The Last Chronicle

by Miss Starfire

After years of struggling to build their lives together, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts have lost everything. But as all-out war looms, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance, Tony and Pepper are ready to take it all back. It has all come down to this. Story 8 of 8. The epic finale to The Last Chronicles Saga.

6. Chapter 5

Guest Review Responses

None :'( There's no more guest love for me :(

A/N: Wow! This update only took a week! Hopefully, the next one will be as swift. I need to speed it up not just for your sake, my Faithful Readers, but for the sake of the story as well because I WAS ACCEPTED TO SCHOOL! Yes, Miss Starfire, as old as she is, is going back to school to get a degree similar to the one Pepper has in this story: Cybersecurity and digital forensics. I'm so psyched about it, but I know it's gonna take time away that I already don't have. Here's hoping I can finish the story before the Fall semester starts!

Warning: cardiac arrests and emotional rollercoaster await you all.

BTW, I have nothing against Bobby Drake. I actually have had a crush on the guy since I was a teen. I just… needed to make him… different… for drama and plot purposes… don't hate me for it! He'll get better!

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Chapter 5

Aldrich was enjoying his lunch break, away from the mind-numbing chats his peers engaged in back at the lab. He truly appreciated the down time and the freedom to walk around Stark International as he pleased without having to watch his back; a luxury he had been enjoying for years now. The only person that been aware of his dark, past actions was long gone – dead, thanks to his divine intervention – and it suited him just as well, especially now that he had been closely following the distinctive life of Tony Stark.

Specimen 1, Aldrich thought with a smile, his attention captured by the electronic tablet in his hands while he reviewed his latest findings on the case. How much he had learned of him in the last three months he had been observing him, he could not truly fathom yet: the repercussions of Tony's superhuman abilities had opened doors he had not even known were closed to his research. The young inventor's life was unique enough already, just by being as brilliant and rich as he was. The icing on the cake was not just his superhero persona, but the rarity of his strain of Extremis.

The simple fact that Tony could interface with computers from afar, was astonishing in its own right. But to add to that the genius' heightened strength, speed, senses and healing abilities… he was just what Aldrich had wanted to create, all his life, perfectly packaged in a bundle he could not wait to get his hands on. Even the circumstances that originated his version of the virus were odd. How had Tony Stark, someone with no previous acquaintance with the inner workings of the virus, been able to mold the composition to his needs? How in the world had a teenager of all things, no matter how smart, been successful in transferring an unstable virus into his own body, on his first try?

And, more importantly: why, oh, why was he, Aldrich Killian, the mastermind behind the glory that was Extremis, unable to replicate what Tony had done?

Beginner's luck, Aldrich mused, but he knew that there was more than that – much more to it than he had been able to find out for now.

Killian had mistakenly believed that when Tony Stark had officially moved Stark Solutions to Stark International's premises over the summer, that it would become much easier for Maya to entice him to visit their home, and as such, that he would be able to observe the specimen closer than he could at work. Sadly, his stepdaughter – although unaware of her stepfather's true intentions – was having a tough time keeping the full attention of the inventor, and Aldrich had a suspicion that it was due to Tony's friend and roommate: that redheaded girl that had most of the SI board's panties in a wad. He had never actually met her in person, but from conversations he had overheard about her, and from the interactions he had documented between the girl and the Extremis specimen, he could see how someone passive like Maya was having a difficult time overshadowing a rather active youngster such as the ginger that co-owned Stark Solutions.

In the limited amount of time that Stark Solutions had been hosted at SI, being granted a meeting with Tony Stark or even seeing him in the halls was something akin to being handed the jackpot numbers to the Tri-State Powerball. The redhead, Pepper Potts: AKA Firecracker – the nickname some irate Stark International board members who did not like her, had given her – was very mindful of who got to interact with her business partner. Rumors that the two owners of Stark Solutions were sharing more than just business profits at the end of the day were prominent along the grapevine, but Aldrich had never paid any mind to them until he realized that whatever was going on between Potts and Stark was interfering with his ability to further research the specimen at his leisure.

And then, to make matters worse, once Stark Solutions had purchased Hammer Multinational, Tony Stark was hardly ever seen at SI. Even during board meetings, it was the redhead who came to SI in his stead. It was her who spoke for him, who always showed her face on his behalf, and who still made it difficult for him to get near the inventor. It drove the board members crazy. It drove him crazy! Even S.H.I.E.L.D. was struggling to get ahold of the genius. It was her and her resilient connection with the blue-eyed boy that made it almost impossible for Maya to do what Aldrich had been supporting her in doing: get closer to the young man he was eager to study.

That wretched redhead! Aldrich held back a groan. I should just kill her too!

Killian's eyes rose from his tablet when he heard the all-too-familiar sound of the arrival of said obstacle, coming from the front main entrance of the building. To be honest, he was surprised that she was even here, seeing as it was not a regular board meeting day, but yet here she was: strutting inside the main lobby, walking normally despite her armor retracting into her girlish-looking silver and purple backpack that Tony Stark had no doubt made for her. He had seen the spectacle too many times, and he always had to hold back a roll of his eyes when other employees' mouth still hung at seeing her come in like that. It was not even that impressive for him, seeing as the woman probably did not even know how to take full advantage of the weapon she had been handed by the young Stark. She probably only used it to fly, and sometimes pretend she fought crime. Nonetheless, Aldrich was overly confident than in a real life and death situation, the girl would not know how to properly defend herself inside all of that cutting-edge tech.

Why can't she just drive a car to work? She probably can't even do that!

Aldrich returned his attention to the tablet and continued running simulations on it. That redheaded woman held nothing of significance to him. The maniac ruler of Latveria was right on the money with his future plans of ridding the world of her. Too bad Killian was only contracted to work on the Extremis analysis for the madman– he could think of many ways to make Pepper Potts struggle for her last breath.

It had worked on Maria Stark, had it not?

It would surely also work on her.

xxxXXXxxx

"Can I at least get a slingshot?" Pepper whined as she slowly walked inside the newly-built virtual reality training room in Muir Island's Mutant Research Facility and the metal doors closed behind her, leaving her in complete darkness while she waited for the simulation to start. The structure was wide and long and it spanned over several floors; its tall ceilings permitted the rendering of very life-like weather patterns and geographic conditions the group of heroes was sure to face on their trek to Latveria.

With the help of several S.H.I.E.L.D. engineers, programmers, Howard, Tony and Pepper, and using as a basis blueprints from a similar feature in the School for Gifted Youngsters, the resistance army now had a way to practice and enhance their abilities in training for their counterattack against Doom. It had taken them two weeks of non-stop work and several long nights of testing, but here it was: a quick, relatively safe and measurable means to prepare for the unexpected.

"No slingshots. This is a test of basic skills, Mrs. Stark," Maria Hill's voice in the PA system stated. "Just as with everyone else, we need a base status of your abilities without the use of any weapons to compare it to how you behave in the suit."

"But we already have loads of data on that!" Pepper argued, hugging herself when the bitter cold room grew even colder. "I've told you we have plenty of similar analysis that we made ourselves! And the name's: Pepper, dammit! Only Fury has to call me Mrs. Stark!"

The snickering at the ginger's antics was not absent from the other individuals watching the scene from the computer screens and/or through the glass walls of the control room located at the very top of the structure. Almost everyone present already knew about Pepper's innate peculiar mannerisms, most especially when she was made to do things she did not want to do in the first place. But to the newcomers, particularly to all but one of the X-Men – even if they had been casually interacting with her for two weeks now – it was both entertaining and shocking that the Rescue alter ego behaved in such a childlike fashion in the face of upcoming simulated danger.

"Those analyses were done before Extremis awoke in you, Pepper," Maria coolly explained to the redhead despite Nick Fury's previously clearly stated instructions to his agents of keeping confidential the details, goals and expectations of this and all future trainings. Nick was cognizant that Maria had started to think for herself and was starting to make her own calls – traits that were surely detrimental to his plans since she had as much authority as he did – and it appeared as if he and his lieutenant needed to have another extended conversation about keeping their personal beliefs from doing their fucking job.

It was already maddening enough to Fury to have recently found out that Maria Hill had been the one who had secretly helped Pepper Potts realize the swindle Tony Stark had been a victim of under S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick still could not make peace with the fact that Hill had sent Pepper Potts the evidence ascertaining that Tony had not known what he had agreed to when he had signed the documents with S.H.I.E.L.D. on the WSC's behalf when their son had "died." If Maria had never sent that message to Pepper in the mail, Pepper would have never suspected S.H.I.E.L.D. of wrongdoing, thus Tony and her would had never changed their will to protect their assets in the event of their deaths, and the Stark Solutions weapons S.H.I.E.L.D. had needed to fight Doom would have been available for their taking after having convinced the world that they had died in the plane explosion.

Oh, it would have been so much simpler for everyone if Tony and Pepper did not have to get involved.

Alas, here they were.

"And also before Tony had to stop using his own Extremis abilities in battle," Maria continued her reasoning. "We need a recent, more accurate depiction of everyone's abilities as of today."

