3rd P.O.V
Caleb and his dad were waiting for Obadiah in front of the ARK reactor at Stark Industries.
They didn't have to wait long as Obadiah strolled in, hands on his waist, cigar in his mouth and looking really mad.
"Well, that, uh, that went well." Obadiah sarcastically said.
"Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?" Tony asked, leaning against the railing.
"Your head?" Obadiah scoffed. "What about my head? Or your son's head? What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?"
Caleb rolled his eyes. As if Obadiah cared about him. His relationship with the older men was, in a way, complicated.
"Optimistically, 40 points." Tony replied while taking off his tie while Obadiah turned like a lion in a cage, behind Tony.
"At minimum." Obadiah stopped and leaned on the railing on Tony's right. "Tony, we're a weapons manufacturer."
"Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our legacy." Tony cut him off.
Caleb looked at his dad. Never had his dad said something of this sort. He was acting really different since what happened, which was normal, but it was weird.
"That's what we do." Obadiah said, practically ignoring Tony. "We're iron mongers. We make weapons."
"It's our name on the side of the building, I think dad should be able to decide-" Caleb started, but was completely ignored.
"And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos." Obadiah said and Caleb huffed, crossing his arms.
"Not based on why I saw." There was a pause. "We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We're gonna do something else."
"Like what?" Obadiah asked. "You want us to make baby bottles?"
Tony and Obadiah were now face to face, almost defying each other with their eyes.
"I think we should take another into ARK reactor technology." Tony said in a very serious tone.
"Oh, come on." Obadiah denied. "The ARK reactor, that's a publicity stunt." He said, motioning towards the reactor. "Tony, come on. We built that thing to shut the hippies up!"
"It works." Tony stated.
"Yeah, as a science project. The ARK was never cost effective. We knew that before we built it." Obadiah said. "ARK reactor technology, that's a dead end, right?"
"Maybe." Daddy Stark replied falsely.
"Am I right?" Obadiah asked, looking at Caleb for approval, but the teenager only stared at him blankly. "We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what? Thirty years."
"That's what they say." Caleb piped up.
Tony narrowed his eyes at Obadiah.
"Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me, who told you?"
"Never mind who told me. Show me."
"It's Rhodey or Pepper."
"I want to see it."
Tony looked at his son and Caleb mouthed 'Rhodey' to him. The elder Stark detached his cast and unbuttoned his shirt. Caleb frowned as he looked at his dad's chest. The small reactor created a small circle in the middle of his chest, just like Caleb had developed. Coincidence?
"It works." Tony repeated.
Obadiah placed his arm around Tony's shoulder.
"Listen to me, Tony. We're a team. Do you understand? There's nothing we can't do if we stick together, like your father and I." Obadiah said.
Caleb narrowed his eyes. He felt as if the billionaire was planning something.
"I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads-up, okay? But if I had-"
"Tony, no more of this 'ready, fire, aim' business. You understand me?"
"That was dad's line." Tony sadly said.
"You gotta let me handle this." Obadiah said. "We're gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We're gonna have to take a lot of heat. I want you to promise me that you're gonna lay low. Caleb too."
•
Later that day, Tony and Caleb sat at the table for diner. They were eating fish-n-chips. Caleb's idea.
They hadn't really talked, but there was no awkward silence.
Actually, Caleb was just to busy eating to start a conversation.
Not that he wasn't happy to see his father, it's just that he was hungry.
That's Caleb for you.
After a moment, Caleb felt a gaze on him so he looked up to see his dad looking at him from across that table.
"Are you okay?" His dad asked him.
Caleb frowned.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" He replied. "I should be asking you that."
Tony shrugged him off.
"Pepper told me what happened. In the car and in your room." Elder Stark said. "She mentioned other times too, but she said this were the main ones."
Caleb placed his fork and his knife on the plate. He wiped his mouth on a cloth and sighed.
"I asked her not to tell you." He stated.
"Of course, she would tell me, you're my son." Tony said.
"Yeah, but I didn't want you to worry." Caleb explained.
"Caleb, it's practically my job to worry about you." Stark said as if it was obvious.
"It's nothing." Caleb brushed it off.
"It's not nothing." Tony said. "You were choking on water, Caleb. That's not normal. Pepper found you unconscious in your room for no reason. That's not normal either."
"Yes, but it hasn't happened again, has it? Besides we went to a doctor and they couldn't find what was wrong with me." Caleb pointed out. "We can't do anything and I don't want to worry about it and I don't want you to worry about it." He then smiled at his dad. "So can we continue eating now? This is awesome." He said, pointing at his plate.
Tony chuckled and rolled his eyes.
"Yes, we can eat."
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Hi!!
Yeah, I know, an author's note so early in this book.
Yeah, well, I already missed an update (which is this one) and I'll be missing two other ones.
Why?
Well, I'm going away on a school trip to Italy for ten days starting tomorrow.
And we can't bring our phones.
So that means no chapters for technically a week since I published this one now.
I'll write one the moment I get back. Well, maybe the next day or something like that.
So, hope you liked it.
Lots of love💋
~Mischief