Hello everyone! How are you? So we know that we're supposed to be working on our other stories, but this one hasn't stopped nagging us. We are super sorry for the wait on the others, but we promise, in about two weeks, we will have updates for them! So! Without further ado, onwards with our new story!
x-(-X-X-)-x
Arc I: Threats and Favors
"A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another, the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one other it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden." –The Buddha
Location: Washington State – Carbonell Lake House – Balcony
One year, three months, two weeks, five days, and twenty-eight minutes since the Battle of New York and Loki happened.
Eleven months, one week, three days, and forty-one minutes since they had appeared into her life again, changing it forever. Since they came and tore everything she knew, everything she believed in, down.
She sat, a small glass of scotch resting in her hands, on the balcony of the three story, Tudor style home in Washington State, just outside of a small town called Elbe, about twenty something miles from Mount Rainier, gazing serenely at the setting sun from behind the dormant mountain. There was a gust of wind, and she absent-mindedly tucked a strand of her chocolate brown hair behind her tanned ear, though other than that, did not move.
It was...peaceful here, in this little, wooded area. There was no cars honking at idiot pedestrians, no echos of people shouting at one another, no footsteps sounding below her window; the only thing she could here was the soft hum of JARVIS as he monitored their surroundings, the laughter of her friends, her family, drifting from the open window as they watched something on the wide screen TV in the large living room below her, the cawing of nearby crows as they circled over the pieces of dried bread she had tossed earlier. If she concentrated hard enough, she could faintly hear the trickle of the nearby river that flowed into Elbe Lake, which was a short, ten, fifteen minute hike to the north.
She took a deep breath, her once tortured, pained eyes now calm and, dare she say, happy, closing briefly before, and with a small grunt of discomfort, she stood and walked over to the edge of the wooden balcony. The tanned woman raised her glass up to her nose, inhaled the fumes of the alcoholic drink, before dumping it over the side, a small smile flickering onto her face as she felt the encouraging kick of her child inside her womb at her actions.
She was happy; for the first time in so long, she was truly happy. And as a pair of strong arms wrapped around both sides of her, a pair of chins resting on her shoulders while a nimble hand reached out and took the now empty tumbler before resting itself on the swell of their child – or children, seeing as she was already bigger than the norm at only three months, she realized something, something that made her exceedingly happy.
No matter what it was that had happened in these past eleven months, one week, three days, and forty-five minutes; she wouldn't change anything for the world.
Location: Avengers Tower i.e. Stark Tower – Stark Lab – Basement
Eight months, three weeks, six days, thirty-five minutes earlier
"JARVIS, initiate download Alpha Kilo Zeero Wun November Tree Zulu Zulu." a tired, feminine voice called out, followed by the whirring of a machine. "Download sequence accepted. Authorization code?" a British accented, with a small, mechanical lit to it, voice questioned.
"Authorization code: Alpha Mike Sierra Wun Nine Seven Tree India Lima Kilo Kilo." There was another whirr of a machine as the code was entered. "Authorization code accepted. Downloading Alpha Kilo Zeero Wun November Tree Zulu Zulu. Estimated download time: fifteen minutes and forty-two seconds."
There was a sigh and the sound of a chair scraping slightly against the floor. "Thank you JARVIS." Antonia 'Toni' Stark said wearily, stretching her lightly tanned, muscled arms above her head, releasing a tired yawn.
"It was my pleasure Sir." The AI replied. "Is there anything I can be of assistance with?"
The brunet shook her head, another yawn ripping itself from her tired mouth while she rubbed tiredly at her dark, cobalt blue eyes. "No – wait yes. Can you run a diagnostic on the Mark VI Iron Man suit? Last time I took him for a spin, it seemed – DUM-E, no! Put it back! Now! I swear, I am going to fucking turn you into a toaster! – ehem, where was I? Oh right! It felt like the left leg thrusters was outputting less than the right, and I kept going left all the time. Also, check the reaction sensors, as my response time was down by point eight-three-six-nine seconds."
"Certainty Sir, I will begin diagnostics immediately. Would you like me to send you the results to the your Starkpad or your Starkphone?" the AI intoned, and Toni was able to faintly hear the humming of the AI's processors starting the diagnostics. "Starkpad please."
"Yes Sir." Toni released another tired yawn and rubbed at her no doubt sleep bruised eyes, though she was quickly distracted by a loud crash to the right. Spinning in her chair, she felt her left eye begin to tick in annoyance as she saw DUM-E, BUTTERFINGERS, and YOU, surrounding the destroyed table that, luckily, didn't hold anything save for a few prototype gauntlets for the Mark VIII Iron Man suit.
"What did I tell you?!" the small, petite woman roared, leaping to her feet and chasing after her AI's, who had immediately started to run – or roll, as they didn't have legs – away from their furious Creator. "That is it! As soon as I catch you, I'm donating you all to the fucking community college as spare parts! When I get my – Argh!" she cried, tripping on one of the gauntlets on the floor, sprawling in an undignified heap on the floor. Immediately, the AI's raced back to their fallen Creator, who was slowly sitting up, holding her head.
"Ow..." she moaned, cringing slightly. Hearing the three AI's that now surrounded her whirring in distress, she sent them a scathing glare.
"This is all your fucking fault." she snapped, though she felt a pang of guilt flash through her at their disheartened postures (i.e. the way the all slumped and whirring sadly). Sighing, she reached out and patted DUM-E's arm, BUTTERFINGERS' and YOU's bases, looking directly into their camera lens that served as their eyes.
