The next chapter! I hope you like it, please let me know, that would be awesome. As always thanks to everyone who read the last chapter and left a review.

The song to this chapter is 'Nicotine' by Heffron Drive.

I don't own the characters or places!

Tony

Even if it was still early in the year, the sun was burning hot in Los Angeles. I felt it the moment I stepped out of the plane and had to fight the urge just to take off my suit jacket. Instead, I reached for the sunglasses in my pocket slowly and put them on. Images of another day came to my mind, when we'd also landed in LA, although with a much smaller team. Only Rhodey, Steve, Bucky and me. It had been cold and back then, I'd cursed inwardly for not having a warm jacket with me. There also hadn't been the time to get one, considering that we would be late to our job otherwise.

A job that was life-changing for all of us, even if no one could have guessed it at that time. Me least of all.

Next to me, Rhodey stepped into the sun and smiled at me. I knew my best friend well enough to know that he was thinking of the same day. The thoughtful look on his face gave him away. Not able to resist my curiosity, I turned to Steve and Bucky. They also looked lost deep in thoughts. When my eyes met Steve's, he nodded shortly, confirming my assumption.

We stood there like that for a few moments, none of us saying anything. I knew that this must have looked strange to the others, but if they were asking themselves what all this was about, they kept quiet.

In the end, it was me who cleared his throat. I ran a hand through my hair and looked at the others, a smile on my lips. The cars were already waiting for us. "Shall we?"

On our way to the cars, Loki appeared next to me. He didn't say anything, but placed a hand on my shoulder as a sign of support. I appreciated that, not sure if I was ready to talk about everything yet. I knew it couldn't be avoided for long since we'd meet Obadiah at the company, but for now, I was glad that everyone was silent.

I had conflicted feelings about being back in Los Angeles. On the one hand, I already missed Pepper terribly and was worried that something might happen to her without all of us around. On the other hand, I was happy to be here and couldn't wait to be able to work on the reactor. I knew that it would be awesome. These thoughts made me feel guilty immediately, but I tried to push that feeling away. After all, Pepper had always insisted that I should come to LA. I shouldn't blame myself for leaving her. We'd made that choice together.

But why did it still feel like I made a big mistake? I had this nagging feeling at the back of my mind that something bad was going to happen in my absence. I knew that most probably, it was nonsense, but I couldn't help it. On the plane, I'd tried to think of it calmly and came to the conclusion that she was safe, but anyway...

Fury had promised me to keep her safe. And to make sure that Sattler wouldn't even get a chance to come too close to her when they would talk. I hated that they were going to do that now that I wasn't there anymore, but Fury had insisted that it wouldn't make a difference. After all, I wouldn't get a chance to be with her anyway. However, I could have been with her after the questioning... For support. It was obvious that it wouldn't be easy for her. But no, everyone had insisted that we should leave before...

"Stop it." Someone ripped me out of my thoughts. I'd been staring out of the window of the car until now. When I turned around, I saw Steve staring at me. "You shouldn't worry so much."

"Yeah well, bad luck then. It's not that easy." I replied simply.

Steve sighed. "I know that you're worried, Tony. We all get it. But it won't change anything. Pepper will be fine. Fury and his people are looking for her. As is Clint. She's safe. And she has her friends with her. So she's not alone either."

I didn't reply to that, but leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes. "I'm not sure if leaving was a good idea." I admitted quietly. Next to us, Loki and Rhodey were in our car. They didn't let it show, but I knew they were listening.

"Stop blaming yourself for that." Loki threw in. So yeah, they had indeed been eavesdropping. "You made that choice together."

"Pepper is a strong woman. Steve's right, she'll be fine." Rhodey said. "Most probably, she'll start to boss everyone around again soon." He grinned, but I didn't return it. Somehow, I didn't feel like it.

"If you continue to worry so much, I might feel forced to make you watch stupid TV shows this afternoon. Many of them." Loki threatened seriously.

"Oh please not Downton Abbey again!" Rhodey groaned. "That was horrible!"

"It wasn't so bad." Steve argued immediately. "I liked it."

Rhodey rolled his eyes. "Because you're old-fashioned yourself."

"I'm not!" Steve argued.

"Downton Abbey is great." Loki said seriously and crossed his arms. "You just don't know how to appreciate a good show."

