POV Tony Stark
"You're not coming with us?" I ask the metal man.
"No, like I said, I was never here. I do apologize for not being able to tell you my name. But I do want to say one last thing. You're walking down a better path, Mr Stark. Don't stray now. With great power comes great responsibility," the metal man says.
I pause and look at him one last time.
"Thanks. Really thanks. When we meet next, I want to get your name!" I say with a smirk.
"We shall see. But head north from here, the US Military should have detected the explosion and will come from the north. The Ten Rings will come from the South, so you'd best get going. And it was a pleasure to meet both ot you," the metal man says before walking away.
"Hey!" I call out.
The metal man stops and turns back around.
"Call me Tony, Mr Stark makes me sound old," I say with a smile.
The metal man just waves and walks away. I watch as he vanishes from sight.
'Teleportation? Or maybe Invisibility.'
The truck starts, and we start driving. However, Yinsen takes over, as apparently I am a terrible driver in these conditions.
"When we get back to the US, I'll show you how good a driver I can be," I say defensively.
"If you say so, Tony," Yinsen says with a small smile.
"What did you think about our mysterious savior?" I ask curiously.
"He's a good man," Yinsen responds.
"And?" I ask.
"I trust he will do as he says... And he's more than lethal, did you notice we didn't even know everyone had died? Or how there were no signs of battle inside the base. I highly doubt he needed that suit to do that. So he could have killed us or taken us hostage, but he didn't. I think that counts for something," Yinsen says calmly.
"That suit did look pretty interesting. I've never even heard of tech like that, so he must be a secretive fellow. Though if I had time, I could build something better," I reply defensively.
"You intend on building more suits?" Yinsen asks while looking at me from the side for a moment.
"W-Well. Yeah, I think I will, but I won't sell them. I think... I think I can do something with my genius. Something great. But no more weapons trade. One of the first things I'll do when I get back is shut down the weapons department of Stark Industries," I say while looking down at my chest.
"I hope so. This world needs fewer weapons, not more, but what will Stark Industries do if not kill people?" Yinsen asks.
"Energy. Clean Energy. I have the solution to power generation in my chest. Nearly limitless energy. Produced cheaply and with minimal infrastructure investment," I reply firmly.
"But what about that man's warning?" Yinsen pointed out.
"Can you even be sure he's a man?" I ask while avoiding the question.
"No, but you're avoiding the question," Yinsen points out.
"I'll look into it, and if I'm being honest, I have my suspicions. I'll admit he has some motives to kill me, but I can't just automatically believe he would be behind this. I've known him for nearly my entire life. He's been an uncle to me, and I can't take the words of someone I don't even know the name of, or heck, what they even look like outside that suit, seriously. So I'll keep an eye out, but I won't accuse Obadiah of anything, and even if I believed that man's words, neither he nor I has any concrete proof," I reply.
"Hmm, will my village be safe from him should he be responsible for this?" Yinsen asks nervously.
I go to refute his claim, but I can't bring myself to ignore his question.
"I... I'll set things up so he won't have any way to interfere. He won't even know where your family lives," I reply in a reassuring tone.
"My family is dead," Yinsen says bluntly.
I don't respond for several moments as I think about what to say.
"They died to the Ten Rings. That was when I was captured. All I have left is my village. I do not wish to pressure you, Tony, but I cannot risk their lives, not again," Yinsen says with a quiet tone.
"I'll keep them safe. I promise," I say while looking right at him.
"I trust you. Now, I believe our ride is here," Yinsen says while pointing ahead.
I spot the helicopters heading our way and smile. I take out the US flag that the man had given us, and I start waving it around. The choppers start to circle us and come in for a landing. We get out and approach, and I am pleased to see Rhodey.
"How was the fun-vee?" Rhodey asks.
"Not the greatest," I reply with a smirk.
"Next time you ride with me," Rhodey says while taking both of us into the helicopter.
POV Shift Rio
After evacuating those who wanted to leave and making sure they were settled in, I made sure Selene was ready to push the trades to the extreme. We were about to get really rich. While also screwing over Stane. I had leaked some evidence of Stane's involvement in insider trading, which has caused all his stock accounts to be frozen for the time being. Thus preventing him from making any trades with the other shareholders. I wanted the best chance to get all 40% of the company that was theoretically up for grabs.
And just as I had predicted, Stark's first thing was to grab a cheeseburger, AND EAT IT. Then he held a press conference, I guess. All jokes aside, he dropped the bomb that he was shutting down the arms division of Stark Industries, which sent the stocks cratering. With us shorting the stock, the drop was even worse. Then, over the next several days, we pressured some to sell their stocks to us cheaply, thanks to some of the blackmail I had stolen from Viggo all that time ago. This put Selene on the board of directors.
