C34 I was born this way

'A few times, actually.'

---

"Found 'im!"

The sound of heavy steps came into a laboratory.

"You guys have all them, fancy gadgets searchin' all over, and all I 'ad to do was read the paper," Ben hands a newspaper to Reed.

He takes it, reading it out loud once the others gather, "Hands across the sea! Latveria to promote U.S. and international relations by—," he skips a bunch of filler, "Dr. Zadkiel Goldmann to be the lead scientist and acting CEO."

He shows the picture to the other two, "It's him. Though I wonder why we couldn't find him, we were searching all known directories for anyone fitting his description."

"Way to go, big guy! Your stone-aged methods actually worked," Johnny quipped.

Ben just grumbled at him while Susan kept looking at the paper.

"Latveria? Sounds kinda familiar," She thinks for a second but gives up, "hmm, I can't remember where I heard it from."

Reed types on his computer, "Huh. All I can find is that it's a small country in Eastern Europe—I can't even find who its leader is."

Johnny took the paper, "It says there's going to be an opening ceremony for the company Latveria's sponsoring. Maybe we should just go and find out what's going on for ourselves."

Ben takes his newspaper back, "You just wanna go and pick-up girls like last time we went to an event."

"What? We all got hobbies. Mine just so happens to be those of the female persuasion," he spreads his arms while saying innocently.

Susan looks at him, "Yeah, well I think, you should find another hobby. Especially when your own sister has to send 'those of the female persuasion' home whenever you bring them here."

He coughs, then laughs, "Haha, Sis, you know I wouldn't be able to survive without you," he starts to back out of the lab, "I think I forgot the toaster on. I should go check it," then he escapes down the hall.

Ben called out, "Toasters shut themselves off, Flamebrain!"

"You're not helping, Orange Slice!" they heard from a distance.

"Well—I think it would be good to check it out." Reed brings the focus back to the main topic.

The two that are still here shrug.

"If you want me to go, you'll have to make me another tux. The last one shredded when the building fell on me."

He stares at him for a second, "Yeah—I'll do that."

---

"Sir."

"Hmm, what is it, Jarvis?" Tony looks up from the table where he's working, "If it's Pepper, tell her I already decided she will be the new CEO. She can't quit, or I'll fire her."

"It's not Ms. Potts, Sir. It's about the person you had me searching for. The 'angel.'"

Tony's all ears now, "What did you find? Not more cave drawing, I hope."

"I think it would be best for you to see it yourself, Sir." An article was projected in front of him, "This was published half an hour ago."

"Since when do angels run companies?" he finished reading it then shrugged, "Maybe he's moonlighting."

"Mmm, it's opening in a few days. I should go visit; 'hands across the sea,' and all that."

"Tony!"

His eyes widen, "Why didn't you tell me she was here?"

"Sir, you listed Ms. Potts as a high-level user, and she can visit unannounced if you're busy."

"Then tell her I'm not here!" he whispers back.

"Did you forget that glass is see-through, Tony?!" Pepper was now at the glass door to the workshop, "Let me in!"

Tony slowly hides behind the table, "Tony isn't here right now. Please leave a message after the beep."

"Tony! Don't hide from me; you have a lot to explain!" She bangs on the door, "Javis, open the door!"

"BEEP!" Tony starts to crawl away.

"TONY!"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Potts, but Mr. Stark is not in at the moment," Jarvis's calm voice resonated, "perhaps you should try again at another time."

The papers in her hands fall to the ground as her head bangs against the door in defeat.

---

Hell.

It smells like shit and tastes even worse.

I cock my head, 'That thought didn't end quite right.'

We're currently in a smaller Hell Dimension, one that belongs to some no-name Hell Lord. We came here for a little escapade and to 'nicely' take it off the Lord's hands before we leave.

"NO! Not again! ARGH!"

They're doing that right now.

"Hehehe. Yes! Keep screaming!" I hear Sera's voice.

'Aah, they grow up so fast—' I cock my head the other way, 'I feel there's something wrong with what I just said.' Shrugging, I go to them.

Seeing a red glob of flesh tied to the ground, I ask, "Almost done over here?"

