6

Chapter 6: Pepper Potts and the Worst RescueNotes:

Hey guys! Thank you for all the great comments and everything! They really mean a lot.

Ok you'll probably notice there's been a bit of a time jump between this chapter and the last. Just assume Daisy went back to LA for like a month and dealt with the whole Ghost Rider plot from s4. Because retroactively the Agents of SHIELD timeline sucks oh my god. Like the time between s4 to the end of s5 is three months...maybe four. Which is apparently supposed to be the difference in time between Civil War and Thanos invading which is....no. That does not work. So the timeline is fucked and I'm making it make some sense.

Chapter Text

Pepper Potts was sadly used to being kidnapped. In fact it happened so often she had three panic button/GPS tags on her person at all times. At the charity auction she'd been attending they'd respectively been her watch, phone and the heel of her stiletto. Unfortunately the entire kidnapping had gone a bit like this.

She'd been happily bidding on a high schoolers painting, really the kid was talented and it was a joy to fund the local schools of the city. Which is when the twenty armed and masked individuals came crashing in. The crashing was not indicative of their skill level unfortunately.

First they'd secured the room. Phones and jewelry removed first thing. The risk wasn't worth it. But she'd still had her shoes. And then Spiderman came swinging in and chaos had broken out. At least this part was familiar.

A surprisingly fresh smelling thug grabbed her, and dragged her from the room threatening to shoot anyone who tried to stop him. Spiderman was busy preventing the criminals, clearly former military. Or possibly current military based off of gear and tactics. What was her life that she could spot these things?

Fresh smelling goon had an arm hooked around her waist as he hauled her out of the gym and into the alley behind the school. There was a waiting van.

Pepper tried to break free but his arm hold was like iron. She screamed for help, failed to snap her stiletto heel, and was tossed into the back of the van. Two goons were instantly on her and she was cuffed and gagged in short order. One of them had the bright idea to cuff her ankles.

"Is that necessary?" Fresh smelling goon asked as he shut the van door, the van squealing off.

Goon 2 grabbed her shoes and chucked them out the window. "I've been stabbed in the shin by a stiletto before and I can tell you this is necessary. Also we don't want her running if Spiderman catches up."

"Why is he even here!? We're not in Queens!" Goon three bitched from the driver's seat.

Fresh smelling Goon 1 grabbed an AK-63 and half growled at his comrades. "Shut up and drive. If Spiderman is here that means Quake isn't far behind and we are not being paid enough to deal with that bitch."

Pepper hadn't met or dealt with the two heroes who'd taken unofficial charge of Queens and most of Brooklyn. But she was suddenly really hoping her kidnapper was right and one of them was coming for her. She jerked as something crashed onto the roof of the van. The van's roof literally dented inwards.

Fresh smelling Goon aimed up and started firing through the roof.

The drivers side window shattered inwards, an arm with shiny metal gauntlets reached in and dragged the goon driving the van out the window. His feet and fading scream the last they saw of him.

"Fuck!" Fresh smelling goon changed his aim for the front of the van as the side door was ripped open and he was sent flying into the opposite side. He collided hard with the side of the van. There was a crunching sound as he hit and then slid down motionlessly.

And there in the van's open door, one hand hanging onto the roof, wind blowing her short dark hair was Quake. Her black on yellow suit, face mask and gauntlets against the lights of the city at night struck an intimidating figure. The vigilante barely flicked her wrist sending the last goon present ricocheting out of the way. And then she grabbed Pepper, slinging her over her shoulder, and jumped out of the still moving van.

Pepper screamed into her gag.

Quake landed in the middle of the road. And stood resolute as more cars bristling with goons with guns squealed to a stop in front of them. The woman set her shoulders.

Spiderman landed in a three point hero's pose besides Quake. "No one gets the friendly neighborhood aesthetic. I mean military weapons do not a friendly neighborhood make."

"Their target is Potts. Get her out of here, I'll handle the goon squad." Quake's voice had the same candance as Tony's when he knew he was about to verbally take someone he didn't like apart.

Spiderman let out a petulant groan. "Fine, but I get to fight the overcompensating gangsters next time." He hopped, scooping Pepper off Quake's shoulder and then they were both zipping straight up as he hollered "toodles!"

Pepper had a new appreciation for Tony's rescues as Spiderman slung them like a drunk ping pong ball through the city. The swooping, jerking and stomach turning descents were nauseating. Also being carted around in a fireman's carry was humiliating. Better than kidnapping, but she hadn't wanted to ever get this up and personal with Quake or Spiderman's butts. Also she couldn't see anything!

