Disclaimer: I do not own anything that I have written. Yep, that is right, I own not even one iota of the below work.
Warnings: Cannon violence, sexuality, and blood. Possibly worse language than the actual movie. Will contain homosexual relationships.
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Chapter Nine
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Tony even managed to not do more than look shocked when an hour later, Wade returned holding his own mutilated legs – That was a sign of just how happy he was, surely.
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After Wade came back about four month ago holding just his legs, Tony's life had settled into a new normal.
A sort of ease had fallen over Tony, wounds given to him by Rhodes and Pepper were healing, the company was doing amazing, and the genius' inventions were coming along swimmingly. Wade popped by about once every day and made the house his own, until he went on a mission which generally lasted somewhere between three and seven days. Sometimes Wade even stuck around – Not moved in, but it wasn't rare for the man to stay the night in one of the guest rooms.
(That particular room was a disaster after the man even staying just one night – Tony knew he'd have to hire a cleaning crew when Wade moved into the tower. A discreet one at that, because one day Tony swore he saw not only stray guns, but stray C4 of all things... )
The Stark even allowed alcohol back into the house about a month ago, at the permission of JARVIS.
There were three main things that drew most of Tony's attention, though.
Stark Tower, which was coming along swimmingly. Tony had finished the arc-reactor to power the place and was just waiting for construction to finish. It was impressive actually, because it was projected to be finished within the next few months. JARVIS had done a great job planning everything, Tony hadn't known that buildings could be made so efficiently. Then again, JARVIS knew how to cut corners and get things that a human simply couldn't work through.
StarkGlasses, which Tony had finally made a version he was happy with. They had some mild zooming ability, could take pictures and video simple stuff, but they could also project video onto the glass itself, making them perfect for watching movies and the like. This was, of course, as long as movie produces paid Stark Industries to format their movies for the glasses. Not much, of course, but it didn't need to be, because with the amount of movies out there that would need to be done, well, Tony certainly would make a pretty penny with that idea.
He also had his own version, with far vaster zoom capabilities, JARVIS installed, motion tracking, targeting, and so much more. The civilian form looked a little bit clunky, but Tony's version looked just like any other pair of designer glasses. The civilian ones would get better over the years, in fact, Tony already had the next four versions done and ready for release, but better to take it slow.
Finally, Tony's abilities in relation to the element's effect on him had taken a great deal of Tony's time as the genius tested himself, experimented, and studied.
"JARVIS, what's the current rate?" Tony asked, watching as his cut healed before his very eyes, it was created an hour ago, and it was already almost healed.
"Your healing rate clocks in currently at 10 times faster than the normal human average." JARVIS informed, and through the last month, the worry over that fact had left the AI. In fact, JARVIS was feeling particularly grateful toward the healing factour, as it was keeping his creatour safe. Though he hadn't admitted that to Tony, "The pure element itself remains unaffected by any test that we run on it other than pulling power Which it recovers from far faster than first imagined."
"Keep me updated on any change." Tony said off-handedly, as though his AI hadn't been doing it for months, "How is the preparations for the StarkGlasses release going?"
Gradually enough, Tony had been letting out small leaks on the fact he was working on a new project – Building up the excitement for it. Normally something like that could be counterproductive, as the 'hype' might not live up to the reality. This time however Tony was sure that the excitement would work in his favour. Announcing a completely new product was completely different from releasing a new version of a product. Gradually the release had a subtle effect of keeping his stock up, in fact, it had raised at a steady incline. Now, before things could change, was the perfect time to announce.
"Production has already started, all that is left to do is speak with the board and set up the conference."
Tony gave a little nod and abruptly stood up, "Well then, let's give them a little surprise, shall we? While I do the meeting, you start setting up the conference."
"Shall I warn them of your arrival?" JARVIS asked, but his tone spoke of someone who already knew the answer to that question.
Tony just let out a laugh.
There were decisions to be made on what sort of entrance the businessman wanted to make. It would be his first time in a board meeting since the switch, and the hounds would want to rip at him. Of course, they wouldn't succeed.
Pepper was passive to them, in that she worked cunningly around the board. Stane had begged for Tony to work with the board on several occasions. Neither of them were here anymore, and you know what they say, sometimes the best defense is a good offense.
