Chapter 41: Cave and Party

All the three people spent the next few days eating spiritual dan and soul-nourishing potion to recuperate from the backlash. Ryan is in the worst situation as he's caught by Gwen before he could do anything. 

Gwen dragged his ass to the hospital after seeing his pale face. Hiddle and his father, Tim, make a fuss. "Ryan, tell me what happened," Tim said sternly.

"I just have a fever. It's an ordinary thing for someone to have. I especially don't need to go to the hospital for this!" He uses the standard excuse, but he could sense these people don't believe him.

Ignoring his word, Tim and Hiddle insist he stays for a check-up. He has to stay in the ward for a while. His parents left, leaving him with Gwen alone in the ward. She is sitting in the chair next to his bed. "Are you really not telling us what happened?" 

In her point of view, she could see that Ryan is conflicted. Like he wants to tell her something, but he's scared. She comforted him about it. "No matter what happens, I will stay with you by your side." She holds his hand. After a period of silence, he finally opens up to her.

"Do you remember that I'm in a coma years ago?.. Wait, forget about it. You won't believe me anyway…"

"I WILL!! I will always trust you!"

The sky above New York city darkens. Rain is falling and lightning flashes up followed by a rumble. *Ost The Sixth Sense is playing*

With fear on his face, he confided in her. "You see … I…"

"Yes, what is it?"

"I….see dead people…" *Lightning flash* The light in the wardroom flickers because of the storm.

"..what?" Her heart beats quicker, goosebumps arise on her skin.

There's a severed hand under the hospital bed, ready at any time.

Ryan whispered "In fact, he is here right now"

Before Gwen could react, the severed hand grabs onto her leg, making her scream in horror "KYAAAA"

…

The irritation in his mind dissipated after the prank. He got hit though because of it. "It's not like I can blame them. " He and his duplicates are in a period of weakness after he wakes up. Their faces are ghastly, so people will wonder what had happened to them.

The islander is a little worried because they didn't see the elf for a few days, but nothing exaggerated happens. The elf always wears a mask so people don't know that he is weakened. Well, all people except Annika, who kind of has a 6th sense about him. 

Luckily Kai has already planned to close the clinic for 3 days and Skye isn't home. So he's not in any trouble. After the avatar magic was cast, Kai couldn't use magic from the main body anymore. Even the elf couldn't do that. 

Ryan has to buy a simple mana core for Kai so that he could use magic. As Kai already has been cultivating essence energy, advanced magic is not useful for him as he couldn't use it. "Not to mention, he is extremely bad at magic"

With the mana core, the only magic he can activate is Hogwarts' magic system. "That's good enough for me. I have my sword!" It's what Kai said at the time Ryan tells him about his magic situation.

The next best thing is for the elf, which is a mana ring magic system. As the body is not fully human, he couldn't use the magic circuit system on the half-elf. 

He could use advanced magic using the mana ring, but he couldn't mimic energy from other systems, such as qi, primordial energy, chakra, and others. 

When he bestows the magic system, like a dam bursting out, the elf's body is overflowing with magic. He sits in a meditation pose and builds his mana ring. "Second ring completed, third, fourth,...and fifth?"

The elf's extremely high affinity for magic quickly brings him up to the 5th mana ring. At his heart, the ring is rotating simultaneously, giving him incredible power! Ryan is greatly shocked at this.

It is even more powerful than the main body. His magic became much more destructive. There's no problem surviving when fighting the Abomination with this now. He can stay alive unless he got hit by the monster without any protection spell on him. 

Using the mana ring system also, he has to spend some time modifying magic from other magic systems to use it."The hardest will be a type of null magic, meanwhile, the easiest will be elemental magic." 

The elf theories after spending some time modifying some of the magic he learns. Luckily the main body has a magic circuit system that can mimic energy, so he uses that as a reference. It took several months for the elf to get back all the magic he's familiar with. 

In the penthouse, Ryan is muttering something. "Even the system's condition changes. Before this, they could use the system when I am asleep. Now, they could do it if I allowed them to, at any time they wanted!" It became more convenient for him to maneuver.

He could check out from the ward after Gwen, his Father and pseudo-Father is satisfied with the result. It's also because they could no longer keep him there. Ryan had to pay for some damages, and compensation for the nurses that fainted because of him. 

