Fanfic: What We Could Become | 2 of 4
Sep. 7th, 2011 02:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blastellanosTitle: What We Could Become
Artist:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dangwhyme
Author:dinahqueen
Rating (both art/fic): R[fic]/G[art]
Universe: Iron Man movie-verse AU
Word Count: 26,050
Warnings: Violence, implied sexual content
Beta:shariangel
Art Thumbnail:
Fic Summary: When a close friend of his dies under suspicious circumstances, Steve Rogers creates an alter-ego with which to investigate the accident and determine what really happened. What he discovers is more complicated than he could have imagined.
Link to Art: What We Could Become [Art]
Link to Fic: What We Could Become [AO3]
Tony stepped out of the car and peered up at the Stark International satellite office in New York. It'd been a long time since he'd set foot in these halls, and he wasn't exactly steeling his nerves, he wasn't entirely comfortable with stepping inside. The satellite in New York had always been his father's preferred place. He had a family home here, which hadn't changed decorations in the years since his father had passed, and only kept the dust at bay by the talents of a highly paid cleaning staff. Of course, Tony couldn't really afford extraneous spending, so he was staying in the family home while he was in New York.
Tony forced himself through the doors and headed straight for where his father's old office was. He was going to set up base there, and see what he could figure out about the weapons research and prototypes that had gone missing in the days before the explosion. He knew there couldn't have been unsafe storing procedures. Stark International NY had had its inspection not more than a month ago.
And they were up on all of their OSHA standards, Pepper had told them they'd gotten great scores across the board. Their employees' safety was a number one concern at SI, and unlike other companies where that was just lip service, Tony had meant it, and had done his best. He took a brief detour down to the weapons lab, and assessed the damage.
It was brutal. A hole in the wall, things blacked over and charred. He squinted at the scene and noticed some things were untouched... the bookcase, even though it was right next to where the fire was supposed to have originated, an air vent on the other side of the room, where the walls were blackened on both sides. Almost like...
Tony struggled to think of someone who would have done something like that, but for now he was filing it under coincidence. He didn't really believe that it was, because he didn't believe in things like this. But there probably wasn't anything going on. Except the thieving was pretty damning evidence, and a fire could have been used to cover someone's tracks.
Someone had died in the fire, so it was a possibility that he'd figured something out and had been killed to cover it up. And the explosion, the fire, it was all planned to cover up a murder. That seemed a little far-fetched, though, like something out of a ridiculous crime show. Tony shut the door to the lab and headed towards the elevator once more.
The assistant that had been assigned to him was young and dark headed and male, but it was only temporary, so Tony wasn't too bothered by it. He gathered up his agenda for the day which Pepper had forwarded and slipped into the office. All of that could wait, except the conference call which was on a time schedule, because he wasn't here to do business as usual. Someone was stealing his weapon's technology, and someone had probably engineered an explosion in his weapons lab.
When he thought about it, that hole in the wall was pretty suspicious. He pulled up room layout schematics on his laptop and while it was loading, there was a knock on the door, and his assistant came in, followed by a familiar and somewhat welcome figure. Obadiah Stane.
He had been a family friend for ages, but he was certainly surprised to see him. He hadn't spoke to Obadiah in person since his father's funeral. He stood from his chair quickly and headed over to Obie, dismissing the assistant with a wave. "Obie!" Tony greeted, effusively.
"Anthony." Obadiah moved closer and shook Tony's hand warmly, then pulled him in to a tight embrace. Tony could feel the bandages shifting over the reactor in an uncomfortable way. And he suddenly had the bright idea to show Obadiah it. Of course, he knew that he'd known about the project; Tony had a fantastic memory and could remember when he was a child, Obadiah and Howard discussing it over drinks. He was usually kicked out of the study before too long, but he'd caught a glimpse or two.
"I couldn't believe it when I saw you were alive," Obadiah said, once they'd parted, and Tony leaned against the desk, which was heavy and antique. He butted his hip against the edge and studied Obadiah. He reached up and started to undo his tie, and Obadiah raised a brow.
"Energy," Tony told him, "That's going to be the future of SI. Energy. I did what my old man couldn't and it's going to change everything." He undid the buttons on his shirt and pulled it open. He pulled the undershirt up and started to take off the bandages, peeling the tape back. The reactor glowed brightly and Obadiah's gaze dropped to it.
"My old man couldn't do it, but I did," Tony said, "I made it smaller. It's an energy source, it's clean, it's going to be the next big thing. Think of the things Stark International can do with this. It needs work, it's too volatile to release in something like cars... but I'm going to get my top people on it." Tony was grinning, smiling so wide it was hurting, because this was exciting. A new direction.
And there was his little side project, though that was a little more secretive and no one needed to know about that, not yet. He started to do his shirt back up, even though the cloth would irritate the reactor without the bandage over it. Obadiah's expression was somewhat surprised, but interested too, and Tony nodded to him.
"Just think of what we can do," Tony said. He was optimistic, hopeful for the future for the first time in what seemed like a long time. Stark International wasn't going to think about killing people, they were thinking in a new direction.
"Tony, think of the applications of this, do you know how much the military-" Tony's expression went icy and he cut Obadiah off.
"I'm not even going to think about that," Tony said sharply, "That's not what Stark International is about anymore." He squared his jaw, raising his chin fractionally.
"Like I said, we're out of the weapons business."
* * *
"I didn't think you were going to be able to get these," Obadiah said, sounding pleased, before hanging up the phone. He spread the blueprints out along the large table, and traced the curved line on the outer edge of the design. It was just a copy, not the originals, but Obadiah had seen the original, and he knew it was spot on. He moved his finger down, over the edges of the paper where the names were. Arc Reactor. Obadiah actually smiled and he folded the paper back up. He tucked the phone closer to his ear and listened while he was told the details on how he'd gotten it done.
Not that Obadiah cared about the details much, just that he was glad that he'd gotten them. He could bring these designs to his team immediately. After all, if Tony Stark could build one that worked in the middle of a dirty, filthy cave in Afghanistan, than surely a fully stocked and hand-picked team could do the same in a better working environment.
