Hi all, here is chapter 4 for your enjoyment. Please review and let me know what you think.

Note: Re-upload


Izzy watched Obadiah warily as he charged through the doors like a bull.

"That..." Obadiah seemed almost too angry for words. "That went well."

Tony looked up in amusement. "Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?" He asked as Izzy hopped down, clinging closer to Tony.

"Your head?" Obadiah demanded. "What about my head? What do you think the over-under on a stock drop is gonna be?"

Tony shrugged. "Optimistically?" He said.

Izzy looked up at him. "40 Points?" She said.

"At minimum." Obadiah replied glancing at her before resuming his pacing. "Tony, we're a weapons manufacturer."

"Obie, I just..." Tony sighed in frustration, but Izzy hugged closer to him in support. "I don't want the body count to be up..."

"That's what we do." Obadiah said firmly. "We're iron mongers, we make weapons."

"My name is on the face of the building." Tony said.

Obadiah continued on. "What we do keeps the world from falling into chaos." He said.

"Not based on what I saw." Tony replied. "We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better, we're gonna do something else."

Obadiah turned back to him. "Oh, like what? You want us to make baby bottles?" He asked.

"I think we should take another look into Arc Reactor technology." Tony said.

"Oh, come on." Obadiah said. "The Arc Reactor, that's a publicity stunt! Tony, c'mon! We built that thing to shut the hippies up!"

"It works." Tony said.

Izzy cringed slightly. She didn't want to tell Obadiah about it.

"Yeah, as a science project." Obadiah said. "The Arc was never cost-effective. We knew that before we built it. Arc Reactor technology, that's a dead end, right?"

Tony smiled. "Maybe." He said.

"Am I right?" Obadiah asked. "We haven't had a breakthrough in that, in what... 30 years."

"That's what they say." Tony said.

Obadiah started to smile. "Could you have a lousier poker face?" He said.

"Just tell me, who told you?" Tony said.

"Never mind who told me." Obadiah said. "Show me."

Tony continued on. "Rhodey or Pepper?"

"I wanna see it." Obadiah repeated.

"Okay, Rhodey." Tony said before unbuttoning his shirt to reveal the mini-reactor in his chest. Izzy stared at it with wide eyes as well, mind immediately going towards the specs. "It works."

Obadiah stared at it for a second before he looked around and closed Tony's shirt, laughing nervously. "Listen to me, Tony. We are a team, do you understand?" He said. Izzy frowned. "There's nothing we can't do if we stick together, like your father and I."

"I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads up, okay?" Tony said. "But if I had..."

"Tony, no more of this 'ready - fire - aim' business." Obadiah said. "Do you understand me?"

Tony smirked. "That was dad's line." He said.

"You gotta let me handle this." Obadiah said. "We're gonna have to play whole different kind of ball now. We're gonna have to take a lot of heat. I want you to promise me that you're gonna lay low."

Tony nodded in agreement.

Things went as to be expected with Obadiah, but once it was out of the way, it allowed them room to work. Izzy gave Tony her rundown of the things she had learned while he was in captivity, including the shady things that Obadiah had been doing while everyone thought that he was dead. Tony made a decision, and though it was obviously an edited version, he filled Izzy in on Afghanistan, focusing on the MARK I suit and the reactor that he was able to create with Yinsen. Tony recreated the specs in the workshop, so she could see the 3-D version of the mini arc reactor model.

Izzy's eyes widened as she looked at the reactor. "You made this in a cave?" She said as she moved it around and broke it down to examine it in better detail.

"Starks are resourceful." Tony said with a smile.

She nodded and continued to look at the specs.

Tony watched her carefully as she worked through it piece by piece. "Tell me what we should do next?" He said.

She glanced up at him and smiled. This was how he taught her to build everything from circuit boards to engines, he let her break it down and then got her to think about what needed and could be improved. "We need to make this more efficient." She said taking off a few virtual pieces. "Like you said, the one you have now could work for a short time, but if we can create a more powerful reactor while making the next suit more energy efficient than we can do what you're talking about."

"Perfect." He said smiling proudly. "Now let's get to work."

It took them about three hours to create the new reactor because Tony showed her step by step what to do.

Izzy was leaning on her knees on the top of the stool by the workbench, Tony sitting opposite of her as they finished up with the new Arc Reactor. As the device came alive, Izzy stared at it in silent amazement.

Izzy was watching at DUM-E and U helped Tony set up the exam table and the clean table to hold the new reactor and some medical equipment that no one in the house was really trained to use. There was a problem with replacing the old arc reactor.

"She's not going to like you very much." Izzy commented.