"Alright alright already, you're forgiven. God, you're all such babies. Ow...man I'm gonna have a fucking bruise there later." she bemoans, clumsily getting to her feet, another jaw cracking yawn escaping from her mouth.
"Fuck, JARVIS? What time is it?" She asks groggily, already heading towards her computer council to start saving all of her project files. "Actually, what fucking day is it?"
"It is currently three oh seven in the afternoon on Monday, the twelfth of September, two-thousand and twelve. The temperature is currently seventy-six degrees; records indicate that there is supposed to be a four degree drop in the next two and a half hours. There is a chance for rain later today, around five PM, with clouds and rainstorms lingering for the next two days. A Tornado alert has been issued for all of New York state, with recommendations to stay inside unless absolutely necessary." the British AI promptly responded, eliciting a groan from the tired woman.
"Damn, I've been down here for eight days?"
"Eight days, twenty-two hours, thirty-seven minutes, and fifteen seconds, to be precise Sir."
"You. Shut it. Who the fuck programmed you to be sarcastic anyways?"
"You Sir."
That caused Toni to pause, her fingers, dainty, calloused, and oil stained, to hover over the holo-keypad. "Was I drunk?"
"No Sir. You were perfectly coherent at the time of my programming." The AI seemed almost smug about this. Toni blinked for a few seconds before shrugging. "Huh. Whatever. Just be grateful I'm too fucking tired to dismantle you right now."
"Of course Sir." the AI responded sarcastically, and Toni knew that if he had eyes, he'd be rolling them right now. So, like the mature, genius woman she was...Toni stuck her tongue out at the large, cylinder housing that was JARVIS' core.
"Very mature, Sir," JARVIS drawled. Toni sniffed haughtily, turning her nose up into the air. "I certainly thought so. JARVIS, save files; Project: IM-MVIII, Project: IM-MVII, Project: Widow-Bite-NR, Project: Capsicle-Shield-SR, Project: Legolas-BOW2.0-CB, Project: Legolas-ARROW2.1-CB, Project: Midgard/Earth -TO, Project: Stretchpants-Hulk-BB, Project: Avenger-UPGRADE-thread-NM-SR-CB-BB-TO, Project: ARC-3.0 through ARC-4.0, Project: UPGRADE-AI, and Project: SHIELD to my personal files. Also, update backups to them all as well."
"Consider it done, Sir." Toni nodded and stretched again, moaning lowly as her back popped. "Thanks J."
With another tired yawn, her eyes tearing up slightly from the force of the yawn, the brunet made her way over to the waiting elevator, absently shooing DUM-E, BUTTERFINGERS, and YOU back towards their recharging stations. "JARVIS, is BLESSING on?"
"She is now Sir."
"Excellent." Toni said gleefully, already dreaming of her soon to be cup of warm, caffeinated goodness made by her wonderful AI, BLESSING. That dream, however, was ruined when JARVIS said, "Sir, Ms. Potts wishes for me to inform you that you have have a meeting with the representatives of Oscorp Industries at four thirty-five this evening."
Toni gave a groan of disappointment, banging her head against the stainless steel interior of her personal elevator, ignoring the AI's comment of 'banging your head will not make the meeting disappear, Sir.' Mentally grumbling about sarcastic AI's, Toni let her exhausted blue eyes close, before issuing out a series of orders she hated to give, but knew she had to.
"JARVIS, turn on the shower to the coldest degree I can withstand."
"Yes Sir."
"You don't have to sound so fucking happy about that J." Toni grumbled. JARVIS made the elevator jerk as it lifted her tired body to her rarely used bedroom, with a sarcastic 'Apologies Sir' when she stumbled, in response.
"Fucking asshole AI's; maybe I'll ship you off to a city college." Toni muttered, rubbing her eyes warily as she waited for the doors to open to her suite. As another yawn escaped her throat, she shuffled her way towards the bathroom, shivering slightly at the cold air that emitted from its depths.
Striping off her favorite Black Sabbath tee-shirt, then her grease stained blue denims into a pile by the door, which was quickly followed by her black and white skull sports bra and iron man boxer briefs, she made her way to the open shower, pausing at its open doors. She stared at the icy cold water for a few seconds, hardening her resolve to do this, before stepping in.
"HOLY MOTHER OF JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! THIS IS FUCKING COLD! JARVIS! YOU FUCKING SADIST!" Toni screeched, her bloodshot eyes snapping open into wakefulness at the Arctic cold water cascaded down her body.
"I live to please, Sir," JARVIS replied dryly, prompting Toni to glare at where she knew was a hidden camera in her large shower.
Shivering underneath the cold rays, she quickly grabbed her Sunsilk Hydra TLC shampoo and lathered the creamy substance in her shoulder blade length brown locks, massaging the scalp gently, but firmly, before quickly rinsing and repeating with conditioner. Once done with her hair, she quickly scrubbed down her body, gently scrubbing about an inch around her Arc Reactor before continuing down her body.
"JARVIS where's my Arc Cleaner?" she called, stepping back under the cold spray of water.
"I believe it is by your beside table Sir." the AI replied dutifully. She nodded, scrubbing her face once before stepping out of the shower, which shut off behind her. She walked stark naked out of the bathroom and into her walk in dryer – god she loved being rich – which promptly dried her off in less than a minute.
