Date:04/12/2008
Location: New York, Stark tower , board room
"Closing the weapons division is an insane move."
" I agree , it has our highest growing revenue stream since Howard Stark… Well you know"
"Maybe he's suffering from PTSD ?"
"Please, the man has done worse."
"I propose we put out a statement denying his claim."
This 'conversation' had been going on for over thirty minutes now. Matthew was simply sitting in the background. Hands stapled together as he stares at the old men that would yell at a teenager for checking a message. How does he know that they were the type to do so ,you may ask? Said teenager was him the first time he joined one of these meetings. He guessed getting a seat at the table didn't mean having a say at the table, but right now, he did care and did have a very large say at the table.
" He is the director of the company, he should be clued into this meeting don't you think, Mr. Donald?"
Matthew spoke with authority, more authority than he usually showed. This was a recent change, the once hyper focused teen that only ever cared about his own interest had matured ever since Tony's incident.
Mr. Donald was one of the people that are secretly a part of Stane's faction. Matthew had already done his research on everyone in the room and over half of the people in here were either paid off or promised stakes bigger than their shares once Tony was at least out of the picture. Mr. Emmitt Donald is on the promised more stakes and the most infuriating after Obi.
"Matthew , I think they have a point." Stane had started placating. " He's been acting strange ever since the incident, I think he needs to take a step back from the company for a while."
Stane, ever the schemer, had been trying to get Matthew to act as a puppet head once he got rid of Tony. But Stane always seemed to forget that if it was uploaded to the Stark servers Matthew had already read and cross checked the information before it hit him by word of mouth.
"Exactly we should fill an injunction, and be done with it," another interjected and the rest gave various nods or words of agreement.
" No, I'm not support this. You all either clue him into this meeting so he can at least explain himself or drop the topic." His voice was stern and cut off most of the arguments they had. The slightly annoyed shareholders , noticing that his mind couldn't be changed, reluctantly turned to the next item on the agenda.
----------------------------------------------------------
Location: New York, stark tower lobby
Stane walked out the elevator , only to encounter Matthew scrolling on his phone ,awaiting his ride. His personal guard , he never could remember his name, not far from where he stood. The man was always a shadow that stood guard over him, never too far from his line of sight. It was a bit unsettling how quiet he was sometimes.
"Oh , Matty . I thought you'd left by now."
The young man looked up, tucking the phone back into his pocket.
" I'm waiting for my driver, there's traffic on West 96th Street." He responded boredly, folding his arms , suit jacket pulling over his graphic T-shirt.
From that tone of response, Stane could guess that the meeting upset him and he was either wanting to escape or break something. All the years he'd known the kid that was usually his default. He was much like his son Zeke in that sense, they always had similar ticks but that could be due to the amount of time they've spent in the same room as children.
" Well I'll accompany you, how do you feel about pizza?"
The older man asked out of the blue, his usual stance of his hands on his hips. Raising his brow Matthew frowned slightly.
" Tony would like that more than me, Obi"
And that was right, tony was the one that liked junk food and wouldn't eat it unless it was drowning in grease.
" Ah well, let's get pizza for him and whatever you want. We still have to update him on what's going on, don't we?"
He was only telling him to throw off any lingering suspicion on his intentions to kick Tony out of the picture. But his tactics won't work if he already knows the game. Stane had always taken him along with him on errands or to observe the company, he was more a father to him then he was to his own son. It was a very subtle way to groom him into obeying him without retaliation.
Matthew looked to the guard behind him then back at Stane.
"Okay." it did really come out as reluctance to Stane so he took what he got. This meant that they shared a jet back to California, much to Matthew's dismay.
----------------------------------------------------------
Location: Malibu Mansion
They opened the door and were greeted by both Pepper and Jarvis.
" oh, your back, ill go get Tony" she said before b-lining for the workshop.
Obadiah plopped down the pizza box onto the coffee table and walked over to the piano. Matthew, on the other hand, headed to the stairs, retreating to his room.
Upon entering he powered on his set up of the seaside mansion's monitoring system and looked through the latest updates.
Downstairs , Obadiah and Tony had their conversation but it obviously didn't go well if Tony was already running away from the problem.
Through the monitors , Stane sat back down with a sigh and looked to pepper
"Please try to speak with him, Miss Potts. I'm just trying to help him."
"Well I can't guarantee that he'll listen to me but I'll try, sir." she said professionally, " If anything Matthew should be the one talking sense into him"
" Thanks in advance" Stane stood , checking a recent message on his phone . at the side of the monitor's screen Matthew could see the message sent to him.
> Dr. Montgomery
[ Sir, we have started work on project "iron monger" ]
[Good, I'll work on the power source on my end]
Stane typed back, the door closing behind him , pizza left behind.
After a moment, Matthew decided to at least warn Tony. If he doesn't just out right ignore him and act like Obadiah wouldn't do something because he's "Obi".
But before he could even make it to the workshop ,he stops at the coffee table and dumps the remaining pizza in the trash. His face screwed up into a scowl.