Yes, Virginia, There Really Is An Iron Man: Chapter Thirty-Five
TITLE: Yes, Virginia, There Really Is An Iron Man
AUTHOR: Quicksilvermad
SUMMARY: (Movie-verse) Pepper deals with Tony’s newfound lease on life and ends up making a mountain out of her molehill of emotion where her boss is concerned.
GENRE: Humor/Romance
RATING: PG13
PAIRING: Tony/Pepper
DISCLAIMER: Iron Man etc. belong to Marvel Comics et. al.
Author’s Note: I apologize for the lengthy wait for a new chapter. Thank you all for your reviews and support in this unseemly hiatus. I feel like I don’t deserve such kindness. Here are my excuses:
Graduating college and trying to find a job took priority for a while, but seeing as unemployment left me we an abundance of free time I was able to finish this in the time after graduation.
So, here I sit with my Bachelor’s degree: Unemployed, a true starving artist, broke, and trying to make some people happy with my writing. I’ve finished this story completely. I’ll upload the chapters in a timely fashion (like, every other day) and plan on working on the 100 and 200 themes from now until I get hit with another “epically long” fic idea.
Enjoy! And, as always, remember to review. Or don’t. Just have fun reading. :D
Chapter Thirty-Five
Pepper scrolled through the shipping manifestos a third time and worriedly placed a hand on her earpiece. “Tony, I’ve got some bad news.”
She could hear the roar of rushing air as he replied. “Lay it on me.”
“I was checking the shipment lists and found one sent somewhere in Tadzhik.”
“Soviet Socialist Republic… The part of China that connects with the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan.”
“Yes, thank you for the geography lesson, Rhodey-I already knew that.”
Pepper winced. “Tony…”
“So this is a bigger problem than you thought it was, huh Jim?”
The line crackled with static at Rhodes sighed. “Apparently so.”
Pepper interrupted. “Boys. Enough. Let’s focus-Rhodey, were you able to find out precise coordinates or what?”
“We were going on the last known point of contact.”
Tony sighed. “So it would be safe to assume they’re close to that border.”
Pepper nodded, then felt foolish for doing so when he couldn’t see her. “Right.”
Tony cleared his throat and kicked in the throttle a bit more. “Jarvis, when we’re in range, give me a visual on any SI microchip signals you can detect.”
“Certainly, sir.”
Tony turned his golden mask to see how Rhodey was fairing. The new silver and black War Machine armor flew alongside him as if his friend had been using the technology since Tony invented it. “How you doing?” he asked.
“Fantastic!” Rhodey exclaimed.
“You remember how to work the repulsors?”
“Yes, Tony, I remember. But you did stick a mini gun in the shoulder, so…”
“Among other toys,” Tony grinned, and (back in Malibu) Pepper frowned with worry.
She cued up a map on the window screen and cleared her throat. “Just east of the borders is a large area of uninhabited land.”
Tony had Jarvis show him on the HUD what Pepper was looking at. “Base command, would that be your suggestion that we check it out?”
“Help the soldiers in the mountains first. And be careful.”
“Aren’t I always?”
“No,” Jim interrupted.
“He’s right,” said Pepper.
“Whatever. Jarvis, any signals yet?”
“I have over sixty-five microchip signals coming in.”
“Any that haven’t got my approval coding?”
“Roughly two thirds.”
Rhodes shifted in his flight path to look at the red and golden armor to his left. “Approval coding, Tony?”
“Something me and the boys in R&D came up with. We sent out approval codes along with military shipments to be activated when received. So the weapons with chips that have the approval coding are military and the ones not approved-the shipments Stane made-are terrorists. Or radical fascist leaders. Whatever. They’re not the good guys.”
“How is it I didn’t know about this stuff?” Rhodes asked.
Pepper sipped at her orange juice and tried to relax. She could see mountains looming and geared herself for the worst.
“Not now, Rhodey-we’ve got incoming. RPGs coming in hot!”
Pepper had to literally bite her tongue to keep from crying out as Tony extended his right hand and shot down one RPG with a repulsor beam. The explosion shook him off course enough that he lost visual of Rhodey.