"Yes~" Lana replies while skipping around me, "we just have to start the devouring process,"

"Hm, that's good. After this, we'll go get burgers; I hear a new place opened up downtown that's supposed to be pretty good."

"Mmm, that sounds—" Sera's interrupted.

"Y-you, you're all monsters! You're worse than demons!" the flesh pile garbles out.

I look around at the endless miles of wasteland and carnage the three of us created, 'Just how I like it—dead and ready to become energy.'

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, I turn back and answer, "I don't see anything wrong; what gave you that idea?"

"Y-y-you, how can you be s-so—"

"Handsome, attractive, kindhearted, philanthropic, humble, the list goes on and on; is that what you were going to say?" I get near to what's left of his face.

Giving him my best 'kind' and 'angelic' smile, I tell him, "Why—I was born this way, baby~"

My smile goes a bit sadistic as I plunge my hand into his body, "After all, I'm the best of everything, and it's my job to get rid of that which has gone bad."

"Don't you think so?" I ask him as his life fades away. 'Or at least that's what they'll all think my reasoning is.'

I force my power through his corpse and into the realm, then I start to convert it.

'They would shudder all the worse if they knew my real reason,' Standing up, I look at the slowly crumbling realm, 'that they're nothing but food to me.'

---

Sitting at a desk was the current Director of SHIELD, Nick Fury.

"Do we attempt infiltration?" Next to him was Agent Hill, the Deputy director.

"Attempt?"

"Yes, Sir. None of our operatives have successfully infiltrated any locations affiliated with Latveria."

Fury sighs, "Send Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton."

"Yes, Sir." She starts to leave the room.

"Hill—make sure they have a way out; I don't want to lose any more agents to them."

She nods, leaving.

Sighing again, Furry looks down at the file on his desk, "Avengers. Why do I have a feeling that we're going to need you soon?"

After a moment, he looks at the file next to it, 'Zadkiel Goldmann. We still don't know much about you, even after New Mexico.'

He stands up and looks out the window.

"Zadkiel—what a rare name," he frowns, sinking deeper into thought.

---

A deep, slightly sinister chuckle escapes my mouth. 'Doom's legal teams did a really good job negotiating trade deals.'

I chuckle again. 'I can't wait to see the ITA's reaction once we start phase three.'

"Hahaha!"

"Brother, you're not supposed to laugh with a full mouth," Sera tells me from my side.

"No—it's talk. You're not supposed to talk—with a full mouth," Lana says from my other side—with a mouth full of food.

Both I and Sera stare at her.

She tilts her head, "Wha—" her eyes widen, and her stuffed cheeks go red.

Shaking my head, I say, "Yeah, I know. I'm just a little excited for tomorrow." Opening day is tomorrow, and I'm anticipating some 'visitors' during the ceremony.

'Counter espionage can be really fun if you know what you're doing.'

A little bullshit here, a little bit there, and you can cause a whole lot of chaos while sitting back, watching the whole thing.

"Was it good?" I ask the two as we leave the restaurant.

"Yep," Lana says.

"But the one we went to last week was better," Sera adds, while Lana nods.

We walk back to our condo since it's only a few blocks away, but we run into a wave of people. It was nothing out of the ordinary except for one guy who tried to put a bug on me.

The keyword being 'tried.' I only had to put it on his back faster than he could see or feel, and the problem was solved.

"Did you guys get any bugs too?"

"Yeah, but we just 'gave' them back to the original owner."

'Really Barton, and I thought we became such good friends. Oh—how you wound me. Well, don't blame me if I mess with you too then.'

I start to smile again as I think of all the things I could do. 'Aah, but I shouldn't go too far, or else I'll have nothing to build up to later.'

---

//Note//

Jarvis is the best bro.

He'll say your not home even if your gf can see you.

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ITA = U.S. Internation Trade Association

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FYI: Any romance will be super slow.

Keep in mind that the MC has already 'lived' for a long time and still has forever to go. This changes his own perception of time and pacing.

What that means is I'll build up so much tension that even the people who don't like romance in stories will want him to be fuckin.

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