Iron Man (Part 1)
MCU Iron Man
(After Announcing the shutdown of Stark Industries Weapons Development)
Obadiah Stane was an old bearded man who co-founded Stark Industries with Howard Stark. Over the years, Stan has curbed Tony to focus on weapons development for the military which made Stark Industries the top military contractor in the US.
What nobody knows was that Stane always wanted to run the company as CEO and tried many ways to kick Tony out of office despite being his golden egg-laying goose. The recent stunt of trying to kill him failed miserably when the Ten Rings tried to utilize Tony Stark to help build their weapons for them rather than buying them from Obadiah.
It was a blessing that Tony made it back which suddenly turn into the biggest thorn on Stane's side since Tony's sudden announcement to halt weapons production could easily drop the company's stock prices.
Obadiah can be seen right now riding a segway towards the front door of the Arc Reactor facility with a half-burned cigar in his mouth.
"Where is he?" Obadiah said to the bodyguard Happy Hogan.
"He's inside." Happy responded.
After buzzing himself in with his company id card, Obadiah frustratingly walks right into the building in front of the giant Arc Reactor.
After an exasperated huff, Obadiah said "Well, that uh… went well."
"Did I just paint a target in the back of my head?"
"You're head, what about my head?"
"What do you think the overall stock drop is going to be tomorrow?"
"Uh…optimistically forty points?"
"At minimum."
"Yup"
"Tony...we're a weapons manufacturer"
"Obby I just…I don't want a body count to be our only legacy."
"That's what we do-"
"That's it."
"-we're ironmongers, we make weapons"
"My name is on the side of the building."
"What we do keeps the world from falling into chaos."
"Not based on what I saw. We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better, we can do
something else."
"Oh like what? You want us to make baby bottles?"
Nothing else was said as the two just stared each other in the eye until Tony replied,
"I think we should look in Arc Reactor Technology and reach out to Miriam Technologies."
The minute he heard 'Miriam Technologies', Obadiah internally sighed to himself while contemplating Tony's decision.
Miriam Technologies is a company that developed tech mostly focusing on agriculture and renewable energy and something of the like.
When the company came out in the 90s, nobody knew what to expect when the founding member was a woman named Elizabet Sobeck. What they didn't expect were groundbreaking technologies that can
help improve agriculture and pollution.
Because of the company, the fight against world hunger gave humanity a fighting chance and air
pollution dropped by about 25% after the company recently released tech that can decrease it.
It garnered worldwide attention which also gave the company worldwide investors seeing as how each of its accomplishments can further improve everyone's daily lifestyle.
What made Obadiah feel frustrated with that company was the profits it made because of its tech. Despite the company being well known, it barely scratched the top 100 ranking in the Fortune 500 list.
The reason for this is that a third of their patents are waived, allowing any country to build their own version of the tech. This may be supportive to the people in a global sense. But in an industrial sense, it will produce less profits for the original owners of the patent. It is only from the number of countries that wanted to use their tech did the company ever made it to the Fortune 500 list.
When the company went public, the starting prices didn't seem to be that much more valuable than gold. It is only over time did the price increased. Due to the company's nature, however, the stock can only be seen as a safe investment.
If Stark Industries ever partnered with Miriam Technologies, they would not expect to receive any kind of large returns in the near future.
Something that Obadiah felt very inconvenient in raking in large profits.
"Tony, the Arc Reactor was something to shut the hippies up!"
"But it worked," replied Tony.
"As a science project! The cost outweighed the benefits and we haven't had a breakthrough in thirty years."
"Yea we didn't."
…
…
"You have the most horrible poker face ever. Alright, who told you Rhodey or Pepper?"
"Just let me see it."
"Okay, so Rhodey"
Slowly, Tony unbuttoned his shirt revealing the shoddy, cave-built miniature arc reactor Tony made with Yinsen.
Obadiah took a deep breath and looked around to make sure no one was looking as he quickly buttoned up Tony's shirt.
"Let's keep that…to ourselves. Alright?" Stan responded.
"Alright, fine."
"As for Miriam, you keep that on the back-burner…"
"Obby-" Tony tries to refute.
"Right now, what you need is some time off to yourself. Go home and get some rest. That experience is obviously something that you need to decompress on. I'll call you if I need anything. Alright?"
"...Fine."
"Excellent" Stane said with a smile as the conversation ended.
Tony slowly walked backward, looking at Stane until he turned around and walked right out to the building.
