Tony woke up after a nap; he hadn't slept much as he had spent almost the entire night working to finish the Mark 3.

"Jarvis, how's everything going?" Tony asked groggily.

"The Mark 3 is ready, sir," Jarvis replied.

"Good," Tony said with a smile as he got up and changed into a dampening suit designed to wear under the armor.

Tony walked towards a platform that started to unfold and put on the armor.

Tony looked at his hands and his surroundings with the armor on.

"Jarvis?" Tony asked.

"Everything appears to be functioning correctly, sir," Jarvis replied.

"Then let's get moving," Tony said sternly before taking off and breaking the sound barrier as he flew towards Afghanistan.

After a few hours of flying, Tony finally arrived in Gulmira.

There were many men loading people onto trucks while separating men from women.

Without hesitation, Tony dived towards the ground, decelerating just before touching the ground and landing heroically.

Immediately, dozens of people started shooting at him, the clinks of the bullets resounded loudly, but not a single one scratched him.

Tony quickly fired his repulsors at all the attackers, neutralizing them.

After seeing no more movement, he scanned the surroundings to detect the bearded man who had captured him hiding behind a wall.

Tony walked towards the man, looking around as people stared at him with astonishment and some fear.

"Who is your contact at Stark Industries?" Tony asked, lifting the man by his clothes.

"Speak!" Tony shouted at him, pointing his hand at him while the repulsor started to hum.

"Obadiah Stane! The boss had contact with him. Since he died, I took over things, and we haven't kept in touch," the man quickly said upon seeing the intense blue light pointed at him.

"Just..." the man hesitated.

Tony made the reactor glow brighter as if it was about to fire.

"He asked me to collect the parts of an armor someone created to escape," the man said fearfully, most likely realizing he was in front of Tony Stark.

"How long ago?" Tony asked.

"About two months ago," the man replied.

"Good," Tony said nodding before dragging him and throwing him in front of the people in the area.

"He's all yours," Tony said before flying off to another area with his weapons.

"Sir, we're targeted by a tank. Take evasive action," Jarvis said to Tony as he approached a village.

Tony was surprised to hear that and quickly moved to the side as a projectile passed by.

After looking in the direction it came from, he saw a tank in the middle of the street aiming at him.

Tony quickly approached the tank, flying erratically, before firing a small missile from his arm, destroying it.

With the tank destroyed, Tony flew over the village, scanning all the weapons and destroying them.

Anything bearing his name was destroyed.

Tony went through several locations like that, destroying their weapons before deciding to head back home.

As he flew, two fighter jets suddenly appeared, attempting to communicate with him.

Tony ignored their communication attempts and accelerated, breaking the sound barrier.

The jets imitated him and also went supersonic to follow him.

"Sir, we are being targeted," Jarvis said.

As Tony thought about what to do, he received a call from Rhodes. Seeing that it was Rhodes, Tony remained silent for a moment before answering.

"Tony?" Rhodes said.

"Hey," Tony replied.

"Tony, I need your help with something," Rhodes said.

"Well, that's curious. I thought I still had to clear my mind," Tony said sarcastically.

"Yeah, it's curious that someone just blew up an arms depot near where you were held captive," Rhodes said with a suspicious tone.

"Seems like someone did your job for you," Tony said mockingly.

"Are you sure you don't have anything in that area that I should know about?" Rhodes asked sternly.

"I'm pretty sure I don't," Tony said with a playful voice.

"Fine, because I'm seeing something, and I'm about to blow it up," Rhodes said before hanging up.

At that moment, the jets following Tony began to fire, forcing him to fly from side to side to dodge the attacks.

"Open the flaps," Tony told Jarvis.

Instantly, Tony's speed decreased significantly, allowing the jets to overtake him.

In an instant, Tony propelled himself upwards and hid among the clouds.

The jets circled the area, searching for him, but Tony always evaded them by entering and leaving the clouds until the jets stopped pursuing him.

Tony let out a sigh before starting to fly back home; he had to take note of this situation for the future.

Rhodes didn't call him again, so Tony didn't return the call; their relationship was quite tense, and only time would tell what would happen.

Tony arrived at his garage and stood on the platform while several robotic arms attempted to remove the armor.

"Sir, Miss Pepper is entering the house," Jarvis informed Tony as the armor was being taken off.

"How much longer until I get rid of this thing?" Tony hesitated, unsure if it was the right time to reveal his armor to Pepper.

"Sir, if you remain still for 5 minutes, the armor will be removed," Jarvis said.

"Keep her entertained so she doesn't come down," Tony said with little hope.

Jarvis stayed silent for a while, processing what Tony had told him before agreeing.

Finally, Jarvis told Pepper that Tony was in the bathroom and to wait for him in the living room.

Tony quickly took off the armor before going upstairs to see Pepper.

Before entering the room, he couldn't help but remember that he had practically abandoned her the previous night after they kissed.

Tony couldn't help but sigh as he thought that he was an idiot.

Finally, putting on a brave face, Tony approached Pepper, who was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper.

Tony couldn't help but smile as he saw her, the sunlight illuminating her hair, giving it a more intense red color, she looked beautiful.

"Hello, Mr. Stark," Pepper said, smiling politely.

Tony could hardly hold back his laughter at her annoyed look and the way she addressed him, reminding him of the day they met when she was quite young and nervous.

"Hey, Pep," Tony said, affectionately calling her by that nickname.

"I don't think we're close enough for you to call me that," Pepper said calmly.

"I promise I have a very good explanation. Do you want to hear it?" Tony asked, looking at her.

