The Mission
"Hey," he said as soon as he saw her. "You busy? Mind if I send you on an errand?"
Onscreen Pepper's hands were on her hips as she walked up to one of Tony's work surfaces.
“She looks pissed,” commented Sam.
“And so it begins.” Tony sighed.
"I need you to go to my office," Tony went on. "You're going to hack into the mainframe and you're going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests." He had walked over to the tabletop and now picked up a small jump drive, which he handed to Pepper. "It's probably under Executive Files. If not, they've put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading."
“That won’t go well.” Loki quietly observed.
“Indeed.” agreed Thor.
Onscreen Pepper looked sharply at Tony. He had now walked away and was in front of his desktop computer, scrutinizing the design. "And what do you plan to do with this information if I bring it back here?" she asked.
“Nothing, just getting you to steal it for fun.” Tony rolled his eyes, Rhodey stared at his friend unamused.
"Same drill," said Tony. "They've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them."
“The right thing to do,” Steve said firmly. Tony looked at the Captain, a suspicious look on his face at this seemingly sudden support. Steve smiled hesitantly at the genius.
"Tony," said Pepper, and she laughed without mirth. "you know that I would help you with anything, but -" Her face hardened. "- I cannot help you if you are going to start all of this again."
“Again?” Scott looked at Tony curiously.
“She… sort of shot down the hero thing the first time.” Tony grimaced. “Wasn’t a fan of the danger.”
"There is nothing except this," said Tony. "There is no art opening, there is no benefit, there is nothing to sign." He turned to her, and his face was grim. "There is the next mission, and nothing else."
Steve bit his lip remembering what he had said on the Helicarrier the first time they met. Guilt washed through him as he saw the opposite of his opinions on-screen.
"That so?" said onscreen Pepper, looking keenly into his face. "Well then, I quit." She threw the jump drive down on the table, and she turned and walked away.
“Is she serious?” Bruce gaped.
"You stood by my side all those years while I reaped the benefits of destruction," said Tony, making her stop and turn around in the doorway. "And now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out?"
“That’s a dick move.” Quill looked pointedly at Rocket at the ‘walkout part’ making Rocket huff.
"You're going to kill yourself, Tony," said Pepper. "I'm not going to be a part of it."
“Still a dick move,” muttered Quill.
"I shouldn't be alive," said onscreen Tony, turning away from Pepper and sitting down. "Unless it was for a reason. I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do." He looked back at her, his eyes full of conviction. "And I know in my heart that it's right."
“So destiny?” Wong gazed at Tony curiously.
“I guess.” Tony shrugged.
“You guessed correctly,” Stephen said mysteriously. Tony waited for a continuation but there was none.
Pepper was still staring at him. She blew out her breath in a long sigh. Then, after a moment, she came back to the table and picked up the jump drive. "You're all I have too, you know," she said.
“So the only logical solution is for you to get married.” Quill grinned triumphantly.
“Check,” Tony replied, rubbing the ring on his finger.
Onscreen, Tony gazed after Pepper as she walked away.