A little too tired of just hanging on

Chapter 04

Tony woke up almost twelve hours later. He hadn't had that much sleep in forever. Had he ever slept that long? Probably not. He didn't feel refreshed at all though. He had been through four days of binges with less sleep in the workshop and been more refreshed than now. At least his goals were clear now if different from anything before. Somehow, it felt good to have something to do. Tony had always drowned his problems and sorrows in more work. Friday had opened two new folders on his personal server. The first one was called "Bye Stark", BS for short. The other one was "Point of Death", PoD.

BS was the largest folder. Stark Industries had fingers in many pies all around the world and it wouldn't be easy to shut everything down. Not impossible, just long and fastidious. His baby girl was a big help, capable of compiling and sorting everything out in a timely manner. Everything had to be done the right way, depending on the laws of each country involved. Tony had it easy as he only had to sign and accept the sales. The AI didn't really understand why he was doing all that for people that clearly didn't deserve him. He shouldn't give them this satisfaction. She wasn't only talking about the Avengers.

"I'm doing it for me, Friday. I don't want to be in that kind of position anymore." He answered his girl simply.

There was more to it and they both knew it. Friday did as she was told even if it wasn't the path she wanted him to follow. Her prime directives were the boss' wellbeing. If she couldn't go against his will that didn't mean she couldn't go around it. Especially for things her boss hadn't told her clearly what he was expecting of her. The main part of her processing abilities were on the task at hand but that left enough to prepare her little payback. For now, she was just compiling proof, anything that would show the Avengers as they really were. The AI just needed to find the right time to strike.

Tony had never been the kind to hide his money in some financial paradise somewhere around the world like so many others. Stark Industries were paying their taxes on the dot and so was the genius about his personal fortune. Everything was different now. The US government might want to seize every penny once he wouldn't be there anymore and he couldn't have that. Right now, they had no legal grounds to do that. Once Tony would be gone, it would be another story altogether. Harley and his family should get it all. They had a connection. Maybe some should go to Peter as well. The teenager was such a good person and surely there was enough for two little geniuses who deserved the best. Tony could simply give them the money now and be done with it. Problem was that one so-called journalist would follow the money trail and ruin the teenargers' life just because they were associated with the Stark name. Or worse, Natasha would. No, they would get it at the very earliest when they would be legally adults, when the world would have forgotten about him.

The rats were leaving the sinking boat. The board had never liked Pepper as a CEO. A lot of that came from them being misogynist. Women weren't sharp enough, smart enough and a lot more other things that men weren't actually doing better anywhere else other than their own minds. The fact that Pepper and Tony had been in a relationship at the time hadn't helped her case at all, he realised that now. The whole thing was a little too close to the "casting couch" way. It wasn't reflecting well on either of them.

Pepper could have proven them all wrong. Honestly, he had always seen her being so competent in everything she was asked to do, Tony thought she would thrive in that challenging new position. Once again, he had put his faith in the wrong place. To this day, Tony was still doing half of the job while being head of R&D and working periodically with the Avengers. The board always wanted him in meetings when his presence shouldn't have been necessary. Tony wanted to be fair with her. Pepper had been an accountant before, she didn't really know how the business world worked. Instead, she had had Tony Stark showing her the ropes for quite some time. When becoming his PA, after that little pepper spray story that gave her that nickname, Tony had been explaining everything he knew to her in the smallest details. Back then, it had been a totally selfish move on his part, he would admit that easily. Everything she would be able to carry out meant something he wouldn't have to do. That Tony didn't care all that much but his own laziness made him very thorough in his explanations. Then the palladium poisoning had changed everything and he had thought that the future of his company was in the hands of a friend, of someone who would keep the company alive.