The Neglected Stark (Male Reader)

Chapter 15: Birthday Bash

Pepper and Natalie are back in Malibu. Pepper is on the phone.

Pepper: Yes, but the fundamentals of the company are still very, very strong despite the events in Monaco.

Natalie is on the phone as well.

Natalie: Yes, of course. The AP wants a quote.

Pepper: Don't tell them. Fax them...

Rhodey enters.

Rhodey: Where are they?

Natalie: They don't want to be disturbed.

Pepper: They are downstairs.

News reader (on television): But what happened in Monaco?

Pepper: Yes, but...

News reader: But his continuing erratic behavior may lead many people to ask themselves, "Can these two still protect us?"

Pepper: Iron Man and his son never stopped protecting us. The events in Monaco proved that.

Tony and Y/N are sitting in a car in their workshop looking at holograms.

JARVIS: Query complete sir. Anton Vanko was a Soviet physicist who defected to the United States in 1963. However, he was accused of espionage and was deported in 1967. His son, Ivan, who is also a physicist, was convicted of selling Soviet-era weapons grade plutonium to Pakistan and served 15 years in Kopeisk prison. No further records exist.

Rhodey enters the workshop.

Y/N: Hi, uncle.

Rhodey: Tony, you gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now. Listen. I've been on the phone with the National Guard all day, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door and taking these. They're gonna take your suits, Tony, okay? They're sick of the games. You said nobody else would possess this technology for 20 years. Well, guess what? Somebody else had it yesterday. It's not theoretical anymore. Are you listening to me? Are you okay?

Tony: Let's go.

Tony gets out of the car and falls as Y/N helps him up.

Rhodey: Hey, man. Hey, hey! You all, right?

Tony: Yeah, I should get to my desk.

Rhodey supports him.

Tony: See that cigar box?

Rhodey: Yeah.

Tony: It's palladium.

Rhodey: Is that supposed to be smoking?

Tony and Y/N removes Arc Reactor.

Tony: If you must know, it's neutron damage. It's from the reactor wall.

Rhodey: You had this in your body? And how about the high-tech crossword puzzle on your neck?

Tony: Road rash. Thank you.

They replace the Arc Reactor and start drinking green liquid again.

Y/N: What are you looking at?

Rhodey: I'm looking at you two. You wanna do this whole lone gunslinger act and it's unnecessary. You don't have to do this alone.

Tony: You know, I wish I could believe that. I really do. But you've gotta trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I'm doing.

In Queens, New York, Justin is with Ivan.

Justin: This is where we do it. This is my humble abode. You can work in absolute peace. Must be fun to be dead, right? No pressure. Here they are. I'm very excited. They're combat-ready. I may have done a few miscalculations and rushed the prototype into production. Sue me, I'm enthusiastic. Go ahead, take a look around. [Ivan puts on glasses and heads towards a computer] You don't wanna do that. You'll be able to access that as soon as we generate some encrypted pass codes. Can we generate some encrypted pass codes? Get some of those encrypted pass codes, Jack. Never mind, I... Wow. Okay. Good stuff.