"Ugh, you and your logic," Pepper mumbled as she began rubbing her folded arms with her hands. "Can you at least turn on the lights in here? And don't tell me that you can't because I know you can. I helped build the fucking thing, remember? And why the hell is it so cold?!"

xxxXXXxxx

"Oh-ho, boy, she's pissed," Tony said with a small smirk, arms crossed over his chest, watching Maria Hill's movement to his left from the corner of his eye. "I'd turn on those lights if I were you."

"The darkness is part of the training stage we chose for her," Natasha, who was standing to Tony's right and was bent over the large system dashboard, informed everyone as she finished typing a sequence of obstacles into the simulation input screen. "It started the moment the doors closed."

"Pepper hates the dark, probably more than the cold," Tony stated and dropped his arms to his sides, already regretting their agreement to submitting themselves to these virtual training sessions. "She hates it a lot."

"Since when?" Rhodey asked from his sitting position in the back of the room, having earlier in the day taken over an entire screen for his viewing pleasure while he waited for his turn in the Virtual Training Room, or the VTR.

"Since Whitney kidna–" Tony began his response, but when he recalled that the blonde was also in the room and that a reluctant pact had been made to call a truce between them while they worked together against Doom, he cleared his throat and held back his tongue. "Since the South Pole incident."

"Oh," was all that Rhodey replied as he glared at Agent Stane, standing on the opposite side of the room from where he sat. "I had no idea."

"She never shows it," Happy pointed out, squinting, trying without success to find the ginger in the dark room below them. "I found out by accident when I was coming back from being on patrol in the middle of the night and she almost hit me in the face with a bat. I scared the crap out of her without meaning to."

"She's fine with it if it doesn't last long, for the most part," Tony detailed. "And as long as she's not alone in it. Or if she knows where she is and who's around."

"There'll be loads of darkness, coldness and uncertainty where we're going," Maya reminded them, speaking almost from first-hand experience. "Electric power is scarce around the world right now. Doom's been making sure very little communication happens between nations."

"Best way to keep everyone from rallying against him," Fury shrugged. "Just keep everyone in the dark, literally."

"I still think he's just hogging up all the electricity to finally turn on his Matrix rip-off thingamajig," Arthur Parks began. "It's getting harder and harder to find available travel routes without risking being found through the power lines. They're giving off some rare waves that I'm not 100% sure are electrical. They make me feel sick when I pass through them!"

"T'Challa and Banner are checking on that in Wakanda," Gene popped in the conversation. "We should be hearing about it from them soon."

"Let's hope it's sooner than soon," Hawkeye scoffed. "We only have a couple more weeks before we need to start heading out of here."

"What the hell, people?" Pepper's loud and shrieking voice coming from the intercom made everyone physically flinch. "Is your test for me seeing how long I can go before dying of boredom? Because I'm pretty dang close to – AAH!"

xxxXXXxxx

The first hit came from behind her, sweeping her off her feet in a quick move. She barely had time to cushion her fall with her arms in front of her face and roll to her side before a swift strike of light made a hole where she had just been laying. She rushed to her feet, ran away from the random specks of light that were now following her in the pitch darkness, and then partly covered her communicator in her right ear with her hand to speak to the perpetrators of the surprise attack.

"A little heads up would've been nice," she grumbled into the wireless earpiece. "And why are the lights still off? OH, SHIT!"

This time, and even though she saw a tiny amount of light before it hit her, the next attack came from the front, hitting her straight in the stomach with such intensity that she fell flat on her back. The air was knocked out of her and her head was spinning, but she had enough sense in her to struggle back onto her feet once more. She ran as she fast as she could, taking in deep, painful breaths, her left palm rubbing her sore midsection, and stopping only when she felt she had hit a wall.

She rested her weight against it, gasped in even larger amounts of air, and then screamed into the communicator one more time. "HEY! ARE YOU LISTENING? TURN THE LIGHTS ON!"

xxxXXXxxx

"Turn the fucking lights on," Tony growled, his narrowed eyes glaring at Black Widow. "She can't show you what she can do if she can't see what she's doing."

"Intel tells me she doesn't need her eyes to fight," Fury looked over his shoulder to steal a quick glance towards Gene. "She probably just forgot that herself."

Gene swallowed hard, ran towards the glass wall to look down, and prayed that Pepper quickly remembered all those sessions they had both had, a while ago.

xxxXXXxxx

"AAAHH!"

She barely avoided being hit in the face, and if she did not know any better, she would have strongly believed these simulations were actually real. Virtual reality devices of this caliber were not available on the market yet, and for a good reason: they were dangerous in the wrong hands. The VR Designer was the closest she had come to interacting with virtual reality simulators on a long-term basis, and even then, when she had used the damned thing only for projecting Tony's many inventions, she had been wholeheartedly uncomfortable with sticking her hands into it.

"TURN. THE LIGHTS. ON!"

xxxXXXxxx

"That's enough," Scott deadpanned, surprising everyone else in the room. "You weren't this hard on the rest of us when you tested us. Either turn the lights on or stop the simulation right now."

"You're not in charge here, Cyclops," Fury said nonchalantly. "I'm still the last word on this island."

"We get that, but do you really have to be so hard on Red, though?" Iceman asked, flinching every time Pepper's helpless-sounding yelps came through the speakers. "From all of us, she's the one with the least amount of training. She's not even a mutant!"

"I'd say that, technically, she could be considered one," Widow replied. "And it only seems as if she's been treated unfairly – differently. But she's not."

"She is!" Tony threw his arms in the air before he pointed towards one of the screens that showed Pepper's escalating vital signs. "She doesn't have any powers! She hasn't been fighting as long as the rest of us have!"

"But you still brought her into this," Fury pointed out. "The first time she fought was when the Makluan invaded. You had no problem with that then, did you, Stark?"

"Of course I did! But I couldn't do anything about it. Besides, she wasn't alone and I didn't plan for the Makluan to invade when I had just given her the suit!" Tony defended himself. "And she was IN the suit! She was protected by it! And me! Here… here she's got nothing!"

"Come on, Pepper," Gene said, choosing to ignore the pointless argument taking place behind him, his palms pressed against the glass wall. "Come on!"

"The testing continues as it was planned for Mrs. Stark," Fury said with finality. "Whether anyone here likes it or not."

xxxXXXxxx

"Hello?! Did anyone up there forget I'm supposed to be part of the mission, too? I can't do my part if you KILL me before we go to Doom's castle! Anybody? GAH!"

As she evaded one more gruesome attack from whatever type of assailants were now surrounding her, she quickly and agonizingly realized that she was going to be shown no mercy by anyone either up there in the command center or down here with her. In the back of her mind, she somewhat understood why her testing and training had to be as demanding as it had been for everyone else that had gone before her: they were all going to be expected to perform at the same level once in battle. That much, she agreed with.

However, a critical fault in that logic was that S.H.I.E.L.D. seemed to be currently disregarding the fact that they so far had only tested the mutants in the group – expecting a similar performance from her as they had received from the highly-trained X-Men was just plain ignorant. Her being the first one of the normal individuals in the crew to test, it was possible that perhaps they had overlooked the fact that she could not shoot lasers from her eyes, use her mind to move objects, make a hole in a steel wall with one punch, create ice from the compounds in the air, teleport in a cloud of smoke, charge objects with kinetic energy or perform air acrobatics with ease.

She was nothing more than a lowly human compared to these heroes, especially without her suit. Even Tony, Rhodey and Happy would undoubtedly do better than her in these tests! Pepper had more martial arts training than Happy and Tony combined, but both men were… well, men! They were naturally more physically suited to fighting than she was! And, on top of this annoying truth, Tony had his quick brain to MacGyver himself out of a tricky situation, while Happy had years upon years of sports and weight training! Whitney was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, trained by Hawkeye and Black Widow, at that. Maya was not going to be in the field of battle, so she did not really count. And Gene… he was the fucking Mandarin, for crying out loud!

What did she have to offer for this task, then? If it came down to her lonely self being the only thing keeping her son alive, what chance did she even have? If she was to be the one person standing between James Stark and Doctor Doom, her son was in for a world of hurt!

And that situation could very damn well end up being the case, seeing as it was going to be only her and Jimmy against Doom's power core room of trickery. If her suit failed her, if Jimmy was unable to uncover all of the traps in the room, she would have nothing left to protect him, herself or anyone else.

"What the hell are you trying to prove, anyway?" Pepper yelled in blind anger, for the nth barely time avoiding another hit that could have ended the simulation in her virtual death. "I give up, ALRIGHT? Turn it off! TURN IT OFF! NOW! I can't… I… can't…"

xxxXXXxxx

"Turn it off!" Tony demanded and hit his fists on the dashboard. "Turn it off or I'll shut down your entire system, right now!"

"Settle down, Stark!" Fury replied. "You agreed to this, remember? You can't take it back now."