“Jim?”
“Holy shit.”
“James!”
“Sorry, Pep. Doin’ okay-just had five years of my life scared outta me.”
She didn’t have time to respond in kind as another grenade hit the sensors. “Tony, eleven o’clock!”
“Got it!” he shouted in her ear and blasted the RPG out of the sky. “Look alive, Colonel-on your six!”
Rhodey dove, twisted midair, and shot down the RPG that was right behind him. “Any others?”
Pepper scanned Tony’s HUD-catching anything he missed. “Negative. Keep heading west.”
As Tony made sure Rhodes was back by his side, he tried to swallow the nervous clog in his throat. “How are you doing, Pepper?” he asked.
She closed her eyes and clamped her teeth on her lower lip.
“Pepper?”
“I’ll do better once this is over with. Your microchip signals are coming in stronger.”
“Got it.”
She watched with apprehension as Tony and Rhodey closed in on a group of soldiers under heavy enemy fire. The War Machine armor slowed to a decent pause midair and Rhodes activated the controls for the mini gun and aimed at the snipers that had half the group pinned in a low-cover fox hole. He clenched his armored fist and fired a quick burst-obliterating the opposition.
Tony quickly blew up five of his old Spartan missiles and was gobsmacked to see how many Jericho grade weapons were on the wrong side of things. “Shit-Pepper, how many of these did Stane sell in Western Asia?”
Pepper was a bit thrown by the sight of orange flames overtaking the main window. “Um…”
“Pepper!”
Jolted, the redhead checked her Blackberry. “There are sixty shipments listed. Jesus,” she whispered.
She had to look away as Tony destroyed more of the high-powered weaponry and Rhodey took out foot soldiers.
Even though she had worked for a weapons designer for most of her professional career, Pepper Potts still had trouble with the idea of using those weapons.
Tony landed in front of the pinned soldiers and served as Rhodey’s backup for any missed hostiles. Behind him, the American soldiers started cheering. Pepper couldn’t make out any distinct words they were saying, but the visual was enough to make her realize just how much what Tony was doing meant to others. Especially the military-despite his new stance against weaponry.
She continued to clench her hands nervously around her Blackberry and scan the mapped area in the top right corner of Tony’s view screen. There was something that caught her eye…
“Jarvis? Could you zoom in on the map of the wasteland?”
“Certainly, Miss Potts.”
“See something, base camp?” Tony asked.
She squinted at the blurry circles and it clicked. This was familiar-she’d seen the symbol before on a red flag behind men with guns and masks and…
“Tony, I think this is related to your…” her throat caught, “Those men, the Ten Rings…”
He brought the map Pepper was looking at into his main focus as Rhodey landed (roughly) by his side.
“No sign of any more hostiles,” he announced. “What’s Pepper see?”
“This is in that eastern wasteland, Pepper?” Tony asked.
“Yes.”
There was a pause that Pepper did not like. He was considering flying over there and doing something stupid-the sort of pause that used to have morning hangover cures as consequences but now consisted of ice packs and soaks in the hot tub.
“Whatever you’re thinking, Tony, wait. We need to tell SHIELD about this first. Besides, you’re due for that R&D meeting.”
She heard him sigh.
“Unscathed, showered, cleaned up, and ready to help Stephen pitch your engine idea.”
“Fine.”
He sounded like a little boy as he said it.
“I’ll get your notes all set up and meet you at the office,” said Pepper.
“Got it.”
Pepper let out a heavy sigh and disconnected the communication link. “Jarvis, I’ll be heading out to the office-can you link up with my car just in case Tony has a crisis?”
“Of course, Miss Potts.”
Pepper quickly ran upstairs to the spare room and changed out of Tony’s clothes and into one of her more casual violet-colored jersey knit dresses. After tossing the T-shirt and boxers onto Tony’s bed and gathering up his engineering notes, Pepper shoved her feet in a pair of wooden heeled wedges and sprinted out to her car.
