Loki needed Pepper now, though, and they both knew it, so he was on his best behavior that weekend. Pepper furnished him with the things she felt were necessary to help him fit in, taught him how to use the television and an old Smartphone she had around the house, and left for work Monday morning praying that her apartment would still be in one piece once she returned.
And it was – only she hadn't counted on Loki leaving said apartment, let alone what he would do once he got outside.
But there it was, plastered live all over the break room television. 'Frost' the ice mutant was on TV playing vigilante in the middle of freaking Central Park!
Pepper swore, gathering up her things and heading for the door, screaming over her shoulder at her boss, "Jim, I've got to go! Emergency came up!"
She managed to make it out onto the sidewalk before the Extremis took over. Dropping her things in her car before she headed for the park on foot, she just let the flames take her over, speed doubling and tripling as Extremis coursed through her veins. A flash of inspiration had her launching from the sidewalk onto a rooftop and then from one to another to another – it was quicker and less people saw her – until she saw Frost in the park, in the middle of what appeared to have turned into a full-on assault directed towards him.
She had time to mutter a vehement, "I'm going to kill him," before she let a growl tear loose from her throat as she launched herself at the back of one of Frost's assailants. He fell to the ground screaming in pain from the burns he had suddenly sustained as Pepper wheeled away from him and kicked another man when he came at her.
"How nice of you to join me, Flare," Frost said sweetly, ducking under the swing of a third man.
In response, Pepper spewed fire in their direction, narrowly missing Frost as the blaze hit the other man directly in the face.
Frost raised his eyebrows, hand blasting ice at a previously unseen man behind her shoulder as he remarked, "Well, that's an interesting development. I suppose I ought to thank you for your help, by the way."
"It's not a new development," Pepper answered sharply throwing a couple of punches at another guy. "And you are so not welcome. What the h*** were you thinking?!"
"That I was bored," he answered calmly, harshly elbowing someone who tried to sneak up behind him. "I started tinkering on the phone you gave me and stumbled upon a police scanner – what did you call it – app. Perhaps the previous owner put it there? In any case, I tuned in and decided to help, since this city's ever so fine law enforcement seems to be having a bit of a busy day."
He turned to face her and smirked, blasting a final ball of ice at a man lunging at her while she propelled a stream of fire at the final attacker trying to harm them. And then they were standing, breathing heavily and staring at one another in the middle of nearly a dozen unconscious men. He smirked and she scowled. He stepped up to her and she barely refrained from slapping that smirk right off of his face, enflamed hand or not.
"Smile," he whispered. "There's a camera."
And then he kissed her.
"Hey, everybody!" Clint called from the living room of Avengers' Tower. "Come look at this thing on the news! I think there's aliens in Central Park!"
"Fury hasn't called us in yet, has he?" Natasha asked, checking her phone to make sure, as if aliens invaded the city every day.
Following behind the female Avenger, Thor paled as caught sight of who was on the television. Although he had no idea who the ball of fire was, he knew a Jotun when he saw one, and this specimen looked horrifyingly like a Jotun version of Loki. So that's what his brother looked like in his truest form…
"Not that I know of," Dr. Banner answered Natasha as he and Tony came up from the lab to see what was going on.
The moment Tony saw the two figures on the television, he screamed, "That's Pepper!"
"Where's Pepper?" Natasha asked, turning to Tony.
"The fire lady! Remember how I told you Pepper had been involved in an experiment gone wrong and she'd left me and that's why I called you guys over to come sulk with me?" He stabbed the television with every word he said next, "That's how it went wrong."
Steve raised his eyebrows, asking, "Your former girlfriend and CEO turned into the female version of the Human Torch?"
"Yes. No. Sort of. I don't know!"
"She needs help," Thor said finally, breaking into the others' conversation. "Her current position is unsafe."
"Looks like she's okay to me," Clint said, drawing their attention back to the television as the duo onscreen knocked out the last of their opponents.
"Yeah," Natasha smirked when – what in all the Nine Realms! – the Jotun Loki stepped forward and kissed her right there on camera. "Whoever she's with, she's got it all under control."
"Tony," Bruce said carefully, turning slowly to the billionaire at his side. "I've met Pepper before; I got to get a pretty good impression of her when I visited here. She doesn't strike me as the type of person to switch from one guy to another within eight weeks without having a reason to get over the former guy that quickly. Is there something you're not telling us? Because we came here to support you because of a breakup – assuming you deserve the support."
"What are you saying?" Tony snapped defensively.
Bruce sighed, removing his glasses as he asked, "Did you kick her out? You told us that she left you, but something tells me that you were the one to break up with her. Do me a favor and tell us the truth before I have Jarvis locate her and then go and ask her myself."
Tony looked away first and sat back onto an ottoman, groaning "fine" as he raked his hands through his hair and then asked, "But if I do that, you have to promise you won't hate me or hurt me."