Ch6. The press conference

Tony stood on the podium, watching the reporters waiting for him to start while barely keeping themselves from pouncing on him with their questions.

He never really paid much attention to them in these situations. He was too self-absorbed in his youth and thought it was all about himself... which it usually was.

But he was also forgetting the fact the reporters were people too. The years of press conferences about the collateral damage caused by Avengers, about the fallout of Avengers, and about his efforts to pull the world together after Thanos's snap taught Tony that simple fact. It taught him to shut up and look rather than preen in front of the cameras.

One would wonder how much he could learn by simply observing the faces in the crowd.

Tony noted that the male to female ratio was heavily skewed in the favor of females... which made him amused and disturbed in the equal measures but he could see the reason. He might not have remembered their names but he was certain he slept with at least thirty percent of the women in the crowd.

Which... admittedly sounded cooler in his head before he realized the implications and that he should probably check himself for sexually transmitted diseases.

'No wonder the news companies sent females to this press conference.' Tony thought in exasperation. Unfortunately for them, he had no intention of becoming a manwhore again.

"We should probably start." He suddenly said, gesturing to the reporters to quieten down.

Tony swept the expectant crowd with one last look, amused at their hungry looks for some news about him. He would humor them, just this once, before he retreated to the background. It was only fair.

"I am sure many of you are interested in the circumstances of my kidnapping and my subsequent escape but..." Tony paused for a bit, letting the reporters get excited so he could satisfy his sadistic urges when he eventually brought them down, "But I have no intention to tell you anything about it." He said with finality, giving the crowd a charming smirk.

Before the reporters could start clamoring in protest, Tony quickly continued, "Instead, I have called this press conference to announce something. Something that will have huge consequences for both me and the Stark Industries as a whole."

Tony briefly glanced at Pepper, seeing her standing to the side with a firm resolve, nodding back at him when he noticed his eyes were on her.

She was ready for this...

Tony's eyes then relocated towards Obadiah who watched him like a hawk, slight displeasure written on his face. If he didn't know any better, Tony would think it was there because he didn't inform the man about this press conference in a timely manner. Alas, Tony knew more than Obadiah would ever want.

Tony was sure the man would absolutely hate what was coming and he had every intention to enjoy the upcoming shocked and enraged expression of 'Uncle Obie'.

Meanwhile, the reporters quieted down again. They did want to know about Tony's kidnapping and his escape but now that their interest was redirected to this mysterious announcement, they became content for a while.

"Effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be. What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well." Tony said, using the exact words of his younger self. They seemed fitting for some reason.

When the reporters finally registered what he just said, they instantly started to loudly clamor for attention, raising their hands and speaking out of turn but Tony's eyes followed Obadiah. He got his desired reaction and Obadiah's expression was priceless.

But his fun couldn't last forever and Obadiah quickly collected himself and started walking towards Tony. That was his cue to continue with the press conference.

"Oi, oi, oi! Hold your horses, cowboys!" Tony shouted into the microphone, creating a deafening sound that shut up the reporters and stopped Obadiah in his tracks. His goal accomplished, he continued in a quieter voice, "I am sure you have questions and I will do my best to answer those I will feel like answering. You first." Tony gestured towards a reporter in the front row.

This move effectively stopped Obadiah from interfering. This was an official press conference for Tony Stark. Interfering now could possibly create even a bigger scandal and the reporters would probably portray it as some kind of internal struggle for control or something. That was the last thing the company needed so Obadiah could only quietly seethe and observe as Tony did his best to ruin his own and the company's reputation. His time to interfere was long past and judging by the sour expression on his face, the man recognized that fact.

"I am Mandy Herst from the magazine Providence and I would like to ask what do you intend to do with your workers now that the weapon manufacturing is going to be shut down." A young woman Tony did not recognize asked.

Tony slowly nodded, giving an impression he was thinking about the question. It was a good one and that surprised him quite a bit, to be honest. Fortunately, he had his answer already prepared for this. "I have no intentions of sacking anyone and I sincerely hope the board of directors will comply with this wish of mine as someone who owns the controlling share." And with that, he effectively closed that avenue for the idiots with shares in his company lest they wanted to be blamed for sacking people, "I naturally have an idea how to proceed with the company and the workers will be reassigned into the production of new things after a quick revamping in the company."

Tony then proceeded to choose another reporter and the questioning continued for some time, some questions he answered, others he swept aside with some kind of snarky remark but he navigated the Q&A session with ease hammered into him by doing this for years in his previous life.

Obadiah had a hard time believing what he was seeing. Decades of effort were swept under the rug because of one petulant announcement from the arrogant young moron who should have been already dead.

And he couldn't do anything to stop it.

It was frustrating. He spent most of his life trying to make something out of Stark Industries only for Tony Stark to take the credit while he was doing his best trying to drink and fuck himself into the early grave. And now the brat decided he apparently wanted the Stark Industries to sink with him.

Keeping his expression straight as Tony answered every question with practiced ease was definitely not easy for Obadiah. He had long days of work in front of him if he wanted to salvage this kind of disaster...