The second Tony left the building, Stan stopped smiling and began thinking about this new predicament.
That miniature arc reactor was something revolutionary. Something that not even Howard managed to do and yet Tony did it in a few months in an Afghanistanian cave with nothing but scraps and pieces of Stark Industries weapons. If he can find a weapon that uses the mini-arc reactor….well, Tony may have just laid his last, but most valuable golden egg.
Later
Malibu Home, Tony's Lab
"Alright, let's see what's Miriam been up to."
When Tony went home, the first thing he did was take off most of his stuffy clothes in something comfortable while transitioning himself to his underground lab.
The minute he sat down, Tony asked JARVIS to compile any public data there was in Miriam Technologies.
…Elizabet Sobeck…
How long has it been since that name popped up anywhere in his head?
He still clearly remembered the day he met the young, freckled-face, red hair in that classroom all those years ago.
It was after that day that they started to slowly grow closer to each other. Seeing as how barely anyone wanted to associate themselves with younger students. It was later in their senior year that they officially became a couple.
Despite Tony graduating with summa cum laude (highest Latin honors in education), he was not the only one. Elizabet also graduated summa cum laude but she was an orphan that got into MIT with a full scholarship while Tony Stark was rising in popularity with a father running one of the top companies in America. It was kinda obvious who would get the more significant attention.
After giving his graduating speech, Tony invited Elizabet to stay at his house to work on Artificial Intelligence. When Tony's parents met Elizabet, there were contrasting reactions.
Tony's mother was excited that Tony brought over a girl and that she was also as smart as Tony.
When Howard saw Elizabet, he only showed indifference. This was a surprise to Tony because his father always seemed envious of Tony and he expected a worse reaction from Howard to Elizabet.
After meeting the parents, Tony revealed his relationship with Elizabet and that he proposed for Elizabet to stay with him because of how she was an orphan and that she wanted to create great things with Tony together.
Just like their first meeting, Maria was happy for Tony having someone stay over while Howard felt indifferent to the situation.
After finally moving in with Tony, Elizabet and he would travel to Stark Industries and worked together to study and develop an A.I. Thus, DUM-E was invented. It garnered worldwide attention, yet just like the MIT graduation, most of the world's focus was on Tony Stark. Despite being a joint effort with Elizabet, Tony still became the center of the world's attention with the revolutionary AI robot arm.
Tony tried many times to tell the world of Elizabeth's partnership, but she stopped Tony and said that it did not matter and that the only time the world will listen to her is when she created something that will quite possibly change it.
With great reluctance, he backed off about revealing Elizabeth's work and decided to just try to create new things with her.
Those days of just working together solving engineering and programming problems and creating solutions while putting them together were probably the second-best moments of Tony's time with Elizabet.
The only time that was first on the list was on the night of Tony's 18th birthday (March 29) with Elizabet who turned 18 just a few weeks prior (March 11).
On that night, Tony celebrated his birthday with his mother Maria Stark and Elizabet. After the birthday cake was eaten and put away, Maria looked as if she had a small glint in her eyes.
Before anything could be said, Maria grabbed her overnight bags and got into her car. She said that she was invited to an overnight get-together with her friends while Howard was in Washington on a business trip with the government.
It was when Maria's car drove out of view did Elizabet grabbed Tony's hand and slowly dragged him to his room.
It was when they walked halfway to the door on the second floor that Tony finally asked, "Uh… what's going on?"
"What? You haven't figured it out yet?" said Elizabet.
"Uhh….nnnoo, not exactly."
"Oh come on Tony, you know what's going on."
"You're gonna have to be more specific."
When they reached the door, Elizabet let go of Tony's hand to open the door. With it open midway, Elizabet slowly walked midway in and turned around. Then, she slowly leaned her left side to the frame with her left arm placed over her head with her legs crossed over each other.
The way she presented herself slowly made Tony realize how perfect she looked in her tight light blue jeans and the black AC/DC t-shirt he got for her that wasn't too small yet still showed her naturally formed curves.
"Wow. For an MIT summa cum laude graduate, you sure are very slow-minded."
"Uhhh..", responded Tony who was still soaking in Elizabet's Aphrodite figure.
"Well, if this isn't a hint, surely you can figure it out with this," said Elizabet as she slowly slipped her right hand into her right pocket and pulled out something that finally made Tony freeze and has a heart attack.
Despite being packaged, it was still a recognizable product because of its small tight square-shaped foil bag with a very recognizable circular dent.
