Birth of Ironman Part 2
Chapter 8
After begrudgingly agreeing to go through a medical examination, Tony is given a clean bill of health. (Despite the Arc Reactor in his chest of course.)
He retreats from the Air Base's medical wing and heads outside towards his limo while muttering under his breath about nosy doctors.
Happy sees Tony coming out of the building, so he steps out of the vehicle to greet him. "Good to have you back, Boss."
Tony is brought out of his rant when he hears the relief in his friend's voice.
"Good to be back, Happy." Tony replies with a genuine smile as he gets in the vehicle, but immediately loses it when he hears one of the last voices he wanted to hear. "Oh, my boy, I'm so relieved you're home."
Tony side-eyes Obadiah on one side of the vehicle with a sickeningly fake smile, and looks over at Pepper with a worried expression on the other.
'Yeah, I bet you are, you rotten bastard.' Tony internally scoffs.
Despite wanting nothing more than to tear his throat out, Tony plays his part to perfection. "Me too, Obi."
Tony moves to sit next to Pepper, who instantly starts fretting over him. "Are you ok, Tony?"
Tony gives her a faint smile. "I'm ok, Pep, I swear." Emotional trauma notwithstanding.
Pepper's about to object –very likely seeing right through her friend/boss– when Obadiah interrupts, "You heard the man, Darlin, now let's go. We got to let the media frenzy begin, so Tony can go home and rest properly afterwards."
"Yeah, yeah, but before that, Happy?" Tony calls on his friend.
The glass barrier between the drivers seat and the back opens and Happy asks, "Yeah, Boss?"
"To the nearest drive-thru, I'm craving some cheeseburgers." Tony answers.
Happy and Pepper both smile, glad to see this experience hadn't changed Tony too much.
-In Malibu-
Gohan is sitting with Goten as the infant played with his various, strewn about toys, when JARVIS announces, "Young Sir Gohan, the press conference welcoming Sir back is beginning."
"Great, can you put it on screen, please?"
The nearby TV turns on, showing Tony walking up to a podium.
Goten looks up at the screen and excitedly shouts, "Dada!"
Gohan smiles at Goten. "Yeah, he's on tv. Cool, huh?"
He turns to the screen to listen to Tony's statement.
After waiting for the barrage of questions from the reporters die down, Tony calmly addresses the crowd. "I am not here to talk about my time in captivity. I'm only here to say that after going through this experience, watching American soldiers be killed by the weapons I'd created to protect them, I am hereby immediately shutting down Stark Industries' weapons division. I will no longer profit from the destruction of other people's homes and lives."
Obadiah momentarily lets his shock show, but he composes himself before rushing over to the podium. "I'm sure that Mr. Stark is just exhausted from his ordeal."
Expecting Obadiah would try something like that, Tony just talks over him. "I'm making this decision with a sound mind. The weapons division will be shut down, but all employees in said division will be given new positions. No one will be losing their jobs over this, I assure you."
The live feed cuts out once Tony steps away from the podium.
"After this, Obadiah won't be able to illegally sell high grade weaponry anymore. Now we just have to wait and see how he responds to this move." Gohan contemplates to himself
He turns the TV off and sits back down with Goten to await Tony and Pepper's return.
-Tony's Limo-
"Tony, you have to see reason!" Obadiah shouts.
Tony just rolls his eyes. "For the hundredth time, Obi, I'm not changing my mind on this."
Pepper tries to chip in. "Mr. Stane, Tony seems to have made up his mind so-"
"Please, Darlin, this is between me and Anthony." Obadiah interrupts her. "Son, if this nonsense is about those boys you're letting freeload at your home, then I think it's time we discuss them again."
Tony levels a glare at Obadiah. "Discuss them how?"
Obadiah leans closer and whispers, "Well what would the media think if they see you with those urchin? Especially that little one with the monkey tail, now that's a headline I'd bet you'd like to avoid."
