Tony Stark sighed in annoyance as he looked at the building around him. The lower level of Stark Industry's corporate office was completely wrecked. Broken glass, twisted metal, and blown apart furniture were just the beginning of the list of things Tony was going to have to have cleaned up.
The police were escorting the culprit out of the building in handcuffs. He struggled against his cuffs and cursed at Tony in another language that Tony didn't speak, wincing as the cuffs rubbed a bloody bandaged hand. It didn't matter-he got the point across.
The man had entered the office acting as an applicant turning in a resume. That is, until he pulled a gun on the receptionist and revealed the bomb strapped to his chest. He took the receptionists, security guards, and a group of frightened-looking interns hostage, but not before someone was able to hit the panic button. He shot the place up horribly in an effort to scare them.
Tony had been upstairs in his office when the alarm sounded. The police were no help; as it was a hostage situation, they would not enter the building. The man had demanded to see Tony Stark to deliver a message – it didn't take an absolute genius to figure out what that message was going to be, especially with the bomb ticking away on his chest.
Regardless, Tony went downstairs to meet him – after putting on his mobile suit, that is. After that, it was over quickly. The man had tried to use an intern as a hostage, holding her at gunpoint. It was almost too easy for the suit to target then man's hand and shoot it. The intern had enough sense to jump aside once the man dropped the weapon in pain, allowing Tony to step in and deal with him. However, his biggest mistake was taking the bomb off of the man. Once it left the man's jacket, the timer began speeding up, counting down toward zero at an alarming rate. Tony barely had enough time to dash out the door and chuck it toward the parking lot before it exploded. A few cars were damaged but no one was hurt. The police were able to apprehend the man and Iron Man had once again saved the day.
Most of the people had cleared out; the paramedics were still checking a few people for injuries, and a small line of tow trucks were lined up to take the wrecked cars out of the lot, waiting patiently for the fire department to put out the fire in the last one.
Tony had removed the suit, letting it compress back into its suitcase shaped box while he brushed the seams of his pants for wrinkles. He reached inside his coat pocket for his sunglasses, pulling them out with a frown. The frame was bent and one piece of glass was cracked, crushed against his body by the suit.
Tony chucked the broken glasses to the side in annoyance.
"Figures."
Once he had finished with the police inspector and locked the suit back up in his office, he headed down the steps toward the street. Happy had texted that he was only ten minutes away and would be on his way to get Tony. He squinted as he looked around at the array of sirens and flashing lights. He already missed his sunglasses.
Off to the side of the steps, he spotted a woman crying. He recognized her as one of the hostages; she looked young and was holding her cellphone out in front of her, as if dreading it would turn into a bomb. Feeling slightly guilty, Tony slowly made his way toward her. The bomber had been after him, of course. This poor girl had gotten dragged into it.
"Hey," Tony started casually. "Busy day at the office?"
The woman's eyes widened as she looked up with recognition. She quickly wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark-"
"Tony, please. Only my employees call me Mr. Stark."
The girl blinked at him. "I am an employee," she deadpanned.
Tony smirked then seated himself next to her. "Well, start a new trend. Who knows, it might stick." He purposely did not meet her gaze, instead focusing on the tow truck working in front of them.
"You okay."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the girl nod.
"I'm fine."
"Because, you know, it's okay to be shaken up. I mean, if this sort of thing had happened to me – well, I mean, this does happen to me – but if it hadn't before – I mean, if I wasn't me, and this sort of thing happened to me, I'd be shaken up, you know?" he finished as he glanced over at her.
She gave him a completely blank face, blinking in both confusion and disbelief.
"What I mean to say is that it's okay to be upset," Tony continued to ramble on. "It's only natural. I mean you come to work, thinking it's going to be a normal day, and BAM! You're stuck in the middle of a hostage crisis. I get it; it's okay to cry." He saw her brow furrow slightly at this.
"I'm sorry you had to be involved. I deeply, profusely, apologize," he continued.
She blinked a few times before speaking. "You… you think I'm upset… over today?"
Tony's eyes wandered in slightly confusion. "Uh… yes? Unless I'm mistaken, I'm pretty sure traumatic events can lead to tear-shed."
The woman gave a harsh laugh, shaking her head and looking at the tow truck. "I'm crying because that," she started, her voice constricting and tears springing to her eyes as she pointed at the crumpled heap of metal on the back of the tow truck, "was my boyfriend's car."