Chapter Text
It was like a slap in the face when it was already bruised . It stung and a ched in equal measure every time Tony found out one more little betrayal . Not that this was little . This was big. This was huge. This was-
Tony was going to be sick.
The echo of his own screams was the backdrop to his retching. Jarvis was kind enough to stop the loop for him before he could listen to Raza threaten him again. He wasn’t in a cave. He wasn’t in the desert. He was safe. He was home. He was alive. Raza went up in an explosion Tony made. He had won.
The whir of servos made Tony look up from the garbage can he was cradling so delicately, Dum-E rotated his mounted camera and zoomed in to get a great view of Tony in all his glory. There were probably almost as many pictures of Tony like this, hunched over and in a state, as there were of him in black tie and strutting.
When he decided to root around in Obadiah’s emails and saved files, he hadn’t thought he would find anything like this. He had expected the regular SI emails, he had expected to find carefully worded documents about where and when shipments would be dropped off, and maybe even some names if all parties were equally stupid, but this was not something he had braced himself to find. Obadiah had hired the Ten Rings to kill him, of course he hired the wrong terrorist group or didn’t pay them all that well because they had conveniently forgotten the part where they had to actually put a bullet in Tony Stark’s head. Lucky him.
He stumbled over to the shop sinks and rinsed out the can before Pepper came back with coffee and sandwiches, he didn’t need her to see him like that right now. He had to pull himself together, for her but most of all for Harry. Obadiah was a much bigger threat than he ever could have guessed, this was quite possibly too big for him to deal with internally. Scratch that, this definitely was not a thing that he could deal with himself.
“Tony?” Tony could feel Pepper hovering close but she didn’t actually touch him. It was only then he realized he was staring into the industrial sink, watching the water run down the drain after spilling out of the trash can he’d been trying to clean. He could still smell the acidic tang of vomit in the air but that may have just been him, he should probably brush his teeth.
“Sorry, did you ask something Pep?” He finally pulled his eyes away from the sink to find his PA giving him a very concerned face. Pulling it together was going really well.
“I was asking if you were ok, but that seems silly right now. You're about as far from ok as possible,” Her eyes were teary and Tony didn’t have the mental fortitude to deal with her breakdown on top of his own.
“In my own opinion I feel like I'm doing great. No longer the captive of radical terrorists, aware of the traitor who tried to have me killed, and I’m still alive,” He was an absolute wreck but there was no need to tell that to Pepper if she didn’t already know. She probably did.
“Oh Tony.”
“But I could be even better, and the only way to do that is to get rid of Obadiah as quickly and efficiently as possible . ”
“Of course,” And that was why he loved Pepper, just like that her back straightened and she was ready to take on anything. He could still see the worry in her eyes but she would push it away and do what needed to be done because that was just who she was . He wouldn’t let her put herself in danger like that though, he would never forgive himself if she were hurt in all this craziness .
In the last four hours they had found so many things linking back to Obadiah Stane that Tony was sure he could have the man in some deep dark hole the military never outwardly acknowledged existed but saved for traitors and terrorists. This last bit was just one more nail in his coffin but it definitely shook Tony to his core.
“Jarvis, call my honey bear and tell him we need him here. No actually, tell him we need our military liaison. This is official business,” Rhodey would know who to take this information to so the job was done quietly and efficiently, the last thing they needed was Obadiah to catch wind and disappear before he could be brought to justice , “And prepare a full report for him while you’re at it. Lay out everything we’ve got.
“Pep, you should get back to the office. Act like everything is normal but for god's sake stay as far from Stane as you can,” it was clear that the man was willing to do almost anything to get what he wanted and Tony was sure hurting Pepper wasn’t going to keep him up at night.
“Right. Just a normal day, not like a man I've known for years has been selling weapons to terrorists, possibly for longer than I've been alive. Just your regular Friday,” Pepper was visibly freaking out, she had been off kilter since she got here and wasn’t handling this news any better than Tony himself.
“You can do this. Just for today, I want you to schedule a set of meetings somewhere far away. Doesn’t matter where or for what, go to C hina and buy out a tech company for us or something. I want you safe,” he was sure between himself and Rhodey they could deal with the proceedings from here.
“And what about you? What about Harry ?” Her voice hitched at the end. Tony grabbed her elbow and led her to one of the shop stools so she could sit. One hand ran soothing circles between her shoulders.
“I’m going to be fine. And I would never let something happen to Harry. J you know not to let Stane within a mile of the house without letting me know right?”
“Of course, sir. He has been blacklisted from all of your private properties,” Jarvis would keep them safe; he was very protective of Harry, going so far as to vet all of the children and teachers at his son’s school, “Colonel Rhodes has replied that he will arrive within the hour. He seems agitated considering you almost never ask for him in his professional capacity. He has asked what the purpose of this meeting is, what would you like me to tell him?”
“Don’t tell him a thing, it will only worry him more and he needs to focus on the road. I don’t want him crashing in a stupid attempt to get here five minutes faster.”
“As you wish.”
“Bye Pep. Be normal, be safe and make sure where ever you choose to go has a nice day spa , ” he thought she had gathered herself a bit. It was best if she made an appearance at the office and left again now before she overthought it. He helped her to the door to the shop.
“ Tony I don’t want to leave you with this. I can-”
“You have helped plenty. I don’t want you in the middle of this, Please Pep,” he gave his best impression of Harrys puppy eyes of doom.
“I’ll go on the condition that you keep me updated. Anything happens, anything at all, I'm the first person you call. Am I understood?” Now how come she could be this firm with him but with Harry she just melted and caved in like chocolate under a hairdryer?
“Yeah. I promise. You hear that J? Pepper is the number one on our contact list.”
“You say that as if it was not already so,” Jarvis pointed out because he thought he was helpful and funny. Neither of which were true, but Tony would let him believe it for now.
“That’s a great point, I already do that. So now that that’s settled, have a lovely trip Ms Potts,” With Pepper away that was one less thing he’d have to worry about.
“I will. Thank you, Mr. Stark,” She threw her arms around his neck and hugged so hard Tony felt he might suffocate. And just like that Pepper swept out of the room, hopefully for a lovely little vacation with minimal actual work.
The struggle he had been having last night with whether he should or should not make a suit of armor was much less of a dilemma now. Harry would need every protection Tony could afford him, that included his father outfitting himself with a bulletproof flying suit of armor. The current circumstances had made this decision for him, who knew what Obadiah would do if he felt like he was being cornered.
He pulled up the blueprints that he had been perfecting even while he was trying to talk himself out of it. They were mostly done. Now there was the practical testing and the modification that came after he had some hard data to work with.
“Start fabrication, let’s see how well mark two turns out,” There were a lot of parts that would obviously need a delicate touch that just couldn’t be accomplished by the fabricator but that was alright, Tony needed something to do with his hands right now. He got to work while the fabricator started on the large metal plates that would make the chest piece.