“Anger!”
At Kez Merlin’s call, a golden retriever crawled out from beneath the desk.
“Have you been studying properly while I was gone?”
Anger had been about to charge over and greet him, but the question brought him to an abrupt halt.
He slammed on the brakes, flopped sideways onto the floor, stuck out his tongue, and went completely limp as though he’d dropped dead on the spot.
Kez immediately grabbed the dog’s head and ruffled it mercilessly.
“Playing dead with me? You’re way too inexperienced for that, little guy.”
Anger’s tongue lolled out as his head was shaken from side to side.
It took him several seconds after Kez let go before the dizziness finally passed.
“All right, come watch TV. And you need to hurry up and learn how to talk.”
“Woof! Woof-woof!”
Anger barked in response, apparently promising that he would do his best.
Man and dog made their way into the living room.
Kez settled onto the sofa, while Anger sat on the floor with his back resting against it.
When Kez turned on the television, the live broadcast happened to be showing Tony Stark’s press conference.
…
At the press conference, Tony wasn’t standing behind the podium.
Instead, he sat down against the front of the stage and looked toward the assembled reporters.
“Hey, can everybody sit down?”
As he spoke, he pulled another cheeseburger from his pocket.
“Could you all sit? That way you can see me, and I can see you.”
He gave them a casual gesture.
“Let’s keep this informal.”
The reporters exchanged glances, then gradually crouched or sat down as well.
Obadiah came over and took a seat beside Tony, while Tony calmly unwrapped the burger and took a bite as though none of this were unusual.
Rhodey moved over to Pepper and lowered his voice.
“What exactly is he doing?”
Pepper shook her head.
“I have no idea.”
Rhodey changed the subject.
“How much do you know about Kez Merlin, the guy who got Tony out?”
Pepper frowned slightly before answering.
“Probably less than you do. I’ve only met him twice. Once when I hired him, and once at the airport.”
“At first, I basically thought of him as some kind of unconventional therapist. If Happy hadn’t insisted, I probably never would’ve gone to see him.”
She gave Rhodey a knowing look.
“You know Tony and I never believed in things like fortune-telling.”
Rhodey nodded.
Before Afghanistan, that certainly sounded like Tony.
Whether Tony still felt the same way now was another question entirely.
Up front, Tony glanced toward Obadiah.
“It’s good to see you.”
Obadiah smiled.
“I feel the same way.”
Tony’s expression gradually turned more serious.
“I never got to see my father one last time. I never got the chance to say goodbye.”
“There’s something I wish I could’ve asked him. I would’ve asked what he really thought about making weapons.”
“Was he really as hard and uncompromising as the newspapers made him out to be?”
Tony looked across the room.
“I saw young American soldiers being killed by the very weapons I’d built to protect them.”
“And I realized something else. People in the weapons business can get very comfortable ignoring what happens after the sale.”
He paused.
“I became one of those people.”
One of the reporters raised a hand.
Tony looked toward him.
“Go ahead.”
“What exactly happened to you over there?”
Tony didn’t hesitate.
He stood.
“I woke up.”
The room grew quieter.
“I realized that I have more to offer this world than just making things that explode.”
“So effective immediately, I’m shutting down Stark Industries’ weapons manufacturing division.”
A wave of shocked murmurs spread through the room.
“And it will remain shut down until I can determine what direction this company should take next.”
…
Sitting in front of the television, Kez couldn’t help smiling when Tony announced that he was shutting down the weapons division.
Of course, announcing it was one thing.
Actually making it happen was another.
Obadiah already held enormous influence inside Stark Industries.
Unless Tony dealt with him first, the company could publicly sing one tune while quietly continuing to sell weapons behind the scenes.
Still, having the chairman himself make an announcement like that would be more than enough to send Stark Industries’ stock price into freefall.
The stock had already taken a hit when Tony was presumed dead.
Before the market had even had time to fully recover from the news of his return, Tony had now dropped another bombshell straight on top of it.
Kez could probably take advantage of the crash and buy some shares near the bottom.
Once Tony publicly revealed himself as Iron Man and Stark Industries successfully pivoted into the energy sector, the stock would likely surge again.
