New York City, Stark Tower.
Pepper stood at the Window and looked over the Skyline of the City. Even 4 Years after the first Fight of the Avengers against the Forces of Loki the City had impressive Scars. Most of the Harbour was still under Construction and parts of the Buildings showed impacts of the Battle. But New York had proven that it could overcome everything. 911, the Fantastic Four appearance and the Battle of the mysterious X-Men against some Guy who attacked the UN Meeting from the Liberty Lady. The City had suffered heavily in the last 10 Years but nothing had been like the Chitauri Invasion. Looking down on the Street she could see how the Money of Stark Enterprise had rebuild the City. Not only were the new Stark Tower, powered by a modified A.R.K. Reactor, and the new One World Trade Centre significant Prove of a City that was not ready to give up. Her own Life was a little bit like the City. Since her Boss had created the Iron Man Armour her Life had changed extremely. Before this Day she had been his personal Assistant and had tried her Best to keep him on Line.
Moving away from the Window she looked over her Office. She had rose from a simple Assistant to the C.E.O. of one of the biggest Hitech Companies in the World. And it was not as she had hoped that it would be. Tony Stark wasn´t paying attention to his Company any longer and was most of the time away in his Battle Suit. She had to admit that he had saved the Planet more than one time now but in some cases it was his own Fault that the Planet was in Danger. She remembered the Ultron Accident pretty good. Sitting down on her Chair she tried to focus on the Work right in front of her but she found it hard to return to her daily Duties. She had to think of all the strange things that had happened. All the new Super-Human Dangers that had emerged out of the Shadows aft the Appearance of the first Super Heroes. It had started with the Accident that had created the Fantastic Four. Reed Storm-Richard, Susan Storm-Richards, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm were maybe the World´s first Super Heroes and their Existence had triggered other strange Events. Mutants, Evil Master Minds and the Organisation called A.I.M. that she had met personally. All of this had changed the World, not only in a better Way. A.I.M. had been able to steal some of the Secrets of different Sources and had invented some serious Toys. Mind Control, Teleportation, Energy Based Weapons and even freakier Things were now available on the Black Market and had already created a lot of Problems. Two Years ago some Guy named Killgrave had abused his Mind Controlling Power to take over a rival Company. The Lawyers had fought hard for the owner to prove that he wasn´t responsible for the Acts he had done under the Influence of Killgrave´s Pheromones. But thanks to Reed Richard-Storm and Tony Stark Teamwork they had managed to create potent Countermeasures against most know Attacks of Mind Control. Her own Office and the most important Offices inside the Stark Tower were well protected. The Artificial Intelligence that run 90% of the Buildings Operations, Friday, scanned the Air, the electronic Waves and all incoming Transmit ions for any Trace of Mind Control or Pheromones.
She know that she had been the Target of an evil Mind Controller too. In the last 2 Years there had been many had tried to control her but thanks to Tony nobody had managed to save her again and again.
“Ms. Pots. It is my duty to inform you that you have a Meeting with Susan Storm-Richards. The Helicopter is waiting for you on Port Number 3.” Said the female Voice of Friday.
“Thank you Friday. Do you know where Tony is?” she asked her. The last thing she had heard was that Tony and Steve Rogers tried to fix their Relationship. After the UN had tried to control the Avengers the Team had spit up into two different Teams. Iron Man, War Machine, Black Widow, Black Panther, Vision and Spider-Man on the Side of the Government and Captain America, Hawkeye, Ant Man, Winter Soldier and Scarlet Witch on the Side of the Independent Avengers on the other Side. It had ripped apart the Avengers and only Tony had stayed behind. Nobody knew where the rest of the Avengers were now. After Captain America had destroyed the Hydra inside S.H.I.E.L.D. the UN had disabled the mighty Organisation. Some of the Members of S.H.I.E.L.D. were now working for Stark Enterprise, like Maria Hill and some other highly trained Experts. But Pepper feared this new World.
S.H.I.E.L.D. was maybe corrupted by Hydra but it had been an Organisation that tried at least to protect the Innocent People. She had called one of the Agents, a Person she only knew as Phil Coulson, a good friend and she knew that not all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents were bad People. And Maria Hill had done nothing to change her Mind about that. She was a great Help for her. She truly hoped that Steve and Tony could find a way to settle their Problems and that the Avengers would find a Way to work together again. The World needed the Avengers. With Monsters like Dr. Doom, Purple Man and Loki out there the World needed the Avengers more than ever. But she knew that the Wounds were deep between Steve and Tony. The Battle between the Avengers had been very intensive and Rhodey was still unable to move his Legs. As she flew over the City she tried to focus on the Meeting with Susan. Maybe it would help her to chat a bit with Susan. Both of them were in a similar Situation. Both of them were Woman in a World of Men.
