At the same time.
Near the coast of Los Angeles.
There stood a luxurious villa on an enormous plot of land.
It was Obadiah Stane's private residence.
Obadiah was sitting on a sofa in the middle of the living room.
The living room was lavishly decorated, with an expensive carpet on the floor and a huge chandelier overhead.
But the villa felt unusually deserted.
Obadiah held a glass of red wine. He gently swirled it, his face grim.
He was thinking back over everything that had happened that day.
At the press conference that afternoon, Tony Stark had announced in front of all the media that he was shutting down Stark Industries' military orders.
Luca Stark had gone even further, declaring outright that he would thoroughly investigate the company's books and root out the mole.
He felt certain the brothers had noticed something.
They must have found clues to the weapons smuggling in Afghanistan, which was why they had targeted him as soon as they returned.
Damn it!
Obadiah drained his wine in one gulp and set the glass down heavily on the glass coffee table.
Ever since he had started dwelling on it, the resentment and anger in his heart had grown stronger and stronger.
He had worked hard for decades, dragging the great ship that was Stark Industries forward.
After Howard Stark died, he was the one who had stabilized the company's stock price, the one who had traveled the world securing military orders.
When Howard was alive, he had done the work.
When Howard died, he had single-handedly kept the company afloat!
Tony only knew how to hide in his lab and tinker with that junk, while Luca was even worse, a good-for-nothing who only knew how to waste company money chasing women!
In all fairness, didn't he deserve any credit?
On the contrary, he deserved a great deal of credit.
It could even be said that without him, Stark Industries wouldn't be what it was today.
At least, that was what he believed.
But the point was, what gave Tony and Luca, two brats who did nothing but enjoy themselves, the right to decide the company's fate as they pleased?
Was it just because their last name was Stark?!
It was an enormous joke.
But he had to admit that was indeed how things stood.
With a single announcement, Tony had cut the company's most profitable business.
Luca showed him even less respect, humiliating him in public.
He had been so angry he had almost laughed, and he had long since had enough.
Why weren't they killed in Afghanistan?!
That was right. He had secretly masterminded the kidnapping two months ago.
He had spent a fortune buying off those terrorists.
There had been only one objective: to kill Stark!
Unfortunately, those useless idiots had failed and let the brothers escape alive.
Now, he had to find a way to get rid of them and take complete control of Stark Industries.
The more Obadiah thought about it, the angrier he became.
Fortunately, he was a shrewd, calculating businessman, and anger had not clouded his judgment.
He began carefully recalling Tony and Luca's reactions at the press conference, as well as what Luca had said.
"Did they get some clue out of those terrorists? Fuck!!"
Obadiah had a sense that everything was about to be exposed.
If the Stark brothers had really found out that he had hired people to kidnap and assassinate them, he would not only lose everything but also spend the rest of his life in prison.
That was not what he wanted, and he could never let it happen!
Just then, the doorbell rang.
Obadiah frowned.
Who would come to visit him this late?
A little while later, the housekeeper led several people into the living room.
They wore identical black suits and black ties.
Strangest of all, they each wore a white mask with no facial features.
Their attire looked extremely eerie late at night.
Besides, anyone would have been creeped out by several masked men in black barging into their home in the middle of the night.
Obadiah put down his glass and stood up, unsure who they were.
But he guessed they were the people who had contacted him that afternoon.
He waved the housekeeper away.
That was right.
This group had contacted him out of the blue that afternoon.
Not long after the press conference ended, his phone had suddenly rung.
He had assumed it was someone in charge of some trashy project company trying to sell him something.
But the caller had told him outright: "If you want to get rid of the Stark brothers, let's talk at your villa tonight."
Obadiah had immediately broken out in a cold sweat and wanted to kill them.
These people actually knew his plan? They even knew he had masterminded Luca and the others' kidnapping!
Without a doubt, this was absolutely his Achilles' heel.
Obadiah had immediately wanted to send a killer to find and eliminate the caller.
He had been about to lose his temper on the phone, but the caller had said very calmly,
"I know what you're thinking. Our leader is very interested in that idea of yours. Do you understand? Surely you don't want the Stark brothers to know about your plan either, do you?"
The caller was threatening him.
Obadiah immediately calmed down.
They knew about his plan to hire killers, and they even knew his secret number.
That could only mean one thing: their intelligence-gathering capabilities had to be formidable.
If they made that evidence public, he was finished.
And so, the housekeeper had just brought them in.
"Gentlemen, showing up dressed like this in the middle of the night is hardly polite."
Obadiah folded his arms across his chest, doing his best to maintain an air of authority as he spoke coldly.
"Now, who are you? What exactly do you want?"
Of the four, the leader at the front took a step forward.
A deep, confident voice came from beneath the mask.
"Good evening, Mr. Obadiah. Who we are isn't important. What matters is that we're here to help you fulfill your wish."
The leader sat down on the sofa opposite him without ceremony, his tone full of the composure of someone in complete control.
"Tonight, Luca Stark and Tony Stark held a party together on a luxury yacht. They invited dozens of women and drank a lot. They've now gone to a hotel suite downtown. I suspect they'll definitely let their guard down tonight."
The leader stared into Obadiah's eyes.
"Tonight is the best time to strike. We can eliminate them for good. And you, Mr. Obadiah, will become the sole person in control of Stark Industries. Isn't that exactly what you've always dreamed of?"
Obadiah was stunned.
He couldn't quite process it.
What does he mean, eliminate them for good? Are they planning to assassinate Tony and Luca tonight?
That's insane! That's the most heavily secured place in all of Los Angeles!
But Obadiah had spent so many years fighting his way through the business world that he was certainly no fool who would jump at the first grand promise he heard.
He knew very well that there was no free lunch in this world.
They had such a terrifying intelligence network and even dared to go straight for the assassination of the Stark brothers.
And for them to go to such lengths to help him, they had to be driven by their own interests.
As long as there were interests involved, everything was negotiable.