Rise of the Mandarin- Chapter Ten
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey everybody! I'm back with Chapter Ten, YAY! One thing, I know nothing about computers except the basic functions :D so in case you're wondering, I made all of that stuff up.
Rise of the Mandarin
Chapter Ten
It was mid afternoon when Tony raced the Audi down the two lane road in the middle of the desert, on his way to help Rhodey with the suit. To be honest, if it wasn't for Pepper he wouldn't be doing this. To hear her say that she was proud of him still had his stomach doing somersaults in his body.
He was expecting the worse, but he also knew something was terribly wrong; otherwise they wouldn't be bringing him in to help them fix it. After about half an hour of travel time he pulled up to the front gate and was met by two armed security guards.
"Good afternoon, boys," Tony said in his usual smug way. "I'm here to see Colonel Rhodes."
"I'm sorry, Sir, I can't let you in without security clearance," said one of the guards. Tony pulled down his sunglasses and looked at the guard.
"He called me earlier," he explained. "Call in and find out for yourself." The guards exchanged looks as one of them walked away. Tony waited patiently as they called it in. After a few moments of drumming on the steering wheel, he came back over.
"He's clear; let him through." Immediately the gates opened.
"Thank you, have a nice day," Tony said to the guard, and drove on into the base. He drove to the side of the building and coincidentally Rhodey was standing there waiting for him. Tony pulled the car into a parking spot, turned it off and got out. "Do you have powers now, Platypus?" Tony asked him, walking over to him. The look of confusion graced Rhodey's face.
"What?" he asked.
"Well, you were standing right there waiting for me. Can you sense my presence whenever I'm near, or something?" Tony asked as seriously as he could. Rhodey sighed and rolled his eyes.
"If you call radio verification super powers then yes, I developed those a long time ago." Tony smirked at the comment.
"Alright, can we get this over with?" he asked. Rhodey raised his eyebrows, then motioned for Tony to follow him.
"Yeah, come on." Rhodey turned to enter the building, and Tony was right on his heels. As they walked through the building, Tony got a lot of mixed looks. Some from obvious fans, gasping at the sight of him; some looked disgusted by the mere sight of him, and then there were the very few females that would ogle him as he walked by.
"Am I on America's Most Wanted or something?" Tony asked.
"It's a possibility," Rhodey said. They walked to the hanger where the War Machine suit was being held.
"Okay, so where is it?" Tony asked. Rhodey pointed to a partition on the other side of the hanger.
"It's over there," he said, continuing to walk.
"Alright, let's do this," Tony said, speeding up the pace and getting ahead of Rhodey.
"Tony, you might want to slow down. You're not gonna like what you see." Tony snorted.
"Trust me, Platypus, I've already prepared myself for the worse," Tony said over his shoulder. Rhodey sighed and just let him continue on. Tony turned the corner of the partition and stopped dead in his tracks. Rhodey smirked and walked over beside him, moving his head from the suit to Tony.
"I told you."
"What the hell did you do to my suit?" Tony asked while keeping his eyes on the mess before him. Tony felt as if he was about to have a heart attack.
"Technically, it's not your suit anymore, it's property of the United States."
"What the hell did you do to the suit, Rhodes?" Tony asked again glaring at him, this time letting some of his temper show. Rhodey sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I know, I know, okay? Can you spare me the lecture and help me fix it?" Rhodey asked, getting frustrated himself. Tony, his mind already calculating what needed to be done, turned back to the suit.
"Man, I don't believe this. How could you…"
"Tony, please? I'm begging you." Rhodey paused. "Help me fix it." Tony closed his mouth, inhaled through his nose, and exhaled slowly.
"Alright," he said. "Let's get to work. But honestly, where am I supposed to begin? If this is the outside, I don't want to know what the inside looks like. What exactly is going on with it?" Rhodey grunted and walked over to one of the computers on the desk.
