Conflict, Escalation, Behind the Scenes

Inside Tony's Underground Laboratory at his Malibu villa.

"You're saying Ina Sandra gave this to you?" During a break, Tony Stark turned the black USB drive in his hand and looked questioningly at Pepper Potts, who had rushed over still wearing her cocktail party gown.

Pepper Potts nodded. Not long after handing her the USB drive, Ina Sandra had left the party. As Pepper thought it over, she voiced her guess: "She probably knew I would be attending that party and deliberately got an invitation beforehand."

"She said only I could see it, and that only the two of us could know about this USB drive?" Tony Stark asked again.

"Yes."

"Was she trying to tell me that someone is watching me?" Tony Stark quickly formed a suspicion. "Did anyone approach you afterward, Pepper?"

Pepper Potts thought carefully again and shook her head with certainty. "After I got this USB drive, I quickly returned here under Happy's protection. But..." Pepper suddenly recalled something and added, "When I left, I said goodbye to Obadiah. He asked what Ina had talked to me about, and I brushed him off with a few vague answers."

Tony Stark fell into thought.

After waiting for a while, Pepper looked at Tony Stark, who was staring thoughtfully at the USB drive, and could not help asking, "What's in it?"

"We'll know once we look." Pepper's voice jolted Tony out of his thoughts. He stood up, took the USB drive to his workbench, inserted it into a port, and ordered J.A.R.V.I.S. to read the data stored inside.

Inside were weapons transaction order records. In particular, during the period shortly before Tony Stark had been kidnapped, there were weapons orders between Stark Industries and the kidnappers known as the Ten Rings—the ones who had abducted Tony. Of course, the prices listed on those weapons orders were, in Tony's eyes, far below their actual value.

"I didn't know about any of this." Pepper Potts covered her mouth in shock as she looked at the projected order records. Even though she had been Stark's assistant and representative at the company, helping him understand all sorts of company-related information, she was certain she had never seen these order records.

"You're only an assistant, Pepper. The information you can access is all information available on the surface. Naturally, they wouldn't let you easily learn the company's real secrets." Tony Stark's expression remained calm. "Wasn't it hidden from even me?

These order records... that kid Luke was trying to tell me that someone in my company wants me dead! Someone with high status and great power—at the very least, once I was gone, he or they were confident they could settle everything and claim the largest share of the profits. The recent turmoil on the Board of Directors may have all been caused by them."

"Who best fits that identity, and who is the most likely suspect?"

Tony looked at Pepper, and they spoke the same name together: "Obadiah Stane."

The moment they said the name, shock appeared on both their faces.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

A burst of applause came from the stairway leading into the Underground Laboratory. Tony and Pepper looked up to see Obadiah Stane, dressed in a black suit and smiling as he descended with several men.

"You've finally grown up, Tony." Obadiah looked at him with a sigh. Under the muzzles of two henchmen, Tony and Pepper raised their hands and stood frozen in place.

"Why?" There was a rare trace of sorrow in Tony's eyes. Since his father's death, he had truly regarded Obadiah and J.A.R.V.I.S. as elders. J.A.R.V.I.S. had passed away long ago, so Tony had created an Intelligent System named J.A.R.V.I.S. in remembrance. But now, another person he regarded as family and an elder also seemed to be leaving him in some way.

"Why?" Obadiah stepped closer and activated a tiny sonic neural weapon clenched in his hand. He stepped forward, supporting Tony Stark as Tony's nerves fell into disarray under the weapon's effects and he lost control of his limbs, then gently lowered him backward into a seated position. "You're still so naïve, Tony. Why ask why?

You're so smart. Can you really not figure it out?

Of course it was for Stark Industries! For profit! I founded this company with your father Howard. I began assisting him in his era, and then when it came to you, I had to assist you too. I think that's unfair. Stark Industries should be mine! Without me, it never could have developed to this point.

I was the one who sold the technology developed by you and your father, and it was the connections I built that grew Stark Industries. Yet everyone only remembers Howard and Tony. Is that fair?

Why couldn't you just die at the hands of those kidnappers?

Why did you have to escape?

Perhaps the reason God let you escape was so you could deliver that thing in your chest right into my hands."

As he spoke, Obadiah Stane removed the Arc Reactor from Tony's chest before Tony's dazed eyes and Pepper's horrified gaze.

After carefully laying the temporarily paralyzed Tony on the floor, Obadiah rose to his feet and looked down at him. "I should thank you for putting me on the whitelist. Otherwise, sneaking in without a sound would have been a little troublesome. Don't worry, I won't do anything to you. You'll simply die from your existing injuries. As for you..." Obadiah pointed at Pepper Potts. "I won't rough you up here either. After all, this isn't a suitable place for that. But after Tony dies, you can choose to end your own life. Don't worry, my people will help you. Take her away. Deal with her somewhere else."

Obadiah waved to the men behind him. Pepper Potts only managed a scream before someone covered her mouth and dragged her away.

"Goodbye, Tony."

Obadiah touched his fingers to his forehead in salute to Tony Stark, then turned and walked away without a trace of reluctance.

"Sir, you told me to keep an eye on Tony. Obadiah just entered the villa with some people, and now he's come out. But things have gotten a little complicated. I think I need some support over at Tony's place." From the darkness in the distance, Coulson watched as Pepper Potts was taken away by Obadiah under suspicious circumstances. He picked up the phone that was maintaining an open line and briefly reported the situation.

"Your mission is to check whether Tony Stark is dead. You don't need to worry about the other side." Nick Fury's calm voice came through the receiver as he gave Phil Coulson his orders.

"I transferred the USB drive to Pepper Potts within Obadiah's line of sight." After Ina Sandra returned to Hebron Technology, she reported to Luke.

"Very well done." Luke was currently wearing his Prototype. Beside him was a projected display showing Pepper Potts being held hostage and a convoy about to arrive at Stark Industries.

"You deliberately leaked the information that you were investigating Obadiah and Stark's secret weapons orders, provoking Obadiah's hostility and vigilance, all for today's little show?" Ina Sandra gave Luke an odd look.