Arc Fifteen. Chapter Four Hundred Thirty-Nine. Early Risers
Peter called Pepper and let her know about Tony. What surprised him though was that Pepper had already had a file on Tony. She had files on a lot of people. She just hadn't told Peter. Until now.
It was standard in the industry to keep tabs on the competition, and if they got a bit too close, to knock them down a few pegs. Everyone knew what Tony was like, but he had the money to buy his way out of everything. Except this. Peter was being hailed as a bad boy, but his image was of a young orphan growing up bullied. Tony had tried to tarnish his reputation, but there was nothing to tarnish. Peter might be Venom, but nobody could prove it. He wasn't untouchable, as he was making big mistakes, but he was still relatively clean. Compared to Tony anyway.
What surprised Peter though was that it was Pepper's idea. He was going to ask exactly what was wrong, but the glare and the waves of anger rolling from her gave him a big enough clue. Tony had told her about Maya.
After seeing the first list Peter had emailed her, she did digging of her own. It was only natural that when she came to work for AIM, she brought it with her. She had to give up some of her more confidential files, but this one was hers, complied off company time to make sure it bypassed all the NDAs she was under.
After the second blowout between Tony and Peter, she had finally lost all patience with Tony. He had turned on Peter, trying to take AIM down in the papers. The expose Betty Brant wrote would have buried Peter, if Hammer hadn't screwed up. She knew he was vindictive, but this was too much. Peter had barely made a name for himself, and Gwen and Liv both were tied to him. Taking out Peter would have wrecked a lot of lives. What hit her the most was that this was not the first time Tony had done this.
Several up-and-coming scientists, not just Killian, had been ruined. With Tony's influence, he didn't even have to blacklist them. Simply mocking them had put a target on their backs. Tony was irresponsible but influential. More often than not, a simple ‘that's stupid’ from Tony killed an idea in its tracks, and nobody touched it. There were more names on the list than just Reed Richards and Quentin Beck, and it was a long list.
When he had targeted Peter, she finally had enough. She had taken one look at Peter and realised his potential. He was young, handsome, intelligent, a bit irresponsible, but most of all, he reminded her of Tony.
The biggest difference was he cared. Even when she slept with him and used him to get back at Tony, he just nodded and accepted it. It wasn’t naive stupidity, it was an actual effort to make amends and move forward. She had realised at that moment that while Tony tried his best, he cared about himself more than anyone else. It was with that realisation, Pepper knew she needed to move on.
Taking their personal relationship out of the equation, she had seen a bright future. One with Tony and Peter making the world a better place. Mentor and Protege, and they both fucked it up completely. Two stupid male egos who started a feud over a woman. While it was true that the woman was her, she had hoped they would get over it. MJ might have annoyed Peter, but Tony did leave her alone. It was Pepper's own desires that led her to bed Peter, and she had absolutely no regrets about it.
Pepper knew she hadn’t helped matters, but she tried to smooth things over. A project that needed them both, and both would see the benefit of. But once more stupid male egos collided and they went back to fighting. It snowballed until it reached its peak and he made a choice. Tony had chosen Maya over her. While stupid male egos could be fragile things, Pepper believed in another saying. Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.
She found Tony pounding Maya from behind, the same desk Pepper had been bent over the week before. He had apologised, taken her to her favourite restaurant, and begged for forgiveness.
He did everything to remind her why she had fallen for him in the first place. Tony was kind to those he cared about but ultimately ruthless and unsympathetic to those he didn’t. He was trying to prove he cared for her but it had all been done before. The apology, the restaurant, and finally the sex. It was textbook Tony, and she had fallen for it. He had even apologised for his attitude towards Peter, and she gave him one last chance, and he blew it. Right into Maya.
Pepper knew there were no condoms in that desk, they used the last one. As she watched him use a scented tissue to wipe himself, and then Maya, she knew he was unprotected. The thought of how many others crossed her mind. Peter might have a lot, but they all knew and there were no others. Tony was an ass who stuck his dick in a new girl every day. It was a no-brainer and she booked a medical exam with Liv after she calmed down. She sighed in relief as everything came back negative. She was not happy though, after a conversation with Tony, that Maya’s had not. She held her tongue, and the urge to slap him, he was no longer her concern and it would be strictly business from then on.
She had even considered joining Peter’s little group, one of nine, but the idea struck a nerve. She had enough of Tony, and while Peter cared, she wanted to be selfish. She didn’t want to be one of nine. She wanted someone who loved her and her alone. Poly might be for some, but she preferred her men faithful.
Instead, she would help guide his business. It would be her hand that made him a global name. Parker would be bigger than Stark, who stood on his father's shoulders. With Tony, and then Peter, she had learned not to mix business with pleasure.
Unknown to Peter, he had done her a favour. Matt Murdoch lay in the bed next to her, the sheet barely covering his muscular back. Sure the scars were a bit worrying but he was blind, scars were just one of the many consequences of that, or so he had said. She made sure this time, and as Matt rolled over in bed, Pepper watched the muscles of his back relax.
