Stark Solutions, New York
“Stark Solutions, Pepper Potts speaking. No I’m sorry Mr. Stark is still not in sir. Yes I understand he is very late on the deadline sir…no… I mean of course we plan to honor the contract sir. Please hold.” A deep breath rattled out as Pepper hit line two and sighed.
“Stark Solutions… yes, Mr. Stark is still not in. Yes, I have seen the plans… no, production has not begun… well, sir, without Mr. Stark’s authorization we are falling a bit behind. Yes, sir, I understand you paid good money for this project. When will he be back? I don’t know for certain, sir, it was an open ended trip.”
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A weary hand caressed a furrowed brow, as emerald green eyes stared out the rain-slicked windows. Six weeks of answering the same type of calls with the same answer over and over most days. It was enough to drive a woman completely mad.
Pushing the chair back she hung up on another irate businessman and stalked over to the coffee pot. “Tony where the hell are you,” She muttered as the delicious aroma wafted to her nose as the life giving black liquid poured into her mug.
‘World’s Greatest Secretary’ is emblazoned on the mug, a gift from Tony years ago. The chipped handle fits snugly and comfortably in her fingers like an old glove. Scalding at first then soothing the coffee slid down her throat bringing a sense of calmness to the insanity that is Stark Solutions lately.
Setting aside the mug she took a deep breath before picking the phone up once again.
“Stark Solutions how may I help you? No, Mr. Stark is still not in… calling every five minutes is not going to change that, sir… yes, yes I understand that, but I am not making excuses for him. I don’t know where Mr. Stark is, if I did I’d drag him back myself. What? Sir, there is no need for language like that…hello?”
The phone is slammed down as Pepper sighed in enormous frustration. If Tony didn’t appear soon she had no idea what she’d do. Dropping her head to the desk she brushed her red hair from her face glancing at the clock wondering if the workday from hell was almost over.
Her mind shifted back to over six weeks before to a dinner conversation she had with Happy.
“I don’t know Happy, sometimes I just feel so unfulfilled. Maybe I could have been a millionaire super genius as well. It seems like I’ve dedicated my entire life to Tony. Working crazy hours twelve, fourteen a clip. And the craziest thing of all—the absolute craziest… is that he’s never asked me to do any of it. I just feel like I owe him so much, like he needs someone to watch his back—to take care of him.” Pausing as she brandishes a French fry through the air, she watches for a reaction from Happy. “Pretty funny huh? The guys an Avenger.”
Happy takes a long sip from his drink as he grasps a handful of fries in the other hand. She can see in his eyes that there is something to say.
“Perhaps I’m overstepping my bounds here. I may not be your husband anymore, but I’m still your friend. Maybe this thing-working for Tony I mean. Maybe it’s not the healthiest thing for us to be doin’?
“That’ll be all, Ms. Potts.”
Her daydream shattered around her as Pepper is startled back into the real world by the voice. A shadowed figure moved into the room towards Tony’s office. As the shadows fade she gasped. “Tony?”
“Go home Ms. Potts. The night is young, enjoy it.”
Before another word can be exchanged between them the door to his office shut, leaving her alone, wondering what had gotten into this man she thought she knew.
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“Examination is complete Tony.”
For three hours Jocasta had been running tests, leaving Tony worried that if it was taking this long something was wrong. “Gimmie the bad news Doc.”
“My readings find no problems Tony. The artificial heart bestowed upon you is working to perfection.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.” Muttering, Tony pulled all the monitoring wires from his flesh and grabbed his discarded shirt.
“Tony?”
“I’m done with this life, with this armor. It’s time to retire Iron Man again, but this artificial heart is part of Iron Man, never allowing me to fully put it in my past.”
“Tony it might be best if you rest more, we still don’t know…” Jocasta was cut off as Tony raised a hand.
Grabbing his jacket off the wall the man sighed. “We’ll deal with this later, Jocasta. I’ve been gone for a long time, and I think I have some healing of another sort to focus on.”