Maybe both of them would find some time to chat about trivial things and she would find some Peace in the Conversation. But first she had to talk with Susan about the Production of the new Stark-Richards Hyper-Space Engine. The Final Prototype had proven instable and had destroyed the Facility. Tony was too busy to look over the Blueprints and now she hoped that Susan could talk with Reed about it. This was a very important Contract for the Company. The first mass-production Hyperspace Engine that could bring Humanity beyond the Stars. It would create a golden Age for Mankind but even the two greatest Inventors of the Planet weren’t able to create a working Prototype. It was an open Secret that Reed Richard had already an interdimensional Gate inside the Baxter Building. Based on this Engine Reed and Tony had tried to create a stable Warp Engine. It was strange that both of them failed with this Task but maybe they just hadn’t been fully behind the Work. Each of them was busy with their own Projects and both of them thought they were the greatest.
As the Helicopter parked on the Roof of the Baxter Building Susan Storm-Richards stood at the Corner of the Helipad and waited for her. As always the Superheroine looked absolutely stunning. Her Business Dress showing not too much of her marvellous Body but enough to make most Men run against a Wall. Even the Fact that Pepper was also a stunning Woman, and had a lot of admire, she was always a bit jealous when she saw Susan. The Woman was always perfect dressed and always perfect Styled. Thanks to her super human Biology she had the Body of a Supermodel.
“Pepper! Nice to see you! Everything okay? I heard some bad Things about Tony and General Ross. I hope he hasn’t more trouble than usual.” She asked as both of them Woman hugged each other.
“You know him better don’t you? Ross thinks that Tony knows where the other Avengers are and now he wanted to force Tony to inform him.”
“I hope he didn’t told him? I don’t like what Thunderbolt Ross did to capture the Hulk. He is a Fanatic and I am not so sure if the Avengers would get a fair Process when he imprison them.” Susan asked while both of the Woman entered the Apartment of the Fantastic Four. Johnny and Ben were busy playing PlayStation 4 and didn’t even notice Pepper.
“No. Tony has good Reasons to hate the Winter Soldier. And the fact that Steve fought Tony to save Bucky was a terrible Act of Betrayal in his Eyes but I think Tony understood that Steve couldn’t act in any other Way. After all. He is the greatest Boy Scout on the Planet. He is Captain America.” Pepper laughed as they entered the Office of Susan.
“Maybe. But Goddammit! Sometimes his perfection is pissing me off! Butttttt he looks hot!” Susan laughed as she sat down and smiled as Pepper nodded eagerly.
“Yepp! He does! But you are married and I am more or less in a Relationship. At least I think I am Tony´s girlfriend. Did I ever showed you his favourite Present?” After Susan told her that she had never seen this special Present Pepper showed her the giant Bunny without Arms but giant Boobs. The blond Woman laughed as she saw the Present and had tears in her Eyes.
“Tony is always good for Joke. But before we talk about our beloved Boy´s let´s talk about Business. You wanted to talk about the Disaster on your Testing Area right? The Faster than Light Engine?”
Both of the Woman talked about the Project and Susan proved that she was almost as brilliant as her Husband. She found some minor miscalculations in the Energy output that could had caused the Explosion. Pepper had to admit that she was deeply impressed. Not only beautiful but also brilliant. The rest of the Day both of them used for a relaxing talk about their beloved ones and about the World out there. As the Sun slowly rose behind the Skyline of New York Pepper sat in her Helicopter and was on her way back to the Stark Tower. Tony had left a short Message that he would visit King T'Challa in Wakanda. Pepper knew that Tony had brought the remaining Avengers there so the Black Panther could protect them. Not even Thunderbolt Ross could truly dare to attack Wakanda. It was the only Source of Vibranium on the entire Planet and that gave Wakanda a unique Position in the World. Only a few People on the Planet knew the truth behind Wakanda. Wakanda wasn’t some backwater Country somewhere in Africa that was lucky to have an important mine. It wasn’t the fact that Wakanda was the Home of the Black Panther, who had showed himself to the World very spectacular on the Side of Iron Man. It was much more. Wakanda was maybe the most advanced Culture on the Planet. Their Technology was even better than Stark Tech and maybe as advanced as Reed´s Technology. It had been a Shock for Tony to find out the truth behind the Walls of Secrets that surrounded Wakanda. Tony was so proud on his Technology that it was hard for him to accept that another one was better than him.