Put plainly, Tony was going to force his way back in with brutishly, and when eventually the board thought to attack, the businessman would alienate them. Which, of course, meant that the Stark would make them so miserable that they quit. The board needed remodel, anyway.
The whole idea behind the current board had stagnated.
Tony, as both a scientist and a person, found stagnation in general to be loathsome and the first step on the road to failure.
Several smaller, interconnected plans started to form in Tony's mind, even as the man got dressed in an overly expensive suit for the occasion. Dark tainted looking designer glasses were placed onto his nose – Serving more than just one purpose. Hiding his now bioluminescent eyes, and they were StarkGlasses, and Tony did so love wearing and experiencing just how amazing his technology was, especially when JARVIS was involved.
"Run the diagnostics." Tony demanded, and the display in front of Tony's eyes started to lit up, several bars and meters appearing as well as important lines of code that the inventor immediately committed to memory. It looked much like a smaller, simpler version of his Iron Man suits interface. While that was running, Tony reached down for the two ear pieces and plugged them into their intended ear. They were personally molded and black, noticeable, but it was expected for Tony to be wearing his tech anyway.
"All systems are functioning perfectly, sir." JARVIS spoke, no longer through the house, but through the ear pieces.
"Great." Tony allowed a sharp grin to his lips, "J, pull a car around for me. I'm going to go see to Wade before we go."
As predicted, Wade was being served lunch by the bots. The kids had taken something of a liking to the man, Tony found it utterly adorable, because the mercenary, hardened as he was, treated the bots like the kids they technically were. He softened to them, and Tony hadn't ever been more thankful toward a friend. A friend that finally understood at least somewhat the feelings Tony had toward his creations.
"I'm off to rip a few old, manipulative assholes a new one, wanna watch through the camera feed?" Tony grinned out, almost a hundred per-cent sure that Wade would agree to that.
As predicted, the man turned toward Tony and gave a food filled grin, "Oh boy! That might even be better than watching more bachelor reruns."
Tony schooled his expression into something mildly offended, "Might be? I'll have you know, my ability to verbally tear into these guys will have some of them running out of that room crying with their metaphorical tail between their legs."
"Like you'll be leaving the sparring mat, if you end up late for our session." Wade added, on a more serious note. He did drop the levity when it came to Tony's training, for reasons Tony didn't understand.
"Sure thing, Red. My ride it waiting for me though, I'd best get going. Don't miss me too much, kids." Tony then swaggered out and into his car, grinning even wider when he noticed that JARVIS had picked out his favourite, and fastest. Once Tony was in and secured his seat belt, he took over control from JARVIS and hit the gas, as always, loving the feeling the rumbling car gave him.
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A hop, skip, and jump later, Tony Stark was at the current hub of Stark Industries and was striding through the halls with a sense of purpose that had even the most bold of employees just staring as he walked by, instead of walking up to introduce themselves or ask for something.
As he walked, Tony looked through the StarkGlasses, and was more than satisfied with the way they were working. JARVIS was flittering through faces quickly, taking in the preprogrammed eye movements to know when Tony wanted something to be zoomed in on, a file to be pulled up, and more. He did quickly learn that this particular type of glass was going to be something he could never trust to the public. The amount of distraction that it provided was simply too much for an average user. The lawsuits that SI would get for responsibility far outweighed what they could make. Still, the simple version that Tony made didn't have so much information available, nor did it have anywhere near as many features.
Thoughts regarding the future of StarkGlasses were pushed out of the inventour's mind when he finally came across a large official looking wooden door.
"J, start a video feed to Wade, only one sided for now." Tony requested, and noticed when the icon showing the connected call showed up. After which, he started forward again.
Tony didn't even bother knocking.
Instead, he walked right in, and relished in the shocked looks that got thrown his way. Some were even offended – As though wondering how Tony had the audacity to do something like that. As if the Stark wasn't the one who owned the buildings, and their paychecks.
"I'm sure you've missed me." Tony announced, the door snapping shut behind him and it echoed through the now silent room, "Let's see... You are all here. Good, that makes this easier."
