Adam walked down the sleek, glass-paneled corridor with silent, measured steps. The USB drive was safely tucked in his inner pocket. Reaching Obadiah Stane's office, Adam quickly scanned the area. Finding the corridor completely deserted, he quietly opened the office's double doors and stepped inside.
It was early morning, well before the usual executive hours. Adam had deliberately chosen this window to minimize the presence of roaming staff. He walked to the massive desk, woke the computer monitor, and inserted the sleek drive. He waited patiently in the quiet room as Tony's decryption software chewed through the login credentials and exposed the hidden ghost drive. Adam checked the decrypted files and found a goldmine: weapons manifests, illegal shipping routes, and the terrifying ransom video of Tony recorded by the Ten Rings.
Adam quickly initiated the transfer, standing perfectly still in the quiet office as the progress bar slowly ticked upward. Once the copy was complete, he unplugged the USB. However, instead of wiping the system logs, Adam deliberately left the Data Transfer Complete notification lingering in the center of the screen—a calculated psychological breadcrumb waiting for Obadiah to find.
With the evidence secured, Adam turned and walked toward the heavy double doors. Just as he was about to leave, he paused. He turned back to the desk, grabbed an inconspicuous manila folder from the printer tray, and tucked it under his arm.
His alibi prepared, Adam pushed open the doors and stepped out into the corridor, his expression a mask of perfect, untroubled calm.
He didn't even make it three steps before heavy, purposeful footsteps echoed on the marble floor. Obadiah Stane rounded the corner, coming to an abrupt halt as he nearly collided with the young assistant.
Obadiah froze, his eyes narrowing dangerously. His massive frame blocked the hallway. "Adam, what brings you here this early in the morning?"
Adam read the man's body language perfectly. Obadiah's shoulders were tense, his jaw was clenched, and his eyes were scanning Adam for any sign of guilt or panic. The man was highly suspicious.
Adam actively relaxed every muscle in his face. He widened his eyes slightly to mimic innocent, polite confusion.
"Good morning, Mr. Stane," Adam greeted smoothly, holding up the manila folder in front of his chest. "Miss Potts had asked me last night to drop off the finalized quarterly expense reports for your signature. I'm afraid I miscalculated, however. I am accustomed to arriving early to prepare for the day, and I entirely forgot that your secretary wouldn't be at her desk yet. I was just heading back down."
Obadiah stared at him. Adam held his gaze, his face a perfectly constructed mask of polite harmlessness. Obadiah searched for a tell—a bead of sweat, a twitching eye, a nervous swallow—but found absolutely nothing. Slowly, the dark paranoia in his posture dialed back.
"Just give it to me now, I will sign it when I get the time," Obadiah replied with a small smile.
"Of course, sir. Have a wonderful morning," Adam said politely as he handed Obadiah the manila folder he had been carrying. Thankfully, his foresight had compelled him to grab a folder stuffed with discarded, dense legal printouts from the tray; it had the perfect weight and thickness of a quarterly expense report.
He walked past the massive man, his heartbeat perfectly steady, the stolen data safely secured against his chest.
Adam stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby. Only when the metal doors slid entirely shut did he allow his perfectly constructed mask to drop into a deep frown.
'What was that? Why is Obadiah here this early in the morning? Did my presence change something massive, or is the timeline actively correcting itself to force the confrontation?' Adam thought, his mind racing as the elevator descended.
Obadiah watched the elevator indicator tick downward. He shook his head, muttered something about Tony's useless staff, and pushed open the doors to his office. He walked over to his desk, setting his suitcase down alongside the folder, and bumped his mouse.
The computer monitor woke from its sleep state.
Obadiah froze. The blood drained from his face, leaving behind a mask of pure, terrifying rage. Lingering in the center of the screen, just fading from the terminal interface, was a small, unmistakable notification box.
Data Transfer Complete.
Realizing he had been played, Obadiah slammed his fist on the desk. He didn't bother calling security; it was too late for that. He turned on his heel and sprinted out of the office, heading straight for the sub-levels to accelerate his plans.
***
The morning sun was fully up by the time Adam parked the Audi R8 in the expensive underground garage. He bypassed everything and headed straight for the workshop.
Tony was sitting at his desk, nursing a cup of black coffee, while Pepper stood nearby, reviewing a tablet. They both looked up as Adam entered.
"Tell me you have good news, kid," Tony said, his voice carrying a rare edge of nervous exhaustion.
Adam didn't say a word. He simply walked up to the desk, reached into his inner jacket pocket, and set the sleek USB drive on the glass surface. "I have everything, Mr. Stark. The weapons manifests. The shipping routes, and something about Sector 16."
Tony exhaled a sharp breath of relief. He snatched the drive, plugged it into his terminal, and brought up the holographic interface. Pepper stepped closer, her eyes scanning the floating data.
"He's been locking me out of my own company," Tony muttered, his fingers flying across the keyboard. "Look at this… he's been double-dealing under the table for years. Wait. What is this?"
Tony tapped a heavily encrypted file. A video window expanded in the center of the room.
It was the dark, grainy footage from the Afghan desert. Raza, the leader of the Ten Rings, stood glaring into the camera. "...You did not tell us that the target you paid us to kill was the great Tony Stark. As you can see…" The video continued, showing Tony bound to a chair with a black canvas bag over his head.
The workshop fell into a suffocating, dead silence.
Pepper covered her mouth, her eyes wide with horror as the reality of the betrayal set in. Tony stared at himself in the video, his jaw tightly clenched. The betrayal in his eyes was raw and profound. The man who had been a second father to him had ordered his execution.