The Shadow (Book 1)

Chapter 17

Locked out and green eyes

It had been a few weeks since Afghanistan, and Scarlet's leg had managed to fully heal. It was odd not even the Doctor she'd be assigned by Fury could give her a straight answer as to why it had healed so quickly. It was as if a bullet had never grazed her skin; not even a scar to mark the spot was visible. The Doctor had wanted to up the testing they were doing on her, take more blood, have her participate in simulations. Scarlet refused. The deal was she worked for Stark while participating in did testing for Fury and his organisation, nothing else.

''Hey, Doc, you still with me?'' Scarlet blinked as Tony disrupted her thoughts. He was fiddling with the flight stabiliser on his hand. They'd been struggling to program the amount of thrust they needed to not only make it work but not make it too dangerous. It was becoming a rather tedious task.

''I've been buzzing you; did you hear the intercom?'The pair jumped at Peppers sudden presence. They hadn't heard her on the intercom once.

''Sorry, Pep, what's up?'' Scarlet spun around on the desk she was sat on to look at the woman before her. Tony had just ignored her, too caught up in sorting the stabiliser.

''Obadiah's upstairs,'' Pepper replied, raising an eyebrow.

''Great,'' the pair in front of might have, well have been twins as their response was in perfect sync. Right down to the exasperated tone of which the words carried themselves.

''What would you like me to tell him?'' She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.

''I'll be right up,'' Tony replied after a few seconds. Pepper moved closer to him, trying to work out what he was actually fiddling with. Her face scrunched in confusion as she took in the device wrapped around his hand.

''Okay,'' she paused, to turn but caught herself, ''I thought you said you were done making weapons.''

''I am,'' Scarlet nodded in confirmation when Pepper turned to her. ''This is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless,'' the moment Tony said those words, a blue light shot out the end of the arm, causing the stack of paper containing important measurements notes to fly around the room. Scarlet huffed, rolling her eyes, knowing that she would have to clear it up later. Not only that, but it had managed to throw Tony halfway across the room. His back, coming into contact with the garages, concrete wall with a heavy thud.

''I didn't expect that.''

⫸⫸⫸

Scarlet followed Tony up the stairs and into the main living area, where Obadiah Stane sat behind the piano, tapping a couple of keys in an attempt to actually play it. An unopened box of pizza sat on the coffee table.

Tony spied the box before looking over at Stane, ''that bad huh,'' he flipped the lid open to see what the toppings were and if there were any slices left.

''Just because I bought; pizza back from new York doesn't mean it went bad,'' Stane replied. Tony grabbed a slice from the box before flopping down on the long white sofa. Obadiah pressed one last key on the piano before perching next to Tony. Scarlet just looked over at Pepper. A silence befell the room. She inched her way to the vacated Piano seat, plopping down on it herself.

''It would have gone better if you were there,'' Obadiah carried on talking.

''You told us to lay low. That's what we've been doing,'' Tony replied gestured in Scarlet's direction, who gave a curt nod when Stane turned to look at her.

''This was a board of directors meeting,'' Scarlet frowned. Nobody, not even Pepper, had mentioned that. She looked over at Pepper, who seemed to have a similar look of confusion etched on her features.

''This was a board of directors meeting?''Tony asked the question on everybody's lips.

''Would be nice to be told about these things,'' Scarlet mumbled, her eyes bore into the back of Obidiahs' head. Something didn't seem right. A bad feeling rumbled around in her stomach.

''The board is claiming you have post-traumatic stress,'' he paused, tilting his slightly, ''both of you. They're filing an injunction,'' Scarlet sat, her eyes popping out of her head. They were both totally and utterly fine. At least Tony had not given her a reason to doubt his most recent mental state.

''A what?'' Tony frowned.

''They want to lock you out.''

''Why, cause the stocks dipped 40 points?''Tony sated.

''Fifty-six and a half,'' Pepper corrected him.

''It doesn't matter,'' he seethed, grabbing a napkin to wipe his mouth before scrunching it up into a ball.

''Tony, the board they're making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest,'' Stane continued.

''I'm being responsible,'' he exclaimed ''that's a new direction for me,'' Tony stood throwing his napkin down, it landed on the glass table, Obadiah just looked at him with a blank expression.

''He means himself on the company's behalf being responsible for the way that,'' Scarlet tried to explain. But was interrupted by Stanes laughter.

''Maybe you should stay out of this. What is that you do again?'' He waved his hand around, looking between the brunette and the billionaire.

''You just made a big mistake,'' Shadow growled the words out, but before she could continue, she was grabbed by Tony.

''Green eyes,'' he whispered, pulling Scarlet's body back. She shook her head, knocking the Shadows control away.

''Hey, hey! Hey, Tony, Doctor,'' the pair turned to face him yet again, ''Listen. I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them. Let me have the engineers analyse that,'' he pointed at the arc reactor sat perfectly snug inside Tony's chest ''You know, draw up some specs.''

''No. No, absolutely not.''

''It'll give me a bone to throw the boys in New York!'' He tried, standing up and throwing his hands up.

''This one stays with me. That's it, Obie. Forget it,'' Tony waved him off, inching Scarlet further away and towards the door. They could risk another outburst from The Shadow; that would just tip Obadiah even further, off the edge of whatever crazy train he seemed to have got himself on.

''All right, well, this stays with me, then,'' he picked the Pizza box off the table, tucking it under his arm. However, before he; made his move to leave, he wandered closer to the pair, lifting the lid, ''go on, here, you can have a piece. Take two,'' Tony took two slices out the box, shovelling one right into his mouth already.

''Thank you,'' he offered the second to Scarlet, but she shook her head. She didn't;t really feel like eating. Something about Obadiah was bothering her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. His attitude since she and Tony had come back from Afghanistan smelt fishy.

''You mind if I come down there and see what you're doing?''

''Good night, Obie,'' Tony responded, ''come on Scar,'' he whispered grabbing, Scarlet by her arm, near enough dragging her with him back down to the garage. She didn't take her eye off of Stane right up until the glass door closed and they decedent the stairs.