This was working out better than Obadiah had planned. The Ten Rings had screwed up, not killing Stark. They could have ended it, even if they'd messed up with the car bombing. The weapons that Obadiah had given them weren't enough, it seemed, and they'd kept Tony around to make a weapon, and now he was back. This was galling, Obadiah had paid money and given a lot of weapons to get him out of the picture, to swoop in and buy SI and all of its proprietary technologies. Him being back put a serious damper on Obadiah's plans... but not for long.
He'd already planted the seeds about SI's unsafe storing procedures at the New York satellite. Sooner or later, he'd have someone go and mess things up other places, and if a few people got hurt along the way... that was no problem. Plus, if SI wasn't making weapons, they couldn't really contend. They'd be bankrupt soon and Obadiah could make his purchase like that.
It was one upside to Tony being alive, he'd love to see the precocious little brat's face when Obadiah was the one to buy out his company, reverse his no weapons policy, and turn SI back in to the high dollar weapon producer that it had been... under Howard and Tony. But the arc reactor had changed things.
Stark had certainly been right, the arc reactor could be the future of Stark International. Tony had mentioned there was still testing to do, however, and ways to make it safe. Which was fine, if Stark and his new 'no weapons' policy wanted to make house generators and cars that ran on that technology. But Obadiah saw it for what it was... a weapon. And he was going to market it to the government before Stark got the chance.
The patent was Howard's, of course, but changing a few things... he could probably get it through. He needed to figure out just how to do it. But that would come when he got the designs to his people. He tucked the paper in to a manila folder and headed out to the car that was waiting.
* * *
Tony was reading the news and it wasn't making him very happy, especially not with the possibility of a theft from the lab. Now that inventory was getting to the point where they were looking closer, someone had noticed quite a bit of research notes had gone missing and not just half-working prototypes like the initial inventory had suggested. And the night before, there was actually an alert set off, someone had been hacking in to the system computers. There'd been some information downloaded, which was worrying, and had Tony feeling very paranoid, and victimized. Or, at the very least, someone was targeting him. But he couldn't figure out who it was.
The news he was reading was a weapons test gone wrong somewhere, that was bearing the Stark International logo, that had killed at least four people in the town nearby where the testing had been going on. There shouldn't have been any weapon testing going on, but people were just citing that Tony Stark was a liar, and they should have expected his no weapons speech had been lip service to... something.
With a heavy heart, Tony had removed all of the Iron Man designs off of the computer, on to a secure flash drive, and tucked away into a secured vault. Because as much as he wanted to work on that project, it was too risky, whoever was breaking in to their systems and stealing their research was too good for Tony to feel comfortable having even remnants of the design on some system. Especially after this recent news.
That would also explain why his phone was ringing almost off the hook. So now, he had to figure out what was going on. So far, all he'd figured out was that the weapon that had been released was a similar one that had been compromised during the explosion. A team had been working on it, Jovan Shani and Heinrich Zemo. Jovan, Tony learned, had been the employee who'd died in the explosion.
That left Heinrich and... a suspicious flag on another man, Steve Rogers, who had been accessing the weapons lab after it had closed, even though he was in his marketing and design department. Tony rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration and wondered how no one had noticed this before. The times logged were often late, too. Did Rogers think that just because the weapons lab had shut down that the electronic locks wouldn't still log the people who went in?
It was a shame, really, since it seemed like Rogers had a good work ethic. Had never missed a day, had interned here at SI before securing a job, had quite a few good ideas credited to him through the marketing teams. His salary was nice, he'd recently gotten a raise. The personnel file on him mentioned his military service, how he always received stellar performance reviews, and the background check revealed no criminal record. Tony supposed that being a criminal took all kinds though.
He wrote down their names and then went searching for Heinrich. He had quickly gotten a job over at Hammer Industries, but maybe he wanted the proprietary research so that he could make a good impression on Justin Hammer. He rubbed at the back of his neck in frustration and then ran a hand through his hair. He called Heinrich on the phone to discuss his whereabouts, but he was actually solid as far as having an alibi.
According to Heinrich, and Tony checked it out, he'd been sent to a two week seminar in Italy as a pre-requisite for being hired on full time at Hammer Industries. He did seem sincerely upset about what had happened to Jovan as well, when Tony mentioned that, and he said he'd seen it on the news. That just left Rogers, which was disappointing... considering that everything pointed to him being an upstanding and valued employee.
Still, Tony wasn't going to let that cloud his judgment. Because if things were going to go like that, then it was best to cut this off before it got even worse. Already there'd been five deaths attributed to this weapons stealing business, and Tony couldn't afford it getting worse. He couldn't afford what had already happened, the shareholders were already getting nervous and Tony wasn't seeing the brightest of futures right now. Though the good thing was that his designs, the ones for the Iron Man, could possibly be designed for medical uses.
He called Rogers into his office, since he saw that he was on the clock. It didn't take him long to arrive, and his temporary assistant led Steve in. He was tall, especially compared to Tony, broad shouldered, and he smiled at Tony nervously as Tony gestured for him to sit.
"So, Mr. Rogers..." Tony started, then frowned, "Can I call you Steve?" He asked. Steve nodded a little and Tony noticed he looked a little tired, but that could be because of illegal weapon testing that resulted in the deaths of some people. He clenched his jaw and frowned even more.
"Late night?" Tony asked, flipping open a folder and paging through it some more, trying to find anything to suggest that Rogers might have done something like this. Steve seemed a little uncomfortable by the question though, he shrugged his shoulders slightly.
"A little bit," Steve said with a small smile, "A friend and I were trying to figure something out, and before you know it, it's already about three in the morning and you have to be up for work in four hours." Steve smiled at Tony, it wasn't fake. But his response was awfully vague.
"I see," Tony said and he read through the file some more, Steve had apparently been in some sort of special operatives group, but was highly classified, as to the name and their purpose except the very uninformative 'counter-terrorism' description. He paused when he saw that Steve had been in Afghanistan. He frowned more.
"Mr. Stark," Steve suddenly said, and he seemed nervous, "Is there something I can do for you? They wouldn't tell me why you called me up here." Steve gave him a quick smile. Tony closed the folder and tapped a few keys in to his computer.
