Chapter 88: Tony and Obadiah fight
Obadiah Stane's Office – Stark Industries HQ
The room was dimly lit, save for the cold glow of monitors stretched across the far wall. Obadiah sat in silence, one leg crossed over the other, sipping scotch as rows of security camera feeds cycled in slow rotation.
But his eyes remained fixed on one particular screen.
Feed 42.
Private server room.
Pepper Potts.
She moved with urgency yet precision—her fingers calm and steady as she navigated his personal laptop. Her Stark-issued ID bypassed firewalls she wasn't meant to access, slipping past barriers like a seasoned spy.
Obadiah watched with chilling detachment, his expression unreadable.
"So," he murmured to himself, swirling the amber liquid in his glass, "you finally decided to look under the rug, Pepper."
She slipped the data drive into her pocket and exited the room.
Obadiah leaned forward and tapped the screen. The feed froze. He took one last sip of his drink, then stood slowly.
"…That's going to cost you."
Later That Night – Tony Stark's Mansion
The soft hum of machinery filled the lab's lower levels as Tony sat hunched over a console, absentmindedly watching diagnostic data scroll past. Nearby, his latest Mark II variant lay in partial disassembly—sleek red and gold plates gleaming under the workshop lights.
The elevator chimed.
Tony glanced up. His brows lifted slightly in surprise as Obadiah stepped out, calm and composed.
"Obie?" he asked, standing slowly. "Kinda late for surprise visits, isn't it?"
Obadiah offered a familiar, fatherly smile—but his eyes had changed. There was something colder beneath the surface. Calculating.
"I thought we should talk," Obadiah said smoothly. "About the company. About your future."
Tony frowned slightly. "We usually have those talks in the boardroom."
"I prefer surprises."
Then, without warning, Obadiah pulled out a small, palm-sized device—sleek and metallic. A faint, high-pitched hum began to build.
Before Tony could react, Obadiah pressed the button.
A sharp sonic whine filled the air.
Tony's body locked up instantly.
Muscles seized. Knees buckled. He dropped like a puppet with cut strings, his limbs frozen mid-motion.
He could still see. Still breathe. But everything else was paralyzed.
Obadiah walked over casually, crouching beside him.
"I didn't want it to come to this," he said softly, almost sympathetically. "But you left me no choice."
He reached under Tony's shirt and pressed a hidden latch. With a soft click, the arc reactor in Tony's chest detached.
"You built this in a cave with scraps…" Obadiah mused as he lifted the glowing core from Tony's chest. "And now, I'll build an empire from it."
Tony's vision blurred as the arc light dimmed. His breaths came slower. He could feel his body weakening—but the shrapnel no longer threatened his heart. That issue had been solved long ago, thanks to Alex's intervention.
Still, without the arc reactor, his armor was useless.
Obadiah stood tall, the glowing core in hand.
"Goodnight, Tony."
And with that, he turned and walked away—leaving the man who would change the world lying motionless on the cold steel floor, powerless.
Minutes Later
Time passed—how long, Tony couldn't tell.
Eventually, the high-pitched whine in his ears faded. The numbing grip of the sonic device loosened. He blinked, fingers twitching. Then his jaw clenched.
Pain surged through his limbs as he forced himself upright, staggering to his feet. His chest ached, the housing of the arc reactor now hollow.
"So, you finally moved, Obie…" he muttered, his voice low. Not angry—just wounded.
Betrayal had a weight to it. A specific kind of cold.
Tony turned and limped over to the far wall. He pressed a hidden panel. With a soft hiss, it slid open—revealing a secure drawer filled with emergency arc reactors.
Ten of them. Fully charged. Just in case.
He pulled one free, aligned it with the socket in his chest, and pushed.
Whirr—click—PSSHHH.
The light returned.
Power surged through his veins. His posture straightened. His breathing steadied. The arc reactor pulsed once… then stabilized.
"Alright," he said with new resolve. "Time to finish this."
He stepped onto the automated platform. The robotic arms, familiar and precise, activated around him.
Piece by piece, the Mark II assembled.
Chest plate. Shoulder guards. Greaves. Gauntlets. Helmet.
Each segment clicked into place like a symphony of vengeance.
Fully armored now, Tony stood tall. The suit's HUD flickered online.
"JARVIS," he said through the mask. "Pull up Obadiah's last known location."
"Right away, sir."
A digital map expanded before him, showing a series of data pings. The trail began at Stark Tower and led straight to a familiar destination:
A concealed R&D sector within Stark Industries.
Deep beneath the city. His city.
Tony's eyes narrowed. "That's where he's rebuilding the Mark I…"
"Sir," JARVIS added, "Miss Potts is currently inside the facility. She accessed Obadiah's encrypted files earlier today. Her signal indicates she's now on Sublevel 5 of the R&D wing."
Tony's breath hitched. "What is she doing there…?"
His expression hardened.
He blasted into the sky.
The Mark II rocketed above the coastline, slicing through the clouds. The glowing skyline of Los Angeles stretched below in blurred brilliance as he ascended, aiming toward the tower that bore his name.
"JARVIS, patch me into her comms."
"Attempting… but there's interference. Obadiah may have activated dampening fields within the sublevels."
Tony clenched his jaw. "Of course he did."
His visor scanned the top floors of Stark Industries. Once symbols of progress and hope, now clouded in betrayal and manipulation.
Down below, within the guts of the building, Obadiah stood among a mess of cables and power cores—assembling a mechanical beast from Tony's stolen past.
And one level up, Pepper Potts was moving carefully, determined to collect the final pieces of evidence—alone and unaware of the danger drawing closer.
Tony's fists tightened.
"Hold on, Pep…" he said quietly, engines flaring as he accelerated.
"I'm coming."
Stark Industries – Sublevel 5, R&D Division
Pepper Potts moved quietly through the narrow corridor, her heels clicking softly against the reinforced floor. The lights above flickered faintly—nothing unusual in a facility this deep. But the air felt… off.
She clutched the encrypted data module close to her chest, having just finished downloading the last set of files from Obadiah's secure terminal. Evidence of secret shipments, unauthorized weapons development, and detailed blueprints of something massive: a repurposed version of Tony's original Mark I armor.
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