Chapter Text
Tim was frankly lost. He had no idea where this guy had come from. It’s almost as if he just appeared randomly one day, which is generally not possible but not unheard of in his area of expertise. The guy didn’t seem like an alien from space or anything like that though.
Peter Stark. A name that meant nothing five years ago. Tim doesn’t even know if it existed before five years ago.
He’s the twenty-two year old head of the tech industry. Above Luther, the Queens and even the Waynes. Tim couldn’t stand it. How is some nobody who has been in the industry only three years better than him? It’s like he randomly appeared one day with a company, revolutionary ideas and technology without any practice in the field at all.
He was not jealous.
Peter didn’t even have an engineering or tech job before he got bought a building for the company! Not even a degree! Hell, he didn’t have a job at all from what Tim can tell. How did he even get the money to buy the it at all? Theft? Trafficking?
Tim hates mystery’s, and Peter Stark is an enigma impossible to understand. There’s nothing to go off of before five years ago digitally outside of two pictures on a random facebook page over a decade ago that he can’t even be sure is him.
He is a total ghost except when he wants to be noticed. Yes, Tim has mildly been stalking him through CCTV footage, but sometimes he just randomly disappears!
He knows he should take a break. Bruce told him so hours ago. But he needs to get to the bottom of this. As he takes a sip of his coffee, he makes a deal with himself to pull him out of his misery.
One week, I'll do one more week of research by any means I can reach digitally before I try more abnormal methods of investigation in person.
He ignored the part of himself that was fuming with jealousy. He had no reason to be, right? This man was a fraud, not an attractive, genius, self-made multi-millionaire who also happened to have a mysterious past. He wasn’t smarter than Tim. Tim was just so lost on why everyone kept talking about the guy yet he had so many holes in his identity.
Most people have a few flaws when he looked into them. It’s normal. But Stark had so many mysteries surrounding him whenever he tried to search his past.
Maybe he just hadn’t been digging far enough? He did only do a surface level search. His emotions were clouding his judgement. The guy could be a totally normal person who was just really smart.
But if he was a totally normal person he wouldn’t have anything to hide, right? A little digging never hurt anybody. And if he was this genius like everyone claims than all his secrets should be hidden well enough anyways.
He took a deep breath and tried to think rationally about this and conduct a plan. After a second breath he quickly fell into unconsciousness.
***
After he promptly passed out the day prior during the whole Stark thing, he had investigating to catch up on.
The first thing you always have to do when digitally stalking someone is to check whether or not their entire identity is real or not. Because if you’re hunting down a person and you only see the parts they want you to see that are all fake, you’re doing a bad job. You first have to see if their identity is legit at all so you at least know to take everything you see with a grain of salt if it’s fake because it’s likely what they want you to see so you don’t look closer.
Tim looked at all his documents from his social security number to his birth certificate and school records yet he didn’t know what to think. They look real yet he knew something was off…
The font! Birth certificates don’t use that font! It’s near identical but it’s wrong. Everything else is spotless which almost made him miss it. So his identity was certainly fake, yet done well enough no one has noticed yet. At least that he knows of.
Another thing that was off was his records of going to high school and graduating. He isn’t even in the school’s database. But even weirder was that he was in the yearbooks every year since kindergarten.
This guy is definitely hiding something.
His social security number looked normal to a person who knew nothing about them but Tim could tell that it was a number that likely originally wasn’t going to be used for at least a decade until he claimed it. It was a smart move as it made sure no one else would get the same one before the government realized it existed. They would likely brush it off as an internal error and let Stark keep it without even mentioning it to not have extra work to do.
Thats if they even question it in the first place. They are meant to be random.
Tim then went to the normal stuff that the public has easy access to, if nothing else than to cover all grounds. It would be odd to know so much about him without knowing the details that half the country does. It would also give him insight on his personality, although he doubts he will get any real answers.
The guys Instagram was normal. He posted pictures only of himself and his business which made it hard to tell who he knew outside of professional relationships. He almost questioned whether he had any friends at all but he figured that if he did he would probably not post them too much in the public eye. The guy was a splendid photographer though. Tim almost wanted to take photos with the guy himself.
Tim, get it together, you are investigating the guy, not going out with him.
Outside of his photography skills he could see Stark had a bunch of pet spiders he posted frequently.
Weird, not that Tim can judge. He could tell that he really cared about the spiders, for some reason.
His TikTok was mainly made up of professional videos of fundraisers, galas, launches among other videos for Stark Industries. It also had a variety of videos of Stark himself as he scrolled.
Most of the videos of himself were just random trends which made Tim curious.
He did not take Stark for the type of person to follow TikTok trends. He is his age, though, so he isn’t too surprised.
The few other videos were just lighthearted jokes so he didn’t have much to go off of there.