As the door slid closed behind him, Tony focused only on one thing: making good with his friends and loved ones. Jocasta watched him leave as her screen flickered. For a brief second another face replaced hers, more masculine and human, but then Jocasta’s image returned with a dark smile upon the normally stoic image.
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Rumiko Fujikawa’s Residence
“Answer B…Is that your final answer?”
“It’s C! C you moron!” Rumiko let slip a few curses in Japanese as she watched the man throw away his chances at a jackpot. Pulling her feet up tightly under her legs the young woman grabbed her mug of steaming coffee.
BUZZ!
BUZZ!
Glancing up at the door, Rumiko grumbled at the interruption. “That better be my damn pizza. Thirty minutes or less my ass, somebody’s tip is gonna be non-existent.” Grabbing the doorknob the smiling face of Tony Stark is revealed. “Tony… you’re not the pizza boy.”
“I didn’t realize I had to wear a costume. I can always get one and come back and try this again.”
No words and a tight-lipped glare are the only response. Two stood in the silence waiting for one of them to make the first move. Taking the initiative Tony held out a mid-sized bouquet of roses.
“Ru, can we talk please?”
“…”
“Five minutes, that’s all I need.”
“Get in.” As Tony slipped past she grabbed the door and slammed it shut before moving to the center of the room. Standing with arms across her chest she returned to glaring. “Five minutes, that’s it.”
“It’s funny, all these years being the playboy and public persona and I don’t even know where to start. Nerves I guess, and I know that I owe you some explanation for the short time I was away…”
“Six weeks! You vanished with no words at all. Left me worrying for weeks, almost in tears most nights. Then the tears faded and anger replaced that worry as I realized that you obviously just didn’t care.” Tears of fury rolled down her checks as Rumiko took out weeks of pain out upon the stunned Tony. “You got some weak ass story to fill in that gap? Go ahead and tell it, far as I’m concerned the absence itself told me all I need to know.”
The television glows in the background as Tony paced a bit. The answer was so complicated and Rumiko or the world at large could never know most of it, but what answer could she be told? Business trip to the Alps? Kidnapped by a warlord and forced to build weapons for him? Trying to find himself again?
“Ru, I can’t possibly explain it all but just know that I thought about you all this time. I wanted so badly to be with you, but circumstances put me in grave danger and I couldn’t bare to bring you into that danger.”
“You egotistical, pompous, arrogant man. You think you can just waltz in here after six weeks with flowers and tell me it was all to protect me? That isn’t going to fly with this girl. It may work on all the trash you used to pick up on a whim but I’m way above all those games, Stark. I thought you were a better man than that. I really did.”
Sensing that her tirade wasn’t going to end anytime soon Tony took a breath and plunged in. “Rumiko Fujikawa…. I love you.”
“And another thing-I love you too…. wait, what?”
He lifted her chin as she stood stunned and pressed their lips together. The two shared a passionate kiss that seemed to last almost forever. A stray hand reached for the light switch plunging the room into darkness as two bodies met.
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After having served for and with Tony for so long one would have thought that Pepper would have nice cushy hours in her line of work. The truth was she was free to go early in the day, but something in the woman kept her working hard past the time she had to. There were still piles of work to be done since Tony’s disappearance weeks before. Behind her a giant flat screen television displayed the news that Pepper had long lost interest in.
Sorting the invoices into piles of urgency the weary secretary brushed her hair back and dove into the middle of the first pile. As she pulled a file out a sheet of paper fluttered out of it onto the floor. Groaning she pushed her chair back and bent down to pick it up.
Something about the images on the paper caused a pause in her though. On it was a basic image of Tony’s Iron Man armor, but there was some kind of request for a modification to the armor that she didn’t remember coming through.
“What the…”
“Busy down there?”
Pepper shot up smashing her head on the desk as the voice startled her. Her ex-husband Happy stood leaning on the desk, a massive grin glowing. “I thought we talked about these late nights Pep, not good for you, remember?”
