V3 Chapter 29 - Aftermath 1 Missing Arc Reactors

May 31st, 2010. 

Near Midnight

A little while after Ryan Angelo left the scene of the incident Tony Stark swooped in and lifted Pepper Potts away to a rooftop.

After an intense argument, a kissing session to make up for the argument and an interruption by Iron Man's best friend who made a getaway with his suit, Tony and Pepper sat on the rooftop as they talked about the things that happened.

"So you nearly died from radiation poisoning!?"

Asked Pepper loudly after Tony narrated his story.

"Yes, but I have already dealt with that and there's no problem now."

Said Tony trying to defuse the situation.

"And you didn't tell me about it before!?"

She continued angrily.

"I was going to but then this mess happened!!"

Tony said trying to defend himself and pushing the blame to the dead man.

"Fine, but this is the last time, next time I will not listen to your excuses."

Pepper gave Tony the ultimatum after hearing his words.

"Great."

Said Tony as he sighed in relief.

"But why did you have to fly me up here?"

Questioned Pepper.

"To get you away from the blast range of the self-detonation of hammer drone...which surprisingly didn't explode?"

Tony said questioning himself by the end of his words.

"It appears so sir, the footage recorded in the visor shows the existence of a Hammer Drone near Miss Potts's previous location which did not explode."

The voice of Jarvis sounded in Tony's ear answering his question

"Got it Jarvis."(Tony)

"Self-detonation!?"

Aske Pepper shocked.

"Yes, Vanko programmed the robots to self-destruct that is why there were those giant blasts happened."

Explained Tony.

"I thought those were fireworks!?"

Pepper responded in shock.

"Why would you think that!?" (Tony)

"I thought it was something you prepared for the event which went off by itself? Because it seemed like something you would do."(Pepper)

"Ugh~ Fine. But why did no explosion happen on this side? Jarvis check the cause of it."

Tony said as he pointed in the direction where Ryan collected Arc Reactors.

"I think I know."(Pepper)

"Tell me, dear." 

Tony asked as he quickly turned towards her.

As Pepper explained what she saw Ryan doing to Tony, Tony asked again for confirmation.

"So you saw a boy...

...wearing black clothes..

...who was riding a bicycle..

...while wearing a Mickey Mouse mask..

...use a tube-like drill to take out Ark Reactor from the Hammer Drone."

Asked Tony while making a strange face.

"Yes."

Replied Pepper seriously despite knowing how weird it sounded from Tony's mouth.

"He even greeted you when he arrived and waved goodbye when leaving?" (Tony)

"Yes."

said Pepper trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Then baby, either this thieving child is extremely polite or we need to take you to a psychiatrist as you might be hallucinating due to stress."

Said Tony as he put a hand on her shoulder as if to comfort her.

"TONY!!!!"(Pepper)

 _______________________________________ 

JUNE 1st, 2010.

SHIELD Headquarters

NEW YORK

04:00 AM

Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. Black Widow entered Nick (Bald)Furry's office dressed in standard issue black shield uniform for a briefing of the events that took place today at Stark Expo.

As soon as she entered the office she saw Nick Fury standing in the corner of the room looking out from the window.

He turned around and said

"Have a seat Agent Romaoff."

She said nothing and took a seat in front of the desk.

"Now while I have received a general report of the events, tell me what took place from your perspective."(Nick Fury)

Natasha put her thoughts in order and started narrating the events in order.

"...So I infiltrated the facility that was the source of the signal but by the time I arrived Ivan Vako had already left in pursuit of Tony Stark."(Natasha)

"I rebooted the suit of Seargent James Rhoades and helped him get back control of the suit after which I did a thorough check on all the data present in the computer drives of the systems present there but found nothing useful."(Natasha)

"Leaving the facility with Happy Hogan 'bodyguard' of Tony Stark I returned to the site and after confirmation that there was nothing to do at that place I received your call and arrived here."(Natasha)

"Very well. Since you already knew about the self-destruct method used by Ivan Vanko I can tell you this."(Nick Fury)

"We were not able to retrieve a sample of the miniature Arc Reactor made by Ivan Vanko due to the self-destruct, but I have received an intriguing but hilarious report compiled by the police department at the statement of some of the civilians."(Nick Fury)

"Here."(Nick Fury)

Said Nick Fury as he passed the report to Natasha.

As she opened the report and read it she slightly raised her eyebrows.

"What do you think?"(Nick Fury)

"About what, Sir?"(Natasha)

"The report. Do you think it's true?"(Nick Fury)

"While I cannot say anything about the boy in the Mickey Mouse mask, I saw a boy dressed in all black wearing a black Ion Man mask in the venue."(Natasha)

"So you think there were two of them in the venue?"(Nick Fury)

"No, I think he changed the mask midway."(Natasha)

"Why?"(Nick Fury)

"Who was the main target of Ivan Vanko?"(Natasha)

"The Iron Man."(Nick Fury)

"You have your answer, sir."(Natasha)

"I see. He removed the target he painted on his face."(Neck Furry)

"Yes sir."(Natasha)

"Do you know how many Arc reactors he collected?" (Nick Fury)

"How many?"(Natasha)

"Eight." (Nick Fury)

"That's!"

Said Natasha surprised by the number.

"Right, this could be dangerous so keep an eye out if you ever see this guy, I feel

something off about him."(Nick Fury)

"Yes Sir."

Said Natasha as she got up to leave.

"Oh, and don't forget to write an evaluation of Tony Star as a potential candidate for the Avengers Initiative. I want it on my desk by noon." (Neck Furry)

'Slave Driver.'

Thought Natasha as she had thoughts about quitting as she walked out of the office.

_____________________________________

JUNE 1st, 2010

Angelo House

NEW YORK

11:00 AM

/HISS~/

As Ryan sat down on the couch he hissed in pain after a tiring morning and a spar(beating) with(from) his Grandma after his morning training.

He quickly realised such days would become normal for him in the upcoming few months as he will have to spar(receive a beating) with(from) his grandma regularly for the next three months starting from next week.

'Thank god I was given a grace period of this week because Sasha's Birthday is on June 4th.'

As he walked back to his room he pulled out a special briefcase from under his bed and opened it revealing 8 Arc Reactors lying inside.

'It was worth it.'

He smiled to himself and closed the briefcase before putting it back as he made plans for Sasha's upcoming birthday.