A/N: Thanks for the lovely reviews guys! Unfortunately, I move back into an apartment for college summer classes. So, availability may have been compromised.

Super power #2!

Note: I am not an expert on human biology or nanotechnology.

Disclaimer: Super power #2 is based off of Extremis. Stan Lee is a god. A video was released yesterday revealing the new life of Robert Downey Jr and Susan Downey. Dear god, i thought i'd never stop crying. Those two are just too perfect for each other!

Pepper was back on the metallic table. Things managed to calm down moments after the situation with the door. She wasn't entirely on board with getting the nanobots removed from her system, but the thought of them destroying her from the inside made her think otherwise. She looked down at her perfectly shaped nails, and then she looked down at her light colored skin. Underneath that skin were millions of infinitesimal microscopic bots that gave her super strength. She gripped the edge of the table a bit using very little pressure. The scrunching sound of the metal underneath her hand rang throughout her ears. When she lifted her hand, the edges of the table were dented; the spot where her fingers were, were clearly visible.

Bruce left to the other room to get a fresh needle. Tony opted to stay close to Pepper, just in case if anything else happened. He didn't want to leave her side, especially when everything was collapsing all at once. He was in front of the detached door, his eyes were gazing down at the piece of wood. His gaze then traveled to Pepper. He noticed how curious she looked when she stared at her hands.

"You okay?" He almost whispered.

Pepper head immediately shot up. "Yeah." She tried to smile but found it hard to do so.

He heavily sighed and walked over to the table. He noticed how slightly she scooted over; he wasn't sure if she did that because she was scared of hurting him, or if it was just out of politeness.

"You sure?" He asked again.

"Yes, Tony. I'm pretty sure I'm okay after I completely took the door out." She said sarcastically, and gave him a small smile.

He narrowed his eyes at her and tried not to smile back. "Sarcasm." He noted. "Is that a yes, or a no?"

She breathed a laugh and dipped her head a bit. "I'm fine. I'm just not…" She paused for a moment, before gazing at him. His eyes were noticeably softer. "…I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel right now."

Tony nodded to himself. "That's understandable. Every little boy's dream just happened to you in a matter of hours."

"I'm just getting mixed feelings." She shrugged.

"Imagine if you had those bots in your system during that time of the month." He chuckled to himself, whilst Pepper narrowed her eyes and glared at him. "I'd have to wear the Iron Man suit for a week to avoid getting killed."

"You're incorrigible." She spat back with a huff.

"Only for you, babe." He brushed his forearm against her thigh, making Pepper shake her head with a grin.

Bruce walked into the room with a fresh long tube with a needle, attached to a rather small machine. Pepper glanced at the machine and pressed her lips together. She gave blood plenty of times, so she wasn't particularly afraid; she only shifted in her spot. Tony, on the other hand, moved as far as he could away from the machine. Bruce noticed his immediate distance and particularly looked at him.

"Afraid of needles?" Bruce raised an eyebrow at him.

"No—" Tony tried to tell him.

"Deathly." Pepper sweetly smiled.

"I'm not deathly afraid of them… they're just a little too pointy." Tony bit the inside of his cheek.

"You'd think a guy with a magnet in his chest wouldn't be afraid of needles." Bruce chuckled before wetting a small cotton swab.

"Exactly what I told him." Pepper glanced at her boss and saw his eyes roll.

"Okay." Bruce began to swipe the swab along the inside of her elbow. "Try not to destroy anything when I put the needle in."

Pepper chuckled. "I'll try not to."

"Bruce gets attached to some things." Tony chimed in and gestured towards the metallic table she sat on.

Bruce narrowed his eyes at him. "It's a comfortable table."

The doctor bent down with the needle, and just the sight of that huge point needle made Tony look away. He began to admire the well painted room with its popcorn texture, and, what looked like, eggshell white walls. When he heard a ping, he assumed it was just the machine making the noise, but when he heard Pepper gasp, he curiously turned around.

