BIG NUMBER 20! How exciting is that, huh?! Well, I won't keep you too long as this is the conclusion chapter for the first Iron Man movie and I'm sure you'd like to get to it! I'll throw out that mandatory disclaimer of not holding rights to anything Marvel related and let you get to it! Let me know how you like how Tessa fits into Tony's story so far! Enjoy! Xoxo-NickyLynn
Tessa watched as Tony slid the helmet back onto his head, fully immersed back into the suit. "Tony, that reactor was never meant for sustained flight." She said, knowing the old power cell wouldn't be capable of maintaining the full functions of the suit. "It's not going to last long."
"Well, then I guess I better hurry." He said back as the face shield slid over his face and the eye slots began to glow with power.
"I'll know there's no point in trying to convince you to let me handle this, so just be safe and know I'll be right behind you." She told him with a nod.
"See you there." He said before the thrusters activated and he tore out through the hole that had still yet to be fixed.
Tessa took off to the row of cars, sliding into the silver Audi at the end. She started it and threw it into gear, the tires squealing against the concrete as she pressed down heavily on the gas pedal. As she steered herself out and onto the road, she pressed the earpiece into her ear canal, connecting herself to Tony. "How's the reactor holding up?" she asked him as she swerved through traffic, weaving in between the cars going far too slow.
"The suit's at less than fifty percent." Tony responded as he tore through the air as fast as he could toward Stark Industries.
Tessa bit the inside of her cheek. "That's not going to last you long in a fight." She said with a shake of her head. "Just do your best to keep him busy until I get there, alright?" she said as she pressed her foot down harder as he hit the freeway and opened the throttle up as far as it would go.
"I've got Pepper coming through the other line. Just get here." She heard Tony say before the line went silent.
"Shit." Tessa muttered under her breath as she willed the car to go faster. She was inching close to one hundred and forty and she knew she couldn't go much faster due to the heavy traffic she had to focus on avoiding. At the rate she was going, she knew it wouldn't take but a few minutes to reach Stark Industries, but she also knew that anything could happen in just a few minutes time. So, she drew in a breath and pressed faster.
As she crept closer to her destination, a trail of red shooting up into the sky in the distance caught her eye. The streak was followed by another larger trail of flames. "Tess, where are you?" she heard Tony's flustered voice filter into her ear again, startling her.
"I'm almost there. I can see you, what is that thing following you?" she asked, trying to get a good look at it while also keeping herself from crashing.
"It's Obie. He's built a suit. I'm taking him up, but I'm running real low on power over here." He told here, his voice strained. Suddenly Tony let out a grunt and Tessa could hear Obidiah's voice through Tony's mic.
"You had a great idea Tony, but my suit is superior in every way." She heard him say.
"Oh yeah?" Tony asked him. "How'd you solve the icing problem?"
"Icing problem?" Obidiah's voice echoed in confusion.
"Might want to look into it." She heard Tony say to him. After a moment of silence she heard Tony let out a yelp of fear.
"Tony?!" she yelled out.
"I'm running on reserves!" he shouted back frantically as he began falling through the air.
"I'm almost there!" she shouted as she took the exit off the highway. Though she was close, she had to drop down her speed drastically as the streets were jammed packed with traffic.
"I made it down to the roof okay, but I'm running out of power. I've got to get out of this thing!" Tony told her.
"I'll be right there!" she told him as she skidded around a corner, narrowly missing a car pulling out from behind the stop sign. She ignored the blaring horn and crude shouting as she pressed closer to the building Tony was stuck on top of.
"Nice try." Tessa heard Obidiah's voice again, sending a course of panic through her as she knew Tony didn't have the power left to fight him off.
She heard Tony struggling before his voice came through to her, hoarse and strained. "Weapon's status." She heard him ask J.A.R.V.I.S. She heard him struggling to breath as he got his response, before he ordered J.A.R.V.I.S. to deploy the flares.
Tessa's heart felt like it was going to explode from her chest. "Tony?!" she shouted in concern.
"Tess, this isn't working." Came his hushed voice, and she gathered that he had been trying to hide from Obidiah. "How close are you?" he asked.
"I can see Stark Industries now!" she told him as she pulled around the final corner, pulling onto the final stretch of private road that led to the building. "Just hold on! I'll be there in two minutes!"
"I'll try to hold him off as long as I can." He told her before the line went silent again. With a frustrated breath of air, she tore the communication device from her ear, throwing it to the passenger floor in anger. She careened down the road, the building growing bigger as she drove closer. She could see the outline of a large silhouette on the roof and guessed that was the suit Obidiah was in. She skidded to a stop, not bothering to even put the car in park before she flashed out of the vehicle and onto the roof.
When she landed on the roof, the first thing she noted was the monolithic metallic suit that was standing on the other side of the once glass roof, though now every pane had been busted out and lay shattered on the ground below. The front plates of the suit were slid open, revealing Obidiah's upper body inside. He was staring down at Tony who was dangling helplessly from the frame of the glass, looking haggard, beaten and terrified.
