CHAPTER FIVE
Piper sat down in Toni's office chair; she plugged in the USB and found the ghost drive, "Sector Sixteen? What are you up to, Obadiah?" He asked. Piper found blueprints, bills and more files. He saw a video, and opened it. She activated translation software.
"You did not tell us that the target you paid us to kill was the great Toni Stark. As you can see, Obadiah Stane..." The man on the screen said.
"Mother of god," He gasped.
"...your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill Toni Stark has just gone up." He closed the video and almost jumped when Obadiah walked into the office.
"So, what are we going to do about this? I know what you're going through, Piper," Obadiah said, he poured himself one of Toni's drinks "Toni. She always gets the good stuff, doesn't she?" Piper activated the screensaver before Obadiah came too close. "I was so happy when she came home. It's was like we got her back from the dead. Now I realize, well, Toni never really did come home, did she? She left a part of herself in that cave. Breaks my heart."
"Well, she's a complicated person. She's been through a lot. I think she'll be all right," Piper said.
"You are a very rare man. Toni doesn't know how lucky she is," Obadiah told him. Piper snuck the USB into the paper.
"Is that today's paper?" Obadiah asked.
"Yes," Piper said.
"Do you mind?"
"Not at all."
"Puzzle," Obadiah requested.
"Of course," Piper handed it to him, walking out swiftly.
"Take care," Obadiah called out behind him.
Piper rushed downstairs, straight to Agent Coulson.
"Mr. Potts? We had an appointment. Did you forget about our appointment?" Agent Coulson asked.
"Nope, right now. Come with me. We're going to have it right now," Piper said, clutching the paper to his chest and walking away from the Industries.
"Right now?" Agent Coulson asked.
"Yeah, walk with me," Piper said.
"Okay."
"I'm going to give you the meeting of your life. Your office," Piper said. He glanced to see Obadiah staring intently at the pair.
SEVERAL HOURS LATER
The phone rang, Toni walked over and picked it up, but before she could answer it, Obadiah snuck up behind her and paralyzed her.
"Breathe. Easy, easy," Obadiah said, setting her onto the couch. "You remember this one, right? It's a shame the government didn't approve it. There are so many applications for causing short-term paralysis?" Obadiah showed her the device. "Toni. When I ordered the hit on you, I worried that I was killing the golden goose. But, you see, it was just fate that you survived. You had one last golden egg to give." Obadiah removed the arc reactor from her belt. "Do you really think that just because you have an idea, it belongs to you? Your father, he helped give us the atomic bomb. Now, what kind of world would it be today if he was as selfish as you?" Obadiah disconnected it from her legs. "Oh, it's beautiful. Toni, this is your Ninth Symphony. What a masterpiece. Look at that. This is your legacy. A new generation of weapons with this at its heart. Weapons that will help steer the world back on course, put the balance of power in our hands. The right hands. I wish you could see my prototype. It's not as... Well, not as conservative as yours. Too bad you had to involve Piper in this. I would have preferred that he lived," Obadiah said.
Toni wondered how stupid Obadiah was; she still wasn't dead or dying. Then she realized, he probably had a way to eradicate that. And she was correct.
"I set this bomb for five minutes. Maybe it would be better just to press a button, but I want you to watch as your life ticks away," Obadiah said, setting it on the table on the other end of the room. He walked away.
THREE MINUTES LATER
With less than two minutes on the clock, Toni finally was able to move again, but not walk, and she weighed 120 pounds more from the waist down. She swore loudly, dragging herself across the room to the bomb, and then she had to deactivate it. "JARVIS?" She groaned. "Can I have a hand?"
"It seems to be a standard time bomb with C-4," JARVIS said. "Unfortunately, if one attempts to open the back to get to the access panel, it automatically will blow up."
"Okay, uh, suggestions?"
"Run?'
"JARVIS, it took me thirty seconds to go five feet," Toni said.
"I apologize, ma'am," JARVIS said.
"Wait, I have an idea," Toni took the bomb and crawled to the window, with twenty seconds left, she broke the window open with a nearby chair and hurled the bomb into the waters. When the bomb set off, a large spray of water hurled several feet into the air, but nothing dangerous happened. Toni sighed, sitting in the broken glass. She leaned her head against the glass exhausted.
A FEW MINUTES LATER
"Tony? Toni? Toni? Toni? Toni!" Rhodes rushed over. "Toni, are you okay?"
"My legs aren't working. Where's Piper?"
"Fine, he's with five agents," Rhodey said. "They're going to arrest Obadiah."
"That isn't going to be enough," Toni said.
JARVIS buzzed, "I don't know if it will be of much assistance, but the Mark I Arc Reactor is in Mr. Potts' office, as he never properly disposed of it as you asked."
