Sins And Sinners (Marvel X Male!Reader)

Chapter 7

Both of your shoulders slump as the air rushes out of your lungs in relief. Hands squeezing tighter she gives you a teary smile which you return with your own small but genuine one.

 
"Thank.... Thank God...
Is he okay? Is he hurt? When are you guys getting here?" Pepper says, unable to hold her questions anymore.

"He's alive and looks relatively fine, considering. We'll get him to base and checked out. I'll let you know after." The joy in his voice is still not lost.

 
"Yeah, keep me updated." Beep.

Your attention is drawn to the grip on your hand as it finally loosens. You look at Pepper, her exhaustion evident now more than ever. There is a weakness and tiredness in her structure that's foreign to her. She's always been put together, never one hair out of place. This weakness doesn't suit her the way her poised strength does. You don't like the way it looks on her.

"Pep hey, go home okay? It'll take him a day to come here at the very least. Most likely, a day and a half. Now that you know that he's coming home, go and get some sleep. Eat, sleep, take the day off, I don't care. Hell, go have a spa day on the company card or better yet his private one. I'll give you mine if it means you'll just relax for a day, okay?"

On any other day, she'd put up a fight, but right now she was both too exhausted and knew better than to fight you on it. On any other day she'd tell you to take your own advice. She knew she needed the rest though, and that lord knows there's not going to be any after Tony gets back. So she nods looking grateful and decides to go get some well deserved rest.

You collapse in your chair as soon as the door closes, a sign escaping you. This being one of those days where you really felt the weight of the world, the weight of everything you're carrying. One of those days where the thought of disappearing sounds ever so sweet. You don't entertain the thought in fear that you might actually consider it.
"What are you thinking?" PAM questions.

"A couple of things. This entire incident hurt Pep and Uncle Rhodey, when I start on getting rid of him, it'll hurt them. She was crying and she was exhausted, I don't like it. It's going to hurt them and I don't like it. I mean, I'm going to do it anyway, but still. Of course I'll be there to pick up the pieces, but I do wish there was another option, one that didn't involve them getting hurt.

Aside from that, is the question of Stane. We have everything we need, and we know what he's going to do, so now the question is should we get rid of him sooner or later. Tony's back and alive, we still don't know how he did that. But we do know that he's not stupid, he'll be more vigilant, and at the same time, he won't ever suspect the people closest to him. Some things may change, I don't know. He's made something though, from the information that Stane got. Something big, revolutionary even. Stane will try again.

Sooner it is then. It's easier to deal with Tony than Stane, he's too crafty. We'll move up getting rid of Stane. After Tony is back and all our pieces are on the board again. Got anything to add?"

"How do you plan on getting rid of Stane? I mean what is all the evidence for, if you're going to wait for him to make a move before trapping him. I know you're not just going to present the evidence and say that you stumbled on it. So what exactly are you going to do?" Questions PAM trying to understand just what you were thinking.

"That depends. It depends on how exactly Tony managed to get out of there. If he did indeed make something revolutionary then Stane's going to want to get his grubby little hands on it. It wouldn't surprise me if he did indeed make something, this is Tony Stark we're talking about. So it depends really. I'll tell you what exactly we're going to do when I know everything."