"How ironic, Tony!" Obidah shouted, neither man having noticed her appearance. "Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it it's best one ever!"
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that!" Tessa shouted over to him, revealing her presence. Obidiah's head whipped over to her direction, surprised by her appearance.
"You?" he asked looking down at her in confusion, having recognized her only as one of Tony's friends. "What do you think you're going to do?" he asked her with a laugh, not knowing what she was capable of.
"The thing about power Obidiah, is that no matter how much you have, there's always going to be someone with more!" she shouted, bringing down the walls inside herself which she kept her power caged behind. She latched onto it and let it fill her, the warmth of it spilling out from her center until she could feel her fingertips tingling with it. Her whole body began to glow, lighting up the darkness around them. Her white hair began to glow as well, drifting up into the air around her like a halo of ethereal power. She transported herself to the other side of the broken glass, making sure Tony was out of the line of fire. "And you pissed off the wrong woman." She sneered up at Obidiah as she let herself be consumed by the energy.
She thrust her hands out, and with them, she sent out a powerful blast that lit up the roof like a burning blue sun, directing it straight at Obidiah. The blast of energy hit him and sent him flying through the air with a scream. He flew into the wall behind him, the building crumbling under the pressure. She took a step towards him, keeping the stream of energy flowing out of her and into him. She let all the fear and anger she had been feeling since Tony had been captured flow out of her. She let out a rage-filled scream as she directed everything she had into the man who had dared try to take the only thing in the world she had left from her.
Obidiah's own scream filled the air along side Tessa's. He screamed as the blue energy consumed him and by the time Tessa dropped her hands, her shoulders falling up and down as she struggled to catch her breath, he had gone silent and sagged in the confines of the suit, motionless. The suit began to topple forward, no longer being controlled by anyone. Tessa, moved out of it's path as she realized it was coming down on top of her.
The suit fell past her and into the skylight behind her. Obidiah's suit, along with his body, fell through the hole and Tessa's fear took hold of her as she realized he was falling directly on top of the large Arc Reactor below them. Using what energy she had left, she flashed across the space, gabbed hold of Tony and transported them both off the roof as Obidiah collided with the energy source, sending out an explosion large enough that it began consuming the building. Tessa transported herself and Tony down onto the driveway, not being able to get them further away than that, throwing herself over him as the flames of the explosion filled the air above them.
After Tessa felt the warmth from the flames dissipate, she pushed herself up, looking down at Tony. "Are you okay?" she asked him, looking over him for any signs of damage.
"Yeah, no, I take it back." He said, causing Tessa's eyebrows to drop down in confusion. "You're really scary when you're mad." He told her, dropping his head onto the cement in exhaustion.
Tessa sat up fully, letting out a breath in amusement. "Yeah, well just remember that the next time you decide to do something stupid." She told him. Tony's laugh filled the air as he lay there, both of them just thankful Tessa had managed to get there in time.
"Alright, come on. Emergency services are going to be here soon, and I do not want to be here when they do." She said, pushing herself up off the cement with a grunt.
"Good point." Tony said, moving to sit up as well. Tessa reached down a hand, helping him to his feet. They shuffled across the road, to the Audi that was still running, now rolled into the grass. "Shotgun." Tony called, limping over to the passenger door, not having the energy to drive.
Tessa shook her head at him, moving towards the driver's seat. Once they were back in the car, doors shut behind them, a ringing phone could be heard. Tessa took her cellphone out of the center console, watching at Pepper's name flashed across the screen. "It's your girlfriend." Tessa said with a smirk, tossing the device over to Tony, who fumbled with catching it. He answered the call and calmed down the frantic woman on the other end as Tessa drove them away from the burning building.
After Tessa had driven them back to the mansion, pried the suit off of Tony, patched him up and taken a shower, she took one of the spare rooms and slept. She slept harder than she had in a long time, both exhausted and just happy in knowing Tony's life was no longer in any immediate danger. She slept for over twelves hours and by the time she woke back up, she felt more refreshed than she had felt in years.
She padded down to the kitchen, where she found Tony already sitting, a large bowl of cereal in front of him. "Well hey there Sunshine." He greeted her as she made her way over to the coffee machine. She poured herself a cup from the carafe, filling the large mug to the brim before walking back over to where Tony sat, planting herself in the stool next to him. Tessa looked over at his bandaged covered face to the bowl of sweetened cereal he was shoving into his face. "What?" he asked through a mouth full of food, milk spilling out of the side of his lip.
