*C81 - Hatred, Vengeance, and Loneliness.

E/d note: There is going to be a part in the chapter where you get confused with the reasoning, and it's regarding the scene with Wanda and Luke. Just take it on face value and don't think too deep into it. I know what I want to say, but I can't visualize or explain it in more detail than I've already done in the chapter.

'Inner dialogue/thoughts'

"Normal dialogue"

[System]

[Diary entries]

(Word Count: 1,977)

~ With Luke ~

As the man walked deeper into the café towards the counter, the whispers of the customers could be heard echoing throughout. Tony Stark, in the flesh. He was dressed casually, almost as if he was about to start a working day at a workshop. Linda, the cashier of the day, stiffened when she noticed that Tony Stark was walking towards her.

When he arrived and stood before her, Linda could not speak, her nervousness getting the better of her. If it had been any other high-ranking executives, she would have had no issues. However, Tony Stark just had an aura about him that seemed to affect those around.

Seeing this, April quickly took over. Moving up beside Linda, April confidently addressed him, "Mr Stark, what can I get for you?"

Tony was surprised by the level of confidence and professionalism that April displayed. Normally, unless they were someone who had similar status or someone approaching him with a purpose, the average person would show some nervousness whenever they interacted with him.

However, when he saw her nametag displayed on her apron, he understood why. After a brief moment, Tony finally spoke, "You're April. Pepper talks a lot about you. Thanks for being a genuine friend for her. In her line of work, people like you are hard to come by."

April's eyes twitched, feeling insulted at his insinuation, "I didn't do it for you, nor did I do it for her or anyone else. We just happened to be friends and that's all it was. No thanks necessary."

Once again, Tony was shocked by her response. Indeed, he had initially thought that April had made friends with Pepper because she pitied her or to gather favours. 'Looks like I was wrong. I guess Pepper's the lucky one this time.'

Tony nodded his head in acknowledgement and subsequently placed his order. As he paid for the order, he asked curiously, "By the way, is the owner around? I'm told his name is Luke? Luke Sullivan?"

At his sudden question, April's gaze wandered towards where Luke and Wanda were seated. Seeing her wandering gaze, Tony turned to follow. Meeting his gaze was a man. However, something felt, different about him, like his presence was more prominent than the others around him.

Thinking that he found the owner, Tony began walking towards Luke, but not before commenting about his order, "Make sure the order's to-go."

'Oh, he's walking this way. Is he looking for me?' Luke wondered, maintaining his gaze on Tony.

"I presume you're the owner of this café, Luke Sullivan?" Tony spoke, staring intently at Luke.

Instead of answering immediately, Luke first glanced towards Wanda. The look he saw had surprised him. Rising from his seat, Luke positioned himself to stand just in front of Wanda, blocking her view of Tony. "That depends. Who's asking?"

Tony cocked his head back, looking around to see if he was the only one who heard the question that Luke asked. Instead of following up with a question or statement of his own, Tony simply took a step back and observed Luke, allowing his mind to answer for him. 'He is definitely the Luke that Pepper mentioned.'

"A bit shorter, not too handsome, and a little scrawnier than I was when I was his age." Tony muttered under his breath. However, it was still loud enough for Luke to catch what he was saying, which caused him to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

Suddenly, the entrance bell jingled as the voice of an irritated woman echoed out into the café, "Mr Stark, what do you think you are doing?"

Tony blinked, recognizing the owner of the voice. He then mouthed to Luke, "Play along." Before turning his head to face the newcomer.

"Me? I was just getting breakfast. Figured since I'm already here, I'd meet with the owner of the place you keep telling me about." Tony said, causing Luke to be shocked at his response. Although it was not a complete lie, the actual and main reason he visited was because Jarvis had flagged Luke Sullivan when Tony had tried to do a background check.

This had raised concerns, and so Tony wanted to personally check on Luke. 'He is definitely hiding something. He appears two months before my kidnapping, and just happens to own a café right opposite Stark Industries HQ? And if that's not bad enough, he's even made friends with Pepper.'

What Tony had muttered earlier was calculated. He decided to put on a show for Luke, just to throw him off guard. In that way, Luke would not suspect Tony for appearing out of nowhere. Additionally, with Pepper's appearance, he could further hide his true intentions from Luke.

While Luke was distracted with Pepper's sudden entrance, without warning, Tony quickly grabbed Luke's hand for a handshake. "Thanks for also keeping her busy while I was away. Appreciate it." Tony said before walking towards Pepper.

Luke watched as Tony and Pepper spoke to one another for a short while, their interaction ending with Tony walking out of the café and Pepper shaking her head as she then walked towards Luke. 

"I'm sorry if Tony's been trouble, Luke." Pepper apologized, a look of resignation and exasperation on her face.

