"Mr. Stark, do you remember me?"
At a charity gala hosted by Stark Industries, a woman approached a dejected Tony and asked him bluntly.
Tony's current state was not good, completely different from what he had expected. His decision to cancel Stark's weapons development department had encountered huge obstacles, and he himself had been suspended by the company's board of directors. The board stripped him of all his authority in the company. In other words, he was now nothing except the largest shareholder.
And that wasn't the worst part; the worst part was that Tony found himself completely ostracized and forgotten. In the past, he would be the sole protagonist at such parties. But now, he hadn't even received an invitation. If Tony understood Chinese culture, he would know the phrase, "the coldness and warmth of human relationships." In fact, he now had a very deep understanding of the meaning of that word.
He sat at the bar like a statue, silently savoring the spicy taste of his drink, until a woman approached him and asked the question above.
"You are Irene..." After uttering the first word, Tony could do no more. He had had relationships that went beyond the extremely intimate with many women, which wasn't really the problem. The real problem was that he couldn't remember most of them. Or rather, he could only remember a few.
"Irene, thank God I gave up hope that you would remember my name the moment I saw who you were."
The woman named Irene smiled, but her words were full of gunpowder. Tony almost choked on his drink.
He admitted that playing with women's bodies was improper, but usually it was consensual. So Tony rarely encountered women who turned on him so directly. And in this situation, he couldn't say anything, because he was the one in the wrong.
Just like in cases of forced inappropriate relationships, men are always the prime suspects, while women are often the victims. It's a question of who really benefits.
"Sorry, if you're here to pursue responsibility, I can only express my regret." At this point, Tony still saw this woman as a power-hungry woman trying to exploit his sympathy to climb the social ladder. After all, even though he had been dismissed by the board, he was still the largest shareholder and still one of the world's top single men. That alone was enough to make many women have inappropriate thoughts.
However, this time Tony was simply overthinking things. Irene Dis had no such intentions; she simply threw a photograph in front of Tony.
"In your home, on your bed. You told me yourself that you never sold weapons to the Middle East, what a load of rubble. I actually believed you! Can you still tell me that with such confidence now?"
Tony picked up the stack of photographs in front of him. The photos showed a group of war-torn towns, the entire town now a ruin. There were homeless residents and corpses lying everywhere. But these weren't Tony's concerns; he was concerned with the things that caused all of this.
Stark Industries' weapons, whether firearms used by both sides in the conflict, or large missiles and tanks, all bore the Stark Corporation logo. Looking at these logos, Tony's face darkened considerably.
"After seeing all this, what explanation do you have?" As a journalist, Irene Dis loved to press for answers, especially when the evidence was irrefutable.
"I never signed such an order!" Tony was now also angry, not at the woman, but at Stark Industries itself. He clearly remembered that at the board meeting a year ago, he and Zhou Yi had rejected the sales proposal for the Middle East, and now it seemed all that had no effect.
Stark's weapons had still appeared in the Middle East, and in a way he didn't know. This inevitably made Tony suspect internal problems within the company. He had fallen into the hands of terrorists because of his weapons, and now anti-government forces in the Middle East also held his weapons. This alone was enough to prove that there were serious problems within Stark.
And who could be responsible for such problems? Tony closed his eyes and thought for a moment, but could only recall one name. A man he regarded as an elder, and the only one who could bypass him to make sales decisions for the company.
"What, is this the magnanimity of Tony Stark? He can't even admit what he's done?" Irene Dis sneered. She had already seen the suspicion in Tony's eyes. Reporters were never afraid to make a big deal out of things, and she was no exception. "Or perhaps you don't even know whether you did it or not?"
"I can only tell you, I didn't do it. Not before, and not in the future." Tony gave her a cold look, took the photo, and strode away. He didn't choose to leave the venue; instead, he chose to find someone. He had to get to the bottom of this.
Soon, Tony found his target: his uncle, Obadiah Stane, who was engaged in lively conversation with a group of departing guests, acting like a king in control. In contrast, Tony looked like an exiled prince, forgotten in a corner.
Faced with this disparity, Tony felt he had seen something clearly, but he still couldn't quite believe it. So he stepped forward and spoke to Obadiah.
"Obadai, I have something I want to ask you. Can we talk alone?"
"Oh, my dearest nephew is here, of course. We can certainly talk." Obadiah had clearly drunk quite a bit. She waved to the group of guests and then put her arm around Tony's shoulder and walked to the side. "Go ahead, Tony. What do you want to ask your Uncle Stan?"
"What I want to ask you is, did you approve the sale of those weapons to the Middle East?" Tony held up the photos and placed them in Obadiah's hand.
Obadiah flicked her cigar, glanced at the photos, and patted Tony on the shoulder earnestly.
