The Avengers

Chapter 5

Out in the Atlantic Ocean, Tony Stark, in his Iron Man suit, is cutting a pipeline transport with a laser cutter coming from his hand. He then places a Stark Energy Reactor. It lights up. Iron Man rockets out of the water and flies towards Stark Tower. TONY "You're good on this end. The rest is up to you". PEPPER POTTS, on the other line, "You disconnected the transition line? Are we off the grid? TONY, inside the suit -- Pepper appears on his hud monitor, "Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy". PEPPER "Wow. So maybe our reactor takes over and it actually works?". TONY "I assume. Light her up". As Iron Man flies to Stark Tower building, the power is switched on and the Stark sign lights up. PEPPER "How does it look?". TONY  "Like Christmas, but with more... me". PEPPER "Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I can do some more tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next billboards". TONY "Pepper, you're killing me. Remember? Enjoy the moment". PEPPER "Then get in here and I will". 

Tony arrives at his skyscraper penthouse and is in the process of taking off his Iron Man suit through a hi-tech gauntlet of gadgets. JARVIS "Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line". TONY "I'm not in. I'm actually out". JARVIS "Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting". TONY "Close the line Jarvis. I got a date". 

In Tony's penthouse, Pepper Potts stare up at the monitors of the reactor device. PEPPER ""Levels are holding steady... I think". TONY "Of course they are, I was directly involved. This brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genius?". PEPPER "Well, ha, I really wouldn't know now, would I?". TONY "What do you mean? All this came from you". PEPPER "No. All this came from that". She points to the energy in his chest plate. TONY "Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself... twelve percent of the credit". PEPPER "Twelve percent?". TONY "An argument can be made for fifteen". PEPPER "Twelve percent? For my baby?". TONY "Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you". PEPPER "Oooooh". TONY "My private elevator...". PEPPER "You mean our elevator?". TONY "...was teeming with sweaty workmen. I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?". Pepper pours herself and Tony a glass of champagne". PEPPER "Not gonna be that subtle". TONY "I'll tell you what. Next building's gonna say 'Potts' on the tower". PEPPER "On the lease". TONY "...Call your mom, can you bunk over?".  

JARVIS "Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocol is being overwritten". AGENT COULSON "Stark, we need to talk". Tony picks up his phone and looks into it at Coulson". TONY "You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message". AGENT COULSON "This is urgent". TONY "Then leave it urgently". At that moment the elevator door opens and Coulson appears. TONY "Security breach. (To Pepper) That's on you". AGENT COULSON "Mr. Stark". PEPPER "Phil! Come in". TONY "Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent". PEPPER "Come on in, we're celebrating". TONY "Which is why he can't stay". AGENT COULSON "We need you to look this over". He holds out a file towards Stark, "Soon as possible". TONY "I don't like being handed thing". PEPPER "That's alright, 'cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade". She passes her glass of champagne to Coulson and he passes the file over to Stark. PEPPER "Thank you". TONY "Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday". AGENT COULSON "This isn't a consultation". PEPPER "Is this about The Avengers? Which I... I know nothing about". TONY "The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify". PEPPER "I didn't know that either". TONY "Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others". PEPPER "That I did know". AGENT COULSON "This isn't about personality profiles anymore". TONY "Whatever. Miss Potts, got a minute?". Pepper walks over to Tony who places the files into his databases. TONY "You know, I thought we were having a moment". PEPPER "I was having twelve percent of a moment. This seems serious, Phil's pretty shaken". TONY "How did you notice? Why is he, Phil?". PEPPER "What is all of this?". TONY "This is, uh...". Tony expands his arms and different profiles appear in holographic form floating in the air in front of Tony and Pepper. TONY "This". Screens appear of Captain America in action, the Hulk roaring as he attacks the army at culver university, Thor fighting the destroyer and another is of Loki and the Tesseract, to which Stark and Pepper look on in awe. PEPPER "I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight". TONY "Tomorrow". PEPPER "You've got homework. You've got a lot of homework". TONY "Well, what if I didn't?". PEPPER "If you didn't?". TONY "Yeah". PEPPER "You mean if you finished?". Stark nods his head. PEPPER "Well, um... then...". She whispers something in his ear. Tony gasps. Coulson looks away in embarrassment". TONY "Square deal. It's the last date". Pepper kisses him. PEPER "Work hard". As Pepper leaves with Agent Coulson, Tony grabs the Tesseract in holograph form, worried".