After a few seconds of seeing his reaction, Elizabet's next words would forever cement this moment in his brain.
"Come on big brain, let's open my birthday gift to you, together."
Tony wasn't sure whether to ask if she was okay with it or to jump into the room with her. With that moment of uncertainty, Elizabet grabbed Tony's hand and dragged him into the room with a loud shut and locking of the door.
Whatever happened in that room in 1988 was something that Tony would treasure forever with Elizabet. After that day, Elizabet and Tony had never been closer than ever as they continued to love and work with each other.
When Howard and Maria died in the car crash, Tony was devastated because his mother was gone from his life forever even though the media mostly focused on Howard's passing. He would have suffered greatly from this experience if it was not for Elizabet to be there for him.
When it was time for Tony to take the reigns of the company, Tony offered Elizabet a position in Stark Industries R&D. Elizabet easily accepted the position.
That was when things started to spiral downwards for both of them.
Because of the constant need of the R&D department, Elizabet rarely got together with Tony and sometimes had to stay at the building overnight just to complete some work. What was worse was when Tony started talking about ways to raise profits due to the godfatherly influence of Obadiah Stane.
Elizabet wanted to help the world and tried to propose many ideas that can benefit life to Tony. For some reason, Tony ignored half of her offers while some from the other half got lost in the company's R&D Department. It was by that time that Tony's and Elizabet's relationship began to strain to the point that they can barely keep it together.
The boiling point came when Tony willingly signed a military contract that supported the advancement and selling of technological warfare with the government while the company raked in millions in profits. Elizabeth was a deeply rooted pacifist who wanted to improve the lives of others not destroy them.
This has resulted in a long and heavily heated argument between Tony and Elizabet. The last thing Tony saw of her was when Elizabet walked right out the front door with a suitcase full of clothes and pink tearful eyes. When Elizabet stepped outside, she looked back at Tony one last time before slamming the door with the loudest shut Tony has ever heard coming out of a door. The worst part of that day was that Tony didn't have the chance to give Elizabet a gift that symbolized their time together and the hope that they would stay together.
The gift was still sitting in his desk at that very moment. That small ring of gold crowning a beautiful diamond enclosed in a small black velvet ring.
Ton was dragged out of his daydreaming when JARVIS said, [Sir, I've compiled all relative information concerning Miriam Technologies.]
"Alright, hit me."
[Miriam Technologies was founded in late 1992 by Elizabet Sobeck.]
When that name was called, DUM-E came wheeling in at his top speed and try to look at the computer to see Elizabet's face.
"Ey, DUM-E, calm down. It's just a photo."
Still, DUM-E reacted like a young child finally seeing his mother after a long time which was pretty much correct.
"Jeez, need to recalibrate your A.I. later. Anywhere where were ye?"
[The company's first product to the market was a large-scale atmosphere regulator that can absorb harmful pollution from the air and convert the pollutants into useable bio-safe material. The release of this product garnered attention from countries all over the world including China and India. It was from this attention that other countries wished to purchase the device. Because of this, pollution levels dropped to at least 45% and predictions show that it will slowly continue to drop.]
Tony couldn't believe his ears when he heard this. With such a groundbreaking machine as their first product, the company would have instantly gained world-wide recognition. Why didn't he learn of this?
[After that, the company reached renowned recognition from the world. Slowly, they released other products that helped the environment and also benefited societies. One of which was the first massed produced robot dedicated to helping the environment and human societies. Their greatest product was a robot that can drastically reduce radiation levels with no environment damaging byproducts. With so much support and recognition, the company won multiple awards and accolades including the Rachel Carson Award for Environmental Progress in 1993 and a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1994]
Radiation reduction!? Where the hell was he when this happened!? What the hell is going on?
[In 2000, Miriam Technologies decided to have any patents they have or will have to be waivered after three years of its availability on the market. As of now, current CEO Hiro Hamada has taken approaches to introduce personal health care robots to the public.]
Wait…Hiro Hamada? Where's….
"JARVIS, what happened to Elizabet Sobeck?"
[I'm sorry sir but other than founding Miriam Technologies, no public records or information can be found on Elizabet Sobeck's current whereabouts.]
That is very weird. With all the things Elizabet did, there's bound to be some info on what she's doing let alone where she is. This is getting all too weird. The only way he can find that out is…
"JARVIS, send a private personal invitation email to Hiro Hamada to come by the place. The sooner the better."
[At once sir.]