The room had a rather simple conference table, in front of each seat was a touch screen computer built into the table. There were a total of eight people on the board. All of them were old friends of Howard Stark – The sort of people who were the worst from their time. Money hungry, stagnant, arrogant men, sexist even, from the way they had underestimated Pepper Potts.
One of the bravest, Alfods Heirshem, spoke up immediately, "Tony! We weren't expecting you. After Pepper left, we had all assumed that you would take a break."
Alfods was a weak, pathetic looking man. His hair was slicked back and his voice was scratchy from years of smoke abuse, ultimately he just gave off the douche-bag vibe in a way that few other than Stane could pull off.
"Oh you wish Alfy, I've got far too many plans to rest now." Tony began, clapping his hands together for show, "I've got a new product that I've begun production on and I will be announcing within the next few days."
"Tony, you can't just spring these things on us out of nowhere – "
Tony raised an eyebrow toward the man, and swiftly interrupted him, "Yes, I can actually. If you don't like it, you can feel free to quit. This brings me to the second part of this meeting. I'm done bowing my head and ideas to your demands. I was once told that the board has rights... Fine, you can have those rights, and I'll work around them, but you are going to hate every minute of it. You'll eventually quit."
The rest of the board stayed quiet, allowing Alfods to speak. Tony took notice of that, oh yes, because Alfods was clearly the pseudo-leader of this little group. The others folded to him like wet paper.
Alfods remained calm, although his eyes did narrow, "Are you threatening the board?"
"No, at the risk of sounding extremely cliché, I'm making you're a promise. Evidence backs it up, I mean I couldn't keep a PA for more than a month before Pepper. You don't have her tenacity, so yes, you will quit." Tony explained with a shrug, "I also see the corruption in my company still, the sort of thing that made me shut down weapon production... The board will be gaining new members soon enough to offset that."
"You can't just add new people to the board, it's a balanced creation, made of people who have been at this job for over twenty years. You won't find more qualified people." Alfods gritted out, and Tony could feel the palatable annoyance the man was giving off.
"Sure I will, we need people who actually know what goes into this company, not idiots who don't even have their doctorate. Starting tomorrow, the heads of each division will be a part of this council. That means... 10 new people will be joining."
Just enough to offset any of the stupid things that the original eight would try – The loss of power would also be integral to getting them to eventually leave. They were addicted to power, and when they learned that they couldn't have it here... Eventually, the later parts of the plan would start to be implemented, but for today, the murderous looks he was getting would be enough.
"Since you guys currently don't actually do anything, I see no reason to actually tell you about the new product. I have a press thing to get to, you guys just do... whatever it is you do in here. The new arrivals will be here soon, enjoy your last day as a useless part of the company."
The same way he entered, Tony left. Head forward with a confidence that couldn't be faked. Once the door was safely shut behind him, Tony allowed a far more triumphant look to erupt. The start of the plan was going along perfectly.
"Call Wade, let's hear his thoughts." Tony spoke to JARVIS, and not a second later, Wade's face was taking up the right side of his glasses, see through enough that it didn't majorly affect the inventor's vision.
The man was pouting, "I didn't see the promised tears…. Hey, if you want me to get rid of those a-holes for you, just let me know. I offer a friends and family discount."
Tony let out an amused snort, "Thanks for the offer, I'll keep it in mind."
It struck Tony that his friend wasn't wearing his mask for once, and the mercenary seemed perfectly comfortable with it. Which was weird, Tony haven't even noticed that Wade stopped wearing it everywhere he went. He'd have to ask his friend when he got back to the house.
"I'll be back home and ready for you to kick my ass in a few hours… Want me to pick up some food?"
Wade's expression turned very serious, "Tacos, and bring at least 20 packets of sauce per taco, and I want 23 tacos."
"How super specific of you." Tony commented, rolling his eyes, but committing the order to memory, "See you when I get back."
The call disconnected with three blinks from Tony, the technology working just as made. Of course, he had that quick announcement to make, but that would only take 15 minutes. Suitably dramatic, but showing the concept art and an example, but nothing else was really needed. After which the ass kicking could take place.
Tony's mental dialogue was kind of sarcastic in its enthusiasm for that particular occurrence once again.
R&R
Sorry that this chapter took so long, let me know what you thought!