Chapter Text
Stark Industries was more than just a weapon production and design company. Stark Industries was America’s titanium backbone. When it came to missiles, bombs, and all other assorted weaponized technology, you either went Stark or went home. And American’s were perfectly fine with this; they had all bragging rights to the most efficient and deadly technology on the market, and unless America said so, nobody else did. So every time Tony revealed a new design for spy technology, or missile launching, people were content to swallow the simplest of lies; it was for the good of America. Synthetic intelligence units, or SI unit, were in control of the weapons, as were the good people of the American military, risking their lives for the good of the country. It didn’t matter if sometimes the military misused these weapons, or did things that the average civilian would call into question should they ever somehow happen across the information. It was all for the good of the country, in the end, and what America didn’t know couldn’t hurt her.
It should have come as no surprise to these same Americans, then, that as a result of the limited ability of these weapons, that other countries, their enemies in particular, would covet them. It was harder to find a country that didn’t have their eyes on the technology than it was to find one that did.
It was so easy, convincing the Ten Rings to attack Tony Stark during his demonstrational conference in Afghanistan; promise them a few of the trinkets they’d set their hearts on and point them in the right direction, never mind that he had planned to have these same men killed after their job was done.
Too easy. The greed in their hearts was greater than the sense in their minds, so instead of doing as they were told, they’d kept the billionaire alive. They had thrown him in a cave, starved, threatened, and tortured him; but he was still alive. And he’d escaped, not only with his life but with a new, lucrative idea he refused to sell.
Some might have said that Obadiah was worse than Tony’s captor’s in his greed, since it was he who had, after nearly raising the boy, who had planned to have him assassinated overseas with every intention of playing the horrified friend and father figure to the press. Obadiah never saw it that way, though. Stark Industries had grown to it’s full potential in Tony Stark’s hands and it was time for a better man, a smarter, older, wiser man to take the company to places it had never been before. In Obadiah’s eyes, while there was no denying Tony’s brilliance, there was no ignoring his incredible faults, which greatly out weighted the former. Tony often needed to be pushed even to continue to making weapons, and in spite of his flashy appearance, wasn't as heartless as he made off to be.
But it was all the same to Obadiah Stane. To withhold that sort of genius from the world was worse than any sort of greed exhibited by himself or the terrorists he’d hired to do his dirty work, and to make matters worse, upon returning, he’d shut down weapon production entirely, essentially shoving their stock worth off a cliff and sending company employees into a state of panic. To make matters worse, his own specially hired scientists were making little to no headway in the completion of a replica of the thing Tony had made to escape.
“Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave! With a box of scraps!” he’d protested violently when the scientists had announced their failure.
“Well, I’m sorry,” one of the head engineers had replied, composed of mostly nervousness with a small amount of defiance. “I’m not Tony Stark.”
If you want to get the job done, you do it yourself. And it was with that thought that he’d begun his final plot to kill Tony Stark and get back what was rightfully his.
Breaking into Tony’s home was the easiest part. He’d only had to wait until Tony had left his workshop. It had almost felt too easy after all of his work. It seemed like only a matter of second before he had Tony sitting on the couch, his face deathly pale, as he attempted to answer Pepper’s distraught voice on the phone. Obadiah saved him the trouble: he took the phone form Tony’s hand and hung it up, whispering a word in Tony’s ear as he did so.
“Breathe,” his voice was a soft, sinister thing, and Tony felt the hair raising on the back of his neck. Tony tried to look at the older man, to make questioning eye contact, but could barely move. His face, nonetheless, showed his fear and confusion so honestly Obadiah felt a smile slide across his face.
Obadiah switched the device off and removed the earplugs. He hung it in front of Tony’s ghostly face. “You remember this one, right? It’s a shame the government didn’t approve of it. There’s so many applications for causing short term paralysis.” Tony’s head began to slump over onto his shoulder, so Obadiah grabbed it, forcing Tony to look him in the eyes. “When I ordered the hit on you,” he began, and Obadiah could’ve sworn, in spite of the paralysis, that Tony’s eyes widened. “I was worried that I was killing the golden goose.” He said as he reached into his bag to pull out a metal, claw-like device that he positioned over Tony’s arch reactor. The claw made a loud screeching sound as dug a grip onto Tony’s lifeline. “But, you see, it was just fate that you survived that.” The arch reactor gave a resounding click of release. “You had one last golden egg to give.” He twisted the device, carefully pulling it out. Tony felt the wires pulling in his chest, a faint, awkwardly painful feeling. Obadiah paused before continuing.
