Chapter 40: Outing

"The prodigal son returns, and gold cannot be exchanged."

Warren put down his pen and looked at his masterpiece, nodding in satisfaction. He planned to give it to Tony Stark.

The storyline had undergone significant changes. Tony Stark was supposed to be holed up at home during this time, working on his Mark II.

But now, with Obadiah Stane's arrest, he had to step up and take care of the company's affairs. Warren wasn't sure about the progress of his Mark II suit either.

On Warren's side, Harry had already completed the super suit.

It was a full-body exoskeleton that didn't have the flight and offensive capabilities of the armor, but it provided bulletproof protection.

Flight hoverboards, tactical goggles, pulse rifles, pulse pistols—these were the standard equipment for Overwatch.

In addition, there were non-standard equipment such as the drone platform backpack, individual micro-missile launcher, and web-slinging gun.

"Warren."

"Jason?" Warren was slightly surprised.

"You don't come to my office very often."

"Isn't it because you dumped all those things on me?"

"What if I replace you with someone else?"

"That won't do." Their relationship had improved after a certain distance.

"I'm here today because there's something important. My intelligence sources are not sufficient, so you may need to investigate yourself."

Seeing Jason become serious, Warren realized that something significant had happened.

"What's the matter?"

"Justin Hammer is involved in some dealings with the mafia, selling weapons to them. Do you know about it?"

"Well... I know a little, but I haven't paid much attention to it."

Justin Hammer selling firearms to the mafia was something Warren didn't bother with. As long as they weren't selling to terrorists, he didn't have much to say. After all, some mafia groups conducted their trades under a legitimate guise, and it wasn't easy to interfere.

"There's a small town called Mirag not far from where you were imprisoned. The local people were massacred by a terrorist group called the Ten Rings, using Stark weapons..." Jason pulled out a stack of photos.

"Weren't they sold to them by Obadiah Stane?"

"And weapons from Hammer Industries, including the latest micro-missiles." Jason added the latter part.

Warren fell silent and paced back and forth in his office.

After a while, he walked to his desk and rolled up his masterpiece, preparing to leave. He saw Jason and suddenly remembered something.

"I need to go out for a while. Are you staying here?"

"What's your plan?"

"I'm going to visit Tony Stark. Honestly, I haven't officially met him yet... Red Queen, activate the Black Cat Luna."

As he approached the door, Warren turned back and took the photos from Jason's hand.

Overwatch had gained some fame recently because they were tasked with bridging the gap between mutants and humans. They couldn't hide in the shadows like S.H.I.E.L.D.; they had to be front and center.

After each case they solved, they had to give interviews, making them seem like celebrities. Under the influence of online manipulators, they had even gained a considerable number of fan clubs.

However, it was unfortunate that the most suitable person to become a celebrity, Worthington, code-named "Angel," one of the co-founders of Overwatch, didn't care about publicity. For the past two months, he had focused solely on the business sector.

Today, an angel flew over the skies of New York. He didn't conceal his presence, and his three pairs of wings left streaks of light in their high-speed flight, as if a mythical being had descended.

He arrived at Stark Industries with this posture. Tony was there because Warren had informed Red Queen.

"Mr. Worthington, please follow me. Tony is waiting for you."

Just as he arrived, a woman came out to greet him.

Pepper Potts, Tony Stark's secretary.

"Thank you."

They made their way to Tony Stark's office, and Pepper Potts closed the door for them.

"Welcome."

Tony Stark wore a sour expression as he said, "As the holder of 31.7% of Stark Industries' shares... you're the second-largest shareholder, but today is the first time you've come to the company. Don't you care about this asset?"

"If I didn't care, I wouldn't have come to find you."

He tossed the photos onto the desk. "Take a look at this. It's a small town called Mirag, close to where you were held captive."

"What?"

Tony picked up the photos and immediately noticed the missiles bearing the Stark logo.

"They're terrorists?" Without realizing it, his fingers tightened, distorting the photos.

"They're slaughtering civilians."

"With my weapons." Tony closed his eyes in frustration, not wanting to look at the images in his hand.

"And mine."

"What?"

"While I don't know how they acquired them, they... crossed my bottom line."

This wasn't a one-sided matter. On the way there, Warren had already informed a few Overwatch agents to investigate and uproot this gray trading network. Everyone involved would be severely punished!

"They've also crossed mine. Those things shouldn't be in their hands... no, they shouldn't be alive!"

The photos were bloody, with the civilians massacred by the terrorists lying there, reminding Tony of someone.

"I can't rely on the local U.S. military presence to handle this because the terrorists use civilians as human shields. But I can handle it, so I'm going to deal with them."

"Count me in." Tony blurted out without thinking, then suddenly realized what he had said.

"Wait, why did you come to tell me specifically? What have you found out?"

"Three days ago, an unidentified object flew into the high altitude. It was humanoid, and my equipment detected a high-energy reaction in its chest... similar to the data signature on your chest."

Tony, caught off guard by Warren's revelation, nodded. "Looks like I need to upgrade my radar jamming system."

He then stared at the rolled paper in Warren's other hand and asked, "What's this? Any other bad news you want to tell me?"

"This is a gift from the shareholders to celebrate your release."

"Two months late, huh?" Tony unfolded it and found that he couldn't recognize the characters.

"Jarvis, decipher this for me."

"Sir, it appears to be a cursive form of Chinese calligraphy."

"What does it say?"

"It means 'A good transformation is very precious' in Chinese."

Tony glanced at Warren and said, "I've seen Chinese calligraphy before. I have an appreciation for it. But yours... is extremely ugly. Nevertheless, I reluctantly accept it. It will probably be stored at the bottom of a drawer, so no one else sees it."

"Whatever. Are you ready to depart?" Warren asked.

"Not yet," Tony replied. Due to the change in the storyline, Tony hadn't been kicked out of the shareholders' meeting by Obadiah Stane, so most of the armor had been built within the company.

After a while, a golden and red armored suit stepped on flames appeared outside the window.

"I heard you have a set of armor too?" Tony's voice came from the suit.

"It's slightly larger than yours," Warren replied.

Warren jumped out of the window without even activating his light wings.

In the distance, the Black Cat Luna rapidly approached and opened its cockpit door.

Entering and closing the door, Warren switched to manual control mode.

"Wow! This must have been made by a woman, right? The cat ears are cute, and the bell on the tail is playful."

That's a radar system far more advanced than what you have on you!

"Shall we race then?" Warren quickly changed the subject and pulled the control lever, causing the thrusters to unleash powerful propulsion, shooting them into the sky.

"You're on!" The Iron Man armor also activated its thrusters, and the two mechs, one large and one small, broke the sound barrier and ascended to even higher speeds.

...

"Sir, we've detected two unidentified flying objects."

"They're not from the Air Force."

"Or from the Marine Corps."

"Ask Colonel Rhodes from the Weapons Development Department if they belong to them."