Chapter 8

Back in Tony's workshop were he and John, the latter of whom was placing the new ARK reactor in the other's chest.

"Ok, that was gross."

"Yeah well..." said Tony as he put his shirt back on. "I wouldn't have asked you if you didn't have hands that could get there."

"What do you want me to do with this?" He says while holding Tony's old reactor.

"That? Destroy it. Incinerate it."

"You don't want to keep it?"

"Kid, I've been called many things. "Nostalgic is not one of them." Which makes John stand there analyzing it. 'It would be a waste to throw it away, but to be honest I can't think of much I could use with the power it has. I'll ask Pepper if she wants it, after all she's obviously crazy about Tony.' Thinks this one as he puts it in his pocket.

"Fine, but don't ever ask me to do anything like that again or I'll speed up time in your body so that you end up 90 years old in less than 5 seconds." Said John in a more serious tone.

"Wow easy Frodo, relax now the fun begins." Said Tony as he turned back to the console.

"Oh yeah? And what exactly would that be?"

"This." Said Tony showing him the designs for some sort of upgraded version of his armor with the name Mark 2, to which John simply displayed a confused expression.

'What is that thing? It's similar to his armor but at the same time it's very different.' He thought.

"What is that? Is it like the Terminator?"

"More like something more like Robocop."

"Cool. Shall we start now?"

"Did you want to start tomorrow? Yes, now."

(Several days later)

After working tirelessly on Tony's new project, it was finally ready for the first tests.

Tony can be seen wearing the boots in his workshop for a test flight. John is filming it, while Dummy is in charge of the fire extinguisher.

"Okay, let's do this right. Start mark, half a meter, and back and center. Dummy, look alive. You're on standby for fire safety. You, roll it. Any questions?"

"I have one Tony, why am I in charge of the camera and the robot is the one that helps you if you turn into a fireball?"

"Because I want you to get good shots, ok? And I don't have robots to create dynamic angles so that will be your responsibility."

Tony said pointing to the latter, to which John nodded slightly for maś he didn't look very convinced. "All right, if there are no more questions, let's roll."

"Okay. Activate hand controls. We're gonna start off nice and easy. We're gonna see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift. And three, two, one."

Tony immediately flings back and hits the upper wall. Which causes Dummy to use the fire extinguisher on him. All this while John could barely hold in his laughter.

"Hey Tony are you okay?"

"Yeah, why?" He replied but not before giving a pained sound.

"It was to see if we could do it again, I guess I didn't get your best angle." John said for which he only received a groan in response.

After a while, Tony is then seen working on flight stabilizers for his hands/arms with John. While they are working, Pepper comes in with a wrapped box and a cup of something.

"Up two. All right, set that." Tony orders.

"Ok done." John replied.

"I've been buzzing you. Did you hear the intercom?"

"Yeah, everything's... What?" Tony said as he was distracted with the flight stabilizer.

"Obadiah's upstairs." She said finally making the 2 of them look at her.

"Great!"

"What would you like me to tell him?" Pepper said as she internally wondered what those 2 were trying to do.

"Great. I'll be right up."

"Okay. I thought you said you were done making weapons."

"It is. This is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless." The stabilizer shoots, flinging Tony backwards, making John laugh at it and scaring Pepper. "I didn't expect that." To which Pepper simply looked at him in disbelief.

"Ok I'll be right up. John." John turned to look at him. "Hold down the fort, I won't be long."

Tony said as he put on something presentable to cover his oil stained clothes, to which John simply nodded.

Once he saw Pepper and Tony go upstairs, he immediately headed for the console.

"Ok, let's go check it out. Jarvis.." John cried, to which the AI almost instantly responded.

"Yes, Mr. Walker? How may I help you?"

'Wow, now I understand why Tony disliked me calling him sir, it does add years to you.' John thought as he watched the console display the holograms.

"Ok, first call me John, Jarvis, no need to be so formal and second, show me all the information you have on Obadiah Stane."

"Understood John." Replied the AI as he began to unfold a file on Obadiah.

"Obadiah Stane was a businessman who worked in partnership with Howard Stark in Stark Industries for many years. Together, they were responsible for supplying many weapons to the U.S. military. Stane also worked alongside Stark and Anton Vanko in the development of the first Arc Reactor, but the massive prototype seemed impossible to develop further.

Obadiah told Antony to take it as a sign that maybe the Arc Reactor wasn't ready to be published into the world. He decided they should continue just making weapons, promising to stand by his side.

On December 16, 1991, Howard and his wife Maria were ultimately killed in a car accident.

