"Almost Identical Twins."
Chapter 1
"Ruler of ALMOST the whole world."
"Good morning, JARVIS." Tony Stark said in the middle of a solid yawn, while walking down the stairs in his blue pajamas and pink bunny slippers.
The head of 'Stark Industries' looked as if he hadn't slept all night despite his efforts to hide it. His normally bright blue eyes underlined with black circles and his already messy, black hair being all the more messy than usual.
"Good morning, Master Tony." The loyal computer replied, preparing some food for his clearly sleep-deprived master. "The nightmare again, Master Tony?" JARVIS asked as he watched his creator sat down in a chair and began chewing on a spoonful of cereal.
His master has been experiencing strange dreams that kept sleep off his eyes, ever since the last anniversary of the elder Starks departure from the world of living.
The playboy sighted and rubbed a hand over his exhausted face. "I don't even know why I'm so scared of it, JAR." He admitted looking up at the computer butler. "It's just my dad speaking nonsense to me before he dies. No spooky monsters, gloomy shadows or even mad rubber duckies." Tony then jabbed his spoon into the bowl full of milk, in frustration. "It peeves me that is scares me so much now, when back then it didn't leave much of an impression." The billionaire snorted before swallowing down another spoonful of colorful hula-hoops. "And the stuff he says are not spooky either. It's just typical 'hallucinating-dyeing-father' talk, you always have in that situation."
"Did he same things as in the earlier dreams?" The program asked gently.
Tony nodded his head and reached out for his cup of coffee. "Yeah kept babbling about some sort of 'second son', begging him for forgiveness for sending him away." The billionaire cringed at the sour taste of the dark liquid. "But, like I said, it's just a stupid dream made of a memory from long ago. It's probably my brains way of saying: 'Yo, Stark. Ya are screwed up.'" He then looked back at the butler. "That's it, right? I mean, I would know if I had a twin brother, right?"
"Most certainty, Master Tony." The program replied, faithfully.
Reassured, the billionaire playboy returned to his coffee. "I just wonder why it keeps coming back, though." He mused. "Not to mention the fact that I always wake up shaken from it, despite it not being scary at all!" Tony then mumbled under his breath: "At least with the mad rubber duckies, I would have an excuse."
"Perhaps it just the stress of being a billionaire playboy, a local superhero as well as a head of a rather large company, catching up to you, sire." JARVIS suggested, taking away the dishes once the man was finished.
Stark sighted and nodded his head, agreeing. "I think you're right, JAR. It's not easy being me, having so many jobs and all…I actually might need a vacation." He then slammed his hands on the plastic table. "But that will come after I finish colonizing the world with my shops and products." Tony said in a loud, commanding voice "JARVIS, show me the map of our beloved Mother Earth with everything I own on it. Let's see if my name is known all over the globe." He added rubbing his palms together.
The computer hummed as a large hologram of the planet Earth appeared in the middle of the large, white table with tiny, orange dots covering most of the inhabitable space.
"Good…good." Iron Man said smiling as he walked around the hologram, enjoying his creation. His company had its own building in every part of the world. Even in those where people don't know how to spell their names correctly yet, and his was proud of it. Particularly because the mayors of those places build schools after his own name.
He kept on smiling until he spotted a rather large dark spot on the map, not decorated in even one orange spot.
"JARVIS."
"Yes, Sire?"
"Why is this place so dark?" He asked, glaring at said space. "I thought we had departments ALL over the globe."
"That, Master Tony, is Gotham City and, if my memory cord serves me correctly, we didn't get permission to 'colonize', as you like to call it, because most of the land is owned by a fellow billionaire, Bruce Wayne who the magazines call, 'The Prince of Gotham'."
Tony's eyes narrowed. "Looks like Pepper was right, we billionaires really don't like to share." He then eyed the city with a critical eye. "That won't do. This place is populated well enough for the both of us to have profit. I see no reason why we can't share the same territory and I want my name on at least one of those skyscrapers. Preferably the one taller than Wayne Tower."
"Our agents have been unsuccessful in persuading your fellow colleague into allowing 'Stark Enterprises', into Gotham's market." The butler informed. "Perhaps you yourself will have more luck, Master Tony?"
Iron Man's eyes narrowed in thought.
He heard some terrible things about that city, its hero 'The Batman' as well as the place's golden boy, Wayne and everything he went through, before he became head of his company. It really wasn't a nice place to live in, being called the 'Capital of Crime' for a reason, but had a lot of wealthy people with healthy purses, ready to buy whatever was on the shop shelves.
It was simply a crime to miss such a golden opportunity.
"JARVIS, prepare my private plane and arrange a meeting with Bruce Wayne." The playboy commanded heading towards his room. "It's time Iron Man meet the Prince of Gotham."