"Where do I begin with that list?" he asked. "The GPS tracker in the suit is no longer functioning, it's not linking to our computer, the navigation software has frozen…"
"Okay, okay, I think I got it," Tony said, making Rhodey scoot over so he could look at the diagnostics screen. He pulled out his transparent computer screen from his pocket. He also took out a Bluetooth earpiece and placed it in his ear, then hitting the button on it. "Jarvis? You there?"
"For you, Sir, always," Jarvis said, in his usual monotone voice.
"Link to the computers and run another set of complete diagnostics, and display everything on the screen," Tony commanded.
"Right away, Sir," responded the AI. Rhodey looked over Tony's shoulder as the data appeared on the screen.
"How long is that going to take him?" Rhodey asked.
"Diagnostics are complete, Sir," Jarvis said. Tony glanced at Rhodey, then back to the screen.
"All right, how many bugs did you find?"
"Several, Sir, and they seem to be blocking the functions for software ignition."
"Oh, that's not good," Tony said, pressing on the screen.
"What is it?" Rhodey asked.
"There are still some bugs, and they're not letting anything run," he explained.
"I thought Romanov took care of them?"
"Agent Romanov was able to temporarily disable them, however they were able to reactivate," Jarvis explained.
"Apparently she's not as good as we thought," Tony said. "Jarvis, hack in please and remove the bugs."
"Sir, that will take some time."
"I don't care, just do it."
About an hour and a half later, after all bugs were gone, communication with the suit was reestablished.
"Alright, so basically, it looks like the internal systems are back up to their full capacity," Tony said as he looked over the mess in front of him and let out a frustrated sigh.
"How in the world were you able to create such a mess like this?" he asked.
"It wasn't just me, Tony," Rhodey said in his defense. Tony laughed as he leaned over the mess of metal and wires, trying to figure out where each piece went. He replaced wires, and threw some out considering they were no good after being exposed.
"What kinds of idiots do they have working on this project?" Tony asked himself.
A couple more hours later, they had the suit almost done. They had the chest piece popped up, and both of them were hunched over, Rhodey holding the wire as Tony soldered it in place.
"So how are you and Pepper doing?" he asked out of the blue, still keeping his eye on the wire.
"Um," Tony began, blowing on the solder then continuing. "We're… stable," he said, almost unsure of himself. Rhodey looked up to him.
"Stable?" he asked, not believing he had just said that. "Stable isn't the word I would use to describe a relationship." Tony rolled his eyes.
"Give me a break, okay? You know this is new territory for me." Rhodey nodded with a smirk.
"You guys still haven't had sex yet, have you?"
"If you don't mind, please Rhodey, I would prefer not to think about that right now." Rhodey pressed his lips together to keep from laughing.
"Now I understand why you said 'stable'," he said, a few sputters escaping. Tony rolled his eyes and nodded.
"I mean, I can understand her point of view in all this, and I don't blame her. I've got quite a few years to make up for," Tony explained.
"Have you two been talking, at least? Have you asked her about herself?" Rhodey asked. "Like where did she grow up or have you guys made plans to visit her parents?"
"I won't be meeting her parents, Rhodey." Tony sighed.
"Why is that?" He looked over to him.
"For the same reason as mine, except she lost hers when she was eight."
"Wow, man, even I didn't know that." Tony nodded and went back to the solder.
"Both of her parents were murdered," he said, practically whispering it.
"What?" Rhodey gasped.
"Yeah, and the gun that was used was found in her mom's hand." Rhodey was at loss for words.
"I can't believe she lost them that way."
"I know. I didn't believe it when she first told me, but it's Pepper, why would she lie about something like that?" Tony paused for a moment. "I didn't want to believe that something that bad had happened to her. And then, when she was sixteen she lost her older brother."
"Wow, man, at least she opened up to you. I mean, I'm glad she didn't keep this to herself."
"Yeah, I was sort of prying for the information."
"Yeah, she didn't have to tell you but she did. She's opening up to you, Tony; that's a good sign."
"Yeah I guess." They were silent for a few moments as Tony finished. "Her brother was military. She said she lost him to the call of duty."
"Do you know what branch he was in?" Rhodey asked.