As quoted by a newspaper, Stane expressed his condolences to the Stark family and lamented Howard's loss, stating that such news filled them with grief. Due to Howard's death, Stane took over as interim CEO of the company.

Shortly after, Stane was forced to step down from his position to become Stark Industries' second-in-command when Tony Stark officially took over as CEO." Jarvis said, providing a summary of sorts.

Confronted with the railing of information, John went on to analyze it. 'Ok, that might confirm my theory, I just need one more piece to the puzzle.'

"Jarvis."

"Yes John?"

"Do you have any idea who had access to Tony's location information in Afghanistan?"

"According to my records, the only ones who knew of the exact location where Tony would be were Colonel James Rhoades, having been accompanying him on his briefing to the top military brass and Obadiah Stane being second in command at Stark Industries, may I ask why John?"

At this, alarm bells went off inside John's mind. "Jarvis I need you to contact the authorities right away." John said as he placed one of the repulsors in his hand.

"Why sir? Is something wrong?"

"Just do it Jarvis, it's an emergency." He said as he finished setting up the repulsor and headed up the stairs.

"John, Mr. Stark ordered you to stay down here." Jarvis said, to which John turned downstairs.

"Tony is in danger right now Jarvis, please, just this once I need you to trust me and let me go, plus I need you to call the police. Jarvis, at first said nothing, as if the IA was analyzing whether the decision to support him was feasible until he finally responded.

"I'm already calling the authorities." Which caused a small smile to form on John's face, who didn't say anything and continued to climb upwards.

Once upstairs, he found Tony and Obadiah in conversation while Pepper was sitting on the couch writing in her planner until she turned her eyes to look at John, which caused her expression to change to a confused one. However John simply ignored her and went straight to where Tony and Stane were.

"...It doesn't matter. We own the controlling interest in the company."

"Tony, the board has rights, too. They're making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest."

"I'm being responsible! That's a new direction for me, for the company..." However, at that moment Tony became aware of John's presence which made Stane turn to see him as well. "Oh, hey kiddo, what are you doing up here? I told you to stay guarding the shop, how did Jarvis let you up here?"

"Tony, who is this kid?" Obadiah asked now analyzing John. To which he with a defiant look did not respond and pointed the repulsor at him.

"Whoa, whoa, kid what are you doing?"

"Tony, I know you won't want to hear this but this man is a traitor, he was the one who gave your location to the 10 rings." John said without looking away from Stane.

While Tony and Pepper looked at him in surprise, although Stane looked at him with a somewhat incredulous look.

"What? Tony who is this? He's just talking crazy."

"Don't try to move Stane or I'll blow your ribcage out with one shot."

As this went on, Pepper could be seen to be alarmed and scared, as Tony processed what John had told him.

"But kid, Obadiah wouldn't do it, he worked with my father many years, why would he betray me."

"Because he was jealous of you, when your father died, he had the chance to have become CEO when he was appointed interim CEO, however, shortly after that you came of age which made his dreams crumble and he would start to collect a grudge against you." This caused Tony's eyes to widen slightly.

"What, Tony, are you seriously going to believe the accusations of a child? You know I would never do that Tony, I always cared about you, when Howard died, I treated you like a son and willingly gave up command of the company." Stane said, however his tone was slightly more desperate than before.

"And if you cared about him why didn't you lead the search efforts along with Rhoades in Afghanistan? You knew Tony had been kidnapped and yet you didn't lift a finger to find him? Unless you really didn't want him found?"

"I..." Obadiah tried to say but John wasn't finished.

"But that's not all, according to Jarvis the only people who knew where exactly you would be in Afghanistan were Rhoades who was accompanying you and him. Didn't you wonder Tony, how the Terrorsites knew exactly where you were going to be? After all, Afghanistan is a big enough country for them to just run into the convoy that was carrying you." John said as Tony seemed to be in some sort of trance, staring into nothingness, as if internally analyzing all the information John had just given him. At that point, no one moved until Tony finally said something.

"Is it true?" Tony said almost in a whisper.

"Tony, I..."

"IS IT TRUE?" He asked this time shouting and with an angry expression.

Stane said nothing, just ducked his head and knelt down putting his hands on his head.

"Pepper, call the police." Tony said simply, looking at her.

"They're already on their way" John said still pointing at Stane.

"Good." Said Tony before retreating back into the basement without looking back, as Pepper and John watched him.

Soon after sirens could be heard from outside, signifying that the days of freedom for Obadiah Stane were over.