Virginia 'Pepper' Potts [COMPLETE]
Apr 29, 2016 15:16:36 GMT -7
Post by Pepper Potts on Apr 29, 2016 15:16:36 GMT -7
Virginia "Pepper" Potts
“I do anything and everything Mr. Stark requires. Including occasionally taking out the trash. Will that be all?”
Name: Babs
Age: 27
How'd you find us?: Advertisement
RP experience: 10+ years
“Who are these people?”
Full Name: Virginia Potts
Nicknames: Pepper, Pep
Alias: None
Age: 30
Sexuality: Straight
Race: Human
Occupation: CEO of Stark Industries
Class: Civilian
Play-By: Gwenyth Paltrow
“We have left humanity behind...”
Any special talents? Managing, Handling and Putting up with Tony Stark. Brilliant and intelligent business woman.
Superpowers: None
Other Abilities: None
Anything else we should know?: None
“That's my secret, Cap. I'm always angry.”
Personality:
Pepper is, and has always been, a confident, strong-willed, determined and stubborn woman. Highly intelligent, she finds it easy to adapt and take on new challenges in her work and personal life - which would explain her meteoric rise through the Stark Industries ranks and her insane decision to actually try and make a steady relationship with Tony Stark work. Despite their romantic attachment however, she never lets her heart rule her head when it comes to doing what is best for the business and for the man himself, even if that means sometimes going against Tony's requests. He didn't put her in charge of the company because she bent to his will, he did it because she could have that detachment and tell Tony when he was being - for lack of a better word - an idiot.
Over the years she has proved herself to be a natural business woman, some would say devoted to the company and her position as both PA and CEO to the point of being considered a workaholic - the polar opposite to the man whose family built the company from its foundations. She takes no nonsense from anyone and can come across quite hard and cold to anyone who gets on her bad side; something Tony himself has experienced more than once. She feels sometimes that she often has to prove the professional reason why she was given the role of CEO to the employees and people coming to do business with the Stark name, as many only see their relationship and follow their natural assumptions about her promotion.
Of course, to those that know her personally - and outside of Tony there are very few - she is a very warm, caring and compassionate person. She would hardly be described as sweet, but in a room full of people she would be one of the ones many would remember should they speak to her.
Above all else, despite numerous arguments and disagreements, she is deeply loyal and committed to Tony as much as the company. Over the years they have worked together, despite his womanising and party-boy ways, she has developed a connection to him that she didn't realise was love until she came so very close to losing him. It pains her and worries her often to see Tony mentally tortured by the stresses and consequences his being Iron Man brings to his life and she tries to help, tries to keep him reasonable and steady. But it is getting harder, and she is reaching a breaking point with him and his obsession with his suits, to the point she doesn't know how much longer she can keep sacrificing herself for him.
“Cause I'm with you to the end of the line.”
Family:
Parents - Little has ever been said by Pepper about her parents, and Tony has never really bothered to ask so it remains a mystery as to who they were or if they are even still alive. What can be said, is that Pepper is never known to visit them and many feel that Tony may be the closest thing to family she has.
Siblings - Pepper is an only child.
Partner - Tony Stark is her Boyfriend.
Children - None
History:
Born and raised in Malibu, Pepper Potts first came onto the scene properly when she finished her education and entered the secretarial typing pool at Stark Industries - then under the command of one Howard Stark. Intelligent and diligent, she wasted no time in moving up through the ranks and eventually found herself in the financial sector where she would make the most important move of her career. After the death of Howard Stark, a man she had only ever met once or twice in passing, his son Anthony Stark took over at the head of the company. One afternoon, Pepper discovered a critical error in the calculations done by a distant and uncaring Tony. In contrast, Stark Industries had allowed Pepper to have a truly stable and comfortable life at her young age and she cared deeply about its future. No-one in her department would listen to her protestations and did not dare go against the Stark heir....so Pepper took matters into her own hands. She stormed up to the very top of the building, armed with nothing but her wits, determination and a can of Pepper Spray to get to Tony.
