One Hour Later
The sleek black SUV pulled up in front of the bar, its polished surface gleaming under the flickering city lights.
Inside, Tony Stark waited with barely-contained excitement.
"Finally!"
The moment Happy Hogan stepped out of the car, Tony practically launched himself at his trusted driver, gripping his shoulders with the intensity of a man who had just escaped a nightmare.
"Happy!"
"Boss!" Happy's voice cracked with emotion, his face lighting up. "I— I can't believe it! You're really back!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm back. Alive. Not in a cave. No more building deadly weapons out of scrap metal." Tony exhaled dramatically. "Just good ol' me, ready to eat a burger the size of my head."
Happy's smile twitched.
"You, uh, sure you don't want to stay little longer?'"
Tony's glare could've melted steel.
"Get in the car, Hogan."
Sliding into the passenger seat, Tony let out a relieved sigh. The soft hum of the engine was like music to his ears.
"Happy, you didn't tell anyone I'm back, did you?"
"No, boss. Just Pepper knows."
Tony blinked. "...Just Pepper?"
Happy nodded.
"She said she'd be waiting for you at the house."
"Oh, good," Tony muttered, slumping further into the seat. "At least I won't have to deal with a press conference or some crazy 'Tony Stark Resurrection' headline, until tomorrow."
"Oh, and after you drop me off," Tony continued, "take Yinsen to Villa No. 12. It's one of my smaller places—ocean view, infinity pool, robot butler... you know, the basics."
Don't worry, I will send some one to pick up your family too.
Yinsen, who had remained mostly silent since the wholetime, about to say something.
But seeing tony's happy face, he hesitated but finally said.
"I... appreciate it, Tony. But are you sure?"
"Of course. Consider it an 'I'm glad you're not dead' gift." Tony gave a smug grin. "You saved my life. Least I can do is make sure you're living it up. Jacuzzi jets and all."
Yinsen smiled faintly. "Thank you, my friend."
"Don't mention it. Seriously. Don't."
The ride back was mercifully quiet, with Happy's occasional chuckle.
But when the gates to the Stark mansion opened, Tony's heart skipped a beat.
"Home."
As Tony stepped through the grand entrance of his Malibu mansion, the lights automatically flickered on. It was still the ultra-modern, high-tech paradise he'd left behind, and yet, something about it felt… different.
"Welcome home, Sir," Jarvis's calm mechanical voice greeted him.
Tony's face softened. "Jarvis, my old friend. Missed you."
"And I too, Sir. Though the absence of your sarcasm was a pleasant reprieve."
Before Tony could respond, a blur of brown hair stormed across the room and launched itself at him.
"Tony!"
The next thing he knew, a blur of red hair crashed into him. Pepper Potts, her eyes shimmering with relief, clung to him tightly.
"You're really back," she whispered, her voice breaking.
"Yeah. I'm back."
For a moment, Tony felt a warm sense of peace.
Then, because he was Tony Stark, that moment passed quickly.
"You know," he said with a smirk, "I get it now. You were just afraid of losing your job, weren't you?"
Pepper pulled back, wiping her eyes. "Oh, absolutely. Updating your social calendar and dealing with board meetings are the highlights of my career."
"That's the spirit."
Once the tearful reunion was out of the way, Tony's expression turned serious.
"Pepper, I need you to check something for me."
Pepper's brows furrowed. "This is about your kidnapping, isn't it? Did you find something?"
"Yeah. While I was there, I saw something." Tony's jaw clenched. "The terrorists had Stark weapons."
Her eyes widened. "What?!"
Tony quickly scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to her. "These six guys are the only ones with the power to sign off on that kind of deal without anyone noticing. Check their files, personal computers… you know, snoop a little."
"Tony, that sounds like corporate espionage."
"Not if it's my own company. Think of it as aggressively monitoring internal affairs."
Pepper, ever the voice of reason, hesitated. "Shouldn't we report this to the authorities? The FBI? The military?"
Tony shook his head. "Nope. Not yet. For now, we keep it quiet. Go straight to my office, hack into the mainframe, and pull the recent shipping manifests. Use the lock chip from the drawer. It'll bypass any security."
Pepper sighed. "And what exactly do you plan to do once you find out who did it?"
Tony grinned mischievously. "Introduce them to karma."
Tony is not like in the original movie now, traumatized by Yensen death.
He just suffered physically for two months, but before anything happened to him emotionally, He was rescued.
"Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic," Pepper muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.
—
With a long-suffering sigh, Pepper grabbed the keycard. "Fine. But if I end up in prison, I'm blaming you."
"That's fair."
With Pepper now burdened with the weight of corporate espionage, Tony's priorities shifted to something equally important.
Sleep.
Two months in a cave a had done a number on him. His bed called to him like a siren song.
"I'm going to sleep," Tony announced dramatically.
"Wait! Don't you want to know what I find?" Pepper called after him.
"Tomorrow!" He waved without turning back. "Unless the world explodes. Then wake me up!"
"...Not funny, Tony."
And with that, Tony Stark flopped into his king-sized bed, pulling the covers over himself like a contented billionaire burrito.
Whatever chaos awaited him tomorrow could wait.
For now, sleep.