"Wow." Bruce's eyes were wide. His gaze was on Pepper's arm.

Tony followed his gaze. "What the…"

"Tony!" She gasped. Her arm was covered in something that looked a lot like Tony's Mark 2 armor. It was hard, cool to the touch, and grey. "What is this?" She practically shouted.

Bruce pushed the needle and the machine to the side. Tony leaned in towards Pepper's shaking arm. His rough calloused fingers delicately held her wrist in place as he inspected the sprouting metallic armor. It amazed her how gentle Tony could be with her. His rough fingers would glide perfectly across her soft skin every single time. It almost made her blush.

"It looks like…" Tony narrowed his eyes. "Titanium alloy."

"What?" Bruce furrowed his eyebrows at the armor.

"What?" Pepper nearly shrieked. "Did you just say titanium alloy? How—How did it even get there."

"When I looked at it, it seemed to just sprout out of nowhere." Bruce began to shrug. He almost looked flustered.

Tony pressed his lips together and gave him a sour look. "Titanium alloy doesn't just magically sprout out of nowhere."

"Um… Tony!" Pepper shrieked again. Tony looked up at her in confusion and then down at her arm. The titanium alloy was slowly seeping back into her skin, as if it were made of liquid. It almost looked like it was disappearing.

"What in the world…" Tony breathed with furrowed eyebrows. He carefully observed as the hardened titanium alloy that was just on top of her arm, slowly dissolved, and slipped back into her skin, as if it were absorbing it. "That's freaky."

"What in the hell just happened?" Pepper breathed shakily. She honestly felt indifferent about what just happened. First it was super strength, and then all of a sudden, titanium allow seeps out of her skin? It was definitely not a good day for her. She didn't want to tremendously freak out, so she counted on short breaths to calm her down.

"Um… the nanobots…" Bruce tried to tell her, but nothing more came out of his mouth.

Tony didn't look up from her arm. "I think they're feeding liquid titanium alloy through your pores."

"That's…" Bruce stopped short. He wasn't sure how to describe what Tony said. It was cool, but then again, it was very uncanny.

"So, what, I have titanium alloy growing out of my body?" She narrowed her eyes with a disgusted look. Now was the appropriate time to freak out.

"Seems like it." Tony gazed up at her. "Thankfully, it's non-toxic."

"Oh, yay for me." Pepper sarcastically added with a fake smile.

"You're like a walking Iron Man suit." He began to smile. "This is amazing."

"Yeah, well, it's not so amazing right now." Bruce added. "Those nanobots that are feeding that stuff through your pores are in the way of an appropriate blood sample." He heavily sighed and massaged his forehead with his fingers.

"What in the hell is going on in here?" Fury's voice boomed throughout the room.

All heads turned towards the doorway. Director Fury was in his standard issued SHIELD clothing, and accompanied by Maria Hill, whom was carefully behind him. Maria's eyebrows were furrowed, and Fury looked absolutely pissed.

The director glanced down at the door and then up at the three of them. He raised an eyebrow, expecting an immediately explanation.

Tony's eyes went wide, as if he had just been caught making out with Pepper on the porch. "It was rats." He suddenly said.

Bruce and Pepper both began to roll their eyes. Tony was never the best liar when it came to excuses on the spot, and she personally knew that fact.

…

"Please tell me why I shouldn't banish you both from the laboratory and all the lab equipment." Fury scolded the two of them.

They were inside the sealed debriefing rooms. In the room was a big huge round table. In the center of the table was a holographic display panel that was used to elaborate on their mission tactics. Tony and Bruce were sitting next to each other. Fury, on the other hand, was standing on the other side of the table with his arms crossed against his chest.

"Because that would be mean, and you're against bullying." Tony spoke softly, trying not to make eye contact.

"Most of my experiments are to help the team, Director Fury. It would be pointless to keep me from my obligations." Bruce spoke up.

"Suck up." Tony mumbled under his breath, loud enough for the doctor to hear. Bruce turned his head and narrowed his eyes at him.

