Grand Prix
Amy stood in front of her hotel, her black rolling suitcase next to her. A sleek black car rolled up, and Amy smiled. Tony got up, smiling at her. "Amelia."
"Amy," Amy corrected, pushing her suitcase near the car. "Hi."
"Hi...This is Pepper, my CEO. And Happy Hogan, head of my security."
Pepper and Happy looked at her with unease, making Amy feel slightly uncomfortable. But being in the army, and being with tons of men who didn't respect her authority made her grow a thick skin. "Hey...I'm Amy," she said, introducing herself.
Pepper was very weary. Leaning towards Tony, she whispered in his ear. "Seriously? A tourist?"
"There's something so familiar about her...It's like I've known her my whole life."
Pepper's stomach twisted at that, and her face showed it. Tony backtracked so quickly that his own head was spinning. "No, no, no...Not like that! Like...she could be family."
"Like a long-lost sister?"
Tony shrugged, turning back to Amy, who was smirking at the "couple". "So, Amy...What do you do? Do you have a job?" Pepper asked, assuming the young woman was a model. It seemed like the type of trash that Tony often picked up.
"I do. I'm a museum curator at the Natural History and Space Museum in DC."
Pepper was not expecting that. "You are?"
"Yep...I also have a doctorate in Archeology and History."
"How did you meet Tony?"
"Ran into him, literally. I'm a klutz. We just talked and he invited me to come with him to a car race. Where are we going, by the way?"
"The Grand Prix...France," Tony grinned.
"France?" Amy asked as they drove to the airport. Tony took a seat by the window on the private jet while Amy sat across from him away, texting Nat that she was about to take off.
"Sorry, I was a bitch to you. I'm not used to Tony bringing dates on work trips," Pepper apologized, sitting across from the woman.
Amy burst out laughing. "Oh! I'm not a date! Trust me! I'm so not interested in him! I'm not even impressed by him!" Pepper blushed in embarrassment. "Seriously...I'm not even interested in men at the moment. I haven't in a while. I'm not trying to take him from you." Pepper opened her mouth. "Oh my god, it's so obvious."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because my friend suggested that I needed a vacation from my workaholic life. And Tony came along and offered me a trip." Amy's breath hitch as the plane began to move. She absolutely was terrified of planes. Her eyes closed tightly as she gripped onto the arm rest.
"You okay?"
"I hate planes."
"Trust me...Our pilot is the best," Tony called out.
"It's not that...My brother died in a plane crash."
Tony, Pepper, and Happy's mouth dropped. "Oh my god...I had no idea," Pepper gasped, touching the woman's hand. "Amy, I'm so sorry."
"Thanks...It was a while ago."
"Ever been to France?" Tony asked, trying to break the awkward tension.
Amy grinned, her hand going to play with her locket. "Yeah...With my brother and fiance."
"You're married?" Tony asked.
"No...My fiance was killed in action in Iraq." It wasn't a total lie.
"He was a solider?" Pepper asked.
Amy nodded. "A Sergant. He was a sniper. He died before he could propose, but a good friend of mine found the engagement ring. It was his mom's. I tried to give it back to her, but she insisted I keep it."
The rest of the plane ride was silent, and Amy followed Tony, Pepper, and Happy to a car, noticing that Happy was carrying a red suitcase.
"You know, it’s Europe. Whatever happens the next 20 minutes, just go with it," Tony told the two women.
"Go with it? Go with what?" Pepper asked.
"Mr. Stark?" Natasha asked, seeing Tony, Pepper, Amy, and the bodyguard.
"Hey," Tony greeted.
"Hello. How was your flight?"
"It was excellent. Boy, it’s nice to see you."
"We have one photographer from the ACM, if you don’t mind. Okay?"
Amy walked ahead of Pepper and Tony, being fascinated by all the fast cars and excitement. "I didn't know you were going to be here," Amy whispered in Russian.
Natasha grinned. "I was summoned here. Not by choice."
"Those two need to bone."
"Da." Natasha backed away, returning to her cover when Tony and Pepper separated. "Right this way."
Tony eyed her up and down. "You look fantastic."
Amy chuckled, following the group. "Why, thank you very much."
"But that’s unprofessional. What’s on the docket?"
"You have a 9:30 dinner."
"Perfect. I’ll be there at 11:00."
Natalie: Absolutely.
"Is this us?"
"It can be."
"Great. Make it us."
"Okay."
Amy's mind was a whirlwind as she saw many famous people. Maybe this was a bad idea. She had laid low for a reason. No one knew who she really was. Every so years, she had to move, change her name, and continue on living.