“Do you really think…that just because you have an idea, it belongs to you? Your father, he helped give us the atomic bomb. Now, what kind of world would it be today if he was as selfish as you?” He snickered and gave the arc reactor a final tug, and the remaining wires snapped and the reactor came loose. Obadiah held it in front of Tony’s face.
“Oh, it’s beautiful. Tony, this is your Ninth Symphony.” He sat down and draped his left arm over the couch, derisively comfortable. “This is your legacy. A new generation of weapons with this at it’s heart; weapons that will help steer the world back on course, put the balance of power in our hands. Honestly, he wasn’t sure exactly what the arc reactor did in relation to Tony’s body, but the longer he went without it the more sickly his appearance became.
He reached over and opened the black brief case he’d brought with, opening it to reveal a molding fit for the arc reactor. “I wish you could’ve seen my prototype. It’s not as…well, not as conservative as yours.” He laughed quietly. “Too bad you had to involve Pepper—and do tell, who was that man from the cave? Loki? It’s too bad; they had so much potential for the future of the company. I would have preferred if they had lived.” Obadiah stood and locked eyes with Tony for what he thought would be the last time. There was sweat running down his face, and he to Obadiah he looked exquisitely alarmed. He gave a parting nod and then left Tony to die.
Aside from Tony’s rapid breathing, the house was virtually silent. But with every moment, with every breath, he was getting closer to his death. He cried for help, but, unable to speak, did so only with his head. He cried out for Yinsen, who not so long ago had saved his life; for Loki, who had healed him countless times; he cried for Rhodey, who had found him the desert, and for Pepper, and the tears in her eyes when he’d returned.
He took one more breath, and then forced himself off the couch. It wasn’t graceful; his entire body was resisting like it was made of lead, and each movement felt like lifting long weights attached to half raw noodles. He crawled into the elevator, smacking his hand at the button. He had to get to the lab, to the lab where Pepper had unknowingly left his only salvation. He felt cold, and the room seemed to tilt and whirl around him whenever he moved his head. The door slid open, and Tony began to drag himself out of the elevator. He could see the arc reactor relatively in his vision, which was growing less reliable as he lost his sense of balance to growing lightheadedness.
He stood, only to fall, and began to use the things around his lab to further his half crawl. He reached up, felt the cold touch of what must’ve been the glass case holding his only hope, only when he tried to grab it he pushed it further away. He let his arm fall off the counter for a moment, heaving breaths. He wasn’t giving up, he told himself. He could do this. He struggled to find the energy to grab for it again when he saw Dummy, trophy case in hand.
“Good boy,” he gasped out, before smashing the trophy case open to get the arc reactor in side.
What do you know? He thought vaguely. Pepper saved my ass again.
-----
Pepper’s easy persistence in heels never ceased to amaze Loki. While living in Asgard he’d been excepted to don heavy, often uncomfortable armor for battle and special events, and even earth’s casual clothes were often better equipped to breathe—though he often felt a bit naked in them—but he couldn’t imagine having to wear heels. Even Frigga generally wore comfortable intricately designed lace-up sandals rather than heels, and Sif shoes were designed for comfort and protection in battle. Those, he understood—and yet, when Pepper, who was naturally tall, strapped into a pair of heels she took on a new level of strength.
On their way to arrest Obadiah Pepper phoned Rhodey and after informing him of the urgency of the situation, asked him to look for Tony, who wasn’t answering his phone.
Loki rubbed his thumbs over his closed fists nervously; all the tension in his body seemed to have moved to his hands, and he could not keep them still. He ran his fingers through his hair and tried to find the source of his nervousness. Rhodey had found them in the desert, after all, and if he trusted anyone to find Tony now, it was Rhodey. Agent Coulson, the pushy guy from the Strategic Homeland Intervention—whatever—had enough men and weapons to take Obadiah down without a synch. Everything was in control—but no matter how many times he told himself that, the feeling that something was going to go wrong wouldn’t go away.
