Chapter 81
Pepper waited in front of the school in her car, watching the area closely. Peter was due to finish school in a few minutes, and she was here to pick him up. This suited her perfectly as an excuse to find out if Mary was still trying to reach him.
They were already discussing it with Peter and Tony. A new beginning awaited them, they returned to each other and made it clear that now there would be no more lying and they would say everything straight. Peter told them everything he remembered from meetings with Mary. It wasn't much, and it didn't seem very important to him either, but he wanted Pepper to know that it wasn't really about anything and that it didn't mean anything to him.
They had little information about Mary, and it seemed even more suspicious. Tony, Pepper, and Natasha agreed that there was more to the desire to get closer to Peter. But they didn't know what. No one was so naive as to believe her sweet talk about just wanting to know her son. Why now that she hadn't been interested in him for years? But all the bad things happened shortly after Mary reappeared. Pepper wasn't so foolish anymore, and she thought it had something to do with it. Was there only revenge behind it? Or something much worse? And if so, what? They had no evidence, only assumptions, but that was not enough. It was tiring, Pepper felt that something important was still missing them, that they had it right in the palm of their hand, but they couldn't see it. They were blind, confused, and insecure. She was afraid that's exactly what Mary wanted. But Pepper's priority now was to keep her family safe.
"Hi, are you here already?" Peter asked as he opened the car door and set down on the passenger seat. Pepper's eyes darted quickly through the parking lot, looking in front of the school building, but there were so many people there that she didn't have a chance to see if Mary was there. And if she really was there, what would you like to do? Go to her and speak to her soul like a small child? Or maybe follow her? she asked herself in her mind. This was crazy, Pepper knew that if there was no information leak or Tony didn't get into their system, they had virtually no chance of finding out. Mary was careful, carefully guarding her plans and secrets. After all, she played with Tony for such a long time and he found out much later…
"Yes, I'm done most of the work, the others aren't in such a hurry, and I didn't want you to have to wait long for me here," she explained to Peter, and he looked at her inquisitively. "How was your day at school?" she asked, starting the motor. He buckled up quickly.
"Yeah, it was fine. They canceled our last hour, so we went to the spare robotics club in a very modest number," he grinned.
"Aren't they canceling those hours often?" Pepper asked suspiciously.
"Not exactly. They could cancel them more often. Look, Mom, tell me the truth. You came earlier mainly because of Mary, didn't you?” Peter said straightly, and Pepper sighed. Of course, he knew. And they also agreed to tell each other the truth.
"Yes, I talked to Nat to see if she would do the rest for me. I needed to know you were fine and you were safe. Didn't she try to contact you again?”
"No, she hasn't written to me at all in the last three or four days. That's good, right? I mean, I thought she would be relentless and that she would want me to continue meeting her. Maybe she already understood that she didn't stand a chance and that it was pointless," suggested Peter, who saw things clearer and more beautiful with the return of Pepper. Pepper felt the same way, but she remembered that she must not forget that Mary was still in the game. She may have withdrawn, but maybe she's just waiting for the right moment. She was going to be alert, she didn't want to allow her to attack, they had to be one step ahead of her.
"I wish you were right, Peter, but we really don't know what else we'll face, what we can expect from Mary. I'm afraid it won't just be quiet before the storm," Pepper said grimly, and Peter fell silent. "Well, let's leave it at that. So far is everything alright, isn't it? By the way, Dad called me to say that your suit would be ready tomorrow. So what if we went to dinner on Friday or Saturday?”
"Wait, I need to look in my diary to see if I have an important appointment scheduled." Peter pretended to think, and Pepper tried not to laugh. "Um, I think I'm saving the world and - and saving the world. But because of you, I'll put it off until another day, the world will wait.” Now Pepper really had to laugh, though other times she would have reprimanded him for not joking about such things. He was the same as Tony.
"That's really generous of you. Would you mind if I stopped at the apartment for a few boxes along the way? I'd like to start taking them home slowly, and I don't want to hire someone for it.” Those few words lit up Peter's face.
"How could it bother me? I'll take all the boxes for you all by myself, so you could be home again as soon as possible," he said excitedly, looking at her. He saw her smiling, and he couldn't help but smile too.