She checked her rearview mirror automatically and grinned as a previously unnoticed button was lit up much like HAL-9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. “Jarvis, that wouldn’t happen to be Tony’s idea of a joke, would it?”
“I assure you, madam, I had nothing to do with the design.”
“Just don’t start singing ‘Daisy’ or anything,” Pepper grinned and started out of the driveway. “What’s Tony’s ETA?”
“Mr. Stark will be arriving in Malibu in roughly two and a half hours. Will you be requiring any assistance in organizing the engineering notes?”
At a red light, Pepper checked her Blackberry and the notes Tony scribbled on napkins and the back of her TV Guide. “I think I’ve got it covered, Jarvis,” Pepper said.
She drove in silence to the office, had Jarvis reconnect to her Bluetooth earbud, and walked purposefully toward Tony’s empty office.
“Janine, is the research and development team ready for the meeting?” she asked the receptionist.
“Mr. Crane came in earlier, so I had him head on into Mr. Stark’s office.”
“Thank you, Janine.”
Pepper organized the notes and headed into the copy room to add a bit of order to things. After some time, Pepper finally had a stack of notes and sketches that she quickly used the comb binder to group together. Knowing how Janine liked flipping through Tony’s drawings, Pepper returned to reception and handed her the booklet of notes.
“It always blows my mind how fast you do that,” the brunette commented and ran the pads of her fingers across the open container of pink moistening stuff she always used (it was far more sanitary than licking one’s fingers) to flick through the pages.
Janine watched Pepper converse with Jarvis for at least three minutes before she was connected to Tony’s helmet.
“...No, Tony, it would be better if you- Stop interrupting. If you don’t get cleaned up before you come in, you’ll stink the whole office up and-”
The front door popped open and Pepper’s conversation was cut off as the man himself disconnected his helmet and propped it under one arm to remove his gloves. “Too late, Pep.”
Her shoulders sagged. “Tony, you’re soaked.”
“Are those bullet holes?” Janine asked.
“Yes and yes. Pep, I wanna get started.”
She took the gloves and helmet from him and kept in step as he plowed into his own office.
TBC
Back | Forward
AUTHOR: Quicksilvermad
SUMMARY: (Movie-verse) Pepper deals with Tony’s newfound lease on life and ends up making a mountain out of her molehill of emotion where her boss is concerned.
GENRE: Humor/Romance
RATING: PG13
PAIRING: Tony/Pepper
DISCLAIMER: Iron Man etc. belong to Marvel Comics et. al.
Author’s Note: I apologize for the lengthy wait for a new chapter. Thank you all for your reviews and support in this unseemly hiatus. I feel like I don’t deserve such kindness. Here are my excuses:
Graduating college and trying to find a job took priority for a while, but seeing as unemployment left me we an abundance of free time I was able to finish this in the time after graduation.
So, here I sit with my Bachelor’s degree: Unemployed, a true starving artist, broke, and trying to make some people happy with my writing. I’ve finished this story completely. I’ll upload the chapters in a timely fashion (like, every other day) and plan on working on the 100 and 200 themes from now until I get hit with another “epically long” fic idea.
Enjoy! And, as always, remember to review. Or don’t. Just have fun reading. :D
Chapter Thirty-Five
Pepper scrolled through the shipping manifestos a third time and worriedly placed a hand on her earpiece. “Tony, I’ve got some bad news.”
She could hear the roar of rushing air as he replied. “Lay it on me.”
“I was checking the shipment lists and found one sent somewhere in Tadzhik.”
“Soviet Socialist Republic… The part of China that connects with the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan.”
“Yes, thank you for the geography lesson, Rhodey-I already knew that.”
Pepper winced. “Tony…”
“So this is a bigger problem than you thought it was, huh Jim?”
The line crackled with static at Rhodes sighed. “Apparently so.”
Pepper interrupted. “Boys. Enough. Let’s focus-Rhodey, were you able to find out precise coordinates or what?”
“We were going on the last known point of contact.”
Tony sighed. “So it would be safe to assume they’re close to that border.”
