Obadiah was stunned by Tony's sudden announcement. He immediately stepped forward, trying to stop him from speaking further, but Tony ignored him and continued.
"The weapons manufacturing unit will be shut down permanently until such a time as I can decide the future of this company. What direction it should take — one that I am comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country as well."
The room erupted into chaos.
Reporters shouted questions from every direction while camera flashes lit up the stage. Ignoring them all, Tony stepped away from the podium and walked out, leaving Stane behind to calm the increasingly restless crowd.
"Tony! Tony, one more question!"
But Tony was already gone.
Inside the SHIELD headquarters, Fury was watching the live feed of Tony's speech from one of the rooms.
"It seems our genius was very much affected by the kidnapping," he said casually.
"It seems so. But that didn't affect us, right?" Natasha asked casually.
But then she suddenly thought of something and looked at Fury suspiciously.
"You didn't try to make some profit from Tony's return, right?" she asked with a hint of doubt.
Fury went silent.
Even Clint — who had been cleaning his bow quietly nearby — paused for a moment and looked up, waiting for Fury's answer.
Seeing Nick remain silent, both of them immediately guessed what had happened and found it amusing that Fury had actually lost.
"So, chief, how much did you lose?" Natasha asked with a small smile.
"I don't want to talk about that," Fury replied calmly, his expression revealing nothing.
Changing the topic, Fury looked back at the screen.
"So, what are your thoughts about Omnix? Is he truly a good alien, or is he pretending to be nice just to lower our guard?"
"Personally, I don't think he's our enemy. He seems like a good guy to me," Natasha shared her opinion.
"I don't know if you noticed it," Clint spoke up, "but the way he talks to us... it's almost like he knows us very well and understands our personalities."
Hearing that, both Fury and Natasha thought about it for a moment. They had noticed it too, but none of them understood how Omnix could know so much about them.
"Are you suggesting he knew us before?" Natasha asked.
"I don't know. Maybe," Clint answered, though he didn't sound completely sure himself.
"After he left us in Afghanistan, where did he go? Do we have any information?" Natasha asked Fury.
Without saying anything, Fury picked up a few files from the desk and handed them over.
"From the intelligence we've gathered, he continued his hero activity in Afghanistan for a while before leaving the country. Recently, he was spotted near Iran."
"It seems he'll eventually make his way to New York while continuing his hero activity," Natasha said thoughtfully.
Fury gave a small nod.
"Then, as promised, give him the vibranium he wanted for saving Tony Stark."
"Okay. He said he'll contact me later. I'll deliver it," Natasha replied.
After Clint and Natasha left, Fury silently continued watching the news reports about Omnix.
The room remained quiet except for the voices coming from the screen.
No one knew what was truly going through the mind of the world's greatest spy.
On the other side, Obadiah Stane arrived at the company building where Tony was after sending the media away.
"Where is he?" he asked a bodyguard.
"Sir is inside," the guard replied, pointing toward the door.
With a big brown cigar in his mouth, Stane entered through the door with his ID and found Tony standing near the giant arc reactor, quietly watching its blue glow.
Hearing the footsteps, Tony turned and saw Stane walking toward him.
"Well, that went well," Stane said casually.
"Did I just paint a target on my head?" Tony asked.
"Your head? What about my head?" Stane shot back.
"What do you think — is the stock going to drop 40 points by tomorrow?" Stane asked while walking around the room, cigar smoke filling the air.
"Optimistically, 40 points."
"At minimum," Stane replied before Tony could finish.
"Yep," Tony answered, his eyes still on the giant arc reactor.
Stane glanced at it as well.
"We are a weapons manufacturer—"
"Obie, I just..." Tony interrupted him. "I don't want any body count to be our only legacy."
"That's it — that is what we do. We are iron mongers. We make weapons, and what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos," Stane replied immediately, not letting Tony continue.
"Not based on what I saw."
The room went silent for a moment before Tony continued.
"We are not doing a good enough job. We can do a better job. We're gonna do something else."
"Oh, like what? You want us to make baby bottles?" Stane asked mockingly.
"I think we should take another look into arc technology."
For a second, Stane thought he had misheard him.
"Oh come on — the arc reactor? That's a publicity stunt!"
He pointed toward the giant reactor behind them.
"Tony, come on, we built that thing to shut the hippies up!"
"It works," Tony replied calmly.
"Yeah, as a science project. The arc was never cost effective — we knew that before we built it. The arc reactor technology? That's a dead end, right?" Stane said confidently.
"Maybe," Tony answered casually as he glanced around the room.
"Huh, am I right? We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what, 30 years?"
"That's what they say," Tony replied, staring directly at Stane.
The two remained silent for a few seconds.
"Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me who told you?"
"Never mind who told me," Stane replied.
Stane gestured toward Tony's chest, asking to see the arc reactor.
"Is it Rhodey or Pepper?" Tony questioned.
"I wanna see it," Stane said firmly.
"Okay, it's Rhodey."
Seeing no one else in the room, Tony unbuttoned his shirt and revealed the glowing blue arc reactor on his chest.
"Okay," Stane muttered, unable to hide his surprise.
"Okay?" Tony asked.
"It works," Tony said with a cocky smile.
Seeing that, Stane took a deep breath and placed a hand on Tony's shoulder.
"Listen to me, Tony. We are a team, do you understand? There is nothing we can't do when we stick together. Like your father and I."
"I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads up," Tony replied.
"Tony, Tony — no more of this 'ready, fire, aim' business. You understand me?"
"That was dad's line," Tony said with a smile.
"You've got to let me handle this. We're gonna play a different kind of game now. And I want you to keep a low profile for now," Stane continued as they walked away, laying out his plans for the future.
A/N:🚨 Power Stone Goals! 🚨
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