Rivals ➢ Iron Man [ON HOLD]

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PART ONE : CHAPTER ONE

The Grand Opening

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SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA
2008

"Where is it?"

The clanking of metal tools disrupted the harsh melody of the rock band's, Kiss, all time greatest hits. Despite needing to focus on the task at hand, the woman worked best with noise because it reminded her of the old days. This mechanical engineer was sleep deprived. Usually she would get a solid eight hours in bed, actual sleep not included, before getting up and going to work. The last time she had a decent rest was three days ago, and since then, she had been downing uncountable cups of caffeine to keep her eyes open. The coffee machine she received as a house warming gift had been torn apart and remodelled because she was bored one day, and now, her coffee is dispensed three times faster. The realisation of almost finishing her work pushed her harder, and she wouldn't go anywhere until it was done.

"The tool you request is on your left ear, madam." M.I.D.A.S., her AI alerted. It was the first thing she installed into her family's mansion right after she became CEO of Apollo Enterprises. She had given it a deep male voice to go for a Morgan Freeman vibe. She built the AI when she wanted to showcase something to her father at the age of sixteen. Samuel was a busy person. He had a company to run. But once he walked into a talking house, he found Thea installing the AI, and praised her excellent invention when he studied it.

Thea saw the gold hologram from the corner of her eye, and knew M.I.D.A.S. had highlighted the object for her. She scrunched her nose up, the way he addressed her leaving a bad taste in her mouth, shaking her head as she retrieved it. "I thought I told you not to call me madam. I just turned thirty-three, so, not old." She scoffed lightly.

"Madam is used to address women of all ages in a respectful manner. Would you prefer I discontinue with madam, madam?" The bored tone was clear in his voice, and Thea rolled her eyes. Because of her decision to add a little complicated layers to the AI's personality, she had to deal with the comebacks and remarks that he sneaked in every now and then.

"Yes, M.I.D.A.S. That would be appreciated." She told him, looking up at the space in front of her, as if directly looking at him, even though there was no one else in the mansion.

"What do you insist that I address you as?"

Thea pulled her hands away from the material she was working on and eased back into her stool, a sly grin forming on her face. "How 'bout Captain Genius because I just finished the first prototype."

"Shall we run the tests, Captain Genius?"

"Go ahead, M.I.D.A.S." Thea grinned, removing the goggles over her eyes and planting them on her glistening forehead. She brushed her clammy hands against the grey jumpsuit she wore. It was her father's. And the dangling chain with a single silver ring around her neck belonged to him too — it was forged using a rare metal he acquired in World War II. She never took it off, and kept it as a reminder that the Apollos would always be remembered.

Samuel and Alessandra Apollo both died in a plane that never took off the ground back in July 4, 1992. They were in Moscow at the time, dealing with some stressful business that caught their attention, and walked right into an explosion. Thea was back at home studying at MIT, and she wasn't able to graduate on time because of the heartache she endured, thus completing school at eighteen instead of seventeen. Still at the top of her class though. Since then she had to deal with becoming a CEO and driving her family company out of the ground and making it a successful business, just like it always was.