96 A Stark Confrontation

Bokuboy

I sighed at no one being there at Liz's table and went over to it anyways. I took out Shuri's cell phone and the lunch I prepared for myself and Jubadi, then propped the cell phone up on my backpack as we sat with the cafeteria wall at our backs.

“Hi, Benji.” Shuri said right away.

“Hi, Shuri.” I said with a smile.

Shuri's head swivelled a bit from side to side. “I don't see any of your friends.”

“I don't see them, either.” I said and quickly explained about that morning in the office, in my classes, and arriving at the cafeteria with no one at the table.

“Maybe they are busy?” Shuri asked.

“Yeah, busy avoiding me.” I said and took out my cell phone. “Just a second.”

Shuri nodded as I sent a blanket text to see where everyone was. The responses were all the same. They were busy.

“Yes, they are definitely avoiding me.” I said with another sigh.

“Do not worry, Benji. I will meet them when I meet them. Sometimes things cannot be rushed.”

“Uh huh.” I chuckled. “Did you prank T'Challa yet?”

Shuri barked a laugh. “You should have seen his face when Cheetah chased me down and started eating me! It was everything I had ever hoped for!”

I laughed and Jubadi smiled from beside me.

“I hope you took the opportunity to spar with him.” Jubadi said.

“I did and it was glorious!” Shuri said and the three of us started eating as she shared the blow by blow fight that lasted quite some time before T'Challa's years of experience showed itself and he defeated her.

“I think he will come to you often for sparring to keep him in shape.” I commented.

Both Shuri and Jubadi looked pleased by that. We talked a bit more and eventually finished eating, so I thanked Shuri for sharing her time with me and I bid her a good night. She did the same and ended the call.

I had mechanical engineering all afternoon and the teacher, Mr. Simmons, was wholly impressed when I completed the class assignment barely an hour later. With all of the tricks and tips I had learned from my own innovations in the R&D department at SHIELD, combined with what I had picked up from Shuri on the weekend, doing class projects was like taking three steps backwards with both the equipment used and the product to be produced.

I did it happily, though. If it hadn't been for Mr. Simmons allowing me free reign when I first woke up, I wouldn't have been able to be so prolific with my mechanical skills. In fact, I actually thanked him for what he did for me and I showed him the information package that would be included in the new Stark Protect Fire Suppression devices.

Mr. Simmons had a shocked look on his face when he read that I quoted him specifically to be instrumental in my work. “Ben, why... what did I do to deserve...”

“You believed in me, sir.” I said and handed him a voucher for a Stark Protect security device and a fire suppression device. “You gave me a chance to prove myself and I hoped I could thank you for that by doing this for you.”

Mr. Simmons gave me a smile and nodded. “Thank you, Ben. I'm sure Principal Morita will, too.”

“He only thanked me for the donuts, sir.” I joked and he laughed.

“Since you're done of your project, you can leave.” Mr. Simmons said and wrote me a note. “Just in case anyone stops you.”

“Thank you, sir.” I said and accepted the note.

Jubadi followed me out of the classroom. “You reward those that help you?”

“If I can.” I said and went to my locker. I pretty much emptied my backpack and would fill it again in the morning. “We need to go home for a minute for more paperwork and that present for Pepper before we head over to Stark Tower. I don't have to be home to cook for a few hours yet.”

“Perhaps you should check if your target will be present?” Jubadi asked.

“Oh, yeah. I should.” I said and took out my cell phone as we left the school. I sent a quick text to Jarvis, in case Pepper was in a meeting, and he said she was doing paperwork in the office. I thanked him and asked him to make me an appointment for half an hour.

That way if she checked after I showed up unexpectedly, she would see I was in her schedule. Was it sneaky? Yes. Would she like that? Hopefully.

*

Pepper was nose deep into the financial reports that were pouring in to Stark Industries because of the updated Stark Protect devices that actually had more functionality and the addition of the new fire suppression devices. She had to ask Jarvis if another factory needed to be built to handle all of the orders.

“The buying rush should taper off after another month to become a steady stream, Miss Potts.” Jarvis said. “Another factory could ease the load if it already existed.”

Pepper nodded as Jarvis showed her the numbers. “It would take almost a month to get it up and running and to hire more personnel. I agree, we won't need an additional factory by then.”

“I've made note of the decision and logged it into the company's mainframe.” Jarvis said. “Also, your 2:30 appointment is coming up in the elevator.”

“My what?” Pepper asked and sat up straight. “I don't have an appointment scheduled.”

Jarvis changed the monitor and showed her the schedule and Pepper let out a laugh. Just then the door opened and in walked Ben with a tall African woman wearing what looked like tribal battle dress.

“Jarvis! You spoilsport.” Ben said with a smile on his face. “You just couldn't resist, could you?”

