When Sean saw Tony, the man was dressed like a plumber and was enjoying a tuna sandwich...
Emerging from a burger joint with a child in tow, he wore faded jeans, a grimy coat, and had disheveled hair. He was utterly unrecognizable as the billionaire tycoon he once was.
"Hold still right there. Let me take a photo first. The Daily Bugle would absolutely love to feature this look of yours on their front page."
A Porsche Panamera was parked by the roadside.
Sean leaned against the hood like a wealthy playboy out to pick up hot girls, an act that drew equal parts envy and disdain from passersby.
The former reaction came from the six women who had approached him within ten minutes, while the latter stemmed from the same reason.
"Thank God you not only received my message, but actually came in person. I'm touched." Tony ruffled the child's hair beside him, theatrically wiping the corner of his eye in an exaggerated display of gratitude that was about as sincere as a three-dollar bill.
Truth be told, he hadn't held out much hope. Tony had long prepared himself mentally to go it alone... to uncover the truth behind the Mandarin and the bombings single-handedly, even without the Iron Man armor.
This was the pride rooted deep in his heart. Tony Stark had never been one to back down. Even when his life hung by a thread, he would never relinquish the identity of Iron Man...
Sean shrugged, "Indeed. A direct flight from Iceland to New York takes six hours, yet I made it from the other side of the planet to this Canadian backwater even Google Maps struggles to locate in just three and a half hours."
His tone was deliberately casual, as if to say 'this was nothing, don't mention it'... a demeanor that made the bruised and battered Tony visibly uncomfortable.
For once, the usually arrogant Iron Man found himself offering genuine thanks.
"I owe you one." He quickly changed the subject, turning to the child, "Go straight home, stay with your mom, guard my Iron Man suit, and keep your phone on... You're an excellent partner!" Tony paused awkwardly at the end.
Expressing emotions had never been his forte, even with close friends or family. Arrogance and pride were often just a protective shell (like the Iron Man armor) shielding him from external harm.
"Wow, I thought that last line was meant for me." Sean voiced teasingly.
Seeing Tony show vulnerability was rare, and he wasn't about to miss this golden opportunity to needle him. He just had to give the master of snark a taste of his own medicine.
"I'd be silently grateful if you could just not talk." Stark was growing increasingly flustered.
His temper had been frayed by recent anxiety issues, and the whole Mandarin debacle where his reckless public declaration nearly got him killed and Pepper injured had left him simmering with guilt and rage.
"Where to?" Sean tossed him a copy of the evening news, "Theoretically speaking, you're already dead."
The bold headline from two hours ago screamed: «MANDARIN ATTACKS! IRON MAN DEAD!»
The thick black font carried an ominous weight.
No doubt S.H.I.E.L.D. was already on high alert. As an Avenger and a famous superhero, Nick Fury would surely mobilize all resources to track him down.
"I've found some leads about the Mandarin and his bombings." Tony's eyes burned with determination. He was dead set on taking down the terrorist leader.
"You mean using soldiers as test subjects, turning them into human bombs?" Sean's lips curled into a mysterious smile, "Or did you want me to accompany you to Tennessee to find the Mandarin's lair and capture the mastermind behind this?"
"You... knew all this?" Now it was Tony's turn to be shocked.
He'd only just managed to connect the dots by using JARVIS's data models and extensive analysis to link the Mandarin's bombings to the Rose Hill incident in Tennessee, where a military base explosion allegedly caused by a soldier named Charlie Davis had killed six people.
"What did you think I was doing during those three and a half hours on the plane? Throwing parties with models or watching pole dances?" Sean spared no effort in ridiculing him.
Those were precisely the kinds of activities Tony used to adore... gathering a bunch of hot models dressed as flight attendants for wild parties on his private jet.
Such antics were too numerous to count, which was how he'd effortlessly secured his title as New York's most notorious playboy.
"So you're determined to humiliate me into crawling into a hole today?" Tony asked angrily.
He was used to being the one dishing out verbal jabs, not receiving them... especially not while being unable to counter.
From the late Obadiah Stane to Justin Hammer (currently enjoying prison soap), from military heavyweights like General Ross to high-ranking congressmen. Who hadn't been on the receiving end of Tony Stark's razor-sharp tongue?
If they could see him now, they'd probably pop open champagne bottles in celebration, clapping their hands and declaring that karma had finally come around!
Seeing Tony on the verge of losing his temper, Sean wisely backed off. Provoking someone with anxiety issues wasn't a smart move.
"It's not just JARVIS who has massive computational power, and you're not the only one who can build data models to analyze patterns and find clues in vast amounts of information." said Sean.
Tony took a deep breath and asked urgently, "How much do you actually know?"
"About the same as you. Just the location of the Mandarin's Tennessee hideout, a private estate in the suburbs, and the fact they've been experimenting on soldiers. Those bombings were actually failed experiments due to incomplete technology." Sean replied as he started the car, the engine roaring to life.
No doubt Aldrich Killian already knew Tony was alive and would likely send assassins any minute now.
While Sean had no objections to plowing straight through, taking down Killian (hopped up on Extremis), raiding the Mandarin's lair, and foiling their conspiracy... why should he?
Sean had never identified as a superhero. Everything he'd done initially was simply to secure a better life. Then, as his power grew and ambitions expanded, he set his sights on wealth and influence, aiming for the pinnacle of the social pyramid.
Eventually, he realized he could do more. He could create an entirely new future, and even take the whole world for himself.
As Sean had said, he already made peace with the darkness within, embracing his insatiable ambition and desires.
Observer and guide, that was the proper role he had taken up for himself.
"That's it?" Tony curled his lip, secretly relieved the gap wasn't too embarrassing.
"Of course not." Sean grinned, "I also know this all traces back to a prank you pulled thirteen years ago, when you humiliated an overly sensitive fan named Aldrich Killian."
Sean wore a look of pure delight as he savored the stunned expression on Tony's face.
That expression alone made the cross-continental trip entirely worthwhile.
"Killian? Who?" the utterly bewildered Tony asked in confusion.