Tony has never been in contact with Elizabet since she left and now he hopes that the meeting with the CEO can help him find out how to get in contact with her.
Let's just hope that he can be here soon.
3 Hours Later
Okay…when Tony said soon, he did not expect the CEO to immediately cancel his appointments for the day, pack everything he needed, and get from San Francisco to his house in Malibu, California in a total of three hours.
Right now, Tony was sitting across from Hiro Hamada on the couch in his living room with a box sitting on the table.
"Hello, Mr. Stark. I was hoping to meet you," said Hiro.
"You were?"
"Yes, Elizabet talked a lot about you."
"Really? She did."
"Yea, she always talked about how you were one of the smartest people she ever knew and that you were probably one of the most important people in her life."
"Oh…wow."
"Yeah…"
"Well, where is she anyway? The only thing I know was that she created the Company in '91?" said Tony.
Hiro showed a face that made Tony freeze. He only saw that face once in his life: when a cop came to his door that day in '91.
"Mr. Stark, Elizabet…..she passed away."
"W-Wha…H-How?" stuttered Tony.
"She had a terminal illness. Doctors couldn't figure out what it was or how to stop it. She couldn't even relieve herself from the pain." answered Hiro.
"No matter how much pain she had though, she always refused going the easy way. She did everything she could to help the company bring her products to the world. When I took over, I made sure that her ideals were cemented into the company."
"Wh-When did she…" asked Tony
"In '92," Hiro responded.
God….Only one goddamn year…
"...That's not all," Hiro said.
"What." snapped Tony.
"...She never officially told everyone this, but we later knew that she was…pregnant."
…Pregnant?
…She was Pregnant?
"What happened to the baby?" Tony asked.
"...we don't know."
"What do you mean-"
"We don't know what happened to the baby. The only thing we know is that when they prepared her body for the funeral, they said that she had surgery to remove it from the womb. We don't what she did to her child. We don't even know if it's even alive."
Tony couldn't hear anything else as he mentally dove himself to the corner of his mind. Trying to digest everything he heard.
Despite him being a genius, Tony was still human. Like any other human, he went through all the stages of grief.
Stage 1: Denial
No…NO! She can't be dead. She was perfectly fine when she left! How can she be dead! And pregnant?! Why didn't she tell me! How could she not have had a kid and not tell me about it!
Stage 2: Anger
HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?! HOW CAN SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN TO ELIZABET!? SHE WAS THE BRIGHTEST WOMAN I EVER KNEW! HOW CAN SHE BE DEAD!
Stage 3: Bargaining
There has to be something. Something that can tell me anything good about her. I would do anything to know that she is alive. Even if I have to give away everything.
Stage 4: Depression
Noooo….nooooooo…..Elizabet…..why did you have to go. Why didn't you tell me we even had a kid. Elizabet…..why…..
Finally
Stage 5: Acceptance
"Where is she." Tony quietly asked.
"...She's buried at her family farm," replied Hiro.
"Farm?"
"Her family owned a farm in Carson City, Nevada. Her will says that she wanted to be buried with her family. The only people that came were people that deeply knew her from the company."
"...I see."
"Speaking of her will, she wanted to give a few things to you. In the case that you couldn't come to the will reading, I would help hold onto them until I had a chance to meet you," Hiro said as he handed Tony the box Hiro brought with him.
"I wish I can say anything that can brighten your mood. But what you need right now is closure. I don't know what's inside that box, but she wanted to make sure that you would have it. I hope that whatever is inside that box can help put you at ease. Good day, Mr. Stark." finished Hiro.
"Call me Tony," said Tony.
"...Alright, Tony," Hiro said as he walked himself out of the house heading back to Miriam Technologies HQ in San Francisco.
Once Hiro disappeared from the view of the outdoor camera, Tony took some time to think about what to do next.
Right now, Tony Stark wasn't thinking about how to utilize Arc Technology to the world or how his kidnapping affected his psyche or how to improve the suit he used to escape with.
The only thing that occupied Tony's mind right now was the moments he shared with Elizabet.
The moments that made her smile, the moments that made her beautiful, and the moments that made him happy.
He wasn't sure how long he was thinking. What Tony was sure of was that the sun was beginning to set and he had a box full of things he needed to look through to understand what Elizabet did with the remaining of her life and what she wanted to leave behind for only Tony to look at.
With great resolution, Tony picked the box up from the table and himself from the couch as he slowly descended to his basement lab.
He has a lot of things to look at, and there was no time like the present.