Pepper nodded, then felt foolish for doing so when he couldn’t see her. “Right.”
Tony cleared his throat and kicked in the throttle a bit more. “Jarvis, when we’re in range, give me a visual on any SI microchip signals you can detect.”
“Certainly, sir.”
Tony turned his golden mask to see how Rhodey was fairing. The new silver and black War Machine armor flew alongside him as if his friend had been using the technology since Tony invented it. “How you doing?” he asked.
“Fantastic!” Rhodey exclaimed.
“You remember how to work the repulsors?”
“Yes, Tony, I remember. But you did stick a mini gun in the shoulder, so…”
“Among other toys,” Tony grinned, and (back in Malibu) Pepper frowned with worry.
She cued up a map on the window screen and cleared her throat. “Just east of the borders is a large area of uninhabited land.”
Tony had Jarvis show him on the HUD what Pepper was looking at. “Base command, would that be your suggestion that we check it out?”
“Help the soldiers in the mountains first. And be careful.”
“Aren’t I always?”
“No,” Jim interrupted.
“He’s right,” said Pepper.
“Whatever. Jarvis, any signals yet?”
“I have over sixty-five microchip signals coming in.”
“Any that haven’t got my approval coding?”
“Roughly two thirds.”
Rhodes shifted in his flight path to look at the red and golden armor to his left. “Approval coding, Tony?”
“Something me and the boys in R&D came up with. We sent out approval codes along with military shipments to be activated when received. So the weapons with chips that have the approval coding are military and the ones not approved-the shipments Stane made-are terrorists. Or radical fascist leaders. Whatever. They’re not the good guys.”
“How is it I didn’t know about this stuff?” Rhodes asked.
Pepper sipped at her orange juice and tried to relax. She could see mountains looming and geared herself for the worst.
“Not now, Rhodey-we’ve got incoming. RPGs coming in hot!”
Pepper had to literally bite her tongue to keep from crying out as Tony extended his right hand and shot down one RPG with a repulsor beam. The explosion shook him off course enough that he lost visual of Rhodey.
“Jim?”
“Holy shit.”
“James!”
“Sorry, Pep. Doin’ okay-just had five years of my life scared outta me.”
She didn’t have time to respond in kind as another grenade hit the sensors. “Tony, eleven o’clock!”
“Got it!” he shouted in her ear and blasted the RPG out of the sky. “Look alive, Colonel-on your six!”
Rhodey dove, twisted midair, and shot down the RPG that was right behind him. “Any others?”
Pepper scanned Tony’s HUD-catching anything he missed. “Negative. Keep heading west.”
As Tony made sure Rhodes was back by his side, he tried to swallow the nervous clog in his throat. “How are you doing, Pepper?” he asked.
She closed her eyes and clamped her teeth on her lower lip.
“Pepper?”
“I’ll do better once this is over with. Your microchip signals are coming in stronger.”
“Got it.”
She watched with apprehension as Tony and Rhodey closed in on a group of soldiers under heavy enemy fire. The War Machine armor slowed to a decent pause midair and Rhodes activated the controls for the mini gun and aimed at the snipers that had half the group pinned in a low-cover fox hole. He clenched his armored fist and fired a quick burst-obliterating the opposition.
Tony quickly blew up five of his old Spartan missiles and was gobsmacked to see how many Jericho grade weapons were on the wrong side of things. “Shit-Pepper, how many of these did Stane sell in Western Asia?”
Pepper was a bit thrown by the sight of orange flames overtaking the main window. “Um…”
“Pepper!”
Jolted, the redhead checked her Blackberry. “There are sixty shipments listed. Jesus,” she whispered.
She had to look away as Tony destroyed more of the high-powered weaponry and Rhodey took out foot soldiers.
Even though she had worked for a weapons designer for most of her professional career, Pepper Potts still had trouble with the idea of using those weapons.
Tony landed in front of the pinned soldiers and served as Rhodey’s backup for any missed hostiles. Behind him, the American soldiers started cheering. Pepper couldn’t make out any distinct words they were saying, but the visual was enough to make her realize just how much what Tony was doing meant to others. Especially the military-despite his new stance against weaponry.