"Watch me!" Tony said with determination as he attempted to walk towards the closest keyboard to fold the entire operation, but he was shocked to find that he could no longer move. "What the…"

His eyes landed on Jean Grey's almost immediately, but she quickly shook her head, showing with it that she was not the one preventing him from helping his wife. The inventor's blue orbs then eyed Professor Xavier, but he too shook his head at him to confirm his innocence in the matter. Tony wracked his mind trying to determine who else had the ability to hamper his corporeal movements, who else could keep him from getting Pepper out of the training chambers. The voice of the culprit, though, was quicker in giving itself out than the genius was able to figure out who it was before then.

"Let her try, Stark," Gene said, his rings and his eyes glowing brightly, staring directly at Pepper even in the dark. "She needs this. She needs to figure it out on her own."

"Seriously, Gene?" Tony said in utter disbelief over the redhead's screams that were making him go insane in anger. "You're supporting Nick on this? How can you do this to her? TO HER!"

"Just give her a moment. She'll do it."

"Do what, exactly? GENE!" Tony snarled. "GENE! This is Pepper we're talking about! Pepper! How can you just stand there when she's–"

"TURN IT OFF!" Pepper's desperate voice over the communication systems only succeeded in enraging Tony even more and planting doubt into Gene's heart. "Didn't you hear me? Anyone there? I give up! I. GIVE. UP!"

"Fury, make it stop!" Scott yelled when the redhead's heart monitor warned of it approaching a maximum unsafe beat rate.

"No," the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. replied. "We proceed as planned."

"This is just plain torture," Scott's fingers rested on the side of his visor. "Shut it down or I will!"

"Wait!" Gene said and aimed his palm towards the field leader of the X-Men. "Just, give her a moment!"

"Dammit, Gene!" Tony spat towards a motionless Mandarin. "Stop this! You can stop this! Why aren't you doing anything?!"

"PLEASE!" Gene could see Pepper curling into a ball on the floor, her body receiving some of the brunt of several of the attacks that the yet unknown virtual creatures around her were randomly sending her way. "TURN IT OFF! GET ME OUT OF HERE! PLEASE!"

"GENE!"

Tony's subtle move of his hands caught Gene's attention. The inventor was supposed to be stuck standing there, petrified all over save from the neck up. However, Tony was now somehow becoming able to shake his fingers and wiggle his hands despite having Makluan energy surrounding his form. It was clear that Tony's ire was out of control, and if Pepper kept screaming for help like she was, Gene had no doubt that Tony would break out of his quantum-dot energy prison.

"Gene, why are you doing this?" Tony insisted, his own fear with the situation pouring out of his voice. "Listen to her! Why are you letting them do this to her? TO PEPPER! I thought… I though… I thought you loved her too, you son of a bitch!"

As soon as the words left him, a rather small part of Tony wanted to take them back; make it so that he had never said anything at all. Not because he thought his words were lies – they actually could not be closer to the truth – but because it had been an unspoken covenant that Gene's feelings for Pepper were only for the three of them to know and for no one else to find out. On the other hand, he had made this silent promise before Gene had allowed for Pepper to be injured like this, by Nick Fury, nonetheless. He had once decided to let the issue go as long as Gene did not decide to pursue his woman again.

Tony had never even considered what he would do about his promise to himself regarding Gene if said man ever brought harm to his redhead because, to be honest, he never thought he would live to see the day it would take place.

After a short moment of silence that felt like decades (during which all eyes in the room fell on the Mandarin as everyone was shocked at hearing that the seemingly cold-hearted leader of the Tong held romantic feelings for the ginger), Gene finally looked back over his shoulder at Tony, narrowed his eyes again and spoke.

"The reason why I'm doing this," he replied, "is because I trust that she can do this – more than you do."

xxxXXXxxx

Pepper closed her eyes and whimpered. Heavy, hot tears of despair poured out of her and had she been able to ball herself tightly enough until she turned into a tiny bug, she would have gladly done so right now. She could not understand why no one was helping her. She was starting to think that no one could hear her, and that was highly possible during these training sessions. But could they not see her? Could they not notice that she was not fighting back, at all?

"TONYYY!"

She uttered his name when she felt an aggressor finally pinpoint her exact location on the floor and kicked her with all its might on her side, sending her flying towards the back wall before she slid down back onto the floor like a rag doll. She could barely breathe. Her vision was blurrier than it should have been even in the dark. Her entire body was shaking, and if she was not just imagining sensations that were not really there, she was sure as hell that there was a trail of blood coming down the back of her neck, into her shirt. Was the simulation not supposed to stop when the user was injured? If she let herself be 'killed' by the simulation – which she had been trying to do for a few minutes – was that not supposed to make everything go back to normal?

Why was it not working? Why was the safeguard that she and Tony had made sure they coded into the system not executing as it was supposed to? Why was Tony allowing this to happen to her?

How am I supposed to do this? With just my hands? How?!

She got on all fours and used the wall behind her to slowly help herself stand up, her hands casing her face when she felt a bout of nausea invade her.

How am I supposed to fight what I can't see?!

The redhead stopped in her tracks, gasped in realization and then pulled her hands from her face. The answer to her current predicament finally came to her. It was so simple, so obvious, that she felt like an idiot for not thinking about it until now. Maria Hill had even been so kind as to give her a clue at the start of the session and she just now saw it for what it was: the actual reason why they were doing this exercise at all.

Her Extremis.

What she could now do with it.

What Gene had inadvertently trained her to do.

I don't need to see, she thought with confidence while she gently dragged herself to what she hoped was a far corner of the large room so that she could concentrate. I just need to feel. Just… feel… I just need to…

She closed her eyes.

She exhaled deeply.

And Extremis knew exactly what it needed to do.

Survive.

xxxXXXxxx

"Here it comes," Maya said when she noticed that Pepper's vitals were suddenly stabilizing, all previous warning alarms disappearing in a rush. "We've collected normal levels base data and now Extremis levels base data. Her heart rate is slowing down to below the average range."

"Is it stopping?" Rhodey was standing up now, afraid of what the answer could be as he walked closer to the health monitoring screens.

"No," Maria Hill shook her head. "We expected it to do this at this point."

"Brain activity is spiking," Black Widow uttered, prompting Tony to stare at the same display Natasha was reviewing. "She's coming out of the corner now. Brain waves are off the charts!"

Off the charts, Tony remembered where and when he had picked up that same phrase being stated about Pepper. He had heard her doctors say that about her over and over again, when she had been at the hospital after finding her in the submarine. He actually hated hearing that phrase, and what it reminded him of; a time when he had almost lost the girl he loved.

"Activate night vision, Hill," Fury ordered and she carried on with his mandate. Seconds later, all cameras and displays in the command center showed twenty blue dots, signaling the current positions of the virtual attackers, while a single red dot signaled the present whereabouts of Pepper Potts. She was slowly rounding the corners with the sureness and finesse one would assume could be had if the lights were on, but even now, it was dark enough to not see one's hand in front of their face.

The show that Nick Fury had been waiting for was about to start.

xxxXXXxxx

Her arms rested at her sides, her shoulders relaxed. Her steps were slow and calculated. Her eyes were no longer hazel, but completely black as her pupils had taken complete real estate of her orbs. She blinked slowly, almost lazily so, and once she chose her first target, she all but threw herself at it.

xxxXXXxxx

"What. The. Fuck?"

Happy's verbal sentiment echoed everyone's thoughts as they observed the scene unfolding below them with incredulous eyes. Every person present in the room alternated between staring at the night-vision enhanced displays, the random specks of light that sometimes illuminated small areas in the actual VTR – very much so as a lightning show illuminated a dark, stormy night – and Pepper's vital signs screen that showed how her brain and body activity were complete opposites at the moment. Her heart and breathing were slowing down, but her brain was firing up, illuminating the screens as if was the middle of Christmas Eve.

"How is she doing this?" Gambit asked, honestly surprised that the little redhead had this much ability in her. "She's not even making a sound!"

"The Makluan-based creatures we're using for her training cannot see her either. They've been finding her location based on her voice."

"Because it's Pepper," Rhodey said. "She never shuts up."

"Exactly," Maya chirped in. "We can't make Pepper stay quiet, but we can make her Extremis survival skills come out."

"She's not even breaking a sweat there," Tony uttered when he felt his limbs being released from Gene's incantation, his anger slowly declining as he joined the others in seeing his wife dispose of each Makluan lizard, one by one. "How… how is she doing this?"

"She thought she was gonna die," Whitney said as if it was obvious to anyone with eyes. "Extremis won't allow that. Pepper…" the blonde hesitated, not wanting to be the one to relay to Tony something she knew he was yet to known about his wife's abilities, but that it was better that he made his peace with it sooner rather than later. "Pepper's probably gonna outlive all of us. And her kids and grandkids, too, for all we know. Even James. The more exposed she is to anything that can kill her, the more her body learns about how to keep itself alive."

"Because of Extremis?" Rhodey asked, the idea making sense to him to some extent. "Because Pepper has Extremis?"

