The Mechanic

Pepper shows Tony who's the boss and he's only her mechanic

Pepper quietly unlocked the kitchen door and stepped into the kitchen of Stark Mansion. She was home early from the office and wanted to surprise Tony.

She put down her briefcase on the counter and listened carefully.

"Not a sound... doesn't surprise me, he must be in the basement, tinkering away..."

She slipped off her heels and walked stealthily towards the basement stairs. She descended the stairs as quietly as possible, mindful of the creak on the landing's middle stair.

Then she stood in the basement and looked around in confusion. It was silent except for the whirring and gentle humming noises from the numerous machines and consoles that Tony had lovingly stored in the basement.

"Tony!" Pepper called out softly. No one replied.

She looked at her cell phone. "He hasn't called me... hmmm, maybe Friday will know where he is."

Pepper said to the ceiling, "Friday! Friday, do you know where Mr. Stark is?"

Surprisingly, there was no answer from the A.I. either. But Pepper knew the Master code which would unlock the A.I. system itself, so she could understand what was the problem.

She recited it clearly. "15 09!"

As the system beeped to process the code, she smiled a little to herself. "My birthday. I love it that Tony used my birthday as the Master code for his A.I. system."

The Master code droned mechanically.

All systems are partially operational.

Active monitoring and security system is fully operational.

A.I. assistant Friday is down for routine maintenance.

Pepper said "Oh. Routine Maintenance... that explains that. Guess I will have to find Tony the old-fashioned way."

She locked the system by reciting the code backwards and then ran up the stairs, dialing Tony's number.

Pepper heard the phone ring but heard Tony's ringtone play within the house. She followed the noise to the bedroom, huffing with annoyance as she saw his phone lying on the bed but Tony nowhere to be found.

"Where could he be? He can't have gone far, leaving his phone here. Then again..." she paused, remembering how Tony got when he was busy in thought.

Pepper took off her suit coat and walked towards the closet to hang it up. As she passed the large bedroom window, something caught her eye.

"Is that his tool set by the pool? Tony loves that set, he wouldn't just leave it lying around!"

Pepper quickly left the house and ran to the pool. Sure enough, there was his beaten-up old grey toolbox, complete with spanner and wrench lying outside it, right near the pool. A large engine part was next to it.

This side of the house was the quietest because it faced their neighbor's back garden high wall. It housed their medium-sized pool and Pepper's garden with a side entrance to the outer garage.