Chapter Text
In Tony's lab there was complete silence. No screaming guitar licks, no voices screeching out lyrics, no sound at all. With his arms crossed tony stood near a counter while leaning forward and frowning. He was staring at a clear box where Loki's collar was encased. "J, increase velocity point zero zero two." If there was a change it was undetectable to both the human eye and ear.
"There is no change, Sir."
Raising his hands up he ran his palms over his face before lacing them on the top of his head. He huffed out a breath while remaining still, his eyes staring off into the distance, focused on an unseen point.
"Sir, Ms. Potts would like to know what your ETA is."
After several long seconds, Tony blinked rapidly, "I told her I'd meet her for lunch."
"You are now eighteen minutes late."
Tony scrunched one side of his face, "Really?"
"Yes, Sir, really."
"Huh, weird, because I have this really smart AI that usually harasses me about being on time." He yawned as he stretched up on his toes while pushing his arms up over his head.
"Yes, it is strange that you were unwilling to acknowledge-"
"Okay, okay, no need to get all snippy." Tony leaned over to look at the collar in the clear box for several seconds before turning and heading out the doors. "Keep running the sequences and let me know if anything interesting happens."
"Of course, Sir. I have also advised Ms. Potts you are on your way."
Tony strolled to the elevator with his hands shoved into his pockets while yawning hugely. Once inside he asked as the doors closed, "Where am I going for lunch?"
"The penthouse, Ms. Potts ordered lunch delivered."
"Sushi?" There was a hopeful note in his question.
"Yes, your favorite."
As the elevator doors opened inside the penthouse Tony hummed, "Yesss." In the far dining room tony saw Pepper sitting at their glass and steel dining table, Tony had built this one himself. Strolling over he said, "Hey beautiful."
Pepper smiled, "Well thank you, Mister Stark."
He picked up his container, "Oh, I was talking to my sushi." He grinned at her unamused look, coming around the table to leave over to kiss her, "Just kidding, Ms. Potts, you know I love you twelve percent more than sushi."
She shook her head while watching him tiredly drop into the seat next to her, "A whole twelve percent more than raw fish? I'm flattered." She used her chopsticks to poke him in the ribs and gave him a smirk when he jerked.
"Assault! Assault! J, did you see that?" He pulled his one hundred percent sustainably grown bamboo box apart to reveal a dozen various sushi rounds. He owned the majority of the company that created the cardboard-looking boxes that he provided free to the sushi place that delivered to the tower at least a half dozen times a week. And that was just for Tony. Yawning he pulled apart the bamboo chopsticks.
"I believe I wasn't looking, Sir. My apologies."
Pepper gave Tony a smile as she said, "Thank you, Jarvis. At least I know you love me twelve percent more than Tony."
"Of course, Ms. Potts."
Tony gave an exaggerated look of outrage which was spoiled when he used his chopsticks to stuff a piece of sushi into his mouth. Closing his eyes he hummed his enjoyment while picking up another piece and stuffing that one in his mouth.
Now Pepper frowned, "Tony, slow down, you're going to choke or make yourself sick."
Tony mumbled something with a full mouth while picking up another piece.
Now Pepper turned to more fully face Tony with a frown, "Jarvis, when was the last time Mister Stark ate?"
Ignoring Tony waving his chopsticks in the air and speaking over Tony's garbled words Jarvis answered, "Mister Stark's last nutritious meal was twenty-two hours and thirty-six minutes ago." There was the tiniest pause then Jarvis added, "And since then he has drunk the equivalent of approximately three carafes of coffee."
Pepper raised an eyebrow at Tony and crossed her arms. "Any rebuttal, Mister Stark?"
Despite himself, Tony felt his lips twitch, "No, ma'am." He waggled his eyebrows, "Can I throw myself on the court's mercy? Maybe we could schedule an appointment in our chambers?" He tried yawning while smirking and contorted his face,
Pepper snorted and picked her chopsticks up again, "I doubt you'd be able to stay awake long enough to make it to our, uh, chambers."
"Well," He knocked on the glass table top, "Want to christen the new table?"
Pepper scrunched her nose, "Ohh, Tony, we eat at this table."
Tony leaned over enough to whisper into her ear, "We only eat food, I was thinking of eating something much-"
Pepper used her chopsticks to shove a dumpling in his mouth while she raised an eyebrow and spoke with an amused expression, "Just trying to save you from an HR complaint, Mister Stark."
Grinning Tony was about to speak when Jarvis did first.
"My apologies for interrupting but Director Fury is on the phone and is adamantly requesting to speak with you."
Swallowing the last of his dumpling Tony waved his hand granting permission. "Go ahead, J."
There was only a slight pause before an impatient and angry voice bellowed, "Stark! What the fuck is this shit you're trying to do?"
Sharing a pleased look with Pepper Tony grabbed his container, and chopsticks as he stood so he could eat, pace, and gloat all at the same time. "Uncle Nicky! So you finally did get my birthday present? I was a little disappointed the last time we talked that you didn't mention my little gift."
"This is bullshit, Stark and you know it. We have an agreement with you."
Tony narrowed his eyes, "No, Stark Tower has a lease agreement with a privately owned research company that is actually a front for S.H.I.E.L.D. once you dig deep enough to find out. Stark Towers reserves the right to sever all lease agreements without cause." He pretended to look thoughtful, "I think it's page 186, subsection 3.9." His face cleared, "But hey, I could be wrong, it's a long-shot but the odds could be in your favor."
"Stark, it'll be a cold day in hell before I let you break our agreement."