Toni stepped out of the dryer and, after a quick stop to pick up the Arc Cleaner – an apple cider, oatmeal, goats milk, coconut oil and honey mixture that helps keep her skin around the Arc Reactor from drying out, and preventing infection – walked into her walk in closet. The Iron Man pilot smiled, her dark blue eyes glittering with amusement, when she saw a black suit bag with a yellow post-it note attached to the front.
Toni-
You owe me.
-Pepper
She snorted and tossed the note – now crumpled – into a random direction, absently noting REJECT speed in on his little wheels and catch the note as it descended to the ground, before returning to its post by her desk and picked up the bag.
"Now what did you get me," Toni muttered as she unzipped the bag, only to grin when she saw it. It was her favorite business suit that she had thought was ruined when Pirate – as she affectionately called Nick Fury – pretty much dropped kicked her into the whole 'Reindeer Games' shit.
It was a medium gray and black all-match one button slim blazer with a maroon red blouse underneath, a leather spring bust, slim hip short skirt over a pair of tan tights. A pair of black leather high heels with a red bottom, a pair of quartz earrings Rhodey had gotten Toni when he was stationed near the coast of Long Beach, Washington, and Toni's favorite pair of sunglasses, Vonzipper's red rimmed Fultons, completed the outfit.
"I knew you loved me Pep." Toni chirped happily, even as she started to pull on her suit.
"Sir, undergarments." JARVIS' voice caused her to freeze, look down, then curse softly before chuckling embarrassingly.
"Right. I knew that." she said faux-arrogantly, even as she reached into an open draw and pulled out her gold and black underwear and her black and blue shark bra.
"Of course Sir." came the dry and sarcastic retort. Huffing, she easily snapped the twenty-four B-cup bra around her back, mentally cursing her short, five foot three – 'and three quarters' her mind snarked – for giving her such a small boob size. Though, if she thought about it, she was grateful for having such small breasts; if they had been any bigger, then having her Arc Rector would have caused some serious problems.
"Sir, Ms. Potts wishes for me to tell you that you have fifteen minutes left before it is time to leave, or else she's not letting you have the coffee and the doughnuts she brought. Also, the download for Alpha Kilo Zeero Wun November Tree Zulu Zulu is complete." Toni yelped and hurried up, easily slipping on the skirt, blouse, and stockings before taking off, making sure to grab her earrings, glasses, and coat as she did so. "Tell her I'll be down in a minute!" the brunet cried, sprinting bare foot towards the elevator, high heels dangling in her hands.
Just as she was about to reach it, her Starkphone began to ring, blasting Baha Men's 'Who Let the Dogs Out?'. Groaning, she spun around quickly, almost unbalancing herself, before snatching her pants off the ground and taking the little phone out.
"Hello, you have reached the life model decoy of Toni Stark; please leave a message." She answered, pressing the phone against her shoulder and head as she stepped into the elevator.
"Good afternoon Ms. Stark, this is Jonathan England." a males baritone voice spoke, sounding condescending and polite all at once. Mentally, Toni groaned; why, out of all the members on her board of directors, did it have to be him? Out loud she said, "Afternoon Mr. England. How are you today?" Not that she actually cared, but she did have some manners; thank you Maria Stark.
"Oh I've been better Madame, and yourself?"
"The same Mr. England. Are you calling about the new plans for the Green Project?" Toni asked, striding forward once the elevator stopped on the fifty-fourth floor, or, as she liked to call it, the Main Floor. It was the floor that held the kitchen, living room, game room, a few spare bedrooms where she usually took her nightly conquests and a small, personalized lab that she used when she got a stroke of genius and she wasn't able to get down to her lab fast enough – which was often.
She made a beeline for the kitchen, already smelling the intoxicating smell of a pot of freshly brewed coffee, her mouth salivating, completely missing the fact that she wasn't alone as she set her phone on the counter after placing it on speaker to grab herself a large mug, along with the articles of clothes she had yet to put on.
"Yes and no, Ms. Stark. I was calling to see if the plans had been completed, but also to make sure that you plan the American Cancer Society Charity Ball tomorrow evening. As you very well know, it is important for all-" Jonathan's voice was soon tuned into background noise as Toni took a sip of the coffee, expertly covering her moan of delight at the taste. She continued to sip her coffee, absently making a yapping motion with her hand, rolling her eyes as she did so. Toni absent-mindedly combed her fingers through her hair, mouthing a 'thank you' when KNOT scurried across the counter on its little spindly legs. With practiced ease she brushed then tied her hair up into a small pony tail. As soon as she was done, KNOT scrambled away, no doubt heading back to her bathroom.
"Mr. England, I am planning to attend the ball." Toni interrupted after checking the time and seeing she had six minutes to get down to the parking lot. With another inaudible sigh, she reached behind her blindly and grabbed her earrings, slipping them in as she said, "I believe I've already informed Noah Reese about my acceptance to the ball five months ago; JARVIS?"
"My records indicate that you did indeed send an e-mail to Mr. Reese on March seventeenth, Sir."
Toni nodded at the AI's words, slipping on her blazer as she did so. "Thank you J. Now, in the matter concerning the plans for the Green Energy Project; I've completed the base out line for a city wide model and included it in my report, and the holo-model is going through a few finishing touches as we speak, so expect it by tonight. Or tomorrow. Depends on when I get back. JARVIS is finishing the conversion for your copy of the plans right now, and you should have it within the next..."
"Six minutes and nineteen seconds Sir."
"What he said. Now, if you will please excuse me, I have a meeting with Oscorp in fifty-six minutes, so if you don't mind; good bye." With that, she snapped the phone shut, giving a small groan of relief when the mans irritating voice was no longer around to annoy her. "Why the fuck did I hire him again JARVIS?"
