Tony's consciousness struggled to surface from a sea of chaos.
His head was splitting, as if a thousand woodpeckers had taken turns drilling into his skull.
He forced his eyes open. The first thing he saw was the familiar ceiling of his garage, and the brand-new, man-shaped hole in it.
The air was thick with a strange mixture of motor oil, burnt wiring, and concrete dust.
"Awake?"
A clear voice sounded from nearby.
Tony turned his stiff neck and saw Paul sitting on a toolbox, holding a tablet. A high-definition photo was frozen on the screen.
The photo showed a man in a half-finished suit of armor, embedded in a completely wrecked vintage Ford sports car in an utterly humiliating star-shaped pose.
Tony's eye twitched.
"How long… was I out?" His voice was as raspy as sandpaper.
"Not long. Just enough time for Baymax to give you a full-body scan, treat three soft-tissue contusions, and a mild concussion," Paul replied without looking up, swiping through the tablet. "Oh, and I ordered takeout."
He finally looked up, flashing a pure, angelic smile.
"Dad, I'm hungry. I want a cheeseburger."
Tony grunted, trying to sit up, but every bone in his body protested as if it were about to fall apart.
"You want one, go buy it yourself."
"I don't have any money," Paul said, matter-of-factly.
"Ask JARVIS."
"JARVIS says my spending allowance requires guardian authorization."
Paul held the tablet in front of Tony's face, the photo now zoomed in, every embarrassing detail crystal clear.
"This photo documents the first… less-than-successful flight attempt of 'Iron Man'—or should I say, 'Tin Can.' I think it has historical value."
Paul grinned like the cat that got the canary.
"One hundred dollars for a double cheeseburger combo. It comes with a complimentary service: deleting this limited-edition photo. Seems reasonable, right?"
Tony stared at the photo, then at his son's punchable smirk. A vein throbbed in his temple.
He gritted his teeth, fumbled a crumpled hundred-dollar bill out of his pocket, and slapped it into Paul's hand.
"And add a Coke! A large one!"
"Deal!" Paul pocketed the money and his phone with satisfaction, whistling as he went to get the food from the door.
With their stomachs full and energy replenished, the sounds of clanging metal and humming machinery once again filled the garage.
Tony had completely abandoned his grand plan for full-body flight, deciding to start with the individual components. He focused all his attention on the hand repulsors.
"Stabilizers. I need more precise flight stabilizers!" he commanded the air, addressing JARVIS while rapidly building a new model on a holographic screen. "Pull up the parameters for the Mark II gyroscope. I'm rewriting the algorithm!"
Paul, on the other hand, was being mysterious.
An energy shield stood in front of his workstation, completely blocking Tony's view.
Behind the shield, one could only vaguely make out countless complex 3D schematics of mechanical components flashing, combining, and disassembling at high speed.
"Hey, kid," Tony couldn't help his curiosity and knocked on the energy shield. "What new toy are you tinkering with now? Don't tell me it's something explosive. My insurance premium is already maxed out."
A relaxed voice came from behind the shield. "Don't worry, my project is perfectly safe. At the very least, it won't smash a four-hundred-thousand-dollar Steinway piano to bits."
Tony's face instantly darkened.
That was one of the 'trophies' from his fall, which had taken him straight through the second-floor living room.
This kid really knew how to push his buttons.
A silent technological rivalry, thick with tension, unfolded between father and son.
Just then, the garage door slid open, and Pepper Potts walked in, heels clicking on the floor.
Her pretty brow furrowed the moment she took in the disastrous state of the garage.
The vintage sports car, crushed into a pancake; the gaping hole in the ceiling; the scattered parts and broken glass…
"Tony…" Pepper's voice was filled with exasperation and worry. "Did Godzilla pay a visit?"
"A… minor lab accident." Tony coughed awkwardly. Eager to save face, he rushed to show off his new creation.
He held up the gauntlet he had just fitted with the new stabilizers. "Look, Pepper! Perfect flight stabilizers! I've solved all the problems!" he boasted.
With that, he activated the gauntlet.
*VMMMM—*
A pale blue beam of energy shot from the palm, and the gauntlet hovered steadily in mid-air.
