A Different Path

Press and Confessions

Tony's body ached and his head pounded lightly at his temples, but he forced himself to walk up onstage and to the podium, paparazzi smile and hot-rod red sunglasses on his face.

He'd been unconcious for three hours after the fight with Obadiah. His reactor wasn't out of power, it had 0.12 percent, but it struggled to stay on until they (Rhodey, Happy, and Yensin) got the reactor from Obadiah's suit.

The chest plate of Obadiah's suit had popped off in the explosion, but it had taken Happy and Rhodey beating the area around it with a mallet and Yinsen with a careful and eye and tweezers to get the power source out.

Pepper had watched over him, getting him to the medics and avoiding the reporters trying to break the police barrier. The exploding reactor had been all over the news.

"Hello, everyone," he announced, waving to the crowd. They settled down immeadiately, eyes on him. Pepper and Yinsen waved at him from the back of the crowd while Happy and Rhodey were reassuring presences at his side. "I have some news today."

He had three announcements of big news, but he'd only be talking about two because the paperwork wasn't through yet. Pepper would be his Co-CEO.

It was only fitting as she could run his company better than he could and with this new Superhero-thing he needed to figure out, he'd need some help. It had taken a little bit to convince her that he was being serious and it wasn't just the head injury, but she'd accepted the job.

He cleared his throat. "Obadiah Stane has passed away." There was an uproar, but he held his hand up for silence, face blank.

"Stane died in the arc reactor explosion, but he was a cause of it. He had been selling Stark Weapons on the black market without my authorization. Another thing, I will be shutting down the weapons division of Stark Industries."

There was another uproar, louder this time. Cameras flashed in his face, making his headache worse.

He raised his voice louder. "We will no longer be making weapons, but clean energy, electronics, appliances, cars, all kinds of good stuff."

"I will be taking questions now."

A reporter raised his hand. Tony pointed at him, "you in the leather."

"Dr. Stark, what was the flying silver machine?"

"The machine you are talking about was the death machine, Ironmonger, that Stane had created to take over and kill whoever stood in his way. It was based off my first suit used to escape Afghanistan."

"And who was in the gold and red robot?" A reporter he knew as Christine asked without raising her hand, eyebrow raised as if challenging him.

"Ironman."

"And who is Ironman?"

Tony paused. A man named Phil Couslon from SHIELD had told him to keep his identity a secret, but .... Tony is known to be spontaneous.

His lip quirked to the right and he could see Pepper faceplaming, Yinsen right behind her, but shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

"I am Ironman."

The room exploded in questions, reporters getting to their feet and cameras trained on him.

Tony turned on his heel with a grin, walking straight of the stage, Happy and Rhodey right on his tail. They were there to steady him when he fumbled on the last step, head suddenly spiking with pain, and steered him backstage.

/

That night, everyone but him and Pepper had retired to their rooms after talking for a few hours.