"Brrrrrr," Tony stretched the word out as he held up a sushi roll, turning it from side to side before walking over to Pepper and setting it in her own container. It was a California roll which he didn't really consider true sushi but he always got it because he knew Pepper loved them. He went back to pacing, grabbing a piece out of his box and holding it in the air as he spoke, "You've got government lawyers which, don't get me wrong, they're great for government work. But I've got Tony Stark lawyers and well," He smirked wide enough to make sure Fury could hear it in his declaration, "Not to sound humble or anything but Tony Stark's lawyers are the best. So," He shrugged, "The lease is going to be broken." He looked thoughtful again, "Actually, I think it's already been broken."
"Do you know how much the penalties will be for breaking the lease agreement?" There was a snarl in his tone and the contempt came through clearly.
"Uh, yes?" He looked to Pepper with a raised eyebrow then a frown when she gave him a look that made it clear she wasn't going to talk around a mouth full of sushi. rolling his eyes Tony asked, "Jarvis, the numbers please."
"There is a four point six million penalty for breaking the lease."
Fury still sounded angry but also condescending as he snapped, "And you're willing to pay that over some temper tantrum, Stark?"
"Oh no," Now Tony shook his head with an arrogantly satisfied tone, "That's how much you'll be paying me. Because you see you broke the agreement when you decided to get sloppy with your attempts to do a little friendly cyber-spying." Swallowing his mouthful, he tossed the box on the table while stabbing the air with his chopsticks, "I accepted your previous attempts as the price of doing business with a super-secret government agency with a history of not always treating their allies like allies. Ya know what I mean?"
There was silence on the other end for long enough for Tony to pick his food back up and start eating again. Then Fury spoke while clearly trying to sound understanding, the way an adult would speak to an irrational child, "Tony, I can tell you that I didn't authorize any spying and I am going to be looking into this and can promise you I'll find out who is behind it. And I will make sure they are properly disciplined for this breach of trust."
"Don't take that condescending tone with me, you know exactly what's been going on. Over the last nine days, I've stopped thirty-six separate in-house attempts to hack into J.A.R.V.I.S.'s systems and I watched your little trolls do it from my own surveillance cameras! That's not counting all the attempts that J.A.R.V.I.S. stopped himself. We've discussed this before and I told you there would be consequences if you didn't set your people straight and well, now you've been served with the consequences."
There was silence for several moments, long enough for Tony to stuff his face with another piece. When Fury spoke it was with impressive calm, "I want to meet with you, talk this over and come to a compromise."
"Oh no," Tony chewed rapidly, "No, no compromises here. The deal is done, you just need to buy some boxes and get a UHaul."
Fury allowed Tony to hear his sigh, it sounded like he was disappointed. "Tony, I can promise you I had nothing to do with what-"
"No, no, and hell no." Tony's tone made it clear he wasn't changing his mind, "Not even twenty-four hours ago one of your medical research trolls took advantage of a now blocked gap in access to attempt to obtain a sample of a highly classified substance." There was no sound from Fury, "I think you know about that substance and its source." Tony paused but there was still silence from Fury. "So, you'll understand why I think it would be best for you to relocate your offices."
There was more silence until Fury spoke through what sounded like a clenched jaw, "So you plan to continue to keep the assets in the Tower? Because that could turn out to be a very big mistake."
"Are you threatening me?" Tony's voice was a protective growl as he looked towards
Pepper, "Because that would be a miscalculation on your part. Director Fury. A very dangerous one."
"No, no, and hell no." The voice was mocking, "I think the danger is believing that you have the ability to contain the son of an insane interplanetary terrorist in one of your guest rooms. If he isn't the cause of the danger, it would be in your interest to remember I'm not the only one who wants him." His voice had lost its humor while making the last statements but now it came back, "So don't delete my number in case you decide you need help from becoming a military target."
"J.A.R.V.I.S., end call." Tony stood with his hands on his hips, he was so tense his muscles trembled. Not moving except for his shallow breathing, he stared out the wall of windows, not seeing the multimillion-dollar view of the City stretched out below him. He went from this to picking up a decorative glass ball from the dining table and yelling as he threw it against the windows. There was a solid thunk when it hit and shattered, the window remaining unmarked. He grabbed the top of a dining chair and lifted it several times, slamming it back to the floor each time before leaning over it and resting his forehead on the back of his hands.
Pepper had frozen, her food halfway to her mouth when she heard Fury start to talk about someone being kept in the Tower. She had carefully and deliberately set her food and chopsticks down and listened with a slight frown. She had remained quiet while the two men talked and said nothing when Tony had ended the call or even as he hurled a stupidly expensive glass ball against the window. And now she watched him as his breathing increased while hunched over the chair. She cleared her throat, "Tony?" Her voice was quiet yet firm with a small questioning tone in it. She remained silent as she waited for him to acknowledge her, she knew when he was like this, he needed time to pull himself mentally as well as physically back.
The mental list Tony was making kept getting longer, he needed to talk with J.A.R.V.I.S. to increase security levels which meant notifying human employees which meant rumors floating around. In combination with S.H.I.E.L.D. abruptly moving out would bring press snooping around, Pepper would need to handle that so he'd - "Shit." The word came out on a slow exhalation, he should probably get some sleep sometime in the near future. Having cut off his list making to come back to the here and now Tony had no desire to hear the questions Pepper was going to ask him because he had tricked himself into believing he could keep Loki and Annie a secret. He had known it wasn't going to be possible but ignored that reality. He was the king of ignoring whatever he didn't like. Letting out a sigh he turned his head enough to be able to see Pepper from one eye.
Raising one eyebrow she asked, "Who, exactly, is staying in our guestrooms?"