Anyway the Wind Blows (Avengers Fanfiction)

அ Chapter Nineteen அ

Jarvis started speaking inside the video, his voice specifically alarmed as he alerted Nikolas to his heart rate, his son did not move from his slightly hovering spot.

The video ended with the moment Tony arrived in the workroom.

"So he genuinely did not know what he was doing?" Tony frowned as he said it, finding himself slightly frustrated at the lack of answers.

Jarvis did not reply, which led to a deepening of Tony's frown.

"J?" He looked up at the ceiling despite the fact that the A.I. did not actually exist in the ceiling.

Tony stood, grumbling under his breath about faulty A.I.'s and how Nikolas should fix it next time he has a chance as he started up the staircase and moved into the living room. Jarvis would most likely need some form of reset and this would come from the control panel hidden in the living room wall.

He made a slight noise of success when he found the panel first try, tapping in the code and pressing to turn off the A.I.'s entire system and do a timed reset. A clock began counting down, and Tony sighed at the timing, his thoughts instantly going back to Nikolas with the absence of a distraction.

The house phone started to ring and Tony jumped at the sound, reacting just how Nikolas was known to react in every situation. "Like son like father," He mumbled it half-heartedly as he began to dig through the couch pillows in search of the phone.

"Yello?" Tony smiled as he said it, moving to sit on the couch as he pressed the phone to his ear.

"Tony, oh God Tony-" It was Pepper, and she sounded much as she usually did, panicked and frazzled.

Tony sat forward a bit, rolling his wrist over to check the time. "What is it Pep?"

She took a moment to reply her voice cracking as she did. "It's Nikolas, he said he was going to stop by his lab but-"

A high pitched ringing passed through the phone, the sound at a specific frequency that led to the older Stark's complete paralysis. Tony groaned, his entire body convulsing twice as a hand cradle his head and lowered it to the back of the couch. The phone fell from his hand, Pepper's voice ringing clear in the silent room despite Tony's inability to listen.

If he could, Tony would cuss out the man currently grinning down at him.

Obadiah Stane.

"Breathe, easy easy." Obadiah hung up the phone as he propped himself onto the arm of the couch. Tony strained to look at him, forcing his lungs open as he took a shallow and sharp breath. "You remember this one right? It's a shame- a shame that the government didn't approve it. There's so many applications for causing short term paralysis."

Tony wanted to react to yell or scream or call for help, all he could do was glare at the man he used to trust.

Obadiah grinned proudly, pulling a case from the floor beside him after removing the earplugs from his ears. Tony noticed the red particles caked in his nails and creases in his fingers and palms. "You know, when I ordered the hit on you, I worried I was killing the Golden Goose, but it was only meant to be you. I would have still had Nikolas, if he hadn't gone with you last minute."

The declaration made Tony feel sick, though it had in part to do with his difficulty breathing.

"But you see, it was fate that you both survived that. You had one last golden egg to give-"  Obadiah tapped the arc reactor, and Tony felt his blood run cold. "Though, a little canary told me it wasn't even your design."

Tony felt his heart rate rise. Obadiah moved a case onto his lap, pausing only to continue show boating. "Do you really think that just because you have an idea it belongs to you? Your father, he helped give us the atomic bomb, what kind of world would it be today if he had been as selfish as you and that freak kid of yours?"

Obadiah removed a device from the case, and despite every attempts to move himself Tony watched in horror as he lined the flat end of the tool up with the arc reactor. "This-" He pushed a button at the top and Tony groaned, the painful feeling of the metal spines entering his chest disrupted the weak breathing pattern. He groaned again when Obadiah pulled the arc reactor from his chest, the connection making a specific click as it pulled free from the base plate. "This is your ninth symphony. This is your legacy."

Obadiah stood, looking down at Tony in apparent disgust. "This will put the world back on course in the right hands, in our hands. I wished you could've seen my prototype, your son did." He shook his head, chuckling as he put the arc reactor into the little black case and held it at his side. "It is- well, it's not as conservative as yours."

Tony could feel his pulse weakening, his fingertips just barely capable of twitching at his side, he continued to fight against the paralysis as Obadiah looked away from him and instead at the back of his hands

"Oh damn." He haphazardly set the cast on the edge of the couch, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe at his hands. "That boy of yours, he sure does bleed."

The thought made Tony want to throw up.

Obadiah sighed, "You know, some blood won't wash out. You- your death, that will be a stain on my conscious. But the boy," He waved a dismissive hand, "Endeavour Nikolas Stark was a disappointing blemish that will fade with time."

And then he was gone and Tony was left with a sinking feeling in his chest.