[1] Taeyong Lee-Stark and the League of Heroes

19 - The making of War Machine

PREVIOUSLY ON: League of Superheroes

Taeyong, Happy and Pepper literally crash right into the Grand Prix in order to save Tony. In doing so, Taeyong gets himself a nasty cut on the chin, Ivan Vanko trying to whip Happy's car and completely destroy and of course Pepper's endless screaming and commotion.

But hey, at least his dad is there to save him.

***

Pepper and Natalie Rushman were frantically picking up calls here and there in order to add some sense to the commotion that had been taking place for the first week of coming back home. Tony and Taeyong had collectively decided to reside in their safe space, the familiar labs downstairs. Taeyong wasn't down at the current moment, instead he was perched on a chair and drinking some juice whilst he stared at the bizarre picture of Pepper and Natalie; both walking around with phones to their ears.

Few words were spoken between the two collectively, but either way, they were chatting up a storm to whichever news person, senate or general shareholder who wanted to know about the latest news.

"Yes," Pepper said on the phone. Taeyong took a long sip of his juice, staring at the two interestingly. "But the fundamentals of the company are still very, very strong despite the events in Monaco." Taeyong slightly lifted his eyebrows and stretched his lips into a thin line, pretending that the 'events at Monaco' didn't happen.

"Yes of course," Natalie said, talking to whoever it was on the line with her. She turned to Pepper, "The AP wants a quote."

Pepper shook her head, "Don't tell them. Fax them..."

Taeyong's immediate attention went to the door. He gave out a cheerful noise and set his glass down, padding over to a very serious looking James Rhodes. "Uncle Rhodes!" he called, hugging the man close when he got to him.

Rhodey gave Taeyong a quick hug and turned to nod at Pepper politely. "What's up little man? Wanna tell me where your dad is?"

Taeyong nodded and grabbed Rhodey's arm, pulling him along to the stairs that led down to the labs. "I came up to get some juice. Dad's been down here since last night. I think he slept down here," Taeyong babbled, his hands still clutched onto Rhodey's as he made his way down stairs. The lights were dim and there seemed to be something projecting on screen because Tony had his entire focus on it.

Rhodey waited patiently as Taeyong put in the passcode to open the door and they both made their way inside the labs. Tony looked drained in Rhodey's honest opinion; his eyes were dim but cold, whatever was on screen, was a serious matter. He was sitting rather haphazardly in a sports car, focus simply on the screen projection but with the little shift of his chin, Rhodey knew that Tony had acknowledged their presence.

Taeyong scurried past Rhodey to climb into the car with his dad, sitting down beside him and staring at the screen. A hologram passed through to show small newspaper files on a certain familiar face.

"Query complete sir. Anton Vanko was a Soviet physicist who defected to the United States in 1963. However, he was accused of espionage and was deported in 1967. His son, Ivan, who is also a physicist, was convicted of selling Soviet-era weapons grade plutonium to Pakistan, and served 15 years in Kopeisk prison. No further records exist," Jarvis explained.

Rhodey stood in front of the projection, "Tony, you gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now." He made eye contact with Taeyong before turning back to the tired billionaire "Listen. I've been on the phone with the National Guard all day, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door and taking these. They're gonna take your suits, Tony, okay?