Tony and Pepper both nearly burst into flames out of sheer fury at that thinly veiled threat, but Tony quickly settles down enough to not punch Obadiah in the throat and says, "Those boys have nothing to do with this. I was abducted, tortured, and it helped me see making more tools for war isn't how to help the world."
"Oh, and you know another way?" Obadiah sneers.
"Yeah, I think I do."
"And what would that be?"
"That isn't your concern, and neither are Gohan and Goten. So I suggest you leave them out of this and keep your mouth shut about their 'special' traits, or else."
Seemingly intrigued and a little amused, Obadiah asks, "Or else what?"
Tony gives one of his mocking smirks he normally saves for the douchiest of reporters and leans back into his seat. "You'll just have to wait and see."
Before Obadiah can respond, Happy announces, "Boss, we're here."
Tony looks out the window and sees his home.
Tony and Pepper promptly exit the vehicle, and Pepper asks, "Happy, please take Mr. Stane home?"
"You got it, Pep." Happy agrees, then practically peels out before Obadiah can start another argument.
As soon as the car is out of sight, Pepper turns to Tony and asks, "Do you really think it's wise to push Obadiah like that?"
"Probably not, but I won't tolerate him threatening the boys." Tony stubbornly answers.
It warms Pepper's heart to see Tony be so protective of Gohan and Goten, but that doesn't mean she won't tease him about it. What kind of friend would she be if she didn't? "Alright, Papa Bear, just try not to let Obadiah know we're on to him, ok?"
Tony just smirks and jabs backs. "Like you weren't about to unleash the beast on him when he threatened to expose the boys."
Pepper laughs and lightly shoves Tony's shoulder. "Well, speaking of the boys, I bet they're waiting for us. Let's go inside so they can welcome you back home."
Tony lets out a laugh of his own as he and Pepper head to the front door.
As soon as Tony and Pepper have stepped inside and closed the door behind them, they're greeted by an excited Goten toddling toward them at full speed. "Dada! Mama!"
Tony crouches down, scoops Goten into his arms, and greets the boy. "Hey, how's my Monkey been doing?"
He stands back up and lightly tosses Goten into the air a couple of times.
Goten squeals in delight as Gohan comes into view. "He's been getting more and more excited as he sensed you 2 getting closer."
Tony looks down at Goten and asks, "Is that true, Little Buddy? Were you waiting for me to come back before you threw that wild party of yours?"
Goten grabs Tony's nose and squeezes it. "Ya!"
"Ahh! Deja vu!" Tony exclaims in a nasally voice. He pretends to bite at Goten's arm.
While Tony has Goten distracted with his antics, Pepper tells Gohan, "Obadiah isn't too pleased with Tony shutting down the weapons division."
"Did he try something?" Gohan asks.
"He threatened to expose you, Goten, and your powers." Tony tells him, shifting Goten to one arm while the baby curiously poked at the lump on his shirt from the Arc Reactor.
"Do you think he'll actually do that?" Gohan asks. He can't even imagine the repercussions that could have on them all.
Tony shrugs. "Not sure, but if he decides to go through with it, there's something we need to do before he starts spreading the word."
Gohan tilts his head in confusion. "What's that?"
To answer him, Tony just looks up to the ceiling and asks, "JARVIS, how fast can you get the necessary documents to officially register me and Pepper as Gohan and Goten's legal guardians drawn up?"
"I can have it done within the hour, Sir."
Gohan's eyebrows shoot up. "Really?"
Tony shrugs again, and casually says, "Yep. This way, if Obi alerts the wrong people about you 2, with me and Pep as your legal guardians, anyone that would want to try and take you will be in for the legal battle of their lives."
If this conflict is unavoidable, it's best they keep it from escalating to the point where Gohan is forced to physically protect Goten and himself.
