The Unknown Variable
Stay away from me! Evil Lawyer people! I own nothing!
It only took Dad four hours to get home, once the court session was dismissed. I didn't even bother to ask how he got home so quickly.
Mortem was still missing, and because I was out of that blue fizzy drink…well…let's just say that I freaking hurt.
Dad had come home to me in the middle of a major coughing fit, curled up in a ball on the couch from the pain.
To say he had freaked out is an understatement. He had gone completely ballistic.
He held me like Mortem did until the pain faded back down to a manageable level, and the coughing stopped.
Then I downed four ibuprofens…if I was dying in a week I wasn't bother much by side effects.
The whole lab had gotten a major upgrade over the past six months. Tony got a new, fancier desk, and all of the computer screens were now glass and holograms. He had also installed versions of my Holo-Balls into the ceilings so that his holograms were no longer limited to his desk, they could move with him.
Dad turned on his music, as loud as it could go before awakening the lab and Jarvis with a clap.
"Wake up kids, Daddy's home." Tony stated with a small smile.
"Welcome home, Sir." Jarvis replied instantly.
"It's lonely when you're not here." I stated as I brought my chair around. It was big, leather, and stuffed…like those you expect stuck up business men to have at meetings. It was comfy, it could spin, and it could roll.
I liked it. I had ordered it when the bouts of pain became more frequent a month ago but I still wanted to work.
"Glad to know I'm wanted." Tony commented.
"Congratulations on the opening ceremony it was such a success for the business." Jarvis stated as everything lit up. "And may I say how refreshing it is to finally see you in a video with your clothing on, Sir."
I rolled my eyes at the AI, although Tony stopped doing the one night stands after Afghanistan, Jarvis was never letting it go…he had too much good blackmail information to do that.
Tony chuckled at Jarvis' joke, before we both spun around at the sound of the blender making a mess.
We both knew the sound by now, the bots forgetting to put the top on was a common occurrence.
"U!" Tony said the bot turned at the sound of its name, only to knock the blender, still containing Tony's green drink, all over the counter. "I swear I'll dismantle you, I'll soak your motherboard… I'll turn you into a wine rack…or scraps for Pen."
I giggled as the bot lowered its claw in shame.
"…for the day. How much of this gunk do I have to drink?" Tony asked Jar.
While Tony had always drank those shakes, now (Tony told me the other day) they held some more…interesting…ingredients to keep his immune system up. He suggested that I do the same but I turned him down, while it might help Dad because it was still in the early stages, I was too far along in my mind.
"We are now up eighty ounces a day to counteract the symptoms." Jarvis replied.
"Ew." I stated, scrunching up my nose as Tony chugged a glass. "I don't even want to know how much you'd want me to drink."
"Lucky." Tony gasped as he put the glass down.
"Trust me," I stated sourly as my chest flared again. "I'm not."
"Check Palladium levels," Tony stated to Jarvis as he took out the little box again. "Penny, I want you to go yours next."
I sighed; part of me didn't want to know…I knew I was just getting worse.
"Blood toxisity, 24%."Jarvis stated as Tony sucked on his pricked thumb.
I sighed as Tony shook his head. He's was accelerating extremely quickly. It went up 14% in about twenty-four hours…not good. Now I really didn't want to know mine.
"Your turn." Tony said as he tossed me the box. I caught it with a wince, as my chest flared at the movement.
I pressed my thumb to the box, and winced as the numbers appeared on screen. "Blood Toxicity 42%"
"Shit." Tony commented, and I tossed him the box back. It looked like we were right…our time was running out.
"It appears that the continued use of the Iron Man suit is accelerating your condition. The same applies for Miss Penny's abilities. But we were already aware of that." Jarvis stated, showing Tony a digital replica of his Arc and chest…and Palladium poisoning.
I grimaced, if that was what his looked like…I didn't want to know mine….didn't I just say that?
"Another core has been depleted." Jarvis commented as Tony reached under his shirt and pulled out his Arc with a grimace. Just because they were easy to remove didn't mean that it didn't hurt.
I sighed, I hadn't told Tony that in the past week I had to change my Palladium core five times. They were burning out faster…
"God, they're running out quick." Tony commented as he pulled the smoking, black chared piece of Palladium out. "Pen, are your's like this?"
