Location: Stark industries, Los Angeles Main Office
Once again, the lobby of the main stark La headquarters was packed to the brim. Reports, news stations and journalists all setting up , fighting for the best position to record whatever explanation Stark can come up with for the events of last night. The latest on the events from last night was currently the highest commodity.
By now, half the country knew the jist of it. The "Explosion " was definitely due to the fight between those two robots. But how could they be sure? Simple, the event was recorded from multiple angles. The age of the smartphone has also become the age of mass media. Every and anything can be recorded with that little brick we call a phone. And the masses all had versions of the latest or most up to date . You'd have to be living under a rock , not to know what happened.
Tony, Matthew, Pepper and Rhodes had just arrived using the back entrance. Due to the influx of attendants, there was no way for them to get in through the front.
This was expected, what wasn't expected was that they would yet again meet the same balding white man, that Matthew was pretty sure he already went over what he'll say to the press with.
" Good morning, Mr. Stark " he said to the room, not clarifying which stark he was speaking to. " We have a slight change in plans."
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EARLIER
Location: Shield headquarters
The room was quiet. Only the sound of bubbles coming from a suspiciously open and empty fish tank at the accent wall of the room.
" It would be better is Tony held the conference,"
A man , head reflecting the fluorescent light that some interior designer in middle management changed to orange and hand stroking a ginger tabby absentmindedly, ordered ," they need to see that stark had no part in the matter. "
" But wouldn't it be better that Matthew hosted. He's more-"
"- more market able? Publicly interesting? I agree but Stark's recent disappearance makes him the one eyes would more fall on. Hence , just get Stark on the podium and make sure he sticks to the script. "
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So Colson explained to them the plan.
The original story was simple.
One of the prototype security bots went rogue when a gas leak exploded on one of the lower floors. So a more advanced one was sent to subdue and collect it. Omitting the part that both suits can be piloted and one of the pilots , Stane, had died during the scuffle.
Matthew had already written an alibi to go off of . Not even the world's greatest detective can find fault in the words but now all the work was for nothing.
Well not nothing. Tony would be reading it, though at most it'll be a glance and him winging the rest but still remain along the lines of the script.
Then the story was revised again.
Rhodes will give the preliminary rundown but instead of it being a gas leak, it'll be an out of control prototype that damaged the reactor, causing the explosion and someone else piloting a suit to stop the rogue bot.
Basically the same thing , just little tweaks.
Their alibi wasn't much different.
They were vacationing on a yacht on some tropical island. Avalon was it? Never mind the fact that Matthew had recently left Shanghai on a flight to Los Angeles. So that Alibi made no sense.
Honestly, it was starting to get a bit confusing .
Pepper stood over Tony, applying make up to the bluing skin he called a face. The bruising had darkened after the last few hours and he wasn't the only one. Matthew was sporting a few bruises from the ceiling basically falling on top of him and the man-handling from Stane's henchmen, who are currently in police custody.
The two , if the incident hadn't happened last night, would have seemed like they had been jumped in a dark alleyway. But even the slightest bruise or scrape now would just affirm what the population had suspected. That was the reason for the makeup, though not necessarily the reason that Pepper was applying it personally.
Earlier , in the days after the death of their father, Tony had experienced a string of incidents. Food poisoning, allergic reactions, near deadly exposure to different substances. all "coincidental". all " accidents" .
They weren't foolish.
Once is an accident. Twice ? a coincidence. but in intervals of 2 to 3 days? They did know they were geniuses , right?
So after a while , and a long time of vetting personnel, he had reached a short list of the people he would willingly allow to hand him stuff. That being, Pepper, Happy, Mathew and formerly Stane.
Matthew is similar in this , just that he acts more like a paranoid cryptic, causing his bodyguard ,who is , once again missing from the current scene , or so he thinks , to hold any and everything given to him. He refuses to touch it, with the exception of a few obvious people.
On a small screen in the room , Rhodes had started his speech , the press eating up every word of the blatant lie like a starved Victorian child. Matthew sighed as he stared at the screen, ignoring the two adults acting like teenagers beside him. In his periphery , a man , suited and for some reason sporting new gloves came to stop at his once empty post.
"Oh , you're back?" he asked not bothering to spare the man a glance.
" Yes sir" he responded, moments before Tony was called onto stage.
He didn't care where the man had been, only that he returned relatively intact.
"And now , Mr. Stark has prepared a statement, he will not be taking any questions, thank you" he stepped aside allowing tony to come to the podium.
"I'll keep this short, and actually stick to the cards this time," he joked looking down at the blue cue cards in his hand. " I know there has been speculation about what occurred at the freeway and here at stark industries last night, I just want to-"
"Mr. Stark, do you honestly think that we would believe it was a bodyguard inside that metal suit" a blonde reporter , one intimately familiar with Tony, asked . Her entitled voice hadn't changed a bit since last he saw her.
"What do I think of myself as a super hero?"
"Don't" Matthew muttered staring at the screen as if Tony would be able to hear him.
"I didn't say that"
"Oh you didn't? I thought I just heard you.."
Rhodes , thankfully thinking fast, whispered something into Tony's ear , then leaning back to his spot. Tony's face turned contemplative then a nonchalant expression crossed his face.
" Ah well, what I'm trying to say is …"
"Don't. You. dare." Matthew knew that look. That was the same look he had when he "accidentally" bought a couple dozen shares of a specific fast food chain.
"I am …Ironman ."