"There were some thefts from the lab, Steve, after the weapons division closed down," Tony started, moving to look Steve right in the eyes, "And while on paper you appear to be an upstanding employee, the evidence is stacked against you in this case. I can't be entirely sure when things were being stolen, but there's several incidents where your key-card was used to access the weapons lab after hours and after it was closed down." Tony's voice was firm, but he watched as genuine surprise flicked over Steve's features.
Steve could just be a very good actor.
"Sir," Steve said, frowning, "I've never set foot in the weapons lab. I work in marketing." Steve explained, folding his hands on his lap. Tony nodded.
"Yeah, it's all in your personnel file here. But we can clear this up." For a certain definition of 'clearing up' because if Steve hadn't been the one using his key-card, he wasn't exactly sure where that left him. He had the dates pulled up and he questioned Steve on his whereabouts.
And as Steve explained where he'd been, Tony patiently wrote down the locations at the specified times, and made a not to call them. Tony frowned a little and then folded his hands atop his desk.
"Steve, I'm going to ask you to go home early today, and that you're on a forced vacation until I can verify your story and check out what you've told me." Steve looked upset, but Tony needed to make sure that it hadn't been him. And then question him about who might have had access to his key-card if it hadn't.
"Yes, sir," Steve said reluctantly and Tony gave him a sort of dismissive nod. Steve rose and headed for the door.
"Oh, Steve?" Tony said and Steve turned back towards him, "If I see any record of your key-card being used here until I call you back in, I am going to have you arrested." Steve nodded in understanding, frowning a little more, before heading out. Tony got the numbers from the locations Steve had given him, and gave his name and description.
His stories checked out though and credit card statements would back it up, for the things he'd paid for. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose in frustration and stared at the article about the weapons testing for several long moments. His best lead wasn't a lead at all and he wondered where to go from here.
An article that was linked on the side caught his eye and then gave him an idea. He shut down his laptop and headed out of the office.
* * *
"There's someone in there," Clint told Steve. Steve peered around Clint, hand braced on his shoulder, and looked through the hole which still hadn't been fixed. He supposed they had to wait until the crime scene unit had finished clearing the place, and maybe for the investors and insurance company to make their rulings on whether it was an accident and all that. Steve was unsure of the red tape involved, just that it was convenient for them. Not that he'd not be adept at stealthing, but not having to break in was convenient.
"Who is it?" Steve asked and he saw Clint frown and assumed he was rolling his eyes behind his mask, "Never mind, it was a stupid question." Clint shook his head a little.
"No, I just don't know," Clint whispered and then he reached up and signaled that Steve should probably go inside. It wasn't the best course of action, especially since they didn't know who was in there, but it was worth a shot, really, to see if they could figure out who might have been doing this. And it was likely that it could be someone who was in cahoots with whomever had caused the accident in the first place. Steve nodded and slipped in, crouching low to avoid detection.
Whoever was in there wasn't trying hard to be silent, Steve stilled as he heard metal scrape along the floor. He ducked behind a shelf that was intact and peered at where the sound had come from. There was a man, short with curling hair, dressed in a business suit. He climbed on top of the chair and stood on his tip toes to look at something in the corner of the room. Steve followed his line of sight and noticed the video camera.
He swore softly, but then he noticed that he was examining the wires, which had been yanked out from the device. When the man turned, Steve recognized him. Tony Stark, the head of the company. He frowned, because he really hadn't expected this to be an inside job. Nor could he think of a good reason as to why Tony would have wanted to kill Jovan. But the questioning earlier...
Then again, that hadn't been about Jovan's death, it had been about weapon's theft. It was possible he wasn't really trying to clear Steve's name, he was looking for a fall guy! There was the possibility that his press conference about stopping the production of weapons was just lip service, a way to get back in to the good graces of the public. He could be stealing his own research in order to sell off to make up for the dip in the company's stock. It really was an ingenious plan.
If Jovan had discovered the plot, he was the type of honest person that Steve was sure would turn something like that over to the police. Steve was actually a little disappointed, he'd liked his job here, but it was doubtful they'd let him keep it once he turned Stark in. Clint moved in beside him. He watched as Stark scrubbed a hand over his goatee and started trying to access a computer that was near to the blast. He pulled out the tower and started dismantling it.
"I think he's trying to erase evidence," Steve whispered to Clint. Clint frowned and shook his head.
"Wait," Clint said quietly, "I'm not so sure. I'm not sure he'd stand to gain much-" He ignored Steve's derisive snort.
"And he also wasn't the person who hired me," Clint continued, gesturing a little. "That guy was older, I think, wider, taller." Steve frowned a little.
"I don't think it'd hurt to question him," Steve said and he moved out from behind the shelving. Tony didn't look up at first and Steve cleared his throat.
"What're you doing here?" Steve asked and he moved over to Tony, pulling his hands away from the computer terminal. Tony looked up at him. He could smell the faint scent of whiskey and his eyes were fever-bright. Just what Steve needed... a drunk.
"I own the place," Tony said and his voice was surprisingly steady, "I think I should be asking you the same question." He rose a brow and gave him a patient look, though he was already reaching for his cell phone.
"Wait, don't! We're not the enemy here," Steve said. Or maybe they were if they were about to stop him from erasing the evidence of his crime. "We're trying to figure out what happened here, the victim..." Steve trailed off, because he didn't need to tell Tony that Jovan had been a friend. Though Tony was now giving him a strangely wary look.
"It was an accident, what happened here," Tony replied, but there was something about his voice, like maybe he didn't entirely believe that. Steve huffed a little and rubbed the back of his neck idly, nervous habit. Clint was moving behind him, probably looking for something to connect Tony to the crime. Steve shook his head.
"I don't think it was, I think it was on purpose," Steve said and he stared at Tony, trying to read his guilt, "The man who was killed in this explosion was arguing with someone the day before. I didn't hear all of it, but the other man was threatening him." Tony frowned then.
"And someone was paying my partner," He gestured in Clint's direction vaguely, "to steal things that had been hidden away here." There was no recognition flashing in Tony's eyes, and in fact he looked rather sick hearing it. He rubbed a hand over his mouth again and swallowed, tossing the hard drive on to the desk. He ran a hand through his hair and Steve frowned.
