Tony was sitting in his workshop, doing nothing. A lot had just happened and he was trying his best to figure out what to do. He had come down once he finished off the scotch. He wanted more, he felt it in the back of his mind, but he was trying to fight it. He looked at Alex's armor from where he sat. She had left about two hours ago. He picked up his cell phone and decided to call her.
Alex made it to her best friends place. It was the only place she could go to and talk. Michelle was already home from work and told Alex to come on over. They were always there for each other. They were both sitting outside on the porch of Michelle's apartment. Michelle was a smoker and only smoked outside.
"I still can't believe you're staying at Tony Stark's place. You keeping anything else form me?" Michelle asked her with a laugh. Alex smiled.
"Can I have a smoke?" Alex asked. Michelle looked at her, shocked.
"You?!" she said. "Something really bad must have happened if you're asking me for a cigarette." she added as she gave her one, along with the lighter. Alex took it and lit up. She felt a small buzz as she inhaled as she never smoked before. She then let out a small cough and Michelle laughed. "Don't get addicted." she told Alex. Alex's cell phone rang and she took it out of her pocket.
"Speaking of Tony." she said as she saw his name pop up. She sighed and answered it. "Hello." she said.
"I'm sorry." Tony told her. "Come back."
"You done drinking?" she asked him as she saw her best friend looking at her. Alex smiled and tried shooing her away. Michelle got up and went back inside.
"Sort of." Tony answered.
"Sort of isn't a good answer."
"How much did you over hear?" he asked her.
"Pretty much the part where you were yelling at the people who care about you." she told him.
"So you weren't there when I found out what's going on with my company."
"No."
"Well, it seems while I've been away, the board is planning to replace me. Pepper found that out this morning. If I'm not at the next board meeting, which is two days away, they'll be taking votes." he explained to her.
"Then go to the meeting." she told him.
"I may have to." he said. "Alex, please come back. I need you here."
"I don't know Tony," she said as she got up. Michelle lived on the third floor and the porch was screened in. Alex looked down at her new car, the one he paid for. 'He destroyed my last car, why should I feel guilty.' she thought as she turned around, looking at the sliding glass door.
"Please……don't make me beg."
"You going to shape up?" she asked him.
"If that's what it's going to take, then yeah." he told her.
"Fine. I'll be over later." she told him. "I also think you should call Rhodes and Pepper and apologize to them."
"I'm going to." he assured her.
It was later at night till Alex got back to Tony's place. She had gone out to dinner with Michelle and hung out for awhile after as they didn't see each other as much. It was nine at night as she walked through the front door. She noticed he was passed out on his couch as she walked in the living room. She sighed to herself when she noticed another empty bottle on the floor by the couch and the one he finished earlier standing on the coffee table. She also saw broken glass on the floor from where he threw it. 'I guess he's done now.' she thought to herself as she walked towards him. She picked up the bottles and threw them away before cleaning up the glass. She heard Tony mumble something in his sleep, at first she thought he was waking up, but saw that he wasn't. She kind of smiled at him as he slept.
"Tony….." she whispered to him as she kneeled down beside him. She smiled as she said his name a few times, getting a bit louder. She was trying to get him to wake up so he would go to bed and not be sleeping on the couch.
"Huh….." he started to say as his eyes slowly opened. He turned his head and smiled when he saw her.
"Hi." she said with a smile. Tony smiled also.
"Hi." he replied.
"Come on, let's get you to bed." she said as she was helping him get up.
There was an old warehouse on the other side of the city. Inside of the office there sat an older heavy set man, he was talking to a teenage boy when Titanium Man walked in.
"Any word?" the older man asked once the boy left.
"It won't be much longer till Stark Industries falls." Titanium Man told him just before taking off his helmet. The man inside was young and had blonde hair. "Iron Man can't beat me, and I've gotten him so wore down, he won't be able to protect Stark for long." he added.
"Good, good." the man nodded with a smile. "You get anymore specs off of Iron Man?"
"They're right here." he told him as he tossed a CD on the desk. The man smiled as he picked it up.
The next morning Alex woke to her cell phone ringing. She saw it was Pepper calling.
"Alex, where's Tony?"
"Probably still in bed, I don't know." Alex told her as she tried waking up. She saw it was seven in the morning.
"Well, you need to get him up and down to the main factory. There was a break in overnight and some designs got stolen. I'm on my way over there now. He has to be there." Pepper told her.
"Alright….." Alex said as she began to get out of bed.
"Call me if you have any problems with him."
"I will." Alex said before they hung up. Alex let out a long yawn and stretched her arms over her head. She grabbed her robe, put it on, and headed towards his bedroom.
"Jarvis, lights." she said as she walked into the bedroom. Lights came on and saw that he was in fact, still asleep. She sat down on the other side and smiled. "Wake up Tony." she said as she nudged him.
"No…." Tony mumbled. She put her head down near his face so he could see her.
"You need to wake up."
"Why?" Tony said as he rolled onto his back. You could tell he was hung over.
"The main factory had a break in." she told him. "And I'm not saying that to just get you up." she added as she sat up now. Tony rubbed his head and slowly started to sit up. The room spun for a bit then the feeling went away. "When was the last time you changed your bandage?" she asked him.
"Tuesday." he told her.
"Get up, get showered and dressed. I'll go make some coffee and then get ready myself." she told him.
"You're starting to sound like Pepper." he said as he got out of bed.
"Well, I guess I have to since she's not here." she said with a smile.