I groaned but answered with a sigh, "Yeah…had to change it five times last week…had to do it twice in the last 36 hours."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Tony asked as he placed a new Palladium chip and reinserted the Arc.
I shrugged in response, biting my tongue as another burning burst of pain made its way up my chest.
"I have run simulations on every known element, but none can serve a viable replacement for the Palladium core." Jarvis stated. I had sent him all of the research I had done on the subject, I think Dad just wanted to look for himself since he knew I didn't find anything.
"Already did that…" I stated leaning back on the cool, fake leather.
"I'm just trying it myself." Tony told me as Jarvis continued.
"You are running out of both time and options…for yourself and your daughter."
I could only see the reflection of Tony's face, but for the first time since we talked about this…Tony actually looked as worried and defeated as he felt.
"Unfortunately, the devices keeping you both alive are also killing you." Jarvis commented. I stood up and walked slowly over to my father, wincing in pain with every step, as Tony examined the black lines slowly making their way across his chest.
His weren't even four inches long yet…mine had already almost covered my enter chest. They were getting hard to hide.
I grabbed onto Tony's arm and turned him towards me, his eyes widened in concern at my pale face but I ignored the look and said, "We'll figure this out. It's okay."
We both knew better, however. This was one problem that we were unlikely to fix.
Dad managed a weak smile as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed my forehead.
"Miss Potts is approaching; I recommend that you inform her…" Jarvis said as Tony put his shirt down.
"Mute." Tony ordered and Jarvis fell silent.
Tony wrapped his arm around my waist and practically dragged me back to my chair. He sat me back down with a look.
"What…" I started to ask weakly, but he shot me down.
"Don't go invisible; I know that those Holo-Balls of yours can practically do the same thing." Tony stated as he pressed a few icons on the screens.
I sighed, he was right, like usual. It was annoying, but at least I wouldn't have to struggle to get my sparks to work.
The Hologram sprang to life around me and I vanished almost completely from view.
It was a close one; I had to say as Pepper typed in the code and entered the lab.
"Uh uh," Tony commented taking a sip of his drink, seeing the look on Pepper's face.
"Is this a joke?" Pepper stated as she marched her way across the floor towards Tony.
'Nope, not this time.' I thought to myself.
"What are you thinking?" Pepper said.
"What?" Tony asked, as he finished gulping down another shake.
"What are you thinking?" She repeated and I rolled my eyes, seriously?
"Hey!" Tony exclaimed backing off, "I'm thinking I'm busy…and you're angry about something."
He stood up and walked over to the other side of the lab, Pepper followed him, effectively making her avoid me.
"Do you have the sniffles; I don't want to get sick." Tony commented keeping his distance. He walked past the display cases holding Marks I-IV. Mark V was finished, but was kept as a backup measure only.
"Did you just donate our entire modern art collection to the…" Pepper faltered, not remembered what organization it was.
"Boy scouts of America." Tony stated instantly, he picked up a random floating hologram of a Mark chest and threw it to the virtual trashcan.
"Boy scouts of America?!" Pepper repeated in horror.
"It is more the organization, I didn't physically check the crates, but technically yes; and it's my collection…it's my collection. No offence." Tony said, as he rearranged more holograms and ordered them around silently.
I slowly rolled the chair after them, careful not to make any sound as I followed them through the lab.
"I think I'm entitled to say our collection…" Pepper continued, very upset as Dad appeared to be ignoring her, cleaning out the numerous holograms that were floating around the room.
"…considering the time that I put in…" I snickered quietly as Pepper tried to finish her rant. The holograms made video game like noises as they were moved and deleted. It made things more interesting, and I'm sure that Pepper doubted that he was paying attention.
"…over ten years curating…" Pepper informed my father who paused and looked shocked.
"You did? Thought it was longer. Tax right ups, you do that." Tony stated.
"You know, there's only about eight thousand and eleven things that I really need to talk to you about…" Pepper stated, clearly frustrated. But Dad didn't want to listen.
"Hey, Butterfinger, stop moping around. The machine's ports are already done in that area…" Tony said to the bot as he passed him.
"The Expo is a gigantic waste of time." Pepper stated, and then coughed.
I finally got a close look at her face, and it did appear that she had a cold.
"I need you to wear a surgical mask. Until your feeling better." Tony stated, laying his hands on her shoulders.
If Tony or I were to get sick with the Palladium poisoning already effecting our systems…well…let's just say that it won't be pretty.
