CH 57

"I really am my own worst enemy, aren't I Pep?"

Pepper Stark lets out a soft sigh as she runs her fingers through her husband's hair. The two of them are in the living room of Tony's Malibu Residence, with her sat on the couch and him laying across it with his head in her lap. The… events of New Mexico are still settling three days later, and Pepper has to admit that she's still a little rattled even now.

After all, everyone else thought Tony had been wearing armor under his clothes that had protected him from that massive metal monster's attack. Only Pepper and JARVIS knew the truth. Tony had called for J to send the armor over, but he hadn't actually had it on when he'd been struck with the beam.

Instead, when Pepper had gotten to him… there'd been a glowing orange hole through Tony's sternum easily twice the size of the space his old Arc Reactor had occupied. Tony should have been dead, but the Extremis had rapidly regenerated his body, filling in the destroyed flesh and organs. Pepper didn't think she ever wanted to see Tony's heart rebuild itself and begin beating like she had ever again, even if it had been covered up by muscle, bone, and skin shortly after. Tony had survived. And they'd gotten some of the armor onto him to explain that survival to everyone else. And really, it had all worked out for the best in the end. Thor had gotten his powers back just like Tony had wanted, and for the moment the façade was intact. However, there was just one small hitch in all of that.

"Will it really be that bad, having her around? I know she didn't stay the first time, but is she really that much of a danger?"

Sighing, Tony considers Pepper's question for a moment.

"… It'll get annoying when Thor doesn't come back. I suppose there's a chance that he won't have to destroy the Bifrost this time, but I'm not counting on it. Sif is going to wind up stranded, and the moment that SHIELD and HYDRA realize that she's stuck on Earth with no way home, they're going to start pressuring me for a piece of her." Pepper frowns.

"They're treating her like a diplomatic envoy at the moment, which is all well and good… but the longer we go without Thor's return, the more they'll start to wonder if he just abandoned her here. And then they'll start to think they can take liberties."

"… You'll stop them, of course."

Tony looks up at that, at her supreme confidence in him. Then, he cracks a grin.

" Of course. I ' m not going to let them dissect her, or manipulate her, or abuse her in any way. Unfortunately, me and my big head… I showed her too much."

Pepper winces at that. Tony had told her that he'd been a little more cavalier about his true nature with both Thor and Sif. To say nothing of Loki's dual assassination attempts. She and Tony were perhaps the only ones who knew exactly why Loki had targeted Tony over Thor with that big fucking metal monster. It was because she thought she'd already killed him, and when she found out he was alive, she clearly sought to rectify the issue.

It made Pepper want to punch a hole through a wall, frankly. Or maybe find a way to travel between realms herself so she could grab that goddess bitch by her hair and kick her teeth in personally. Alas, neither of those were really options. Pepper couldn't afford to let her anger get the better of her these days. Not with just how powerful she was now thanks to Tony.

Abruptly, Pepper comes to a decision then and there.

"… She won't say anything."

Tony looks up at her again, raising an eyebrow. Pepper just gives him a smile. "Call it a woman's intuition. Besides, who would she tell? She has no allies here on Earth… except for perhaps us. I'll have a talk with her. Make sure we're all on the same page."

"Pep…"

But whatever Tony was going to say is cut off by the door slamming open and Maya Hansen's voice echoing through the house.

"Tony? Pepper? Are you both in?"

There's excitement in the scientist's voice, and Tony and Pepper exchange a glance for a brief moment before Tony sighs and gives Pepper a nod.

"Alright, I'll leave it in your hands." Then, he raises his voice.

"Maya! We're in the living room!"

A moment later and an overexcited superpowered geneticist comes racing into the living room at speeds that a normal human wouldn't have even been able to track. She all but zips over to Tony and Pepper on the couch, dropping to her knees in order to skid the rest of the way across the floor. Grabbing Tony by the shoulder with one hand as she holds up a tablet in the other, Maya's eyes are wide, the woman almost manic. Looking at the both of them, Maya ultimately focuses on Tony.

"Tony… I think I made a breakthrough on Extremis."

What? Pepper's brow furrows as Tony lifts himself off of her lap and sits up. She ' d thought Extremis was already completed? "A breakthrough, Maya? What do you mean?"

Still on her knees in front of the couch, she pushes the tablet into Tony's lap.

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