He followed zero people and his liked videos were private. He could probably find a way into his account but he didn’t want to risk it. His reposted videos had a similar tone to his posts which made sense, most celebrities don’t go openly posting their deepest darkest secrets online but you would be surprised.
(He quickly got out of the app once he saw a thirst edit of the guy.)
He looked at all his other public socials yielding similar results. He couldn’t find any personal accounts and he refused to ask for Barbara’s help on this. He was going to figure this out by himself.
So, he was going to end the search for the day by looking at some interviews of his. He had very little compared to most CEO’s due to the company only existing for five years and two of those he was likely fighting for exposure but he still had a lot for the amount of time he was active.
He clicked the first one caught his eye. It was his interview with the second most views, his first interview. Most CEOs first interview were very boring and only about where a company is headed. Usually because there hasn’t been any controversy or drama about the person yet that can spark more speculative questions.
The video started out slow, as most interviews do. Stark and the interviewer both in chairs introducing themselves over small talk before the interviewer started actually asking the real questions.
“Where do you see the company in 5 years?” A mediocre question, but everyone has to answer it once. It gives competitors a sense of how much they should pay attention to them, Tim noted. However, the answer would all be business and not what he was looking for…
”Surprisingly I don’t have an answer for that at the moment. As tech advances you cannot predict where it will bring you and what it will allow you to create and bring to life. At the moment, a lot of advancements are just on the rise in numerous amounts of fields and we don’t know where they will end up. However, I do see the company doing what it does currently. Trying to make a better world for people.”
Fuck. That was a good answer. He really needed to be suspicious and hate this guy until he got answers to his questions but it seemed like that might be hard when the guy seemed like such genuinely good person. If he continues to answer questions like that Tim could see why the public loved the guy as much as they do.
However you didn’t have to be a genius to see the guy had good PR training. He strategically answered the question without giving any insight into what the company was actually doing.
“That’s a big promise to make to people.”
The real question is if he was hiding it from the public specifically or competitors.
”Yes. Yes it is. I wouldn’t make it if I had any doubts in keeping it.”
He seemed so honest and open about it too it was driving him insane! He gave no details yet said it in a manor that it was hard not to believe him! If he went out as CEO of Wayne Industries and started making promises like that people would think it was ‘too good to be true’ or that he was mad like Luther! He had years of training for undercover and PR and not even he was this good.
Tim quickly tuned back in to the video as the next question was being asked, hoping for something that would give him insight.
“Are there any plans for expanding into new markets?”
An interesting question, good for striking controversy, although still boring.
”Well, as we work with technology and engineering there is a vast amount of markets we can pursue. As many know one of our main objectives as a company is clean energy but we also work with consumer and information technology. Outside of those markets I could see Stark Industries moving to public infrastructure and disaster relief and providing more services for the people. However, that would be after cementing our place in our current markets and fully stabilizing. As our company is still in its early stages it may take a while to broaden our horizons. Only once we are a household name held on the same level as Star Industries, Wayne Industries and Luther Corp will we expand to that extent. We aren’t quite in the major leagues. Yet, of course”
God, Tim wanted to punch that smirk off his face by the end of that. He couldn’t tell if the underlying cockiness of him was genuine or another mask. The answer was general enough to not spook others yet precise enough to get the people to trust him if he went through on his promises.
Where did this guy come from…
“Yes, you are still new to the world of tech, am I right?”
Finally, a good question that’ll give him answers.
”Yes, the company only officially started six months ago.”
Okay, give him nothing actually. What the fuck.
“Now, where did you get the money and experience to start a company, especially one of this caliber?”
Yes! He has to give Tim something with this answer, no matter what he says.
”Ah, I had a mentor. He took me under his wing when I was younger and taught me everything I know. He was an amazing teacher and led me to where I am today in every aspect. You could say at some point the student became the master and here we are today!”
Tim paused, was? Stark has said that he was an amazing mentor. It could mean a lot of things but it made him question where his supposed teacher was today.
Although, where does someone with as little background as Stark does get a mentor like that? Especially with a fake identity. Was this mentor before or after he faked his identity? It would make more sense if it was before but then people would know who Stark was and he couldn’t get away with the switch.
“Could you tell us more about your mentor?”
”Yeah, of course. He was brilliant. The smartest man I have ever met when it comes to our work, a genius at heart. Although he was rather smug about his talents at times there was no denying he was incredibly gifted. Even though he had an ego the size of Mount Everest he was an amazing teacher when he wanted to be. I have taken in a lot of traits and knowledge from him that make me lead the company the way I do today.”
It definitely wasn’t a mistake, he continued to use the past tense when referring to him. Well, that likely means he’s out of the picture or, well, dead.
But, he still can’t help to wonder where this mentor came from. Either this mentor never existed and Stark is lying, or he somehow acquired a mentor smarter than Barbara with technology, Tim with engineering and better than Bruce Wayne with public relations.