"Don't worry Ms Potts! You're going to be A-ok!" Spiderman chirped pleasantly as they ricocheted somewhere.

Pepper screamed into the gag, again. It was partially the horrifying method of travel, partially the shock from the last fifteen minutes, and mostly because she knew what a middle school boy's voice sounded like. Which meant she was being slung between buildings by a kid who couldn't be older than fifteen if she was being generous.

They went flying through an open window. Spiderman slid to a jarring halt, and then unslung her from his shoulder leaving her back on her feet for the first time since the whole mess had begun. "There ya go."

"What the fuck!" A female voice screeched.

Pepper's eyes widened as a young woman, her hair messily piled on her head, leapt to her feet from the saggy couch. Actually now that she had two seconds to take in her surroundings she realized she was in what had to be a college student's apartment. The cup noodle cups, poptart wrappers, empty energy drink cans, second-hand furniture, and the fact it was a tiny studio apartment rather gave it away.

Spiderman cringed from the angry co-ed. "Hey Darcy."

"Don't you 'Hey Darcy' me!" The newly discovered Darcy shoved past Spiderman and with surprisingly gentle fingers pulled the gag out of Pepper's mouth and then flung it to the side. She then pulled a Bobby pin out of her hair and had picked the handcuff lock in under thirty seconds. Dropping to one knee she repeated the process with the second pair of cuffs before straightening while returning the Bobby pin to her hair. "I am so sorry lady. Are you ok?"

Pepper felt rather green actually. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Get the bucket!" Darcy ordered in alarm.

Spiderman half tripped over himself grabbing a mixing bowl out of the cupboard and shoving it into Pepper's hands.

Pepper was promptly sick. She felt hands pulling her hair out of the way, and someone was rubbing soft circles on her back.

Someone disappeared along with the bowl, and then she was being shepherded to the kitchen sink, a glass of water being pressed into her hand.

Pepper rinsed her mouth out, spitting into the sink. She let out a sigh before taking an actual drink of the water. The slight tang of tap water wasn't exactly pleasant, but cold water was definitely a relief all the same. Straightening once she was as put together as she was going to get, she turned around.

The small apartment now that she was looking past the various bits of clothing laying over the back of chairs and poor dietary choices, was what she recognized as half engineering lab, half college living space. The bits and pieces of machinery everywhere fit with the general feel of the place. There were large technical textbooks and papers hap-hazardly laying around as well. A suspiciously dented looking fire extinguisher laying on the floor by the side of the couch only cause of some minor alarm.

Pepper looked between Darcy, the pretty co-ed and Spiderman who was actually hanging from the ceiling. "Thank you for the rescue. Do you think I could borrow a phone?"

"Kid...that is Pepper Potts." Darcy seemed to finally recognize her. She then turned and slapped Spiderman's shoulder.

Spiderman yelped, voice cracking slightly, and then dropped to the floor. "Da..Quake said to get her out. And what if more bad guys with guns were waiting at the Tower?"

"So you brought her to my apartment!?" Darcy wheeled on Spiderman, completely ignoring Pepper now. "Did you miss the basics of keeping a secret identity?! Your aunt is going to kill me! Quake is going to kill you! I mean running around like a maniac in bulletproof pajamas is one thing but you bought Pepper Potts into my apartment!? Do you think she won't be able to track down who I am from that and from me to you!?"

Spiderman seemed to physically wince. "But she's practically our ste….well you know?"

"No she's not! And we agreed no contact with Tony! Bringing his girlfriend to my apartment is not no contact!" Darcy's arms waived. "Dear Thor this is not good."

Pepper cleared her throat. She was going to ignore any and all subtext till she'd had time to sleep and process her night. "I'm assuming you run tech for Spiderman here Ms Darcy?"

"I make-" Spiderman started.

Darcy whacked him in the gut. "Yes?" She plastered on a fake smile. "Yes, Darcy. Mechanical and snack related support to Spiderlad."

"Spiderman!" The kid protested, but in more of a token attempt than anything else.

Pepper's lips twitched. This was actually explaining a lot of the confusing media attention around New York's new heroes. "I understand your need to keep secret identities. But I would also like to go home and prevent Tony from doing something stupid. So, any options you'd feel comfortable with that don't involve me being swung out of here like a sack of potatoes?"

"Swear on Stark's sparkly ass to not make me move out of my shitty apartment to escape the paps and we'll call you an uber." Darcy offered.

Her years with Tony made her response automatic. "I swear on his sparkly ass not to sell you out to the media."

"Excellent." Darcy's face pulled up into a victorious grin, all casual and familiar confidence. "So you ok with uber? I'll make the kid walk you to the curb and everything."