“Section 16…section 16…” Pepper muttered under her breath as she key swiped their way into the building. They found section 16 with little effort. She swiped her keycard card, her anxiety showing in a slightly overactive way—only to have the card rejected. She tried it again, confused, and turned to Coulson, her forehead creased with nervousness. “My key isn’t working, it’s not opening the door.” Coulson held out his hand and one of the agents handed him a small device. “Oh, what’s that? It’s like a little device—it’s like a thing that’s gonna pick the lock?”
“You might want to stand back,” he replied, and, getting the idea, Pepper and Loki took a several steps back, Pepper choosing the furthest distance from the door and covering her ears. Coulson popped it onto the door and after a moment or two of beeping it detonated, destroying the lock and allowing them to get inside.
They made their way down the staircase in a hurry, Coulson at the front with agents trailing behind Loki, who was behind Pepper. Safety was first priority, but it was essential that they catch Obadiah. The agents held their guns at the ready as they opened the door at the bottom of the staircase and walked into the lab.
The room was dark and quiet: the only light came from the computer monitors, and as far as they could see, there was no one else in there. Metal chains hung from the ceiling, and down a short pathway between pipes they found a metal device off to the side, at least eight feet tall.
“Looks like you two were right: he was building a suit.” Coulson said, relaxing somewhat at the apparent absence of an enemy.
“I thought it’d be bigger,” Pepper replied, stepping further into the room to get a better look at the suit. But Loki shook his head, stepping in front of the armor and pressing his hand against the chest plate around the hole for the arc reactor.
“That’s because this isn’t Obadiah’s. This is Tony’s design.”
“Tony Stark’s?” an agent repeated.
“Yes. He engineered it in the cave,” he ran his hand over the metal. “There’s no mistaking it.”
A quiet rattling noise caught Pepper’s attention and she turned around, lightly pushing past the agents. There was a platform and a hang support system a few feet further into the lab, and where dangling, still swaying slightly, although there was no draft in the lab. The agents resumed their search for Obadiah in the lab. Loki followed Pepper closely, turning to watch more chains hanging from the ceiling sway and clank together like wind chimes. His heart stuttered and he felt himself switch into defense mode.
“We need to run,” he whispered in her ear urgently. Pepper began to back up slowly, her expression giving way to her fear.
“Why, what’s over there?” She asked, but the darkness answered her question before he could. They heard the quiet, telltale sound of a mechanical device switching on and moving, and then there were two lighting up the. Pepper gasped, falling back another step.
“Run!” Loki yelled as Pepper shrieked, and he and Pepper turned to flee. The two eyes moved closer as Obadiah’s suit emerged from the darkness, powered by Tony’s arc reactor. Loki cast a shield mid turn to protect them against any immediate attacks, saving their lives as the agents attempted to shoot the machine out of commission. Obadiah ignored the agents, following Pepper and Loki instead. Loki knew he had to keep the both of them safe, and he wasn’t sure what to expect in way of attacks from this copycat machine. Obadiah grabbed for Pepper as she ran out of the room behind Loki, knocking the door completely off it’s hinges but missing her.
As the two rushed out of the building, Pepper’s phone lit up with a call from Tony. She used her headset to answer it.
“Pepper,” he heard tony begin over the line.
“Tony! Tony are you okay?!” She replied anxiously.
“I’m fine—“
“O-Obadiah—he’s gone insane, he built a suit—“
“I know—listen, you better get out of there—get out of there right now!”
Pepper was still watching the door when the concrete behind them began to crack.
“Um—Pepper—“ Loki said in alarm, and immediately she turned around, the two of them briefly frozen in horror as Obadiah ripped his way up through the concrete ground.
“Where do you think you’re going?” they heard him say through the suit.
Loki launched five knives at the metal suit, and while they hit their marks, they found no weak spots. Energy materialized around his right hand and he swung it back before aiming and shooting it at the weapons face. The suit stumbled back a few feet, but recovered quickly, launching himself at Loki.
