CHAPTER - 17 { I Met Her }

Inside the Stark Industries' building in Los Angeles, Creed stood before the main monitors.

On the side of the keyboard, inserted was a small pendrive with enough space to collect all the Stark Industries data in it.

The fight between the two metal suits outside was escalating to a dangerous degree.

BOOM!

On the building top, Tony crashed and shattered parts of the cement. He groaned and stood up with a struggle.

"I am almost out of power."

He shook his head and was about to get out of his metal suit when the other one, Stane, landed behind him and launched a punch.

Ducking down, Tony opened his left palm to shoot an energy blast but found his left gauntlet missing. Instant regret flashed in his eyes.

BAM!

Stane slapped him on the chest and sent him flying to the edge of the building. Tony stabilized himself and kicked off the ground.

With powerful thrusters, he flew up and leaped at Stane, finishing with a right hand punch on the head.

But it caused no harm to Stane, instead Tony was embraced tightly with the gigantic arms which started crushing his back armor.

Meanwhile inside the building, Creed plucked the pendrive and vanished from the spot. His invisible figure walked towards the front entrance.

The huge arc reactor prototype, in the center of the hall just before the entrance, fascinated Creed.

'If I could have a small energy source like this, I would no longer need guns that worked on ammunition.'

He admired it. Of course, it wasn't just a dream of his. The pendrive collected all the data stored here, one file in there must contain information about the arc reactor.

BOOM!

Creed raised his head and looked up, he could see the fight happening there.

'The big one is definitely Stane, as for the small one, I have a guess.'

He thought with a calm look on his face. Now he needed to get out of this place before the military or police arrived.

"O-Okay, I am going in now."

A scared female voice sounded from the entrance. Creed turned his head and saw a blond hair woman, slowly entering the building.

Her face fully displayed her fear and distress, even her body language was screaming at her to get away from this building.

"Nothing will happen. Nothing will happen. I am totally safe!"

She chanted, encouraging herself to not stop and show some confidence. As she neared Creed, she gulped and passed by his side without noticing him.

Unknown to her, two red glowing eyes were scanning her from behind, head to toe, trying to understand and read her intention.

Seeing that the woman was normal, Creed didn't waste anymore of his time and left the Stark Industries' building.

About a minute later, when Creed hadn't reached too far from the fight, a loud explosion erupted from the Stark Industries' building. The huge wall of flames rose to the sky.

He stopped his steps, and turned back to watch the explosion fade away leaving behind intense blows of black smoke.

The car alarms, cries and screams of people, hot flames that melted steel, smoke that covered the sky, it was one hell of a night.

"I wonder what they will say in the news."

He then continued to leave.

* * *

As the news of Tony Stark, admitting to be the one and only, Iron Man, spread throughout the world, Creed finally completed the test of his suit.

The 'Silent Death' can now be used on missions and provide him with an insane advantage over his enemies.

It was a normal day. Creed wore his 'special' suit without cloaking, and walked the streets with a briefcase in his right hand.

After getting kicked out from the Scrub Daddy, he once again went in search of a job. One that wouldn't cause trouble for him when he leaves suddenly, with no notice beforehand.

"Hm hm hmm."

Humming on the sidewalk, Creed walked unhurriedly as the interview time for a job he was still an hour late.

He wanted to give a positive vibe to the interviewers, showing them his management of time.

It was then, did he feel two individuals following him. One male, and the other female. Their eyes were fixed on his movements.

'Professionals?'

Creed thought. Why were they following him? Did they find who he was? Or was it for some entirely different reason?

He remained calm and collective. In broad daylight, what could they even do to him? Gun him down? Kidnap him while in public?

Since there was temporarily no threat, Creed decided that to not behave differently. He would stay on his path to the destination, the interview.

Minutes passed, and Creed started feeling strange. The two individuals weren't making any move. Also, they were clearly exposing themselves to him from behind.

'If I was a normal civilian, what would I do?'

He stopped and pondered in his mind. A thought surfaced up. It was that he confronted those stalkers.

"Hey, are you guys stalking me?"

Creed puffed his chest and said to the two, acting as if he wasn't entirely confident. It was all for his character as a normal person, a civilian who didn't encounter any dangerous events.

"How did you know?"

The woman, or should she be said to be a teenager from her looks, smiled at him and said in a soft tone. It was like mocking him.

"Man, you must be on some cakes."

The man beside the woman, said while standing in front of Creed and showing his aggressive stand.

"... I am gonna call the cops."

"Ahh ah! Nope."

The woman pulled down Creed's left hand when he raised it to call the cops. She walked around him and eyed him from every angle.

"I like him."

She said with a hint of redness on her cheeks. The man beside her, turned angry and glared at Creed but didn't burst and held himself from losing control.

"What's about him? He's clearly just a nobody!"

The man was furious, he repeatedly asked the woman about Creed. The woman on the other hand was not interested in the man anymore.

"I have seen you fight thieves. I have seen you help strangers. Why are you like this? What makes you so special? I do not get it."

"Cause I am a good human?"

Creed was creeped out, he retreated his steps and left the two individuals to themselves.

'Damn, the woman was crazy. While the man is nuts. It seems my good acts are getting noticed. Or is it?'

One thing was sure, the woman wasn't lying. Her body language, her expression and the emotions in her voice, all were real.

There were only two possibilities here. One, the woman was a real professional like him, an expert in masking themselves.

Two, the woman was genuine. Kind of interested in him due to his good behavior of helping the ones in need and fighting bad guys.

"I have a feeling inside me. It tells me that she must be someone important."

The question was, who?

He had never seen her face. Never heard her voice. Not in the memories he remembered. Did I lose some of my memory?

"Hahah. Am I getting older? I am 29 years old. Thirty next year. Should I consider getting married?"

By the time he reached the interview, it was already the time. As planned, he gave the interview and failed miserably.

Reason?

He was too good. They needed someone with no background of work or part-time jobs.

Sometimes Creed really wished that he could just kill anyone he was displeased with. Thinking about it, if that happened, he would be only killing and never stop.

As he lived and faced the true face that human's hid, he started seeing how fake the world was and how fake everyone appeared.

Everyone was lying, for one thing or another. Exactly the same with him.

He was lying too. He was lying that he enjoyed his life that he lived so far. While others at his age were looking for jobs and trying to have a family, he was out there killing and getting depressed.

People want equality and fairness.

But they fail to see that the world was never fair to begin with. And that one person wasn't equal to another.

Round and round it goes, returns to where it start.