She was quick to outwit and outdo Tony's bodyguards and soon found herself, angrily and passionately, presenting her point to Tony about his careless error that could have broken the company his father had built. Instead of simply brushing her off or letting his security deal with her thought, Tony was impressed with Pepper's resourcefulness and attention to detail, the knowledge she displayed in those few moments about the company that he didn't either know or care about. He, for the first time, took the wind from her sails and offered her the position of being his Personal Assistant. An opportunity to learn first hand how the company worked from the top - for the both of them really. Pepper accepted the promotion and the very next day began her long-standing duties - taking care of him, his schedule and to her dismay often taking on much of his work while he continued his party-boy lifestyle. The positive from this though, was that she swiftly came to know how the company ran far better than he did and what it took to run it. Her new position however, required the two to spend a lot of time together, and over the years she also got to know him better than he knew himself. She saw his rare moments where the public façade dropped, heard his drunken or saddened tirades about his father sometimes and she supported him...and consequently began to fall in love with the man behind the public mask, though she could never admit it to him or really to herself.
For years, Pepper worked tirelessly at Tony's side and helped move the company from strength to strength through him. She even had to endure 'taking care' of his one-night conquests in the mornings when she was supposed to prepare him for meetings and travel. As she did the morning of her birthday, the day Tony flew to Afghanistan...and didn't return. The months that followed when it came to light that Tony was being held captive was a whirlwind of activity and emotion for her. Business-wise, she worked alongside Obadiah Stane in Tony's absence to keep the company running, though the man hardly took her input as seriously as Tony did. Emotionally, she began to realise her worry and feelings for him extended beyond that of boss and employee, and even beyond that of good friends. Still, when Tony managed his escape and returned to the USA, Pepper said nothing as to her feelings or the tears that she had obviously said, simply sharing the joke with Tony that she was simply happy his return meant she didn't have to look for a new job.
What followed his return however, made it very clear to Pepper - and the rest of the world - that Tony was not the same person he had been before. Instead of going to the hospital that day to get checked over, Tony held a press conference and basically shut down his company as he cancelled all of Stark Industries weapons contracts in one sentence. At first, she was as horrified as everyone else, but she couldn't believe that the genius had lost his mind as so many were suggesting. It was also here that she had her first encounter with S.H.I.E.L.D and one Agent Coulson. Once they returned to his home, Tony took to locking himself in his workshop below the house where he traditionally worked on his high performance cars so Pepper instantly started working on the PR surrounding Tony's announcement. After a few hours however, she was summoned to help him - where she got the first look of the already fabled unit that had been implanted in Tony's chest to keep him alive. During her helping him to replace it with an upgraded model, he revealed to her that she was really the only person he had in his life and just how much he thought of and trusted her. It was these comments that prompted her to frame and engrave the first prototype as a gift to him.
For a few days, Pepper neither saw nor heard from Tony as he kept himself down in the workshop unless he came up for a quick bite to eat or something to drink. He didn't really speak to her, refused to engage with the crisis the company was facing and the decisions they were planning to make for his future there. It was this that finally prompted Pepper to go down to the workshop and see him when Stane attended the mansion to discuss the situation and Tony didn't answer the house intercom...only then becoming concerned for his welfare when she finally saw what he had been doing. The first glimpse at Tony's idea to upgrade his escape suit to a full Iron Man armour, while he was working on one of the suits arms. At first she thought it to be a weapon, and challenged him on it, only to be told the more confusing answer of it just being a 'flight stabiliser'...which promptly blasted Tony backwards across the room. The meeting with Obadiah only seemed to make him more resistant, determined to take a 'new direction' - something Pepper wasn't sure was healthy yet or not. Stane continued to ask her of course, she was the closest person to him, but she would never betray his trust like that.
In his absence, Pepper attended a charity ball on a rare night off from Tony with her work=mates...only for her boss to turn up unexpectedly and for them to share an awkward moment. First dancing together in full view of the Stark Industries employees, then out on the balcony where they almost shared a kiss...though she stopped the action and ultimately ended the moment when Tony left to get her a drink and never returned. This was the first hint she got that perhaps Tony's attitude towards weapons and his company wasn't the only thing that had changed in his absence. Though it didn't stop her being incredibly mad at him for leaving her waiting like that on the balcony like a moron.
