Sergeant Barnes: The First Avenger

Assembling the Avengers (Part 2)

3rd person POV:
In the deepest depths of the sea, a red and gold suit of armour opens up a rusting electrical pipe. It attaches an arc reactor to the exposed wires and blasts out of the ocean.
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An illuminated yacht drifts over the waves as the suit launches into the sky like a rocket and flies towards the city of New York. "Good to go on this end. The rest is up to you." A deep voice states from inside the suit. Tony Stark, the son of Howard Stark and CEO of Stark Industries. "You disconnected the transmission lines? Are we off the grid?" A woman asks over coms. Inside the suit, a pop up screen with coms entitled 'Pepper', a radar and altitude. The man's dark brown eyes gaze focused on the scenery outside the suit. "Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy." he states, flying over a sea of cars, they're blinding lights illuminate the road below. "Well, assuming the arc reactor takes over and actually works." Pepper states.
"I assume." Tony states, soaring closer to a tall building shrouded in darkness. "Light her up." he declares, trilling a drumroll in the back of his throat. The building comes to life, each floor lighting up almost instantly! The word 'STARK' flickers before flooding with a pale blue glow. "How does it look?" Pepper asks. "Like Christmas, but with more me." Tony states.
"We've got to go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I'm in DC tomorrow, I'm working on the zoning for the next three buildings." Pepper explains only to get cut off by Tony.
"Pepper, you're killing me. The moment, remember? Enjoy the moment." He states, gliding up the side of Stark Tower and landing on a precariously suspended docking station.

A ring of machinery whirrs with life as Tony walks down towards the penthouse of Stark Tower where him and Pepper would've been staying if it weren't for her trip to DC. "Sir, Agent Coulson of S.H.E.I.L.D is on the line." Jarvis, Tony's AI, states as the mechanical ring hovers over Tony, removing his suit and revealing the man within. "I'm not in. I'm actually out." Tony says. The machinery continues to whirr as each part of the suit is carefully removed, being transferred to a storage area below the runner of the docking station. "Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting." Jarvis states desperately.
"Grow a spine, Jarvis. I got a date."

As Tony enters the room, Pepper studies a screen projection displaying graphs of Stark Tower and the arc reactor. "Levels are holding steady, I think." Pepper states, acknowledging Tony's presence in the room. "Of course they are. I was directly involved. Which brings me to my next question." He states, striding over to Pepper's side. "How does it feel to be a genius?" He asks, dumping the connector to the suit on the desk Pepper stands at. "Well, I really wouldn't know, now would I?" Pepper states, turning round to face Tony with love in her eyes. "What do you mean? All of this came from you." Tony says, gesturing to the room around them.

"No, all of this came from that." She states, gently tapping the glowing chest peice inserted into Tony. "Give yourself some credit. Please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself.. 12% of the credit." He states, placing his hands on Pepper's shoulders and continuasly gliding them down her arms. "12%?" Pepper questions, the corner of her lips perking up. "An argument can be made for 15." Tony retaliates.
"12%? My baby?" She asks, walking over to a plush sofa and a coffee table with two glasses with a bottle of champagne standing tall and proud on top. "Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you." Tony states. "Oh. My private elevator..."
"You mean our elevator?" Pepper asks, pouring out the glasses of champagne. "...it was teeming with sweaty workmen. I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?" Tony chuckles slightly alongside Pepper. "It's not going to be that subtle." She states.
"I'll tell you what. The next building is gonna say 'Potts' on the tower." Tony says as him and Pepper sit down on the lush sofa.
"On the lease." Pepper states, going in for a cheers, Tony recoils back. "Call your mum. Can you bunk over?" Tony jokingly asks as Pepper chuckles in response. "Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overridden." JARVIS states. "Mr. Stark, we need to talk." Agent Coulson states, his tone stern yet worried. Tony picks up the phone and holds it out infront of him, sighing. "You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message." He says, making Pepper laugh a little. "This I urgent." Coulson states. "Then leave it urgently." Tony states.

The elevator dings and slides open, revealing Agent Coulson standing in the centre of the box, phone in his right hand and a large black laptop in his left. "Security breach. This is on you." Tony exclaims. "Mr. Stark." Coulson starts.
"Phil! Come in." Pepper states, standing up from her seat and leaving Tony confused, "'Phil'?" He asks.
"I can't stay long." Phil explains.
"His first name is 'Agent'." Tony jokingly says, following Pepper over to the Agent. "Come on in. We're celebrating." Pepper says, ignoring her partner's comment. "Which is why he can't stay." Tony states, grinning at Phil. "We need you to look this over as soon as possible." Phil says, starting to hand Tony the laptop. "I don't like being handed things." Tony retaliates.
"That's fine, because I love to be handed things. So, let's trade." Pepper states, handing Phil her champagne and taking the laptop out of his hands then swapping it with Tony's champagne. "Thank you." She says, taking a sip. "Official consulting hours are between 8 and 5 every other Thursday." Tony states, gaining a playful side-eye from Pepper.

"This isn't a consultation." Phil states.
"Is this about the Avengers? Which I know nothing about." Pepper asks.
"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped,I thought. And didn't even qualify." Tony states, walking away and flipping open the laptop. "I didn't know about that either." Pepper says.
"Apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others." Tony explains.
"That I did know." Pepper says.
"This isn't about personality profiles anymore." Phil explains.
"Whatever. Ms. Potts, got a second?"
"Half a mo." Pepper says, carefully jogging over to her partner. Tony taps at the laptop screen as Pepper approaches his side. "You know, I thought we were having a moment." Tony states. "I was having 12% of a moment." Pepper jokingly says. Tony faces her for a second before switching his focus back to the laptop. "This seems serious. Phil's pretty shaken. How do you know if it's..." Pepper tries to explain.
"Why is he 'Phil'?" Tony tries to ask.
"What is all this?" Pepper asks, gesturing to the laptop.
"This is this." Tony states, expanding different profiles from the laptop into a whole electronic pinboard that surrounds the two. "I'm going to take the jet to DC tonight." Pepper states in awe. "Tomorrow." Tony interjects.
"You have homework. You have a lot of homework." She retaliates, looking around at each profile.
"Well, what if I didn't?" Tony asks, turning to face Pepper.
"If you didn't?"
"Yeah."
"You mean when you've finished?" Pepper asks, giving him a knowing smirk. "Well, then..." She starts, leaning in to whisper in his ear. Tony's eyes widen and his jaw drops at Pepper's words. Phil shuffles uncomfortably, knowing what the two are planing. "Square deal. Fly safe." Tony states as Pepper pulls away from his ear. She leans in and kisses him. It's short and sweet but enough for the two to calmly enjoy. She begins to walk over to Phil, whispering, "Work hard." To Tony as he glances back over at the profiles. "So, any chance you're driving by LaGuardia?" Pepper asks Phil as she strides closer to the elevator.
"I can drop you." Tony states as he gives her a small wave, to which Pepper replies with, "Fantastic."

As Pepper and Phil start a distant conversation, Tony takes a holographic Tesseract from the monitors and examines it in his hand.