Chapter 44: Tony stark

***Narrator P.O.V., Las Vegas 

"And then we lost them." The projector showed the news about Tony's family's death. 

"....his best friend Obadiah Stane took the position of company's CEO until the prodigy son could turn 21 and once again take the company on his hands." The video continued, and people kept clapping from time to time.

"What a waste of time!!" Serena lamented from her seat at the table, Emily shook her head at her behavior. 

"What?" Serena raised an eyebrow. 

"Please behave, miss, those present here can be offended quite easily." Emily smiled at the people sitting at the adjacent table and they nodded, willfully ignorant. 

"Understandable since many of them grew up with a silver spoon in their mouth, I am sure there are a few with the idea, that the world revolves around them." Serena rolled her eyes before finishing her drink," At least Obadiah arranged good alcohol."

"Why did you accept the invite, given that you don't like to socialize much?" Emily finally asked. 

"Honestly, I thought this would be different, given that stark has a good head on his shoulders, I thought he would show some of his new toys." Serena tilted her head while putting in on her left hand before pouting. 

She then raised her hand lazily, pointing to the stage where Obadiah was receiving the award instead of Tony.

"And lo and behold, that arrogant piece of a man is missing from his own party." She glanced around before commenting," Truth be told, if I were in his shoes, I would have probably done the same given how boring it is." 

"For god's sake, we are not so old that you needed to provide round tables for eating. What are we, nobility in the 1800s?" There wasn't even a dance floor.

As she was looking around, Serena's eyes fell on Pepper. 

"Follow me." She got up and walked across the room to Pepper.

Emily reluctantly followed. 

"Miss Potts~" Serena gleefully smiled as she hugged her. 

"Oh, Miss Serena. Are you drunk?" Pepper looked behind to find Emily walking toward them with a forced smile. As soon as their eyes met, she worded a sorry. 

"Nah, just bored, though I did have a few drinks." Serena separated from her with a bit of nudging from Emily. 

"You didn't like the party?" Pepper asked in return as she looked around in the background.

"Party... ? feels more like a ceremony instead," Serena remarked which earned her a kick from Emily. Pepper intentionally ignored that as she recalled how she did the same with Tony on several occasions. 

"Forget about the party. Let's talk about you, looking quite gorgeous, dear, though a bit exhausted." Serena looked at her from top to bottom. 

"It means a lot coming from you of all people. I still wouldn't hold a candle against you, sadly. And yes, it's been hectic for the past few days at the company. Hopefully, I would be receiving some rest in the coming week." Pepper sighed. 

"Stark doesn't know how to treat a gem like you. I heard that he makes you do everything from big jobs to tiny insignificant things.

Why don't you come and join us instead?

I am sure you will be happy with our working environment." 

Serena teased her, knowing she would only say no to the offer. 

Pepper was also aware that her intentions were pure.

 As she was about to tease her back, someone spoke first. 

"Now, I know when I see malpractice being performed in broad daylight." Stane joined the conversation while standing beside Pepper. 

"Daylight..., where?" Serena comically looked at the sky. 

Stane laughed," That was an expression. You should not take it literally."

"Anyways, do you smart and rich people have similar personalities?" He smiled. 

"Trying to steal a valuable employee from the party host's company. The only person I know that tried something similar is Tony." He laughed. 

"Eww. Don't compare me with Tony, I am not that arrogant." Serena grumbled. 

"He is not this good-looking too." Obadiah thoughtfully nodded before laughing. 

"Not as smart too." Serena quickly added. 

"Now that's debatable," Obadiah stated. 

"Speaking of Tony, where is he? I only came so that I might have the opportunity to meet the merchant of death himself." Serena acted like she was disappointed. It was easy to tell that it was just an act. 

"Well, he's tony, you know, working as always." Obadiah made the same excuse that he spoke on the stage a few minutes ago.  

"Working where... In his bedroom?" Serena rolled her eyes. 

"Well, hopefully not yet." Obadiah shrugged before General Rhodes joined them.

"Found him, he is at a casino 2 miles away from here." He nodded at everyone before telling Obadiah. 

"What are we waiting for then?

Let's go there so you can give the trophy to him with your own hands." Obadiah patted him on the back. 

"Yeah, we will gladly be the witnesses on the said ceremony.

You wouldn't mind if we follow you, general?" Serena quickly joined the conversation again. 

"Of course, Miss.

I'm sure tony would also be happy to meet you." James tried to avoid eye contact with her. 

"Of course, he would be an imposter if he rejected women's company on any occasion." Serena joked as they moved to exit the room.

Pepper tried to step aside, but Serena pulled her by the arm and hugged her arm. 

"Fleeing, are we?

Come on, let me show you my driving skills." Pepper just accepted her fate and tagged along. 

***In the basement of the building

They all reached the basement.

Emily and James both brought cars out of the parking area. 

"Get in, sweety." Serena opened the back door for Pepper and closed it after she entered.

Meanwhile, Emily left the driver's seat and took the front seat instead so Serena could drive.