"I'm sure everyone will understand what happened here, but the man here deserves to have justice served, that's all we're out for." Steve was obliquely accusatory and he watched as Tony's eyes went wide with surprise and the corners of his mouth disappeared into his goatee as he frowned.
"If you think that I-" Tony started, but he was cut off by the sound of a gun firing. Steve turned, pulling Tony down to the floor roughly as he moved in to a crouch. Clint swore quietly, voice tight with pain, and Steve frowned a little.
"Stay down," Steve commanded harshly then he slowly moved towards the shelf again. He peeked around the corner and the sight caused him to feel somewhat sick, since he'd never seen anything like it. The man standing over Clint was dressed all in black, and he looked normal. Except his face. Where a head and hair should have been, there was the shape of a skull, crimson red, and grinning like a psychopath. Pale blue eyes stared out from the hollows of the orbital bone, and his teeth were bared.
"What the hell..." Steve started to say, but Clint interrupted him.
"He shot me!" Clint sounded really upset and the red skulled man didn't look amused, nor remorseful. Though really, if Steve had to guess, he probably couldn't make any sort of expression at all... except the constant teeth baring grimace.
"Sorry," The man said, but he didn't sound it. "You're merely a casualty of war." He ran a gloved hand over his gleaming crimson head and sidestepped Clint. Clint twisted and reached for his weapon, moving slowly as he tried to work through the pain of his gunshot wound.
"I'm actually here for Mr. Stark," The man continued, his boots clicking on the linoleum floor. Steve stood the rest of the way and positioned himself between the man and Tony. He held his head up high, jaw tight, and his expression fiercely determined.
"You'll have to get through me first," Steve challenged, pitching his voice low and squaring his shoulders in an attempt to look more intimidating.
The man nodded a little. "But of course," The man said, with that same grinning skull expression, unchanged except for the anger blazing in the man's eyes. Steve wasn't intimidated though and he curled his fingers in to fists. The other man had a gun, but Steve wasn't frightened.
He got a shot off, but with the way Steve moved, it missed and hit some unidentified vial of something that exploded on impact, setting off a chain reaction of the similar vials on the shelf next to it. Clint was on his feet again and scrambling for his bow.
Steve lunged backwards, moving as fast as he could, and shielded Tony's body with his own as glass and metal showered them; he heard the familiar twang of Clint's bowstring and a cry of pain from the red skulled man. Clint took the moment of distraction to duck behind a shelf and leapt over another fallen rack to land next to Steve.
"We have to get you out of here." Steve said to Tony, quietly. Tony frowned up at him, brushing glass out of his hair.
"He's after me?" Tony sounded a little dizzied and Steve nodded, helping him up from the ground by his elbow. He held Tony to him for a minute and then pushed him towards the hallway behind him.
"There's an emergency exit right down the hallway and to the left," Steve informed him in a quiet, urgent voice. He pressed a hand to the small of his back and propelled him out through the doorway. Steve looked to Clint, who was holding his arm, fingers curled around his bow.
"We should just go," Clint said quietly. Steve nodded a little. "If we don't, he might get past us." Red Skull was regaining himself and the gunfire sprayed, ricocheting off of the shelf at first, and Steve and Clint dived to opposite sides, so the bullets hit empty space where they had been standing. Steve knew that some basic training drills would get them more in tune with one another; hopefully there'd be less of a fight next time from Clint.
Steve nodded a little and there was a cry from down the hall. Steve's eyes went wide- Tony! Steve couldn't tell what the cry meant, exactly, but still, there shouldn't have been any reason for it to happen at all. He turned to Clint who nodded. Steve grabbed a small canister from his pocket and dashed it on the ground. When it hit, it exploded in to a cloud of smoke and Steve turned and ran down the hall. He grabbed the nearest thing off the shelf as he darted from the room.
Down where the halls intersected, Tony was standing against a man with at least one-hundred pounds on him, and a few inches of height. But the amazing thing was that the cry had to have come from getting hit. Blood was trickling from his lip, but he hadn't fallen, and in fact- he was moving back and forth like a snake about to strike. The larger man went for a gun and Tony sprang in to action.
Steve watched with a bit of awe and some horror as Tony lunged at the guy, fists moving in sharp, quick jabs. They were obviously stinging blows, as the man took a step back and threw up his fists to protect his face; Steve just wasn't sure if Tony had the upper arm strength for a knockout blow. Steve ran the rest of the way down the hall and made the best decision he could think of.
It was a little small, but he'd grabbed the top of a weighing scale off of the shelf on his way out and as soon as he came in view, he hurled it. Strong enough to where it took flight like a Frisbee despite its weight. He threw it at an angle and it ricocheted off of the wall so it didn't hit Tony in the back of the head. The makeshift weapon bounced off the wall and the path twisted, when the metal collided with the thug's head, he dropped to the ground. Tony shot him a look over his shoulder.
There was another twang of a bowstring and Clint came down the hall, Red Skull in pursuit. Steve swore quietly under his breath, and Tony's eyes were now on him. Maybe looking for him to make some sort of decision. Red Skull was raising the gun once more and- Steve was somewhat protected. It wasn't top quality or anything, but it was better than what he knew Clint had on, and what he suspected of Tony.
"Go!" Steve barked. He shoved Tony out of the way and the bullet caught him right in the chest. He stumbled backwards, driven to his knees, as the breath was knocked out of him. Red Skull moved after Clint and Tony and Steve twisted and grabbed his ankles, pulling him to the ground. He was wheezing, couldn't breathe, and Red Skull crashed to the floor. It was all Steve needed.
He clamored to his hands and knees and when Red Skull attempted to sit up, Steve caught him in a chokehold, arm across his trachea, holding him as he struggled until he went limp. Steve didn't linger, just long enough to cuff Red Skull's legs together at the ankles. He jumped up and stumbled down the hallway, feeling the rush of an ache in his chest. Tony and Clint were hovering by the door and he just nodded, signaling them it was time to go.
It wouldn't hold Red Skull forever, but it'd give them some time for Tony to get to safety.
