Tony waved his hand at her. "We've got to give all those lawyers on retainer something to do." He gave her his most charming smile and pointed at it with one armour covered finger. "Are you really going to say no to this face, Potts?" Tony took a step closer to Pepper, intent on having her see reason.
The Hulk gave a low threatening growl, eyes narrowing menacingly as Tony went to take Pepper in his arms.
Tony immediately took a step back and raised placating hands in submission. "Okay, whoa there, big guy, I wasn't going to hurt her." Tony jerked a thumb at the Hulk as he glowered down at him. "Now that's a body guard," Tony noted. "But I'm telling you right now, we're never going to get a suit to accommodate him and his wildly fluxuating weight issues."
The Hulk made a guttural noise in the back of his throat, seeming to not know if he'd just been insulted or not, but putting Tony on notice nonetheless.
"I don't need a super hero detail," said Pepper firmly. "I just need a competent one made up of regular people. I've got this Tony, don't worry."
"Okay," said Tony reluctantly, "but I still want final word on who gets selected."
"You can meet them," Pepper vetoed him, "and that's it."
"Were you always this insubordinate?" he quizzed her.
Pepper looked him straight in the eye. "Yes."
Tony shrugged. "Just checking." He loved how Pepper never backed down around him.
Pepper looked up at the viewing gallery and smiled at Steve. "The interviews start in half an hour, Steve. I'll meet you in the conference room then."
"I'll be there," Steve promised her.
Pepper went to leave but then stopped, turned around and gave Tony a thoughtful look. "You know, Tony, the crazed person who keeps showing up in my job interviews notwithstanding, I'm really proud of how you're handling this whole security thing. I'm glad you're not going fanatical with over-compensating for what happened."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "The guy in the hospital might have a different opinion on that," he said to Thor.
Tony held up a warning hand. "Shut it, Red, White and Blows," said Tony, eyes on her, "Pepper is proud of me. This is like Haley's Comet event, it only happens once every seventy-six years. I want to enjoy it."
Pepper gave a wry smile. "You could change all that by giving me more moments to be proud of you over."
"Yeah, I know," he said easily, "but what are you gonna do, right?"
"Incorrigible," she tutted.
Tony's lips twitched at their little game he never tired of. "You know it makes me so hot when you call me big names."
"I think the Hulk hit you one too many times," she sassed him.
The Hulk grunted and moved menacingly towards Tony, seeming to not need much encouragement.
Tony quickly engaged thrusters and shot up in the air to a somewhat safer distance. "Okay, easy, big guy, that wasn't a request." He looked at Pepper. "Tell him, Pepper."
"Bruce, leave Tony alone," Pepper instructed him and gave Tony a pointed look, "for now."
The Hulk's fearsome brow furrowed as he dutifully let Tony be, but still glared at Tony as he bobbed in the air just out of his reach. "Talky metal man make Hulk want to smash," he grunted.
Pepper rolled her eyes. "Welcome to my world, Bruce."
Tony pointed a finger at them. "Hey you two, no ganging up on me, got it?"
Pepper gave Tony one last reminder. "Three o'clock, don't be late."
"When have I ever been late for one of our dates?" said Tony impishly.
Pepper didn't dignify that with an answer, simply turned on her heel and cast a quick look at the Hulk as she did. "Hulk, smash," she instructed him.
The Hulk's green countenance lit up at being given the go ahead and he lunged for Tony who was forced to do some tricky manoeuvring to get out of his way.
"You're my reason for living!" he yelled after Pepper as she disappeared through the giant hole in the wall of the art gallery and Tony narrowly avoided taking a full body blow from his overly aggressive opponent.
"Start the clock again," said Steve quickly to Thor. "I'm still in this."
Tony ended up lasting a full six minutes and twelve seconds with the Hulk, much to Thor and Steve's disappointment. There seemed to be little progress made with the Hulk learning any self-control however, and they'd left him alone in what was left of the training room to calm down and revert back to Bruce.
Tony slid his helmet back and looked down at his armour which was pretty much worse for wear. That was going to take some time up in the lab fixing that he decided. He looked at the other men. "I think that went pretty well, all things considered."
"He destroyed your room, you nearly died and took Pepper down with you," Steve pointed out. "I don't think you've considered all the things."
"Agreed, the Pepper thing wasn't planned and I'll make sure she knows we're training next time and have her leave the building," said Tony, still feeling a bit anxious over that moment, even though he refused to show it. "But, every journey starts with a single step as the saying goes."
"It's a short journey if that single step puts you in front of a green, speeding semi-trailer," Steve noted.
"The Hulk has the potential to be a huge asset for the Avengers," Tony maintained stubbornly.
"That'd be handy, because we've already got a huge ass on our side," Steve shot back and smiled sweetly at Tony.
Thor chuckled at Cap's jab.
Tony arched an eyebrow. "Hey, look at that, Captain Killjoy made a funny. What happened, Cap, did you finally find a way to unwedge that giant stick up your ass?" Tony pulled a face. "You didn't use any of my stuff in the lab to do it, did you? Because that's just unsanitary." Before Steve could form a suitable retort, Tony clapped his hands together. "Jarvis, wake up," he called out.
"Yes, sir?" came the smooth reply.
"I'm going to be debugging your persona system today," Tony informed him.
"Very good, sir," came the unruffled reply. "I shall brace myself accordingly."
"Whatever you gotta do," Tony replied.
.
.
.
.
.
‼️🎈hello everyone thank you so much for reading this chapter! 🙏 If you'd like to read the full novel "The Price of Legacy", you can find it on my Ko-fi page: ko-fi.com in the store section in PDF format. This fanfic will consist of 30 chapters .
I'll be leaving the link to my Ko-Fi store in the first comment.👇🏻👇🏻🎈‼️
Ko-fi.com/arcfable/shop