Chapter 6 - Tony’s Trip to Afghanistan

A steady stream of sunlight filtered through the blinds, casting long shadows across Marcus's desk as he adjusted his monitor to keep the glare off his screen. The office was quieter than usual today, a byproduct of Tony Stark's latest high-profile business trip to Afghanistan. Whenever Tony left the country for a weapons demonstration, things always seemed a little more relaxed around Stark Industries.

The IT department still had to keep things running smoothly, of course, but the tension that usually filled the air when Stark was around had dissipated. The higher-ups, the engineers, the security teams, they were all keeping tabs on the Jericho missile demonstration that Tony was set to showcase to military officials. It was the next big thing, another game-changer in the world of defense technology.

Marcus wasn't directly involved in the weapons side of the company, but the digital infrastructure that supported these projects still needed to be carefully monitored. Especially during a high-stakes trip like this one. His job was to make sure communications flowed seamlessly, that nothing went down on the Stark Industries network, and that Tony's systems were secure while he was in a war zone.

He clicked through a series of network diagnostics, checking for any potential vulnerabilities in the system. Everything was running smoothly. It always was. Marcus had set up plenty of redundancies to make sure of that. Still, he liked to double-check when it came to something this important.

"You hear Stark's speech yet?" Josh, one of Marcus's coworkers, strolled by his desk, a half-eaten sandwich in hand. He leaned against the cubicle wall, grinning. "I heard he totally wowed the military guys out there. Dropped the mic like always."

Marcus looked up and raised an eyebrow. "You mean his usual act?"

"Yup. The man lives for that kind of thing." Josh shook his head in admiration. "Must be nice, huh? Flying around the world, blowing people's minds, and getting paid for it."

Marcus nodded absently, turning back to his screen. "I wouldn't know. I just make sure the network doesn't crash while he's doing it."

Josh laughed, clapping Marcus on the shoulder. "Hey, that's important too. Without guys like us, none of his fancy toys would work."

Marcus offered a half-smile in response, but his mind was elsewhere. Tony was out there changing the world with his inventions, impressing military officials and securing multi-million-dollar defense contracts. And here he was, stuck behind his desk, making sure the servers didn't glitch.

Josh took another bite of his sandwich and walked away, leaving Marcus alone with his thoughts. He leaned back in his chair, staring at the rows of monitors showing data streams from around the globe. He was part of this world, sure, but it didn't feel like it sometimes.

Hours passed in a blur of routine work, with Marcus keeping one eye on the company's systems and the other on his inbox. The office buzzed with subdued energy, but there was a certain anticipation in the air. Everyone was waiting to hear how the Jericho missile demonstration had gone.

The silence broke with the chime of a notification on Marcus's screen. A secure communication link from Afghanistan had been established, sending back data and video feeds of Tony's presentation to the military officials. Everything seemed normal at first, clear footage of the missile firing, military personnel watching in awe as the weapon unleashed its devastating power.

And then, the unexpected happened.

Marcus's heart skipped a beat as the feed suddenly cut off. A stream of code filled the screen, the signal flickering out for a moment before being replaced by garbled static. He blinked, his fingers flying over the keyboard as he tried to re-establish the connection.

"Come on," he muttered under his breath, running diagnostic after diagnostic.

A quick check of the network logs showed something unsettling, there had been a breach in the secure line coming from Tony's location. Marcus frowned, narrowing his eyes at the data. The security measures he had implemented should have prevented this, but there it was. An anomaly in the system, like someone had been tampering with the connection.

"Hey, Josh!" Marcus called out, his voice sharper than usual. Josh popped his head over the cubicle wall, his sandwich now completely forgotten.

"What's up?" he asked, his tone light but his eyes catching the tension on Marcus's face.

"I think there's something wrong with the link from Afghanistan. The signal cut out."

Josh frowned, walking over to Marcus's desk. "Weird. Could be a temporary glitch. It happens with long-range signals, right?"

"Maybe," Marcus replied, but he wasn't convinced. He had set up the system himself, and he knew it inside and out. This didn't feel like a random glitch. It felt deliberate.

The data stream flickered back to life on his screen for a brief moment, just long enough to show a disturbing image - chaos. Gunfire. Men in desert fatigues scrambling for cover. The next frame showed something that made Marcus's blood run cold.

Tony Stark's convoy had been attacked.

The signal cut out again, plunging the screen back into static. Marcus's heart pounded in his chest, his fingers frozen over the keyboard. This wasn't just a technical failure. This was something much, much worse.

"Did you see that?" Josh's voice was low, his usual carefree demeanor replaced by a tense seriousness.

Marcus nodded slowly, staring at the screen as he tried to process what he had just seen. Stark Industries' CEO -the face of the company- was in the middle of an attack, and no one knew what had happened next.