The next morning, she proceeded to find Tony in his workshop to confront him about the evening...only to walk in on him being manhandled by his robot helpers as they tried to extract him from a metal suit of armour. The sheer absurdity and shock of it ended any thoughts of such an argument....especially when she noticed the bullet holes that riddled it. Then it became a completely different one. She couldn't understand why Tony was risking his life like this, what it was that had changed in him that caused him to put himself in the line of fire, and in a rash move fuelled by her worry and not wanting to be a part of Tony's seemingly self destruction, she quit. For all of about two seconds. Tony finally explained then, and it made sense what he was trying to do and why. She agreed then to help him get the files that he requested and by way of apology....admitted to him that he was all she had in her life too.
It was only when she retrieved the files at the Stark Industries offices that she finally got to learn what Tony already knew about Stane. Halfway through however, she was confronted by the man himself during the download of the files. In a tense confrontation, Pepper escaped with the flash drive and managed to get away from Stane thanks to an appearance from Phil Coulson. She immediately tried to contact Tony, only for him to pick up but never answer. Panicked for Tony's safety, she contacted Rhodey and explained everything, asking him to check on Tony as she worked with Coulson and his team to try and find and stop Stane. It was here she discovered Stane had made a suit of his own, nearly triple the size of Tony's own. Faced with the robot, Pepper was seconds away from getting riddled with bullet holes, when Tony charged in to take on the monster. Pepper could only watch helplessly - until once more he asked for her help in overloading the reactor to beat Stane.
The next day, despite Tony's near death at the reactor, it was business as usual as she, Tony and Coulson arranged a press conference with a full cover story as to Tony's whereabouts and the issue with the identity of the man in the suit. Once again, Tony brought up the night of the charity ball with her...asking her to think about it, about them....and she finally managed to get her shot in about him leaving her alone which soon set him back straight. From there, things were supposed to run smoothly, for her boss to return to being just that and the company to take its new direction. Until Tony decided the official story wasn't doing it for him, and he revealed to the world's press that, in his words, he was Iron Man.
Thus began the next few years of both great and disastrous events for the pair.
Following a Senate hearing about Tony's suits being for his private use - that ended with Tony hacking the US Government's screens and successfully proving his defence point - he made the decision to make her CEO of the company. Unbeknownst to her however, Tony was simply planning to get his affairs in order as he was suffering from terminal complications from the poisonousness side-effects of the Arc Reactor's palladium core. Pepper of course set about finding him a new assistant - the undercover Black Widow.
During this time, a new enemy arose in the form of a man named Justin Hammer - an opposing CEO from Hammer Industries who was jealous of Stark's success with his Iron Man suits. He partnered with Ivan Vanko - otherwise known as Whiplash who was using arc reactor technology to create further weapons. While Pepper worked with Black Widow (identity unknown to the CEO at the time) to deal with the backlash of such technology now being widely used, Tony continued to spiral out of control as he could find no way to stop the effects of the palladium. During his out of control birthday party, Tony got very drunk and used his Iron Man armour as a party trick to entertain his guests, putting them all at risk. Both Pepper and Rhodes attempted to stop him, with Rhodey in the end taking one of the suits for himself and leaving with it while Pepper had the job of getting all the guests to safety.
The time after this, the relationship between Pepper and Tony grew strained as she tried to deal with the new struggles of being the sole CEO of the company thanks to Tony's complete disinterest and Tony's erratic behaviour that he wouldn't explain. Leaving him behind, she travelled with Black Widow to the annual Stark Expo where Justin Hammer revealed his new suits - named the War Machine armour - to find that Rhodey had sided with the man and was in the suit himself alongside an army of Hammer Drones. Tony however crashed the Expo and accused Hammer of working with Vanko which ended in the drones attacking Tony and all the guests. Splitting up, Black Widow went to deal with Vanko and gain control of the drones while Pepper and Tony tried to regain control of the expo and ensure the safety of the guests.
