In the end, Tony chose to meet Coulson in the living room. He had no other intentions—he was simply curious about what kind of organization could make Feeney unwilling to come into contact with it for the time being.
"Hello, Mr. Stark. I'm Phil Coulson. We met last time."
Coulson extended his hand toward Tony with a smile. To be honest, he was somewhat surprised. He had thought there was no way to meet Tony like this and had only wanted to go through the motions. He hadn't expected Tony to actually see him.
"Hmm, is there something you need?"
Tony didn't take his hand. He went straight to the table, picked up some snacks, and put them in his mouth. At that moment, he found himself missing Feeney's Sumire's Fried Chicken Roll.
Coulson didn't mind. He naturally withdrew his hand, then said amiably, "I'd like to learn about your itinerary with Miss Potts this afternoon."
Tony turned around and looked at Coulson. "What, do we have to report wherever we go to you people?"
"Of course not." Coulson smiled as he explained, "I'm just curious how Mr. Stark managed to completely disappear from under our noses, then suddenly return."
"Maybe your men were too tired and happened not to see me."
Tony made up an excuse as he took a sip of tea, his expression unchanged.
"All right. Looks like I'll have to give them a serious reprimand when I get back." Coulson still didn't take offense. Watching Tony sit on the sofa and slowly drink his tea, he walked over and sat down as well. After letting out a long sigh, he said, "Mr. Stark, actually, we have some leads concerning the people who kidnapped you."
"Hmm... I've already found the culprit." Tony glanced at Coulson, then said bluntly, "Whatever it is, get to the point. I don't like spending the middle of the night chatting with a man."
"Who was the person in the Silver Armor?"
Coulson simply asked the question directly. He knew that if he wasted even one more sentence, Tony would probably throw him out.
"He doesn't want to meet you."
Tony didn't pretend not to know, but neither did he betray Feeney. When dealing with these agents, if he didn't give them something they wanted to know, they could pester him for a long time.
"Was the red-and-gold robot that fought the giant robot in the news you?"
"It's not called a red-and-gold robot!"
Tony frowned unhappily, then corrected him. "That's Iron Armor, Mark II."
"So the giant one was Mark I?" Coulson asked curiously.
Tony didn't know that Obadiah had given the Iron Monger a name. After hesitating for a moment, he shook his head. "It was modified based on Mark I."
"Was its pilot Obadiah Stane?"
Seeing how cooperative Tony was being, Coulson was so delighted that the corners of his mouth nearly reached his eyes. He hurriedly asked all the questions he was uncertain about.
"I didn't expect your investigation to move so quickly. That's right. He was also the one who kidnapped me. This time, he wanted to take my technology." Although the evidence Pepper had obtained earlier had been taken back by Obadiah, he was now buried beneath the avalanche. They only needed to search for it again.
"Where did you go in the end?"
"The Snow Mountain!"
"What about Obadiah Stane?"
"He was buried by an avalanche. He might already be dead."
"Can you really not reveal the identity of the person in the Silver Armor?"
Coulson asked again. In fact, he had already made some guesses about Tony and Obadiah's identities. The only one about whom he had no information was the mysterious person in the Silver Armor.
But one thing was certain: Tony's sudden appearance and disappearance were definitely connected to him.
"That depends on what he wants."
Tony stretched, then stood up and said to Coulson, "If he wants to meet you, I'll notify you. If there's nothing else, I'm going to rest."
"Thank you for your cooperation!"
Coulson smiled to show that he understood. He was quite satisfied with the trip overall, but he was still somewhat disappointed that he hadn't found any leads regarding Feeney.
"Oh, right."
As he was about to leave, Coulson seemed to remember something. He turned around and said to Tony, "As for the news reports, we'll hold a press conference for you tomorrow. You just need to read from the script then."
Watching Coulson leave, Tony sighed with a complicated look in his eyes. He returned to the workshop and continued working. Obadiah had taken away his Miniature Arc Reactor, and he was still using the old model. He needed to hurry and make a new one.
After leaving Tony's home, Coulson called Nick again and reported the situation:
"Director, Tony has admitted that he was one of the two fighting robots. He called that suit Mark II. The other one was modified by Obadiah Stane based on Mark I. He was also the mastermind behind Tony's kidnapping, and this conflict seems to have been caused by his attempt to seize Tony's technology."
"As for the person in the Silver Armor, judging from Tony's tone and attitude, they probably haven't known each other for long. The other party also seems to know about us and doesn't want to have any contact with us."
"Based on my judgment, it isn't appropriate to create a conflict with Tony Stark right now, so I didn't press him. I think that as long as we keep a close eye on Tony, we'll discover the identity of the person in the Silver Armor sooner or later. Also, I think we can arrange a press conference for Tony to calm the impact of this incident as soon as possible."
There was silence on the other end of the phone for quite a while before Nick Fury's voice finally came through. "I understand. Keep a close watch for now. Don't take any extreme measures, and report to me at any time."
Hearing Nick agree, Coulson let out a huge sigh of relief. Although what he had said truly was the best course of action he could think of, no one knew whether this irritable superior, who was constantly saddling them with dirty work, would approve.
"Remember, you must find out the other party's identity."
After saying that, Nick Fury hung up, leaving Coulson to sigh helplessly. After thinking it over, he decided it would probably be easier to make a breakthrough through Pepper.
The next day, just as everyone was eagerly waiting for Tony to step forward and explain the incident involving the battle at the Stark Industries project site the previous night, they found that he was nowhere to be seen.
"Are you sure he's never left the house?"
Unable to get through to Tony's phone and receiving no response when he knocked on the door, Coulson held the speech he had hurriedly prepared overnight and asked his subordinate with a serious expression.
"I'm sure." His subordinate hurriedly assured him. After what had happened before, they had practically kept watch at the entrance without blinking. The two dark circles under his eyes were proof enough that he wasn't lying.
"All right, I understand."
Coulson nodded and dismissed his subordinate. He stared at the door and pondered for a while, but in the end, he chose not to force his way in. Instead, he called Pepper again.
At that moment, although Tony heard Jarvis report that Coulson was calling, he couldn't be bothered to answer. He wasn't at home at all.
"You're sure it's at this location?"
At the site of yesterday's battle, Feeney hovered in the air wearing Possessed by Evil Spirit. He looked suspiciously at Tony.
"I'm Tony Stark, kid. You need to trust my technology!" Tony said unhappily. "Start digging. I really don't want to stay in this place any longer."
The two of them were preparing to recover the Iron Monger's wreckage. After using the machine Tony had made to scan the area, they had finally determined that the avalanche had carried the Iron Monger to this location.
Now, it was finally time to determine whether Obadiah was dead or alive.
A new day had begun. It was time to vote, time to vote...
Before you continue