The truth was that she couldn't help but be reminded about all the times she would sit with him on early Saturday mornings as he would eat his bowl of cereal and watch cartoons. Sometimes, to Tessa, it felt like time moved so quickly that she would have to remind herself that Tony was no longer the child she had spent those early mornings with. She just smiled and shook her head. "Nothing." She said, pulling the hot cup to her lips and pulling in a long drink. "So, have you gotten everything worked out with Pepper and Rhodey?" she asked him, curious to know what this cover story would be.
Tony drew in a deep breath, dropping the spoon down into the now empty bowl. "There's a press conference scheduled for later this morning. They want me to make a statement." He told her. "And don't worry. As far as anyone besides the two of us is concerned, I was the only one up on that roof with Obie. No one will know you were ever there." He assured.
Tessa smiled over at Tony in appreciation. "Thanks Tony." She said.
"You know…" he began, the seriousness of his voice pulling her full attention over to him. "I never knew you could do that." He said, referring to the occurrence on the roof.
"I've told you about my powers since the beginning." She responded, confused.
"Yeah, I know, but I mean, I've never seen you go full on…" he said, not knowing how to properly describe what he saw. "super Saiyan." He finally said. "It's impressive. I mean….the things you could do…"
Tessa's lip dropped down at the reference, but ignored it. "As impressive as my powers are Tony, they're not just formidable…..they're dangerous. I've hurt more innocent people by accident than I've stopped guilty ones on purpose." She told him, mind drifting back to images of burning wreckage and dead bodies.
"I'm just saying that I'm not the only one capable of making a difference in the world is all." He said with a shrug. Tessa drew in a breath but before she could say anything back, Pepper walked into the room, halting the conversation.
"You're still not dressed?" she asked Tony in exasperation. "You have a press conference to be at in less than an hour, can we get moving please?" she asked, ushering him up and out of the room. Tessa let out a laugh as she watched Tony get corralled out of the room.
After Pepper had convinced Tony to get dressed and they left together, Tessa made herself some breakfast. After she made herself something to eat and scarfed it down, she turned on the television and sat down on the large couch, tucking her feet up under her. She flipped through the channels until she landed on a news station broadcasting the press conference. She watched as formalities were made and Rhodey came out on screen, coming to a stand behind the podium.
"You've all received the official statement of what occurred at Stark Industries last night." He began reading from his script of approved dialog. "There have been unconfirmed reports that a robotic prototype malfunctioned and caused damage to the arc reactor. Fortunately, a member of Tony Stark's personal security staff was there to intervene and stopped any further damage from occurring outside of the west end of the building. No casualties occurred and the fire was suppressed shortly after eruption." Rhodey said, addressing the room of reporters in front of him.
"No casualties my ass." Tessa said with a scoff. She listened to him as he weaved the fabricated story, just thankful she had been left out of it. He spoke for a few minutes before he gave way for Tony's appearance, his part needing to be played out as well.
"And now, Mr. Stark has prepared a statement. He will not be taking any questions. Thank you." Rhodey said before steeping to the side as Tony stepped up to the podium.
"Uh…been a while since I was in front of you." He began. "I figure I'll stick to the cards this time." He said, pulling out the small stack of cards that had been written for him, eliciting a chortle from the room. He cleared his throat before continuing. "There's been speculation that I have been involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and on the rooftop." He read off before a reporter interrupted him.
"I'm sorry Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared, despite the fact that you-" she said before Tony cut her off.
"I know that it's confusing." He said, tilting his head. "It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations or insinuate that I'm a superhero." He responded, causing Tessa to let her head fall back onto the couch in frustration at his poor wording.
"I never said that you were a superhero." The reporter called back, interrupting him.
"You didn't?" Tony asked, realizing his mistake. "Well, good, because that would be outlandish and uh…fantastic." He said, letting out a sigh as he shifted nervously on his feet.
Tessa looked back up at the screen as Tony stumbled over his words. "I-I'm just not the hero type. Clearly." He continued. "With this laundry list of characteristic defaults, all the mistakes I've made…largely public." Rhodey took that moment to lean over and whisper into Tony's ear, too quiet for anyone to hear, but Tessa had a suspicion it laid along the lines of sticking to the cards as Tony nodded his head in understanding, holding out the cards written for him. "The truth is…" he began before pausing. The silence drifted on for too long and as Tony brought his eyes back up to the camera, Tessa was filled with a sinking feeling as she knew that look.
"Oh, don't do it." She whispered, knowing he couldn't hear her, but wishing he could. Though it wouldn't have mattered if he could have heard her plea or not. Something told Tessa that even if he could have heard her, it wouldn't have stopped the words that came falling out of his mouth next.
"I am Iron Man." He said and Tessa dropped her head into the palms of her hands as the room of reporters erupted into a roar of excitement. Just when she had begun to think she could reign in her worry over him, he had to go and do something as foolish as this. "Oh Tony, what did you do?" she asked the empty room around her, suddenly fearing the future Tony was boldly walking into. Something deep down in Tessa began to twist in her, and she had a rising suspicion that her life just got increasingly more difficult.