"I know I've said this a bunch of times before, but thank you. Goten and I would be so lost if we hadn't met you when we got here." Gohan bows in gratitude, seeing this as a huge sacrifice on Tony and Pepper's part.
"Don't sweat it, Kid." Tony assures. "Also, JARVIS, get rid of Obi's spyware. It's time to stop pretending we don't know his true colors."
"Right away, Sir." JARVIS acknowledges.
"Are you going to make something in the lab that you don't want him seeing?" Gohan asks.
"Affirmative, and I don't want any possibility of him finding out about it. So we can't risk him catching on that we're just feeding him fake footage like we did when we made those capsules."
"Can I help?" Gohan asks, eager to chip in.
"Absolutely, I'll need your input on this."
He waves for Gohan to come along before turning on his heel to head to the lab.
Gohan jogs after him. "You got it."
Though before they got too far, Pepper asks, "Can't you rest a bit more before you do whatever you've got planned? And why do you need to take Goten down with you?"
Tony turns back to Pepper. "I'll be fine, Pep. With you, JARVIS, and Gohan watching out for me, I know none of you will let me overdo it too much. And Goten's coming along to keep DUM-E distracted so he doesn't try to blast me and Gohan with the fire extinguisher while we're working."
At hearing the bot's name, Goten excitedly cheers, "Dum-Eee!"
Well, she can't argue with that. Pepper chuckles and concedes. "Alright, just try to pace yourself."
Tony grins and asks. "Don't I always?"
-Stark Industries Facility-
Obadiah strolls into his scientist's lab. "Do you have the S-Suppressor ready?"
A meek man nods to him. "Yes, Mr. Stane. It took awhile, but we're very confident that this will have the desired effect."
Obadiah claps the man on the shoulder. "Excellent, get as much as you can produced. I think the time I'm going to have to use it is coming very soon."
"Yes, sir." the man replies, then goes to complete that task.
'Now I'll have what I need to keep those urchin in check, and soon I'll get my hands on Tony's last little golden egg.'
-Tony's Lab-
While Goten was keeping DUM-E occupied with stacking blocks and knocking them over, Tony and Gohan start working on a new suit of armor.
"So once we get this new suit up and running, do you wanna go a practice round with me to see how it holds up?" Gohan asks.
"Yeah, if you don't mind? If this can hold its own against you even while still at your normal state, then I don't see what anyone else would be able to do against it."
"Sure, but I still want you to work on your Ki control and hand to hand combat training with me, just in case you're in a situation where you can't access the armor."
Seems like a fair bargain. "You got a deal, Kid." Tony agrees with a smirk.
After dedicating a couple of days to make a more efficient Arc Reactor, various safety tests, (Gohan insisted) and upgrades for the armor, Tony and Gohan had the Mark 2 ready for its maiden voyage.
They take a moment to admire their work, but Tony can only contain his excitement for so long. "All right, everything is in working order. Ready to go on a test flight, Gohan?"
"Yeah, let's do it." Gohan replies, a bit excited himself.
Tony dawns the suit, Gohan puts on the gi and visor he wore when he went to retreive Tony.
JARVIS opens a panel in the lab wall, and they both take off.
As he maneuvers through the air, Tony is absolutely ecstatic. He couldn't begin to explain the elation freely flying through the air is giving him.
He and Gohan take a test lap around the city, surprising a few locals they pass riding on a ferris wheel.
"How's it going? Any problems?" Gohan checks in.
Tony laughter is all he gets for an answer.
'I guess everything is going smoothly.' Gohan thinks to himself before he asks aloud, "Are you ready to head back for the next test?"
Tony turns to Gohan. "Sure thing, Kiddo, gotta see how it stands up in a fight."
They fly a few miles out from the shore near Tony's house and put a few meters of distance between each other.
Gohan gets into his usual fighting stance, Tony tucks both arms to his sides.
They blast towards each other, each throwing a punch at the other.
Their fists collide and the resulting shockwave pushes all the water under them away, exposing the seafloor for several seconds.