Smiling she left the Building and heading to her Apartment in the Chrysler Building. All she wanted to do was to take a bath and call it a night. As she entered the Building she smiled at the old Man that smiled at her and opened her the Door. As much as she knew Alfred worked he here from the first Day on and that had been 41 Years ago. He belonged to the Image of the Chrysler Building like the Building belonged to New York. After the usual Chat with him, something she had always time for, she moved to the Lift. It had been a very long Day and so she didn’t notice that the Lift Boy was someone new. But to be honest it didn’t matter right now. She was too tired to care about something like a Lift Boy. This was the first Step to her fall. If she maybe had been a bit more careful, maybe the Story would have taken another Path. But it were these little things that always build the path to Glory or Corruption.
The young Lift Boy pressed the Button for the Penthouse and smiled. Pepper Pots didn’t even noticed him and ignored him totally but that didn’t matter for the young Man. He had strict Orders what he had to do and he would follow the Orders word by word. He was the first step in his Masters Plan and he was one of the most important Parts of it. His Task was easy. All he had to do was to test the Mind Control Protection Device inside the Lift. And if the Protection was better than his Master thought he carried a Beretta to end his Life before anyone could capture him. He would gladly end his Life. He didn’t know why he wanted to do it but he knew that he had to obey. While he felt that the Lift started to move he unbolted a small vile and activated the installed vaporizer. Without any Sound the fine Liquid inside the Vile transformed into an odourless Mist that filled the small Lift in seconds. He tried to act normally but now was the critical Moment. If the complete Building was protected against Mind Control Attacks than inside the Lift would be detectors too. If so, then these Detectors would alert the Security at once and would try to filter the Air inside the Cabin. If not than everything would work just as the Master hoped. But it didn’t matter to him. All he had to do was to follow his Instructions. He had to wait for 4 seconds until he could be sure that his Vile was empty and fully vaporized. It was a common Mind Control Drug that was used by many low Level Criminals on the Street. It was almost impossible to trace it back to its source. Most Black Markets sold it and it was mostly used as a Rape Drug. But it wasn’t his Order to sleep with Pepper Pots. The big Problem with this Drug was that it didn’t delete the Short Time Memory. So if his wold force her to do something against her Will she would remember it after the Drug would wear off. And if she would remember something like that it wouldn’t be long before she would suspect something like Mind Control.
No his Order was very easy. As he noticed a light glaze on Pepper´s Eyes he smiled. The drug showed the wanted Effect. The drug leaves the Victim in a light trancelike State and offers the Possibility to implant suggestion. Normally it was used for something more sinister like Raping or so but not this time.
“Give me your secured Phone Number.” He simply said and one Hand wandered to the Gun under his Jacket. The Problem was that he couldn’t be sure that the Vaporized Drug was really effective. If there was some Kind of Protection inside the Lift than it was possible that the Drug had already been disabled and Pepper Pots was just fooling him. In that Case he would kill himself immediately.
Pepper didn’t react in any Way but as the Lift opened and Pepper left the Lift she suddenly stopped and smiled at him.
“Just to be sure. Here is my personal Number. It is a secured one. Please don´t spare it!” then she gave him the Number that he wanted before she left to her Apartment. Pleased with the Outcome the young Man took his Hand from the Weapon and pressed the Button. As the Door closed he quickly put out his Phone and send the Number to his Master.
Leaving the Building with a new order he smiled. He had done a good Job. His Master was pleased with the Results. The next Job was even easier for him. He just walked smiling in front of a driving Truck.
“What a simple task!” he smiled as he got hit by the Truck and his Head almost exploded as hit the Truck.
As Pepper reached her Apartment she smiled and enjoyed the cool breeze up here. The View over the City was priceless. From the balcony she could see that there was something down on the street that looked like some traffic accident. Nothing she had to care about. She just wanted to take a bath and then get to her bed. The Sensors in her Apartment informed her that everything was okay thanks to the fact that not even this advanced Sensory was able to detect the small traces of the Drug inside her Bloodstream without a blood sample.
“Why did I gave this young Men my Number? Mhm maybe I need some vacation. Not that this Men thinks that I wanted to flirt with him? I will inform him when I see him next time that it was a mistake”
The next morning she was informed that one of the Lift Boys had a terrible Accident and was declared death. On one hand she felt sorry for the young Man but on another Side she didn’t have to matter any longer about a new Number. This was her second mistake. The next step in her ultimate Corruption.
“Phase one was a Success I assume?” the Ringmaster said as he looked out of the Van.
Mesmero nodded. “I think so yes. We can be sure that Lift is the Weak Spot in the Defence of the Building. We should strike there!”
The only Woman in the Van smiled. “Then it will be my part now to show her how beautiful it is to walk around on the Roof under the Moon mhm?” Davida DeVito smiled. The three Mind Controllers had found union in their Hate against the New Yorker Super Heroine. And Pepper Pots was the first Step into corrupting them all. But that was only a secondary Goal for her. She wanted Iron Man on his Knees worshiping her for the rest of his Life.”