“No, Ben.” Jarvis said. “I did wait until just before you arrived, however.”

“Ha ha! You really are grasping human interactions perfectly.” Ben complimented him. “Your timing couldn't have been more impeccable.”

“I know.” Jarvis said and then paused. “I cannot send a signal through the box you have in your backpack.”

Ben laughed and took off his backpack. “I knew I couldn't hide something so obvious from you, my friend.” He said and gave Pepper a pointed look. “I'm going to give you a very important gift. It's one that is so important that I need you to sign a non-disclosure agreement and also a few diplomatic papers.”

Pepper stared at him. “Why? What could be so important?” She asked and then looked at the African beauty. “I'm not going to like this much, am I?”

“That depends on your view as the top female corporate executive in the country.” Ben commented and handed her several sheets of paper. “The top one is my new status. The next, the NDA. The last two are international recognition for the thing I'm giving to you.”

Pepper took the papers and her breathing sped up at learning Ben's ambassador status and that he was betrothed to an African Princess. That surprised her, because the last time she had seen him, he had offered to... she pushed that thought aside. If he was going to be married in four years, she sincerely doubted she would be allowed to have his child.

She read and signed the standard NDA agreement, because she had a lot of national and international dealings and the standard forms let both her and her clients protect their interests. The last two forms were just vague enough for her to give Ben a raised eyebrow.

“Trust me, Pepper. You need to sign them both.” Ben urged her.

Pepper somehow trusted his word and nodded, read both forms again, and signed both.

“Jarvis, can you give us two copies, please?” Ben asked and Pepper's printer spat them out. “Thank you.” He said and gave one set of copies to Pepper and put the originals and the second set of copies into his backpack and took out a 6 inch by 6 inch black metal box. “I hope you're both ready for this.”

“Ben, you're scaring me.” Pepper said and slid her chair back from the desk.

Ben gave her a sly smile and placed the box in the middle of the desk before he hit the release button on the side. The top half of the box flipped open and Pepper gasped. Jarvis made a computer sound like an old style modem and went silent.

“I present to you, my business partner and future mother of my child, the device that will save Tony Stark's life.” Ben said. “A custom-made Shurinium Arc Reactor and the directions to install it.”

Pepper stared at it, then at me, then at the reactor. “Ben... how...”

“It was thanks to Jarvis sending me a 3D scan of this office, actually.” Ben said and Pepper looked shocked. “I had him send it when I had access to some very advanced laboratory equipment. Once I played with it and found the plans for a new element that was only theoretical when it was designed, I added in the proper components and used an atom smasher to make it. Once I had it, replacing the palladium inside one of Vanko's arc reactors was a piece of cake.”

Pepper was shocked. Not only had Ben committed espionage on Stark Industries, he bypassed Tony's proprietary technology by using the abandoned tech that copied it.

Ben must have seen the look on her face, because he moved the four sheets apart and pointed to the first international sheet. “This is a shared patent between the owner of Stark Industries, Pepper Potts, and Benjamin Parker, pre-owner of Parker Industries, for the new element Shurinium and the custom arc reactor housing made of vibranium.”

“Oh, my god.” Pepper whispered. She knew how much vibranium cost on the open market and the amount of it in front of her could probably buy Stark Tower.

Ben pointed to the second one. “This gives us the authority to create a child together, as long as said child inherits your position and or company, with the stipulation that they also become a dual citizen between America and Wakanda.”

Pepper gasped and looked up from the arc reactor to stare at him. “But... I thought... you...”

“Wakandans have strict rules about who can and can't have children when it involves the upper echelon of society.” Ben said and nodded to Jubadi. “In most cases, they don't even have to like the person, as long as the child benefits the country.”

“But... I...” Pepper wasn't sure what to say now.

“We don't have to, Pepper. I just wanted to make sure you knew my offer after Christmas was a sincere one, so I arranged to make sure that if you did accept it, we weren't going to cause an international incident.” Ben said with a chuckle. “Even I'm not stupid enough to let Penis Parker make all of the decisions.”

Pepper looked at Jubadi and the African woman nodded. “So, you're saying it's always going to be an option, if I ever want to accept it.”

“Within the next four years.” Ben added and Pepper nodded.

The deadline would be before his scheduled marriage.

Ben hit the button on the side of the box and it closed. “The box is a loan and must be returned to me as soon as possible. You both know how valuable it is.”

Pepper nodded again. “I'll contact Tony right away.”

“I would rather you wait until I leave.” Ben said. “Tony won't be happy that exists and it wasn't him that made it.”

Pepper looked at her display. “Jarvis? Maybe we could not tell him, have the surgery performed, and then tell him?”

“Tony would need six or so hours to get the alcohol out of his system.” Jarvis said. “By the way, he is passed out in the lab on floor 23.”

Pepper sighed and looked at Ben. “You don't need to rush to leave.”

