The next morning, as Luke wakes up with a headache, he notices that it is almost noon.
Luke exits his room and spots a worried Pepper standing there awkwardly.
"Good morning, Pepper," Luke greets with a yawn.
"Luke, what happened yesterday?" Pepper asks with a worried voice.
"Yesterday?" Luke startles awake, remembering what he had done last night as his hand goes to his pocket where the USB is still there.
"Toni is not coming out of her room and insists that she doesn't want to see you. She sounds very serious," Pepper states with wrinkled eyebrows.
Color drains from Luke's face, realizing that Toni must have found out about him stealing the code of Jarvis during his stay. She must be angry at him for breaking her trust like that.
"It's fine, I get it," Luke says with a sigh. "I had already moved my luggage to my house beforehand, so I will just leave," he adds with a deeper sigh.
"Just tell Toni that I am very, very thankful for her teaching me and taking care of me all these days." Luke's voice is filled with gratitude as he continues.
"And I-I don't feel sorry for what I did; it is something if given a chance, I would definitely do again!" Luke's conviction is clear as he speaks. He then goes back to his room, packs his stuff in his bag, and heads for the door.
Pepper looks at all this in total confusion, noticing the seriousness in Luke's demeanour as he exits the door. She tries to stop him, but Luke doesn't respond to her calls at all. She then hurries towards Toni's door and enters inside.
"Toni, Luke is leaving the house! And it seems like he has no intention of returning," Pepper says worriedly.
Toni, who was in her bed holding a pillow over her head, looks at Pepper in confusion.
Pepper reiterates what Luke told her.
Toni feels perplexed. "Jarvis, did Luke go somewhere after I went to my room last night?" Toni asks aloud.
"Yes, Mr. Watson went to the workshop and visited the server room at 3 AM," Jarvis replies.
"Server room?" Toni speaks in thought. "Jarvis, do a deep check of your code. Is there something that has been tampered with?" Toni asks seriously.
"Running a deep scan," Jarvis states as Pepper looks on in confusion.
"Scan complete," Jarvis speaks. "The code is intact, but there are signs that a majority of the code's data has been copied over the months …Pinpointing suspect based on clues … Lucas Watson and Pepper Potts are the only personnel who had the opportunity to do this," Jarvis concludes.
"What do you mean?" Pepper asks in doubt.
"Luke, did you really want to make an A.I. this badly?" murmurs Toni with a depressed look.
"Should I call the authorities, Ms. Stark?" Jarvis asks.
"No, no, there must be a misunderstanding. Luke is a good kid, Toni. He would never do this willingly; he must have been forced, or someone must have tricked him," Pepper exclaims, shaking her head.
"He is definitely not a kid," Toni speaks with a small blush remembering last nights events.
"Just let me first talk to him. I will bring him here and let him explain himself," Pepper says pleadingly.
"If he was this desperate about making an A.I., then he will definitely go ahead and start a company too," Toni mumbles to herself. "Pepper, you are fired!" Toni speaks offhandedly.
"What? Fired? Why?" Pepper speaks up in alarm.
"Yes, go and help Luke with his company," Toni directs, her gaze serious as she looks at Pepper.
"You want me to go and help Luke? But what about you? Who will take care of you? You can't even buy your own clothes!" Pepper exclaims in anger.
"I-I will be fine. That stupid kid needs you more. He is smart but also very foolish and stubborn. I am worried that the business world will swallow him whole," Toni says with a sigh.
"B-But..." Pepper stutters, this series of events not making much sense to her.
Toni stands up and approaches her. "Will you do this for me, Pepper, please?" Toni pleads, holding her hand and looking at her earnestly.
"A-alright, but before I go, I have to make a list of all the things that your next personal assistant must know," Pepper declares with a determined look as she leaves the room.
Toni sighs and goes towards her drawer and opens it. "It looks like it is just me and you alone again, my old friend," Toni mutters to the vodka bottle with a bitter smile.
---
Toni shakes her head as the flames dance in her eyes in the damp cave.