"Pepper IS Extremis," Maya said. "She didn't acquire it later in life like Agent Mallen, Aldrich or even Tony did. She doesn't have an altered, combined version of it like James does. There's no limitation to its lifecycle. James is enhanced, but he too will die, eventually, of natural causes at the least, because his version of Extremis is not an untamed one. It's precise: it knows what it can do and what it can't, and doesn't try to extend itself beyond that. As part of his body, Extremis will eventually stop working in him. But, in Pepper…" Maya shook her head and let her words trail, knowing she did not have to elaborate on her train of thought.

"Is that why Killian has lived for so long?" Arthur Parks asked. "Is that why he's over a hundred years of age?"

"Yes," Hill replied. "He's been pumping himself with all types of Extremis to make that happen. Now that he's used James Stark's unique strain to cure his disease, he could be practically immortal, for all we know. And Pepper, as much as she despises it to be the truth, she's his biological daughter."

xxxXXXxxx

She only had ten more to go and it would be over. Such pitiful creatures these lizards were. The fact that she had been stressed about taking them on just minutes ago was suddenly very silly to her. They were so weak, strategically speaking; so easy to take down. She did not have super strength like Tony or James; the sudden bursts of increased strength she had so far exhibited in the past were more akin to adrenaline surges, and were merely at the very far end of the spectrum of natural human strength. But with the superhuman gifts she did have, she did not need to have enhanced strength to destroy these creatures. All she had to do was use their own strength against them, and those spears of lightning they were carrying with them made the job that much easier to accomplish. The darkness was her ally; it was turning out to be, because the alien scum she was facing against could only find her by using echolocation.

Blind as bats, Pepper thought as she once again conned a Makluan lizard to spear a friend, a trick that had come in handy in dealing with these senseless creatures.

Slow as snails, she grabbed onto the two spears that were now available for her to use and twirled them in her hands.

Dumb as rocks, she stuck the two spears into the chest and neck of her twelfth attacker, rendering him death in seconds.

One by one, the Makluan invaders expired, either by her hand or as a result of her quick reflexes and keen thinking to deceiving them into doing the deed for her. The cold no longer bothered her: her body was constantly matching the environment's temperature to keep her from feeling its effects. The dark no longer scared her: the auras she could see showed her everything she needed to know about who was around her and how close they were. Her dire situation no longer made her feel helpless; she was actually more cunning that she thought she could be.

When the last Makluan fell, it was all due to her. She did not rely on anything else to kill it for her. She did not even use a spear or took advantage of the element of surprise or the darkened room. She did not even bother to conceal her location, instead greeting said animal with an eerie-sounding Hi that sent shivers down everyone's spine.

"Bye," Pepper uttered before she broke the neck of the Makluan between her legs like a twig.

Along with the thud of the lizard hitting the ground, the crash of a projectile breaking a portion of the glass wall of the command center, exactly where Nick Fury stood behind it, was the one thing that everyone heard before the sequence ended and the lights turned on.

xxxXXXxxx

Two inches.

Two short inches.

That was how close the sharp tip of the hardlight holographic spear had come to virtually implanting itself into Nick Fury's skull.

And even now, when all eyes had shifted from gazing at the source of the commotion in the command center to staring down towards the VTR at a rather calm-looking redhead standing in the middle of the room, the clear evidence of what had just transpired was almost impossible to accept as true.

Her arm slowly retracted from its final stretched out position after the launching of the weapon towards her intended target. She was conscious of the fact that the hologram of a weapon was programmed so that it could not really harm him or anyone near, but her intention had not been to physically hurt him; she had just wanted to visually warn him.

"Pull that again without telling me first," she told Nick over the comm system, her eyes directly staring at his. "I dare you."

Tony gave Fury a swift I-told-you-so look before he ran out the door and pressed the down button of the only elevator in the level. Before the doors had a chance to close, Gene joined him in the cart, an uncomfortable silence falling upon them as they rode down to the lowest floor of the VTR. Now that Pepper was safe – not that she had been in any real danger, actually – Tony's side that chastised him for revealing to the world the feelings the Mandarin had for the spunky girl, grew in size. On his end, Gene also felt a pang of regret for taking part in the operation that forced Pepper to harshly learn what she could do. It was inevitable, he knew that much, as abilities like hers were not typical. There was no manual to be followed and no straightforward procedure she could rely upon to master her skill. It was just like him with the Makluan rings: the true power of them was yet to be discovered, and only trials and failures would eventually teach him everything he needed to know about said rings.

The main difference in this situation, Gene now came to see, was that it was easier to put one through unforgiving conditions than it was to watch those you loved go through the same, regardless of the positive and progressing outcomes.

The doors of the elevator did not open quickly enough for Tony. He squeezed himself through a small gap between the opening doors only to be hastily greeted by a pair of bright, hazel eyes and two warm arms surrounding him from the front.

"Did you see that, Tony?" she was beaming. "Did you see what I did?!"

"Yeah, I did," he replied to her after he gulped. His eyes covertly stared at her up and down and his hands surreptitiously checked for signs of wounds even though his mind knew without a doubt that she could not really be injured in the VTR. "You were great, Pep."

"Great?" she scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I KICKED ASS!"

He offered her a small smile before she leapt onto him and pressed her face against his chest.

"Thank you for trusting me, Tony," her words stung him. "Thank you for not letting me take the easy way out! I knew you trusted me! I just knew you did!"

He swallowed hard again, returned the embrace, but said nothing more. He rested his chin on top of her head before his face then slid slightly to his left to glance with a repentant face at an incoming Gene. His frenemy was once again correct about how his persona operated: Gene did trust Pepper with being able to protect herself more than Tony did. Just a couple of weeks ago, she had pleaded with him to trust her to do her best in carrying out her important single task in their mission, and he had said that he had no doubt that she could do what she was expected to do. Nevertheless, here he was, pretending to believe in her abilities just seconds after he had almost blown the whole operation because she had cried – because she had hesitated for an instant and had doubted herself.

"Gene!"

Pepper pulled away from Tony and ran towards her mentor, her hands clasped against her chest and her smile wider than he had ever before been the recipient of. "Did you see it, too? Did you see how much ass I kicked? Oh, my gosh! It was so awesome! It was awesome, wasn't it? Wasn't it?"

"It was alright," Gene said with a shrug, a small smirk and that tone of jest he hardly ever used on anyone. It was the type of response that went against everything anyone knew about him. It was the attitude that made him seem more human than he allowed himself to be. He tried to avoid behaving like this, but it was difficult to hide it from her. "I guess I could even say that you did OK."

"Oh, come on!" Pepper whined, placed her hands on his upper arms and used them to propel herself closer to his face. "You're totally pulling my leg right now, aren't you? Aren't you? Why don't you believe in me, Gene? You trained me! Well, a lot of people did, but you showed me the aura thingy! Have more faith in your student, Gene! Even Tony trusts me, see?"

Gene eyed the inventor with neutral eyes, but Tony knew what was crossing the Mandarin's mind at the moment.

"Well, tell him, Tony!" Pepper insisted. "Tell him you trust me! Tell him he needs to trust me more!"

Tony inwardly panicked, torn between telling the truth, breaking Pepper's heart and protecting Gene's image. In the end, he was spared the trouble of deciding what to do or say when Rhodey and Happy showed up, both praising Pepper for a job well done.

xxxXXXxxx

Astonishingly enough, the current silence between Rhodey and Gene was fairly amicable. After a couple of hours of sparring, settling some of their differences by taking turns one-upping each other in the punching and kicking process, and then sitting down on the floor of one of the gyms of the facility, the duo was ready to make good on their agreement to let bygones be bygones… at least for now.

It was rather ironic that, years later, Rhodey found in Gene someone he could train with without having to worry about seriously hurting him, annoying him with this taunting and bluffing, holding back, or wondering if he was letting him have an advantage the military man did not wish to have. Happy was fun to have around for company while he worked out, but the jock was not very well trained in hand-to-hand combat – at least not to the level that Rhodey had been intensively taught for the past four years.

Then there was Tony, who could hold up to Rhodey's abilities, but on whom was difficult to let it all out. Even good-naturedly, neither Tony nor Rhodey could find it in their hearts to not pull back their punches; years of friendship preventing them from risking giving the other a black eye, a broken bone or worse. Even if they were extremely mad at each other, the two young men had ties that bound them closer than any argument could ever amount to drift them apart.

Begrudgingly, Rhodey silently accepted that even Madame Masque was better suited to fight him if Gene was not around.

With Gene, however, things were different. Neither of them was sure if a genuine friendship could ever grow between them after the way the cards of life had been dealt in the past, but they at least knew there was no requirement to pussyfoot around each other. There was a mutual expectation of brutal honesty, in fact, even if that honesty meant telling each other how much they hated each other's guts.

There was not much to do in the underground building while they waited to leave for Latveria, either way, so it was not really surprising to either of them that individuals that would otherwise not even glance at each other during a normal situation would find it necessary to overlook their personal grudges for the sake of having a way to let out anger and frustrations by hanging out. Besides, Rhodey knew that he could do much worse than training with Gene Khan. Much, much worse.

"Rhodes! Khan!"