"Mr. Musk. How are you?" Pepper greeted THE Elon Musk.
"Hi, Pepper. Congratulations on the promotion," Elon smiled.
"Thank you very much."
"Elon, how’s it going? Those Merlin engines are fantastic," Tony greeted, smiling.
"Thank you. Yeah, I’ve got an idea for an electric jet."
"You do?"
"Yeah."
"Then we’ll make it work." They all walked away, with Amy following behind the 'not couple-couple'. "You want a massage?" Tony asked Pepper.
"Oh, God. No. I don’t want a massage."
"I’ll have Natalie make an..."
"I don’t want Natalie to do..."
"Don’t want you tense. By the way, I didn’t mean to spring this on you."
"Thank you very much."
"Green is not your best colour."
"Sorry to interrupt, but isn't that the guy from your hearing?" Amy asked, pointing to the blonde coifed hair of Justin Hammer.
"Oh, please," Pepper groaned.
"Anthony. Is that you?" Hammer asked.
"My least favourite person on Earth," Tony told the two women.
"Hey, pal."
"Justin Hammer."
"How you doing? You’re not the only rich guy here with a fancy car. You know Christine Everhart from Vanity Fair. You guys know each other?" A very pretty and busty woman appeared, slapping on a camera-worthy smile.
"Hi. Yes," Christine smiled.
Pepper had a forced and tight smile. "Yes."
"Yes, roughly," Tony nodded.
"We do."
"I'm sorry...I don't think we met. Justin Hammer," Hammer introduced to Amy.
"Amelia Coulson," Amy greeted.
"How do you know Tony and Pepper?"
"Oh...I'm a museum curator at the Natural History. Tony has so graciously offered a generous donation and some of his father's old artifacts to the Museum for the WWII exhibit."
"Is that so?" Hammer asked as Pepper and Tony stared at the woman.
"Yeah...Did you know that Howard Stark was one of the major contributors to helping the allies during WWII. He was in fact one of brilliant minds behind Project Rebirth and Project Manhattan. He even built the machine that turned Captain America into Captain America. Tell me, Mr. Hammer. What contributions has your family made through history?"
"BTW, big story. The new CEO of Stark Industries," Hammer said, changing the subject.
"I know, I know," Christine grinned.
"Congratulations."
"My editor will kill me if I don’t grab a quote for our Powerful Women issue."
"Oh."
"Can I?"
"Sure."
"She’s actually doing a big spread on me for Vanity Fair. I thought I’d throw her a bone, you know. Right?"
"Gross," Amy muttered under her breath.
"Right. Well, she did quite a spread on Tony last year."
"And she wrote a story as well," Tony nodded.
"It was very impressive," Pepper voiced.
"That was good."
"It was very well done."
"Thank you."
"I’m gonna go wash," Pepper smiled.
"I'll go with you," Amy said to Pepper, thinking that the woman needed a friend.
Amy followed her into the very nice bathroom, jumping up to sit onto of the counter while Pepper collected herself. "Don't worry about Christine. Girls like her...They're just desperate."
Pepper laughed while wiping her face. "You seem like you have experience."
"Yeah...Girls like her, they just want attention. Besides, it's obvious that Tony has some secret feelings for you."
"You think so?"
Amy nodded, smiling. "Totally. How long have you been with him...Work wise?"
"God, a long time. Five years? I started off as his personal assistant. I don't think he could function without me. Too bad he's a giant man-child. But I have to admit. You were very impressive back there with Hammer. That guy is the biggest tool."
"Seems like it. He's seems even more ignorate than Tony."
Pepper and Amy both laughed. Pepper liked the slightly younger woman. She didn't have much female friends. Amy was a very smart and independent individual. "I didn't know about all that stuff about Tony's father. He doesn't really talk about him much. I don't think it wasn't a good relationship. But I would be willing to do that donation for the museum. Maybe doing something good will help Tony in the long run. Give Stark Enterprises a good name."
Amy grinned. "I would really appreciate that. And when we get back, I'll give you both a private tour myself and a behind the scenes look. I'm trying to green-light a Captain America exhibit and the Howling Commandos. It seems appropriate now that Tony outed himself to the world. The world now knows about superheroes. Why not give credit to those that came before him."
"Let's go...This place has really good food."
"God, I'm starving," Amy agreed, lopping her arm around Pepper's. "Don't worry about Christine. If she tries something, I'll punch her in the face."
Pepepr gave a nervous laugh, because something about Amy's tone made her think that she was serious.
The two girls returned to their table, not seeing Tony. They sat down and Amy ordered a fruity cocktail and a salad. Pepper was looking around nervously, her eyes going to the television on the wall. "Oh my god..." she groaned.
