A Different Tony Stark

The morning light streamed through the windows of Tony's workshop, illuminating the controlled chaos of blueprints, tools, and half-assembled prototypes. Tony stood at his workbench, tinkering with a new component for his arc reactor technology when the door swung open.

"You look busy." Pepper Potts said, stepping inside, a folder tucked under her arm.

"I prefer 'productively occupied,'" Tony replied, not looking up. "What's the damage?"

Pepper let out a small sigh and placed the folder on the nearest surface he hadn't cluttered. "Stock took a hit, but nothing we weren't expecting. The board is still frustrated, but they haven't started sharpening pitchforks yet. Investors are wary, especially the ones tied to defense contracts."

Tony finally glanced at her, wiping grease from his hands onto a rag. "It's been a week now, why shouldn't they just move on?

Pepper rolled her eyes at him. "This is too big of a deal to move on just after a week."

Tony asked, "Anyone jumping ship?"

"A few smaller investors are pulling out, but our major stakeholders are still waiting to see what happens next." Pepper said. "Time is the one thing we don't have a lot of." She pointed out. "Obadiah's keeping a close eye on everything. He hasn't made a move yet, but he's definitely not happy." She still couldn't believe that Obadiah was the one who orchestrated Tony's kidnapping until she saw the videos.

Tony smirked. "Good. That means I'm doing something right."

Pepper exhaled, shifting her stance. "I also spoke with legal this morning. They're working on the transition away from defense contracts, but the government won't take it lightly. There's talk of potential regulatory obstacles."

"Let them talk." Tony said, waving it off. "We'll deal with it when it becomes a real problem."

She gave him a look. "And how do you plan to handle all of this? You're making decisions faster than the company can keep up."

Tony picked up a small circuit board, turning it between his fingers. "I know what I'm doing, Pep. The old way of doing things wasn't sustainable. Stark Industries is going to lead in innovation—not war profiteering. And if people don't like it, they can get out of my way."

Pepper studied him for a moment. Like his physical appearance, he was different, not just from the Tony who had been captured in Afghanistan, but from the reckless, indifferent CEO she had spent years managing. There was something sharper in his eyes now, a certainty she wasn't used to seeing.

"Then I hope you have a plan to make this work. So what are you currently doing?" She said finally.

Tony grinned. "I always have a plan, Pep." He explained, "As for your question, I just finished with scaling down the arc reactor. Before, it was too powerful, too dangerous in the wrong hands. I had to install some security measures, encrypted control systems, failsafes. If I can build it, someone else can steal it. I won't let that happen."

"How can the mini arc reactor be dangerous?"

"Oh Pep, it can be very dangerous in many ways." He said mysteriously.

Pepper nodded. "Okay, anyway, I'll coordinate with R&D about that. Regardless of how dangerous it can be, we will obviously need to ensure that no one can reverse-engineer your designs."

"Exactly," Tony said, turning back to his work. "This isn't just about innovation. It's about responsibility."

After Pepper left, Tony leaned back in his chair, feet propped up on the desk, tapping at his keyboard as lines of code scrolled across the screen.

"Alright, J." Tony muttered, rubbing his temple. "You're already the smartest AI around, but we need to step it up. Things are changing, and I need you to be more than just a fancy search engine."

"Sir, I would argue that I have already surpassed that role." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied, his usual calm tone in place.

Tony smirked. "I think you'll like this. We're tightening your security, firewalls so strong that even top-tier hackers won't get through. And I need you better at predicting things, like spotting business trends, company moves, and possible threats before they happen."

"A reasonable move, given the current instability at Stark Industries," J.A.R.V.I.S. noted. "Would you also like me to track global arms trading in real time?"

Tony paused, then nodded. "Yeah. If anyone's still dealing Stark weapons, I want to know. Flag anything suspicious."

"Starting deep network surveillance now."

Tony grinned. "Keep going with that."

As he continued fine-tuning J.A.R.V.I.S.'s programming, Tony's mind ran through all the possibilities.

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