his remark when he felt Pepper's hand smack him behind the head. "I'll go upstairs and make the call so you can talk." She smiled at Tony before she leaned in to kiss him.
Maya made her way down the steps and stopped at the glass door before she asked to be let in. A small twinge of jealousy hit her as she witnessed the moment of tenderness between the couple. It had been a long time since she had shared a kiss with the man, but there was no doubt she could still remember what those exchanges did to her. Quickly she shook her head, letting the bigger part of her feel guilty for how she felt, and for intruding.
A clearing of a throat pulled Tony and Pepper apart.
Tony huffed. "Get out, Rhodey." He teased.
"You might want to let her in." Rhodey whispered, and the couple both turned to see Maya smiling awkwardly at the door to the shop.
"Open the door, J, please." Tony commanded as Pepper straightened along with him.
All three pairs of eyes were on her as she cautiously made her way in. Her gaze locked with all of them before she looked around in amazement at the vast room before her.
Pepper was the first to speak. "It's good to see you again, Maya." She stood next to Tony.
"Likewise, Pepper." She smiled at her before she continued to examine the space. "I'm sorry for intruding." She looked back them both with an apologetic smile.
Tony opened his mouth, but before he could respond sarcastically, Pepper rubbed his back with the palm of her hand, all the while smiling at their guest. "You weren't intruding at all, Maya. Please make yourself comfortable." She turned to look at her boys. "I'll be upstairs. Work hard." She flashed them all one last smile before she walked out of the shop with Tony's eyes following her.
Maya walked slowly in the direction of the suits. "I really am sorry for interrupting." She mouthed back at them.
Tony cleared his throat and turned to face her. "Oh please." He dismissed her apology with his hand. "We're used to it with this one around." He pointed at his friend accusingly while Rhodey huffed.
"I resent that." Rhodey shot back.
"Resent away." Tony walked to his desk and sat facing Maya and the suits.
Maya looked at each suit. "These are awesome."
Tony smiled proudly at her impressed gaze. "Thank you."
"Is it just these seven?" She turned back to look at Tony.
"And the War Machine." He glared at Rhodey before he shrugged at her. "For now."
"Cool." She walked away from the suits and over to the hologram table. "What were you guys working on?"
Rhodey jumped at the opportunity to talk to her. "A weapon. Or something to help us against The Mandarin."
"Your idea?" She smiled at Rhodey, who in turn nodded with a small grin.
Tony smiled at the exchange. Normally he would have felt the need to counter Rhodey's statement and make it look like he was the real genius, but he sensed what his friend was doing. And though he felt a bit perturbed about it, he could not be upset at Rhodey for it. "Anyway…" He finally interrupted. "Maya…how was your first day of school?"
Maya sighed as she turned to lean against the table. "It was…interesting." She began. "The principal was a bit intimidating, but nothing I haven't dealt with before." Tony smiled as she played along with him.
"And the other kids...did you get to meet them all?" Tony asked.
She nodded. "Oh yeah." She smiled. "Just like high school. Some are nice and some are real jerks."
Tony nodded. "So spit it out…" He urged her to tell them about the scientists she met. "Who did you meet today?"
Maya sighed as she prepared to remember the men. "There were five men. All scientists." She proceeded to tell the guys about the men and the facility. Rhodey and Tony pieced the stories together and nodded along as she continued. It was when she mentioned her concern for Leonard that the men added their thoughts to the conversation.
"Seems to me we have someone else to watch out for." Rhodey shook his head. "This is going to make it even more complicated. Not only do we have to be careful with Kahn, but now we have to worry about this Leonard guy, too."
Tony knitted his eyebrows as he thought about what Maya had told them. "Maybe not." He turned to look at Maya. "Maya, you said you got a facility tour from one of the men." She nodded curiously. "Did you sense any tension between him and any other men from the group?"
"Not really. But they didn't really exchange any words among each other." She shrugged. "Why?"
Rhodey listened along with Maya as Tony began, "I have a feeling this John is going to become our most valued ally." He grinned. "Get close to him. I'm willing to bet he's a rational guy. He won't antagonize you and he knows he needs your expertise to accomplish what they have been tasked with."
Rhodey nodded. "Sticking with him might be beneficial. Not only for protection, but for information too. He can give you the skinny on the men, the projects, Kahn. I bet he spills it all without knowing he's giving too much away."
Maya took turns looking at her friends. "It won't be hard becoming his friend. We shared a pretty easy conversation about our early careers as he gave me the tour. He's friendly enough." She nodded. "Sounds like a plan. With him and Kahn's trust, Leonard won't have any other choice but to go along with being civil." She concluded.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Rhodey walked around to stand by Maya. "Hopefully this guy was just having a bad day."
Tony nodded.
"Alright, how about security?" Tony began to move around the room to open holograms of the facility. "Any details that you remember?"
Maya nodded. "No pat downs." She pouted playfully. "The main gate is visual identification with my badge. Once the guard is satisfied, he opens the gate which is electrical. The electrical box is housed at the end of the gate. Safety shut off button with a lever for manual overdrive. I'm sure there's some kind of code for the shut off, though. I'll have to get that for you." Tony and Rhodey both nodded. "My parking spot is here." She pointed on the screen after she zoomed in. "That's about ninety yards from the main building he walked me through, which is there." She highlighted the building. Tony shook his head and huffed at her words. He had been right the time he broke in. He came so close to getting inside the main building. "There's one camera that I saw facing the main entrance, mounted directly over the guard shack. And then another camera near the entrance of the main building. There were three more once we were inside. One facing the double doors. Another in the middle of the hallway rotating on a one hundred eighty degree axis. The last one I saw was facing a locked door that appeared to be different from the rest. Like a heavy maintenance door. I couldn't see from where we were."
"Doors to the main building?" Rhodey asked.
"A swipe of a badge." She answered him.
They all looked around at each other for a while before Tony spoke.
"So since there aren't any actual screenings, and it's all badge access, we should wire you up." He clapped his hands eagerly as he walked to a locked cabinet. A clicking sound followed his access code. "Been saving these babies…" He smiled at his friends. "MI: 6 have nothing on me."
Rhodey shook his head at Tony as they gathered around to hear explanations about how to properly operate and wear the gadgets.
All three silently hoped their plans worked.
There was a lot at stake.
As Rhodey and Maya toyed with the various electronic devices, Tony walked to the holograms. He needed eyes on the facility soon. In case things got bad.
Little did he know, things were just about to get there.
To be continued…
Ah, I hate myself for making you guys wait so long in between updates, but please have mercy on me. Work is pretty hectic. I used to be able to update on my breaks. That is no longer the case. I hope that during the holiday break I can update more than once. I hope you are all still following this story. Read, read, read. Peace!