His fling with his secretary had been very publicly declared over. Matt had explained that he had begun to see Karen before Elektra showed up. Karen had taken their time spent training the wrong way and split up with him, via a shouting match in the office. Elektra had been seeing Felicia, and there was really nothing between them. It just made Pepper's head hurt, but Matt had already told her about Karen. It devolved into a mess and Matt, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings, had split things off with both. He wasn’t a cheater and admitted his mistake.
He also explained everything to Pepper, which she took as a good sign. So, after another late night at the office, they shared a few glasses of wine to celebrate their win. Pepper decided she liked him, and after a small amount of persuasion, they ended up in bed. Matt had shown her that while he was blind, he really didn't need eyes to know where to touch, kiss, or anything else.
Pepper stretched and Matt stirred next to her. "Sorry," she said but he shook his head.
"One of the drawbacks of being blind. Everything is vibration-based, so I thought you were my alarm clock."
Pepper leaned over and kissed the side of his face, "Well, I don't mind waking up like this a lot more. You need a hand in the shower?" She slid out of the bed and slid open a drawer.
Matt smiled "No thank you, I can use a shower myself."
Pepper stopped, "No. Do you need a 'hand' in the shower, Matt?"
Matt frowned and then it hit him. "Oh. Oh, yes," he slid out of the bed, "as long as you don't mind."
"As long as you return the favour, I'll never mind. Do you like it hot or cold?" He heard Pepper lifting the towels and moving toward the door. "I'll leave the door open so you can make your way there."
Matt reached over and touched his watch. It was early enough that he could take his time, "I don't have a preference." As he walked to the bathroom, following the sound of falling water, Pepper was already under the water. He could see her as the droplets cascaded over her naked body. She was beautiful, and he was glad they had a few hours to kill.
"Mouthwash on the sink, right in front of the running tap, if you don't mind."
Matt had explained he could locate things if there was a reference. So yes, he found, drank, swirled, and spat out the overly minty liquid.
Pepper opened the shower door, "Oh Mister Murdock, Who needs a cane when you've got that to point the way."
Matt laughed, and as they kissed, he found that getting a hand in the shower was very enjoyable indeed.
⁂
Peter was having an equally enjoyable morning. He had gotten up to start breakfast when MJ sleepily sauntered from her home. Everyone was finally next door and unless it was an emergency, nobody would be barging in.
Which was why MJ had wriggled into his lap, found his erection, and was busy rocking back and forth on him. She was moaning in his ear, biting his earlobe, "I get the appeal, no wonder you do this here."
Peter laughed and pulled her close, capturing her lips with his. "It's the people, not the location."
MJ sped up and tensed as her orgasm flared, and Peter filled her, "There. Now you should have a good day."
Peter leant and kissed her once more. She moved and Muse shifted into a set of slacks and a shirt. "Yeah, breakfast then the government, yay!" he said with false enthusiasm.
MJ filled her mug with coffee and started a fresh pot, "Any idea what they want?"
"Pepper warned me they took Iron Man to the cleaners, literally. His suits and most of Stark Industries are now military."
The military got its hands on the Iron Man suit, but Tony didn’t care. A normal manufacturing plant could produce up to the mark twenty-five with no issue. His more modern suits used specific alloys, and only Tony could make them. Not that they complained, they would still have a fleet of the Warmachine.
Extremis was also on their list, but again Tony didn't care. The method used by Gwen to stabilise it required a healthy supply of Peter's symbiote cells. Even Maya hadn't cracked how to get past that without the initial problem. Exploding.
In a shock move, Tony had quit. He knew the board had gone over his head and handed Stark Industries on a plate to the government. It was their way of getting an in with the Xandarians. After that, when the stock went into the toilet, all they got was egg on their faces. Stark Industries ceased to exist and was renamed Cybertek. Manufacturing outdated weapons for the government and another one of its unofficial branches. He gave up everything that was useless and got his freedom in return. He only wanted two things.
He got his name and registered Stark Solutions the very next day, and immunity for Jocasta and Vision. Nobody was touching them on his watch and Peter could deal with Friday on his own.
"So, you think they'll take AIM?" MJ laughed at her joke but Peter rolled his eyes as he grinned.
"I think they'll try, but the Erskine formula was leaked years ago, so that's off the table. My CLS works on the same tech as the collars, which is a derivative of the harness. So Liv is safe, plus we have Pepper." He sat down and handed MJ a plate. He always ate earlier than everyone else so he could make food. It was just toast and a few poached eggs, but it would do.
"So they just want to blow their own horns, and make you look bad for not being a stooge." MJ moaned as she bit into one of the eggs. They were soft and runny, just how she liked them.
"Pretty much." But Peter smiled, "But we have Pepper."
"Do we have pepper?" Mj asked innocently, and Peter laughed as he moved the bottle of hot sauce nearer. She splashed some on her eggs, "Want to sauce my eggs, Peter?" She asked, twitching her eyebrows. She squealed in delight as he lifted her, flipped her over and slid into her before she could say anything.
"No sex at the breakfast table, you animals!" Felicia shouted, "At least not without me!"