Hey guys, sorry for the short chapter, but I wanted all the action to be in the next chapter which will be out soon! I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who has messaged me and review with your caring, and sweet words of encouragement after my memo in the last chapter. Thank you to all of you, and I'm sorry if I haven't replied to all of you yet, I'm trying to as best as I can, so be patient. Well, without further adieu, here is chapter 40! I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or anyone you recognize, except for my characters.
Pepper smiled as she talked to the reporters, because as long as they were paying attention to her, they didn't think twice to look at the limo that was following all the others into the underground parking lot. As it pulled to a stop Bruce and I stepped out from the front, I adjusted his tie before knocking on the glass. The door opened and the rest of the team climbed out of the back, all dressed to the nines, and none looking too pleased about it. "If the Other Guy comes out, I'm going to feel pretty bad destroying this." Bruce had admitted to me earlier making me smile affectionately as I smoothed down the front of the jacket and look up at him.
"Don't worry. Alexander owes me some favors; we'll get you another one when this is all over."
"Minnie, code?" I looked over to Peter who was standing by the elevator.
"Wrong elevator." I said as I walked over and took them to the red door elevator and punched in Rhodey's code. The doors opened and we stepped inside.
"Uh, why are there no buttons?" Peter asked as he looked at the wall.
"Jarvis, to the party please." I chuckled.
"Right away Mrs. Banner, and may I say, good to have you back."
"It's good to be back Jarvis." I said.
"Dr. Banner, I hope your daughters are okay."
"They're fine Jarvis, we've sent them to a safe place."
"Who is uh..."
"That's Jarvis, he runs the building." I explained quickly. "He's the best AI I have ever worked with." I replied.
"Mr. Stark has asked me to inform you he's planning a test drive for the new suit tonight and that he expects it to be his best yet."
"And what do you think?"
"My programming isn't in the position to argue with him." Jarvis replied making me chuckle.
"Jarvis, has anyone gained access to the Penthouse?" I questioned.
"Only Dallas under your command I expect. Does he not know that the keypads are fitted with fingerprint analyzers?"
"What do fingerprints have to do with anything?" Steve asked softly.
"Every Stark employee gives their fingerprints as part of the hiring process. Even if I hadn't given Dallas Rhodey's code, his fingerprint is enough to get him through the door."
"So what's the point of giving him a code?" Logan asked.
"People with access all have different codes," Bruce explained. "For example, every member of the Avengers' code starts with the letter A. Minnie's code starts with the number 1, and Pepper's code is her name. If you put in a code, the name associated with the code is put in the system."
"So if you just use the fingerprint, the name associated with the fingerprint is in the system?" Peter asked.
"Yup." I nodded.
"Why use Rhodes so much?" he asked and it was Natasha's turn to answer.
"It's a code."
"For who?"
"Rhodes." Logan answered.
"Assuming they drop the records of who comes and goes, Jarvis?"
"On a daily basis Mrs. Banner."
"Right, well, Rhodes' name will come up a lot, they'll be forced to ask him about it. He'll shrug it off as a mistake, but Rhodes is smarter than that. To be friends with Tony as long as he has, he's got to be smarter than that." I explained. "Everyone got their earpieces?" They nodded.
"Coulson, testing."
"Got you loud and clear boss." he said and I smiled.
"Pepper; we good?"
"We're good." she replied.
"Everything's good up here too Min." Clint said. "I'm in your office, Jarvis has every security camera up, it's like the pentagon up here."
"Good to hear it." I told him. "We're stepping out of the elevator now, I'm going to try to approach her, Hawk, I'll need your help with this."
"No problem. Thor and Tony will be down as soon as you guys get off the elevator."
"Good." I said before looking at Bruce. He leaned in and kissed me quickly.
"Jarvis," Natasha said. "Open the doors." The doors slid open making me and Bruce break away from each other.
The ceremony was still happening, a stage with a row of people sitting on it while Norman Osborn sat to the side, away from the people I assumed were members of his teams. We walked in different directions, I took to circling around to the back, keeping my eye on the ceremony going on in front of me. It looked like it was wrapping up as I took my spot in the back, watching everything happening.
"The young girl with dark hair and the white streaks is Rogue." Clint said in my ear.
