The Devil With The Face of an Angel | Irondad, pepperony

Chapter 75

Natasha closed the door behind her and stood beside Tony, who was sitting in a chair at one of the tables with holograms around him. She looked at the picture of the brown-haired woman and frowned.

"Is that her?" she asked, looking more closely at the other holograms. She had tried to look on her herself several times, but the truth was that she was not doing anything illegal.

"Yeah," he replied simply, scratching the back of his neck. Pepper's determination to get rid of Mary for once and all motivated him, so he decided to look into it himself. The problem was that Mary didn't seem to exist. The last work record was traced back to 2003 when she worked for them in the company, and then she was no longer kept anywhere. "How did it go?" he asked, looking at her. He needed to rest his eyes from eternal staring at the holograms.

"It was quite cute. He looked just like you. A ball of nerves," she said with a smile. She had probably never seen anything cuter in her life. "What are you trying to do here?"

"I don't even know. Probably digging up some dirt on her, but she's really good. The last time records were kept of her was when she was still living with us. Since then nothing," he sighed, looking at the hologram with her photograph. He wished so much that it wasn't her who gave him Peter because then he might regret ever meeting her. But as Natasha told him, everything bad is good for something. Thanks to her, he has a son he loves above all and also a loving woman who is the center of his universe.

"And why don't you say it straight away? Have you forgotten who you're talking to? Give me a few hours and you'll know everything about the woman," she grinned, grabbing his arm so she could get him to his feet. "Go relax, you look awful. Or talk to Bruce while I work."

"But I could help," he began to protest immediately. She couldn't really believe he would just stand idly by.

"No way, Tones. Leave me some fun too," she said firmly, leading him to the door. Before Tony could continue, he was pushed out of his own lab.

"What just happened?" he muttered under his nose and went to find Bruce.

•••

The brunette stared through the glass wall, wishing she could kill with a single thought. Blood was boiling in her veins, and her eye began to twitch. This was a complete disaster. Something that absolutely deviated from her elaborate and carefully thought-out equations. Still, she couldn't help but admire Pepper Potts. This woman was her equal rival. Deep but really deep in her icy heart, she would be sorry for killing her.

She really had to force herself to look away from the pair. She got in the car and drove to the lab as fast as she could. She had to start acting faster than usual. Every second was decisive and she won't let a chance at her success slip through her fingers. Not when she had the end of her research at her fingertips.

"Should I ask at all?" Quentin asked as she rushed into the lab and slammed the door behind her.

"You know, it's quite simple, and I still made a mistake. The whole evolution of situations since my rediscovery in their lives is just an equation, and Pepper was unknown, which I solved, but I didn't take the test anymore. I underestimated her and considered her an ordinary female being. But she's something more, and now she's ruined my plans. AGAIN!" she exclaimed angrily. Worst of all, she was so frustrated she couldn't come up with a solution.

"What if you started with what got you in this mood," Quentin suggested, not fully catching up.

"As you know, Peter has not responded to my messages in recent days, so I decided to follow him. And today I saw him go to dinner with Pepper! I don't know if you realize how bad this is. We'll have to change the plan, again! Listen to me, we have to act fast. This serum works, but unless we give it another batch soon, all our efforts so far will be for nothing. So..." she muttered, walking frantically around the lab.

"So what?" Quentin asked.

"So you're going to have to give him the rest," she finally thought. It made sense. Peter trusted him and saw him often.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Come on! There are only a few left. You just pour him a drink and that's it," she said, and anger slowly left her body. She had a solution and could finally relax. The best thought was with a clear head.

"We don't usually drink anything together, you smart ass," he snapped.

"So you will start. Tell Richard to give you the rest of the serum. It will be two, a maximum of three doses. If we do it right, we could have a new tenant here next week," she said with a devilish smile on her face. "In the meantime, I'll think about repaying Miss Potts for the constant problems that she causes me."