* * *
Artist:
dangwhymeAuthor:
dinahqueenRating (both art/fic): R[fic]/G[art]
Universe: Iron Man movie-verse AU
Word Count: 26,050
Warnings: Violence, implied sexual content
Beta:
shariangelArt Thumbnail:
Fic Summary: When a close friend of his dies under suspicious circumstances, Steve Rogers creates an alter-ego with which to investigate the accident and determine what really happened. What he discovers is more complicated than he could have imagined.
Link to Art: What We Could Become [Art]
Link to Fic: What We Could Become [AO3]
Tony stepped out of the car and peered up at the Stark International satellite office in New York. It'd been a long time since he'd set foot in these halls, and he wasn't exactly steeling his nerves, he wasn't entirely comfortable with stepping inside. The satellite in New York had always been his father's preferred place. He had a family home here, which hadn't changed decorations in the years since his father had passed, and only kept the dust at bay by the talents of a highly paid cleaning staff. Of course, Tony couldn't really afford extraneous spending, so he was staying in the family home while he was in New York.
Tony forced himself through the doors and headed straight for where his father's old office was. He was going to set up base there, and see what he could figure out about the weapons research and prototypes that had gone missing in the days before the explosion. He knew there couldn't have been unsafe storing procedures. Stark International NY had had its inspection not more than a month ago.
And they were up on all of their OSHA standards, Pepper had told them they'd gotten great scores across the board. Their employees' safety was a number one concern at SI, and unlike other companies where that was just lip service, Tony had meant it, and had done his best. He took a brief detour down to the weapons lab, and assessed the damage.
It was brutal. A hole in the wall, things blacked over and charred. He squinted at the scene and noticed some things were untouched... the bookcase, even though it was right next to where the fire was supposed to have originated, an air vent on the other side of the room, where the walls were blackened on both sides. Almost like...
Tony struggled to think of someone who would have done something like that, but for now he was filing it under coincidence. He didn't really believe that it was, because he didn't believe in things like this. But there probably wasn't anything going on. Except the thieving was pretty damning evidence, and a fire could have been used to cover someone's tracks.
Someone had died in the fire, so it was a possibility that he'd figured something out and had been killed to cover it up. And the explosion, the fire, it was all planned to cover up a murder. That seemed a little far-fetched, though, like something out of a ridiculous crime show. Tony shut the door to the lab and headed towards the elevator once more.
The assistant that had been assigned to him was young and dark headed and male, but it was only temporary, so Tony wasn't too bothered by it. He gathered up his agenda for the day which Pepper had forwarded and slipped into the office. All of that could wait, except the conference call which was on a time schedule, because he wasn't here to do business as usual. Someone was stealing his weapon's technology, and someone had probably engineered an explosion in his weapons lab.
When he thought about it, that hole in the wall was pretty suspicious. He pulled up room layout schematics on his laptop and while it was loading, there was a knock on the door, and his assistant came in, followed by a familiar and somewhat welcome figure. Obadiah Stane.
He had been a family friend for ages, but he was certainly surprised to see him. He hadn't spoke to Obadiah in person since his father's funeral. He stood from his chair quickly and headed over to Obie, dismissing the assistant with a wave. "Obie!" Tony greeted, effusively.
"Anthony." Obadiah moved closer and shook Tony's hand warmly, then pulled him in to a tight embrace. Tony could feel the bandages shifting over the reactor in an uncomfortable way. And he suddenly had the bright idea to show Obadiah it. Of course, he knew that he'd known about the project; Tony had a fantastic memory and could remember when he was a child, Obadiah and Howard discussing it over drinks. He was usually kicked out of the study before too long, but he'd caught a glimpse or two.
"I couldn't believe it when I saw you were alive," Obadiah said, once they'd parted, and Tony leaned against the desk, which was heavy and antique. He butted his hip against the edge and studied Obadiah. He reached up and started to undo his tie, and Obadiah raised a brow.
"Energy," Tony told him, "That's going to be the future of SI. Energy. I did what my old man couldn't and it's going to change everything." He undid the buttons on his shirt and pulled it open. He pulled the undershirt up and started to take off the bandages, peeling the tape back. The reactor glowed brightly and Obadiah's gaze dropped to it.
"My old man couldn't do it, but I did," Tony said, "I made it smaller. It's an energy source, it's clean, it's going to be the next big thing. Think of the things Stark International can do with this. It needs work, it's too volatile to release in something like cars... but I'm going to get my top people on it." Tony was grinning, smiling so wide it was hurting, because this was exciting. A new direction.
And there was his little side project, though that was a little more secretive and no one needed to know about that, not yet. He started to do his shirt back up, even though the cloth would irritate the reactor without the bandage over it. Obadiah's expression was somewhat surprised, but interested too, and Tony nodded to him.
"Just think of what we can do," Tony said. He was optimistic, hopeful for the future for the first time in what seemed like a long time. Stark International wasn't going to think about killing people, they were thinking in a new direction.
"Tony, think of the applications of this, do you know how much the military-" Tony's expression went icy and he cut Obadiah off.
"I'm not even going to think about that," Tony said sharply, "That's not what Stark International is about anymore." He squared his jaw, raising his chin fractionally.
"Like I said, we're out of the weapons business."
* * *
"I didn't think you were going to be able to get these," Obadiah said, sounding pleased, before hanging up the phone. He spread the blueprints out along the large table, and traced the curved line on the outer edge of the design. It was just a copy, not the originals, but Obadiah had seen the original, and he knew it was spot on. He moved his finger down, over the edges of the paper where the names were. Arc Reactor. Obadiah actually smiled and he folded the paper back up. He tucked the phone closer to his ear and listened while he was told the details on how he'd gotten it done.
Not that Obadiah cared about the details much, just that he was glad that he'd gotten them. He could bring these designs to his team immediately. After all, if Tony Stark could build one that worked in the middle of a dirty, filthy cave in Afghanistan, than surely a fully stocked and hand-picked team could do the same in a better working environment.
This was working out better than Obadiah had planned. The Ten Rings had screwed up, not killing Stark. They could have ended it, even if they'd messed up with the car bombing. The weapons that Obadiah had given them weren't enough, it seemed, and they'd kept Tony around to make a weapon, and now he was back. This was galling, Obadiah had paid money and given a lot of weapons to get him out of the picture, to swoop in and buy SI and all of its proprietary technologies. Him being back put a serious damper on Obadiah's plans... but not for long.
