Chapter 4: Fresh Start


Finally a new chapter! You begged for it, so here it is!


Toni had been wandering the desert for some time now. It was hot, and she was very tired. The reactor had been drained a bit so that in itself made her even more tired. But she had to keep moving, they could be regrouping and about to send out a search to find her... She had to find some way to get to a military base... she wanted to go home so bad. She had wrapped the sweater she had used around her head to block the sun off her dark head as she walked barefoot through the hot sand. She had lost track of time while she was held captive. Just how long had she been gone? Were they still looking for her?

She reached the top of a sand dune and was ready to just give up. Her legs just kept moving. That's when she heard it. The sounds of chopper blades. She felt a rush of wind surround her as she glanced up. She saw a white star on one of the choppers, American! Finally! She threw her hands up and screamed at them, laughing in between yells. It was finally over...

She dropped to her knees as the choppers landed and a group of men approached her. At the lead was Rhodes, she had never been so happy to see him. He looked down at her, completely relieved,

"How was the "fun-vee"?" he asked her. Toni smiled and weakly chuckled, he remembered... He knelt down and grabbed her shoulders, looking at her,

"Next time you ride with me, okay?" he said looking dead into her tired eyes, Toni just nodded as he pulled her into a tight hug. She was going home...


Back in California, the U.S. Air Force was flying Toni in. Pepper and Happy waited anxiously of the return of their boss. An ambulance was on stand by as well. The back of the carrier lowered and Rhodey lead Toni down the runway, holding her hand to steady her. Her arm was in a sling, and she was back in a suit while her hair was pulled up in a messy bun. Rhodey helped her down carefully as the EMT came up with a stretcher,

"Are you kidding me with this? Get rid of them." Last thing she wanted was to be handled like a victim. Rhodey shooed the EMTs away as Toni walked up to Pepper who looked like he was holding back tears, but he was smiling. She looked him over,

"Your eyes are red." she pointed out, it was more of a tease, she knew Pepper wasn't the emotional type, but he did look relieved to see her.
"Tears for your long lost boss?" Pepper smiled even more,

"Tears of joy, I hate job hunting." he said with a playful tone.

"Yeah, vacation's over." Toni said and walked over to the limousine. She was still sore. Even though she had received some care after Rhodes took her back to base, she was still feeling the impact of her crash, the weight of the suit, and the slight drain in her reactor. But she was more worried about other things. She had to do something about what she saw over there.

"Where to, ma'am?" Happy asked, glancing back in his review mirror at his boss. Pepper scooted forward in his seat,

"Take us to the hospital-" but Toni interrupted him

"No." Pepper looked over at Toni seeing the stubborn look on her face,

"No?" Toni rolled her eyes,

"No is a complete answer." she added,

"Toni you have to go to the hospital." Pepper insisted, he wanted to make double sure Toni was going to recover... not just physcially. Toni glared at him,

"I don't HAVE to do anything. I've been a captive for three months." She snipped back, annoyed with how Pepper was still trying to tell her what to do.

"There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger, and the other..." She began, giving Pepper a slight look that, for Pepper, looked quite like "I'm horny too" and shook his head

"That's enough of that." he mumbled,

"...is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now." She said and got comfortable in her seat. Pepper looked at her incredulously,

"Call for a press conference?" he echoed, Toni just nodded,

"Yeah."

"What on earth for?" Pepper demanded, what could be more important than her health? Toni ignored him,

"Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first." she said with a hint of insistence.


They pulled into the drop off line at where Pepper had arranged for the conference. Obadiah was waiting there with a load of reporters. He had a huge smile on his face as he helped Toni out of the car, Toni wiping her mouth off after stuffing her face of a cheeseburger from Arby's.

"Look at this!" he hugged the woman and looked her over, seeing her arm in a sling

"Toni." he said softly but had a look of confusion on him,

"We were going to meet at the hospital." Toni waved her hand at him, shooing him off her. The man was overbearing.

"No, I'm fine." she said as Happy came over with her Arby's bag, she quickly dug into it for the other cheeseburger she had gotten. Obadiah smiled,

"You had to have a burger, yeah? Well, come on." he said as he ushered her inside. Everyone had been applauding Toni and snapping pictures.