"No, she didn't say. After that I really didn't want to pry anymore, but I do know his name was Jason."
"Jason Potts. She was sixteen when it happened, so what year was that?" Tony thought about it for a moment.
"She was born in 1975, so I'd say about 1991."
"I'll look into it and see how it happened."
"Rhodey," Tony began, getting uncomfortable.
"You don't want to know Tony, that's fine. But as a military man, I would like to know. He was probably in the first Iraq War." Tony nodded and started on the next piece.
Another hour later, the suit was finally complete. Tony looked it over, and back up to Rhodey.
"This is the first and last time I help you," he said. "You're on your own from now on." Rhodey nodded and shook Tony's hand.
"Tony, thank you, you have no idea how much I appreciate this," he said, smiling at his friend.
"Well, this was my final goodbye to it." Rhodey grinned.
"Hey, if you want, and I can try to get you visitation rights." Tony laughed at that one.
"No, it's all right, I'll see her every once in a while."
Rhodey escorted Tony back to the front of the building. They said their goodbyes, and Tony left the base. He zoomed down the road once more, towards the setting sun; the red hues reminding him of a certain redhead that was already on his mind.
Pepper pulled up to the mansion. There still wasn't any sign of Tony, and she hadn't heard from him since this afternoon. She entered the house and walked into the living room.
"Miss Potts, Mr. Stark would like me to tell you that he is in the basement," Jarvis said.
"Thank you, Jarvis." She placed her purse down on the couch and walked towards the steps to the basement. She slowly walked down, and peered through the glass, looking for him. He was sitting in the hot rod, with some images projecting in front of him. He had a smile on his face, which meant he was in a good mood. From the side she couldn't tell what the video was, so she punched in her code, and walked over. When she finally heard the audio, she didn't need to see the video to know what he was watching. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, not believing that he had found her Valedictorian speech from college on the internet.
"This is our time; our time to take the world, grab hold, and never let go."
She rolled her eyes at the line, then looked over at Tony, eyes glued to the screen looking like he was hypnotized by her words. She smirked and walked closer to him, standing right beside the hot rod, waiting for him to notice her. His eyes stayed glued to the screen, with a cheesy but cute smile spreading across his face; she didn't think she saw him blink, not once. When at last the speech had ended, she didn't believe her eyes when Tony actually stood up and clapped his hands, applauding the video. Pepper's face narrowed in confusion.
"Is he for real? He can't be serious," she thought to herself. She watched him finally sit down. He turned his head down to look at something in the car, but his eyes caught sight of her in his peripheral vision and jumped back.
"Geez, Potts, don't scare me like that," he said, his heart almost jumping out of his chest.
"I've been standing here for like, three minutes, what were you doing? Oh wait, I know, drooling over my Valedictorian speech," she said with a smirk.
"And I must say Potts," he said while scooting over in the car and patting the spot beside him so she could sit down with him. "If there had been a cute and smart girl like you competing against me for summa cum laude, I would've been tempted to let her get it." She rolled her eyes and climbed into the car beside him.
"So, this is what you've been doing the entire time you've been home? Stalking me?"
"No, not stalking. You make it sound like I'm obsessed with you, which I may be, but that's beside the point. At least it's a healthy obsession," he said, grinning. Pepper had to laugh at that.
"Tony, if you want to know something, all you have to do is ask," she said.
"I know," he began. "But it feels like if I ask you questions I'm snooping in your business," he explained. Pepper blinked at him and turned back to the screen.
"As opposed to resorting to the internet for your information?" she asked, pointing to the screen. "That's kind of creepy, Tony. That's what stalkers do." He snorted and looked away from her.
"Okay, okay, I got it. I won't Google you anymore."
"No, no, I didn't say that. All I'm saying is I don't mind to tell you about myself if you just ask me, that's all." They sat there a moment, just looking at each other.
"Alright, why did you quit being a model?" he asked. A small smile grew on her face as she relaxed into the seat.
