Iron Man ~ Iron Man 1 & 2

iii. Natalie Rushman

The redhead stares at Tony as she does so and the two hold a staring contest with one another as Tony takes a drink of his chlorophyll liquid. He removes the bottle from his mouth before asking the redhead, "What?" Natalie just stares at the billionaire in silence as Tony nods before gesturing to Happy, "Can you uh, give her a lesson?"

Tony climbs out of the ring as Happy walks over to Natalie, agreeing, "Mmhm. No problem." Tony ruffles Amelia's hair as he walks over to Pepper. The nine year old rests her elbow into the ring, staring at the bodyguard and the redhead with her head in her hand.

As the billionaire reaches Pepper, he whispers, "Pepper."

The strawberry blonde looks up at Tony as she asks, "What?"

Tony sits down next to her as he asks, "Who is she?"

Tony puts his bottle down on the table next to him and crosses his legs as Pepper replies, "She is from legal. And she is potentially a very," Tony dramatically switches his legs, "Expensive sexual harassment lawsuit if you keep ogling her like that."

Tony looks over at Pepper and informs her, "I need a new assistant, boss."

Pepper does not look up from her phone as she answers, "Yes, and I've got three excellent potential candidates." Happy gestures for Natalie to move to the center of the ring. The redhead glances over at Tony before she listens to the bodyguard. "They're lined up and ready to meet you."

Tony shakes his head and denies, "I don't have time to meet. I need someone now. I feel like it's her."

Pepper looks up as she states, "No, it's not."

Happy asks the redhead in front of him, "You ever boxed before?"

Natalie nods her head and smiles as she replies, "I have, yes."

Happy asks the woman, "What, like, Tae Bo? Booty Boot Camp? Crunch? Something like that?"

Natalie clears her throat before looking over her shoulder as Tony asks her, "How do I spell your name, Natalie?"

Natalie responds before she turns back to Happy, "R-U-S-H-M-A-N." Tony claps his hand together, waking up the keyboard on the table next to him.

Tony types in the redhead's name as Pepper scoffs, "What, are you gonna google her now?"

A file on Natalie appears as Tony replies, "Hmm? I thought I was ogling her." He flips through her file as he mutters, "Oh, wow. Very, very impressive individual."

"You're so predictable, you know that?" Pepper informs the man sitting next to her.

Tony ignores Pepper as he reads a piece from Natalie's file, "She's fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Latin." He furrows his brows and looks over at Pepper, "Who speaks Latin?"

Tony looks back at the table as Pepper squints her eyes, looking over at Tony while replying, "No one speaks Latin. It's a dead language."

Tony pulls up a photo of Natalie as he asks for clarification, "No one speaks Latin?"

Tony stares at the photo as Pepper clarifies, "You can read Latin or you can write Latin, but you can't speak Latin..."

The strawberry blonde trails off as Tony turns to her, asking, "Did you model in Tokyo?" He gestures to the photo of Natalie, adding, "'Cause she modeled in Tokyo."

Pepper rolls her eyes as she looks back over at the ring, "Well..."

Happy holds up his hand as Natalie looks over her shoulder at Tony, who tells Pepper, "I need her. She's got everything that I need." Pepper lets out a scoff as she looks at Tony.

Happy nods his head as he teaches Natalie, "Rule number one, never take your eye off your opponent." Happy goes to throw a punch but Natalie turns and catches his wrist. She pulls on his arm, causing him to jerk forward before she wraps her legs around Happy's neck and flips him to the ground.

Amelia jumps up from leaning against the ring as she stares in awe. Pepper uncrosses her legs as she screams, "Oh my God!" Pepper gets up and rushes over as Tony follows after her.

Tony's eyes are wide as he exclaims, "Whoa!"

Amelia jumps up and down with excitement as she calls out, "Oh, my gosh! Can you teach me how to do that? Happy, you are fired." Happy grunts as Natalie holds him down to the floor of the ring. Happy puts his hand over Natalie's legs, which are covering his neck. The redhead lets go of the bodyguard, who gets up.

As Pepper and Tony approach the ring, Pepper calls out with worry for the bodyguard, "Happy!"

Tony points at Natalie and says, "That's what I'm talking about."

As Happy gets to his feet, he coughs out, "I just slipped."

Tony stands behind Amelia and rhetorically asks Happy, "You did?"

Natalie climbs out of the ring as Happy replies, "Yeah."

Tony rings the bell as Amelia mutters, "Yeah, right. She totally kicked your butt, Happy."

The older Stark lets out a laugh at his daughter's comment before he states, "Looks like a TKO to me." Happy walks away as Tony turns to Natalie, who puts her shoes back on.

The redhead flips her hair out of the way as she says, "Just... um, I need your impression."

Tony squints his eyes and shakes his head as he tells her, "You have a quiet reserve. I don't know, you have an old soul."

Natalie picks up her binder filled with papers as she clarifies, "I meant your fingerprint."

Natalie opens the binder and shows Tony where she needs the print as the billionaire mutters, "Right."

Tony clears his throat as he sticks his thumb into a pad of ink before marking the paper as Pepper walks over to the two, asking, "So, how are we doing?"

Tony looks up at Pepper, replying, "Great. Just wrapping up. Hey." He removes his thumb from the paper and points at it before telling her, "You're the boss."

Pepper smiles as Natalie closes the binder and asks, "Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"

Tony turns to Natalie and replies, "No."

At the same time, Pepper looks at the redhead, "Yes, that will be all, Ms. Rushman." Natalie turns to look at Pepper, nodding her head. "Thank you very much." Natalie walks away and Tony watches as she retreats from the room.

Pepper turns to stand next to Tony, who is looking after the redhead before he looks over at the strawberry blonde and says, "I want one."

Pepper turns her head to look at Tony as she denies, "No." She gives Tony a smile before he turns his head to look at where Natalie was just standing.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know your thoughts on this story. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and had lots of fun over the weekend!!