𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐘. Mercy already had Pepper's office number, but the entire situation revolving around her brother was apparently something only the redhead was working on, the other employees closest to her simply assuming she was on a personal project for Tony Stark--a matter that seemed to travel in whispers and raised eyebrows--and she was careful to ask different employees for different tasks, and the entire affair wasn't something that warranted dwalding or time wasted while on hold.

Meaning she got Pepper Potts' private phone number. 

It was more of a anticipatory feeling than anything, she told herself; after all, how many people could say they were able to call the CEO of Stark Industries if the urge ever came-of course, Mercy knew she would only call if necessary, especially since she wasn't too much a fan of talking on the phone to begin with. After returning from their visit with the Professor, she found herself in front of her work, a questioning look on her face as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

"This is probably gonna be a bit time consuming," Pepper had explained, waving her hand to emphasize the disaster they had on their hands, "You might want to ask someone to take over for a while, or at least until everything's settled." 

She'd nodded, thoughts already jumping to who she would put in charge and what she would say, and a million other things at once, mind wandering in too many different directions to vocalize, until the sound of Pepper calling her back just as soon as she began to walk away jolted her back to reality. 

"Hold on," she called, leaning over the passenger's seat to hold out her phone, which had evidently fallen out of her pocket. 

"Thank you," Mercy said, accepting her phone with a polite nod, and she was about to put it in her pocket without a second thought when she noticed the screen was turned on, and somehow had been unlocked and opened to her contacts. 

Her heart began to race, despite knowing that she probably hadn’t seen anything--not that she kept anything terrible on her phone to begin with, but it would be tiring to explain why she still har David's contact saved even though he wasn't answering--and she knew there was no way she would be able to leisurely scroll through it anyway, seeing as how she had been driving up until that point, and she was certain that the split second in which she had gotten out hadn't been enough time to find or do anything. 

As she focused on the contact screen, she realized that Pepper had given her her phone number, and it took a great deal of energy not to squeal; she may have been professional on the outside, but on the inside, she was still a fan of the woman's work and the urge to pinch herself to make sure it was real washed over her. Instead, she watched her drive away, staring at the screen for another moment before shaking her head, a small smile beginning to form. 

But that had been yesterday, and her excitement over the brief turn of events dwindled when she realized she still had her own job to do--she would argue that it was her "real" job as well, although preventing her brother from blowing up New York City and killing millions of people was far more real than she wanted it to be--and it was decided that they would meet at a coffee shop early the next morning, seeing as how they weren't aware of David's timeline and the next morning worked perfectly for the both of them. 

She'd stayed late working in her office the day before to make up for some of the lost time she'd missed, and while waking up early had long become a habit of hers, Mercy wasn't as thrilled to be awake that morning, and her driving to the coffee shop was more dangerous than she would have liked to admit. Scanning the outdoors seating area, she couldn't see Pepper just yet, opting to buy something before she arrived, snagging a table in the corner and carefully sipping her drink while she waited, wondering if the redhead had purposely chosen the shop or if it was merely convenient. 

The coffee shop blended right in with the rest of the street, and from the looks of the customers coming in and out, it seemed to be a passage through the city and little more for most, a cramped place to drive through with the windows all the way up and never a thought to stop, unless tourists heard of the location from the mouth of a friend or the Internet. The peeling paint and slight hipster feel of the place made everything more cozy, tourists buying drinks and stepping outside to enjoy the weather while exclaiming at the quaintness of it all. 

"You've found a good spot," a voice behind her remarked, startling her out of her thoughts as she whirled around and found Pepper standing there with a bemused smile on her face, "Did I scare you?" 

"A bit," Mercy admitted, a faint blush creeping up to her cheeks, motioning her hand to the drink in front of her, "Do you want anything?" 

Pepper tapped a manicured nail against her chin in thought for a moment before nodding, shooing the blonde away when she moved to get up. "No, I'll get it. But thank you." 

With that, she walked through the doors and into the shop, her high heels clicking against the concrete leaving Mercy to turn back to her thoughts. It wasn't until several minutes later that the woman came back out holding her own drink that she allowed herself to think about the situation at hand, raising an eyebrow when Pepper pulled out an ordinary looking tablet and placed it on the table. 

"Where's the one from yesterday?" she joked, motioning toward the unremarkable tablet, putting an interested look on her face. 

"You don't like this one?" Pepper replied with a mock expression of hurt before reaching over and turning it on, smirking at the blonde's intake of breath as she watched the screen load and pull up the blueprints and photographs from the day before. 

