Chapter 55 Iron Man

Pepper's mind was in turmoil as she thought back on the files she found in Obadiah's computer. The files contained all kinds of illegal business deals in the black market, but the worst was his hit on Tony. She still couldn't believe it. The man had practically raised Tony, but there was no denying the truth when the evidence was all there. Obadiah, a man she thought she knew, was actually a greedy and evil person.

At this point, she was aware that she knew too much and feared that she wouldn't make it back to Tony. Fortunately, by a stroke of luck, she ran into Phil Coulson, a government agent who had been pestering her for a meeting.

At that moment, she could no longer hold it in and immediately pulled him away to a private location where she proceeded to confess everything she discovered.

"This is not good. You said that Obadiah didn't only attempt to kill Tony Stark but is also double-dealing under the table? And with the Ten Rings at that?" Coulson said, his expression grave. If this was all true, then this was huge news. S.H.I.E.L.D had been trying to track down the dealer supplying the Ten Rings for a while now. They knew the weapons were Stark's, but they didn't think it was actually Tony who was supplying them. He was a lot of things and didn't exactly have the best reputation, but a traitor to his country and a terrorist? That just wasn't one of them.

"Yes, and I have everything on this drive," Pepper said, pulling out the hacking device from her pocket.

"If we hurry, we might be able to catch him before he hides anything," Pepper insisted, not wanting this to last any longer than it had to. The faster Obadiah was arrested, the safer she and Tony would be.

Phil took the drive in his hands for a couple of moments and began thinking about his next course of action. He had been given full authority in the Stark situation, so the call was truly his to make. However, it didn't take him long to make up his mind as he looked back at Pepper. "Alright, Ms. Potts, my men and I are ready. Just give us the location, and we'll handle it from here."

"Perfect! But no one knows the building better than I do, so I'll lead the way," Pepper said confidently as she entered the car without even listening to whether or not he would agree.

Phil just watched this from the side with a sigh. Civilians weren't usually allowed on operations like this, but she did make a fair point about knowing the building. If they were unlucky, Obadiah could slip from their fingers just because he had a better understanding of the building. So for the sake of efficiency, he chose to ignore it as he followed after her along with his men.

...

"K..ol" Tony whispered with the little breath of air he had left.

Looking up at me, I could see pure joy in his expression despite looking pretty wasted.

"Relax, let me take it from here, and thank you, Jarvis, for calling me to help Tony."

[My thanks goes to you, sir.]

Reaching down, I easily lifted him into a standing position, but Tony kept wiggling around as he pointed towards the table. Glancing over, I saw the gift that Pepper had made him in the movie.

[Proof that Tony Stark has a heart]

"I… need that," Tony mumbled as he pointed to his chest. "Heeere."

He elongated that last word with struggle, and I knew that I couldn't waste any more time. Placing my arm on his side, I walked him over as fast as I could before gently setting him on the table. With him settled, I quickly took the gift in my hands and broke it open, revealing his original Arc Reactor. If I had time, I would have loved to study it and compare it to the energy source used in the Mjolnir armors, but it would have to wait for another time.

Holding the reactor comfortably in my hand, I skillfully maneuvered it into the hole in his chest before connecting it with the wire inside.

"Ahhhh!" Tony shouted in pain as the initial connection literally sent a jolt of energy into his heart. After this, he took a moment to recover from his second near-death experience.

Unfortunately, his break was short-lived as he immediately began complaining. "Dammit, kid, where were you? I almost died, and not just that, but you were so unnecessarily slow in helping."

"I was in the restroom like I told you earlier. And what do you expect, man? It's not like I knew I was going to play operation on an actual person."

He looked like he was about to refute that and had multiple ways to counter me but just grumbled instead. Obadiah didn't exactly give him a lot of time to mess around. Pepper was in trouble, and so was his family's legacy.

"Jarvis, call Pepper."

[Right away, sir.]

"Tony? I can't talk right now. I'm with five agents, and they are about to arrest Obadiah," Pepper said, breathing somewhat heavily as they had been in a hurry to catch him off guard.

"Just five? Pepper, you need to get out of there right now. It's not enough!" Tony yelled in concern. If everything Obadiah said was true, then that would mean he had his own suit. Simple agents could never hope to match that.

"Huh, what do you mean, Tony? Was… ahh run! Bam bam." The call soon ended with gunshots ringing in the background.

Tony knew at that moment that he could not wait any longer. He jumped off the table and rushed further into his workshop.

"Kol, we need to hurry and help Pepper. She's in danger! Obadiah was the one who left me like that, and he is going for her next. The agents she has with her won't be able to protect her either. Not when he has a suit like mine."

Listening to Tony, I made a face of realization and proceeded to help him set up everything to get in his suit. "Tony, I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but that power source you're using now isn't going to be enough. It just isn't meant for this kind of thing."

His prototype arc reactor, while impressive, just couldn't handle the strain. If he used it for a prolonged amount of time, it could end up shutting down.

"I know, but we don't have time." Now completely suited up, he powered on the suit and shot straight through the roof to meet Obadiah head-on.

Watching Tony leave, I thought back on the movie. I recalled Tony having a similar situation when it came to his power source and he survived in that encounter. However, this situation is very different because now I am here, adding in butterfly effects. Relying on movie knowledge too much isn't healthy, especially when things go south, so I needed to do something to give Tony the edge.

Come on, Kol, what can I do…

I have a full-on workshop here with tech better than anything I've worked on. Scanning the room, my eyes went back to the shield generator we were working on.

"Jarvis, how long till that shield is ready?"

[Five hours, sir. The generator is quite complex due to its design of wrapping around a person.]

"Hmm, I saw this coming, but what if I do this?" Moving forward, I once again began to manipulate the holo structures and re-altered the shield design, which didn't take me long with all the parts having already been designed.

"How about now?"

[Fifteen minutes, sir, but the shield won't meld with the Iron suit. Won't this be counterproductive?]

"Ha, who said a shield needs to be wrapped around the user? Sometimes it is better to just make a shield the way it was always meant to be used. Begin production while I work on one more thing."

[I see, sir. Beginning production.]

...

Arriving at Stark Industries, Tony examined the area until he found Pepper running from Obadiah. Feeling his heart tighten, he burst into action without hesitation and tackled the man he once respected, effectively moving them away from the building.

"Tony!" Pepper shouted and even tried to chase, but the fight had already moved to the freeway below.

Boom boom!

As Tony and Obadiah fell below, they left a path of destruction. Every blow and attack made would leave cars totaled and people running in fear. Tony tried his best to limit the damage, but Obadiah seemed to have no care for human life. He consistently used vehicles with people as weapons, knowing that Tony would hold back, practically turning the civilians in the area into human shields.

Tony, knowing this couldn't go on for long, attempted to change the terrain of the battle. Flying up, he attempted to gain the advantage from the air but was met with the surprising discovery that he wasn't the only one who could fly.

[Sir, I believe his suit can fly.]

"I know that!" Tony complained at Jarvis's obvious remark.

With quick thinking, he thought back to his first flight test.

"The freezing problem… Jarvis, fly me up!"

[But sir, the suit's power won't handle the strain.]

"I know the math, just fly me up!"