He'd already planted the seeds about SI's unsafe storing procedures at the New York satellite. Sooner or later, he'd have someone go and mess things up other places, and if a few people got hurt along the way... that was no problem. Plus, if SI wasn't making weapons, they couldn't really contend. They'd be bankrupt soon and Obadiah could make his purchase like that.
It was one upside to Tony being alive, he'd love to see the precocious little brat's face when Obadiah was the one to buy out his company, reverse his no weapons policy, and turn SI back in to the high dollar weapon producer that it had been... under Howard and Tony. But the arc reactor had changed things.
Stark had certainly been right, the arc reactor could be the future of Stark International. Tony had mentioned there was still testing to do, however, and ways to make it safe. Which was fine, if Stark and his new 'no weapons' policy wanted to make house generators and cars that ran on that technology. But Obadiah saw it for what it was... a weapon. And he was going to market it to the government before Stark got the chance.
The patent was Howard's, of course, but changing a few things... he could probably get it through. He needed to figure out just how to do it. But that would come when he got the designs to his people. He tucked the paper in to a manila folder and headed out to the car that was waiting.
* * *
Tony was reading the news and it wasn't making him very happy, especially not with the possibility of a theft from the lab. Now that inventory was getting to the point where they were looking closer, someone had noticed quite a bit of research notes had gone missing and not just half-working prototypes like the initial inventory had suggested. And the night before, there was actually an alert set off, someone had been hacking in to the system computers. There'd been some information downloaded, which was worrying, and had Tony feeling very paranoid, and victimized. Or, at the very least, someone was targeting him. But he couldn't figure out who it was.
The news he was reading was a weapons test gone wrong somewhere, that was bearing the Stark International logo, that had killed at least four people in the town nearby where the testing had been going on. There shouldn't have been any weapon testing going on, but people were just citing that Tony Stark was a liar, and they should have expected his no weapons speech had been lip service to... something.
With a heavy heart, Tony had removed all of the Iron Man designs off of the computer, on to a secure flash drive, and tucked away into a secured vault. Because as much as he wanted to work on that project, it was too risky, whoever was breaking in to their systems and stealing their research was too good for Tony to feel comfortable having even remnants of the design on some system. Especially after this recent news.
That would also explain why his phone was ringing almost off the hook. So now, he had to figure out what was going on. So far, all he'd figured out was that the weapon that had been released was a similar one that had been compromised during the explosion. A team had been working on it, Jovan Shani and Heinrich Zemo. Jovan, Tony learned, had been the employee who'd died in the explosion.
That left Heinrich and... a suspicious flag on another man, Steve Rogers, who had been accessing the weapons lab after it had closed, even though he was in his marketing and design department. Tony rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration and wondered how no one had noticed this before. The times logged were often late, too. Did Rogers think that just because the weapons lab had shut down that the electronic locks wouldn't still log the people who went in?
It was a shame, really, since it seemed like Rogers had a good work ethic. Had never missed a day, had interned here at SI before securing a job, had quite a few good ideas credited to him through the marketing teams. His salary was nice, he'd recently gotten a raise. The personnel file on him mentioned his military service, how he always received stellar performance reviews, and the background check revealed no criminal record. Tony supposed that being a criminal took all kinds though.
He wrote down their names and then went searching for Heinrich. He had quickly gotten a job over at Hammer Industries, but maybe he wanted the proprietary research so that he could make a good impression on Justin Hammer. He rubbed at the back of his neck in frustration and then ran a hand through his hair. He called Heinrich on the phone to discuss his whereabouts, but he was actually solid as far as having an alibi.
According to Heinrich, and Tony checked it out, he'd been sent to a two week seminar in Italy as a pre-requisite for being hired on full time at Hammer Industries. He did seem sincerely upset about what had happened to Jovan as well, when Tony mentioned that, and he said he'd seen it on the news. That just left Rogers, which was disappointing... considering that everything pointed to him being an upstanding and valued employee.
Still, Tony wasn't going to let that cloud his judgment. Because if things were going to go like that, then it was best to cut this off before it got even worse. Already there'd been five deaths attributed to this weapons stealing business, and Tony couldn't afford it getting worse. He couldn't afford what had already happened, the shareholders were already getting nervous and Tony wasn't seeing the brightest of futures right now. Though the good thing was that his designs, the ones for the Iron Man, could possibly be designed for medical uses.
He called Rogers into his office, since he saw that he was on the clock. It didn't take him long to arrive, and his temporary assistant led Steve in. He was tall, especially compared to Tony, broad shouldered, and he smiled at Tony nervously as Tony gestured for him to sit.
"So, Mr. Rogers..." Tony started, then frowned, "Can I call you Steve?" He asked. Steve nodded a little and Tony noticed he looked a little tired, but that could be because of illegal weapon testing that resulted in the deaths of some people. He clenched his jaw and frowned even more.
"Late night?" Tony asked, flipping open a folder and paging through it some more, trying to find anything to suggest that Rogers might have done something like this. Steve seemed a little uncomfortable by the question though, he shrugged his shoulders slightly.
"A little bit," Steve said with a small smile, "A friend and I were trying to figure something out, and before you know it, it's already about three in the morning and you have to be up for work in four hours." Steve smiled at Tony, it wasn't fake. But his response was awfully vague.
"I see," Tony said and he read through the file some more, Steve had apparently been in some sort of special operatives group, but was highly classified, as to the name and their purpose except the very uninformative 'counter-terrorism' description. He paused when he saw that Steve had been in Afghanistan. He frowned more.
"Mr. Stark," Steve suddenly said, and he seemed nervous, "Is there something I can do for you? They wouldn't tell me why you called me up here." Steve gave him a quick smile. Tony closed the folder and tapped a few keys in to his computer.
"There were some thefts from the lab, Steve, after the weapons division closed down," Tony started, moving to look Steve right in the eyes, "And while on paper you appear to be an upstanding employee, the evidence is stacked against you in this case. I can't be entirely sure when things were being stolen, but there's several incidents where your key-card was used to access the weapons lab after hours and after it was closed down." Tony's voice was firm, but he watched as genuine surprise flicked over Steve's features.
