"That's not really how problems this big work," Pepper says quietly. "My friend Tony told me things turn out okay after an alien mothership explodes over my home. My friends live. My dad lives. I live. But hundreds of people are going to die the instant I get home, and there's nothing I can do about it."

One problem solved. Many more created.

"I don't care how you come off, Zelos. I care about you. Not your image, not your skills, not your job. You," she insists firmly. Pepper wants to say more, but she has a sense that restraint is important here, to gauge his reaction.