War Machine

Monaco GP VIP room, Monaco-

-May 22, 2010, 1430h local-

"Tony, good to see you and your family here." Justin Hammer greeted the Stark family with his slimy, over-the-top confident swagger.

Pepper almost unconsciously moved Morgan out of Hammer's line of sight. Tony stepped forward to 'greet' Hammer while covering the fact that he's hiding Pepper and Morgan.

Naruto and 'Natalie' were fascinated by how Pepper and Tony both perceived Hammer as a possible threat at the sidelines—acting together just like a pair of wolves protecting their pup. Naruto can't even blame them since Hammer kind of reminds him of Gato. Both are overconfident assholes with fuck ton of money who just happens to be pussies. And they smell bad too, can't forget about that. Why the hell did he even buy those kinds of cologne?

"Hey, my least favorite people on Earth." Tony greeted with a fake smile, clearly not wanting to talk with Hammer.

"Hey, pal!" But Hammer clearly decided just to ignore Tony's tone and push through the conversation.

"How did you get in here? Shouldn't you be on the floor below?"

"Some people have fancy cars too, you know?"

"Oh right! You guys had to rush to build your car, and it barely passed the committee. Some are even suggesting to downgrade your car to Formula 2 just in case."

Naruto, with his enhanced hearing, could hear Hammer grinding his teeth. So he signaled Natasha to take Pepper and Morgan away and seat them on a table. There's no way in hell Naruto would miss Tony roasting Hammer.

"How about we make a little bet?" Tony just raised his eyebrow to show his curiosity. "My team will finish on the podium for the Constructor's Championship."

Tony couldn't help but release a full-blown laugh followed by a chuckle from Naruto.

"Oh, come on, Justin! Can't even take the Championship from me?"

Hammer's expression darkened for a bit before he covered it up with his usual expression.

"Be careful, Tony. I have a presentation at your expo that might just bite you in the ass." Hammer couldn't be more ominous if he tried.

"Well, I wish you the best. I think." Tony replied before walking away.

"The bug is still active, right?" Naruto asked when they're quite a distance away from everyone.

"Nope, already gone..." Tony replied, emphasizing the 'p.' "The seal?"

"Do you even have to ask? Of course, it's active..." Naruto pulled out his phone and sent a quick text before continuing. "Vanko is already in the land of Baguettes. It's almost one hundred certain that they'll fucked up somewhere, and he'll 'die.' You know how it is."

"Then the copycat will land in the hands of another copycat." Tony groaned out. He really hates copycats.

They moved towards their reserved table at the corner of the room. Morgan was already eating a cheeseburger while Pepper ordered a house salad. She also ordered a steak for Tony, which was already placed at the table.

Natasha placed herself at a cocktail table near the Stark's drinking scotch on the rocks. So, naturally, Naruto parked himself next to her to deter anyone from eying the femme fatale.

"What's a dame like you doing in a dump like this?" Naruto started with the best '40s gangster from New York he can muster.

"A guy did me wrong. There've been a lot of people in my life, all of them fighters..." Natasha answered while playing with the whisky glass. "Then there comes this guy, who's not like anyone I've ever met. He doesn't want to be a fighter. He just wanted to have a vacation."

Naruto's smile cracked when he heard the final part.

"Why do I sound so lame!? I'm a badass guy, right?" Naruto practically begged, causing Natasha to release a chuckle.

"Just pick up Jess while Stark is busy with Elon Musk trying to convince him for another collab for Tesla."

No matter the situation, Natasha would always be professional in a job. So it didn't surprise Naruto one bit that she kept one ear to the Stark table while they were flirting.

"We were having a moment, and you push to another girl! The audacity!" Naruto jokingly said before walking away.

Naruto gave Natasha one last wink before entering the emergency fire exit since it's empty according to his senses. From the other side of the door, it would look like Naruto got inside the door and got out five seconds later with a leather jacket-wearing woman.

"...I mean, it's a great weekend getaway. You just have to remember that you haven't met 'Natalie' yet..."

