The One That Got Away

Chapter 14 – Gulmira

"Tony Stark,"

Tony looked up to watch as a familiar blond stopped beside him, her smile bitter as she looked up at him. This was the woman that had told Tony about Abigail being in the hospital three months ago, the woman that was responsible for bringing the two together. Tony wasn't sure if he wanted to give her a million dollars or send her to Afghanistan.

"Fancy seeing you here,"

Tony tried desperately to recall her name. "… Carrie-"

"Christine," she corrected him.

"That's right,"

"How is Abigail? I see she's here with you tonight,"

"Yep. Yeah she is,"

Christine nodded. "You know, you have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight. Can I at least get a reaction from you?"

"Panic. I would say panic is my reaction,"

"Because I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity,"

"Yeah, they just put my name on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you,"

"I actually almost bought it, hook, line and sinker,"

"I was out of town for a couple months, in case you didn't hear-"

"Is this what you call accountability?" Christine interrupted, throwing down a stack of photos in front of him, watching as he picked them up and flipped through them. "It'd a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?"

Tony's eyes grew hard as he heard the name, remembering that it was the village that Yensin had been from, Tony's sticking to a picture of his Jericho missiles sitting at the center of the village surrounded by a few other of his inventions.

"When were these taken?"

"Yesterday,"

Tony sent the pictures aside and looked up at her. "I didn't approve any shipment,"

"Well, your company did,"

"Well, I'm not my company,"

Tony spotted Abigail walking back inside, her eyes moving over the crowd before they settled on his, looking shy and a little hurt. He gestured with his head for her to follow him outside when she could before having Christine follow him to the man he needed to speak to.

"Obie. I need to talk to you. Have you seen these pictures?" Tony asked as he pulled Obadiah off to the side, away from the reporters. "What's going on in Gulmira?"

Obadiah looked down at the pictures with very little reaction, just with a slight annoyance, almost like a parent finding their child with their hands in the garbage. "Tony, Tony. You can't afford to be this naive,"

"You know what?" Tony growled, thoroughly pissed at the prospect of what Obadiah was implying he'd allowed his company to do. "I was naive before, when they said; Here's the line. We don't cross it. This is how we do business. If we're double-dealing under the table… Are we?"

Obadiah sighed, placing an arm around Tony's shoulders. "Let's take a picture. Come on. Picture time!" He led Tony back towards the reports, smiling happily while Tony looked angry as the lights began to flash at him. Obadiah leaned towards Tony, keeping the smile on his face as he whispered; "Tony. Who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you… It was the only way I could protect you,"

Tony was left on the steps of the Disney Concert Hall, watching his father's best friend disappear into the crowd, anger roiling up in his chest in a way that it had never down before. His weapons, the ones he'd created to help save his country, save the world, were being sold to the other side just as readily and by his own business partner.

"Tony?"

He turned his head, tearing his eyes away from the spot that he had last lost sight of Obadiah and turned to look down at the woman next to him. Abigail.

"Let's go,"

She nodded, not wanting to argue as they made their Tony's car and sped home.

When they got home, Abigail went straight to her own bed to change and go to sleep. Tony didn't seem to be any position to be talked to, especially when he seemed on the verge of exploding at the nearest thing to bother him. So she wasn't going to be doing that.

She also didn't want to push if Tony was still mad after talking with her and she didn't exactly feel like talking with him either. A lot of things having been brought up that she'd hoped wouldn't have been in the time she was staying with him. So she went to bed without a word, curling up and falling asleep after an hour of listening to the various sounds of work and a few shattering windows; she hadn't expected him to sleep anytime soon. However, when she woke up the next morning, she wasn't expecting the note taped to her door.

Abigail-

I'm flying to Gulmira to deal with a few things. Be back in a few days. See you then.

-Tony

Abigail stared at the note for a long moment before she groaned and went back to bed for another few hours.

She got a half a dozen people that she knew from work… but it was the calls from her uncle that she was afraid to pick up on. She knew that he'd find out and it shouldn't have scared her. She was an adult, had been one for almost twenty years and had even been married for a few of them. She could make decisions on her own and do what she wanted.

But he was also her Uncle Rick.

He was the man who had taken her in at the age of eight after her mother had died in a car crash on the way to work. Even when his brother hadn't spent a moment to care about her or her mom, her Uncle Rick had. He'd taken her in and acted like she was his own daughter. He'd spoiled her with toys and clothes, had sent her to the best school and helped her with her homework. He taught her everything he knew about computers and code. He was her mentor and hero. She owed him everything.

So she didn't answer nor did she call back.

Two days later, Abigail was sitting at the computers down in the workshop. She had been dosing in the living room with a bowl of ice cream when she heard Rhodey's excuse for the saving of Gulmira the day before just that morning. This had sent Abigail into the workshop to track Tony's return back to Malibu, all the way down to his arrival to his house.

Abigail pretended to be working when Tony flew in, landing heavily on the workshop floor, his mask flipping up so that he could see her with his own eyes. She didn't look up, just kept working. He chose to ignore her as well, turning and having the machines strip off the armor, which ended up being harder the second time around.

"Hey!"

"It is a tight fit, sir… Sir, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt,"

"Be gentle. It's my first time… I designed this to come off, so- Hey! I really should be able to…"

"Please, try not to move, sir,"

"What's going on here?!"

Tony and Abigail both looked up in surprise to find Pepper walking through the glassless wall, her eyes wide as she looked Tony up and down.

Tony just shrugged internally. "Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing,"

"Are th-those bullet holes?"

"Probably," Abigail murmured, hitting one last key before heading towards the elevator. "I'm going to bed,"