Happy Hogan's cheerful voice approaching them and his verbal and hand salute made Rhodey grin and Gene groan. The tall man sat on the floor, near the workout mats, effectively finding a comfortable spot that allowed him to eye both Rhodey and Gene at the same time. James and Gene were sitting almost shoulder-to-shoulder, both facing the front entrance of the weight lifting room, their backs against the rear wall.

"Happy," Gene scowled, "it's been years since high school. Why do you continue to call me that?"

"Like, what?" Happy feigned ignorance. "Oh, you mean: KHAAAN?"

"Yeah, that," Gene stated, two fingers massaging his forehead. "Do you even know where that's from?"

"Khan?" Happy asked and tapped his chin with his right index finger.

"Yes."

"Well, duh," Happy rolled his eyes. "It's from Gene KHAN!"

"Ugh, forget it!" Gene rolled his eyes and face-palmed himself.

Even Rhodey, who was now sipping from his water bottle to keep his chuckles from coming out, had to admit that the entire conversation was more than just a tad amusing to the ear and the eye. Happy would always be Happy. Gene would always be Gene. And Happy and Gene in the same room would always be entertaining, no matter what.

"Anyway," Happy leaned forward a tad so that he was slightly closer to the Mandarin's face for a moment, gave him a probing look, and then pulled back to cross his arms over his chest. "What exactly are your intentions with Pepper?"

A wall of water in his face that came out of Rhodey's mouth was the first response that the jock received to his inappropriate inquiry.

"Happy," Rhodey began while using the edge of his right hand to wipe his chin. "That's not really—"

"Any of my business?" Happy challenged. "Uhm, yes, it is. This totally concerns me. Both Pepper and Tony are my friends."

"And I'm not," Gene deadpanned.

Happy's head recoiled in pained astonishment. "No, you are. That's why I want to know what the hell is going on here."

Happy never ceased to flabbergast them with his odd view of the world – with his open willingness to let everyone know what he thought and how he felt. Nothing was a secret when it came to Happy; the unlikely and unforeseen bond between the old gang and the brawny man continuously found a way to warm everyone's heart.

Even Gene had to remind himself to keep a straight face at the man's admission of his complete acceptance of the Great Mandarin into the team.

"Happy," Rhodey shook his head. "I don't think that it's even right to bring it up."

"Why not?" Happy argued. "Tony said it in front of everyone."

"Tony wasn't thinking straight," Rhodey replied in an attempt to prevent the awkward conversation from taking place. He was almost sure that Tony had been too honest with his accusation, but Rhodey also knew that it was neither of their call to demand answers from Gene in the matter. "Maybe he didn't mean it to sound the way it did. Maybe we misunderstood."

"I didn't misunderstand shit!" Happy growled. "I know what I heard," he pointed a single finger towards Gene. "And Tony said that Khan has feelings for Pepper."

"Don't you have feelings for Pepper?" Rhodey countered and Happy gave him an of course look.

"That's why I'm asking! She's my friend and I love her too. But I think that the way you and I love her, is not the same that Gene does. So," Happy eyed Gene once more. "You gonna fess up or what? Why did Tony say you love Pepper?"

"Happy –" Gene began, but before he was able to present his case, a male voice interrupted his response.

"He clearly has mommy issues," Bobby Drake said with confidence, an uncomfortable-looking Gambit trailing behind him. "That's why he has the hots for a woman he knows he can't have. It's all so very textbook, it's boring."

Gene Khan's narrowed eyes and fisted hands did nothing to make Iceman shut up while he was ahead. The physical signs that Bobby was perfectly hitting a soft spot for the Mandarin were evident for only a fraction of a second, too short of a time span for anyone to really claim with certainty that they had been there, before Gene decided to pretend he was to take the high road in this situation and ignore the man's assessment of him and his life.

"Textbook?" Rhodey glared at the man he had not been able to digest since his arrival to the Mutant Research Center, no matter how much he had tried. "What are you, a psychologist?"

"I could be," Bobby shrugged. "I didn't want to pursue the grad degree or the certification, to be honest."

"You have a degree in psychology?" Rhodey asked, surprised to see that someone who had studied how the human psyche worked seemed to have no understanding of common courtesy, personal boundaries or social protocols.

"Double major: sociology and psychology, with a minor in human deviant behavior studies."

"Are we talking about school now?" Happy felt his head starting to hurt. "'Cuz if we are, I'mma check out, quick!"

"Your case… your deviance…" he stared at Gene straight in the eye. "It's not really surprising, actually," Bobby continued. "It's sick but expected, from someone as introverted, emotionally withdrawn and full of unresolved parental issues such as you."

"Man, cut it out," Gambit stated, his hand on Iceman's left shoulder in an attempt to keep his teammate from digging his own grave.

Bobby was not anywhere near done, though.

Despite the fact that over two weeks had passed since he had been made a fool of by Gene in front of everyone else, Iceman was yet to forgive and forget. The events of the earlier in the day provided an opening for Bobby that had not been present until now. It was not that he hated the guy – he practically hated no one. It was the fact that he was very proud of his mutant powers and his charm over women, and having them both amounting to nothing more than a source for a good laugh and a humorous taunt exercise for his peers by a simpleton such as Gene, did not sit well with Drake.

"Were you abused a child? You had a stepfather, didn't you? Did he constantly overpower you?"

"Are we still talking about school?" Happy asked with a confused frown. "Because it sounds more like you're insulting Khan."

"Bobby," Gambit said in a warning tone.

"Was your mother a redhead?" Iceman continued. "Was she a hot piece like Potts? Do you feel regret when you masturbate to Red, like your mother would scold you? I wouldn't blame you if you did it daily. Pepper is completely fuckable."

"Dude," Rhodey was the one to speak up first in defense of Gene's personal life and Pepper's honor. "Shut the fuck up!"

"What are you, his boyfriend?" Iceman snapped at Rhodey. "And don't get me started on your sexual repression. Someone needs to get you laid."

"OK, now I know you're being an ass," Happy intervened. "Leave them alone and get the hell out of here."

"I'll leave them alone when they tell me to stop. Last I checked, Khan and Rhodes seemed to know how to talk."

"And you seem to talk too much," Gene coolly replied. In spite of his neutral-looking face and his relaxed posture, to state that Gene was not furious and ready to kill the blabbering man before him was nothing but a needless lie. Rhodey and Happy knew that under that cold exterior, the Mandarin was already plotting rather effective ways to silence the mutant. To their surprise, neither of them had any intention of getting in the way of Gene's wrath. In fact, they would even consider helping in cleaning up the mess afterwards and hiding the body.

"So? What's it gonna be?" Bobby asked. "Gonna make me stop? You know, it's too bad Fury called for a break for using the VTR today after Red owned it there. I was looking forward to seeing what you can do without those rings."

"You can find out tomorrow," Rhodey said with a smirk and a mocking tone.

"Or I can find out right now," Iceman defied.

"Bobby," Gambit tried pulling the man by his left arm but he snatched it away from his grip. "Just let it go. We're here to help each other, not kill each other."

"Haha!" Happy threw his head back in laughter and pointed a thumb towards Drake. "You think Icedkid over here can beat up KHAN?"

"Icedkid?" Bobby snarled.

"Yeah!" Happy stood up and towered over Bobby. "How old are you? Twelve? 'Cuz that's how you act!"

Bobby eyed Happy up and down, tilted his head to the left and the right while he stared at his features, all the while recalling some of the conversations he had had with George and Lila since being introduced to the family members of the team, and then smiled.

"It must be a shame for your brilliant, talented parents to have a kid that is all muscle and no brain. Were you adopted or did they ultimately decide to forgo the abortion?"

"No powers," Gene stood up. "No rings and no mutant abilities."

"What?" Rhodey spat and sat up as well. "You're kidding, right?"

"Now we're talking," Bobby smiled and nodded triumphantly, more than just a little satisfied that his efforts had worked. "Here?"

"Sure," Gene began walking towards the middle of the room, where the most open space was located. "That way, Gambit can be here to drag you to the medical ward down the hall."

Bobby snickered. "Yeah, right."

"Gene," Rhodey ran to where the Chinese man now stood and lowered his voice as he spoke to him. "Why the fuck are you letting this loser get under your skin? He's all bark and no bite!"

"That's why," Gene craned his neck in all directions to crack it, removed all ten rings from his fingers and handed them to Rhodes. "Someone's gotta teach this guy a lesson."

"By killing him?" Rhodey asked in an almost high-pitched tone, quickly pocketing the rings to make sure he did not lose any of them.

"Of course not," Gene replied and Rhodey visibly relaxed until Gene finished his retort. "Not this time, at least."

"How kind of you," Rhodey sarcastically retorted before he shook his head and stepped back to abandon the chosen fighting area.

"It's ON!" Happy lifted his arms above his head in an eager manner before he jogged back to where Rhodey stood.

"How many minutes do you give Iceman?" Rhodey inquired, extending a five-dollar bill towards Happy.

"Minutes?" Happy snorted and took the bill from the agent. "Make it seconds – thirty of them."