It's all because of the severed hand. " I tried to imitate the hand from Addams Family. Never thought people would faint ..." He feels a little guilty about it.

After getting out of the ward,he goes back to work. But this time,the butler didn't compel him to go to the company. "Just work from home if you want to. Don't push yourself Okay.." Hiddle feels that the kid's condition is because of him. It greatly surprised Ryan when he did.

When he is living a normal life, trouble seems to miss him as his father walks in with some news. 

"We have an invitation to a party, from someone you told me to be cautious of. Gideon Malik" Tim is solemn about it. When he meets the guy before, it seems like the malice talisman his son gives him is malfunctioning. It's sending erratic signals instead. He never got feedback like that before. He couldn't guess what Gideon's plan was in inviting them.

"It's okay dad, you just have to proceed like usual. " He reassures Tim. " Hydra is very antsy now. But why didn't Gideon Malik? " He thought that before as he monitored the Hydra secure channel. "Let's see what he wants first. "

It's going to be a public party with lots of important officials. Usually, he won't go to this kind of event, but he makes an exception this time. "I'll try to see what Gideon Malik is thinking when I meet him"

The day seems to never end as ALBUS chimes in with important news. "By 3.30 pm today, Tony Stark convoy in Afghanistan is missing"

By that time he heard the news, the United States was already in an uproar. He checks the date, "it's now April, so that makes some sort of sense as the plot for Iron Man 1 took quite some time to complete. "

"Iron man's origin story is necessary for Stark as he will forge his new self in the dark cave. " He didn't plan to help Stark out. But he at least monitors the situation so that it will not be switched from the original plot. 

"I still have a few weeks before the party. "He continues with the clinical trial of the new anti-cancer drug. Publically, he does show concern about Stark. He offers Colonel Rod his help if they need him. 

Yet, it seems like the military is not going to ask him. This affects the face of the military, their partner is taken right under their nose. As long as they can do it themselves, there is no need to involve other people in it. " There's also the time I humiliated them before, many have a bad impression on me."

He shrugged hearing the response from Rod. "If they don't want it, then that's it. "

If they consult him, It's not impossible to lead them into the Ten Commandments base in the Middle East. "I was gonna let the military do their work and clean up a bit. "

"The future Iron Man has just been kidnapped. Maybe the military wants to wait for demands or something. They didn't think at this time that the terrorist want Tony to make weapons for them. " He theories their movement based on their actions.

When he checks others' reactions to the incident, it seems that Shield is also busy. Many teams are dispatched to find Stark.

…

In a dark cave, Tony wakes up with a car battery hooked up to a metal cylinder in his chest.

…

After a month and a half, the clinical trial for the new drug is completed. It wasn't supposed to be that fast, especially with the FDA, but Ryan tested the drug in several countries at the same time.

If the FDA dilly dally like usual, their country will fall behind and that will cause a lot of patients to seek treatment in other countries, so they cannot tax them and will lose profit. They work fast because of this.

Many standard procedures are that when a new drug is completed, some big pharmaceutical will cause some trouble with the FDA to get a piece of the drug's profit. They will contact the company when they start to lose money and then will demand the shares or maybe hand over the new drug. 

But with Knights pharmaceutical? They couldn't even start to pressure them instead they are the ones being pressured to quicken the process. 

"It's finally done. Now I will leave the rest to you. " He said to his assistant in the project. May nods and says some incomprehensible thing to him. She says quietly "Thank you"

The anticancer drug is an overwhelming success! Even patients at the last stage can save themselves using the drug. No more painful chemotherapy to kill the cancer cell if they want to live. But they still need to do it to be completely free from the disease.

Although it wasn't a cure, it was not far from it for the people. Especially the price. You can get the medication for a month for only 100 dollars. This is unthinkable in the United States, to put the price of life-saving medicine at an affordable price!

Before this many capitalists were dissatisfied because only Knights pharmaceutical had the drug formula. Every attempt to get it was foiled. Some senators even considered pulling the anti-monopoly law. But when they look at the price, they laugh out loud at Ryan's stupidity. Even mocked him at events. 