"Tony, you're an adult now. Don't act like a child. You should know that we're just businessmen; we don't need to care what our goods are used for."
"So, you really approved it? How could you do that?" Tony's tone was full of surprise, while Obadiah was completely indifferent.
"Why can't I do this, Tony? You've been missing for two months. Two months is enough time for the company to be in turmoil. The company needs to survive and grow. What's wrong with me approving a sales plan to ensure the company's stability?"
"But those are lives, Obadiah. Don't you know what I've been through? Can't you understand my thinking?"
"Of course I don't understand, but I know this isn't the time for you to throw a tantrum. Tony, you've already caused enough trouble."
Faced with Tony's endless accusations, Obadiah finally snapped.
"Over the years, I've poured my heart and soul into this company, and solved countless problems for you. Do you know how much I've sacrificed to achieve breakthroughs in the company's performance? Almost every day I think, 'God help me, please don't let Tony make any more ridiculous decisions.'
But you, Tony. You always surprise me. Canceling the weapons division—do you know how much your words cost us? Stark's stock plummeted by forty points, and that was after I used all my resources to stabilize the situation. And you, you just opened your mouth. It's time you matured, Tony. I really don't want to clean up your messes anymore."
Tony wanted to say something more, but Obadiah interrupted him again.
"By the way, who do you think asked the board to remove you from your position? It was me, Tony. You need to calm down, you need to think. Until then, I won't let you have any contact with the company."
After saying all this, Obadiah patted Tony on the shoulder and left without waiting for a response. Now he didn't need Tony's reply.
Watching Obadiah leave like that, Tony suddenly realized that he had never truly understood this uncle. He left the ball in a daze and drove back to his bayside villa alone.
As soon as he got home, he issued commands to his AI assistant.
"Jarvis, pull up all the conflict data from the Middle East. I need to see it."
"Yes, sir,"
Jarvis replied. Soon, a large pile of documents was laid out before him: images, articles, and on-site videos—all footage gathered by fearless war correspondents who had ventured deep into the heart of the conflict. This material deeply shocked Tony.
He discovered an unavoidable problem: these people, these people who started the war, were reaping lives with the weapons they had invented. And to him, it felt as if he himself were committing the killing.
He had never felt such a heavy burden of guilt before; this weight almost suffocated him. At that moment, he suddenly thought of someone, someone who might be able to answer his questions. So he dialed his number.
Soon, a voice came from the other end of the line—it was Zhou Yi's voice.
"Hey buddy, what's up?"
"I wanted to know, what do you do when you're carrying a heavy burden?" Tony asked in a deep voice, his expression more solemn than ever before.
"I'll unload it, Tony. I'll lighten its weight by doing anything I can. But I'll always remember this feeling, this feeling of carrying something. It's a very different feeling." Zhou Yi's voice was ethereal, as if explaining to Tony, or perhaps talking to himself.
"Why?" Tony pressed.
"Because this feeling liberates your soul, Tony. No matter what you're carrying, sin or hope, when you fight for what you carry, you'll find the most beautiful feeling of being alive. It's a sublimation, something indescribable in the spiritual realm."
"But I just want to redeem myself." Tony hung up the phone. After a long while, he stood up and went to his laboratory.
There, a newly completed suit of Iron Man armor, painted with gold and red pigments, stood quietly, the blue reactor on its chest like a beacon, guiding Tony and telling him what he should do.
-----------------------
Completed English PDF of this fan-fic on my Patreon shop if you want to support and own the full fan-fic in one go. Just grab the PDF and binge the entire story from start to finish!
Guys, I've uploaded some High Quality english translated fanfic on my Patreon shop! Feel free to check it out-if you're interested, you can grab a copy and support me there.
Here are a few titles of recently uploaded fanfics:
New Addition
" Marvel: Starting by Creating Miss 2B (18+) "
" Marvel: Starting by Drawing Gold Pikachu (18+) "
" Much Blessing: Starting from Gwen, Sweeping Across Marvel! (18+) "
" Marvel: Plundering Multiverse Technology Starting (18+) "
" Superman in the Marvel Hero "
" Sentry of American Comics World "
" Marvel: My Wife Is Hela "
" Marvel: Married Black Widow at the Start "
" DC Universe: The Days of Being a Mage God "
" Marvel Universe: I Pick Up Attributes "
" Marvel: The Black Hand Covers the Sky "
" A Certain Marvel Legend's Life "
" Marvel: FBI Bureau First Mission Persuading Harley Quinn "
" Marvel: Godhood Cultivation System "
many more are available 125+
Your support means a lot-thanks in advance, legends!
patreon.com/SuperTL
(End of Chapter)