Title: Payback is a Bitch
Author: GlitterAngelEm
Fandoms: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Marvel Cinematic Univerise
Characters: James Rhodes, Buffy Summers, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,729
Author's Notes: I knew this weekend would kill my streak. Hopefully, this makes up for it. This is a continuation of the Buffy and James Rhodes series. Seriously, this scene has been in my head for years but I've never put it down on paper.
James could barely take his eyes off Buffy as they walked into the restaurant, her arm gently held with his. Once again they found their schedules lining up, this time in New York City. It was not a place she visited that often, according to her, and he was determined to make the best of it by getting reservations at one of the best restaurants in the City. Dinner seemed to be their thing, and he wanted to take his girlfriend out to a nice place she had never tried before.
Even with her reservations about the cost, Buffy had indulged for the occasion, her red cocktail dress the perfection combination of dressy yet flirty, without being scandalous. He felt as if his IQ had dropped twenty points the moment he saw her, only his military training keeping him grounded.
She had sent him a smirk, as if knowing his reaction.
Leading Buffy up at the host stand, he tore his gaze away from her and said to the hostess, “Reservations for Rhodes.”
“Certainly, sir,” she said with a smile, her eyes going down to her computer as she looked for the reservation. A slight wrinkle of consternation appeared in her forehead momentarily before it cleared and she smiled. “Ah, yes, the reservation you changed earlier today. Yes, we have your table for four ready to go.”
He startled at that, frowning slightly as he started saying, “I di…”
“Rhodey!” said a familiar voice, “Good to see you’re punctual as always.”
Holding back a sigh, already knew what he would find when he turned, James released Buffy’s arm. He turned, not surprised one bit when he saw Tony and Pepper walking towards them, Tony not even phased by the change he had made in James’ dinner reservation.
“I noticed you were having dinner with Buffy here and figured, hey, it’d be great if we could all have a night out together. Get to know each other,” Tony said, giving his social smile to the gawking hostess. “As friends tend to do. Oh, and payback’s a bitch.”
Pepper went from smiling to exasperated almost immediately as she leveled Tony with a look. “Tony. You told me they knew about tonight.”
“They do,” he said. “Now.”
James took a deep breath, trying to calm him anger at Tony’s audacity, even though part of him was not entirely surprised by the turn of events. He saw Pepper giving Tony a similar took, and he opened her mouth to beat her to the punch -
Only to be interrupted by an unexpected source. Buffy.
“It’s fine,” she said lightly, reaching for his hand and squeezing it lightly. “It’ll be fun, with the dinner having. Bonus, I get to plan revenge for it and you can give me all the deets on what makes Tony Stark tick.”
He couldn’t hold back a slight chuckle of laughter, the anger with Tony dispersing at her bright smile. Even Pepper relaxed slightly at that. Tony, of course, only grinned broader. James shook his head as they were led back to their table, silently considering how much of a challenge Buffy could pose to Tony. For all that he was ten years older than her, he knew that Buffy could definitely give Tony a run for his money. And potentially even win.
The advantage of Tony Stark altering a reservation was clear, as they were led to a corner booth, one tucked into a small alcove, giving them more privacy than almost any other place in the restaurant. Buffy thanked the hostess as she smiled and slid into the booth, turning to Pepper with a bright smile. Rhodey found himself sitting next to Buffy, staring at Tony across the booth, only half paying attention as the two women began to talk. He could swear he heard something about shoes. But he ignored it, focusing instead on Tony. “I thought I made my calendar private.”
“It’s amazing, really, how privacy features on phones are just so lackluster,” Tony said, signaling to the sommelier. “There should be some industry standards for that.”
His annoyance with Tony rose slightly with that offhand comment, enough that he failed to pay attention to the nearing sommelier. It wasn’t unusual for a sommelier to hold his arm parallel to the ground, with a napkin draped over it. That shouldn’t be enough to draw James’ attention. Yet somehow, as the sommelier neared their booth, James found himself tracking the man’s movement out of the corner of his eyes, even as he chatted with Tony, even as the women next to them had an intense conversation about best designer shoes. But his attention was diverted by Tony, and he missed the look on the man’s face, missed a small movement as the napkin dropped from his arm.