A fat senator who has been denied a piece of the cake guffawed loudly at the price of the drug. "So what if you're a genius. You don't  know a thing about making money!!"

They didn't know at the time… Scratch that, No one knows at the time, that Ryan's action has already consolidated his position in people's hearts, making him the first and only choice if the people want to buy something. 

People who have a far vision have been trying to reverse engineer the drug. Like Norman Osborne. However, he's split between this and using Stark's disappearance to benefit from the military. 

Ryan crafted the drug using a specially made manufacturing machine that he made himself. The machine was put by him silently in factories across the world so there is no record of it. People don't even know about the machine. Even if they want to reverse engineer it, by the time it happens, he already has a monopoly in the market. 

"Sir, you're invited to another event." Albus is screening the invitation he gets from some cancer group event. 

He went to the small group where people are really sincere, not the big ones that just want to kiss his ass by exploiting the once terminally ill kids. He went there, played with the kids, got thanked, hugged, and kissed by them. And there are no media around at all. Nevertheless, his action is widely known in the cancer community by word of mouth.

A little bit out of his character, but once he sees the kids' survivor faces that lights up when they see him, he will make time for them. To see them free from their pain, and can live a normal life. "I don't know why this gives me so much happiness!"

The time comes for the party. He enters the hall with his father. Gwen didn't come at this time because he told him what was going on. "It may seem like a party, but it's a battlefield for high-class society. I don't want to burden you with this."

He explains everything to her without leaving anything behind. She nods in understanding after that. 

"This is like the Hydra's examination for my family. They want to check if I am eligible to become a member, not my father. He is just an addition for me." This is what he found out after investigating the party.

"If they want to check me out, I should show them my best behavior right?" A sly smile brews on his face. He combs his hair back like a greasy man, disguises his eyes a little red, his skin yellowish like a druggie, and imitates the behavior of Tony Stark for his social debuts!

*Classical music is playing in the hall* Ryan takes a glass of champagne from the waiter. "Urgh, this is difficult to drink. Bring me a whiskey instead" He ordered the waiter without hesitation.

The party moves along at a brisk pace, but the guest of honor still hasn't arrived. At this time, Ryan had to mingle with the youngsters of the elite families. He also got many invitations to a masquerade ball after the party, where people will ONLY wear their masks there.  "Young people are very energetic huh" 

But as he is imitating Tony, he readily agrees to it. "I will let Dana have some fun later" 

Gideon Malik finally comes to the party. After greeting the guest and everything else is done, finally he goes for a talk with Ryan and Tim.

It started with a simple greeting, then some compliments. Introducing his young daughter to Ryan with whom he flirts. And so on. He didn't have any topic or something to talk about, which greatly confuses Ryan.

"Let's try reading his mind" When he tries to do that, surprisingly, he senses some defenses in Gideon Malik's mind. "It's not a simple defense either, but some weird energy protecting it. I can breakthrough, but he will notice it the moment I do." He retracts back his probing.

Still having a smile on his face, Ryan concludes it with Gideon while showing some thirst for his daughter. The Hydra head just has a kind smile on his face. Ryan knows that everything he does has been analyzed, and he looks forward to the result.

…

After the party, Gideon is talking with her daughter about Ryan. "Surprisingly, he has a hedonistic tendency. He hides it well." 

Ryan's previous action makes him seem like a saint among the public, making the Hydra wary. This kind of person will get in the way of their uprising later. But it seems like they are worrying for nothing.

"You can try to get close to him. Try to bring him to our side. He is going to the after-party for the youngsters. This is your chance. " It seems like a suggestion, but he is ordering her daughter to do that. 

"The plan to change the member of the family to one of ours can be pushed back. I should believe in Zola more when he told us this is not the time to contact the Knights."

Tim's power and influence have been making them wary. They have been planning to get Knights industry power under their wing. And how do they want to do that?

In Hydra Siberia bases, 5 super-soldier sleeper agents are in the cryo chamber. Inside one of them, is a person Ryan knows well. The one who gifted him the gun inlaid with his name for his 16th birthday.  A person who has been missing for 5 years since the attack on his family. One of the rightful heirs to his family wealth. His uncle, Marcus Knight.

…

Vampire kid : Do it! 

