𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 the press conference had affected the entirety of Stark Industries, Hollyn was pissed to learn that she wasn't invited to Tony and Obadiah's private meeting. She paced back and forth across the living room as Pepper sat watching the news that she had turned on.

"Stark Industries! I've got one recommendation! Ready? Ready? Sell, sell, sell! Abandon ship! Does the Hindenburg ring any bells? Let me show you the new Stark Industries business plan! Look, that's a weapons company that doesn't make weapons!"

Hollyn finally couldn't take it anymore. "Pepper, would you turn that off?"

Pepper clicked the power button on the remote and the television switched off at the same time that the intercoms turned on.

"Pepper." Tony called for her attention. "How big are your hands?"

Hollyn raised an eyebrow but noticed that Pepper was equally confused. The ginger looked over at the intercom system even though she couldn't be seen and asked for clarification, "What?"

"How big are your hands?" Tony repeated.

"I don't understand why—"

"Get down here." Tony didn't wait for her to actually reply. "I need you."

The intercom turned off and Pepper stood from where she was seated. Hollyn crossed her arms and shook her head. "You're going after that explanation?"

"Knowing Tony, there'll be more trouble if I don't go."

"That's fair."

Hollyn followed after Pepper, now curious as to what Tony could possibly need. Usually, he preferred to remain undisturbed while working down in his "mad scientist lab"; additionally, he'd stay down there for days if someone didn't drag him out.

Hollyn had to conceal her gasp at what she saw when they entered the workshop. Tony had reclined himself in one of his chairs; however, it was the glowing arc reactor protruding from his chest that she found alarming. Sure, he'd told her that it was there, and she'd seen the light through his shirt, but it was still unnerving to see up close.

"Hey," Tony greeted them, "Let's see them. Show me your hands. Let's see them."

As Pepper approached, she held up her hands.

"Oh, wow. They are small. Very petite, indeed." Tony nodded his head and motioned for her to come closer. "I just uh... need your help for a sec."

"Oh, my God, is that the thing that's keeping you alive?" Pepper asked, practically covering her mouth with her hands as her eyes threatened to pop out of her head if she opened them any wider.

"It was. It is now an antique." Tony gestured to what looked like an upgraded miniature arc reactor. "This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future. I'm swapping it up for an upgraded unit, and I just ran into a little speed bump."

"Speed bump, what does that mean?" Hollyn raised an eyebrow.

"It's nothing. It's just a little snag. There's an exposed wire under this device. And it's contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short. It's fine." Tony pulled out the old device and handed it off to Pepper.

"What do you want me to do?" Pepper asked.

"Put that on the table over there," Tony instructed. "That is irrelevant."

"Oh, my God!" She exclaimed under her breath as she set the old reactor on the table.

"I want you to reach in," Tony explained, "and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out."

"Is it safe?" Pepper asked, growing more worried with each passing second.

"Yeah, it should be fine." Tony nodded. "It's like Operation. You just don't let it touch the socket wall or it goes 'beep'."

"What do you mean, 'Operation'?" It was clear his answer hadn't helped.

"Beep?" Hollyn asked skeptically while wrinkling her nose as if the idea of her brother comparing himself to a children's game was repulsive.

"It's just a game, never mind." Tony shook his head. "Just gently lift the wire."

"Okay." Pepper nodded after taking a deep breath.

"Okay? Great." Tony also nodded.

"You know," Pepper hesitated, "I don't think that I'm qualified to do this."

"No, you're fine," Tony reassured her, "You're the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met. You're gonna do great. Is it too much of a problem to ask? 'Cause I'm—"

"Okay, okay."

"—I really need your help here."

"Okay." Pepper slowly slid her hand into the hole in Tony's chest. Her voice jumped an octave as she whined, "Oh, there's pus!"

"It's not pus," Tony corrected her, "It's an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body."

Hollyn gagged. "Tony, that's so gross!"

"There's a reason I didn't ask you," Tony replied as if defending himself.

