Problems with the Board
Tony is seated at his desk once again, his monitors displaying designs for what appears to be the digital schematics for the arm's repulsors. He's typing furiously, making adjustments here and there, only pausing to sip his coffee, but even then he continues typing with his one free hand, his eyes never leaving the screen.
Back at his hologram table, he's using his pen that controls the position and movements of the holograms, swinging a spherical object around and setting in the correct position on the internal design. He clicks the pen once and shoves it into his pocket, taking a step forward and moving his arm into the holographic armour design. His finger taps the table before he moves his arm so that it's face up, the holograms moving with him to reveal the flight stabilizing repulsor resting in his palm.
“Impressive holograms.” Strange praised, Tony smiled.
“Thanks, Doc.”
The view switches to reveal the now assembled framework of the Iron Man arm, with Tony's arm resting inside of it as he closes the frame over his forearm and biceps. There are wires running from his arc reactor to the arm, giving it the power it needs to work. He makes a few tweaks with his tool, glancing over his shoulder at Pepper as she keys into the lab, a box with a coffee mug atop it resting in her hand before he turns back to his work.
"Up two… alright, set that."
"I've been buzzing you. Did you hear the intercom?" The strawberry blonde inquires as she makes her way further into the workshop.
“Tony hearing something?” Bruce asked amused. “Not very likely.” Tony gave him a look of mock offence.
Tony, obviously not paying attention, begins to answer, "Yeah everythings… what?"
Not surprised by the genius' attention span, Pepper simply sets the box and coffee on one of the workbenches as she answers, "Obadiah's upstairs."
Rhodey narrowed his eyes.
"Great-"
"What would you like me to tell him?”
“How about to piss off?” suggested Rhodey. A few questioning looks were sent his way.
"Great," He repeats before answering her question, "I'll be right up." He places his free hand beneath the armour framework and lifts it up as gently as he can, grunting a slight, "Okay."
Pepper seems to take notice of what he's doing now, taking a few steps closer and fixing him with a glare, "I thought you said you were done making weapons?"
"Not a weapon," Tony corrects matter-of-factly.
"It isn't," He states with a roll of his shoulder, "This is a flight stabilizer," He explains as he reaches forward and presses a button on the table. There's a faint whirring sound as he reassures her, "It's completely harmless." Just then, the stabilizer activates, shooting out from his palm and sending the mad genius flying back into a shelf.
Everyone began to laugh again Tony glared at them.
“If you laugh for ages everytime I get hurt while testing things then this will take even longer.” The laughter died down but amused looks were sent Tony’s way.
Pepper winces and covers her ears at the sound of tools and supplies crashing and clattering to the ground, before turning back to stare at the genius as he gives his weak explanation.
"I didn't expect that."
A ripple of snickers went through the room again. Tony rolled his eyes.
Someone is playing the piano as Tony makes his way up the stairs from his workshop. There's an expensive looking statue sitting to the right of the steps, with a glass divider that has a stream of water flowing down it just behind it. The billionaire is free of the armour framework and the harness that had been around the arc reactor. He's left with blue jeans a light grey T-shirt covered in oil stains with a hole cut from the centre, displaying the reactor.
“Did you do that to all your shirts?” Thor asked mildly curious.
“I did for a while until… a thing happened.” Tony replied vaguely. Thor looked like he wanted to ask what the thing was until Loki glared at him obviously noticing the pained look on Tony’s face at the memory.
"How'd it go?" He questions as he makes his way further into the room.
Obadiah is revealed to be the pianist, though he only spares a glance at the genius before he returns to playing.
Pepper is seated on the couch surrounded by papers and typing on her laptop, but it's the pizza box on the table catches Tony's eye, "It went that bad, huh?"
“How could you say that about Pizza!” Peter said in mock horror. Tony rolled his eyes before gesturing to the screen.
"Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it went bad," The older man states, his gaze never leaving the keys as he continues his playing.
"Uh huh, sure doesn't," Tony states sarcastically as he opens the lid of the box, "Oh boy," He sighs as he reaches for a piece.
"It would have gone better if you were there," Obadiah says once he's finished playing, reaching for his drink instead.
Cause everything's better with Stark. Wanda thought viciously
"Nuh uh," the billionaire mumbles through a bite of pizza as he glances over at his business partner, who is now rising from the piano bench, "You told me to lay low; that's what I've been doing," the mechanic reasons, snagging a napkin and waving it around as he speaks, "I lay low and you take care of all…" He trails off, wiping his mouth with the napkin.
"Hey, come on," Obadiah interrupts him as he makes his way over to the genius, "In public, the press. This was a board of directors meeting," He states simply as he takes a seat next to Tony.
That seems to catch Tony's attention, as he turns to Obadiah with a slightly surprised expression, "This was… this was a board of directors meeting?"
Tony continues eating his pizza as the older man begins to explain, speaking as if Tony were a child, "The board is claiming you have post-traumatic stress. They're filing an injunction."
“I was dealing with it,” grumbled Tony, Rhodey looked at him disbelieving.
“Sure”
"A what?" Tony questions disbelievingly.
“You didn’t know what that was?” Clint snorted, Natasha glared at him.
“I knew what it was. I just was surprised.” Tony retorted.
"They want to lock you out."
"Why? Because the stocks dipped 40 points? We knew that was going to happen," He says, pointing an accusing finger at his partner.
"Fifty-six and a half," Pepper corrects him.
“Yikes.” Scott whistled.
"It doesn't matter," Tony argues, his voice rising just slightly as he turns to look at Pepper, "We own the controlling interest in the company."
"Tony, the board has rights, too," Obadiah points out, drawing the billionaire's attention back to him, "They're making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest."
"I'm being responsible! That's a new direction… for me. For the company,"
“Definitely for you,” smirked Peter mischievously. Tony grinned at the kid.
Tony counters between bites. At Obie's open-mouthed, incredulous stare, he struggles a bit with the words and makes haste to correct himself, "I mean, me on the company's behalf, being responsible for the way that…"
Pepper sighs, giving him an equally exasperated stare before he finally gives up, "Oh, this great." He stands abruptly and snags the pizza box.
"Oh, come on. Tony. Tony." Obie calls after him before taking a quick sip of his drink.
"I'll be in the shop," the annoyed mechanic supplies as he makes away with the pizza.
"Hey, hey! Hey, Tony, listen," Obadiah says as he gets up and follows the genius, grabbing his shoulder and turning him to face him, "I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them."
Obadiah points to the arc reactor poking through the hole cut in Tony's shirt, before continuing, "Let me have the engineers analyze that. You know, draw up some specs."
"No," Tony immediately declines, much to Obadiah's displeasure, "No, absolutely not."
“Luckily otherwise we would be screwed,” Natasha says matter of factly
"It'll give me a bone to throw the boys in New York!" He argues, raising his voice.
"This one stays with me. That's it, Obie. Forget it." Tony says, effectively ending the discussion as he resumes walking away.
"Alright, well this stays with me, then," Obadiah snags the pizza box from the genius, opening up the lid, "Go on, here you can have a piece. Take two."
“Or the whole box,” Strange said looking annoyed. On-screen Tony still looked rather malnourished.
"Thank you," Tony states simply, his hand reaching into the frame to snatch the slices.
"You mind if I come down there and see what you're doing?" The older man calls after the retreating genius.
"Good night, Obie."