AN: there's not a lot of physical interaction during this chapter but there is some conversation at least.

Chapter 14 Iron Man

Pepper's point of view

"It's time to watch the next movie now everyone so let's take our seats." said Rufus.

Serendipity read the synopsis of the next film.

"A billionaire industrialist and genius inventor, Tony Stark, is conducting weapons tests overseas, but terrorists kidnap him to force him to build a devastating weapon. Instead, he builds an armoured suit and upends his captors. Returning to America, Stark refines the suit and uses it to combat crime and terrorism."

Tony sat down beside me and I gave him a look

"That sounds like what happened to you in Afghanistan doesn't it?"

"Yes"
"That's because it is. I should have warned you Tony that this is about your kidnapping" Serendipity said sheepishly

"It's OK Serendipity, you didn't want to ruin the surprise" Tony replied

The missile

Tony and the soldiers were in a tank heading to the base.

"You need to learn to respect soldiers Tony" said Steve

"That song is pretty cool" said Bruce

"Really?" Tony asked
"OK this kind of feels a bit like a flashback loop effect" said Constance

"You're right it does" replied Jay

Fortunately, the Christmas Cover was Twins

"That was just a front… Pepper and I were exclusive by now" Tony explained

"Yes we were. We were very careful not to get caught… if we had the media would have eventually broke us up." I added

"The media are downright vicious… that's why Vince and I almost got a divorce. The media insinuated all kinds of crap about us and none of it was true" Linda spoke up. Her voice was soft but there was a hint of hatred to it.

Out of a job with Peace?

"Out of a job with Peace really Tony?"
"Yes I kind of would have been"

"I suppose"

Trouble

"Look out! There's a missile or a bomb or something" said Constance

Stay with STARK!

"You should have stayed where you were" said Howard
"And got blown to kingdom come? NOT BLOODY LIKELY" Peggy interjected

"They wouldn't have found you so easily" said Obie
"I know, but things happened so quickly that I had no choice." said Tony

Kidnapped

"So this is how you were kidnapped?"

"Yes"

Myspace?

"What is Myspace?"

"According to Wikipedia… Myspace is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, the site was the first social network to reach a global audience and had a significant influence on technology, pop culture and music."

Las Vegas

36 hours earlier we had been in Vegas for the Apogee Awards. Tony had gambled a little, and we'd gone dancing and then the ceremony started. Afterwards, we had dinner in a secluded little restaurant and played amusement games on the games floor at the New York New York Hotel where we were staying.

*Memory*

"Pep…"
"Yes?"
"Should we… go put a ring on it?"
"NO!"
"Why not?"
"It's too soon"

"OK"

I almost wish we had put a ring on it there and then… knowing what was about to happen to Tony made me feel like we should have. He pulled me onto his lap and said

"Pep, we can go back to Vegas to put a ring on it if you want"
"I'd rather do it in New York"

Christine Everhart

"EWWW" cried the room "Her mother should have named her Blanche!" Constance added, thoroughly repulsed.

"What? We didn't do anything, I'd arranged the interview and we did it and she promised to keep our secret and then we went back to the car and Obie drove us home. We lived in Malibu back then It was Pepper who woke up in my bed! Of course, I was still there when she woke up and we fooled around some more."

Including taking out the trash

"Oo-hooh! BURN!"

"Nice one Pepper"

"Christine and I are actually friends… the movie director just wanted some drama"

Pepper's birthday

"How could you forget Pepper's birthday?"
"I didn't actually forget - I knew it was her birthday and I did what I have done since she became my PA, I let her choose and buy her own gifts, and we had dinner and breakfast together and then… we drove down to the beach house I used to have… and…"

Afghanistan

"I dreaded that trip"

"Me too"

The car battery and the shrapnel

"You had a car battery hooked up to your chest?"

"Yes"
"It looks rusty"
"It was"

The cave

"The cave structure was a bit like a rabbit's warren but human sized"

Yinsen

I felt Tony wince beside me

"Who is Yinsen?"
"He was the assistant that The Ten Rings kidnapped for me. He was nice, and we had a lot of fun together… he took care of my injuries and taught me to believe in myself"

The 10 rings

"Is that the same ten rings that…"
"No, these are the real deal… they're 100 times as dangerous as…"

"As who?"
"You'll see… if we're watching movies about this stuff it will likely be mentioned and if it's not, I'll tell you"

Build The Jericho

"They asked you to build the Jericho?"
"Yes"
"What did you do?"
"You'll see"

I refuse

"You refused?"

"Didn't I ever teach you how to handle yourself if you were kidnapped?"
"NO"

Waterboarded

"They WATERBOARDED you with that battery in your chest… DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DANGEROUS THAT IS?" Bruce yelled, his eyes turning bright green

"You heard me?"
"Yes of course I did. I missed you so much during this time."

"Aww… missed you too"

The miniaturised arc reactor

"You built that in a cave… with a box of scraps? Just how smart are you?"
"IQ is 270 I'm not the smartest in the family though that's Bruce, his IQ is 275"

"That comment feels a little foreshadow-y"

You have until tomorrow to build my missile

"The terrorists know you're not building the missile don't they?"