Gohan quickly follows with a small Ki blast from his other hand.
Tony manages to deflect it upwards, then with a boost of speed and force from a jet boot, dishes out a powerful kick aimed at Gohan's side.
Gohan blocks with his arm, but is still sent flying further out to sea.
Gohan stops himself, then hears Tony call out to him. "Come on, Gohan, I'm not asking you to turn Super Saiyan, but give me more than this."
"Are you sure?" Gohan asks, worried how easily this could end up going too far.
"Yeah, just scale yourself up bit by bit until the suit reaches it's limits."
"Ok." Gohan complies, but demands, "But if the suit takes damage I don't notice right away, or if I hurt you, let me know so we can stop immediately."
"I promise, Kid, and JARVIS will let you know if he notices something before I do."
Gohan nods, and powers up to around the level he reached after Guru unlocked some of his potential when they first met.
He flashsteps, appearing right in front of Tony, and aims a punch at his gut.
Tony uses both hands to try and catch the fist, but he's still launched up into the air.
Gohan flashsteps again, this time appearing behind Tony. He clasps both his hands together and slams them into Tony's back, sending him hurtling towards the water.
Tony manages to right himself and attempts to use the repulsors in his gauntlets and boots to stop his descent.
He (just barely) succeeds in avoiding landing in the water, but when he looks up there's a shower of Ki blasts heading his way.
'Ok, time to see if this'll work.' Tony thinks as he aims his gauntlets and fires a barrage of repulsor blasts.
Gohan and Tony's blasts collide, resulting in an explosion causing both of them to lose sight of the other.
Tony uses his senses and feels Gohan appearing behind him.
Gohan aims a kick at Tony's back and is pleasantly surprised when he ducks, turns around, and fires another repulsor blast at Gohan's chest.
The blast hits its mark, but Gohan holds himself in place and fires a blast of his own at Tony's chest.
Tony rockets up into the air to avoid the blast.
As he goes higher and higher to try and get some distance, ice begins to form on the armor and encase it.
Before JARVIS can warn Tony to stop his ascent, all the suit's systems shut down and Tony plummets.
He tries smashing the ice enough so the suit can reboot, but it doesn't seem to be working.
When Gohan notices Tony is falling, he rockets upward to catch him. Though before he can make it to him, the suit starts back up and Tony manages to right himself on his own.
"Whoa, that was a little close." Tony jokes as the face plate comes up.
"Yeah, no kidding. Are you ok?" Gohan asks, exasperated, but also relieved.
"I'm fine, Kiddo, sorry for the scare." Tony apologizes, seeing the worried expression on Gohan's face.
"That's ok. So how is everything feeling? Did I go too far?"
"Nah, besides a few dents in the armor, and maybe a few bruises, everything is good." Tony reassures.
"I'd still prefer we call it a night and head back."
"Sure thing, I'll fix the dented parts or replace them if necessary, then pick out a paint job for the suit." Tony rattles off.
"But before all that, you need to be checked out by JARVIS to make sure you're ok." Gohan firmly adds, he won't back down on that.
"Alright, alright. Get the boring stuff out of the way." Tony snarks in reply.
Gohan just laughs and begins to head back.
Tony follows and once they make it back into the lab, he removes the suit, gets a clean bill of health from JARVIS, then he and Gohan work on the repairs and try to strengthen the Mark 2, as well as outlining a design for a Mark 3 until the early hours of the morning.
Tony had just finished the Mark 2's paint job when JARVIS alerts him, "Sir, there's something on the news you should see."
Tony looks around and finds Gohan asleep on the nearby cot. "Bring it up, JARVIS, just keep the volume low."
"Of course, Sir." A screen appears, showing a report about a village in the middle east being held hostage by a terrorist group.
Tony immediately thinks of Yinsen, what happened to his family, village, and lets loose the pain and grief of Yinsen's death he'd been holding down.
