Later that day, Pepper Potts was driven to the New York City harbor by Happy Hogan, nearly bouncing her seat in the giddy anticipation of someone about to go on vacation. Finally, Pepper Potts was taking a well-overdue vacation from her role as CEO of Stark Industries to relax and sip fruity drinks on the BLISS Pleasure line. The only thing that would have made it better was if Tony was joining her.
As the black limousine made its way towards the docks, Pepper thought back to when she had visited the BLISS shipyard to inspect their newest luxury liner. It was the day she had gotten the brilliant idea to take a break from her stressful job and treat herself.
**********
Days earlier, Pepper had left the project’s foreman, Daniel, with a smile on her face. While she had been nervous about certain aspects of the BLISS Pleasure Cruise project that her company had invested in, Pepper was pleasantly surprised and relieved after visiting the construction site. Seeing the the progress being made firsthand had put nearly all of her worries to rest..
There had been one slightly embarrassing hiccup in the day, however. She had fallen asleep during the private demonstration of the ship’s state-of-the-art theater system. Still, that somehow didn’t shake her cheerful mood leaving the BLISS site. If anything, Pepper reasoned, she was simply overworked.
Little Pepper know that the thoughts she was experiencing weren’t her own. The demonstration that she’d “accidentally” dozed off in had been tailor-made to put her into a highly suggestible trance. A special video, just for her. When the foreman of the project had came back in after a solid hour of nonstop mental implementation, any of Pepper’s worries about the BLISS project had been completely erased.
Not only that, but in addition to her newfound positive attitude towards the BLISS company in general, Pepper had been given the seed of an idea that she was stressed out at work and needed a break. And naturally, there was no better way to relax than with BLISS.
As the day went on, the seed of the idea continued to grow and sprout in her subconscious until she walked out of a meeting with her Head of Marketing in order to make a reservation. Pepper was a strong-willed woman, but that suppressing her need to go with BLISS only made the urge all the more powerful when it finally overwhelmed her. The poor executive hadn’t known what to make of her CEO’s sudden departure with flushed face… and her brisk return with lighter shoulders and a far more cheerful spirit.
On the ride back to her and Tony’s penthouse suite after another long, exhausting day of work. Oh God, she really needed that vacation, she thought. Pepper decided to give Tony a call.
He picked up on the second ring, but she could hear the wind rushing through the microphone. Her boyfriend was in mid-flight, zipping around the world at Mach 2. From the sound of the air intakes...she honestly didn’t know. Had Tony designed a new model of some kind, she thought while shaking her head smiling.
“Hey, how did that Paradise Cruise inspection go?” Tony asked.
Pepper chuckled lightly, “It was the BLISS Pleasure Cruise, Tony, and surprisingly well. I was actually impressed.”
“Paradise is a better name,” she could hear his smirk even over the phone. “But what do I know - only paradise I can think of is back in bed with you…”
She blushed, and knew he could hear that, too, over the phone. “Don’t be a smartass - where are you off to?” Pepper asked. “If you wanted to be back with me, you’d be here. Has something come up? Things have seemed so quiet lately. You know, I was going to ask you something.”
“Still can,” Tony responded, “Hate to say it, but Reed’s called a, uh, Board Meeting. I’m off to parts unknown. You know how Stretch gets and how secretive this group likes to be. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”
Pepper frowned. She knew what Tony meant by a ‘Board Meeting.’ It was his own personal term for a gathering of the Illuminati, a select group of powerful heroes that worked together in secret to mold, shape and, at times, save the Earth. Tony had never told her who was in the group, besides Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. All he would tell her was that each hero was an expert in a specific field, and she’d probably be able to figure out the rest. Probably.
Tony had asked her not to pry, and out of respect, she hadn’t asked him to confirm any of her suspicions.
“So, yeah. Sorry. Dinner at Per Se when this is all over, promise. Whenever that is. Time has a habit of getting away from Reed. But look at me, dominating the entire conversation. What were you going to ask?” Tony interrupted Pepper’s musing, and she smiled at his own rambling.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Silly really,” Pepper smiled, “I was just thinking of taking some time off of work. The company is seeing steady profits and if there is some sort of Reed-centric crisis that’s on the horizon, I think a vacation is in order.”
“I couldn’t agree more. What did you have in mind?” Tony asked.
“Well, I was thinking what better way to really see if our investment will pay off then taking a BLISS Cruise?” Pepper answered, biting her lip in anticipation, “So I made the reservation. Under a different name. Just in case any of the management decide to give me special treatment or butter me up or anything.”
“Really? A cruise? You know, I own a yacht,” Tony asked, cocking his eyebrow, “Several in fact.”
“I...I really want to do this,” Pepper said.
“Then who am I to stand in the way of what you want? Listen, when I’m done with whatever this is, how about I call you? Maybe I can be your own, personal stowaway,” Tony grinned.
“I like the sound of that. Listen, I’ll let you get going. Good luck with Reed and company,” Pepper said, “I love you.”
“Love you too,” Tony said, and hung up the suit’s calling feature.
Pepper sat back on the couch and imagined how her vacation was going to be. She really did need a break from it all. Then another thought popped in her mind, and her brow furrowed slightly, instinctively recoiling from the intrusion.
But even still, some part of her thought how nice it might be... to have a small vacation from Tony.