Pepper smiled, god they were kids. No wonder they avoided the big dramatic villains and just dealt with local petty things and helped locals with groceries. Spiderman was a teen or preteen. Darcy couldn't be a day older than twenty five and she hadn't gotten a good look at her, but she'd bet anything Quake was young as well. "I'm fine with an uber."

Spiderman's head snapped to the window, and then Quake came hurtling through the window landing with a heavy thud, everything not attached to walls rattling. Quake looked up and took in the situation. "We've got a problem."

"No we don't." Spiderman said holding up his hands and waving them. "We're just going to call Ms Potts an Uber."

Quake's voice was serious, she was issuing orders. "No we're not." She looked straight to Darcy. "We're bugging out. Grab the bags and get to the van. Take Potts and head for the airport." She turned to Spiderman. "Call Aunt May tell her it's a White situation. Then drop the blue flashdrive with Stark before meeting us at the airport."

"Oh Thor...they're never letting me back on the debate team." Spiderman grumbled before swinging out of the window.

Pepper turned in alarm as Darcy dragged a dufflebag out from under the bed and started shoving various electronic bits and pieces into it. "Wait a minute!"

"I'm really sorry about all this, but I'll explain later." Quake grabbed a box from under the sink and started mixing chemicals that very much should not be mixed. The woman dumped the horrifying concoction on the counter. "Short version is AIM. If you want to get out of the city alive help Darcy with the bags."

Pepper nodded and grabbed a pair of shoes by the door and started lacing them up. She was going to need to be able to run. Whether it was with the baby superheroes or away from them she wasn't entirely sure.

Quake grabbed a shoebox out of a cupboard and pulled out a handgun. "I need to go and grab the paperwork." She passed the gun to Darcy. "Someone tries to stop you, shoot them."

"Aye aye." Darcy accepted the gun, her nose wrinkling up. "I don't deserve my life being this weird." She grabbed Pepper's arm and hauled them out of the studio.

Pepper stumbled in the slightly too large convers, hanging onto the duffle bag that'd just been shoved into her arms. "Why are you taking me with you?"

"Code White means the Avengers are assembled." Darcy replied matter of factly. "Not as crazy balls as code Purplenurbles, but I'm mostly sure we were just drunk when we came up with code Purplenurbles."

Pepper's jaw tightened. She followed the surprisingly task oriented co-ed. They jogged at a slightly panicked clip down the stairs and out a side door into an alley.

"This way." Darcy led her down the alley, past dumpsters that smelled pretty putrid.

Pepper spotted a giant wasp the size of a volkswagen flying overhead. Nope, she was throwing her lot in with team co-ed.

They took a turn into a narrower alley. And then Darcy unlocked the single skiviest van Pepper had ever beheld. "Right, hop in, stay in the back."

"Do I want to know?" Pepper asked while opening the back door of the van and freezing. It was full of weapons and computer screens mounted on the inner walls of the van. She grit her teeth and climbed in.

Darcy started up the van. "Quake lived in this thing before we met if you can believe it. I mean housing options for former SHIELD specialists with Inhuman abilities are hard to find. Something about the crazies trying to kill you. At least it doesn't smell."

"How on god's green earth is she old enough to be former SHIELD?" Pepper pointedly didn't touch the gun chest as the van squealed out of the alley.

Darcy snorted. "Teenage cyber terrorist. SHIELD black bagged and then recruited her when she was seventeen. Then four years of service. Apparently SHIELD follows military rules that you can recruit at seventeen with parental permission. Not that Quake had that, but details."

"Well that's horrifying," Pepper uttered. She settled as safely as possible on the tiny cot in the back. "What's the plan once we get to the airport?"

"Oh we're not going to the airport." Darcy replied glibly. "Quake's super paranoid and the spider kid gets way too into the secret agent code mumbojumbo. We are actually going to a shitty motel till this all blows over."

Pepper blinked, that was actually rather clever. "And by blow over?"

"Spiderman is going to run civilian rescues in Queens till the end of the bullshit and then come crash in the shitty motel with us. Quake is running some quick recon and then is probably going to be taking care of AIM while everyone else deals with what I'm pretending are not giant wasps attacking the city."

Pepper cleared her throat. "So code White?"

"City wide destruction and or invasion that requires Quake and Spiderman to play in the big leagues and us squishy non super powered idiots need to go hide out. Hit the green toggle. It's the one that's melted crayon." Darcy instructed, the van jerking to the left.

She hit the green toggle, that was indeed super waxy.

////

Peter yelped as he almost hit a lamppost. "We're all insects here!"

The giant wasp and it's dozens of tiny brethren didn't seem to agree with him.