"She'll forgive me." Tony replied as he got up on the table and took his shirt off exposing the old Arc reactor. He looked towards where the closest intercom was and called. "Pepper! How big are your hands?"

"What?"Came the very confused reply.

"How big are your hands?" Tony repeated.

There was a pause and Izzy could picture Pepper looking at her hands. "I don't understand why..."

"Get down here." Tony said. "I need you."

Izzy climbed up on a stool next to the workbench to watch and see what happens.

"Nope." Tony said. "You're going upstairs."

Her head shot up. "What? No! Why?" She complained.

"Because Princess, you are eight." He said. "You don't need to watch this."

She gave him a deadpan look. "Really?" She said. She made a circular motion with her hand. "This is where you draw the line?"

Pepper appeared at that moment. Punching in her code to the workshop, she stared at the scene before her.

"Hey…Let's see them." Tony called, holding up one of his to demonstrate. "Show me your hands. Let's see them." Pepper held up her hands as she walked forward, still too shocked to respond properly. "Oh, wow, they are small. Very petite. I just need your help for a sec."

"Oh my God, is that the thing that's keeping you alive?" Pepper asked looking at the old core.

"It was, it is now an antique." Tony said handing her the old one. "This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future." He picked up the replacement. "I was swapping it up for an upgraded unit and I just ran into a little... speed bump."

"Speed bump?" Pepper asked looking at him in alarm, knowing him too well. "What's happening?"

"It's nothing, it's just a little snag." Tony said reassuringly. "There's an exposed wire under this device and is contacting a socket wall and is causing a little bit of a short circuit."

Pepper frowned in confusion. "What do you want me to do?" She asked.

"Put that on the table over there." He instructed her. "That is irrelevant. I just want you to reach in... and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out."

"Is it safe?" Pepper asked.

Safe-ish. Izzy thought.

Tony was more confident. "Yeah, it should be fine." He said.

"It's just like Operation." Izzy threw in, trying to be helpful.

Pepper glanced back at her and then at Tony. "Operation?" She said confused.

"It's a game,you just don't let it touch the socket wall." Tony said as he looked back at Izzy. "I told you to go upstairs."

Izzy just stared at him with a stubborn expression.

"Never mind." Tony said with a sigh and turned back to Pepper, who was freaking out by the second. "Just gently lift the wire."

"Okay…" Pepper said after a second.

"Okay?" Tony said. "Great."

Pepper stared to reach her hand in but retracted. "You know, I don't think that I am qualified to do this." She said looking at Tony in panic.

"No, no, you're fine." Tony said calmly, reassuringly. "You're the most capable, qualified and trustworthy person I've ever met. You're gonna do great." Pepper stared at him. "Is it too much of a problem to ask? Cause I really need your help here."

"Okay, okay." Pepper said. She reached in the hole in his chest and made a face. "Oh, there's pus!"

"It's not pus." Tony said calmly. "It's a plasmic discharge, it's from the device, not from my body."

Pepper whimpered. "It smells!" She said looking up.

"Yeah, it does." Tony agreed, watching what she was doing. "The copper wire. The copper wire, you got it?"

"I got it." Pepper said.

Izzy tensed as she watched this unfold.

"Now don't let it touch..." There was a buzzing noise as it shocked him. "...the sides, that's what I was trying to tell you before." He said. "Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, you don't pull out the magnet and the end of it." The magnet came out. "That was it...that you just pulled out."

Izzy covered her mouth with her hands as the monitors started beeping.

"Oh God." Pepper started to panic. "OK, what do I do?"

"Don't put it back in!" Tony said.

Pepper looked at him. "What's wrong?" She asked.

Tony was having trouble breathing. "Nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest because you yanked out..."

"What? I thought you said this was safe!" Pepper cried.

"We gotta hurry." Tony said trying to keep his head. "Take this, you gotta switch, real quick."

"Okay, okay." Pepper said. "Tony, it's gonna be okay. I'm gonna make this okay."

Tony nodded. "You gotta touch that to base plate. And make sure you..." He cried out in surprise as he was shocked again as it was connected. He looked up at her calmly. "Was that so hard? That was fun, right?" He took over attaching the rest of it. "I got it, I got it. Nice."

"Are you okay?" Pepper asked, adrenaline still running.

"Yeah, I feel great." Tony said.

Izzy released the air in her lungs and jumped down as Tony started to laugh.

Pepper actually laughed, despite the situation. "Don't ever, ever…ever ask me to do anything like that ever again." She said.

"I don't have anyone but you." Tony said quietly with a shrug.

Izzy ran over to join them, and Tony lifted her into his arms, hugging her close. "Are we ready?" Tony asked kissing her cheek and she nodded.

