Ch23. A bit of drama.

Tony arrived home with Natasha right behind him, driving her own car, and when they walked in together and saw Pepper sitting on the couch in his living room and looking first at him before her eyes slowly slid to Natasha who carried two bags as if she was moving in, understanding dawned on her...

Tony decided to do the manly thing and ignore the entire situation, opting to get a glass of juice while the two redheads looked at each other, silently taking a measure of the other. In his opinion, girl problems should be solved by girls.

Tony expected Pepper to start protesting but surprisingly, she didn't.

Then he understood why. They currently were not a couple. They did not even live together. The only time Pepper stayed at his house was when she was at work for too long because Tony did something stupid and she decided to stay the night in her room rather than go home. And when that happened, Happy usually stayed with her.

It... really didn't bother him. He was over Pepper. Nevertheless, he was glad he didn't have to deal with her complaining about who he lets live in his house. Because that's what it was. HIS house.

Thankfully, Pepper took Natasha's presence in stride and even offered to help the woman with the girly stuff. Tony would have liked to say he felt a friendship forming but that would have been a lie. For some reason, the atmosphere was somewhat tense.

Deciding to defuse it with his awesomeness, Tony brought a glass of whiskey for Pepper and a glass of red wine for Natasha. He remembered at least that much. Sitting down on the couch, he spoke, "Well, this time is as good as any so... I have an announcement!"

"God help us all..." Pepper muttered, loud enough for Tony to hear but he decided to selectively ignore it.

"So, I have no idea if you were informed yet, Pepper, but there was a... situation at the Stark Industries today." He slowly started, carefully watching Pepper's expression. When he didn't see any sign of recognition, he decided to continue, "Because of that, Natasha will be my new personal assistant."

The words barely left his mouth and Natasha next to him quietly groaned and started to rub her forehead in frustration, already predicting what will come next.

Pepper looked at Tony in a stricken incomprehension, her mind having a hard time registering what she just heard. "I am sorry... what?" She asked, almost in a panic. Her face suddenly went red from anger and it was obvious she was trying to stay calm as she started to breathe harder, "Does that mean I am fired?" She asked somewhat calmly, shaking from suppressing her anger.

Pepper has worked for Tony Stark as his personal assistant for years now and he just... he just exchanges her for a younger model without even by your leave or any sort of prior notice? Just... what?

What was she supposed to do now!?

Tony looked baffled at her sudden anger, not understanding how would she come to that conclusion. He thought she knew him better than that.

"Wording, Tony." Natasha reminded him, causing his mouth to open in a reflexive retort but no sound came out as he realized where he did a mistake.

"Mhm. Thank you." Tony nodded with a sheepish smile before turning towards the silently seething Pepper. "No. You are not fired. Only moved to a different position." He reassured her.

"Yes? And what am I going to do now?" Pepper asked with a heavy sarcasm dripping from her tone. This was not fair to her. Not after all the years, she spent dealing with Tony's hysterical one-night stands and his ego.

Tony didn't even notice the sarcasm and gave her a wide winning smile,

"I want you to be the new CEO of Stark Industries, of course."

...

There was a lot of drama after his announcement. Pepper almost fainted and vehemently protested for an entire hour but in the end, she accepted the job with a beaming smile, touched at how much trust Tony was willing to give her.

She was a bit afraid of becoming the CEO of a company in decline but Tony reassured her he had it well in hand and new products will be launched soon so her job will be much easier because of that.

Now that Obadiah was out of the picture, Tony could start making the Stark Industries great again.

He only needed to do a few things before he could officially make Pepper his CEO so she had nothing to do for the following few days until he took care of them. This was a good thing too as Pepper decided to give Natasha all the necessary information and show her the ropes of being Tony's personal assistant.

Everything from how to send Tony's one-night stands home in a polite manner that won't see him being sued all the way to making sure he regularly eats, showers, and keeps a healthy sleeping schedule. She was basically teaching Natasha how to be Tony's nanny and Tony did not appreciate the amused smirks and looks Natasha was occasionally shooting him while Pepper prattled about her job.

He was not THAT bad!

Or was he?

In the end, Tonny decided to leave the two girls to their own devices and go tie up a loose end.

"JARVIS, is it ready?"

"All clear, Sir."

"Thank you." Tony opened a portal and calmly walked through it, fully trusting his A.I. that he disabled the cameras.

What greeted him on the other side of the portal was a bald and bearded old man in prisoner-like clothing sleeping on the uncomfortable bed.

He was in Obadiah's prison cell in the SHIELD facility where the man was deposited until they lawfully get whatever information they can out of him before they hand him over to the proper authorities.

Tony sat down on the opposite side of the bed in the cell near the iron bars, his legs crossed under him and his back leaning on the wall before he knocked on the iron bars with the knuckles of his right hand, sending a clanging sound throughout the cell and abruptly waking Obadiah.

The bulky man looked around in confusion before his eyes landed on the calmly sitting Tony and blinked. The haze of the sleep quickly left Obadiah as he realized he was not dreaming and Tony Stark was really sitting in his cell.

The very first reaction of the man was to attempt to launch himself on Tony in anger.

Unfortunately for Obadiah, he forgot he was cuffed to the bed and before he could get anywhere close to Tony, the physics did its job, causing him to abruptly stop as the cuffs prevented his advancement before he dropped to the ground with a groan.

Tony watched it with unveiled mirth in his eyes, content to keep watching. It wasn't often one could just observe his defeated foe in his natural habitat. By now, Stane could basically be categorized as an endangered species!

When Obadiah realized there will be no getting to Tony for him, he tiredly sat on the floor and leaned his back on the side of his bed. "What are you doing here, Tony?" He flatly asked, briefly glancing at the camera in the corner of the ceiling in worry.

"Why? Can't I visit an old friend in his desperate times? My intentions are wholly sincere!" Tony spoke in a mock-hurt tone, "Oh, and by the way, the camera is disabled."

Obadiah decided to stay silent and glared at Tony but there was a hint of worry in that glare.

"You know," Tony started speaking again, this time without any pretense or mockery. "a few years ago, I would have never contemplated doing this. Unfortunately for you, I have had a bit of a life-changing situation and I reconsidered how I do things in general, you know?"

"Yes? And what are you intending to do?" Obadiah asked, barely holding himself from rolling his eyes.

He knew Tony. For all the ego and arrogance the boy possessed, he was not bad. There was nothing to be afraid of. Tony would not hurt him. Obadiah saw this more as Tony being Tony and coming to add insult to the injury by mocking him. That was so... Tony.

"I came to kill you?" Tony casually revealed, lifting his eyebrow in a questioning manner that screamed, 'Isn't it obvious?'

That gave Obadiah a stop before he pointedly looked at the weaponless Tony. "Hoh? And how are you going to do that? With your hands? Please, we both know you don't have the guts for that."

Tony took Obadiah's mockery in strides and simply smiled at him. "Believe it or not, I am going to kill you with magic."

That evoked genuine laughter from Obadiah and erased all of his worries. Tony was just being a dick and screwing with him.

"Ever the joker, Tony." Obadiah mirthfully chuckled.

"Eh, but I didn't joke." Tony said and snapped his fingers, opening a portal under the bewildered Obadiah and causing him to fall through it.

Tony stood up and walked forward so he could see through the portal, instantly noticing the stupefied Obadiah lying on the ground surrounded by a massive amount of freezing snow.

Tony cheerfully waved at him before cheerfully speaking, "Enjoy your final vacation on the North Pole, asshole."

With that, he closed the portal.