-"Technically you're an arachnid not an insect."- Daisy grunted, a burst of gunfire audible on her end of their comms.

He pouted while spraying more webbing into a sloppy attempt at a proper web. It probably didn't catch many of the evil insects, but some was better than none. "It's the thought that counts!"

-"Code names only, I'm connecting us to the Avengers' comms."- Daisy warned, there was a concerning amount of gunfire in the background. There was a crackle, and then new voices were coming through.

-"I don't think they can get bigger than a truck."- A male voice came through before grunting.

Peter swung straight up above the buildings around him. He saw how the wasps that saw him changed direction and started heading for him. "Hey Avengers! Big fan. Bringing the party to your tower."

-"Who is that?"- A strong voice ordered.

He slung himself forward. "Just your friendly neighborhood Spiderman!"

-"How'd you get this channel? Actually scratch that, how do you see out of those goggles?"- Tony Stark's distinctive voice asked.

Peter hopped over a roof. "It's an honor Mr Stark, Sir."

-"Not as good to meet you buckaroos. Big fan of the webs. Seems like a good time for webs."- Stark quipped. -"Think you can make a bigger web, trap Swarm in a sticky mess?"-

Peter webbed a cart sized wasp to a wall. "That would require standing still." He yelped.

Daisy's voice came through, and again that was a lot of gunfire on her end. -"Just funnel the murderous wasps. I'm almost done with the AIM agents. If you can get the wasps in a relatively straight line I can turn them into dust."-

-"You expect us to just take orders from strange women with guns now?"- Tony protested. -"I mean I see the appeal, but really?"-

Peter webbed a large wasp and sling shotted it at the passing form of Ironman. "Quake isn't strange! She's supes cool."-

-"Not now!" And Ironman if you want to know how 'skyenet' is turning your firewalls to swiss cheese you'll do it."- The smile in Daisy's voice was audible.

There was an explosion of spluttering. And then the serious voice came through. -"Team, funnel the wasps towards the Tower."-

Peter's web hit his sister's back, and then he launched her up into the path of the very, very angry wasps.

Her arms raised, the very air trembled. And then the swarm of thousands of insects varying in size from thumbnail to small pick up truck turned to dust in a wave of chaos.

He caught her around the waist with one arm on a swing, and landed against the side of a building, holding her up. "Hey you ok? Nothing break? Quake? Come on talk to me?"

"I thought I told you to evac civilians and let the Avengers and I handle the crisis?" She looked at him with a fond smile. "But good job."

Peter blushed under his mask. "Thanks, and I don't know, the wasps just kept swarming me. Not my fault."

The artificial voice of Ironman came from just besides them. "Well you are The Spiderboy? Spiderling?"

"Spiderman." Daisy corrected while throwing an arm around Peter's shoulders so he wasn't hanging onto her so awkwardly.

"Right that." Ironman's face mask pulled up, showing Tony Stark's face. "Good work dusting the bugs. So what's this about you knowing about 'skyenet'?"

Daisy pulled the blue flash drive out of Peter's pocket and tossed it at Tony's face. "Secure channel for you to chat on. Thanks for assisting Spiderman, we're gonna head home now if you don't mind."

"Oh I do mind." Tony caught the drive, looking at them curiously. "So what're you? Like some powered Romeo and Juliet or something?"

Peter couldn't help the "Oh ew!"

Daisy laughed. "Never figured you for a fan of the classics. Does the media know you're a softie under there?"

"No romance jokes, got it." Tony's mustache twitched. But then his voice was serious. "So, want to say where you took Pepper?"

Peter found himself babbling slightly. "Our guy in the chair took her to a safehouse."

"Guy in the chair?" Tony asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, like tech person. You know the guy in the chair. Back end and all that."

"Look how do you feel about letting us hitch a ride to the safe house with you? Cause my van is at the safehouse and taking public transport while in costume sucks." Daisy cocked her head as if she wasn't dangling from the side of a building depending on him to keep her there. "We could pick up pizza?"

////

Darcy munched on a burger while watching the news on the shitty tv in the shitty motel room. "So how do you feel about street tacos?"

"I'd rather not have food poisoning in this establishment." Pepper replied somewhat dryly.

She snickered. "Fair, fair. Gotta say it's nice to meet you. Like you're a Pepper freaking Potts."

"You know it took me a bit, but I've spent a lot of time with Tony." Pepper looked at her, eyes seemingly boring into her soul.

Darcy swallowed. "Oh?"

"You look like him, especially around the cheeks. And that's definitely his chin." Pepper's voice was surprisingly gentle.

She shrugged, her lips pulling up. "What gave it away? Besides the resemblance."

