Toni-whose hair was messy, face was bruised and her right arm rested in a sling-stood up from a wheelchair with Rhodey beside her, guiding her off the USAF plane, recently landed at Edwards Air Force Base from Afghanistan.

"Watch out. Coming up here." Rhodey said, pointing to a dip in the ramp.

Paramedics rushed up to the pair and Toni rolled her eyes. "Come on, Rhodey." She sighed. "Are you kidding me with this?"

"Toni, you really should-" Rhodey began.

"No. You know about the-get rid of them." Toni said, almost aggressively before approaching her assistant, Pepper, and her chauffeur, Happy.

"Ms Stark." Pepper greeted happily.

"Hmm. Your eyes are red." Toni noted. "Shed a few tears for your long lost boss?"

"Tears of joy!" Pepper snorted. "I really hate job hunting."

"Yeah well, vacation time's over. Both of you." Toni said, getting into the back seat of her car.

Pepper followed suit and sat on the opposite side.

"So where to, Ma'am?" Happy asked as she climbed into the front seat.

"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy." Pepper said. "Toni needs-"

"No." Toni said adamantly.

"No?" Pepper repeated. "What do you mean, no? Toni, you have to-"

"No." Toni repeated.

"Go to the hospital." Pepper finished. "The doctor-"

"No is my answer." Toni lay her head on the headrest.

"The doctor has to look at you." Pepper argued. "You have to-"

"Pepper, I don't have to do anything." Toni looked over at her assistant. "I've been in captivity for three months." She explained.

"Precisely why you have to go to the hospital." Pepper said.

"I'm not going to the hospital because there are things I don't want the doctors to see that will only freak them out." Toni said.

Pepper frowned "Freak them out, what do you mean-"

Toni unbuttoned her blouse just enough for Pepper to see the arc reactor in her chest.

Pepper's eyebrows shot up as he looked, obviously not knowing what to make of it. "Sweet Jesus, Toni, what the hell is that?"

"That, Pepper, is what I don't want the doctors to see."

"Is that a-"

"Now there are two things I want to do." Toni buttoned up her blouse.

"Toni-"

"I want an American cheeseburger." Toni said. "And second..." She paused and let out a small sigh. "I want you to call for a press conference."

"A press conference?" Pepper said incredulously.

"Like immediately. Right now."

"What on Earth for?" Pepper asked. "To... Is it to tell the world you're fine or what?"

"Pepper, you'll find out along with everyone else. Happy, drive." Toni said. "But cheeseburger first. Burger King! None of that McDonalds stuff."

Happy drove away from the Air Force base.

At Stark Industries, employees were crowded outside, clapping, including Obadiah, who rushed to the car and opened the door.

"Look who it is!" He exclaimed, pulling Toni in for a hug. "Toni, we were going to meet you at the hospital, what happened?" He asked quietly.

"There was no need, Obie." Toni waved him off dismissively. "I'm absolutely fine."

Happy walked out of the car, carrying Toni's Burger King burger and Pepper appeared alongside her.

"Look at this!" Obadiah chuckled. "You just had to get a burger, didn't you? Come on." He asked as he led Toni inside. "Did you get me one of those?"

"No and this is the last one left." Toni said, biting into it.

Pepper followed her and Obadiah inside, while Happy got back into the car.

"Hey, look who's here!" Obadiah shouted to the applauding reporters and pointed at Toni. "Yeah." He led Toni up to the podium, while Pepper stayed at the back of the room, looking on happily.

"Excuse me? Can I talk to you?" Pepper turned around to see a smartly dressed young woman wearing a blue pant-suit.

"I'm not a part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now." Pepper said with a smile.

"Oh, I'm not a reporter." The woman smiled. "My name is Agent Phil Coulson and I'm with the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division."

"You really need to come up with a new name for that." Pepper chuckled.

"So I've heard." Phil nodded.

The man and woman stood side by side for a brief moment before Pepper began speaking once more. "You know, we've already been approached by the DOD, the CIA, the FBI..."

"We're different. We have a more specific focus. We just need to debrief Ms. Stark about the circumstances surrounding her escape." Phil explained.

"Okay. Well, I'll put something in the book for you, shall I?" Pepper nodded.

"Thank you. That would be much appreciated." Phil smiled.

Just as the press conference was beginning, Pepper turned to Phil. "You said your name was Phil? Isn't that usually a boy's name?"

"Yes. But that's my name." Phil showed Pepper the ID card on her jacket.

"Coulson, Philippa J." Pepper read.

Phil gave a soft nod as Toni took the stage.

"Why don't we all just sit down?" Toni suggested. "I can see you, you can see me and it's a whole lot more informal." The reporters all sat down in confusion. Toni also sat down and leaned on the stage. "There's no need for you to be standing. Go on." She said to the few journalists still standing, happily munching away on her cheeseburger.

