Chapter Text
Tony Stark awoke to a hangover and a metal claw in front of his face. Swatting at the offending appendage, he blearily made his way to the coffee machine while berating his eldest creation. “DUM-E, do not point that thing in my face. What is… is that goo on your claw? Did you just get goo on my face? You’re like a literal toddler, with unidentified sticky messes – at least this isn’t poo. This isn’t poo, right?”
“Sir,” JARVIS interrupted Tony’s ramble, distracting him enough for DUM-E to make his escape, “Miss Potts has requested that you attend a Board meeting this afternoon to discuss the implications of Obadiah Stane’s actions and your desire to install Lieutenant Stevens as Stark Industries’ new COO.”
Shit (–of the non-poo variety). Tony had been trying to avoid thinking about that. He’d banked his fury and shock during the press conference through years of hiding his true feelings in public and rode the high of his suppressed emotions through the ensuing party and until he finally managed to get blackout drunk and passed out in his workshop.
Obadiah’s betrayal was a slap – no, a punch – in the face. His godfather. The man who stood in as a father figure throughout Tony’s childhood whenever Howard was too busy. The man who literally became his father/guardian for a period of time after his parents’ deaths. The man who stood by first Howard’s and then Tony’s sides to steer Stark Industries towards bigger and badder weapons in the name of patriotism… was a goddamn traitor.
“Bring it up for me JARVIS.” His brilliant baby boy didn’t need further clarification and holoscreens popped up with all the data Erik had flashed up for the press last night.
“Sir, I have been going through SI’s servers to verify the data Lieutenant Stevens released onto the internet and found a hidden server on Stane’s hard drive.” New screens flashed up with even more data: black market deals, selling off faulty products intended for disposal, siphoning funds, blackmail, and finally the series of damning emails plotting Tony’s assassination. Had everything he’d known about Obadiah-Stane been a lie?
Was he the only one lying to Tony?
“Alright JARV, Fool Me Twice protocol. I want a deep-dive into every person associated with SI, starting with the Board and any of our sales contacts. There’s no way Stane was the only one double dealing, and hey, maybe if I can find grounds to fire the whole crotchety lot of them, I can get Pep to cancel that meeting.”
“Does that deep-dive include Colonel Rhodes, Miss Potts, Mr. Hogan, and Lieutenant Stevens, Sir?” JARVIS queried before Tony could enjoy the lovely fantasy of firing his entire Board of Directors.
Tony clenched his fists, staring down at the messy worktable. “Yes. Yes, it does.” If his own godfather could hire someone to kill him, how could he trust anyone else (that he hadn’t built and coded with his own hands and brain)?
He knew he could be impulsive in latching onto people:
Rhodey, the older teen who protected Tony’s scrawny drunk ass and was rewarded with a surprise college roommate and the eventual role as liaison to Stark Industries.
Happy, the down-on-his-luck boxer Tony picked up on a whim who became his personal chauffeur and bodyguard.
Pepper, the feisty administrative assistant who argued her way into Tony’s office to reveal a major accounting error and was promoted on the spot to his personal assistant.
Erik, who rescued Tony from being blown up by his own bomb in Afghanistan, revealed Stane’s treachery, and had just been named COO by Tony last night.
Fuck, were there any of Tony’s friends who weren’t on his payroll? He scrubbed tired hands across his face. He wanted to believe that there were people who genuinely liked him, but as the protocol described – fool him twice, shame on him.
********
Tony watched Erik murder Rhodey with horror. JARVIS had alerted him too late, and Rhodey didn’t have a com, and Stevens had manipulated the entire task force, and he had stabbed Rhodey, and fuck, why didn’t this come up on those deep-dives he and JARVIS had done? That was supposed to prevent this.
Why did he keep trusting people who only stabbed him in the back, fuck no, not that betrayed him?
“Sir, Sir, SIR!”
Tony could barely hear JARVIS’s frantic calls over the keening sound he belatedly realized was escaping from his own mouth.
Metal smacked him in the face. DUM-E was there awkwardly trying to poke Tony and find the broken part that had been making noise, but it was Tony that was broken and he held onto his idiot eldest child as he mourned his oldest human friend.
He would make Erik Stevens pay, if not with his own bare hands, then with his own creations.