As impressed as she was, she reminded herself to school her features so as not show how impressed she was by the seemingly simple technology; it was a far cry from her own work tablet, that was for sure-but the feeling subsided as the woman began quickly tapping on the screen, raising her head a few moments later.

"It's been disabled," Pepper added, gesturing toward the security camera near the door, as if expecting her to see a difference not that it was inactive, "And even so, you chose a good spot, a fair distance away from the main doors, can't be seen from the street, and it isn't close to the patrons." 

Not that she had pointed it out, Mercy noticed that their spot was, in fact, optimal for their work, and ceased to draw eyes and unwanted attention from pedestrians and customers, everyone simply assuming they were two women meeting for work. 

Of course, that was exactly what it was, but the details excluded them from describing it as simply. 

It took her a moment to realize Pepper was looking at her expectantly, surveying her with a mix of concern and amusement, and it was the latter that made her duck her head, reaching for the tablet and allowing herself to become lost in staring at the image, embarrassment now rising in her chest. Maybe it was because she had been staring at it for so long with actually seeing anything that she forced herself to focus, pinching the screen and trying to focus on anything she had missed the first time around, well aware of Pepper watching her expectantly. 

"See if there's anything familiar you didn't see the first time," Pepper instructed, reaching into her purse and pulling out a second, smaller tablet, drumming her fingers on the table, completely oblivious of the blonde staring at her. 

Shaking her head slightly, Mercy turned back to her own screen, muting the sound and watching the video again and again before switching to watching it frame by frame, frowning as she realized the mens' faces were always positioned just so, baseball caps pulled down, never fully captured by the camera--almost too deliberately. 

She squinted as she slowed down the frame rate of the video, still keeping it silent, trying to see if what she suspected actually worked out, and wasn't just wishful thinking. A few moments later, her suspicions were confirmed--the men involved may have gone to great lengths to conceal their identity, but the same couldn't be said for their vehicle. 

Albeit being very blurry, the screen showed the corner of the car just as it was about to drive off, the licence plate displayed as several unfocused lines of white text amongst the dark lighting. Mercy held her breath as she thought of the possibility before allowing a small smile to dawn on her face, turning the tablet around and showing Pepper the screen. 

"Oh my god," Pepper said, her voice hushed, eyes wide and searching hers for answers, clutching the screen in her hands, "You found a partial licence plate!" 

"Not really all that partial," she corrected with a small chuckle, tapping the screen with her finger, "We can't see what the last couple ones say, but it wouldn't be too hard to guess if it weren't so blurry." 

"Won't be a problem," the redhead SAID simply, quickly typing on the tablet, her brows knitted as she worked, placing the tablet on the table, "Now all we have to do is wait." 

Mercy tilted her head with a confused smile on her face, glancing down at the tablet. "What'd you do?" 

"There's some software we can use to enhance the photo," she explained, pointedly taking a sip from her coffee, "It just needs time to clear it up and then search for possible matches. Shouldn't take too long, but there's nothing we can do until it does." 

A long beat of silence passed before either of them said anything, and Mercy couldn't tell if the silence was awkward or not, opting to continue to people-watch as casually as she could until she heard her voice interrupt. 

"So how's your work going?" Pepper asked, if only to fill the silence between them, leaning forward, her elbows on the table. 

An image of all the work ahead of her flashed in her mind, and she inwardly groaned. "It's going good," she said easily, because there was no real way to tell the truth. "What about yours, I'm sure being the CEO of Stark Industries has its perks." 

The woman breathed a laugh. "I wish I could say I'm just trying to take it slow, but I'd be lying. After all that's happened...I need my own space, you know?" 

"To figure out what's most important," Mercy observed quietly, raising her gaze and meeting Pepper's eyes, as if searching for an answer, "I get it." 

At that moment, the tablet between them binged, indicating the results of the partial license plate--the last known address of where the car was located. The blonde briefly looked away before realizing Pepper was grinning, gathering up her things. 

Standing up and drinking the last of her coffee, throwing the cup away in the trash, the redhead raised an eyebrow expectantly as she made to walk away. “What are you waiting for?” 

X X X 

The two women found themselves standing just beyond the fenced enclosure of what looked like to be an abandoned car lot, Pepper biting her lip as she surveyed the razor wire surrounding what easily could have been hundreds of mauled cars. The two metal gates that seemed to be the only way in and out were shut tightly by a metal chain woven around the handles, and from where she was standing, Mercy could see a shed with a security window meekly propped in the corner; beyond it were the tottering piles of dead and broken cars.

