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*****
Ultimately, Tony chose to meet Coulson in the living room. It wasn't for any particular reason other than curiosity; he wanted to know exactly what kind of organization it was that made Fini temporarily want to avoid contact.
"Hello, Mr. Stark. I'm Phil Coulson. We met once before."
Coulson extended his hand with a smile to greet Tony. To be honest, he was a bit surprised; he had expected that he wouldn't be able to see Tony at all this way and was just planning to go through the motions. He hadn't expected Tony to actually see him.
"Yeah. Is there something you want?"
Tony didn't take the hand. He walked straight to the table, picked up some snacks, and popped them into his mouth. At that moment, he found himself missing Fini's Violet Sauce Fried Chicken Rolls.
Coulson didn't mind. He naturally withdrew his hand and said kindly, "I'd like to understand your and Miss Potts' itinerary this afternoon."
Tony turned around and looked at Coulson. "What, do we have to report our whereabouts to you now?"
"Of course not," Coulson explained with a smile. "I'm just a bit curious about how you, Mr. Stark, completely vanished from under our noses and then suddenly returned."
"Maybe your men were too tired and just happened to miss it."
Tony talked nonsense without a flicker of change in his expression, then took a sip of tea.
"Well, it seems I'll have to give them a stern lecture when I get back." Coulson still didn't take offense. Watching Tony sit on the sofa and slowly sip his tea, he walked over and sat down as well. He let out a long sigh and said, "Mr. Stark, actually, we have some leads regarding the people who kidnapped you."
"Mhm... I've already found the culprit." Tony looked at Coulson and said bluntly, "Whatever this is about, just say it. I don't like spending my evenings chatting with men."
"Who was the person in the silver armor?"
Coulson simply asked directly. He knew that if he wasted another word, Tony would likely just kick him out.
"He doesn't want to see you."
Tony didn't pretend not to know, but he didn't sell Fini out either. When dealing with these agents, if you didn't give them a little of what they wanted to know, they would nag you for ages.
"Was it you in the news, in the red and gold robot fighting that giant robot?"
"It's not called a 'red and gold robot'!"
Tony frowned with dissatisfaction and corrected him: "That is a suit of Iron Armor, the Mark II."
"So that giant one was the Mark I?" Coulson followed up curiously.
Tony didn't know that Obadiah had named it Iron Monger, so after a moment's hesitation, he shook his head. "It was modified based on the Mark I."
"Was the pilot inside Obadiah Stane?"
Seeing Tony being so cooperative, the corners of Coulson's mouth nearly curled up to his eyes in delight. He hurried to ask all the questions he was uncertain about.
"I didn't expect you to investigate so quickly. Yes, it was also him who kidnapped me; this time he wanted to seize my technology." Although the evidence Pepper had obtained earlier had been taken back by Obadiah, he was now buried under an avalanche. They just had to go look for it again.
"Where did you two end up?"
"The snowy mountains!"
"And Obadiah Stane?"
"Buried by an avalanche. He might be dead."
"Can the identity of the person in the silver armor really not be revealed?"
Coulson asked again. In fact, he had already had his suspicions regarding the identities of Tony and Obadiah; only that mysterious silver-armored person remained a complete blank.
But one thing was certain: Tony's sudden disappearance and appearance were definitely related to that person.
"That depends on him."
Tony stretched his body and stood up, saying to Coulson, "If he wants to see you, I'll let you know. If there's nothing else, I'm going to rest."
"Thank you for your cooperation!"
Coulson smiled to show his understanding. He was quite satisfied with this trip overall, though he was still a bit disappointed that he hadn't found any clues regarding Fini.
"Oh, by the way."
As he was leaving, Coulson seemed to remember something. He turned back to Tony and said, "Regarding the news, we will hold a press conference for you tomorrow. You just need to read from the script when the time comes."
Watching Coulson depart, Tony sighed with a complex look in his eyes and went back to the workshop to continue working. His miniature arc reactor had been taken by Obadiah, and he was currently using the old model. He needed to manufacture a new one immediately.
Meanwhile, having left Tony's house, Coulson called Nick Fury again to report:
"Sir, Tony has admitted that he was one of the two fighting robots. He calls that equipment the Mark II. The other was modified by Obadiah Stane based on the Mark I. Stane was also the mastermind behind Tony's kidnapping; the reason for this conflict seems to have been a struggle for Tony's technology."
"As for the silver-armored person, based on Tony's tone and attitude when speaking, they should have only recently met. Furthermore, the other party seems to know about us and does not wish to have contact with us."
"In my judgment, it is not suitable to create conflict with Tony Stark right now, so I didn't press the issue. I believe that as long as we keep a close eye on Tony, we will discover the identity of the silver-armored person sooner or later. Additionally, I think we can arrange a press conference for Tony to calm the impact of this incident as quickly as possible."
The other end of the phone was silent for a long while before Nick Fury's voice came through hollowly: "I understand. Monitor closely for now, do not take any drastic actions, and report to me at any time."
Hearing Nick's agreement, Coulson let out a huge sigh of relief. Although what he said was indeed the best method he could think of, no one ever knew if they would get the approval of this foul-mouthed, hot-tempered Director.
"Remember, you must figure out the other party's identity."
After saying that, Nick Fury hung up the phone, leaving Coulson to sigh helplessly. Ultimately, he thought it would still be easier to approach from Pepper's side.
The next day, while everyone was waiting for Tony to stand up and explain the battle at the Stark Industries project site the night before, he was nowhere to be found.
"Are you sure he never left the house?"
The phone wouldn't pick up, and there was no response to knocking. Coulson, holding the speech script he had worked on all night, asked his subordinates with a serious face.
"I'm certain," the subordinate hurried to guarantee. After the previous lesson, they had watched the entrance this time almost without blinking; their heavy dark circles certainly proved they weren't lying.
"Alright, I see."
Coulson nodded and dismissed his subordinate. He stared at the door in thought, but in the end, he chose not to force his way in. Instead, he called Pepper's phone again.
At this moment, although Tony heard Jarvis report Coulson's call, he couldn't be bothered to answer—because he wasn't at home at all.
"You're sure it's at this position?"
At the site of yesterday's battle, Fini, wearing "Incursio," floated in the air and asked Tony with a face full of doubt.
"I'm Tony Stark, kid. You have to trust my technology!" Tony said dissatisfiedly, "Hurry up and dig. I really don't want to stay in this place any longer."
The two of them were currently preparing to recover the wreckage of Iron Monger. After probing with a machine Tony had built, they had finally determined that Iron Monger had been carried to this spot by the avalanche.
Now, it was finally time to determine whether Obadiah was alive or dead.
A new day has begun, time to vote, time to vote...
(End of Chapter)