Fire Vs Iron

OOPS

Emmy caught up with Pepper at the bottom of the stairs walking towards the front door "Pepper, please wait!" She grabbed her arms stopping her momentum. Pepper turned to face her "Wait for what, Emmaline?" Pepper asked crossing her arms "For you to explain why you were kissing my ex? Is that why you asked for me to come here?"

"Its not what you think you saw" Emmy rubbed a hand over face "Damn it Pep! The Mandarin attacked us and Tony saved my life"

Pepper rolled her eyes "Oh so that was a thanks for saving my life kiss? Seriously?"

Emmy flushed a little, because even though that's what it was, it was also more complicated than that "Kind of..." Emmy mumbled " Listen why does it matter? Hes your ex, you broke up with him remember?" She pointed out "The reason I brought you here was because I suspect your new boyfriend is working with the Mandarin!"

Pepper huffed out a breathe "Killian is not my boyfriend, he wants to be but after what I overheard yesterday and what happened with The Mandarin, I want nothing to do with this guy!"

"Lets go back and get the others and you can explain everything that you heard all at once" Emmy grabbed her hand and pulled her don the hallway towards the common room.

Pepper looked at her "This conversation isnt over, Emmaline, we need to talk later"

Emmy sighed heavily as they reached the room where everyone was waiting "Yeah I know" They sat down moments before Tony entered the room, he looked between Pepper and Emmy. Emmy gently shook her head indicating that he should just let it go for now. Emmy faced the others "Okay guys listen up, Pepper has some news"

"I was at Aldrichs home the other day and overheard him on a phone call, he was talking about someone named Firestorm and how the master wanted them, dead or alive." Pepper began, feeling uncomfortable as all eyes turned to her " I tried listening to more but he kept moving from room to room while I was in the living room." Pepper took a deep breathe and continued "I got a bad feeling from the whole thing and excused myself, I was about to contact you when Jarvis beat me to it."

Tony ignored the tension he could feel in the room and addressed everyone "He called Emmy Firestorm, and thanks to Peppers intel we now know for certain that The Mandarin is after her specifically."He faced Pepper then "With you on the inside we can get further details on what he plans to use extremis for and where the Mandarin may be"

Emmy spoke up then "You are sure he mentioned Firestorm and the Master? Did he say anything else?"

Pepper scrunched her nose as she tried to remember more of the conversation "He mentioned how successful your programming was but that you were unstable, something about retaining too much of yourself." She held up a finger a s she remembered something else " Also mentioned how the Master would be arriving shortly and getting rid of you would be essential, or something like that."

"So the master, who we can safely assume is the Mandarin is coming in the flesh?" Tony asked and he paced "That could work to our advantage, lets start with tracking Killians movements and hopefully that will lead us to the Mandarin."

"If Pepper is willing to have dinner with Killian tomorrow night" Bruce spoke up "I have several bus that can be planted at his place, on his vehicle and even on his person."

"Im the best one to infiltrate the apartment" Nat added "I can do that while they are out to dinner."

"Im not sure I want to be around Aldrich" Pepper chimed in sounding nervous

"Dont worry Pep" Emmy said as she laid a comforting hand on her back "We will watch out for you. Ill place the bugs on the vehicle outside the restaurant and this way Ill be close by if you need anything." She turned back to the room at large "What Id like to find out in the middle of all of this is how they came up with the formula for Extremis and why its so volatile"

Loki popped into the room at that moment as Thor walked in through the door, Emmy smiled at him, she had a soft spot for the mischief maker "Thor and I can answer that question" He announced as he kissed Emmys cheek and sat down next to her "Weve been going over the footage of the attack and we believe it was harnessed from Suturs home planet Muspelheim"

"He is a fire demon and a powerful one made purely of fire and brimstone" Thor added as he sat on Emmys other side "Its a dangerous combination to place into humans especially since it's known to cause explosions of mass proportions."

"Maybe Bruce should run some tests and labs on Emmy" Steve contemplated almost to himself "Make sure that herExtremis compound is at least semi stable for now, especially after the fall from that building."

Emmy looked at Steve and grimaced "I really dont like being poked and prodded even if you have a point" She sighed looking at Bruce "Okay buddy, im all yours"

"ill be as careful and noninvasive as I can be, trust me I dont like it anymore than you do" Bruce smiled at her

"Okay its settled then, In the meantime, Pepper will contact Killian and set up a date for tomorrow night and we can eat this show on the road" she turned to Tony then and noticed him glaring at her and the Asgardian brothers, she hiked up an eyebrow in question as she spoke "Something wrong Tony?"

Tony stood and walked to the other end of the room and said "Not at all Emmy"

"Okay good. I think i would be a good idea to have Pepper move in here for the time being to keep her safe" Emmy said cheerfully

Tony did a double take, almost spitting out the drink he had take a sip of " Uh...i dont think that's such a great idea, having my ex under my roof, bad enough shes running my company"

"What's wrong tony?" Pepper asked amused "Afraid you'll fall in love with me again? or that Ill be getting in the way of something else?"

Emmys cheeks pinked at Peppers implication but she spoke up anyway "Okay you two, that's enough, it's safer if we all stick together once we have Killian under surveillance"

"This is going to be fun" Thor said laughing as he wiggled his eyebrows at Emmy

Emmy's face got redder and she glared at Thor "Shut up, Thor!" She tossed a pillow in his face, he laughed harder as he caught it and threw it her back with it.

"We are grown adults Tony" Pepper addressed Tony "We can behave like such until Killian and The Mandarin are caught."

"Fine, Ill have room ready for you" Tony relented "In the meantime everyone out and go do something productive, Bruce and I have work to do."

Everyone stood and shuffled out to their respective assignments, Bruce and Tony headed to the lab where you promised to join them after helping Pepper find the room she would like.