Tony hovers and stares at the rapidly falling giant iron suit as JARVIS speaks up, "Two percent." Tony falters in the sky before he falls a short distance, catching himself with the flight stabilizers. The flight stabilizers fail as JARVIS adds, "We are now running on emergency backup power."
Tony falls a couple more feet before he catches himself once again while exclaiming, "Woah!" He falls once more and the flight stabilizers turn on just in time for the billionaire to land on the roof of the Stark Industries building. He lands on his hands and knees before he shakes his head, calling out to Pepper, "Potts!"
Shocked to hear the man's voice, she puts her hand to her ear as she exclaims, "Tony! Oh my God, are-are you okay?"
Amelia holds tighter onto Pepper as she looks at the strawberry blonde and says, "Daddy?"
Tony starts to remove his suit and discards it on the roof as he replies, "I'm almost out of power. I've got to get out of this thing. I'll be right there." The mask on the helmet lifts up and reveals Tony's face.
Obadiah lands behind the billionaire and scoffs, causing Tony to turn around, "Nice try!" Obadiah swings back, getting ready to punch Tony as the mask drops down over the billionaire's face. When Obadiah goes in for the punch, Tony ducks down in order to dodge Obadiah's iron fist. Tony stands up and throws out his left hand, grunting before he realizes that he discarded the left glove of his suit. Tony turns his head just as Obadiah back hands him across the face, causing the Stark to fly back.
When he lands, he gets up and charges toward Obadiah before he jumps into the air. He lands a punch across Obadiah's face before the older man catches Tony, holding onto his torso. Obadiah begins to squeeze Tony, who groans out to JARVIS, "Weapons status."
Sparks fly from the red and gold suit as JARVIS replies, "Repulsors offline. Missiles offline."
Tony's suit continues to malfunction and power down as the billionaire shouts out, "Flares!" Multiple flares go off from the suit, hitting the giant iron suit before ricocheting off. Obadiah drops Tony to the ground as he groans from the bright flares flashing in his eyes.
When he recovers, he looks around for the Stark as he taunts, "Very clever, Tony." The billionaire hides behind a wall on the roof as Obadiah looks for him through the smoke of the flares.
The billionaire breathes heavily before he whispers to Pepper, "Potts?"
The strawberry blonde gasps, putting her hand to her ear once again as she holds on tight to Amelia, "Tony!"
Tony whispers the plan to Pepper, "This isn't working. We're going to have to overload the reactor and blast the roof."
Pepper removes her hand from her ear and runs it through her hair before she asks, "Well, how are you going to do that?"
Without hesitating, Tony informs the strawberry blonde, "You're going to do it. Go to the central console, open up all the circuits. When I get clear of the roof, I'll let you know. You're going to hit the master bypass button." Obadiah turns around and faces the place where Tony is hiding before he looks around, as the billionaire continues, "It's going to fry everything up here."
Pepper walks to the doors with the shattered glass and walks through them as she tells Tony, "Okay, I'm going in now."
Keeping an eye out for Obadiah, Tony reminds his assistant, "Make sure you wait till I clear the roof. I'll buy you some time." Tony moves out of the way as Obadiah puts his hand on the wall and looks around for the billionaire.
Pepper puts Amelia down before she runs over to the central console and uses both hands to pull down on all the levers. Amelia stands a couple steps behind Pepper as she watches the woman. Pepper takes a couple steps back away from the console.
Tony surprises Obadiah as he jumps onto the giant iron suit's back, scanning the back panel of the suit. When he spots exposed wires, he exclaims, "This looks important!" Tony grabs a hold of the wires before he yanks them out, causing Obadiah's suit to short circuit as he loses optical connection.
Amelia follows Pepper as she walks to a control desk before the strawberry blonde presses a couple buttons. Obadiah flails his arms around as he tries to grab Tony. Once he gets his hands on Tony's helmet, he throws the billionaire forward. Tony flies through the air and lands on the ceiling window above the giant arc reactor while the older man holds Tony's helmet in his left hand. Underneath the Stark in the building, Pepper turns dials and flips switches on the control desk. Amelia looks up and sees her father, gasping as she calls out, "Daddy!"
