Iron Man: It's A Wonderful Life

Chapter Seven

December 24 - 4:18pm

"Man, you know my opinion on this."

Rhodey wouldn't look at him, but it was obvious the lieutenant was monitoring every glass of blessedly numbing scotch Tony could get out of him. Till now, Tony would have sworn that he had his drinking under control, but from the side-eyeing he'd noticed, it was apparent no one believed him. After tonight, he didn't believe it either.

"I don't know why you even bothered to come to me."

Rubbing his eyes, Tony tried to decide if the pounding in his head was at all improved by the dubious comfort of Rhodey's couch. "Because you're the only one who knows what that soul-sucking she-demon is capable of, first hand. They have no idea what they're in for."

"Yeah, she's trouble," Rhodey muttered. Rhodey had been there through round one with Sunset Bain, and he knew the depths to which she was willing to stoop. "I'm not gonna say she doesn't have a point though, Tone. If the shit hits the fan, one man in a suit isn't gonna be enough. People are dying already."

Reflexively, Tony's shoulders hunched protectively around his ears, and he rolled forward, elbows on his knees. It had started small. So small, he'd barely noticed. A word here and there on the news about activity in the Middle East. Then words he'd had J.A.R.V.I.S. flag caught his attention: Ten Rings, Afghanistan, Stark Industries, his own name. By the time the suggestion of weapons had arisen, the nightmares had become a nightly occurrence, and when his patriotism came into question, his P.T.S.D. plagued him unceasingly. His inability to turn off the news had led to near isolation, constantly clammy skin, and a worm in his gut there wasn't enough tequila in the world to drown.

"It's gonna have to be," he grunted.

He'd hidden it well, except from Pepper. Rhodey knew Tony wasn't well, but if he noticed his friend's distress now, he kept pushing. "You know I've supported you these last three years. I could have lost my job, but I stood up to generals, senators, you name it. Nobody was happy about that mess with the defense contract."

"You stood up for me?" Tony breathed asthmatically, unable to stop the pounding in his chest from blossoming. That mess with the defense contract, oh God. He tried to push himself to his feet, but nearly fell to the floor. "You rode my ass from here to Malibu and back every time I saw you, Platypus."

"Rode nothing, I covered my ass, and that was nothing compared to what they put me-"

"Poor baby." Tony's face twisted into a sneer. "It must have been so hard for you after I came home."

Rhodey was quiet; unapologetic, and as somber as someone delivering a eulogy. "They're calling you a traitor, Tone."

An image of Pepper appeared in Tony's mind, soft and glowing in the moonlight beneath him, her eyes hooded but glistening with pleasure, and looking at him with-

Tony lunged for the trashcan and emptied his stomach of the day's entirely liquid diet. He was shaking, and closed his eyes to hold back what might have been tears.

Misinterpreting Tony's reaction, Rhodey said, "The Army wants to know how those insurgents got ahold of weapons you haven't been making for three years?"

Wiping his mouth on his arm, Tony crawled, pulling himself up on a chair, and looked for the bottle. Ten steps to the bar, but Rhodey got their first and yanked it away. "They were obviously stockpiled in a cave somewhere by the Ten Rings!" Tony exploded. "It's the only remotely logical explanation, because I sure as Hell-"

"For three years? You're saying those guns and missiles and everything could have sat in some cave, in a country in the middle of a civil war, for three year, without anyone finding them, and come out the way they are? You gotta see how hard that is to believe, man."

Tony needed a drink more than ever, but he stared at his best friend, bile crawling into his throat that had nothing to do with intoxication. "Tell me you don't believe it."

Rhodey paused. For three seconds, he just stared at Tony as if weighing meat in a butcher shop. "No," he decided, shoulders relaxing.

But he'd thought about it.

Tony should have been angry, but what he felt was pain.

The punch was sloppy, misdirected by too much booze, and succeeded only in knocking Rhodey to the floor. It didn't make Tony feel better, either.

He did manage to collect the bottle of scotch, and a bottle of vodka, besides, and teetered as he stood over Rhodey. "If you'd even think I'd put weapons into the hands of the bastards who tortured me, than you don't know me at all," he growled.

Hand pressed to his jaw, Rhodey struggled to rise. "Tony-"

"No." Tony wheeled around from his stumble for the door. "No, I cut ties with the government because I couldn't trust them. Not with the arc reactor, not with Iron Man, and apparently not with you."

Rhodey's voice stopped him in the doorway. He didn't turn around. "It's not just about you, Tone. I back you all these years, disobeying orders, bucking protocol, and now they accuse you of treason? We could both go to prison - Hell, worse than that, and if the lives of thou-"

"Fuck you."

He sat in his car and drank.