"Because he has excellent management skills and high recommendations Sir." The AI replied dutifully. Toni, taking another sip, made a small grimace of remembrance, uttering a dejected 'right' as she turned around to head back to the elevator...
Only to let out a piercing screech of shock and surprise. It was only thanks to the quick reflexes of one SHIELD Agent Clint 'Hawkeye' Barton that she didn't end up spilling all of her precious coffee onto her nice, newly repaired granite tiled floors.
"What the fuck?!" she shouted, her blue eyes wide, staring at the sandy blonde spy/assassin that was looking at her in amusement. "What the fuck are you doing in my house? No wait, how the fuck did you get in?!"
"And good afternoon to you to Stark," Clint said dryly, handing her back her cup of coffee before returning to his seat at the bar. It was then that she noticed that he wasn't the only one in her house.
Sitting at the marble bar was one Natasha 'Black Widow' Romanov, another SHIELD agent, master spy and assassin, calmly drinking what looked like coffee, but from the smell, had some type of alcohol in it – Vodka if she wasn't mistaken. Next to her was the amazing 'I-turn-into-a-giant-green-rage-monster-don't-fuck -with-me' Dr. Robert 'Bruce' Banner, leading scientist in gamma radiation with a Ph.D in nuclear physics. His glasses sat askew on his face as his gaze flickered between the state-of-the-art Starkpad and her, amusement plain as day on his tired and worn, but admittedly handsome, face.
However, it was the blonde haired, blue eyed man standing by CROCK-POT – her stove that she rarely used anymore – cooking what looked and smelt like grilled cheese sandwiches, that made her headache begin to pound more furiously.
"JARVIS?! Why the fuck are their people in my house?" her voice was borderline hysterical, but frankly, she didn't care. They were trespassing in her domain, her place of Zen damnit it! Well...Bruce wasn't; she remembered inviting him over 'cause he was her 'Science Bro' and could actually speak English during the whole Loki shebang. If she thought hard enough, she could faintly remember that he had come about two weeks ago with the remainder of his junk from Calcutta, and that she had given him the floor below her penthouse to 'due with whatever the hell he wanted with it' before dragging him down to the lab.
"Director Fury has...insisted that the remaining Avengers remain here in Avengers Tower-"
"Dah fuck is Avengers Tow- oh no he didn't! He fucking renamed my tower?! He renamed my fucking tower!?" Toni shrieked, ignoring the winces from her unwanted guests, and the disapproving stare from Steve. She didn't give a damn about what he thought about her manners – or lack thereof; this wasn't the 1940's, this was the fucking twenty-first century, were girls and boys alike cussed everyone out, thank you very much! If he had doubts, she was going to have JARVIS pull up youtube and have the Capsicle look up 'Little Kids Cussing'.
Toni gave a mental giggle, before harshly smacking herself; 'Bad Toni! Stop distracting yourself!' she chided herself, promptly ignoring the Rhodey like voice telling her that talking to herself was the first sign of insanity.
"Indeed Sir, he has. May I be so bold as to continue Sir?"
She took a sip of her coffee and made a vague gesture with her hand. "Yes yes, continue, you baby."
"Thank you Sir; now, as I was saying, Director Fury has ordered the Avengers to take lodge here in the Tower, for an indefinite time, and for the Tower to be the living arrangements of all the Avengers, including Mr. Thor Odionson, who has yet to return from Asgard, to help build 'team spirit' and to make the Avengers Initiative work more like a 'well oiled machine' than the 'lost souls they are'."
There was silence, before; "WHO THE FUCK DOES HE THINK HE IS!? HE HAS NO FUCKING RIGHT TO FORCE THESE BASTARDS – no offense – INTO MY HOUSE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION?! THAT'S A VIOLATION OF MY FUCKING RIGHTS, GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!"
"Now Miss Stark, there's no need for - " Steve began to say, apparently fed up with a 'dame' like herself using such explicit language, only to get cut off by the murderous look on her face.
"You. Shut. The. Hell. Up." The fire still shining brightly in her eyes, she returned to glowering at the far wall, where one of JARVIS' emergency panels were hidden. "The only fucking person who should even be in my house is Bruce; the rest of you, no. No fucking way. I don't give a damn about what Fury says. This is my Tower, my home, my fucking rules. When the fuck did this even happen?"
"Eight days, twenty-two hours, fifty-five minutes and twenty-nine seconds ago Sir." JARVIS replied. "It's the whole reason why you were in the lab to begin with." Toni blinked, before scowling. Oh now she remembered. She opened her mouth to say something when her phone began to ring The Temper Trap's 'Sweet Disposition'. Growling in the back of her throat, she snatched her phone from the counter, hit the speaker button, and snapped out a terse 'what?!' before paling when it finally registered just who she was speaking to.
"You have three minutes to get your ass down here, before I'm having JARVIS override BLESSING and MORGAN and make you drink decaf for the next month and no alcohol." Pepper Potts', her best friend and girlfriend, said calmly, before hanging up.
Toni let out a wail of despair at the thought of no alcohol and caffeine – sweet, sweet caffeine – for a month. "NO! Pepper! I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME!" she shouted, spinning around and grabbing her heels and phone, before racing off towards the waiting elevator. She paused, one foot inside the metal contraption, turning around to glower at her unwanted guests.
"Natasha, Bruce; you two know the Rules; you other bastards? You touch my liquor, my caffeine, my babies, or anything else that may be breakable; I will fucking break you. JARVIS?"