"She's so young." I muttered.
"Yeah, round the same age as Amanda." Clint replied as he typed something. "Hey Min, how do you make the coffee maker work in here?" I tried not to chuckle out loud as I explained that Jarvis controlled the coffee maker, and to just tell him how strong to make it.
People started to stand and applaud making me realize that the ceremony was over. I walked through the crowd, trying to keep my eye on Rogue when I saw her slip into a bathroom. I smiled lightly to myself, knowing this was perfect timing.
I grabbed two glasses off of a nearby tray, and followed her to the bathroom. The party would be getting started now, which Natasha told me was the perfect cover.
"Congratulations." I said when Rogue came out of the bathroom stall.
"Oh, thank you." she smiled and I smiled hearing her slight southern accent, as I set down one of the glasses near her.
"You must be so excited."
"I guess." she shrugged with a small grin as she started to wash her hands. She was drying them when I stuck my hand out.
"My name is Simone." I said and she hesitated, giving me time to slip my hand into hers, and clap my other hand over it as I shook her hand.
"No, please, I don't-" she paused and looked down at our hands before she lifted her other hand gingerly and touched my skin. "You- You're not..."
"We're more alike than you think." I explained softly.
"I've never met anyone else with the same power." she breathed as I let go of her hand. She let out a small laugh and I smiled gently before I shook my head.
"Sweetheart, it's no coincidence." I said gently. "Do you remember when you answered that add. About the people developing a cure?" she nodded. "And they took your blood?" she nodded again, before she froze and looked at me with horror.
"They- They-"
"They were run by a woman who works with Norman Osborn. She calls herself Leona Hiss, or Madame Hydra. The company was doing the testing under order from Mr. Osborn."
"Buh- but he wouldn't do that, he's proud of me!"
"Yeah, he is proud of you sweetheart. He's proud of you for proving he could change people, the same way he changed me." I said as I moved closer to her. She looked horrified, and a little sick at the same time. I touched her shoulder and she quickly looked at me.
"Why the hell would he want to change you?" she demanded.
"Because I pissed him off." I said softly. "There's a better life for you Anna." I said softly. "You had a better life before."
"Like hell I did. You don't know anything about me!" we both stopped talking as a small group of women walked in. They went into their respective stalls as I lowered my voice.
"I know you used to go to the Xavier school for gifted youngsters. I know that people liked you there, you had a boyfriend." I said softly and she nodded. "You had friends, what happened?"
"We broke up." she said softly.
"Oh sweetie, I know breakups are hard, but you can't let it control who you are." I said softly.
"I didn't have any other choices. They came to me, they asked me to join. What else could I do?" she asked softly and looked at me with a frown.
"It's not too late to pick a side." I whispered to her and she scoffed.
"Oh we're far past that." she said to me strongly. "What am I supposed to do, just call in the X-Men and ask them to come here?"
"No." I said and she shook her head.
"I didn't think so."
"But when you see Logan, he'll probably tell you the same thing." I said softly to her. She looked at me, curiosity swimming in her eyes before she looked away from me, I could see she was processing so I simply put my hand on her shoulder and gave her a small squeeze before I walked out of the bathroom.
"How'd you do?" I heard Natasha ask.
"I think we've got her." I replied as I walked through the crowd, before I felt someone bump into my shoulder.
"Oh excuse me Miss- Minnie?!" the shocked voice of one of the engineers from the third level R&D department asked looking me over.
"Roger, shut up!" I hissed as I pulled him to the side. "Shh. Do not call attention to me." I said to him softly and he looked at me curiously.
"What's going on?" he asked softly.
"What's going on is top secret government information, and you need to keep your mouth shut, do you understand?" I asked and he nodded.
"Minnie? Does this have anything to do with the spare suit upstairs?" he asked and I turned back to look at him.
"Spare suit? What spare suit?"
"My spare suit." a voice behind me said and I turned around to see Rhodey standing there. "Dance with me."
"Excuse me?"
"Well thanks to your loudmouth friend right there, I think you've been made, there's only one other way across the room, and unless you want to draw attention to yourself by running through it..." he shrugged and I nodded before he produced a pair of white silk gloves that would go to just below my elbows. "Dallas sent these along." he explained and I smiled as I slipped them on, and then took his hand. He pulled me onto the dance floor and looked behind my shoulder. "Osborn got a warrant, and confiscated the War Machine suit." he explained to me. "Word is, he's been experimenting on it."
