Chapter 2

One of the few things that could ever break through Tony's mask was civilians and their safety. Rather, their safety was one of the only things that could create cracks in one of the strongest things in his arsenal. Because no matter what Tony would blame himself. A habit he picked up from the constant blame placed on his shoulders throughout the years. 

Most of the time these cracks were only surface deep and easily covered by the literal mask he wore. Because while the opinion on Tony Stark might have changed people still made assumptions. They still seem to fail to see how much different he is from the mask he wears. Even him flying a nuke through a wormhole and fully expecting never to make it back didn't seem to break the assumptions people made so he didn't need to worry.

Of course, the forced occupation of his tower had caused its own cracks to form that was rectified by the crafting of yet another mask. One that perfectly fit with the one he already wore. Though one special made to fool spies and superhumans, one that played of his supposed narcissism and arrogance. Using those characteristics to have an excuse to simply avoid the Avengers more often than not.

Truly only meeting with the Avengers during missions and emergencies. But thus came the downfall of masks that so carefully hid the man the Tony was from the world. 

It should have been a simple mission and it started that way. The only problem came when the enemy so happened to have an emp, one of the few things Tony hadn't gotten around to protect his suits from no matter how obvious it should have been. If it was any other situation Tony might have trusted the Avengers to deal with the threat without him, trust them to at least do their jobs. 

Of course, it couldn't be that simple and it seemed fate itself wanted at least parts of Tony's walls to crumble away. 

The bad guy of the week that seemed to pick a fight with the Avengers came far too prepared it would seem. An emp waiting to take out the only air support while Thor just so happened to be off-world, weapons capable of holding off the two spies long enough for them to be useless, and Bruce being unavailable. The only one able to do much was the Captain himself. 

This is when Tony's one weakness came to rear its head. While Captain was the only one able to truly do anything he was far more focused on the enemy in front of him rather than the damage left in the wake of his march forward. 

It would have been easy to simply stop the building from collapsing from within his armor if it weren't still trying to reboot. He could see the people trapped within and soon to be crushed if no one could help. 

The cracks begin to form. 

He knew he could help, he was fast enough no matter what anyone else believed. Just a twitch and he was already there. Already there holding up the building as the last part of the building holding it collapsed. 

The groan of the building sounded louder in Tony's ears than he thought it should have. Though the sounds of sighs of relief as those in the building managed to get out. The gasps of shock at seeing who was holding up the building however did the opposite. The sounds to surprise and disbelief from familiar voices caused far more tension in Tony's frame than he would have thought. 

A secret comes forth and a portion of a nigh impenetrable wall falls. 

As soon as the last person made it out of the building Tony pulled himself out from under it and  the building toppled. With head down and a recently rebooted suit waiting Tony took off. He knew if he stayed he would have to explain how he could do such a thing.

Though he should have expected the bombardment from the three people alive that he trusted the most. And trust them he did as he told them. Told them everything. How could he not? He trusted them with his life so how couldn't he trust them with his past. Beside, there was no good answer to the questions they were asking besides the truth, and they would have kept asking until they did find the truth. 

The bombardment of questions from various media sources and the teammates still occupying his tower were expected too. Though he had no plan. He always had a plan but the one thing he never thought of planning for was the possibility that some portion of the carefully crafted walls he made would fall. 

So the walls must come down. The outsiders saw in and now crave what's past them. The carefully crafted walls fall. 

While Tony stayed silent trying and hoping the media's attention would blow over. However, with his silence dozens of reports and buries leads were found. Testimonies of those actresses that he had paid to play the part years ago. Numerous bartenders coming forward telling people exactly how much Tony drank, rather they told of the fact that he only ever ordered virgin drinks for himself. People began pulling out facts that while everyone already knew them seemed to have a different meaning when they learned Tony would risk his life without his suit to save a building. The nuke, the various charities donated to, the purpose of the Maria Stark Foundation, and even the countless inventions designed specifically to help people that were produced by Stark Industries were all brought back to the surface. And people's assumptions of the man Tony Stark began to crumble themselves. 

When the media attention to the good that Tony had done didn't just blow over like it always had, Tony had no choice but to come forward. Setting up a press conference was as easy as it had always been. Rather than wearing the special tailored suit he almost always wore during press conferences was replaced with a simple tattered ACDC tshirt and jeans. An outfit that displayed that yet another assumption about Tony was wrong. 

Then the conference began and as Tony approached the mic the crowd hushed. Gazing across the crowd with a look far more open and vulnerable then any of the reporters had seen on man such as Stark. Tony leaned forward and began what would be the final blow to the walls that he had built for years. And he spoke one word…

"Assumptions