You get me one of those?" he asked Toni who practically coddled the burger protectively,

There's only one left. I need it." she said and quickly stole a bite of it as if that would ward off Obadiah's eyes.

Inside the building there were a bunch of reporters and news crews waiting. Everyone again applauded Toni's entrance.

"Hey, look who's here! Yeah!" Obadiah cheered as he escorted Toni through the crowd. Pepper stayed behind to watch in the back. He was still worried about Toni but he knew to back off when she was on a mission.

"Mr. Potts?" someone called to his right. Pepper turned and saw a man dressed in a business suit inch towards him.

"Yes." he confirmed and turned his gaze to Toni for a second,

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" the man asked. Pepper turned back to the man with a polite smile,

"I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now." he pointed out. He was use to people coming up to him for information on whatever Toni was about to discuss at press conferences and had gotten use to shooing flies.

"I'm not a reporter." The man pointed out and began to dig into his suit's breast pocket for a card and handed it to Pepper,

"I'm agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." Pepper made a face at the name,

" That's quite a mouthful."

"I know. We're working on it." the man continued with a small smile. Pepper guessed he must have heard people say that often.

"You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA..." Pepper began to point out, how many people wanted to brief Toni? The man didn't bat an eye,

"We're a separate division with a more specific focus. We need to debrief Ms. Stark about the circumstances of her escape." he informed Pepper who just nodded with a polite smile,

"I'll put something in the book, shall I?" he said with another nod. The man returned the nod

"Thank you." and with that he left Pepper alone, Pepper briefly wondered what that was about before turning his concerned gaze back to Toni.

Obadiah stood at the podium whereas Toni sat down on the stage before it, leaning against it as adjusted her arm in the sling. Obadiah looked down at her awkwardly, while Toni glanced around. She was too tired to do this, but it had to be done...

"Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?" She hollered out over the talking, waving everyone down, they all gave her their attention. She blinked for a moment before pulling off her suit jacket and fishing out her last burger.

"Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can..." She started and watched as everyone knelt down, she gave a small shrug as she unwrapped her treat, Obadiah joined her.

"A little less formal and..." she didn't finish as she shoved the burger into her mouth, taking a huge bite. In the back Rhodey walked up to Pepper, his face twisted in concern,

"What's up with the love-in?" he asked the man. Pepper held up his hands in surrender,

"Don't look at me. I don't know what she's up to." He said as they watched, both completely oblivious as to what Toni had in mind. After Toni gulped down her bite, she turned back to Obadiah and her eyes softened, but only a little.

"Good to see you." she said softly, Obadiah smiled and nodded

"Good to see you." he echoed. Toni's frame visibly shrunk and slouched, her eyes clouded over and became misty briefly,

"I never got to say goodbye to Dad." she said sadly. Obadiah was caught off guard by her statement and was unable to respond to her. She turned to gaze to the press and spoke louder,

"I never got to say goodbye to my father." She began and ran a hand through her long hair, that briefly reminded her... she wanted to cut it...

"There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts..." she started and took a breath, it was still hard to take deep and full breathes with the weight of her reactor in her chest, it made her rib cage heavier since the implant cylinder was embedded in her sternum, despite the high setting the reactor had on her breast bone. She continued,

"Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels." she finished before her face grew grim and serious,

"I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability." She said and had to catch her breath again. A reporter took the chance to raise his hand.

"Miss Stark." Toni looked down and saw a familiar face, a regular reporter of hers,

"Hey, Ben." she said very softly, breathless still.

"What happened over there?" he asked and waited abated with his pencil and notepad for her response. Toni sighed,

I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up." She said and got up finally and walked around the podium to address the press properly with her next statement.

"And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be." And with that the press rose in a chaotic spree of questions as Obadiah stood up to silence Toni by talking over her,

"I think we're gonna be selling a lot of newspapers." He said as he tried to usher Toni off stage. Pepper and Rhodey watched on, shocked and stunned. Toni refused to move yet,

"What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well." She said a little louder, more firm. Obadiah had his arms tightly around his adoptive daughter,

"What we should take away from this is that Toni's back! And she's healthier than ever. We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up." While he spoke, Toni ripped herself out of his arms and stormed off stage and out.


She had Happy drive her to the Reactor Factory. A short while later, Obadiah drove up and got out of his car and looked sternly at the man.