“Your services are not longer required,” he said, tossing him at a car. Horrified, Pepper screamed and ran to him as Obadiah prepared to attack again.
“Heeeeeeeeey!” A voice called from the sky. A missile like object flew down at Obadiah, smashing him and the missile—Tony, in the Mark II—through the concrete, where they slid rebounded against a railing and then went straight through a concrete wall—where the highway waited on the other side.
Loki’s head was spinning, and his body ached. He felt Pepper’s hands on his shoulder and chest, doing her best to see if he was okay.
“Where’s Tony?” He made an attempt to stand despite a desperate throbbing in his leg.
“He’s fighting Obadia—oh my god, Loki, your leg!” she shrieked. He looked down and found that a piece of metal from the car broken off and was lodged oddly in his leg. He’d had worse injuries, all in all, but the battle wasn’t over yet.
“I’m alright,” he insisted. “I have to help—“ he tried again to stand properly, only to fall back onto the car. It was uncommonly unlucky of him to sustain an injury of this severity so early in battle.
“You’re not going anywhere, Loki.” She replied, strength returning to her voice. “I need to call Rhodey—“
“N-no. P-pull it out!” He said, looking into her eyes with a growing feral determination.
“What?!” She exclaimed, horrified.
“Pull. That. Damn. Thing. Out!” he yelled back. Pepper’s eyes entire face seemed to be dedicated to her horror at the suggestion. Her mouth hung open, her eyebrows and forehead scrunched as sweat ran down her face. He could see a million thoughts running through her head, and, growing more desperate, he yelled again. “Pull it out!” and she started, pulled off her jacket, kneeled down and rolled up the sleeves of her shirt, wrapping the jacket around his leg.
“Hold still, okay?!” she shouted, looking at the metal shard in his leg with a look most people reserve for atomic bombs. She wrapped a hand around it and Loki cried out as it shifted a bit in his leg and she froze, looking back at his face in hopes of a new suggestion.
“Damn it woman, just DO I—“ his scolding was interrupted by his own loud screech of pain as she yanked the metal out, cutting her hand in the process. Blood began to flow out and she immediately wrapped her jacket around the wound, hands shaking violently.
“Don’t you ever swear at me again,” she replied, her voice almost steady as she stood and offered him her hand, bloody from both their wounds. He gave a dry, pained laugh.
“No guarantees, Ms. Potts,” he replied, waving her hand away. “One moment, one moment,” he inhaled slowly and began to focus his energy on the injury in his leg, doing his best to push the pain out of his mind. His hands emitted a small glow as he rubbed them carefully over his leg.
“W-what the hell is that?” Pepper asked, clearly alarmed.
He chuckled lightly through the pain. “Magic, Ms. Potts.”
“Wha—do actually expect me to believe—“
“There will come a time, I am sure…” he paused, still focusing on his leg. “for an explanation. This however, is not it.” Pepper helped him to his feet, supporting him as the echoes of pain began to ebb away.
There came a loud BOOM from the highway as a truck exploded. They turned, looking up at the sky and saw two object hurtling towards the sky, the smaller one—Tony—in the lead. Loki could do nothing, still, with the two of them in the sky.
“W-what should we do?! Are you gonna go after him?!” Pepper asked, panicked.
“Go after him?! He’s flying!” Loki replied, feeling the same helplessness as Pepper sink through his skin.
“I thought you had magic!”
“I can’t do everything! I’m not a go—well—never mind!”
The two watched the sky, their entire bodies tense with apprehension, but it wasn’t long before the two suits were completely out of sight.
“The military—it’s not interfering ,” Loki realized, remembering the American launched attack the last time he’d been with Tony in the Mark II
“Rhodey must be keeping the skies clear for him,” Pepper replied. The moments ticked away like hours, and the two waited, their hearts thudding in their chests.
They saw Tony’s suit reemerge first, sputtering in an out of flight and landing him clumsily on the roof of the building.
“Potts,” Loki heard Tony say from Pepper’s Bluetooth headset.