"Yes Sir?"
"Watch them. And remind me to call Fury in the next day or two." With that, the elevator doors closed, JARVIS' 'Of course Sir.' echoing faintly in the dead silence until;
"What...just happened?" Steve's voice was filled with confusion and bafflement.
"Steve Rogers; Toni Stark." Natasha said with a wave of her hand, taking another drink of her coffee. Bruce just chuckled bemusedly and returned to his equations while Clint just muttered something about 'psycho chicks' under his breath. At the blank, but furious glare Natasha sent him, he immediately quieted, sullenly returning to his hot chocolate.
Steve blinked, shrugged and returned back to his cooking, only to pause as he dished up the sandwiches. "How come she didn't remember Fury telling her about us staying here?" Clint, after snatching one of the grilled tomato, avocado, bacon, and cheeses' off the plate, shrugged.
"Don't know," the man said, giving the captain a thumbs up after taking a bite. "But did ya see the bags under eyes? Maybe she's just drunk off her ass again." Bruce frowned thoughtfully at the assassins words, swallowing his bite of the traditional grilled cheese before asking quietly, "JARVIS, when was the last time Toni slept?"
"Nine days, seventeen hours, thirty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds ago Doctor Banner." Everyone froze, blinking in disbelief at the the crisp reply, save for Natasha, who just sighed into her ham, tomato and cheese sandwich.
"She hasn't slept in nine days?" Clint asked incredulously, staring up at the ceiling.
"Yes Agent Barton."
"Why are you so surprised?" Natasha asked, her blue gaze calm and accepting, though Clint was able to detect the small hint of concern and worry in the depths. "We've stayed up longer than that before."
Clint just flailed his arms about, his mouth opening and closing before saying in a so not strangled voice; "We're assassins 'Tasha; we're fucking trained to be up for weeks on end! Stark's basically a very rich and well off civilian without her suit!" Natasha rolled her eyes and smacked the bewildered blonde on the shoulder.
"Why aren't you?" Steve asked curiously as he set the hot pan in the sink. Natasha shrugged and replied, "When I was working undercover for Stark a few years ago, I got used to her sleeping habits. Honestly, I'm not surprised; she once stayed up for two and a half weeks with only one brief, two hour power nap before finally crashing." The others stared agape at the red haired woman, who calmly placed her dish into the dishwasher, which she had later learned that her name was DAWN before walking out into the living room.
Clint whistled lowly, blinking his stormy gray eyes in shock, though there was awe tinging his voice as he spoke. "Damn; I can last about two, maybe three weeks without any sleep before I even feel tired if I have a heavy work load for SHIELD, and that's only with lots of coffee and years of training. How the hell is she able to stay awake for nearly three weeks?" the question was asked in a slight rhetorical manner, but it was answered anyway.
"Sir has gotten used to it Agent Barton; Sir often spends most of her time either here in the New York lab or back in Malibu working on some of the prototypes that the Board need." JARVIS replied. If Steve didn't know any better, he could have sworn that there was resignation and concern in the AI's voice.
x-(-X-X-)-x
Location: Avengers Tower – Living Area – Rec Room
With a tired, exhausted groan, Toni Stark, billionaire, ex-playgirl, genius, philanthropist fell face first onto her large maroon red couch, her legs, finally freed from the confines of slim hip leather skirt that was tossed somewhere between the hallway and the couch, hanging off the edge of couch. She wiggled her stocking covered toes a bit, making sure that they were indeed still there, before rolling over, wrestling out of her blazer, then her blouse, which she threw in a random direction, not caring where exactly they landed. The only thing she even remotely cared about right now, was sleep.
So with a small, content sigh as she burrowed into the confines of her wonderful couch, she closed her heavy eyelids, and easily drifted off to sleep.
Once again, not even noticing that she wasn't alone.
Steve Rogers was a normally calm, collected person, but when their reluctant host comes walking in with only her skin colored tights, her medium gray blazer and red blouse on, he was immediately flustered. The thirty something woman was practically naked, and, being originally from the '40's, he was not used to woman walking around near naked damnit! He could feel as his neck, face, and ears started to grow red as he averted his eyes from the slim form that burrowed itself deeper into the couch, now without her blazer and shirt, snoring soon reaching his serum enhanced hearing, pointedly ignoring that she was wearing a pair of gold and black panties and what looked like a...shark bra. Steve was silently grateful when he spotted Dr. Banner, who was also looking away from the slumbering woman, a blush staining his face as well.
He cleared his throat uncomfortably, though he had to bite back the laugh that threatened to escape when he saw Clint sitting cross legged in his Nest – a gathering of pillows, blankets, and some random stuffed animals that God knew where he'd gotten from – an expression of disbelief on his face that was visible from where the blouse hung on his head, while Toni's blazer lay in the bowl of popcorn he'd been munching on.
Natasha snorted at the uncomfortable/shocked expressions on the males' faces and stood, grabbed what looked like a hand knitted blanket from the opening in the wall – had that always been there? - and draped it over the slumbering genius, who didn't even twitch as it settled onto her exhausted body.
"She didn't even realize we were hear again, did she?" Natasha questioned, and was answered by JARVIS' slightly exasperated 'Yes'. Natasha snorted and shook her head in exasperation, gracefully plopping down into the Stark version of a La-Z-Boy chair. "Idiot."