"Where is she?" he pointed towards the warehouse,

"She's inside." Obadiah sighed and went in, finding Toni staring at the very large Arc Reactor.

"Well, that... That went well." He said, announcing his presence. Toni turned stiffly to him before pointing to the back of her head,

"Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?" She asked, she was being serious but her tone was playful.

"Your head? What about my head?" Obadiah asked, placing his hands on his hips, pacing back and forth behind Toni before continuing,

"What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?" Toni undid her tie and slung it over the railing,

"Optimistically, 40 points." She said, she was not worried to be honest... Obadiah was another story. She could feel the tension radiating off the older man.

"At minimum." Obadiah pointed out grimly. Toni just shrugged.

"Yep..." She sighed and lowered her head. She hated making Obadiah worry...

"Toni, we're a weapons manufacturer." Obadiah reminded her gently. Toni bristled,

"Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our only legacy." She quipped, turning to the man.

"That's what we do. We're iron mongers. We make weapons." Obadiah finished. Toni nearly stompped her foot,

"It's my name on the side of the building." She pointed out, her tone becoming more frustrated,

"And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos." Obadiah continued despite Toni's arguements.

"Not based on what I saw." She said loud enough to silence the man. The look in her eyes proved she wasn't playing games, she wasn't going to let this go. All those people who died by her weapons...

"We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We're gonna do something else." She insisted, she just wanted Obie's support now...

"Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?" He asked her, it was a snide question, but it still had it's merit.

"I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology." She suggested. Since she had gotten free, all she could think about was a new direction... why not energy?

"Come on. The arc reactor, that's a publicity stunt!" Obie protested, waving his hand at the large reactor,

"Toni, come on. We built that thing to shut the hippies up!"

"It works." Toni pointed out,

"Yeah, as a science project. The arc was never cost effective. We knew that before we built it. Arc reactor technology, that's a dead end, right?" Toni was now no longer convinced Obie would support her...

"Maybe." she said softly, picking at her nails.

"Am I right? We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what? Thirty years." Obie asked, Toni look up at the man, bored with this conversation and his reluctance,

"That's what they say." She confirmed. The reactor was the last breakthrough since her dad's death, that was no secret, and after he died Obie had directed the company more towards weapons than technology, which is where her father first began to lead the company. But she could read Obie like a children's book... he knew...

"Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me, who told you?" she asked. His protesting wasn't all for the new company direction pitch... he was phishing,

"Never mind who told me. Show me." he said calmly but firmly. Toni was reluctant now,

"It's Rhodey or Pepper." she said out loud to herself, Obie pressed on,

"I want to see it." Toni sighed, Pepper was too proper to tell Obie, since she'd have to expose a bit of herself in order to show the reactor. She'd have to customize some shirts to accommodate that...

"Okay, Rhodey." she grumbled and with that she undid her sling, taking it off her shoulder and began to unbutton her blouse. After unbuttoning the first 5 buttons, she opened her blouse to reveal the reactor nestled in the middle of her chest, slightly above her breasts, but not out the cleavage area, and just below her collarbone. She had no shame... before the reactor... now her skin was maimed. Scarred by the backyard surgery performed. So it wasn't such a pretty sight.

"Okay." Obie said and closed her shirt for her and began to redo her buttons, Toni looked up at him. He had to be okay with it.

"Okay?" Obie laughed nervously, but Toni smiled confidently,

"It works." she said softly. Obie sighed and hugged the woman.

"Listen to me, Toni. We're a team. Do you understand? There's nothing we can't do

if we stick together, like your father and I." he said softly, looking down at her. Toni's shoulders slumped, now she felt bad.

"I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads-up, okay? But if I had..." she began, but Obie held his hand up, she went quiet.

"Toni. Toni, no more of this "ready, fire, aim" business. You understand me?" he said, Toni smiled and jabbed the older man in the chest,

"That was Dad's line."

"You gotta let me handle this. We're gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We're going to have to take a lot of heat. I want you to promise me that you're gonna lay low." The two left the warehouse, both with different agendas to get to. Toni wanted to go home. Obie back to the office. Toni had promised to do as Obie instructed and had Happy take her home. No one would foresee the future from that point. Toni would never see it coming... and that would change her outlook on things for years to come...


FINALLY!