On top of the roof, Obadiah's giant iron suit opens to reveal the bald headed man as he says to Tony, "I never had a taste for this sort of thing," he looks over at the helmet resting in his left hand, "But I must admit, I'm deeply enjoying this suit!" He crushes the red and gold helmet before he looks back over at Tony. Obadiah throws the helmet toward the billionaire, causing it to land directly next to him.
Tony looks up at Obadiah, who takes a few steps toward the railing that looks down on the ceiling window while saying, "You finally outdid yourself, Tony! You'd have made your father proud!" Tony gets onto his knees before he slowly stands up on the glass.
Amelia watches her father as Pepper presses more buttons before she informs the billionaire, "It's ready, Tony! Get off the roof!" When she finishes pressing more buttons, she looks up at the ceiling to see Tony.
Obadiah extends his hand and fires bullets at the man in the red and gold suit. The bullets break some of the glass and Tony lifts up his arm as the armor creates a small shield in front of his face. Obadiah aims for the glass beneath Tony's feet, causing the billionaire to fall. Tony lets out a groan and grabs on the metal framing between each glass pane, holding himself up. Amelia screams out for her father, scared of losing him, "Daddy!" Pepper lets out a scream as she covers Amelia with her upper body, trying to shield the both of them from the falling glass.
Tony adjusts his grip on the framing as Obadiah continues to shoot the bullets at him, breaking all of the glass panes. Amelia hides her head as she lets out a small scream and Pepper lets out a gasp while more glass rains down upon them. Pepper looks up once the glass stops falling and Amelia hugs the strawberry blonde before she too looks up at her father. Pepper calls out to the billionaire, "Tony!"
Obadiah lets out a sigh before he shouts, "How ironic, Tony! Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever!"
Tony stares at Obadiah as he holds on for his life before he shouts, "Pepper!"
"And now," Obadiah pauses for a minute, "I'm gonna kill you with it!" The bald headed man lifts up his other arm and aims missiles at the billionaire. He fires the first missile and it explodes on a wall close to Tony. "You ripped out my targeting system!"
Tony looks down at Pepper the best he can as he yells to her, "Time to hit the button!"
Pepper glances down at the button, her hand hovering above it before she looks back up at Tony and shouts, "You told me not to!"
Obadiah aims the next missile as he says, "Hold still, you little prick!" The missile fires and it hits the side of the roof behind Tony, exploding as it makes contact.
Losing his grip, Tony yells to Pepper as he stares Obadiah down, "Just do it!"
Pepper doesn't hesitate when she shouts back, "You'll die!" Obadiah aims again and the next missile lands close to Tony, causing him to lose most of his grip on the metal as he hangs from it by one hand.
Tony stares down at Pepper as he yells, "Push it!"
Amelia rolls her eyes as she mutters, "Oh for crying out loud!" The little girl leans forward and puts her hand over Pepper's before making the strawberry blonde push the master bypass button. Amelia looks up at Tony and yells as Pepper stares at the little girl with her mouth agape, "I love you 3000, daddy!"
Tony looks down at Amelia and exclaims, "I love you 3000, sprout!" Electricity begins to spark everywhere and Pepper lets out a scream as she picks up Amelia. Pepper covers her head with her other hand as she takes the little girl out of the building. Electricity bursts from the large arc reactor before it blasts onto the roof, pushing Tony onto a metal walkway on top of the roof. The electricity blast hits Obadiah, causing him to scream out in pain. The energy shoots up into the sky before it disappears, making the night sky even darker.
An unconscious Obadiah falls forward, descending through the broken window and into the arc reactor below, causing it to explode. An unharmed Tony moves out of the way of the flames from the explosion as they burst from the broken glass ceiling. The heat causes Tony to pass out and the arc reactor in his chest turns dark. The arc reactor flashes on and off as Pepper and Amelia call out for the billionaire from outside of the building.
•••
Amelia sits on the couch and watches a press conference that Rhodey gives to the press about what happened at Stark Industries, "You've all received the official statement of what occurred at Stark Industries last night. There have been unconfirmed reports that a robotic prototype malfunctioned and caused damage to the arc reactor. Fortunately, a member of Tony Stark's personal security staff..."