“We talked about a lot of things that night, Happy.” Her attention drawn away the paper under the desk was forgotten. “And if I recall I decided that I want to stay with Tony, and that my overworking is my own problem to fix not Tony’s or yours.”
“You’re right, Pep. So what’s on your docket tonight? A night out on the town and a romantic dinner with a dashing fella perhaps?”
There was nothing more in the world that she wanted to say yes to, but she couldn’t. It was just too painful the last time. It failed before, and it would ultimately fail again. Better to have Happy as a friend and co-worker than to try something that had no chance of ever working again.
“Happy, you know I can’t. We discussed this already.” A soft hand enclosed over his as the happiness sort of faded from his face in an instant. “It’s too soon and we saw what happened before. I care about you too much to put us through that again. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, yeah no problem. Guess it was silly of me to try, but you know I gotta.” The smile on his face was obviously painted on for her benefit. The smile completely faded as his eye caught the television over her shoulder. “Ya better get the boss on the line.”
“Why?” Turning she gasped at the site on the news. Grabbing the remote the mute was ended as the images continued.
“Once again if you are just joining us, the gigantic robot known as Ultimo has appeared in midtown causing untold amounts of damage. His main target so far as been the new homes Stark Solutions in concert with the Maria Stark foundation have begun building for those that lost everything in the many attacks upon the city.”
With the push of a button a silent alarm was sent, Pepper hoped that the man on the other end was awake and ready. As her back was still turned Happy knelt down and grabbed the fallen paper. Folding it carefully it slid into his jacket pocket easily. As the two stayed enrapt in the news coverage a lone signal carried through the night.
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Tony Stark ran through the underbrush, a pointed stick in his hand, his heart beating fast and painfully. The crashing behind him intensified and his fear followed suit. The suit was gaining and he was running out of places to run.
Suddenly it’s was upon him in a flash of gold and red. His heart beat faster as pain exploded within. His left arm went numb and the red and gold filled his vision as a horrendous beeping filled the air around him.
Shooting up in the dark room Tony wiped the sweat from his face as he stared at his beeping wristwatch. Rumiko laid beside him her black hair splayed around the pillow and glowing in the moonlight. Kissing her on the forehead he slipped from the room to respond.
“What is it Pep?”
“I hope you’re ready to don your special suit. Looks like Ultimo is tearing up mid-town.”
A brief flash of fear entered his mind, before he pushed it down just as quickly. “Have Happy meet me at the Stark Projects with the suit. I’ll find a way there.”
“Actually… the armor is waiting for you. Worked up a new special delivery system while you were out boss, armor is topside. Good hunting.”
“Have I given you a raise yet?”
“You just did.”
“Good to hear.”
Racing up the stairs two at a time he reached the roof in no time at all. In the middle the red and gold armor hung suspended the rocket boots flaring slightly. Touching a button on the watch he waited as the boots disengaged and the suit landed.
Five minutes later the golden Avenger soared through the sky as he approached the giant lumbering Ultimo. “If only you guys would stay gone. All right time to make this quick, and get back before Rumiko notices I left.”
Channeling full power to the repulsors he opens fire on Ultimo, only to see the blasts go right through and strike the building behind. “That’s not good.”
“You could say that Tony, but it’s about to get a whole lot worse.”
As the strange voice filled his helmet Tony felt something different with the armor. Suddenly all systems shut down to his command switching to auto before reverting to control of someone else. “Who is this?”
“Let’s just say I’m an old friend.”
“Pepper! Happy!”
“Your friends can’t help you this time Tony. You know, going after you first instead of your friends was such an easy plan. Every time one captures a heroes loved ones they’re sure to swoop in and save the day. Why not start with capturing the hero I said? Looks like it paid off this time. We’re gonna have fun you and I, Tony. Just you wait, you’ll see..”
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Next Issue: Tony’s armor is under the control of a mysterious figure, can the ex-Avenger get saved before his reputation is ruined? What is Happy Hogan up to? And Pepper and Rumiko have a womanly chat about a certain mustachioed playboy.