Steve cleared his throat uncomfortably and returned his attention to the TV, ignoring Clint's snickering at his discomfort, when the sound of the elevator doors opening drew back all of the awake Avengers attention. Striding in with confidence, fingers flying over a Starkpad in her hands, was one Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, CEO of Stark Industries and Toni's girlfriend.
When Steve had first heard that his best friends daughter and said daughters CEO were dating, he'd been a little panicked. It was widely known that back in the '40's, same-sex relationships weren't widely accepted (understatement of the year). It was apparently one of the reasons why Toni hadn't liked him at first, thinking that he was probably another gay hater, but he had cleared it up, saying that, while it had shocked him, he was supportive of same-sex relationships. Apparently, his best friend Bucky had been gay, and he himself was bi, so all he really had to get used to was the fact that the LGBT community was widely accepted all around the world, save for a few of the older generation.
Pepper's eyes briefly flickered around the gathered Avengers, taking in Steve's relaxed, though slightly uncomfortable stature, Clint and Natasha's seemingly relaxed, but always wary bodies, Bruce's calm, tense figure and the passed out, happily snoring figure of Toni. The red head sighed in fond exasperation and strode past the group into the kitchen to get something to eat.
It'd been a long seven hours.
With a already heated Nissin Original Chicken Chow Mein in hand and a calming cup of Bruce's chamomile raspberry with wildflower honey the tall red haired woman settled herself near her girlfriends head, chuckling when the brunet burrowed her face into Pepper's thigh as soon as she had gotten comfortable.
"Evening Ms. Potts," Steve greeted, only to hastily correct himself when the red haired woman leveled a glare onto him. "I-I mean, P-Pepper." The blonde haired man breathed a sigh of relief when the woman nodded in satisfaction.
"Evening Steve." Pepper replied, taking a sip of her tea before returning her attention to the Starkpad, frowning over several of the contracts proposed from Damage Control, an Insurance and repair company that Stark Industries was looking to hire whenever Elizabeth Bondi and Rich Gannon decided that something needed to be 'improved'. Nine point nine times out of ten, it ended in disaster, and half of the current warehouse they were using destroyed. Their last clean up crew had been discharged after the 'Starking Mad' incident, as it was fondly referred to by the press and all the employees at the Stark companies.
"You guys were gone a long time, everything alright?" the blonde haired man asked, his blue eyes alight with curiosity. Pepper shot the man a wary, tired grin and made a vague 'so-so' motion with her hand.
"It could have been better, could have been worse; one of the board members, J. Jonah Jameson, was being a complete and utter dick and trying to get it to were Oscorp practically owned Stark Industries, along with Stark-Fujikawa and Stark International. He's just damn lucky that he didn't try and nab Stark Enterprises, or I would not have been able to prevent another 'Starking Mad' incident from happening." Natasha, upon hearing this, snorted, her eyes dancing with humor, Clint smirking inside his cocoon of blankets, while Bruce and Steve were looking on in amusement.
"'Starking Mad' incident?" Bruce questioned in his soft, slightly melodic voice. Pepper nodded and pointed to the TV screen, where already JARVIS was pulling up pictures of the incident.
"This happened about...two, maybe three years ago now. Toni had just returned from Afghanistan when, in an attempt to cheer her up, two of Stark Enterprises employees, engineers Elizabeth Bondi and Rich Gannon, decided to try and 'fix' a 'faulty coffee machine'." On the TV screen, a picture of a young, thirty something red haired, brown eyed woman with a soft look on her face appeared, and a middle aged, black haired green eyed man with a soul patch appeared.
"Now, Liz and Rich have a tendency to, ah, blow things sky high when 'fixing' something. Long story short, one thing led to another and the Malibu warehouse that they were currently working in was all but destroyed. Ironically, the only place that was completely and utterly unscratched was where the coffee machine turned explosive device stood." JARVIS pulled up a picture of the warehouse before, than after the explosion, and Steve couldn't hold back the chuckle when he saw ash covered male and female figures, with an annoyed Pepper yelling at them while Toni was in the background, laughing her ass off. "It did do the trick, and for the first time in almost four months, we heard Toni laugh." There was a small, peaceful smile on Pepper's face as she gazed at her girlfriend, carding a hand through the brunets hair.
"So, as we usually do when a Liz and Rich accident accord, we called in our usual clean up crew, Pegasus' Cleanup, however, we were in for a big surprise. The previous owner, a Mr. Alan von Dikkensberg, had apparently retired and sold the company to a young man named Scott Spencer." Pepper gestured to the TV again, where there was a newspaper clipping with the words, "PEGASUS OWNER RETIRES; SCOTT SPENCER TAKES OVER!" in big bold writing. A picture of a young, charming looking man with bright, stormy gray eyes, a lovely Mexican tanned skin color and short, military styled brown hair stood.
"When we called Spencer in for the usual clean up, the man had refused to work with any of the Stark Industries because of Toni, and not for the reasons you would think." Here, Pepper's smile turned grim, and annoyance flashed through her eyes. "According to him, he wouldn't work with Stark Industries until SI either hired a man to take over, or Toni got married and gave everything she owned to her husband because 'the business world is not a woman's place. She should just give up trying to play with the big boys, marry a good looking husband, spread her pretty little legs, and pop out brats like the good little cunt she and all the other woman in the world are.' His words, not mine."
Natasha growled lowly, eye twitching in anger at the words. She'd heard the story all before and had nearly gone and punched the bastard in the face. A tight grip on her leg made her blink and look down into Clint's overly cheerful face, which, of course, caused her to roll her eyes and flick him in the forehead.