Steve could just be a very good actor.
"Sir," Steve said, frowning, "I've never set foot in the weapons lab. I work in marketing." Steve explained, folding his hands on his lap. Tony nodded.
"Yeah, it's all in your personnel file here. But we can clear this up." For a certain definition of 'clearing up' because if Steve hadn't been the one using his key-card, he wasn't exactly sure where that left him. He had the dates pulled up and he questioned Steve on his whereabouts.
And as Steve explained where he'd been, Tony patiently wrote down the locations at the specified times, and made a not to call them. Tony frowned a little and then folded his hands atop his desk.
"Steve, I'm going to ask you to go home early today, and that you're on a forced vacation until I can verify your story and check out what you've told me." Steve looked upset, but Tony needed to make sure that it hadn't been him. And then question him about who might have had access to his key-card if it hadn't.
"Yes, sir," Steve said reluctantly and Tony gave him a sort of dismissive nod. Steve rose and headed for the door.
"Oh, Steve?" Tony said and Steve turned back towards him, "If I see any record of your key-card being used here until I call you back in, I am going to have you arrested." Steve nodded in understanding, frowning a little more, before heading out. Tony got the numbers from the locations Steve had given him, and gave his name and description.
His stories checked out though and credit card statements would back it up, for the things he'd paid for. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose in frustration and stared at the article about the weapons testing for several long moments. His best lead wasn't a lead at all and he wondered where to go from here.
An article that was linked on the side caught his eye and then gave him an idea. He shut down his laptop and headed out of the office.
* * *
"There's someone in there," Clint told Steve. Steve peered around Clint, hand braced on his shoulder, and looked through the hole which still hadn't been fixed. He supposed they had to wait until the crime scene unit had finished clearing the place, and maybe for the investors and insurance company to make their rulings on whether it was an accident and all that. Steve was unsure of the red tape involved, just that it was convenient for them. Not that he'd not be adept at stealthing, but not having to break in was convenient.
"Who is it?" Steve asked and he saw Clint frown and assumed he was rolling his eyes behind his mask, "Never mind, it was a stupid question." Clint shook his head a little.
"No, I just don't know," Clint whispered and then he reached up and signaled that Steve should probably go inside. It wasn't the best course of action, especially since they didn't know who was in there, but it was worth a shot, really, to see if they could figure out who might have been doing this. And it was likely that it could be someone who was in cahoots with whomever had caused the accident in the first place. Steve nodded and slipped in, crouching low to avoid detection.
Whoever was in there wasn't trying hard to be silent, Steve stilled as he heard metal scrape along the floor. He ducked behind a shelf that was intact and peered at where the sound had come from. There was a man, short with curling hair, dressed in a business suit. He climbed on top of the chair and stood on his tip toes to look at something in the corner of the room. Steve followed his line of sight and noticed the video camera.
He swore softly, but then he noticed that he was examining the wires, which had been yanked out from the device. When the man turned, Steve recognized him. Tony Stark, the head of the company. He frowned, because he really hadn't expected this to be an inside job. Nor could he think of a good reason as to why Tony would have wanted to kill Jovan. But the questioning earlier...
Then again, that hadn't been about Jovan's death, it had been about weapon's theft. It was possible he wasn't really trying to clear Steve's name, he was looking for a fall guy! There was the possibility that his press conference about stopping the production of weapons was just lip service, a way to get back in to the good graces of the public. He could be stealing his own research in order to sell off to make up for the dip in the company's stock. It really was an ingenious plan.
If Jovan had discovered the plot, he was the type of honest person that Steve was sure would turn something like that over to the police. Steve was actually a little disappointed, he'd liked his job here, but it was doubtful they'd let him keep it once he turned Stark in. Clint moved in beside him. He watched as Stark scrubbed a hand over his goatee and started trying to access a computer that was near to the blast. He pulled out the tower and started dismantling it.
"I think he's trying to erase evidence," Steve whispered to Clint. Clint frowned and shook his head.
"Wait," Clint said quietly, "I'm not so sure. I'm not sure he'd stand to gain much-" He ignored Steve's derisive snort.
"And he also wasn't the person who hired me," Clint continued, gesturing a little. "That guy was older, I think, wider, taller." Steve frowned a little.
"I don't think it'd hurt to question him," Steve said and he moved out from behind the shelving. Tony didn't look up at first and Steve cleared his throat.
"What're you doing here?" Steve asked and he moved over to Tony, pulling his hands away from the computer terminal. Tony looked up at him. He could smell the faint scent of whiskey and his eyes were fever-bright. Just what Steve needed... a drunk.
"I own the place," Tony said and his voice was surprisingly steady, "I think I should be asking you the same question." He rose a brow and gave him a patient look, though he was already reaching for his cell phone.
"Wait, don't! We're not the enemy here," Steve said. Or maybe they were if they were about to stop him from erasing the evidence of his crime. "We're trying to figure out what happened here, the victim..." Steve trailed off, because he didn't need to tell Tony that Jovan had been a friend. Though Tony was now giving him a strangely wary look.
"It was an accident, what happened here," Tony replied, but there was something about his voice, like maybe he didn't entirely believe that. Steve huffed a little and rubbed the back of his neck idly, nervous habit. Clint was moving behind him, probably looking for something to connect Tony to the crime. Steve shook his head.
"I don't think it was, I think it was on purpose," Steve said and he stared at Tony, trying to read his guilt, "The man who was killed in this explosion was arguing with someone the day before. I didn't hear all of it, but the other man was threatening him." Tony frowned then.
"And someone was paying my partner," He gestured in Clint's direction vaguely, "to steal things that had been hidden away here." There was no recognition flashing in Tony's eyes, and in fact he looked rather sick hearing it. He rubbed a hand over his mouth again and swallowed, tossing the hard drive on to the desk. He ran a hand through his hair and Steve frowned.
"I'm sure everyone will understand what happened here, but the man here deserves to have justice served, that's all we're out for." Steve was obliquely accusatory and he watched as Tony's eyes went wide with surprise and the corners of his mouth disappeared into his goatee as he frowned.
