The Day After
Pepper looked at Rhodey, his expression sad even during his sleep. She caressed his face fondly while her eyes filled with tears.
Composing herself, she withdrew her hand and picked up her belongings. Pulling out her phone, she checked her notifications.
Twelve messages and two missed calls from her PA, three missed calls from General Ross and -
One missed call from Tony Stark.
No voicemail, just a notification.
She drew in a shaky breath and called Tony back.
“Hello, you’ve reached the life-model decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message - I’ll decide if I want to call you back.”
Pepper ended the call with a sigh.
“Hey, Pep.” She turned around and saw Rhodey awake. “You’re going?”
She smiled softly. “Yeah. I’ll drop by later, okay?”
He sighed, “Yeah, bye. See you later.”
She called Happy to pick her up. As she left, she met Vision, who was walking towards the room with his eyes downcast. Clearly, he was still drowning in guilt over Rhodey’s condition and… Tony.
She gave Vision a nod as she left, which he returned, but didn’t speak to him.
She had so many things to do - give a press conference for the victims of Captain America and his merry band, have a board meeting and a stockholders’ meeting and … organize Tony’s affairs and his funeral.
Tony’s funeral.
Tony’s funeral…
_________
“Pepper Potts speaking.”
“Ms. Potts, are you aware that the media has so-called confirmation on Iron Man’s death?” Thaddeus Ross was a man one could easily hate, she decided.
“It doesn’t surprise me. Hospital staff are never the most discreet.” She replied calmly.
“So it’s true? Stark’s dead?” She couldn’t place his tone. It was neither satisfaction nor worry.
“I’m afraid so.” She said, gritting her teeth. Diplomacy was a necessity and something she practiced daily, but that didn’t mean it was always easy. “Now, if you could please excuse me, I have a meeting to attend.”
“Of course, Ms. Potts.” She could hear how her dismissal offended the Secretary of State, but honestly she was so past caring at this point. He couldn’t do anything to her - she was neither an Avenger nor a superhero and with Tony … gone, she had sole control of the company and the funding the government and the Avengers received.
Tony’s gone.
Tony’s gone…
_________
As Pepper looked at the Avengers Compound, she felt fury rising deep within her. It was only the presence of the CIA agents behind her that prevented her from losing her composure.
It was empty - Pepper had relocated the staff to the Tower this morning, Vision was in the hospital with Rhodey, Captain America was hiding, like a coward, with his brainwashed killer buddy and the others were in the Raft, in prison.
And Tony…
Tony wouldn’t ever set foot here anymore.
A lump formed in her throat, but she steeled herself and strode inside purposefully, her heels clicking on the marble floor, with the agents following her silently. FRIDAY opened the doors for her without a fuss, as her access codes unlocked every part of the compound. It was painful to know that, even with their break-up and their time apart - during which she refused to attend several conferences with him and refused to have any contact with him whatsoever, among other things - he hadn’t… retaliated against her.
Which he would have been more than right to do.
Their breakup was messy and painful, and Pepper regretted how they left things. Now, she wouldn’t ever be able to fix things with him.
Tony had died thinking Pepper didn’t care about him anymore, which had never been the case. Sure, she hadn’t been able to handle Iron Man and Tony’s need for the suit, but that didn’t mean she didn’t love Tony and respect him.
If she had only picked up…
If only she had talked to him and told him she cared for him…
She shook her head. She had rooms to clean out, belongings to turn over to the CIA and the government…
As she entered the living room, she could see a hole in the floor, from when Maximoff shoved Vision through at least 17 floors of ground and cement. Barton had been meticulous and had taken all of his weapons with him. Thankfully, even though FRIDAY had been disabled, there was still a recording of the event. She would need those later for a lawsuit... or two.
She ignored it, despite the uneasy shifting of the agents behind her, and let the agents do their work. As they walked in and out of the rooms of the “Rogue Avengers”, as the media was calling them, she wandered off to Tony’s room.
Spacious, clean and with barely any stuff. Not that it was a big surprise - everyone who knew Tony knew he kept all of his “important stuff” in the lab.
“Ms. Potts?” Someone cleared their throat. She turned and saw a young agent, barely over the age of 20, standing uncertainly by the door. “We’ve collected everything that might be of importance, what should we do with the rest?”
She mulled it over. She was tempted to destroy everything, but there was no guarantee that something in those rooms might not be needed in the future.
“Leave it as it is for now. I’ll have someone take care of them later.” She decided.
“Right.” He nodded and backed away. She sighed as she took one look around the room.
“FRIDAY, after the agents from the CIA are gone, I want you to lock down the compound until I say otherwise.”
“Of course, Ms. Potts.”
She thought it would make her feel at little better to take away Rogers and his team’s home - but all she felt was sorrow.