While this was going on, Pepper finally found out that Tony had been dying although the problem had been solved by Tony's newest element discovery to replace the palladium in his reactor by this time. A brief argument ensued which would only be resolved after the fight, on a rooftop overlooking the city. The stress of the job, of Tony's lifestyle, of the situation she had been in was too much and she quit outright stating that the stress was too much, that he was either going to kill himself or mess up the company, handing back the role of CEO to Tony. Surprisingly, Tony didn't argue....but they did end up having their first kiss and effectively starting their romantic relationship that night.
From there, the relationship between the two grew stronger as Pepper moved away from being Tony's assistant and more fully into her new role of CEO - after Tony had adamantly handed it back to her not long after they had made up on the rooftop. Of course, their relationship was hardly kept secret long and questions were soon often and very publicly raised about her capability to run the Stark Empire....and why it was she got the job in the first place. Not to be deterred though, and supported fully by Tony, it only made Pepper more determined to succeed. Under her guidance and leadership, the company and its new direction away from weapons flourished so much so that before long they were taking a firmer hold on New York City. Her and Tony's first real project together would be Stark Tower, which Pepper helped largely to design, finance and get approved.
Equally, her relationship with Tony strengthened too as she became no longer just his assistant and friend, but on equal ground with him. She kept him grounded, level and managed to kerb his wilder ways for the most part. But, in turn, Tony showed her how to enjoy a wealth and lifestyle she had never personally had before out of Tony's shadow and he ensured she had a positive work-life balance. As opposite in personality as they were to each other, in the way they approached things, the differences only seemed to make each other better in the long run. At least for the moment. Until Tony's biggest challenge, threat, to date sent the world (and him) into a new chaos.
During her and Tony's private work/date/opening ceremony a the top of the newly powered up Stark Tower, they were interrupted by Phil Coulson. Tony seemed to have very little time and respect for the man, but Pepper had gotten to know him very well during her numerous meetings with him in regards to the 'Iron Man' situation. Despite what Tony thought, the Agent had done a lot to help them both behind the scenes with S.H.I.E.L.D and Pepper was always grateful for his impeccable timing. It turned out this time, he had come to ask Tony for a favour in regards to the 'Avengers Initiative' - something which Pepper knew all about already because Tony had been extremely vocal about his exclusion to her and had no hesitations about spilling the government secrets to her ears. Despite this though, Pepper knew that they owed Coulson and Director Fury a debt for their helping Tony make the change to superhero and through the terminal complications of his original palladium chest piece. She convinced him to look and help instead of continuing with their date, while she made new plans to continue to Washington DC and work on the zoning for three more Stark Industry buildings.
By the time the Chitauri started the invasion, and Loki was wrecking havoc on the city with them, Pepper was safely on a private jet plane and watching the whole thing unfold on television in horror. In everything Tony had ever faced, there had always been a human element that Tony could play on...but no-one it seemed had ever faced something from another world - besides the team mate Tony now had that actually WAS from another world. Little did she know that while Tony was actually making the sacrifice play to destroy an atomic missile, he was trying to phone in what could be his final moments. She missed the call, and didn't find out until later, but thankfully Tony survived. She was quick to rejoin Tony back in New York and the now badly damaged Stark Tower and set about re-designing it again to become the new Avengers Tower - a place where the team could all gather when taking on a world wide threat. It was here, they finally got their romantic date.
Some time later, Pepper's past would be the thing to come back to haunt her and cause trouble for Tony. One morning she was heading out with Happy Hogan - new over-enthusiastic head of Stark Security - when she received an unannounced visit from an old acquaintance - Aldrich Killian. His drastic appearance change since she had last seen him startled her, and started to get her interested in the idea that he wanted to present to her about joining his organisation, Advanced Idea Mechanics or A.I.M. Specifically, he presented the idea of a serum they had developed named Extremis which had the ability to essentially upgrade the human body. To prove this, he showed Pepper a holographic read-out of his own mind to show the improvements that had been made by his taking it.
Pepper was impressed with the idea, and discussed it in depth with Killian for a time, though eventually had to decline due to her belief that the serum could be highly weaponizable - something Tony had now long since been against his company being involved in. Killian protested, stating Tony was not the best person to base the decision off of, however Pepper stood her ground and he left disappointed...but not before pressing a kiss to her cheek that left her a little flustered. Truth be told, she couldn't really tell what Tony was thinking any more as after the battle of New York and his experiences, he had kept his distance from her and spent much of his time in the workshop of their Malibu home into which she had moved at his request.
