Iron Woman - (Fem Iron man X Pepper)

Chapter 7 - Home

I walk out of the plane with Rhodey, my arm was in a splint....I could see Pepper. "Watch it, coming up here." Rhodey points to the ground.

I look over to see the paramedics, "Are you kidding me with this? Get rid of them." I walk right up to Pepper, "Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?"

"Tears of joy. I hate job hunting." She smiles.

"Yeah, vacation's over." I nod, walking over to the car. I instantly hug Happy. "Hey buddy."

"Where to, ma'am?" Happy asks as we get in the car.

"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy." Pepper says.

"No." I shake my head.

"No? Y/N, you have to go to the hospital." Pepper sighs.

"No is a complete answer."

"The doctor has to look at you." Pepper looks at me.

I roll my eyes, "I don't have to do anything. I've been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger, and the other..."

"That's enough of that." Pepper stops me.

".....is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now." I nod

"Call for a press conference?"

"Yeah." I nod.

"What on earth for?"

"Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first." I point.

After getting my cheeseburgers, we pull up to Stark Industies to see a crowd of people. As I get out, Obadiah hugs me. "Look at this! Y/N. We were going to meet at the hospital."

"No, I'm fine." I nod.

"Look at you! You had to have a burger, yeah?"

"Well, come on." I shrug.

"You get me one of those?"

"There's only one left. I need it." I take a bite of it.

Obadiah leads me inside, "Hey, look who's here! Yeah!"
I make my way through the crowd and up to the podium. "Well, let's get this started, uh..."

I sit in front of the podium, "Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?" I ask. "Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can... A little less formal and..." I take a bite of my cheeseburger as everyone sits. "Good to see you." I say to Obie

"Good to see you."

"I never got to say goodbye to Dad. I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability." I nod.

"Miss Stark!" A reporter yells out.

"Hey, Ben." I point.

"What happened over there?"

"I had my eyes opened." I stand and move behind the podium. "I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International!" I yell. Everyone stands up in commotion. "Until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be. What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well." I move off stage and walk off.

Instead of going home I go to my Arc Reactor...staring up at it. I had to think about what I had just done....For once...I felt I made the right decision.

"Well, that..uh... That went well." Obie joins me.

"Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?" I ask.

"Your head? What about my head? What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?"

"Uh, optimistically, 40 points." I say.

"At minimum."

"Yep." I nod.

"Y/N, we're a weapons manufacturer."

"Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our only legacy." I face him.

"That's what we do. We're iron mongers. We make weapons."

"It's my name on the side of the building." I nod.

"And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos."

I shake my head, "Not based on what I saw. We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We're gonna do something else."

"Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?"

"I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology." I nod.

"Ah, come on. The arc reactor, that's a publicity stunt! Tony, come on. We built that thing to shut the hippies up."

"It works." I nod.

"Yeah, as a science project. The arc was never cost effective. We knew that before we built it. Arc reactor technology, that's a dead end, right?"

"Maybe." I turn to face him.

"Huh? Am I right? We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what? Thirty years."

"That's what they say." I pause. "Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me, who told you?" I ask.

"Never mind who told me. Show me." He nods.

"It's Rhodey or Pepper."

"I want to see it." He points at my chest.

"Okay, Rhodey." I look around as I unbutton my blouse, my Arc Reactor sat right above my tank top.

"Okay." Obie begins to button up my blouse.

"Okay? It works." I nod.

"Listen to me, Y/N. We're a team. Do you understand? There's nothing we can't do if we stick together, like your father and I." He grabs me.

I sigh, "I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads-up, okay? But if I had..."

"Y/N...Y/N, no more of this ready, fire, aim business. You understand me?"

"That was Dad's line." I say.

"You gotta let me handle this. We're gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We're going to have to take a lot of heat. I want you to promise me that you're gonna lay low."