“Tony!” Pepper answered immediately. “O h my god, Are—are you okay?”
“I’m almost outta power, I gotta get outta this thing. I’ll be right there,”
Loki stood on his own, flexing his leg with a grimace, though the injury was almost healed. He focused his magic and managed to teleport to the top of the building with little difficulty. Loki hurried over to him as Obadiah touched ground behind them, Tony completely oblivious as he attempted to remove the left arm of his armor.
“Tony!” Loki shouted, and Tony whirled around, and seeing Obadiah, accidentally aimed his now naked hand at his enemy. Obadiah took the opportunity to punch Tony, who dodged the first time and got sent reeling back the second. He grabbed Tony when he came back at him and began to squeeze down between his two armored hands in an attempt to crush him. Loki immediately began to attack, using all his remaining force. A hit on the leg his side, the back of the neck had Obadiah jostled enough that he dropped Tony, his suit smoking. Loki took this opportunity to thicken the smoke with a quick spell. Tony hid himself behind a wall to talk to Pepper and Loki continued to distract Obadiah until Tony was ready to join the fight again. He launched himself onto the back of the suit.
“This looks important!” he announced before he began ripping wires out of the neck of the suit. Obadiah reached back and grabbed the Mark II, tossing him onto the glass above the huge arc reactor Obadiah’s scientists had been building.
Loki teleported in front of Obadiah to distract him, but overestimated his ability to efficiently cast the spell before being counter and found himself being thrown on glass by Tony. His leg was not as healed as he’d thought, he realized then, as the pain surged up into his body.
The suit’s face shield rose up, revealing Obadiah’s smirking face.
“You finally out did yourself, Tony! You’d have made your father proud!” he said, crushing the head of the Mark II he’d ripped off during their tussle.
“It’s ready, Tony! Get off the roof!” Pepper said, her voice clear as day through the speakers of the Mark II now that the head of the armor was gone. Loki looked down too see Pepper standing by the huge arch reactor, which was now pulsing unstably. Loki began to half crawl off the glass, glancing over to see that Tony hadn’t moved. Obadiah began to shoot at the two of them, Tony shielding his face with his forearm and the bullets unable to pierce Loki’s skin now that his defenses were at a high. The bullets began to shatter the glass, falling straight down at Pepper until Loki conjured a spell that turned it to sand as she yelled up at them, worried.
“How ironic, Tony! Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it it’s best one ever!”
“Pepper!” Tony yelled down.
“And now, I’m going to kill you with it!” he aimed a missile at Tony but missed pathetically. “You ripped out my targeting system! Obadiah realized, outraged.
“Pepper, hit the button!” Tony screamed.
“What?!”
“Hold still, you little prick!” the next missile missed Tony, but almost hit Loki in the process. Tony was handing from the center of the metal supports over the arch reactor now, having fallen through when Obadiah shot out the glass under him. He was beginning to lose his grip.
“Just do it!”
“But you’ll all die!” she insisted.
“Do it!”
There was a surge of bright light from below and a sudden upward force that sent Tony out of the whole and onto the roof. The blast from the arc reactor sent a surge of power to Obadiah’s suit, causing it to malfunction and kill him. The blast went straight up into the clouds, electricity surging from it before running out of engery and going out, taking out at fraction of the city’s power with it. The sky went dark.
The suit was still standing, but there was no question. Obadiah was dead. The suit fell over, through the roof and onto the giant arc reactor, causing it to explode. There was a long moment when he realized Pepper was still inside, only to be comforted by the sudden yelling of—
“Tony! Loki! Are you guys okay?!”
Loki pulled himself to his feet, forgetting the pain again as he ran to where Tony was laying, his eyes closed and arc reactor dark.
“No, no, don’t do this,” he cursed, feeling for a pulse on Tony’s neck. The heartbeat was faint. “Anthony Stark, don’t you dare die on me now!” he put his hand over the arc reactor, closing his eyes and focusing his magic on powering the device. He didn’t even know if it was possible, if magic could mix with technology, but he had no other choice. It was this, or let him die. “Wake up, please! Stark, Stark…Tony—wake up.”
The blue light flickered on.