Kez could make a respectable profit alongside it, even if he didn’t have much capital to work with right now.
More than that, however, Kez was curious about what would happen once Tony eventually consumed a Savant potion.
This world could use a few changes.
For now, though, he would have to wait until Tony sent over the Savant Beyonder Characteristic.
The broadcast finally came to an end after Obadiah stepped in, emphasizing that the press conference had originally been intended simply to announce Tony Stark’s safe return and good health.
…
Tony didn’t go straight home after the press conference.
Instead, he headed to the massive Arc Reactor facility near Stark Industries headquarters.
Obadiah eventually came looking for him.
He found Happy standing outside.
“Where is he?”
Happy pointed toward the entrance.
“Inside.”
Obadiah swiped his access card and walked in.
Tony was standing in front of the enormous Arc Reactor, staring up at it.
Obadiah approached him.
“Look at what you’ve done.”
Tony glanced over.
“I’ve made myself public enemy number one, haven’t I?”
Obadiah stared at him.
“You? What about me?”
He gestured sharply.
“How much do you think our stock is going to fall tomorrow?”
Tony considered it.
“Optimistically? Forty percent.”
“At least forty percent,” Obadiah emphasized.
Tony didn’t argue.
He understood the problem perfectly well.
A weapons manufacturer that suddenly announced it was no longer going to sell weapons, without presenting any new source of revenue, could very quickly become worthless.
But Tony wasn’t particularly worried about the stock price. This story is hosted at g.com.
He had already found a better direction—one that didn’t depend on killing people, could potentially generate even greater profits, and could benefit society at the same time.
Obadiah tried again.
“Tony, we make weapons.”
Tony looked at him.
“Obadiah, I don’t want to keep making money from people dying.”
“But that’s what we do,” Obadiah countered.
“We’re arms manufacturers.”
Tony realized arguing philosophy wasn’t going to get them anywhere.
“This is my company. I get to decide what direction it takes.”
For just a moment, murderous intent flashed through Obadiah’s mind.
Those terrorists really had been useless.
Tony had no children, and if he’d died in Afghanistan, control of Stark Industries would have fallen completely into Obadiah’s hands.
Instead, the idiot had come home alive.
Of course, none of that appeared on Obadiah’s face.
“Tony, what we do also helps maintain global stability.”
“What I saw over there didn’t look much like stability,” Tony replied.
“We’re not doing enough.”
“We can do better. We need to start building something else.”
Obadiah immediately challenged him.
“Such as what?”
He spread his hands.
“You want Stark Industries to start manufacturing baby bottles?”
Tony answered without hesitation.
“I think we should revisit Arc Reactor technology.”
Obadiah actually laughed.
“The Arc Reactor?”
He shook his head.
“Tony, come on. That thing was always a publicity piece.”
“It exists to boost investor confidence and make shareholders feel good.”
Tony turned his gaze toward the enormous reactor before them.
“It has value.”
Obadiah didn’t deny that.
“Sure. As a research project.”
“But commercially? It’s useless.”
“The thing can’t even recover its own construction costs. We knew that before we built it.”
He looked at Tony more seriously.
“If you want me to believe this company can pivot around the Arc Reactor, then you need an actual technological breakthrough. That design hasn’t meaningfully changed in thirty years.”
Tony reached up and exposed the miniature Arc Reactor embedded in his chest.
This was exactly what he had intended to show Obadiah—the technology that could steady the company and form the foundation of Stark Industries’ next transformation.
“We let the stock fall.”
Tony’s voice remained calm.
“While it’s down, we buy back part of the publicly traded shares.”
“Once it really bottoms out, we announce the new technology and the company’s new direction.”
The moment Obadiah saw the miniature Arc Reactor, a broad smile appeared on his face.
Internally, however, his thoughts were entirely different.
‘He really is a goose that lays golden eggs.’
Apparently, those terrorists had accidentally done him a favor after all.
Obadiah rested a hand on Tony’s shoulder.
“Leave the company to me.”
“And next time you invent something like this, don’t build it first and tell me afterward.”
He smiled warmly.
“Our partnership will work just like mine did with your father. Stark Industries is going to reach new heights.”