Iron Man ~ Iron Man 1 & 2

v. Betrayal

He picks something up from the table as Pepper puts her arms down before the billionaire continues, "You're going to hack into the mainframe and you're going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests. This is a lock chip." Tony hands her the chip as he adds, "This'll get you in. It's probably under Executive Files." Pepper looks up at Tony, who turns and walks over to a device on a nearby table, "If not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading."

Pepper glances down at the lock chip before she turns her attention back onto Tony and asks, "And what do you plan to do with this information if I bring it back here?"

Without looking over at the strawberry blonde, he answers, "Same drill. They've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them."

The dark haired billionaire takes a step back from the table as Pepper says, "Tony," she takes a deep breath and scoffs before looking away, "You know that I," she looks back over at the man, "Would help you with anything, but I cannot help you if you're going to start all of this again."

Tony glances over his shoulder and tells her, "There is nothing except this. There's no art opening. There is no benefit." He turns around to face Pepper as he continues, "There is nothing to sign. There is the next mission and nothing else."

Pepper nods her head and asks, "Is that so? Well, then, I quit." Pepper tosses the lock chip back onto the table before she turns around and heads for the door to the workshop.

Tony speaks, causing the strawberry blonde to turn around and face him, "You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction. And now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out?"

Without a moment of hesitation, Pepper replies, "You're going to kill yourself, Tony. I'm not going to be a part of it."

Tony sits down in a desk chair as he says, looking down at his hands, "I shouldn't be alive, unless it was for a reason." Amelia gets out of her chair and walks over to her father before she climbs into his lap and gives him a hug. Tony pauses for a minute and kisses his daughter's head before he looks over to Pepper, continuing, "I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it's right."

Tony rests his head on top of his daughter's head and closes his eyes as he holds Amelia in his arms. Pepper stares at the father and daughter for a couple seconds before she lets out a sigh. The strawberry blonde walks over to the desk and picks up the lock chip, causing Tony to look over at her. Pepper stares at the device in her hands before she looks up at the father and daughter, telling them, "You both are all I have, too, you know." Without another word, the assistant turns around and walks out of the workshop as Tony watches her leave.

•••

Later that night, Tony walks into the living room as the telephone rings. The billionaire turns around as he looks for the phone. He lifts one of the pillows on the couch and finds the ringing device before he picks it up. When he sits down, he checks the caller ID and sees that it is Pepper who is calling him. Tony answers the phone and puts it up to his ear as Pepper speaks through the phone, "Tony?"

Tony freezes as he hears a high pitched buzzing, causing him to go into a state of paralysis as Pepper speaks again, "Tony, are you there? Tony?" Obadiah takes the telephone out of Tony's hand and ends the call.

The bald headed man grabs the back of Tony's head with the hand that holds the small device emitting the high pitched buzzing as he moves the billionaire to lean on the back of the couch, telling him, "Breathe. Easy, easy." Obadiah pulls his hands out from underneath Tony's head and holds up the device as he says, "You remember this one, right?" He turns the high pitched buzzing off before he rests his hand onto the couch and continues, "It's a shame the government didn't," He lifts his hand back up as he moves the device around in his hand, "Approve it. There's so many applications," he rests his hand back onto the couch, "For causing short term paralysis."

Obadiah stands up and walks around the couch to stand in front of Tony. He grabs the billionaire's face and turns it to look directly at him before he sighs, "Ah, Tony." He releases Tony's face and takes out the ear plug in his right ear that protects him from the high pitched buzzing of the small device. "When I uh," when he finally gets the ear plug out of his left ear, he continues, "Ordered the hit on you," he puts the ear plugs away before he opens up a briefcase, adding as he takes a circular extraction device out of the case, "I worried that I was," he pulls the metal claws back into the device before he puts one leg up on the couch, "Killing the golden goose."

The bald man lines up the device with Tony's arc reactor and activates the object as he says, "But, you see, it was just," Obadiah pushes down on the device, causing Tony to grunt out in pain, "Fate that you survived that." The older man turns the device and pulls it out, extracting the arc reactor from Tony's chest. He shows the paralyzed genius the glowing object before he adds, "You had one last golden egg to give." The two stare at each other before Obadiah rests his head on the back of the couch and leans closer to Tony's face, "Do you really think that just because you have an idea, it belongs to you?"

The older man pauses for a minute before he takes a deep breath, "Your father, he helped give us the atomic bomb. Now, what kind of world would it be today if he was as selfish as you?" Obadiah pulls on the arc reactor, disconnecting it from Tony's chest which causes the Stark to let out a gasp of pain. Obadiah removes the arc reactor from the extraction device and holds the glowing object up to Tony. He looks at the arc reactor as he sighs, "Oh, it's beautiful." Obadiah lets out a breathy chuckle before looking over to Tony, "Oh, Tony," he puts the extraction device back into the case before he looks back at the arc reactor and rests his hand back against the back of the couch, "This is your Ninth Symphony."

Obadiah sits down next to Tony, resting his arm behind the billionaire's head as he says "Ah. What a masterpiece." He holds up the arc reactor so that Tony could look at it, "Look at that. This is your legacy. A new generation of weapons with this," He turns his head to look at Tony, "At its heart. Weapons that will help steer the world back on course, put the balance of power," he looks back at the arc reactor, "In our hands." Obadiah leans away from Tony as he lowers the arc reactor from Tony's sight, "The right hands." The bald man removes his arm from the back of the couch as he lets out a laugh and puts the case onto his lap, "I wish you could see," he opens up the case, "My prototype." He puts the arc reactor into it as he adds, "It's not as uh," he closes the case, "Well, not as conservative as yours. Too bad you had to involve Pepper in this. I would have preferred that she lived."

Amelia walks down the stairs, stopping at the bottom as she spots her father and Obadiah. Confused, she calls out, "Daddy?" Obadiah turns his head to look over at the little girl as Tony moves his eyes in order to see her.

Obadiah lets out a heavy sigh as he turns to Tony and says, "I really didn't want to kill your daughter, she's a good kid. But now, I guess I'm gonna have to." The bald man gets up off the couch and walks toward Amelia as Tony can do nothing but watch. The little girl turns to run up the stairs and get away from Obadiah but she isn't fast enough. The older man grabs her and carries her out of the house. A tear falls from Tony's eye as Amelia screams and cries for her father. The nine year old isn't strong enough to punch and kick her way out of the older man's hold.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys!! There are only two chapters left to part one. Let me know what you guys think! I hope you guys have a great week!!