She continued to clench her hands nervously around her Blackberry and scan the mapped area in the top right corner of Tony’s view screen. There was something that caught her eye…
“Jarvis? Could you zoom in on the map of the wasteland?”
“Certainly, Miss Potts.”
“See something, base camp?” Tony asked.
She squinted at the blurry circles and it clicked. This was familiar-she’d seen the symbol before on a red flag behind men with guns and masks and…
“Tony, I think this is related to your…” her throat caught, “Those men, the Ten Rings…”
He brought the map Pepper was looking at into his main focus as Rhodey landed (roughly) by his side.
“No sign of any more hostiles,” he announced. “What’s Pepper see?”
“This is in that eastern wasteland, Pepper?” Tony asked.
“Yes.”
There was a pause that Pepper did not like. He was considering flying over there and doing something stupid-the sort of pause that used to have morning hangover cures as consequences but now consisted of ice packs and soaks in the hot tub.
“Whatever you’re thinking, Tony, wait. We need to tell SHIELD about this first. Besides, you’re due for that R&D meeting.”
She heard him sigh.
“Unscathed, showered, cleaned up, and ready to help Stephen pitch your engine idea.”
“Fine.”
He sounded like a little boy as he said it.
“I’ll get your notes all set up and meet you at the office,” said Pepper.
“Got it.”
Pepper let out a heavy sigh and disconnected the communication link. “Jarvis, I’ll be heading out to the office-can you link up with my car just in case Tony has a crisis?”
“Of course, Miss Potts.”
Pepper quickly ran upstairs to the spare room and changed out of Tony’s clothes and into one of her more casual violet-colored jersey knit dresses. After tossing the T-shirt and boxers onto Tony’s bed and gathering up his engineering notes, Pepper shoved her feet in a pair of wooden heeled wedges and sprinted out to her car.
She checked her rearview mirror automatically and grinned as a previously unnoticed button was lit up much like HAL-9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. “Jarvis, that wouldn’t happen to be Tony’s idea of a joke, would it?”
“I assure you, madam, I had nothing to do with the design.”
“Just don’t start singing ‘Daisy’ or anything,” Pepper grinned and started out of the driveway. “What’s Tony’s ETA?”
“Mr. Stark will be arriving in Malibu in roughly two and a half hours. Will you be requiring any assistance in organizing the engineering notes?”
At a red light, Pepper checked her Blackberry and the notes Tony scribbled on napkins and the back of her TV Guide. “I think I’ve got it covered, Jarvis,” Pepper said.
She drove in silence to the office, had Jarvis reconnect to her Bluetooth earbud, and walked purposefully toward Tony’s empty office.
“Janine, is the research and development team ready for the meeting?” she asked the receptionist.
“Mr. Crane came in earlier, so I had him head on into Mr. Stark’s office.”
“Thank you, Janine.”
Pepper organized the notes and headed into the copy room to add a bit of order to things. After some time, Pepper finally had a stack of notes and sketches that she quickly used the comb binder to group together. Knowing how Janine liked flipping through Tony’s drawings, Pepper returned to reception and handed her the booklet of notes.
“It always blows my mind how fast you do that,” the brunette commented and ran the pads of her fingers across the open container of pink moistening stuff she always used (it was far more sanitary than licking one’s fingers) to flick through the pages.
Janine watched Pepper converse with Jarvis for at least three minutes before she was connected to Tony’s helmet.
“...No, Tony, it would be better if you- Stop interrupting. If you don’t get cleaned up before you come in, you’ll stink the whole office up and-”
The front door popped open and Pepper’s conversation was cut off as the man himself disconnected his helmet and propped it under one arm to remove his gloves. “Too late, Pep.”
Her shoulders sagged. “Tony, you’re soaked.”
“Are those bullet holes?” Janine asked.
“Yes and yes. Pep, I wanna get started.”
She took the gloves and helmet from him and kept in step as he plowed into his own office.
TBC
Back | Forward