"Very good question. I wanted to earn my living honestly, not by my looks alone. Being a model, you're automatically labeled as being stupid, whether you're a blonde, brunette, or even a red head; and I didn't like that. Isn't that one of the main reasons why you made them your conquests, Tony? I'm not saying that to be mean, I'm just saying isn't that why you targeted them the most?" He looked at her and shrugged.
"Yeah, actually, it was," he said, snickering.
"See? I didn't want to have that label. And it worked out for the better, if I say so myself," she said, scooting over to him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a deep soft kiss. She placed her hand on his cheek and held him close to her. He pulled back slowly and gazed into her eyes. She blinked, trying to focus on him. "Is it okay if I spend the night tonight?" she asked. Tony was taken aback.
"Of course it's okay. Why would you even ask me that?" he asked. She shrugged.
"I don't know; I'm still getting used to kissing you." Tony leaned back down, and kissed her with more force. She wrapped an arm around his neck as he pulled her closer to him. With his other arm, he pulled up on her leg, and gently laid them flat on the seat in the car. He pulled up on her skirt and hooked her leg around his hip. His hands roamed over her body, as hers did the same. They ghosted down her sides, feeling her curves, as her hand went to his back and felt the hard muscles twitching at her touch. His tongue gently parted her lips, and met her tongue. Their tongues slid against each other, until she pulled away slightly and began sucking on his bottom lip. A low moan escaped his throat, and he maneuvered his mouth to where he was sucking on her lip instead. His hand moved back to her leg, and moved to her knee, keeping it in place on his hip.
"Sir," Jarvis interrupted.
"What?" Tony yelled as he broke away from Pepper's mouth, glaring at the ceiling as if he was going to kill it.
"Director Fury is in the living room and wishes to speak with you," the AI stated.
"Oh my god!" he exclaimed, and fell back on Pepper, resting his head on her shoulder.
"It's okay," she said soothingly, while rubbing his back.
"Everybody's got it in for me. I don't understand it," he whined, then went back to kissing her. "Hold that thought," he said between kisses, while moving out of the car.
"Tony, maybe," she began, but was cut off by his mouth on hers.
"No, no, seriously, hold that thought. I'm going to go kill him real quick, and then I'll be right back down," he said between kisses, then dashed to the door, and up the stairs.
Tony reached the top and saw Fury looking out his living room window. "This had better be good Fury. You know it's rude to drop in on people unannounced."
"Then we have something in common, don't we Stark?" Fury asked, turning around to look at him. Tony rolled his eyes. "Hello, Miss Potts," he said, directing his attention behind Tony. Quickly he turned around and saw Pepper walking towards him.
"I thought I said to wait for me?" Tony said, surprised that she was there.
"I figured you could use all the extra help you could get," she said, winking at him.
"Did I interrupt something?" Fury asked, narrowing his eye at them.
"Yes," Tony said.
"No," Pepper said. Tony sighed, and glared at Fury.
"Alright, what is it? Apparently it must be important if you're here at my house at this time of night."
"You could say that," he said, putting a metal briefcase on the coffee table, opening it, and turning it around for them to see the screen inside of it. "There's been a breach of security." The screen came alive, and showed security feed from SHEILD headquarters. "The woman in the video calls herself Iron Maiden." The masked woman, clad head to toe in metal, appeared and began beating and taking out many agents. "Four days ago she broke into HQ and duplicated plans of the arc reactor in your Hong Kong branch." Tony looked at him.
"Really? And you're just now letting me know this?"
"She was out of sight until late last night, when she broke into the branch itself." The footage changed to the branch and showed her maneuvering the hallways.
"What?" Tony couldn't believe this. "What did she want?" Fury shrugged.
"That we don't know, however we do know that she must be an employee because she knew where all the cameras were in the building and was able to dodge them."
"Wait a second, so what are we watching here?" Pepper asked.
"Specialized cameras that only SHIELD knows about."
"Excuse me? You mean to tell me that you have SHIELD tech all over the building?" Tony asked, on the verge of going ballistic.
"Yes, Tony, I do. And looking at the footage I'd say it was pretty damn necessary. I've already made Mr. Kahn aware of the situation."
"When was that, exactly?" Tony asked.