"What?" Amy asked, turning around to witness what had her upset. "Is he seriously gonna race?"
Tony was infact, wearing a blue jumpsuit, and was headed to a car. "Natalie. Natalie!" Pepper called out.
Natasha walked over, looking unfazed. "Yes, Ms Potts?"
"What do you know about this?"
"This is the first that I have known of it."
Pepper pointed to the TV. "This, this cannot happen."
"Absolutely. I understand. How can I help you?"
"Where’s Happy?"
"He’s waiting outside."
"Okay, get him. I need Happy."
"Right away."
Amy took a sip of her cocktail. "This is getting interesting." Amy watched the TV with Pepper as the race started. "Wait a minute...Who is that?" Amy asked, seeing a man in a orange jumpsuit walk out onto the track. She stood up in shock while Pepper stayed sitting in her seat. "Holy shit," she muttered as the man undid the front of his jumpsuit and produced two long electric whips from his hands. His jumpsuit burned off his skin. Amy could see a glowing circle in the middle of his chest like Tony's arc reactor. "FUCK!" Amy cursed as the man ripped a car in half with the electric whip. The car crashed. "Pepper!" Amy called out, seeing Happy with the red suitcase. She guessed it was Tony's suit. "Come on!"
Both girls rushed outside with Happy, piling into the car. "Go, go!" Pepper ordered, causing Happy to hit it.
"Hang on!" Happy told the women, crashing into a barricade.
"Jesus Christ!" Amy cursed, glad she was wearing her seatbelt.
"Give me the case," Pepper ordered.
Happy passed the case back, trying to keep the car steady as he raced towards Tony. "Here, take it."
"Where’s the key?"
"It’s in my pocket."
"Car!" Amy shouted, screaming as a car part flew towards them. "Look! There!" They could see Tony facing off with the mad man. "Hit him, Happy! Hit him!"
"Oh my god!" Pepper cried out as the crashed into the man, pinning him against the fence.
Tony jumped up onto the face, out of the way of the crashing car. "Are you okay?" Happy called out as Pepper breathed loudly in fear and shock.
"Yeah," Tony called out. "Were you heading for me or him?"
"I was trying to scare him," Happy argued back.
"‘Cause I can’t tell!"
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" Pepper screamed.
"Better security!" Tony shouted back.
"GET IN THE CAR RIGHT NOW!"
"I was attacked! We need better security!"
"Guys," Amy called out, seeing the man come to.
"GET IN THE CAR!"
"I was attacked. We need better security."
"Get in the car."
"You’re CEO. Better security measures. God, it’s embarrassing."
"Guys!" Amy shouted. Tony rolled his eyes, and opened his door. "How you doing, Ames?"
"Worst date ever," Amy sneered.
"First vacation in two years."
Amy shouted in surprise as the man whipped the car door in half, causing Pepper to scream. Happy put the car into reverse, and ran into the man again. "I got him!"
"Hit him again! Hit him again! Football!"
"I got him."
"Take the case! Take it!" Pepper screamed.
"Give him the case!" Happy shouted.
"Stop shouting!" Amy called out, trying to shield her eyes from the sparks.
"Stop banging the car!" Pepper pleaded. Amy pulled Pepper away from the sparks as the man sliced the whole car in half as the airbag went off.
"Calm down."
"AH! GOD!" Pepper screamed. "GOD!"
"Give me the case! Please! Come on!" Tony pleaded. Amy took the case from Pepper, throwing it to Tony. Tony caught it with his foot, standing on it to activate the Iron Man suit. After he was suited up, Tony kicked the car away from the fight, causing Pepper to scream out again. Amy watched as Tony began to fight the man.
"Don't get involved," she whispered seeing Tony on his knees. Howard's older face flashed in her mind. Letting her eyes glow blue for a quick second, she threw a small energy ball at the man, knocking him off balance. That gave Tony an opening, shooting him with blasts until he was able to deactivate the arc reactor. Turning to a hyperventilating Pepper, she checked to make sure she was okay. "Are you okay?"
Pepper nodded, eyes still closed as she tried to catch her breath.
Amy unbuckled her seatbelt as she got out of the car. "Come on, Happy..." Amy muttered, yanking the door open with her super strength. She helped Happy out, and went back to grab Pepper.
Closing her eyes, her head was pounding. "You okay?" Pepper asked.
"I should've never come here with him. I want to go home. Now."
Tony heard the comment, his stomach sinking. Amy watched the man be taken away by the police, but not hearing the parting words." You...You lose. You lose Stark."