Chapter Text
One Year Ago…
Tony stared at the man in the suit. This didn't make any sense. His father would never…
No, what am I thinking? Dad would never be so irresponsible.
He thought back to all the ‘friendly’ poker games throughout all the years. All the pleasure and business trips his dad had always taken alone.
"Why don't you take this up with my Dad? You don't need us-"
"You're here to help get his attention. He hasn't been answering, and no one has seen him in a few weeks."
Tony had just assumed he was on a work trip, but apparently that wasn't the case. Was that why he had missed their graduation? Obadiah had been there in the stands, but not Howard.
“We can-” Tony started.
“Tony, stop.” Whitney said, her voice shaking. “Let's just co-operate. Howard's not going to leave us like this, and you know Obadiah will do everything to get us back.”
The man in the suit nodded. He began to circle the pair. "
Exactly, your little girlfriend understands-” The man froze when he saw Whitney's face.
“That's not possible….” He whispered. Then, his face hardened when he looked back at Tony.
“You…” He hissed. He turned to one of his men. “Take her away.”
Whitney was dragged away, kicking and screaming while Tony begged for him to stop.
“SHUT UP!” The man screamed as he struck Tony, causing him and his chair to fall sideways.
The man started to kick him in the chest, over and over again. Tony could feel and hear his rib cage caving into his chest. After a few minutes, the man finally stopped.
Tony was writhing on the ground, coughing up blood.
“Get the boy a doctor.” The man ordered.
Tony's vision began to fade, and he blacked out.
Present Day
“It's me! I know where Iron Man is.” Pepper blurted out before Tony could.
Blizzard laughed again.
“Oh sure. Stark just happens to a brilliant inventor, yet miraculously is saved by a high tech suit he didn't invent and doesn't know.”
Blizzard glared at Pepper.
“How stupid do you think I am?”
“She's lying to protect me!” Tony cuts in. “Just let her go and I'll take you to Iron Man!”
Blizzard ignores him, and places his cannon right against her head.
“Here's what we're going to do, Stark. You get me the Iron Man armor, all of it, you don't pull any tricks, and I'll let her live. Do anything to screw me over, and I'll make you watch her die. Got it?”
Tony nodded solemnly.
“Good.” Blizzard aimed his cannon at Tony, and sprayed a chemical that broke the ice encasing Tony.
“Now, show me.”
Tony nodded, and rubbed his chest to return some warmth to it. Then, he pressed a button located on his chest. An EMP blast went out, and Blizzard's systems shut down.
“Idiot! I have back up generators. She's dead!”
Tony grabbed a screwdriver, and started to pry at something beneath his chest.
“Wait, what are you-”
Blizzard heard a soft pop, and Tony's chest started to glow brightly. A large column of energy surged and fired at Blizzard.
Blizzard screamed as the energy began to burn his flesh and melt parts of his armor together. The blast threw him back, and he rushed into the ground, knocking him out cold.
Tony fell on his back and gasped.
“Tony!” Pepper yelled.
The blast had melted the ice, but not enough to free her. She was, however, no longer stuck to the ground. She floated and rotated in the air, then let herself fall. The ice shattered, and she rushed over to Tony.
“Tony! What do I-”
Tony pointed towards a glass lens on the ground. Pepper picked it up, lifted his shirt, and gasped.
Most of his upper chest cavity was metal, with a glowing sphere of crackling energy in between where his heart and lungs should be. It almost looked like a reactor.
Tony indicated that the lens should cover the sphere of energy. She placed it carefully over the arc reactor, and screwed it in.
Tony gasped once more, then breathed steadily. Pepper was relieved.
“Should we… call someone?” Tony asked.
Pepper listened to the loud police sirens.
“I think someone already did.”
A few hours later, Tony was resting in the garage break room. Pepper came in and sat down next to him.
“What'd you tell them?”
Pepper shrugged.
“That Iron Man swooped in while we ran inside to hide.”
Tony nodded. Pepper sighed and looked at him seriously.
“Why did Donnie come after you in the first place? And why did you make the armor?”
“No offense Pepper, but that's-”
“It absolutely is my business!” Pepper shouted as she stood. “Because of you, I almost died three times in only two days! You owe me an explanation.”
Tony sighed exasperated, then nodded.
“Donnie was an old employee of Howard. Back when… Stark International was still around. Then, after Howard ran off, the company went under. Everyone was laid off, and all our inventions were stolen or sold off.”
Tony straightened and looked up at Pepper.
“As for the suit, I figured someone like Donnie would come along. Looking to get even with Howard.” Then, quietly he added “And I want to find Howard.”
Tony clenched his fists.
“I can't let him get away with this.”
Pepper stayed quiet.
“I won't do anything stupid. I'm not looking to find trouble, but I have to do this.”
Pepper sighed.
“You're luckily I like you. Don't know why, but I do.”
Tony smiled.
The man and woman from the café stare at photos of Tony blasting Blizzard.
“Will Mr. Gill be a problem?”
“We've had him transferred. If he's needed, we'll call for him.”
“What's our next move? Do they still want us to take him in?”
“Let's watch him for now.”
The man raised an eyebrow.
“Why?”
“We've been having some… issues with him. We're not quite ready to bring him online yet. Besides, we have plenty of other opportunities to take the arc reactor.”