Day 87
Tony stared at the the bright blue light shining before his eyes. It looked like a star burning brightly before him. For all he carried it was a star. It was so close yet he could nothing to reach out and grab it. It might as well have been a star burning millions of light years away. It brought him no warmth, no life. It was beautiful like a star, but just like a star it served no purpose, not while it was away from his chest.
“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Tony flinched at the gentleness in Stane’s voice. It is so quiet and soft, that had the man not just ripped his heart out -or the thing fueling his heart- and stabbed him in the back he would have believed Stane cared about him, “You’re ninth symphony.”
Tony tried desperately to speak, say something to the man that had just betrayed over 20 years of trust, but he couldn’t force his muscles to move. The sonic taser had done its cruel job; the high pitched sound waves had coursed through him and tightened every muscle and joint in his body rendering him limp and helpless. He could only a muster a small whimper as the man he had once thought of as father placed his heart in a briefcase and clamped it shut.
“You should see what I came up with. It’s not as conservative as yours but it will still work quite well, and make me quite rich,” Stane said smiling down at Tony with a greedy look in his eye. Money. This man who had looked up to, cared about...loved, had betrayed him for money. As Tony stared wide eyed up at the man, he realized that perhaps all he had ever been to Obadiah Stane was a chance at striking it rich. Perhaps the man had never actually cared about him.This man had never loved him. Just like his father, Stane did not give a rat’s ass about him. Tony’s world, his foundation, his trust crumbled around him like the cities his weapons had rent destruction on. He had spent the last 20 years believing that someone actually wanted him, that he actually had someone he could call father.
“It’s a shame you brought Pepper into this. I really would have preferred she live,” Stane stated as he turned to leave Tony to his death. His blood ran cold with fear. Him dying was one thing, but Pepper couldn’t die. He wouldn’t let her. He loved her....
Proof that Tony Stark has a heart….
She loved him too, and he couldn’t fail her. He would have done anything for her. He would have waded through the fires of hell and back for her, he would have fought a million armies to get to her, but right now the only thing he had to do was make it down stairs….