Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 23 of Iron Maiden. I want to thank those who have left reviews for this story. It truly does mean a lot to me that you guys are enjoying this. I hope to have more chapters up. Hopefully writing in advance will help quite a bit. I am going to try to write to the end of Iron Man 2 to make sure that there are plenty of chapters before I go onto the next story. I hope that you guys enjoy this next update. Without further ado Chapter 23. ENJOY!
Chapter 23
Tony walked into the workshop with his sister right behind him. "Wake up, Daddy and Mommy are home." Tony mused knowing that he was being just a bit of a smart ass with the whole thing.
"Welcome home, sir and ma'am. Congratulations on the opening ceremonies. They were such a success, as was your Senate hearing. And may I say how refreshing it is to finally see you in a video with your clothing on, sir."
Abigail let out a soft chuckle. It was something that she was glad about because she didn't have to be embarrassed this time about what he was wearing like she had been in the past.
One of the robots was trying to make a smoothie without the lid on top of the blender.
"You!" Tony snapped looking at the robot.
You ended up knocking it over spilling the contents out of the blender.
"I swear to God I'll dismantle you. I'll soak your motherboard. I'll turn you into a wine rack."
You looked down.
"Tony." Abigail said softly, shaking her head.
"How many ounces a day of this gobbledegook am I supposed to drink?"
"We are up to 80 ounces a day to counteract the symptoms, sir." Jarvis said in a monotone voice.
Abigail wrinkled her nose as Tony downed the green liquid.
"Check palladium levels." He said as he used the same machine as he did at the Expo.
"Blood toxicity, 24%. It appears that the continued use of the Iron Man suit is accelerating your condition. Another core has been depleted."
Tony let out a breath as he took the arc reactor out of his chest. The core popped out of it rusted and smoking. "God, they're running out quick."
"I have run simulations on every known element, and none can serve as a viable replacement for the palladium core."
Tony put a new core in before putting it back into his chest.
"You are running out of both time and options. Unfortunately, the device that's keeping you alive is also killing you."
"Tony we really need to find something…" Abigail said softly to her brother.
"Miss Potts is approaching. I recommend that you inform her…"
"Mute." Tony said as he pulled his shirt down and switched the screens to screensaver.
Pepper input a code coming into the lab. "Is this a joke? What are you thinking?"
"What?" Tony questioned looking at the strawberry blonde woman.
"What are you thinking?"
"Hey, I'm thinking I'm busy. And you're angry about something. Do you have the sniffles? I don't want to get sick."
"Did you just donate…"
"Keep your business."
They walked around the room Tony flicked around stuff getting rid of items that he wasn't happy with on his holographic computers.
Abigail crossed her arms as she walked. She knew that Tony wasn't going to take this seriously.
"Our entire modern art collection to the…"
"Boy Scouts of America."
"…Boy Scouts of America?"
"Yes. It is a worthwhile organization. I didn't physically check the crates but, basically, yes. And it's not "our" collection, it's my collection. No offense."
"No, you know what? I think I'm actually entitled to say "our" collection considering the time that I put in, over 10 years, curating that."
"It was a tax write-off. I needed that."
"You know, there's only about 8,011 things that I really need to talk to you about."
Tony turned his attention to another robot. "Dummy. Hey, stop spacing out. The Bridgeport's are already machining that part."
"The Expo is a gigantic waste of time."
Abigail stopped in her tracks, narrowing her eyes slightly at Pepper.
"I need you to wear a surgical mask until you're feeling better. Is that okay?"
Pepper covered her mouth with a tissue. "That's rude."
"There's nothing more important to me than the Expo. It's my primary point of concern. I don't know why you're…"
"The Expo is your ego gone crazy."
Abigail shook her head. "Don't you mean our egos? I'm also a Stark Pepper. I thought the Expo was a good idea."
Tony picked up a painting that was of himself. "Wow. Look at that. That's modern art. That's going up."
"You've got to be kidding." Pepper said with a groan.
"I don't think he is." Abigail said, shaking her head lightly.
"I'm gonna put this up right now. This is vital." Tony said, going towards a table.
"Stark is in complete disarray. You understand that?"
"No. Our stocks have never been higher."
"Yes, from a managerial standpoint."
"You are… Well, if it's messy then let's double back."
"Let me give you an example."
"Let's move onto another subject."
Tony got up onto the desk.
"No, no, no, no. You are not taking down Barnett Newman and hanging that up."
"I'm not taking it down. I'm just replacing it with this." Tony said taking down the Barnett Newman painting and putting the Iron Man one. "Let's see what I can get going on here."
"Okay, fine. My point is, we have already awarded contracts to the wind farm people."
"Yeah. Don't say "wind farm." I'm already feeling gassy."
"Tony, listen." Abigail said softly, crossing her arms.
"And to the plastic plantation tree, which was your idea by the way. Those people are on payroll…"
"Everything was my idea."
"…and you won't make a decision."
"I don't care about the liberal agenda any more. It's boring. Boring. I'm giving you a boring alert." Tony said, jumping down. "You do it."
"I do what?"
Abigail's brows furrowed together. Tony couldn't be thinking of having Pepper run the company.
"Excellent idea. I just figured this out. You run the company."
"Yeah, I'm trying to run the company."
"Pepper, I need you to run the company. Well, stop trying to do it and do it."
"You will not give me the information…"
"I'm not asking you to try…"
"…in order to…"
"I'm asking you to physically do it. I need you to do it."
"I am trying to do it."
"Pepper, you're not listening to me!"
"No, you are not listening to me."
"I'm trying to make you CEO. Why won't you let me?"
"Have you been drinking?"
"Chlorophyll. I hereby irrevocably appoint you chairman and CEO of Stark Industries effective immediately. Yeah, done deal. Okay? I've actually given this a fair amount of thought, believe it or not."
Abigail shook her head lightly and walked out of the room to allow the two of them to talk. Her hands shook at her sides as she headed up the stairs. She couldn't believe that Tony wanted Pepper as CEO when it should've been her. Tears sprang to her eyes in irritation. Of course Tony wasn't fully thinking. She didn't know if he was thinking she wouldn't run the company if he passed or if she wasn't capable of it when she herself had helped run the company while he was over in the Middle East in captivity.
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This is the end of Chapter 23. I know I was a bit harsh on Abigail. I know that it should've gone to Abigail and Pepper not being involved with the company. Please leave a review and let me know what you think of this chapter. Reviews help me keep going when it comes to writing. I hope to update soon with a brand new chapter. Until next time.