"What?" Bruce asked, horrified and angered that someone would say that about a woman, though he managed to take in deep, calming breaths so he didn't Hulk out in Toni's living room. Besides him, Steve looked equally as angry. While many of the men in the '40's had been sexist pigs, Steve had always had a healthy respect and admiration (read: fear) to the opposite sex, because he realized how strong and smart they were (read: fucking crazy and scary). Raising families, taking care of the house, cooking dinner, shopping, teaching manners, they were more busy than most men he knew, who just went out, did a job for a few hours, than came home and let their wives take care of them.
"Yeah, Toni was pissed when she heard that. So, about a day later, as Spencer was doing an interview with the press, Toni had marched right up to the man and...well...JARVIS play the video please?"
"Certainly Ms. Potts."
"Oh, and skip to the part where Toni comes in, kay?" Pepper asks, leaning back into the couch with her Chow Mein in hand.
"It would be my pleasure Ms. Potts," JARVIS replies. The TV flickered for a few seconds before clearing and revealing the image of Scott Spencer standing on a stage in a formal gray suit with a navy blue tie speaking into various microphones.
"'-continue with the clean up of this great and wonderful city like my predecessor before me." Spencer said, flashing a charming grin into the crowd. "I will begin taking questions now -" Spencer started, though it was cut off by the slamming of a door. As one, everyone turned around and stared open mouthed at the furious form of Toni Stark, her cobalt blue eyes alight with righteous fury. Her hair was long, reaching to the middle of her back. She wore a pair of well fitting blue jeans with rips on the knees and various stains on it, and her infamous Black Sabbath shirt expertly hid the glow of the Arc Reactor from sight.
Her six inch black high heels clicked loudly across the tiled floor as she made her way over to the shocked from of Spencer. When she finally made it to him, she raised her fist up...
And nailed him square in the face. There were shocked gasps heard throughout the crowd, but it was quickly silenced when Toni opened her mouth.
"YOU FUCKING, NO GOOD, SON OF A BITCH, SEXIST ASSHOLE! WHO THE FUCK GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO? HUH? WHO OR WHAT THE FUCK GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO TELL ME TO FUCKING 'SPREAD MY FUCKING LEGS LIKE A FUCKING CUNT AND POP OUT BRATS' BECAUSE I HAVE 'NO PLACE IN A FUCKING MAN'S WORLD'?! WELL?! IS IT BECAUSE YOU HAVE A PENIS? HUH? IS THAT WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN FUCKING ORDER ME AROUND LIKE SOME FUCKING DOG?!" She roared, anger clear in her voice. Toni bent down and grabbed the stunned man's tux in her hands, her 'delicate' hands, and heavedthe man to his feet, raising him a good inch off the ground, even though he was a roughly six inches taller than her.
Someone in the crowd of reporters gave off a low, clearly impressed whistle, though the camera remains focused on Toni, who was still glaring angrily at the man, who looked like he was about to piss himself in fright.
"Now you listen hear, and you listen good Spencer. Just because I am a fucking woman and have boobs and a vagina, does notgive you the right to try and tell me what the fuck to do. If I want to run my company, I fucking will. If I want to fucking play with the big boys, I will. And if I fucking well want to get married and have snot-nosed brats, I will. But NOT because some sexist pig like yourself says I fucking have to. This is the fucking twenty-first century dumbass; we woman ain't the fucking pushovers we used to be. So, grow the fuck up, grow a fucking pair, and don't, I repeat, don'tcome near any of my companies, because if you do, I will fucking destroyyou." And with that, she dropped the shell shocked man on the ground, wiped the man's blood off her hand – it looked like she broke his nose – straightened her shirt, then calmly walked out.
Then she walked right back in, a cheerful smile on her face that caused someone off screen to whimper. "Oh and Spencer? I regret to inform you that Stark companies will no longer be needing your services as I don't tolerate sexist, raciest, rapists, abusers, homophobes, and/or criminals working with or for my companies. In short; you're fired. Have a nice life!" And then she was gone, leaving behind a stunned CEO and room of reporters."
There was silence in the room as JARVIS turned off the TV, before it was interrupted by a suppressed snort from Clint. "It gets funnier every time I watch it." the man said, snickering behind his hand. Bruce and Natasha chuckled and nodded in agreement, while Steve just shook his head, amusement plain in his eyes.
"She sure is feisty." the blonde haired man said, and various calls of agreement sounded.
"She's always been feisty Steve; if you don't believe me, ask Rhodey; he's been friends with Toni since they were kids." Pepper shook her head in fond exasperation. "Anyways, that incident was fondly named by a female reporter, Lynn Walsh of the Daily Bugle, the 'Starking Mad' incident. Two months after it, Pegasus' Cleanup went bankrupt and was eventually bought by a new clean up crew called 'Damage Control', which, ironically, are the contracts I'm looking at now."
"How did she not get into trouble for it?" Bruce asked. The grin on Pepper's face almost made him want to hit himself for even asking.
"Toni consulted with her lawyers as soon as Spencer told her that, spent all night doing so, which surprised me, Rhodey, and her lawyers, and looked over the contract between the Stark companies and Pegasus' Cleanup. She ended up finding a little loophole in the contract that actually let Toni hit the CEO of Pegasus' Cleanup if he said any derogatory statements about and/or to Toni and her companies. Originally, she was just going to sue the bastard, but when she saw that little clause, she gladly took advantage of it, as the contract was going to be voided the next day. As it was entirely legal, Toni got away with it, and Spencer was left bankrupt."