"It's of a lot of assistance, thank god I got engaged to Mr. Nostalgia, and prep the suit for flight. Rhodey, can you get me that Arc Reactor?"
"Yeah," Rhodey said. Toni sat there. Rhodey returned with the reactor and she plugged it in. Her legs whirred to life again and she stood up, sighing.
She went downstairs and was fit into the suit.
"That's the coolest thing I've ever seen," Rhodey said, in awe.
"Not bad, huh? Let's do it," She fired a car out of the way.
"You need me to do anything else?"
"Keep the skies clear," She said, and flew out of the hole she made previously.
A WHILE LATER
"How do you think the Mark I chest piece is going to hold up?" Toni asked.
"The suit's at 48% power and falling, ma'am. That chest piece was never designed for sustained flight," JARVIS replied.
"Keep me posted."
Piper called her.
"Piper?"
"Toni! Toni, are you okay?"
"Obadiah- he's gone insane!" Piper exclaimed.
"I know. Listen, you'd better get out of there."
"He built a suit."
"Get out of there right now!" Toni yelled.
Obadiah, in his suit, climbed out of the concrete and pointed a gun at Piper.
"Where do you think you're going? Your services are no longer required."
Toni swooped in and drew the fire away, "Stane!" She shouted. The pair flew onto the freeway, where Obadiah picked up a car with a mother and her son in it.
"Put them down!"
"Collateral damage, Toni," Obadiah said.
"Divert power to lower RT," Toni commanded, shooting Obadiah with a laser stemming from her arc reactor, hiked around her naval area.
"Power reduced to 19%" JARVIS informed.
The lady drove over Toni while she repeated "No" several times. Toni was able to free herself, just to be hit by a motorbike by Obadiah.
"For 30 years, I've been holding you up! I built this company from nothing! Nothing is going to stand in my way. Least of all you!" Obadiah yelled as he beat the crap out of her. Toni was able to launch a rocket at a bus, and use the fireball to propel her into the air, where her suit stabilized in the air. "Impressive! You've upgraded your armor! I've made some upgrades of my own!" Obadiah said, he flew to meet her in the air.
"Ma'am, it appears that his suit can fly," JARVIS said.
"Duly noted. Take me to maximum altitude," Toni told him.
"With only 15% power, the odds of reaching that..."
"I know the math, do it!"
She started climbing, Obadiah trying to reach her.
"Thirteen percent." JARVIS updated. "Eleven percent. Seven percent power."
"Just leave it on the screen! Stop telling me!" Toni yelled.
Obadiah caught up and grasped Toni in the air.
"You had a great idea, Tony, but my suit is more advanced in every way!"
"How did you solve the icing problem?" Toni asked.
"Icing problem?" Obadiah seemed confused. Almost instantly, the armor started to ice up.
Toni punched him, cracking some of the ice but overall sending him plummeting to earth, "Might want to look into it," she suggested.
"Two percent," JARVIS said. Toni started to fall too. "Now running on emergency backup power," JARVIS told her. Toni landed on the roof above the sector 16 arc reactor building.
"Pipes!"
"Toni, oh my god! Are you okay?"
"I'm almost out of power. I've got to get out of this thing. I'll be right there," Toni said. She tried to remove it, but Obadiah returned.
"Nice Try!" Obadiah exclaimed. Toni ducked his swing.
"Weapons status?"
"Repulsors offline, missiles offline-"
"Flares!" Toni exclaimed. She shot flares at Obadiah, which bought her time.
"Very clever, Toni," Obadiah said.
"Pipes?" Toni asked through the phone.
"Toni?"
"This isn't working. We're going to have to overload the reactor and blast the roof."
"Well, how do we do that?"
"You're going to do it. Go to the central console, open up all the circuits. When I get clear of the roof, I'll let you know. You're going to hit the master bypass button. It's' going to fry everything up here," Toni said.
"Okay. I'm going in now."
"Make sure you wait till I clear the roof. I'll buy you some time," Toni promised. She leapt onto Obadiah's back and ripped out a cable. "This looks important. The pair continued fighting. Obadiah ripped Toni's helmet off and threw her across the roof.
"I never had a taste for this sort of thing, but I must admit I'm deeply enjoying the suit!" Obadiah laughed, and crushed the helmet. "You finally outdid yourself, Toni! You'd have made your father proud!
"It's ready, Toni! Get off the roof!" Piper yelled. Obadiah continued firing at Toni, until she dangled from the roof. "Toni!" He screamed.
"How ironic, Tony! Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever!" Obadiah said.
"Piper!" Toni yelled back.
"And now I'm going to kill you with it!" Obadiah tried to fire the missile, but couldn't aim. "You ripped my targeting system!"