"I can't stop you from talking," Pepper said, looking at Tony.

"Obadiah betrayed me," Tony said, sitting next to Pepper.

"What?" Pepper asked, confused, not sure if she had heard correctly.

"He voted for my removal as CEO, and he's selling weapons despite my orders. He's also likely involved in my kidnapping," Tony bombarded Pepper with incredible news, hoping she would forget her anger.

Pepper had a dumbfounded expression as she tried to process what Tony had told her.

"What are we going to do?" Pepper asked, becoming serious as she considered various scenarios to fight against Obadiah.

"I need you to go to my office and bring all the latest shipment receipts. Look for anything incriminating," Tony said, looking at Pepper.

"Remember to take Happy and some bodyguards. Although I don't think Obadiah would dare to harm you yet, you can't take any risks," Tony said, taking her hand.

Pepper nodded absentmindedly as she went over everything Tony had told her in her mind.

"Isn't it a good idea to ask for Damian's help?" Pepper asked.

Tony just smiled as he touched her cheek.

"Damian is my friend, not my babysitter," Tony joked.

"Of course, I'm the babysitter," Pepper said, laughing.

"Be careful," Tony said, kissing Pepper on the lips.

"Hm," Pepper said, nodding with a smile and a blush on her cheeks.

Pepper quickly left Tony's house and headed to Stark Industries.

On her way out, she took the guards and had them follow her.

Tony also descended the stairs to his garage and put on his armor once again.

He would follow Pepper from the sky to make sure nothing happened to her.

Obadiah must be on high alert after cutting claims with him, and Tony suspects he has a way of knowing what happened in Afghanistan.

"Jarvis, secure the house, lock everything up," Tony said.

After donning his armor, Tony was grateful for the somewhat cloudy weather before taking off and following Pepper.

...

Obadiah hurriedly entered Sector 16, where the giant arc reactor was located.

He had bribed several men in Gulmira to provide him with information, and with Raza's death, it became even easier to gain control.

He had received urgent news that a man of steel had arrived and destroyed all the Stark Industries weapons.

Knowing how Tony escaped, it didn't take a genius to figure out who was inside that armor.

With Obadiah's arrival at Sector 16, everyone quickly withdrew, leaving only the chief scientist of the sector, who could feel the sweat forming on his forehead as they hadn't achieved the results they were asked for.

"How is the miniature reactor coming along?" Obadiah asked directly, running out of time.

"Sir... I'm afraid the technology doesn't exist yet to create something like that," the nervous scientist said.

"Don't you have the technology right here? I just asked you to make it smaller," Obadiah said furiously.

"Sir, if we had a blueprint or an example to follow, it would be easier," the scientist said hesitantly, inwardly rolling his eyes. A little smaller? He wanted to turn something several meters in size into something about 30 cm.

"A blueprint? Tony Stark made it in a cave, with a handful of scraps," Obadiah said angrily, feeling that everyone was useless.

"Well... I'm not Tony Stark," said the timid scientist, cursing in his mind as he thought, 'If I were Tony Stark, you wouldn't be yelling at me.'

"Forget it, I'll have to take care of this myself," Obadiah said, sighing as he left Sector 16 and took out his ringing phone.

Obadiah had several men waiting at Tony's house for him to leave.

"How's it going? Did you see anything flying away?" Obadiah asked directly.

"Yes, sir. Mrs. Pepper left with several bodyguards, and then we saw something flying away," a voice said over the phone.

"Good, go in now. Remember to use what I gave you to unlock the house, go down to the garage, and look for something that shines blue, about the size of a fist," Obadiah said before hanging up.

With a miniature arc reactor, it would be easy to replicate them and create armor to sell to the military.

At that moment, Obadiah's phone rang again, so he quickly answered.

"Sir, Miss Pepper entered the office," a voice said on the other end.

"Understood," Obadiah said before quickly rushing to the office.

Obadiah found Happy at the door and casually nodded at him, as usual, before entering the office.

Happy had no idea what was going on, so he didn't stop him.

"Pepper," Obadiah said, greeting the woman sitting at the desk. He couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly as he saw her flinch when he spoke.

"Hello, Obadiah," Pepper said, giving him a somewhat rigid smile.

"Pepper, I remember when you started working for this company," Obadiah said, smiling as he poured himself a drink.

"You were so full of ambition and a desire to prove yourself."

"Tell me, have you ever thought of becoming CEO?" Obadiah asked with a smile.

Pepper couldn't help but look at him silently.

"No, I enjoy being Tony's assistant," Pepper said, looking at Obadiah.

"It's a shame. A talented woman like you shouldn't be just an assistant," Obadiah said, feigning sadness as he approached and offered Pepper a drink, subtly glancing at the screen only to be disappointed to see a normal wallpaper.

"I hadn't thought about it," Pepper said, pretending to think, while at the same time, she stood up and turned around, subtly taking out the USB drive Tony had given her.

"Oh, look at the time. Tony's waiting for me. Happy, get the car ready!" Pepper shouted slightly toward the door.

Happy opened the door and nodded at Pepper as he watched her leave.

"See you, Obadiah," Pepper said, giving him a slight smile before leaving.

"Goodbye," Obadiah said slowly, watching Pepper walk away.

Once she left, Obadiah looked at the computer screen and saw the words "Download Complete."

Obadiah couldn't help but curse in his mind. There is little time left to see who will win this little game.

If he loses, he can only grab his things and escape somewhere. If he wins, he will have it all.

----

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