Men in a Tender Embrace

At the very moment the events unfolded at the World Trade Center Twin Towers, Tony Stark was still nestled in a harem, enjoying the company of his lovers.

Generally speaking, if he shows up at Stark Industries headquarters for half a day on a workday, it means Howard Stark is in heaven.

Most of the time, he overslept in the morning and was in no mood in the afternoon. Since the boss didn't have to clock in, he automatically got a day off.

Today was supposed to be the same day, but Uncle Obadiah Stane rushed to Tony's villa on Long Island early in the morning.

Tony Stark actually owns a house in Manhattan, but he prefers detached houses with yards, so he always commutes from Long Island.

Edwin JARVIS passed away last year, before the new century. Obadiah Stane is one of the few elders Tony Stark acknowledges.

The CEO of Stark Industries sat in the living room, letting Virginia Potts, his personal assistant, wake the young master up.

Virginia Potts didn't really want to do this. Because barging into that young master's room at this hour would likely result in witnessing something unspeakable. So, with a grim expression, she was trying to find a way to refuse.

However, the television that Obadiah Stane turned on, with its constantly rolling news broadcasts, made Virginia Potts change her mind.

Reaching the master bedroom door, Virginia Potts knocked and said, "Boss, it's time for you to get up. Something big has happened?"

After repeating this three times, I finally heard a sound coming from the room. It was the groggy sound of someone just waking up, accompanied by yawns. "What's going on? Did aliens attack? Or did George W. Bush go crazy and press the nuclear launch button?"

"Almost, boss. The World Trade Center Twin Towers in Manhattan have been destroyed."

A silence fell over the room, leading Virginia Potts to wonder if the man had fallen asleep again. Just as she was about to knock again, the bedroom door suddenly opened. Tony Stark stood there in his bathrobe.

"You're not talking about one of those little towers kids build on the beach, are you?" Tony Stark asked the assistant standing by the door, his eyes filled with suspicion.

"All the news outlets are reporting on the same thing, and Mr. Stane has come all the way from Manhattan and is sitting in the living room downstairs."

Pointing his thumb behind him, Tony Stark didn't even glance at the two naked beauties on the bed. "Send them away." Then, still in his bathrobe, he rampaged through his house, heading towards the living room.

An annoyed Virginia Potts looked at the two women on the bed, one still fast asleep, the other half-awake and bleary-eyed. Without any ceremony, she went over, picked up the clothes from the floor, and neatly draped them over the chair.

In situations like this, what troubles her most is not knowing which outfit to match the underwear with. She can only randomly put them together according to color matching.

Women typically don't use overly bizarre color combinations when it comes to their winning outfits for catching a sucker. So Virginia Potts's outfit choices haven't been too far off the mark.

That is to say, even if the items were placed incorrectly, these women could simply change them themselves after waking up, and it wouldn't be their place to complain to the boss about their poor service. Tony Stark never cared about such trivial matters.

Once the room was mostly tidied up, the curtains of the French windows were pulled open. The glaring sunlight acted like an alarm clock, waking the two women who were pretending to be asleep in bed.

Their plan was actually to wait for Tony Stark, the rich young master, to gently kiss them awake. So no matter how loud the noise was, they kept their eyes closed and waited.

But Pepper Potts didn't understand the meaning of gentleness; she yanked the covers off again. "Ladies, it's time to wake up. Should I call a taxi for you to leave?"

Chaos erupted inside the room.

In the living room, although Obadiah Stane was somewhat displeased to see Tony Stark, who was like a nephew to him, running downstairs in his bathrobe, he didn't say anything.

The old bald man had seen even more outrageous things about his father. This kid's behavior hadn't yet crossed Obadiah's red line.

The television was on, and the news was repeatedly reporting on the World Trade Center Twin Towers. It was almost always the same story, but everyone watching intently was waiting for any new updates.

"What's going on?" Tony Stark asked, standing in front of the television.

"All I know is what's on TV. Nobody knows more than you," Obadiah Stane retorted.

Tony Stark, unfazed, asked again, "So you came all the way here after arriving in Manhattan. How's the situation at headquarters?"

"Don't worry, our headquarters building is short enough that the planes can't hit it. Besides the World Trade Center Twin Towers, the Pentagon was also attacked in the same way. There was another plane that crashed, reportedly heading towards the White House or the United States Capitol."

"Intentional?"

"It's hard for something like this to happen accidentally, isn't it?"

Skyscrapers around the world aren't built just because you want to. Because of transportation like airplanes, you have to consider the airspace around airports and where planes take off and land, to ensure that things like today don't happen due to pilot error.

So, assuming good planning, for a plane to crash into a skyscraper can only be a deliberate act. After all, if a captain accidentally flies the wrong way, they'll be heavily criticized by air traffic control, and it's impossible for them not to correct their course. Unless, of course, the captain himself has a problem.

Tony Stark, sitting on the sofa, asked someone to make him a strong cup of coffee.

He can live carefree because certain unpleasant things are just unverified rumors to him. Once these things happen in his sight, he will face them seriously.

The uncle and nephew discussed the impact this event would have on Stark Industries and the United States as a whole. Their focus differed from that of ordinary people; as heads of a corporate conglomerate, they considered how they could profit from it.

The "benefits" referred to here are not "money" in the general sense, but rather a series of tangible or intangible assets, including reputation and goodwill.

Even if there are economic losses, as long as they bring positive effects, it's not unacceptable. Isn't that what charity events and GG are all about?

As for the two girls who were kicked out of Tony Stark's bedroom, they wanted to go into the living room to say hello to the rich young man and even arrange a meeting next time.

However, the Pepper Potts chasing them from behind didn't give them that chance. You can see that the two girls kept shouting "Hi" as they walked away, but the man sitting in the living room didn't even glance at them.

Isn't this attitude obvious? This is the epitome of heartlessness after a breakup.

Thank you to the observers and the most adorable Pomeranian for the donations.