"Alright!" Bobby said enthusiastically as he purposefully distorted a martial arts pose he had seen in a movie, eons ago. "Ready, Khan? Gonna use some karate on me? You gonna hiyaa?"

Gene's only response was a side-smirk.

Not half a second after Gene acknowledged he was prepared, Bobby charged him. No sooner than two seconds later, Drake found himself hitting the air as he constantly tried – and failed – to hit Gene.

"I should've said forty-five seconds," Happy mumbled and gave the five-dollar bill back to Rhodey. "I didn't think Gene was going to embarrass him first."

Rhodey replied with a light chuckle and grabbed the bill.

"Don't you know what it means to fight?" Bobby teased, trying to hide his frustration at being unable to land the simplest of attacks. "Afraid I'm gonna tear you a new one?"

"You have to touch me first, for that to happen," Gene replied as he once more evaded a kick.

"If you'd stop chickening out of it," Bobby said, "I would!"

"It's called 'defense.'"

"I call it 'being afraid'. It's what weak people use when they have no offense."

"Huh," Rhodey returned to money to Happy. "It might just take only the 30 seconds."

"You guys betting on who wins?" Gambit, who at some point had walked around the room to join Happy and Rhodey, asked the two young men.

"Nope," Happy replied. "Just how long it takes for Gene to kick his ass."

Gambit was taken aback. "How, exactly? He's just dancing in the ring!"

"Khan knows, like, twenty different styles of marital arts…" Happy informed the member of the X-Men, "…and he's part alien. And he once beat up those aliens. With his bare hands."

"Huh?"

"Fuck, man!" Bobby snapped. "No wonder you and Red never got it on! You always pull out!"

"Oh, no," Rhodey said with a flinch.

"He's done," Happy added.

"What?" Before Gambit's question was verbally replied to, Gene responded with his first and only attack.

Taking advantage of Bobby's inbound form, Gene sidestepped and grabbed the man's right arm in his, stretching both as far as they could go. He then placed his left foot against Iceman's midsection and simultaneously pushed and pulled, snapping Bobby's arm out of his socket in a flash. The cry of pain emanating from the mutant was swallowed by the sound of the series of four distinct punches Gene landed on Drake, upper-cutting his stomach, jabbing in his chest, left-hooking his cheek and then palm-heeling his chin and mouth, all in rapid succession. Gene then manipulated Bobby's wobbly position, twirled him in place to secure his left shoulder without having to move himself, and while using his right arm and hand, Gene repositioned the shoulder he had just helped dislocate. The entire move ensued in less than two seconds, culminating with Gene grabbing the man's still sore arm to lunge him over his head and sending him flying off to hit the wall with his back.

"Thirty-one point seven seconds! WOO!" Rhodey said with a smile, gladly accepting ten dollars from Happy on their way towards where Gene stood.

"Bobby!"

Gambit ran towards his friend, who was still in a heap on the floor, breathing harshly, bleeding from his broken nose and glaring at a smiling Gene. "Are you alright?"

Iceman did not respond; his anger and humiliation keeping him from uttering a word. He watched Gene straighten his clothes, turn around in place to meet Rhodey, who was handing him back his rings, and not a second after Gene took his first step towards the exit, Bobby acted without rational thought.

The ice spear was born from his left hand, as his right arm was still in too much pain to even be lifted from the floor. The sudden move made Gambit trip on his own two feet when he backed away from the path of the thick, sharp ice weapon, as it continuously grew from his fingertips, headed straight to Gene Khan's back.

The Mandarin barely had time to half-turn where he stood, aim his palm towards the ice spear, see its tip pierce his hand from one end to the other, and then command his Makluan energy to eat away the ice lance, as if devouring it molecule by molecule, heading right back to its source.

Ice and quantum-dot energy burst in Bobby's face, signaling the end of their fight, and without a second look, Gene walked out of the gym, leaving everyone else in the room wondering where the hell had Bobby Drake's mouth gone.

xxxXXXxxx

She knocked twice on the door and waited for an instant before she was almost immediately welcomed inside the room. The small quarters where her father and her stepmother stayed were almost no different than her and Tony's, save for the significant fact that the bed was queen-sized rather than twin-sized, as theirs had been. She mentally rolled her eyes at Fury's lame attempt to keep her and Tony separated, though she did not blame him for it: she knew that he knew that they were both at their strongest when they were together.

Pepper remained standing near the bed, her fingers twirling fretfully and her form wobbly from shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She was not even sure how to start this uncomfortable conversation with her father or if it was needed to be had in the first place, but she was already here.

"Everything OK, sweetie?"

The redhead looked up from staring at her feet to facing Diane Potts, but she did not respond. The woman that she had once known only as a friendly and supportive SI board member and who was now, in Pepper's mind, more worthy of carrying her father's last name than she would ever be, was staring intently at her. Pepper had been surprised to find out that Diane had decided not to keep her maiden name – not even hyphenate it – despite how much prestige was attached to it. Regardless of how complicated it would be to change her last name everywhere and still maintain her personal accomplishments attached to her hard work, Diane had not hesitated to make it officially known that she had wed Virgil Potts.

"Pepper?"

When Pepper continued to be silent, Diane stood up from the bed, walked to the young woman and placed a comforting hand on her upper arm; hosting the ginger as best as she could while her father showered in the adjoining bathroom.

"Are you alright? Did you and Tony have a fight?"

"No," Pepper said with a smile. "Tony and I are OK."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Pepper said with visible honesty. "I actually don't think that Tony and I will fight again in a long time."

"Well, that's good," Diane smiled. "You two are still young and have a lot to learn. But I know you're closer than some couples I know that have been married for decades."

"Uhm," Pepper did not know how to respond to that, but her flushed face told Diane she appreciated the compliment.

"Is something else bothering you then?"

"Yes," the redhead nodded. "But, uhm… I… I… well…"

Diane's face was covered in authentic concern for her presence here, as well as denoted the type of tiring uncertainty that came from one day being snatched from everything you knew to be locked up underground without much say. Pepper felt as if she owed explanations to a lot of people even though Gene and Tony had already told her it was not at all her fault they were all stuck here. And while most of them would simply shrug off her feelings of guilt about placing them in this situation, she wanted to at least try to do her part.

"Diane," Pepper began, her head hung, "I'm sorry about all this. I… I never meant for this to happen… to anyone… ever…"

"You never meant for all of us to be spared death?"

"What?" Pepper's head snapped up. "No! That's not what I meant! I meant… you know, you, Dad, everyone… to be dragged into this! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Despite Pepper's face of inconsolable despair, Diane smiled.

"I'm sure I'm not the first one you'll hear this from, Pepper, but nobody blames you for any of this."

"Well, you should," Pepper grumbled, her head down again. "I mean, how else would've you ended up here if it wasn't for your connection with me?"

"My connection with Tony? Howard? SI?" Diane offered with a shrug.

"But…" the ginger wanted to argue, but realize that she had nothing to counter her statement. Diane had been friends with Howard before she had even met her. Tony had gotten in the way of Doctor Doom's previous plans to blow up SI and take over the world with Gene's ring. Whether she had been in the picture or not, Diane would have probably still ended up involved in this somehow. In fact, she probably would have not survived the initial attack had she been at work in SI when the world had gotten bombed by Doom, days ago.

"Well… I…"

Pepper's words were muffled by Diane's embrace. The woman was much taller than she was, so Pepper ended up barely reaching her neck.

"I'm so happy you're OK," Diane whispered, her arms rubbing Pepper's back. "When we were told your plane had exploded… when we lost hope that you two had made it… I just couldn't believe I'd lost another daughter! It was so unfair!"

Pepper pulled away slightly so that she could look up at Diane's teary face, the redhead's confusion evident in her features and on the deep frown in her face. Diane shook her head, as if trying to gather her thoughts, before she invited the redhead to follow her.

"Let's sit down, OK?"

Pepper did as told, intrigued by what Diane's words truly meant. As far as Pepper knew, this was Diane's first marriage. Despite her kindness, business intellect and good looks, Diane had reached the age of 40 without ever being engaged. Virgil had never mentioned that they had been expecting a baby at some point and neither had he mentioned adopting an unknown daughter of the SI board member. Nevertheless, the way Diane's hands were shaking and the look of memories flashing before her eyes told Pepper that she was about to be confided something of a rather personal level from her stepmother.

"I had a daughter once," Diane sniffed. "Karen. A redhead, just like you. She… she could've been you in looks by now, for all I know. But even as young as she was, she was very quiet and reserved," she chuckled, "the complete opposite of you, in personality."

Pepper snickered and scratched her cheek.

"Her father… her father didn't want her. We had been dating for just a few months and I ended up pregnant… I… I wasn't supposed to get pregnant in the first place. I was supposed to be infertile."

"Diane," Pepper grabbed the woman's hand when she choked on her words. "You don't have to tell me this. You… you don't have to force yourself to remember it."

"It's OK. It's nice to have someone else to tell this to. It's been a while since I had a family. Your father and you have been so kind to me."