"If you think that I-" Tony started, but he was cut off by the sound of a gun firing. Steve turned, pulling Tony down to the floor roughly as he moved in to a crouch. Clint swore quietly, voice tight with pain, and Steve frowned a little.
"Stay down," Steve commanded harshly then he slowly moved towards the shelf again. He peeked around the corner and the sight caused him to feel somewhat sick, since he'd never seen anything like it. The man standing over Clint was dressed all in black, and he looked normal. Except his face. Where a head and hair should have been, there was the shape of a skull, crimson red, and grinning like a psychopath. Pale blue eyes stared out from the hollows of the orbital bone, and his teeth were bared.
"What the hell..." Steve started to say, but Clint interrupted him.
"He shot me!" Clint sounded really upset and the red skulled man didn't look amused, nor remorseful. Though really, if Steve had to guess, he probably couldn't make any sort of expression at all... except the constant teeth baring grimace.
"Sorry," The man said, but he didn't sound it. "You're merely a casualty of war." He ran a gloved hand over his gleaming crimson head and sidestepped Clint. Clint twisted and reached for his weapon, moving slowly as he tried to work through the pain of his gunshot wound.
"I'm actually here for Mr. Stark," The man continued, his boots clicking on the linoleum floor. Steve stood the rest of the way and positioned himself between the man and Tony. He held his head up high, jaw tight, and his expression fiercely determined.
"You'll have to get through me first," Steve challenged, pitching his voice low and squaring his shoulders in an attempt to look more intimidating.
The man nodded a little. "But of course," The man said, with that same grinning skull expression, unchanged except for the anger blazing in the man's eyes. Steve wasn't intimidated though and he curled his fingers in to fists. The other man had a gun, but Steve wasn't frightened.
He got a shot off, but with the way Steve moved, it missed and hit some unidentified vial of something that exploded on impact, setting off a chain reaction of the similar vials on the shelf next to it. Clint was on his feet again and scrambling for his bow.
Steve lunged backwards, moving as fast as he could, and shielded Tony's body with his own as glass and metal showered them; he heard the familiar twang of Clint's bowstring and a cry of pain from the red skulled man. Clint took the moment of distraction to duck behind a shelf and leapt over another fallen rack to land next to Steve.
"We have to get you out of here." Steve said to Tony, quietly. Tony frowned up at him, brushing glass out of his hair.
"He's after me?" Tony sounded a little dizzied and Steve nodded, helping him up from the ground by his elbow. He held Tony to him for a minute and then pushed him towards the hallway behind him.
"There's an emergency exit right down the hallway and to the left," Steve informed him in a quiet, urgent voice. He pressed a hand to the small of his back and propelled him out through the doorway. Steve looked to Clint, who was holding his arm, fingers curled around his bow.
"We should just go," Clint said quietly. Steve nodded a little. "If we don't, he might get past us." Red Skull was regaining himself and the gunfire sprayed, ricocheting off of the shelf at first, and Steve and Clint dived to opposite sides, so the bullets hit empty space where they had been standing. Steve knew that some basic training drills would get them more in tune with one another; hopefully there'd be less of a fight next time from Clint.
Steve nodded a little and there was a cry from down the hall. Steve's eyes went wide- Tony! Steve couldn't tell what the cry meant, exactly, but still, there shouldn't have been any reason for it to happen at all. He turned to Clint who nodded. Steve grabbed a small canister from his pocket and dashed it on the ground. When it hit, it exploded in to a cloud of smoke and Steve turned and ran down the hall. He grabbed the nearest thing off the shelf as he darted from the room.
Down where the halls intersected, Tony was standing against a man with at least one-hundred pounds on him, and a few inches of height. But the amazing thing was that the cry had to have come from getting hit. Blood was trickling from his lip, but he hadn't fallen, and in fact- he was moving back and forth like a snake about to strike. The larger man went for a gun and Tony sprang in to action.
Steve watched with a bit of awe and some horror as Tony lunged at the guy, fists moving in sharp, quick jabs. They were obviously stinging blows, as the man took a step back and threw up his fists to protect his face; Steve just wasn't sure if Tony had the upper arm strength for a knockout blow. Steve ran the rest of the way down the hall and made the best decision he could think of.
It was a little small, but he'd grabbed the top of a weighing scale off of the shelf on his way out and as soon as he came in view, he hurled it. Strong enough to where it took flight like a Frisbee despite its weight. He threw it at an angle and it ricocheted off of the wall so it didn't hit Tony in the back of the head. The makeshift weapon bounced off the wall and the path twisted, when the metal collided with the thug's head, he dropped to the ground. Tony shot him a look over his shoulder.
There was another twang of a bowstring and Clint came down the hall, Red Skull in pursuit. Steve swore quietly under his breath, and Tony's eyes were now on him. Maybe looking for him to make some sort of decision. Red Skull was raising the gun once more and- Steve was somewhat protected. It wasn't top quality or anything, but it was better than what he knew Clint had on, and what he suspected of Tony.
"Go!" Steve barked. He shoved Tony out of the way and the bullet caught him right in the chest. He stumbled backwards, driven to his knees, as the breath was knocked out of him. Red Skull moved after Clint and Tony and Steve twisted and grabbed his ankles, pulling him to the ground. He was wheezing, couldn't breathe, and Red Skull crashed to the floor. It was all Steve needed.
He clamored to his hands and knees and when Red Skull attempted to sit up, Steve caught him in a chokehold, arm across his trachea, holding him as he struggled until he went limp. Steve didn't linger, just long enough to cuff Red Skull's legs together at the ankles. He jumped up and stumbled down the hallway, feeling the rush of an ache in his chest. Tony and Clint were hovering by the door and he just nodded, signaling them it was time to go.
It wouldn't hold Red Skull forever, but it'd give them some time for Tony to get to safety.
* * *
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-09-10 04:27 pm (UTC)and I am so glad the miscommunication between Tony and Steve/Clint seems to be over
off to part 3
no subject
Date: 2011-09-10 10:17 pm (UTC)Hope you enjoy the rest, too!