Pepper swiftly removed the helmet, tears of joy poured down her red freckled cheeks. She hugged the metal to her chest, half crying, half laughing.
"He's alive Jessi" she smiled through the tears "we're all okay" I had already heard the message from my Father so I understood her happiness.
"We're not done yet" I looked over her shoulder to Maya. She was standing where the front door would have been. A bloody gash sat un-medicated on her temple. When she met my glare, she started to step over debris to get to Pepper and I "what's going on?" I demanded once she reached us.
"Why are you here Maya?" Pepper stood in front of me, placing her hand on her hip.
"I will explain everything. I just need you to come with me. We need to get out of here" Maya pointed towards Peppers car that was parked down the driveway, away from the demolished house.
"Why? Why would we trust you?" Pepper snarled.
Maya breathed, looking down to the ground for a split second before returning her gaze to us "because I know who did this" I bit my bruised lip and played with the ends of my once hair. I didn't know if we really should trust her or not. She's probably the cause of all of this "please, look, I can fix this" Maya added, pleading this time. Her eyes, her body language, and even her voice sounded sincere.
I gave up and shrugged "alright" and I walked towards Peppers car without giving a single care about the situation.
"Jessi?" Pepper sounded completely shocked by my decision "What are you doing?"
"Anything is better than just standing here and waiting" I called over my shoulder, not taking my eyes off the path in front of me "and waiting for what? Our knight in shining armor to return?"
"What are you saying?" Pepper ran up to me, dodging some waiting reporters with their microphones.
"I'm saying, we have to take matters in to our own hands. Dads doing what he needs to do, and so are we" I reached the car and gripped the back door handle. Maya ran up to the passenger side of Peppers car and opened the door for herself.
Pepper still continued to stand outside of the drivers side door in the dark, staring at me over the hood "and what are we suppose to do exactly?"
"Maya said that she could fix this" I slipped in to the car "so that's what we do. We fix this"
***
"Why were you at the house tonight? What was so important that you had to speak to Tony?" Pepper drilled Maya with questions as we cruised down the road to an unknown location across town. Pepper drove, Maya sat next to her, and I was left in the back middle seat. It was like Nick, Kurt, and Dale from the movie Horrible bosses, and I was stuck being Kurt.
"I think that my boss is working for the Mandarin" Maya sounded as if she didn't care that her boss was a terrorist "So, if you still want to talk about it, I suggest that we get ourselves someplace safe"
"Your boss works for the Mandarin,
you think?" Pepper squinted her eyes but kept them focused on the road ahead. No cars were out at the moment. It was just us and the Pacific Ocean to our left "But Tony says you're a botanist. So..."
"That figures. What I actually am is a biological DNA coder running a team of 40 out of a privately funded think tank. But sure, you can call me a botanist"
"That sounds made up" I found myself saying, but I didn't take it back.
"This boss of yours..." Pepper ignored my comment "does he have a name?"
"Yeah, Aldrich Killian"
"That creepy guy with the good hair who showed up at my school?!" I almost jumped from my seat, luckily the seatbelt kept me safe.
"He showed up at your school?" Maya furrowed her eyebrows together, looking at me through the rearview mirror.
"Oh yeah" I nodded, leaning back in my seat and rested my temple against the window "it's as creepy as it sounds"
***
"What happened?" Maya started her story. Pepper sat on the bed in front of her, and Maya rested herself against the bed frame with a glass of water in her hands I sat in a chair with my elbows on my knees, waiting to hear. We drove awhile before coming to a stop at a nice hotel across Malibu.
I was starting to get tired, it had been a LONG day. But you guys already know that "Fun fact. Before he built rockets for the Nazis, the idealistic Wernher von Braun dreamed of space travel. He stargazed" Maya chuckled "Do you know what he said when the first V-2 hit London? The rocket performed perfectly. It just landed on the wrong planet. See, we all begin wide-eyed. Pure science And then the ego steps in, the obsession" I fiddled with the hotel pen, listening carefully to every word "And you look up, you're a long way from shore"
"You can't be too hard on yourself" Pepper smiled softly "Maya. I mean, you gave your research to a think tank"
"Yeah, but Killian built that think tank
on military contracts-"
"That's exactly what we used to do. So, don't judge yourself so harshly" Wow, Pepper was being extremely nice to this woman who she was yelling at less than an hour ago.
"Thank you, Pepper. I really appreciate that"
A knock sounded from the wooden hotel door. I stood up to open it "I got it"
"No, I do" Pepper beat me to it, motioning me to return to my seat. I grumbled, trudging back to the chair. She reached the knob and pulled it open ajar, but when she realized that it was just the room service man, she opened it up wider. "Hi, good evening. Come on in" Pepper greeted kindly, letting go of the knob.
"Good evening" the waiter nodded, entering the room, but not before two hands slid around the mans neck, and twisted. A bloodcurdling crack sounded from the now dead man. He collapsed to the floor.
"Jessica, RUN!" Pepper screeched. Killian stepped into the room and grabbed Pepper, shoving her against the wall with his hand wrapped tightly around her neck.
I sprang up from the couch, whipping out a pocket sized Electrifier that SHIELD let me 'burrow' and I haven't given it back. I bet you're wondering where I kept the weapon without it being noticed until now... I'm Jessi Stark, that's how "Move and you shall certainly die!" I said sharply, not afraid of the tan man. Maya stood up from the bed, darting her eyes between Killian and I. Pepper whimpered under Killians grasp, pulling at his fingers.
"Honey" Killian shook his head "A tazer? Not even a real weapon?"
"I will electrify you" I threatened, aiming the weapon at him.
"So" Killian ignored me completely, giving his full attention to Maya "you want to tell me why you were at Stark's mansion last night?"
W-WhAt. He's not even scared that I could send lightening in to his body? Am I not menacing enough?! I'm 14, I'm pretty scary "You're not even frightened?" I dropped the tazer down to my side, feeling really confused "You're not even- what the heck?!" I stomped my foot "that's not even a little bit fair" I huffed, but all three of them didn't seem to care for me at the moment. Peppers face was growing red from lack of oxygen.
"I'm trying to fix this thing. I didn't know you and the master were gonna blow the place up" Maya defended herself.
Master? She's with Killian! She's apart of this whole Mandarin thing?! I knew she was trouble when she walked in. I glared wide eyed at her, feeling the hatred rise in me. She's going to get it one day, old friend of Dad or not.
"Oh, I see" Killian rolled his eyes "So, you were trying to save Stark when he threatened us?"
"I've told you, Killian, we can use him"
Pepper groaned in pain, still gripping his hand "let her go!" I yelled from my spot near the chair. I didn't know if I should beat him up or not. I haven't exactly faced anyone in a fist fight yet.
"Pepper. Pepper. Pepper" Killian tried to calm Pepper down.
"Look, if we want to launch product next year, I need Stark. He just lacked a decent incentive" Maya looked to Pepper "Now, he has one. Two actually"