He can't just ignore this, not with all the blood already on his hands. "Guess I'm going on another test flight."
In the hopes Gohan doesn't wake up, Tony tiptoes over to him, gently moves one arm under the boy's knees, and the other under his shoulders, lifts him up, and slowly makes his way up to Gohan and Goten's room.
Thankfully, the door to the boys' room was cracked open, so Tony was able to push it the rest of the way with his foot.
He steps inside, walks past Goten's crib, where the baby is still sleeping, and places Gohan on his bed at the end of the room.
Tony gets him under his blankets, walks out, and lightly closes the door behind him. "Thanks for all the help, Kid, but this is something I have to do on my own."
Without another word, Tony heads back down to the lab, suits up, and takes off.
A couple hours later, Tony spots the captive village up ahead.
As he gets closer, he sees two of the terrorists trying to drag a boy away from his father and about to shoot them for not complying.
Yeah, no, that shit ain't gonna fly. He crashes down into the village and begins to pick off the terrorists.
Tony shoots them down one by one with his repulsor blasts as bullets harmlessly bounce off of his armor.
He spots a tank firing a shell at him. He casually side steps the projectile, aims his right arm at the tank, and launches a tiny missile at it from his wrist.
He turns on his heel and marches over to the last enemy standing as the tank explodes behind him.
He tears the gun right out of the man's hands and shoves him to the ground.
"He's all yours." Tony tells the villagers, leaving the last terrorist to their mercy as he destroys the weapons they were using, then takes off.
As he's flying back, JARVIS informs him, "Sir, you've got a call from Young Sir Gohan."
Shit, he'd been hoping to get back home before the kid woke up. "Put him on, J."
JARVIS complies and Tony answers the call. "Hey, Kiddo, what's up?"
"Maybe you can tell me that, I'm almost at your location." Gohan informs.
Tony looks around and spots Gohan approaching. "Why did you come after me?"
"Once JARVIS showed me the newscast he showed you, I figured you'd do something like this. So I wanted to make sure you had back-up this time."
"JARVIS, why did you show him that?"
"Well, Sir, you didn't tell me I shouldn't." JARVIS deadpans.
"It was implied, J." Tony groans.
Getting back on topic, Tony turns back to Gohan. "I appreciate you wanting to look out for me, Gohan, but this was something I had to do on my own."
"Why did you have to do it on your own?"
"Kid, it's my responsibility to make up for the damage that my company's weapons have caused."
"But it's not your fault that they got out to the wrong people, Obadiah did that." Gohan tries to reason.
"But I trusted him, Gohan, and that is my fault!" Tony shouts in frustration. "I trusted that bastard, and now so many people are dead because of it!"
Before Gohan can respond to that, Tony is hit by a large projectile and shot out of the air.
He quickly rights himself, then he and Gohan search for where the shot came from, spotting 2 fighter jets rapidly approaching them.
Gohan flies over to Tony's side. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine, though we should probably get out of here."
Gohan nods in agreement and they take off.
As they flee from the jets, Tony gets another phone call. "Who is it now, J?"
"It's Colonel Rhodes, Sir."
"Shit."
"Should i put him through, Sir? Also, that makes $10,400 on the 'Swear Jar' now."
"Fine, patch the kid in and answer it, J."
Again, JARVIS complies, and Tony and Gohan hear, "Tony, please tell me it's not some your things my jets are chasing."
"Hey, Rhodey, I'm not sure what you're talking about, Honey Bear."
"What's that sound? Where are you right now?"
"Oh, I'm just driving with the roof down, the kid is here with me."
"Hey, Rhodey." Gohan chimes in.
"Hey, Gohan. Tony, are you sure these things aren't some of yours?"
Before Tony can answer, the jets start shooting at him and Gohan again.
Gohan deflects their bullets, and as Tony is about to make another excuse, Gohan's voice echoes in his head, 'It's probably better if we just tell him the truth.'
