The moment seemed frozen in time, as everyone took in the horrifying possible outcomes of this situation. Seeing Pepper looking up at the Hulk like that had Tony's heart practically stop beating. It was like watching that Chinese guy in Tiananmen Square face down the tank.
Pepper straightened up, keeping eye contact with the rampaging monster in front of her. She cleared her throat, her voice surprisingly steady. "Bruce, could you please put down that wall?" she asked with calm dignity. "It's has two Monet's and a Jackson Pollock on it. I love those paintings and it took me forever to acquire them. Remember how I showed you them the other day and you really liked them as well, especially the Pollock?"
The Hulk's heavy breathing was rhythmically snorting in Pepper's face, blowing her fringe about as the young woman attempted to reason with a force of nature. Pepper maintained eye contact with him, even though she must have been terrified. Tony knew how he felt when the Hulk was bearing down on him and he was wearing a suit of armour. Pepper only had that calm, steady voice of hers to protect her from harm. He glanced around and saw both Steve and Thor were tensed, ready to act if the unpredictable monster made one false move towards Pepper.
Pepper gripped her clip board more tightly. "Please, Bruce, put down the paintings."
The Hulk stared at her for a long moment and then he slowly dropped his arms, so the piece of wall was no longer over his head. His nostrils flared as he looked down at the wall and the precious artwork it held. He looked back at Pepper, his breathing still ragged, but slowing down. The Hulk carefully lowered the heavy concrete and twisted metal block to the ground, the heavy piece making a loud noise as it contacted with the ground and sending up a cloud of dust and debris. The rest of the Avengers noticeably relaxed.
"It appears the maiden's light touch has soothed the savage beast," Thor noted as the Hulk seemed noticeably calmer in Pepper's presence.
Steve nodded in admiration. "Pepper does have a way about her."
Pepper didn't flinch. "Thank you, Bruce, I really appreciate it." She turned to face Tony, acting as though the little incident had never happened. "I need you in the office at three, Tony. We have a conference call with our China people, and they want to speak to you directly."
The Hulk didn't seem to know what to do with himself, he just stood there, his noisy breathing filling both rooms. He was like a child who'd just been chastised by a parent and was waiting to be told to go to his room.
Tony didn't know if he'd ever loved Pepper as much as he did in that moment. "You never cease to amaze me," he said in adoring admiration.
Pepper took his compliment in stride. "Well, you could attempt to amaze me by turning up on time for that meeting," she countered. Pepper looked around at the damage done to the show room and gave Tony a look of censure. "And I told you it was a ridiculous idea to have the art gallery share a wall with your training room."
"But, it was triple enforced with titanium and was double loaded with concrete," Tony protested, landing on the other side of the broken wall, still in the training room while he talked to Pepper in the show room. "It was impenetrable."
"Hulk smash," grunted the Hulk.
Pepper nodded and held up a hand to the green giant. "Yes, exactly, thank you, Bruce. I couldn't have said it better myself. I think you should look up the meaning of the word impenetrable, Tony," she made a sweeping gesture with one hand at the generalised carnage around them, "because this isn't it. I'm moving the collection to somewhere safer."
"Where?"
"Anywhere you're not," was the prim reply.
"Unnecessarily harsh, Potts."
"No, necessarily realistic," she countered. "I'm going to be in interviews for the rest of the day, so, if you need anything from me, tell me now."
Tony's interest was piqued. "Interviews? You mean for your protection detail?"
"You're not invited," Pepper said, her tone brooking no discussion on the matter.
"I think I should be there," Tony argued. "This is taking too long."
Pepper gave him that disapproving look which Tony always found to be vaguely arousing. "You're the reason it's taking too long, Tony," she said in exasperation. "You and your stupid requirements."
Tony managed an outraged look. "In what way are my requirements stupid?"
"You made the last short list go two rounds with Iron Man," she reminded him.
"So?"
"Iron Man shot one of them!" she exclaimed. "He's recovering in hospital even as we speak."
"The guy was only mildly singed," said Tony, not sorry at all. "He didn't move fast enough and I don't want a guy who doesn't move fast enough looking after you."
Pepper put a hand on her hip. "So, what are you suggesting? Get someone like Black Widow to be my bodyguard?"
Tony blanched at the mere thought of it. "No, I don't like it when you two get together. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up."
"I'll help you with the interviewing, Pepper," Steve volunteered from above.
Pepper smiled up at him. "Okay, that'd be great, thanks, Steve."
Tony pouted. "What, you're choosing the Capsicle over me? What's that all about?"
"How does he keep coming up with all of these names?" Steve muttered under his breath, clearly annoyed.
"It's about the fact Steve has yet to maim one of the people interviewing for the position," said Pepper firmly.
"Granted, it's a tough screening process, but I still maintain it's a fair one," Tony argued.
"We're going to be drowning in lawsuits if this keeps up."
.
.
.
.
.
‼️🎈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