"Glad to see you got our message."
"There's only so many times HAMMER can call you, or show up at your home and work to demand to know why you spend so much time at Stark Tower."
"Why do you spend so much time here?" I questioned and he chuckled.
"Someone's gotta feed the fish. Besides, have you seen the size of Tony's TV's?" he asked and I laughed.
"I bet Norman loved that answer." I replied. He chuckled and shook his head. "What is he doing with the War Machine suit?" I asked softly and his eyes locked on something behind me.
"I'm not sure. He might know how to control it by now, hopefully it won't come to that." he said softly.
"Who is it
"The man himself." he muttered. "He's coming over here and-" At that moment someone walked over and tapped Rhodey's shoulder. He stepped away and I smiled seeing Dallas who swept me into his arms and started to masterfully lead me across the dance floor.
"What's going on?" I asked him softly.
"Well, Norman is making a beeline for the elevator now." he said.
"Clint, you hear that?"
"Yeah I got it Minnie."
"I want to know what floor he gets off on, okay?"
"You got it."
"Tony?" I questioned.
"Yeah Kiddo?"
"Don't call me that, how's the updates?"
"Almost done, why?"
"Because I have a feeling Norman saw me, and if he did, there's a good chance he's going for that suit he took from Rhodes." I replied.
"That's most likely where he's going." Clint replied. "He pushed the button for level 8 R&D."
"Should we have Jarvis shut him down?" I asked.
"I just had Jarvis stop the elevator, I can keep him there all night."
"I wouldn't be so sure." Clint said after a few moments. "He got the doors open."
"This guy is hell bent on starting a fight."
"What's our plan?" Steve asked.
"He's in the stairway." Clint continued to tell us what he was doing.
"Jarvis, lock down level 8!" I heard Tony shout. "What do you mean your controls are being over-ridden? Captain, if Norman wants a fight, we'll give him a fight."
"Screw this; let me and the kid go after him." I heard Logan say.
"Attention honored guests. Tonight you will be asked to perform another act of service for our cause," Norman's voice came in through the PA system. "In the building are several threats, here to try to change all of our progress and all of your hard work. I expect the Avengers to be taken care of in the next hour. To the rest of our guests, please, do not let this inconvenience the party. It will take but a moment."
"He certainly sounds sure of himself." I heard Peter say and I looked around at the chaotic throngs of people who were looking for each other, or trying to get to the exits.
"Dallas, do you see-"
"Right behind you." I jumped and spun around, moving into the outstretched arms of my husband. "I really liked this suit." he sighed as I started to loosen his tie.
"Hey there Minnie." we both looked to see Luke Cage standing there.
"Hey Luke." I smiled. "Fancy seeing you here."
"Guess I shouldn't be surprised huh" he asked.
"It's about as surprising as the fact that you're still Norman's lap dog." I said as Bruce started to move between me and Luke.
"You ready for round two?" Luke asked Bruce darkly who clenched his fists.
"It doesn't have to be like this." he replied and Luke smirked before he threw off his jacket and picked up a table.
"If you think about it, it's the only way it could have ended for the two of us." Luke said before he flung the table at us.
Bruce instantly turned into the Hulk, tearing away the suit, minus the pants; they just tore at the bottoms, up his calves. The table smashed against the Hulk's chest, he had used one of his massive arms to cover me from the incoming, unorthodox projectile.
I moved out from under him, while some people screamed, the other Avengers seemed to see this as the invitation to react. Most of the guests had left, while most of Norman's little army had stayed behind, ready to fight against the Avengers, a few of them looked none too sure about it, but when the Hulk let out a massive roar, they seemed to commit to the fight.
Everyone took their stance, I looked around the room, before my eyes landed on a familiar woman with dark hair.
Her eyes locked with mine and I felt myself clench my fists. I may not be a fighter, but I would be damned if I let that slow me down tonight.
Hope you liked it! Lots of action in the next chapter, which will be out soon! So, keep your eyes peeled (What a disgusting phrase) for the next chapter!
P.S. Please don't forget to review!