At daybreak—no, even before the sun had even risen—news of the dinosaur invasion of Manhattan had already saturated the entire internet.
Batman had only symbolically transported a few dinosaur carcasses back to South Brother Island for Dr. Otto and his team to study. Meanwhile, through the charitable arm of the Parker Group, he began processing compensation for almost every civilian who had suffered property damage due to the dinosaurs.
It was a strategic move. Just as Silver Sable had established Silver Sable International and rocketed to fame by rescuing Tony Stark from the Middle East, the Parker Group's charitable organization used this action to expand its influence, indirectly boosting its subsidiary insurance companies.
Batman rarely touched the business side of things; aside from essential decision-making, he left everything to Alice's management. At that moment, Batman had just finished a stint of coding for the Alfred AI.
He shed the Arkham suit and changed into a dark brown business suit, taking a seat on the ground floor of Stark Tower.
Since the Stark Expo had been burned to the ground by the Crimson Dynamo, Yuri Petrovich, and had yet to be rebuilt, Tony Stark had chosen the lobby of his own tower as the venue for his press conference.
Currently, Batman was attending the conference in his private capacity. Alice sat not far from him, representing the Parker Group. Aside from Batman and Alice, hundreds of people from various circles were gathered, with journalists and photographers making up half the crowd.
While the dinosaur invasion from the previous night was certainly the focus of attention, many were equally concerned with Tony Stark's private bodyguard, "Iron Man," firing two missiles at the Baxter Building and destroying an armed NYPD helicopter.
Interest in these events was high, so when Tony Stark announced he would hold a press conference today, it didn't take long for the first floor of Stark Tower to become packed.
Tony Stark had not yet arrived. Standing behind the lectern in front of the bustling crowd was Pepper Potts. She was delivering formal platitudes, doing her best to find excuses to deflect the reporters' sharp questions.
Among them was whether Iron Man's assault on the Baxter Building qualified as a terrorist attack.
Batman noted that the reporter asking this question was none other than former Daily Bugle journalist and a host of Venom—now freelance reporter Eddie Brock. He held a sheet of paper covered in dense notes, clearly prepared with a barrage of questions for the conference.
"Terrorist attack" was merely his opening salvo.
"In fact, Iron Man's actions have absolutely nothing to do with a so-called terrorist attack. At the time, his primary mission was a rescue; the damage to the Baxter Building was incidental..."
Pepper explained somewhat haltingly:
"Iron Man did not engage in any subjective behavior during this operation that endangered the scientists inside the Baxter Building. Furthermore, in the subsequent dinosaur invasion, we all saw how hard Iron Man fought to repel the threat."
With a solemn expression, Eddie Brock followed up with a second question:
"We don't deny Iron Man's contribution to repelling the dinosaurs, but Ms. Potts, were Iron Man's actions carried out under the instructions of Mr. Tony Stark?"
"This..."
Pepper was momentarily speechless. She couldn't say Iron Man was acting under orders from Stark Industries, as that would have a devastating negative impact on the company. Nor could she claim Iron Man's actions were beyond the company's control—saying that would be even worse than the first option.
Sitting below, Batman knew that not only Eddie Brock but every other reporter present had even thornier questions ready. He wanted to see how Tony Stark would handle this.
Clap, clap, clap—
Just as Pepper was being backed into a corner by Eddie Brock, a series of rhythmic claps echoed from the direction of the stairs.
Tony Stark, dressed in a charcoal gray suit, walked down from the second floor, clapping his hands to draw everyone's attention to himself.
"Mr. Stark!" The reporters immediately grew restless. Compared to Pepper, they much preferred a direct interview with the playboy of the Stark empire.
"Gentlemen, it's been a while since the last press conference."
Tony pressed his hands down, signaling the reporters to stay calm, and walked to the lectern.
"Regarding what happened last night, I will give everyone an explanation. As for how that explanation goes..."
Tony pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it.
"I'll just read from the script."
Amidst light laughter from the floor, Tony Stark cast a discreet glance toward Peter Parker.
Seeing that this guy—who just hours ago had been wearing a black Batsuit with a smug attitude—now wore the same smile as everyone else, Tony couldn't help but groan internally. He leaned into the microphone and began reading the script line by line:
"I know some people must suspect that 'Iron Man' acted outside of my control when he launched the attack on the Baxter Building."
"Others believe that I, Tony Stark, orchestrated the entire thing."
"But I want to say, you are all wrong."
Tony had only read a few sentences of the script when Eddie Brock immediately stood up:
"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, do you expect us to believe that Iron Man appearing at the Baxter Building followed by a dinosaur invasion was just a coincidence?"
Tony raised a hand to stop Eddie Brock from speaking, keeping his head down as he looked at the script. "Wait, let me find how I'm supposed to answer that..."
"Here it is. The official version is that I received a distress signal from the Baxter Building. Upon finding it under lockdown and given the urgency of the situation, I had no choice but to have my bodyguard, Iron Man, breach the wall rather than waiting for Reed to open the door personally."
Eddie Brock shook his head.
"Mr. Stark, according to the data released so far, Iron Man fired two anti-armor missiles. If the goal was simply to enter a building, I don't think Iron Man needed to do that."
"Glass curtains, ventilation ducts—there were clearly many other options, yet Iron Man chose the most brute-force method and later destroyed a helicopter."
Tony Stark looked at Eddie Brock. The man looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he had seen him.
"Maybe my bodyguard is like me and prioritizes efficiency? Or..."
Eddie Brock was quick to seize the opening in Tony's words:
"Are you implying that you yourself are..."
"No, no, no. Questioning the official story is one thing, but making wild accusations or hinting that I am actually a superhero flying all over the place is quite another," Tony Stark quickly denied.
"Mr. Stark, I never said that," Eddie Brock countered.
The press conference had fallen into a stalemate almost as soon as it began. Tony had prepared a whole set of rhetoric that could perfectly cover for that idiot Peter Parker.
But as a stiff atmosphere settled over the room, Tony Stark stared at his notes for a long time.
"Regarding yesterday's events..."
Another reporter interrupted:
"No, Mr. Stark, there's also the matter of Iron Man's battle with Obadiah at the weapons factory, and the situation when the Crimson Dynamo set fire to the Stark Expo."
Tony Stark took a deep breath and continued reading from the script:
"As my bodyguard, protecting the assets of the Stark Group is one of Iron Man's duties. In fact..."
At this point, Tony paused. He looked down at Peter Parker, then let out a heavy sigh. Addressing all the reporters and the cameras, he said:
"I am Iron Man."
Boom. Everyone except Peter Parker lunged to their feet. The resulting roar of noise sent Happy Hogan scrambling toward Tony, desperately trying to hold back the tide of reporters who were frantically surging toward him.
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