"Is that okay?" Tony asked her as he started walked backwards towards the main part of the lab.
Pepper looked sad for a moment before turning back towards her boss.
"That's rude." She commented quietly.
"There's more important to me than the Expo. It's my primary point of concern…I don't know why…" Tony stated, and Pepper interrupted him.
"The Expo is your ego going crazy." Pepper stated in indignation.
"No, it's much more than that." I heard Tony mutter but Pepper didn't.
"Wow," Tony stated, as he saw a modern paining of Iron Man's portfolio. He had hidden it back here in the mechanical side of the lab when he had first seen it, but now it served as a way to ignore Pepper.
"That's modern art." Tony said as he lifted up the large frame. I really hated that thing…but I could be worse. "That's going up."
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me…" Pepper stated, closing her eyes in frustration.
Dad, having successfully changed the subject continued, "I'm putting that up right now."
"Stark Industries is in completely disarray…" Pepper said and I saw Tony roll his eyes.
"Why is it…no. Our stocks have never been higher." Tony snapped back lightly with a flourish of his hands. "You are…"
"Yes, but from an managerial…" Pepper tried to say but Tony cut her off.
"This is what we're trying to say." Tony said.
"It's absolutely terrible." Pepper finished.
"Then let's double back on that." Tony stated as he quickened his walk, "and move on to another subject."
"Oh, no, no, NO!" Pepper exclaimed as she saw were Tony was heading. "You are not taking the Barnet Newman down and hanging that up!"
Personally, I didn't see what was so great about the picture hanging by the TV and kitchenette. It was a black rectangle on a white background…
"I'm not taking it down." Tony argued as he pushed everything off of the counter and jumped up onto it. "I'm just replacing it with this. "Let's see what…"
"Okay, fine." Pepper stated giving up as Tony replaced the art. "The point is, we have already awarded contacts with…"
"yeah," Tony agreed.
"Windfarm people…"
"Don't say Windfarm, I'm already gassy." Tony commented, covering up her statement.
"…which was your idea by the way…"
"Yeah," he repeated.
"They're on payroll." Pepper tried to point out.
"Everything was my idea." Tony argued.
"You won't make a decision!" Pepper stated in anger.
"I don't care about the liberal agenda anymore! It's boring, and I'm giving you the boring work." Tony hopped off the counter and sighed tiredly. "You do it."
"I do what?" Pepper exclaimed in horror.
"Excellent idea." Tony said, although he had been thinking about it for a while I assumed. "I just figured this out, you run the company."
"Yeah, I'm trying. I'm trying to run the company…" Pepper said, looking stressed out and ready to smack my father.
"Pepper, then stop trying and do it."
"Well, you're making it a bit hard." Pepper snapped.
"I'm not asking you to try, I'm asking you to do it." Tony said, attempting to get his point across. "I need you to do it."
"I am trying to do it!" Pepper yelled. "You're not listening to me…"
Tony was getting frustrated and said, "You're not listening to me! I'm trying to make you CEO!"
That finally got Pepper to freeze and then look at Dad in shock.
"Why won't you let me?" Tony asked at a more reasonable level of volume.
Pepper leaned in close to my father and said, "Have you been drinking?"
"Not currently." Tony stated as Pepper continued to stare at him wide eyed. "I hereby, irrevocably* make you chairman and CEO of Stark Industries effective immediately."
There was an awkward moment of silence before Dad continued, "Yeah, done deal."
"I've actually given this a fair amount of thought." Tony said as Dummy rolled up with Champaign and two glasses. "Meditated on it so to speak. I was trying to figure out… who the successor would be. Then I realized that it was you. It has always been you."
Tony popped the top and I was starting to feel like I was intruding so I made my way to my room; the Holo-balls keeping my movement unnoticed.
"I thought there would be a legal issue…" The door closed, cutting off the rest of what Tony was saying.
My eyes narrowed at seeing a harassed looking Mortem sitting on my bed.
"Now where have you been?" I stated angrily.
Why is all of the Iron Man II chapters long? I really can't figure out why. I am sorry, but it is annoying me greatly. At least this one isn't so bad.
*not sure if that was the word he used, but it fits well enough. I apologize if I got it wrong.
Hope you all enjoyed it. Penny is going to yell at Mortem Next Chpt.
Thanks to everyone,
Cp