Amelia looks over at her father, who is reading a newspaper as Pepper touches up his face while the billionaire speaks up, "Iron Man. That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it. I mean it's not technically accurate." He looks up at Pepper, who takes the butterfly bandage off of his nose, causing him to flinch. "The suit's a gold-titanium alloy," Tony looks back down at the newspaper, "But it's kind of evocative, the imagery, anyway."
Coulson walks up to Tony, causing all eyes to turn to him as he hands Tony blue flashcards while saying, "Here's your alibi."
Tony reluctantly takes the cards and looks at them as he says, handing the newspaper over to Amelia, "Okay." The little girl takes the paper from him as she stares at the photo of her father in the iron suit.
Pepper powders Tony's face as Coulson speaks, "You were on your yacht with your daughter."
"Yeah," Tony lets out as he reads over the flashcards.
Coulson adds on to the created alibi for Tony, "We have port papers that put you both in Avalon all night, and sworn statements from fifty of your guests."
Tony flips through the cards as he suggests, "See, I was thinking maybe we should say it was just uh, just Pepper and me alone on the island." Pepper stands up straight and rips another butterfly bandage off of Tony's face, causing the billionaire to look up at her.
Tony looks over at Coulson, who answers the billionaire as Pepper turns to a table next to her and puts the butterfly bandage down onto it, "That's what happened."
Tony looks back down at the flashcards as he sighs, "Alright."
Pepper turns back to Tony and applies more powder on his face as Coulson instructs the billionaire, "Just read it, word for word."
Tony flips through the rest of the cards as he says, "There's nothing about Stane here."
Tony looks over at the agent, who responds, "That's being handled. He's on vacation." Tony nods his head as Agent Coulson continues, "Small aircraft have such a poor safety record."
Tony raises up his hand and asks, "But what about the whole cover story i-i-it's a bodyguard? He's my body..." Pepper turns back to the table, "I mean, is that..." Tony tilts his head and drops his hands into his lap, "That's kind of flimsy, don't you think?"
The agent smiles at the billionaire as he states, "This isn't my first rodeo, Mr. Stark." Tony nods his head and raises his brows as Coulson adds, "Just stick to the official statement, and soon, this will all be behind you." Pepper brushes off her hands as she turns back to Tony before tucking her hair behind her ear.
Tony glances down at the cards in his hands as Pepper looks over at Coulson, who says while staring at the clock, "You've got ninety seconds." At the agent's words, Pepper spins around to look at the clock. Tony flips to the next flash card as Amelia moves over to her father and lays her head on his arm, looking at the words written on the cards.
Coulson walks away as Pepper turns to talk to him, she follows after him as she calls out, "Oh, Agent Coulson?"
The two converse in the doorway as Amelia looks up at her father and says, "You are my superhero, daddy."
The nine year old gives her father a small kiss on the cheek as Tony looks over at Amelia and responds, "Thanks, sprout. I will always be there to save you."
Tony gives his daughter a kiss on the head as she looks up at him with hopeful eyes, "Always?"
Tony smiles at the little girl and nods his head, replying, "Always."
Coulson leaves the room and Pepper turns her head to look at Tony as she says to him, "Let's get this show on the road." Pepper turns and walks over to where Tony's suit jacket is sitting. Amelia moves away from her father and sits back down on the couch as she watches Rhodey continue to talk at the press conference.
Tony gets out of his seat and walks over to Pepper as he addresses the strawberry blonde, "Yep. You know, it's actually not that bad. Even I don't think I'm Iron Man." He looks down at the flashcards once more as Pepper holds up the suit jacket for him to slip into.
Tony turns around, putting the corner of the flashcards into his mouth as he slips his arms into the suit jacket while Pepper replies, "You're not Iron Man."
Tony nods his head and speaks with the flashcards in his mouth, "Am so."
Pepper smiles as she repeats herself, "You're not."
