May 12, 2003—the ninety-sixth birthday of Katherine Hepburn.
In the original history, around this time, a tumor began spreading through the elderly woman's neck. Because the risks of surgery were too great, Mrs. Hepburn and her family ultimately agreed not to pursue treatment, and she passed away a month later.
But with a Kryptonian by her side, the old lady was still full of life. If only tigers didn't move on all fours, Katherine Hepburn would have been dragging Kitty off to dance the tango every day.
In the past, this memorable day had always been celebrated with a party at the Hepburn family's seaside villa in the Fenwick district of Connecticut. It was really just a small family gathering, with whoever was available returning to the villa for a get-together.
This year, however, at the old lady's insistence, it was held on East Forty-Ninth Street in Manhattan, New York. Besides family members, a few old friends and new friends were invited to join in the celebration.
The new friends were people Henry knew: two Eternal heavyweights, Gilgamesh and Thena.
Although the two had only met Katherine Hepburn once, when they moved into their new home, they were Henry's new neighbors. Thinking of helping the young man cultivate some goodwill, the old lady sent the two of them invitations.
Gwen Stacy, Sky's tutor, also received an invitation. Cathy Webb, the paramedic the old lady had summoned as backup when the mutant children were injured previously, was invited as well.
As for Katherine Hepburn's own old friends, there weren't many left. At her age, every time they met could be the last. So whenever there was a good reason, the old lady would enthusiastically pick up the phone and invite people herself.
Sometimes, she would learn from the family members of those old friends over the phone that so-and-so had passed away. Yet another person in this world who cared about her, and whom she remembered, would simply be gone.
The preparations for the old lady's birthday party were handed directly to a catering and event company. In previous years, when it was only a family gathering, the younger generation handled the arrangements. There would usually be a huge cake and some ridiculously tacky decorations.
Just like the tradition of wearing ugly sweaters at Christmas, those birthday decorations might have been stupid beyond belief, but they had a charm of their own. At the very least, Katherine Hepburn could face the whole thing with a cheerful smile every year.
This year, because some outsiders and old friends had been invited, they simply hired an event company to handle everything. Apart from the overall style, which the old lady herself had personally chosen, everything else was left to Henry, her personal assistant for daily affairs.
Since they were already using an event company, Henry had no reason to show off his cooking skills by preparing enough food for dozens of people. So he contacted an old friend, Wesley Washington, a Black chef who ran a five-star catering company.
Henry had known this friend since his days as an extra in Los Angeles, more than a decade ago. Wesley Washington had excellent culinary skills and had not only trained quite a few students but had also built up a solid reputation in certain circles.
By now, he was the head chef of several catering teams, and business was naturally far better than before. When Henry booked their services, he could only rely on their friendship to jump the queue and have a small team temporarily pulled from another assignment.
But while preparing for the banquet that day, Henry was surprised to discover that this old Black friend, who had put on quite a bit more weight, had actually shown up with the team. The ingredients he brought weren't the ones originally booked, either. They were even better.
"Well, well, look who's here, Mr. Big Shot. I'm genuinely surprised to see you here. Let me guess—some annoying bastard might be coming too?"
After fist-bumping Henry in greeting, Wesley Washington grinned, revealing an impossibly white set of teeth. "Old friend, I wouldn't dare guess who the annoying bastard you're talking about is.
"But after Mr. Tony Stark heard that Mrs. Katherine Hepburn had invited him, he canceled tomorrow's party at Malibu Beach in Los Angeles and told me to give this place my full support. I'd say there's a very good chance he'll show up."
Henry, with his mismatched eyes, frowned strangely. "What's he coming here for? There aren't any targets here for him to chase. If he dares hit on any of Mrs. Hepburn's nieces or grandnieces, he'll get beaten into the ground like a grandson who misbehaved."
'Beware the men of the Stark family.'
That was practically a Hepburn family motto!
If any of the grandchildren wanted something, they could pester the old lady until she softened, and sooner or later they would usually get a satisfactory result. There was only one thing they could never get from her: back then, it had been wanting to meet Howard Stark; now, it was wanting to meet Tony Stark.
Especially when one of the girls made such a request, she would immediately receive a complimentary 'Grandma's Lecture Session,' with a minimum duration of one hour. Even the less-than-brilliant children of the Hepburn family knew exactly where the old lady's red line was.
Even if they wanted to work for Stark Industries, or were lawyers or accountants hoping to land some sort of consultant position, they could submit their résumés or contact Stark Industries' human resources department themselves. Forget about asking Grandma to pull strings through the back door. That was never going to happen.
Especially this year, Stark Industries was visibly taking off thanks to U.S. military contracts. Its stock had risen several times over even as the broader market remained sluggish.
Tony Stark's romantic scandals seemed to be rising in tandem with the company's stock price, experiencing a similar surge in both quality and quantity. Not only were there more female leads in his daily gossip, but their identities and social standing were also increasingly impressive.
It even resulted in a satirical cartoon appearing in The Wall Street Journal.
An old bull that looked very much like Obadiah Stane was dragging a swimming pool bearing the Stark Industries logo. The pool was filled to the brim with gold coins, while Tony Stark lounged inside with several bikini-clad women in his arms.
Henry had no way of knowing whether, without his suggestions about 'disguise' and 'going along with the crowd,' Tony Stark in this Marvel universe would have behaved quite so outrageously. Or perhaps this was simply his true nature, and things would have turned out this way with or without those suggestions.
The young master had already reached the point where everyone hated him, and in many prominent families his reputation was essentially: 'Beware of fire, thieves, and Starks.' Whenever business cooperation made contact unavoidable, they would simply send a married woman to deal with him, while their unmarried daughters were sent abroad on vacation.
Not touching married women or minors was one of the young master's universally known red lines. Of course, there were also conspiracy theories claiming that anyone who crossed those lines had simply been dealt with using the power of money, which naturally meant the news media never got the chance to report it.
In any case, after learning that the young master might be coming, Henry merely went to mention it to Katherine Hepburn. Neither of them took it particularly seriously.
Another of Tony Stark's great achievements was standing up a staggering number of important people!
From the President of the United States and four-star generals to elderly nuns running charitable organizations, all of them had records of being stood up by Tony Stark. His own company was even less worth mentioning. Its chairman was practically a transparent figure.
And those were only the public events known to reporters. They would specifically go there to wait for him and take photographs, only to be told at the end that Mr. Stark was unable to attend. For the events reporters didn't know about and that never made the news, who knew how many more appointments the young master had blown off?
Although standing people up was obviously a terrible habit, anyone with ulterior motives toward Tony Stark faced another problem: there was simply no way to pin down the man's schedule.
Whether this was a form of self-protection on Tony Stark's part, Henry couldn't say. He had always felt that none of the young master's behavior seemed remotely like an act.
The man was simply that much of an asshole. There was no need to overthink it.
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