"The kid in the suit almost called me your stepmom. Which would make the three of you siblings. Same mom, different dads?" Pepper asked, the slightest of hopeful tinge to her voice.

Darcy smirked. "Different moms, same dad." She pulled her legs up under her, crossing her legs. "Quake's the one who figured it out. Turns out condoms have failure rates."

"Why not come to him?" Pepper had barely reacted to the news they were all Tony's kids. She had an impressive poker face.

She rolled her eyes. "We didn't need a dad." Darcy paused at the look on Pepper's face. "Fine, look it's complicated. The kid's parents died in a car wreck, finding out his mom had an affair with his personal hero was a bit rough. And Quake's got issues with parents. Foster kid, bio mom tried to murder her when she tracked the woman down. Throw in the whole powers thing and Quake is former SHIELD. It's not like it's going to be smooth going once it all comes out."

"Tony deserves to know he has children. All of you deserve a chance at a relationship." Pepper's voice was soft and sincere.

Darcy sucked at the inside of her cheek. "Technically Tony's going to hire me in a month. I figured the system would flag me as his kid during the health screening process. Which mandatory on site medical screening to ensure your employees health is very cool. Especially since it can't be cause of termination."

"Oh?" Pepper leaned back in the shitty motel chair she was sitting on. She'd taken one look at the mildewy beds, wrinkled her nose, and claimed the chair.

Darcy nodded. "I'm Jane Foster's former intern. Since I'm on track to graduate this month I get the fancy upgrade from intern to official assistant."

"You're Darcy Lewis, Thor's lightning sister." Pepper laughed. "Of course you are."

She snickered herself. "Did you think any of Tony's kids could be boring?"

"How old are all of you? Because I know what a teenage boy's voice sounds like." Pepper smiled.

Darcy bounced on the foot of the bed slightly. "Kid's turning fifteen next month. Quake just turned twenty two, and I'm the oldest at twenty five. Which Thor I feel ancient around them. Look, let them come to Tony when they're ready. The kid might be soon. He really wanted to meet him before he processed the whole affair thing. But Quake…" She shrugged. "Pushing her won't lead to anything good."

"I won't insist on two conditions." Pepper offered.

Darcy's eyes narrowed. "Negotiations, my specialty." She felt positively feral at Pepper's confused expression. "Political Science undergrad degree, getting my doctorate in mechanical engineering this month. Gotta say, I miss the poly sci."

"Politics...a Stark with a degree in Politics." Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose before seemingly shaking herself out of it. "You tell Tony if your siblings haven't come around to telling him themselves by the end of the coming year."

Darcy shook her head. "Not happening. I'll let you have their cell numbers in a year if they haven't told him."

"Six months if I'm only getting phone numbers. And you have to tell Tony he has other kids." Pepper countered.

She cocked her head slightly. "Six months, and I tell Tony I'm not his only kiddo if it's necessary for stupid hero reasons. And if that's not acceptable I sue for a nice trust fund and make a delightful media circus."

"Agreed." Pepper nodded. "Second condition, you and your siblings keep in contact with me and if you need help just ask."

Darcy blinked. "Huh, you're good people Potts."

"And you're going to finish the work Tony's done to turn my hair grey." Pepper sighed. "And you already have a trust fund. I had one formed my second month as Tony's assistant. It was kind of inevitable a kid would turn up eventually."

Darcy snorted. "Yeah, at least if he creates another spawn it'll be on purpose. Which, good job on snagging him. I mean he's dad hot, and a total manwhore. But also a superhero so he's got to have some redeeming qualities."

"I'm taking that as a compliment." Pepper huffed in amusement. Though her eyes stopped on the tv screen. "Oh dear."

Darcy looked over and snorted outright. There was a very dramatic series of photos showing Peter webbing, flinging and then catching Daisy. It was a pretty awesome final destruction of the killer wasps. But what the media was clearly focusing on was the new question. 'Were Spiderman and Quake a Superhero couple?' She lunged for the remote and cranked up the volume. "Oh my Thor this is amazing!"

"Oh dear." Pepper sounded like she knew exactly the level of havoc a pair of embarrassed Stark kids could kick up in the media.

Darcy cackled.

On the screen the station's hero specialist, hack journalist, was pontificating. -"This makes the newly teamed up super pair's behavior make sense. Afterall we all know Quake was a questionable vigilante ever since she appeared on the scene. Property damage, dead criminals, and a wake of destruction behind her. Then she turns up in New York covering our local hero's back. Almost no property damage, no dead criminals. What else but love would explain the personality change?"-

Darcy rolled off the bed from the strength of her cackling.