A smug grin spread across Tony's face.
The grin didn't last three seconds.
*ZZZT!*
The stabilizers seemed to suffer an unknown malfunction. The energy output instantly went haywire, and the gauntlet shot around the room like a headless fly.
*BANG! CRASH! CLATTER!*
A beam of energy grazed Tony's scalp and struck a row of tool cabinets behind him, sending wrenches, screwdrivers, and all sorts of precision parts flying everywhere.
Pepper screamed and instinctively ducked behind Paul.
Paul, calm as ever, pulled her back to a safe corner, grabbing a fire extinguisher on the way as if ready to put out a fire at a moment's notice.
Tony frantically tried to shut down the gauntlet, but his efforts only made things worse. He was dragged around the garage by the out-of-control device in a chaotic 'breakdance' before being violently thrown against a tool cart, landing in a position even more pathetic than his crash into the car.
The garage fell into a dead silence once more.
Tony remained in his undignified heap, feeling like he'd lost all face.
"Ahem. See that? That was a stress test. Very successful." He forced a smile for Pepper that looked worse than a grimace, trying to maintain a shred of dignity.
Pepper and Paul exchanged a look, both of their expressions conveying a deep sense of speechlessness.
"Tony."
A steady, powerful voice from the doorway broke the awkward atmosphere.
Obadiah Stane walked in. He glanced at the wreckage in the garage, then at the disheveled Tony. A flicker of contempt, almost imperceptible, crossed his eyes, but his face wore a concerned smile.
"Tony, the board just passed a resolution."
He walked over to Tony and handed him a document.
"They've filed for an injunction to temporarily strip you of all decision-making power at Stark Industries, citing your… 'unstable mental state.'"
Obadiah's tone was casual, as if he were stating a trivial fact. But every word struck Tony's heart like a sledgehammer.
"What?" Tony snatched the document, his eyes flying across the page. The color drained from his face, replaced by a steely pallor.
Betrayal.
A blatant, naked betrayal.
He had risked life and limb for the company, escaped from a terrorist's cave, and this was how they repaid him—by stabbing him in the back.
"This is to protect you, Tony. And to protect the company." Obadiah patted his shoulder, his voice laden with false sincerity. "You get some rest. I'll take care of things."
Tony snapped his head up, a furious fire burning in his eyes. He wanted to roar, to demand an explanation, but the words died on his lips, replaced by a cold sneer.
"Fine. Just fine."
He crumpled the document into a ball and slammed it onto the floor.
He understood now. There was no point in reasoning with a board that only cared about money.
The only thing that would shut them up was absolute technological superiority. The power to upend everything.
Obadiah watched his angry display with a satisfied smirk, then turned and left.
The atmosphere in the garage became suffocating.
Pepper watched Tony with concern, unsure of how to comfort him.
"Aunt Pepper."
Paul suddenly spoke, pulling her aside and lowering his voice.
"How is that thing I asked you to do coming along?"
"Oh, that…" Pepper snapped out of her somber mood. "It's going smoothly. We've discreetly acquired three percent of the floating stock. No one has noticed."
"Good. Keep going." A profound smile, one that didn't match his age, touched the corners of Paul's lips. "Let me know if you need more funds."
He looked at Tony's defiant back, his eyes glinting.
*You want to take Stark Industries? Did you bother to ask me?*
"Oh, by the way, Aunt Pepper," Paul added, his expression suddenly reverting to one of child-like innocence. "I have a 'science project' I'm working on, and I need some special materials. The list is a bit complicated. I've already sent it to 'Nini's' server. Can you help me procure them?"
"Nini?" Pepper paused for a second before remembering it was the name she had given the pink robot.
"Of course, no problem." Distraught and preoccupied with Tony and the company, she agreed without a second thought.
Paul nodded, a sharp glint in his eyes.
The things he needed weren't exactly available on the open market.
Some of them even included restricted, military-grade alloys and rare elements.
Obadiah Stane thought he had already won.
But he could never have imagined that here, in this chaotic garage, a true storm was just beginning to brew.
And he would be the first to be torn apart by it.