"I have someone who must be going mad right now and cursing me for being this stupid," Toni murmurs with a small smile as she remembers feelings she had buried deeply.
"So you should try your best for that person. I believe that the great Toni Stark will definitely be able to save us from this predicament," Yinsen remarks with an expectant look.
"I need to go back. There are still things I need to settle with someone," Toni asserts with conviction. "Let's get started," she adds with a confident smirk.
With Yinsen's help, Toni calls Abu inside with his men.
"Okay, here is all I need …" Toni begins, listing the necessary items while Yinsen translates beside her.
---
"First melting that palladium, and now you're melting this bracelet?" Yinsen inquires in wonder.
"This was a gift," Toni replies with a smile. "It saved my life once, and now it will save us both," she declares with determination as she melts down the bracelet to extract the trace Vibranium within.
---
"That does not look like a Jericho missile," Yinsen observes as the device lights up on the workbench.
"No, it is a miniaturised arc reactor," Toni responds flatly.
"You made that in just over a week?" Yinsen exclaims, impressed.
"I had already designed it five years ago, but never got around to making it. It would have taken us significantly longer if I didn't have that bracelet with me," Toni explains with a complicated look.
"So, what can it power?" Yinsen asks.
"Normally, it would generate 3 gigajoules per second," Toni says seriously.
"Normally?" Yinsen probes.
"Yeah, but I added something very magical in its creation, so it will now far exceed its previous limits, making it easy to move a massive object for an extended time," Toni reveals with a smirk, the magical thing being the trace vibranium.
"So, what is the next step?" Yinsen asks, intrigued.
Toni layers missile schematics on top of each other.
"This," she reveals as she lays all the papers flat.
"Looks quite, what do the kids say these days, cool," Yinsen comments, impressed at the mechanical suit in the drawings.
"I have many more complicated ones, given to me by someone a long time ago, but this is the easiest to build in our situation," Toni admits with a sigh.
"Is this someone the same person who is waiting for you and who gifted you that bracelet?" Yinsen asks curiously.
Toni remains silent as she resumes her work.
---
Yinsen watches from the side, impressed with how focused Toni is while working.
"Look at these," Toni declares as she places the roughly polished metal mask on the table.
"We are making quick progress," Yinsen notes.
"Yeah, we still have to be quicker," Toni replies, eager for her revenge.
---
"Today is the day, Toni," Yinsen announces as he checks the wirings of the suit.
"Now just input the command in the laptop as I instruct you," Toni directs. Just as Yinsen presses the keys on the laptop, there is noise from the door as people try to enter.
"Ugh, I don't know what language they are speaking," Yinsen says, frustrated.
"Just hold them off for a while so the system can be installed," Toni responds nervously as she is strapped into the armor.
Before Yinsen can answer, one man removes his rifle and shoots at the door to open it.
Bang! Bang!
Boom!
The door, along with the people, explodes with force, killing them all.
"How was the bomb?" Toni asks, unable to move and look as she is stuck inside the suit.
"It was impressive," Yinsen says, swallowing nervously as he looks at the smoke and debris.
"That is my specialty," Toni comments with a smirk. She then looks at the loading bar on the laptop. "It's frozen. We will need to do it again. Reset it!" she says frustratingly.
"No, its moving. It's just very slow," Yinsen observes, looking at the screen closely.
---
Yinsen eyes the laptop, the bars creeping ever so slowly. He turns, listening to the shouting men outside growing louder.
"We need more time," he mutters.
"Get to cover. I will take care of them when the loading is finished," Toni instructs calmly.
"Hey, I am gonna go buy you some time," Yinsen declares, looking at Toni, then running up to the blasted door.
"Yinsen, stick to the plan!" Toni yells in worry, but Yinsen ignores her, picks up the dead guy's gun from the ground outside, and runs out!
DA DA DA DAAA!
"Yinsen!" Toni yells, but Yinsen keeps firing his gun madly and disappears into the cave.
Toni looks somberly at the slowly completing loading bar.
***
Thank you for your continued support creus!
***