Insanity

Part One

Song: Tears of an Angel by RyanDan

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"Cover my eyes, cover my ears,
tell me these words are a lie."

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Bang! Bang! Bang!

Tony Stark jolted upright on the couch, his heart thumping in time with the pounding echoing through his empty house. It was muted and soft as it traveled down the winding, ornately decorated halls, but it was still the unmistakable sound of an urgent knock at the front door of the enormous house.

He was left home by himself often, yet every time it took only the littlest of noises to startle him. It could be something as loud as a machine toppling over in the lab or something as simple as the house popping from the cold, but it would scare him just the same.

Somewhat irritated and powered only by the sake of his own curiosity, Tony pushed the flimsy blanket off of his body and rolled off of the soft, plush couch. An oversized ACDC t-shirt hung loosely over his slim frame, swallowing almost his entire torso underneath its tacky band logo and black fabric. He wore the same red flannel pants his mother despised, but not because she thought they were hideous - though they were - but because they were pilled and fraying along the bottom, which she claimed made him look like a young, homeless man. Tony rubbed the sleep out of his weary eyes and yawned, attempting to flatten his messy mop of jet black hair on top of his head.

The pounding at the front door continued, and he realized that perhaps he was moving too slow. The phone rang loudly, but he ignored it, picking up his sleep deprived pace. Tony quickly made his way to the front door, pausing to adjust the position of the poorly wrapped Christmas gift he had placed under the tree for his mother. He couldn't hardly wait to see her face when she opened the box containing the delicate, dainty necklace she had been eyeing from Cartier; he hoped she'd like it. Satisfied with his rearrangement, he hurried to the front door.

Just as he got to the large, white door, the person behind it rapped on it again. "All right, all right!" he huffed, grabbing hold of the golden doorknob and twisting it to swing the door inward.

Tony had correctly expected to see one of his father's henchmen on the other side of the door, probably here to give him the latest updates on another successful project; though, those were usually planned appointments. Then he and the henchman would sit down and talk about Tony's future but dammit, he was tired of talking about his future all the time. It was as if everyone but he himself wanted to know what he was going to do with his life and when. After that he'd kindly offer the man who interrogated him something to eat or drink and the man would take it, ruffle Tony's hair, and leave without so much as a goodbye. It was the same thing all the time.

Except something in this man's face was different. It was more serious than usual, the grim expression matching the deep black of his suit, and it made Tony suspicious. He flashed his Stark Industries badge, revealing his name to be Obadiah Stane. Tony recalled his father frequently discussing the man and his genius, though Tony hadn't met him before. "Mr. Stark, may I come inside?" Stane asked, the rising sun of the early morning reflecting off of his supremely bald head.

Tony threw a glance over his shoulder; the house was a mess. His parents had been gone less than a day and he'd already managed to leave bowls of half eaten food, unfinished gadgets, and small tools everywhere, littering nearly every piece of furniture. "The house is a mess," he said, his voice still scratchy from having been awakened so suddenly. "But if you don't care then sure, be my guest."