She returned home, planning on telling Tony about the impromptu meeting and the idea, only to be greeted by a giant toy bunny rabbit waiting outside and what she believed to be Tony in a suit waiting for her inside. On going down to the workshop however, she found Tony was remote controlling the suit while he was still working which only served to start an argument as it transpired Tony had already eaten without her also. His inattention to her, his company, any work outside his suits was already grating on her nerves and the two briefly fell out before Tony made his admission. The experiences he had been through and the worries about her safety particularly had driven him to nightmares and insomnia, a desperate need to cover every way possible to protect her. It had also not escaped Pepper's notice that he was starting to drink a lot more heavily too though she never mentioned it. Instead, the private admission seemed to be a peace offering and apology by Tony that she accepted and invited him to finish spending the night with her instead of the distractions his suits provided.
The peace between them however was very short lived, as during the middle of the night, one of Tony's suits was powered up by a nightmare Tony had been having. The suit moved alone to attack Pepper, and although Tony was woken by Pepper's scream and powered it down before any harm was done, Pepper had been terrified and went to sleep on the couch without him. From there, things only seemed to worsen between them.
After Happy was attacked in a terrorist explosion by the Mandarin, Tony publicly threatened the man, giving him his and Pepper's address and encouraging an attack - much to Pepper's extreme disapproval. Racing home, she angrily tried to reason with Tony to leave the city for his safety, but her warning was interrupted by scientist Maya Hensen who had also arrived to warn Stark about the Mandarin. Before long however armed helicopters were attacking the mansion, blowing it to pieces. Pepper was saved by Tony as he ordered his suit to form around her, she getting her first look at the world Tony lived in from inside the suit. She used it of course to save him from falling debris in return before using it to get her and Hensen to safety outside. Once this was done, Tony called his suit back to him, and Pepper could only watch devastated as the mansion was destroyed and sent tumbling into the water with him inside.
During the clean up, Pepper would find the helmet of one of the destroyed suits, and discovered a secret message from Tony. He was alive, but had to lay low to find the Mandarin and stop him...however he promised that he would return to her after everything was done. Determined to help, Pepper took Hensen with her and demanded to know what intelligence she had been going to give Tony before the attack had happened. It was revealed by the scientist that she had been the one to create the Extremis serum and that her boss, Killian, had been selling it to the Mandarin. Once they were secure in a hotel room, Pepper listened to more of Hensen's story - only to be interrupted by Killian and realising she had been led into a trap by Hensen. What they really wanted was her as leverage over Tony, as he knew how to stabilise Extremis.
Pepper was taken hostage and put through the torture of having the Extremis serum injected into her system. She was then taken to an oil tanker where Killian intended to keep her as collateral and a trophy against Tony. It was here she learned of the plan to execute the President using the War Machine armour and his Extremis guards. Tony and Rhodey both launched their counter-attack and stopped the assassination - but the resulting damage to the room Pepper was being held in caused her to tumble out onto a gantry almost within reach of Tony. He encouraged her to jump to him, however another explosion sent her falling into the fiery pit below. It should have killed her, and Tony believed it had happened, however the Extremis in her system saved her from the fall and regenerated the damage.
When she awoke, she found Killian advancing on a defenceless Tony and decided to launch an attack of her own from behind. Powered by the Extremis and her anger, she hit Killian with a metal bar before launching an explosive at him and detonating it with a repulsor ripped from one of the multitudes of suits that Tony had brought to the fight. The explosion obliterated Killian and shocked Pepper, who was talked down from the Extremis induced rage by him swiftly. Terrified for her life, knowing the unstable Extremis serum caused explosive combustion in all who had it before, she and Tony reconciled and he promised not only to cure her of it but to end his obsession with his suits. As a sign of that commitment, he ordered JARVIS to explode the remaining suits in front of Pepper as they both kissed and hugged under the firework like explosions in the sky.
