Stane walked through the mansion confidently. After already having disabled JARVIS nothing would get in his way. The arc reactor would be his, Tony Stark would be no more, and everyone would be none the wiser.

He walked straight to the living room already having checked that there was no one in the mansion before he disabled JARVIS. All Stane would have to do is wait for Tony to come in, and he could get the jump on him. He would paralyze Tony then take the arc reactor after revealing exactly what he was going to do with it. He was so lost in thought he never noticed the figure coming up behind him until the needle was already lodged inside his neck. He felt a set of hands grab him as he began to fall and drag him to the very couch he was planning to ambush Tony on. He tried to fight back, to turn his neck to see his attacker but he couldn't move.

It was only when his captor stepped back after setting him on the couch did he get a look at him. What he saw was something he never would have expected. Standing in front of him with a small smirk was Tony Stark.

"Obie Obie Obie," Tony mockingly sighed as he shook his head. "You know I was perfectly content to let you do your under the table deals. The weapons went exactly where I wanted them, I could covered up the removal of your profits from your bank accounts easily enough, and I got a perfect scapegoat if the deals were ever discovered. Wins all around in my books. I got a risk free way to spread my weapons to the darker parts of the world, and you got to think you were getting away with it. It was a perfect set up. But then you had to go and try to get the Ten Rings to kill me."

Stane starred in confused horror as Tony was explaining things. This couldn't be real. Tony couldn't have known. He had helped raise him not to care too much about his business. Not to look to close.

Tony continued heedless of Stane's thoughts, "I didn't take to kindly to that. And neither did my superiors."

Superiors? Tony had no superiors. He was the head of the company.

"After I broke myself out many of them were gunning for your head, but I convinced them to wait. Not out of any sort of loyalty, mind you. I had just recived a new mission when Afghanistan happened. I was to find a way to be a part of, preferably as a consultant, the Avengers Initiative, SHIELD's new idea to deal with global catastrophes. A group of so called heroes to give the world someone to believe in when things are looking bleak. Not what I would have done, but to each their own. The suit I made to escape the Ten Rings gave me the idea of how I was going to be considered. Hey, if Batman can do it with a few gadgets why can't I with a high powered suit?

"Now I just needed a way to introduce it to the public. First thing I did was stop SI's weapons manufacturing. That move endeared me to the public and set the stage for a man trying to make up for his mistakes. Who doesn't like a good redemption story after all? I didn't actually stop making weapons of course but nobody needs to no that. No one will be able to connect the weapons to me in the event the world finds out anyway. I've always been one to cover all my bases after all.

"Next was appearing at Gulmira. It knocked down two birds with one stone. The first thing it did was give the world its first taste of the hero who would become known as Iron Man. He would be seen saving people who the military couldn't, without getting any of the hostages killed. Quite an entrance if you ask me. The second thing that accomplished was an almost complete annihilation of the Ten Rings forces. We had been planning on getting rid of them for a while now. They were too arrogant and kept getting in our way. They even had the gall to try and double cross us.

"Anyway now that Iron Man has been introduced, I just needed a way to show the world I am Iron Man. A situation that gives me a chance to announce to both the world and SHIELD that Tony Stark is a hero, or at least a potential candidate for one. That's where you and that suit you made comes in."

Tony pointed at Stane with a shark like grin leaning forward and placing a hand on either side of his head.

"Every good hero needs a villain. So you will be mine. My tragic backstory will go rather similar to the one you planned out ending with my finding out my Godfather was the one who set me up and tried to kill me. He came here, paralyzed me, and stole my arc reactor (exactly how you planned for this to go originally). Rhodey will find me in my work shop the glass case that housed my old one shattered and the old reactor in my chest, my having just managed to reach it in time after you ripped out my heart and left me for dead.

"After that I will race towards the faculty that houses your suit and where Pepper and the SHIELD agents she brought with her will be being attacked by you in the suit. I will then dramatically burst in just in time to save the damsel in distress and her little entourage. There will then be a big heroic and harrowing fight where in the end I gain the upper hand and you tragically die after you and the suit fall into an overloading arc reactor, destroying all evidence that you, in fact, were never in the suit to begin with."

Tony smiles sweetly.

"You see I've already modified your suit so it can be remote controlled by JARVIS."

Tony nodded at one of the cameras. Stane's eyes widened.

"What? You thought you could really deactivate JARVIS? Please. He is much more advanced than he lets on, and your codes were revoked the moment Afghanistan happened. He is just really good at playing dead. You however will not be leaving this room alive. Don't worry only SHIELD will know this version of the story. To the public you'll have just died in a tragic accident. Maybe a car accident like Martha and Howard Stark?"

Stane flinched at the mention of the elder Starks deaths. He knew it hadn't been an accident, he had identified the bodies after all. Then his eyes widened at the implication. Tony smirked, guessing what he was thinking.

"Yeah. I know how they died. I always have. The thing no one knows is that Anthony Edward Stark has been in the back seat of that car. He had died on impact, a shard of glass through the brain. I was raised to take his place. In fact, it was because I was ready to take his place that the 'accident' happened to begin with. I was tasked to raise the importance and extend the influence of Stark Industries. Of course to do that I needed to know enough about Tony Stark to be able to pass myself off as him even to his best friend. It took several years of study, multiple plastic surgeries, and experiments to get to where even my blood would identify me as Tony Stark. Though I have to say even after all that I went through it was still disappointingly easy to convince everyone I was Tony. No one even batted an eye when I took his place, and any discontinuities were passed of as grief over my dearly departed parents. The sad thing is that Tony Stark didn't have any better childhood that I did. His parents either ignored him or beat him for their own short comings. They didn't even bother to spare a single thought to the teenager that was in the back of the car when it crashed."

Tony stepped back and clapped, "Now it's time for me to go and save the day."

Men dressed in black uniforms came into the room quietly. Two of them broke of to stand on either side of Stane.

"These men will be taking care of you for me. Have fun," Tony called as he started walking toward the elevator.

As he walked passed the men turned and saluted, revealing a red symbol on their backs.

"Hail Hydra!"

Tony turned around and smiled after he stepped into the elevator.

"Hail Hydra."