At Worlds End (Iron Man) | Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Part Five: Obadiah Stane's Secrets

"Pepper." You nodded in greeting to the blonde woman.

"Y/N, come on in. Tony just called me down to his garage before you knocked."

"Well, isn't that lucky?" You smiled, following her into the elevator. "How is he?"

"He's... obsessed."

"Obsessed? Obsessed with what?"

"Hey. You busy?" the man asked Pepper as soon as you both walked through the door into his workshop, "Y/N, good to see you. It's actually perfect that you're here. You mind if I send you two on an errand?"

"What errand? Need some snacks?"

"I need you to go to my office," Tony told the blonde, "You're going to hack into the mainframe, and you're going to retrieve all recent shipping manifests." He handed her a device. "This is a lock chip. This'll get you in. Y/N." He then turned to you. "I want you to act as her bodyguard."

"Why would she need a bodyguard?"

"Yeah, why would I need a bodyguard?"

"-And why are you hacking into your own company, like we're some spies? What's going on?"

"Nothing good." Tony then turned back to working on his suit before you arrived. "It's probably under 'Executive Files'. If not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading."

"And what do you plan to do with this information if I bring it back here?"

You nodded, eyes widening slightly, as you gestured your finger to the woman who stood beside you.

"Good question."

"Same drill," Tony informed, "They've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them."

"Tony," Pepper said, in a chastising tone, before scoffing slightly, "You know that I would help you with anything, but I cannot help you if you're going to start all of this again."

"There is nothing except this. There's no art opening," Tony's voice grew harsher and harsher, "There is no benefit. There is nothing to sign." When the man turned, you could see the pain behind his eyes. The anger. The willingness to let himself become a shell of a human being, all for his cause to save people.

You've been there.

"There is the next mission and nothing else."

"Tony," your voice was understanding, but it could easily be read as pitty. Which, when you thought about it, you assumed it also was. "You can't live like that. You've got to live life as well."

"You don't understand-!"

"No! I understand perfectly!" A deep breath, gearing yourself up for the speech you were about to give. "I've been there, you know? Throwing yourself into saving people, not living because of it. Not thinking you deserve to live a life that isn't just working, shooting, stopping the bad guys. It only ends up going wrong. I did that, and I almost got discharged because of it. Because I wasn't taking care of myself. I wasn't giving myself downtime. It was too much. It's too much for anybody, even you... you can't do this, Tony. You can't live like this."

"Well, this is how it is."

"Is that so?" Pepper asked, "Well, then, I quit." She threw the lock chip onto the metal table before beginning to make her way from the room, "Come on, Y/N." You, apparently trailing slowly after her.

"You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction. And now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out. And you." He pointed to you. "You said that this was a good thing I was doing."