"Are you sure it's okay to let her drive in this condition?" Pepper asked Emily in worry. 

"It will be fine.

The car has a built-in AI system that takes control in times of need.

Plus, while it looks like a sports car, it is heavily modified to take a rocket strike and come out unscathed." Emily reassured her.

She was present at the time Serena tested the car herself. 

"She tends to tinker when she gets bored." Emily shrugged.

Unbeknownst to Pepper, Emily has a habit of secretly taking pictures of Serena in those times because it gives her a tomboyish look.

Unbeknownst to Emily, Serena knows about that. 

"Tony acts similarly when he gets bored." Pepper replied in an understanding tone.

"Want to race, Serena?" Stane spoke in a loud voice. 

Serena looked at him before pressing a button near her steering wheel. 

"Race?

Sure, maybe some other day. I don't do 2-mile races. I have a reputation to uphold." Serena softly spoke while starting the engine and James and Stane were surprised to hear her voice from the radio in their car. 

"Enough chit-chat. See you at the casino, boys." Serena remarked before blasting off into the streets. 

"Wait-..., but do you even know the casino he is in?" James spoke in panic before trying to catch their car. 

***Outside the casino. 

"How did you know this was the casino?" James asked as soon as they all exited the cars.

"I have my ways, you just have to get used to it." Serena bragged before entering the casino. 

Lights were up, music was playing. People cried and laughed depending on their luck as waiters rushed to deliver drinks. 

It was easy to find Tony.

There he was surrounded by a girl on both sides while others watched him bid one after another without stopping. 

"Is he always like this?" Emily whispered to Pepper to which she only sighed.

"Tony, my boy~" Obadiah took massive steps with his arms open toward Tony. 

Tony welcomed him., albeit with a forceful smile.

The same thing happened with James.

"Would accept an award if I plan to give you one, tony?" James asked. 

"Do you even have to ask?" Stark answered back.

"Take it then." James passed him the trophy that he reluctantly received. 

"Means a world to me," Tony started before completing with a mumble," It's not like I have any of these lying around at the house."

"They get useless after a point, aren't they?" Serena had enough of just watching and pulled the two girls with her to the table. 

Tony turned around," You should have told me first that you are bringing girls so generous of you, Rhode." 

"It seems Serena was right." Stane laughed while drinking. 

"Right... about what?" Tony asked in return as he greeted Pepper by hugging her. 

"She said that you wouldn't be tony if you rejected the opposite gender's company," James replied while patting him in the back.

"That reminds me," Tony looked at the girls beside him." Sorry sweethearts. Both of you are beautiful, but they have brains too besides just beauty." Before motioning them to move on. 

"So," Tony turned to Serena," What caused you of all people to show up? I always wondered why you married your late husband instead of joining the stark industries."

"He didn't have the best reputation, nor was he as rich as I am.

Stark industries would have welcomed you with open arms." 

"I guess I didn't wish for your death to be so early," Serena replied. 

Tony couldn't help but laugh as he turned to his friend," Are you seeing this, general? This woman admitted to the murder in front of a military officer. Arrest her this instance." 

"I didn't hear a thing." James shrugged his shoulders. 

"It's an open secret, Stark. Almost everyone with a brain can guess that. But I am too valuable to be killed and too influential to be kept in jail." Serena bragged. 

"She is just speaking nonsense. She is too drunk to be taken seriously." Emily chimed in. 

Everyone knew that Serena was speaking truthfully.

The fact remained that she was drunk. So whatever she said couldn't be considered a confession in the eye of law. 

"Well played, my dear." Obadiah raised his glass toward Serena before drinking it in one breath. 

"Anyway, I heard that the military once again approached you to consider working on a few projects of theirs." Obadiah diverted the topic. 

"Given that the representatives of both parties are here, how did it go this time?" He glanced at James and Serena both. 

"I don't think we reached a breakthrough this time too. Miss Serena is quite a tough nut to crack." James shook his head, smiling.

"You guys did try a bit better than the last time. Causing discord among shareholders and I was not a bad plan." Serena half-heartedly gave him a thumbs up.

"I don't quite understand why you always reject us. The military has a lot of money we can invest in you, as we do with stark industries. Also, we don't care what you do with that money as long as you provide us with new tech."

"I'm sure this extra money will help you in humanitarian projects like taking care of the environment." James tried to persuade her with the same logic Tony uses to deal with reporters. 

"I like politicians more than the military," Serena put her coins on the number 28 and waited for the game to begin. 

"Quite an unusual preference considering that more often than not, they are cowards." Tony chimed in. He never had any positive opinion of politicians. If possible, he likes to stay away from their kind. 

"Exactly. Unlike the military, politicians have no spine, making it easier to keep them under control. Plus, the military might have quite a big budget. But its the politicians who decide that budget." 

"I just need to pull a few strings and suddenly, I have massive tax cuts." The ball rolled around the table before stopping at the number 28 abruptly. 

(Edited by: AzuraD)