Big Reputation [An Iron Man FanFiction | Pepperony] - COMPLETED

Business Pitch

A few hours had gone by since Tony's abrupt phone call to Pepper, leaving her confused and even more so annoyed than before. She had taken the rest of morning to calm herself down after his outburst, but the phone call just sent her back into a spiral of emotions. She was certain he had said Rhodey, but had she heard someone else with them?

Not wanting her mind to wander, Pepper wandered her way into Tony's workshop to get some work done before the contractors arrived. Now that he was gone, she would have to have Jarvis allow them access to upstairs while she guarded the basement. The last thing she or Tony wanted was someone to snag another suit as easily as Rhodey had, even if he had added a new security system.

The place was still a mess; tools were lying around on the table he had the armor displayed on and the few magnets he had Dum-E tear off of his arm were still in front of his desktop screens. Sighing, Pepper made her way toward the desk and sat down, setting her books and calendars aside as she focused on the screens.

What are you working on this time, Tony... she thought to herself while using his login to access the system.

Pepper swiped through a few files before finding the last updated one: a Mark IX suit. Had Tony really been that invested in redesigning the suits the past two days?

"Jarvis," she summoned politely, knowing the AI would be there to assist her at any time.

"Yes, Miss Potts?" the voice replied, echoing throughout the quiet workshop.

She noticed an unmarked file on the recovered list. She selected it, then asked Jarvis to clarify.

"What has Tony been working on?"

Her eyes narrowed as she inspected the file, but she couldn't make out the coding. Even having been around Tony for so long, she still had no where near the intelligence with this stuff that he had. She was good with concepts...business concepts...not formulas.

"Mr Stark has been formulating a new security protocol for the Mark VII and VIII suits, and-"

"What is this file?" she asked, interrupting.

Jarvis hesitated before politely telling her, "I'm afraid that is classified, Miss Potts."

"It's okay, Jarvis, show me," Pepper attempted to authorize, realizing Tony was trying to hide something from her.

"Mr Stark has specifically requested-" Jarvis began again, only to be cut off once more.

"Mr Stark," Pepper spoke with attitude, "isn't here."

After a brief pause while Dum-E strolled over to the red head and snatched the pieces of magnets she was twirling in her hands, Jarvis allowed her access to the model displays of the file. They shone bright blue as holograms, projecting from the screen itself.

"What is it?" Pepper asked, mesmerized.

The formation in front of her reminded her of the breast plate on Tony's suit; it had arms holes like a shirt, and a small space that looked like the size of the arc reactor. Was it just a new suit? Why not name the file?

"It's a stabilizer run from the arc energy," Jarvis informed her while she spun it around with her hand. "The new element that is keeping Mr Stark alive is infused into the piece itself."

"So it's not run from his reactor?" she questioned.

"Not entirely, no."

Pepper frowned. What was the point, then?

"Mr Stark was testing the ability to stabilize other energy using the reactor," Jarvis finished.

Blinking, Pepper tried to understand. "So it's...to keep someone else alive?"