Peter didn't expect the first news he saw upon returning home to be about Tony getting assaulted, and he didn't even discover it by watching television.
It started with an email suddenly sent by Mary Jane, asking if he had time to look over a news draft for her. At the time, Peter was in the Spider-Base organizing some materials Otto had left behind, so he found the message quite strange.
I don't write news drafts, so why are you sending it to me?
Mary Jane's explanation was that it "involved specialized scientific terminology."
So, Peter clicked on the news report. What greeted him was a video clip playing exactly what had happened to Tony after he had finished showing Peter around the Avengers base.
A group of people were standing at the entrance of Stark Industries protesting. They were, without a doubt, people who had suffered financial losses during the previous arc reactor blackout incident, along with others who were simply there to cause trouble because Stark Industries' stock had plummeted. They were waiting for Tony to arrive at the Stark Industries headquarters.
Tony's visit this time was purely to show support for the company; after all, he had long since resigned as CEO of Stark Industries, and he was only there to cheer on the company and Pepper. He drove a luxury car to the front of the Stark Industries headquarters. He brought no bodyguards, nor did he bring a driver (theoretically, the two were actually the same person), and he just walked toward the headquarters like that. The entire process was naturally reported by major media outlets, including reporters from The Daily Bugle.
And just then, an older-looking woman rushed up and splashed some unknown liquid from her cup onto Tony. Tony stood frozen in his tracks, staring at the woman.
"According to reports, the woman's son was undergoing important surgery in a hospital when Tony Stark's arc reactor malfunction triggered the massive blackout. Due to the sudden power outage, her son unfortunately passed away, which is why this woman staged this... radical protest against Tony Stark."
The Daily Bugle was relatively neutral on these kinds of issues, so they didn't add any extra commentary. However, because the incident was broadcast live by the media, it had already caused an uproar and would quickly ripple through all levels of society, especially the stock market.
Oh, the stock market might react a bit more slowly; the first to react were the major media outlets. Quite a few had already started using this as a pretext to attack, moving from simple technical flaws in the arc reactor to questioning exactly how many deaths that day's malfunction had truly caused.
The Daily Bugle naturally had to report on the matter, and there was no doubt that a series of moral criticisms regarding Stark Industries' technology would become the mainstream focus of the media. Peter immediately opened reports from major mainstream outlets to check the situation, and sure enough, that was exactly what he found.
He gave Tony a call.
"Yeah, that old lady was furious—truly incensed. I also know what kind of bullcrap they're spouting. Don't blame them; I have plenty of ways to deal with them."
Peter asked back, sounding uncertain: "Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. Oh, right, what time do you usually watch TV with your family?"
Peter suddenly had a premonition that Tony was about to pull off something huge. He subconsciously opened his mouth, but ended up saying nothing.
"Uh, every night? Around seven or eight?"
"Good. Wait three days. Eight o'clock at night, remember to watch the news—any channel will do."
Well, let's see what Tony is cooking up. Peter thought to himself, sending a message to Mary Jane on the other side.
Meanwhile, Mary Jane, who had been sitting in front of her computer, was left completely bewildered after seeing the message.
"What do you mean 'wait three days for a big reversal, there's inside information on a big event, so don't publish yet...'?"
——
The days that followed were tumultuous. Just the day after, a massive number of media outlets across the U.S. began condemning Tony Stark's arc reactor as an "immature and dangerous technology," completely ignoring the fact that Congress had tried to forcibly seize the arc reactors just two years prior, painting them instead as ticking time bombs.
By the third day, Stark Industries' stock had been crashing for two days; based on the market situation, it was essentially a death sentence.
On the afternoon of the fourth day, the Pentagon officially came out to announce that due to "technical flaws in the arc reactor," they were suspending Colonel Rhodes' War Machine duties, as well as all cooperation in that area with Stark Industries.
Almost everyone believed that Stark Industries was finished this time.
But at 7:30 PM, Tony Stark suddenly posted on his social media—which he almost never used—announcing that at 8:00 PM, he would announce something extremely important in front of the old Avengers Tower.
Mary Jane Watson arrived in front of the Avengers Tower early. Having received insider information slightly sooner than others, she suspected Peter had gotten the inside scoop through the Baxter Building, which was how he could tell her.
But what on earth was Tony Stark going to talk about here?
One after another, a huge number of media outlets arrived. Reporters, onlookers, and protestors all showed up, waiting for Tony Stark's arrival.
Tony left them waiting for a full five minutes before arriving in his Iron Man armor. He then opened his faceplate, revealing a mocking smile.
"Alright, I know you've been waiting a while. Honestly, if I wasn't worried you'd all run off, I would have liked for you to wait an hour."
No one replied or laughed.
"I remember that about three years ago, I announced that Stark Industries would stop manufacturing weapons. Stark's stock dropped sharply for the first time, and recently, people have also told me, 'You should go back to manufacturing weapons.'"
"And many others have said, 'Your arc reactor is dangerous and immature.'"
"I admit, everything you've said is correct."
The crowd erupted into chaos instantly. Countless reporters intended to interview Tony, and many others felt he had finally gone insane. Tony watched everyone watch him "lose it" with indifference, then he raised his hand, his entire body emitting a dazzling light.
"So, today, right here, I am going to announce to the whole world the principles, manufacturing methods, and calculation formulas of the palladium core micro-cold fusion device. I want to prove to the entire world that my calculations were wrong, prove that the arc reactor has huge design flaws, and tell the world—tell the East, tell Russia, tell the EU, and even Japan, Brazil, and India—exactly how I step-by-step created this erroneous thing!"
"Furthermore, I will generously invest in every media outlet that made me realize my mistake, allowing them to hang their reports on the homepage of their official websites 365 days a year, print a million copies, and distribute them for free across the United States—I'll pay for it!"
"Oh, and I still hold the patents for these technologies. I will ensure that not a single project at the Pentagon will ever use these 'dangerous and immature technologies.' After all, that's what they said themselves, right?"
"Of course, I have even more advanced, even more immature, and even more dangerous reactor designs—maybe one day I'll announce those too, right?"
A dead silence fell over the scene. Tony put his hands in front of his mouth, forming a megaphone shape: "Now, all of you, tell me."
"Who's your daddy?"
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