"This morning at the beginning of business hours," Fury said, not blinking. Tony had to clench his jaw shut. The fact that Kahn knew about this when the meeting was going on made his temper almost boil over. He quickly walked away before he snapped in front of Pepper, and started taking deep breaths. Pepper sighed, and turned back to Fury.
"Have you been able to track her since last night?" Pepper asked.
"Unfortunately, no. She is a very dangerous and skillful person. She was able to take out several of my best agents, including Romanov," Fury explained. They heard Tony laugh from a distance.
"So the Black Widow got taken out, huh? Not as good as you thought, huh Fury?" Tony asked, trying to be a smart ass. Pepper heard a growl come from Fury's throat.
"Um, will she be alright?" Pepper asked, trying desperately to divert his attention from Tony.
"She should be, although it will take some time for her to recover completely."
"Please send her my regards, if you don't mind," she said, but then realized Fury was staring awfully hard at her. "Um, Director is there something on my face?" she asked, touching it to see if she could feel anything.
"Huh?" he asked. "Oh no, no. I'm sorry, you just," he paused a moment. "You look like someone I knew, a long time ago, that's all." Pepper nodded and looked over to Tony, who was still glaring at Fury. "I found some more of your father's things, Tony. They're in that box right there," Fury said, pointing to a wooden box on the couch. Tony walked over to the couch, and eyed the items, before looking back to Fury, who had already closed the briefcase. "Keep your eyes open, Tony. Whoever is plotting against you obviously has been putting a lot of thought into this."
"Yeah, why do I have this feeling that you know more than what you're leading on?" he asked, still not amused.
"I know no more than you at this point. And since it is your company, I do suggest that you run more thorough background checks on all the female employees in your company, especially the ones in Hong Kong." Tony nodded his head.
"Can SHIELD assist with that?" he asked.
"We already are," Fury said, grabbing the briefcase and walking towards the door. "Oh, and Tony…"
"Please, don't say the 'eye' line. Because seriously, it makes me want to throw something heavy at your head every time you say it." Fury laughed and walked out of the house. "Pepper," he said, turning to her to see that she was looking through the box already.
"Yes, Tony?" she asked.
"Schedule an emergency meeting with Hong Kong first thing tomorrow. Mr. Kahn needs to be reminded of whose employee he is," Tony said through gritted teeth.
"Noted. What would you like me to do with all this?" she asked, picking the box up off the couch.
"Just take it downstairs, I'll deal with it later," he said, frustrated. She nodded and moved passed him, while still eyeing some of the items. Tony turned to the window and looked out at the ocean.
"Well, the mood is completely gone," he thought to himself, and ran his fingers through his hair. Not a moment later he heard a sharp gasp and a loud thud come from behind him.
"Pepper!" he said, turning around and walking over to her. She had dropped the box, but was standing there, gazing at a picture. He looked at her and realized her eyes were watering. "Pepper, are you okay?" he asked, slightly shaking her. She looked up to him and cleared her throat.
"Yeah, I'm okay." She turned back to the picture and pointed at someone. "That guy is your dad, right?" she asked. Tony looked at the picture.
"Yeah, that's him." She nodded, then pointed to the other man that was in the picture with his father.
"Do you know who that man is?" she asked. Tony looked at the man, and shook his head.
"He looks slightly familiar, but no, I don't know who he is." Pepper looked back at the picture and sighed.
"Don't you think… he looks like Liam Neeson?" she asked.
"The actor?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrows at her.
"Uh huh, don't you think so?" she asked. Tony looked at it again.
"Yeah, I guess he does. Weird."
"This is going up," Pepper said with finality.
"What?" Tony asked. "Pepper, we don't know who that guy is. All I know is he's another buddy of my dad's."
"Yeah, but you could fake people out and say that your dad knew Liam Neeson," she said as she picked up the box. "Tomorrow I'm going to get a frame for it and put it up. I'll choose a discreet place," she said, then walked back downstairs. Tony just stood there dumfounded, not really knowing what just happened.
Chapter Eleven