New Plan
About 15 minutes later, Tony slowly made his way up the stairs and saw his sister sitting on the couch drinking from a bottle of his more expensive scotch. Making his way towards her, he poured himself a glass and sat down next to her. “So,” he began slowly, “what do you want to talk about?”
She was silent for a few moments before answering him.
“Well, I guess the first thing that I’d like to know is HAVE YOU LOST YOUR GODDAMN MIND!” She yelled at him as she began hitting him on his arm. “You went into an active combat zone without any training and had a dog fight with two F-22’s!”
“Will you stop hitting me?” Tony yelped as he tried to get away from his extremely angry sister. “God, even the tank didn’t hurt this much.”
As soon as he said that last part he knew he made a mistake and he chanced a look at Maria who was now somehow even angrier.
“Tank? What tank?” She asked through clenched teeth.
Tony desperately tried to move on. “Look, I’m sorry for scaring you.”
After a couple deep breaths, Maria turned to her brother. “Okay I need you to walk me through everything that led up to you thinking that it would be a good idea to charge into an active war zone with no training.”
So Tony filled his sister in on everything that had happened. All of the details on his escape, him and Peter building the new suit over the summer, and discovering that it was Obidiah that was dealing under the table. When he was done, Maria was at a loss for words. The pair sat in silence for a couple minutes while she digested the information.
“Okay well the first thing that you need to do is get physical proof that it’s Stane that's dealing your weapons to everyone and you need to turn that over to Coulson.”
“But…” Tony tried to interrupt before Maria kept going.
“If you turn that over to Coulson, that will get the blinding Shield spotlight off of you and eventually us Tony. The longer they keep looking into you, the more likely they are to find out about me being your sister.” Maria explained.
“You are the one that told me not to talk to him.” Tony told her as he got up and started to pace around the room.
“That was before. Your COO is actively dealing Stark weapons to known terrorist groups and god knows who else and you can prove it.” She pleaded.
“Fine.” Tony sighed dejectedly. Maria poured herself another glass as Tony came back and sat down on the couch. “I never was supposed to run S.I.”
Maria looked at her brother “What?”
“Dad never wanted me to run the company. He always wanted Stane to.” He spit his COO’s name out. “The only reason why I am is because ‘a Stark must be in charge no matter how big a disappointment he is’.” Tony took the bottle and took a drink from it. “I wish he could see his company now.”
“Fuck Howard, Tony.” Maria comforted Tony. “You have an opportunity to run the company how you want to. Not Stane. Not Howard. You Tony.”
Tony and Maria laid their heads back so that they were starring at the ceiling. They sat in comfortable silence for a while before Maria broke the silence.
“Tony?”
“Yeah?”
“Why is there a hole in your ceiling?”
Tony closed his eyes and groaned. “Because I’m an idiot.”
Maira spent the night in Malibu before heading back east the next day. Tony took his sister back to the plane.
“Are you sure that Pepper is okay with getting the files that you need?” Maria asked as she closed the car door.
“For the hundredth time, yes.” Tony told her. “Quit worrying.”
Maria rolled her eyes as she walked towards the plane. “As soon as you get….”
“Arrange for a meeting with your super secret club in a neutral spot.” He interrupted. “I’ve got this Ria.”
“You’d better Tony. This isn’t just you on the line. Peter, Sharron, Rhodey, Pepper, and me are all depending on you.” She told her brother as she came to a stop at the foot of the stairs for the plane.
“I know. Believe me Ria, I am taking this seriously. I am not going to do anything that jeopardizes the safety of all of you.” Tony assured her.
Maria nodded her head. “Fine. Call me as soon as your meeting with Coulson is over so we can figure out our next move. Hopefully this will all be over soon because I really need vacation.”
Tony laughed at his sister. “You planning another visit?”
Maria shook her head as she hugged her brother before heading up the stairs to the plane. “Only to kidnap my nephew. I’ve been staring at your face for most of the year.”
“Wow. Feel the love.” Tony called up to her as she entered the plane but only got a middle finger back from her.
That night, Tony walked into his living room towards his ringing phone. He had not heard from Pepper all day and he was beginning to worry. He bent down to pick the phone up and after checking the caller id, he saw it was Pepper calling him.
As soon as he answered the phone, Pepper’s voice came through. “Tony?”
Before he could answer her, a high pitched whine sounded and he could no longer move his body as he fell slowly back onto the couch.
“Breathe.” Obidiah’s voice sounded from behind him. “Easy, easy. You remember this one, right?” He held up a small device so Tony could see it before turning it off. “It's a shame the government didn't approve it. There's so many applications for causing short-term paralysis.”
Obidiah walked around from behind the couch so that he was standing in front of Tony when he started to take out earplugs. “Tony. When I ordered the hit on you,” Tony’s eyes widened at the revelation. Meanwhile, Obidiah was removing a tool from a bag. “I worried that I was killing the golden goose.” Obidiah placed the tool over the Arc reactor, burned through the shirt, and removed it from his chest. “But, you see, it was just fate that you survived that. You had one last golden egg to give.”
“Do you really think that just because you have an idea, it belongs to you? 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?” He yanked the cord still attached to Tony and completely freed the reactor, examining it in the process. “Oh, it's beautiful. Tony, this is your Ninth Symphony. What a masterpiece. Look at that.” He said as he sat down next to Tony’s motionless form and put his arm over Tony’s shoulder. “This is your legacy. A new generation of weapons with this at its heart. Weapons that will help steer the world back on course, put the balance of power in our hands. The right hands.”
Obidiah picked up a case off of the floor and placed the stolen reactor inside of it. “I wish you could've seen my prototype. It's not as…” He struggled to come up with a word. “Well, not as conservative as yours. Too bad you had to involve Pepper in this. I would have preferred that she lived.” He said as he stood up.
Just as he was beginning to walk away he stopped and turned to look at Tony one last time. “And don’t worry about your son.” Tony’s panic elevated at the mention of his son. “I’ll make sure to teach him how to listen to those that know best. If he doesn’t…well Starks are not known for dying of natural causes.” Without another word, Obidiah left the house.