Tim suddenly was more suspicious. He couldn’t help but think Stark was telling the truth about helping people and that he had a mentor but he was still lying about something and not just his identity.
Stark did say that he had taken to a lot of his mentors traits. Tim couldn’t help but wonder if he meant his smugness too with how he answered certain questions.
“Is he the reason you started this company?”
How did he even start this company?
“In a way. I started this company because I wanted to help people. I used the knowledge he gave me to make it. This company wouldn’t exist without him but he isn’t what inspired me. Helping people has always been the main inspiration.”
Again with helping people. He either really does want to help people or he’s doing something bad enough behind the scenes where he really needs to push this agenda.
“Why is helping people such a priority in Stark Industries? Various other companies thrive without the parameters of the people in mind. What drives you?”
”With great power comes great responsibility. I have the power to help people, and make their lives better. If I have the power to stop something bad from happening to people lives, and I choose to do nothing, I feel directly responsible for the consequences. I can help improve lives, so I do it. I understand not everyone has that privilege but I fully believe those who do have a responsibility to step up and do the right thing.”
Tim was surprised. He knew exactly what Peter was talking about, lived it everyday as a vigilante. He wanted to interrogate Stark in person right then and there and figure out who he was behind his public persona. However, he couldn’t. He made a deal and the guy had a genius mentor that no one has ever heard of prior and training on how to guide conversation into questions he was prepared to answer among a dozen other PR tricks that also had a lot to do with how to manipulate and control people.
A company doesn’t just fall into your hands overnight. How did you do it?
He quickly got out of the video after the interview concluded and went to the next one. His most viewed interview. There were a few shorter interviews in between his first and most recent but he had a feeling he should watch this one first.
The interview was taken just a month ago. It was obvious that time had passed from the first interview just based on Starks appearance. It was more refined than the one previous, intentional with how even the smallest detail was placed.
Its started out similar to the one watched prior before the crowd settled and the questions began.
”Some time has passed since you have last spoken directly to the public, has anything changed since then?”
”Yes, I haven’t had an interview in almost a year now. Stark Industries has grown an unimaginable amount since then. However the biggest change would have to be the fact that we have been able to implement clean energy in a wide array of cities across the United States. Including Gotham, which I would say is a grand accomplishment that many people thought was never possible.”
Right, it had been Stark Industries who had made clean energy easily accessible for all of Gotham. Even Crime Alley.
“Yes, that is right, how did you implement that? Especially in Gotham of all places.”
It had to have been tedious work. Wayne Industries had been attempting it for years and it could never be done widespread in Gotham before Stark Industries.
”It was a lot of hard work and talking to investors and city officials across the country but I must say that it was worth every minute of time that was spent on it. In Gotham specifically you can tell that the people really need not only hope, but the resources needed to improve.”
“What is next in the works for Stark Industries as clean energy becomes more widespread?”
What is Stark Industries planning? What is his goal?
”Currently, I can’t announce much without spoiling the surprises, but I can announce the fact that we have a new tech release in a month that we are showcasing it in a week. It will show many features that have never been seen before to the public eye, and ahead of all of our competitors if I may say so myself. But enough on that, more will come out about it during the official showcase.”
That means Tim will need to get his engineers to speed up their new project as well to keep up with them. That’s going to be a problem for their stocks.
“Speaking of competitors, who is your biggest competitor right now?”
It better be him.
”By far Wayne Industries.”
Hell yeah. At least he gets a small ego boost with all the problems he now needs to deal with.
”Can you elaborate on that?”
“Before Stark Industries, the Wayne’s were far and away the best in the field when it comes to consumer electronics and clean energy. Even though Stark Industries has paved its way in the market, we have yet to build the trust Wayne Industries has with their customers due to our age.”
At least he knows Wayne Industries is good. Even if he threw a little shade while admitting it. Tim doesn’t think he could stand the recon he would have to do if their sales took too much of a hit.
“Yes, that does make a lot of sense. Do you have a strong opinion on their work as a company?”
Please say good things…
”They are doing good work, I must say. Even though I have a little bit of a personal bias I can recognize that they have made a lot of advancements for our industry. I do believe we excel in different ways, however. Stark Industries is the top of the line for what we do but Wayne Industries has branched out a lot further than we have currently been able to, so they provide a different experience in that regard.”
Thank god.
“Do you have an opinion on the head of Wayne Industries, Tim Drake, and his father, Bruce Wayne?”
What kind of question is that?
”I have never met either of them but I have no doubts that they are amazing people. Bruce Wayne has done wonders for Gotham. I could tell immediately in the time I lived there that he means a lot to the city. I know considerably less about Tim Drake but I am not opposed to meeting the man. He is rather attractive and smart from what I hear. Maybe we could even go out to dinner one night” He ended with a wink and a smirk.
‘Oh, god. This was why everyone was mentioning him to me?’