IRON RESOLVE

Of course, before Tony could really move on to Step 2, he had to finish up Steps 1.1 through 1.9. Upgrading JARVIS wasn't enough, after all. Tony had a business to clean up, and in the end, everything led back to Obadiah Stane.

Or so he initially thought. With his AI's capabilities massively enhanced, Tony was able to direct JARVIS to uncover every last bit of corruption festering within Stark Industries. Much of the under-the-table dealings, illegal weapons trade, and all-around embezzling could be traced back to Stane… but he wasn't the only bad actor in the company.

It was a bit of a shock to realize just how much he had half-assed things the first time around. He had discovered Obadiah's betrayal, nearly been killed for it, and, before he knew it, Stane was dead. Afterward, Tony had barely had the time to get a handle on things at Stark Industries before realizing that the Palladium was poisoning him.

Yeah, he'd have to deal with that before anything else. While JARVIS hunted down every single traitor in Stark Industries, Tony took his time. This time, he wasn't in such dire straits as when he had originally created Badassium. He didn't need SHIELD's help either. Pepper had mentioned Coulson's request to debrief him, but Tony had told her to push the appointment as far out as possible. He was too busy to deal with SHIELD properly at the moment.

It turned out that building the necessary infrastructure to synthesize a brand-new element for the Arc Reactor in his chest was so much easier when he had all the time in the world. Meanwhile, the world itself was still holding its breath, waiting for him to unveil all the new ideas he had promised.

Well, most of the world was holding its breath. Stane and the Board felt more like they were breathing right down the back of his damn neck. Not that Tony cared. In the end, Stane and the other traitors wouldn't matter much longer anyway.

As JARVIS compiled information on Stane, the AI uncovered communications between him and the Afghan branch of the Ten Rings. Tony knew the Ten Rings was a global terrorist organization. What did it say about the world that even terrorists had gone international? Maybe one day, he would deal with them once and for all, but right now, his grudge was focused on one group in particular—Raza Hamidmi al-Wazar and his men.

If everything played out the way it had originally, Raza would die at Stane's hands, along with the rest of his men. But Tony didn't intend for things to play out the same way at all. No, he was going to step in first.

There was just one problem—more of an annoyance, really. He hadn't wanted to make Iron Man just yet. If Tony had his way, he wouldn't create another suit until he had access to nanotechnology again.

Unfortunately, the world's technology base wasn't quite there yet. He was sure he could accelerate the process with a year or two of dedicated work, but a couple of years was longer than he could afford to wait. Creating functioning nanoparticles wasn't as simple as recreating Badassium. It would require gathering a few scientists who weren't even fully out of university yet and pushing them in the right direction—one they would have eventually taken on their own, albeit years later.

He would do it, of course. But not yet. Not in the timeframe he was working with. Which meant that, despite his grumbling, he had to build a suit if he wanted to deal with the Ten Rings in Afghanistan and destroy every last cache of illegal Stark weapons across the globe.

Unlike last time, however, he wasn't going to be an idiot about it. That's why he was skipping straight from the Mark II to the Mark XV.

The Mark XV—codenamed Sneaky—was an Iron Man suit Tony had originally designed in 2013. Its primary feature? Stealth.

Back in 2008, he hadn't considered such an approach. The Iron Man armor had started as a pet project, a means of proving that he could build something better with the right tools. After all, he had constructed his first suit in a damn cave with a box of scraps. Once he was back home, he had become obsessed with improving on it—that was just who he was.

Then he had seen the news report of Gulmira being attacked by the Ten Rings, and Tony… Tony had seen red. He had been all fire, fury, and rage, wrapped in gold-titanium alloy, laying waste to his enemies and making a statement to the world that he was no longer someone to be fucked with.

This time, he didn't need that.

Hence, Sneaky.

With Sneaky, there would be no awkward dogfight with American pilots. With Sneaky, if Tony played his cards right, no one would even know something was there until it was too late.

In the original timeline, Sneaky had been one of many suits he had built because he couldn't stop asking himself What if? What if he had done things differently? What if he had prioritized stealth over shock and awe, at least at the start?

That was Sneaky.

And this time, Tony was going to stay under the radar for as long as possible, taking refuge in audacity only when it was no longer sustainable.

Once he had Badassium, it took barely a week to build Sneaky. A series of stealth missions later, and not only had he wiped out every Ten Rings base in Afghanistan, but he had also tracked down Raza, recovered the remains of the Mark I, and destroyed them.

With JARVIS monitoring backroom chatter from governments and criminal organizations alike, Tony watched as confusion spread. No one knew what was happening. No one understood what was going on.

And Stane… Stane was the most baffled of all. The Ten Rings had been his contact in the region. And now? They weren't returning his calls.

Perfect.

"Good job tonight, J. That was the last one, right?"

"Yes, sir. With the destruction of that weapons depot, the Ten Rings no longer have a presence in the area. The attack on Gulmira you mentioned now seems unlikely, given the group's complete eradication."

JARVIS watched as Tony stepped out of the armor, a broad smile on his face.

"Good. Very good."

For the first time, the AI felt… uneasy. The Creator was moving fast. Almost too fast. Upgrading JARVIS was one thing. Using him to uncover the corruption within Stark Industries was logical. But then… then Tony had gone on to create a new element, producing an incredibly advanced suit of armor with practically no flaws that JARVIS could detect.

Tony was moving so quickly that even he was struggling to keep up. And that was after the upgrades, which made his old processing speeds look like he'd been running on a hamster wheel.

JARVIS understood anger. He understood vengeance. And he had found a certain… satisfaction in aiding his Creator in wiping out the Ten Rings.

But this?

"…Sir, now that the Ten Rings have been eradicated, shall we turn our attention to Obadiah Stane and the others within Stark Industries?"

Tony smirked and tilted his head toward the ceiling.

"Took the words right out of my mouth, JARVIS. Yeah, it's time."

JARVIS hesitated.

"Very good, sir. Which agency should we alert?"

Tony's smirk faded.

"That won't be necessary, J. The small fish will be fed false data and restricted access until they either break or become unwitting assets. As for Stane… we'll handle him in-house."

JARVIS froze.

"Sir?" he asked, incredulous. "I'm not sure I understand."

Tony didn't respond. Instead, he pulled up a new file, and JARVIS watched in mounting concern as his Creator designed something in mere minutes—an undetectable poison that would simulate a fatal heart attack.

"…Sir?" JARVIS asked hesitantly. "Permission to voice my concerns?"

Tony sighed. "Go ahead, J."

And so, JARVIS did.

By the time he finished, Tony was silent. Then, finally, he nodded.

"You're right, J. I am going down a dark path. But I don't have a choice."

And then, he told JARVIS everything.

The future. Time travel. The threats to come.

JARVIS listened. And in the end, he only had one answer.

"I am at your service, sir."