Hydra:Do I really have to, I rather you give me a quest related to Gwen. 

Vampirekid : I could do that, you need to make Gwen pregnant in a month. Deal? 

Hydra: ಠ_ಠ

Hydra: Okay, I accept the quest. Not Gwen's quest but the other quest. 

VampireKid tells the group that he is tier 3 now. And the first thing the old man does is give out quests. It wasn't unexpected that he is an old man, as he's already been living for 1000 years. 

His body is old. His soul just transmigrated. All of his quests are weird. He asked KickBaal to make a cup out of a demon skull and drink wine from it, which was accepted. He asked Greenwitch to grow meat from a plant, which was rejected. And then he gives him a quest solely to satisfy his curiosity. 

It's been 2 and a half months since Tony was kidnapped. Since the party, it seems like Hydra has lost interest in him. "Ahh, I'm really curious." If this is a TV show, he will know what happens as there will be the scene of the villain's plan, but now he has to wait until it's the right time.

Many members of the public thought Stark was already dead. The stock prices of Starks group are falling at first before it stabilizes because of Obadiah's effort. 

During the two months, Obadiah Stane becomes the new face of Starks Industry. He launches a new project, makes public appearances, pacifies the public, and regains trust in Starks Industry. Honestly speaking, Obadiah is a really capable man. If he's not an ambitionist, he can hold his position in Starks group. 

Surprisingly, the military comes to Ryan to ask for his help. He drove down to the nearest military base to report in. 10 days before Stark got out. 

"This is all the data you wanted about the area Stark is lost." a military analyst gives the data that was demanded to Ryan. The data he gets is only available through the military server. He doesn't want to show his true capabilities now, isn't he? 

"I'll write an algorithm to search for possible bases that Stark is held in. You guys can handle the rest." He says. He then uses the military equipment to make some calculations about possible bases. 

He tracked down the food supply, convoy traces, and so on. Honestly, he already knows about the bases from before, but he cannot let Stark out without becoming Iron man, can he? Instead, he gives out other bases of the ten commandments to the military. 

"The algorithm shows seven possible bases, 3 of which had a hidden base." An officer said after they get help. Before this, they couldn't even get started on the search. Now, they get some lead as they have captured some members of the ten rings.   

Based on the military interrogation, the terrorist knows where Stark is, but they rather die than tell the enemy. The whole operation took 8 days. 

…

Raza, the leader of the ten commandments, enters the cave that Stark is held in. He apprehended Yinsen and started to interrogate him. 

( in Arabic) "This doesn't look like my Jericho missiles". Raza is now anxious, the military is closing in. "What are you doing instead of making my missiles" 

Yinsen pleaded "he is making the Jericho, it's very complex, he's trying his best" 

"I saved your life and this is how you repay me? On his knees" Raza ordered sensing a falsehood, his men are holding Yinsen down 

"You think I'm a fool? I'll get the answer". Raza then picked a red hot metal using a pair of clamps. If the guy didn't tell the truth, it's going to enter his mouth.

"What does he want?" Stark asked Yinsen as he is the only translator here. He didn't know the language that they speak. 

(in Arabic) 

Yinsen: He's building the Jericho.

Raza shouted "TELL ME THE TRUTH!!", he's now going to put the metal in Yinsens mouth. 

Yinsen: HE'S BUILDING THE JERICHO. 

This is repeated a few times but Yinsen doesn't give out Stark. 

Stark tried to intervene "What does he want? A DELIVERY DATE?"  He steps forward to Raza.

"Whoa, Hey!" Raza men shout and point their guns at Stark. He held up both his hands and then defended his friend "I need him…. He's a good assistant. "

Raza then said to Stark in English "You have till tomorrow….to assemble my missiles" before he left the cave with his men. Stark knows that they don't have much time left. He needs to finish the armor today!

Outside the cave, Raza is fuming. "When the missile is done, we are going to use it on Knight first." 5 years ago, Tim Knight suddenly bit his organisation like crazy. "The mad dog even uses an ICBM on us!" 

His previous base was blown to smithereens, and he didn't even know why. Now, he had to use a cave as a base. Not only that, his organisation is framed again by the Knights kid on account of spying in the United States. "I swear I will get my revenge!"