"Just to make things a bit clearer around here," Fury paused. Tony was quite certain he could see a thick vein pulse along his forehead. "Miss Potts, your girlfriend," he pointed at Tony. "Has nanotechnology inside her system. And you guys were trying to cure her, but titanium alloy that suddenly seeped through her pores won't let you."

"Sounds correct." Tony nodded casually.

"And on top of all that nonsense," Fury's voice suddenly got louder. The words 'pissed off' wouldn't begin to describe how he felt. "She also has super strength – oh and all of this jibber jabber is because of some unknown thing that bit her. And worst of all, she broke my door."

"It could easily be repaired." Tony scratched the back of his head; he wasn't sure what else could be said to lighten the mood. Bruce pressed his lips together and slowly looked up at Fury.

"Doctor Banner." Fury called out.

"Yes, sir?"

"I want you to go to the lab and clean up. Call the technicians on the top level to repair the door." He ordered the doctor.

Bruce nodded, and before he left the room, he glanced back at Tony in reassurance. It wasn't like Fury was going to bite his head off or anything, but that sudden vein on his forehead said something entirely different.

"Stark."

Tony looked up at him with his eyebrows furrowed. At this stage, he wasn't sure if Fury was going to throw the table, or the eye patch, at him.

"The rarity level of this situation is pretty damn high, wouldn't you think?"

"When Pepper can control the nanobots, we could whip up a quick antidote, and put all of this stuff behind us." He tried to tell Fury, but he wasn't buying any of it.

"And how long with that take?" Fury waited for Tony to say something, but he didn't. "That could take weeks, months— years even."

"Mm…" Tony hummed to himself. "It depends on the person, really."

"Stark, do you realize what just happened?"

"Sex with Pepper just got kinky?" He jokingly said before raising his eyebrows.

"Those nanobots just gave Miss Potts superhuman powers." He angrily looked at Tony. "Do you know how hard and desperate the government is trying to achieve that? If word gets out about this, they will take her away, and they will use her as a lab rat."

Tony pressed his lips together in anger. "I won't let them do that to her."

"Tell me then – how are you going to prevent that? Are you going to go knocking on their door step with a fruit basket that says 'No'?"

"Certainly not a bad idea."

Fury rolled his eyes and huffed. "This is the United States government, Stark. You know, as well as I do, that they will do anything to get ahead in military arsenal. And your girlfriend just became superhuman in a matter of hours through unimaginable and unexplainable nanotechnology."

"So what are you going to do, give her to the government so they can pick her apart?" Tony angrily looked up at him.

Fury looked down at Tony in a solemn look. He knew how much Pepper meant to him, and he knew that he'd do anything to keep her safe.

"Seeing as how her own body won't let you create an antidote, I'll need to talk with the council." Fury told him.

Tony furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and anger. "Why are you even spitting them information? I thought you hated them."

"I do." Fury admitted. "But they're at a higher podium than I am, and even though of they're horrible assholes with stupid ass decisions, I have no choice." He walked towards the exit of the room. His footsteps rang in Tony's ears.

Tony tried his best to think of something to say – something to save Pepper from becoming a lab experiment. "The Capt is a super human soldier. Why does he get to stay but not Pepper?"

Fury turned from the door, and looked at the back of Tony's head. "Because the experiment on Steve Rogers was actually legal."

"So, you're calling Pepper an illegal immigrant?" Tony turned around to gaze up at Fury.

He was honestly fed up with all of Tony's silly antics and immature ways of dealing with serious situations. "What are you trying to tell me, Stark?"

"Recruit Pepper as an Avenger." Tony suddenly blurted. When he saw Fury's raised eyebrow, he continued, "Just for now – just until she can control that stuff and we can flush it out of her system."

"Do you realize what you're asking me to do?" Fury asked him.

"It's not like I'm asking you to build an Amusement Park in my name – but if you want to, I'm totally on board." Tony joked.