"What do you want me to do with this?" Pepper asked.

Tony looked back. "That? Destroy it. Incinerate it." He said.

Pepper frowned. "You don't wanna keep it?" She asked.

"Pepper, I've been called many things." Tony said looking at her. "Nostalgic is not one of them."

Pepper sighed fondly. "Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" She asked.

"That will be all, Ms. Potts." Tony replied with that same gentle tone. Izzy smiled. As Pepper left them, taking the old reactor with her, Tony turned to U. "Hey butterfingers, come here. What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk? That's my phone, that's a picture of me and my dad..." He pointed at the pile, still holding Izzy with one arm. "Right there. In garbage. All that stuff."

Izzy wrapped her arms around his neck. In hindsight, she should have gone upstairs because watching her father start to go into cardiac arrest was very stressful, but in the end, she felt better having watched what to do.

That night after Pepper went home, Tony called it early when he saw Izzy fighting to stay awake as she looked over the reactor designs. He walked over and picked her up, her arms wrapping tightly around him, carrying her upstairs. Thankfully Pepper had convinced her to get in her pajamas before she left, so Tony was able to just tuck her into bed.

He kissed her forehead and went to walk out, turning the lights down so only the twinkling lights strung about her room were on. As he moved to close the door, he looked at the massive chalkboard that was on the wall by the door. She was constantly changing it and was actually a pretty talented artist. The one constant thing on the board was she had drawn his name, along with Pepper and Rhodey's names with a unique design around each. She had added a new name to the board: Yinsen.

Smiling faintly, he left the door slightly ajar and went down the hall to his own room to get some sleep. He already knew she wouldn't stay in her room long.

It was only an hour later that Izzy came to crawl into his bed. Tony just wrapped her up in the blankets and cuddled her close, she fell right back to sleep but the tear stains on her cheeks didn't go unnoticed.

Pepper had told him about all the nights that she had found Izzy asleep in his room wearing a sweater or shirt or something of his. It broke his heart that his little girl suffered so much while he was gone, and he wasn't able to do anything about it. Hindsight being what it was, he should have listened to her when she said it was a bad idea to go.

Izzy held Tony's hand as they walked onto the Air Force base. She always loved coming here, she loved seeing the jets and the other tech, and she loved visiting Rhodey. As they got closer to one of the hangers, they could hear Rhodey talking to a group of new pilots.

"The future of air combat." Rhodey said. "Is it manned or unmanned?" He looked around. "I tell you, in my experience, no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever trump a pilot's instinct, his insight—that ability to look into a situation beyond the obvious and discern its outcome. Or pilot's judgement."

"Why not a pilot without a plane?" Tony asked as they walked up.

Rhodey smirked. "Look who fell outta the sky! Mr. Tony Stark." He introduced. Izzy immediately went to wrap her arms around Rhodey since she hadn't seen very much of him lately. Rhodey returned the hug, lifting her up into his arms as Tony shook hands with the other pilots.

"Speaking about manned or unmanned, you gotta get him to tell you about the time he guessed wrong." Tony said with a mischievous look in his eye. "It's spring break, just remember that. Spring break 1987, that lovely lady, what was his name?" The soldiers laughed as Rhodey shook his head, though he was smiling. "Was it Ivan?"

"Don't do that, they'll believe it." Rhodey said laughing good naturedly. "Don't do that. Give us a couple of minutes, you guys." As they walked away, he looked at Tony. "I'm surprised."

"Why?" Tony asked lightly.

"I swear I didn't expect to see you walking around so soon." Rhodey replied.

Tony smiled. "I'm doing a little better than walking." He said.

Rhodey furrowed his brow. "Really?" He looked at Izzy and she had a knowing smile.

"Yeah." Tony confirmed. He lowered his voice. "Rhodey, I'm working on something big. I came to talk to you. I want you to be part of it."

Rhodey smiled. "You're about to make a whole lotta people around here real happy, cause that little stunt at the press conference, that was a doozy man." He said.

Tony paused. Izzy shook her head, seeing that he misunderstood. "No, this isn't for the military." She said.

"I'm not... it's different." Tony tried to say.

Rhodey frowned, looking between the two before setting Izzy back on her feet. "What, are you humanitarian now or something?" He asked.

"I need you to listen to me." Tony said.

"No, what you need is time to get your mind right." Rhodey said. Tony smiled. "I'm serious." Tony nodded placatingly. Rhodey was not happy. "It was nice seeing you, Tony."

"Thanks." Tony said.

"Uncle Rhodey." Izzy called after him as he walked away.

Tony put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay." He said. "He'll see for himself soon."