"Alright, I'll stop worrying!" I threw in quickly, not wanting them to continue arguing. I couldn't stop the small smile that appeared on my lips. I was glad to have my friends with me. "And we won't watch that show, Loki. Well, or maybe, but just one single episode!" I narrowed my eyes at him. "And not the half season like last time." Most of us had fallen asleep in that movie night. The only ones who were able to stay awake had been Loki (obviously since he'd chosen the show), Steve, Jim, Pepper and Daisy. After that, there had been a heated discussion if we shouldn't stop the tradition that we took turns in choosing the movie for our weekly movie night, but we'd decided against it. That wouldn't have been fair.

"One episode is fine." Loki grinned. "And it's good to see you smile again, Tony."

"For however long it lasts." Rhodey muttered darkly, but I decided to ignore that. A look out of the window told me that we'd nearly arrived at the company. I knew that Obadiah had already made all the changes I wanted, but I couldn't help feeling a little tense at the thought of going there again. To the company which I still associated with my father. A place where I haven't been for over twenty years. But then I remembered that I also had to look at the house in Malibu and suddenly, the company didn't sound so bad after all.

Obadiah was already waiting for us in front of the company, a wide smile on his lips. When we got out of the car, he held out his hands in a welcoming gesture. "It's good to see you!" He greeted us loudly.

I smiled when he came closer to hug me. "It's good that you're here, Tony." He added more quietly. "It was about time."

"I'm sorry that it took me so long. But you know that I couldn't leave her."

"It's fine. Now you're here and that's all that counts." I could see the understanding in his eyes. Obadiah knew how important Pepper was to me. Not wanting to continue this conversation here, I looked at the building – and froze.

"What's that?" I asked loudly and now the others also followed my gaze.

Obadiah laughed. "It's great, isn't it?" He sounded proud when he noticed that we were all staring at the big sign above the entrance of the building. In big, shining letters, the words STARK INDUSTRIES were written there. I knew that they could be seen even from a big distance.

"That looks awesome!" I exclaimed, still a little surprised by this. "But you didn't have to do that, Obi."

He kept grinning. "It's nothing. And besides, the old name had to go. We all hated it."

"We?" I quirked an eyebrow.

Obadiah began to walk towards the building and gestured for us to follow him. I exchanged a sceptical look with the others, but then I shrugged and followed him more slowly. Somehow, I knew that another surprise was waiting for us inside.

Which was true. The entire entrance hall was packed with people. The employees of Crafting Enterprises. Now my employees. I was glad that I was still wearing sunglasses which were hiding my surprise. Because as soon as we entered, they all started to cheer loudly and clapped their hands. Obadiah had mentioned before that my father hadn't been popular within the company, but only now I realized the full extent of it.

Many people were talking to us at the same time and in the end, they only fell silent when Obadiah held up his hands for a few moments. I met many expectant glances and was glad when Obadiah began to speak first.

"Today is a historical day for the company. We've started to make changes months ago and on this very day, there will be even more. Because now Tony Stark, the owner of what is now called Stark Industries has finally arrived in Los Angeles with his team." The people started to cheer again, but it ended much faster this time. "Today will also be my last day as the managing director of the company. Mr. Stark will take his rightful position from now on."

He gestured for me to step next to him and I did, taking off my sunglasses in the course of it. I noticed that there was someone with a camera standing in the first row and I smiled in his direction before looking around at all the people I was responsible for from now on. I'd feared that the responsibility would be a heavy burden, but the only thing I felt in this moment was pride. Pride that these people had decided to stay in the company and wait for my arrival. Because many had also left as soon as the changes had been announced. I knew from Obadiah that there were about seventy people looking at me now.

"First, I would like to thank you for this great welcome." I said loudly and looked around. "And I'm sure my team appreciates it as well. I also want to thank you for staying here in the company in times like this. I know that all the changes came very sudden and that no one was prepared for them – least of all me. I never dreamed of having another company than the security company Stark Industries was until now. But now we're here and I've heard that everything's ready to start. The project will be clean energy, as you all now. And I promise you that it will be a project that will change the world for good. Together, we can achieve anything we want. If we only work together as one big team."

My speech was followed by more applause and I exchanged looks with my team. When I realized that they looked proud of me, I smiled. I announced another meeting with the whole company for the next day in which I would explain how everything would work from now on before they all began to return to their working places.