"OK," Pepper smiled. "I'm listening."

"Thank you," Diane smiled back, albeit only briefly. "The pregnancy was difficult, and even though I came to full term, she was born with lots of medical issues and I had to get a hysterectomy right after it. She… she died when she was two. Her heart just stopped working. She died in her sleep."

Pepper closed her eyes tightly, the description of what had occurred to Diane's late daughter hitting close to home, with memories of holding her own son's inert and cooling body flashing across her mind. Pepper had no idea of the eerie resemblance and memories to a devastating part of Diane's life that she had brought upon the woman without meaning to. And to think that Diane had never made mentioned of it – she had kept the obviously saddened feelings to herself.

"When I first met you," Diane continued, "I saw my daughter in you. And I know it's not professional at all to have seen you like that since we were business partners, despite the age difference, but I did. And then I got to really know you and saw how good you were – you are – for Tony, and I went from seeing Karen in you, to seeing a little sister or a younger friend. And… well, you know the rest. And now here we are, with you as my daughter, after all."

Pepper nodded, her eyes on her lap, thinking thoroughly about what she had just learned. It was very surprising to her, to say the least, to see that someone who had suffered so much and had been alone for so long, could still see the best in life. In people. In her.

"I'm sorry that happened to you, Diane. You didn't deserve it. Any of it. I… I'm not sure what else to say."

"Things happen for a reason, Pepper. If Karen hadn't passed, I'd have never immersed myself in my studies to distract from the pain of losing her. I would've never been at the top of my class and I would've never been recruited by Howard to serve on the board. I would've never met you or Virgil either… and I'd probably still be alone. Or worse: in danger of becoming just like Minerva!"

"Don't you joke about that!" Pepper said between barely contained giggles that echoed in Diane as well. "Then again, all you have to do to really be like Minerva is try to get it on with Tony in his office… in the middle of the day!"

"Oh, my God! Don't remind of that!" Diane shuddered, her tears finally vanishing in favor of a smile. "If that bitch had tried to do that to my man, I'd have popped her silicone-filled boobs!"

"HAHAHAHA!" Pepper was practically snorting, almost having forgotten how colloquial Diane could be. For a second, it felt like old times for them, when Pepper was still part of the board and had to fill-in for Tony. It was just like when Trish, Diane, Howard and herself would get together and act like themselves without the business etiquette constraints that came with interacting with the board.

"Who are you talking about?" Virgil's voice startled them. His hair was still damp and he had a towel wrapped around his neck to catch some of the trickling droplets of water. "I can think of a few people, but… Well, you know what? I rather not know."

"Dad!" the redhead jumped from the bed and ran to her father, hugging him as if she were three years-old again, hitting Virgil with a little too much force for his age.

"Are you trying to get permission to do something you're not supposed to do, Patricia?" he joked and hugged her back. "Because whether I like it or not: you're an adult now. I can't really stop you from doing anything you want."

"I'm just happy to see you, Dad," Pepper said to his chest. "Everything's been so crazy and I wanted to see that you're alright."

"Sounds right up your alley, though," Virgil joked. "I could never keep you from staying out of trouble. That's why you're so tough!"

"And smart," Diane added as she too stood up from the bed and gathered a pile of clothes from one of the tables in the room. "And can put Nick Fury in his place, too."

"Ugh, please don't mention that man's name," Virgil scowled. "He's as arrogant as they come. He owes me two cars."

"Two cars?" Pepper was taken aback. "What the hell did he do?"

"He blew up all of our vehicles," Diane replied from the bathroom as she prepared to shower. "It kept us from leaving the house to find out what had happened, and when the 'police' showed up after we called them, it was actually Hawkeye and Widow in disguise. They took us in and told us about you and Tony. That's how we found out about all of this."

"You loved your car, Dad," Pepper frowned. "Couldn't he have just sent you a text message? That man's a pain in the ass!"

"His excuse is that us going under protection and disappearing from the grid for a bit would seem normal after a 'terrorist' attack to our property. He really doesn't know how to be subtle."

"No, he doesn't," Diane said. "And as much as I'd like to continue trash talking him too, I need to shower."

"OK," both Pepper and Virgil said as they watched the door close. Virgil then walked over to the bed and sat on the edge of it, only to be quickly joined by his daughter. Pepper watched him from the corner of her eye as he put on some socks and shoes in preparation for dinner time, and before he stood up to put away the towel, he eyed Pepper with a smirk.

"What's the matter, Patricia?"

"What? Who? Me? I… uhm… nothing! Nothing's the matter, Dad."

"You stink at lying, you know that?"

"I…" she hung her head and pressed her hands together between her knees, "I know."

Virgil stood up to hang the towel on a rack on the door and he then returned to where he had been previously sitting. He rested his hands on his knees and, as he waited for the ginger to say what she had come to say, he could not help but notice that Pepper's eyes were on his wedding band.

"We missed you there," Virgil said. "If we…" he hesitated at choosing his words. He knew she had only missed out on the wedding because she had been recovering from the loss of her son. "Only Howard and Trish were present. We would've loved to have had you there."

"Maybe next time?" Pepper said without thinking and Virgil raised his eyebrows, waiting for her words to sink in. "I mean! Not like that! Like, not that you and Diane will end up divorced and you marry again! I meant, like… if… after this… if after this ends and if we all… make it…"

"I know what you meant," Virgil smiled. "But it never gets old to see you try to fix what you say."

"Dad!" Pepper playfully hit him on the arm and he pretended to be hurt.

"So? What's going on? Do I have to remind Tony of my favorite shotgun?"

"No!" she pouted. "Why does everyone assume that if I'm acting all weird, that it's because of Tony?"

"Patricia," Virgil smirked, "you've always acted weird. Don't blame Tony for it."

She rolled her eyes at her dad's humor, but the joy only lasted for so long. Her eyes dimmed again and the smile disappeared from her face, leaving behind only an expression of absolute sorrow. Just as Diane had so patiently done moments ago, Virgil allowed Pepper to collect her thoughts, all of which appeared to be of extreme importance for the redhead, as far as her father could tell. Years of living with his little girl had taught him many things, one of which being that, as chatty as the girl typically was, it was when important matters to her were at stake that she became practically mute.

The silence extended for another instant, and just as Virgil was about to provide some type of physical comfort to encourage her to speak her mind, Pepper sighed and said the first thing that came to her: the one thing that abridged how she currently felt.

"I'm not his daughter," she said between gritted teeth, a few stray tears forming and falling down her red cheeks already. "I don't care what everyone else believes or thinks they know about me and him. Finding out who he is… who I am… none of that changes anything. I will never call myself his daughter."

Virgil watched the ginger's angry, determined face from the corner of his eye with awe. Throughout her life, Virgil had only once seen that exact look on Pepper's face, and it had been a few years after Loretta had left them. Since the redhead had been so very young when his ex-wife had decided to pack up her things and leave, it did not dawn on Pepper the reality of their new situation until much, much later. The small child had hoped that her mother was simply away on vacation and that she would soon return. But as time went by, and as little by little everything that had belonged to her mom started disappearing from their home, Pepper's heart broke when she finally realized that her mommy was never coming back to them. To her. For her.

She had been a little over four years of age, and she had been standing next to Virgil by the entrance of the daycare he was to leave her at now that he was preparing her for school next year, her tiny hand in his. Virgil would never forget how much he had rehearsed how he was going to explain to Pepper why she had to stay behind while he went to work. He had feared that the child would think that now even her own father was deserting her, and that was the last thing he had wanted her to think of him. Virgil Potts loved his daughter, more than he now did his ex-wife, and nothing and no one would ever come between them – or between their father-daughter bond.

Being the daughter of a federal agent, Virgil had taken the time to enroll Pepper in early stage martial arts classes at the community center near their apartment. He had known that she could not truly defend herself at this point, but he was aware that the more she practiced and the more she grew, the more she would be able to stand her ground against the bullies that he knew were going to pick on the fact that Pepper had 'no mommy.' Kids tended to be rather cruel, especially to those kids that lived their lives differently, even if their teasing was just a mechanism to reassure themselves that they were not in the wrong. A family was supposed to be made of a mom, a dad and kids – maybe even a dog. But in his line of duty and with his other financial obligations his former wife had left him to pay, Virgil had barely had the funds to keep his daughter and himself afloat several years after the divorce had been finalized. The only reason he had been able to afford the daycare was because their exorbitant fees were heavily discounted for government employees.

But then, as it was still true now, Virgil Potts firmly believed his daughter deserved the best.

That day, by the entrance of her first day at the daycare, she had acted like she always did: so innocent – so full of hope and joy, but that day Virgil had also seen a side of his little girl that he never thought existed within her. Her hand had tightened around his, her face had changed to resemble the same one she was currently sporting, right before she had said to him, with fierce fortitude: "It's just you and me now, right, Daddy?"

And when Virgil had assented to her question, she had followed up his answer with a: "Forever and ever until the end of the world?"