"I already know that. You don't need to remind me." Jessica interjected

"And it's an open bar." Naruto finished.

"Why didn't you start with that!? Let's go."

Jessica pulled Naruto towards the bar. She might not be considered an alcoholic, but it can't be denied that she still has a huge 'appreciation' for alcohol, especially if it's free.

It didn't take long for the couple to get their drinks and walk towards the Stark's table.

Morgan was the first one to see them approaching. Her smile could even bring Jessica to grin even though she claims to hate children.

"Jessie!" Morgan shouted as soon as she jumped off her seat to run towards Jessica.

Jessica had no choice but to catch the torpedo masquerading as a girl. Tony and Pepper were quite surprised to see Jessica at Monaco since she always hated being anywhere with plenty of people. As far as Pepper knows, Jessica barely managed to be at their wedding.

"Happy Birthday, kiddo! We haven't seen each other for a while." Jessica said while lifting Morgan.

Naruto noticed that noise inside the room significantly died down. He looked around and saw that some are intently staring at Jessica carrying Morgan; most of them were gossips or reporters.

Naruto knew he forgot to say something and that's Morgan's birthday was still a secret to limit media attention.

It's a good thing that Jessica's attention was entirely drawn to Morgan. Well, not good precisely since Natasha was watching the scene and noticed that Jessica had not reached Nat's desired situational awareness.

Naruto subtly moved Jessica to sit down at the Stark's table, facing away from the rest of the room while she's still entertaining Morgan.

"Sorry for the mess." Naruto whispered to Pepper.

Pepper was already feeling the headache of having to deal with the media frenzy their back-to-back-to-back news appearance caused. Sometimes, Pepper would think that Tony passed the company to her, not because of his palladium poisoning but because he doesn't want to deal with all the bullshit.

Naruto walked towards Natalie and brought her over to the table.

"Jess! Meet Natalie Rushman. Pepper's new assistant. Nat. This is Jessica Jones, my girlfriend." Naruto 'introduced' them to each other. The two 'acted' that they quickly got on with each other.

Tony looked at Jessica and 'Natalie' flabbergasted before looking at Naruto with the same expression.

"How the fuck do you do that!? They should be fighting or at least trying to stake a claim!" Tony whisper shouted at Naruto.

"I'm just lucky that way." Naruto's answer caused Tony's eyebrow to twitch.

-Hammer Industries R and D, New York City, New York-

-May 24, 2010, 0900h local-

Justin Hammer couldn't get rid of the giddy smile off his face. He and his company has been trying to recreate Tony's Ironman Armor in the past year with little headway. The suit they have created was clunky, unresponsive, unintuitive, and glitchy. The last thing was the worst part since it could randomly paralyze the user.

Now, he's receiving a gift from an anonymous benefactor. He might know much about this mysterious benefactor of his, but their interest certainly align. They both want access to the Ironman Armor, and they want to humiliate Tony Stark while doing so. If he didn't know any better, he would think his benefactor was Senator Sterns.

Anyway, Hammer's benefactor contacted him that they were going to deliver a gift. A gift that could bring down the Stark dynasty.

Hammer entered one of the more isolated rooms inside his RnD building and saw a guy with a black bag over his head. He ordered one of his guards to remove the bag. What he saw was a calm and collected man with multiple lacerations on his face.

"Ivan Vanko. Oh, how I wanted to meet you..." Hammer starter with his usual flourish. He moved to the seat placed in front of Vanko and sat down. "Ask me what I want. Come on, ask."

"What do you want?" Ivan asked with a heavy Russian drawl.

"Well, long term, I want them to put me in the Pentagon for the next 25 years. I want to make Iron Man look like an antique. I wanna go to that Stark Expo. I wanna take a dump in Tony's front yard..." Hammer said with a slowly darkening expression. "You know what I'm talking about?"

"I know what you're talking about."

"With your brains and my resources, we could run Tony's name to the ground..." Hammer extended his hands towards Ivan. "What do you say? Partner?"

