Pepper didn’t know of a time that she had been so full of anger and fear. She had found herself in a place that was unfamiliar with a cellphone that was not hers in her pocket. She leaned against the side of a building for a moment, trying to take in where she was-- how she could have gotten there.
It was the day after Tony’s funeral, for fucks sake, couldn’t they have given them a break? Tears prickled at Pepper’s eyes as she tried to push them back. She used the phone to send off quick texts to Rhodey and Happy, but only got error messages instead. She had to think about this logically. First, she had to find the kids, make sure they were safe. She knew that she would feel better once she had them in her sight (and how was she supposed to explain to May that she’d lost Peter when he’d only just recently come back?).
She shoved the phone into her pocket after speaking to the person who had her daughter, enraged that someone would dare pretend to be Tony. How could they do that to a little girl? It didn’t take long for Pepper to find the housing area, and as it wasn’t terribly big, as easily able to find bungalow two.
She banged on the door, briefly, and then realized how ridiculous it was to knock in such a potentially dangerous situation and let herself into the home. “Where is--” Pepper began to bark into the home, before her eyes landed on a teenage girl. Her eyes softened, and her body lost some of the tension it had been holding. She had been ready for a fight, not a young girl who had also been duped into whatever situation they had found themselves in.
“I’m here for my daughter,” She said softly, but firm. “What is going on here?”