Missed as a handgun was pulled out of the sommelier’s pocket and aimed towards him. In that instant, James saw his life flash before his eyes, saw any potential future disappearing like ashes in the wind. Wished he would have paid more attention to the man, instead of just paying attention to him from the corner of his eye. In that moment, James’ hand started moving towards his hip, knowing it was too late to pull his own firearm.
Knew it was too late to say goodbye to some of his best friends and a girlfriend he knew, in that moment, he loved.
It was with that thought that James tensed, trying on vain to move faster than the man, as a gunshot rang out. He waited for the impact, knowing it was aiming straight for his chest, his heart. He saw as the pistol aimed his way, saw as the man’s finger went to the trigger…
And in that moment, Buffy was lunging across the table, faster than he could move, faster than the sommelier could move. The gun still went off, the bullet shooting out. But she had hit the man a split second before he had pulled the trigger and the shot went wild, missing James. James stiffened, Pepper screamed, and Tony hissed as the shot went through his shoulder instead. James stared at his friend’s face, watching as Tony’s face went white, watched as Tony’s hands went to his shoulder at the impact, watched as Tony slid down the booth, leaving a streak of blood behind him.
Without a conscious thought, James was already moving towards Tony, to put pressure on the wound, to keep his best friend from bleeding out. Suddenly, James found himself flashing back to his years of service, his body automatically grabbing anything he could find - cloth napkins in this case - to staunch the bleeding. Without bothering to ask his friend for permission, James ripped the suit coat off of Tony, watching in horror as blood soaked into the white dress shirt. The napkins went to cover the wound, leaving Tony in an awkward position of half sitting, half laying, as James put pressure on the bloodshot, to keep it from bleeding out.
The sound of Pepper’s voice broke through his flashback, and he vaguely heard her own panic-stricken voice on the phone, having called the authorities when Tony went down. That relaxed him enough to take his attention away from Tony and towards Buffy.
In the midst of all of this, with his flashbacks and Pepper’s panic call to the authorities, with Tony’s bullet wounds, Buffy had responded differently. They had all reacted to the situation, to keep Tony from dying. Buffy, as if knowing they would take are of Tony, was on attack with the sommelier. As James focused, he realized she was…yelling at the would-be assassin?
“You have a political agenda? I get that, not liking something and wanting to find a way to change that,” she was ranting as she ducked under his punch and delivered a jab-punch combination of her own, knocking the assassin back. “Sometimes it feels like your voice isn’t heard and end up with authority figures that don’t have the moral fortitude to do their damn job. But this?”
Her speech was interrupted as the sommelier lunged at her, faking a punch, and sweeping her feet out from under her. She fell to the ground, just rolling out of the way of a punch that broke through the wood of the floor. She kicked the man back before jumping to her feet, immediately going on the offensive a knee to the groin. As the wound-be assassin bent over from the pain, she brought a strong uppercut to his chin, finishing with a punch right in the jaw. A normal man would have gone down with that combination.
The fact that the man struggled back upright and planted a punch to her face proved there was something otherwordly about him.
Sirens caught James attention, pulling him out of his observation of the fight. Buffy seemed to readjust at the sound, her eyes shooting daggers at the man. “You have a problem with the government? By all means, have your sit-in. But the minute you try killing my boyfriend? All bets are off.”
With a ferocity he had never seen in her, Buffy moved towards the man, her movements a blur to James’ eyes. The other man was already prepared for her attack, though he faltered under her strength. Soon, the man fell to the ground, unconscious, with a troubled Buffy standing above him. As if on cue, police officers surged into the restaurant, towards their booth. Buffy took a step back towards James, allowing him to be slightly ahead of her, as if she knew the officers would believe he had caused the damage to the unconscious man.
James stiffened at the movement. He knew, without thinking, that the officers would believe that James Rhodes took the man down. That the Iron Patriot saved Iron Man from death. After all, who would ever consider the damage was done by a small blonde woman in three inch heels and dress? Even as he held the cloth to Tony’s wound, even as the police surged forward to put handcuffs on the unconscious man, he looked into Buffy’s eyes. And the worried, guilty look in her eyes did little to ease his concerns. What kind of woman was faster than both Iron Man and Iron Patriot?
He was determined to find out.