A Different Path

Fight

Tony had all the parts for a new Arc Reactor. A modern one that wouldn't hurt as much and had more power.

He and Yinsen put it together quickly. There was no time to go back and check over it. Obadiah would be here soon enough.

Pepper had to put it in. Her hands were the only ones that would fit in his chest cavity. The inventor nearly went into cardiac arrest, but now it's all good. (Mostly. He'd get an earful for not saying anything about the pain later.)

"Sir," Jarvis said over the intercom. Being only a few months old, Jarvis had some trouble figuring out where Tony was and getting in. But he was learning quickly and Tony was very proud of him. "Obadiah is almost here."

Tony stood. The suit wouldn't be fully ready for another ten minutes. "I'm going to go talk to him."

"What!?" Happy yelled.

Yensin and Pepper were in sync. "No!"

"Are you crazy???" Rhodey asked, hands on Tony's shoulders and shaking him lightly.

"Yes, " Tony answered Rhodey, backing up a little. "I'll just buy some time. As soon as the suit is done I'll call it up." He gestured to the little square sensors he was wearing, a bare outline underneath his shirt and pants.

"Obadiah is here, sir," Jarvis announced, sounding solemn.

"I'll be fine," he reassured them before running out the door quickly so they couldn't stop him. When the door was shut, he took a deep, calming breath to try and regulate his fast beating heart.

You can do this.

Things... didn't go as planned.

Obadiah had brought Dum-E with him, but his AI son's arm was bent in a strange direction and he was dented very badly. His wheels squeaked as he moved.

"Let go of him," Tony demanded angrily. To his suprise, Stane did. Tony told Dum-E to go to a safe spot and Tony would fix him up as soon as he could. The camera 'eye' moved about frantically as he wheeled noisily away, only fueling Tony's anger because he could tell his son was scared.

At first, they had stood across from each other, Tony near the couch. Obadiah's first words to hime are, "I didn't give you enough credit. You figured it out faster than I thought."

"It wasn't all me," Tony had responded, fist clenched at his sides.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnngggg.

Obadiah's last words before leaving were, ".... you had one last golden egg to give."

Tony, on the couch, couldn't respond because he was paralyzed. The Arc Reactor shone from the crack in Stane's suit case as he walked away with a smile, having basically ripped out Tony's heart.

But somehow, Tony managed to crawl across the floor in the direction his AI son had gone. He had planned to just ask him to get his friends to bring the Arc Reactor, but to his suprise, it was already in Dum-E's claw.

He could hear the confused yells of his friends from around the corner as Dum-E placed the heart in his hands. With all that was left of his strength, Tony put the arc reacote in just as his friends rounded the corner with audiable gasps.

The genius layed there, panting, ears ringing, head spinning, until his friends were there, helping him up.

"What happened to you?" Pepper asked, looking him up and down. Her eyes lingered on the tears in his shirt and the obviously old arc reactor in his chest.

"Stane happened." Tony growled, anger at the man who had caused then all so kuch pain. He hit the sensors on his wrists and chest, very thankful Obadiah had not noticed them.

The suit came and formed around him. "I'll be back," he said before blasting through the roof.

.

The showdown was more explosion-y than really dramatic. Tony's suit was bright red and gold, sleek and small but dangerous. Also running on low power but that didn't need to be said.

Obadiah's suit was a huge, clunky, death machine. He couldn't move as fast but his firepower was five times more than Tony's.

"Stay still so I can kill you!" Obadiah yelled, aiming multiple missiles at the flying figure.

"Not happening." Tony said as he shot into the sky with an idea on his mind. With his mind clear, he knew what would happen when he went too far up.

He just had to hope Obadiah's suit would ice up before his did.

Just as he'd hoped, Obadiah followed him.

"How about a race? I bet I could beat that rust bucket!" Tony taunted, playing on Obadiah's pride as he pushed himself upward into the air.

"Sir, there is 7% power remaining," Jarvis said worriedly. Tony glanced back, Obadiah was following him so he slowed down, bit by bit to make it look like he was struggling.

"Keep it on the screen."

Foot by foot, he became even with Obadiah. The man could knock him down right then and there, but he seemed to focused on the challenge and the fact he was 'winning.'

There was ice starting to develope on both their armors. Tony dropped a little faster.

"My creation is far better than yours, boy!" The man was completely unaware of the inches of frost developing. Tony was fifteen feet behind when the lights suddenly went out in the bigger suit.

"3%, sir."

"Surge up," Tony mumbled, more to himself than anything. His suit iced up, but the power was still on, so he slammed his fist down against Obadiah's suit, sending the man downward. He yelled in suprise and pain.

"2%." The thrusters dropped. "We are now relying on backup power."

Yards by yards, Tony dropped out of the air. Landing rather ungracefully on the warehouse, he switched on his comm.

"Pepper, you're still in the warehouse?"

"Yes, Tony."

"Are the others there?"

"No, I sent them to veer off traffic and get people out of the vicinity."

"Okay, I don't know if we're going to need to resort to-"

"Peek a boo!" Tony was suddenly flung across the building, breaking glass and denting beams.

"Ow...." he groaned.

"Tony! Tony!"

"Nevermind, I think we're going to need to do it afterall. Start flipping switches and when I say so, hit the button!"

When Tony finally told her to hit the button was when he was stuck in a gaping hole in the ceiling, 1% left on the suit, and Obadiah looming over him with an Iron fist about to come down on his head.

"Push it!"

"You'll die!" He hated the anguish and fear in her voice. He wanted to never hear that tone in her voice.

If he lived, that is.

"Do it!"

He finally hauled himself up and rolled away just as the world exploded into light.