[Rhodes called Tony. "Tony! Are you still there?"]
["Hey! Thanks, Rhodey!"]
[Hearing Tony's voice, Rhodes sighed in relief. "Oh my God! You lunatic! You owe me a plane, you know?"]
[Tony chuckled. "Yeah, actually, it kinda hit me. Now, do you really want to know what I was doing?"]
["NO! NO! NO! The less I know, the better! But how the hell am I supposed to explain this to the media?!" Rhodey groaned.]
["Just say it was a training accident! Isn't that what you guys always say?" Tony suggested, smirking.]
["It's not that simple!!!"]
[One second, Rhodes was insisting it wasn't simple. The next second—he was already at a press conference, spinning the story.]
["An F-22 Raptor fighter crashed during a routine flight training exercise yesterday! Fortunately, our pilot is safe and sound!"]
["As for the incident in Gulmira, we are still investigating who was responsible and their motive."]
["But I can guarantee you—the government had nothing to do with it!"]
[Obadiah Stane, dressed in pajamas, sat in his dimly lit living room, narrowing his eyes as he watched Rhodes' press conference on TV.]
[His mind was elsewhere, though—he had already received news that the Ten Rings had suffered a crippling blow.]
"Hahaha! Didn't you just say it wasn't simple, Rhodes?" Otto laughed. "Looks real simple to me!"
"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The media eats up whatever you tell them! Humph! Isn't this your usual style?" 1st Gen Connors added with a smirk.
Rhodes groaned and covered his face. He was so screwed.
He had just lied to the entire country, and now, thanks to The Sky Screen, everyone would eventually find out.
Tony, on the other hand, was grinning. He casually patted Rhodes on the back. "Relax! It's not like this is your fault."
Then, before Rhodey could respond, Tony pulled out his phone and called Nick Fury—right in front of him.
"Hey, Fury! I need a favor."
Nick Fury let out a long sigh on the other end. He already knew what Tony was about to ask.
"Damn it, Stark..."
In the end, Fury handled the situation. Tony even sweetened the deal by donating a generous sum of money to S.H.I.E.L.D.
It wasn't long before the media frenzy around the F-22 incident died down. The military released an official statement confirming that Tony had compensated for the lost aircraft.
And since the event had happened a while ago, no one wanted to dig too deep. If they did, they'd be dragging a lot of people into trouble.
[Pepper arrived in the basement of Tony's Malibu villa. Before she even saw him, she heard his frustrated voice.]
["Ow! Damn it! Aaah!"]
["Sir! Please refrain from struggling. The harder you move, the more painful it will be," Jarvis advised calmly.]
["Jarvis, be gentle! This is my first time! And I remember designing an easier way to take this thing off, so... it should be possible!"] Tony muttered as he tried to remove the Mark III.
["Sir, please remain still."]
[Pepper walked in, arms crossed. "What's going on?"]
[Tony, caught mid-struggle, froze for a second before sighing. "You really have a habit of walking in at the worst times."]
[Pepper's eyes narrowed as she spotted the dents and bullet holes covering the Mark III. "Are those… bullet holes?"]
[Meanwhile, at a military encampment, a convoy of vehicles approached a waiting Raza.]
[Obadiah Stane stepped out of one of the trucks, glancing around with sharp eyes.]
[Raza, scarred and furious, smirked. "Welcome!"]
[He pointed to the burn wound on his face. "This is thanks to Tony Stark."]
[Obadiah gave him a grin. "If you'd killed Tony Stark earlier, you wouldn't have to live with that scar."]
["That would have been too easy for you," Raza sneered.]
["Whatever. Let's cut the crap. Show me what you found."] Obadiah's patience was running thin.
[Raza nodded and gestured for his men to stand back. "Come! But your bodyguards stay outside."]
[Obadiah sighed but waved his hand, signaling his guards to wait. Then, he followed Raza inside the tent.]
[Inside, the wreckage of Mark I stood in the center.]
[Raza folded his arms. "His escape brought us something unexpected."]
[Obadiah stepped forward, studying the remains. "So this is what he used to escape."]
["It's a primitive version!" Raza admitted. "But Stark has perfected the design. His new armor—that's the real weapon. If I had a dozen of those, I could rule Asia!"]
[Then, Raza leaned in and tempted Obadiah. "You, too, can own Stark's kingdom. We have a common enemy. If we keep working together, I'll give you the blueprints."]
[Obadiah's gaze darkened as he reached forward, touching the circular hole in the chest of Mark I.]
[In that moment, a realization clicked. He remembered the miniature Arc Reactor Tony had in his chest.]
["In return, I want an army !" Raza grinned, pouring Obadiah a cup of tea.]
[Obadiah smiled, walking over—then placed a hand on Raza's shoulder.]
[With his other hand, he activated a small device.]
[A low-frequency infrasound pulse hummed through the air.]
[Suddenly—Raza's body seized up. Blue veins bulged across his scarred skin.]
["T-this... what did you—?!"]
[Obadiah, completely unaffected, smirked and removed his earpiece.]
["This is my gift to you."]
[Then, he patted Raza's head like a child—before walking out of the tent.]
[Outside, Obadiah's men had already overpowered the rest of the Ten Rings. They were now kneeling, hands behind their heads.]
[Without even looking back, Obadiah gave his order. "Pack up the armor. Secure everything."]
[Then, in the next moment—gunfire erupted.]
[Obadiah stepped into his car, pulled out his phone, and calmly instructed:
"Set up Area 16 under the Arc Reactor Project. All information is classified."]
["Get me the best engineers available. I want a prototype—immediately."]
...
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