In Obadiah's view, Tony Stark had become completely unnecessary.
As for Tony Stark's intelligence, what was that worth? If you had money, wouldn't it be easy to hire scientists? If one wasn't enough, get two. If two weren't enough, get twenty. If twenty weren't enough, get two hundred.
That was the simple and brutal way capitalists thought!
Most importantly, he would control this company. He wouldn't have to assist those arrogant, self-important Stark father and son anymore.
Suddenly, right at that moment, the office door was pushed open, and a group of black-suited men wearing sunglasses strode in.
The Stark Industries executives at the meeting were immediately thrown into a state of panic and confusion.
"Who are you?"
Obadiah stood up first, his imposing height making him appear quite intimidating.
"You must be Obadiah. Come with us. We're the FBI. You are suspected of colluding with warlords in Afghanistan to sell out American interests and secrets. You're coming with us for questioning!"
The lead man in black said without any pretense.
"What?" Obadiah was stunned. He hadn't expected the matter to be exposed.
In fact, this wasn't even a secret in the American arms dealer circles. After all, the Afghanistan war had burned through two trillion dollars, which was undoubtedly a feast for arms dealers.
Moreover, arms were consumables. The more that were consumed, the more that were purchased. Therefore, colluding with local warlords in Afghanistan to increase consumption wasn't a very strange thing in the circle.
Even the local troops were helping with the consumption.
Otherwise, how could the Taliban there become stronger and stronger, and why couldn't they be wiped out no matter how they were suppressed?
But what Obadiah never expected was that this was clearly an under-the-table affair, so how did anyone find out?
"What do you want? I know your director! Get your director to talk to me, you're not qualified!" Obadiah roared in anger.
Then he looked at Tony Stark, hoping he would stand up for him, but Tony Stark just remained calm, making no statement.
"You don't have the right! You're now a traitor! Do you understand?" the leading FBI agent shouted.
Seeing this, Obadiah suddenly realized what was happening just as he was about to be dragged away. He looked at Tony Stark and roared, "Tony, is this you? How could you do this to me!"
At this moment, Tony Stark finally showed a slight change in expression, saying, "Uncle Obadiah, why not? At least I didn't want you to die in a terrorist attack, did I?"
Hearing this, Obadiah completely understood that Tony Stark really knew all about his schemes during this time.
No wonder Tony Stark didn't want to go to Afghanistan for all this time; he had obviously learned something through some channels.
He didn't know how Tony Stark found out, but at this moment, it was meaningless. He was about to become a prisoner.
"Tony, Tony, you can't do this to me! I helped your father, and I helped you! Without me, you couldn't even safely take over!" Obadiah was grabbed by the FBI agents. He struggled while trying to play the emotional card.
"Yeah, my good uncle, if it weren't for you, I definitely wouldn't have been able to be so smooth, but I still don't understand, why would you want to kill me?" Tony Stark's eyes were filled with unconcealed pain and disappointment.
He had truly considered the other man as a father figure, someone who filled the void left by his own father's passing in his youth.
But what the other man had done now truly disappointed him.
During these past two months, the things he had secretly investigated were shocking. Obadiah wasn't just embezzling from the company. If it were just embezzlement, to be honest, Tony Stark wouldn't have cared much; at most, he'd give him a talking-to.
But Obadiah had also secretly opened channels to sell Stark Industries' weapons to those Middle Eastern warlords, which was something Tony Stark absolutely couldn't tolerate.
In his view, the weapons he created were to protect the people of this country, not to sell to his enemies. Although they were all merchants of death, Tony Stark considered himself to have a little conscience, and with his intelligence, he could absolutely earn money standing up.
Clean money, no need to dirty his hands.
But Obadiah's actions made Tony Stark's years of pride and persistence look like the actions of an idiot.
Of course, what worried Tony Stark the most was the giant iron suit he had seen in the video. He was concerned that Obadiah had already started developing it, but after checking, he hadn't.
This suggested that Obadiah's suit had likely obtained some of his technology. Given his past relationship with Obadiah, it was possible that he really did have a way to get it, or perhaps, that he might have opened certain permissions to him.
But no matter how he had obtained it in the original timeline, he had no chance now.
Tony Stark wasn't in the mood to listen to Obadiah's excuses and had the FBI agents take him away, along with several shareholders who were close to him. The charges they faced weren't just this; there were also tax issues, smuggling issues, and a series of other problems, enough to ensure they would rot in jail.
Of course, that was, assuming they didn't die inside.
"Tony, you will regret this. Your dictatorial and unrestrained ways will ruin Stark Industries eventually! You will regret it!" Obadiah's roar echoed through the entire conference room, but he was already being dragged away.
After doing all this, Tony Stark completely relaxed. Then he said, "I appoint Pepper as the new Group Executive CEO. For all subsequent matters, you should consult her. I have something to do today, so I'll be leaving first. Send me a briefing on the meeting results!"
After saying this, Tony Stark left without looking back.
Pepper was still in shock. She hadn't received any news about such a dramatic upheaval. Clearly, Tony Stark and Obadiah had already clashed without her knowledge. The outcome was that Tony Stark had delivered a fatal blow, completely eliminating Obadiah.
This outcome was naturally the best for her. If Obadiah had won, she, as Tony Stark's confidante, would have been targeted. However, this boss was really unreliable. So many shareholders had been taken away, and it was uncertain whether they would return. The company was about to descend into chaos, yet Tony Stark had simply run away, leaving her to clean up the mess.
Damn capitalists!