"When do we find out the truth about Obie?" Clint whines from next to me.

"Soon. I think. But you'll see hints here and there."

A~A~A

Tony and Taylor are shown in the lab, each working on their own separate armor diagrams.

"Jarvis," Tony calls, "create two new project files. Name mine Mark II and Taylor's…um…"

"Go with 2012-TMS for now." Taylor suggests. "Until we know if mine really works or I'm just running in circles."

"Got it." Tony nods.

"Shall I store this on the Stark Industries' Central Database?"

Tony glances at Taylor, and she shakes her head. "Actually, I don't know who to trust right now. 'Till further notice, why don't we just keep everything on my private server?"

Tony pulls up a picture of his armor and begins dissecting it.

"So, working on a secret project now, are we?" Taylor asks from her desk, where she's hammering some metal into shape.

"For now." Tony nods, agreeing. "I don't want these ending up in the wrong hands."

"Yeah." Taylor sighs. "Maybe we can do some good for once."

Tony is now shown wearing one of the boot pieces, talking to Dummy, while Taylor worked on her head piece.

"Next. Up. Not in the boot, Dummy. Right here. You got me? Stay put. Nice. You're of no benefit at all. Move down to the toe. I got this. Okay, I'm sorry, am I in your way? Up. Screw it. Don't even move. You are a tragedy."

Taylor just snickers in the background and tells Butterfingers to hand over the Allen wrench.

Taylor is shown holding a camera and standing next to Dummy, who is holding a fire extinguisher, and both are watching Tony, who has the boots on and is holding the hand controls.

"Ready for the first flight test, Taylor?"

"Ready!"

"Okay, let's do this right. Start mark, half a meter, and back and center. Dummy, look alive, you're on standby for fire safety. Taylor, you're filming it. Okay. Activate hand controls. We're gonna start off nice and easy. We're gonna see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift. And three, two, one…"

Tony is launched up, into the ceiling and to the side and into a wall before finally sliding to the ground.

Taylor sighs and sets down the camera. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Tony groans as he sits up and brushes off his clothes.

Tony and Taylor are shown once again staring at 3D holograms, with Tony trying on a simulation arm and Taylor doing the same next to him with a leg.

"Alright, up two. Set that." Tony commands.

"Jarvis, the left side is a little loose. Tighten it…5 degrees…there we go. Keep it."

Jarvis suddenly speaks up. "Sir, ma'am, Mr. Stane is upstairs."

Taylor tenses slightly, and Tony looks at her oddly. She just shakes her head and goes back to the leg.

"That's great J." Tony calls distractedly.

"What would you like me to tell him, sir?"

"Tell him I'll be right up. Coming, Taylor?"

Taylor nods, biting her lip and not looking at Tony. "Yeah. Jarvis, release."

Taylor slides her leg out of the metal framing and stands, pasting a smile on her face as she follows her dad upstairs.

"Hey, Obie, how did it go?" Tony asks once they enter the living room, Taylor sitting on a barstool to discreetly keep an eye on Obie while Tony plops onto the couch. Tony glances at the pizza box in his hand. "It went that bad, huh?"

"Just because I brought pizza back from New York does not mean it went bad." Obie protests.

"It kind of does." Taylor points out.

"It would have been better had you been there." Obie admits. "Either of you, I suppose."

"You told us to law low." Tony counters.

"And that's what we have been doing." Taylor agrees. "Laying low while you take care of," she waves a hand vaguely, "all of that."

"Hey, come on. In public. The press. This was a board of directors meeting."

Taylor frowns. "We're just doing what you told-"

Tony cuts her off. "This was a board of directors meeting?"

Obie nods. "The board is claiming the two of you have post-traumatic stress. They're filing an injunction."

"Pause." Steve turns to me. "Uh, a question. What's an injunction?"

"Basically a movement to make whatever my dad and I say null and void, with no legal backing. Shoving us out of the company a bit."

Natasha snarls and growls at the screen.

Taylor lurches forward and clutches the bar to keep from falling off the barstool. "A what now?"

"They want to lock you out." Obie explains slowly, as if to a child.

Tony scoffs. "Why, 'cause the stocks dipped 40 points? We knew that was gonna happen."

"Um, it was fifty-six and a half, actually." Taylor corrects. "But still."

"It doesn't matter." Tony insists, while Taylor points out "We own the controlling interest in the company."

"Tony, the board has rights, too. They're making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest."

Taylor growls softly at Obie while Tony looks annoyed. "We're being responsible! That's a new direction... for me…us... for the company. I mean, us on the company's behalf, being responsible for the way that..." he sighs, throwing his arms up dramatically. "This is great!"

Obie looks exasperated. "Oh, come on. Tony. Tony."

Taylor gets up to step between Tony and Obie. "We'll be in the shop."

Obie glares at her, grabbing her shoulder to move her roughly out of the way. Tony just stares at the two of them, dumbfounded.

"Obie, what-"

"Hey, hey! Hey, Tony. Listen. I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them." He points at Tony's chest piece. "Let me have the engineers analyze that. You know, draw up some specs."

Tony crosses his arms over his chest. "No, absolutely not. No."

"It'll give me a bone to throw the boys in New York!"

Taylor butts in, still rubbing her shoulder slightly. "This one stays with us. That's it, Obie. Forget it."

Obie glares at Taylor, grabbing the pizza box off the table. "This stay with me then. Go on, here, you can have a piece. Take two."

"Thank you."

"Taylor you want one?" Obie asks, curtly, purely to be polite.

"No, thank you." Taylor response is just as curt.

"You guys mind if I come down there and see what you're doing?"

"Good night, Obie."

A~A~A

Steve frowns. "The way Tony looked when Stane grabbed your shoulder…is he finally thinking something isn't right?"

I nod. "A lot more is going to be revealed soon."

Bruce cocks his head. "What was that about seeing if your suit really worked or not?"

I laugh softly. "My suits were originally just a product of curiosity, a bit of just a science project. Once we see that they work – and I think that might be the next scene – that's when we started getting serious."

He frowns. "And if they hadn't worked?"

I shrug. "Then Iron Beta would never have been created and I'd be more of an assistant, a handler."

"Well then, I'm glad it worked."

"Yeah," Clint interrupts, "you can't fill out paperwork to save your life."

I smack him on the shoulder with an amused huff. Hey!"

"Yes, your handwriting is that bad."