The strawberry blonde brings the suit jacket up to Tony's shoulders and adjusts his collar as Tony says, "Alright, suit yourself." The billionaire fixes the cuffs of his sleeves as he theorizes, "You know, if I were Iron Man, I'd have this girlfriend who knew," Pepper brushes off Tony's shoulders, "My true identity." Pepper pats Tony's arms, causing him to turn around, "She'd be a wreck, 'cause she'd always be worrying that I was going to die," he takes the cards out of his mouth, "Yet so proud of the man I'd become." Pepper fixes Tony's tie and makes sure nothing is out of place as the billionaire adds, "She'd be wildly conflicted, which would only make her more," Tony clears his throat, "Crazy about me."
Tony quickly changes the subject as he asks the strawberry blonde, "Tell me you never think about that night."
Pepper takes the pocket square out of the front pocket and folds it as she asks without looking up at the Stark, "What night?"
"You know," Tony replies as Pepper slowly looks up at the man in front of her.
The strawberry blonde blinks and pauses for a minute before she asks, "Are you talking about the night that we danced and went up on the roof, and," she pauses, slightly shaking her head as Tony smirks, "And then you went downstairs to get me a drink, and you left me there, by myself? Is that the night you're talking about?"
Tony quickly tilts his head and looks nervously at Pepper, "Mmhm."
The billionaire continues to stare at his assistant as she puts the pocket square back into the front pocket as she says, "Thought so." Tony nods his head and Pepper fixes his tie once again before she looks up at him, asking, "Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"
Tony glances down at the pocket square before he looks back to Pepper as he replies, "Yes, that will be all, Miss Potts." The billionaire turns and leaves the room, heading to the press conference.
Pepper walks over to the couch, standing next to it with her arms crossed as Rhodey introduces Tony, "And now, Mr. Stark has prepared a statement." The reporters start talking amongst themselves and take photos of the billionaire, who is walking up to the stage, "He will not be taking any questions. Thank you."
Rhodey moves out of the way as Tony gets up on the stage and stands in front of the podium. "Um, been a while since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time." He holds up the flashcards before looking down at them as the reporters let out a laugh. Tony clears his throat before he reads from the cards, "There's been speculation," the billionaire looks up at the crowd of reporters, "That I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop..."
A blonde reporter raises her hand and interrupts Tony, who rubs his mouth with his pointer finger, "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared, despite the fact that you..."
Tony cuts her off and gives her an annoyed look, "I know that it's confusing." Tony scrunches up his face and continues, "It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I'm a superhero."
The reporter throws up her hand and replies, "I never said you were a superhero."
Tony stares at her with a flabbergasted look as he asks, "Didn't?"
"Mmm-mmm," the reporter denies.
Tony looks around at all the reporters as he rambles, "Well, good, because that would be outlandish and uh, fantastic." He looks down at the flashcards and lets out a sigh. "I-I'm just not the-the hero type. Clearly. With this uh," he licks his lips and looks around, "Laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public." Rhodey leans over to Tony and whispers into the billionaire's ear. Tony nods his head and holds up the flashcards as he says, "The truth is..." He trails off as he stares at the cards, thinking about how his daughter thinks of him as her superhero. He looks up at the reporters, putting the flashcards down on the podium as he states, "I am Iron Man." The reporters freak out as they all stand up, asking Tony questions and taking more photos of him. All the billionaire could do is smile as he thinks about how he will make his daughter proud of him.
•••
When Tony and Amelia come home later that night, the house is eerily dark and very quiet. "JARVIS!" Tony calls out for the AI.
Tony leads Amelia further into the house by the hand as JARVIS replies before powering down, "Welcome home, sir."
A man, who is standing by the windows speaks up, "'I am Iron Man.' You think you're the only superhero in the world?"
Tony looks down at his daughter and tells her, "Amelia, go upstairs."
The nine year old looks up at her father and protests, "But daddy..."
Tony gives the dark haired girl a stern look as he says, "Upstairs. Now." Amelia nods her head as she removes her hand from her father's before going to her room.
Tony walks further into the living room as the dark figure speaks again, "Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe.You just don't know it yet."
Tony furrows his brows as he asks, "Who the hell are you?"
The man steps into the light as he introduces himself, "Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D."
Tony nods his head and lets out, like he should know who the man is, "Ah."
The man with the eyepatch informs the billionaire, "I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative."
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hey guys!! This is the last chapter for part one. The first chapter for part two will be uploaded next week. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to read what you guys think. Have a great rest of the week!!