Better Days | MCU IronDad AU

Chapter 7 ▬ Then, Pray Tell

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— CHAPTER SEVEN —
THEN, PRAY TELL

It took about an hour for F.R.I.D.A.Y. to collate all the data she had found. Tony knew – he had timed her. As every minute passed, the knot in his stomach only grew tighter and more tangled. As he wandered throughout the Compound, his fingers tapped impatiently along every surface he passed, as if he was trying to knock the secrets from their hiding places. As if he were trying to tap a message to Peter, wherever he was, that said, I'm coming, kid, I'm coming, just hang on, just hang on.

It took about an hour, but F.R.I.D.A.Y. delivered. 'Boss,' she began slowly, as if she were talking to a frightened child.

Tony immediately straightened, snapping to attention as he glanced up at the ceiling. 'What? What is it, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?' he asked quickly, almost desperately.

'The staff that are listed under Project OO have formerly worked in multiple companies,' F.R.I.D.A.Y. told him. 'However, most identifications state that they have previously been employed at Oscorp Industries before their contract had been terminated in the past ten years.'

'That so?' That horrible feeling in his gut was rearing its ugly head again, and Tony rubbed his temple in frustration. 'Does that make Project OO a subsidiary of Oscorp?'

'It doesn't appear to be; all documents and contracts appear to dismiss connections with Oscorp entirely. It is possible for Project OO to be a separate entity that branched off from Oscorp and operates on a completely different regime.'

Tony sighed as he wandered back to the lobby, the windows dark as they provided a view of the inky black sky. The world outside looked like it had been frozen in time; it had only been a few hours since he had gotten the call from Midtown High School, but Peter's lack of presence felt as if aeons had passed in darkness.

'Well,' Tony started, 'if they've been fired, surely Osborn knows the reason as to why they were relieved from the company, right? They might have been going behind his back to work on something else entirely.'

And it was plausible. Tony had experienced that himself, as well – Obadiah Stane and the small group of Stark Industries employees he had rallied together were immediately fired, if not already dead, for trying to replicate his own technology and uprooting the company from the inside out.

The lights flashed as F.R.I.D.A.Y. processed Tony's words. 'It is plausible,' she admitted, repeating the words of Tony's own thoughts.

'Tell you what, would it be entirely cool for me to contact Osborn and just shove all of this information at him?' suggested Tony. 'I could pressure him, make him spill the beans, as the kids say.'

As the kid used to say, his mind supplied unhelpfully.

'Would you like me to retrieve Norman Osborn's number for you?' F.R.I.D.A.Y. asked politely.

'Please do,' Tony almost begged.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. complied immediately, falling silent as she went to search for Osborn's number. Tony had gotten comfortable on the lounge in the lobby, sprawled over it, limbs akimbo, as he tried to calm his racing heart. He needed to do something to stop his fingers from tapping otherwise he was sure they would tear through something out of impatience, of anger and frustration. He needed to channel those white-hot feelings that boiled deep in his gut into something else that preferably wouldn't hurt anyone around.

His fingers itched for tools in his calloused hands.

His fingers itched to build a fortress to keep his emotions in check because no, he couldn't afford to break down now, not yet.