Virgil had nodded again, although he had made a mental note to later on introduce Pepper to the concept of death, when she was ready for it.

"OK. As long as you're still my daddy, I don't care," the little redhead had told him with a shrug before she had pulled him down to hug him with all her might, had kissed his cheek and had told him that she would be waiting for him to come back for her. Not once after that had Pepper ever mentioned her mother again with any kind of real emotion until the doppelganger had showed up at their doorstep, years ago. Even today, despite the patching up and the apologies, Pepper rarely mentioned Loretta's name.

Then, just like that, snapping the man out of his thoughts, Virgil found himself being hugged by his daughter as fiercely as that day, nearly two decades ago.

"You're still my dad," Pepper cried in his ear. "You're still the only father I know and will ever need. I… I love you, Dad."

Virgil tenderly hugged his daughter back, surprised that she had found it necessary to make her feelings in the matter known – especially when he did not even feel threatened by the existence of Killian in the world. He was not going to deny that, at some point, it had been heartbreaking for him to find out that Pepper's biological father was out there – but that had been before Virgil had learned what the man was up to. His heartbreak had quickly dissipated when Nick Fury had told them all about Doom and Killian's plans – how they had used his daughter for their evil needs and how they had wanted her dead when her usefulness to them had ended. How could that man, that crazy scientist that had shared with Pepper's birth mother the gift of creating life, consider himself a father? How dare he, even if he was not aware of it, give his little girl grief over his existence?

Even from afar, without having ever even met her, Aldrich Killian was making his daughter's life miserable. Even without meaning or wanting – or even caring enough to do anything about it – Killian had set the fate of his little girl in motion, way before Virgil had ever been in the picture; way before she had even been born. For that, Virgil Potts would never forgive the son of a bitch. And he would do whatever was in his power to make sure Killian got what he had coming; what he had earned and deserved.

Virgil brushed Pepper's hair, just as he had done so many times in the past when her younger self had come home from school in tears after being told she was weird, and that this was the reason why she had no mom. She had never once said to Virgil the exact content or context of how she had been picked on – bullied – by her peers, but Virgil always knew. It took years and a couple of black eyes and a broken nose before the other kids had learned that picking on the redhead meant asking for a fight.

And she had always won them all. He had taught her well.

Nevertheless, the fight she was going be a part of soon; the fight for peace and for his grandchild, made those petty arguments with the younger fools look like literally nothing. This time, her anger would only get her so far. This time, her skills were amateur at best.

This time, he could lose her for real.

This time, they could all end up dead, James Howard Stark out of their reach, Tony forever a slave to Doom's commands.

Despite the possible grim results of what Pepper had to face, Virgil pulled her face away from his neck, brushed her hair out of her face and then smiled fondly at her. The unpretentious gesture, even though was comforting to her, renewed the flow of tears in her, simply because on some level, Pepper had feared her adoptive father would push her away. Reject her because she was the biological creation of a freak – a sorry excuse for a human being.

She knew she was ridiculous for even thinking it could happen, but with everything that was going on, the improbable was no longer impossible.

"You'll always be my daughter, Patricia… Pepper," he corrected himself as he dried her tears with his hands, "I'll always be your dad. And I'll always love you, too. Forever and ever. Until the end of the world."

xxxXXXxxx

"It's a shame that: a) this doesn't surprise me, and b) I know how to patch it up."

"I don't know why you're even bandaging it, Pepper," Tony shrugged. His arms lazily held the genius' weight by pressing his palms against a table in their lab while he watched his wife tend to Gene Khan's ice-caused injury. "He's just gonna heal overnight. Won't even leave a scar."

"That's what I told her," Gene said as he tried to pull away from the ginger's assistance, but a glare from the woman made him roll his eyes and give in. "If you think someone needs to be patched up, it's Iceman."

"I think he should change his name," Happy said almost distractedly. "I think Hot Head fits him better."

"What about: Mouthless," Rhodey joked despite the fact that he did not condone punishment that did not fit the crime. "I didn't even know that you could do that, Gene."

"It's only temporary," Gene assured them. "If I didn't want his pathetic death on my conscience, I'd leave him like that to starve."

"Well, I'm sure he won't piss you off again," Pepper offered, finally finishing her work and giving Gene a quick, small smile. "Plus, I'm sure Professor X is gonna punish him, too."

"I'm actually shocked that he'd even try something like that," Tony supplied. "I get the roughhousing and wanting to pick a fight, but trying to stab you in the back? That seems pretty vindictive for a group that has been nothing but supportive of this cause, all this time."

"Gambit was angry as hell about it," Rhodey stated. "He kept saying something about him breaking the code and whatnot."

"I don't think Scott will stand for this either," Pepper stood up and began collecting the medical supplies she had borrowed to clean up Gene's wound. As she did so, Gene gently grabbed her wrist to catch her attention and mouthed a thank you only she could see. The redhead, knowing the importance of keeping Gene's persona intact, subtly winked at him in response before she walked away from the table.

"Well, that's not really our problem, unless Iceman gets in the way of the mission," Tony said and crossed his arms over his chest. "And if he does or even tries to fuck it up, I'm kicking him out."

"Speaking of which," Rhodey began, "I can't believe Fury is letting you lead this entire operation, Tony. Not that I don't trust you with it or nothing, but you'd think Fury would want full control over this mission, especially after how you almost hacked into the VTR for Pepper today."

"He, what?" Pepper slammed closed the drawer where she would now keep the first-aid kit and stared pointedly at Rhodey. "Tony did what?"

Rhodey's head recoiled, unsure about why Pepper was unaware of what had happened earlier in the virtual training area of the building. It had been hours since it had taken place; surely the couple had already talked about it at length.

"You know," Rhodey began, his right hand gesturing in a revolving motion. "Tony wanted to get you out of the training session –"

"Rhodey," Tony said between gritted teeth, his eyes wide.

"Yeah, Tony, remember? You tried to hack the VTR but Gene stopped you?"

"Rhodey," Tony said again, violently shook his head from left to right to prevent Pepper from seeing his reaction, but he was interrupted when she suddenly turned to stare at him. He simply looked to the ceiling and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

"What do you mean you don't remember?" Rhodey scoffed, mistaking Tony's shake of the head for an inability to recall the event before he turned to his left to address Hogan and elbowed him on his upper arm. "You remember, right, Happy?"

"Yeah, I remember," Happy agreed with a nod, "Tony threw a fit over it and told everyone that Gene loves Pepper."

"What?" her voice was more piercing than any of the men surrounding her had ever heard it before.

"What?" Rhodey rubbed his earlobes with his fingertips, shrugged, stared at Tony's angry face and then it finally dawned on him. "Huh… you don't know."

"She doesn't know," Happy reiterated, also surprised that Pepper was having such an intense reaction to something that was an everyday occurrence: Tony going ape shit over Pepper's discomfort. "Wait, which part? That Tony wanted to get her out of the VTR or that Gene loves her?

"Well," Rhodey gulped. "I, uhm, not sure… and… well… Gene said that… that… Hey! Where's Gene?"

Happy stared back and forth between where Gene had been sitting, seconds ago, and a fuming Pepper glaring at Tony before he spoke once more.

"Hey, Rhodey. I think I know where Gene went."

"You do?" Rhodey asked with confusion. "Where?"

"Out of here," Happy mumbled, pointed towards the exit with his chin and then casually made his way towards it, Rhodey trailing behind. Neither Tony nor Pepper made any effort to try to stop them, and once they were alone in the lab, Pepper spoke.

"So, you trust me, do you?"

Tony nervously pulled on his collar and sighed.

Luckily for him, a fight was not in the cards.

---

A/N: I'm guessing that in light of the lack of reviews for the last chapter despite seeing via the stats page that many Faithful Readers visited the story, that you're not opposed to me continuing this story ^_^. As another thank you for your patience with the TWO years these stories have taken me to write them and you to read them, here's a tidbit for another future story, different from the ones of the TLC Saga and from the one I posted at the end of the previous chapter. Hope you look forward to this one, too!

He rearranged the goodies he had found tonight and held them in his arms as he began avoiding the traps he had set himself on his way inside the basement. He doubted he would find more food or other necessary supplies around here for much longer, but he did not dare to think about what this meant. One could only run away for so long before reality caught up with you and mocked you in the face.

It was darkly funny, a technology-obsessed inventor like him, living without society; without civilization.

He was almost near the end of the long hall of booby traps, but as fate would have it, one of the cans slid down from his arms and landed on the exact spot to set off the final line of defense against intruders. In the dead of the darkness around him he heard the expert and quick cocking of a gun before he felt the cold metal of its barrel resting on his forehead.

"Don't. Move. You've got a loaded, .357 Magnum short-barrel revolver pointed at your head and I will blow your fucking brains out if you don't do as I say."

The blue-eyed boy could not help the smile that graced his face.

"Pepper, it's me: Tony," he whispered, making sure he did not make any sudden movements or raised his voice to push her to pull the trigger. That was how the last person that had tried sneaking inside had ended up with a bullet in his head, courtesy of Patricia 'Pepper' Potts.