"I knew it was important!" Toni said. "Time to hit the button!" Toni yelled to Piper.
"You told me not to!" Piper yelled.
"Hold still you little bitch!" Obadiah said, still trying to kill Toni.
"Just do it!"
"You'll die!"
"You don't think I know that?"
"I love you," Piper said.
"I love you too. Push it!"
Piper hit the button and ran as the Arc Reactor overloaded. He ran. A surge of energy knocked Toni onto the main part of the roof that wasn't being blasted, and cremated Obadiah.
Toni lay there, unconscious, her Arc Reactor out.
"Toni!" Piper yelled from below.
Her reactor flickered back on.
THE NEXT DAY
"You've all received the official statement of what occurred at Stark Industries last night. 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..." Rhodey said on TV.
Piper was helping Toni by using make-up to cover up every cut and bruise that was the result of her fight.
"'Iron Man'... That's kind of catchy. I mean, it's not technically accurate. The suit's a gold-titanium alloy, but it's kind of evocative, the imagery, anyway. And then of course, the media instantly assumes if it doesn't have boobs it's male.
Agent Coulson was in a business suit and handed Toni a card, "Here's your alibi."
"Okay."
"You were on your yacht," Agent Coulson informed her.
"Yeah."
"We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night and sworn statements from 50 of your guests," Agent Coulson said.
"See, I was thinking maybe we should say it was just Piper and me alone on the island," Toni suggested.
"That's what happened."
"All right."
"Just read it, word for word," Agent Coulson was becoming a bit repetitive.
"There's nothing about Stane here," Toni glanced at it.
"That's being handled. He's on vacation. Small aircraft shave such a poor safety record," Agent Coulson answered. She smirked ever so slightly. Toni's respect for the woman increased ever so slightly.
"But what about the whole cover story that it's a bodyguard? He's my body... I mean, is that... That's kind of flimsy, don't you think?" Toni asked.
"This isn't my first rodeo, Ms. Stark. Just stick to the official statement, and soon, this will all be behind you. You've got 90 seconds."
"Agent Coulson? I just wanted to say thank you very much for all of your help," Piper said.
"That's what we do. You'll be hearing from us," Agent Coulson replied.
"From the Strategic Homeland…"
"Just call us SHIELD," Agent Coulson said.
"Right." Piper turned to Toni, "Let's get this show on the road."
"You know, it's actually not that bad. Even I don't think I'm Iron Man," Toni said.
"You're not Iron Man," Piper said.
"Am so."
"You're not."
"All right, suit yourself. You know, if I were Iron Man, I'd have this husband who knew my true identity. He'd be a wreck, 'cause he'd always be worrying that I was going to die, yet so proud of the woman I'd become. He'd be wildly conflicted, which would only make him crazier about me."
"You're not Iron Man because I certainly have several memories thus to prove you are in fact a woman. Will that be all, Ms. Stark?"
"That will be all, Mr. Potts."
Toni walked out. "And now, Ms. Stark has prepared a statement. She will not be taking any questions," Rhodey explained.
"Thank you. Been a while since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time. There's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop-"
Christine Everhart interrupted, "I'm sorry, Ms. 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-"
"I know that it's confusing. It's is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I'm a superhero," Toni answered.
"I never said you were a superhero."
"You didn't? Well, good, because that would be outlandish and fantastic. I'm just not the hero type. Clearly. With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public-" Toni started raving.
"Just stick to the cards, Stark," Rhodes whispered to her.
"Yeah, okay. Yeah... The truth is…" Toni started. There was a very pregnant pause. "... I am Iron Man."
The reporters roared and started taking pictures and asking questions. Rhodey face-palmed
THAT EVENING
"JARVIS!" Toni exclaimed.
"Welcome home, ma'am," JARVIS said.
"'I am Iron Man.' You think you're the only superhero in the world? Ms. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet," A woman said.
"Who the hell are you?" Toni asked.
"Nikolai Fury, Director of SHIELD," The woman said, stepping out of the shadows. She looked menacing, dressed all in black. She herself was African American. Her head was shaved and she had an eye patch. She had the very essence of someone you don't want to piss off.
"Oh," Toni said.
"I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative."
AN
And, we're done with Iron Man. I thank those who reviewed, followed and favorited. I am sorry it took so long. Unfortunately, Hulk may take longer, mostly just because I'm not the biggest fan of that movie. But I will make the effort.
So, just in case you want to know my entire fan-cast for Gender-bent characters in this movie:
Antoinette Edith "Toni" Stark – Sandra Bullock
Virgil "Piper" Potts – David Wenham
Agent Pippa Julie Coulson – Famke Janssan
You'll have to wait for my Fury Fancast.