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NEWSIES STOP THE TIMES!
By: Pepper Potts, junior reporter.
A modern day David is poised to take on the rich and powerful Goliath. With the swagger of one twice his age, armed with nothing more than a few nuggets of truth, Tony Stark stands ready to face the behemoth Stane. Standing tall at the gates of the Times, Stark led a group of young boys into a strike the first of its kind, refusing to work after Stane raised prices of the newspaper an extra 10 cents … The protest started peaceful, until authorities were called to the premises … No comment from Stane or anyone at the Times...
“Damn it,” Tony climbed the iron ladder to his rooftop “penthouse” that he lived in. The past few days had been pure hell. Why did he think they could take on Stane? Especially when Stane knew who he was. Stane owned this city and Tony tried to take him on? Of course they were going to lose. The strike started out peaceful, until Stane has his cronies call the bulls. All of them had been beat up on, but poor Peter… dumb kid got snatched. Stuck in the very place Tony promised not to get him stuck in.
Grabbing his bag, Tony hastily packed the few belongings he had. There was no way he was going to stick around. Not after he ruined everything. He was just about finished when he heard footsteps climbing the ladder. “This is private property!” He called out, quickly realizing he had no where to run, except to jump off the roof. Though, he relaxed when he saw the redhead appear. “What are you doin’ here?”
“Some speech you gave back there,” Pepper looked at him, but also tried not to look down when she realized how high up they were. “What the hell happened back there? Why did you back down?”
“Did you not see what happened? We lost. Stane knows I’m the one behind the strike and now the guys know who I really am. I’ve got my money and I’m skipping out of town.”
“To Santa Fe? Running away won’t solve your problems, Tony,” Pepper crossed her arms in front of her. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were? And why are you living on the street?”
“Because, I don’t want my parents money,” Tony spat. “Money just creates problems. I hated my father… and I sure as hell don’t want to end up like him. We fought and we lost and I’m not putting anymore of those kids in danger.”
“So you’re just going to leave Peter to sit and suffer in the refuge? And you’re going to abandon Rhodey and the others who so courageously stood up for you?” Pepper shook her head. “That makes you no better than the men you’re fighting against! I need to know you didn’t do it for the money!"
“That’s not fair!” Tony looked at Pepper, anger rising. “I spoke the truth… you win a fight when you got the other guy eatin’ pavement. You heard Stane, he ain’t backing down anytime soon. I don’t know what else we can do, so I’m outta here.”
“I have an idea,” Pepper told him, but was shut down.
“I told you, I’m outta here, Pep! Look, I know you're just tryin’ to help. But I don’t need your help anymore,” Tony said, moving so he could begin climbing down.
Pepper shook her head. She couldn’t believe this. She’d stuck out her neck for this guy, risking her career to write a story that no one else was interested in covering. Yet, she couldn’t help but be struck by his charm. Dammit. Grabbing his wrist, she pulled him close and kissed him hard. She could feel Tony loosening up and just as he was about to kiss her back, she backed up. Catching her breath, she smiled. “I said... I have an idea.”
“I’m listening,” Tony said, leaning in close.
“Good,” Pepper smiled back. “Look, the strike was your idea… Rhodey pulled together the rally, and now my plan will bring us to the finish line.”
Grabbing her bag, she pulled out a piece of paper, she unrolled it for him to read. In big bold letters at the top:
The Children's Campaign:
For the sake of all the kids in every sweatshop, factory, and slaughter house in New York, I beg you...
Join us!
“Tony, you don’t understand, with those words, the strike stopped being just about the newsies. You challenged our whole generation to stand up and demand a place at the table,” Pepper looked at him. “The fact that you stepped away from an entire inheritance so you could live the life you wanted… to help the little guy. Tony, you changed the whole reason for the strike.”
“The Children’s Campaign… really?” Tony looked at her, skeptical. “What makes you think this is really going to work?”
Pepper chuckled, pointing to his bag of drawings. “Think, Tony… if we publish this with your drawings, and if every worker under age twenty-one read it and stayed home from work, or even came up to the Times for a city wide strike… even Stane couldn’t ignore that. No one could.”
“But you forgot, Stane shut down any coverage of the strike. There’s no way we can print it,” Tony shook his head, then thought about something. “Unless…”
Pepper looked at him, eager to know what was going on in that head of his. “What?”
“I know where there’s a printing press that no one would ever think we’d use,” Tony smiled at her.
Taking his hand, Pepper gave it a squeeze as she made her way back to the ladder. “Well, what are we waiting for? We’ve got to find Rhodey and get this printed.”
However, Tony stopped her, pulling her close. “Wait… what does this say about us?” He asked her. Pepper looked up at him, confused. “Pepper… what does this mean for us? Am I kidding myself, or is there something…”
Leaning in to kiss him again, Pepper smiled. “Of course there is…”
Though, Tony pulled back. “Because girls like you don’t fall for guys like me… well… would it be different if I had the money…? If I inherited the business like my father wanted me to? I didn’t like the man it made of my father. And standing here looking at you with those big blue eyes… I’m scared about what will happen tomorrow, everything’s going to change."
Shaking her head, Pepper stroked his cheek. “You snuck up on me Tony Stark, and I never saw you coming,” she said, leaning in to kiss him again and this time… Tony kissed her back. “Now come on, we’ve got a paper to print!”
Letting Pepper climb down the ladder first, Tony couldn’t help but smile to himself. How he ended up smitten with her, he’d never know. But damn, did he feel like a fool for thinking he could just leave without her knowing. Just a few days ago he’d passed her on the street, but he didn’t know how she ended up being an angel coming to save him.
Quickly, he followed her down the ladder and once they reached the streets, they split up. Pepper ran to find some friends who could help them with a printing press, while Tony went to find Rhodey and the guys, this was going to be a lot of work. But at least he knew Pepper believed in him. That was a start.