Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 2 of As the World Falls Down. Thank you to those who have left reviews for this story. It really does mean a lot to me and I'm trying my best to work hard on this story. Here is the second chapter for Iron Man. I'm not exactly sure of how many chapters I'll have for Iron Man, but I'm certain that it will be quite a few. I hope that you guys like this next part. Without further ado Chapter 2. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Alexia sat in front of her computer typing a paper for her class that it was due for. Her brows furrowed together into a thin line as she typed. Her thoughts kept drifting off to her brother who had called her before he had left the states alerting her that he would call once the test was over and back on the base with Rhodey, but she hadn't heard anything out of him yet. Her heart pounded in worry. Why was it taking so long for her brother to get in touch with her?

She reached across and grabbed her phone to look at the time. Her brows furrowed in concern. Tony never backed off from a call to let her know that everything went okay, but it had been a long time since he last called. That was worrisome to her. She got up to her feet forgetting to finish her paper and began to pace back and forth in concern. What if something had happened to him?

She ran her hand through her dark hair as she looked out the window with worried eyes. The only thing that she could do at that moment was to try her best to remain calm and hope that her brother would call her in the next hour or so. Her head shot over to the side when she heard it ringing. Her feet made quick work over to the table and she quickly picked up the phone to see it was Rhodey calling. Her heart dropped, having a bad feeling about this. She quickly answered it. "Hello?"

"Lex…" Rhodey's voice came out shakily which concerned her even more.

"Rhodey…" Her voice came out soft like she was a child again. Something had happened to Tony, and she just could feel it in the pit of her stomach.

"I'm sorry, Lex. There was an ambush."

"An… ambush?"

"They took Tony…"

Alexia sunk into her seat letting out a soft gasp of agony. What if they couldn't find Tony? What would that mean for her? She wasn't like Tony when it came to running the company. She was just a 21 year old who didn't know much about the family business. Did that mean that she was going to take over and have Obadiah help her run the business?

"I promise you, Lex, we'll find him. We'll bring him home."

Alexia took a shaky breath, closing her eyes as tears formed. She needed to form the right words to ask Rhodey what would happen next. "What should I do in the meantime?" She asked softly, taking another shaky breath as a few tears slid down her cheeks.

"Run the company to the best of your ability." He told her softly, taking a breath. "I know you think it will be hard, but you are Tony's sister. You're very capable of doing this job and doing it well."

"And what do I tell Obi? Tell him that I'm interim CEO until Tony is found."

" I know you don't want to do that, but you'll need to do it. Just until we can find Tony."

Alexia closed her eyes in thought knowing that she needed to do this and do this right. She couldn't fail her brother or make a mess of their name even though Tony did have a big reputation of sleeping around. She couldn't taint her reputation by doing what Tony did. She knew that she needed to move the company forward and go from there. But right now she didn't know what the choice would be. "Okay." She softly agreed to what Rhodey had said. "Just please… Rhodey bring my brother home."

"We'll have him back in no time, Lex."

"Call me with updates please." She said softly, her voice getting even softer knowing that her heart was breaking a little as she talked. She wasn't about to allow herself to think that her brother was dead. Tony was too stubborn to die let alone leave her alone to try to figure out how to run this company on her own.

"Call Pepper. I am sure that she'll help you through everything."

"Thank you again Rhodey." She said softly.

"Be careful. And I'll update you soon."

Alexia heard the click of her phone and she took a breath closing her eyes. She knew that her studies needed to go by the wayside and that was just going to have to be the way it was going to be for a little until they found Tony. She carefully began to search her phone for Pepper's number. She knew that Rhodey had probably called her about the news as well. She brought the phone up to her ear after pressing the call button for her brother's assistant.

"Alexia." Pepper's voice rang out through the line giving the young 21 year old some comfort.

"Pepper…" She said softly, her voice cracking a little.

"Rhodey told you…"

"Yes." She said softly, taking a breath trying to calm her nerves. "And he told me that I needed to become the interim CEO for Stark Industries."

"I will be there every step of the way." Pepper said soothingly trying to calm the young woman.

"Has Rhodey told Obadiah yet?"

"I do not know if he has…" Pepper admitted softly. "But I know he won't be pleased with this happening."

"You got that right." Alexia said softly.

"Tomorrow we'll go to the office and let Obadiah know that you're to take over until Tony's return."

Alexia swallowed the lump in her throat. "He won't be pleased." She said softly knowing Obadiah wouldn't feel right with her running the helm. "Obi knows that my views on what the company does, isn't the same as his and Tony's."

"I know. But you must do this."

"I know, for Tony's sake."

"I will see you tomorrow… Happy will bring you in."

"Yes, I think he already knows to come and get me."

"I alerted him earlier that you would need to be brought into the office."

Alexia hummed a little knowing that Pepper was on top of things and that was a good sign.

"Try to rest tonight."

"I will." She said softly knowing that sleep would be hard for her to come by that was for sure. Tomorrow will be a long day for sure. She slowly hung up her phone taking a shaky breath running her hand through her black hair.

IMIMIM

Pepper entered Tony;s office with Alexia right behind her. Pepper stopped when she saw Obadiah sitting behind Tony's desk with his head in his hands.

Obadiah looked up seeing the two women. "Sorry, did I startle you?"

"A little…" Pepper said softly as she swapped out yesterday's unread LA Times and Wall Street Journal with todays.

Obadiah got up to his feet and gazed out the windows at the vast Stark compound.

Pepper and Alexia came up to him.

"This was a bad idea, I should never have let him go over there…" He started to break down.

Pepper touched his shoulder lightly. "Hey, hey...we've got to be strong, he's going to be okay."

He composed himself and nodded his head. He turned his attention to Alexia. "Alexia… I thought that you would be in class?"

"I withdrew for this semester."

Obadiah blinked a few times, slightly confused at what she had said. "You withdrew?"

"I have time to go back to classes once Tony returns." She said softly before looking down. "But…"

Obadiah's brow raised as the but came from her lips. "But?"

"I am to be acting as Stark Industries Interim CEO until Tony's return."

Obadiah's eyes went wide as he heard what she had said. "But your views…"

Alexia shook her head lightly. "My views Obi don't matter at the moment. Stark Industries needs someone behind the scenes to run the company like Tony did… granted I won't be doing what he did to make his name as his… I'm not about to tarnish the family name or my own." She said looking at him. "I'm doing this just until Tony comes home alive and well."

Obadiah took a breath and then slowly nodded his head. He knew what she was trying to do. He could only hope that this 21 year old could handle everything that Tony and him handled over the years.

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This is the end of Chapter 2. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I'm trying my best to get these chapters out as quickly as I can. Leave a review and let me know what you think. Currently I am trying to figure out a pairing for my OC and haven't fully decided on who she should be with. Who do you guys think she should be with. I hope to have the next chapter out soon. Until next time.