"Your taste is still so vulgar," Henry scoffed.
"A party is fine, but first, I need a double cheeseburger. A huge one! With double pickles and bacon. I swear I could eat a whole cow right now." Perhaps, being around Tony for so long, Henry had developed a fondness for cheeseburgers.
"A burger? Again?" Tony's voice was filled with disdain.
"Henry, my dear brother, can't you have a bit of ambition? We just got back from that hellhole. We should be opening a bottle of red wine and having the chef prepare a grand dinner to cleanse our palates that were defiled by those Middle Eastern kebabs! Not eating that high-calorie junk food!"
"I want a burger," Henry insisted, his tone leaving no room for argument.
"And it has to be from that burger joint next to Randy's Donuts on the corner. Their patties are the juiciest."
"Fine, fine, you win," Tony sighed helplessly. He knew that in some matters, Henry was even more stubborn than he was.
"We'll go for a burger first, but it has to be my favourite place; their fries are freshly cut. Then, we'll go home and party! This is my final concession as your older brother!"
"Deal."
Under the setting sun, the sound of the two brothers bickering, accompanied by the roar of the sonic boom, echoed through the sky. The journey home, thanks to their mutual complaining, didn't seem so long after all. They were like two kids returning from summer camp, discussing their lives once they returned.
"Seriously, your black Armor, even though it looks a bit cooler than my silver one, is highly impractical," Tony flew around Henry, critiquing the Armor he was wearing.
"Look, there are no external ports. You can't even install a missile or a laser cannon anywhere. Also, no helmet. What if bird droppings fall on you? That would seriously affect your cool image in battle." Tony was utterly confident that his aesthetic sense was the best.
"Firstly, I don't need all those flashy weapons. My fist is the best weapon," Henry said with an expression that implied Tony just didn't get it.
"Secondly, at my flying speed, no bird can catch up to me. Finally, and most importantly, my face is God's masterpiece. Covering it with a helmet? That's blasphemy against art."
"Narcissist," Tony muttered quietly on the comms channel.
"It's a fact," Henry countered unreservedly.
Tony was speechless. Though they were both Starks, he couldn't understand why there was such a huge difference in appearance between him and his brother. If he had to compare, he looked like an older man, while Henry... well, a stat-monster doesn't deserve a comparison.
They continued bickering like this, flying from day to night, and then from night to dawn. Soon, the familiar steel jungle of Los Angeles appeared on the horizon, and both their spirits lifted.
"Alright, all I want to say now is, the great billionaire Tony Stark is back!" Tony cheered, suddenly accelerating and overtaking Henry.
"Hey, the race is on! The last one to the burger joint pays for the winner's burger!"
"Childish," Henry said, but his body was honest. He instantly turned into a black bolt of lightning and chased after him.
The two streaks of light, one silver and one black, engaged in a reckless chase across the skies of Los Angeles. They sometimes weaved through the gaps between skyscrapers, sometimes zipped across the squares, drawing countless citizens to stop and look up, gasping in amazement.
Jarvis: "Warning! Mr. Stark, your actions have severely violated multiple FAA regulations and could cause widespread traffic disruption..."
Jarvis: "Warning! Mr. Henry, I detect a commercial flight approaching ahead. Please evade immediately..."
Jarvis's gentle warnings constantly rang out in their comms channel, but clearly, no one was listening.
In the end, they arrived at the unassuming burger joint almost simultaneously. With two loud thuds, they landed heavily in the parking lot in front of the store like two meteorites, leaving two shallow craters and sending surrounding customers and passersby scattering in panic.
"I win!" Tony was the first to emerge from the crater, announcing triumphantly.
"I landed first," Henry followed closely, brushing the dust off his suit.
They ignored the terrified and curious stares around them, as well as the rapidly approaching police sirens, and walked straight into the burger joint.
The customers and waiters inside the store were dumbfounded. An Iron Man in silver high-tech Armor and a mysterious man in pure black Armor with a cloak just swaggered in, as if this were their private club, not a fast-food restaurant.
"Sirs, what can I get for you?" A slightly braver waiter tremblingly stepped forward to ask.
Tony's faceplate lifted. He found a window seat and sat down without hesitation: "A double cheeseburger for me, please."
"Same for me," Henry sat across from him and added, "Double pickles and bacon, please."
Just as they were waiting for their burgers, a black Audi sedan stopped outside the store with a beautiful power slide. Pepper and Happy rushed out of the car. Jarvis had informed them half an hour earlier.
Pepper quickly spotted the Stark brothers, who were sitting safely, about to dig into their burgers. Her face instantly registered a mix of ecstasy, anger, worry, and helplessness.
"Tony! Henry!" She hurried to the table, her voice slightly trembling with emotion.
"You... you two bastards! Do you have any idea..."
"Hey, Pepper, calm down."
Tony picked up his newly arrived burger, took a huge bite, and mumbled, "Whatever it is, wait until I finish this burger. I swear this is the best thing I've ever tasted in my life."
Although Tony said this, he quietly sighed inwardly. He knew his assistant must have suffered a lot during this time.
Henry also picked up his burger and started eating, not forgetting to smile at Pepper: "Good afternoon, Pepper. Your new hairstyle is very pretty."
Pepper looked at the two carefree men, and the weeks' worth of worry and anger she had built up felt like punching cotton—nowhere to vent. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
"You two have to come back with me. Now, immediately!" she said in an undeniable tone.
"The outside is surrounded by reporters and police. Do you want to be on tomorrow's front page?"
"Front page? I'm on the front page every day; I'm used to it." Tony took another bite of his burger, totally unconcerned.
"But since you're here, that's perfect. Arrange a press conference for me. Set it for an hour from now. I have some things I want to share with the world's friends."
"A press conference?" Pepper was stunned. A press conference is the first thing Tony wants to do upon his return, before even going home?!
"Yes."
Tony finished the last bite of his burger, burped contentedly, and wiped his mouth with a napkin. He stood up, walked to Pepper, and said in a low voice: "Some games need to end. And some new games need to begin."
His eyes held a mix of relief and conflict, but they ultimately hardened with determination. He knew what this decision would mean, but he still chose to do it. It was his way of making amends to those people and to himself.