Date:21/04/2009
Location: Stark industries
Matthew had only just arrived upstairs when the explosion happened and was staring at the raining glass from above, all miraculously missing the hunched figure by the control panel.
"What did I miss?" Matthew asked incredulously, he stood in the doorway of the emergency exit, one hand gripping the frame and the other grabbing the collar of one of the passed out agents.
" Oh thank god. "Pepper sighed in relief as she looked up to see not only Matthew but Colson and a few others following him, each with a teammate in hand.
The room resembled a battlefield. Rubble lining the foundation pillars . Glass reflecting the bright moon light from the now destroyed skylight.
Matthew approached Pepper, assisting the dishevelled assistant to her feet.
" Are you okay?" he asked , his head looking for Tony but the distinct Red and gold figure was nowhere in the vicinity.
"I'm fine." she reassured , using his arms to support herself.
"Where-?" Matthew started before , outside, the sound of metal landing on solid pitch sounded. Tony had just landed outside after Colson arrived at the impact zone of the now deceased Stane, allowing Tony to rush back to the building.
A mix of a synthetic and normal voice sounded out the suit as the pieces retracted to reveal the face of the slightly banged up Tony.
"I'm Alive"
" Not for long," Matthew muttered , staring a dagger into him.
To be fair, he could have told Tony a bit earlier that Obadiah was a complete narcissistic psycho, but if he did , there was always the possibility that he would dismiss him or deal with the problem wholly by himself like he basically did today.
Knowing Tony, he'd see it as something he should do as the older , more "reliable" brother. Never mind being the CEO or the eldest living Stark, he'd see it as protecting the last remaining family he has and not think about his own safety or the possibility of losing their father's legacy. Although, to be honest, Matthew couldn't give two shits about what happens to the company as long as he could have the three most important things to him.
That being:
Cars
Tony
And the strongest wi-fi connection on the planet.
In that order. It wouldn't change much for anything else. But what he hated most was being left out simply because he was younger, because they thought he needed to be protected from the world.
————————————————————————
At the back of an ambulance , a paramedic pressed a few gauze to now cleaned ears of Matthew .
"There shouldn't be any severe damage, at most you'll hear stuff a little muffled but that'll be temporary," they snapped off their gloves, cleaning the area of the used and bloody equipment," but I still do advise you see a doctor and get an MRI in case there was anything we missed, Mr. Stark."
"It's okay, Doc. I'll get checked out later." he shook his head, trying to get the phantom feeling of blood out of his ears.
Across from him was a group of private police. Shield credentials flashed at the local LAPD before a word of denial could be spoken. The scene was cordon-off , press meters further than they'd like away from the impact zone. Stane's body was already taken away , remnants of the broken suit being the only thing on site yet to be moved.
"We're here live at the scene of what we are being told was a gas leak here at Stark Industries Los Angeles branch. But contrary to that, we can see a robotic suit moving around , speaking to first responders."
A report, one of many, spoke loud enough that Matthew could pick up nearly every word.
Great , another headache.
Matthew was already dreading the amount of work he'll have after this. He closed his eyes for a moment sighing at his predicament.
"How you holding up Mr. Stark" that disarming voice of the balding man had started to become familiar to him.
"Just a few bruises, no major damage." he opened his eyes to the slightly unkept visage of Colson, he was coordinating the rushed clean up method.
"Happy to hear that. If you're free now can we please have a discussion on ,how do you say, we'll spin this to the press? "
"Whatever you were originally thinking might need to be scraped." he stated looking over to where one of the reporters had snuck in earlier already having footage of Tony's suit and the iron monger. "They already have proof to contradict it."
"Then how about we take control of the narrative. The explosion? A Gas leak. The suit? Out of control security robot and a pilot that was trying to stop it.. Simple and believable"
Matthew stared at the man for a moment then turned to watch the retreating Tony, who was now taking a van back to the mansion, and sighed in resignation .
"God I wish that knocked me out"
"What?"
" Nothing."