Ivan raised his eyebrow and waited for a hot minute before reaching for Hammer's hand. Instead of a quick shake of an agreement Hammer expected, Vanko surprised him by pulling him close and staring at him dead in the eye.

"I want my bird."

"Your bird?" Hammer asked, understandably confused.

"Yes, my bird."

"In Russia?"

"In Russia."

"Sure. We can get your bird."

-Stark Mansion, Los Angeles, California-

-May 29, 2010, 1000h local-

"Sir. Colonel Rhodes is at the gate." JARVIS announced while the family was having breakfast.

The Stark's decided to have a slow day since it's Tony's birthday. Unlike other years, Tony opted out of having a lavish birthday celebration. Instead, he's going to have a small get-together of close friends and family, which is essentially just seven people, including Tony. Eight if 'Natalie' comes, which she would definitely do since she still has a job to do.

"Oh, come on! It's not even morning yet!" Tony grumbled, exaggeratedly causing Morgan to giggle.

"It's already ten, Tony. It's already morning..." Pepper countered. "Let Rhodey in JARVIS."

"Yes, Mrs. Potts."

It didn't take Rhodey five minutes to enter the dining room.

"Happy Birthday, Tones!" Rhodey said while moving around the room, greeting the other members of the Stark family, kissing Pepper on the cheek and Morgan a hug. "I hear you got a gift for me."

"Aren't I supposed to be the one getting presents since it's my birthday?" Tony responded.

"Oh right. How can I forget!?" Rhodey retrieved a thick hard drive from inside his jacket and handed it over to Tony. "DARPA programs and specs. All yours to peruse."

Tony immediately adopted an excited expression. No matter how smart he was, he can't think of everything. DARPA projects are one of the best projects to tinker around. A lot of their projects aren't patented, only kept in secrecy. They will only patent it right before it's going public.

It means he can play with stuff all he wants without repercussions. Things he didn't create himself.

"Boys, no work stuff on the table..." Pepper interjected before it can get more out of hand. "Grab a plate. There's some omelet and bacon left on the pan. There's garlic bread in the oven."

"Don't mind if I do, Peps."

-Tony's Garage, Los Angeles, California-

-May 29, 2010, 1100h local-

"So, where's my suit?" Rhodey giddily asked.

"Can't wait till after lunch, huh. I can't blame you, though..." Tony walked to his work table and sat down in front of it. He took a gulp of his chlorophyll shake and leaned back on his chair. Rhodey held himself back from commenting about Tony's chlorophyll shake and the reason why he's drinking it. "JARVIS, bring up vault 6, please."

"Of course, sir." JARVIS replied.

A cylindrical display case rose from the ground. One side of the tube was made of transparent material to show off what's inside. An armor with gun silver coloring and black highlights was shown in all its glory.

"That is what you military man would call 'overkill' or 'excessive force.' It got two-inch high-density armor layered on top of reactive armor..." JARVIS was highlighting and showing the specs of the area using holograms at the same time as Tony. "Dual wrist-mounted silenced 9mm machine guns, two hundred rounds each. Midline mounted, Dual alternating, prototype railguns sending grain-sized slivers of metal at Mach 10 speed. Shoulder and leg-mounted missiles. Twelve flight control surfaces for maximum maneuverability. Finally, repulsor afterburners to enable the behemoth to fly at Mach 2.5 speed."

"Damn, Tony. You don't need to them dirty..." Rhodey said more than just impressed with the suit. "So what's the downside? Otherwise, you'll just put this tech in your armor."

"Three things. First, it has a significantly shorter operational time while using it in heavy combat situations. Six hours compared to my fifteen. Secondly, it doesn't have many non-lethal options, as you can see with the loadout. Finally, it's a step-down in speed, agility, ground maneuverability, and strength compared to my suit. A lot of the internal mechanics have to be moved around or removed altogether to make space for the ammo and armor." Tony explained.

"Understandable..." Rhodey replied while still looking at the suit. "So, what do I call this baby?"

"War Machine Mark 1..." Tony released an excited grin before continuing. "Wanna test it out?"