Chapter 7

Soon, they're in front of the giant arc reactor.

He sighs, his hand going to his chest like he's trying to comfort himself. There's some pain on his face, so she does another Life Dew. Tony looks up at the glitter falling, before glancing down and giving her a smile.

"I know you didn't have to come with me, or even heal me, but still you did." He looks ahead to the reactor. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that-er…"

She sees him struggle for another two seconds longer before she smiles. 'You're welcome, Tony.'

He points at her. "Yeah, that. Took the words out of my mouth."

'Sure I did.'

"Hey, no one likes a smartass."

'Yet I'm here, so I'm proof that I can at least tolerate them.'

"Ha. Ha. You're so funny."

'I know.'

He rolls his eyes. "Also, good at noticing sarcasm."

She's about to answer that, but she feels someone approaching hearing distance, so instead, she says, 'Someone's coming.'

He nods lightly, tilting his head to the left.

A couple of seconds later, they hear Obadiah's voice. "Well, that. That went well."

Tony lets out a tiny scoff. "Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?"

"Your head? What about MY head? What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?" his voice is light, but she can detect the clear anger he's giving off as if it was a smell.

"Uh, optimistically, 40 points."

"At a minimum," Obadiah is quick to point out.

Tony shrugs, seemingly unconcerned. "Yep."

"Tony," he emphasizes his name, his tone becoming just a tad condescending. "We're a weapons manufacturer."

A sigh. "Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our only legacy."

"That's what we do. We're ironmongers. We make weapons." An involuntary growl escapes her. She really doesn't like the smell of anger and resentment coming off Obadiah. The large man glances at her, his leg twitching like he's holding himself back from kicking her. He decides to ignore her as he once again gazes back at Tony. "And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos."

Tony shakes his head. "Not based on what I saw. We're not doing a good enough job and we can do better. We're gonna do something else."

The negative emotions, which diminished because her growl startled him, come back with fervor. "Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?"

Tony waves back to the arc reactor standing behind him.

"Ah, come on. The arc reactor? That's a publicity stunt! Tony, we built that thing to shut the hippies up."

She can almost feel the determination coming off Tony in waves as he says "it works" as clear as she can smell Obadiah's disgust as he answers back, "Yeah, as a science project. The arc was never cost-effective. We knew that before we built it. Arc reactor technology, that's a dead end, right?"

Tony smiles and she can almost see what his next action will be as he moves to open his shirt, so she reaches a paw to his pant leg, wanting to stop him.

Obadiah seems to see the mischief more clearly than her, though that's most likely because he can see his face. Damn tall people.

"Huh? Am I right? We haven't had a breakthrough in that. In what? Thirty years."

Tony picks her up, misunderstanding her intentions. "That's what they say. Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me, who told you?"

Oh shit. He already knew?

"Never mind who told me," he says. And no, no. 'Never mind' my lil blue furry ass. She wanted to know. "Show me."

Luckily, Tony and she are on the same page. "Rhodey or Pepper?"

Obadiah narrows his eyes. "I want to see it."

Tony shrugs, as he starts opening his shirt with one hand, as his other is holding her. The ease with which he does it makes her look at him dubiously. Obviously, that skill came with his playboy ways. "Okay, Rhodey."

She would have warned him, but considering Obadiah already knows, well, she doesn't want to sow discord when Tony most likely won't believe her. After all, what can she say? I watched some of the important parts of your life in a film in my other life.

Yeah, no. She probably won't say that to anyone.

Obadiah leans slightly to see better, a hand going up as to touch, but she growls so he quickly steps back. "Okay."

"Okay?" Tony seems offended as he pets her head, which is easier to see as she is nearer to his face. "It works."

Obadiah continues talking, but she ignores him in favor of the petting she's getting. Is this how animals usually feel when they're getting some of this? She feels like pudding and her brain doesn't seem to work all that well. She can even feel her leg kicking in pleasure through her muddled brain is horrifying. Even more so in the fact that she doesn't seem to care much, if at all.

Before, Tony was more like running his hand through her fur or just grabbing it in reassurance. But this? This is full-on petting.

By the time her brain is finally turned on, which is mostly because Tony stopped petting her, she can faintly hear Tony mutter, "That was Dad's line."

She hears Obadiah chuckle. He once again lifts his hand to give him a pat on his shoulder, but with another of her glares, he stops himself. "You gotta let me handle this. We're gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We're going to have to take a lot of heat. I want you to promise me that you're gonna lie low."

Tony sighs and that seems to be enough reassurance for Obadiah as he gives him one last nod before walking away.

She looks up in time to see Tony glancing down. He raises an eyebrow. "Why so aggressive?"