The press room at Stark Industries was a shark tank.

  I stood in the back, near the velvet curtains, nursing a black coffee. My back was stiff. The skin between my shoulder blades still felt tender, a phantom sunburn from where I'd absorbed the reactor flare twelve hours ago. I was wearing a new suit- navy blue, double-breasted because my grey one was currently ash in a dumpster three blocks away.

  Backstage, it was chaos.

  I watched Agent Coulson as he insisted handing Tony a stack of index cards.

  "Here's your alibi," Coulson said. "You were on your yacht. We have port papers in Avalon. You were with your bodyguard."

  "I'm not a bodyguard kind of guy," Tony muttered, reading the cards while a makeup artist dabbed powder on a bruise near his temple. "And this says I had a 'personal security detail'. That's you? You're the detail?"

  "It's a cover, Mr. Stark," Coulson said. "Just stick to the cards. The truth is... complicated."

  Tony looked up. He saw me leaning against the wall.

  "Adrian," Tony said, waving a card. "You believe this? They want me to say Iron Man is a bodyguard. A robot babysitter."

  I took a sip of coffee. "It's a safe story, Tony. It keeps the stock stable. It keeps the government off your back."

  "It's boring," Tony countered.

  "It's necessary," Pepper interjected, fixing his tie. She looked exhausted, her eyes still shadowed from the night before, but she was running on pure professional adrenaline. "Tony, please. Just read the cards. We don't need any more surprises."

  Tony looked at her. He softened. "Okay. Fine."

  He grabbed a burger from a tray because of course he was eating and walked toward the curtain. Rhodey was already out there, warming up the crowd.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  I stayed where I was.

  Coulson stood next to me. He looked perfectly generic, the kind of man you forget the second he leaves the room. That was his superpower.

  "He's not going to read them," I said quietly.

  Coulson looked at me. "He has to. The alternative is admitting he possesses a weapon of mass destruction that he operates without oversight."

  "You know Tony," I said, watching the monitor on the wall. "He doesn't like scripts."

  On the screen, Rhodey introduced him. Tony walked out to the podium. The flashes went off. He looked confident, arrogant, the picture of the playboy billionaire. But I saw the twitch in his hand. He was nervous.

  He sat down, placing the cards on the podium.

  "It's been a while since I was in front of you," Tony started.

  He looked at the cards. He looked at the crowd.

  A reporter in the front row, Christine Everhart stood up. "Mr. Stark, do you expect us to believe that a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared... despite you being found in the middle of the desert..."

  She was good. She was poking the bear.

  "I know it's confusing," Tony said, deflecting. "It's one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations..."

  He was rambling. He was trying to sell the lie, but he hated it as well. Tony Stark was many things- reckless, narcissistic, brilliant, but he wasn't a liar. He was too proud for that.

  I watched his face on the monitor. I saw through him. The moment he decided the cards were trash.

  "There's been some speculation that I was involved in the events..." Tony said, his voice dropping an octave.

  "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark," Christine interrupted. "But do you honestly expect us to believe that you're not the Iron Man?"

  The room went silent.

  Tony looked at the cards. Yacht. Avalon. Security detail.

  He looked at the crowd. He looked at the camera.

  He picked up the cards, hesitated for a split second, and then his ego won. The hero who needed the world to know he had changed.

  "The truth is..." Tony said.

  I smirked, taking another sip of coffee.

  "I am Iron Man."

  The room exploded.

  Journalists were screaming, jumping out of their seats. Cameras flashed so rapidly the screen turned white. Rhodey looked at the ceiling, shaking his head. Pepper closed her eyes, looking like she wanted to scream.

  Coulson sighed next to me. "We're going to have a lot of paperwork."

  "Welcome to the new world, Phil," I said, pushing off the wall. "Get used to it."

  I turned and walked away from the chaos.

  The secret identity was dead. The superhero era had officially begun. And while Tony basked in the light, I walked toward the exit, loosening my tie.

  The silence was over. Now came the noise.