Steve had just left the conference room, heading back to the room that he had on the Helicarrier. He looked up when he heard a commotion heading his way. He almost did a double take as she saw Toni walking towards him, well his direction being that he was still close to conference room door. She looked annoyed, nothing like he'd seen before. She was barefoot, her short black hair ruffled and in the black pants and long-sleeved shirt that she had worn under her suit. The blue light emitting from her chest was weird, but now that he knew she was in the suit didn't seem out-of-place.
A red-haired man was following after her, his gait fast but hindered by the suit that he was wearing. "Toni, come on. Just get back to the room. You can talk to Fury later."
"No, Pepper. I'm talking to him now. How could he let that nuke get out?" Toni said, not stopping as he got closer.
The man, Pepper as Toni had addressed him, got closer but still out of reach of catching Toni. "I'm sure there's a reason Toni. Come back, they're not sure how badly hurt you are. Just let the doctor see you and I'm sure Coulson will let you know what happened."
Toni stopped, turning quickly around. "Coulson is dead Pep." She said, voice hard and Steven was sure that her face had some emotion on it.
"What?" Pepper said, finally catching up with Toni. "When?"
"Before the New York battle." Toni said, turning back and walking towards the conference room. Pepper was right behind as she walked, face full of emotions.
They soon made it to where Steve stood, Toni looking him in the eyes. "Is he is there Rogers?" She asked.
Steve shook his head. "No, he left a few minutes ago."
Toni groaned in frustration, "Well, do you know where he went?"
Steve shook his head, "No, I do not. Aren't you supposed to be in the infirmary?" That was where they said she was taken to when they arrived, still unconscious from her fall.
"Christ, not you too." Toni said, looking accusingly at the two men around her. "I'm fine. I'm walking ain't I? All I need to do is get back to the tower and have JARVIS check me out. I've had worst, you know that." She said the last part looking at Pepper.
Pepper made a face, "I know Toni, but please, just come back."
Toni looked at Pepper, "No, Pepper I won't. And will you please just stop." She paused and then said, "You can just stop now. You didn't even pick up the fucking phone! You don't have to follow me around anymore, that's not you're job now."
Pepper face turned to shock as Toni started sprinting away, pushing pass some Agents that were walking towards them.
Toni ran until her side started to hurt, hiding in a doorway as footsteps were coming her way. She couldn't deal with this now, she knew she was hurt. Her side was killing her and she just wanted to get back to the tower.
Taking deep breaths, she felt tears prickled at her eyes. Great all I need now is to start crying. She held her breath as she heard footsteps heading her way. Soon she was face to face with Steve, his face showing some true concern.
"Toni, come on back." He said, "Just let them make sure you haven't broken anything."
Toni shook her head, "No, I won't let them get any information. Fury already knows much more than I want him to about the Arc reactor."
Steve looked at her confused, "The what?"
Toni laughed, the sound rough and near hysterical. "This," she tapped the center of her chest where the blue light was. "It's made from technology my father got from the Tasseract. I'm not going to let Fury and his goons turn it into a weapon."
Steve looked even more confused, head tilting in a way that was almost cute if Toni wasn't so frantic to get out of here. "You see why I don't want to let one of his doctors see me?" Toni continued, "If I can get back to the tower, I can get checked out on my own."
Steve nodded, "Well, you should stop running away. If something is wrong then I'm sure sprinting is going to help."
"I know, I'm a genius after all." She took a step forward, patting his shoulder. "And you win. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the room they gave me."
Steve seemed to look like he was skeptical about this, but Toni cut him off from saying anything. "I can get there myself. Go find Pepper and let tell him where I will be." She knew what she said probably hurt him. She seemed to be saying a lot of things that hurt people close to her lately.
She started walking down the corridor, half expecting to be escorted to her door. Thinking about that almost made her laugh.
Steve let Toni go, knowing that there wasn't much he could do. He started back to where Pepper said he would look and found him rather quickly. "I found her; she said she was going to her room."
Pepper nodded, the suited man looking both glad but still distressed. "I can't believe I missed her call. I was watching the news; I saw her fly into that, that thing. My phone was right there." He shook his head, "What if she hadn't survived."
Steve wondered what the other man's relationship was with Toni. He remembered something in a file he was given about the inventor that Pepper was once her personal assistant and was now in charge of the company that Howard had left Toni. "Well, she survived. That's the best thing. It's not like she can be upset forever."
"You obviously don't know Toni. She doesn't forget anything." Pepper said, running a hand through his hair. "She hardly trusts anyone, last thing I need is for her to doubt me."
Steve put his arm on Pepper's shoulder, looking the only slightly shorter man in the eyes. "I'm sure everything will be fine."
Pepper nodded, "Yeah, probably. I should go and find someone to get us back to the tower. I'll feel better when we know how badly she's hurt."
Steve nodded, "I'll let you go then. It was nice to meet you."
Pepper nodded and said farewell, walking towards where he was told earlier that Toni's room was.
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