The Child of Winter ~ Book 1

4. The Never Ending War & Training Begins

Objective(s): Keep everyone safe from myself.

    Steven woke to a soft knocking on his door and hauled his aching body from the floor. He rubbed the tiredness from his eyes the best he could and opened the door to find Pepper standing there with a small tray of food. His lips twitched into the ghost of a smile as he croaked, "Thanks, Pepper."

    Mrs. Potts stepped into the dark room and turned on the small lamp on Steven's desk as she said, "Well, I thought you might like to eat something. You've been quiet for at least two whole days, holed up in here all on your own."

    "Two days? I've been... out for... for two days?" Steven just couldn't believe what he'd just heard Pepper say. That had never happened to him before. He ran his metal hand through his hair, "What have I missed?"

    Pepper motioned for him to sit down beside her on the bed, "Well, you missed out on several arguments between Bucky, Steve, and Tony." She noticed the shame that appeared on Steven's face and shook her head gently, "It wasn't your fault for the other day, Steven."

    The teen sat down beside Pepper, saying nothing in response to her words. Deep down, he truly did blame himself for losing control the way he did. "What will it take to convince Mr. Stark to trust me?", he asked aloud.

    Pepper's response was gentle, "I wish I knew. I've worked with Tony for years and there are still some things about him that I'm not sure of. Right now, he just sees you as a human weapon, something dangerous and unpredictable, which is unfair, considering our company, Stark Industries, used to make weapons for the U.S. government."

    Steven wanted to know more; as he started eating the meal Pepper brought him, he asked, "What do you mean, your company used to make weapons? Do you not still?"

    Pepper smiled at his blossoming curiosity and replied, "It's a bit of a long story. You see, years ago, Tony was on a tour with an army detachment in Afghanistan to show off his latest weapon, a missile launch device codenamed the Jericho. While he was out there, the unit he was with was ambushed by members of the Ten Rings terrorist group, and Tony was taken captive. He learned the hard way that the terrorists were fighting with weapons from our company. After he came back to America, one of the first things he did was halt all weapons production at Stark Industries. He's been trying to rid the world of weapons ever since".

    "But, he has a weapon that nearly took both of us out the other night," Steven said as he remembered tackling her out of the way the night they met. He took a little sip of water and asked, "What is that thing anyway? A suit of armor?"

    "Oh...," Pepper sighed heavily and shook her head slowly, "That was one of the many suits of armor that makes him 'Iron Man' to the public."

    Steven frowned slightly at her solemn tone, "You don't approve of those suits?"

    Miss. Potts threw her hand up and laughed humorlessly, "I don't really appreciate them, but whenever I bring it up Mr. Stark won't even consider the option of getting rid of them."

    "Is it a security thing?" Steven asked, wanting to understand Tony's reasoning more.

    She shrugged, "I believe it is like a security blanket that he's become so entangled in that he can't find his way out, or he just doesn't want to anymore." Her tone lightened as she added, "Are you feeling better now? Bucky said you gave everyone quite a scare when you... lost your senses temporarily."

    A soft chuckle escaped Steven, "I've never heard it put like that before, but yes, I'm feeling much better. Thank you for asking." He liked Pepper. She was one of the few who didn't walk on eggshells whenever he was near and he enjoyed the little chats they had now and again.