Author's Note: I got a comment asking how Biela was as small as she was. My reasoning: she's been living as a prisoner in a cave in very, very bad conditions for the past four years. She isn't fed properly, therefore, her growth has been stunted. Thankfully, she will recover, and she is going to get taller. Still short, but taller.
Tony bounded up the stairs from the lab to the sounds of a piano playing. "How'd it go?" he asked Obadiah as the older man played the piano. Tony noticed the pizza sitting on the table in front of Pepper. "Went that bad, huh?" he asked. "Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it went bad," Obie said. "Uh-huh," Tony said in disbelief as he opened the box. "Sure doesn't." Obadiah stopped playing as Tony grabbed a slice. "Oh boy," the billionaire said.
"Would've gone better if you were there," Obadiah said. "Uh-uh," Tony said petulantly. "You told me to lay low, that's what I've been doing. I lay low, and you take care of all of that." "C'mon," Obadiah said as he walked down the stairs. "In public. The press. This was a Board of Directors meeting." "This was? This was a Board of Directors meeting?" Tony asked in surprise.
Obadiah sat down. "The Board is claiming posttraumatic stress, they're filing an injunction." "A what?" Tony asked. "They want to lock you out," Obie said. "Why, cause the stocks dipped forty points, we knew that was gonna happen." "Fifty-six and a half," Pepper put in. "It doesn't matter, we own the controlling interests in the company," Tony said loudly. "Tony, the Board has rights, too," Obie said, as if speaking to a small child. "They're making the case that you, and your new direction, isn't in the company's best interests."
"I'm being responsible, that's a new direction," Tony said. "For me, for the company. Obie raised his eyebrows. "I mean me on the company's behalf," Tony corrected, "being responsible for the way that…" Pepper sighed. "I'll be in the shop," Tony decided, standing up and carrying the pizza away. "Tony, Tony," Obie said. "I'll be in the shop," he said louder. "Hey, hey, Tony, listen," Obie said as he came up and grabbed Tony's shoulder. "I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something to pitch them," he said. "Let me have the engineers analyze that, y'know, draw up some specs…"
"No," Tony said. "No!" "It'll give me something for the boys in New York!" Obie insisted. "Absolutely not, this one stays with me," Tony said adamantly. "That's it, Obie." "Well then, this stays with me," Obie said, grabbing the pizza box from Tony's hands. "Go on, have a piece, take two," he said, opening it. "Thank you," Tony said as he grabbed a couple slices. "You mind if I come down there and see what you're doing?" Obie called after him. "Good night, Obie!" Tony called.
Later that night, Tony was again strapped in and ready for a flight test. "Day Eleven, test figuration two-point-o. For lack of a better option, Dummy is still on fire safety," he said, looking at the bot. He held up a finger and said warningly, "If you douse me again, and I'm not on fire, I am donating you to a city college." He turned back to the camera. "Alright, nice and easy," he said, getting into the ready position. "Seriously, just gonna start off with one percent thrust capacity. And 3,2,1, go."
He lifted off, and he could actually hold himself up in the air. It was so cool. He drifted a bit, and then set down. He turned to Dummy, who was looking at him hopefully, fire extinguisher raised. "Please don't follow me around with it either, because I feel like I'm going to catch on fire spontaneously. Just stand down, if something happens, then come in."
He turned around. "Okay, let's bring it up to 2.5. 3, 2, 1." He lifted off. He was having a bit of trouble controlling his movements, drifting from one side of the garage to another. "Okay, this is where I don't want to be," he said as he moved over the cars. "Ee-aw, not the car, not the car, yikes!" He flew over his desk, and papers went flying everywhere. He used the repulsors to stop himself from flying into a wall.
"Could be worse, could be worse," he reassured himself as he fought to regain control. "Okay," he said as he made it to the center of the room and hovered there, straight up, repulsors at his sides. He lowered himself down and then landed on the floor. He fell backwards as he landed, but caught himself.
He was breathing deeply when he saw Dummy raise the fire extinguisher. "Na-a-a-a-a-a!" he warned the bot. Dummy lowered his head sadly. "Yeah, I can fly," Tony said. "Wait 'til I show Bee."