Chapter 12 – My Best Friend; The Bad Guy, 2011
Tony was standing in the middle of the workshop, still wearing the armour, minus the helmet, which was on the table in front of him. He was staring at it, wondering what would have been if he'd just given up and allowed those bastards to kill him in Afghanistan all those years ago.
There was a grim look on his face and a beaker of Scotch in his hand. He turned when he heard a noise behind him, and saw Pepper standing there.
"Where've you been, Tony?" she asked, a worried tone in her voice. "I've been worried sick." She folded her arms and fixed him with her darkest glare.
"It's my fault, Pepper." Tony said, his tone was glum, self-loathing, and it softened Pepper's expression, "What happened to Rhodey, the deaths of thousands of innocent men in wars that...it...it's my fault." He said weakly.
Pepper went to him and put her hands on his cheeks, cupping his face and forcing him to look at her.
"None of it was your fault, you had no control over this. Rhodey made those decisions on his own, as did the decisions of the men who kill our soldiers every day." She said firmly.
Tony sighed and nodded slightly, though it felt non-committal to Pepper.
"What happened?" she asked softly, looking down at the charred marks from the bullets that had been fired across the faceplate of the helmet.
"Rhodey killed some American troopers. I got there too late, but I managed to save one. Rhodey's too far gone to be saved, he's...insane." Tony said, draining the beaker, ignoring the drops that ran down his chin and neck, "We fought, once or twice I actually believed that he was going to kill me..." he said, his voice breaking, "I can't stop him..."
Pepper held him as best she could around the armour, and Tony held her back, though he only held her loosely out of fear of crushing her to death. He wondered if he should ask about what Rhodey said to him, about Tony "stealing" Pepper from Rhodey. He knew it was Rhodey's twisted memory of the events, he and Pepper had never been on a date, and Tony had met Pepper at a completely different time. He swallowed silently and pulled back, away from Pepper, "I came home and came up with a way to...hopefully, trace the energy used by the suit, so I can find him. I can find him and try to end this." Tony said, "I've been recalibrating the Stark Global satellites, I got back a few minutes ago...what time is it?" Tony asked.
Pepper looked at Tony and frowned, "Nearly 1 in the afternoon...you haven't slept? It was only late last night when you left...you can't keep doing this, sweetie," she said, "Take the armour off, I'll have J.A.R.V.I.S. make us something." She said.
Tony shook his head and started to protest, "No, Pepper...I can't relax, I have to make replacement parts for the armour so J.A.R.V.I.S. can rebuild the broken parts, then...I have to find Rhodey..."
"Anthony Edward Stark," Pepper snapped, "You will come and eat some food, and get some sleep, because you can't keep doing this, it's not healthy and you're not setting a good example for your fifteen year old daughter. Do you understand me?"
Tony sighed. "Yes dear," he said, and watched Pepper leave before initiating the removal process.
Rhodey pulled his Mercedes into the lay-by outside Maria's school in Beverly Hills, and walked into the courtyard, looking for Maria. He knew it was currently lunch time for the school, so he knew Maria would be around. She often told him about playing soccer with her friends at lunchtime on the courtyard. He spotted Maria standing on the sidelines watching her friends and whistled for her. She looked over and smiled widely.
"Uncle Rhodey!" she said and hugged him, "Why are you here?" she added in confusion.
"I came to take you for lunch," he smiled.
Maria grinned, picking up her stuff she told him she had to tell reception she would be back for lessons. After this was done, Rhodey led her to his car, and politely held her door open. She wouldn't be able to tell, but there was a device installed into Rhodey's car now that would disable cell phones. Maria wouldn't be able to ring for help as he roared away with a smirk on his lips.
