Morningstar Of Sin

After that day I told Tandy what I was feeling and she told me the feeling is excitement. I like the feeling so far.

The days passed and eventually, two months went by and there were rumors of Tony's return. I drove up to Tony's second house in the hills to greet him. I took my ghost rather than the wraith since I didn't wanna have Ray drive me. Normally I'd take the Aventador but the hills can skid the front end.

As I pull up to the house I am blocked by a herd of paparazzi. I rev my engine and slowly creep up on them to force my way by. They all begin taking photos of me to my annoyance, the photos I don't much care about, the flashing lights annoy me though.

As I make my way up the drive I see a beautiful redhead waiting for me. I get out of the car and give her a hug.

"It's been a while, Pepper," I say releasing the hug.

She smiles "It has, where were you? I liked all the stuff you sent but I would have preferred you and Tandy visited."

"Sorry about that, but with Tony back I'll be visiting a lot more. Where is Tony by the way?"

She sighs, "He has been in his lab since we got back, I'm worried about him."

I smile "Still with the one-sided crush I see. You would think a playboy like him would be able to see it."

She hits my shoulder with a slight blush "Don't say that, I don't like Tony like that."

I just laugh as we walk in. I make my way downstairs towards his lab. I look through the glass doors and see him working with his holograms designing something.

I knock on the glass door as I walk in "A man back from the dead, good to see you alive Tony."

Tony turns around and leans on his desk with a smile on his face "And what is the great Abigor Creed doing here."

I smile "I just dropped by to say Hello to my friend who was presumed dead. I changed my name by the way, but you can still call me Ab."

"Well I'm not dead so feel free to drop by whenever. I heard your business is booming lately." He takes a sip of coffee.

"Yeah, it's doing very well, what can I say? S.e.x sells. I'm surprised you are so calm after that press conference you just gave. You know your companies value is going to crash because of this."

He shrugs, "It's fine, I'll find a path other than weapons." he laughs "Maybe I'll go into the stripping business as well."

I chuckle "You would be an awful stripper, Tony."

He rolls his eyes "I saw you are now the third-largest owner of the company, why buy so much?"

My face hardens a bit "I'm sure you won't want to hear this Tony but I saw something in Mexico. One of the cartels I ran into were using your weapons, and I know damn well you didn't sell them. I think Stane has been selling your weapons under the table to less than reputable people."

Tony looks angry "Ab, do you know why I stopped our company from selling arms?"

"No, mind sharing?" I shrug

"Because, the people who kidnapped me, tried to kill me, and force me to live with this every day." He points at his c.h.e.s.t. "Used my weaponry, my bombs, my rifles, and my tech."

I gesture at his c.h.e.s.t "What is it?"

"It's a miniature arc reactor, capable of making enough energy to power cities. Right now it's fueling a battery keeping shrapnel from lodging into my heart and killing me." His fists are clenched tight as he speaks with anger.

I sit down in his desk chair opposite his work table. "Do you want me to deal with Stane, I'm sure you're aware he is the only one capable of selling such massive quantities of your weapons."

Tony punches his desk making some tools fall over as he looks down. "I know that, but Stane has been a good partner for all my life. He even helped my father with the business side of things. Hell, he basically ran the company while I was out partying with you and your women."

"You'll have to face the truth eventually Tony. Don't worry about the company, I'll buy up the stocks as they get sold. You'll be worth a lot less tomorrow, but at least you won't be broke."

He nods "Thanks, I'll buy a drink some time Ab."

I chuckle "How about instead you just hook up with Pepper and I'll call us even. You know I didn't introduce you two just to be an 'Assistant/Boss' combo. She cares about you, Tony."

He scoffs and looks away "I have never had an assistant as good as her to date. I am not ruining that for a quick lay."

I roll my eyes "It doesn't have to be a quick lay, Tony."

"Nope, Nope, Nope. I am not getting into a committed relationship at the young age of 37."

I give a wicked smile "Who said you had to be committed? You know I have about eight women right now, it's not that hard, you just have to please them all."

He looks at me hard "I respect you can do that." He points at me "BUT NO. I just survived being hit by a missile and kidnapped by terrorists. The last thing I want is to be killed by women."

I just accept he won't listen for now and change the subject "So, what are you working on." I gesture at the hologram of schematics he has pulled up.

He gets a massive grin as he does some gestures with his hands and pulls up hologram after hologram. One with rocket systems, one with an AI mainframe, a laser system, and finally one with armor schematics.

He enlarges the armor hologram, it looks like a massive metal suit with a hole in its c.h.e.s.t.

With the wave of a hand, the hologram appears in front of me. "That is how I got out of the terrorist base. I made a suit of armor with weapons all powered by the arc reactor on my c.h.e.s.t."

My eyebrows scrunch "And why are you making it again?"

"Jarvis! Mute all communications to the room." Tony speaks loudly.

"Done, sir." The AI replies after a second.

"I intend to take down the terrorists who are using my weaponry. It was a problem created by me after all." He looks a bit angry at himself.

I roll my eyes "Tony, had they not gotten the weapons from you they would have got them from someone else."

"But no one's weapons are as good as mine, simple as that. I'm responsible for the deaths caused by them, that's why I'll be the one to take care of them."

I focus again on the armor and nod. I agree he is in some part responsible but not as much as he says so I just don't respond.

He enlarges the other diagrams and sends them to me as well.

He smiles again "I call it "Project: IRON MAN."