"No time like the present to visit a junkyard, I guess," she sighed, running a hand through her hair as she craned her neck, trying to figure out a way to go in, "Any chance your Stark tech will get rid of those chains for us?" 

"No need," Pepper declared, her eyes brightening as she turned to her, pointing a few yards to her right, marching away without explaining. 

When Mercy caught up to her, she couldn't help but match the redhead's grin, realizing she had spotted a way in; it appeared that someone before them had already figured out an entrance, because a good few feet had been cut through the wire, easily large enough for someone to squeeze through. 

They were silent for a while, making their way through the yard as they scanned what existing legible licence plates they could, both of them too occupied with their task to speak to one another. It wasn't until she began to think maybe it was all a trick that she heard Pepper exclaim out of sight, rushing to join her. 

"It's this one," she said, pointing to what unmistakably was the van from the video, and although its condition had no doubt seen far better days, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief--at least now, their only clue hadn't ended up a dead end. 

While the redhead began to rummage through the trunk, Mercy sat in the driver's seat, a small gasp of surprise escaping her lips when, oddly enough, it turned out to be far lower than expected, to the point where she couldn't see much over the steering wheel but the broad, blue sky. Unhooking the silver latch in the glove box, she riffled through its contents, only to end up throwing a few empty, expensive cigarette cartons and the insurance information on the floor. 

Mercy grappled beneath the front seats next, straining to reach as far as she could without tipping to the floor, her hair covering her face as she searched. Her heart soared when her fingertips grasped a small yellow notepad, excitedly pulling it out only to realize there were only a few pages left, all blank, affixed to the cardboard by a skin of glue. She threw the notebook on the ground, her heart dropping further than she felt possible. 

Her brother would scream right now, had their positions been reversed--of course, she wanted to believe she was nothing like him, nothing like his disregard for consequences--he would stamp his feet and wail and pound on the wall and let the entire world know exactly how she felt. She had always been the opposite; poised, doing her best to never let people view the inside pieces. But at that moment, it was all she could do not to lose composure as well, the worries she had desperately shoved aside threatening to take over. 

"Are you okay?" she heard Pepper suddenly say, opening the passenger door, now leaning down to look at her with what might have been concern. 

"Fine," Mercy answered quickly--maybe a little bit too quickly--and ran a hand through her hair, trying not to show the tears that stung in her eyes, gesturing to the notepad on the floor without saying anything else.

The redhead's eyes landed on the notepad, dejectedly lying where she had thrown it out the door. Shadows crossed the surface of the paper--indentations, she realized, from where someone's firm grip had imprinted letters on the page. Swiftly snatching a pencil and rubbing it against the paper, Pepper watched with wide eyes as the letters assembled themselves on the page. 

An address. 

A gasp of excitement made the blonde look up, unsure of what good news could possible warrant such a reaction, and it only took a few moments for her of staring at the paper held up in front of her to realize what it meant, her eyes widening as she inwardly cursed not being able to see something so obvious. 

Mercy lifted her head to see the woman excitedly typing on her phone, her head bent low in whatever she was doing, but she could see her lips moving along with her fingers, and she lifted an eyebrow when she suddenly raised her head, shaking her phone as she began to back away slowly.

"This is great!" Pepper called, a wide grin threatening to take over her face, "I'll call you as soon as I figure it out! Bye!" 

With that, the redhead turned her back on the blonde still sitting in the car, jogging faster than she thought possible in the high heeled shoes she wore, leaving Mercy to snatch the notepad she had dropped, staring at the words etched in the paper. 

A smile began to grow on her face, forcing herself to mentally pat herself on the back as she already began to form a plan of her own, despite the assurance that it would already get done. Of course, she trusted Pepper to keep her word, but it had more to do with the fact that it was Mercy's problem, not hers. 

Her spirits now higher since they had been when hearing the news about her brother and what he planned to do, newfound motivation made her push herself out of the car and slam the door, hoping her doubts would vanish along with the sound. 

After all, it was her problem to deal with, not anyone else's. But that also meant the consequences were on her, too.

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄

I'm sorry for slacking with this fic, I didn't mean to, but in my defense I gave y'all over 6k words last chapter and not a single person commented so that really bummed me out and made not want to write anything for this. But I'm back after a month because I literally forgot Mercy's name so hopefully things are gonna be looking up from now on! 

Thanks for reading!