"I never got to say goodbye to my father." Toni sighed. "If I had, there's all kinds of questions I would've asked him. What he felt about what his company did. Was he conflicted? Did he have any doubt? Maybe he was the man we all remember from the newsreels." She shrugged with her good arm.

"As you all know, I've spent the last three months in captivity in Afghanistan and you know, when I was out there, I saw so many horrors. I saw men, women, children all killed by the weapons that I was told that I'd created to protect them. It wasn't protection. It's still not protection. And I realise now that I have become part of a system comfortable with zero accountability."

Pepper turned to the agent standing next to him. "She's going to say something stupid."

Toni continued. "Over those past three months, I've had time to think and time to reflect. I had my eyes opened and a friend out there helped me realise that I want to do more for this world than make weapons. I that I have the power to do something to actually help the world rather than just making things that blow it up and hurt, maim and kill people. Children. Little children. And I've come to a decision."

Pepper looked at his boss, his eyes filled with dread. "Please don't say anything stupid. Don't say anything stupid." He muttered.

"I'm shutting down the weapons division of Stark International, effective immediately-"

"Unbelievable." Pepper rolled his eyes, while Phil kept her facial expression of a soft smile, almost as if she was unsurprised.

The reporters, however, were as they all began to squabble over each other as Obadiah Stane began to lead Toni away from the scene.

"-Until such a time that I can figure out the future of the company will be and one that I'm comfortable with." Toni finished before being handed over to Pepper.

"Okay. So what we should be taking away from this is that Toni's back!" Obadiah said to the journalists. "And she's healthier than ever..."

"I really hope you're making the right decision here, Toni." Pepper said uncertainly as he led Toni outside.

"Why? Don't you trust me?" Toni said with a smirk.

"Honestly, no. Not at this particular moment." Pepper opened the door to Toni's car for her to enter.

"Hogan!" Toni said, addressing her chauffeur, Happy Hogan. "You trust me, right?"

Happy's response was simply a grimace and a grunt. "Right now, Toni... I don't know what to think." She shrugged.

"Does nobody trust me?" Toni asked.

Pepper and Happy shared a look.

"Right. I think I have my answer."

"Toni-" Pepper began.

"Don't bother, Pepper. I think I'll just hang back here for a while." Toni sighed. "You two go back to the house and Happy, I'll call you if I need you."

"Alright, Ms. Stark." Happy said as Toni walked back into her building.

Inside, Toni gazed at the big arc reactor she'd had built, thinking about the little one buried in her chest, ignoring the many calls she was receiving from her friend Rhodey.

Obadiah walked in and stood next to her. "That went well" He said sarcastically.

"So what?" Toni said arrogantly. "I just painted a target on my back."

"Your back? What about my back?" Obadiah said. "How far do you think the stocks will drop tomorrow?"

Toni smirked. "Forty points?"

"At minimum." Obadiah said with a serious demeanor.

Toni rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Probably."

"Toni, look, we're weapons manufacturers."

"And I don't want a body count to be my only legacy." Toni sighed.

"But that's what we do!" Obadiah pressed. "We're-we're iron mongers-we make weapons!"

"You know what, Obadiah?" Toni narrowed her eyes. "Last I checked, it was my name on the side of the building, not yours."

Obadiah ignored Toni. "We make weapons to stop the world falling into chaos."

Toni scoffed and rolled her eyes. "That's not what I saw. And I know that we can do so much better than death." She sighed. "I was actually thinking of turning Stark Industries into a clean energy company-specialising in arc reactors."

"Arc reactors?" Obadiah said, taken aback. "Toni, that was nothing but a publicity stunt, you know, to make the tree huggers happy!"

Toni gave a small shrug. "Yeah, but the tree huggers were right-it works."

"As a school science project, yeah."

"No, it works."

"Toni, arc reactor technology is a dead end."

"Maybe."

"And we haven't had a breakthrough in arc reactor technology in thirty years."

"Apparently." Toni said.

"Alright, let me see it."

"Who told you?" Toni narrowed her eyes. "It was either Pepper or Rhodey-"

"I want to see it."

"Goddammit, Rhodey." Toni looked around carefully as she took off her sling and unbuttoned her baby blue coloured blouse to expose the glowing blue-ish white, glowing device buried inside her chest. "Okay, happy now?"

"Yeah." Obadiah nodded, helping Toni button up her blouse again. "We're a team, you and I." He said. "We need to stick together, just like I did with your father."

"You're right. We're a team. And I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads up-" Toni began.

"Toni, don't worry about it. Just no more of this 'ready, fire, aim' business."

Toni quirked an eyebrow. "Obie, that was Dad's line."

"Understand this though, Toni, we're gonna be taking a lot of heat for this. And that's why you gotta promise me one thing-you gotta lay low. Just until this has all blown over."

"Obie..." Toni said skeptically.

"Promise me." He said forcefully.