Stark Crossed Lovers

Chapter Twenty One

A few hours had passed before Tony and the other Avengers arrived back to Stark Tower. Upon hearing the commotion directly down stairs in Tony's lab, Sam and Pepper jumped up and went down to meet them. Having reached the lab the two were confused, everyone looked distraught. “Hey, what happened?” Sam questioned with a slight edge in her voice. Bruce just looked at her with concern in his eyes. “He got away..” Bruce said. Sam began to feel terror build up inside of her. “What do you mean, he got away?” Sam asked. “Exactly what I said kiddo, he got away.” Bruce stated back a little bit of an annoyed tone ringing in his comment. Sam finally caught the eyes of her father. She expected him to yell at her for leaving, or ask everyone to leave so he could talk to her about being grounded. But Tony just looked at her solemn, not knowing how to respond. “So none of you were able to even knock the guy out long enough for the cops to get him?” Sam couldn't understand why a team of six trained fighters couldn't take down a guy with a machine. “You don't think we tried?” Steve said strongly, more mad at the situation than at Sam. Sam had never heard him talk to her that way and was taken aback. “We thought we had him, but then poof, gone again,” Steve said pacing the room annoyed. “Someone has got to have footage of him leaving, he couldn't have just disappeared,” Sam said confidently. From her knowledge of superhero stuff, someone always had news footage. “But he did,” Nat was trying not to look at Sam. “And he knows now, for sure” Tony finally spoke. Every word hung in the air cutting through the tension. “Maybe he just assumes,” Pepper said trying to comfort Tony. “No, he knows her. He knows her name, knows she's mine, and he knows she's here.” Tony's voice slightly cracked as he finished his sentence. “Dad it's my fault I shouldn't have left..” Sam had so much more to say but what Tony had to say was more important. “He already knew Sammy,” Sams heart stopped. “Can everyone give us a minute,” Tony said indicating to everyone to leave. “Pepper can stay,” Sam said looking back to her. Tony would have smiled at the thought of Sam finally accepting Pepper as part of their close knit family, had Sam not almost been murdered just hours before. Once everyone cleared out of the room, Tony decided to get down to telling Sam what he had been keeping from her. "He's known at least for a week," Sam stared back at Tony not knowing how to respond. "That's when he sent me this." Tony then started to pull out the handwritten note Oc had left him. Sam examined it, scanned it over and over. This couldn't be real. This wasn't happening. "What was he wanting from you?" Tony looked at Sam as he spoke. His pain piercing her soul. "He just wanted our money," Sam said trying to hold back tears. She knew how dangerous this could be. Villains tearing up cities, evil scientist conducting misleading experiments, giant robots with a taste for vengeance, but they never included her in their evil plan. "It's because he lost his," Pepper said. "What do you mean?" Tony questioned not getting what direction Pepper was going in. "That day after the mall, you had FRIDAY tell us every piece of information on the guy she could find. She said that he had lost his wife and all his titles." Tony analyzed the words Pepper was saying. "So, this guy loses everything and wants to make me feel the same way," Tony said, the sadness lingering in the air. "Why you though?" Sam asked still not understanding. "I don't think it has anything to do with the who of the situation, but the what. He wants to see someone in power be taken down a few notches. He wants someone who is looked up to like he was, someone who had everything like he did, to lose everything in one go. Like he did." Tony could see Sam was trying hard not to show that this had been affecting her. "I won't let him though, Sam look at me," Tony said meeting Sams sad brown eyes. "I won't let him hurt you, okay?" Sam shook her head in agreement weakly, before pulling him in for a hug. Allowing a few tears to run down her face she opened her mouth and said "All of this talk is making me hungry." Tony chuckled. Sam was good at breaking tension with jokes, a skill she had learned from her dad. "I believe that there is a large pepperoni and mushroom with your name on it upstairs. Go on ahead, get plates out and warm it up. I will meet you up there," Tony said. He had the pizza ordered hours ago after their argument to make her feel better. That left Tony and Pepper alone. "So you two?" Tony questioned, indicating the empty space were Sam and Pepper had been standing. "I guess she had a change of heart, being attacked does that I guess," she smiled a sweet tiny smile. "I don't know what I am going to do if..." Tony started to speak but Pepper knew better than to let him finish that sentence. "You won't let anything happen to her, I don't think anyone will. Especially the kid," Pepper said referring to Peter. "I think he is smitten with her Tony," Tony smiled at Peppers comment. "I know he is, but Sam doesn't need another source of danger in her life." Pepper nodded understandably. The two, then turned to head towards the elevator. The rest of the night played out as it should have. Tony, Pepper, and Sam all enjoyed a nice pizza dinner and shared laughs. After dinner was over Sam gave Pepper a hug, then kissed her dad on the cheek, and went up to her bedroom. She pulled out her phone to see a text from Peter. "Hey Sammy, are you ok? I know today was horrible, but I promise you, that guy will not hurt you." No amount of promises could help her fear go away though. She decided that faking it was a better course of action, that way she didn't make him think that she was scared. She texted back, "I know you won't let him :) Goodnight Peter" Though she smiled and laughed through dinner and sent happy emojis, her mood was far from what she was portraying. She tucked herself into bed and put her phone on her bedside table. She started to tear up as she pulled her blue blanket up to her chest. Tonight she wouldn't be going to sleep with a smile on her face. She fell asleep with fear in her heart and tears in her eyes, and a sliver of hope that she wouldn't have to be face to face with Doc Oc ever again.