'Yeah, I guess your right.' Tony telepathically replies, then answers aloud, "It's us, Rhodey."
"I didn't just hear that."
"It's me and Gohan your jets are shooting at, Platypus." Tony confirms.
"What the hell am I supposed to do here, Tones? How am I supposed to explain this?"
"Just say it was a training exercise." Tony suggests. "Isn't that the usual B.S?"
"That can't possibly work here."
-Hours later-
Once Gohan deflected all the shots from the fighter jets, he grabbed Tony and flashstepped out of the pilots line of sight.
Afterwards, they headed back home and went to the lab, where they are currently still holed up, trying to get the suit off of Tony.
JARVIS brought up a screen playing the press conference where Rhodey is using Tony's idea, calling what happened a training exercise to appease the public, much to Tony's amusement.
Pepper with Goten in her arms enters the lab and is welcomed by the sight of a bunch of robotic arms and Gohan trying to pry a suit of armor off of Tony.
"We built this thing to come off, so it should be coming off." Tony complains.
"I could just tear it off, but then it'll take a lot longer to repair." Gohan suggests.
Pepper clears her throat, Gohan and Tony startle, turn to her, and all the latter can think to say is, "Let's face it, this isn't the worst thing you've walked in on me doing."
While Gohan raises an eyebrow at Tony's comment, Pepper just puts Goten down, who then waddles over to Gohan as she informs Tony with a straight face, "Tony, I don't know what this is, but I just came down here to tell you that Obadiah is upstairs waiting for you."
"Could you keep him busy while JARVIS and Gohan get this off me?"
"How long will that take?"
Luckily, the suit finally starts coming off at that moment.
"That long I guess." Tony quips.
The suit finally disassembles and he goes to head out of the lab.
"Should Goten and I stay down here?" Gohan asks as he picks Goten up.
"Nah, you don't need to hide from him." Tony assures.
They head upstairs together where Obadiah greets them. "There you are, Son, and your new dependents."
"I take it you saw the adoption forms, huh?"
"Yes, as did all the board members. And we made the decision to inform the media and host a gala to publicly welcome your boys to the family."
"Are you serious?!" Tony growls.
"Of course. The genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, Tony Stark becoming a foster father to two orphaned, destitute boys is a huge deal. Everyone is going to want to see them, it'll be great publicity. Hopefully distract everyone from your last press conference." Obadiah cheerily explains.
"Don't give me that crap, Obi!" Tony snarls, seeing right through the other man's intentions.
"No need for hostility, my boy, unless there's some reason you want to keep your boys out of the public eye." Obadiah sneers, daring Tony to act.
Tony looks like he's about to say something he shouldn't, so Gohan steps in. "Of course not, Mr. Stane. Tony and Pepper were just giving me and Goten some time to adjust. We'll be ready for this gala. We have nothing to hide."
"Kid, you don't have to do this." Tony protests.
"It's ok, we couldn't put this off forever. May as well get it out of the way sooner than later."
"Very practical of you, young man." Obadiah praises.
Tony sighs in resignation and asks, "When's it happening?"
"At the end of the week, it'll give you some time to get some formal attire for the boys and run them through what to expect."
"Great, thanks for the notice, Obi. We'll see you then." Tony quickly replies, hoping the man will take the hint and get lost.
"Of course." Obadiah responds, then while heading out the door, he adds, "Oh, and make sure you find a way to hide the little one's tail. Don't want anyone seeing that now do we?"
"Asshole!" Tony shouts as he slams the door behind Obadiah.
"$10,500 now Sir." JARVIS quips.
Tony just rolls his eyes at JARVIS' scorekeeping and trudges back to the living room.
"So what's the plan, Mr. Stark?" Pepper asks.
Refusing to let Obadiah shake him, Tony tells her, "Well, Ms. Potts, I guess we all better get ready for a party."