Clint clapped his hands together, nodding his head. "Good job Stark!" he called, then winced when Toni sat up and glared at the man.
"Shut the fuck up!" the tired brunet snapped, before falling back down, pressed her face into Pepper's stomach, and once again began to snore. Pepper snorted in amusement.
"Oops, didn't mean to wake her." Clint said, wincing under the combined glares of everyone save for Pepper. Pepper snorted again and shook her head.
"Clint, Toni was still asleep." At the confused and bewildered statements, Pepper grinned. "If she had been awake, she would have tackled you and proceeded to try and rip off your face, before going down to the lab. Seeing as she didn't do any of that, she was probably just sleep talking."
Clint stared in bewilderment at the sleeping genius before shrugging. "I always knew Stark was strange." Natasha grunted in response while Bruce and Steve just shook their heads. It was right about then that Steve released a jaw cracking yawn.
"Alright, well I'm going to bed. See you guys tomorrow."
Clint and Natasha nodded while Bruce stood up as well. "Night Captain. You heading to bed to Bruce?" Bruce nodded at Natasha's question. "Well, then good night."
"Good night to you too Natasha, Clint, Pepper." Bruce said politely. He and Steve where just about to leave when Pepper called them back.
"Listen, I have a favor to ask." she said, sounding a bit nervous. The two men blinked, before Steve said, "If it's within my abilities, I'll see if I can help Pepper." Bruce nodded in agreement.
Pepper sent them both a grateful smile. "There's this charity ball tomorrow that Toni has to attend, and I can't make it – my niece was born earlier today, and the earliest flight that I can get to is about an hour before the ball. Toni has basically forced me to take a paid vacation to visit my brother and niece, and I need either one of you, or both of you to attend the ball with Toni. I would have asked Natasha and Clint, but seeing as you guys are super spies, I don't think you would want your identities spread across all of the tabloids."
Steve looked a little shocked, as did Bruce, while Clint and Natasha, who had been slightly offended that they hadn't been asked, though they would later deny it, nodded at Pepper's reasons and were grateful that she had thought about there careers. "You want either me or Bruce to take Toni to a ball?" Steve asked incredulously.
"And she agreed to this?" Bruce chimed in. Pepper looked a little sheepish and shook her head no.
"She told me that she'd be fine going alone, but I know her too well, and she would end up destroying the ball or getting drunk. I'd rather not have that, so I want someone to go with her and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." Pepper admitted, a faint blush decorating her freckled cheeks. Steve chuckled but than nodded.
"Sure, I wouldn't mind going. There wasn't really much else I could do anyways, and it'd be nice to get out of the tower." Bruce looked a little wary, absently wringing his hands.
"I don't really know if that's a good idea..." Bruce began, only to get cut off by Pepper.
"Bruce, you'll be fine; trust me. All you have to do is go to the ball, don't drink any of the punch – it always ends up spiked – watch Toni, help the fundraising by donating money, spend some time with the cancer survivors that are there, and come home. Seriously, we've been to these things thousands of times. Nothing stressful about it." Pepper said. Bruce swallowed thickly, still looking uncertain, but nodded.
"Okay...I'll do it." the man said, sighing a little at the bright smile on the woman's face.
"Great! The ball starts at five in the evening, but you should get there at about five-ten because Toni loves to be 'fashionably late'. Lucky for her, the official ball doesn't start until five-forty-five. Happy will be taking you down there, so all you have to do is make sure Toni's dressed, sober, and downstairs at four-fifty. There should be a tux in your closets and a pair of dress shoes, so just make yourselves pretty, got it? Thanks so much; I seriously owe you one!" Pepper beamed up at the two men, who stood their blinking in astonishment. Steve looked at Pepper, a sinking feeling in his stomach as he nodded.
"R-right...well then I'm gonna go to bed. So...night. Yeah, night." With quick steps, the man quickly exited the room, followed by Bruce.
"She manipulated us." Steve said. Bruce grunted in agreement.
'Woman are scary, frightening creatures,' Bucky's words ran through Steve's head as he entered his room.
x-(-X-X-)-x
So how was it? Good? Bad? Have Hulk and Thor play ping-pong with it? Please review! Or Favorite! Or Follow! Just show us some love! Because yes, we are review whores. Don't deny it; if you're an author on FF, you are too. Yes, there was Pepperony fluff in there. However, it'll only be there for about another chapter or two. Promise. The Stark Spangled Banner will appear!
Damage Control and other businesses are part of the Marvel Universe save for Pegasus' Cleanup. For a list of Marvel Universe Businesses see:
www . comicboards marvelguide/companies html (Remove spaces).
Elizabeth Bondi, Rich Gannon, and J. Jonah Jameson are also NOT OC's; they belong to the Marvel Universe and Stan Lee.
Scott Spencer and Jonathan England are OC's.
Translation of Alpha Kilo Zeero Wun November Tree Zulu Zulu: AKZ1N3ZZ. This is a part of the NATO Phonetic Alphabet and Number system.
Translation of Alpha Mike Sierra Wun Nine Seven Tree India Lima Kilo Kilo: AMS1973ILKK. Same as above.
For NATO Phonetic Alphabet and Number system, see:
en . wikipedia wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet (Remove spaces)
FYI, THIS IS ACCURATE DATA!
If we missed any grammar mistakes, please PM us, and we will fix it ASAP!
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The Twins :3
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P.S. Please check out our story 'Nemale: A History of MPREG' under Misc. . Seriously, please check it out!