"You want me," Fury pointed to himself. "To recruit Miss Potts as an Avenger, and lie to the council?"

"The council doesn't have to know about this." Tony shrugged. "What they don't know won't hurt them."

"If this goes horribly wrong, Stark, it'll do more than hurt them. We're talking about nanotechnology here. Do you know how a breakthrough in technology like this will do for the world?" Fury's tone was higher than expected, but it was understandable considering how much had happened in the past few hours.

Tony looked at him in the eye and calmly told him, "You know how much I care about Pepper. I'll rip everyone apart before they could touch her."

Fury ultimately shook his head. "I'll think about it."

…

Tony noticed a palm like dent in the doorknob of the door that led to his room. He smiled slightly and shook his head before entering. Pepper was on top of his bed. Her back was against the headboard as she hugged her legs to her chest. She looked indifferent and somewhat scared.

"I see you've greeted the doorknob." He joked before closing the door behind him.

Pepper looked up at him and pressed her lips together. "Do you know how long it took me to open the damn thing without damaging it?"

"You didn't ask someone to do it for you?" He walked over to the walk-in closet before taking his black cotton shirt off. He grabbed a white one and looped it over his head.

"You told me that I'd be able to control them." She glanced at him, trying hard not to ogle his cute butt. "And that's what I tried to do."

"Mmmm." He hummed in response before slipping on a pair of knee high length gym shorts. He closed the closet door and noticed her change in clothes. She went from a white blouse, and a pair of black pants, to a black tank top and a red pair of short shorts. "How did you manage to change?"

She began to groan. "Don't even get me started on how long it took me to open the closet and change clothes." He chuckled at her and went over to his glass encased Iron Man suit on the other side of the room. He drew out a security panel and pressed a few buttons to make sure everything was in check.

Pepper pressed her lips together. "What did Director Fury say?"

"He said if word got out to the council and the government, they'd love having you has an experiment to aid the future of the military." He heavily sighed.

"What?" She narrowed her eyes and gasped. "A-And you're okay with this?"

"No." He sternly told her. "I told him I'd rather smack the council in the face."

"So, what's going to happen to me?" She curiously and shakily asked.

"I told Fury to lie to the council, and recruit you as an Avenger." He told her before sliding the panel back into place. He turned around before continuing, "That way, when you do get control of these nanobots, we can get to work on an antidote."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "How exactly is Director Fury going to lie to the council?"

"He has to have something up that eye patch of his. I'm sure he's lied to them plenty of times." He began to walk over to her to join her on the bed. The response she gave him wasn't quite what he expected.

She hugged her legs closer to her chest and scooted away, as if he were a terrifying spider. She shook her head before he could give her a questioning look.

"What's wrong?" He worriedly asked her.

"You shouldn't…" She shook her head again.

"Shouldn't what?"

She sighed and continued to scoot away. "You shouldn't be near me."

"Why?" He continued to join her on the bed, but stopped at the edge of the frame when he noticed how worried she looked.

"I don't want to end up hurting you, Tony." She softly told him. It was almost too painful to look up at him. "Everything I touch literally gets smashed."

He slightly furrowed her eyebrows at her before sighing. In a few seconds, he had already crawled under the sheets. Her worries and doubts in her ability to control her super strength scared her, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. In the back of her mind lingered the aching possibility of being responsible for accidentally killing him, no thanks to her new found powers.

She almost gasped when she felt his hand caress her shin.

Pepper turned her head and stared at him with wide eyes. His shiny brown hair was so close to her forehead, and his breath tickled her nose. He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers before kissing her softly. Pepper's arms instinctively wrapped around his neck, and began to play with the hairs on the back of his head.

When he pulled away, he watched her speechless expression. She bit her bottom lip to savor the taste of him.

"See?" He said with a wide grin. "You didn't hurt me."

She grinned back, still playing with his hair, and lowered her head to bury her face in between his neck and shoulder. She endearingly gave him a soft, yet brief, hug.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews are optional, but the muse loves them.