Ben looked at the other papers on her desk. “Are you sure? You looked pretty busy when we came in.”

“I can take a break for an hour.” Pepper said and nodded at the office chair on the other side of her desk.

“That's perfect, because I just so happened to have an hour to spare.” Ben said and retrieved the chair to bring it around and sat beside her. Jubadi moved off to stand beside the inside of the office door.

“I bet that's an interesting story.” Pepper whispered and touched the paper with Ben's ambassador and consort status on it.

“Why don't I tell you about it?” Ben asked and she nodded.

*

Nick Fury sat in the chair at the front of the room and he didn't know what to say. What Maria Hill had just finished briefing him about, pretty much changed half of the things he had been planning for. The loss of Ulysses Klaue as a hostile but useful asset wasn't that big of a hindrance to a few of their operations. The illegal firearms that Ben had generously brought back for them, could be shuffled off to someone else and have them be the contact instead.

The main problem was the fact that Agent Parker had made first contact with an advanced civilization, that had been hiding on the planet for centuries, and he was now their ambassador. Any and all interactions with the Wakandans had to go through him, including any tech transfers.

Fury wanted that hover technology and knew for a fact that he wasn't going to get it. The power requirements alone made it a non-viable option without a constant supply of vibranium. Even the new arc reactors, which he wasn't allowed to borrow or steal, couldn't maintain them for long without the integral vibranium systems the Wakandan hovercraft had.

That did give him an idea to send to R&D about Howard Stark's failed hover car. If they used Ben's adaptations to Vanko's arc reactors and had one for each of the anti-grav engines that were used instead of wheels, the thing might actually work. He told Maria this and her eyes widened.

“Ben was right.” Maria whispered and made the notation.

“Right about what?” Fury asked.

“That even just the idea of the technology was going to spark ideas in people.” Maria answered.

Fury gave her a pointed look for a moment and then nodded. “Marking it level 10 was a wise choice.”

“Yes, sir. Agent Parker thought so, too.” Maria said.

Fury raised an eyebrow at her. “I probably shouldn't ask how you are feeling after what happened.”

“Sir, I...” Maria paused and thought about it. “It was odd and satisfying in its own way.”

“Do you want to explain that?” Fury asked.

“Ben barely needed any prompting to initiate contact and my slap seemed to have started the whole thing. It was almost like he was following a set script after that.”

Fury rubbed a hand on his chin. “You're saying it was automatic?”

“I think it was more instinctual.” Maria responded. “I was slightly surprised when he seemed to stop before we had intercourse and he asked me if I wanted to continue.”

Fury slowly nodded. “He wasn't supposed to ask.”

“As far as I can determine, I had already agreed by kissing him. A further acknowledgement wasn't required.” Maria said. “I could tell it was Ben asking and not the Wakandan Ambassador.”

“Then you agreed.” Fury said.

“Non-verbally.” Maria said and managed to not blush. “The first part was fairly rigorous and was over quickly...”

Fury held a hand up to stop her. “You don't have to continue that sentence.”

“It's all right, sir. I've included it in my report with the footage. Edited for content, of course. After the agreement was quickly completed, Ben seemed to emerge almost fully and then it was quite enjoyable and fun.” Maria said and the blush she was repressing escaped. “It also lasted for about four hours.”

Fury seemed to choke on air and had to take several minutes to clear his throat and then drank a full glass of water. “That wasn't an exaggeration, was it?”

“No, sir.” Maria said. “He whispered to me that he needed to compensate for... if you will excuse the quote... 'having to fuck several Wakandan warriors constantly'.”

Fury was sure his real eye practically hung out of his face, it was bulging so much. “I think I might skip reading your report for now.”

“Yes, sir. It's not for light reading.” Maria said and fought her blush. She did not tell him that she had saved several copies for herself under fake names and in different file folders, just in case the originals were lost.

Fury nodded. “What is your opinion of your mission to get close to Agent Parker?”

“It is a partial success.” Maria admitted and Fury raised his eyebrows at her. “I will need to initiate a non-Wakandan reason to engage with him personally, which might be difficult, considering his personal guard is required by international law to always be by his side to guard him.”

Fury sat there for several moments before he gave her a rare smile. “Call for him in his capacity as a data entry clerk. Even a Wakandan Ambassador's guard isn't allowed into the restricted server access room, law or no law. They have to respect our security concerns as much as we respect theirs.”

“Karen does have some work for him.” Maria said and made note of it. “When he comes in for work tonight, I'll arrange a proper meeting with him.”

“Good. We need direct access to him, despite his new status.” Fury said. “He also won't be taking his guard on missions past leaving her on the transport.”

Maria nodded. “I already informed him of that last point, sir. Agent Parker agreed, because if there is one thing the Dora Milaje are not, it's subtle.”