better than your dreams//tony stark

♡two♡

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" the man asks.

"I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now," I tell him.

"I'm not a reporter. I'm agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division," the man tells me.

"You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA..." I tell him.

"Well as you already know we're a separate division with a more specific focus. We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape," Coulson tells me.

"I'll make sure Ms. Potts puts something in the book, alright?" I tell him.

"Thank you," Coulson says before walking off.

The press conference starts with Tony eating his cheeseburger. "Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down? Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can... A little less formal and..."

Rhodey walks over and leans down to talk to me, "What's up with the love-in?"

I chuckle. "Don't look at me. I never know what Tony's doing."

Obadiah sits down next to Tony.

"Good to see you," Tony says.

"Good to see you," Obadiah agrees.

"I never got to say goodbye to Dad," Tony says quietly. He turns to face the crowd. "I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts." I look at Tony confused by the road he is headed down. "Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels." He pauses for a moment. "I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability."

"Mr. Stark!" the reporters yell.

"Hey, Ben," Tony greets.

"What happened over there?" Ben asks.

"I had my eyes opened." Tony stands up. "I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up." Tony stands behind the podium. "And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International..." The reporters in the room stand up going crazy. I looked at Tony in shock. "...Until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be."

Obadiah tries to talk over him. "I think we're gonna be selling a lot of newspapers."

Tony keeps going, "What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well." Tony walks off the stage.

"What we should take away from this is that Tony's back! And he's healthier than ever. We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up," Obadiah offers the reporters.

I find Pepper in her office knowing she is going to have a lot to handle with this.

I knock on the door and smile at her slightly. "I should have let you pick him up."

Pepper shakes her head. "And now I have to deal with him anyway."

"I would have told you if I had known," I assure her.

Pepper smiles. "Neither of us ever know what is going to come out of Tony's mouth at a press conference."

I chuckle as I sit in a chair across from her. "The last thing I ever expected was for Tony to decide that as a weapons manufacturer we're halting the production of our weapons."