The Trickster Book 2 (Iron Man 2)

Explosion

3rd P.O.V

Caleb felt a bright pain and he let go of his wall, which fell on him, with a cry.

Tony stood up with difficulty as did Rhodes and the two went to Caleb. They moved the rocks away from his body and Caleb groaned in pain.

"You okay?" Tony asked his son.

"Yeah." Caleb grunted.

Tony and Rhodes eyed the red circle on the teen's chest, but they didn't say anything. They helped him up and the three went to Vanko.

"You lose." Vanko said before his suit started to light up in red.

The other Hammeroïdes did the same.

"They're gonna explode!" Caleb exclaimed.

"Pepper!" Tony yelled before taking off. "Rhodes take Caleb!"

Tony flew to Pepper and took her as the explosion started. They stopped on the nearest top of a building and Pepper pushed him away in fear. The suit became faulty and Tony threw it on the ground.

"Oh my God. I can't take this anymore."

"You can't?" Tony said.

"I can't take this."

"Look at me."

"My body, literally, cannot handle the stress." Pepper said. "I never know if you're gonna kill yourself or wreak the whole company."

"I think I did okay." Tony said while showing the battlefield as an explosion resonated in the background.

"I quit. I'm resigning. That's it."

"What did you just say? You're done?" He got closer to her. "That's surprising. No, it's not surprising. I get it. You don't have to make excuses."

"I'm-I'm-I'm not making any excuses."

"You actually were just making excuses. But you don't have to."

"No, I wasn't making an excuse. I'm actually very justified."

"Listen. Hey, hey." Tony softy said. "You deserve better."

"Well-"

"You've taken such good care of me and Caleb. I've been in a tough spot, but you got me through it, so... Right?"

Tony took Pepper's hand.

"Thank you." Pepper said.

"Yeah."

"Thank you for understanding."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's talk clean-up."

"I'll handle the transition. It'll be smooth."

"Okay. What about the press? Because you only had the job for a week. That's gonna seem-"

"Well, with you it's like dog years." Pepper cut him off.

"I know."

"I mean, it's like the Presidency-"

Tony cut her off with a kiss and she kissed back.

"Weird?" Tony asked afterwards.

"No, it's not weird." Pepper shook her head.

"It's okay, right?" Tony asked, just to be sure.

"Yeah."

"Run that by me again."

They kissed again and clapping sounded.