"Yeah, Raza was intelligent the smartest of the bunch"

"You were careful to make it look like you were building the Jericho when in reality"
"We were building the MK1 suit"

The escape plan

"So that's how you escaped?"
"Yes"

Rescuing Yinsen

"Raza was going to hurt Yinsen?"
"Yes… badly"
"You saved him though, right?"

"Yes"

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HIM YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" I screamed
"LANGUAGE!"

"What a jerk!"

Putting on the suit

"How heavy was the suit?"

"Very not to mention it was awkward to move in!"

More time

"Yinsen tried to speak Hungarian and ran ahead to buy you more time?"
"Yes"

Tony winced

Stick to the plan

"So you used the electrics within the cave system to power the suit?"
"yes"

Yinsen's sacrifice

"Those assholes shot Yinsen?"
"Yep"

"He gave his life for yours…"
"I know… and I vowed not to waste it"

Revenge

"You escaped?"
"Yes"

"You know what they say about payback, right?"
"Yes"

Rhodey to the Rescue

"We'd been hunting throughout that area but the caves and the mountains were too dense until we finally saw you as we were flying back from a reconnaissance mission."

Pepper

"Oh no! This is at the base isn't it?"
"Yes"

"My natural hair is hideous"
"No it isn't"

Cheeseburgers

"I hadn't had ANY meat for 3 months which is why I was so skinny!"

"What did you eat?"
"Rice and beans… a lot of rice and beans…"

"What did you drink?"
"Water and tea… I wanted soda, I wanted sugar, I wanted junk."

"Obie doesn't look very happy"

"You're right, he doesn't

Press conference

"This was a very smart decision"
"Of course it was. I had to be seen to take a stand"

Stane

"See I knew there was something off about him"

Does Stane look like Triple H?

"Is it me or does Stane look a little like Triple H?"

"Yeah a little bit"

Changing the arc reactor

"Ewwww!"
"Pus?"
"It's not pus. It's an inorganic plasmic discharge. It's from the device, not my body."

"DISCHARGE?" Bruce yelled

"Yes…"

"That's dangerous"
"I know but it's not as dangerous as having pus coming out of it."

"No that would have been incredibly dangerous"

Building MKII

"So you started building the second armour"

"Yep"

The G-Flip

"That hurt a LOT more than it looked like it did"
"I heard an almighty thud from the garage and came downstairs, just as Dummy squirted the fire extinguisher all over you"

Flying around the garage

"OOOOH!" cried the room

"Yeah it was good till I almost went through one of the cars."

Test flight

"That looks like fun,"
"It was… until it wasn't"

Icing problem

"Yeah that was NOT fun… at all"

Kill the power

"OUCH!"

"Was that MY piano?"
"Yep"
"Oh those poor cars!"

Proof Tony Stark has a Heart

"That feels very foreshadow-y"
"You're right"

"It's also completely adorable"

"I got it after Tony had a bad anxiety attack and was questioning everything"

Shut out by Stane

"Obie what are you doing to my son?"
"Howard you know I would NEVER do this especially not to my own godson… I don't know what movie me is thinking"

The dance

On screen Tony and I are dancing.

"We didn't do that. We didn't want to draw attention to ourselves"

Almost kissing Pepper

"The reason we didn't kiss there is that we were already in a relationship, and we wanted it to stay a secret… we almost blew our cover that night! We made out on the way home, though."

What actually happened that night?

"We went back to the house, ate pizza, watched a Bon Jovi concert and danced to Bed of Roses. Then, we went to bed, and fooled around a little."

Stane's betrayal

"Well really there is no reason to go ballistic at one of my engineers like that!"
"Wow that comment you made earlier about Tony's intelligence was foreshadowing!"

Gulmira

Tony had gone to Gulmira to stop the Ten Rings from using his weapons.

"Wow Tony that's spectacular"

"Thanks Pep"

"You were angry when you found out about Gulmira?"
"Of course I was these were innocent people!"

Almost shot out of the sky

"Yikes!"
"I was trying to do the right thing, and I was still somewhat reluctant to allow people to know who it was who was aiding the military and not doing the most important least thrilling part… the paperwork"

I designed this to come off

"Why was it so difficult to get the metal off?"
"Probably because it had expanded and moulded to the shape of my body and didn't really fit into the tools that I had purpose built for when I returned from missions so when I did my next upgrade I started trying to figure out ways that I could use to make the armour easier to use and remove"

This is not the worst thing you've ever caught me doing

Uproarious laughter filled the room

"Hey, ummm… Pepper what was the worst thing?"
"We don't talk about that"

The truth is… I am Iron Man

There was a goofy press conference to handle the whole situation and then Tony blurted out

"The truth is, I am Iron Man" even after we'd had a discussion with Phil Coulson about what you were going to say"

Fury

"You didn't tell me that that jerk visited you"
"Sorry Pep"

"Don't worry"

The next chapter will be up as soon as I write it. It's The Incredible Hulk (2008).

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