WHO: Altaïr. WHAT: Opening statements in the Stane trial. WHEN: Tuesday morning. WHERE: Orange County Courthouse. WARNINGS: Mentions of gun violence. Just mentions. No one's getting shot. Yet.
Though the whimsey of fate, or more likely the judge, the Defense made their opening statements first. That was just fine by Altaïr. Stane's team had been playing it very close to the vest, and frankly the DAs office couldn't get a read on what their gameplan was based on the fact sheet requests. Now he'd get to see what they were about.
Apparently the answer was character assassination.
The whole episode was painted by the lead defense attorney as an attempt for Tony Stark to gain more attention for his exploits as 'Iron Man' and that he had been rerouting (it was implied but not accused outright) money from the Irvine Company to fund his mech suits. Stane was being painted a scapegoat for two tragic but unrelated shootings.
Pretty bald faced considering the mountain of physical and financial evidence against Stane, but Altaïr wasn't too surprised. They didn't have much to go on. Still, he was glad Stark wasn't testifying until Thursday.
Standing and taking a deliberate pause, Altaïr gathered his thoughts while the buzz from the defense's accusations die down. The theater of this moment could simply not be ignored.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. This trial is not about Tony Stark." He had to nip that in the bud, since Altaïr already knew they'd rip Stark a new one in cross-examination. "This trial is about greed, pure and simple. Greed that drove a man to twice attempt to end a man's life in order to take control of a corporation that man owns, and the evidence will clearly show this. Obidiah Stane has no right to hide, like a coward, behind the Iron Man in this courtroom. Why?"
His voice, full of contempt and repressed anger, was filling the courtroom, and you could hear a pin drop. "Because the life of Tony Stark he attempted to take on two separate occasions, and was the only thing he believed standing between himself and power. A man he had watched grow up, helped raised in some ways twice hired the mafia to kill. And now, we are expected to believe that man is an innocent? That this is all a misunderstanding? That the financial records, the testimony of the gun men, the reaction of Stane himself after the shooting of Pepper Potts is a misunderstanding?"
He waited, leveling a long, hard stare at Stane. The man didn't blink.
"Unlike the Defense, I will not ask you to believe in fairy stories. Obidiah Stane is wanted Anthony Stark dead, and did everything he could to make that happen. And I can prove it."
Sitting back down, Altaïr didn't look around. He didn't have to; he could hear the reaction.