"I'd probably kill you on purpose if you asked," she retorted.

"Exactly," he agreed.

"It smells!" Pepper exclaimed as she looked up to prevent tears from forming.

"Yeah, it does," Tony agreed, "The copper wire. The copper wire, you got it?"

"Okay, I got it!" Pepper exclaimed as she grabbed the wire, "I got it!"

"Okay, you got it? Now, don't let it touch—" Tony attempted to give instruction but released a cry of pain as Pepper let the wire touch the side, "—the sides when you're coming out!"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"That's what I was trying to tell you before. Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, that you don't—" The medical equipment interrupted him with a series of beeps as Pepper pulled out the wire and the magnet attached to it. "There's a magnet at the end of it! That was it. You just pulled it out."

"Oh, God, Tony!" Hollyn exclaimed and covered her eyes before pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Okay, I was not expecting—"

"Okay, what do I do?" Pepper asked, panicked. She started to move as if she were going to put the magnet back in.

Tony shook his head and groaned. "Don't put it back in! Don't put it back in!"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest—"

"What?" Pepper's eyes widened with horror. "You said it was safe!"

"—'cause you yanked it out like a trout..." Tony tried to hand her the new arc reactor. "We gotta hurry. Take this. Take this. You gotta switch it out really quick."

"Okay. Okay. Tony?"

"What?" Tony asked.

"It's going to be okay," Pepper reassured herself by reassuring him, "Okay?"

"Is it?" he asked sarcastically.

"It's gonna be okay. I'm gonna make this okay."

"Let's hope. Okay, you're gonna attach that to the base plate. Make s-sure you—" Tony screamed as she attached it. He took a breath of relief. "Was that so hard? That was fun, right? Here, I got it. I got it. Here. Nice."

"Are you okay?" Pepper asked with concern.

"Yeah, I feel great. You okay?" Tony returned the question.

"Anyone want to know if I'm okay?" Hollyn asked.

Tony laughed as Pepper scolded him. "Don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again."

"I don't have anyone but you." Tony shook his head and gestured toward Hollyn. "You heard her, my own sister would rather kill me than do what you just did. Anyway..." Tony ripped the remaining wires off and stood up.

"What do you want me to do with this?" Pepper asked, holding up the old reactor.

"That? Destroy it. Incinerate it." Tony instructed and tapped the new reactor in his chest to emphasize his point.

"You don't want to keep it?" Pepper asked.

"Pepper, I've been called many things." Tony shook his head. "'Nostalgic' is not one of them."

"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" Pepper asked with a soft smile.

"That will be all, Miss Potts." As Pepper started to walk away, Hollyn stepped up beside her brother while Tony kept his eye on her.

"You do realize she won't stick around if you keep pulling stunts like this?" Hollyn asked, crossing her arms. "It's a miracle that Jules and I haven't run off but it looks like someone has to keep the company alive!" She punched him in the arm. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I was tired of being responsible for killing people," Tony took a step back to rub his arm.

Hollyn frowned and directed her eyes toward the ground to compose herself. She took a breath before looking back up. "You could have at least told us..."

"It was something I had to do," Tony shook his head, "Besides, can you tell me with absolute certainty that you wouldn't have tried to stop me?"

Hollyn remained silent.

Tony nodded his head. "That's what I thought."

Hollyn shook her head and walked back toward the stairs; however, she cast one last look over her shoulder before she left. Tony snapped his finger at the robot by his desk. "Hey, Butterfingers, come here. What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk? That's my phone, that's a picture of me and my dad. Right there. In the garbage. All that stuff."

Hollyn sighed and shook her head again as she walked up the stairs and exited the mansion. Julie had asked her to check on Tony after the press conference and make sure he was alright. He was fine. He was just Tony Stark, and that much was incurable. Now that she'd finished, she could head home to her... well to nothing more than the wine in her cabinet. But she was a Stark, she didn't need anything more than that. It turned out that being Hollyn Stark was pretty incurable too.