Alpha
She should have known something like this would happen. They all should have known it would happen. It was only to be expected when you stick a handful of testosterone filled superheroes in a tower and demand they play nice.
At first it had been nice. Bruce and Tony mostly kept to themselves in the lab while Steve went out to find out more about what happened to all his old buddies, Clint and Natasha went out on a mission for SHEILD, and Thor (after taking Loki back to Asgard) returned to “his Jane” with the intention of bringing her back to New York with him. Pepper had loved the quiet sort of peace that came with living in the Tower.
Then Thor returned with Jane and Pepper found a friend and someone who could (occasionally) keep up with Tony and Bruce’s science rambles. And she’d always loved the big, tenderhearted demi-god or whatever he was. So the peace continued.
Then Steve came back, broken hearted and drained. Not all of his past friends’ stories had been nice or happy and a little part of the team’s unofficial leader had been crushed at the news. Pepper and Jane had taken it upon themselves to cheer him up. Hours of movies and multiple tubs of ice cream later, they got him to crack a smile, though he continued to seem a little downtrodden for quite a while. Still, the peace persisted.
And then Clint and Natasha returned, bruised and beaten but thoroughly pleased with themselves. The mission had been labeled classified, so none of the Avengers actually ever got the full story, and Pepper wasn’t sure she really wanted to know. Natasha and Jane were so different from one another, it was strange how well they actually got along when the three girls went out for weekly (much needed) girls nights out. And so the peace continued…
…for about a month.
Pepper, Jane, and Natasha had returned from a girls weekend (because one night just wasn’t enough sometimes) at a spa resort. Natasha had been reluctant at first but quickly gave in when the Antonio Banderas look alike walked into the room for her massage. They were all still grinning lazily as they slumped against the walls of the elevator taking them up to the top floor of Avengers Tower – the main living area of the superheroes.
Those smiles quickly vanished the second they stepped out to loud explosions echoing from somewhere on the floor followed by raucous yelling accompanied by an occasional booming laugh. Scowling, Pepper marched her way to the lab, followed closely by the other females. She just knew the lab would be the source of all this commotion.
Sure enough the lab looked like a warzone. She groaned as she spotted several large scorch marks on the walls and at least two vehicles in several misshapen pieces. Natasha swore and Jane sighed in exasperation as Jarvis opened the glass door for them to enter.
The first person Pepper spotted was Phil Coulson leaning against a work table, arms crossed as he gazed disinterestedly at the scene unfolding before him. Said scene was what made the redhead freeze in her tracks, stunned silent and gaping like a fish. Tony was in his Iron Man suit, firing at Steve who was redirecting the shots with his shield, hence the destroyed laboratory and explosions. Clint was laying on the ground a few feet away with Mjolnir resting innocently on his chest as he struggled to lift it so he could get up while Thor stood by, throwing his head back in laughter. The only one missing was Bruce, who Pepper spotted a second later, huddled in the corner, trying desperately to stay calm.
“What…what…” she really couldn’t form a sentence right now.
“The hell?” Natasha summed up for her.
“We’ve come across a little unforeseen problem,” Coulson said calmly, as if the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes weren’t trying to kill each other right in front of his eyes as he spoke. At Pepper’s raised eyebrow he clarified, “Too many alpha males in one home.”
Natasha muttered something in Russian and rolled her eyes.
Jane muttered sarcastically, “Great.”
Pepper placed her clenched fists on her hips and stepped forward, affectively halting Tony’s attempts at Steve’s life. Noticing this, Thor sheepishly took his hammer off Clint’s chest, smiling apologetically at Jane as the sniper jumped up. Bruce finally came out of his hiding place to stand behind the other females who had furious expressions on their faces to match Pepper’s.
“Anyone care to explain?” Pepper asked in a tone she would use while scolding a child. All four men opened and closed their mouths several times with no noise coming out. “Of course not. Well, in all honesty, I don’t really care why or how it started, but I’m finishing it. There will be no more epic fights to the death in this tower. Got it?” There was a murmur of consent. “Great. Now, I had planned to have a nice big dinner with everyone, but since you all decided to act like five-year-olds, Natasha, Jane, and I will be taking Phil and Bruce out while you four clean this mess up. And no, Jarvis cannot help. It better be spotless when we get back here.”
With that, all three females turned as one and left the lab, followed tentatively by the agent and scientist. As they got into the limo Pepper ordered using Tony’s card, Phil chuckled, “Well, at least that solves that problem.” Everyone gave him confused looks. “We all found out just who the real Alpha is.”