Through the next two weeks, the stock prices drop farther and farther, bottoming out at -80%. That was when we moved in and bought up all the stocks. This was right before Stane was bribing his way out of his Insider Trading charges, but it was too late. Selene was now the second largest shareholder, and Stane had only one way to regain control, and that was to kill Tony Stark.
During this time, I had fully handed over the villagers to Tony, but we still hadn't met in person. Part of this was because he was busy, though another part was because I was busy as well. Though mostly Tony was the busy one. He was busy building the Mark 2 Suit, trying to keep control over his company, relocating and protecting the villagers of Gulmira, getting those same people legal identities in the US, and also investigating who was responsible for trading weapons to the Ten Rings. Though that last one was solved when Obadiah confessed to Tony at their little party.
It was only after that little confession that I showed myself to Tony. Or rather, I broke into his home. Which was alarmingly easy.
"Why was it so easy to break in here?" I ask Tony.
"AHH! What, who are you?!" Tony says while holding a wrench as a weapon.
"I was the metal man who saved you. My name is Rio Pines, nice to officially meet you," I reply with a smile.
"W-What? Pines? Why does that sound familiar?" Tony says distractedly.
"You didn't answer my question," I comment.
"Huh? What? Oh, that. I don't know what you mean. My security is top of the line," Tony says defiantly.
Tony pulls up my public profile and compares it to me, but he looks confused.
"You're 18?" Tony says while looking at me.
"Not really. 108 actually," I say lazily.
"HUH?" Tony says dumbly.
"Yeah, what? You didn't notice my ears?" I ask while gesturing to my pointed ears.
"What? I mean, but... They're not real, right?" Tony says while looking at them more closely.
I gesture for him to see for himself. He touches my left ear and quickly retracts his hand.
"I-Impossible. Are you an alien?" Tony asks.
"Really? No, born and raised on Earth. Though adopted by the Pines family back when they found me in 1900," I answer with a raised eyebrow.
"Cough. Sorry, that was a bit rude. But wow. An elf. Really. What else lives on Earth?" Tony asks with that curious mind of his.
"Even I don't know that much. I do know it's a lot of various magical creatures, and many are sapient. A friend of mine and the current second-largest shareholder of your company is a vampire. Werewolves exist, or at least they did, not sure if the last one died out or something since I last checked. Dragons exist. Mages exist. There's a whole monster city spatially near New York, or at least that's what I was told, never been there myself," I say with a shrug.
"And all of that is true?" Tony says with a fascinated tone.
"To my knowledge, yes. This world is far more complex than what you see on the surface, but that isn't why I came here. What will you do now?" I ask.
"I'm going to use my technology to save people," Tony says confidently.
"Yes, I gathered as much, but I meant about Stane?" I clarify.
"Oh... Uh, yeah. I want to gather evidence about his crimes and send him to jail for the rest of his life, but that will take a bit. I was about to send Pepper in to upload a virus to the computer in his office," Tony says a bit awkwardly.
"Hmm, want some help? Sending Pepper is quite dangerous. Why risk her life when I can do it faster and without detection?" I offer.
"You'd help me again?" Tony asked.
"Of course. You're doing this to bring him to justice. Stane has committed a lot of crimes, and I have the skills to help. So why not?" I reply.
"Uh, okay. I'd appreciate it. How did you know where to find me?" Tony asks.
"Magic," I answer with a knowing smirk.
Tony glares at me.
"Want to elaborate?" Tony asks while gesturing with his hands.
"Not particularly. A magician never reveals his secrets," I say with a grin.
Tony's eye twitches.
"Okay, okay, to be honest, I used a tracking spell to locate you, and I happened to be in the area looking for something before that. I didn't rescue you right away as I wanted to know who was who and why they were there. So I tracked where Yinsen came from and discussed with his people if they would like to leave their homes for a better life in the US. Otherwise, they would be like them," I say while gesturing to the TV.
The TV was showing a report of Gulmira being destroyed by the Ten Rings. Those who remained behind were all hanged from pillars or decapitated and had their heads on spikes. I could practically feel the anger and hatred radiating off Tony when he saw that. Especially when it showed pictures of Stark Industries weapons.
"I have somewhere to be. Can you get me that evidence?" Tony says with a firm tone.
"No problem. Good luck out there, and watch for enemy fighters," I joke.
I leave him to do his debut while I go home for now, as I wasn't in a major rush.