It didn't take long for Tony to cure her of the Extremis and their relationship continued. Pepper supported Tony when he made the decision to remove the shrapnel from his heart and watched over him during the tense and intricate operation which ended the need for Tony to have the core that powered his suits in his chest at all. In return, Tony had a necklace made from the shrapnel pieces and gave it to Pepper when he was well again - symbolising how much she had changed him for the better since their relationship had started. For a time, with Tony physically unable to work, things were good between them again....but gradually Tony started work on the suits again. At first just one or two, just in case so he said, but once more the numbers started to grow especially as the Avengers took on more and more jobs.
As Tony grew busier so did Pepper, and this time she let the distance happen. She couldn't handle the stress of being the CEO of one of the biggest global corporations and handling Tony's constant issues and empty promises. She spends more time running the business than being at the newly christened Avengers tower, and had little to do with the situation when the Ultron attacks happened through she certainly gave Tony grief for it afterwards. Now, with the distance growing ever larger, something has to change and Pepper isn't willing to be the one making all the compromises any more. Her future as CEO is in question if something doesn't change, as she will look to finish things with Tony and separate from him and his whirlwind life completely. Thus far, it has only been her conversations with Natasha and some other Avengers that's kept her from doing it already as they convince her that Tony is at least being faithful still if nothing else.
[font size="3"][font face="georgia"]“Dance-off, bro. Me and you.”[/font][/font]
[i]Custom Title[/i] 'We were having 12% of a moment...'
[i]RP Sample.[/i] Pepper gave a soft sigh as she stood at the window of the operating theatre, watching as doctors and nurses - the best the city had to offer and in some cases, the world - milled around the table Tony was laid out on. HIs reactor was secured above him as doctors set about the final stages of prepping him for the dangerous and intense surgery. To anyone watching, Tony appeared as calm and collected as ever as he made small talk and joked a little with the people around him. Ever the showman even in moments of uncertainty. It was only those closest to him, like Pepper and Rhodey who stood at her side too, that would notice the tiny signs that Tony Stark was afraid. The slight tightening of his jaw every so often, the look in his eyes when he would glance at the set-up around him and the clenching of his hands around slightly sweaty palms that would betray his façade. If he could have a choice, he would put more faith in robots and machines he could build to do this surgery than the people stood with him, Pepper was certain of it - with perhaps the exception of the aptly named robotic helper in his workshop, Dummy. Pepper saw it all, knew it all, and as the doctors stood in position around the table, Pepper pressed her hand gently against the glass in a show of support as he looked over to where she stood.
She was trying to be, and show, the confidence he needed in the procedure and skills of the doctors. She had supported his decision to do this, they had been through all the risks, the recovery time, complications and at the end of it Tony considered it still worth doing. He was making an effort to separate himself a little from his suits, and this was part of his mental progression with that. Pepper was pretty sure though, that she still looked every bit as nervous as the man undergoing the op...because she loved him, and couldn't comprehend her life without him. She gave a soft smile all the same as Tony looked her in the eye, her other arm wrapped across her stomach as she gave a small, reassuring nod to him as well. She was sure he would be fine, he had cheated death so many times already that she doubted he would ever let something so mundane as dying in surgery to be his end. But, seeing him so exposed and vulnerable shook her a little more than she would care to admit.
Tony smiled back to her too, and raised his thumb into a thumbs up gesture to show he was okay. Pepper took a deep breath and lowered her hand away from the glass, resting that arm across her stomach with its counterpart as the doctors directed Tony's attention to the mask that was being lowered over his nose and mouth. As the deep breaths were taken, and Tony's eyes closed and hand relaxed, Pepper gave another very shaky sigh. A familiar hand rested on her shoulder, offering comfort and support, Pepper shooting a small smile up to Rhodey.
"He'll be okay y'know. It'll take more than this t'stop Tony." the man said, voicing her thoughts out loud unknowingly with more confidence though than she felt.
"I know...i'm just not used to having everything being handled by someone other than me or Tony when it comes to his life." she admitted, turning away as the surgery finally began and the blinds to the room were closed, heading down the hallway to a private waiting room with the airman. "I don't know what i'd do without him."