"Oh no worries, he just did what he literally said." Luke started, "He came, he ordered, he saw me, he left."

"You'll get used to it. . . Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got an order to pick up." Pepper said as she then made her way to the counter. Luke stood at his spot, still reeling in the incredulity of the past few minutes.

"Well, that's an interesting first encounter, don't you think?" Luke remarked as he returned to his seat. However, looking across the table towards Wanda, he was met with a hard stare from her. 

'Haha. . . I'm in danger.'

~ At the same time with Wanda ~

'What's going on with me? I thought I was getting better at controlling my emotions, but the moment I saw Tony Stark. . . I managed to get myself in control in time, but still.' Wanda pondered. 'I guess a part of me still hasn't accepted the truth. I'll have to work on that, but for now.'

"I know I'm good looking, but you don't have to stare at me so intently like that. It's going to make me blush." He spoke while touching the side of his cheeks, wanting to defuse the situation by teasing Wanda into embarrassment. It did not work.

Undeterred by his attempts, Wanda maintained her hard stare. Seeing that Luke was about to comment on something again, she spoke up first, "Why did you block me from Tony Stark?"

Hearing her question, Luke immediately shut his mouth before swallowing his saliva, which caused Wanda to narrow her eyes. 'He definitely knows that I should harbour hatred for Tony from the me in his world and probably blocked my view of Tony for that reason, but let's to see what his actual reasoning is.'

Quickly rising from his seat, Luke hurriedly tried to deflect her question and leave. "You know, I remember that I have something important to do upsta-"

"Sit. Down."

And he did as he was told. He knew from her tone that if he tried to press the matter of leaving any further, that the situation would only get worse.

"Why?" She asked once again.

Remembering one of his earliest diary entry, Luke realized that he was in the perfect situation to win some points with her. He sat in silence for a moment, before sighing. "I saw the look on your face when you saw him. I know that look, Wanda." However, Wanda was only confused by his words.

"When I was young, my parents were murdered. . ." And so, Luke began his explanation of the past he had created for himself within the diary. However, he had changed some details, as he wanted to maintain his cover that he was from this world.

It would be strange to include the parts where he went to university before becoming a Police Officer, since it was rare for one to be as young as he was. Moreover, if he did choose to keep his false history from the diary as the truth in this world, it would cause a lot of issues.

Wanda would find it strange that he had gone to university and then worked as a Police Officer, while just turning 19 this year. Even though Luke knew that Wanda was a holder of his diary, he decided that he wanted to avoid any potential issues from mixing his diary self and his actual self.

~ A few moments later ~

"And so, I chose to keep my promise to my uncle." Luke ended.

A comfortable silence enveloped both Wanda and Luke as Wanda processed the story from Luke. Although she knew that he changed a few things, she did not mind, since she had the same thoughts as Luke regarding the matter.

After a brief pause, Luke made a move to gently hold Wanda's hand as his eyes softened. "Look, I don't know what Tony's done, but I don't want to see you go down the same path that I treaded. It is not only a path filled with hate and vengeance, but also a lonely one."

Hearing his reasoning, a smile threatened to spread on her lips, which she quickly hid by lowering her gaze. She felt a warmth spreading through her cheeks, feeling the heartfelt and genuine sincerity coming from Luke.

"Thank you." She muttered softly, causing a gentle smile to appear on Luke's face.

~ Later that day, with Tony Stark ~

Tony had been holed up in his workshop since leaving the café. Instead of going to the Stark Industries HQ, he preferred to continue working on his armour in a personal setting and place. While he was busy, he did not notice the many missed calls from Pepper, and JARVIS did not report on it since Tony had told JARVIS to not disturb him unless it was a matter of life and death.

Suddenly, the music he had blasting on the speakers stopped. Confused, Tony raised his head and looked around his workshop, when his eyes landed on a panic-stricken Virginia Potts. "Pepper?"

"TONY! Something's happened and I've been trying to reach you for hours but of course you're still here wasting your time away on whatever it is you're building since your esca-" Pepper spoke in one breath, before Tony interrupted her.

"Woah woah woah, slow down!" He said, allowing her to take a deep breath. "That's it, just take a nice, deep breath. And when you're fine, tell me what happened."

She listened to his advice as she attempted to calm her nerves and gather her breath. She was not having the best couple few hours since she was first informed of the situation. Not only that, but her boss was also not answering her calls and she had to rush down to his residence from the HQ.

After calming herself, she finally revealed the reason for her current behaviour. "It's Stane, Tony. He's been arrested."

". . . What the fuck?"

- End of Chapter 81 -

Next time in *C82 - The Arrest of Obadiah Stane.

"However, in an exclusive news received by an anonymous source, we've also been made aware that the kidnapping of Tony Stark was planned by Mr Stane himself."

[A/N]