In the end, only my team, Obadiah and two more people stayed in the entrance hall. "That was a very good speech." Obadiah grinned.

"Thank you. All improvised." I assured him.

"Like everything he did as a politician." Rhodey added. "He doesn't like scripts."

"I already figured that out." Obi chuckled. Then he turned to the two people waiting for us, who were keeping a distance from our group until now. "May I introduce Mr. Brian Wilbur to you? He's been my right hand in the past months." Brian Wilbur was a small and skinny man, with brown hair and brown eyes.

I smiled at him and held out my hand. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Wilbur."

"It's an honour to meet you, Mr. Stark. I've already heard so many things about you."

I chuckled. "It's Tony now that we're going to work together."

"Then please call me Brian." He looked at the rest of my team. "All of you."

The other person in the room was a woman. Tall, with long black hair and green eyes. She looked familiar to me and when Obadiah introduced her, I realized why. "This is Hope van Dyne, one of our scientists. She's an expert in physics."

I raised my eyebrows. "Hank Pym is your father." It wasn't a question. Hank Pym was the owner of Pym Technologies, a big company in San Francisco that was doing research on nanoparticles. They were the best in that subject.

Hope nodded, though she didn't look too pleased by my statement. "I'm not surprised that you know that since you're also a scientist." She smiled at me.

"Why are you here then?" I was curious. If her father was owning such a big company, why would she leave?

"I've been working for Crafting Enterprises for three years." She explained. "I came to LA for personal reasons, even if that didn't work out. But I realized that I like the city, so I stayed." Suddenly, her eyes were drawn to something behind me and when I followed her gaze, I realized that she was looking at Scott Lang, who'd also joined us on our journey to LA, with wonder in her eyes. As for Scott... he was staring at her and when he realized that she was looking at him, he blushed furiously.

Hope seemed to realize that everyone had followed her gaze. She cleared her throat. "Then I heard that you'd come to LA and I got curious."

I raised my eyebrows. "Because of everything the media says?"

"Because Obadiah told me how brilliant you are." She threw in.

I quirked an eyebrow. "Please don't tell me you want to get to know all my secrets and run off to your father with them." I joked with a chuckle.

She laughed. "I don't have a good relationship to my father. And he's retired last year, the company is owned by someone else now." The tone of her voice made it clear that she didn't agree with his choice. Maybe they had a fight about it?

I kept smiling, realizing that I liked her. "It's good to have you in the team, Hope." We also shook hands before I introduced my team. Again, I noticed that her eyes stayed on Scott longer than on the others. Interesting.

"We will talk about the whole organisation of the company tomorrow." I told Brian and Hope. "We have to consider your roles in all this, but I'm sure we will find a solution everyone can live with."

They agreed and then Obadiah began to show us around. Hope and Brian joined us for some time before they both got back to work. I already knew that I was going to like both of them. I could see why Obadiah had chosen them for important positions in the company.

In the end, we stopped in front of what was going to be my office. It was a big room with many windows. In the distance, one could even see the ocean. The walls were white and Obadiah had placed a few pictures there. On one of them, I recognized New York. Another one showed Boston.

"There have been many requests by the press." Obadiah said when I ran my hands over the wood of the desk thoughtfully. "They want an official statement from you."

"I already thought so." I sighed. "When is the appointment?"

"In two days." Obadiah didn't look surprised by my question. "Apparently, word has spread that you've left Washington."

"That was to be expected." I said simply. "The press will run wild."

"You don't sound thrilled." He stated.

"Should I be?" I ran a hand through my hair. "I left her alone, Obadiah." In this moment, I was glad that we were alone. The others had decided to get something to drink in the kitchen close by.

"She'll be fine." Obi said calmly. "I didn't get a chance to spend much time with her yet, but she's a strong woman. Otherwise, she would have never won this election."

"I know that. But it's not that easy anyway."

"You're worried and after everything that happened in the past year, it's understandable." He placed a hand on my shoulder. "It will get better, I'm sure of that."

To be honest, I didn't see that coming yet, but I forced a smile on my lips. "I hope you're right."

Obadiah smiled back at me. "Come on, let's join the others in the kitchen."

I followed him, glad when I could hear the laughter of my friends. When we joined them, they began to tease Scott about staring at Hope once more. Soon, I joined their laughter and was glad that I could forget everything else at least for a little while.