23 Interview

•••••••••••

Four Days Later

•••••••••••

The cool night air was crisp in the bustling metropolis known as New York. Just like what had happened all week, a few hours ago the world awoke from its momentary pause to a crashing wave of cheers and excitement. Tonight though, it had been far more pronounced than any time prior.

This was because the new Halo series had come to a close and the protagonists had barely escaped with their lives. This wasn't all however, as the revelation of the ones under those formidable suits of armor had shook the hearts of all viewers. The scenes of the one called Master Chief, effortlessly mowing down his enemies, and the two armored figures in the first trailer, fighting and dying to save their world, were just too hard to match when those young faces came out from under their helmets.

Some voices tried using the reveal to raise their fame by crying out and claiming that ASTIR was promoting the use of child soldiers, but they were quickly drowned out by the near endless articles hyping up the show. Besides, most people saw Halo for what it was, just a game. Also, that last episode had just been too thrilling.

The gunfights, the drama, the new aliens, it had all compounded upon the excitement growing with each episode to bring forth the most satisfying finale. Now, the people of the Marvel universe were more eager than ever before to get their hands on Halo tomorrow.

•••••••••••

WHiH News, Broadcasting Live

•••••••••••

"…and after tonight's last look at ASTIR's next world, can we even call this 'just a game' anymore? I mean, Pokémon was a full-fledged world on its own, but it had clearly set limits and borders," said a beautiful blonde reporter as she conversed with a redhaired woman across from her. "But Halo? If our analysts are to be believed, Halo has shown an almost certain probability to encompass multiple planets, maybe even an entire galaxy which could be scaled to a full 1:1 model of our universe! That's just insane, is it not?"

The other woman chuckled while crossing one leg over the other before speaking, "We have similar thoughts, or should I say hopes, as you, Christine."

She laughed once more at seeing the barely restrained hunger in the blonde's gaze and fished something out of her purse to hopefully satisfy the reporter.

"In fact, if we take a look at the game menu that's currently available in Pokémon," she said, motioning at her phone where a small hologram popped out which showcased said menu to the camera, "we can see that of the three playable options, [Full Dive] has always been greyed out. The conclusion that Stark Industries has come up with at this time; is that once this mode is unlocked, players will have full freedom to do as they wish in the given worlds."

Christine's eyes were shining as she smiled, now sure she'd struck gold with this interview, "So Miss Potts, is that why SI has opened up its new aerospace branch? Your hoping that once Tony Stark gets into Halo's Full Dive, he can bring out some new goodies for you to sell to the world? I would think that he'd be more interested in those armors, personally."

Pepper Potts laughed good-naturedly and took a sip of water before answering, "Yes, and you'd be right in that assumption. While Tony will no doubt want to tear them apart and see how they work more than anything, he still knows that all those suits he makes cost money. Money that he gets from me."

This time, it was Christine's turn to laugh when she saw the shark-like grin that grew across the redhead's face alongside those words, "And I bet you had to bring down the whip a few times when bringing that up. Hah, I'm sure he's regretting making his girlfriend his CEO right about now!"

As Pepper blushed in reaction to that statement, she pretty much confirmed Christine's speculation. By this point her relationship with Tony hadn't yet been brought out into the public eye and as a professional careerist, she was somewhat angered by the low blow. She was starting to regret agreeing to this interview and so she brought the topic back on track in order to wrap it up as soon as possible.

*cough* "Well, I don't know about that, but I'm sure that the new branch will see SI rising to new heights never before seen by a company in this world. With this addition, we've coordinated with NASA to plan out two new production lines in both Texas and Florida. By the time they're up and running, all we'll be waiting for is the release of Full Dive and then, who knows? Maybe within the next few decades we could all wake up to see pictures of Iron Man landing atop Alpha Centauri," the CEO said, a not-so-small hint of pride seeping into her voice.

Christine was a veteran in this field, and thus took the hint to move on without making a fuss.

"I can definitely see it happening," she said with an amiable smile. "If Stark can manage to figure out how to make the portals all those ships used at the end there, I believe humanity's dream of colonizing the stars might not be so distant after all."

"Well let's just hope that we don't find any of those invisible aliens along the way," Pepper joked.

Christine grinned, "I think by that point Tony would regret not being allowed to look into those armors more."

Laughter could be heard throughout the studio and even Pepper couldn't help but let out a chuckle at that. After a minute to allow for the noise to die down, Christine heard a ping in her earpiece and turned back to face her guest.

"Hah~ as much as I'd love to keep talking with such a successful woman as yourself, I'm afraid we're all out of time for today," the reporter said while getting up to shake hands. "Thank you so much for taking the time to come on tonight. I think I speak for nearly everyone on Earth when I wish the new aerospace branch of Stark Industries success."

Pepper smiled gently while rising from her seat and extended a hand, "Thank you, we'll be sure to not let you down."